How Much Discomfort Can I Tolerate?!

Weather - 78 degrees, sunny.

No ill effects from the race yesterday, it is great to be fit enough to race 7 miles through swamp and mud and to feel like nothing happened the day after.

I tried to make this an easy run, and I think it was, but I couldn't help going a bit quick on a couple of the miles. I seem to be running faster on most of my recent easy runs, I think that is a good thing, as long as my body still thinks of it as easy.

Afterward 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 35 minute walk home.

#212

z.m.- #125

Weather - 82 degrees, sunny.

Was planning to do a hill workout today but I decided to run repeats in Busey Woods instead because I enjoy that workout more. I did 5 x 1200m repeats with a 400m recovery. I was running the 1200m at about 6:00 pace. I felt good, and I love running hard on dirt trails.

I did a cool down run to Cardinal and did a shortened set of bike intervals, then 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 10 minute walk home.

#213

z.m. - #126

Weather - 75 degrees, sunny.

4.5 easy miles around the arboretum. Felt good, looking forward to a hard track workout tomorrow.

#214

z.m. - #127

Weather - 75 degrees, sunny.

Did a track workout with 2nd Wind today. The clipboard called for 8 x 600m with the final 200m kicked end-of-race style. I cut the workout short, stopping at #5. I'm not sure why I stopped, my body felt fine, although maybe a bit low on energy. I think it was my mind getting tired of all the fast running. So my body got the last laugh, as it wanted to go, but the brain shut down. My times seemed ok, I was about 3-5 seconds behind a 17:30 5k runner for each : 2:04, 2:05, 2:05, 2:09, 2:07. The rest was a bit shorter than usual, about 3 minutes, which was sufficient.

I think having run a 7 mile race and 2 hard workouts in 5 days made my mind and will weaken. That is alright, sometimes it is good to back off and take it easy.

#215

z.m. - #128

Weather - 78 degrees, sunny.

I felt great today, which made me feel smart for cutting my intervals to 5 yesterday. I imagine I would have been sore and lethargic if I would have completed the full 8. As a reward for my good judgment my legs had some spring in them, and my energy level was fluid and on the up. Ran an effortless 7 miles through Busey Woods and the park, then 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 35 minute walk home.

Tomorrow a long run, minimum 2 hours, if I am feeling good maybe I can get it to 2:15 or 2:30 - I feel I am ready for an increase.

Looking forward to Sunday. Although the solstice is officially tomorrow, I will celebrate it on Sunday by attempting to exercise outdoors from sun-up to sun-down - a dawn run, followed by a long bike ride, lunch, a long hike, then another run. It should be fun.

#216

z.m. - #129

Weather - 85-89 degrees, sunny.

Started my long run at noon sharp, and finished at 2:45pm. I had to make a pit stop or two along the way, total running time was 2 hours 30 minutes. I am estimating an average pace of 8:30, so that comes to 17.50 miles. I handled the heat well, stopped at home at the 2 hour mark to eat a banana covered in sunflower butter, also ate some cashews and pretzels. I was out of juice and V8, so I had to settle on water. My legs were getting stiff the final 30 minutes, so I stopped at the track at the 2:10 mark and ran 5 x 100m hard/100m easy reps. The final 15 minutes were kind of easy, I started to feel loose and the food I ate at home started to help my body feel stronger.

This was my longest run of the year, it did not take too much out of me and my body seems to be acclimating to hot weather.

#217

z.m. - #130

Weather - 77 degrees, sunny, humid.

My legs were a little stiff from yesterdays long run, but I was expecting worse. After the first mile I loosened up and felt fine. I noticed that I was able to run a faster pace without losing control of my breathing. I remember last year when I was doing 20 mile long runs, it helped my lungs tolerate a harder running effort. So I will make a mental note about long runs which last at least 2 hours and 30 minutes - they make my respiration stronger. If I can continue to run the 17-20 milers my running form should improve.

Afterward I did 3 sets of strength exercises, stretching, and 10 minute walk home.

#218

z.m. - #131