Payback Tour – Week 12, Thursday

Workout: 2 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work (66%). Weather: 72 degrees, sunny.

Recap: Just a couple days to go now. That felt pretty good. Didn’t eat much yesterday or drink a whole lot this morning, and it still turned out alright. Starting to do some short drills before these runs now to warm up. About 15m of high knees, butt kicks, and arm swings (running motion). I think it helps me to get off to faster starts like today. Great core work session afterwards – really fast.

Have been sleeping extremely well lately, and not sure what to make of it. Going to keep that up, eat and relax. Most of what I needed to do has already been done before now. I think I got this.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 11, Friday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 59 degrees, sunny.

Recap: I felt a lot better about that run before I saw that it was 59 degrees outside. I could have sworn that it was warmer. Maybe I thought it was warm because the sun was out for once. In any case, I felt like I had a lot left in the tank at the end of that one. The first 1/2 mile wasn’t so fast, but it was on from then. Really got good support from my upper body today. Nice arm swings. A full five pounds heavier today than two days ago. What a difference. Morning HR is up. Not sure what to make of that at this point. Workout HR is up as well.

When I run now, I picture having a power meter (like in the fighting video games) above my head. And I visualize that power meter (bar) declining over the course of the run. Today it didn’t run out. I’d like to have that success on a 70-degree day though. Great core work session as well. Got through it in record time. Next week’s time trial is starting to look possible.

The theme for me today is to stay in the moment. Last night, I made a list of all the things I wanted to accomplish in well…life. And it was a little depressing. Because I simply don’t have time or energy or the competence for list I made. “It’s too much” was the first thought that came to mind. I’m going to stay in the immediate today. Looking no more than 10 minutes ahead at a time. I would like to think that I could be happier and at the end of the day get more done.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 11, Monday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 64 degrees, rain.

Recap: Good run. In the rain. No matter. Really like the power that I felt in my legs today. Nice big swings with a back-kick. Gliding through the second half of the run. Another slow start, but a quicker finish. Going to have to start considering a warm-up now. Just can’t pick up and run like I would usually do.

Really happy with Day 1 of the super-secret nutrition plan. It’s a little stupid, so I don’t want to throw it out there right now. Unless it works. Let’s just say it’s efficient. Good core work session today as well. On to tomorrow.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 10, Saturday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy.

Recap: Manned up and got out there anyway. Really slow start in 6:18 before closing the show on the last two miles. Played a little game where I would pick up the stride frequency for a 1/4 mile and stride out for a 1/4 mile. I think it’s something that I’m going to do from now on. Keeps me alert. Really proud that I did this a day after a long, long run too. I just didn’t want to miss.

Core work went well again. Blasted through the work, and that’s another day in the books. Two weeks to go now. Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 10, Thursday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 70 degrees, cloudy.

Recap: Really worked on form today. Didn’t think as much about pace until about a mile into the run. Content to just feel comfortable and let the run go naturally. It was nice until about the 1.5-mile mark. Then I had to push to get through. Funny, the run felt hard, but the HR was lower on average than normal. Dunno. Suppose, for once, I won’t worry about it.

Nice to pass by people off from work for Independence Day. I think people would work out more if they had a little more free time. I can certainly understand prioritizing work first though.

I don’t at all feel ready for the time trial in two weeks. But maybe halfway through the month I shouldn’t be. Cutting the core work sets down to 3 from 8. I was starting to skip them, and I don’t want to make a habit of it. I’ll make up for the loss of volume by pushing faster and increasing reps from month to month. For now, 3 sets seems psychologically consistent with 3 miles.

Have a great Independence Day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 10, Wednesday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace. Weather: 70 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: Good run. Had to work on the back half of the run though. Started pretty easy and felt light on my feet. First mile didn’t give me much trouble. At the halfway mark, focused entirely on run form: arms to the side, upright, trying to keep the heels off the ground. I feel stronger when I run like that. Unfortunately, I was late for work and felt pressure to go instead of doing core work afterwards. HR still climbing. Got to stop being a bum in the kitchen. Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 10, Tuesday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 68 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: Fun run for the most part. Found my toes today. That is, running on the balls of my feet for some of the way. Really made the thing a lot easier. Ran a 3×1600 workout with a friend last night, so I’m really happy that the extra mileage doesn’t affect my plan too much. In fact, it seems to be helping just a little bit. Every time we run, my next day’s run is a little bit better somehow.

