Running slow, but finally consistent! (23.8M)

Monday, December 29th
AM: 50' bike (avg HR 156 bpm)
PM: 50' bike (avg HR 155 bpm)

Tuesday, December 30th
40' run w/ 20" surges
Getting sick - sore throat, headache, and slight fever. Also, really bad shin pain in the morning. Moving the run to later in the week and taking a complete rest day.

Wednesday, December 31st
6M run + 7x20" strides (avg HR 160, avg cadence 174, avg pace 8:25 - GREAT run)

Thursday, January 1st
Rest day
40' run with 20' at 75% effort, then 20' of uphill running at 80%, recovery to 70% (Made up the 40' run from Tuesday. First 20' at 8:10 pace!!!, avg HR 156, 2.45M; second 20' at 8:28 pace, uphill running at 3% incline, avg HR 162, 2.36M - GREAT day)

Friday, January 2nd
3M run + 8x15-20" strides. (25:40, avg pace 8:33, avg HR 160, avg cadence 175 - Another good run. I keep feeling like I'm crawling, but I finish the mile and my split pops up on the screen and I am moving at a solid pace! 8:30, 8:35, 8:32 today.)

Saturday, January 3rd
6M run w/ steady segment (2M easy 8:55 going out, 9:34 coming back up on Katy Trail, avg HR 160, avg cadence 172; 4M steady in 8:27 (downhill), 8:43 (half down half up), 9:12 (uphill), 9:03 (half up half down), avg HR 168, avg cadence 172 - About time for a bad run. Katy Trail in general makes it really hard for me to do these HR runs. I really hope I start to manage the inclines better so I can actually have decent runs out there!)

Sunday, January 4th
4M run + 4 strides (Avg pace 8:41, avg HR 160, avg cadence 173. Left shin pain.)

Finishing up our two weeks of travel (29.5M)

Monday, December 22nd
30' easy + strides (3.27M, 9:10 avg pace, avg HR 160, cadence 170 - Felt like total trash; no pains, just thought I was moving good and instead I was crawling; May have been humidity as it was early morning in Hull)

Tuesday, December 23rd
60' aquajog
50' with 20" fartlek (20' easy at 8:35 pace for 2.33M, 152bpm; 30' of ~20" surge, recovering to 155bpm, 3.4M averaging 8:49 pace, 162bpm)

Wednesday, December 24th
60' aquajog

Thursday, December 25th
50' with hilly fartlek + drills (5.46M, avg pace 9:09, avg HR 157, 20' easy, then surged uphill to reach 168bpm, recovered downhill ensuring HR dropped to 155 or less)

Friday, December 26th
30' easy (3.41M, avg pace 8:48, avg HR 157, cadence 172; ran on the Town Lake trail in Austin on our way home... I love it there. Nothing hurt the whole run until the end when my ankle started bothering me; felt almost as if I'd sprained it but I don't remember doing anything to it)

Saturday, December 27th
32' with steady portion after 15' (15' easy at 75% - 1.72M, avg pace 8:43, avg HR 159, cadence 172; 17' steady at 80% - 1.89M, avg pace 9:00, 82' elevation gain, avg HR 168, cadence 171)

Sunday, December 28th
8M easy at 75% (avg pace 8:57, avg HR 162, avg cadence 171)

A week in Phoenix (22.3M)

Monday, December 15th
Rest day

Tuesday, December 16th
40' elliptical (avg HR 147)
40' run with 20" fartleks at 80%, recovering to 70% (4.57M, avg pace 8:45, avg HR 157, cadence 173, got in 12 total surges)

Wednesday, December 17th
25' easy + strides (2.8M, avg pace 8:56, avg HR 157, cadence 175, 6 x 10-15" strides averaging 5:30 pace)

Thursday, December 18th
40' run with hilly fartlek up to 80%, recovering to 70% (4.4M, avg pace 9:05, avg HR 156, got in 8 hilly segments each about 45"; set the incline to 3% and climbed until HR hit 168, then leveled it off to flat until HR dropped to 155)

