Every day is a new day

Nice day for a change and while still a lot of snow and ice around, it was sunny and in the mid 30's.  Decided a Whale Park run was a good choice.  Turned around before the park as I wanted to stay in the range of 7 miles as I hope to do another tempo run this week.  For the first time in recent memory I had to remind myself to keep to easy pace.  I take this as a good sign of inprovement.  7.5 miles in 1:08 for a 9:12 pace.

Wt. 192

Felt a little sore and a bit under the weather so wanted an easy treadmill day.  I did an hour and a minute or two for 6.75 miles.  Legs were tired at the beginning but felt great after warmup.  Still. I was a little bit tired at the end, I hope due to this nagging minor cold.  Temp II tomorrow if I feel that I can handle it.

Wt. 190

Did an easy tempo today as a guide to progress. It is one of my treadmill games. I start at 8:30 pace and do five miles increasing speed only at the mile points.  Only rules are it can't be "hard" ie. tempo pace and I can't slow down.  This keeps me from going too fast and the run does not seem to wear on the legs.  I am six minutes faster than my first day back a little over five weeks ago.  Time is still slow but I really feel the progress.  Ended up with i mile warm, 5 miles in 40 minutes and a 1.25 mile cool down.

Wt. 190

Long run delayed til tomorrow due to weather and partner requests.  So I just did an easy 6.8 miles in 65 minutes.  Legs only a little sore from yesterday.  Cold about the same.

Wt. 191

I was a little nervous about todays long run after last weeks failure at 11 miles.  So I prehydrated and carried fluid, something I do not normally do.  Met the group for the Green Lake run which is the hardest road run, abet beautiful, in town.  It is a convienent 6.55 miles one way but is an endless series of  short to medium steep little hills.  Being in a group helped and the run ended up being uneventful.  Dis a .75 warm up, the 13.1 miles in 2:01 and then a .75 mile cool down.  I think fluid was the problem last week.  Lesson learned- just because it is only 35 degrees does not mean fluid is optional on a two hour run.  Felt good, tired on the longer hills but overall was a fun run.

Did a small jog today in my continuing experiment with active rest days.  Just jogged 5K in 30 for a 9:40 pace then did a long stretching session.  Legs were a little sore at the beginning but felt no issues and it felt good to move a little.  We will see how my legs feel tomorrow and will still do an easy day before doing a tempo run on Wednesday.  Seems like a little movement is good rather than a day of no activity.  I am trying to get 8+ hours of sleep instead of my usual 5-6.  That may be having a greater impact than active days off but I am feeling pretty good except for still being far slower than last fall.

Debated all morning, tempo-easy-tempo-easy, since I have been pushing both tempo and distance the last month including active days off I was a little nervous about a tempo both from overuse as well as not wanting a failure to do the expected workout.  Felt good this morning with only minor aches so tempo it was.

Ran a 1 mile warm up.  Then 5.7 miles at 8:00 pace.  Stopped at 45 minutes as I did not want to overdo.  I was tired but had 1-1.5 miles left if I had needed to.  Ran a 1 mile cooldown.  Feel good about the workout and my progress back to reasonable fitness.  Wish I had six rather than three weeks til the race.

I have two goals for today.  Get in an early morning run to get used to running early BEFORE a morning race and get in a few two a days over the next couple of weeks.

Goal one met.  Got into town early and did a 48 minute 5.4 mile easy run in the park.  I forgot my outer layer and had to run with only my light t-shirt.  It was 35 degrees and raining so it was a wee bit cold. It surprises me how hard it is to run early in the morning.  Hope to get in a treadmill session this afternoon.

Goal two met.  Went to the gym this afternoon and did areal slow nice recovery run on the treadmill.  Legs a little sore but not tired.  Ran 5.25 in 49 minutes so real easy run.

Felt pretty stiff and sore this morning but nothing specific or troublesome.  Hope that means I am working hard but not overdoing.  Decided a careful easy day was in order.  Did a treadmill run of 7.1 miles at 9:05 pace.  Once warm had no issues and all in felt pretty good.

