yuck

well, this has been a lesson in consistency. when you get busy, it's easy once you're sliding to just keep sliding and not get back on track. i updated my training log and realized that the two bad weeks i thought i had were really 3 bad weeks. yikes. so... here's the update:

(to finish the week of june 1)
monday: OFF - huge weeny with hot weather
tuesday: 10 total - 6 AM, 4 PM
Wendesday: 6
Thursday: 6
Friday: 6 in Madison before we headed north
Saturday and Sunday: hungover and okay with not running. You guys only get married twice. :)
Total: 28 miles in 4 days

week of June 6:
Monday-Saturday: OFF...only partially my fault. my calves were so tight and crampy post-dancing that i had a hard time walking the first couple of days. when i tried to run on wednesday, i made it about 3 blocks before i decided it was getting exponentially worse instead of better and hobbled home. finally, on sunday, i was able to get in a complete run, though my calves were starting to get tight at the end. i probably could have gotten a little something in on friday or saturday, but i let myself not run because of the state track meet. oh well.
Sunday: 6 slow, slow miles

week of June 13:
Monday: 6- pushed pace a little
Tuesday: 6- pushed pace kind of a lot because i felt surprisingly good
Wednesday: 4 slow, achy miles. The past two days caught up with me.
Thursday-Friday: OFF. Didn't make time with reunion happening.
Saturday: 9 excellent miles. Intended to go 15, with a pitstop at 9 to take a gel and some water, but when i finished the 9, i decided to call it a day as my hamstring thing had been feeling tight during the whole run. since that was my longest run in a shockingly long time, i figured, better safe than sorry.
Sunday: OFF - lame.

Conclusions: I need to drink less or suck it up and run when I don't feel 100% the next day. Hopefully (lame) this is the end of my big events for the summer, so it shouldn't be as big of a deal, but it really messed with me for the last few weeks.

better!

1.5 mi. @ quick-ish in the morning
1.5 mi. @ moderate in the evening

3 mi. total - this plan appears to be working so far...

oh boy...

ok so i just started again, an all the progress (cardiovascular and podiatric) i made during my previous attempt to run is gone... bummer.

m: 2.5 mi. @ moderate pace - oh boy was this bad!  everything possible went wrong.  i could also feel my foot acting up after about 2 mi.

t: 1.5 mi. @ quick-ish - this felt much better, but i can see that this is another case of me coming back from approximately zero fitness/health...

considering running twice a day a few times a week to get a few more miles in, without stressing my foot as much...  i also NEED to stretch everyday, regardless of whether or not i run.  yikes.  hopefully, i can get the ball rolling before my schedule gets stressful (although, i guess hopefully my i get a job and its attendant stressful schedule sooner rather than later...)

recap

last week:

monday: 6 miles slow and easy. legs were totally shot still from the long run the weekend before.
tuesday: 6 miles slow and easy. legs still tired, but feeling much better.
wednesday: 5.5 junky, muddy miles on some trails at nationals.
thursday: 7 miles with 4x3 minutes hard, 2:15 recovery between. felt good to do a workout again.
friday: 6 easy miles
saturday: 5 easy miles
sunday: OFF. intended to do a long run after i got back from nationals, but then we decided to go to run-n-fun to get new shoes and a garmin. while we were there, someone hit my car (it's okay), which took way more time and by the time we got home, it wasn't going to happen.

total: 35.6 miles in 6 days.

monday: off... poor planning, hot weather, wind and a bad attitude. lame.
tuesday: am - 6 miles, pm - 4 miles. first ever two-a-day runs! legs felt pretty decent, though the second run was slower than the first one, for sure.

50!

First week at 50 since 2004!!
Saturday: 15 miles at around 7:20 pace in the rain - quads were wiped starting at about 10 miles and not surprisingly, I'm really sore today (Sunday). Not sure if my body was tired from this big week of training or if it was partially a poor fueling situation.
Sunday: 6 miles with Heather on River Road

Next week I am supposed to start Phase II of the Daniels plan, which means bumping up the mileage again and inserting a workout during the week. I'm really hopeful that I will be able to do both of those things despite being at nationals starting on Tuesday. In order to get in my 58 miles, I'm going to try to run twice a day two times this week, rather than adding miles each day.

