soooo.... last week was not good. in fact, it was pretty bad. i've resolved to be better this week and not let the busyness of this time of year be an excuse to not get the miles in. that's what happened last week. i ran 6 or so on monday and 7 or 8 or something on thursday, and i think that was it.
steps i'm going to take to get through the end of the school year on track:
1. mon/wed/fri - get up at the same time as steve and go running first thing before work. this just has to happen.
2. make those days my longer easy days so that tues/thurs don't seem as daunting in the middle of the day or evening.
3. long runs...still haven't quite figured out the best day to do them, but i think i'm going to see whether wednesday ends up being a good day. i know d comes in to the office a little later because of k's late start, so that would be awesome if it works.
4. for the short term (this week and next week) anyway, top priority is just getting in the mileage. if i can also get in a workout or two each week, great, but if nothing else, i absolutely have to get in the miles.
so far, so good, for this week, though!
monday: 8 miles easy out woodley and back. my legs felt unbelievably awful given how many days they had off, but i did it anyway, and they did feel slightly better on the way back.
tuesday: 6 easy miles in the arb. legs felt much better than yesterday and until the last mile of the run, i averaged just under 7:30, which is really good for me in the arb.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
the last week
yikes! i haven't updated in a week! this week went pretty well; i would have liked to have gotten in 6 days and 40 miles, but 35 mi in 5 days was pretty good.
monday: 5 miles easy in the arb
tuesday: OFF. a long day in the office and a hs track meet i was recruiting at conspired to keep me from running this day. i thought i might have time after the track meet, but then a second recruit that i hadn't planned on seeing was there and i stayed later. it was great to see her, but it meant no run.
wednesday: 6 mile progressive run. this was sort of an impromptu workout. 43:28 total (7:22 pace) first 2.45 miles were 7:45 pace and last 3.45 were 7:05. my guess is that i was probably under 7:00 for at least a bit of that, but unsure exactly.
thursday: 7 miles easy with the team during morning practice. legs felt pretty tired, probably from the workout the day before. they felt especially tired toward the end of the run.
friday: 7 mile easy run over some hills - out spring creek, east, looping back to woodley. felt great and ran around 7:30 pace.
saturday: OFF. Track meet all day.
sunday: this was a great out and back run on wall st. tried to go quicker on the way back than on the way out. legs felt pretty bad - heavy/tired - until about mile 6, and then they felt really good by the end. probably just tired from standing around at the meet all day saturday. started off around 8:00 pace and progressed down to 7:00 pace for last mile.
overall: 35 miles in 5 days, 2 great workouts.
i talked with dave for a bit this week about races to train for and workouts/mileage for the next month. i'm excited to have a plan and to start getting signed up for races!
monday: 5 miles easy in the arb
tuesday: OFF. a long day in the office and a hs track meet i was recruiting at conspired to keep me from running this day. i thought i might have time after the track meet, but then a second recruit that i hadn't planned on seeing was there and i stayed later. it was great to see her, but it meant no run.
wednesday: 6 mile progressive run. this was sort of an impromptu workout. 43:28 total (7:22 pace) first 2.45 miles were 7:45 pace and last 3.45 were 7:05. my guess is that i was probably under 7:00 for at least a bit of that, but unsure exactly.
thursday: 7 miles easy with the team during morning practice. legs felt pretty tired, probably from the workout the day before. they felt especially tired toward the end of the run.
friday: 7 mile easy run over some hills - out spring creek, east, looping back to woodley. felt great and ran around 7:30 pace.
saturday: OFF. Track meet all day.
sunday: this was a great out and back run on wall st. tried to go quicker on the way back than on the way out. legs felt pretty bad - heavy/tired - until about mile 6, and then they felt really good by the end. probably just tired from standing around at the meet all day saturday. started off around 8:00 pace and progressed down to 7:00 pace for last mile.
overall: 35 miles in 5 days, 2 great workouts.
i talked with dave for a bit this week about races to train for and workouts/mileage for the next month. i'm excited to have a plan and to start getting signed up for races!
Monday, April 9, 2012
so far, so good...
