Day Off

Today is my day off from workouts. I enjoy the workouts but I could use the day off. For the last couple days...

Tuesday: Easy 5 mile recovery run with the dog
Wednesday: 7 mile "tempo run" @ 8:30/mi - Not exactly fast but this is all I wanted to do at this point. I need to gradually speed up the tempo & quality runs to avoid the injury bug. I ended up going to the gym at 12:30 last night to crank this out. Paid for it this morning trying to wake up. I love coffee.
Today: No running - Softball tonight!

Tomorrow, I'll head out for the long run of the week. I'll drop down to 12 miles this week after running 15 a week ago. I think this will be good for my legs to recharge before bumping up the miles next week to 16 - 17.

Calf is feeling good. Body seems to be holding up. Other than tired legs, I'm not feeling any negative affects right now (knock on wood). Hoping to stay injury free the rest of the way so I can start working on some hills.

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What's the Deal?

Why the gap in the posts? Well, after the previous post week, the dreaded overuse injury to my left calf muscle popped up. It wasn't as bad as in the past, because I was able to catch it in the middle of one of my runs. I had to walk the last 3 miles of my 10 mile run. Luckily, after some treatment and a reduction of running for a couple weeks, I seem to have put the injury behind me. (knock on wood). So back on the horse...

Last Friday (3/21), I cranked out a long run of 15-mile (my PR for distance). calf felt good on the run and fine afterward. Made sure I stretched and iced it to make sure.

Saturday was supposed to be a recovery run but I ended up playing basketball for 2.5 hours (no wonder I get injured). But, the legs and body responded well and felt good (but tired) afterwards.

Sunday - Off

Monday - 8 mile "quality" run - At first, I was a bit hesitant to do any more quality or tempo runs for awhile due to the injury. However, after stretching and warming up for 1.5 miles, I decided to try and and pick up the pace every mile or so. Turned out to be fine and with the wind right at my face for the first 5 miles, I think I got myself some bonus "hill" training. I hate the wind, but the extra work pays off in the end. 

For today (Tuesday), I plan on getting into the gym for a Crossfit workout and a 5 mile recovery run. Might substitute a 1/2 Ironman swim workout for the Crossfit workout.

Less than 8 weeks to go until the 50k!!

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What a Beautiful Day

I'm looking outside this morning from the home office and I can't believe how nice it looks outside. I'm looking forward to getting out and running today. On the schedule is a "quality" day - 8 x 800 meters at 10-K race pace with 90-second jog. I'm not really sure what my 10-k pace is these days, so I'll try to keep it around 7:30 min/mi. pace. Think I'll head out to the levee instead of the track for this one. There's a nice straight stretch of fire road that is approx. 1/2 mile.

So far this week...
Monday - Long Run 11.11 miles at 9:00 pace. (Longest run ever for me. Ahead of schedule and ready for more.)
Tuesday - Recovery Run - 4.19 miles at 8:20 pace (Faster than I wanted but still felt easy. Good sign. Legs felt relatively good after yesterdays run. I'm ahead of my training pace but making sure I don't progress too fast to avoid injury,)
Wednesday - Walk - 2.5 miles w the dog. (Wanted to do a xfit wkout but didn't make it. No problem - legs could use a rest and as I mentioned above, this could help me avoid injuries.)

Enjoy the sunshine if you're in California.

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Catch Up Time

I'm a bit behind on the old blogging, so I'll see if I can catch up a bit here. I've been very busy with work and home stuff so spending the extra time to update this blog has been on the back burner. Here's a recap of last week's training:
Monday: Xfit - Fran
Tuesday: Ran 8 miles
Wednesday: Ran 3 miles (windy as hell)
Thursday: Ran 5 miles (Tempo)
Saturday: Ran 9 miles
Total miles: 25

This week:
Monday: Xfit - 50-40-30-20-10 double-unders and situps
Tuesday: Nada - didn't get out - boo
Wednesday: 5.5 miles - (6 x 800 @ 7.5'/mile - rest at 10'/mile)

Today, I'll probably run 4 -5 easy miles and do some hand-stand push-ups as well. Might have to go to the gym since it's raining.

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What day is it?

Note to self: You are not in college anymore.

Ok, this last weekend was a bit rough. Let me recap: Friday was softball league night. That basically means it's our guys night out. We ended up winning our game in the last inning and that just fueled the fire. Then comes Saturday: Foo Fighters concert in Oakland at the arena. I wasn't driving and therefore was a mess. I think we got home around 1:30 in the morning. Then comes Super Bowl Sunday: My brother- and sister-in-law had a big party with all kinds of beers and crap.

Total workouts over the weekend: 0

I wasn't thrilled that I didn't get any running in, but at the same time, I'm happy with where I'm at so far. Thursday's crossfit workout + run was brutal and I needed a little break (ok, maybe not 3 days).

I was able to get out yesterday with the dog (Miles) and do an out and back on the delta levee for 6 miles. I meant to bring my watch to start tracking times, but my battery is dead (honest!).

I was gonna head to the gym today for a crossfit workout and a short run, but it's so nice today, I might just skip the gym and head out for a 3-mile loop.

If anyone's reading this today, don't forget to vote. I'm heading over to the polls in about 20 minutes before lunch time.

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Feeling Good (Knock on Wood)

Yesterday was a very easy day - just a 2.5 mile run. The significance of that run was that it was the first back-to-back run days for me in about 3 months. I know what you're thinking. How in the hell are you going to be able to do this race in May? I'll be alright. I'm still on schedule for my training.

For today, I'm going to do a crossfit workout followed by 4 miles on the treadmill - I could use a good warm, indoor run today. I almost fell over when I saw the Crossfit WOD (workout of the day) today:

Three rounds for time of:
225 Deadlift, 15 reps
15 Handstand push-ups
15 Pull-ups
95 pound Thruster, 15 reps

This looks brutal. Not going to be a quick WOD. Might have to sub shoulder presses for the handstand push-ups to speed this up. Let you know the results tomorrow.

Happy whatever.

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Hey Guess What? It's Raining

Apparently, over the winter, my family packed up and moved to Seattle. Can we officially say that this year's rain total is close enough to normal to rule out a drought year? Good lord. well at least it made doing today's workout extra rewarding.

Ran 6 miles at decent pace along the delta levee to Paradise Point and back. (What does decent pace mean? Faster than EZ but still not breathing very hard) I'll get the watch on next week to start checking pace. Besides the battery's currently dead.

Knees are feeling a little sore after the run. This verifies the fact that I need to drop some weight soon and also beef up my quad and hamstring muscles to take some load off my knees. I have to go into the bay area tomorrow, so I'll be doing an easy 3 miles in the company's gym.

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