What ever it takes!

So on my run Saturday I was complaining to Ryan that I thought my schedule seemed to easy and maybe I should bump up the mileage, Ryan convinced me that it's probably a good thing that it seems easy so I should keep the same schedule and focus on Quality over Quantity.  Ah, the ol' Quality vs. Quantity argument.  Spent the rest of the weekend contemplating what that actually means, I take it to mean that my easy runs should be easier and my hard runs should be faster.  Tell me if I'm wrong!!  

So today was a 10 mile run with a 5 mile Tempo, at 5:52 pace.  I thought about it and didn't really think running the first 5 slow would necessarily enable me to run the 5 mile tempo any faster, in fact I find it to be the opposite sometimes,  so I pretty much went all out from the start, starting at 6 min pace and slowly working up.  OK, I cheated the last 4 and put the treadmill on a negative 1% decline.  I decided I would rather keep my pace up than slow down when I got tired toward the end.

I think this counts as one of those Quality workouts.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace	Incline	Avg HR	Max HR
1	6:00	5:55		155	186
2	5:59	5:59		155	159
3	5:56	5:59		161	163
4	5:55	5:55		164	167
5	5:52	5:52		166	168
6	5:49	5:49		167	169
7	5:44	5:44	-1%	166	168
8	5:42	5:42	-1%	166	167
9	5:38	5:38	-1%	168	169
10	5:48	5:48	-1%	167	169
Total	58:30	5:50		164	169

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.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace	Incline	Avg HR	Max HR
1	6:59	6:59		162	198
2	6:47	6:47		141	150
3	6:39	6:39		144	147
4	6:34	6:34		147	150
5	6:32	6:32		149	151
6	6:31	6:31		151	153
7	6:26	6:26		152	155
8	6:22	6:22		154	156
9	6:14	6:14		156	158
10	6:30	6:30		144	156
11	6:27	6:27		149	151
12	6:23	6:23		152	154
13	6:18	6:18		153	155
14	6:22	6:22		152	156
Total	1:31:12	6:30		150	158

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.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace		Avg HR	Max HR
1	7:00	7:00		156	223
2	13:54	6:54		141	143
3	19:37	6:43		143	146
4	26:12	6:35		147	150
5	32:47	6:20		151	153
Total	32:47	6:33		148	153

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.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace		Avg HR	Max HR
1	6:36	6:36		169	193
2	13:11	6:35		142	147
3	19:41	6:30		145	148
4	25:08	6:27		148	150
5	31:26	6:18		144	152
6	37:44	6:18		154	157
7	43:59	6:15		155	156
8	50:10	6:11		156	159
9	56:27	6:17		154	157
10	1:02:42	6:15		155	157
11	1:08:52	6:10		157	160
12	1:15:02	5:52		162	165
Total	1:15:51	6:19		153	165

 

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.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace		Avg HR	Max HR
1	6:58	6:58		145	180
2	6:54	6:54		142	146
3	6:44	6:44		147	150
4	6:35	6:35		152	155
5	6:28	6:28		155	157
5.1	:27.97	4:39		161	166
5.2	:49.02	8:10		165	169
5.3	:27.10	4:31		161	166
5.4	:47.93	8:00		165	168
5.5	:26.95	4:29		161	165
5.6	:48.94	8:10		165	169
5.7	:26.87	4:28		161	166
5.8	:48.01	8:00		166	170
5.9	:26.00	4:20		162	167
6	:47.03	7:49		166	170
6.1	:26.02	4:20		162	166
6.2	:54.72	9:00		165	170
Total	41:18	6:38		151	170

 

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.

Distance	Time	Avg Pace		Avg HR	Max HR
1	6:48	6:48		156	170
2	13:43	6:46		158	161
3	20:18	6:38		160	163
4	26:51	6:38		159	162
5	33:38	6:41		159	160
6	40:13	6:46		158	161
7	46:58	6:39		159	161
8	53:39	6:44		159	162
9	1:00:50	6:46		158	161
10	1:07:04	6:40		161	164
11	1:13:39	6:30		158	162
12	1:20:25	6:40		158	163
13	1:27:02	6:30		156	160
14	1:33:30	6:44		159	162
15	1:40:28	6:42		159	162
16	1:47:02	6:41		159	161
17	1:53:39	6:37		160	162
18	2:00:20	6:45		162	168
Total	2:00:20	6:41		159	168