Every day is a new day

Five easy equivalent.

Thirty five minutes on the elliptical then 10 minutes on the treadmill.  First actual running since new Years eve. Just about killed me aerobicly but did not bother the knee or foot much at all.  Will slowly try to get back into running mode as injury allows.

I just did 45 minutes on the elliptical today.  Foot and knee not sore but I can feel it.

Ran a little over thirty minutes at about a 9:00 pace.  Hard due to lack of running but no problem with the knee or foot.  That said both are sore tonight.  I think I will stay with the one day run one day elliptical for now until I see what 25-40 miles a week will look like in a month or so.

Walked 2.5 miles at 4.2 mph at 15% slope.  Then did 2.5 miles in 20 minutes on the elliptical.  Both knee and foot hurt a little.

real miles

52 minutes elliptical

real miles

60 minutes elliptical

Real miles.

Well the vacation is over.  Meetings, work,injury it is always something.  My body did not completely heal, and I wonder if my knee will ever be a non issue.  The pain is modest so I am going to start training for a half on the 3rd of May.  I feel silly working hard to get only 5 miles in and slow miles at that.  Oh well I feel and know I need at least two weeks of slow and easy to get back into the swing of things.  This was the hardest 5 easy miles I have done in a long tome.

I did 4 miles at an  8:45  pace followed  by 20  minutes  on the elliptical.  Felt pretty good.

2.5 mileson the treadmill the 35 minutes on the elliptical.

I decided to see if I could make more than five miles.  Still stayed at an easy pace of 9:00/ mile and, although tired, had no trouble making the 6 miles. I hope that a couple of easy weeks will put me back to where I can actually train again. 

For the first time in 61 days I got out on the road.  It was a beautiful sunny day with noon temp at 34 degrees.  Much of the ice has melted or at least was mushy so the roads, with a few exceptions, were good to run on.  I did the Whale park run but turned around at 3.25 as I am not yet ready for an easy day nine miler.  I did however manage to survive the big hill and feel like I achieved something.  What I know I achieved is very sore legs.  With little running, alll on a treadmill the road will takea little getting used to. I have 60 days to get back in shape.  Not long enough for any PR's but  long enoughto train toa level so as not to embarass byself and avoid injury at the same time.  Just a couple of miles tomorrow then a tentitive tempo run on  Thursday

65 elliptical minutes today.  Rest  day from running,

3 miles at 8:30 pace was going ok til the power went out in the gym.  Ended up doing 30 more minutes of exercise on the elliptical.

Just 4 easy miles until my knee tightened up.  Enough for ne day.

Only 2.25 treadmill miles before the breaker tripped again.  Did 35 elliptical minutes as well for an assumed 5 miles.

Foot hurts a lot today so no running.  Did 50 minutes on the elliptical then walked 2 miles at 15% grade on the mill to get the 1000 calorie mark for the day.  Bought new shoes and inserts.  They seem a little more cushoning so maybe that will help.  Continued a lot of calf and hamstring stretching.

Five real miles today.  Thought it time to pick up the pace a bit so averaged 8:45 miles.  Foot hurt more than usual today.  Still hurts tonight actually.  Will not run tomorrow.  The good news is this is the first run since starting up again that was enjoyable not painful.  Maybe they are right about endourance returning relatively fast.  Anyway enjoyed the run except for the foot pain.

I did a 10 minute warm up of the bike then moved into a 55 minute, 7.7 mile session on the elliptical.  I taped my foot today for the first time and that without a doubt decreased the pain.  It actually did not hurt to use the elliptical.  Tomorrow I will try a short and slow run with my foot taped.  Between that and a night splint maybe I can beat this thing.

I feel like this was a good day.  Yesterday I started taping my foot.  I did it wrong a couple of times getting too close to the small toe and causing a little bruising, but the tape eliminated virtually all the plantar pain.  I felt good this mornig and decided to test it a little.  Felt like no harm if no better and if it let me run with less pain I was all for it.  Since I have another 1/2 marathon race in six short weeks and I took three month off until 13 days ago I realize I need to build mileage as fast as is safe to do so.  So with that in mind I did 7 miles in 64 minutes.  No foot pain and only a reasonable amount of leg soreness due to lack of miles.  Breathing finally seemed good as I was not winded just muscle tired.  But the best news is no plantar pain whatsoever.  Not during, not after and not now three hours later after sitting in my office.  I know the tape will not cure the problem so I will continue to do all the other things, but no pain is great and it should mean that healing is then possible.

