Running is a means and never merely an end

Longest run since the whole hamstring injury deal happened! Lol at how this is usually my recovery run but this week it was my "long run". I'm getting there! 7:55 average, but didn't feel great. I felt like I was struggling, but its good that I felt that way going a decent pace instead of feeling rough going slow. 

Today we had a tempo on the treadmills in light of the freezing rain and ice outside, but I am definitely not able to do a 6 mile tempo at sub-7 pace currenty....so I was shooting for 4 miles at 7:15. I did 1 warm up, then got into it at 7:13 pace. I felt good for about a mile, and then it started to feel really rough. I was struggling bad by a little over 2 miles, and bumped it down to 7:18, but still felt just as bad. I ended up stopping to take a break after 3 miles, then getting back on to do the last mile (7:08) after I'd recovered a bit (which is somewhat pointless, but if nothing else good for me mentally so I didn't have to walk away having cut the workout short mileage-wise). Blahhhh.

Weights afterwards.

Easy run around the neighborhoods near the high school and on cottonwood trails. 8:34 pace. I was crawling and I felt it, but that's to be expected the day after my first not-easy paced run in 3 weeks.

7 miles easy on my own. I needed a good run by myself today, I was just feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of my classes and obligations! And it was an AWESOME run. It is super beautiful outside, and I went exploring and ended up at Cleveland Park where I picked up probably 4 of the 7 miles. That place is awesome! All the geese were swimming around and everything was suprisingly green. Just what I needed today :) 8:02 average.

Weights later after lab!

AM- 5 miles at Milliken park with the gals. 8:08 average. Strides afterwards.

PM- 3ish solo miles around campus after work!

Pretty sleepy all day today. I need some more sleep!

Tempo with Jamie!! Super encouraging run! I was reluctant to even do a tempo after my disastrous attempt on the treadmill on Monday where I couldn't even hold 7:20 for 4 miles. But Jamie really pushed me and we just run super well together and I was just feeling really good, I think Monday must have just been a funk. We warmed up to Rail Trail, then went down the 2 miles and back. We hit 6:47, 7:00, 6:55, and finished with a 6:37! Averaged 6:49!! I couldn't believe it! That would have been a really solid tempo this time a month and a half ago when I was in pretty solid mid-season shape! I definitely couldn't have done it without Jamie there.

Recovery run in Greenville at Swamp Rabbit Trail this morning with the girls! 8:02 average. We all started together but little by little wound up seperating off into twos and threes, which is to be expected. I ended up doing the last 3 or 4 miles with Jamie, which was once again awesome. Weather was great. Also I got to see my family afterwards!