oops

my legs felt awful today, which seemed a bit out of proportion to the "workout" i did yesterday until i remembered that my run on wednesday was also a workout. granted, yesterday was a late evening run and wednesday was an early early morning run, but still... that's a lot more workouts than i am used to doing!
thursday: 7 fast miles - ~7:20 pace
friday: 4 slow, tired miles

staying on top of things

monday: easy 6 - legs felt kind of tired from the sunday run, but not too bad. generally, they felt good, but my quads were fatigued on the hills. need to do more strength work!
tuesday: easy 6 - slightly better than monday; felt a little rushed and also a bit like i was holding back because i wanted to feel good wed
wednesday: 6 miles total - 2x10 minutes of thresholdy pace. i was running with alison smyth at 6:15 AM, which was early, but i felt surprisingly good. it's the first workout she has done post-10k/5k double at conference, so i think her legs were a little tired. i have no idea what pace we were actually running, but she usually does these anywhere from 6:20 on a great day to 6:35 on a bad day. i'm guessing this was on the slower end at first and a bit faster on the second one. i need to get a gps watch...

long overdue

well, the past couple of weeks haven't been so great, but i'm back on track and raring to go, so hopefully this next week will be better.

week of may 2-8 - at this point, i don't remember too much but the mileage
Monday and Tuesday - OFF - i had taken sat, sun off as well...think i just needed a mental break, but it was also a little bit of a mental slip. i have to be better about nipping those in the bud before i've suddently taken half a week off
wednesday - 6 miles with 8x cemetary hill. reps were all around 90-92, except for #4 when i lost concentration in the face of a big wind gust and ran a 95, and the last two where i picked it up and ran 85s - very good workout. glutes were fatigued from the beginning, which is a good sign that i need to be doing more hills.
thursday - 7
friday - 7
saturday - 6
sunday - off...no long run... bad move
overall - 26 miles in 4 days

week of may 9-15
monday - easy 6. legs felt a little heavy after the day off
tuesday - 4 awful, awful miles. i can only attribute it to the heat, as this was our first hot, humid day in a long time. i hoped to go 7, cut it short to 5 and then cut it short to 4.
wednesday - 6. moderately better than the day before, but still felt crappy. not quite as hot or humid that day.
thursday - off. missed my chance getting ready for team dinner and didn't get out the door
friday - 6 easy
saturday - off.
sunday - 14 awesome miles. did 7 easy with karen campbell and then came home, went to the bathroom, took a gel and some water and then headed back out for the second 7. the first 7, my legs felt heavy and tired from standing at the conference meet for 2 days. the second 7 they felt better and i felt like i was going a little harder, but the pace ended up being exactly the same (same location) for both runs. pretty quick pace - 7:17. taking the gel was no problem, though it was a little hard to sort out the effects of the pizza for dinner the night before and the gel taken between runs. :)
overall - 36 miles in 5 days

this upcoming week will either be the last week of my mileage buildup without workouts or it will be the first week of phase 2 of the jack daniels marathon plan (phase 1 was the buildup). the only difference is one workout, so i'll probably try to get that in this week if i can... otherwise i'll try to get in a hill workout again. the mileage goal this week is 50, which i really need to hit because next week is supposed to be 58 and i don't want to make that big of a jump, even if i am running 7 days a week instead of 4 or 5 like the last couple of weeks.

almost 7...

just shy of 7 mi. @ pretty quick (but not tooooo fast)...

hip flexor felt better, but i did my best to avoid too many hills.

easy peasy...

6 mi. easy - legs were tired, hip flexor acting up...

icing, stretching, abs are the solutions... if only i did those things more...

old week / lull / new week...

ok, so last week ended kind of feebly, and yesterday was the same...

last week was 40 mi. in 5 days.

this week:
m - off...
t - long run!  11.5 mi. pretty quickly - hip flexor was very sore afterwards though... 

more running + more icing = faster + healtier (i hope)

not so big week

i wimped out. i didn't feel so hot yesterday and just didn't feel motivated to do my long run, so i put it off until today. no run yesterday or saturday = 32.5 miles in 5 days.
i told myself that i'd do the long run today, which i'm still hoping to do.

big week

my legs have felt a little dead, but i can't tell whether it's the increase in mileage this week, the 7 hours in the car yesterday taking Simone down to run the 10k at Drake, or remnants of last Sunday's 12-miler. i ended up missing the deadline to register for the lake minnetonka half marathon this sunday, but i was pretty ambivalent about it anyway, so i think that's okay. there will be other chances to get in a race sometime soon.
wednesday: 7.5 in the arb nice and easy
thursday: 7 in the arb, slightly quicker, legs feeling a bit peppier
today: 5 in the arb and legs felt stiff and dead.

workout...

