1/27 - 2/2

Mon: 3.5-miles; 2x1-mile (6:28,31), 3x800m (3:08,09,09), 2x400m (89,88)
Tues: 7-miles
Wed: 7-miles
Thurs: 3-miles; 7-miles treadmill (3-miles @ MP 1-2.5% incline)
Fri: Off (stretching)
Sat: 17-miles
Sun: 8.5-miles (6-miles + 2-miles @ MP + 0.5-miles pickup)
Total: 59 miles

Almost 60 miles this week! That's 3 weeks in a row of 58+ miles. I'm happy about that. However, I mostly ran solo again this week (save for Saturday and Sunday), which wasn't so fun. I miss running with Matt. Also, I am very sick of winter. Weather-wise, January sucked in terms of training. For that reason, in fact, I decided not to add 2-miles onto my long run this weekend and spend another in the 16-17 mile range (although it certainly felt like I ran 19!).

Apparently I'm just going to be asleep for my "junk miles" in the morning. I have no other comments about the pace. The track workout on Monday night went reasonably well though. Why was the track workout run on Monday? Because SNOWPOCALYPSE hit Raleigh on Tuesday and Monday was in the 60's. Yes, that's right. I was sweating in shorts in a t-shirt on Monday, and it snowed ~2" and was in the 20's on Tuesday. I love NC. Anyways, I obviously did the track workout alone, so I was quite pleased with my mile repeats because I find it hard to focus for anything over 2 laps. I was trying to do them at 10k pace, which Sean has told me is 6:35 even though I find optimistic. But, I did it, and even managed to stay consistent, and reasonably on target for the 800's (which I was trying to do at 5k pace... for the past two years, I've been deeming my 5k pace to be 6:20, although that seems a bit slow if my 10k pace is supposed to be 6:35). Anyways, I finished up with two 400's to work on leg speed, and clocked both at under 90sec, which was encouraging because I was fairly dead at that point.

The rest of the "work week" sucked. As I said, it was freezing cold on Tuesday, and I ended up running by myself to get the workout in before it started snowing. The hills sucked, and I was kind of having trouble breathing. Anyways, I got it done, and was surprised that I actually ran under 8min pace. If Tuesday wasn't miserable enough, Wednesday did me in. They don't plow roads (save for highways) it seems in Raleigh. So, there was very limited ground to run on that wasn't icy. Matt and I ended up coming to the lab in the afternoon to get a power supply, and Main Campus Drive looked decent. That was about the only place that was decent, and only to about Centennial Campus Middle School, so I just kept running back and forth and back and forth. It didn't seem as bitterly cold as Tuesday, but it wasn't warm, and it was definitely a lot more boring. Plus, it was my second day of running the same stretch, and I kept "breaking" more as the run went on because it was getting colder and icier. The conditions were a little bit better for Thursday's lunch run, plus I knew I only had to run that stretch of road once!

Thurday's treadmill workout was demoralizing. I had two free guest passes for the YMCA from my City of Oak's race packet. I wanted to do a tempo workout, so I figured the treadmill was my best option. The Alexander Family YMCA is really nice, and I'd definitely consider getting a membership there once my income is more steady. However, I haven't run on a treadmill in a gym since before New Years, and the gym wasn't crowded (aka not as hot and humid). I'm hoping the temperature is what made the workout seem so hard and not the fact that I have been doing most of my runs at a slower pace. I did a mile warmup and started on 3-miles at 7:20 pace, varying the incline between 1-2.5%. At 2+%, I thought I was going to die. Thankfully, the treadmill timed out after 30min, which allowed me to get some water after 4-miles. I was drenched at this point. After a quick break, I jumped back on the treadmill and did a mile warmup again. This didn't feel awful, but going much under 7:40 pace did. I made it 0.3-miles at 7:20 pace before I felt like I was going to die. I debated continuing at this pace and just not running as long, or backing the pace down and finishing up the 3-miles as I had intended. I voted for the later, so I backed off to 8min pace and then increased it by 0.1mph every 0.25-miles until I hit 7:30 pace. This left me with a 0.25-mile cooldown, and then 7-miles done! So, I didn't do what I had intended (1 warmup + 3 @ MP + 1-mile easy + 1.5 @ MP + 0.5 cooldown), but all of the workout was 8-min or faster, so I guess I'll take it.  

I stretched on Friday once I got home from work, which was a good idea because Umstead was an ice-skating rink on Saturday. It had dipped below freezing, which meant everything that had started to melt on Friday had re-frozen. I felt like I was running single-track with all of the dodging we were doing. Plus, every step forward brought half a step backwards, and you couldn't get any momentum on the downhills to help with the uphills (that and I was nervous about slipping back down most of the hills). At the overlook, Mike turned to me and said that his legs were toast. Mine were too. We still had 7 miles to go! We did both manage to stay upright. And, the good thing about the middle 12-miles sucking is that it made the last 2.5-miles out of the park seem like a breeze. Seriously, the asphalt felt soft after running on icy footprints! It was a pretty miserable run. My legs were dead, my ankles and calves killed... even my stomach hurt from using my core so much to keep me going straight and upright! But, we were only about a minute slower than last week, was is amazing considering the conditions!

Sunday's run went better than expected. Most people were doing 13 miles (6E + 5HM + 2E), but I've been trying to keep from doing two double-digit weekend runs. So, I did 6E on the greenway and 2.5MP on the track (trying to pick it up the last 800m). At least that was the plan. I came through the first mile in 7 flat, and thought I slowed down the second mile, except my split was 7:02. I picked it up the last 800m (3:14) as planned, with an overall time of 17:16. It helped having Sean to run with the last 1200m.

Other than that, I am going to see Elaine next week because my back, right hamstring, calves, and ankles are all tight. Mike and I were talking Sat. and Sun... I think I'll attempt a 20-miler next week.