Cool Runnings!

PM - 5.5 miles total.  2 miles with Sparky, average pace of 7:56/mile.  These miles felt harder than usual, perhaps because have been used to running on the treadmill recently, perhaps for another reason.  I dropped Sparky off, and then did another 3.5 miles on my own, average pace of 7:31/mile.  These felt easier than the first two, probably because my legs were nicely warmed up.  However, I did notice that from a pulmonary perspective, it was more difficult than normal.  That being said, I am glad to have started off the new year on the right track with a run.  I am hoping that I can be much more consistent this entire year at running.

Noon - 4 miles on the treadmill, sort of a progressive run.  Started at 8:00 pace, slowly worked my way up to 6:40 pace and held that for a mile, then slowly went back down to 8:00 pace again.  Felt good, looking forward to increasing my mileage next week.

1.5 easy miles with Samuel - that's all I ended up doing today.  Something better than nothing, right?  Average pace of 10:40/mile.

Noon - 5 miles on the treadmill at the fitness center, then weights.  Warmed up first 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then settled into 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Felt good, in control, worked on maintaining good form.  I think that working with the weights may be helping with this as well - my core had a pretty strong need of being strengthened.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:43/mile.  We need to get him back into the swing of running so that he can get used to it again.

Lunch - hard workout.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 3 straight miles at 6:18 pace, then 1/2 mile cool-down at 8:30 pace.  This was a fairly difficult workout for me, but I was pleased that I was able to finish the tempo run without stopping (unlike last week).  I am feeling it in my hamstrings right now - they are fairly sore.  After the run, I worked out my back and shoulders with lat pulldowns and seated rows, then did abs with the crunch machine and knee raises, then did my lower back with the back extension machine.  All in all, a good workout day.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  We started out nice and easy, he was doing better today than the past few days, and I suggested to him that he try to get a smoothie today.  At the turnaround point, we were a bit slow, so I let him know he would have to speed up, and he made the decision to go for the smoothie.  He was doing a fantastic job until the very end when he started to falter, and I just encouraged him to keep up, as he was so close that he didn't want to quit at the very end.  He ended up winning his smoothie, and in the end, his last 1/2 mile was actually at about 9:00 pace.  I believe that if he really tried, he could run a mile in under 9:00 right now.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill, average pace about 7:40/mile.  Warmed up the first 1/2 mile at 8:00 pace, then did the rest at 7:30 pace.  It was actually very interesting to feel the difference between 8:00/mile and 7:30/mile today.  Then hit the weights for a bit.

Lunch - 4 easy miles on the treadmill, average just over 8:00/mile.  I have had some soreness in my right hip flexor this week, possibly due to my haste to start putting in tempo miles after having a couple months of very poor training.  The rest of this week and all next week will be easy runs, about 8:00 pace, to see if I can get my hip flexor feeling better.  It did feel a bit better today than yesterday after my run, so hopefully I am on the right track.  After the run, did bench press, arm extensions, biceps curls, then abs and lower back.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:19/mile.  He did a great job today of running at a steady pace.  The average pace was steadily dropping the entire time until, with about 1/2 mile to go, he asked if we could slow down a little.  Since he has already gotten his smoothie for this week, we slowed down just a little.  I hope that running with him helps him to concentrate more on his schoolwork.

Lunch - 4 easy miles on the treadmill, average pace about 8:05/mile, including 1/4 mile warmup at 8:30 pace.  Hip flexor felt better.  After the run, did my back (lat pulldowns, seated rows), abs (crunch machine) and lower back extensions, then decided to do some planks.  Overall, good workout.

PM - 8 miles outside.  It was nice to be able to run outside instead of on the treadmill.  Average pace 7:30/mile.  Started off nice and easy, first mile in 7:54.  Once my lungs and legs were warmed up, the pace picked up naturally.  This pretty much ended up being a progression run without my intending it to be, with the exception of a couple miles in the middle which were all about the same.  Last mile was in 6:57, felt good to open it up a little bit.  Weather was nice - about 50 degrees or so.  This run felt really good to me.  My hip flexor feels pretty good.  On a side note, Lybi and I also had the opportunity to go to the temple today, and that was a very enjoyable experience.  We did sealings, since Lybi didn't think she would be able to handle a full session today.  Every time we do sealings, I am reminded of how happy and excited I was to get married to Lybi, and of the big cheesy grin I had on my face as we were kneeling across the altar (I literally could not stop smiling).

Lunch - 4.5 miles on the treadmill, slightly under 8:00/mile.  Warmed up the first 1/4 mile at 8:30 pace, then increased to 8:00 mile.  Also increased the incline to 1.0.  Stayed there until I hit the 2 mile mark, then dropped the incline back to 0.5 and increased the speed to 7:30 pace for the next mile.  Slowed down again the last mile at 8:00 pace.  Cooled down and did my lats, abs, and lower back.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:30/mile.  He had some bursts where he really put on the afterburners.  He has a good amount of speed in those little legs of his.

