Running With LeMire

After the long Holiday weekend of not feeling good I was not going to push my luck with running to far or to fast so I had a nice easy 4 mile run. Overall pace was over 8 min/mi and it felt good so I have no complaints about the easy run. The conditions were also not the greatest it was 30 and icy since it also rained from Thursday to late Monday night. Finished up with some stretching when I got home before hitting the shower and off to work.

Played Hockey again this week and we lost. It was a pretty good game but I just could not score a goal if my life depended on it, nor could my teamates that I set up multiple times for great oppotunities.

4 really easy miles this morning. Nothing really felt good about this run but m legs did start to loosen up after 2 miles.

This weeks hockey game is tonight at 10pm which is going to be hard to make it to.

5 miles on the treadmill. Started off at 6.5 mph for 400m, then cranked it up to 7.0 mph till mile 2 mark. Then raised it up to 7.5 mph for mile 3. Mile 4 and 4.75 I ran every other 400m at 7.5mph or 8 mph. The last 400m I ran the first 200 at 9.0 then the last 200 at 9.5mph. Overall it was a great workout and my body was definitely tired and stiff.

College Loop: today was a planned easy day since it's my third day running in a row and that hasn't happened yet this month. Even with that my legs felt pretty darn good. The worst part of the run was the 32 degree temps with 16mph winds that blasted me the last 3 miles. I should have ran the opposite direction of what I typically do on this route to help protect me from the winds a little better. It would have been better for at least 2 of the last 3 miles. The new neck gator that I purchased was used and it was super warm.

College Loop: my legs were pretty tired today but no pains that would imply anything wrong. I was a bit sore so I took it easy again. The average pace was 8:01/mi but that was with about a minute of time adjusting my heart rate monitor strap in the first mile. Yup, I tried out my Christmas present today which is a new Forerunner 620 Garmin watch. This mornings weather was 22degrees with only 2 mph winds which felt so much easier then yesterdays 16 mph winds.

College Loop: 6 miles at 7:39 pace with temps in the teens and light breeze, 4 mph winds. Got the watch up running a few more data sets and today's run was at 151 average heart rate for the 6 miles, max was 163. Overall my legs were stiff and sore but they didn't really feel that tired and this was my fast run of the week and my fastest two miles we the last 2 miles of the run. We are heading out of town to MN to do some family Christmas things since we haven't reall done Christmas with my side of the family since 2006 just before we moved to Arizona.

Iowa Street  2 mile tempo run with 2 mile warm up and cool down for a total of 6 miles. Felt pretty good but my legs just don't seem to have the turnover over the last couple of weeks that I had in November. Ran 2 easy miles out then ran a 2mile tempo at a  little faster pace (7:04, 7:02) to try and get the legs moving faster again. There was no break just warm-up right into two harder miles. There was a little bit of a breeze but overall it was warmer than last week by a good 10 degrees. Average pace for the 6 miles wa 7:29/mi, avg heart rate 154 with max at 174bpm.

College Loop: pretty easy run this morning at 7:44/mi average pace. I tried to run some of the hills a little harder and try and not slow down to much on the climbs. Average Heart Rate 153 with a high of 180 this morning. This mornings weather was 48 degrees, 9mph winds and almost 100% humidity. I was over dressed and everything was wet but at least it was not slick.  

College Loop: ran the loop again this morning and got a little bit of a late start out the door but I was feeling good so I ran a little harder than I have most of my runs this week. On this mornings run my averages were 7:24/mi, 154 avg heart rate with a max of 165. It was 36 degrees out with 9 mph winds making it feel like 30 degrees. The wind was not to bad except for on mile 5 otherwise I was pretty well protected. In the last mile I yelled out 3 times to a lady that I was coming up from behind since she had a dog and she didn't move over or do anything and of course she had one of those stupid retractable leashes. She finally stops as I'm right by her and locks the dog leash which then the young puppy turns and goes sideways right into me. It was not a very gracefull hurdle but I managed to only get one leg caught on the leash. I didn't go down but it didn't feel great the last half mile I accessed my body & I don't think I hurt anything but I'll watch it.

Met up with Drake, Jimmy and Ben for a mile time trial and a few extra miles after that at Shawnee Mission East High School. It was a good time running with a few of the guys again it had been quit awhile since I have ran with anyone from Runner's Edge or anyone at all. THe weather was just about perfect for a mile time trial a slight breeze and even just a few sprinkles on the 2 mile warm up. Then we stretched changed shoes and hit the track. I ran about 10 seconds faster than I did last year at our time trial, 5:32 mi. It felt pretty good but it definitely wasn't an all out effort so if training goes well between now and the end of January I think I could possibly reach lower 5 minutes for the indoor mile in Brookings. We then hit the roads for an easy additional 6.4 miles at just over 8 min/mi pace which seemed really to easy on a pretty hilly course. After our run we headed out for a quick bite to eat then home to be with the family by 10am. It was not the fastest of run but it was a great day to get out and run.   

4 easy miles on the treadmill this morning before work. Yesterday evening some light rain rolled in followed by freezing temps and a dusting of snow. Thought it would be wiser to run inside on the treadmill instead of taking on the roadways and 32 degree weather with 16 plus mph winds. I dread the treadmill but I got it done and got some good stretching in before I hit the shower then shoveled the driveway.

College Loop: after yesterdays snow storm and colder temps I decided I was going to brave the elements with a maybe fun or terrible run. Temp was 18 degrees with a feels like 9 deegree temp with 4mph winds. Sounds like a great idea doesn't it. Well I also decided it would be a great day to use my YakTacks for the first time. The Yak tracks worked great the problem was 4.5 miles of the route did not have sidewalks cleared and the plowes pushed crusty hard ice chunks onto them as well.  The conditions definitely make this a fast run at all or even a consistant run. Parts of the sidewalks had snow drifts, ice or just 2" of pluffy snow making this run more like a run on a soft beach without the sun and 3 layers less of clothing.  The average pace for this run was 8:59/mi but I got my miles in for the day.  I only saw 1 other person out on this run and for half of the run I was the first person to make tracks thru the snow.

Treadmill Workout: since everything was melthing yesterday I figured the roads would be really icy and I needed to get a good workout in so I hit the treadmill in the basement before work. Started off with a 1 mile warm up at 7 mph then started my 6x400 meter intervals at 10 mph (6min/mi pace) with 400m rest at 7mph. The first interval was the hardest and I was wondering if I would even be able to make it to interval #3 let alone 6. Each interval seemed to get a little easier as I went along which was a good feeling and at #6 I was starting to get tired so I shifted it into a cool-down pace (7 mph) then periodically upped the mph by a few notches to 7.7mph, then 8 mph to end the workout. My legs were starting to get pretty tired so I called the workout at 5.5 miles even though I wanted to make it 6 but I also didn't want to over do it this early on in the training cycle.