Cool Runnings!

PM - ran 0.65 miles with Joseph at 10:49 pace - he earned a smoothie.  He did a great job, too.  Then ran another 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  I made him set the pace again, but kept up a constant string of letting him know whether he was running too slow or not, and mentioned to him that Joseph earned his smoothie.  I told him that if he wanted his too, he would have to speed up, but he was more interested in calculating exactly how much he would have to speed up to get the smoothie than to actually do the work . . . with about 0.1 to go, he picked up the pace considerably, to about 8:30 pace, and when we finished, expected to have done enough to get a smoothie.  When I informed him that he had, unfortunately, done too little too late, he was pretty upset.  We will see how things go tomorrow and whether he decides to make more of an effort to get his smoothie earlier in the run.

Lunch - easy 4 mile recovery run on the treamill at 8:00 pace.  Legs were still kind of sore, but I was able to get into a good rhythm.  Afterwords did planks and other ab exercises.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, he earned his smoothie today.  I talked to him throughout about running a bit faster so that he didn't have to try and book it at the very end and run the risk of not making it.  He did a better job.  His running form also looked better - we got him some new shoes the other day because the heels (the heels!) of his old shoes were worn down all the way through the outer rubber and into the white eva (or whatever material it was).  When I mentioned this to him and asked him if it felt easier, he said "yes", and also said the shoes felt lighter.  Well, good.  I was a bit worried about the way he was running before - it was very much a shuffle with a lot of scuffing his feet.  Anyways, he kept the pace around 10:10 for the first 1.25 miles or so, then picked up the pace, and for the last bit turned on the burners again, this time hitting about 8:15 pace or so for the last 0.1 miles.  He did a great job, and I am proud of him.  Even more, he sounded relaxed and was conversational throughout, even at the very end.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill.  Legs felt better today than yesterday, had more bounce in them.  Wore my HRM strap today to see what my HR would be like.  First 2 miles at 8:00 pace, Average HR about 150, max HR 154.  Next 2 miles at 7:30 pace, average HR about 160, max HR 164.  Last mile at 8:00 pace, HR dropped down a little bit, average HR about 158, max HR 160.  All in all a pretty good run today.  Looking forward to running with Joey and Sam this afternoon.

PM - 0.65 miles with Joey at 11:15 pace, then 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  Finished with 0.25 miles with Adam at 14:30 pace.  I need to start running with him more.  I ran all of the miles with the boys in my aquasocks.  It felt very good - no heavy, clunky shoes (I have been doing most of my runs with the boys in my Grid Trigon Guides, which have definitely seen their better days).  In fact, it felt good enough that I decided I would bring them with me tomorrow (planning on running outside) for my lunch run to give my Tangents a break.

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside at 7:20 pace in my aquasocks.  It felt pretty good; the only thing was that I was wearing a pair of socks that were kind of worn out a bit, and I wore a few holes in them and subsequently developed a bit of a blister on my feet, just before the pinky toe.  Otherwise it was good, I felt good, and enjoyed the run.

PM - 0.65 miles with Joey in 6:58, average pace of 10:43/mile.  Wore my shoes, since I didn't want to aggravate the blister any more.  Did not get a chance to run with Sam due to getting home late and needing to get dinner ready because we were also taking some dinner over to the next door neighbor of one of the members of our ward whose husband had suffered a heart attack.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:00 pace.  Wore my HRM chest strap again.

Mile 1 - Average HR 148, peak HR 150

Mile 2 - Average HR 152, peak HR 154

Mile 3 - Average HR 154, peak HR 157

Mile 4 - Average HR 157, peak HR 160

Mile 6 - Average HR 161, peak HR 164

Felt good throughout, lower leg muscles are a little bit sore from yesterday's aquasock run, I think, although I noticed it more when I stretched out.  After the run, did planks.

AM - no running today, my hip flexor has been hurting me a bit, and both of my feet were kind of sore (this may also be from wearing my shoes too tight - I am going to experiment with this next week), so I decided to bag the run.  Lybi has been wanting me to go with her to her yoga class for quite some time - partly so I could see how good of a workout it is, and partly because we just like doing things together.  Since our regular babysitters were both sick, this ended up being our date.  I enjoyed the class - it was refreshing and was definitely a good workout.

