Final stretch of 2020

It's been a strange ride but I'm starting to feel good again...  not sure if I was sick, or if my fitness just peaked and was bound to decline, or if the drop in mileage really had such a significant impact.  All, I know is that for most of October through November, my running just didn't quite feel "right".  My pace was slower, my efforts were higher, my heartrates were elevated and even my easy runs never really felt comfortable.

• On Thanksgiving, I went for a hard 5 miler...  It was a benchmark run to match the 5 miles I ran on Thanksgiving 2019.  I wound up running 5 miles in 35:00 flat (actually just under 7 min miles per my watch).  I went out for the first mile in 6:30, then 6:58, 7:20. 7:29, and 6:44.  I pretty much died after the 6:30. My legs just didn't want to go so fast, but I was able to pick it up the last mile.  Allegedly my Avg HR was 152 which isn't even that high but I didn't feel like I could have gone much faster either.  The previous year I ran at 7:25 pace with an average HR of 159 so it was a good improvement... The run didn't feel good, in fact I felt like crap actually.  I sprinted at the end and wound up doubled over with my hands on my knees.  My neighbor was outside smoking a cigarette and she was seriously concerned if I was okay.  She asked a couple times if she needed to call someone...  she must think I'm crazy now... it sucked but it was also the first time I ran under 7 min pace since mid September, and I was happy to eek it out, even if it required a massive sprint finish.

• Skip ahead a couple days to Sunday, and I found myself out on a 13.5 mile long run, my longest run since August 23rd.  I went out easy but hit 8:08 pace and was consistent for the first 5 miles at 8:06. 8:03, 8:02, 8:04.  Mile 6, I hit a rhythm and went 7:53, 7:46,  7:52, 7:53 for mile 6, 7, 8, 9.  Then picked it up a bit more and went 7:32, 7:29, 7:31, 7:31 for the last 4 miles with 7:05 pace for the last .5.  Averaged a 146 HR for the run and felt pretty darn good.

• Ran 7 easy miles on the treadmill on Tuesday.  6 really easy miles at 8:25 pace on the treadmill with an average HR of 129 Wednesday.  Wednesday I felt really good about because my HR finally stayed low on an easy run...  Just nice for things to feel right again.  

• Today I woke up extra early and got a 10 miler in on the treadmill.  I started at 6.8 mph and bumped it up by .1 mph every .25 miles until I maxed out a 9.1 mph (6:35 pace).  I held 9.1 for about a mile and then eased back down.  It was some tough threshold work but totally doable.  I thought I'd be wiped out after that but wound up getting through the day fine.

Yearly Goal Update

28 days left in 2020.

1.  2020 (or 1560) miles run:  1891 miles to date.  Need 129 more for the year.

2.  5000 Pull ups: 4629 (11 ahead of pace)… I've averaged 31 pull ups a day for the last 18 days to catch up.  

3.  5000 Pushups/Bench:  4491 (126 behind pace)… Starting to catch up on this one too.  I haven't done any benching for a while... all push-ups.  

4.  50 hour stationary bike:  37:39 hours... I'm going to fail on this... no way around it.  Oh well.

5.  12500 Steps a day:  Still haven't broken this streak... 895 days and counting.