Lunch - 6 miles on the treadmill.  I had my wellness check at work, and they drew blood, so I didn't want to lift any weights, even though my check was in the morning.  Warmed up at 8:30 pace, then increased to 8:00 pace for the rest of the first mile.  Then I bumped the speed up to 7:30 pace, which I maintained for the rest of the run.  When I cooled down, I checked my HR, and it was only at 140.  Something of note: either 1) my body was running more efficiently at 7:30 pace than it does at 8:00 pace, causing the lower HR (it has been averaging about 147 at 8:00 pace), 2) I am already recovering the cardiovascular fitness I had lost or 3) this was a complete anomaly.  I will check my HR tomorrow after running to see what it is right when I start cooling down.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  His left leg was bothering him a bit, so he ran slower than usual - 10:53 average pace.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up for 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then did the rest of the run at MP.  Felt very controlled for most of the MP run, breathing very much under control, legs felt fine.  Checked my HR right when I started to cool down; it had spiked up to around 175, but came down to 130 or so rather quickly (in less than a minute).  After the run, did bench press, tricips extensions, biceps curls, ab crunch machine, and then finished with planks.  Did not get a chance to run with Sam as I got home a little late and had to start on dinner immediately, then had to finish preparing for Webelos Scouts, but I did get to work with him on his pinewood derby car.  He chose the design and helped me draw it on the block, and although he did not want to do any of the cutting because he was too afraid, he has been helping with the sanding, and I will make sure that he does most of the painting.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill, ran at 8:00 pace.  Felt very good, very easy.  For the last 1/4 mile, I did a pickup at 6:00 pace.  Got my HR up to about 172, but it dropped very quickly and was down to the 120's by the end of my 2 minute cooldown.  Then did my lat pulldowns, seated rows, ab crunch machine, lower back extensions and planks.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace 9:49/mile.  He earned his smoothie today.  Then another 0.5 miles with Joey at 10:50 pace.  He also earned a smoothie.  I have decided to not run a mile with Joey until he turns 7.  I will probably keep doing 1.5 miles with Samuel until he turns 9, unless he starts getting under 10:00/mile every day.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill.  Started out at 8:00 pace for 0.25 to warm up, then 0.5 at 7:30 pace, 0.5 at 7:00 pace, 0.5 at 6:40 pace, 0.5 at 6:20 pace, then back down again: 0.5 at 6:40 pace, 0.5 at 7:00 pace, 0.5 at 7:30 pace and 0.25 at 8:00 pace to cool down.  2:00 cooldown, checked the HR, went from 140 down to below 100 in less than 2:00.  The run felt good, form felt good, I think I am reaping the benefits of the weight training in the form of better running posture.  After running, did bench press, triceps extensions, biceps curls, crunch machine, lower back extensions and then planks.

AM - met up with Burt, Jared and Camille from the Del Sol team I will be running with for a run.  Ran the entire time with Burt, with Jared and Camille just behind.  We started off nice and easy and slowly worked our way up until we were doing about 7:40 pace for the last 1.5 miles.  The entire run was very enjoyable - I wish I could run with someone else more often - but such is life.  I really pushed it the last 1/4 mile just to see what I could do - I managed to get up to 5:00 pace for a short time.  Don't have the numbers in front of me, but it was a good run.

Lunch - 4 miles on the treadmill.  I did a pyramid of sorts - starting out with 1/4 mile at 8:00 pace, then 1/2 mile at 7:30 pace, 1/2 mile at 7:00 pace, 1/2 mile at 6:40 pace, then 1/2 mile at 6:20 pace and then back down.  Felt good, but I have noticed a slight amount of tenderness in my shins that I will have to keep an eye on.

PM - 6 miles outside, average pace 8:00/mile.  Ugh.  I don't remember the last time I felt so awful on a run.  My parents flew in this afternoon, and after having picked them up at the airport and brought them home, we went out to eat at Carrabba's.  I had the shrimp and scallops in a lemon butter sauce.  It was heavenly, but probably a bit too fatty, and I probably at a bit too much.  Not enough to feel uncomfortable in a normal setting, but enough to be a very unhappy camper during my run.  Even though it was almost 3 hours after we ate, my stomach was still having problems.  I amost puked a couple of times, but managed to keep it together and just slowed down a bit the second half of the run.  Maybe one of these days I will learn my lesson - you think?

Lunch - medium workout.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 5 miles at MP and 1/2 mile cooldown at 8:30 pace.  Was able to maintain the pace, but it wasn't as easy as last time - perhaps because I didn't get enough sleep last night.  Lungs were more taxed than normal, although the legs were fine.  At the end of the run, I did a 2 minute cooldown (walking), and my HR went from 168 to 94 by the end of the 2 minutes.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:15/mile.  This in spite of him deciding he didn't want to run for his "smoothie", even though he was pretty close the entire time.  Then just before dinner, I ran another 0.5 miles with Joseph because he was acting a little too hyper.  We averaged about 11:00 pace or so.