1.5 mi. warm-up
4.5 mi. decending from 6:40 to 5:50
2 mi. cool down

8 mi. total

long time, no post...

ok - so it has been quite a while since i last posted anything.  i guess this is a recap of what has happened.  last week was bad - less than 40 mi. and only 2 really good runs.  this week has been better:

m - 11 mi. long run - difficult, but ok.  left hip flexor sore/fatigued afterwards
t - 7 mi. easy - hip flexor still fatigued going up hills
w - 5 mi. moderate pace.  feeling good - hopefully a workout tomorrow...

recovery

yesterday - easy 6 in the arb. legs felt tired, but not in a bad way; just fatigued.
today - easy 7 in very windy, wet, cool weather out past the wind turbine. glad now to have done it, but it was a tough one to get out the door for. not particularly fast (7:45ish pace). legs were still pretty tired from sunday, but on the plus side, the massive side/head winds didn't seem to be blowing me all over the road, which is a definite positive.
also, even though my quads feel fatigued from the run on sunday, i haven't felt my hamstring at all for 3 days now. the random day off last friday seems to have done the trick!

tricking myself

today i did a long run of 12 miles. i mapped it out ahead of time and had a few mile marks in mind. at first, my legs felt kind of dead, but i stopped and stretched a bit and that seemed to help. then, as i got to the mile marks i thought i knew, it seemed like i was running a lot slower than i felt like. i decided to just keep on going the way i was since i didn't really feel bad, just like my stride was short and my legs were a little tight. turned out i measured wrong (put a loop at the end instead of the beginning) and i was actually going about the pace i thought i was.
sunday: 12 hilly miles - 87:30 for around 7:18 pace

total this week - about 40 in 6 days. legs felt decently good this week, so i feel good about upping that to 46-7 in 6 days or over 50 if i go 7 days.

decent

to recap:
thursday - 6. thought about going 7, but legs weren't feeling super-awesome and i was feeling rushed.
friday - day off. busy workday that started a bit earlier than normal. thought i'd get it in after practice, but we had an easter egg hunt and my stomach hurt too much after eating all that candy. decided that until the track season is over, expecting 7 days a week is probably unrealistic. i need to scale back to 6 and if i can get in 7, it's a bonus.
saturday - 5 easy. legs felt awesome- averaged just under 7:30 pace. last mile was a little rough due to some slight stomach issues, but that was okay.

short-er and sweet...er?

well, today i got in 4 miles with the team for their pre-meet run. i was hoping to run a bit more - around 6, but my hammy was tightening up some after i stood around at the track for a bit mid-run, so i decided to keep it short. hopefully i can make up the miles tomorrow.

2-2-1-1-2...

first workout in quite a while it seems...

2 mi warm-up
2 mi. @ 6:00 pace
1 mi. @ 7:00 pace
1 mi. @ 5:30 pace
2 mi. cool-down

much easier than the last time i did this workout!  felt great, and my ankle/foot felt the best it has in a week.  so far so good this week

yesterday was off...

short and sweet

today i slammed out a brisk 5 before sunset. my legs felt okay, but not awesome; i did do a bit of lifting this morning, so that could have had something to do with it. once again, i was tempted to not go, but i'm getting more comfortable with putting off dinner to squeeze in a run before it gets dark. in the long run, this may be a bad habit for having a normal schedule, but it is good for getting mileage in.

long run...

same 10 mi. as last monday.  it is really awesome to get the long run out of the way on the first day of the week!

felt ok... a little hard, but i ran a little faster than just regular easy pace...

big two days

my legs were super sore today from the long run yesterday, which was a bit worrisome. by the time i ran, though, at around 6:30 this evening, my legs must have loosened up enough because the run was actually awesome. i ended up going around 7.5 (8.5 if you count the jog to and from the track today) instead of the planned 6, putting me at 19.5 (20.5!) in 2 days. sweet!
also, i saw 31 deer and at least 5 pheasants on my run today. it was crazy!

stupid chores...

...getting in the way of my running.
yesterday was an unintentional day off as it took us 7 hours to hang new lights in the living room. suddenly, there wasn't even time to shower before we met donna and dave at the cow, let alone run. at least we got the lights hung and functioning.
i ended up with 40 miles in 6 days, which would have been my goal 46 in 7 if i had gotten the 6 in yesterday. all in all, i feel pretty good about it.
friday, i just did a short, quick 4. today was a long run of "12 miles". i did it in the arb, based on time, so it's a little approximate. i doubt it was any longer than that, since my legs/body felt slow today. not sure if that was a result of the miles, the time of day (1:30) that i ran, or the nutrition factor, but it was okay. not great, but okay.

the week in review...

