Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Tempo Run? Don't mind if I do!

Tuesday 3.0 miles/26:00 total/8:40 average pace

A kind of spontanious tempo run this morning. (notice I said MORNING!) I knew I was going to the treadmill for my run, so I figured I would make it go by faster by running 2 miles at tempo pace. Plus, my legs feel good.

0.5 mile warm up @ 10:00 pace (6 mph)

2 miles @ Tempo Pace 8:00 (7.5 mph)

0.5 mile cool down @10:00 pace (6 mph)

Then I did strength training (upper body and core), which I skipped yesterday.

It sure is nice to have my workout done for the day! I'm looking forward to having a lazy evening.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Weekend Recap

Saturday 3.85 miles/35:00/9:06 average pace

Great run, felt easy and my legs felt great.

Sunday 10.00 miles/1:36:05/9:37 average pace

We ran a new trail which turned out to be SO beautiful!! This is my new favorite run. Can't wait to go again. :) There is a good climb in the last mile before the turn around, so it's a tough run. But I felt good yesterday and had a great run.

TOTAL for the week: 30.35 miles

Yay! Third 30+ week in a row.

After the run yesterday my left achilles tightened up and was tight and sore all day. Slight improvement this morning, and walking really loosened it up and didn't hurt at all. Weird! I'm going to pay close attention to it this week because I want to be in ship-shape for the race this weekend!!

Plan for this week:

Taper!!

Monday: rest (Strength Training)
Tuesday: 3-4 miles easy (OR cross training!)
Wednesday: 6 miles group
Thursday: rest (Strength Training)
Friday: 3-4 miles easy
Saturday: rest
Sunday: HALF MARATHON

total: doesn't really matter!

Friday, January 27, 2006

Tempo Run

Thursday 4.5 miles total/38:18/8:31 average pace

This might be the first time I've actually done a legitimate tempo run! I've done similar workouts, but this time I went into it armed with knowlege (Pfitzinger Book) and completed the entire workout including warm up and cool down.

The best part is, I let myself recognize my lactate threshold pace without consulting my GPS. I only saw my pace when each mile was completed. I knew going in that my lactate threshold pace is somewhere around 7:45-8:00 ish according to the book.

So:

1 mile warm up 10:00 pace

Tempo Workout:

mile 1: 7:56
mile 2: 7:33
mile 3: 7:53

The second mile was a bit fast, but it felt easier than the first mile. The first and third miles were right on. Yay!

1/2 mile cool down at easy pace (9:something pace, not sure)

My legs felt really good! I iced them all evening and today they are feeling fine. :)

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Much better!

Wednesday 5.85 miles/54:11/9:16 average pace

Took a rest day Tuesday, and that seemed to do the trick! My legs felt much better on the run last night. Kinda tight in the lower legs, but not painful. My upper legs (hamstrings and butt and quads) were sore from lifting too. But the run felt easy-ish and I had way more energy compared to Monday.

Today my legs feel great, not sore at all. Which I suppose means I will do strength training again tonight!

My plan for tonight is to run 4-5 miles with 2-3 miles Tempo pace. Then I will take tomorrow off, do 3-4 easy miles Saturday, and long run Sunday. Then it's one week to half marathon!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Monday Miles

Monday 6.15 miles/1:01:05/9:56 average pace

"Easy" run with Zach. My legs felt dead and my shins were sore-ish. The first three miles were 10:00+ and felt harder than that, then I sort of settled in the last three miles, but not really. All in all, not a great run.

Resting today. I'll most likely still get my miles in this week, but I'm just being flexible so I don't get burnt out. :)

Monday, January 23, 2006

Golden Gate Park

saturday 10.6 miles/xxxx/9:10 average pace

Will edit the time later, I don't know it off hand.

It was a fun and beautiful run! Zach and I did 9 miles together which is crazy far for him! After he split off, I did one and a half miles at a hard pace - 1 mile @ 7:49 and half mile in 3:42 (7:24 pace). Then jogged .1 mile back to the car for a total of 10.6.

Also, we covered a good part of the half marathon course. It was very encouraging as a good part of it is down hill.


Total miles for the week: 32.6 :) YAY!

