Monday, December 29, 2014

December 15-28 Training

Monday, Dec. 15 - No running.  60 minutes elliptical, 2.5 miles walking.
Tuesday, Dec. 16 - No running.  60 minutes elliptical.
Wednesday, Dec. 17 - No running.  45 minutes elliptical, 4 miles walking.
Thursday, Dec. 18 - No running.  45 minutes elliptical.
Friday, Dec. 19 - No running.  Travel day to Ft. Lauderdale.
Saturday, Dec. 20 - No running.  First day that I felt I was walking normal without a slight limp.
Sunday, Dec. 21 - 3 miles (9:17).  First run in 20 days.
Monday, Dec. 22 - No running.
Tuesday, Dec. 23 - 2 miles (10:00)
Wednesday, Dec. 24 - 1/2 mile running.  I felt the left leg was too sore to keep going.
Thursday, Dec. 25 - 4 miles (9:57).
Friday, Dec. 26 - 5 miles (9:59).
Saturday, Dec. 27 - 3 miles (9:59).
Sunday, Dec. 28 - No running.  Long travel day back home.

2 week total17.5 miles running.  I was on a Caribbean Cruise from December 21 to 28 and did manage to finally get back to some easy running.  The left leg continues to be sore.  If the pain level is 3 or less on a scale of 1 to 10, then I will try running.  Usually it will get better after a mile or two.  I feel a bit more sore than I did a week ago from the week of running, but also the travel day on airplanes and handling luggage takes a toll on the sore leg as well.

Monday, December 15, 2014

December 8-14 Training

Monday - No running. 30 minutes elliptical, 2.75 miles walking.
Tuesday - No running, 30 minutes elliptical, 2 miles walking.
Wednesday - No running, 90 minutes elliptical.
Thursday - No running, 60 minutes elliptical.
Friday - No running, 3.5 miles walking.
Saturday- No running, 1 mile walking.
Sunday - No running, 10 miles walking.

Total miles - 0 miles running, 19.25 miles walking, 3 hours, 30 minutes elliptical. The left leg continues to improve, but it's a slow process.  I can still feel soreness just in walking, but it did feel good to get in 10 miles on Sunday while watching the Vikings.  I'm hopeful that I'm about a week away from running.

Monday, December 8, 2014

December 1 - 7 Training

Monday - 4 miles (9:58). Brixx run, but left leg was feeling quite sore.
Tuesday - No running. Diagnosed with left abductor strain. 
Wednesday - 30 minutes elliptical.
Thursday - 75 minutes elliptical.
Friday - 1 mile walking + 30 minutes elliptical.
Saturday - 2.5 mile walking.
Sunday - 1 mile walking.

Total miles - 4 miles running, 4.5 miles walking, 135 minutes elliptical.  Taking a pause from running to allow the left abductor strain to heal.  A bit frustrating to be on the sidelines, but I don't want to rush back too soon and have it continue to be a problem. The focus has now shifted to the Boston Marathon where I want a healthy training cycle.  I most likely will switch to the half marathon at Houston next month and only run that if I'm fully recovered.  I am going to have to show some patience.  The left leg feels a little better each day, but just slightly.  I can still feel it just walking, so I will continue to walk and use the elliptical.  Once it doesn't hurt walking I can ramp up the walking miles. 

Sunday, November 30, 2014

November 24-30 Training

Monday - No running, left leg sore from yesterday's Route 66 half marathon.
Tuesday - No running, left leg still sore.
Wednesday - No running.  Left leg felt a bit worse today.
Thursday - 4 miles (9:36).  Leg was feeling a little better Thanksgiving afternoon, so went for a short run.
Friday - No running, leg feeling worse.
Saturday - 3 miles (9:48).  Left leg was still sore, hoping a few miles would help promote some healing.
Sunday -No running.  Leg was just too sore when I went to go run.

Total miles: 7 miles.  A pretty frustrating week with the left leg soreness in the hamstring/groin.  But I have to stay patient and not force it.  I won't be able to get into PR fitness by the Houston Marathon on January 18th, but am just hoping to get healthy at this time and be able to run pain free.  I keep hoping I wake up feeling great, but the reality is that it tends to hurt more in the morning. 