40 mi. total in 5 days
m: 10 mi.
t: 7 mi.
w: 8 mi.
th: off
f: 7 mi.
sa: off
su: 8 mi.

all in all not too bad...

the run that almost wasn't

i came this close to not running last night. but i told myself that i had to do it, there just wasn't a choice and that even if i only went 4 miles instead of the 6-8 that i had planned, it was better than 0. so, i headed out into the arb and did a random 6ish miles right before the sun set. it felt really good when i got home and had done it.
this is the last accepted students' weekend at carleton, so things have been a little nuts the past few days, but in a great way. i was really glad to get my run in yesterday in spite of it. in the past, these would be the types of days where i would quite easily come up with an excuse for myself and not go.

yesterday and today...

yesterday: 8 mi. with Metzdorff @ 6:40-6:45 pace.  quick but good.

today: off (on account of mysteriously sore ankle/top-of-foot syndrome...)

workout...

1 mi. warm-up
5 x 1000m (3:09 / 3:11 / 3:11 / 3:14 / 3:13)
1 mi. cool-down

it was hard, but pretty good.  i think somewhere around 3:15-ish might be my vo2max pace...

6.5 - 7mi. total on the day.

mid-week

monday: "6 mile" unmeasured loop in the upper-lower arb - legs felt awful
tuesday: "6 mile" loop in upper-lower arb - legs felt marginally better, but not great
wednesday: "6 mile" loop - legs finally felt pretty good again

i think that i've been extra tight lately because my tendency is to run, stretch a bit (usually a very little bit) and then sit down, which makes my hammy's, quads and hip flexors tight. i think it would be good for me to keep moving around after, but that seems a bit unlikely. i'm starting to look forward to the end of the school year for the extra flexibility (so to speak).

the plan this week is to run 7 days, with one being a short 4, one being a long 12, one at 8, and the rest at 6. here's hoping!

long run but...

not as long as alison's!

10 mi. easy (arb 8 from home + a little)

first time in double-digits, and my hip flexors are none too happy about it...

(ps - nice job alison!)

LONG run

18 miles on Saturday. It hurt.

last week...

w: 6 x 800m (2:37 / 2:37 / 2:38 / 2:39 / 2:38 / 2:37) 3:00 recovery - 5.5 mi. total
th: bailed on a workout - 3 mi. warm-up / >1.5 mi. @ sub-6:00 pace / <1.5 mi. cool-down
f: 6.5 mi.
sa: 5 mi.
su: off

36 mi. total for the week and feeling good (but tired by the end of the week...)

meh

started my long run yesterday and my legs just felt like bricks. that, and my hammy felt particularly tight. not sure if it's the increase in mileage or the fact that on saturday i ran 6 miles, took a shower and then hopped in a car for an hour+ without really stretching and then proceeded to stand around at a track meet for 5 hours and sit in a car for another hour+. whatever it was, it felt not like the way you want to go into a long run. so, i'm hopeful that perhaps i can get it in tomorrow instead. if not, i'll just wait until this weekend - i'm ahead on my long run mileage, even if my overall mileage is behind.
yesterday: 3.5 miles slow
last week: 31.5 miles in 6 days (on the plus side, that is still about equal to my highest mileage week since last fall)

saturday done

yesterday ended up being a day off - poor choice of breakfast time and a lot of miles recently made me think that a day off wasn't the worst thing. i should still be able to hit 40 in 6 days this week.

today i just got in an easy 6. my legs were feeling a little tired and my hammy was fairly tight, so i made a concerted effort to go slowish. i think it ended up being around 7:35 pace.

learning to run easy

my sense of pace has been all kinds of screwed up lately. fortunately, it has been mostly on the positive - things seem to be faster than what i think when i check them. the past two days have been 5 mile easy runs. yesterday's was particularly easy because my legs were TIRED from a few quick-ish hilly days in a row. today, the plan is to get in a solid 7-8 miles easy with the team. we'll see how that turns out.

time to catch up...

last week reall went downhill at the end - i took friday and sunday off, but i did run with metzdorff and ben kampf in minneapolis on saturday.  we did six (but it seemed a little long to me).  anyway, i ended last week 1 day and 4.25 miles short of my goal of 6 days and 30 mi.  crap.

yesterday i decided to get my long run out of the way on monday, so i wouldn't have to worry about it.

8 mi. - pretty fast (unintentionally)

WINDY (20 mph, 40 mph gusts!), but my foot felt good, so that's good...

