Running With LeMire

CrossFit wourkout at LeMire X-Fit: 4 minute walk on treadmill then stretching. We introduced a strength portion which was 3 sets of 10 hang cleans at 65 lbs. Then did 3 sets of 5 front rack squats at 75 lbs. Then we started our WOD which was for time of 40, 30, 20, 10 reps of each excerise: kettle bell swings (Russian), push ups, air squats, abmats. This took me just over 23 minutes to complete.  It was a very hard workout and my body was starting to fail at the end.   

4 easy miles on the treadmill, 2 of which were downhill miles with the 2x4 under the back. Body was pretty sore & tired from yesterday's CrossFit workout.

 the temps this morning were in the upper 30's but there was 17 mph winds which made it a little cooler. The legs and body definitely didn't feel as tired as yesterday but I had stomach issues this morning requiring a little modification through a couple yards to make it home quickly. Besides the requirements for a quick bathroom break all else was good.

The longest run of this years trainng session is now in the books! It was a beautiful day with temps in the mid 30's to start and rising fast into the upper 40's. The course we ran was very challenging since it had huge hills at the start middle and end to deal with in both directions. Some of these hills were so steep it almost felt like we were walking up them and going down them you had to keep yourself in check. A couple of them I jumped onto the grass to run down to try and lessen the pounding effect on the legs. With that in mind it didn't really work since since my quads feel like I ran a whole marathon not just 22. There was also a 5-10mph wind that when it was in your face it was cool but then when you had it at your back in got a little toasty out there on the trails. Overall it was a successful run and I felt bad at the end but not as bad as I have felt in past years on the long runs.  Below is a link to the course:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/643942638

Mile splits: 7:51, 7:56, 7:37, 7:36, 6:32, 6:33, 6:51, 6:53, 7:52, 7:29, 7:35, 7:41, 7:29, 7:35, 7:41, 7:29, 7:30, 7:14, 6:51, 6:49, 7:06, 7:57, 7:33, 7:59, 8:16

Legs were still really sore from the 22 miles on Saturday so I decided that I should probably take the low impact approach today and jumped on the elliptical for 30 minumtes after work. This really did help loosen up the muscles.

After how bad my legs felt the last 3 days from the 22 on Saturday I thought maybe today's planned workout may not be in the cards today. I started out down the street which was to my suprise not very painful compared to what I expected which was great so maybe at mile 2 I would be able to get my 3 hard miles in at a little faster than last years workout. My plan was to try and start workoing on being more accurate on my goal pace so that was what I set out to do. First mile was 6:45, then 6:42 and I felt pretty good so I decided to push the third mile a little harder in 6:22 to wrap up my faster miles. I rna tese with about 2 minutes of rest in between each repeat with a little stretching as well. Then I headed back for the final 2 miles. Overall it was a suprising easy workout and faster one at that compared to last years same workout.

4 easy miles after work in 70 plus degree weather. Man was it nice to run and felt weird to desire water on such a short run.  Overal pace was 7:24/mi with two easy miles and two sub 7 min miles. Overall felt pretty good once I warmed up.

5 miles after work at a pretty good clip since I only had a short time before I had to go get the boys from school and daycare. Ran a warm up mile then picked the pace up and ran miles 3 and 4 around 6:35 each then finished it off with and easier mile to wrap it up. Total time was 35 minutes and some change which averaged out just over 7min/mi.

16 miles on Saturday with the run group on what I would call rolling hills with a few short steeper ones in the mix. Started off with the group and was going to run this workout based on feel and not necessarily what the schedule had planned. I have also been thinking about my mental toughness lately and that most of my runs this training session have been with others that kind of just pull me allong and I haven't really had to many runs in which I had to push myself for long periods of time. So at the turn around a few were dropping off and a few were going to make a bathroom pit stop so I decided to turn around and run the 8 miles back on my own. I picked up the pace instantly and ran 7 of the 8 miles back pretty hard. I thought maybe I could catch Brian whom started his 8 miles at goal pace at mile 4 but that did not happen. I did make it close because though and I pounded out so good strong miles. I don't have my watch with me as I write this but I ran some ggood miles on this course that can be viewed on the link below:

 http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/649636326

Overall a great run and I felt refreshed at the end compared to last weekends long run of pain!

 7:19/mi average: 8:18, 7:58, 7:18, 7:35, 7:30, 7:14, 7:14, 7:16, 6:45, 6:39, 7:03, 7:09, 7:03, 7:04, 7:17, 7:42

ran 5 miles over my lunch break in the 70 degree sun but 14 mph winds with gusts even higher. Overall still a lot better than the treadmill or the freezing cold of a month ago. Average pace was 7:24/mi.

Miles: 7:54, 7:24, 7:13, 7:10, 7:21

7 fairly easy miles today since it was 20+ mph winds this morning. I was suppose to run 3 faster miles but with the wind those faster miles were only around 7:20 pace not sub 7. Oh well got my miles in and it wasn't as bad as it could be.