Monday, November 24, 2014

November 17-23 Training

Monday - 3.5 miles (9:30) ; 5.5 miles (9:19)
Tuesday - 3 miles (9:22) ; 8 miles (8:34) with last 4 miles 7:50-7:55.
Wednesday - 3 miles (9:22)
Thursday - 4 miles (9:20) ; 5 miles (9:26)
Friday - Travel Day - no running.
Saturday - 4 miles (9:15)
Sunday - 1.25 miles (9:22) warmup ; 13.1 miles (8:28). I ran the Route 66 half marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  I was really hoping to get sub 1:38 by starting out at a 7:35 pace and trying to work lower in the second half.  My left leg had been getting progressively worse since the Nashville 10 mile race two weeks ago and that combined with some loss of conditioning made this a tough race for me, setting for a 1:50:53 time.  I completed the first mile at 7:37 just where I wanted to be, but there were a lot more hills that I was expecting in the first half and they took their toll on me and I just didn't have that killer instinct to finish strong.  Legs felt pretty heavy and I could feel the left leg on the second half of the race.

Weekly Total : 50.4 miles.   I had an easier week to get ready for the half marathon on Sunday.  With the sore leg and travel on Friday, I didn't get in the 8 miles that I was originally planning for and I scrapped the second run on Wednesday after the massage left me a bit sore.  The left leg is pretty sore on Monday morning and I may not get to run today, but will be looking to get the left leg healthy as soon as I can.


Sunday, November 16, 2014

November 10-16 Training

Monday - 4 miles (9:13); 6 miles (9:11)
Tuesday - 3 miles (9:07); 7 miles (9:11)
Wednesday - 7.26 miles (8:24).  Started with a 2 mile warmup and then had 16 repeats of 1:00 @ 7:05-7:10 + 1:00 @ 8:45.  I ended up averaging 7:08 on the fast minutes and 8:38 on the slower ones.  1 mile cool down.; 3 miles (9:12)
Thursday - 10 miles (8:54)
Friday - 5 miles (9:30)
Saturday - 8 miles. Started with a 2 mile warm up at DCP and then I went to the HHS track where I did another 1/2 mile warm up and then 4 miles @ 7:20-7:25 and then did a 1.5 mile cool down.; 3 miles (9:36).
Sunday - 8 miles (9:33) in the rain at DCP.

Weekly Total: 64.3 miles. My high inner thigh/groin on the left leg was having some soreness that got a little worse each day, probably from the previous week's 10 mile race.  By Sunday morning it hurt just to walk, so I had to scratch the planned 20 miler on Sunday. After 10 minutes with the foam roller, it actually stopped hurting while I walked, so it felt good enough to go get an easy 8 miles in the rain.  Hopefully this ailment goes away and isn't the start of another long battle with soreness in the legs.

This week I made an adjustment to the easy pace runs.  The month before Grandma's Marathon, it was common to see easy runs in the 9:15-9:25 range.  But now I was finding easy runs in the 8:40-8:50 pace.  I felt like I was targeting a pace rather running by effort.  So this week easy runs were much slower thanks to some much needed advice from my coach.  Don't let that $400 watch dictate your pace.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

November 3-9 Training

November 3-9 Training

Monday - 3 miles (9:07); 4.5 miles (9:02)
Tuesday - 3 miles (8:59); 7 miles (8:50)
Wednesday - 3 miles (8:57) ; 6 miles (8:57)
Thursday - 3 miles (8:57) ; 6 miles (8:43)
Friday - 3 miles (8:59) ; 5 miles (8:47)
Saturday - 13 miles with the Team Nashville 10-miler race in 1:18:14 for an 8 minute PR.  Ran a 2 mile warmup with Jeff Bandy. The strategy for this race would be to not run it all out so I wouldn't have to go into recovery mode the next week and miss the workouts needed to keep on the Houston Marathon training plan.  The plan was to run an 8:00 pace to the top of the hill early on mile 6 and then finish the rest around 7:30.  GPS showed I averaged 7:58 to the top of the hill and right at 7:30 for the remainder, so it was right where I wanted to be.   Quads were a little sore on the 1 mile cool down mile with Leigh Smith and Jason Rowell, but on Sunday the legs felt good on my 6 mile run.  So mission accomplished.  Got a real good tempo run workout near marathon pace with minimal recovery time.

Weather was ideal for this race, although I did keep my stocking cap and gloves on.  Nashville Strides do a great job organizing this event.  Cheap entry fee and you get a nice hoodie and they server pizza afterwards.






Sunday - 6 miles (8:53)

Weekly Total: 62.5 miles. It was a lower mileage week than last week with mainly easy running, but the idea was to be somewhat fresh going into Saturday's race.  Lost some miles on Wednesday when it rained all day and I didn't get the Boomer Route in and substituted some treadmill miles.  Although the calf was a little stiff on Wednesday, so hills might not have been the best run on that day.