Running is a means and never merely an end

2 mile warm up around campus at Western. Then on the track, 2 sets of 800/800/600/600/400 with 90 second jog (usually 200-250 meters) between each and 3 minutes between sets. Pace was 5k goal pace (92-93 sec 400's) for all. It went pretty well, except for the 2nd 800 in the 2nd set, which was a solid 4 or 5 seconds slow (3:09). 2 mile cool down around NCCAT afterwards. 

First run in Lynchburg! 7:51 average. I LOVE the running/biking trail here!!

2 mile warm up, 3.25 mile tempo, 2 mile cool down. Pretty much killed this tempo! 6:40 average, I'll have to check my individual splits later. I was shooting for 6:45 so I am pretty happy with that. 

Katie and I went grocery shopping today and I am really excited to eat healthier this month, being away from Burwell (our cafeteria at school).

AM- 2.25 miles on the treadmill (20ish minute shake out), then upper-body weight lifting sesh.

PM- 8 miles on a different route of the awesome trail here. Loved this run so much and felt so good that I accidently averaged 7:45 (usually my recovery runs are 8-8:15). I am just enjoying running so much now that I have time for it, and time to sleep, and healthy food to refuel with. Interim rocks.

Went to the track at Liberty University today for my workout! Nice track. Warmed up out-and-back for 2 miles, then did my dynamics and switched shoes, then strides. Workout was 17x300 at 63 seconds with 60 seconds rest. The rest was weird because I didn't know if it was supposed to be jogging or just like rest-rest...so I started out walking, but then a little less than halfway through I decided it was too easy with a 60sec walk, and made it a jog instead.

The 17 were continuous but I mentally broke them down into 4 sets of 4 (plus 1 at the end) - so for the first 4 I hit 60-62, second set of 4 were 61-63, and then after that is when I added the jog instead and my times went way off. 3rd set was like 64-66, yikes. I was getting tired but I just tried really hard to be awake and hammer down on each rep the final 5, and I hit 63, 63, 64, 62, 59. So I am definitely happy about that come-back after a couple 65's and 66's on the previous 4. 2 mile cool down afterwards.

8 miles on the treadmill, it was pretty miserable outside. 7:51 average on 1% incline. I did some heavy leg lifting afterwards, I haven't done legs in like 2 weeks so I will probably be a bit sore tomorrow.

I intended to run 12 but, long story short, time constraints via my irresponsibility shortened it to 10 haha. I ran through Rivermont, it was really pretty. Randolph College's campus is there and it was BEAUTIFUL. Also, they have a nice track!! Psyched because now I don't have to drive all the way to Liberty to do my speed workouts. 

On a side note, my left leg that has been bothering me this week was killing me this whole run :/ usually it stops hurting after only half a mile or so when my blood gets to flowing, but the whole upper half of it hurts every time I put pressure on it. Hopefully my off day tomorrow will give it some good time to heal.

Off day! I just did the elliptical for 15 minutes before dinner to work out a little bit of my soreness. I am genuinely having a hard time walking haha, that's what I get for slacking on weights since Christmas until this weekend. 

Anyone from Colorado by chance?? I've been doing lots of daydreaming and googling today and I've "decided" my new life plan is to move out west to Colorado one day. What a cool looking place.

8 miles easy at 7:58 average + 8x100m strides. I went down the tunnel side of Blackwater trail, then around town above the train station at the end, then back and down the other side for a mile and a half and back. Soreness is much better today! Left leg is still bugging me lots. Abs afterwards. 

My leg is just bothering me too much. I don't think its safe or smart to run on it right now. I need to get it checked out.

I ellipticalled for 3 miles, then did some upper body lifting and abs.

Still not feeling much better. I really thought it would be after taking yesterday totally off....hopefully I'll get in with a PT soon, I asked Katie to check for me. It hurts to even walk most of the time.

Pretty intensive upper body lifting, seeing as the leg isn't feeling any better :( man....can't seem to shake this thing. I'm trying to be patient still but this is really putting a damper in my training.

30 minutes on the elliptical.

4 miles on the elliptical.

Warmed up a few minutes on the elliptical and then tried to do a mile on the treadmill....nope. Ix-nayed that one real quick, leg hurt too bad. The fact that it doesn't hurt at all to elliptical but it hurts so bad to run and sometimes even walk makes me worry that it could be a bone thing, not a muscle thing because it's the impact that hurts, not the exertion. Yikes. Anyways, 35 minutes on the elliptical + weights and abs.

7.25 miles (1 hour) on the elliptical. Abs, then lifted.

First run since last Monday. I just wanted to test it out because the leg had been feeling much better while walking around at least, for the least 2 or 3 days. I started out really slow and gentle but as soon as I shifted from walking to running and started putting a little more force with each step the pain set back in. I am so sick of not running though that I pushed through it anyways, maybe not a good idea but it started feeling better after about a mile and a half. After 2 it felt fine, and I was running like normal for the rest of the run, which felt so great. I love to run! Afterwards I felt good and stretched, took a shower, but then by the time I got out it was hurting again to walk like it had been last week. Ughhhh

36 minutes elliptical, abs, upper body weights. One positive of all this is that I am really building up my core and upper body strength!

Did a suprisingly challenging workout on the elliptical today. 5 minute warm up, then a sort of fartlek of 5/4/3/2/1/2/3/4/5 (minutes) hard, with equal recovery after the rep. So it was like 5 hard, 5 conversational, 4 hard, 4 conversational, and so on. It wasn't too bad on the way down the ladder, but on the way back up, oh boy. I've done this one running, and it's definitely challenging to keep the same hard pace all the way through, but having my pace and strides per minute right there in front of me to hold me accountable was helpful. 5 minute cool down. A little over 8 miles total.

Actually ran today! On the treadmill anyways. 2% incline to mimic outdoor effort. I started out real easy, like over 9min pace, and over the course of the first mile and a half as my leg warmed up a little I worked my way down steadily to 8:20. Hung out there for a while and then felt good enough to drop it down to 8 for the last mile. Cardiovascularly I'm totally fine still, I just don't want to rush things too much and keep making my leg worse. It hurt again after I cooled down a bit and walked back up to my room. 

Elliptical again today. 5 minute warm up, then 10x2min hard, 1 min recovery, then 5 min cool down. Except I extended the final 2min hard to 3min hard, just cause. Felt good and strong. I tried to keep my strides per minute over 210, and my recovery over 190. My watch tells me on most actual runs I do like 196-200 strides per minute. So since I can't lengthen my stride to speed up on an elliptical, I have to go off strides per minute. 210+ feels like a hard, fast pace, and 190 feels like jogging.

Elliptical

Elliptical + weights and abs.

Biked for 30 minutes before church.