Plan for this week:

Mon: 6 miles easy w/ Zach
Tues: 4 miles inc. 3 mile tempo run
Wed: 6 miles GA w/ group
Th: rest
Fri: 4 miles recovery
Sat: 10 miles or so long

total: 30

Friday, January 20, 2006

I'm in

I registered for the marathon!

It's so exciting. I have been planning on it and pre-training for it, but now I'm officially commited and I'm definitely running it. Eeeep!

The countdown begins: 15 weeks to go

Regarding the more immediate future, my half marathon is in two weeks (and I'm feeling really good about it!) and my trip to Hawaii is in about 7 weeks. YAY!

Happy Friday

3.0 miles/30:00/10:00 average pace

Ah, the treadmill. I sort of wanted to run outside in the 30 degree weather just to complete my extreme weather week, but I stuck to the treadmill.

My legs are kind of sore today, probably from lifting. I used the weight room in the hotel yesterday and did leg extensions and leg presses. Ouch!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Storm Stories

Wednesday 6.85 miles/1:00:01/8:46 average pace

Extreme weather week continues here at runningstories! Starting with saturday's long run in heavy rain, followed by Monday's pre-dawn chilly run, and officially peaking here in the great state of Utah!

Today's run was 5 hilly loops around a park. Each lap included two serious hills, and some combonation of wind, snow, and sleety-haily-snow which I dubbed "Bullet Snow". By the end it was a legitimate blizzard. It was beautiful.

Also, please note my awesome finishing time of *just* about 1 hour exactly.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Winter Wonderland

tuesday 8.0 miles/1:13:59/9:15 average pace

So cold (30's) but I bundled and I layered and I loved it. The altitude didn't affect me at all, and the cold didn't make it hard to breath. All in all, a great run.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Early birds

Monday 4.15 miles/39:38/9:33 average pace

Zach had the day off, so he got up and ran with me. :)At first I was very stiff and cold, and my right calf was crampy and sore. But that went away within the first mile. It was a beautiful morning!

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Soaked

saturday 12.00 miles/1:50:36/9:13 average pace

In the rain. :)Legs are feeling kinda sore the next morning. I haven't had this feeling for quite a while. I like it.

Will post splits later.

So, that gives me a weekly total of 30.5! Yeah!!

Plan for this week (traveling Tue-Th to cold weather and high elevation. Eeep!)

Monday 3-4 easy TM
Tues 6 snow
Wed 6 snow
Thurs REST
Fri 4 easy
Sat 10
Sun REST

total 29-30

Friday, January 13, 2006

Friday the 13th!




Isn't that a spooky black cat?

Ok, first

6.0 miles/48:47/8:08 average pace

Started out pretty easy, but then felt great and ran hard. Three miles below 8:00, fastest was 7:13! Didn't want to believe it, but I know the route and I'm sure the miles were accurate. Sweet!

Then, this morning

3.0 miles/30:00/10:00 average pace

Treadmill with a side of Today show.

Running 12 miles tomorrow for a weekly total of 30+ !! Yeah!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

treading some mill

tuesday 4.0 miles/40:00/10:00 average pace

Yep. Not too exciting. The highlight would have to be that my legs felt really good. :)

Monday, January 09, 2006

oooooooohhhhh




OMG I need this. New Garmin Forerunner 205.

Click on post title for link.

Feelin Good

Monday 5.50 miles/47:40/8:40 average pace

Great run tonight with Zach. I was feeling really strong and fast and my legs feel good. Thumbs up!

Beautiful Day

Saturday 8.03 miles/1:19:43/9:56 average pace

Finally ran with my running buddy after way too long! We had a good time and the weather was beautiful. My legs felt good, and I'm glad I didn't push it. Now I can go into this week feeling 100%. :)

Oh, and Sunday walked 4.14 miles w/ Zach at the pretty resivoir. We kept a good walking pace- about 15:00, so it was a decent workout.

Weekly total: 23.03 miles

Here's my plan for this week

Monday: 5.5 miles GA w/ Zach
Tuesday: 3.5 miles Recovery TM
Wednesday: 6.0 miles GA Group
Thursday: rest
Friday: 3 easy
Saturday: 12 long
Sunday: rest/active recovery: snowshoe

Total: 30 miles

That's the ideal plan. If I'm sore I will cut it back, but I am going to try for 30.

