Running For Trevor

14 miles, 7:56 pace on Murdock Canal trail with a pretty big group of awesome ladies.  Fun fun morning.  I ran the entire 14 miles with only 1 contact.....I am pretty much legally blind without contacts so this was quite the accomplishment.

10.25 miles with Josse & Janae at OHS track.  Such a memorable morning with these ladies.  We did 36 x 200 for Josse's 36th Birthday!  We were just planning a track workout but then I had the crazy idea of doing 36 x 200's and Jos & Janae were both on board so we went for it.  I loved it!

Happy Birthday Josse!

7 mile true recovery jog from my parents house on rolling hills in Saratoga Springs.  9:07 pace.  First 4 miles by myself and then I picked up my sister for the last 3.  She hasn't ran at all since October and she hasn't ever ran in the cold...I think I may have killed her!

I did not plan on spending the night at my parents house and did this run in fuzzy socks and a seriously oversized sports bra.  Fun times!

There is a small group of us meeting at Kneaders in the River Bottoms of Provo at 7am tomorrow if anyone would like to join.  8-10 miles at an easy pace.

10 lovely miles with Josse, Carina, and Rebecca 8:09 pace.  Such a nice laid back run with the ladies.  We started on PRT but it was dangerously icy so we turned around and just ran down University.  Really great morning and really made me super thankful for good friends.

7 easy miles on Murdock Canal trail with strides, 7:49 pace.  A little colder than normal this morning but it felt okay because the sun was out. :)  I'm going to miss running in the light of day so much this week.

I am feeling really good as I slowly build my mileage and I'm excited to start training for Phoenix half on March 1st.  That will be my first race of the year and then I will hopefully shift my focus to UVM.  I'll likely jump in on a few 5k/10k runs inbetween for training.  I'm excited to have something to focus on and add some purpose to my workouts.  I'd like to get more quality tempo runs/LR with fast finishes in as I prepare for Phoenix.

Treadmill tempo workout.  3 mile warm up, 7 mile progressive tempo in about 45 min/6:25 AP splits were approxiametely 6:39 (2%), 6:35, 6:31 (1.5%), 6:27, 6:22, (1%), 6:18 (.5%), 6:15 (0%), 1 mile cool down.  11 miles total in 77 minutes, 7:00 AP.  I should have stopped at 5 when my feet started bothering me but I'm stubborn and physically I felt okay and wanted to finish.  I'm going to see a podiatrist this week and toying with the idea of orthotics.  We shall see but at this point I've tried just about everything and figure between my metetarsalgia and PF custom orthotics really can't hurt...

planks/pushups

8 miles easy recovery on the Freeman's treadmill, 8:07 pace.  I am staying with a couple of teenagers while the parents are on a 2 week cruise and I think I have a new found respect for all of you parents.  I woke the kids up to get ready for school, went downstairs and did 4.5 miles, back upstairs to make sure the 14 year old got on the bus, back on the treadmill to get to 6 before stopping to make sure the 17 year old got off okay.  I was going to go outside to finish after the kids were both off to school but decided just to finish it out on the treadmill.  I must say that the convienence of having an at home gym was very nice.

I am not sure what my running will look like for the two weeks while I am staying with them but with the treadmill right there I do not think it will suffer much.  If anything I think I will start adding more doubles.  Me and my friend Julia are trading off staying with the kids so it will be a good mix of indoor/outdoor running the next two weeks.

BYU indoor track with the JJ's Josse & Janae.  Mileage is kind of a guess....but I was there for about 70+ min so it seems semi-accurate.  I am not sure why the extra lap per mile makes is SO much harder to keep track?!? haha oh well.  Quick 1-1.5 mile Warm up and then we started the workout before ROTC flooded the track 1 mile + 5 x on/off laps, 6:00, 66 average for the on's.  I didn't really time all of them but the ones I did time we were hitting 65-66 seconds.  Stayed and did a longer cooldown with Janae.

