Psalm 91:1 NKJV He who dwells in the secret place

Today I ran 11.1 miles at a 7:00 pace in 1:18. The course I chose today was a very hilly course for the first 8 miles. The last 3 miles were flat, and the last mile of the course I ran into some trouble. Since we've had snowfall the last 3 days some of the roads are icy or covered in snow. When I was about to reach the last mile of the course it has a turn on a back road leading a mile away to my house. When I turned the corner I stepped on some snow covered iced and wiped out. I cut a hole in my Underarmour tights in the knee and was bleeding pretty good, but I got right back up and finished the mile running at a 6:40 pace just to get home faster. I did cut my knee up pretty good, but not enough to go to the hospital. But it actually does hurt and I ran another 4.5 miles on the treadmill in the evening at the health club.

I'm more mad about ripping my Underarmour tights than my knee, because of the expense in purchasing them.

Total mils 15.6.

Today I did hill repeats around one of our University campus hills. The hill is called red hill and its exactly a mile loop around, 800m uphill and 800 downhill, but there's a road in the middle that will allow you to do 450m's up and down. I did 6 x 450m's with a horrible wind at 20 degrees, and I must admit I didn't want to do it. I had to run on my lunch hour, because I had to be at work at 6am.
I really hate running on my lunch hour, because it takes me longer to get prepared, other than when I go to the Health Club to run. I almost went to the Health Club, but I couldn't see myself running hill repeats on the treadmill, because you can't do a downhill. I ran the uphill around a 6:30 total for the repeats. I also did warm-up and cold-down miles. The total was 11 miles at a 6:54 pace. After the hill repeats I ran around the full hill and its simple to do after slowing down from a hill repeat pace. Then I ran back to work which is two and a half miles away.

With this being such a hard run I don't know if I'll do a tempo run tomorrow or wait till Thursday, and just do recovery miles tomorrow. I'm not sore just tire from getting up so early to go to work, and working almost 12 hours.

Today, I just took it easy to setup for a tempo run tomorrow so I ran 10.1 miles at a 7:07 pace.  This week will be my high miles week leading into Boston.   The course I chose today was hilly.   I want my quads and hamstring to maintain a certain fitness leading in to Boston and running hills and hill repeats and lifting is a good start.

Today I did a tempo run and it definitely will be memorable. First off the temperature was 19 degrees, "no problem" but with a 25-35 mph wind which made the temperature 8 degrees according to the weather. I almost went to the health club treadmill, by what I report below I wish I would have.

The wind was blowing Southeast I knew the direction I would run in would head right into it. I did a two mile warm-up and then started the tempo miles the first 3 the wind was probably blowing 10 mph into me (more so on the side not head on), but it didn't seem hard because I'm used to that speed of wind. Pocatello always has a consistent wind blowing. Then mile 6 I headed into the part where I knew the wind would be the strongest. But it wasn't as strong on mile 6 so I should have ran that mile better, I don't know what happened. It was blowing 25 to 35 mph on miles 7 & 8, and it just zapped the strength right out of me, because I was giving it everything I had to try to keep my current pace, and the wind would literally almost
knock me back. Towards the end of mile 7 I was so tired I slowed down to try to gain some energy for the next two miles. Mile 8 was better but the wind really hit me hard still. This road is about a 2.5 miles stretch before you turn. Mile 9 I turned and the wind was only blowing about 10 mph into my face so I finished pretty strong. But it definitely was a struggled tempo run.
I thought before I left the house I could change my route and run with the wind, but I wouldn't have counted the pace as fair and I wanted it to be hard. This was too hard though. My hands were numb by the time I got home and I had to rub them it get the feeling back. I was almost in tears because the pain hurt so bad. Next time if it's this windy and cold I'll go to the health club treadmill. The training runs this week by far have had some weird things happen, and the weather seemed to cause them all.

mile 1 7:33
mile 2 6:47
mile 3 5:59
mile 4 6:01
mile 5 6:01
mile 6 6:12
mile 7 6:27
mile 8 6:18
mile 9 6:02
mile 10 6:35
mile 11 7:14

My day wasn't done yet I decided to go to the Health Club after work, and I ran 2.3 miles at a 7:28 pace just a warm-up to see how my legs felt after the tempo run. They were fine and it felt good. I lift weights on my quads, hamstrings, and calf's to get a strength training work-out. Tomorrow I haven't decided what I'll run but it will be between 14 to 20 miles and maybe 8 at marathon pace.

Total miles today 13.3.

Today I ran 20.3 miles at a 7:10 pace on the same course as last week, but I extended it to get the 20 miles. I was mainly focusing on a slow pace it was a very easy run. I did mix in a few marathon pace miles but only two, because I did a tempo run yesterday, and didn't want to over do it. The weather was 17 degrees with no wind, but for some reason my hands were colder than they have ever been (maybe still poor circulation from yesterday). I was very scared after the run, because my thumb felt like a solid piece of ice. I might have to go in and get it checked, because the tip is still tingling after a few hours being at home. I read if this is the case that you should go see your doctor.

What a week for me... to summarize: Monday I fell on the ice. Tuesday I did the worst hill repeats in the worst wind possible. Wednesday that was good day "cool". Thursday I did a tempo run in the worst wind again, and I froze my hands off for the first time this week. Then I did it again today. Right now I'm at 70 miles for the week in 5 days of running. I have either 1 or 2 running days left this week. Should I dare run. I will tell you this whole training for Boston I've had some weird running experiences that I never have had before.

I have the day off, except I have to go in tonight and put patches on one of our computer systems but that won't take long.

Recovery run to end the week at 80 miles.  I just took it nice and easy at a 7:29 pace in 1:12.  Sometimes just taking it slow makes you appreciate the outdoors.