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

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

The last two weeks or so have lacked any serious form of organized exercise. I’ve hit the gym once or twice and headed out for a run here and there, but no real concerted effort. It’s partially because I had family in town, so the usual routine was interrupted. I also had a mild cold for a week, so I traded my morning run for an extra hour of sleep on a couple of days - even though the day I did run, it really seemed to clear me out.

Feeling normal again, I hit the treadmill for an easy 3 miles today. I set the treadmill at an 8:00 minutes/mile pace and just kind of pounded it out. I sped up in the last quarter mile to finish in 23:48.

Actual workout

5 minutes warmup

3 miles at 7:56 pace

5 minutes cool down