UPDATE: 5 mi. at 6:45-ish pace today...

day 1

dragged my sleepy ass out of bed this morning for what turned into a lovely, if windy, 5 miles.

day 1 of the "run every day to make sure that you don't take half the week off" plan...check!

bonus

today i did a long run with nichole porath (peterson...remember her from gac, alison) who lives in northfield now. her husband and dog tagged along. we had a nice run, very conversational, which worried me that i was going too slow for her. when i got home and pedometer-ed it, though, it turns out that it was 11 miles in 81 minutes.... i'm wondering if i forgot to start a watch or something? that makes for 7:20 pace, and i know i was a little quicker...7:10 on the way to their house and home... maybe 2 miles of it? which could mean that the rest of it was around 7:25 or something. i don't know. in any case, it was nice to have an 11 mile day that felt pretty easy, despite the fact that it was crazy windy (tailwind for part of it...) and moderately hilly.
total for the week: 25ish in 4 days...not quite the 45 in 7 i had planned, but hopefully i can get there next week.

:)

woof. yesterday i didn't go running because i was grumpy and my day was stressful. today, i almost didn't go, but when i got home from the 10 hour track meet, i got out the door and did a quick, easy 5. yay!

rough start

well, i got out the door yesterday, but it was a rough one. ~3.5 miles, going on time, only. multiple stomach cramps and a super-tight hamstring. need to stretch it more and maybe start icing it. i think i over-did some lunges a couple of weeks ago and then did the steeple over the weekend. shouldn't be a big things if i start taking care of it.
today: much better 5 miler with the team, easy. felt much better, though hammy is still tight.

suburban...

same as Suburbia, except you come back on prarie instead of going up behind the golf course on spring creek  - 4 mi. @ approx. 6:15 pace.

it felt a little fast, but i figured i was just tired from yesterday.  turns out it was a little fast...

cemetery hills...

1 mi. warm-up
6 x cemetery hills (north hill)
2.25 mi. cool-down

6.25 mi total

hills were fine but they killed me. i was thinking 6-8, but went for just 6, with ample recovery... i guess it is a starting point...

bad break

well, spring break trip was fun, but not very good for training it turned out. also, i can't remember what happened or the exact distances from most of those days...so it's very approximate.
monday: i think i went for a run, but i really can't remember doing it... if i did, probably 4.5 or 6
tuesday: no run, traveling
wednesday: no run
thursday: easy 4-5 from the track at sdsu, exploring hilly neighborhoods nearby
friday: can't remember... kind of think i didn't run
saturday: 10.5 mile hilly long run with alison smyth. very great run in pt. loma
sunday: no run, but did walk all over the HILLY s.d. zoo
total: 20? maybe?
monday: 4ish, investigating a location for alison to run hills - did a few of them to try it out
tuesday: 6 mile hilly run at torrey pines reserve
wednesday: can't remember...but i think i didn't run...or i did a little bit and then did hurdle drills
thursday: 5 mile easy run
friday: 3 mile pre-meet
saturday: 5 miles total including a 3k steeple! decided at the last minute to jump in and race a steeple, with a modest goal of breaking 12 minutes. ended up running 11:57 and placing 3rd despite feeling like i was going to vomit for most of the race. :)
sunday: day off, traveling
total: 23?

since then, i have had a bad week so far, running-wise. no runs on monday or tuesday, but i'm still hopeful for today post-practice. i need to get back on track because this was supposed to be a 46 mile week, running every day. the plan is to make this week lower, and get back on the schedule next week.

update...

i did 4 miles last night at the last second...

spring breeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaak...

tuesday: off
wednesday: track workout with alison smyth and taylor ffitch: 3 x 1200m @ their threshold - 6 mi. total
thursday: off
friday: 4 mi.
saturday: 4.5 mi.
sunday: off - 14.5-ish mi. for the week...  nice to be outside (and healthy) again!

monday: track workout with alison smyth: 2 x 600m, 3 x 400m, 4 x 300m, 6 x 200m - 8 mi. total
tuesday: 4.5 mi. easy
wednesday: 6 x 800m @ (2:37 / 2:42 / 2:42 / 2:43 / 2:44 / 2:44), 4 x 200m @ 29-31 sec  - 6 mi. total
thursday: 5 mi. easy on naval base
friday: off
saturday: 6 mi. @ 7:00-7:10 with charlie gamble!  awesome.
sunday: off - 29.5 mi. for the week!  felt great!

monday: 4.5 mi. @ 6:30-ish

A few things...

