Every day is a new day

Thought New Years Day was a good day for an easy morning run.  Ran the park loops for 1:30:30.  Nothing special except I had the park to myself as it was blowing about 40mph.  A good relaxing first run of the new year.

Heavy rain and icy roads lead me back to the treadmill today.  Not very crowded so got my full time in do do an easy day run.  No issues besides bordom.  Total time 1:09:10.

Beautiful day!  Sun peeking out through the clouds with only occasional rain with temp around 40.  perfect day for a road run.

I had forgotten the value of music during harder workouts.  i wore my i-pod today and felt good even during the faster/hilly parts.  It does make a difference.

Ran a total of 9.1 miles with miles 2,4 and 7 at an average of 7:00/mile ( 7:20, 6:40 and 7:00) and miles 1,3,5,6,8 and 9 at 8:45/ mile for a total of 1:14:00.  Good solid workout for me anyway.

Beautiful not a cloud in the sky type of day. Snow covered moutains and volcano, calm expanse of the ocean and the national forest that surrrounds our town make this place amazing.

Obviously there was no other choice but an outside run.  Temps in the teens made a slow easy pace run a bit chilly but a small price to pay for the view.

A little sore from yesterday encouraged me not to add any speed miles today.

Nothing exciting today.  Did an out and back to Whale Park, (yes you usually can see a whale or two- none today however), at an average of 8:44/mile.  Legs were sore the whole run.  Even  though the number of miles was not that high this week, I just realized this was the seventh day in a row I ran.  Rest day it is for tomorrow!

Weather was nice, overcast 32-33 degrees with almost no wind.  Icy in spots on the edge of the road.  Way more traffic than usual, maybe because I ran later in the day.

Still sore even after a day off.  Memo to self: remember this when you do not want to take the occasional day off.

Easy day seemed to be the answer with continuing soreness.  So warmed up and set the mill for 9:00/mile.  Boredom set in right away so to mix it up I ran miles 1,3,5 and 7 at 0 % incline.  Ran mile 2, 4 and 6 at 4, 5 and 6 % incline.  The last was a bit of a struggle.  I really do not do enough hill work.

Legs were really sore today.  That and this lingering cold put me squarely in the " I do not want to run today" mode.  Since I started running regularly in March I have missed runs but not once due to " I do not feel like it" bad days.  I was determined that this would not be the first.  Winds of 30+ and light blowing snow were not factors. 

Decided I was sore enough that a true slow recovery run was in order.  Ran out the road and back, out into the wind and a big push comming back.  Took a casual 1:07 to do the 7.5 miles.  Legs never went quiet but never got bad either.  Since I feel way better now I am sure glad I forced myself to run.  Isn't it almost always that way?

When it rains it snows.  Over 8 inches of heavy and slushy snow.  No roads were plowed today so outdoor running was not an option.

Went to the gym. Looked good as all four treadmills were open.  Started with a longer than usual 3 mile warm up at 8:45/ mile.  Sped the machine up to do a tempo run and it quit...quickly....and I didn't.  Fortunately no injury.  Moved to the next machine,  it did not work either.  Third machine..... belt slipping so badly the tread stopped on each footfall so as a result it was unusable.  Last machine, the one I never use, the one that reads 3.5 mph low was the only option.  Ramped it up to 5.2 mph( 8.7 real speed) and started a tempo run when after a mile and a half, you guessed it, the breaker trips and I'm lucky not to be on the deck.  Sometimes you have to just admit defeat.  lets just call this a recovery day and move on.  On the way back to work I bought a set of Yak trax so the icy conditions expected tomorrow will not prevent an outdoor run.

The things we will do to excercise!

I have had for the last 10 days the worst bout of the flu in many, many  years.  I will not bother with the details except no running Thurs, Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thurs or today if I had not pretended  I was racing for the gold to finish my 3.5 miles in less than 35 minutes.  I am glad it's gone and I can breath, live and run again.  The run actually helped clear my fully dysfunctional lungs, at least enough that going up the stairs doesn't require five minutes of rest before trying to find the route back down.  I can finally say tomorrow looks better than today.

