Doing What I Can

continued not feeling well today during my 12x400, just felt super sluggish. I started missing my goal of 80s per 400 after about halfway, it wasn't pretty. 1:15 recovery between reps, total mile time for each:

1- 5:17

2- 5:21

3- 5:25

TOTAL--16:03 for 3 miles, not a good progression as I felt continually worse throughout the workout. Did the 12x400 on the track so I wore my spikes which I don't record in my shoe manager on here.

Decided an ice bath was in order especially after all the speed training ive been doing, so I made it extra cold and sat in there for 12 minutes.

Felt much better today, i can already feel the benefits from that ice bath, hopefully my legs will continue to recover as I taper for my 5k this weekend. Today's workout was in 36:03, so 7:12.5 avg pace. Hit the first two miles in a combined 13:30 (6:45 pace), had to consciously slow down to not push too hard today. Felt decent throughout.

This weekend's 5k should be fun. There is a $50 cash prize for anyone who can break the course record--which is 17:16. 17:16 is very doable, and I have been under there and under 17 several times in the recent past, so if my race goes as my training has been going, especially last week, then I should break that record and 17 minutes for the first time this year. Gonna have to also win it, but hopefully I have a good challenge to ensure a fast pace. Should be fun and I'm looking forward to it.

Easy run today, 3.5 in 25:18, 7:14 avg. 

2 miles in 15:04, nice and easy pre race systems check. Felt pretty good. Ready to go fast tomorrow!

Won my 3rd race in as many tries this year. Pretty good way to start off the year. However, that being said, I am disappointed with my time here today. I wanted the course record (17:16)...however, upon finishing, a few people thought the course was long and the guy who got 2nd said his garmin read 3.2..thus adding nearly 30-35 seconds to the run. That being said, the course record is a little deceiving...since the course appears a tad long, it would seem that 17:16 was actually around 16:50 or so. Now to the actual race.

I felt good at the start, had a great warmup. Hit my first mile in 5:30, but once again, this mile marker seemed long and I felt like I was in the 5:20-5:25 range. 2nd mile was 5:50, probably more accurate. 3rd mile: 5:58, definitely long as I was pushing the whole way. Closed the final .1 in 36 so probably accurate. All told I won the race by 1 second. I passed the leader at the 2 mile mark and he mounted 3 surges to try to pass me during the closing mile and I covered it each time. It hurt to do so, but felt great when he would lose ground and then have to mount another surge. This battle definitely helped me mentally because I know I can win this kind of race and I even had a nice kick to fight off a possible 4th surge at the finish. 

17:56 doesn't look real fast, but I feel the course was long. The whole race I felt like I was pushing it and thought for sure I was in the 17:10s to 17:20s at least. Kind of disappointing to see 17:56, but at the same time, I know I have faster stuff in me cuz like I said, course was probably long and I know the effort I gave was better than my time.

Overall, great event, awesome participants (about 100-150 of them). I will definitely come back to this one..and next time I will get the course record...however long it actually is.

11 miles today in 1:21:57, 7:27 avg pace. Felt pretty decent.

5 humid miles today. Hit two in the high 6:50s. Ran around a half mile with my old high school xc coach, he was out for a training run. 5 miles in 36:39, or 7:20 avg.

Awesome workout today. Did 6x800s, here were my splits:

1- 2:40

2- 2:42

3- 2:38

4- 2:41

5- 2:38

6- 2:39

I felt very good and my times were consistent throughout. 2 minutes active recovery between each rep. Ice bathed afterwards to help heal the legs for this weekends 5k.

Wasn't pretty. Just woke up and ran, didnt have much time to limber up and I definitely felt it as I was sluggish and slow. O well, today was designed to be that way. will get in an easy 2 tomorrow for a pre race.

2

Went in to DSM today to run the Flower Power 5k, a local race that has grown enormously in its 3 years of existence. I actually won the inaugural race in 2008, so I figured I'd give it another shot. Got there and there was a ton of people, prolly between 250-300. About 15 min before the race the skies opened up and it downpoured with lightning and wind. That kept up for over an hour and they eventually cancelled the race due to lightning. Sucks cuz its the first race I've had cancelled on me and I put a lot of training in hoping to run well today, not to mention losing the 15 dollar entry fee...on second thought I did get a pretty sweet moisture wicking shirt, so i guess its ok. Really tho, the race directors probably made the right call for safety so it is what it is. 

