ChromeDome

My memory of this run isn't that good ... I think I just tried to get the miles in ... it was hot and I ran with the dog and/or jogging stroller, which slows me down (not that I'm fast. ha ha)

Wife and I did an easy run through town with the dog and stroller ... we stopped by a few shops along the way, so there was a little bit of walking, etc. 

 It was hot out but the run was good and I didn't feel taxed at all. By the time my wife announced we were over 3 miles, I thought "already? that was easy" ... 

Wife and I ran 7 miles in 90-degree heat and high humidity.

I was tired at the end of the run but I think it was almost "easy" ... at least for my lungs. If anything at the end of my run I started to feel tightness in my hips and hamstrings, maybe a little bit of the effects of pounding in my feet/ankles. My breathing was rhytmic and relaxed. 

 I think the pace (according to the garmin) was 11:58 per mile average.

Night before, sleep was interrupted  a lot by the baby. It always takes a while to fall asleep after being up, so I know for a fact that it has been 9 months since I had a good 8-9 hour stretch of uninterrupted sleep. Forget about having several of them in a row ... Baby "sometimes" sleeps uninterrupted from 3-6AM (ish) so 4 hours is the best stretch I typically get per night.

 Today wife and I did 4 miles in 90+ heat and above-average humidity. This was with the jogging stroller and interspersed with some "sprint" (ha ha) intervals along the way. We took turns sprinting and pushing the stroller ... this is our "stroller workout"... :-)

 It was hard. It was hot. I took a 15 minute cat nap afterward.

It was cooler (not much) today and I decided to see if I could go 5 miles, but played it by ear. I felt strong and wasn't winded even late in the run. However I did start to feel a little tingling/tightness in my left foot/ankle between 4 and 5 miles, so I made sure I took it easy the rest of the way home.

Temps in the 80s and brutally humid.  I'm supposed to be living in a "dry" climate but this year is totally ridiculous. I am getting hacked off by this weather.

 Ran with the dog, and it was an ok run. I have no idea of the time/pace, because I just took off out the door when I got home from work.

I was trying to get to 20 total miles this week (for the first time ever) but I guess it wasn't going to happen...

Baby has not been letting us sleep lately -- wife and I are both grumpy and nitpicking at each other over small things. We ran together and although we started out snippy before the run, we talked through the whole thing and we both felt much better afterward.

We ran in the (again!) heat and humidity of mid-morning, pushing the stroller (it was empty! we had dropped the baby off at the sitter but the stroller held all our water, phone, etc.  We have to come up with a better cargo-hauling plan than a stroller for these long runs in the future!)

 I felt heavy and slow through the whole run ... a total 180 from the previous week. My right knee and left hip felt creaky, but it came/went throughout the run so I didn't think it was anything serious, just fatigue and maybe the result of running at a verrrry slow pace and pushing the stroller. I felt slightly better around mile 6, then like crud again for miles 7 and 8.

 I think the combination of factors (low sleep/heat/humidity/stroller/) plus my increase in mileage lately probably combined to give me a hard time. I am going to rest a lot this week and try to get more sleep.

Yay, since I last weighed myself I'm down about 3 lbs. I've been more strict on my diet lately, mostly regarding portion control and cutting down on "bad for you" items. Not that I eat a lot of those things anyway, but they tend to have snacks out at the office, and I sometimes engage in "boredom" snacking if something is within arm's reach.

 Anyway after much research I decided to do the "Brain Training for Runners" marathon program in preparation for the Las Vegas marathon in December. I am jumping into the program at Week 4, and so far so good. I am also going to modify the book's plan to have longer Sunday runs.

I did a base run workout today of 3 miles at between 9:45 and 10:02 pace. It was brutally hot and dry (I ran in the hottest part of the day, somewhat on purpose, to test myself and to stop being a wimp in the heat) but yet I was able to score some good base run pace miles. I jogged/walked to/from the "track" around the lake, which amounted to nearly another mile in addition to the paced workouts.

I used my garmin to track my paces, and I wasn't very good at maintaining a regular pace at all. I kept speeding up/slowing down in an effort to hit my target. Put it down to inexperience, but gee whiz it was difficult ... I wasted a lot of energy just trying to modulate myself. Hopefully I'll get better at that.

At the start of my workout I felt pretty fresh, and went out of the gate too fast for my workout pace (about 8:00 pace) so I guess this tells me that I recovered just fine from my 8 miles on Sunday.

This workout was 2 mi. warmup and 2 mi. cooldown with hill repeats in between. The hill repeats were supposed to be .25 mile at my 1 mile. run pace. (7-minute range).

 I found I was able to run the proper pace for the warmup and cooldown miles just fine, and went out waaaaaaaaaaaay too fast on the first hill repeat. I ran like a 4:35 pace (uphill!) and hit the wall in like 150 yards.  OOOOPS. I have so little clue about my pacing, I don't know what I'm doing...