Lunch - 5.35 miles on the treadmill.  Felt energized after an extra day off from running on Saturday.  Started off at 8:00 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then moved into 7:30 pace for 1.5 miles.  Decided to throw in a couple MP miles.  2 miles at 7:00 pace.  Felt very good.  Then cooled down with the last 1.35 miles at about 7:50 pace.  Finished up my workout with planks.  I am up to a minute facing forward and about 45 seconds on each side right now.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at average pace of 9:58/mile.  He earned his smoothie.  I finally convinced him that it is better to run a consistent pace throughout to get his smoothie, rather than rely on a burst of speed at the end after running the entire rest of the run too slowly.   Then 0.65 with Joey in average pace of 10:19/mile.  He also earned his smoothie.  He did a great job, even though we ran faster than he is used to.

Lunch - progressive tempo run on the treadmill.  Started off nice and easy at 8:30 pace for the first 1/2 mile to warm up, then increased the speed 0.5 mph after each mile.  Finished at 6:20 pace for the last mile, was working pretty hard but was able to maintain.  Afterwards did 1 minute front planks, 45 seconds on each side.  My hip flexor was kind of sore after this workout - I am going to ice it when I get home and see if I can get it to calm down.  No more fast running until I can get this under control (now if I can just listen to my own advice . . .)

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of about 10:25/mile.  Then 0.65 miles with Joey in average pace of 11:06/mile.  Afterwards, I took them to get their smoothies that they had earned yesterday.

Lunch - 4 easy recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:30 pace.  Tried to be nice to my hip flexor today to allow it to heal.  Afterwards did 1:30 on front planks and 1:00 each on side planks.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:35 pace, then 0.65 miles with Joey at 11:30 pace.

Lunch - 5 easy miles on the treadmill again at 8:30 pace.  Felt very easy, both on the muscles as well as aerobically.  Felt like I was loafing, although I am sure I still got an aerobic benefit from the run.  Afterwards did 1:30 forward planks and 1:00 each side.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace, then 0.65 miles with Joey in 11:20 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 miles outside today.  The weather was really too nice to waste by running on the treadmill.  I really should have run outside every day this week - it has been so nice out - but most days I forget both my Garmin and my sunglasses, of which the sunglasses are paramount to my running outside due to sensitive eyes.  Average pace of 7:25 today, but was averaging more like 7:30 for the first 4 miles, then cranked it up just a little bit at the end.  Felt very good, very smooth.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at average pace of 10:35/mile, then 0.65 miles with Joseph at average pace of 11:15/mile.

PM - 8 miles outside.  It was a bit warm - around 80 degrees.  Started off nice and easy, and very slowly picked up the pace.  Turned around at the 4 mile mark, and unconsciously picked up the pace again.  Last 4 miles were 7:31, 7:30, 7:34 and 6:56.  It felt good to run outside - I need to do it more often during my lunch break - I am certain it is better for my legs and feet than always going on the treadmill.

Lunch - 5.4 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up first 1/2 mile at 8:30 pace, then sped up to 8:00 pace for the next 2 miles.  At the 2.5 mile mark, I sped up to 7:30 pace for the rest of the run.  Average pace of 7:47/mile.  Felt very good, nice and smooth.  Afterwards did planks - 1:30 facing forward, then 1:00 on each side.  I think next week I will add another rep facing forward to my planks.

Lunch - 5.8 miles outside.  It was a little warm, but otherwise absolutely wonderful.  Took a different route today - ran up Priest Dr. until it turned into Galvin Pkwy and ran past both the Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Gardens, then Galvin Pkwy turned into 64th.St.  Galvn Pkwy is all uphill going north and downhill going south.  Turned around at the 2.9 mile mark - 7:30 average pace on the dot for the first half.  It felt very good, and I wanted to push it a little bit coming back.  First mile coming back was pretty flat, not really any downhill at all - 7:09.  Second mile I hit quite a bit of downhill, and at one steep downhill got down to about 5:10 pace.  Second mile was 6:30.  Last 0.9 was at 6:19 pace.  Total time for the run was 40:57, average pace of 7:05/mile.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel in average pace of 10:30/mile - he was suffering from allergies and, despite his desire to earn his smoothie, was unable to do so. I made him slow down because he didn't sound so good. Afterwards, 0.65 miles with Joey in average pace of 11:25/mile.

Lunch - 5 recovery miles on the treadmill.  After my run yesterday, I realized when I got home that I had managed to get myself sunburned, so I decided it would be best to stay inside today.  Legs felt a little dead from the downhill running yesterday.  Warmed up with the first mile at 8:30 pace, then settled into the run at 8:00 pace for the rest of the run.  After running did planks (2:30 on front in two reps, 1:00 on each side).