Lunch - ran outside today (with the Garmin, which I finally remembered to bring!), the weather was beautiful.  It was probably in the upper 60's, but it was cloudy, so it didn't feel as warm as if the sun were out.  Ran a different loop today just to see how far it was.  4.5 miles, average pace about 7:25/mile.  It felt pretty good to run outside instead of on the treadmill.  I will be the first to admit that sometimes it is a bit boring running on the treadmill.  I was hoping to run 5 miles, and was also hoping to run with Sam in the afternoon, but neither were to be.  It had started to rain when I got home, so I didn't run with Sam, as Adam has been sick, and I didn't want another one of the boys to get sick due to exposure.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill today.  Started out nice and easy at 8:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then sped up to 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Felt good, in control, lungs and legs felt good.  After the run, I did my lat pulldowns and seated rows, followed by the ab crunch machine and then planks.  I swear the planks hurt more than 3 sets of the ab crunch machine - especially on my side.  After about 20 seconds, my obliques are killing me when doing side planks.  Planning on running with Samuel this afternoon.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel.  About 1/3 of the way into the run, he fell and banged his knee, but continued with a minimal amount of whining.  Average pace was about 10:30/mile.

Lunch - 5 miles on the treadmill.  Started off at 8:00 pace with the intention of doing the whole run at that pace, but after a mile, I just couldn't do it.  Bumped up the speed to 7:30 pace - that felt much better.  Concentrated on my form, especially my legs.  Also did some bounding to work on form.  I'm sure that looked particularly good to everyone else working out at the fitness center . . . "look at that guy leaping on the treadmill . . ..", oh well, I wasn't particularly concerned about that.  The run felt good, and afterwords, did my 2:00 cooldown again (walking) and watched my HR drop from 148 to 98 before the cooldown was over.  Then afterwards did bench press, triceps press, ab crunch machine, lower back extensions and planks.  The planks seemed to be a little easier today - not sure why.  I have been thinking about doing London's run this Saturday (the 10K, not the 1/2 marathon), but I am just not sure if I am up to it or not.  I don't want to injure myself when I am really not quite ready to race, and I really want to have a good run.  I will have to think about it a little more before deciding.  There will probably be other races I can run later on, I just like the cause that London's Run supports.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:38/mile.  We started out kind of faster, and slowed down towards the end.  It was a little nippy out - enough for me to want to wear a long-sleeved shirt with my shorts.  I'm such a baby now that I am used to Arizona . . .

Lunch - moderate intensity workout today.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, the into the meat of the workout.  Planned on 5 miles at 6:40 pace, then 1/2 mile cooldown, but it wasn't to be today.  Ended up cutting it short with a mile to go and cooling down for a 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace.  I have had a couple days this week where I haven't gotten enough sleep, and I think it showed today - I just didn't have the endurance I expected.  Still 4 miles at 6:40 pace was pretty good, and I definitely could have kept it up, I just didn't want to overexert myself and get injured.  After the run, I did planks.  No weights today, I have decided that Wednesday will be my day of skipping the weights.

Lunch - it was gorgeous outside, and I was running low on running gear so I had to bring some shorty shorts with me today, and didn't want to run on the treadmill in them, so I hit the road today.  No Garmin, but I ran my Lunch Run which was quite nice.  I wasn't too sure of my pace, so I was just running what felt comfortable, and figured I would calculate my pace afterwards.  Felt good the entire run, nice and relaxed and in control.  It wasn't until I got back that I realized how fast I had been running - average of 7:24/mile.  I felt much better today, and I think it showed.  I was a bit surprised that this pace felt so good to me, especially since I did my tempo run yesterday.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 10:33/mile. 

Lunch - a very pleasant 5 miles on the treadmill today.  For the first time since I joined the fitness club there, I actually programmed the treadmill before I started.  LOL - I am always in too much of a rush to start my workout to worry about it normally.  Anyways, it was nice, the run felt really good.  I experimented a little bit with my stride today, we'll see how that goes.  1/2 mile warmup at 8:00 pace, then 4 miles at 7:30 pace (felt very comfortable), then 1/2 mile cooldown at 8:00 pace.

AM - 6.2 miles (in lieu of running London's Run) this morning.  It was still kind of nippy out - about 43 degrees, so tights and long sleeve shirt.  It felt quite nice to run outside, even if I didn't get to run as much as I wanted to due to time constraints.  Started off around 7:30 pace, and very slowly picked up the pace after I turned around.  mile 6 was at 7:00 pace, and the last 0.2 miles was at just about 5K pace.