dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I have been feeling really tired with moving and unpacking so I was only going to run 8 miles, however I met another runner named John who also went to high school in Washington and we ran with one another for a little while.  Total of 10 miles

Still feeling tired and my legs feel kind of dead so I ran 8 miles today

8 miles again

About 3 miles into my run today I got hit by a nasty rain storm with wind, lightning, flooded streets, the works.  I almost came home after 8 miles, but as I was getting close to the house the rain started to get lighter and I was able to run 15 miles as planned.

I ran part of my run today with John (a little over 4 miles) and then ran the rest of it alone.  I was going to run 11 miles, but I started to have cramps and I came home just a little early.  Total time was around 1:18:45.

11 miles this morning in 1:17:48.  I did some short speed work during the second half of the run, running 20, 40, 60, 90, 60, 40, and 20 seconds hard with 60 seconds running recovery between all of the hard sections.  The workout was a lot harder than I expected as the intensity was pretty high and the recovery was fairly short, so I actually cut the speed work shorter than I had originally planned.

I ran 11.5 miles today in 1:25:26.  During the run I saw another runner a ways up in front of me so I picked up the pace to try and catch him.  I caught him after about 5 minutes slowing down shortly before I caught him so that he wouldn't know I had been chasing him.  On my way home I decided to run a hard 1000m.  I missed the marker at the end of the 1000, but I ran back and found it afterwards.  I estimate that I finished somewhere in the 3:08-3:10 range.

I ran 11 miles today with Shayon in the running stroller.  Total time of 1:27:02.

Easy 10 miles today in 1:16:51.  I ran a few short sprints during the run as well.

Total of 16 miles today in 1:54:04.  I ran 2 x 2 miles during the run, the first during the first half of the run, and the second about 2.75 miles later on my way back home.  Both were run on the same section of trail, just in opposite directions.  I ran the first repeat in 10:16 with quarter splits of 80, 77, 74, 78, 77, 76, 77, 77.  The trail curves quite a bit and rolls with a slight net downhill heading out, and with a slight uphill heading back.  I realized after the first repeat that I had pushed myself a bit too hard, so I took the second two mile repeat easy running a 11:02.  Splits were 83, 83, 83, 86, 82, 86, 82, 77.  Based on my splits it is obvious that certain quarters were faster or slower than others, although the final quarter during the second repeat is deceptive as it is uphill, but I closed faster than I began the first repeat.  Overall it was a good workout as it was my longest run this year and finished off my first 70 mile week this year as well.

I ran 5.5 miles this morning, after which I met John and ran a little over 4 miles with him.  I then ran home for a total of 11.75 miles.  In the afternoon I ran across campus in order to try and get some scheduling issues worked out giving myself another 0.75 miles.

I ran 9.5 miles today in 1:03:xx.  I ran 1.75 miles fast mid run running quarters between 81-88 seconds.

I ran 11.75 miles today, running 0.75 across campus and then running 11 more after I got home.  Time of 1:21:52 for the last 11 miles.

I ran home from school today, about 1 mile in just over 8 minutes.  After getting home I ran 10 more miles in 1:14:40, running 5 short sprints during the last 4 miles.

I ran 11.25 miles today with Shayon in the running stroller.  Total time was 1:27:02.

The plan for today was to cut back the mileage a bit as last Saturday's long run left me pretty tired the first half of this week.  I ended cutting the workout even shorter just to be safe because we had a fire in our oven and I didn't want to overstress myself.  Total of 6.75 miles in 49:30ish.

I ran home after class this morning (about 1.25 miles) and immediately changed into running clothes and ran 10 more miles in 1:09:25.  I ran 5 all out sprints during the run between 34-42 seconds each.  Recovery was around 5:00 for most of them, but about 7:00 before the final sprint.  In the evening after my final class I ran home again to get an additional 1.25 miles on the day.

10 miles this morning in 1:14:17.  I ran the last 0.5 miles (approximate distance) fast as I felt my legs needed to get a slightly different stimulus at the end of the run.

10 miles this morning in 1:10:50.  I ran miles 6 and 7 fast trying to relax as much as possible while still running under 6:00 pace.  Splits were 5:52, 5:36.  I thought the first split was going to be faster, but it was on a mild uphill with a mild headwind.  I also ran the final "mile" fast, running it in 5:28.  This mile was a lot slower than the others due to hills and turns, but my split was faster as I was running harder.  The distance for the final mile was estimated, but according to the course tool my guess was pretty much right on.

