Gotta love a good mid-week med/long run, least favorite day of the week, I hate feeling rushed to get my run in. Pretty surprised by how low my HR stayed, (with the exception of that crazy spike for the first 1/2 mile)
Took a quick drink and bathroom break at mile 9 for a treadmill reset.
It really doesn't make any sense to me but I really struggle with recovery days, especially on the treadmill, I have a really hard time finding a comfortable pace, I get dizzy for some reason, and really bored. I cut my run 1 mile short cause I wanted to go swim some laps in the pool, I really enjoy swimming as a recovery over slow running. 16 laps in 20 minutes. = 800 meters.
Schedule calls for an easy midday run today too, we'll see.
Distance
Time
Avg Pace
1
7:30
7:30
2
14:49
7:19
3
21:53
7:04
4
29:27
7:30
5
36:57
7:30
Total
36:57
7:23
Well, that was a really stupid mistake and I'm really mad at myself, it's a beautiful day outside and I knew I had to do a double today, but I didn't even consider packing warm running clothes last night when I was getting my stuff together. So I drove all the way to the gym and back. Pretty sad when the commute to the gym takes longer than the actual run. Oh' Well, lesson learned, pack warm running clothes always.
Didn't even try to run at my "goal recovery pace, figured if I could keep my HR below 155, 75% that was recovery enough. It feels so much better to run at a pace I have trained my body to be comfortable with.
5:00 pretty rough start this morning, wouldn't say I feel sick, just icky. Stomach issues, dizzyness, and a bit soar from the higher mileage this week. After 4 miles I was about to count my looses and call it quits. Stopped the treadmill and went and walked around, did some stretches and drank some water then I went back to the TM. Felt considerably better after the 5 minute break but never totally comfortable.
I need to try and fix my diet, I do pretty good in the mornings but by early afternoon I become a ravenous monster, my kids have to hide the cookies from me. :) I think the number one thing that keeps average runners from improving is diet, if you try and get in a good run to improve performance and whatever you had for dinner last night keeps reminding you not to eat so much it pretty much destroys the workout.
5:00 am. Felt really good today for a recovery run, so I threw in some 0.1 mile strides at the end better known as 161's, (isn't that distance in the Olympics?) with 0.1 mile jog. Then with all my extra time due to a short run I went and swam 16 laps in the pool in 18 minutes. I'm trying to get down to 1 lap/min average cause that would be like running 4 min/mile on a track, right?
I hope some one else besides me laughs at my track jokes this morning. Anyway, good run, good swim, glad it's Friday.
6:00 am. Met Ryan at Maverik and ran what I swear was our 20 mile loop, humm! Oh Well, my schedule called for 16 today Ryan's called for 20, so we compromised with 18. Thermometer said 30 degrees so I only wore 1 layer of clothes wish was just about right, got cold a few times by the river but for the most part pretty comfortable. We ran out Center street to Utah Lake, went west to Redwood road in Saratoga Springs, back down main street, caught the JRP trail and ran back to Thanksgiving point and back to Maverik.
Good run, my legs were a little sore and stiff but physically I felt good the whole time.
Today was suppose to be just an average paced run but I decided in order to get hill workouts in I would add incline to all of my "General Aerobic" runs listed on my schedule. I may re-evaluate hill workouts after today cause that was hard. Did a 10 mile rolling hill simulation. Its probably one of my favorite new workouts but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I consider a friend :). Tried to keep the pace up but once I got to the 4% incline range it was pretty tough.
I'll have to update splits later, crazy morning. I'm sitting at the airport getting ready to board a flight to NYC. Good run this morning! Woke up at 3:45 am cause I knew I'd have to shovel out 1' of snow to get out and had to hurry to get my med/long run in. Got the the gym at 4:30.
So the New York Marriott Marquis is one of my companies biggest clients and ever since we installed a new network in the hotel it has been plagued with many problems. This part of the company is not what I normally do but my boss asked me as a last resort if I could fly out here last minute and see if I could fix the problem. I was really reluctant and didn't want to come at all, mainly cause I didn't think there was anything I could do. So I got here yesterday afternoon and immediately went to work, worked till about midnight last night but I was in fact able to identify the problem and have put a band-aid fix in place. I'm pretty excited about the fix though, I actually got to use the skills my company hired me for :) and fix a pretty major problem.
