Every Run is a Great Run!

Not having the greatest day today. Lots of stress at work and then when I got to the gym I realized I forgot my running shorts. Luckily they usually have a few "loaner" items (don't worry they've been through the laundry) and so I got to run in some super-huge basketball shorts that looked like bermuda shorts on me.

Plan was for a 3-3-3 workout. 3 miles easy, then 3 mile progression run starting at MP and ending up at 5K pace, then 3 miles easy cooldown.  Based on my HR I think the effort was there, maybe even harder than called for as ave HR on the high side.

What messed everything up was the dang-blasted wind! Right in my face for the 1st half of the run and especially during the 2nd faster mile, must have been gusts of 20-40 mph, I was having trouble holding sub 8:30 for a time even though HR was over 180. At least I had the tail wind for the last mile or so.

Splits/AHR: 7:31/171 (headwind), 7:26/180 (very strong headwind the first half, then tailwind), 6:14/188 (tailwind).

HR was pegged at 190+ the last 1/2 mile so I'll count that as V02 max. Since I had a strong tailwind this last mile it seems like I should have been able to do better than 6:14 but it is what it is. Seems like lately I'm getting my endurance legs back but the speed seems to have left me. Also not sure why my ave HR is always high the last while, resting HR a bit high too. Oh well....patience....

Overall: 7:54/161.

Got a migraine for a while after getting back to the office. Thankfully it's gone now. I really don't like migraines so much.

Did a mini-long "recovery" run today out to the lake and back. This will probably be my long run for the week this week as I'm doing a 10K on Saturday. I'll do a mini-taper between now and then as well and make this a rest week.

Another day of all flavors of weather: wind, rain, wind, snow, wind, and even finishing in the sunshine. Did I mention there was also some wind? I do so love the wind.

8:46/141

Ahh....spring is back! Nice sunny run this morning (albeit a bit chilly for April!) with Kim. Helped pace here on a 6 mile progression run, mostly in the HMP range. She surprised me the last mile with 7:30-ish pace. Nice.

Finished up with 10 x 10s hill sprints and another easy mile. The sprints felt great, I use to hate hill sprints but the last couple weeks I'm quite enjoying them.

8:22

Nice AM run in sunny St. George in short sleeves on the river trail, mostly with Kimi and the bunnies.  Absolutely gorgeous day down here today.

After 2 mile warmup I did a 1-2-3-2-1, where the numbers are how many minutes of running with rests in between. It occurs to me as I type that I did the rests wrong, I was supposed to rest for however many minutes the previous repeat was but I spaced and just did 1 min rests for all of them. Oh well..I suppose that just slowed me down a bit on the later repeats. 

Mostly ran by feel not paying attention to watch, but should be in the 5:45-6:15 pace range, which appears to be exactly where I ended up.  Just trying to get the legs used to the idea of running faster on Saturday for the Run 4 Kids 10K. Kim's doing the 5K and our daughters are running the 1K. Should be fun.

Splits (Ave pace/HR): 5:56/156, 6:08/169, 6:15/174, 6:06/181, 5:47/179

3 miles nice and easy on a beautiful sunny desert morning with Kim. Only problem was our bodies seemed to have switched to R&R mode. Very sluggish and hard to get moving after a couple of late night, sleep in days. We'll have to see if we can switch from Rest & Relaxation to Run-a-Race mode by tomorrow morning. But if not what the heck, having a great spring break with the family.

My only goal for tomorrow is to try and hang with Nate for as long as I can.

On a side note....here is the best Bohemian Rhapsody cover of all time:

Well first the GOOD news for the day: 1) I didn't die, 2) I have a great wife and kids, 3) Tani & Tia ran great 1K races today, 4) Kim ran a PR 24:02 5K on a tough hilly course and 2nd in AD, 5) Weather was perfect, 6) Lovin our stay at the condo the last few days.

I guess the other bit of good news was that I had a pretty good race going up to the 6 mile marker, on track for a just over 40 min finish since the 2 guys I was running with ran 40:02 (Nate) and 40:10 (some guy I don't know).  Not quite up to what I ran 2 years ago (38:40) but I was in the best shape of my life then and I find it's pretty tough to do at 45 what I could do just 2 years ago at 43. It was great to run with Nate for most of the race. He did great just barely missing the sub-40.

Now the BAD news....right around the mile 6 marker, just about the time me and another guy were battling, making that final .2 downhill kick to the finish, then it happened.

Something kind of popped, snapped and/or ripped on the bottom of my left foot and I was done for the day. Tried to run a few steps but no-go. Had to limp in and almost bagged even crossing the finish but Kim coaxed me to go ahead an complete the race.

Looks like I've really torn the planter fascia good on my left foot. Funny thing is it's been my right foot giving me all the trouble off/on over the last while and right foot is usually well behaved. Pain was excruciating afterward trying to put any weight on it. Went to the doc for x-ray just to make sure no bones broken and thankfully they gave me some crutches.

So I think I'm done for a while. The rest of my planned spring races will have to wait another year. Just wish I hadn't paid for them already.

Funny thing was I still got 2nd in AD. Maybe there were only 2 or 3 of us in my AD, I was happy to see Wild Bill have a good race and pick up 1st, although it was tough to see him and many others fly by me at the end while I watched helplessly.

We'll just have to see what happens. My first order of business is to 1) do absolutely nothing for at least 2 weeks, 2) try not to go crazy.