Winning Back What I Lost

6AM: 5+ mile recovery run slow, easy on TM. Felt pretty good considering last night's late workout. Get another 5+ miles in tonight, time permitting. 

9PM: 7M easy on TM. Stressful day of hearings at work. I was exhausted when I got home. Helped my 1st grader w/ some homework then promptly fell asleep for about 20 mins. Contemplated just getting up in the morning but I did the math in my head and came up with: Running a double today to get my daily mileage to 12M > having to run a medium long run tomorrow. 

10PM: Late night run thanks to a ton of conflicts this evening.  Got another horrible night's sleep.  The good news is that this was my short/recovery run day. First day running in my new Brooks Launch.  They feel light and responsive and might be a really good everyday trainer. But I think they're 1/2 size too big.  I'll send them back tomorrow and get a smaller pair.  More stomach problems/nausea. 

9PM: Medium-long run. I actually broke this one up in segments. 1.5M to the gym; 7M on the TM; 1.5M back home. My sleep debt keeps accumulating.  My 4 yo woke up at 4am last night.  He did go back down for a couple of hours but the damage was done. Despite all that, my legs didn't feel altogether dead but they did lack some of the spring I usually have after yesterday's shorter run.

8PM: Starting to rain outside so I did an easy recovery run on the TM. Kept it slow and short.  Got a long run tomorrow.

1PM: Long, slow run on the greenbelt.  Again, its so nice to be able to run in the sunlight this time of year. It really is rejuvenating. I'll have to check my history but I believe this is the longest run I've ever done this early in the year.  Continue to suffer from an generalized upset stomach.  I don't know if it's stress or the increase in protein but its getting to the point where I may have to do something about it. 

6:15AM: Went off the reservation yesterday for the Super Bowl. We had a nice spread for the game and I did partake. So I had to follow that up with a big workout on the TM this morning. Pfitzinger's LT workout- Warmup; 4M @ 7:27/mi avg pace; Cooldown. My running economy seems to have improved over the last week. My HR was definitely elevated but this workout was more comfortable than last week.

8PM: Medium-long general aerobic run. A pretty good run.  Legs and lungs felt really good but I have a really bad tootache. Concentrated on improving my knee lift and back leg extension. The running actually distracted me from the pain in my tooth. So I guess it served its purpose. Going to the dentist tomorrow so hopefully it'll get sorted out.  

Short recovery run on the TM. Got my shoes (Brooks Launch) back after I returned them last week for a smaller size. The fit and feel is awesome. Felt like I was running on air. Almost effortless. Part of it could have been that I went to the endodontist today after the tootache I had yesterday got worse. He numbed it up pretty good and sent me home w/ some narco and antibiotic. Gotta wait a couple of weeks for the infection to calm down in order to get in there and repair what looks to be a failing root canal.  Good times. 

Laid up the past two days with an infected root canal.  I decided that I was feeling good enough to get out there and knock out a long run.  That would give me 2 big workouts this week and make sure that this would not be a lost week.  I felt really good given the layoff and circumstances. Slowed down in the 2nd half of the run coming back uphill and against the wind. I'll take my normal day off tomorrow and hopefully I'll be 100% on Monday.

6AM: General aerobic + speed on TM: 8+ miles w/ 10x100m strides @ 6:48/mi pace. First run w/ my new Tangent 4's. I like the fit better than the Tangent 3's. A little bit wider than the Tangent 3's but still snug. If they're like their predecessor, they'll expand/widen after a few miles.   

550AM: General aerobic run; I was supposed to do 12M this morning but there just wasn't enough time; I need to get up earlier to get in these long mid-week runs but 530AM wakeup is probably my limit until the day I start getting to bed a lot earlier; I wasn't feeling it at all this morning; I don't know if its the antibiotic I'm on or all of the hydrocodone or if I'm just sick but I have this constant feeling of nausea; the good news is that my tooth is no longer bothering me; I guess I traded it in for something else; that's kind of how my training goes, if its not one nagging problem its another; I'm going to try to get a couple of miles in tonight to meet my goal for the day.

