Better late than never

AM - 5. on the tail end of a 24-hour stomach bug that was starting to hit on yesterday morning's run. throat felt a little tore up from all the wretching, but otherwise good. would have gone longer if i'd kept any food down since breakfast yesterday. i'll get in something longer this afternoon. high of 70 degrees next week, so excited for that. ran at 1AM, need to get my sleep schedule back on track after the night shift messed it up.

sotd: ghost rider - suicide

AM - 3 w/u, 4 x 400m hill in 75, 73, 73, 72, then ran it downhill in 58.9. 2' jog down for rec before each uphill, 30" before the downhill. c/d for 10 i didn't bother recording.

did this at 2AM. was originally planning on doing a 12-mile run at hilton with the last 3 progression-style to serve as a sort of slump-buster, but a cop pulled up after 3 and told me to piss off. got my goat because he said "it's a $500 fine for being here b/w 10p and 6a, you're lucky that i'm more forgiving than most cops", like no you aren't. every 5-mile shakeout i've ran on a triple the past year has been here just an hour later than this, and there's normally other people here, and i've never been harrassed. well, i was once last year for running here at 10:15, and it was by you, and you threatened to arrest me. and what about the homeless dude that's been sleeping on the bench the past month, including tonight? anyway there's already enough rants on blogs about how the system allows small men to become police officers to feel bigger being written every day so i'll stop here. i'd say this was still a good slump-buster, wasn't anything crazy but got a little lactic acid built up. the sub-60 400m was a nice touch.

PM - 5. felt really good so let loose after mile 3. last 2 miles in 6:33 and 5:37 with the last half in 2:33. guess i got that progression in after all!

sotd: pheel tha phonk 1990 - spaceghostpurrp

AM - 5. felt better than i thought i would so i considered stretching it to 10, but with two workouts(albeit faux-workouts) yesterday figured i'd stop at shakeout territory for this morning. by morning i mean 2AM. 5 days removed from the night shift and i STILL can't fall asleep at a reasonable hour. tried intoxicating myself to no avail a couple hours earlier along with a post-work meal, so this run was fueled by quinoa, eggs, and michelob light. mainly mentioning that to flex that i ate quinoa

PM - 5 just after noon. 97F heat index... can't wait for a week from now when the high is in the 70's; it'll give me a lot more room for when to get in mileage. core and hips after

sotd: you got under my skin - simon joyner

AM - 5. thought i saw my ex walking laps after mile 3 which contributed to a 6:13 last mile. thinking back on it i'm not sure it was even her. still, pretty easy for a 6:13, especially with a hairpin turn in there.

alright; 2 mostly lazy weeks to refresh the legs are up, shit gets real tomorrow and onward. probably gonna have to cap the PM mileage since next week sees the last remnants of the summer heat, but should throw down a couple solid workouts.

AM - 20 mile LR. wanted to do 30 but i started at 8AM and by 18 miles it was mid-80's and not being too conservative on pace meant my goose was near cooked, so stopped at 20

splits:

7:18, 7:10, 7:03, 7:09 7:03

7:01, 7:07, 7:10, 7:07, 7:06

7:08, 6:55, 6:45, 6:55, 6:49

6:48, 6:38, 6:38, 6:32, 6:12

avg pace 6:56. haven't done 20 in a few months, but from november-february when i was doing one or two a week i think i was running 7:10-7:15 range at peak fitness. more effort spent today than on those, but it's the first time i've gone over 15 since february, and 20's a whole different animal. it'll get easier. didn't really make an effort to run fast until the last mile, everything else just was the pace my legs carried me to. we only go up from here.

PM - 10 very easy shaking out the long run. think i unintentionally dipped into the reserves yesterday so i was still fairly beat, plus i was coming off a shift. felt miserable mentally those first few miles, legs weren't the only thing that felt better by the finish so i'm glad i stuck it out. i'd say there's a better chance of me breaking 4 in the mile tomorrow than being ready for the workout i intended to do so i guess i'll just play it by ear the next day or two.

PM - 10. legs feel about recovered.

AM - 8. 1:21 differential b/w the first mile(7:53) and last mile(6:32)

PM - 12. starting to get that fire back.