Anyway it took me all 4 repeats to "dial-in" close to 7 minute pace. The 4th repeat was fine pace-wise, but I was way too gassed, and I have a feeling the workout was *not* supposed to be as intense as I made it. Oh well!

Score!  20 miles already this week, this is a milestone for me. I know all to well from reading the blogs that some of you do 20 mile *runs* all the time .. y'all are crazy!  But this is my first ever 20-mile week so that seems like an achievement for me. But now I am starting to think my 4-milers are "short runs" which is a new mindset for me completely. Before last month I had only ever run 5 miles in a row ... eh, twice in my life. Sheesh.

Did a 4-mile base run in the 90-degree heat. The idea was to run around 10-minute miles, but I am still trying to get used to pacing using the Garmin and I kept going too fast. I ended up with 9:00 to 9:30 miles instead for the first 3, then I was gassed and had to stop and walk before I could attempt mile 4. Mile 4 felt super-duper slow and heavy (in the heat) and I still managed a 10:30 pace ...

 So, I don't know what to think of this. For the last two days I have been feeling strong at the start of workouts, starting too gung-ho, then gasping for air after running beyond my target pace. And yet, I am finishing the workouts in high heat conditions, so maybe I'm actually in better shape and should be running faster anyway?  Ahhh, I dunno.

 Note to self:  Stop going so fast at the start of workouts! 

I don't want to increase my base mileage too much too fast, and my legs are tired, so I'll probably try to cool my jets for the rest of the week and try to recover with slower runs.

Today was supposed to be 4 miles at "base pace" interspersed with some fartlek "bursts" at 1-mile pace.

 Instead, I just went out and ran and tried to pay attention to my body and try to get into a rhythm, which I haven't been able to do for the last few days. I took my garmin and only looked at it at the mile markers ... my average pace over the 4 miles was 10:42.

 The "bursts" never happened -- I just didn't feel up to it. All my leg muscles were tight, and sore from the week's workouts, as well as my lower back. I just didn't have any impetus to "push it" at all.  Again, it was hot and humid, but a little more tolerable in the low-to-mid 80's with an occasional breeze, instead of 90+ blazing inferno that it has been lately.

 A big milestone for me is that this puts me over 20 miles in a week for the first time ever!  This is also the reason I didn't want to push it. That 10% per week increase number is in the back of my mind, and I don't want to tempt fate with injuries by getting too aggressive.

My wife and I did our long run together around a wildlife refuge -- lots of birds and an 8.8 mile total distance on the trail that circles the lake. Much bigger than our own lake at home which is only 1.2 miles around!

 It was hot and humid for the first 2 miles, then the sky clouded and there were some slight breezes for the rest of the run. We got lucky!  Saw some beautiful scenery and some large pelicans, blue herons, some large hawks, eagles, and other birds. At one point on the trail a huge flock of blackbirds swarmed up from the grasses and passed right in front of us. It was neat.

 The trail was a mix of dirt roads and singletrack. I stubbed my toe on a big rock and now it's sore... oops.

 I tried a new hydration fanny pack that holds a bottle horizontally across your tailbone and has a couple of side pockets for gels/keys. It worked like a charm -- I have no idea how much extra energy is consumed carrying water, but it is nothing compared to pushing a stroller!

We both felt strong from miles 5-7. I think our split at mile 6 was 10:05, which for us is a peppy tempo (no snickering please!). The garmin reported 10:45 as our "average" pace, but that included some walking and cool-down jogging at the end, so we were faster. With the exception of one split that was around 11:15/mi (into the wind) all our times were in the 10:00-10:45 range. Our fastest pace was 8:30, on a downhill I presume.

 It was encouraging to feel strong at mile 6, and speeding up the pace from that point. It wasn't all that long ago that I had never even run that far, period.

Woke up with a cold ... sore throat and runny nose. Darnit.

 Went out for a run in the cool/overcast weather (finally!) and did 3.1 miles in 27:36. Not bad!

For the first time ever in the park I either:

A) Passed slower runners

B) Kept up with the faster runners until they stopped running and I passed them. (!)

Need to log a couple more miles later today to make sure I get 5 miles done today.

I am also going to get some new shoes! (I hope) Yay.

Felt absolutely dreadful today. Yesterday I was somewhat OK with stuffy nose, sore throat, etc. but today I was weak and achy, with no energy whatsoever.

Wife is also sick too, but we decided to go for 5 miles. It started to rain and we were getting close to our goal, so we turned back toward home. Total was only 4.6 instead of 5, but it was close enough for us.

I started to feel a little better on the run after mile 2, but we were both quite slow and we were pushing the baby stroller. Avg. pace was 12.5 ish.

 On the upside I tried out my new shoes and they feel great. I had a proper fitting at Fleet Feet in Boulder, and they showed me on video how my old shoes were letting my left foot pronate too much. The new shoes are the correct type for me, not too soft, not too heavy on the support.

Hope we all feel better tomorrow!