Anyway, to relate this to running. New York is probably my most favorite place to come for running. I love to wake up early and run around Central Park....... However, it's frickin cold and windy here, and since I was up late last night, couldn't sleep at all and have a full day full of meetings trying to make our customer love us again I opted for the hotel gym, which as far as hotel gyms go this one is about the coolest I've ever been to. It's up on the 23rd floor and the treadmills are right against the windows over looking Time Square, really cool feeling to just be 300' in the air running into the most famous intersection in the world.
Seriously New York is the coolest place to run in the world, Tried to get to bed early last night so I could wake up and get a good run in today. Woke up at 5:30am EST and headed out the door. It was cold but I had brought my cold weather running gear, at least most of it. Started from Time Square, ran down Broadway to the North West corner of Central park, ran out Central Park West and ran the entire perimeter of the Park, which I've never done before, that loop was about 6 miles so then from the North East corner of the park I ran the inner circle out and around the big lake, I usually like running the little dirt trail around the lake but when I got up there it was solid ice so I went back down to the road. Ran that loop back to Broadway and back to the hotel. My Garmin never did pick up satellites so I had to come back and MapmyRun it, I was trying for 12 miles, map my run said 11.5 so I'll go with that.
Central park is the neatest place to run, seriously 100's of people of all fitness levels out early in the morning running, walking or biking around the park. There were guys there that were probably 2:15 marathoners to little old men just scootin along, all out enjoying the park together. I can't remember what time my flight is tomorrow but I really hope I have time to get a quick run in the park before I have to leave.
Here is my mapmyrun course in case you ever come to NewYork and need to know an 11.5 mile run. :)
No watch so 11.5 miles in ~1:20:00 7:00min/mil avg, with traffic on Broadway and my little lake path detour.
Well, back in Utah. Texted Ryan yesterday to make sure he was up for a run?, he said sure, I said, 20?, he said sure, I said 28.3? He said NO. :)
I was in the mind set that after my busy week I'd be doing pretty well just to get through a 20 miler today. Un-benounced to me, Ryan had much grander plans in mind. Apparently he wanted to do the whole run at or below 6:30 pace. I was feeling good at first and kind of led the pace pushing for the first 5, we were pretty even for the next 4 then he just kind of took off like a rabbit for a couple miles, I stayed with him but it was rough. We took a quick bathroom break at the Smiths on Redwood in Saratoga Springs and then took off again pretty quick, but not as fast as before. Around mile 16 I started really lagging he got about 10 seconds out in front of me and for the last 4 miles it was pretty much all I could do to keep him in range. Still ended up pretty close to 6:30 for the whole run, his watch said he did it so I must have been about 30 seconds behind to finish :(. Pretty good though, we used to struggle to keep a 7:00 pace on that exact run 1 year ago. So good progress.
Today's workout is one of those that I was actually scared last night thinking about doing. My last tempo run I did I stated that I thought it was easier to just run the whole 10 at LT pace instead of a warm up and then the tempo. I decided to test this theroy and try to do the workout as intended, 5 mile general aerobic run, 4 mile tempo, 1 mile cool down. Looking back, it looks like I was able to do to days run at a faster average for the tempo than 2 weeks ago. So I was wrong, I gave it about all I had today. It was pretty cool though, at about 1.75 miles I felt my HR flutter I looked down and it had jumped up to 175, then it went back down and instantly I had a (second wind) it all of a sudden felt "easy" for another mile or so. The last mile hurt, but knowing it was almost over got me through it. Good run, I always feel really good after getting a hard run under the belt.
Long, pretty monotonous run on the treadmill, that's about as far as I'd really ever want to go on a treadmill, although I have done 20 before. Even though running on a treadmill is pretty boring for a long run, I argue that running in the dark isn't a whole lot more stimulating, at least at the gym there are other people to watch and talk to, and TV's to watch the current news.
Had to take a quick break at 7 miles, felt much better for the remainder of the run. About killed myself the last mile out of pure boredom just wanting to get done.
Britt gave me an hour massage last night for Valentines day which was very nice, legs felt pretty good after a massage and some good stretching last night.
