How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 45 degrees, sunny. Nice to feel some warmth and see the sun, I ran an easy 8.3 miles around Busey Woods and the cemetery. Yesterdays 12 miler did not take much out of me, so I am hoping to have a good week of training. Afterwards 4 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 40 minute walk home.

#72 

Weather - 37 degrees, raining, windy. A bit cooler today, but it felt warm when compared to last week, so I wore shorts for the second consecutive day. My body (back, legs, and feet) stiffened yesterday a few hours after running, and I went to bed earlier than usual, getting 12 hours of sleep. I woke today feeling pretty crappy, so I figured I would be running a maximum of 6 easy miles. However, after 3 miles my body began to feel better, and I ended up with 7.3. I will try for an increase in mileage this week, since I have been holding steady for the past month - 51.45, 52, 53.60, 51.70. I will hopefully hit 56-58 miles by Saturday. 

#73 

Weather - 49 degrees, gray skies, windy. Beautiful running weather, wore shorts and 3 light shirts. Decided today I needed to run further than normal, after the first couple of miles I felt good and knew it would not be difficult to run 10 miles. When I reached the golf course at mile 3 I did 8 x 30-90 second strides on the fairways, then returned to Busey Woods and did 3-4 loops, then ran to Brookens Gym for a total of 10.50 miles. The warm air had a positive effect on my lungs, I was running a faster than normal pace and my breath was effortless. At Brookens I did 6 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 15 minute walk home. 

#74 

Weather - 18 degrees, sunny. A lot colder than yesterday, so I had to go back to wearing multiple layers of clothing. I ran a very slow pace today, I was trying to make 8 miles seem as easy as possible. The last two miles I felt pretty good and went a bit quicker, so I seem to be holding up to the increased mileage. Afterwards 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 20 minute walk home.

#75 

Weather - 22 degrees, cloudy, snowing. 6 easy miles in a snowstorm - fun! Afterwards 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 10 minute walk home.

#76

Weather - 25 degrees, cloudy, snowing. Woke to about 6-7 inches of snow on the ground, was feeling pretty good energy-wise because I ran only 6 miles yesterday, and I got 11 hours of sleep. Decided to run long today, and covered 13.5 miles, mainly doing loops around Busey Woods. The snow was tough to navigate, I could feel my leg muscles expending more power than normally needed just to keep moving forward. The good thing about running in the thick snow was the softness of impact, it was like running on a bed of pillows. After 2 hours of running my joints felt no wear and tear, which is usually not the case with a long run. I finished the run just before getting to Brookens Gym, so I did 6 sets of strength exercises and stretching in the gym to cool down from the tough run. I feel like I have made a small leap in fitness, I am now covering 2 hours for a long run, and after tomorrow I will have hit 60 miles in a week for the first time this winter. 

#77 

Weather - 37 degrees, sunny. Took a nice easy run today, mostly on plowed roads, but did about 1 mile through thick snow in Buesy Woods. Felt pretty fresh considering I ran 2 hours yesterday. Ran about 1.5 miles at threshold pace, felt good to move a little quicker than normal.

#78