6 mi @ 7:00 - i didn't feel my shin at all, and then i stretched a bunch. like the title says: so far, so good...
wrapping up the week...
last week started off well and then went completely off the rails, ending with 2 out of 3 days off and shin soreness...
fri: off (unintentional)
sat: off (intentional - sort of)
sun: 6 mi. @ 7:00
total: 28 in 4 days :(
running sunday felt ok, but i could feel my right shin a little... i can't tell if it is shin splints coming on, but i kind of think it might be. that's actually good news compared to the alternative, which starts with s and rhymes with press fracture!
this week i plan to be more cautious, staying on soft surfaces only, and only going for 35 mi. again.
fri: off (unintentional)
sat: off (intentional - sort of)
sun: 6 mi. @ 7:00
total: 28 in 4 days :(
running sunday felt ok, but i could feel my right shin a little... i can't tell if it is shin splints coming on, but i kind of think it might be. that's actually good news compared to the alternative, which starts with s and rhymes with press fracture!
this week i plan to be more cautious, staying on soft surfaces only, and only going for 35 mi. again.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
forty!
sunday: 8 miles, roughly 7:45 pace, in the arb. i had planned to go 5 on sat and 6 sun, but after the day off on sat, i decided that i could go 7 on sunday. once i got going, my legs felt astonishingly good for having felt so well-worked on friday, and i realized that if i ran 8 miles i'd get 40 for the week. that would be a nice milestone after a few weeks of goofing around in the low 30s. my legs were still feeling good in the middle, so i went ahead and did 4. the only thing that felt tired was my quads, which i felt increasingly on each hill. that was kind of funny, given that it seemed that the backs of my legs from hips to ankles were what was so weak during the workout. clearly it worked the quads too and they were still a little tired. tomorrow may be slow, but i'm bound and determined not to go short!
week recap:
40 miles, 10 mile long run, 2 workouts. booyah!
next week's goals: 40-48 miles, depending on number of days (6 vs 7), 10 mile long run, 1-2 workouts. saturday we have a meet at river falls that could be a long one, so it's quite possible i won't be able to get a run in that day, but i'll sure try!
week recap:
40 miles, 10 mile long run, 2 workouts. booyah!
next week's goals: 40-48 miles, depending on number of days (6 vs 7), 10 mile long run, 1-2 workouts. saturday we have a meet at river falls that could be a long one, so it's quite possible i won't be able to get a run in that day, but i'll sure try!
getting there!
wednesday: 5 easy in the arb. legs felt kind of dead, probably from doing the workout on monday and then lifting on tuesday, but other than that, i felt pretty good.
thursday: 6 easy in the arb. stopped by stadium and then hit the trails - legs felt decent, but lower legs especially still felt a little heavy.
friday: 10 with a workout. woof. this was a great workout, but pointed out how far i still have to go. it was a great first step, though, and i walked away feeling really good about how it had gone. i did it with nichole, brenden and brooke - n & bd running together and brooke and me together. we were planning to do 2 miles warm-up, 2x2 miles of threshold with 2 min between, and then possibly a 5th mile of workout. we did them on the dundas path, starting by qt, and the first mile was 6:34, followed by a 6:32 or something. the second mile was kind of uphill. i was starting to fall off brooke just a bit toward the end, but then i'd recatch her and i think i finished with her. she got going on the second one, though (probably since it was a little downhill), and i went through the first mile in around 6:22 and she had a few meters on me. i could tell that running her pace was forcing it for me, and i needed to go a little slower. the second, flat mile, was 6:37. by that second mile, everything from calves to hams to glutes was getting really tight and hurty. not like tying up, but i could tell that my muscular strength is not so great right now. those are going to be really good workouts for that, but i had never thought of threshold workouts as strength workouts before. maybe i was pushing my pace a little (very possible) but at the same time, i don't know that i could have stayed that close to target pace for that long with that little recovery if it wasn't pretty close to threshold. my guess is that the pace was right, but my muscles are weak right now. i need to start doing some hills and more workouts like that one. i could tell i had worked hard because i was having to work a little bit to run 8:20s on the way back for the cooldown. that was a good feeling and one i haven't had in a really long time.
saturday: OFF. kind of weak-willed, but also thought it wouldn't be the worst thing to keep taking a day off each week until my mileage gets a little higher and the track season is over.
thursday: 6 easy in the arb. stopped by stadium and then hit the trails - legs felt decent, but lower legs especially still felt a little heavy.
