dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

10 miles this morning in 1:19:06.  Average HR of 132.  HR started off lower this morning just as it was the last two days, but it did not stay that way.  I felt tired this morning, and maybe that played a role, but I also left on my run later in the morning, and I have been wondering if my HR is naturally higher in the mid morning vs. early morning runs.  I recorded average HR for a few segments of the run to track things.  Early on in the run I averaged 132 bpm at 7:45 pace for 1.5 miles, followed by 132 bpm at 7:53 pace for 2.5 miles, followed by 133 bpm at 7:58 pace for 2 miles.  Basically, I was keeping my HR at a similar level throughout the run, but I was progressively slowing down.  Not a good thing.  I will hope that I was just feeling tired.  This was the first week where I have run 10 miles per day, and I have not been getting great sleep lately, so I guess I should have expected it.

Anita drew this picture today, with all of the members of the family "and lots of hearts".  On the left are pictures of Kamran, and Shayon on the bottom, and Anita on the top.  Her picture is bigger because according to her she is a big girl now.  Kimia and I are pictured on the right (Kimia's picture has the longer hair).

I ran 10 miles today in 1:16:33.  Average HR of 138.  I was originally planning to run 12 miles today, but I have been feeling tired so I was happy just to run 10 miles.  I'm not sure where the fatigue is coming from to be honest.  It seems to kind of come and go, as I will feel fine for a few months, followed by a few weeks or more where I feel run down and tired all of the time.  It is never too bad, but it is bad enough that when I got mono in July, I didn't really feel any different than I do when the fatigue hits me.

On a more positive note, my back and leg are feeling much better, just minor aches here and there.  Someone just needs to remind me not to do depth jumps anymore while wearing a backpack filled with books, as thats what got me hurt in the first place.  The minor aches that are bothering me now may not even be related to the injury to be honest, as my back bothers me at night while sleeping and it wakes me up, with this pain predating the injury by close to a year.  Also, sleeping on the floor, which helped with the pain due to the injury did not seem to help with the back pain at night, and eventually I started sleeping in my bed again.

Hmm... my effort to be more positive is not sounding so positive anymore.  Anyhow, I am glad that I am running with less pain than before.  I can deal with pain at night as long as it doesn't hurt while I run

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:19:08.  Average HR of about 135-136.  I'm not sure why my HR seems to be getting higher, as I was hitting about 134 bpm at 8:00 pace, whereas most days last week I was hitting 130-132 bpm at 8:00 pace.

We took the kids to a pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.  Here is a picture of Shayon while on the hay ride.

Here is a picture of Kamran after bathtime last week.  That boy always wants to have a pacifier in his mouth.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:18:03, with an average HR of 136.  Nothing special happened.

I ran 10 miles this morning in just under 1:19:00.  Average HR of 133.  I felt pretty stiff this morning when I woke up, but otherwise I felt decent.  My back and leg felt decent while running as well.  I could feel where the pain has been in my quad while I was running, but it was not painful.  My leg felt more like it was just letting me know that it is not one hundred percent better, not that anything is wrong.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:17:57, with an average HR of 131.  I felt pretty good while running today, although I felt stiff when I woke up, which lasted for the first half mile or so of the run, and my back tightened up a little bit with about 2 miles to go, lasting for about a mile or so.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:19:16, with an average HR of 132.  I was feeling antsy today because I wanted to run fast, but I was afraid that running hard 1 time would either wipe me out for the next week, or agravate my leg and/or my back.

I ran 12 miles today in 1:27:04. I made it to 10 miles in 1:15:43, and then ran the last 2 miles in 11:21 (5:57, 5:24). Average HR for the run was 141. HR got as high as 179 during the last 2 miles as I was running up a hill with a 10 percent grade at the end of the first mile/beginning of the second. I actually forgot to start running hard at the beginning of the final 2 miles, which is why that mile was so slow. I was on pace for a 5:44 after the first half mile, so forgetting to start fast may have cost me about 13 seconds

I had to be at school earlier than normal, so I didn't run in the morning today, instead running after I was done with school.  During the day it snowed, our first snow of the year.  Luckily, the snow only stuck to the grass, so my running route was not slippery at all.  I ran a total of 10 miles in 1:19:38 with an average HR of 137.  There was a lot of wind while I was running today, but otherwise I am not sure why my HR was so high.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:19:32, with an average HR of 138.  Again, I am not sure why the HR was so high as I was running really easy the entire run.  It was very cold this morning (9 degrees when I left to run), and I loaded up on the extra clothing, so maybe that explains things?