Today's workout went pretty good considering I woke up hungry and didn't know if my stomach was going to hold up for the 2 mile warm-up, 3 mile tempo run (pace or little faster) and then the same 2 mile cool down. The weather was 38 degrees and it had been raining lightly since yesterday morning and at the time of my run it was not raining until the last mile of the tempo and the cool down were it was just a very light sprinkle. As I started off my legs felt pretty good and the weather was nice but I was a little over dressed with my wind breaker on but the winds were forecasted at 8mph. Which there was wind but not very strong and only for a portion of the mile tempo route I was running. Got up to my tempo area start took off my wind breaker and wrapped it around a stop sign post before I started my tempo miles and that was a great call because then I was dressed perfect. I started the tempo run and thought maybe I would run these in 6:30 but I would see how I felt and I wanted to make sure that I didn't go out to fast on the first one. So watching the pace a little closer than usual on this loop I came through at 6:30 for the first mile. It felt good so I thought I may be able to go a little faster so I watched the pace again pretty closely on the second mile lap and finished number 2 off at 6:25. I started the third mile of my tempo run feeling good and thought I would be able to push it a little harder but still not over due it and I may have checked my watch twice on that mile lap and came through at 6:18 for the third mile of the tempo run. Feeling good I grabbed my wind breaker and threw that back on before my cool down. It felt like a great workout and I definitely felt strong even in the cool down. Overall mile times for this workout went like this:

8:05, 7:35, 6:30, 6:25, 6:18, 7:21, 7:07, (last mile I added 2 hill sprints up the last 2 hills since I felt strong)

16 mile run in Lawerance Kansas the home of the University of Kansas Jayhawks. This weekends route was two seperate smaller loops one being around campus and a lot of hills then back past the starting location and over to the Kansas river gravel/dirt trail on the levees for the final 6 miles. On these 6 miles we started a fartlick type workout with 3 minutes on at aproximately 10K pace then equal rest. I was not feeling it the first 3 repeats so those were at 6:30 pace and I didn't do the easy part so it was more like 3 goal pace miles. The final 3 reps I decided I would make myself step it up and stick with the group which I did at about 6 min/mi pace on those repeats. The further we went the better I felt. Overall time for the run was 1:59:+ change. One more hard week of training and then it will be time to start backing off the mileage. Overall I am standing at 448.7 miles of training in this marathon cycle which is 79 miles more than last years cycle.

5 easy miles this morning around 7:43/mi average. Nothing special just an easy Monday run to stretch out the legs and log a few miles.

5 miles on the treadmill this morning since there was a thunder storm going on outside with lighting and hail as I got dressed this mroning. So I hopped onto the treadmill and ran 2 miles downhill as my warm up then switched into my 6-800's with a 200 meter slow rest at 4mph inbetween each rep. The 800's were all performed at 9 mph which is equivalent to 6:40 mile. I ran this workout on 2/4/14 before my last marathon and I ran those at a considerably slower pace on the treadmill because of snow last year. Kind of crazy that this workout has been canceled due to weather for 2 straight years now. Overall a successful run.

Ran the same workout as last week 7 miles with 3 pace miles in the middle. This week though the morning did not start off as good I slept through my alarm then felt rushed to get out the door and get my workout in. Overall it was still a good workout just a little bit slower than last week. This weeks 3 miles were 6:31, 6:30 and 6:23 with a total average mile pace of 7:02 for the entire run. My cool down back home was a little faster then last weeks run though. Legs felt strong but a little tired from Tuesday's treadmill workout and downhill warm up. 

Today was my last long run before the April 20th 119th running of the Boston Marathon. I was looking to have a good run to build confidence in the training that I have put in the last 15 weeks. In doing so I ended up running 20 miles in 2:18:44, which equals out to a 7:01/mi overall average on a super hilly course. If you think I'm kidding check out the profile and elevations on the map my run link below. This was definitely a run that my mental toughness was on cue and did not waver. Some people were not to happy today with me because we did run faster than we usually do but it was necessary for me to be able to go into Boston on a high note on a course that definitely challenges Boston's if not hillier.

http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/662581024

Miles went like this: 7:17, 7:31, 7:27, 7:21, 7:10, 7:07, 6:25, 6:42, 6:20, 6:37, 6:59, 6:57, 6:53, 6:52, 6:30, 7:29, 7:10, 7:05, 7:21, 7:21

Overall a very successful workout! I felt good at the end unlike the 22 miler or any of last years long runs. I did have one 20 miler last year at 7:01 average pace but really struggled the last 2 miles of it. Then it was off to Jacob's first soccer game and then back home to his 6th Birthday party with friends. Man it was a busy day from 6am to 5 pm!

Today's workout was a 2 mile warm-up, 3 fast miles followed up with 2 cool down miles. Overall the workout was good but not as fast as I would have wished. My legs were still just a little fatigued from Saturday's 20 mile effort. Even with that though I still was able to nail 3 goal pace miles pretty easily at 6:41, 6:41, 6:40 for the harder effort miles. Overall workout the average pace per mile was 7:12 for the 7 miles which is pretty darn good for me after Saturday's workout.

8:14, 7:40, 6:41, 6:41, 6:40, 7:15, 7:12