Every day is a new day

I have really tired legs today. Too much hill work as left my legs dead.  I decided a modest treadmill day was the only answer.  Felt a little better after a 2 mile warm up, but the run was hard the whole way.  Ended up with 7.75 miles in 69 minutes for around an 8:55 average.  Knee and foot are bothersome but no worse.  I think I will make it through the next race in five weeks.  Then a little time off is probably required.

Climbed another mountain today with the family.  3000' elevation gain over about 3 miles.  The legs were tired by the end.  I want to call this about 4.5 easy miles since the heart rate was 125-140 for over 90 minutes.

Legs are very, very sore today.  One hill run and two hill climbs in one week was a little too much too soon for this guy.  I planned on 12-15 easy pace miles today but it was obvious after 5 that without slowing to a crawl this was not happening today.  I kept going at normal long run pace (8:55) for as long as the pain in my legs, knee and foot could stand.  Ended up with 10.3 miles around town in 92 minutes.  Moderation in all things.  Maybe someday I will learn that lesson.

Knee is still an issue.  Could be a small menicus tear or just a general strain.  Does not get worse or better.  Since it does not hurt to run I will keep running for now.

High school x-c starts tonight so I plan on running with the team so I only ran a slow 3.25 miles in thirty minutes to try and loosen up my hill climbing tired legs.  Felt good to run an easy short distance.  Hope the workout tonight is not too intense.

Ran the cross trail with the team this evening.  Ran the cross trail which has a lot of up and down and a lot of trail steps and foot bridges.  Kind of slick today.   Ran a total of 3.8 miles in 34 minutes.  Harder by quite a bit effort wise than an easy run.

Ran a  six mile warm up on the flat part of HPR in 54 minutes(9:00/mile).  Five minute rest, then joined friends for the Tuesday evening hill climb. Ran the 3.2 miles up 1600' to the bridge in 38 minutes(11:50/mile).  One minute rest then ran the 3.2 miles back down in 26 minutes(8:08/mile).  Total 12.4 miles  in 118 minutes for a rather slow 9:30 average.

Back from a fishing trip.  Eight easy miles in the gym.  Knee bothersome today.

I have been having trouble going more than about ten miles recently.  Minor injury, a lot of hill work, no tempo work and a general blaa feeling has made long runs not just hard but impossible.  So today I decided  that with a 16 mile hilly relay leg only three weeks away I at better get some distance in, no matter how slow I needed to go.

Ran two very slow warm up miles in 20:00 in the park trail system.  I then came out on the road and ran out past Whale Park, past the mill and out to the hatchery road gate and back.  Pace was mostly in the  9:00-9:30 pace depending on hills.  My goal was to make it out and back with no stops and no fluids,(it'sonly 50 degrees today), so on both goals I suceeded.  Ran the remaining 13.1 miles in 2:01 for a 9:15 average pace.  I tried to keep my HR around132-134 and did exceept for hills and the slow climb with time.

I feel a little better about the race now.  A little speed work is still in order however.

Just an easy 8.5 treadmill miles after the long run yesterday.  Legs were tired today and the knee was quite sore.  Just want to get through the race on the 5th.

Just six easy treadmill miles as I hope the weather allows the Tuesday evening run up Harbor Mountain.

P.M.  Ran a 1.5 mile warmup at about a 9:00 pace.  Then did the standard Harbor mountain run.  Ran 3.2 miles with 1600 foot elevation gain in a slow 39 minutes.  Easy run back down in 26 minutes.

Knee was not much of a problem today.  Getting better or just luck?  Will see tomorrow.

Very tired after last nights mountain climb.  Raining hard today so just did an easy hour recovery run.  Knee mostly OK.

Traveling in central Oregon temps have been in the 105-110 range, a little different from the 50-55 I have been used to.  No time to run on Wednesday due to travel and delays.  The only free time yesterday was mid afternoon and I could not see running on a highway at 3 PM air temp 108.  Today I found a treadmill at a nearby motel and did an easy ( hard) 5 miles.  It was hard because the room was over 80 degrees and I faded fast after the first twenty minutes.  It has been a full year since I ran in hot weaqther.

Last day of this short trip.  Four flights to get home today plus a fair amount of driving.  Managed to get five treadmill miles at the hotel early in the morning.  Back to normal schedule tomorrow.

Back at home again.  Ran on the treadmill to try an interval/progression run.  Ran a 2.5 mile warm up then ran 5 x a progression from 8:30/mile down to 6:30/miles in :15 increments every thirty seconds.  This gave me some foot turnover that has been lacking without too much strain on my knee.  Workout felt good,  nice to know I can actualy run faster than long run pace.

P.M.

Feeling pretty good I decided for a short recovery run.  I did 4.7 miles in the park at about 9:00-9:15 pace.

A.M. -  Ran an easy recovery hour on the treadmill.  Legs tight after yesterdays workout. Total of 6.5 miles including a very slow first mile warmup.

P.M.  Two mile warm up in 18:00 to get ready for the evening hill climb.  Did the normal Tuesday evening run up the mountain with the crew.  Managed the 3.2 miles up the hill with a  total elevation gain of 1600 feet in 36:02.  Turned around and did a slow run down the hill in 26:10.

Long day leading to a high mileage week.  I need to be careful not to do too much with the race only a couple of weeks away.