Lunch - 6.25 miles on the treadmill.  Warmed up the first mile at about 8:00 pace, then got into a tempo run at 6:40 pace for 5.25 miles.  I was pretty tired by the end of the tempo run but was determined to finish it out.  Good workout, not much else to say.  Calves (especially my right calf) are a bit sore after the tempo run, but that is somewhat to be expected.  Will take it easy today and have a nice easy recovery run tomorrow.

Lunch - 5 easy recovery miles on the treadmill at 8:30 pace. Aerobically, this was a very easy workout - I hardly broke a sweat - but the legs definitely felt dead. Afterwards did 2:30 of forward planks (1:30, 1:00) and 1:00 on each side.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:20 pace - he had a difficult time today with allergies and a side stitch - then 0.65 with Joey in at 10:50 pace.  Joey did not have any issues with allergies.

Lunch - it was so beautiful outside today that I had to run outside.  Weather was absolutely perfect - upper 60's and sunny, little breezy.  I ran my lunch run loop in the opposite direction because I was too impatient to wait for the traffic signal going the other direction.  Was able to maintain a nice easy pace throughout.  Average pace of 7:48/mile for the run.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 10:25 pace.  He was originally trying to get a smoothie, but it was fairly windy out, and that slowed him down quite a bit.  After that, another 0.65 miles wth Joey at 11:20 pace.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles on the treadmill.  Started at 8:30 pace, changed the incline to 1.0 after 0.5 miles.  Increased the speed to 8:00 pace.  At 2 miles, dropped the incline back down to 0 for 1 mile, then back up to 1.0 for the next 2 miles.  Slowed back down to 8:30 pace at the end of 4 miles.  At 5 miles, dropped the incline back to 0 again.  Total time of 42:00, average pace of 8:14/mile. After the run, did 1:30 front planks and 1:00 on each side.

PM - ran 1.5 miles with Samuel, average pace of 9:57/mile.  He earned his smoothie tomorrow.  Then 0.65 miles with Joseph, average pace of 10:35/mile.  He earned his smoothie too.  Then 0.25 miles with Adam, average pace of 14:15/mile.

Lunch - 5.5 miles outside.  Since I am considering doing Pat's run in about 3 weeks, I took a look at the course and decided I could run most of it during lunch.  Made the mistake of hitting the start button on my Garmin before it had acquired a lock on a satellite - as a result, the first .25 miles of the run were not logged on the Garmin, and it messed up the first mile split (since the timer was still running) and caused all the rest of the mile splits to be off by .25 miles.  Had one mile split that was 6:55 due to a large downhill portion that I got down to 5:55 pace on without feeling uncomfortable or out of control at all.  Average pace for the run was about 7:25/mile.

Lunch - ran outside again.  It was very nice, but fairly windy (I didn't really notice this until the 2nd half of my run).  Ran part of the Pat's run course again with some tweaks.  The description of the course says it is flat, but that is patently false - there is a1/2 mile uphill where you gain almost 100 feet during the second mile, followed by a faily steep downhill where you gain almost all of the elevation back.  The rest of it is pretty much flat, though.  Anyways, as I was coming back and hit the wind head-on, I decided to kick things up a notch.  Mile 5 was  in 6:57, although the effort with the wind in my fact probably felt more like 6:40 or so, and then I kicked in the last .25 to finish in 38:21, average pace of 7:13/mile.  Felt very good, not too winded.  I think that my aerobic conditioning is definitely improving, although I really wish I could lose the weight I gained since St. George.  I'm afraid it's not going to come off until I get up to 50 mpw, and with my current schedule, that's fairly hard to do.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel at 9:47 average pace.  This is a new PR, and it was windy, too.  He did a great job, and I was very proud of him.  Afterwards, ran 0.65 with Joey in a huge PR for him of 9:42 average pace.  He was amazing - he just took off right when we started and was just pumping his little arms and legs so determinedly, and he was absolutely full of energy and spunk.  I think he's been holding back on me.  Afterwards, I took the boys out for smoothies that they had earned last Tuesday.