All that being said, two other guys and easily the fastest girl there and I decided to run it anyways so we did an improptu 5k on the course. One of the guys parents actually led the way in their car. We ended up only averaging around 6:40s, not very hard at all, but that was Angie's pace so we didnt want to leave her behind. Actually it was a pretty cool thing and I'm glad we did it, I made a few friends out of it too.

After we disbanded after the improptu 5k, I decided I needed more running and went for another 2 - 2.25 miles on the trail To end the day at over 7 miles. I will hit it hard next week as I train for a fast 5k next weekend.

PM- Got home from work and still wasnt satisfied with today's cancelled 5k so I went out and did 3 more miles, except I pounded the first 1.5 cold turkey. Hit 5:37 for the first mile and 2:47 for the remaining half. Total for the 1.5--8:24. Cooled down the last 1.5. I like doing this cold turkey time trial type thing once in a while just to push myself. Ended with decent mileage today.

slowed down a lot late in this one.

36:37, 7:19.5 avg. 1 GMP mile. Kind of felt bored with the same ole route need to mix it up. I have two 5ks planned within the next week, one saturday and one tuesday.

Repeat Quarters today. 13x400 all between 1:18-1:20, most right on 1:19. The added up mileage time for each was:

1- 5:16

2- 5:17

3- 5:16

last .25-- 1:19

TOTAL-- 17:07 added up. Took 1:12-1:15 recovery between reps. ran 1.25 (the first 5 400s with track spikes)

4 easy ones today. Weather was scorching hot, humidity is high, temp is high. I was sweating bullets. Splits:

1- 7:07

2- 7:14

3- 7:15

4- 7:23

Total-- 29:00, 7:15 avg pace

2 miles

Got to the race a little early, it was really foggy, so I figured the race conditions would be ideal, the fog kept it cool and calm. However, 20 minutes before there race the sun had burned off the fog and it got HOT. According to the results, the actual temp at race time was already 70 and the humidity was 97%, so the heat index could have been nearing 80 at just 8 am. I definitely felt it on the run as Im sure everyone did. The heat and humidity cost me probably 20-25 seconds on today's effort. Ran a nice first mile 5:22, I need to keep that pace throughout though, and just didnt do so today. 5:57 second mile, may have been long. 5:47 final mile, with 30 seconds closing the final .1, which clearly was a tad short so one or both of the final 2 mile markers were a little long. According to my watch I clocked 17:38, they had me officially at 17:40, so for the sake of this report, I split the difference and gave myself credit for 17:39! haha. 

Im not super thrilled with my race today, I just think I let up that 2nd mile, I need to train harder for that. Probably doing some drop down repeats to simulate an easier first mile followed by a hard 2nd mile. Im sure my times will start dropping later. One thing I can take from this race was that I had a nice kick and actually outsprinted a guy at the end to get 5th. Next race is on Tuesday, so a short turnaround awaits.

Got out for a nice 5 tonight. Pretty humid still, splits:

1- 7:06.6

2- 7:06.8

3- 7:13.0

4- 7:18.2

5- 7:17.7

TOTAL-- 36:02 (7:12 avg)

Can't wait to run another 5k race here on Tuesday. Hopefully I can get out and fly.

2

No comment on this race other than running in heat indices of 105 or more is not fun nor is it conducive to running.

6 miles in 44:20. 7:23's ish

Had a drop down tempo today. Really working on those later miles. Held that negative split for 3 miles. here were the splits:

1- 6:49.2

2- 6:14.2

3- 5:42.7

Followed with two cooldown miles but still managed to negative split those, with the first being 7:35 and the 2nd being 7:28. All told, pretty good workout, hit that 3 miles in 18:46. Not bad considering the way I approached it, dropping in with a near 7 min mile to start. Felt good to get out and run fast later in a run. My drop down per mile was 35 seconds from 1-2 and from 2-3, 32 seconds. So pretty even effort.

no frills 5 miles tonight. Sweated like crazy in around 100 degree  heat index, and that was at 7:30 at night. So 5 miles felt like 15. Did the 5 in 37:15, so 7:27.5 avg.

Good little run today, hit the first mile in 6:58, so GMP. Total, 32:28, 7:13 avg.

Got after it today. 5 x 800 with 2 min recovery between each. I feel great about how fast I ran these. Splits:

1- 2:37.3

2- 2:37.9

3- 2:36.2

4- 2:37.9

5- 2:33.9

Overall, a very solid workout. I couldnt believe how even those 800s were. Very happy with myself today!

4 after work tonight, almost a 13 hour day, so i was tired and didnt really feel great running, 30:30, so 7:37 avg.