I was only going to run a couple of miles today then cross train.  My taped foot felt pretty good so I decided to push just a little and ran an easy 10K.  I was a little surprised that it wasn't "easy" since yesterday was.  I know I should not expect too much too soon however and I still am lacking in endurance  clearly shown by being tired from yesterday. Still no real pain and two longer run days in a row, I feel pretty good about being ready to at least participate in a half race in a little over seven weeks.

Decided an easy day was a good idea since I have my first long run since November 30th scheduled for tomorrow.  Hope to do 12 with a range of 10-13.  I am running with a much faster runner so we will see.  So today I ran an easy 4.6 miles in 40 minutes then did 25 minutes on the elliptical.  Felt good, foot while taped feels good and even my knee was not any problem.  So that is 18.1 miles in three days with no foot pain.  Feels great to end a run without pain.

I went to the gym early today just to warm up and stretch.  So I did 25 minutes on the elliptical to warm up first.  Long run planned for late this afternon.

Update:  Missed my connection with the fast guy.  Ran in the park by myself instead.  Good news, bad news situation.  I ran 9 miles at a nine minute pace so a total of 81 minutes.  Since I have not run that far since November that is good news, the bad news was that was all I had to give at this point.  One more mile would have driven me to jog at best.  Still nine miles is better than nothing, and improvement is likely even by adding only a mile a week to the long run.  Seven weeks and counting til the next race.

Planned day off.  I went to the gym to do a little stretching and decided an unforced 40 minutes on the elliptical would still count as a rest day.  Foot felt great and my knee felt better than average,  So good day all around.

Felt tired at the start and almost decided to just do the treadmill.  I am sure glad I did not.  Ran the park loops then out the road to the small child tha plays in the street house and back the same way.  Felt much better than expected up the long (.4 mile) hill and felt good the whole way.  Started at a 9:15 pace and ended with an 8:30 last mile.  No foot problems at all.

Started with a 9:30/ mile warm up for 1 mile.  Then did a 5K tempo at 8:00/ mile for 24:40.  Then a 1 mile cool down at 9:30.  Felt a little winded but if the place was not busy and I could have stayed longer on the machine I feel 4 would have been easy, 4.5 a workout and 5 would have been the limit.  So not bad for my first tempo run since late November.  Since I only did 3.1 miles I may do another short tempo on Thursday.

Then did 25 minutes at a fairly easy pace on the elliptical to round out the session.  Felt like a real workout and shows me I have a long way to in a short time.  No foot pain at all.

Felt just a little sore today after the short tempo yesterday but not too bad.  Decided to do an easy run so ran 7 miles in 64:10 for a 9:10 pace.  Felt good but was a little tired at the end.  My legs were a little weak but fine in the end.  No foot or knee issues to report.  I hope I am doing a reasonable job of ot increasing time or effrt too fast.  Seems OK so far.

Legs were a little sore this morning.  I also slipped twice on ice last night and tweeked my foot a little bit but thankfully no obvious damage.  Decided a recovery pace or there abouts was all I wanted today.  Thought I would go until I started to tire or my legs started to complain.  Turned out I felt fine the whole time not winded or tired just bored. Decided 7.2 miles at a 9:10 pace was enough.  Legs are a little stiff now but not too bad.

Since I want to try a real honest long run this weekend, hopefully tomorrow, I decided to just do an easy 5 miles on the treadmill.  It seemed a little harder than it should and I was breathing a little harder than expected near the end.  When I stopped I realized that I was at a 2% slope which is not a lot but for a shallow base person it realy made a difference.  Anyway feel good ready for 12-14 this weekend.

I committed to a long run with a guy training for a full marathon.  He is about 30 seconds a mile faster for training pace so I knew even if he slowed down a little I would have a challenging day.  He did slow down but I have not run double diget miles since November.  I was a challenge but I did make it.

Times were: 1 mile @ 10:00 warm up

                   12 miles @ 9:00

                     1 mile @10:00  cool down

Last fall this would have been a pretty easy day, but with my lack of training this was about all I had.  Looking forwaerd to a day off tommorrow!

Easy day.  Felt better than expected after 14 miles on Saturday.  Only a little sore yesterday and fine today.  So I picked a 9:13 pace on the treadmill and did 8.1 for a little over 74 minutes.  A little tired near the end but it was hot in the gym today and I lost over 6 pounds of water during the run.  Maybe I need to hydrate if I am going to lose that much water.