HR is up. Predictable. Weight is down. Got away from my nutrition a little bit. Didn’t finish my core work at the end. Really disappointing, but I was tired, and I want to get to work earlier today. That is, not as late as I normally am. Better jump on the eating thing again, so the beginning of last week doesn’t happen…again.

Word of the day is still courage. And forgiveness. I failed at something. I’m going to let it go. And try again.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 10, Monday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 68 degrees, cloudy, wet.

Recap: Good run. Lots of room for improvement all the way around really – at pace and speed-wise. That’s a good thing. Lots of hard breathing at this pace though. I’m thinking it’s the humidity. HR isn’t that high though. Really weird. On to tomorrow. Turned in a great core work session as well. Probably the best of the season.

Took some motivation to get out of bed this morning. Here’s what was rolling through the skull. Hope someone can find this useful.

• I watched a fighter, Gennady Golovkin, pummel another man in three rounds on Saturday. Golovkin hits really hard, but in the process, he exposes himself to being hit as well. Golovkin’s response to the problem of being hit: “Courage is the responsibility of every fighter.”
• Got me thinking about courage in general. Since the tough run last week, I have been a little afraid to get up every morning and run because I might fail again. It seems no matter how many times I run well, the fear of having to stop mid-run is still with me.
• I don’t know how many times, I’ve heard this in movies, but the idea goes “There is no courage without fear.” I feel a crap-ton of fear everyday. About everything. Scared to put forth the effort brush my teeth a lot of times. (Not to gross anyone out…I usually win on this one…at least lately….ok I lose a lot…sorry).
• As I was walking the cool down, I still had questions. What does courage have to do with anything? Why not avoid these problems? Stop running, for instance. The quickest answer I could muster was that courage, like fitness and knowledge, is usually its own reward. The best projects are the ones I take up on my own. If something tangible becomes of it – that’s fine. But doing things just to improve the spirit and body is good enough for me.

I’ll try to take advantage of all this wonderful (heh) fear today to show some courage. Maybe some nice surprises will lie ahead too.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 9, Saturday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 64 degrees, partly cloudy.

Recap: Nice. Nice. Nice. One of the best training runs I’ve had all year (“ever” would not be an exaggeration either). Leg strength is there. Starts are a little slow though. Probably means that I’ll have to start warming up before time trials from now on as well. I feel like I’m breathing hard, but it’s not too bad out there. Probably could have gone 8K to 10K at that pace. Good sign. Nice to see people outside on Saturday mornings. Motivates me. Brought the intensity for the core work afterwards. Still downing large plates of pasta at night and carbo-heavy breakfasts as well. Seeing immediate results. Survived Week 1 … on to the next. Have a great day and thanks for reading!

Payback Tour – Week 9, Friday

Workout: 3 miles @ 6:10 pace; core work. Weather: 68 degrees, sunny.

Recap: Bit of an adventure out there, but it’s done. First, I’m sure that it was warmer than 68 degrees outside, but that’s what the Garmin website reported, so I’ll stick to that. Second, the start was pretty slow about 30 seconds behind pace through the first half mile though I managed to close the gap to 6 seconds behind by the end of mile 1. For a second, I thought I’d have to settle for a slower run, but everything started clicking in mile 2 (6:01) . Put a lot of effort into the beginning of mile 3 before easing downhill and back to the start.

Really happy with this running heart rate result though. Pretty big breakthrough these last couple of days. Weight is up (intentionally) after eating a huge plate of pasta last night. Loved it, and I’m going to do it again and again. Little worried about the starts of these runs – might need to start investing in some kind of warmup (jumping jacks, form drills, breathing exercises)…just something. Great core work session afterwards – fastest this week. Good day.

Have a great day and thanks for reading!