I ran approximately 11 miles this morning in 1:25:31, with an average HR of about 136.  I ran most of the run with Tyler, as he is finally getting back into running a bit more after running the Des Moines Marathon.  Luckily for me it was not as cold as yesterday morning, with temps in the low 20's at the beginning of the run.

I ran 11 miles this morning, although it was not all at once.  I woke up later than planned, so I ran 6.5 miles initially in 50:46, with an average HR of about 138.  After getting Anita ready for preschool and dropping her off at the bus stop I then ran another 4.5 miles in 35:02, with an average HR of 144.  Total time for the run was 1:25:48.

I am really starting to wonder what is going on with the HR right now.  When I first started wearing the HRM again my HR would average about 132-133 on easy runs just faster than 8:00 pace.  Today, I averaged 144 bpm with a 7:47 average over the last 4.5 miles.  I do not feel like the mileage is wearing me out right now, and I am pushing the pace only on rare occasions.  Maybe it has to do with the change in weather (more wind, colder temps, etc).  I probably just need to be patient and wait for the HR to drop back to normal on its own.

I ran 10 miles today in 1:18:30, with an average HR of 139.  I ran a different route than normal because I was supposed to meet Tyler to run.  He accidentally slept in and didn't wake up in time so I ended up running alone.

I ran 13 miles today in about 1:41:30ish.  HR average was 135-136.  I am starting to wonder if my HR was higher recently due to the gas leak in our apartment building.  The leak was discovered on Wednesday and fixed that same day, but who knows how long it had been that way.  My HR was at its highest on Thursday, and then slightly lower on Friday, and slightly lower still today.  It makes me think that my HR is going back to normal slowly as all of the excess gas in the building slowly dissipates.

Overall I was happy with the run today.  This was my longest run of the year so far (pathetic, I know, but at least I am trending in the right direction) and the highest mileage I have run in a week since December of last year when I hit 70 miles one week about halfway through the month.  I still feel like I am unable to run any speedwork without hurting myself, which is frustrating.  At the same time this may be a blessing in disguise as I am unable to overdo things in that regard, while I am still able to increase the base mileage which will help my aerobic fitness significantly.

I ran 10 miles this morning in 1:17:09, with an average HR of about 145.  I was super surprised by the high HR as my legs felt great, and I was running faster than normal yet felt like I was running really easy.  I was convinced that the HR monitor was giving me bad readings, but when I double checked things manually I found out that the HR monitor was giving me correct readings.

So... I am thinking that the gas leak was likely not the problem, unless there is still something wrong.  There were times on the run today where my HR was in the high 140's or low 150's, yet I was only running 7:45-7:50 pace.  Sometimes I just feel like I am always broken.  As soon as my leg and back started getting better (which is not completely the case, although they are getting close) my HR starts to rise despite no evidence of overdoing things on the training end.

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:26:06, with an average HR of 147.  Again, my legs felt fine, but my heart was beating way faster than normal.  With an average pace per mile of about 7:50 I would expect my average HR to be between 132-135 bpm depending on the day.  Back when I was in better shape I would have expected to see 127-129 bpm.

Later on in the morning I was teaching my aquatic fitness class, and I had the opportunity to sit down for a bit as the students were exercising (normally I am on my feet the entire class, so this was out of the ordinary).  I took the time to measure my HR three different times while sitting down, getting HR measurements of 70, 80, and 71 when measured for a full minute.  When measuring my HR while sitting at my desk working I recorded a 74.  Normally when I am sitting in class my HR is below 60 (I know, I am weird to measure my HR when I am supposed to be paying attention to my professors).  Not sure what to make of this, but for the sake of keeping a record I am posting it.