It was supposed to be a tempo run today. While doing my 2 mile warm up I felt a slight twinge in my left calf. Just off and on, I did an extra .5 mile warm up. I decided that it was not worth the risk to run on a suspect calf. So after the 2.5 mile warm up I switched to the elliptical and did a fairly hard 45 minutes. Calf is just a wee bit sore so we will see what tomorrows warm up does.

Good news calf did not feel sore today.  Bad news is I have caught the lightheadedness cold.  Not much breathing trouble but feel "off".  Decided a run might help.  Did 6.1 miles om the mill at a 9:00 pace with 1% grade.  Calf got irritated right at the end so I stopped.  Felt tired but think it is due to the cold not the run.  Still would like to get a tempo in but not while lightheaded or with an irratated calf.

Easy run 6.6 miles 1:01 or about a 9:10 pace.  Calf only sore the last minute or two but better than the last two days and no pain two hours later.

Still feeling a little lightheaded today.  Long run planned for tomorrow so I held back a little today.  Did an easy 5.7 miles in just over 51 minutes.  Felt OK throughout until I thought of my knee and it of course started hurting.  Went away as soon as I started to slow down.

Easy two hour run planned for today with the marathon ladies. They are early in the training cycle so it usually works well for pace as we are pretty similar pace wise.  Today was fine for the first hour even with slush and persistant snow.  At about 8.5 miles I felt a little light headed a symtom of the cold I have been fighting all week.  The next two miles were progessively getting harder and I was breathing much harder than the pace indicated.  I started to realize I was not boing to make it all the way back.  I had to walk for a few minutes before jogging in.  Surprise, surprise when I weighed myself to find out I was nine pounds lighter than yesterday.  That much water loss really hurts performance and I am now not a bit surprised that I faded so badly.

Did a really slow 5K to try out the idea of active rest.  I did not get done what I had intended yesterday so felt pretty good today.  I went slow enough that I did not feel like I was "working" anything and then did a long careful and not to difficult stretch routine.  I will see how I feel in the norning and again after I run at noon.

Finally thought I better try some kind of tempo day.  So did a one mile warmup at 9:30, then went into the tempo at a little under 8:00 pace.  Felt great for a mile, good for a mile reasonable for a mile and somewhat tired for a mile.  While I probably could have made the last mile I decided injury risk was too high given my lack of training so I did a cool down mile and called it good.  I guess I should be happy I went 1 mile further at 10 seconds a mile faster than last time, even if it was not the full planned distance.  Will try the same run on Thursday for comparison if I feel good tomorrow after this one.

Wt.  193 so far so good -10 in the last month.  10 more to go the end of April.

Easy day after yerterdays tempo.  Felt OK this morning, not too stiff.  Funny thing was my diaphram hurt.  I don't remember that before from a tempo run.  Anyway did an easy 7.2 miles at a9:10 pace.  Legs felt great but breathing was harder than expected by the end.  All in though it felt like a good recovery day.

WT. 191

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.

Testing the calf.  Sore but not painful. Did not want to push it.

Calf injury came back with a vengance.  Jogged the first half then walked/jogged back.  Did no additional damage but it really, really hurt.  Many pains in places I did not know had muscles due to compansation for stride and pain.  Still great race and I know I will get another chance.

Just 5 easy miles around the closed streets near the bridge.  Calf much better but still not running without pain or with a good gait.

Did an easy road run along Hood Canal inreally nice, sunny and warm conditions.  Leg is still not 100 % but works wellenough to run without pain and still seems to be improving.  Continuing lots of stretching routines many times a day.

Felt like a real run in the warm sunny conditions.  Did a .5 mile warm up then ran miles of 8:15 and 7:55 then slowed to about 8:30 pace for the next 5 miles, then finished with a 9:05 cool down mile.  Calf a little sore at the end but not too bad.  Total 8.5 miles in 73 minutes.

Cross train day.  I am trying the run every other day routine for a while to see if it helps with injury issues.  Went to the gym and did a 5K elliptical race (20:10) and finished up with a total of 35 minutes. 

This evening I jogged/walked up to the snow line,( we live at sea level). currently at 1400 feet.  Worked pretty hard with a time of 34:53 to the lookout.  Too much snow to go higher. Thirty five minutes upand 45 back down.

Did three easy miles in Totem Park at about 9:20 pace.  Ran out to Whale Park and back at about 8:55 pace.  Legs pretty sore today so kept it slow for today.

