An Exercise In Utility

Ni!

Thursday, November 30, 2006

1:18:05 :: 12 miles

Moderate run. Did as much as I could given the conditions. Patchy ice on the roads, 10mph wind, and -2F temp made it tough to get the pace down. Had about five miles of strong pace (6:00-6:15s w/ 145-150 HR) and another seven of easy to moderate pace (6:25-7:00s). Felt good, just couldn't cruise on the streets. Final four miles on the treadmill at 135-155 HR.

Building up volume now, so I'm not going to worry about these sub-par workouts in sub-par conditions. Frustrating, but not too big a concern.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

2:02:20 :: 18 miles

Easy run. Mother nature is a dirty !@#$ing @%$#@. Really cold, windy, and ice covered everything. Did three out and back sections of a N-S road with some tree cover to stay out of the west wind. Worked pretty well. Footing was poor, so the run was not as fast as I wanted, but better pace than expected. Overall feeling really good. No niggles to speak of. That hasn't happened for a long time.

Second run was very good, probably the most relaxing and comfortable I've had.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

1:27:15 :: 11 miles

Monday, November 27, 2006

1:10:53 :: 11 miles

Moderate progression run. Started with a 7:24 to warm up, then waited to see if I was going to feel better today. 6:38, 6:33, 6:46 into the wind. Feeling okay, but still a bit tired. 6:22, 6:26, 6:19 and feeling a bit better, HR into the high 140s/low 150s. 6:15, 6:10, 6:06 with HR in the mid-to-high 150s, and 5:47 to finish with average HR of 167.

Overall average HR of 147 and pace of 6:26. Good run. Took a bit to feel loose, but it came around.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Sunday, November 26, 2006

2:20:01 :: 20 miles

Long run. Went easy pretty much the whole way. Wind and cold again today (10 degrees and 15 mph wind) really put me off. Feeling really uncomfortable, wet, and cold so I came indoors at 12 miles and finished on the treadmill. Tried to increase the pace, but it just wasn't there today. First poor long run in quite a few weeks, so I'm just going to look past it, and have a good week. The leg and calves are feeling better, so onward and upward.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Saturday, November 25, 2006

November 19-25 :: 72 miles [7 runs]

1:02:30 :: 8 miles

Friday, November 24, 2006

1:32:12 :: 14 miles

Moderate to hard progression run. Ran in the park back home. Nice ~1200 meter mostly dirt road around the park took a good deal of the pounding out of the run. A couple of easy miles to start, then a steady progression down from 4:35 per lap (1150 meters) for a few to 4:20 for a few to 4:10 for two laps to 4:02 to 3:52 for the final lap. Finished with several easy miles. Solid workout.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Thursday, November 23, 2006

1:38:17 :: 14 miles

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

1:01:44 :: 10 miles

Hard run. Felt okay. This really felt more like a tempo run than a hard run. The wind was a big factor in how poorly I felt, as well as some 'stomach issues' that cropped up in the last five miles. Heart rate steady at 152-157 for miles two through nine, but the pace varied between 5:53 and 6:17 depending on the wind. So I just had to go by effort. Other than the warmup, the final mile was the only outlier--a 5:38 averaging 162.

Pain from the left leg was non-existent, no thanks to the two days of biking, which seemed to make it worse. Stretching and some isometric exercises really make it feel better, and I don't feel it at all when running. Good news.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

No Run :: 1:15:00 bike

Well, the biking seems to be hurting rather than helping. The soreness is more significant after an hour on the bike than it was when I was running. So I guess I'll stick with the light strength work, stretching, and icing, and ease back on the running in order to get rid of this. According to the info I found on google, I should get significant improvement from the srteching alone. We'll see.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Monday, November 20, 2006

No Run :: 1:00:00 bike

Sunday, November 19, 2006

2:10:50 :: 20 miles

Long steady run. Felt good right out of the chute, so I went with it. Started with a 7:15, then 6:40 pace through the next several miles. Felt the zip go out of the legs around mile 13. I changed my pattern of taking GEF at one hour in, and intstead took it at about 1.5 hours. I could tell the difference in the last six miles or so. Felt sluggish and my breathing changed to a near tempo run pattern even though my HR stayed steady around 155. Just different with a different fueling pattern. Ran just under 6:20 pace for miles 5, 10, 12, 17, and 20, otherwise in the 6:25-6:35 range. Avg HR 149, 6:32 pace overall. 143lb post-run weight.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Saturday, November 18, 2006

November 12-18 :: 79 miles [10 runs]

52:12 :: 8 miles

Moderate 'oreo' run...good stuff in the middle. One mile warmup, then 6:24, 6:01, 5:52, 5:58. Left shin locked up through a portion of the third faster mile. Not cool. Three miles easy to finish. Left achilles was perfect. Iced it four times yesterday, which seems to have worked really well. Left quad is feeling strange. Good during the run, but sore after. Icing and stretching should bring it around.

Overall, didn't feel good today. Whatever fitness I had that allowed me to run easy at six-minute pace is gone.

Run Two | Weather | Supplemental | Nutrition | Sleep | Injury

Friday, November 17, 2006

24:34 :: 3 miles

Recovery jog. Used a heat pack on the left achilles for a few minutes while riding the trainer to warm up. Worked great. No problems at all during the run. Felt good. Really enjoying these short, slow jogs.

54:52 :: 8 miles

Easy run. Left achilles had a slight twinge in the first mile, then felt fine. Iced and light massage on the left achilles and calf, as well as right calf. Will try to ice three to four more times today.

Light snow last night so the sidewalks were a little slick. No problems though. New shoes on Wednesday (Asics 2080). Seem to be helping, as legs are feeling better in general.

Thursday, November 16, 2006

45:44 :: 6 miles

Recovery run. Everything felt good, other than the weather--breezy and about 20 degrees. Stretched and iced both calves as well as right leg crotchal region (technical term). Calves have been a bit moody since the fartlek workout on Tuesday, so I'm trying to get out ahead of any further problems. I have been stretching well and doing 80-100 calf raises several times a week for the past few months in order to avoid the calf problems this time around. Hopefully it works!

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

25:07 :: 3 miles

Recovery jog. Started at 10 minute pace and worked down to 7:45 or so. Avg HR 123. Felt good. Stretched some and iced calves after.

1:19:23 :: 12 miles

Steady run. First few miles slower to warm up the niggles, then started to gradually drop the pace. Legs felt a bit heavy until about mile six or seven, then everything felt good for the balance of the run. Last four miles in 6:15(151), 6:16(152), 6:10(153), 5:49(161) average HR in parentheses. Avg HR for the run was 145. Good run.

There was a nice 1.5 mile dirt road left over from the flood protection project that I made a regular part of my runs, helping to keep the wear and tear on my legs reasonable. This morning I found out the hard way that the entire road was tilled up and seeded with grass. Fortunately, I didn't break an ankle.