Everything Counts

12 miles easy

AEROBIC BUILDER

I ran an 8-mile AB on the hotel treadmill this morning, since the roads are still a bit slick. I ran with a 1% incline and finished the 8 miles in 41:30. The first 5 miles at 5:15 pace then 5:10, 5:05, and 5:00 for the last three.

10.65 miles easy. I planned on running more, but I ran more slowly than planned due to slick roads and surfaces. At one point during the run I saw something come zooming out of the woods in my peripheral vision and look over and see a coyote hauling down the other side of the road. Kind of startling at first, but also kind of cool (if only it would've howled at the full moon).

6 more easy miles in the afternoon during a short break to allow everyone to get out of the conf room for a bit. After 2.5 weeks in that room for 12 hours a day you get pretty sick of it.

600 METER REPS

Well this morning's workout was decent but not quite as fast as I was hoping for. The weather was warm, 45 degrees, but it was windy (20 mph). The wind made me want to bag the workout, but I decided to do it anyway. I warmed up and was really warm with a jacket on, so I swung back to the hotel and changed into a long sleeve instead. Then I did the reps on the road just outside the hotel. There's a U-shaped road that I did them on. So each rep had roughly 50% headwind and 50% tailwind. I ran ten reps with 1:30 jog for rest. I didn't look at my watch at all during the reps, so that my body would adjust the effort in the wind. If I saw slower paces due to the wind I may have tried to pick it up and get the effort too high. I averaged 1:42.4 for the ten reps or like 4:37-38 pace.

Last time I did 10x600 I averaged 1:38.7, so this was slower. But, I was too hunched over and anaerobic last time to jog, let alone walk during the 1:30 rest. I also got slower as I went last time, and I had sore calves for awhile after. Today, I easily was able to jog the rest. I easily could've done more reps and I got stronger as I went. I also am hoping this one won't be as taxing on the calves. Finally, this morning's was in a very windy environment. So, although it wasn't super fast today, it was adequate and we'll keep on moving forward from here!

6 easy miles way too early in the morning before heading to the airport. I get to go home finally!

12.75 miles easy in the snow with Dave and Jace. It's so much nicer to run with good company than flying solo every morning. 

I'm glad to be home from Indiana. I didn't get as much running in over the last three weeks as I would have liked. But I did the best I could given the time constraints. And hey, I only gained 2-3 pounds after three weaks of eating out for every meal. That's a score in my book; I feared the scale would be much higher. I do need to cut 4-5 pounds before USA Half though in Jan if I want any chance at a sub 1:06. So I got some work to do.

In other news, Pearl Izumi all but cut their local sponsored team. So, I've been looking for a new sponsor. After considering a few potential deals, I settled on Brooks I.D. (Inspire Daily) Elite program. So as of Jan 1st I will be running for Brooks. I'm super excited for this opportunity! Brooks is a very solid running brand with awesome shoes and apparel! 2014 is going to be awesome! So as the Brooks slogan says, "Run Happy"!