8.31.2015

"Week 12" (12M / 4 runs)

Sunday, August 30
30' bike with Jake while he ran.
Big 8.

Monday, August 31
6M bike in the morning.
30' bike with Jake while he ran at lunch.
15' run + general strength #5 at lunch.
30' bike with Jake while he ran after work.

Tuesday, September 1
30' run in the morning.
30' bike with Jake while he ran at lunch.
General strength #6.
30' bike with Jake while he ran after work.

Wednesday, September 2
30' bike with Jake while he ran at lunch.
30' run + two sets of 40" plank rotation.

Thursday, September 3
Unplanned rest day - Traveled to visit grandpa in hospital. Probably a blessing in disguise as my left hip is really bothering me.

Friday, September 4
General strength #5 + 30' bike with Jake while he ran at lunch.
30' run during lunch.

Saturday, September 5
30' bike + sprints and jogs during the XC meet.

8.23.2015

"Week 11" (13M / runs)

Sunday, August 23rd
Rest day. Left groin started hurting late in yesterday's run and is still sore today, so I'm thankful this is my off day. Hopefully I'll be good to go tomorrow morning!

Monday, August 24th
4M run in the morning. I don't want to wear a garmin most days of the week, so I ran 35' at Mtn View. Felt pretty good. Left shin started to hurt towards the end, but it wasn't awful.
General strength #3 + HIIT bike + 1.5M run at noon. Left hip is catching during some of the strength work and leg swings. Two sets of 6 x 10" all out, 30" relaxed during the bike. Ran 15' in the neighborhood afterwards. Felt fine, but left shin started hurting again towards the end.

Tuesday, August 25th
3.5M run in the morning. Ran 30'on the grass track in some intense humidity. Shins felt fine today... really did not notice them.
30' easy bike + general strength #4 + 1.5M run. Intended to walk 15' after my run, but was out of time and I had already done an easy bike with Jake while he ran his double. Shins felt fine on the shakeout, but the fifth metatarsal of my left foot had a couple random sharp pains in the same spot as on Saturday's run. I was wearing the same shoes as Saturday, so I may rotate those out for a few days to see if that gets rid of it. I don't want to mess with that metatarsal because it's where the stress reaction was this February when I shut things down.

Wednesday, August 26th
30' bike while Jake ran his double

Thursday, August 27th
3M run with 3 x 100, 200, 300 (100 jog recoveries) in the morning. 9:12 for the first mile, 16:14 for the last two, which included the intervals. I did not stop during the run, just went straight from easy running into the intervals. 20, 43, 64, 20, 41, 63, 20, 41, 61 for the hard segments, which puts me thru 1,800m in 6:13 (5:32 mile pace). So fun! I'm not doing these track days to get in shape... I know they are more detrimental than beneficial... I understand how the laws of getting in good aerobic shape work. BUT, when you spend five consecutive years running base running the whole time (because you keep getting hurt before you get to do the hard running), running starts to lose its excitement. I love running because I love testing my body and pushing my limits. You don't get to do that in true base running, so I've decided to take a break from following the running rules, and I'm going to have fun with it for a while. Because sometimes you just want to run hard, and while my body is still in one piece, I'm going to take advantage of that every once in a while! :)
30' bike while Jake ran his double + 1.5M shakeout + general strength #3 at noon

Friday, August 28th
30' bike while Jake ran his double at noon. No run because left groin is bothering me again. A day of rest helped on Sunday, so we'll see if that does the trick again this time.
General strength #4 + 20' HIIT bike in the afternoon. Same two sets of 6 x 10" hard, 30" recovery.

Saturday, August 29th
30' bike with four sets of 6 x 10" strong, 30" natural in the morning.
20' run in the afternoon. Still getting those sharp shooting pains on the outside of my left foot.