Wt. 190

The plan was 7.5 easy for today.  So much for plans.  I decided since my mileage would be up this week no extra tempo miles made sense.  So what did I do today?, yup 5K near race pace as a speed test.

Two mile warmup.

5K at 7:27, 7:20 and 7:10 with the last at :43 for a 22:40.

Then a 1.6 mile cooldown.

Felt pretty good the whole way with first mile easy, second mile pretty hard and the last mile easier than expected.  In the end a good workout assuming I did not strain anything.

Wt. 189

I had only planned on 5-6 very easy miles today.  Feeling just a little beat up and want to do 15 tomorrow.  Ran the park loops and was not happy with how hard I was breathing after a 9:17 first mile but decided I am tired and would just get the easy miles in and get back to work.  Tax season day 51 straight in my office.  Well I finished the our run doing 6.7 miles and the last mile was 8:15 so that made me feel a little better.  Hope to leave the office early, get a full nights sleep and then run my long run after work tomorrow.  Yeah I know Easter and all..... The IRS doesn't care.

Wt. 189

Should have been a rest day but I can't run tomorrow so I did my long run today did the downtown to the hatchery gate run.  Nice day temps in the mid forties.  I meant to do a slow easy run as I had more miles than I'm used to over the last seven days.  Wanted a 9:30 pace.  Started out OK at a 9:22 first mile but then did not look at my watch til the 7.1 mile turnaround point, 63:02.  Ran back with only the slightest hint of hamstring tightness and did the return in 63:07.  So .25 warm up and cool down and the run of 14.2 miles in 2:06:09 for an 8:53 pace.  A little fast for me but it was a good workout.  No running tomorrow.

I am continuing my "active" day "off" experiment.  Felt pretty sore this morning when I got up but no sign of stress or problems.  Decided it would be OK to do a very easy recovery jog.  So I did a 5K in just under 30 minutes.  No problems, pain or other indications of overtraining besides being leg tired and a little unmotivated.  This is the third week of an easy true recovery run day off.  So far so good.  I like a little bit of activity and my legs seem to like it as well.

I wanted to do a tempo run today but sore and tired legs seemed like it would be asking for trouble.  So easy run it was.  I ended up with 8.1 miles in 74 minutes for just over a 9:00 pace.  Felt great once the legs loosened up.  Stopped because I got to planned mileage, I actually wanted to do more.  Hopefully a tempo will be possible tomorrow.  I am really interested if I can carry the tempo pace a little longer than last week.

Tempo day.  I was actually looking forward to it.  Tax day is hard to find the spare time to run.  I decided that a run was worth the glares from my associates.  So tempo run it was.  My objective was to make at least five miles under an 8:00 pace.

I ran an easy 1.5 mile warm up then moved into the tempo run.  Ran the first three miles in 23:40 then made 5 in 38:45 fora 7:45pace ran out the 40 minutes for 5.2 miles. Then a 1mile cool down to finish up.  Whas pleased with this run as, while not my best tempo, it was an indication I am starting to get my fitness back.

A.M.   As is usual I am pretty sore after yesterdays tempo run. Clearly a day for a recovery run.  Tried really hard to keep the pace slow enough and for once had good pacing.  Ran a total of 9.1 miles at an overall average of 9:22 pace.  Just right for a recovery run.

P.M.  Had some free time, ( tax holiday day off), so I went back to the gym this afternoon and did a 20 minute workout on the elliptical then a good stretching session and then a half hour walk on the mill at 15% grade.  No miles for these events as they were for calorie burn not aerobic benefit.

Total for the day 2150 calories.

Wt. 187

Weather was unsettled and cooler but still fairly nice.  I ran the Totem Park to  Whale Park run.  Windy (20-25mph) most of the time and rain/sleet on the way back but all in all a good run with aprox. 9:00 average, total of 89 minutes.  Legs sore but fine.

Wt. 186

Just a recovery pace treadmill run today as I have a longer than usual long run planned for tomorrow.  Slow ran 6.1 miles in 56 minutes.  Felt a little tired today but not too bad.  Hopefully the lower mileage will allow for a good run tomorrow.

Wt. 185.5 - down 17 pounds in seven weeks.