AM - 8. 1:15 differential b/w the first mile(7:46) and last mile(6:31)

AM - off. been dealing with stomach sickness since yesterday afternoon, hence no 12 yesterday night. long as i'm good to go tonight i'll still get 100 for the week

PM - 5 in the evening. stomach thing persisted longer than i hoped, but i felt much better than i thought i would on the run. pace wasn't anything crazy, just felt good. by the end i wanted to try and go for 12 but with a long run tomorrow and not having ran in a couple days, i just wanted to do enough to loosen up without tiring myself. if i feel this good next saturday night i'll go for 12

AM - 3 + drills and strides. was meant to be the shakeout for a long run, but afterwards my stomach felt absolutely terrible. so i just took a nap before work instead

PM - 12 after work, 6:48 pace. last 3 miles in 6:24, 6:30, 5:27. last mile really should have been faster but i didn't really start going at it until i had a kilometer to go. according to strava i split my third fastest lap ever at hilton in 3:54 for the 1200m loop; considering i've 100% ran 2000+ laps here in the past year alone it's nice to see, especially considering the 75 minutes of running that came prior.

calling it now: 185 this week

AM - 8. only had like 40 minutes after to eat, shower and stretch before a morning shift

PM - 5 after work, at about noon. hot out. last day it'll be over 90 degrees, maybe even 85, for the next 8 months or so. not gonna miss it, i'll be preferring it in the spring when it's raining buckets though.

PM2 - 12 at night. it was 82 degrees by the finish, so nice to know after tomorrow the high of the day doesn't reach that at all on the 10-day forecast, meaning it probably won't again this year. thank heavens, that heat/humidity combo def takes a little extra out of you. since we're getting like 3 inches of rain wednesday i'll be lucky to get in any miles, so tomorrow will probably be a high mileage day to compensate.

AM - 19. first 14 miles i was hitting 7:10's pretty comfortably, but by mile 15 my body remembered i was in the middle of a 12-miler 12 hours ago and all good feelings went out the window. wanted to hit 20 but that last 200m i was getting dizzy and could tell i was on the verge of passing out. haven't felt that exhausted after a run since my 30-miler last november. still, nothing like that feeling of knowing you gave every ounce of strength you had

PM - 6 very easy. had to do this a little less than 6 hours after finishing the last run to beat the hurricane. i'd say the chances of me running in the next 48 hours are nil with said hurricane hitting alabama hard, so i was alright with pushing the recovery time a bit. felt a lot better than i thought i would. very tired, but not hurting.

PM - 5. conditions have been super nasty all day, but it was low 70's out at 3PM and i had to experience that after 4 months of getting heat stroke on every run. despite 20+ mph wind ran the first 4 miles in 6:52, 6:33, 6:06, and 5:27, then pulled up with a 6:48 last mile. the nice temps just brought it out of me

PM - 5. saw an ex on the run towards the end which resulted in a 6:27 last mile that was totally effortless. i think that's the third ex i've seen while running at hilton this month; i guess it's a small world and i was a bit promiscuous in my teens but the weirdest thing is they're appearing in the order i was romantically involved with them. hope this trend doesn't continue because i could have ended things better with the ex that succeeded this one, pretty sure if she ever sees me again she'll either beat me up or try to "billie jean" me

AM - 7.5 easy. 68 degrees out at 4am this morning, which was nice. the low in a couple days is 55 which makes me wanna cry tears of joy

AM2 - 3 mile w/u, 3 x (400m uphill, 400m jog(200m turnaround), 400m downhill, 400m jog(200m turnaround)) going 85, 83, 81 on the uphill and 68, 67, 66 on the downhill. no-watch c/d for 10. nothing crazy, with a long run in 48 hours that's more of the focus, pretty sure i would have thrown the towel in by set 5 though. 

PM - 7.5, 7:09 pace. felt hella easy

PM - 7.5 easy. 6:49 pace on consistent splits, getting under 7:10 on easy runs is usually noteworthy for me so this was nice, although i take it with a grain of salt considering it was my only run of the day. 

AM - 2.5 shakeout plus dynamic stretches 

AM2 - 20 mile LR. wanted to do 30(again), but i got a stomach cramp that i didn't think would fade away after i hit 12, so i dropped the pace a bit, hoping it wouldn't take me out before i hit at least 15. cramp ended up fading after 16, but i knew that drop in pace meant i'd used too much energy to hit the 3-hour mark without it damn near killing me, so i decided to stop at 20 and dropped the pace again.

splits:

6:54, 6:57, 6:55, 7:02, 7:01

7:06, 7:02, 6:49, 7:00, 7:04

7:00, 6:55, 6:35, 6:38, 6:39

6:27, 6:12, 5:55, 5:41, 5:24

avg pace 6:40. A++ run.