Not a great workout for me but not every workout can be great.  I had a really hard time breathing on the indoor track for some reason and all the BYU shinanagans just messes with my mojo. haha still a fun workout with the girls. :)

PM:  3 miles easy on the treadmill, 8:27 pace

AM #1:  3 miles recovery on the treadmill, 8:20 pace

planks/pushups/weights

AM #2:  5 miles easy on murdock with Josse & Cam Cam, 8:25 pace.

I found this article in Running Times on Super Training Blocks really interesting.  The science behind it seems to makes sense but I'm just not sure it's feasible unless you are running fulltime.

PM:  3.5 miles easy on the treadmill.

60 minutes easy running on the treadmill with strides.  7.5 miles.

There is a small group of us meeting at the soccer fields in north Orem tomorrow morning at 6:30am if anyone is interested in joining.

13 miles on Murdock with a big group of ladies. I felt really good today after 2 nice and easy recovery days. My body really needed those recovery miles. Jen and I threw in a little tempo on the way back 6:37, 6:30. Not to shabby for the icy conditions. In my opinion tempo's this time of year should be more effort based with less emphasis on hitting specific paces. Overall the entire run was fairly swift after the first mile. 13.38/7:26 pace. 

7 mile recovery run on Murdock, 8:05 pace.  I wore my new slip on yak traks and absolutely loved them.  I was shocked that they even fit over my hokas.  Great $20 investment.

Early morning Monday treadmill tempo workout.  11 miles, 6:54 pace.  2.5 mile warmup, 3 x 2 mile tempo with a 2 min active rest intervals at 8:00 pace + 4 x 1 min on/off.  First set was 6:22, 6:18 (1.5% incline), second set 6:18, 6:13 (1.5% incline), last set 6:10, 6:03 (1% incline).  1 min on's were all at 5:42-5:45 pace and 0% incline.  Felt good today!

Planks/pushups

PM:  3.5 miles recovery, 8:27 pace.  It felt so good to shake my stiff legs out after sitting in meetings all day long.  My biggest pet peeve about my job in Healthcare is how sedentary it is!

7.5 miles easy, 8:08 pace

Couldn't make it to BYU indoor track with the JJ's:( but still wanted to get a good speed workout in even if I was stuck on the treadmill. 1600 + 5 x 400 + 1600 with 400 recovery in between everything.  This first mile was 6:03 and felt like quite the push, all of the 400's were @10.5-10.8 (5:39 average), last mile was 5:58 and felt "comfortably hard".  It is amazing how much easier the last mile felt after doing the faster 400's.  I like the treadmill for tempo runs but not speed workouts like this because I feel like I kind of settle and don't push myself as hard as I would on the track.  Still a really great workout for me.

I'm thinking about doing the 10k in Phoenix instead of the half.  I've never really trained to race a 10k because there are really no good 10k courses in Utah and it would be kind of fun to go after that 37:xx time at sea level.

11.5 miles in the freezing cold orchards of Santaquin this morning.  First 7 with Jen, I forgot to start my watch but Jen said it was 53 minutes and then I added 4.5 more on my own.  I did a 2 mile tempo 6:30, 6:15.  Overall a fairly brisk run for the day after a hard workout.  Jen & I really suck at attempting recovery runs together.  I kind of front loaded my mileage/workouts this week because I have a pretty busy weekend so I am looking forward to some really easy jogging the next couple of days.

8 miles, 8 minute pace.  Happy Friday!

10 miles in the orchards at the lovely hour of 9am.  7:27 pace.

8.5 easy miles on murdock + strides, 7:36 pace.  Really nice and peaceful morning.  I love these runs when I can sleep in, enjoy the sunshine, and have absolutely no rush to finish.

Early morning Treamill tempo.  Copied Jake K and transitioned between AT and LT half mile continuous reps.  2 mile warmup and then 8 miles with half mile at AT (marathon pace) 6:45 average, and then a half mile at LT (10k/HMP) 6:10 average.  Last mile of the workout at LT 6:07 and then a half mile cooldown.  10.5/72 minutes.  What a workout!