friday: 10 with a workout. woof. this was a great workout, but pointed out how far i still have to go. it was a great first step, though, and i walked away feeling really good about how it had gone. i did it with nichole, brenden and brooke - n & bd running together and brooke and me together. we were planning to do 2 miles warm-up, 2x2 miles of threshold with 2 min between, and then possibly a 5th mile of workout. we did them on the dundas path, starting by qt, and the first mile was 6:34, followed by a 6:32 or something. the second mile was kind of uphill. i was starting to fall off brooke just a bit toward the end, but then i'd recatch her and i think i finished with her. she got going on the second one, though (probably since it was a little downhill), and i went through the first mile in around 6:22 and she had a few meters on me. i could tell that running her pace was forcing it for me, and i needed to go a little slower. the second, flat mile, was 6:37. by that second mile, everything from calves to hams to glutes was getting really tight and hurty. not like tying up, but i could tell that my muscular strength is not so great right now. those are going to be really good workouts for that, but i had never thought of threshold workouts as strength workouts before. maybe i was pushing my pace a little (very possible) but at the same time, i don't know that i could have stayed that close to target pace for that long with that little recovery if it wasn't pretty close to threshold. my guess is that the pace was right, but my muscles are weak right now. i need to start doing some hills and more workouts like that one. i could tell i had worked hard because i was having to work a little bit to run 8:20s on the way back for the cooldown. that was a good feeling and one i haven't had in a really long time.
saturday: OFF. kind of weak-willed, but also thought it wouldn't be the worst thing to keep taking a day off each week until my mileage gets a little higher and the track season is over.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
oh boy ... way behind!
ok, so apparently it has been about a week since i posted anything... oops! ok - here it goes:
last week:
fri: off (intentionally)
sat: 6 in the arb! (iron gate - actually 5.8 or 5.9)
sun: 6.5 in the arb with the current Fellahs! (iron bridge via stadium)
total last week: a whopping 34! i got a few bonus miles in on the weekend and with metz.
this week:
mon: 6.25 - not easy, but ok. felt good.
tues: off (grumpy / quasi-unintentional)
wed: 8.75 (!) long run along the rver down to the U - felt amazing!
so far so good the last two weeks, so hopefully i will get to about 37 this week!
last week:
fri: off (intentionally)
sat: 6 in the arb! (iron gate - actually 5.8 or 5.9)
sun: 6.5 in the arb with the current Fellahs! (iron bridge via stadium)
total last week: a whopping 34! i got a few bonus miles in on the weekend and with metz.
this week:
mon: 6.25 - not easy, but ok. felt good.
tues: off (grumpy / quasi-unintentional)
wed: 8.75 (!) long run along the rver down to the U - felt amazing!
so far so good the last two weeks, so hopefully i will get to about 37 this week!
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
awkward
tuesday: 5 miles, easy, ~8:15 pace. I was really proud of myself for doing this run. I didn't really feel like going, and once I started, my legs felt kind of crappy. It was probably the result of Monday's workout and lifting with the team that morning, both good things, but it would have been easy to just do the typical out and back 4 miles. Instead, I told myself that my legs didn't really feel that bad and that I should just keep going another 1/2 mile out and then it would be just as easy coming back as ever. Right after the 4 mile turn-around, though, I bumped into my creepy ex-landlord out for a bike ride. We both instantly recognized each other when he was about 10 ft away (biking toward me), and I heard him say my name in the second that he passed me. Actually, he called me Casey, which he always did...infuriating. I refused to turn around and picked it up a bit so that I could take a right on the dirt road instead of continuing up the paved road, just in case he decided to turn around and chat. I think he's actually a nice guy with good intentions, but he comes off like a major creeper. Always better safe than sorry, especially when you're running by yourself in the middle of nowhere.
It did not escape me that if I had turned around at 4 instead of going for 5, we would have been going in the same direction on opposite sides of the road, which either would have meant we didn't make eye contact and wouldn't have had any reaction...or he would have recognized me and then we'd be going in the same direction and I wouldn't be able to avoid him. I suppose that things worked out about as well as possible, but in any case, I'm avoiding that route in the evenings for a while.
