Week ending March 19, 2011

This was another pretty low mileage week as I was still paddling in the Florida Everglades for half of the week. On Sunday I ran about 5 miles on the beach and saw a crocodile swimming in the shallow water a few feet away from me. We only paddled about 5 miles on Sunday as we had two days to cover the last 15 miles. So on Monday morning I ran on the same beach towards the previous camp area and saw the same (I assume) crocodile. I learned the difference between and alligator and a crocodile while I was in the Everglades and also learned there are only approximately 1000 crocodiles left in the Everglades. It was pretty cool to see one up close although I was a bit nervous because it wasn't far away from me. No running on Tuesday and I only got in a short run before our flight from Ft. Myers on Wednesday. Friday was a long run and my first true uphill run of the season. Two hours of running in Cheyenne Canon (with a little over one hour of uphill) was a pretty good first day of hill training. 49 miles for the week.

Week ending March 12, 2011

So I knew this was going to be a low mileage week as I was paddling a sea kayak in the Florida Everglades during my Spring Break. I was able to put in some good miles on Sunday and Monday (17 and 10) before leaving. On Tuesday I squeezed in a short run before dark and did not run again until Friday morning. Friday morning's easy run was in as beautiful a place as I have ever run. I ran on a beach on Florida's southern most tip at 7am and it was already 80 degrees. No running on Saturday as I paddled a lot of miles this week. 38 miles for the week.

Week ending March 5, 2011

Well, I finally did it. This was my fourth week of trying to hit 100 miles and I finally did it. For one reason or another (sickness, injury, ER visit), I was not able to put in the miles I wanted to for the previous three weeks. This was a good week. I started the week with some easy runs and doubles. I averaged about 14.5 miles on Sunday and Monday. Tuesday was a workout. I ran 7x1200 and felt good. I ran ran an easy mile for extra recovery and cranked out two more 1200s. I felt good and it was nice to run fast through a high volume workout. Wednesday was a long run of 16+ miles. Thursday and Friday were doubles a lot like Sunday and Monday. On Saturday I tried two times 3-mile tempos again. I tweaked it a little and this time I only ran 2 miles easy in between and the second tempo was 3.5 miles. Again, I wanted to run sub 5:20 pace and ended up running over 5:40 pace. I don't know what's happening and it's very odd that I can't hold a fast pace for 3 miles any more. I leave for Spring Break next week and am going kayaking in the Florida Everglades. When I return I think I need to start running shorter, faster intervals to regain some speed. Otherwise I'm worried I've lost the speed and won't be able to run fast again. 100 miles for the week.

Week ending February 26, 2011

My goal was to run 100 miles this week and I got off to a bad start. I did not run on Sunday so I was way behind my goal after only one day. On Monday I ran a ladder workout and I hardly ever run ladders. I went: 800, 1000, 1000, 1200, 1200, 1200, 1000, 800, which was a pretty tough workout for me. Tuesday was a long day as I put in 16+ in the morning and 5+ more in the afternoon. I put in two more doubles on Wednesday and Thursday. Unfortunately I wasn't able to run on Friday because I had to take a student to the emergency room and was in the hospital with him for several hours. He later had an appendectomy. I had been on pace to run over 90 miles for the week, even without running on Sunday, but that total vanished with the ER trip. On Saturday I did a workout which has me worried. I stole the idea of two 3-mile tempos runs from a friend and ran: a 3-mile warm up, 3-mile tempo, 40 minutes in between, another 3-mile tempo, and a cool down. I was hoping to sub 16 on the tempos and ran over 18 min instead. I just didn't have legs under me and couldn't run fast. I don't know what's wrong; I ran a 13-mile tempo a few weeks ago and the same thing happened. Bummer. 83 miles for the week.