rtroeh

5 miles on treadmill at 24 Hr Fitness. After letting Ipod completely die yesterday I put it on the charger. I forgot it today. Started out at 6.8 mph, increased within the first mile to 7.0. Wanted to increase beyond that but held it to an easy recovery run. No lingering pains from yesterday's run.

With 53 miles since last Tuesday running is finally feeling good again!

I met with Team in Training at Roe Park. We ran on the trails between Roe Park and Shannon Valley. The trails were completely snow covered, with ice in spots and puddles in others. My feet were completely soaked within the first 1/4 mile. Most of the group were running shorter distances. There were only 3 people running 20... Greg Madden who is much faster than me, and Brianna who is much slower so I ended up running most of this run alone. About a mile in I ran across a family of 6 deer. I stopped to admire them and waited for the rest of the group to catch up. I made it to the Shannon Valley turn around and my Garmin read 5.06 miles. On the way back, my Garmin died. Oh well, I'm not setting any speed records today anyway. Shortly after leaving Roe Park for the second time at the half way point, my Ipod died. I really must do better about charging! I was working hard as my feet slipped on every step. By the time I got to the 15 mile turnaround my hip flexors were getting pretty sore. I pushed on, embracing the conditions. I finished with cold wet feet but really had no aches or pains other than my hip flexors. I guessed on the time based on when I got back to the car. All in all a great run!

Nice easy run in the snow from work. Stopped several times along the way to take pictures with my phone, posted on Facebook. Ran into Larry Butler, ran a couple of miles with him. Feet were very wet and frozen by the time I got back to campus. One of the greatest hot showers in memory!

I needed this run! My plan today was to run 8 miles slow and easy, with no walk breaks. I took off with no water, and set the Garmin to show distance only. I kept reminding myself to keep my stride short, and keep the effort to an "all day" effort. As I was approaching my turn back to campus, I felt good enough that I really did not want this run to end so I went around the block to make it 10 miles.

8:37 is nothing to write home about speed-wise, but considering how easy I kept it, I was surprised when I finished that I was not in the 9's the whole way. I'm also very pleased with my consistent pacing.

I don't even know how to describe how bad this run was. It seemed like my cardio was long gone, and I couldn't go beyond a mile without needing a walk break. I felt terrible about ruining Jessica's workout with all the walk breaks. Ended up turning around early and cutting the run short.

Looking at Garmin data, I was surprised that we were faster than 11's with all the walking. At 4:45 in the morning and 19 degrees, sub-9 may be a little on the fast side so that may have something to do with it. Or it may just be winter blahs... come on spring!!!

Wow... Who stole my cardio?!?!?

After just running 12 on Saturday and not getting to run on Sunday or Monday, I expected to be fresh today. I've been eating fairly well so I don't think nutrition is my problem.

Started out on the treadmill at 7.0 mph. Felt winded, too fast, slowed it down to 6.8. Never could get into a rhythm, ditched the treadmill after a mile and moved to the indoor track. Ran 1 mile, still not feeling well. Took off my shoes and did an easy mile in my socks. Felt a hot spot starting under my big toe, did not want to work into a blister like last time so kept the barefoot limited to 1 mile. Still had no cardio. Decided to do some short pick-ups, so did 10x100m at about 90% effort, with 100m walking recoveries. The short and fast felt good. Figured 6 more laps would make an even 5 miles, so I just jogged that easy. Ugh!

Nice easy run with Carol and McKenzie on snow covered streets. 6 degree wind chill. Started behind O'Charleys. Ran Jackson to 39th St to Lee's Summit to 23rd St to Noland, out and back.

Ran at 24 Hr Fitness. Warmed up 1 mi @ 7.2 mph. Got bored. Set tm to 13% incline 4.5 mph for 10 minutes. Ran 1.2 miles at 1% incline at 7.2 mph (to get to 3 miles even. Another 10 min 13% 4.5 mph interval, then another 1.2 mi @7.2 mph to finish at 5 miles even. Drenched in sweat by the time this one was over!

I was going to swim after I ran, but all of the lanes were taken and I didn't have time to wait. 1 more month and some of the resolutionists should drop out and the gym will be less busy!

Ran on treadmill at 24 Hr Fitness. Started a new pair of Adrenalines. Started at 7.0 and added .1 every 1/4 mile until I hit 8.2. Played around between 7.3 and 8.2 the rest of the way. It was about 80 degrees in there. I couldn't believe all of the people wearing heavy sweats!

Very early run with Jessica Phelps, but that's the only time she can run. Took a while to warm up. My right hamstring started cramping and I had to take a walk break after the first hill. So embarassing on the first run with someone but Jessica was nice about it :) After a while, finally warmed up and got into a comfortable pace. Great run!

OK... time to check the ego at the door. I just had to do this one to prove to myself that I could! No need to be running this fast...

Warmed up 2 miles easy. 8x400@10.0 mph. 200 walking recoveries. Cooled down 2 miles. The first 400 seemed fast, after that they were less challenging than expected. Felt good for 2 days after a 20 miler and 2 weeks post-Goofy!

Tony, Nikki and Alyssa were running 13 miles this morning, starting at 8:00 from Roe Park. I planned on 20, so I decided to run the extra 7 before. It was still dark for the first several miles, so I took the opportunity to try out my head lamp for the first time. It was spooky all of the eyes staring back at me from the woods! I ran into Doug Claxton during mile 5 and stopped and talked to him for a while. I met up with Tony, Nikki and Alyssa as planned. There was a 0% chance of rain on weather.com, but at mile 3 it started raining pretty heavily and we were soaked and cold from then on. They like to take a walk break every 25 minutes. I guess working back into ultras I need to get used to that anyway. This run was very easy, and other than bone-chilling wet cold, I had no issues whatsoever.

I intentionally went easy on nutrition today to force my body to get used to using fat for fuel. I had a piece of toast with apple butter before I ran, and then during the run I consumed 20 oz of PowerAde and 2 Gu's.

One thing I noticed is how we change over time. When I was running the first 7 alone, I ran west on the trail which goes behind Krispy Kreme on Metcalf. We used to run this way when we first started running with TNT and the smell from Krispy Kreme would just grind at us so much on the rest of the run that we just had to go buy some on the way home. We would buy a dozen. Karen would eat two and I would finish off the other ten. No wonder I gained weight while training for my first marathon! Today, the smell of Krispy Kreme was disgusting. I'd much rather have it that way!

Warmed up 2 miles barefoot on indoor track. I planned 3 miles barefoot but started feeling a blister on the bottom of my big toe. I guess I need to work up to it until my feet toughen up. I put my shoes on and finished the third mile.

Did 20 sets of stairs with 50 lb weights. I counted the stairs at the fitness center... 54! I did the stairs two at a time, so 540 step-ups. My legs were quivering by the end and my arms felt about 3 inches longer from carrying the weights! :D

Woke up early and swam 2000 yards at 24 Hr Fitness. Used my swimp3 for the first time. It took a while to get adjusted so it was in the right place and goggles not leaking, but it was really cool to have music while swimming laps!

Did sets of pushups and pullups through the day. Ended up with 500 pushups and 50 pullups. Did shoulders and biceps with dumbells.

Warmed up 2 miles on treadmill @ 7.0 mph. Got bored on treadmill, moved to track. Ran a mile and decided to try barefoot. Actual barefoot not allowed at fitness center, ran a mile on track in socks. Love the feeling! Figured one mile was enough for my first time, put my shoes back on and finished out one more mile. I liked barefoot well enough that I would like to plan at least 5 miles per week.

After work I went to 24 Hour Fitness and did spin class.