I sit here writing this with 2 large lead weights hanging from my hips. They are commonly referred to as “legs”. Today’s easy run went pretty well. It was probably more of a struggle than an easy 3 mile run should be, but I made it through at my goal pace. The full body strength training went pretty well too, but I am just plain tired. It certain didn’t help that today was a stressful day at work too. Anyway, I’m pretty apprehensive about tomorrow’s speed work. I’ve been shuffling around the house, so it’s hard to imagine picking my legs up enough to do 400 m repeats at 5:30 pace. If I don’t post tomorrow, it’s probably because I did a face plant on the treadmill and shot out the second story window of the gym.

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:27 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

Today being my long run, it was all about slow. So it was finally easy to convince myself to take it easy in the first few miles. I just started off at an easy trot and let my body ease into a simple jog. My legs were still sore, though so this was not the easiest long run I’ve ever head. Still, if I had a training partner, I would have been able to maintain a conversation pretty much the whole way, and I only took my two planned walk breaks. I was glad when I finished, but overall very happy with the run.

On a somewhat bad note, I think all semblance of cool weather has left us behind until October. I’m going to have to start thinking about starting my long runs before sunrise soon.

Actual Workout

1 mile warmup

8.7 miles at 9:46 pace

1 mile cool down

Yesterday, I went out a little too fast on my tempo and I did the same thing again today. “Oh no, I feel great”, I say to myself. 20 minutes later, I don’t feel so great. I ran the first mile in 8:36, the second in 7:58 and the third in 7:57. Then, I needed a walk break. So, the fourth mile was 9:31, and then another walk break. The fifth mile was 10:21 followed by a shorter walk break, allowing me to run the sixth mile in 9:11. To my credit, I did manage to run the last tenth of a mile at faster than 6:00/mile pace. Still, it felt like a pretty crumby workout.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

6 miles at 8:56 pace

8 minutes cool down

I was sore when I woke up this morning, but building on the good workouts I’ve had this week, I started faster than I should have for today’s tempo run. I usually run the first third of the run between 9:30 and 10:00 minute mile pace, but today I started out at 8:40. I picked the pace up pretty well in the middle, running at about 7:45 pace for 5 minutes, then a consistent 7:00-7:15 pace for 4 minutes. When I went back down to 7:45 pace, I developed a stitch that I couldn’t shake, so I actually slowed to a walk. This brought my average pace for the middle 1/3 of the run down to 8:10. The final third was a struggle against the stitch the whole way, but I pulled it off at an average pace of 9:18/mile. Overall, my average pace was 8:40/mile…just 2 seconds better than my last tempo run.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

13 minutes at 8:40 pace

14 minutes at 8:10 pace

13 minutes at 9:18 pace

8 minutes cool down

Today, I felt invincible. I had a great day on the stationary bike, averaging about 23.5 MPH for 20 minutes. My strength training went very well too. I was able to get 2 sets of 10/6 reps with 205 pounds on the decline press. When I got to work, I had a great quote in my email from a local strength training coach answering the age old question about how to become unstoppable:

NEVER STOP

Thanks to Elliot for setting my day straight.

Actual workout

7.8 miles cycling in 20 minutes

Full Body strength training

Today’s speed intervals went quite well. I am a little disgruntled that I’ve maxed out the treadmill, though. It might all even out. I figure I’d probably run the early intervals faster on a track, but the treadmill forces me to maintain the speed during the last few intervals. It’s easy to slow down on the track, but falling off the treadmill is a little embarrassing. Still, I’d like to find a publically accessible track to do some speedwork this summer.

Actual workout

5 minutes walking

5 minutes at 9:14 pace

10 200 m intervals at 5:00 pace with 15:00 pace recovery

5 minutes cool down

As I expected, I was a little sluggish this morning. I “slept in” until a little before 8, which was actually quite early compared to the 11:00 am wake up times I had gotten used to last week. Still, a week of theme parks and laying by the pool reading and sipping margaritas doesn’t seem to have set me back too far. My 3 mile run wasn’t as easy as usual, but I still managed to average 8:27 miles. I took a little extra time between sets during my strength training, but I still completed all my prescribed exercises. In the end, it felt good to be back at it. I suspect I”ll sleep well tonight despite a stressful day of catching up on a week of missed work. Mentally, I left vacation recharged and very motivated. I’ve got to do that more often.

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:27 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

This week features 7 straight days of exercise and today was day 4. I’m halfway through and at the end, I get 8 days off for Spring Break vacation at Walt Disney World. I hit the bike today for 20 minutes and then made my way down to the weights for some full body strength training.

Actual workout

20 minutes stationary bike

Full body strength training

Today’s speed intervals were tougher that I had hoped they would be. It’s always a bad sign when you’re tired at the end of the first interval. I ran these 400 m intervals faster than my last set, so that may have played a role.

Actual workout

5 minutes workout

5 minutes at 9:34

7 400 m intervals at 5:27 pace

5 minutes walking

Although yesterday’s run was less than stellar, I hit the gym today for the first time as a 32 year old in good spirits. I bumped the treadmills speed up one notch from my normal three mile easy run to an 8:27 pace from 8:34. I was in the zone through most of the run and completed it easily. I was invigorated for my full body strength training afterwards. I’ve got 5 more days of workouts ahead of me before my week of at Disneyworld, so this week will be tough but there’s certainly a very bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 8:27 pace

5 minutes cool down