My Running Log

1 mile warmup

3 miles at 7:00 pace

1 mile at 6:30 pace

1/2 mile at 6:00 pace

1/2 mile cooldown

This was my best workout of the year so far. I really felt good and was able to keep the pace and push it at the end. I think these speeds will be good for me on tempo runs for a while. So this is good because again it helps me see where I'm at. I know you can't equate treadmill times with road times, but it encourages me that I feel like my body is progressing and cooperating. A great start to the week.

One thing I observed today. When I get to the end of a tough workout, I tend to tighten my lower legs. I think that's because that's what I do when I sprint or try to kick at the end. But today I purposely tried to relax my lower legs and my arms, and it made a positive difference.

My current schedule is to go hard (speed) on Mondays, easy Tuesdays, hard (hills) on Wednesdays, easy on Thursdays, off on Fridays, and long on Saturday. I think for now this is a great way to go, because it gives my body time to recuperate after each hard run, but I still run often enough to build up mileage. And it gives me Fridays (date night) and Sunday (sabbath) off.

Nice workout on the elliptical. Setting was level 12. Was going about 5.5-5.8 pace most of the time. Felt good during and after. Lasted 39 minutes.

Today during the day I was feeling a little sick after yesterday's hard workout. My body didn't handle it as well as I hoped. I think I'll be fine tomorrow after a good night's rest.

Ran outside for the first time this year. Started at 9:40 PM

(unfortunately). Realized that my neighborhood is not the most scenic

place to run. So I'll probably have to throw some variety in there. Did

the hill on 8600 south twice. It felt way different on my body to run

outside. So this reinforced that I need to get away from the treadmill

more often. Ran for 46 minutes at a fairly slow pace. My shin started hurting today but not too badly.

Played church basketball. I only go to play about 9 minutes of the game. I didn't play well. Our team didn't play as a team. So pretty much a waste of time.

I had a head cold today. A bit of sickness has been accumulating the past few days. This afternoon I came home early and slept deeply for 3.5 hours. I think I had pushed my body too far and hadn't been getting enough sleep recently. I'm not worried about this, but hopefully I'll get through it soon and will need to try to get more sleep. Today's a normal rest day, and tomorrow I plan to run unless feeling much worse.

We had another church basketball game today, and I played because I knew I would get a better workout this time. I'm counting that as 2.5 easy miles, but I did a lot of sprinting and got winded. Then ran a total of 7 miles on the treadmill. 6.25 miles of that was at 8:30 pace, which felt great. Ran more miles this week than last!

Usually I do my speed workout on Monday, but I didn't feel my body was ready for it this morning. So I did 5 easy miles in 43 minutes. It felt good during and after, though I am still sore. Tomorrow I will most likely do a little speed.

1 x 1200m at 7:00 pace

1 x 1200m at 6:30 pace

1 x mile at 6:15 pace

400-800m rest in between

Did my speed workout today. They were longer intervals this time. I was feeling good on the last 1200m, so I extended it to a mile and sped up to 6:00 mile pace at the end. I took it conservative at the beginning, because I wasn't sure what my body was ready for (getting over cold and have been quite sore). But it went well after I got into it, and I don't feel like I killed myself off doing them.

I used to hate longer intervals when I was in high school, but they are good for me.

Worked on the elliptical today. Pushed the pace faster than normal. HR was between 140 and 155 most of the time. Pace was between 5.5 and 7.0 mph most of the time. Felt really good. Lasted 40 minutes.

44 minutes of hills on the treadmill. Level 11. Pace was 6.5 mph for 22 minutes of it. The rest was between 4.5 and 5.5. I couldn't handle it at the faster pace for as long as I hoped. But it really worked me and hopefully will help me get in shape.

Was going to do a 5K time trial today, but it was snowing, so I did a long run on the treadmill. the first half was at 8:00 pace, and the second half was 7:30 (with a 7:00 mile at the end). I didn't feel winded. My body just started to get tired toward the end. But not too bad. This is my first day this year of double digit miles of running, so that's good. I also beat last week's total by a ways, so that's good. It took me 69 minutes to do the 9 miles, and 79 minutes total.

Six weeks straight of 5 days a week!