12.75 miles in 1:37:19.  I added an extra loop on the way out and on the way back of the 10 mile run that I have been doing lately which added about 2.75 miles total.  I kept things really easy because I was feeling pretty tired after my run yesterday despite the intensity not being super hard (only 3 miles fast with the fastest of the three in 5:28).

I was tired this morning so I slept in.  In the afternoon I ran some errands (literally) which got me about 2 miles, and after I got home I ran 8 more miles in approximately 59 minutes.

We had a ward temple trip this morning, so I did not have time to run until the evening (the temple is in Omaha, so it takes all day).  I ended up running 14 miles, while running the last "5" miles hard.  I had measured part of the "5" miles with the car but that proved to be grossly inaccurate, so I am not sure exactly how far it was or how fast I was going.  The only real split I got was 5:34 for the last mile, with 29:15 total time running hard.  The total time for 14 miles was 1:36:59.

I had to hurry my run a bit this morning because I was late getting out the door.  My problem is that once I start getting moving a little faster than normal my runs generally turn a lot faster.  I started around 8:00 pace, but progressively got faster until I hit a 6:35 mile about 5 miles in.  I finished in 1:03:39 for 9 miles.

At school I helped another student with some research she was working on and I ran an additional 2.2 miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace. 

The buses were all messed up today because the President was on campus, and I had to walk home.  I ended up running the last half mile because a bus finally passed by and I wanted to see if I would beat the bus home without pushing myself.  Later on I ran an additional 10 miles, running 3 x 1 mile repeats with 0.5 mile recovery.  I decided to run the first repeat a little easier and then progressively get faster.  I ended up with splits of 5:22 (mild downhill followed by 3:54 recovery), 5:11 (flat with a 180 halfway through followed by a 3:57 recovery), and 4:56 (mild uphill, the same as the first repeat but in reverse).  The 4:56 mile was the first mile I have run all year where I have broken 5:00.  I then ran easy for just under two miles before running one final hard mile in 5:06 and finishing at my apartment.  This mile is hilly and has lots of turns.  I had trouble making a few of the turns because of the speed and how sharp they were.  Based on my measurements from the course tool I may need to add a second or two to make this a full mile.  My total time for 10 miles was 1:05:50.

I ran 1:34:39 today giving me approximately 12 miles.  I did not run a direction I normally go, so I am not sure exactly how far I went.  I purposefully took it really easy today after the speed work I ran yesterday.

11 miles today in 1:24:56.  I am running my first race in over 9.5 months tomorrow evening, so I decided to try to get a feel for goal race pace by running a 400 on the track in 75 seconds.  I ended up running a 72, but the second 200 was a 37.  I then ran a 200 to try and get a little more practice and I ran a 38 or a 39.  Overall I felt kind of tired during the run, but that may help me come tomorrow because I ran fairly slow as a result.

I ran my first race in over 9.5 months this evening.  It was a local 5k that gets some fast guys every year.  I warmed up for a little over 3 miles before the race started.  I had the runs all afternoon and my stomach didn't feel the best but I was hoping that I would still be able to run well.

The race started and I went out in the front pack of guys.  My plan had been to try and hit about 5:00 pace, but once the race started I got excited and went with the guys on the ISU run club hitting the mile mark in 4:46.  Shortly after the mile mark I started to fall back as the fast first mile was too much considering my fitness level right now.

I struggled to maintain pace the most when the course went uphill, leading me to think that I am lacking strength right now and I may benefit from some time in the weight room.  After about a mile and a half I also started to experience chest pains consistent with what you feel when you push too hard and overexert the muscles between the ribs.  This highlights the aerobic deficiency that I still have, and also caused me to realize how unaccustomed I am to running at this effort level for a long period of time.  This was the bigger problem of the two, as late in the race my legs still felt like they had more in them but I was being limited aerobically.  Considering that I had not run a single mile under 5:00 all year until earlier this week I guess I should not be surprised.

I hit 2 miles in 9:59 (5:13 mile), in 5th place but gaining on 4th who had dropped off of the front pack about a half mile after I did.  I passed that guy and took 4th place only to be overtaken by another runner who was smarter and started off a little more slowly.  It stayed this way until the finish and I covered the final 1.1 miles in 6:03 to finish in 16:02.  My official time was 15:58.3.  I am not sure where the discrepancy came from, but I will take the official time as 15:xx sounds a lot better than 16:xx.

Overall I feel that this race gives me a good starting point to improve on as I move forward and continue to improve my fitness once more.