Had no intention of anything but a 7-8 mile easy day.  Even went to the treadmill to ease the effort on the legs.  Don't really know why but did a slow 2.5 at 9:30 pace.  Stopped to stretch out and then did 4.5 at 7:55 pace.  Legs were tired and my knee was bothersome and the form was only fair.  I have decided form means a lot in terms of running efficiency.  Pain and gait changes really hurt aerobicly as well as physically.  Anyway then ran a .5 cool down.  Pain and suffering but at least made 4.5 at an OK pace.

no running.  At regional track meet.  Son qualified for State in 400, 800, 4x400 and 4x800.

Well had two days off so I thought an interval run was in order.  I had not been to the track for a long, long while so decided to go there.  Ran a two mile warm up getting to the track.  Did a real but shortened stretching session, (cold so did not want to get chilled), then did an 8x400 workout with 300 jog.  Did not know what pace to run these at but decided mile pace -10 to20 was about right.  Times were 1:37,1:34, 1:34, 1:35, 1:36, 1:35, 1:38 and 1:36. All were ok except #7 since I think my mile time is about 6;40 right now.  Then ran the two miles back to the gym.  Felt like a good workout.

let's see.. the fallout from track intervals is strained calf and really tired legs.  Recovery run planned.  Started out ok, with legs that were not really into it but I knew that would improve. Calf a little sore but thought a slow run would not hurt it at all.  Wrong!  Calf got slowly worse of course not until I was over 3 miles out.  So gritted teeth a little and ran back.  Pain did not get worse and sometimes disappeared but came back after I sat around for a while. When I got back to the gym I did a long stretch routine and then did 30 minutes on the elliptical.  for 6.5 running and 2 cross training miles.

Cross train day. Did 75 minutes or 10 miles on the elliptical.  Calf is quite sore today.

P.M.  Had some time at the end of the day so I started the process of groundtruthing (sort of) the 1/2 marathon course we will be using next month here in town.  It has always been measured by car w/o using tangents so I am curious as to how far off it is.  I know the 10K I ran a couple of years ago was about 30 seconds fast.  So I ran (jogged?) with the wheel the first 2.5 K. Found out two things, (1) the cone had been placed over a 1/10 too soon for the 5K turnaround and (2) the difference in tangent/roadside stripe was 67 feet.  I had actually expected more.  I ran back, got the car and used the odometer to record car miles for the 2.5K, it turned out to be 1.4 miles on my van with oversize tires.  So twice that should be the 10K turnaround.  I was happy to see it was in fact about .04 miles short which would be about 30 seconds in an out and back race.  Hope to measure the entire course over the next week or so.  We will at least get a reasonably accurate 13.11 miles out of it.

Easy.

At the State track meet in Fairbanks.  Hot, hot and hotter.  Ran a little over a hour with temps 75-80.  Hotter than this guy is used to.

No running but got to see my son anchor the 4x400 relay team that won the State championship.  He scored points in all his events but these four runners were our only kids to stand on the top of the podium all meet.

Knee issues again, although might be manageable.

4.5 miles easy, knee started hurting.  Then 20 minutes on the elliptical.

Only managed a 2 mile run, knee hurts.  Then did 40 minutes on the elliptical.

Knee better today managed 6.5 easy miles at a 9:13 pace.

60 minutes on the elliptical.  Knee hurts and is quite swollen.   Don't know what I did but playing around with gait was not a good idea.  Original knee pain is more or less the same but have three new areas of pain that I have never had before.  The good news is the elliptical does not seem to do any harm.

Did a normal 65 minute workouton the elliptical.  These milage amounts are only estimates but I honestly think the miles are less than the actual workouts.  I will see how I feel when the knee lets me run again, hopefully next week.

First day of 2,000 calorie workout.  Can't run or work too hard because of knee so slow easy workout is the only way.  Needed a goal so 2,000 it is.  Today did 65 minutes for 8.4 miles on the elliptical then walked 3.6 miles with 15% slope at 4.2 mph then stretched and then did another mile on the treadmill.  Total for day 2010 calories.

Todays 2,000 calories came from 45 minutes on treadmill, 65 minutes on the elliptical and then 25 minutes on the treadmill all at standard settings for this workout. 2003 calories.

Today to mix up the 2,000 calorie workout I did 4 miles walking at 15% grade at a little over 4mph, then moved to the elliptical for a 60 minute, 7.5mile session then to get to 2,000 calories I did 35 minutes on the bike at a reasonable pace.  Hot in the gym glad I brought gatorade!  Total workout time  150 minutes.