Perfect sunny winter day!.  Cold, clear and no wind.  I wish my lungs were working so I could have really taken advantage of the day.  As it is I do feel lucky to make it through a very, very slow 7.2 miles in 1:08. My lungs, no matter how slow it seems to be happening, are better than yesterday and  the uncontrolled coughing is no only occasional.

Sunny day and the cough level was under 100 per mile.  lungs are improving but none to fast. It is unnerving to breath so hard while running slow.  Whale park and back for 8.5 miles in 75 minutes or about 8:49/mile.  Except for breathing so hard no other issues.

Cloudy day and the cough level was under 80 per mile.  Lungs are improving but none to fast. It is unnerving to breath so hard while running slow.  Whale park and back for 8.5 miles in 73 minutes or about 8:40/mile.  Except for breathing so hard, no other issues.

Ran 4 miles on an out and back to the track.  Hoped to do some intervals there, but the track was covered in glare ice.  Ran back to the gym and finished with 4 miles on the treadmill at a 8:20 pace.

Sunny day, great 30 degree afternoon for the Whale Park out and back route.

Lungs finally seem to be mostly clear with only minor coughing today. Ultra consistant with 35:50 minutes out and 36:10 minutes back.

Tried out the heart rate monitor.  Ave 146 ( 112-166) for the easy run.  I hope that is part due to the 9 days off and the flu.  HR is too high for an easy day its almost tempo rate.  Think I will try15-20 seconds a mile slower tomorrow and see what I get.  For us old folk an easy day should be a HR of 130 or less.

After yesterdays unexpexted rest day I thought I better put a few miles in today.  Ran the 1/2 marathon course plus a bit. Ran slow and easy, realizing I am still not 100% as my lungs are still stuffy and have periodic bouts of coughing.  So easy 13.5 miles 1:59 for just under      9:00 min/ mile.  Tired but feel fine.

Slow, short recovery jog.  Just enough to loosen up the legs.

It is eight degrees and the wind is blowing better than 30 mph.  Sorry, too cold for this guy.  Went to the gym and did a slow 2.5 mile warm up, then did 3x1600 at 7:00 with a three minute jog then a moderate paced cooldown for a total of 8.7 miles in 1:12 for an average of 8:28/mile.

Easy recovery day so kept the heartrate in the 130's.  Nice day sunny and not too cold. Plodded along for 76 minutes so works out to a 8:50 pace/ mile. Legs were just a little sore at the beginning. Not surprising since it had been a long time since my last speed work. Need to keep at it so I don't embarass myself at the 5K run in three weeks, which will be mainly high school xc kids.

I really like my data recording HR monitor and find the print out log of heartrate really interesting and useful for training.  The GPS on the other hand gives very suspect results.  I am afraid that the reception here in the great state of Alaska is below requirements for these little GPS units.

Blowing snow and no visability lead me to the gym today.  I hate tempo runs on the mill.  I don't mind intervals but bordom sets in way too fast on mid paced stuff.

Oh well, better the mill than nothing.  Ran a 3 mile warm up in 27:00 for 9:00/mile, then a 5K tempo run in 23:00 for 7:25/mile then a 2.1 cool down in 18:50 for 9:00/mile.  Total 8.2 miles in 1:08:50.

HR was high today peaked at 166 at the end of the 5K.

Just wanted to do an easy recovery run today. In the ice vs. treadmill battle the treadmill won.

Sucked it up an ran my 8.1 in 71 minutes for an 8:50 pace. Nice easy run felt great except for the bordom.  Ave HR  143.

So 159.5 miles for the month with 8 days down with the worst flu I can remember, so all in not too bad.  Will try to get back to the 210-220 level next month.