Ran the Hatchery to top of the big hill past the Hatchery run.  Two of us did the whole thing and a number of others joined us for pieces of the run.  My objective was to run 2.5 hours easy and try gu and Gatoraid regularly to see how my stomach would deal with it.  I have never before eaten anything on a run and was curious as to the effect.

Slowand easy run with two stops for fueling.  For actual running time the pace averaged just under 9:10.  Discovered the fuel and high hydration levels really made the difference.  I was not the least bit worn out at the end.  Usually I am struggling a bit to keep pace at the end.  Today no problem at all.  I stopped because I did not want any more miles not because I was tired.

Wt.186

First no running day in almost four weeks.  Felt it wise to have an actual zero pounding sort of day.  I did 42 minutes on the elliptical at a middle of the road pace with light resistance.  Felt good and had no issues except a slight tenderness in my left calf.  Had it for a couple of days so bears watching.  May avoid speed work until I know it is gone.  Will call todays effort 3 easy miles.

Calf was a little more troublesome today.  Did not feel right walking and actually twinged a bit as I started running.  Almost painful at the achilles/ muscle interface on the inside of the left calf.  Stopped the run after .5 miles as I do not want it to get any worse.  Moved over to the elliptical and did a vigorous 60 minutes at a 9mph pace that I will call 5.5 miles equvalent.  Will rest tomorrow if need be and hope to be back running by Friday.  The pain is minor so I suspect the damage is too.  Hope for the best.

Must be getting close to a race.  My calf has turned into a full fledged strain.  Worse than yesterday by quite a bit.  Does not hurt to use the elliptical so I did 100 minutes at a moderate pace.  Guess that is worth 6 miles.  Hurts to walk this afternoon so guess I will quite until the pain is gone.

I am reluctant to try and run today.  Calf does not hurt walking or with any probing or massaging I do, but I know if I overdo any at all I will be out of luck for next weeks race.  The problem with calf/achilles strains is you don't know until it hurts and at that point you have done further injury.  So I did the elliptical for 65 minutes at an average rate of 8.8 MPH.  I will count that as 6 easy miles.  I hope to try a test jog tomorrow.

Tried out the calf today.  Still sore and not right.  Managed to run for 1.5 miles with only a little pain but required a gait change to do so.  I stopped to prevent injury and form change.  Moved to the 15% incline treadmill for 20 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of "running" at 5mph.  Then moved to the elliptical for 40 minutes and 5 miles.  Then moved back to the treadmill for 45 minutes at 12% grade with 30 minutes walking nd 15 running.  Total of 130 minutes of exercise with a calf pain level 4-7depending on activity.

Walked up Gavin Hill til the snow got too deep which was around 1400' up from the trailhead.  Power walked up the trail steeps.  Leg not right but not really bothered by the walk.  Gave up after the snow got over three feet thick.  Day off tomorrow to try to heal this thing. 

Ran one easy mile.  No calf pain but all of a sudden pretty severe achilles pain.  Stopped me in my tracks.  Walked back to the gym.  Stretched out and had no trouble, pain or real tightness anywhere in my leg.  Tried jogging.. same pain.  So went to the elliptical and tried something new.  To deal with the frustrations of injury I did a 5K as fast as I could go on the elliptical.  Put the resistance on my normal 11 and off I went.  So 19:12 later I finished the 5K.  Since this is over two minutes faster than I can run the same distance it helps to quantify the difference in machine vs. road.  Anyway  no leg pain on the machine and still hoping somehow I can run the half marathon on Sunday.

I did 65 minutes on the elliptical for 9.5 machine miles.  No pain.  Not favoring or limping anymore even though the limping was due to fear rather than pain.  No issues stretching calf or tendon.  Basicly I cannot make it hurt unless I run on it.  Walking, stretching, heel lifts, jumping or you name it no pain.  Jog at 6 mph and all of a sudden I have issues.  Starting to wonder about my sanity as much as my leg.  New plan, no running til Saturday.  Run, not jog, three miles.  Pain equals no race, no pain equals race.  I would normally just skip the race but I am flying 1600 miles to do this one so I really hate to go that far to watch.