DPHM Week 4

My left leg has decided to stop being a team player. A couple miles into my long run on Sunday I started getting this weird pain in the back of my knee. It was kind of a snapping sensation as if a tendon/muscle/something was being stretched like a rubber band and then being snapped against the back of my leg. I tried slowing down and focusing on my form, but the pain persisted so I ended up just walking back to my car. A little frustrating to miss a long run, but probably the right decision in the long run.

I've actually experienced this pain before and it was caused tight hamstrings. I am going to back on my mileage a bit and focus on stretching and foam rolling. I think I caught it early enough that it won't be an issue. I was about due for a cutback week anyway, so I'm not too bothered about missing a few miles.

Monday: rest
Tuesday: 5.16 tempo
Wednesday: 3.4
Thursday: rest
Friday: 6.12
Saturday: 4.36
Sunday: 3.34

Total Miles: 22.38

Post run cookie!

I am so glad that the holidays are over. I have been eating a lot of sweets lately and not actually running enough to justify eating quite that many cookies. Also, you'll notice that this week I skipped my strength training session. Insert excuse here. I definitely am ready for the huge heaping of motivation that the new year will bring. Hopefully that will get my strength training back on track, and maybe, just maybe, make it an actual habit.

Apart from cutting my long run short, I felt like this was a pretty great week of training. The tempo run on Tuesday felt amazing. Hard work, but very manageable. The 6 miles on Friday were faster than anticipated and I felt great for the entire run. If it wasn't for the temperature dropping after sunset, I probably would have stayed out for another mile or so. But I was wearing shorts and I could really feel the temperature change.

Shorts and a hat. Totally normal, right?

Sadly I think that was my last opportunity to wear shorts until I am running around Florida in February. The 10 day forecast is showing highs in the 20s and 30s. No snow though, so no complaints from me!

Need for Speed (and motivation!)

I am officially 12 weeks post calf strain! Woohoo!!

Since I haven't had any additional issues with my calf since the injury, I have decided that I am ready to start adding in some speed work once a week. For now I am going to focus on tempo runs. As I've mentioned previously, I am using McMillan Running to determine my training paces.

Tempo runs, or threshold runs, are supposed to "challenge [my] threshold between easy and hard." My pace for these runs should be between 7:37 - 7:55. I aimed for about 7:55 last night for about 2.5 miles. About halfway into the run, I realized I would not be able to maintain that pace for that distance so I cut it down to just under 2 miles. Since these runs are supposed to be medium effort, I wanted to feel challenged, but not out of control (if that makes sense).

Warm up: 1.46 miles in 14:00 (9:35 pace)
Tempo: 1.92 miles in 14:58 (7:48 pace)
Cool down: 1.78 miles in 16:34 (9:18 pace)

I plan to keep increasing the distance of the tempo portion as my training progresses. I will probably top out around 5 miles, or about 40 minutes. I was pleased to discover that when I went out for an easy run on Wednesday that I didn't have any residual soreness from putting in a hard workout.

Hello new running shoes!

The weather is nice and I have some new running gear from Christmas to test out, but I am feeling completely drained of motivation. I'm not sure if I am just tired from having a couple busy days or if I might be coming down with a cold or something. I had a tickle of a sore throat this morning, but I feel fine right now, just lazy.

DPHM Week 3

Monday: rest day
Tuesday: 4.09
Wednesday: 5.18
Thursday: 4.09
Friday: strength training
Saturday: 5.16
Sunday: 9.43

Total Miles: 27.95

Monday is supposed to be my strength training day, but I was just not feeling it last week and really wanted a day off. I have no discipline when it comes to sticking with a strength training schedule. It was raining on Tuesday and I had about a million errands to run (last minute Christmas shopping). I had no interest in going for a run, but, fortunately, am really disciplined when it comes to keeping a running schedule.

Rain + mascara = not my best look

Wednesday was 5 miles with run club. One of the other runners brought holiday cards for everyone and included a Clif Shot with each one. She is seriously so kind and thoughtful. This really made my day! Runners are the best sort of people.

Thursday's run got a bit dicey towards the end because the rain was turning to snow and suddenly the sidewalk was turning to ice. I should have run earlier in the day before the temperature started to drop, but, I was trying to be nice by waiting for Mr. Shoe to get home. So I could drag him out on a run too. Instead of taking a rest day on Friday I caught up on my strength training. A certain old man cat even helped me stretch afterward.

"Stop stretching. I need attention right meow."

Saturday was an easy 5 miler. Sunday was supposed to be a nice and slow long run, but I ended up running quite a bit faster than anticipated. I ran without my watch, but right before I left I started the stopwatch on my phone. I was aiming for 9:30-9:45 miles, but I didn't check my time during the entire run. I was feeling strong so picked of the pace for the last few miles. I ended up averaging a pace of 8:43. Ooops. I might need to work on my pacing!