Much needed recovery day today, I'm pretty sore after the last 2 days of hard runs. schedule calls for a lunch run today, but I have lunch plans with an old friend so I'm not sure it will happen.
6 easyish miles on the TM and then 800 meter swim in the pool. 16 laps in ~20 min. I didn't really keep track of the time and I got kicked out at 6:00 for swim lessons.
Distance
Time
Avg Pace
Avg HR
Max HR
1
7:01
7:01
163
214
2
13:58
6:57
138
142
3
20:51
6:53
143
146
4
27:38
6:48
146
149
5
34:22
6:44
148
152
6
41:01
6:39
149
151
Total
41:01
6:48
148
152
I changed my profile picture to a very embarrassing, very incriminating picture of me taken April of 2009 in Bejing China so that every morning when I look at my blog I will be reminded of why I run.
A "brisk" 13 miler this morning, didn't really intend for it to be in the marathon pace tempo range but instead of starting the treadmill at 9 mph this morning I started it as 9.5 and progressively increased it each ~mile. Treadmill reset and water break at mile 9. Felt pretty good this morning, legs are actually less sore after the run than when I started.
When I went to bed last night for some reason I thought today was a 10 mile run, when I looked at my schedule this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was just a 6 mile recovery. So a nice easy run, after that I couldn't decide between lifting weights or swimming. Decided that the pool would feel better on my sore legs and opted for swimming. 16 laps in ~16 minutes, yea!! I swam non-stop with flip turns at every length, which I've never done before. I'll usually stop and turn around after each lap.
I noticed a few Saturdays ago that Sasha was looking for a running partner so I decided it might be fun to give him a shout out and see if he was interested in letting me run with him today. Our Schedules didn't quite workout since I needed to be home by 8:45 for babysitting duties and he didn't want to go earlier than 7:00. So This morning I woke up drove out to his house at 6:00 and ran the Provo River Trail up to University Ave and back by myself. I took it pretty easy cause I didn't know how bad Sasha was planning on beating me up.
Met Sasha at 7:00 and went the other way on the trail out to the lake. He asked me if I was up for a 5 mile Tempo run, I said I was, so at 2 miles in we hit the trail and set off at sub 6:00/min pace. Felt harder than I thought it should from the start and about 2 miles into it he told me we were going to cut it short since I was dropping below 90 sec 1/4's. :( Turns out he was giving me a little fitness test so he could evaluate my fitness level. He wasn't to hard on me though and cut me a little slack since I was already 9 miles into the run when we started.
When I asked him to run this Saturday I also asked him if he could go over my training and let me know what he thought, so we discussed his views on my running, I actually expected to hear most of what he said, basically I run my base miles to fast. I already knew that I suppose but just really enjoy running faster, I think it's cause usually I run alone and running faster keeps my mind occupied, if I'm running with someone else it's easier to slow down and just talk. So anyway, here are the things I got out of his advice.
1. Run base miles slower.
2. On tempo runs if I can't maintain sub 6:00 pace stop the tempo and jog.
3. No more short 6 mile runs.
4. I expected him to tell me I was too fat, he didn't seem to concerned that I weigh 25 lbs more than him and we are roughly the same height.
5. He did tell me I have a really efficient stride, which I kind of knew but it made me feel good to hear from someone else.
Had a really great run this morning, thanks a lot Sasha for the advice. Oh! and the weather was perfect, really quite warm.
Split the runs up, even though there was only a 10 minute break in between I felt it was really 2 seperate workouts.
Well, this was my attempt to slow my run down, I just don't feel comfortable running much slower than 7:00 pace on the treadmill, and I figure if my HR stays below 150 it's in the General Aerobic range. Threw in some 1/4's at the end for a little speed work.
Distance
Time
Avg Pace
Avg HR
Max HR
1
7:02
7:02
145
171
2
13:55
6:53
140
144
3
20:42
6:47
144
147
4
27:26
6:44
147
151
5
34:05
6:39
150
152
6
40:44
6:39
150
153
7
47:18
6:34
152
155
8
55:21
7:03
145
151
8.25
104.93
7:00
139
149
8.50
80.99
5:25
160
164
8.75
110.93
7:22
153
164
9
79.00
5:16
160
166
9.25
112.00
7:28
157
166
9.50
78.92
5:16
161
168
9.75
115.00
7:32
156
168
10
77.90
5:12
160
168
10.25
113.48
7:29
156
168
10.50
76.35
5:11
161
169
10.75
114.94
7:31
157
170
11.00
72.91
4:48
164
173
Total
1:13:53
6:42
149
173
I took my 8 year old snowboard for his first time today, Perfect day wish I could have gotten of the Chickidee lift.