Here are a few randomn pictures as well:

Kimia took this picture of the trail that I run on most every day while she was out running.

Anita has been practicing writing her name.  The N needs some work, but otherwise she seems to be doing well.  I also like how she kept switching up the colors.

I ran approximately 11 miles this morning in 1:23:12, with an average HR of 147.  I ran about 5 miles during the run with Tyler, and ran the rest on my own.  I was late getting out the door this morning, so I ran sub 6:30 pace to the meeting point with Tyler.  I think that because I had just barely started the run my HR was more reluctant to rise, so I only had a 152 HR average on the way to the meeting point, whereas running 7:40 pace later on in the run had my HR in the high 140's

In the evening I was walking home from school (normally I bike) and after about a half mile I decided to run the rest of the way, so I ended up running another mile home.

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:26:33, with an average HR of 133 (I essentially ran the sime time and route as I did on Tuesday, as the only major difference was a slower first mile today around 8:25 vs. about 8:00-8:04).  I was rather surprised to see my HR back to normal (more or less) this morning.  The only thing I can think of that was different today is that there was more moisture in the air than normal, and there was a little bit of fog here and there.  It makes me wonder if the pericarditis from before came back again, causing the slightly elevated HR, and somehow the extra moisture in the air caused the trend to reverse itself (If you couldn't already tell, I am just thinking out loud here, as I really have no understanding of the underlying processes behind what causes fluid to build up around the heart).  My HR did rise steadily throughout the later portions of the run, as I averaged 130 bpm for the first 4 miles, about 134 for the next few miles, then 136-137 for most of the rest of the run.

Here are a few pictures of my little people that I want to share:

Shayon sleeping, he actually slept through the night without wetting his pants!

Kamran sitting and doing nothing.  That's what babies are good at.

Anita all ready to go swimming.  It was 9 degrees that morning, and when she put on the swimsuit it was still only about 20 degrees outside.

I ran 11 miles this morning in 1:26:29 with an average HR of 138.  First run in the snow this year.

I ran 15 miles today in 1:48:57, with an average HR of 149.  The snow from yesterday had mostly melted off of the sidewalks, despite the temperature never reaching higher than the mid 20's yesterday, so I didn't have to worry too much about slipping on the ice.  Temps were in the single digits this morning, so I ran during the warmest part of the day, leaving on my run when it was about 20 degrees outside and finishing the run to temps of about 15 degrees.

I ran approximately 11 miles today in 1:31:41, with an average HR of 133.  My normal route is blocked due to construction so I had to improvise a bit.  I was lazy and did not leave to run until just before it got dark.  I averaged right around 8:00 pace for the first 5 miles, but as soon as it got dark I immediately slowed down a fair amount because I didn't want to slip on ice on the road.  I estimate that my HR averaged 135 at 8:00 pace, and about 131 at 8:30 pace.  Still a little higher than previously, but more normal.  I am starting to check humidity levels to see if higher humidity leads to lower HR.  Today, humidity was above 70%.

I ran while the car was in the shop today, so the route was improvised and distance was guessed rather roughly.  I ran approximately 11 miles in 1:29:26, with an average HR of 138.  Humidity was approximately 50%.  There was a lot of wind today.  Normally I run among trees, so the wind is mostly neutralized, but the run today was exposed and the wind was pretty strong at times, causing spikes on the HRM of 10-20 bpm when the wind was in my face.

I ran 11 miles today, in 1:27:51, with an average HR of 137.  Humidity was in the mid 50 percent range.  My leg and back seem to be getting worse lately, which is frustrating.  They had been getting better to the point that I stopped spending as much time on my back and ab exercises/stretches, etc.  Now, they are getting worse again, and to top it off my right calf is acting up (I think due to overcompensating as a result of the left quad pain).  At least I am still able to put the mileage in.

I cut back on the mileage today, and only ran 8 miles as I haven't been feeling well.