I slept pretty well last night. I didn’t wake up much. I had several vivid dreams that all ran into each other. It was good. Still, when the alarm went off, I didn’t want to wake up. I actually fell back asleep and had a 5 minute dream. Eventually, the internal coach kicked in.

“Champions don’t skip their workouts,” it said.

“Grumble, grumble, snore,” I replied.

“Champions don’t skip their workouts,” it said.

“Snort, sniffle, yawn,” I replied.

“Champions don’t skip-”

“Okay, shut the hell up already, I get it!” I told my internal coach, rolling out of bed. Thus began the day.

As usual,once I dragged myself to the gym, I had a pretty good workout. I ran easy (that is, at my “easy” pace) and noticed that I was breathing pretty normally at the 2 mile mark – kind of like I was just walking. My cadence averaged around 178 steps per minute, though I lost count near the end of the run because I got caught up in a high speed car chase on the news and completely lost track of time in the last mile.

Afterwards, I hit the weights for a full body workout.

Actual workout

4 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

I hit the treadmill for 4.5 miles today, counting my steps every 5 minutes as has become my treadmill custom. I hit 180 steps per minute pretty consistently, only once coming in at 176. So, I’m adopting the increased cadence pretty well.

Actual workout

4.5 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

82 degrees and awfully humid when I left the house this morning. I was sweating before I reached the gate at the sidewalk and I don’t exactly have a big front yard. I felt pretty comfortable through the first 2 miles, but the heat started to get to me then. I slogged through the next 3.75. Still an easy run, but not exactly comfortable.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup (heat up?)

5.75 miles at 9:21 pace

8 minutes cool down

I was back on the treadmill today after taking the weekend off. I’m headed to Savannah on Friday, so I’m lengthening my 4 runs this week to try to get in 20-22 miles again. I ran 4.5 today, counting my steps every five minutes. I was right at 180 steps per minute for the first 7 checks, but I slipped to 172 steps per minute on the last one. Still, it was an easy, relaxing workout and it felt good.

Actual workout

4.5 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

Today’s four miles on the treadmill were fantastic. I counted my steps every 5 minutes and hit 182 steps per minute twice, but averaged about 178 overall. I wanted to sprint out the last quarter mile or so, but instead I focused on shortening my stride and speeding up my cadence. Afterwards, I completed a great strength training workout

Actual workout

4 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

I pulled 5.25 miles today outside in the heat. Things went quite well. I felt a little tired in the last mile or so, but I still had to keep myself from running too fast.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

5.25 miles at 9:29 pace

8 minutes cool down

I headed to the gym and hit the treadmill for 4 easy miles today. I counted my steps every 5 minutes, starting out at 160 steps per minute, but getting up to 180 at one point. I probably averaged about 176 steps per minute through the entire run, so I’m improving on that front. Afterwards, I did a full strength training workout, but skipped the arms since I had to get the car to the mechanic.

Actual workout

4 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

I headed out the door today to 75 degrees and not so horribly humid. My goal as it will be for the next few weeks was another “easy” run…this time 5 miles at 9:37 pace. After a successful 4 mile run on the treadmill yesterday, I found it a little bit difficult to maintain the slow pace and high cadence without the treadmill to pace me. I managed to do pretty well, though and continued through the 5 mile mark to my actual starting point for a total of 5.21 miles.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

5.21 miles at 9:28 pace

8 minutes cool down

I’m pretty much through the Jack Daniels running book and I’m beginning to work out the periodization plan tha twill take me through the summer, the Race for the Taste 10K and ultimately the Walt Disney World Half Marathon. My pacing for the various types of runs is based on my most recent 5K time of 22:42. Through the tables in the Daniels book, I’ve determined my “easy” pace to be 9:37/mile.

So, I set out on the treadmill at 9:31 pace today. That was as close as I could get on the treadmill without going over. Since the pace is quite a bit slower than I’m used to, I concentrated shortening my stride while maintaining a relatively high cadence. On Wednesday, I was consistently at about 160 footfalls per minute, but today, I was able to maintain a pretty consistent 172 footfalls per minute. My stride length was so short that I felt a little like I was speedwalking. I suppose this will payoff further down the line when I increase my target paces.

Today’s 4 miles were certainly easy and it was refreshing to be able to focus on mechanics a little bit without having to worry about being out of breath, etc.

Actual workout

4 miles at 9:31 pace

5 minutes cool down

Full body strength training

So, yesterday. I did this sort of interval thing doing 400’s at 6:40/mile pace as then recovery at 9:20 pace. I did 4 repeats and it really isn’t worth talking about. I did have a great strength workout after that, though.

Today’s run was a 5 mile easy run outside. I’ve been reading Jack Daniels’ running formula. I’m only about halfway through, but the book establishes various types of workouts at paces based on a recent running performance. Based on my last 5K time, my “easy” pace is 9:27 minutes per mile.

So, I set out for 5 at that pace, trying to pay attention to my cadence. The pace felt horribly slow at first. I managed to count my steps at 160 per minute. Elite runners average about 180 steps per minute. I measured my steps about 4 or 5 times during the run and was surprisingly consistent at 160. I figured that wasn’t such a bad place to start at. I did find it a little difficult to slow myself down my shortening my stride rather than slowing my cadence.

In any case, it was 80 degrees when I woke up at 7:00 am. It was probably close to 85 by the time I got out the door. It was hotter than a mother f*cker on the 4th of July. That made the last mile pretty tough, but I managed a 9:25 average pace overall, which was pretty close to my ideal “easy pace”…though the last mile didn’t feel as easy as I would have liked.

Actual workout

8 minutes warmup

5 miles at 9:25 pace

15 minutes cool down