Chasing my Dreams

Found out that the 5k is only a week a half away, so I did a harder workout on the treadmill at the arc. I ran up to the arc, then did 5 minutes at training run pace, followed by 10 minutes at 5:30 pace, then ten more at training run pace, 10 more at 5:30 pace, then 5 minutes at training run pace, followed by the run back to my apartment. The fast parts ended up feeling better and easier than I antipated.

Did just a solid run of 7.5 miles and enjoyed it after a hard effort yesterday. I did feel my left lower leg a little, so I plan on being a little more cautious tomorrow. 

Had a solid five miles. I had to poop really bad afterwards, and then I did 4x100meterish strides.

Warmest run I've had in a while, also passed some of USU's distance girls. The first half was a bit of a slow start, but the end of the run went really well. The hills really got my heart working. It was a little harder than I would have liked, but pleased with the time and effort. 6:17 average.

My legs felt kind of sluggish throughout the run today, so I just went with what my body would give me. 

Did most of the workout with Tom. We did a fartlek with some at race pace, and then a hill that he hit at race pace effort. Things felt pretty good, especially considering I went skiing last night. The flat part efforts honestly felt extremely easy.

I did five miles on the treadmill and two miles outside in the rain. 

Ran six or so with Tom and then a little more after, it wasn't super fast, but just a good run with a good friend

Easy 5 miles in the early AM in the rain, then a couple of strides

We did a light warmup before the race, nothing crazy, just some jogging, a little stretching and a few strides. The race played out different than I was expecting. I honestly thought it would be a little more competitive, so I didn't want to take the lead, but I ended up taking the lead by the first quarter mile and kept it the whole time. The hills made it an exciting race to say the least. My first mile split was 5:38, my second was 5:43, and then my third one was 5:12. I was honestly pleasantly surprised with my fitness level. This also sparked my racing love again. We did an easy four miles randomly through Ogden afterwards, which was also super beneficial. 

I was super excited for this run. It was a long couple of days waiting for the monday run to come around. Tom and I did 6.75 at 6:28 pace, then went  to the gym and did some squats, RDLs, calf raises, walking lunges, and then a little bit of core. I discovered that my hamstrings are extremely weak right now. Did an easy half mile home afterwards.

Was hoping to go farther, but because of the cold I've come down with I decided to keep it a little shorter. I was pleasantly surprised with the pace I felt like I was running considering how sore my hamstrings were from lifting yesterday.

Ran at night in the dark, and was once again planning on going farther, however I was not feeling good. My stomach was kind of upset and my cold was still bothering me while running.

Decided to take today as an easy day as I want to kick the cold and be ready for my next couple of days of training. I ran to the arc, then rode the bike easy for thirty minutes, and then ran back. I decided this would be better than not doing anything for the sake of my hamstrings.

Did a bit of a warmup running to meet up with Tom and what not. Then I did 6 mile repeats with 90 seconds recovery between. Tom started with me but stopped after two because he was having some stomach issues. The goal was 10k pace. I went 5:45, 5:50, 5:40, 5:37, 5:28, and 5:09. I was happy with the effort, and it gives me even more confidence moving forward. Cooled down back to my apartment. Luckily we missed the rain too.

The plan was to do ten miles with Tom. I did the first six with Tom, but we were going pretty slow because his legs and lungs were struggling for some reason. I was able to negative split over the next four miles and ended up averaging 6:35 for the ten miles. I did two more easy miles after that, but the stadium hill just about killed me.

Had a solid run in West Point, It was perfect running weather, and I was thoroughly enjoying being back in West Point. Obviously the legs were still fairly tired, but I felt like I maintained a pretty good pace.

The legs did not have it this morning. I ended up running decently quick for the first half because I was kind of racing this kid that was also out running and was like right behind me. My lower legs were especially sore. I did some strides afterwards, and the legs were not moving very fast at all.

Ran in the late afternoon/early evening, so my legs had around 36 hours of recovery. Things felt surprisingly good, and I ran a solid pace. I also really focused on keeping the effort on the uphills. It was also snowing through that whole run. My left lower leg started to hurt a little over the last couple of miles, which isn't good.

Did 7.5 this morning, and tried to just keep things pretty relaxed. The roads weren't in the best shape either, they were wet, slushy, and icy. My lower leg bothered me a little the last two miles or so, which I am pretty concerned about. I don't know why it does this to me. It may be the shoes?

I took it really easy because I wanted my lower leg to be good to go for the race tomorrow, and I'm not going to gain anymore fitness today. I ran 1.5 miles, then did 4 strides. My legs felt pretty good, but were a little stiff on the little uphill I did. I then jogged a little bit more.

Tom and I did a typical warmup that was pretty low-key. Things felt good, it was chilly for a race though, and the roads had a skiff of snow on them. I actually cut gettting to the starting line pretty close because I was changing into my kinvaras. The race played out pretty well. I went straight to the lead, and after the first half mile I already had a pretty decent lead. I felt really good for the first 3.5 to 4 miles of the race, but when I hit the crazy uphill for the last two miles it really slowed me down. My legs were barely moving at the top, despite the fact that my heartrate was through the roof. It took me a decent bit of the last downhill to get the legs back. My splits were 5:44, 5:12, 5:33, 5:41, 6:10, 6:31, and then like 54 seconds for the last .2 miles. Tom and I did a really slow mile cooldown. I also beat the next person by almost four and a half minutes.

I went out for an easy 8 Miles just to get the legs moving after the race Saturday. Aerobic ally things felt harder than I would have liked, but my legs didn't feel too bad. My lower legs were sore, and then my traps of all things were also feeling the race Saturday

It was tought getting out of bed to run this morning. It was the coldest run I think I've had in a while as well. My lower legs were still sore, but otherwise things didn't feel too bad at all.