Friday, December 19th
1M run easy (8:21 pace, avg HR 141 - Shins were a bit achy and it was going to be an "extra" run, so I just dropped it)

Saturday, December 20th
25' easy(2.85M, avg pace 8:46, avg HR 160, cadence 172 - Was supposed to be a steady run but I was feeling sick and my stomach was super unsettled)

Sunday, December 21st
60' easy + strides (7.08M, avg pace 8:28, avg HR 160, cadence 172 - Ran at Seabrook trails; super pretty and felt great for the first half, then had to slow down to keep HR in range. First three miles were 8:25, 8:13, 8:14)

Training by HR again! (16.7M)

Monday, December 8th
35' run @ 60-75%(3.83 miles; 9:08 avg pace; avg HR 156; avg cadence 176... Nothing hurt too badly during the run; shins were sore and right hip/ glute is still bugging me)
50' bike @ 70-80% (avg HR 156)

Tuesday, December 9th
60' bike @ 60-75% (avg HR 156)
30' elliptical @ 60-80% (avg HR 139)
Weights
*Left shin is KILLING me today. Could be the weather though?*

Wednesday, December 10th
90' bike @ 70-80% (avg HR 155, which includes 5' w/u and 5' c/d. HR was above 160 most of the ride)

Thursday, December 11th
20' run @ 60-75% (2.66 miles; 9:24 avg pace; avg HR 154; avg cadence 173... left shin is better today than yesterday, but still sore, as is the outside of my right hip)
40' bike @ 70-80%
40' elliptical @ 70-80%
Weights
CES appointment
***I learned today that I have been doing a few things wrong with this HR training. 1) My max HR is higher than what I predicted, so my runs should range between 141 and 162, whereas I've been trying slowing down every time it got up to 157. Going forward, I'll wait to slow down until it gets up to 162. 2) Since my runs are going to be so easy, I should be doing 6 to 8 x 10-15 second fast but easy strides after all easy runs to balance out the effect it has on my biomechanics. 3) I should be letting my effort go up to 80% twice a week by doing 50-100m surges. This means my HR can go up to 168 on those days. I should also be doing 2 sets of 20m drills on these days.There's a lot more, but those are the most important things for now! :) Taking notes from Roy T. Benson's book "Coach Benson's Secret Workouts: Coachly wisdom for runners about effort-based training".

Friday, December 12th
Rest day

Saturday, December 13th
20' run @ 70-80% effort (1M warm up with avg HR 156, pace 9:25; 1.8M steady with avg HR 166, cadence 173, avg pace 8:42)
25' shakeout run @ 60-75% effort (3M, avg pace 8:25, avg HR 161, cadence 175)

Sunday, December 14th
40' run @ 70-80% effort (4.4M, 9:05 pace, avg HR 160, cadence 175)
60' elliptical @ 70% HR (avg HR 154)

Down week (16M)

Monday, December 1st
60' elliptical before work (avg HR 155) 
60' easy bike after work (avg HR 125)
Felt beyond exhausted all day... took multiple horizontal breaks!

Tuesday, December 2nd
4M run before work (last 2 miles in 15:17, didn't get a time for the first 2 miles... pressed the wrong button on my watch; shins hurt to start but got better during the run)
60' elliptical during lunch (avg HR 162)

Wednesday, December 3rd
60' bike during lunch (avg HR 140. shins hurt too bad to run this morning)

Thursday, December 4th
4M run before work (I think we averaged about 7:15 pace on the first 3M of the run... It was more like tempo effort for me, so I backed off the pace after Jake's girls stopped. Shins hurt, but not nearly as bad as yesterday)
40' elliptical during lunch (avg HR 149) + 20' strength work

Friday, December 5th
Rest day

Saturday, December 6th
4M run in the morning (DBU trail; right hip and right ankle hurt really bad?!?!; avg HR 159, cadence 173. Trying to keep my HR under 160 for most runs for the next month or two.)
60' bike in the evening

Sunday, December 7th
4M run in the morning
30' bike in the morning
60' elliptical at noon