To find my Mojo

Set out to run 13.1 today.  I had to do it on the treadmill.  I hated every minute of it.  I decided to just take it easy and set the treadmill on a 1% incline and a 6.0.  I think I just got bored, but couldn't force myself to do all 13.  I ended up just doing 9 and calling it a night.  I will do my 13.1 next week.

It was a cool raining morning.  The leaves were falling on the ground.  Perfect day for running.  I decided to run between 7 and 8 miles.  I just wanted to enjoy the morning and do a easy run.  I felt real good and enjoyed the morning.  I ended up running 7 miles in a time of 1:08:14 with an average speed of 9:45.  Good time for a long easy run.  my splits were:

10:06 (warm up mile),9:42,9:43;9:52 (had some hills in this mile);9:44;9:44;9:19 (good down hill so I could finish strong)

Pretty consistant run which I was going for.  My goal is to still work on my speed.  I will have a few tempo runs coming up which I feel will some what of a challange.

3 Mile run on the treadmill.  Everything was done at a 1% incline.  I started out at 5.5 for 1/2 mile.  I then bumped it up to 6.0 for 1 mile then 6.5 for 1 mile.  the last 1/2 mile was run at at 6.8 with the last .1 at a 7.0.  I felt good at the end.  Still need to work on speed so this feels more comfortable.

Today was a strength and stretching.  I feel my stretching is coming along well.  Hopefully in 1 year I can see a difference.  Strength is good.  Trying to get my legs stronger to handle the hills and stress better.

This was my first tempo run.  I felt it went OK. I did have to take more breaks than I would have liked, but finished just the same.  This is how I ran it. 

30 Minute Tempo run on the treadmill with a 1% incline

5 Min = 6.5 = 9:00

10 Min = 7.0 = 8:32 (I did take a 30 sec. break after 3 minutes but finished the next 7)

2 Min = 7.5 = 7:59 This did not feel good - struggled to keep form

8 Min = 7.0 = 8:32 During this 8 minutes I had to take a couple breathers

2 Min = 6.5 2% = 8:45 - needed a little break

2 Min = 7.0 = 8:32

1 Min = 7.5 = 7:59 Felt OK, It was just for 1 minute.  I wanted to finish strong.

Ran my timed 3 mile course today.  Started out with a .5 mile warm-up on the treadmill.  Started the run with the goal to beat last weeks time and to do it without stopping.  I wanted to start out with a 8:30 first mile and then increase my speed each mile.  I did pretty good and felt good about my run.  My total time was 25:25 and my splits were

Mile 1 = 8:34

Mile 2 = 8:30

Mile 3 = 8:19

I am glad that I have started to control my run where I can finish strong at the end rather than dying off the last mile.

Had to run today instead of tomorrow because of family commitments.  I decided to run 9 miles on the treadmill.  I really don't know what I ran because I just set it on different programs and ran.  I was really bored and was trying to get through the miles.  I was using this as a long training run so speed wasn't a big concern, I was more interested in just getting in the miles.

I sure felt that I took the last two days off.  My body had a hard time getting into the running gear.  Today was suppose to be 3.5 miles.  I started out with a warm up and then just ran what felt comfortable here are my splits.

.5 = 5.5 (I figure its about a 10:00 pace)

1mile = 6.0 = 9.52 pace.  Felt good decided to bump it up

2mile = 6.5 = 9:09 pace. This pace felt very comfortable

1/2mile = 7.0 = 8:32 pace.  Felt OK, but knew I couldn't keep this pace for very long dropped back down to my comfortable pace of 6.5 and then with .1 left I sprinted in at a 7.5 (7:59) pace

Overall, I can feel that I am getting more comfortable running faster, but can still see a lot of improvement.  I still get tired and need to take breathers throughout the workout.  I will work on trying to keep myself running even when tired.

Ran two miles with McKenna.  Started her out slow so she wouldn't die at the end.  We ran the first mile in a 10:21.  I then told her to run what was comfortable to her.  She finished the second mile in 8:54.  I couldn't believe how much energy she had at the end.  I really had to work myself to stay up with her.  I am very proud of her.

I then came home and did strength and stretching.  I think this added routine will help my running.

Today was speed work out.  I did 6x400 on a 1% incline at a 8.0 speed.  I then would walk for 1 minute in between each set.  I felt really good.  In fact, I got the bright idea to run the last one at a 8.5 pace.  That was pretty stupid.  I was really tired with about .1 left in the run.  When I bumped it back down to 8.0 I was so tired that last .1 really hurt.  I think if I am going to increase my speed maybe in need to do the first two at a faster speed rather than the last one.