8.19.2015

"Week 10" (20M / 6 runs)

Things were going great up until I got sick. When I was coming back from that, my third "run" back was incredible. My shins and butt felt significantly better than they had in months. I decided that's what I want my runs to be like at this point. I'm not a competitive runner right now, not anywhere remotely close. I'm in no rush to gain fitness. I want to feel GOOD on my runs. I want them to be enjoyable right now. I do not want to spend my runs asking myself, "should I keep going?" or "is this bone?". I understand there will always be aches, but I want to do better at staying ahead of them while I'm still running on my own time.

Sunday, August 18th
3M easy run.

Monday, August 17th
10' moderate run during team practice in the morning.
General strength #1 + 20' easy run during lunch.

Tuesday, August 18th
30' power walk in the morning.
General strength #2 + 15' HIIT bike + 15' run during lunch. (2 sets of 10" all out, 30" rest during bike)

Wednesday, August 19th
25' high HR elliptical + 5' high HR stair climber in the morning.
20' with 7 x 600m run, 100m walk included. 91", 76", 72", 67", 63", 61", 61", then jogged to finish out the time. The first one is essentially a wake up lap, so this gave me 1800m at about 5:55 pace. Pretty sweet. I have been running these with the mindset that if I'm not relaxed while running hard, I'm not getting max benefit; so my main focus on them is to keep my form relaxed and my effort controlled. My right shin started hurting on the second to last one, but it felt fine finishing out the time jogging.

Thursday, August 20th
General strength #1 + 15' HIIT bike. (2 sets of 10" all out, 30" rest)
60' sports massage.

Friday, August 21st
4M run in the morning. Ran on a 2M rolling loop; 16:38 and 15:15 for the two loops.
General strength #2 + 30' walk during lunch.

Saturday, August 22nd
6M run in the morning. First mile solo, then joined Jake's girls. 8:17 for the average pace. 8:46, 8:30, 8:03, 7:54, 8:20, 8:06. Ran 2.5M out with the group, then turned around with one of his girls who had surgery this summer so we backed off for a while after we first turned around. I was thankful. :)
General Strength + 15' HIIT bike + 15' walk in the afternoon.

"Week 9" - Still sick (8M / 3 runs)

Flu-like virus hung around until Wednesday. I did some walk-jog's on Wednesday thru Friday to sweat without bringing down my immune system. I rested on Saturday I ran hard on Friday and am trying to be careful with my shins.

Wednesday - 2.25M of 100m run, 100m walk
Thursday - 4M of 150m run, 50m walk
Friday - 1.5M of 300m hard, 100m walk (worked down and finished at 64"; most were mid 70's... finally felt smooth and strong!) + about 3M of diagonals during Dawn's workout 

8.02.2015

Week 8 - Sick!! (10M / 3 runs)

Down week!

Monday, August 3rd
Rest day

Tuesday, August 4th
3M easy. [Track, Hokas, DP 68, H 65%, T 81]. Average pace was 8:42. 9:06, 8:41, 8:18. This run felt like a marathon. No joke! I felt like I was running completely on empty! Thankfully, my foot was fine today, which is way more important than feeling good! :) Butt and shins are the big issues still.
4 x 100m strides. Started easy and kept them all very controlled. Didn't want to strain as the last time I did I stirred up my Pectineus. 27, 25, 23, 21.
2M easy. [Treadmill, Launch 2]. Average pace was 8:23. 8:27, 8:19. Felt much better energy-wise on this run. Butt and shins still an issue. 
Weights. 3 x 5 reps.

Wednesday, August 5th
Rest day

Thursday, August 6th
3M easy. [Track, Launch 2]. Average pace was 8:56. 9:31, 8:52, 8:24. Still feeling completely, terribly, totally awful. Heavy legs that feel like lead. Weak body, etc. etc.
2M easy. 17:00 on the gravel trail at DBU. Felt terrible still. Plus stomach cramps from being hungry.

Friday, August 7th
3M easy.
4 x 100m strides.
2M easy.
Rest day - Sick; flu-like virus or strep... doc says it will last a week or so.

Saturday, August 8th
Rest day - Sick

Sunday, August 9th
6M easy.
Rest day - Sick