Finally slept through most of the night thanks to cold meds and the baby having a pretty good night's sleep also.

Ran 5.2 miles with the dog, and felt a bit better today. Encouraging to get my last couple of runs in despite the cold. I've been waiting for a workout to come along that was "easy" for me to accomplish and I haven't had one of those in awhile so I'll look forward to that!

 Oh, and I forgot to add that it's only Thursday and I'm already over 20 miles, yay! (this is still an accomplishment for me)

The workout plan called for 5.5 miles with fartlek tempo runs sprinkled throughout, but apparently I'm not over my cold quite yet. After 2 miles and a couple of fartlek spurts, my legs were toast. 

Between 3 and 5 miles I had to stop and walk periodically, before I could pick up a recovery pace again. I barely made it to 5 miles and I was glad to call it a day at that point. 

Bonus news is that I've dropped another pound, probably between being sick and logging my miles, but I'll take it either way. Maybe dropping weight too fast is making me weak also.

Hopefully I'll start feeling better during my runs soon.

Finally felt good on a run this week!  Went out to try for 5 or so recovery miles and ran 6!

My wife and I went out to do the long run in overlapping fashion today ... she ran for 1 hour alone, then I brought the jogging stroller and caught up to her, and we did 4 miles together before she took the stroller back home with her. 

Our little boy likes to make noises when we take the stroller over "rough spots" in the path ... his voice goes "aaaAAAaaaAAAaaaAAAaaa"  it's hilarious, and he does it for pure entertainment. He's starting to get a personality (9 mo.) now, and he can play and have fun, and also throw tantrums if he doesn't get what he wants. Oh boy here we go! The joys of parenthood.

 We were just talking last night about how much we'll miss how he is as a baby, but are looking forward to things such as his ability to tell us "Hey, I'm hungry!" or "My tummy hurts!" ... so that we won't have to play the guessing games so much on a day-to-day basis just to do the basics of caregiving.  I suppose it is always going to be give and take. As soon as he starts talking, he'll start saying "No" and "Why". Oh well.

 OK I'm rambling. I made it 9.5 miles and ran very very slowly. Perhaps I ran too many miles yesterday on top of being sick most of the week? My lungs were OK and energy level was OK, but at the end of the run my feet/legs/joints ached from the pounding. I guess this is getting better though because I used to feel that way after only 5 or 6 miles...

 This training blog is great. I can look back and see my mileage for the past few weeks.  It seems like I've been increasing mileage more than 10% per week, so I think this week I will stay at or near the mileage from last week to let my body catch up.

Wow, what a surprisingly good workout!

I ran around our standard local lake trail, and it was probably in the upper 70's to low 80's and a bit humid but not too bad.

Following the "brain training for runners" book I used the proprioceptive cues of "floppy feet" and especially "pounding the ground" and I somehow cut approximately 45 seconds per mile off my typical base pace. I ran 9:15 miles average over the entire six miles!  

OK, I realize reading this blog that this is incredibly "slow" for most people here, but that is huge for me, as I have never run 6 miles in even 10:00 pace the entire way before (best was between 10 and 10:30. I felt a bit creaky in the joints etc. since my long run and I have a bruised toe/toenail on my left foot, so the only thing I can put it down to is the difference in the running technique.

Really a boost to my confidence!

Did two warmup miles in the colder/almost rainy weather. Didn't take my GPS but my warmup miles felt pretty fast and good.

 Followed up with 6 hill repeats of about .25 mile each with a 2 minute cooldown/jog in between. I was gassed at the end of it, but felt good for having done the work.

Went an easy 5 miles with the dog tonight after work -- I was in a grumpy mood but by the end of the run my spirits had lifted, both due to the endorphins (probably!) and to the great weather and serene, glass-like surface that was on the water. I was able to enjoy the run tremendously and chill the heck out.

One fun thing I did was strip off my shoes and socks and run 1/10th of a mile in bare feet!  I could feel my stride change as I did this, basically out of self-protection from the cinder rock surface of the running path -- very abrasive!  I think my feet felt strong enough to run farther, but wowee that surface was scratchy!  I just couldn't continue.

I put my shoes back on and noticed the stride change that much more!  My feet made a totally different "swishing" type of sound as the balls of my feet were striking first. It was crazy. This effect lasted for probably half a mile, before my old "shoe stride" came back... still, it was a very fun run and being more up on my toes made for a faster-than-expected average time. I felt like I was "pokey" for the whole run, but Garmin reported a 10:00 mile pace average for the entire run. Howdayalike them apples?

 My wife and I are going to tackle barefoot running techniques for real, and we are going to get some vibram 5 fingers this weekend!  Unfortunately our rec center will not allow you in without "shoes" ... so no barefooting on their treadmills.  I can't wait.

Went a nice and easy six miles, but not too slow -- wound up at 9:45 average pace for the whole 6 miles.

 Had some tenderness in left achilles again afterward... again ... but no pain. I need to stay on top of this though, so I need to be careful to get enough rest.