Lunch - hard workout.  Ran pretty much all of the Pat's run course (except for the part that goes into the stadium), plus the 2 miles to get there and back from my work.  Here is the course:  Lunch Run Pats Run.  I forgot to bring my Garmin today, so the only mile I know about for sure was the first one (just from experience).  First mile was about 7:10, I will count that as MP effort.  Hit the lap button on my watch at 24:38, and after mapping out the run, the average pace for that portion was 6:42/mile.  Last 2.33 miles was in 15:06, average pace of 6:28/mile.  Average pace for the entire 6 mile run was 6:37/mile.  I was pretty beat after this run, but this gives me a better idea of how fast I should be able to run for Pat's run.  The last 5 miles of the run were in an average of 6:30/mile, so I should definitely be able to do faster than that.

PM - 10 miles outside.  I really don't like running in the evening - I feel like I am already kind of worn down from the rest of the day, so my energy level is not as high, but I was determined to not miss running today.  I was originally planning on running this morning, but when I woke up, I was still pretty tired, so I decided to treat myself to an extra hour of sleep.  Then I took Sam to cub scout citizenship day, which lasted until almost 11:00, and after that took him to the Scout Shop to replace his neckerchief slide.  Our babysitter came and watched the boys (they actually got to go swimming) while Lybi and I went on a date - we went out to Applebee's and I had the fiesta lime chicken; then we went to Home Depot and looked at lighting fixtures, as she wants a new one for the boys' bathroom for her birthday.  The day went by extremely fast; I had to get in my shopping earlier today so that I could run after the boys were down, and next thing I knew it was 8:15 and time for me to head out the door.

Sorry for the long-winded explanation about why I don't like running in the evening . . . on to the run.  I had a feeling that my legs were going to be dead from my hard workout yesterday.  I was still feeling kind of full from the late lunch (we ate at 2:00), so my plan was to just take it easy.  After the first mile, I felt like 8:00 miles would be pretty good tonight, so I worked on keeping that pace.  For some reason I was fluctuating up and down by about 10 seconds/mile today.  At the 5-mile turnaround, my legs were already feeling kind of dead, and the muscles on the outside of both my hips were feeling tight.  At about 7 miles my legs and feet started to ache from the pounding, since my muscles were kind of worn out and not doing as good of a job as normal of absorbing the shock.  Finished the run right at 1:20:00, 8:00/mile pace.  Aerobically, I felt totally fine, not even out of breath in the least.  However, my legs were dog tired.  Looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow.

Lunch - 5.1 easy miles outside, average pace of 7:45/mile.  Legs felt fresher than on Saturday, but didn't have all of their "pop" back.  Aerobically was an easy run.  Went into the fitness center afterwards and did 2 X 1:30 forward planks, and 1:00 on each side.  Abs and arms were both quivering at the end.  Nothing else to report - looking forward to running with the boys this afternoon.

PM - 1.5 miles with Samuel, he set another personal record - average pace of 9:43/mile for the entire run.  I think he is gaining confidence, and I have noticed that his breathing has also improved, although his form still leaves somewhat to be desired.  Afterwards, ran 0.65 with Joey, average pace of 10:20/mile - still well under his smoothie pace.  He also did most of the run without holding my hand.  In fact, if I hadn't stupidly mentioned how well he was doing on his own, he may well have forgotten about it . . . afterwards did 0.25 with Adam at about 14:30 pace.

Lunch - 6.0 miles outside. I did Lunch Run Pats Run backwards today to change things up a bit, plus due to timing of stoplights.  Felt very good during the entire run, legs had their "pop" back, and as a result, I ran faster than I realized (I forgot my Garmin at home today).  Average pace today was 7:26/mile, but it felt much easier.  I hope that means I am seeing gains in fitness.  On a side note, I started taking fish oil pills last Friday, and without making any other changes in my exercise routine, my right hip has calmed down significantly.  My wife had told me that omega-3's were a natural anti-inflammatory, which seems to be true based on my own experience.  I will have to do some more research on this, although due to the other benefits of getting enough omega-3 fatty acids, I don't think I will be stopping this anytime soon.

PM - ran with the boys.  1.5 miles with Samuel - he set another personal record today - 9:24/mile for the run!  That is 3 consecutive personal records, I believe.  I told him today that I think he is beginning to understand what his body is capable of.  I also told him that when he breaks 9:00/mile for the entire run, Lybi and I will take him out to dinner.  Ran 0.65 with Joey in 10:20 average pace, then 0.15 with Adam in 12:00 pace.  Afterwards, took the boys out to get the smoothies they earned yesterday.