New version of my rolling hills simulation, I set the treadmill to 8.5 mph and never changed the speed again, 3 sets of progressive hill climbs for 3 miles and then a 1 mile rest at 0% incline in between each set, 2% = comfortable 3%= feels like I'm working 4% = hurts.
Woke up way to early this morning and didn't even try to get back to sleep, was at the gym on the treadmill at 4:30. Felt really good from the start this morning, one of those days where I just kind of felt like I was floating the whole run. Ran my last mile very fast just cause I could. Went and lifted weights for about 30 minutes and then sat in the hottub for another 15. Great way to start off a busy busy work day, actually busy busy work month.
Yesterday in an attempt to eat healthier I went to the grocery store before work and stocked up on a bunch of fruit to snack on through the day instead of eating a bad lunch. Well that turned out to be a bad mistake and made this mornings run pretty miserable. Guess it's back to Peanut butter and Honey sandwiches for breakfast and hamburgers for lunch.
Other than the stomach issues I felt good this morning, once again pushed a little harder than I should have, threw in a 3 mile MP Tempo run, started out intending to go 4 but my stomach said no.
Distance
Time
Avg Pace
Avg HR
Max HR
1
6:36
6:36
148
166
2
13:05
6:29
146
154
3
19:27
6:22
149
152
4
25:45
6:18
152
154
5
31:59
6:14
154
156
6
38:09
6:10
157
159
7
44:15
6:06
157
158
8
50:50
6:35
143
156
9
57:49
5:59
157
161
10
1:03:45
5:56
160
161
11
1:09:32
5:47
162
164
12
1:15:26
6:46
151
163
Total
1:15:26
6:16
153
164
Talk to Riverton Paul at the gym today, he is looking good and walking fairly normal. Hopefully he will be back at it soon.
Such a busy work day I didn't even get a chance to get online all day, which is weird cause that's kind of what I do. Long story short, I was configuring switches/routers/ and access points all day long for 3 large conferences coming up so I didn't have a chance to get on.
Just a normal 10 mile run on the treadmill with a fast last mile for fun.
I feel bad, I was suppose to go run with Sasha again this morning and was looking forward to it. Even verified that we were still on last night but when I woke and this morning and saw a 2' snowdrift in my driveway I decided it probably wasn't that great and idea even if Sasha was still up to it. I'll probably read about every ones great long runs in the snow this morning while I was wimping it out at the gym. Oh Well.
I'll probably pay for this run a bit tomorrow but I had fun pushing the pace, my right hip started bothering me a little bit, which is strange I've never had hip issues.
Big workout today, I was really nervous about it all day yesterday and really tried to relax and eat better. Took, 2 naps yesterday 1 before church and 1 after, tried to do stretches all throughout the day and ate pretty good, but we got invited over to some neighbors for desert last night which was counter productive, I just had a small piece of desert pizza. mmmm!!
Woke up to early again and decided to just go get it over with, wore my fast shoes today, I forgot how comfortable they are. 5 mile brisk warm up 5 mile hard LT tempo (5:40 goal pace), 2 mile cool down. I was surprised how easy I got into stride in the tempo, felt pretty relaxed to start, started bumping it up a little bit, around mile 2.5 I found a nice breathing rhythm and held on pretty good. At the 3.75 mark I started to feel things come undone a bit, legs were shaking and my form was falling apart, I also felt a slight pain in my left knee, not bad enough to stop me but worried me a bit. At the 4 mile mark I was torn between slowing down or speeding up. I wanted to take it back down to 5:40 pace but Sasha's comment about my neural drive problem popped into my head and I decided to push that last mile hard. Did my last 1/4 mile at 5:24 pace.
Was really happy when it was done, got a quick drink and finished with a 2 mile cool down then I stretched and rolled out a bit and hit the hot tub.
