Run Buffs Run!

I definitely was not planning on this workout today, so I decided to start and drop out if my calf hurt. To my luck, it held up amazing!!! We did 10 x (4-2-2-4), meaning 400 on, 200 off, 200 on and 400 off. We were assigned 63's for the 400's and 29's for the 200's. This was a great workout! I stretched for a veeeery long time afterward, and got my calf massaged out. I can't believe it felt this good. I am definitely surprised. Nonetheless, I am going to keep things under control. I am not going to make any steep mileage increases or anything of that sort. I plan on running 70ish for a while.  

"Easy" miles up the Mesa Trail today. My calf felt a bit tight, but I massaged it out afterwards, and did a lot of stretching. Tommorrow will be very easy.

Really easy today up a few trails near my appt. My calf felt ok, and it stretched it a lot afterward. Tommorrow morning is a workout.

Today was a decent workout consisting of 3x2k repeats at 6:15 pace. These did not feel too hard, but after this last week of work, they may have felt harder than they should have been. We hit all intervals on pace (second one a bit fast), and did omni afterwards. Tommorrow I am going real easy to prepare for next week. I plan on hitting 70ish miles.

Really easy this morning around south Boulder before work. Tommorrow is a long run up at altitude (8500'), and I want to make sure my calf is ready to go!

Today could have been the hardest long run I have ever completed. We went to Magnolia Road, and I was assigned 17 "steady" miles. It was really windy, too, and that came into play later in the run. In the beginning, I felt really good. Since the route is downhill on the way out, I was not working too hard. Only when I turned around did I realize that the wind would be blowing directly in my face the whole way back. Climbing steep hills at 8500' in the wind is one experience I can now gladly check off my list of running endeavors. Needless to say, I made it back in one piece and I never walked (although I felt like I was moving that speed sometimes :))! My overall time was 1:52, surprisingly! I felt a bit light headed at the end, too from the lack of oxygen at this ridiculous place.

Today was easy with a few strides at the end of my run. I have another 3k this weekend (CU invite), but I will train through it. I am excited because in two weeks I get to run Mt. Sac!

Today was an AT run since we could not use the track (they are doing work on the mondo surface). We ended up running on the 800m woochip path across from the track, which actually felt really good. I had to do the workout alone since I had a presentation for school. Wetmore said the course is 15-20 seconds slow per mile due to excessive winding and a soft, gravely surface. I was assigned 5:30's for five miles, and it seemed just right. It was breezy, but I don't know how much that slowed me down. I wore trainers, too, since I brough no XC spikes today. This felt really good. I hit all miles on pace, and felt like I actually got into a groove (something I have not felt in a while :)). I think this was worth around 5:10's on the track, especially if I were doing the workout with someone else. Another coin in the piggy bank :)

Sooo, today was a track workout consisting of 10x300 meter repeats at 47 second pace. Wetmore initially assigned us 16 repeats, but after our AT yesterday, he backed some of us down a bit. This felt pretty hard. The first few were really easy, but at number seven or eight my legs decided they had enough. It felt like I my effort was going exponentially up while my actual speed was going exponentially down. I guess zip, or high end speed, is the first component you lose when you are training hard, so I was not too distraught. These workouts always seem tough for me. This really short and fast stuff hurts, especially with the recent fluctuactions in my training.

Ten easy miles today with 4x200 meter strides at the end. Tommorrow will be a shakeout for Saturdays race. My legs feel a bit "juiced" right now, but I think that if I rest up tommorrow I should be ok!

Today was a shakeout before tommorrows 3k at Potts. I did 4x100 meter strides, too, to keep sharp. My legs felt a bit heavy, but they should be ok by tommorrow!

I haven't written in a long time for my blog, so here it goes. Today was a 3k race at Potts (CU invite). I felt ok, but my legs felt really tired. I ran 8:58, boooo! I guess the work I have been doing is taking a lot out of my legs. I placed third this time, though, so I guess that is an improvement. It was, once again, crazily windy and I was stuck in no mans land (between lead and chase pack) for half the race, which did not help. Anyhoo, I survived and I get to run the 5k at Mt. SAC next weekend!

Today was an "easy" day around Coot lake, but it did not feel all that easy to me. We have a small workout tommorrow before we leave to Mt. SAC, too, so I need to rest up.

I don't quite know what's wrong with me, but I feel really fatigued. I can run easy for a moderate amount of time, but when I begin doing repeats, I just die. I could only hold 3x4-2-2-4 today when I could hold ten last week. I am going to take tommorrow off and rest.

Nothing. Rest

Well, a shakeout today at Mt. SAC. This is the coolest track I have ever seen. It is decorated, has huge bleachers on each side and, most importantly, is at sea level. Ahh, I can breath!!!