1. Steve - did you change the font on the top?

2. Sorry Nathan hasn't been posting. He's a slacker and has also been traveling a lot. But he has been running some.

3. You guys always seem to know how far/fast you went. How are you figuring that out, out of curiosity? Do you map it then just do the math with the time you have on your watch?

week 3 done

finished the week with an "easy" 4.5 that turned out to be just under 7:30 pace. I have a feeling that with spring break trip coming up this week and more time traveling, I may pay for doing so much a little on the quick side this week, but hopefully it will be okay.

total this week: 32 miles

whew.

nationals, check. wednesday ended up being a day off...just a few too many things to get done. thursday - an easy 4.5ish
friday - easy 5
saturday - easyish 9. this turned out to be an awesome run and also my first shirtless run of the year. i thought my legs felt crappy, but they were moving at a fairly good clip and i ended up averaging 7:20 pace, but the second half was definitely quicker than the first.
also, it didn't hurt that simone ran great in the 5k.

on the bright side...

new singlets!

ugh...

horrible, horrible horrible...

3.5 mi. easy and everything felt like crap...

lame.

the new workout plan

is apparently to do dungeons approximately every other day.
today i got roped into doing 18 of them with one of our freshmen who is coming out for outdoor after swimming in the winter. we were easing her back into running. :)
32.9, 33.2, 31.0, 32.5, 31.0, 32.5, 32.0, 31.5, 31.8, 32.3, 32.8, 33.0, 31.9, 31.6, 31.0, 31.5, 31.3

probably about 4 miles total for the day.

easy-peasy

today was a short, easy, slow 5 miles with the team. felt pretty good - not much else to report.

quarters...

6 mi. total:
1.25 mi. warm-up
8 x .25 mi. @ 75s (last one @ 70s)
.25 mi. recovery between
1 mi. cool-down

good start!

week 2 - check!

Friday I did the suburbia 4.5 mile run from the house before we left for MIAC. Saturday was a little too crazy between dropping off things to go on the bus and leaving a little later, so that became my day off. Today was the long run and I almost wimped out, but Steve bribed me with pizza and inception, so i got out the door. I was glad I did - 8 miles in about 7:30 pace.

31 miles for the week - one more than planned!

catching up...

sat: off for miac indoor.

sun: 5 mi. pretty easy, but i brought the second half down gradually before cooling down:
1.5 mi. @ 7:00
1 mi. @ 6:50
1 mi. @ 6:40
.5 mi. @ 6:30
.25 mi. @ 6:15
.25 mi. @ 6:00
.5 mi. @ 6:45

25.5 total for the week!  so far so good with the latest iteration of me-getting-back-into-some-semblance-of-shape...

on thursday, i started my new swimming class, which was 45 minutes. after that, i forced myself to get on the treadmill and do the 7 mile tempo run that was in my schedule. i only did a very wimpy .5 mile warmup and .5 mile cooldown. 2 days later, i am on the couch totally sick. what did i do to myself???

seriously, the workout felt pretty good, just a little tiring. glad i got it done.

long run...

th: off

fri: long run - 6 mi. (3 mi. @ 7:00-ish / 2 mi. @ 6:30 / 1 mi. @ 7:00-ish)

today was the best i have felt all week! great run, an my longest yet...

more dungeons

this week has been a little dungeon-heavy, but that's just the way it has worked out. today, keren and i did 24 at around 31. i felt like i could have kept going, without any trouble, so i probably wasn't going hard enough. i think that next time, we'll shoot for having all of them under 31, but not under 30.
31.2, 31.9, 30.6, 31.2, 31.5, 30.4, 30.3, 30.6, 31.4, 31.2, 30.8, 30.8, 30.6, 30.5, 31.2, 31.5, 30.4, 30.8, 30.4, 30.9, 30.6, 30.6, 31.1, 31.0 for an average of just under 31 (30.9)

longer than normal warm-up and cool-down meant 6 miles for the day. hoping to get out the door tomorrow and sat mornings so that sunday can be the day off!

got out the door

yesterday i almost skipped my run, but steve pushed me out the door and i was glad he did. i ended up just going for an easy run just shy of 4. Should balance out the 4.35 or whatever it was that i did earlier this week. I didn't feel especially wonderful, which has been a recurring theme this week, but i also haven't been especially careful about my eating and hydration pre-run, so it seems like it's probably in my control.

mysteriously disappointing...

5 mi. total on the workout today.

