Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:11
Pace: 8:31 min/mi

Comments: I was a little bit wore out this morning but nowhere near as bad as yesterday when I woke up and it took me half-an-hour to get out of bed. Every minute of the day was a battle. Today, not so much.

The temperatures are unusually warm this week so I am trying to take advantage of them somewhat. I ran this one is about perfect conditions. I don't expect it to be this nice again for  a few months.

Instead of suffering through the workout I seem to be strong enough to actually run the whole thing. That switching one type of suffering for a type of pain. It's good to make the transition but it doesn't come any easier. Still, I was very happy with the splits for this effort.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 35:52
Pace: 8:57 min/mi

Comments: I set this week for alternating days running and off. And yesterday it was a good thing I didn't have a run planned. I was dragging ass from the moment I got out of bed till the moment I crawled back in.

I felt better this morning but the fatigue was still there when I started my run. The first mile-and-a-half was a sloppy slog. I was honestly surprised to see I did that mile in sub-9 minutes.

Once I got warmed up the run went better but I never felt really strong on this one. Still, my splits were very close together again which is as good a sign as I can hope for at this point.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:04
Pace: 9:01 min/mi

Comments: The ten miler yesterday left me as tired and sore as I expected but I felt surprisingly good this morning. With pretty mild temperatures, I considered putting in an a.m. run but decided against it out of concern for injury. If I was still doing OK in the afternoon, I'd try it.

I was still doing OK in the afternoon.

This was not an easy run by any means. My legs were lagging significantly and it was more of a slog than I'm usually comfortable with. Still, my stride was good and I definitely felt strong the whole way through it. Best of all, my splits were very consistent.

Long Run

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 1:34:37
Pace: 9:28 min/mi

Comments: So while my running hasn't been particularly consistent the last week or so, raceday ain't getting any further away. The only way to avoid some serious suffering on Feb. 28 is to pony up for some now. And so I decided to go get ten miles this morning.

It was pretty rough. The wind out of the south didn't make it any easier. That said, my sub-9:30 average pace was a very happy surprise. This was possible primarily by keeping my first four miles clustered tightly around 9:00. And while I slowed considerably after that, every mile was under the 10 min mark.

So it seems my conditioning is in better shape than I thought. Now, if I can stick to the running regimen, I might even beat two hours on this race.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 34:35
Pace: 8:38 min/mi

Comments: Because every single thing I've handled that is mechanical in any way over the last week has fucked up, the timing of this run is way out of wack. Of course the Garmin doesn't record my best run in more than a year properly.

According to the Garmin I did this in 35:21 but it clearly did not lock in until significantly after I started. I guesstimate my effort was closer to 34:35 and that average pace -- 8:38 min/mi -- is much closer to the splits for my final three miles (which I think were logged correctly).

So after a week off I seem to have recovered extremely well. I'm not sure if this was a one-off performance but I'll make an effort to run each of the next few days to get a better idea.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:13
Pace: 9:02 min/mile

Comments: So I'm a wee bit excited this afternoon due to the national championship game. I got off work and right out the door on this run before the anxiety could get it's hooks too deep. It helped a little.

I thought I would be a bit more fatigued and sore after yesterday's long run but I was incredibly dialed in for this effort. Started strong, hit a solid and consistent pace for the middle two and upped it a bit for the end.

I've planned an off day tomorrow but if I continue to feel this good I might shift that to Wednesday. As always, I want to avoid injury due to pushing too hard too soon.

Long Run

Distance: 8 miles
Time: 1:13:31
Pace: 9:11 min/mi

Comments: So I got all impulsive last night and signed up for the Cowtown Marathon on February 28. That's a short seven weeks to get up to 13 miles. I've felt pretty strong the last two weeks so I figured I had better give myself a little test today.

The plan was six miles but eight if I felt I could manage it. It started off cold and unpleasant. I waited until after noon when temps got out of the 30s but it was still damn brisk getting started. This played into my plans on the second half of the run.

After the very un-fun first two miles I started warming up and getting into the rhythm of the run. At the 3.5 mile point I felt eight miles was realistic and began concentrating on that goal. I honestly felt pretty good the whole way but the last mile or so was certainly a challenge to my conditioning.

Still the splits -- except for the first mile -- stayed very much around the nine-minute mark; no more than ten seconds either way. Which is the most positive sign for my hopes at actually doing this race thus far.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:15
Pace: 9 min/mi

Comments: This one was not fun and straight up weird in terms of the timing. I would have sworn this was significantly slower since I was doing a full on slog from the second mile on. But the Garmin had me at 9 min/mi average pace. It also had the route seriously screwed up so I'm thinking that's a bit off.

The fact is that after my long layoff, I've had seven runs in the past nine days. It's not a big surprise my legs are feeling a bit of wear at the moment. I'm gonna try to get a "long" run in this weekend but if my legs don't start to recover a bit, I'll probably err on the side of caution.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:07
Pace: 9:01 min/mi

Comments: Thoroughly frustrating day made even worse by my inability to get home and get my run on. Running pissed off is usually a bad idea so I made a conscious effort to hold back the first mile and not burn myself out on the front end of the run. And, instead, blasted out the second mile.

Needless to say, my individual splits were all over the place but the just-over nine minute per mile average is about where I wanted this one to land. I've been very happy with my conditioning and strength thus far but I want to be wary of grasping at stamina too fast and getting injured.

Fitness Run

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 36:13
Pace: 9:02 min/mi

Comments: The last couple of runs have been fantastic so I kinda suspected I was due for a cruddy one. And boy this effort certainly qualifies.

It was chilly starting out and I needed a good mile and a half to warm up. A little breeze made that all the more unpleasant. That's probably the reason I started off a bit overfast which left me feeling winded before I even got a third of the way done.

I settled down and resigned myself to the slog which, it turns out, felt a lot worse than it was. I expected 10 min/mi pace but my slowest was 9:10. So I guess I did better than I thought.