Transitioning from fast to fast(er) without any real breaks was a lot tougher than I thought it would be.  I liked it!

Met at BYU to do a track workout with a big group but the outdoor track was snow packed and I just did not want to run on the indoor track.  Everyone but me wanted speed and I talked Amber D into just doing a fartlek type workout on the roads.  We just ran up University Ave and did 10 x 1 min on/off.  My watch doesn't work in the dark so everything was effort based.  I have a head cold and I did a really hard workout yesterday so I was really just along for the ride and could kind of careless about what pace I was running.  We did somewhere in the ballpark of 8 miles at around a 7:30 pace.  I'd guess I was hitting around 6:00 for the ons.

PM:  3.5 recovery miles on SF River trail, 8:28 pace

30 min upper body weights

60 min on the treadmill, 8:00 pace.  Lasting that long on the TM was a major victory for me today!

8 miles easy on Murdock with Julia, 8:15 pace.  I really needed this run with my bestest friend, I'm so thankful for her in my life.  The miles flew by and the coversation was great.  I'm going to give my body one more recovery day and then hopefully be ready for a workout on Saturday. 

I liked this article on Running Times about Scheduling a Breakthrough.  It's a long article but worth the read, below are some of my favorite take aways.

"Too often you will feel strong and be eager to push yourself harder, but you have to hold back and keep the pace comfortable and easy."

"Runners usually go at whatever pace they can sustain and think they have to push themselves during each workout, or at least sometime during the week. Slowing to a conversational pace and adding miles to the edge of your fatigue threshold, however, allows the consistent buildup in distance over a number of weeks."

"In other words, you have to get out of your comfort zone. Doing something you've done before, regardless of how hard it feels in the moment, is something your body already knows how to do, so that activity will not produce any meaningful adaptations."

10 miles on murdock with Julia, 8:16 pace.  Duplicate of yesterday except 2 extra miles....which just meant extra time to talk. :)  I loved every single second of it.

15 mile LR with Josse, Janae, and Carina with a 4 mile tempo sandwhiched in the middle. None of us were feeling it during the warmup but I actually felt really good during the tempo part...not great...but good.  6:33, 6:21, 6:19, 6:16, I pulled the plug at 4 but ended up running my 5th mile pretty fast as well as I turned and finished the workout with the JJ's. It was really cold this morning, like only 7 degrees which makes it hard in opinion to really get into a great rythm so all in all a good workout to end the week.  My endurance is totally weak but it's getting better. :)

7 mile recovery run on murdock, 8:10 pace.

Early Monday morning treadmill tempo.  I'm still pretty whipped from last week so I knew I needed to keep it simple today.  Plus I am racing a 10k on Saturday so this needs to be a bit of a cutback week for me.  2.25 mile warmup and then 5.25 mile AT tempo 6:44, 6:39, 6:35, 6:31, 6:25, sprinted out the last .25 at 5:52 pace.  2 mile cooldown.  It took me a couple of miles to get into this workout but once I got going I felt okay.

PM:  2.5 mile really easy shake out run on the SF riv trail.

7.5 miles easy, 8ish pace.

25 minutes upper body weights

Bailed on the planned track wo because I wanted to sleep in....but I couldn't sleep in anyway so I should have just went!  After I stared at the ceiling for an hour I headed to the gym for a treadmill workout.  5 x 800 + 2 x 400 with 400 recovery at a 7:53 pace between everything.  800's were all 5:56 average pace and the 400's were 5:52 pace.  I am feeling burnt out, stressed, and tired and I don't really know why...I think it is just time for Spring to come.  It seems like it's been an extra long winter this year.

Planks/pushups

8 miles easy on Murdock with Julia, Jannice, and Francis, 8:40 pace.  I felt like crap but the company was fantastic!  I think I've somehow dug myself into a bit of a hole...hopefully I can get out of it soon.

6 miles easy around Orem with the JJ's Josse & Janae, 8:32 pace.