I felt really sore and out of it this morning.  Two days of two a day with a hard session each day will do that.  Thought about a rest day but decided the best thing would be a really easy day.  So in light of that I am happy I made it through the 7 miles in 63 minutes.  Feel much better now.

Still tired and sore.  Decided another easy day was the best thing then either a tempo day tomorrow or another easy day and a long run on Saturday even though I will be a big weekly mileage increase.  Ran 8 miles in 71 minutes.  Knee sore.

Still sore at the start but came around after a mile or so.  Another easy day so I can do either speed or long tomorrow even though I am up on mileage.

Did an easy 8.3 miles in 75 minutes.  No issues besides the ever present knee soreness.  One of those runs where I made myself stop, felt like running another hour.

Just as I was about to start my run the sun disappeared and the downpour started.  I had no gear for the conditions so I relucantly went to the gym.  Long run day but I decided to only go until I felt tired and not push it.  Ran at a 9:00/ mile pace and ended up with 12.5 miles in 1:52.  I felt ok but was fading near the end.  I should not at that speed but figured that water loss in the humid gym was probably the culprit.  I weighed myself before and after, and because I do not drink anything while running, and found I had lost 8 pounds of water which is a little high even for me who always losses at least five.  I suspect hydration would have eased the run.  High mileage for me this week.

Thought I better do something besides an easy day today.  Given my knee and other issues I wanted to make sure I did a workout that I could actually complete, since it's only 11 days til the race and I did not want to do something I could not complete.

Tempo seemed the right choice, abet a moderate tempo.  Ran 2 miles at 9:00 as a warm up, then 5.25 miles at just under 8:00 and a 2 mile cooldown at 9:15.  Breathing was fine, legs were a little tired and my knee was complaining but not enough to consider stopping.  All in a good workout that makes me feel like I can do quite a bit more.

  A.M.    Did an easy 4.5 mile recovery run on the treadmill in the morning.  Legs were only a little stiff after yesterdays tempo run.

P.M.  Did a 3 mile warm up before the group run up the mountain.  Ran the 3.2 miles up in 37 minutes with a gain of 1600 feet.  Turned around and jogged back down in 25 minutes.  No issues, a nice run on a nice fall day.

Legs fairly well trashed from the mountain run last night.  Funny because I went a little slower than the week before.  I realized that due to being cold, ( it's only in the low 50's), none of the group stretches after the run.  It is late enough by the time I get home I haven't bothered.  No wonder my legs hurt.

Anyway a slow recovery run was the order of the day.  I ran 7.2 miles in 65 minutes.  Went fine after my legs loosened up.

Time for an interval run, and since I am racing a 14 mile leg next week I decided to stick with a 3 x 1600 workout.  Started with a 2 mile warm up at a 9:00 pace.  Then ran the intervals at 7:20, 7:05 and 6:55 pace with a .33 jog.  Then ran a 1.2 mile cooldown at 9:00.  All in all felt pretty good.

I could not believe how dead my legs were today.  Running a 9:00 pace seemed like 7:00.  I struggled around the park with hurting legs that never really felt any better.  Could not really pick up the pace.  Ended up with 5 miles in 45 minutes and decided enough was enough.  I think I have done a little to much hard workouts and miles recently.  I may pass on the 5K that will be run after the high school xc meet.  I will decide in the morning.

Today was the only home CC meet of the season so I spent a good part of the day marking the course and adjusting for a last minute route change.  Spent a long time removing the cones and flagging trom the national park we use for the race after it was all over.  I only got three miles in for my four shortcut  trips back and forth from the start line to the two mile mark to record split times for the runners.  Did I say it was a little wet?  It was almost hard to see it was raining so hard.  A number of runners fell on the course today and that has never happened before.  Iwas so wet that I had to travel back home to warm up and change.  I felt a little under the weather at that point so decided to rest today and join the Sunday group for a long short or short long run.  I hope to get at least 12-14 miles in as the last serious workout before Fridays relay race.

Last long run before the relay that starts Friday night at 6:00 PM.  I will not run til about 02:00 AM on Saturday.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temps about 50-52 at 8:00 AM.  Ran a 3.3 mile warm up at 9:00/ mile pace.

  Then met up with the group for the planned 8 mile Green Lake run.  It turned out we ended up at 4.3 miles at the turnaround and did this at a 9:00/ mile pace as well but it included at least ten significant hills.  Turned around and ran back, and as a side note I have a great deal more respect for all those stroller runners.  I took my turn with the stroller for the biggest hill and a total of a little over a mile.  I was worn out!  It was of course harder to run up hills but it was really hard running down as well.  It was ok on the flats but this course had little of that.  So all you folks looking for better training ideas...... push a stroller. Ended the group run at 8.6 (12.3 for me) miles and then ran a slow cooldown for the last 3.35 with one other person. 

 She is a steady runner but does not push much for speed.  I did the old very slow but steady increase in speed to see if she would follow.  Ended up she finished the 15.65 going at least  30 seconds/mile faster than she thought she could.  We are all looking forward to the race.

Another 1.35 miles in the evening just to loosen up.  Felt good to move. I am looking forward to running in the middle of the night during the relay.  It is a great time running from Skagway Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territories.  !46 teams, near zero population it is a great time.