1 mi. warm-up
2 mi. @ 6:00
2 mi. @ 6:50-6:45

i was planning to do 2-3 mi. @ 6:00 pace, but it was pretty intense doing 2, so i just cut it off there.  it was a little disappointing, but i don't really know why...  i am wondering if i was just expecting too much this soon...

running with the team

today i did dungeons with a couple of women on the team - one who is racing this weekend and did 10 and one who is coming off a crazy sickness-induced anemia who did 20. we were in lane 6, so they were actually 171m... take that for whatever it is worth. here were the splits:
33.6, 35.5, 34.95, 35.26, 34.93, 34.3, 34.1, 35.0, 35.1, 35.0, 34.5, 35.0, 34.9, 35.5, 35.3, 35.6, 35.1, 35.0, 35.0, 34.5
it was really consistent, which was great. it didn't feel exceptionally hard, which was also great - not that dungeons should ever feel super-hard.
total of 4.5 miles for the day

also, my luck at getting into races by lottery sucks...no garry bjorklund half marathon for me. :(

easy day?

today was an easy day, so just just did 4 mi. @ about 7:00 pace, but somehow it felt harder than that...

bummer.

easy does it

today was an easy run and it's a darn good thing i didn't try to do anything else. i think my body was un-fueled as a result of eating a small, early dinner and only a bowl of cereal in the morning before doing my run at 1:30. I just felt tired. All in all, though, it was a fine run; I just wish I had felt better. 4.35 miles in 33:38 for 7:44 pace.

long, disjointed workout...

5.5 mi.:

1 mi. warm-up (7:00)
.5 mi. @ 6:00
.5 mi. @ 7:00
.5 mi. @ 5:30
.5 mi. @ 7:00
.5 mi. @ 5:00 (had to cut it a bit short - acid reflux)

8 x 200m @ 33-34-35-ish

1 mi. cool-down (7:00)

long run...

5 mi.:
1 mi. @ 7:00
1 mi. @ 6:50
1 mi. @ 6:45
.5 mi. @ 6:40
.5 mi. @ 6:00
1 mi. @ 6:45-ish

22 mi. in 5 days on the week!  best week yet.

hill time

long run today of 7 miles, out and back past the wind turbine on Wall St. Felt good on the way out - wind a little bit at my back, but partially side wind. 7:45 pace out, 8:00 pace back. felt lots harder on the way back, especially up the hills. that is going to have to become a focus again as the roads get clear.
week 1 of my (ridiculously long, somewhat arbitrary) marathon plan: 20 miles in 4 days with a 7 mi long run

chillin'...

easy-ish 4 mi. today + strides

hamstrings were a little tight on the strides, so i only did 4...  something to keep an eye on.

pr course

well, it's been a really long time, but i'm back to the pr course. i wasn't intending to do a workout today; i just wanted to get in a 6 mile run. but when i got to the 4.5 mile turn-off for the pr course, i decided to pick up the pace and see how fast i could end up doing the run in. my overall time was 33:02, which is 7:20 pace. i'm guessing once i picked it up, i probably settled into closer to 7:10 or 7:00 pace, which felt great. there were a few slippery spots and i could feel my sore hamstring a bit occasionally, but all in all it was a great run.

remembering

hmm... i need to be better about posting every day because i keep forgetting what i've been doing.
last week was okay - i got in a couple more runs that were decent, but nothing too crazy. i can't even remember exactly what i ended up doing. one day (friday?) i did a semi-workout on the treadmill, doing 1 mile of warm-up at around 7:50 pace, one mile at 7:40, one mile at 7:20 and then a mile at 8:00ish. i hate treadmills.
this week:
monday - off, quasi-intentionally...mostly just ran out of time
tuesday - quality lifting in the morning, followed by 3 shitty miles on the treadmill. it just reminded me why i need to not be a big wuss and need to go outside. the 3 miles felt long and slow. eventually i stopped because my hamstring was really tight after the lifting. i probably could have kept going, no problem, but it was a good excuse to stop.
wednesday - 1 mile warm-up, 5x1000 at threshold with 200m jog between, 1+ mile cool-down for around 6 miles total. felt awesome during this workout and like i could have just kept going.

hoping to do dungeons tomorrow possibly, or maybe just go outside for a nice, long run.

3 for 3...

good workout today, but no strides.

5 mi.
1 mi. @ 7:00 warm up
.5 mi. @ 6:30 interval
.5 mi. @ 7:00 recovery
.5 mi. @ 6:00 interval
.5 mi. @ 7:00 recovery
.5 mi. @ 5:30 interval
1 mi. @ 7:00 cool down
1000m @ 6:40 pace (with cassie and karen just for fun)

felt a little tight, and this was my new longest distance since starting up again, so no strides...

no biggie shortie...

easy 4 mi. today.  i feel good (but a little tired still from yesterday), and i finally fell a little (just a little) like a runner again...

woof...

in the eternal struggle between kick-ass and ass-kick, today was a little of each...

major strength workout shoveling for 2 hours, followed by major running workout, followed by a little more shoveling.

