Still battling a few random muscle (maybe tendon?) aches, but no bone pain at all! I cannot tell you how excited I am to be running 20 miles this week! I think once I string together four to six weeks of 20+ miles I'll finally start to see more noticeable fitness changes. Don't get me wrong, I've definitely progressed quite a bit over the last four weeks of 10 - 15 miles, but only in the sense that I feel more comfortable and such. I'm definitely not gaining any speed or endurance yet, but that is to be expected with only scattered, low mileage, easy running! Now that my runs are pretty much all over the 30 minute mark, the body should start responding more.
I'm also really excited about how the strength work I've been doing has affected me. I will admit that there are days it makes my runs a little slower, but I think it's worth it right now. Once I get into true training, I'll be more picky about when I do it; but, for now, I think it is working miracles. My postural strength is so much better and I feel way more stable when running. Definitely no more wobbly ankles or legs!
Sunday, June 30th
4M run + 3 uphill strides. Felt like trash for the first three miles and the fourth mile didn't feel better, but I finally decided to get over myself and run hard anyways. One mile of hard running won't hurt me and I needed it after the other poor miles. First mile was 9:10-ish and the total run was 31:33. My legs were just super heavy and I was having a hard time breathing.. couldn't take in any good, deep breaths for some reason. I think the leg fatigue is from yesterday. The new bodypump has 6 and half minutes of squats and that does not include the lunge track! Jake said I looked awful on the run, also though. Hopefully that's just from general fatigue as I really thought my posture/form had improved! I felt good and tight/strong on the strides. Jake didn't think the first one looked very good, but at least I'm feeling strong on them. Smoothness and speed will come in time.
15' core and injury prevention, 30' lap swim
Monday, July 1st
3M run + 60' bodypump. On the treadmill, per my usual Monday morning routine. I took a Gu gel on my drive to 24 Hour Fitness this morning and usually I don't eat at all before my runs on these early mornings. Let's just say it made a big difference! Miles were 8:04, 7:13, 6:58 and it all felt very good! Super happy with today's run! Bodypump was pretty much identical to Saturday. Lots and lots of squats, lots and lots of upper body. I'm still not a fan of the new hang clean move though!
Tuesday, July 2nd
15' incline walk + 60' bodycombat class. Let's just say I am not, and will never be, a fighter. Nor will I be taking bodycombat again! Haha! Probably the most embarrassing sixty minutes I've spent in a gym! Ha! At least I got in some arm and ab work! :)
Wednesday, July 3rd
4M run + 30' bike AM. I didn't want to use the treadmill twice this week so I ran in the huge parking lot in front of our gym. It only took four loops and I was not running slow by any means! For some reason I just had a quick turnover today and it felt unnatural to slow it down. I definitely put myself in a hole though, and had to hang on for the last 10 minutes or so!
60' bodypump PM
Thursday, July 4th
4M run + 3 uphill strides. Got this in before a long day of travel. Very slow, heavy, lethargic run. Probably the worst most heavy legged and heavy breathed I've felt for any runs so far. Yuck! Just glad I got it in and there are no structural problems!!
Friday, July 5th
Rest. No cross training opportunities.
Saturday, July 6th
5M of running on the track. 2M warm up, 2x1M of stride the straights/ jog the curves with 800m easy after each mile. 15:51, 7:10, 4:12, 7:04, 3:36. In case the 4:12 recovery after that first straights/curves mile is not enough proof, I STRUGGLED on this run. Just couldn't suck in enough air from step #1. I felt very weak and very fatigued the entire time. On the bright side, I got in the scheduled five miles and three of them were 7:20 pace or faster (the first two miles were 8:30, 7:21).
I said that your last two strides looked great. The first one looked off.
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