Running With LeMire

Weather was pretty bad this weekend so I didn't get my 14 mile workout in that was planned but I thought running out on ice would not be a very wise decision to make 4 weeks out from my marathon. I was hoping Sunday would be better so I didn't run Saturday and looked for a Sunday run. After driving around Sunday morning I said no to that and jumped on the treadmill.

2.5 miles downhill, then the rest was just a long hard grind on the Treadmill.. Man it hurt and I hot 10 miles done and that's about all I can say. 

4 miles downhill on the treadmill this morning before work. This time though once my legs got warmed up I did speed the pace up and did get it up to 7 min miles. To this point I had been taking these downhill miles pretty easy but this morning I hit them a little harder and the body is responding well so far!!

Tonight we are suppose to be getting hit with 5-10" of snow so this week is looking like it will be mostly indoor miles for me!! One thing can be said & that is the treadmill at our house is not a spot that cloths have been hanging lately!!  Between my mileage & Jamie putting 10-15 miles a week on it this thing has become a work hourse!!

Monday night thru late Tuesday we received approximately 12" of snow at our house and yet we had fun playing in it and sliding down the street yesterday afternoon. I did not run yesterday but I shovled the driveway, ran sprints down the street pulling a 5 year old neighbor and Jacob in the sled while wearing heavy boots and in 8" of snow while it was still coming down, I'll call that Cross training!  In all Jacob, Jamie, and I spent 3 hours out in the snow shovling and playing. It was great to share that experiance with Jacob that I was so fond of growing up!!  You can't do that in Arizona!

Ok so my workout was obviously on the treadmill and went like this:

 2 mile warm-up ( downhill)

800 at 7:04 pace

400 at 8:00 pace

800 at 7:04 pace

400 at 8:00 pace

800 at 7:04 pace

400 at 8:00 pace

800 at 6:40 pace

400 at 8:00 pace

800 at 6:31 pace

400 at 8:00 pace

800 at 6:19 pace

1200 cool down

Overall it was a good workout and did not kill me. After a quick shower I went out to shovel the driveway for the 3 time before heading to work by 7:45am. I burned a few calories before work!  

5 quick miles tonight after I put the boys to bed. Nothing special but did 2 miles downhill for my warm up at 7.5 mph.  Overall we had a good evening with the boys! 

Was a little worried about not getting my last 20 miler in before my marathon with the weather we have been having the last week. One of the guys in the group asked if I wanted to meet up with him & a few others. His promise was dry roads and companions on my 6 miles of goal pace in the middle of the run. 

Our workout started with 4 real easy miles. Followed with 6.5 miles of progressively faster miles. Then we headed over to a rolling/flat road to run 1 mile out & back to perform the 6 miles of goal pace miles. Ran these all really close 6:31, 6:41, 6:31, 6:41, 6:31, 6:42. Then wrapped it up with 3.5 miles for a solid 20 total. Not sure what the temp was but it was bone chilling cold and my legs never fully warmed up. 

5 miles on the treadmill this morning, downhill. Just took an easy recovery pace. My legs were a little tired & sore.

7 miles on treadmill nothing to hard but faster then Monday and no stiffness or pains. First 3 miles down hill with last 4 being flat. Not bad for an evening run after boys went to sleep and before Jamie got home from work.

Today I did a little workout over my lunch hour which totaled 6.81 miles. Felt pretty good and besides all the snow melting the temps were in the 30's, with a little breeze but overall it felt nice out. Even with these higher temps I wore a winter hat, pants, long sleeve shirt and wind breaker to make it feel a little hotter than it actually is to hopefully simulate race day a little better. I ran 2 miles out to Iowa Rd then hopped on my little 1 mile loop thru a neighborhood which I ran 3 hard miles before returning home. Miles for today's run read like this:

         7:22, 6:49, 6:28, 6:24, 6:19, 6:56, 7:18

Overall I was a little suprised that I kept getting faster on my 3 hard miles considering it felt like I was sucking wind after the first mile. By the end of mile 2 hard I figured if I just ran faster I can get the 3rd hard mile in also. Not to bad for a mid day lunch break run!!