Did an elliptical workout this morning. It was longer than usual (about 50 minutes). Pushed the pace and got heart rate around 145-160, which was the most important thing.

I'm going to start tracking my weight since we now have a scale. When I remember, I'm going to weigh myself first thing in the morning. Today I was 184.0, but I was lower after I worked out (and ate breakfast). This will be interesting to observe.

I hope to get down to about 175 by the time the half marathon comes around, but we'll see. Frankly, I'm amazed to be running as well as I am in spite of how heavy I am (relative to what I used to be).

Ran for 46 minutes on the treadmill. Did a mile warmup, 4.25 miles (about 31 minutes) of tempo, and then .75 cooldown. I started out feeling stiff and had a hard time keeping 7 minute pace. But then I was able to throw in about a mile total of faster pace. My total for 4 miles was 27 minutes, which is 6:45 pace.

 My weight is the same as yesterday. It's interesting to see it fluctuate at different times of the day.

Ran 5 miles on the treadmill. I felt good, so I ran the middle miles at 7:30 pace. At the end, I wanted to run more but decided to hold back.

My weight dropped a little. I'm sure it's just a normal fluctuation, but that's the lowest I've seen it since we've had the scale.

Hill workout on the treadmill. I decided I want to run these faster than I have been, so I increased the pace to 8:00 per mile and decreased the level. And I figured I would increase the level over time. I started at level 4 for the first two miles, and it was too easy, so I gradually increased it to level 7. I think I can handle level 7 next week at that pace. So I'll probably do that and try to increase it from there over the next weeks.

My shin bone has had a little pain in it that hasn't gone away for two weeks. I don't think it's a shin splint because it's in one specific spot. I don't remember banging it on anything, so I don't really know what it is. It could be some kind of stress fracture, but it seems like a strange location for that. I've fortunately not been prone to injuries, so I'm going to keep running on it and see how things go.

5K time trial on Saturday.

My training plan called for a simulated (or real) 5K race. I wasn't ready for the real thing (and didn't want to pay an entry fee), so I ran my own time trial on the trail that goes along the TRAX railroad in Sandy. I went back and forth on a 1/2 mile stretch to avoid traffic (not ideal, but it worked and has slight hills). Below are my approximate splits for each 1/2 mile:

3:15

3:25

3:40

3:40

3:40

3:20

1:00 (.1 mile)

I felt really good on the warmup and ran decent the first mile. The second mile was quite slow. The last mile started about the same, but I was able to pick it up the last part to average 7:00 pace.

I'm not too happy with this performance. I was hoping to run faster. Rather than making excuses, I'll just say I know I can run faster. This just gives me a baseline and a motivation to continue increasing the weekly mileage and to run outside more (especially now that the winter is slowly going away). On a positive note, my warmup and cooldown miles felt really good, and the miles passed quickly. This tells me I'm making progress.

For the week, I broke the 30 mile barrier! And I'm feeling hungry to increase it.

5x800 at 3:30, 3:18, 3:14, 3:00, and 3:00.

On the treadmill.

These were hard but good. I realized that my breathing was much different than when I ran my time trial. So I think that's something that will help me next time is to be more relaxed in my breathing.

Played basketball and vowed to retire.

Then ran 4 miles on the treadmill with a slight incline (my new thing) at 7:30-8:00 pace.

I'm really tired. I need to get more sleep and maybe take it easy on the next workout.

Hill workout on the treadmill. 8 minute pace, level 7. This was a challenge, but fortunately I survived. I think this is a good level to build on. Also, I am thinking that it would be hard to get as good of a hill workout outside (unless I did a canyon run) as I do inside because it really pushes me. Especially because I usually am running by myself.

Nice easy workout on the elliptical machine. It felt nice to take it easy. 40 minutes. Level 10.

Feels good to take a day off.

Ran 0.5 mile warmup, 5 miles at 8:30 pace, 3.5 miles at 8:00 pace, and 1.5 miles faster on the treadmill. The first 2/3 of this run felt really easy. Toward the end I started to feel a little tired but not too bad.

This is my longest run of the year and my week with the most miles. So I feel good about that. My average weight has gone down about 2 pounds since last week. More than I thought.

So things are going well.