830PM: 2.6M on the TM to meet my daily mileage goal; did some light core work as well.

Easy recovery run on the TM.  Started slow and ended at current MP. 

Read about the new qualifying standards for Boston today. Looks like they'll be lowering the qualifying times for each age group by 5 mins beginning in 2013 and allowing faster runners to register first beginning in 2012. At first I was a little disappointed but then it kind of motivated me to do better than "just" 3:15 this year. Why not shoot for my best possible marathon? Why not decide to train harder and become as fit as possible so I can take advantage of the new system rather than fall victim to it? 

9:30PM, Denver, CO: Went from work to the airport.  By the time I got my rental and drove into the city it was past 9 o'clock. Being late and downtown I didn't want to run outside.  Immediately headed to the TM to get in my scheduled general aerobic run. TM was athletic club quality, a nice change from some the POS's I normally have to run on when travelling. FWIW, I didn't notice any difference in the higher altitude.  Also, the full length mirror gave me an excellent view of my form and it always surprises me just how little extensioin and push-off I get from my back leg. I've known from the many race photos that have captured my shuffle/form but its always shocking to see it in live action. 

Back home. Short recovery run outside on a cool but not cold evening.  Long run (17 mi) tomorrow that has me a bit nervous. The plan is to run 2/3 of it at current MP. It will be an interesting test to see where I'm at in my training.

Long run on the GB from Glenwood Bridge to WS Golf Course and back. 4m warmup; 8m @ marathon pace (8:00/mi); 4m cool. I was worried that I'd get rained/snowed on so I came prepared for everything. The precip didn't materialize until the last half hour which meant that I was a bit overdressed and overheated.  I'm so ready for t-shirt and shorts weather. I sorta cheated a bit on the tempo, taking a short break halfway thru to get a drink and a couple of bites of my powerbar. Otherwise, it went pretty well.

Great medium-long run. I always feel pretty good on Monday after my rest day and this week was no exception.  Starting to get back into decent shape, something I was never really in last year for very long- if at all.  

I was able to register for Robie Creek despite another year of their website melting down. It's probably my favorite race every year but they've really got to do something about their jacked up registration process. Take a few of those sponsorship dollars and invest it in some additional bandwidth. It really wouldn't be that expensive or difficult.   

630AM:  5+ easy recovery run after last night's medium-long run. Sore legs and a little bit dehydrated. Needed to get in a quick run because today is going to be a long workday.

530AM:  Another medium-long run.  I felt good but not great.  My training plan calls for a couple of mid-week 11-15 milers pretty much every week from here on out.  I feel great when I'm done but finding the time is somewhat of an obstacle, especially until we transition to longer days. 

615AM: Little bit of snow on the ground so I ran on the TM at the club.  I took yesterday off after getting a root canal on Wednesday and still feeling the effects of the hydrocodone and antibiotic.  Felt much better today after making the shift to extra strength tylenol.  2.5M warmup; 4+ miles @ 7:22/mi pace; cooldown.  This workout was scheduled for yesterday so I'm going to do a 5+ mile recovery run tonight.   

8PM: Hill workout/recovery run on TM. 3M of alternating 1 min hill repeats w/ 1 min rest; 2+ cooldown.  Nothing too strenuous. Just a little something to build strength and focus on uphill running form. 

Medium-long run on the GB.  Ran on the Bethine Church Trail for a couple of miles. I had heard about this trail on the south side of the Boise River opposite Warm Springs Golf Course but had never run on it. Very nice to have such a nice greenbelt and trail system in an urban area.  Took it easy but I was a bit dehydrated and hungry towards the end.  Didn't bring anything to eat or drink.  Still breaking in my new Tangents. They didn't hurt hurt my feet but they didn't feel good either.   

9PM: Didn't sleep very well so I put my run off until this evening. One of the nicest evenings in quite a while, temp near 40 w/ little to no wind. General aerobic run w/ 10 x 100m strides (6:50ish pace).  A pretty good workout and I felt like I could have gone much longer and run much harder- but that's pretty normal for a Monday.