Today was not a good day.  I started my 1/2 mile warm up and just couldn't get rid of my side ache.  I decided to run the treadmill until it went away.  It was amout 1 mile before I felt good.  by then I tried to get into running and just couldn't pull it off.  I ran another 1.5 miles and then gave up on it. 

I really hate having to run my long runs on the treadmill.  It seems that every Saturday I have something in the morning.  I started out running 2 miles at a 6.0 pace with a 1% incline.  I started out with my side ache again.  It took about 1 mile to get rid of.  I hope this isn't going to become a habit.

I then ran the next four miles at a 1% incline 6.5 speed (9:09).  I felt pretty good, but was tired after the four miles.  I don't know if I was tired or bored.  I decided to change the workout to make it more interesting.

I did the "random" program on my treadmill.  This will change what you do every minute for 30 minutes (with a 5 minute warm up and cool down).  I was running any where between a 5.8 0% incline to a 6.4 5% incline.  I feel it is a good workout because it changes every minute and isn't as boring. 

I would like to be able to work up to doing this same work out on the 7.0 6% incline mode.

Got up this morining to do my 3.5 miles.  Wasn't for sure how the foot would feel.  Started out at a 5.5 to do my warmup.  My foot didn't hurt bad, but I could feel it still wasn't all the way better.  Instead of trying to push it I quit.  I will just push my workout back one day.  Hopefully, with taking one more day off, it might help. 

I tried to make up for not running yesterday.  I was able to go out on the road and test my foot.  It felt great. Didn't have any pain.  I wasn't for sure what I was going to run, I thought I would see how I felt.  I ran the first mile in a 9:06 which felt good so I decided to push the pace.  The next two miles were 8:30 and 8:23.  I was real tired after the 8:23.  Took a small break to see what my 3 mile time was.  Just over 26 minutes.  I felt pretty good about it.  Still wish I had broke the 26 minute mark.  Took off for the last mile.  Again, I thought I would just run what felt good.  I started out just about around 9:00 and felt very comfortable.  I then saw a little girl in my Primary class so I stopped and talked to her.  I decided when I started to run again (I had about 1/2 mile to go) I was going to try and keep the time down aroud an 8:00 or below.  I ended up finishing the mile in 8:42, which felt good.  I know I couldn't have done the time if I had not taken the two breaks I did.  I need to start increasing my speed and being able to hold it for longer miles.

After the run I went and did some strength and stretching.

OK today was a struggle for me.  I just couldn't get the motivation to push myself.  I was suppose to do a temp run for 35 min. but could only go for 1 1/2 miles.  My foot started to hurt....but I think that was just a good excuse to quit.  I wasn't feeling the run.  I then decided to do the bike to finish my workout, but forced myself to do 10 minutes and then I was done. 

I need to get my desire to work hard back.  I don't have a problem when I get outside and run it seems to just be when I run on the treadmill.  But I need to get over it because winter is coming and that is where a majority of my workout will be run. 

I didn't know how this run would go.  I didn't run the last two day to give my foot a break from the treadmill.  I started out with a 3 mile warm up and then ran 3 miles of a tempo run.  I felt real good on the tempo run until 1 1/2 miles into the run when  I came into a bad head wind.  I tried to push the pace but it took a lot out of me.  My last mile was very, very tough.  I than ran a 2 mile cool down.  my splits were:

9:45,9:24,9:31,8:17,8:31,8:16,10:04 (walked a little after the 3 mile tempo to cool down), and 9:16.

I did have to take 1 break the last mile of my tempo run. 

Since I am doing my race on Thursday I decided to run my speed workout today.  I started out with a 1 mile warm-up.  Didn't take it too fast, just enough to get the body warm.  I then did 7x400 at a 1% incline and a 8.0 on the treadmill.  This equals a 7:30 minute mile.  I felt good the entire time and then the last .05 really hurt.  I think I could have done more, I just was glad it was over. 

I feel that some speed is coming, but it is just a slow process.  This Thursday will show if I have improved at all. 

Was going to run 4 miles today, but just didn't feel good.  I ended up just running two miles.  I did this run at a 6.5 1% incline

Ran a Turkey Trot with McKenna.  1st mile = 8:23 2nd Mile = 8:17 3rd Mile around 10:00.  Ended the run with a 27:14 time.  McKenna did so good.  I was very proud of her.  Even when she was really tired she pushed to finish her last mile.  She only walked after running two miles at her "Puke" pace.  She finished real strong which made me feel good for her.

Set out to do 13.1 on the treadmill.  I set it on a 1% incline and a 6.0.  Just planned on taking it easy.  I dont know if I was just bored or what, but I quit at 9.  I will get the 13 in next week