Alright, today was probably the worst race of my life. My legs were absolutely beat, and I felt tired. I warmed up about three miles, then did a few strides and headed to the start. My heat was pretty big, so the start was a mad dash for place. I jumped in mid-pack and planned to just sit for a while. We came through the first lap in 72 (not too fast) and it felt much harder than a 72 should. We hit the next few in under 70, and hit the overall mile in 4:37. This is about the pace I wanted to run for the whole race, but my legs were done. I wanted to stay with the main pack terribly, but I just did not feel "it". At six laps, it felt as if I hit a brick wall, and I could tell my pace went down substancially. After that, all I wanted to do was finish. This was the worst seven or eight minutes of my life, and it dragged on one lap at a time. I honestly can't even believe I finished. I drank some water, then did my cooldown and jumped into the team van. I was in a bad mood to say the least. This whole trip to sealevel and I major sucked it up. I seriously think I could have ran this time a year ago at sea level (when I was not in half the shape I am in now). I will take it with a grain of salt, learn, and prepare better next time. Although I don't ahve another chance for a 5k this season, I do get to run conference (10k), at altitude. That should be good. Everybody has bad days, but it's those who recover the quickest that do the best.

Today was an easy run down by the beach. This was definitely theraputic, and it felt good to forget about everything that happened yesterday. My legs did feel very heavy, though.

Another easy ten miles today on a gravel path in Ontario, Ca. I don't really know whats wrong, but I felt very tired. I seemed ok right at the beginning, but about a mile in it felt like I was working way too hard.

Today was a "long run day" at Draconia, but I had to stop early. I was assigned 16 steady miles, but after two or three I felt spent, and my legs felt machine gunned. I ended up running ten, but I could honestly go no more. I don't know what is going on, and this condidtion feels like it is slowly getting worse. I felt much better after my knee injury (when I was out of shape), and I could definitely run faster for a much longer period of time. I have overtrained before, but this does not feel like that (and I only did 50 miles last week). This feels like my whole bod fatigues at an insanely fast rate. When I begin the run, I feel ok, but after a mile or two it feels like I hit a massive wall. On repeats (track), I can do the first few, but after that I am useless (I have to go in anaerobic debt. to maitain splits). My iron supplement was taken at the airport (security thing), and I have not taken any since, so I think that may be the root cause. Even before it was taken from me, I took a very small amount, probably not enough to make any big difference. I have not felt "good", or even realtively good for almost two weeks now, so I need to find an answer. I checked the symptoms of anemia (online and through teammates) and it seems to match my symptoms. I am going to get a blood test tommorrow to see what is happening.

Easy miles today up the Boulder Creek Path. Felt blah.

Another easy day today around the Sanitas Loop. It was pretty hot today and I didn't feel great. I got some blood drawn this morning, and the sports doctor presumed that my iron would be low. We'll see.

Today was an easy run around "lollipop". I felt ok for the first few miles, but definitely started hurting after five miles or so. I received my blood tests, too, and my ferritin levels are low. My white blood cell count is also a bit low, so I don't quite know what that means. I am sure that our sports physician will know what is happening. I just want some answers to know why I feel so fatigued. I guess my low ferritin levels will produce some fatigue, but I don't know what extent they will do so.

Really easy today. I am still not feeling great, but maybe I will get better soon :) lets hope!

Alright, today was a workout which really scared me. I was not feeling great, but I decided to do as the coaches said and give it a try. I was assigned 4x1k repeats at 4:57. Coach Heather underassigned me a bit to give me some rest time. I did the first repeat and it felt great. I decided to go for the second, and again, it felt great! I finished the last two, running 72, 70, then 32 for the last 200. I don't know hoe this is possible, seeing as I didn't feel like doing a workout in any way. Well, who knows. I guess the multi-vitamins, blood builder and extra iron may be kicking in!

Really easy today with Christian Thompson. It was windy, but not too cold.

Today was a good run at The Grange. I started out slower than most of the team, but picked it up halfway through and caught up. I am starting to feel a bit better, too. A week ago, this type of run would have destroyed me. Overall time was 1:13.

Today was an easy run up the Boulder Creek path. I did 8x150 meter strides at the end on Folsom Field. That was pretty cool.

I felt really lucky today since the coaches did not assign me a workout. A lot of the team did some speed stuff, but coach Wetmore and Heather want me to get out my hole before the 10k at conference. I wont argue with that. Easy running felt really good!

Lollipop loop today with Wac-attack, Castro and Billy Nelson. Pacing was brisk, but not ridiculous.