the ole treadmill

Awoke from a great nights sleep in my Hampton Inn bed, fully rested as I still not used to west coast time. It was a tad chilly outside and I didn't really want to be uncomfortable, so I decided to hit up the hotel treadmill.

Ran 4.5 miles pretty comfortably. about half in the high 7's and the other half in the mid 7s.

more treadmills

After getting done with golf around 4, and checking into my hotel around 5 - I thought I would just bust out a run in the quickest fashion, so I could meet my father in law for dinner later on. I was at the Hampton Inn in downtown Little Rock, and the weather was still in the 80s. Given that, I just decided to watch some ESPN and get a quick run in at the fitness center. This run sucked a whole lot worse than the night before, and only had the patience for 4.5 miles. The pace was definitly more slow as well.

Time 35.44
pace: 7.56

Flying Saucer for drinks, and Boscos for dinner...down at the River Market, Little Rock.

running with machines

man has it been a while since I ran on a treadmill. Didn't check into my hotel till around 9pm, in Texarkana. Since I was off the interstate...and in Texarkana at night, this was my best bet. Grabbed my IPOD and hit the Hampton Inn fitness center. The Giants were playing the Philies. So with TV, Ipod, and a treadmill, my longest run ever on such a contraption was underway. Thought I'd try and do around 3-4 miles, but was able to tolerate more than I thought I would since I was starting to get into the game, and my music was good, and my legs were feeling fresh. Really, this was workout day, if I was back home - so I did decide to turn up the pace and crank it down to sub 7 min pace for a few miles, and close in 55.02.

Miles: 7.5
Pace: 7.20
Time: 55.02

Giants won game 5.

easy 3 on the 'mill

Miles: 3
Time: 23:30
Pace: 7:50

Still fighting illness, and weather still fighting harsh winter, I again went to the Harry Y to knock out an easy 3 mile run.

This time, set the treadmill on 7:50 pace and cruised along while I watched the Tar Heels and Wolfpack in the second half. My knee bothered me today, and my legs didn't feel great alltogether on this run. My body seemed a little worn down, and this run took quite a bit of effort.

another short uptempo treadmill run

Miles: 4.2
Time: 29.45
Pace: 7:05

Shout out to Gerald Wallace, here dunking on LeBrono, who will be in the Dunk Contest tonight!

Landed back in Charlotte from my overnight in Nashville around 2pm. After catching up with wifey after I got home, I hit the door for a warm run inside over at the Harris Y. With only wanting to do 4 miles, I was looking forward to knocking it out on the treadmill actually.

Kind of the same run I did the other day, just not quite as high intensity and progressive. I started in the mid to high 7 minute pace for the first mile then started going down to 7 min pace the second mile. The 3rd mile I was running in the mid 6's, and for the last mile I did sort of a Fartlek stlye run (alternating between fast and slow) for the final minutes.

Felt good after the run as a whole, especially getting in some nice quick segments as well (sub 6 min pace).

Treadmill Surprise!

Miles:5
Time:34:50
Pace: 6:58

So, today was supposed to be my last planned work out before the race on the 21st. I was wanting to do something longer, tempo like, for my last work out. Useually as you near the race, your last workouts become shorter, and you focus on speed. This is because as you begin in the training you are concentrating on base and endurance, and then it evolves to quickness and anarobic improvement, provided the base is there. Well - not having done as many "workouts" as I would have liked during the training, I still felt I needed one more tempo-style workout under my belt. Besides, I figure the more along the longer type workouts the better for the marathon, if I were to have to choose speed or endurance. Also, having some good mile repeats and 2 mile repeats under my belt, I think I should be okay - besides, I'm aiming for 8 min pace roughly for this marathon so not too much work needed to generate that kind of turnover.

Anyway, I was tossing around some ideas - 2 x 4 miles, 2 x 3 miles with a quick mile in between sets, a steady 6-7 mile tempo around 6:30 pace, or a progressive tempo starting around 7 min pace and dropping the time each mile of the non stop run. Then I began to feel under the weather on Monday.

On Tuesday as I was not feeling well, I figured I would set on a 6 mile tempo run at 6:30 pace, maybe a little quicker the second half if I was feeling okay - since I was feeling kind of sick and needed to probably concede to a "moderate" workout, as opposed to killing myself.

Well today I went to the Dr. and he advised me not to run, although I didn't have strep and he said I was just worn down and had a virus. Also, it was 50MPH winds outside and freezing so running outside - if I was going to do it - would probably not be good for my health. So...after popping a few Iburprofin, I drove to David's and we went to the YMCA after he talked me into at least getting in a few miles on the treadmill.

I felt good from the beginning. Having the ability to dictate your pace manually on the machine I started at 8 min pace for a couple mins then moved it down to uppper 7's and 730 pace the first mile and a half. After 3 miles I was moving along low 7's to 7 min pace, and the 4th mile I was dropping the pace in the 6 minute range - the last mile I got under 6 min pace - as fast as 5:22 pace for a couple mins, before finishing my last minute at 8 min pace.

So it wasn't what I wanted to do with my plan - but all things considered it was encouraging and rewarding.