4 mi.
1 mi. @ 7:00
1 mi. @ 6:00
.5 mi. @ 7:00
.5 mi. @ 6:00
1 mi. @ 7:00

followed by 6 strides...

good workout, but it rocked me.  after some stretching, dinner, and a hot shower, i feel good though.

long run...

4.4 mi. @ just under 7:00 pace...

ok, but i was not hydrated and did not really have much energy.  still, it's hard to complain about my longest run since starting back up...

sun. - off.

total for the week: 16.4 mi.!

nanoworkout...

3 mi.

1.5 @ 7:00
.5 @ 6:30
.5 @ 6:00
.5 @ 6:50

it felt good, but the jump from 6:30 to 6:00 was noticeable...  oh well... i guess that just means it's on again...

tomorrow: long run (4 mi.-ish) over to track meet at st. olaf and back.  should be good.

yesterday (again)...

3 mi. (7:00-ish, 7:00-ish, 6:45)

felt good.  first time running 3 days in a row for a while, and i have already surpassed last week's total mileage!

today: off.

first good thing in a while

monday i went 7.5 in about 7:35 pace. it was a little sporadic pace-wise, and i was definitely running faster towards the end since i felt good. all in all, it was just nice to feel good for a decently long run. i followed that with a great lifting session on tuesday morning, but no running, and a lame day totally off today.

yesterday...

3 mi. (1 mi. @ 7:00-ish, 1 mi. @ 6:45, .5 mi. @ 6:30, .5 mi. @ 6:15)

felt great!

Marathon Training

So we signed up for the Green Bay Marathon on May 15. I am training with my coworker Julie and our goal is to run around 4:00. So far, so good. We are using a program that includes two workouts a week (one interval-ish, one threshold-ish) and a long run. The other days are XT or run easy. I have been going to a bootcamp class at my gym on the days I don't run or rest.

We're up to a 12 mile long run, but we go back down to 10 this week.

it's been a while...

m: 2 mi. @ 7:00-ish, 6 strides
t: 2 mi. @ 7:00-ish, 6 strides
w: off
th: 2 mi. @ 7:00-ish, 6 strides
f: off
sa: 2 mi. @ 7:00-6:45-6:30
su: off

8 mi. total for the week

m: 3 mi. (7:00/6:50/6:45), 6 strides

update

i don't even remember what i did last week, but i think that i ran 3 or 4 times.
so far this week:
Monday: no run.
Tuesday: 4ish miles
Wednesday: 5ish miles
Thursday: 4.5 miles with the team
today i'll probably take off because my legs felt ridiculously tired yesterday for how little running i had been doing. my goal is to get in at least something on saturday before i leave for the meet and something on sunday morning that is a little longer - maybe 7.

back in the saddle

after a particularly nasty cold, i had a hard time getting going again. i was getting over it right around the time that it got really cold, and i just wasn't kicking the junky lungs part very quickly so it was quite easy to use the cold (weather and sickness) as an excuse. this past week, i've been trying to get out the door a little more, but it was only mildly successful. next week will be better. this always happens to me and i've learned that after i get derailed, i can't try to start right back up at higher mileage and several workouts/week. i just need to get myself out the door and get in easy mileage.
this week:
tuesday - sprint workout with kyla - 2x450 at 75 second 400 pace, followed by 4 fast 200s. after i cooled down a bit, i decided to try and see if i could do another 12 dungeons since i was already good and warmed up (ha). i made it to 8 before i stopped. i was having a hard time running relaxed and not too fast after the sprinting, so i decided to cut it short since it was counter-productive. a long cool down of 4 miles probably put me at about 6 for the day.
thursday - easy 4-4.5 mile run at lunchtime
sunday - easy 6 miles

my goal next week is to run at least 5 times and to go an average of at least 5 miles each time. i'll be doing kyla's workout with her again on tuesday, but other than that, probably just easy miles.

new year

well, i kind of fell off the wagon for a while - maybe 3 weeks... yikes. but this week has gotten off to a decent start:
monday: 3 miles on the indoor track "with" steve. it was all my knees and my sanity could take.
tuesday: did a workout with one of the sprinters. luckily, that is the only day of the week that i coul do their workouts with them, probably, and she didn't have anyone to run with. 1/2 mile warm-up, 2 x 500 at 6:00 mile pace, 4 x 200 fast - 33, 33, 35, 36. lots of recovery in between and 1 mile cool down. not a lot of mileage total, but it was a fun workout to do, so i think i'll keep doing that on tuesdays. i'll have the advantage of not having done 14x200 the day before.
wednesday: basically off, though i did jog 1 mile out to the start of the team's hill workout
thursday: dungeons with keren g (soccer/track coach) up in the rec center. we did 12 and averaged around 30.5 i think.