New to the schedule is the Thursday rest day. This is an attempt to change a schedule habit I adopted many months ago that doesn't make sense anymore. I was sandwiching my long run between two rest days, and running 4 days straight besides that. This began when I was injured (knee) and was paranoid of missing a long run, so I catered my whole week to it. Obviously, the more logical approach is to run three days in a row, rest one, run two (including long run), rest one. So I'm trying it this week. The key is running a short and easy one the day before the long run.

Also new this week is the "active recovery" day. I have seen this on a training schedule my friend follows, and I like it. Especially because I would like to start doing more things outdoors like snowshoeing, hiking, skiing. So this gives me "permission" to do those things as long as I take it easy. Previously I didn't allow myself to do anything that might compromise my running. I will probably resume that practice when my marathon training gets serious (march/april) but for now there's no good reason to avoid the pretty snow. :)

Friday, January 06, 2006

News Flash: The Desert is Dry




Wednesday (5.25 total)5.00 miles/41:20/8:16 average pace

Yep, dry. Really really really dry. The Arizona Canal Trail in Phx is nice though, dirt path all the way and lots of fellow parched runners. I almost borrowed water off every single one of them.

I ran hard the last mile, so I was ready to stop at 5.0. But then I was still a ways from my hotel, so I ran another quarter-mile at an easy pace and walked the rest.

Thursday 6.60 miles/1:04:43/9:21 average pace

Ahhhhh humidity. It was so lovely. Ran with Zach in the cool, dark, humid, fabulous California evening. My shins are feeling better but my right calf got a bit crampy on this run. Feels better today.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Happy New Year 2006!

Ok, three runs to post:

When I last posted, my shins were hurtin! I took Thursday off and they felt a little better Friday, but not great.

Friday 3.0 miles/30:30/10:10 average pace

I ran on the treadmill and had some pain throughout. Hurt pretty bad after the run too. :(

Rested Saturday, even though I reeeeally wanted to run. See, it was the last day in December, and I was on track to get over 100 miles for the month. Also, ended up with that many fewer miles for the year! Oh well, of course it's way more important to be injury-freeeee!

I bought a big 5 gallon bucket which I used several times over the last couple days to ice my lower legs. It's a sweet set up! Way better than rotating ice packs, and I don't have to get in a freezing cold bathtub. Me likey.

TOTAL mileage for December: 94.31

TOTAL MILEAGE FOR 2005: 1208.59 miles!

Sunday morning I was going to go out and run a few miles, but left the number to be determined by how I felt once I was out there. Turns out, felt GREAT! So I did a longish run and loved it. Happy new year to me!

Sunday 9.0 miles/1:23:08/9:14 average pace

Whoo hoo! But holy shit was it windy. It was at my back the first half, so I hardly noticed. But there it was when I turned around. Whhhooosh. I couldn't hear my headphones the whooshing was so loud! At some points, I was really leaning into it, head down, digging in. I was practically the only runner out there this New Years Day, so I felt hard core. I made a point of not looking at my watch, so I was pretty surprised but very pleased w/ my pace and splits (especially with that headwind!). I was really consistant. Here's my splits:

1 9:17
2 9:24
3 9:22
4 9:19
5 9:08
6 9:36
7 9:24
8 8:57
9 8:41 sweet

Another awesome aspect of this run is that I did NOT stop and walk ONCE. There was no traffic, so the street crossings were not an issue, and I didn't need to stop for any other reasons. I am sure this is the longest run in which I did not stop at all (well I guess except my marathon? Did I stop for water before mile 9? not sure)


TOTAL mileage for the week: 28 even.


Allright, finally

Monday 3.15 miles/27:24/8:43 average pace

I ran today and will take tomorrow off, it just is easier this way ( off work today, busy tomorrow). Very surprised that my legs felt good after a rough week and a long run yesterday. But they did! Zach and I ran up to the park, it was really pretty and fun.

Plan for zee week:

Monday: 3.15 GA (done)
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: 5 Treadmill easy (travelling)
Thursday: 6 GA w/ Zach (make up for missing group run)
Friday: rest
Saturday: 8-10? Long
Sunday: rest

total: 22-24 ish

Hopefully the three days off this week will result in pain free shins. Will keep up the icing and of course listening closely to my body. I am more than willing to take rest days if I need to. :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!