It did not escape me that if I had turned around at 4 instead of going for 5, we would have been going in the same direction on opposite sides of the road, which either would have meant we didn't make eye contact and wouldn't have had any reaction...or he would have recognized me and then we'd be going in the same direction and I wouldn't be able to avoid him. I suppose that things worked out about as well as possible, but in any case, I'm avoiding that route in the evenings for a while.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
back on track
monday: 6 miles, track workout. today, tori was practicing in the morning, so i told her that i would do her workout with her. this was awesome. we warmed up, stretched, did drills and then did a mile pace, over under workout with at least double time recovery after each repeat. we started with 2x600 at 2:22, 2:24 (shooting for 2:21), 3x400 at 92, 92, 91 (shooting for 92), 3x300 at 64, 64, 62 (shooting for 67, but she was feeling really good after the 400s, so i let her bring it down some). she did some 200s after, but i didn't do those with her because i really wanted to watch her form.
this workout was great for a couple of reasons. 1- i hadn't done a workout on the outdoor track in a really long time, so it was nice to get going on there again. 2- i was really pleasantly surprised how easy the 600s felt. even though i took her through a little slower than she was shooting for, it was more a problem of figuring out that pace than it was the pace being too difficult. i think i could have done 800s at that pace and done a few of them. my guess is that it was somewhere between 5k pace and threshold pace for me. the mile pace works out to about 6:24 for the 2:24 600. my estimate is that it's closer to the 5k end of the spectrum, but regardless, it has me fired up about where my fitness may be at right now. i should talk with dave, but doing something on the track each week or every other week might be a good way to keep myself fired up about training.
this workout was great for a couple of reasons. 1- i hadn't done a workout on the outdoor track in a really long time, so it was nice to get going on there again. 2- i was really pleasantly surprised how easy the 600s felt. even though i took her through a little slower than she was shooting for, it was more a problem of figuring out that pace than it was the pace being too difficult. i think i could have done 800s at that pace and done a few of them. my guess is that it was somewhere between 5k pace and threshold pace for me. the mile pace works out to about 6:24 for the 2:24 600. my estimate is that it's closer to the 5k end of the spectrum, but regardless, it has me fired up about where my fitness may be at right now. i should talk with dave, but doing something on the track each week or every other week might be a good way to keep myself fired up about training.
yikes
i'm so far behind! here's a major recap:
wednesday: really didn't want to go running, but got myself out the door and got in 4 miles, easy.
thursday: 5 miles in the arb. mylegs felt pretty tired, but the pace was decent - probably around 8:15.
friday: OFF. this was kind of unintentional, but welcome.
saturday: 5 miles. without going into too much detail, this run was pretty terrible. my legs didn't feel very good, and i had the worst GI situation that I have had on a run to date. bottom line (ha), not a great run.
sunday: OFF. unintentional, and kind of weak-willed. i delayed my long run from the morning because my tummy was still a little bit rumbly from the night before. i convinced myself that i'd go later, which, of course, didn't happen because i got busy and had work that had to get done that night. we also decided that since ku was playing in the national championships, we needed to make jersey's for the 5 10k runners to wear for monday's practice. they were awesome, but my lack of a run was not so awesome.
weekly total: not enough. 24 miles, no long run
goals for next week. no runs less than 5 miles unless legs are just totally wrecked. 10 mile long run. try for 7 days, but okay with 6 if there is a good reason. if only 6 days, shoot for 37 miles and if 7 days, shoot for 42.
wednesday: really didn't want to go running, but got myself out the door and got in 4 miles, easy.
thursday: 5 miles in the arb. mylegs felt pretty tired, but the pace was decent - probably around 8:15.
friday: OFF. this was kind of unintentional, but welcome.
saturday: 5 miles. without going into too much detail, this run was pretty terrible. my legs didn't feel very good, and i had the worst GI situation that I have had on a run to date. bottom line (ha), not a great run.
sunday: OFF. unintentional, and kind of weak-willed. i delayed my long run from the morning because my tummy was still a little bit rumbly from the night before. i convinced myself that i'd go later, which, of course, didn't happen because i got busy and had work that had to get done that night. we also decided that since ku was playing in the national championships, we needed to make jersey's for the 5 10k runners to wear for monday's practice. they were awesome, but my lack of a run was not so awesome.
weekly total: not enough. 24 miles, no long run
goals for next week. no runs less than 5 miles unless legs are just totally wrecked. 10 mile long run. try for 7 days, but okay with 6 if there is a good reason. if only 6 days, shoot for 37 miles and if 7 days, shoot for 42.
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