PM - 2.5 easy. just getting some circulation in the legs. felt good; i remember the 20 i did two weeks ago knocked me out for like 36 hours so i'm happy that wasn't the case today. feel like i made a big jump in fitness last week out of nowhere, or maybe it's just because the temps finally dropped, who knows. either way i've been having trouble getting in a rhythm since i took a few days off at the end of august and feel like this is what i need to get locked back in. 

AM - 5 mile shakeout. first 8-minute pace run in a while

PM - 10 miles, 6:58 pace. keep expecting the 6-minute pace to drop back to the 7:1x's where it normally falls when i'm in good shape, but they just keep coming

AM - 5-mile shakeout + dynamics and drills.

AM2 - workout at sokol park. 3 mile w/u with some speed changes the last mile in 5:39, mile in 5:03, 3:30 jogging recovery, mile in 4:53, 3:30 jogging recovery, quarter-mile in 69(nice). long c/d for 13

aside from 4 lighthearted hill workouts in the past few months this is my first workout since february, and what i'd call my first real workout of this year, maybe since 2017. a 4:53 repeat isn't too bad of a starting point, i guess. not like it's the fastest mile i've ever ran without wearing spikes or anything(it is). quarter-mile was gonna be a k to finish off the workout but i got a bit too much salsa on my chip during the second repeat and bagged it. i can live with it for today

PM - 7 easy, 7:09 pace

AM - 5, slow.

PM - 10. tyler herro that guy, hate to say it since the heat are the only reason duncan doesn't have the same number of rings as jordan

AM - 5. cold, windy and wet.

gonna re-up my gym membership in a couple of days. am i 100% comfortable with it? even as a very fit young adult with no pre-existing health issues, not necessarily. still, if i did cpr on dying covid patients without the necessary gear and didn't contract it, well you get the idea

PM - off. started getting some wicked stomach cramps in the afternoon and i don't think i can run through them. hopefully passes by tomorrow morning so i can still get in my hill workout.

PM - 5 shakeout + dynamics and drills. still had stomach cramps at 4am so went back to bed and felt better when i woke up.

PM2 - 5-mile fartlek at hilton going half a lap hard, half a lap easy(so about 600m per half lap). ran 28:52 with a 5:17 last mile. was planning on doing 15 with a more lighthearted fartlek effort, but after a couple days too easy speeding up the pace was a switch rather than a dial; an absolute. was going to still do 10 easy after but it had just rained and the humidity hit me hard once i finished the fast stuff. so it'll be like a C for mileage this week but an A+ in terms of workouts

AM - 5 easy, no watch. gonna be a hot long run tomorrow.

AM - 2-mile shakeout + dynamics and drills

AM2 - 15 mile "LR" at rodeo. the last couple 20-milers i've stayed conservative until mile 12, then picked it up to the pace i really wanted to do all along. mainly played it safe because i was worried of using too much too soon and blowing up, but last week gave me the confidence to try, and if i do too much, i'll at least slug it out to 15. ended up being the case.

splits: 

6:23, 6:23, 6:17, 6:08, 6:08

6:03, 6:03, 6:00, 5:59, 6:00

5:43, 5:36, 5:33, 5:28, 5:34

avg pace 5:58. jogged a mile beforehand and 3 after. don't think i've ever been so locked into a run before; that 15-minute drive to sokol was the most clear-headed i've been in my life. probably because i meditated before leaving the apartment

PM - 4 easy

AM - ran 3.75 at hilton, then really had to use it so drove home and jogged another 10 minutes after. could barely feel the hard 15 from yesterday

PM - 10 miles, 6:55 pace. wet and windy. hopefully the wind dies down a bit for the tempo tomorrow

AM - 5 shakeout + drills. it's pretty rare for a 4am shakeout to have every mile under 8 minutes; hopefully a good sign for the workout. just found out buggin out in do the right thing is gus from breaking bad which blows my mind

started raining at 6am so canceled today's workout. kind of a shame; with every workout the past 10 days being way better than it should i kind of felt like my 3-mile PR of 15:14 from 2017 was finally gonna get broken. sure the legs could use a little extra rest anyway.

PM - 5 miles, 6:42. felt really good; wanted to go longer but decided to take today and tomorrow a lil easier

PM - 5 at hilton, 6:38 pace. 6th lap i wanted to see if i could ease down from 6:40 pace to 6:00 without using much effort or looking at my watch, ended up running 5:59 pace for the .75-mile lap, so, yes