56 days

56 days = 8 straight weeks of running streak.

I made it through the week with 54 miles to mark the 6st straight week of 50+ miles (and 7th straight of 48+).  I finished up February with 222.42 miles.  

The weather is finally turning and it looks like the last of the snow and ice should melt today.  I got outside yesterday and today.  Still working on getting my road legs back under me.  Yesterday I ran 8 miles at 7:22 average pace.  It was a lot better paced than last Sunday's run, and I kept the miles between 7:23 and 7:33 for the first 6 mile and then ran 7:19, 6:53 for the last 2.  HR was still in the 150s but aerobically I felt ok.  Legs still got tired (especially around my hips) and I haven't quite found my outdoor rhythm yet but I didn't have to stop and stretch out my hip this time either so that's promising. 

Todays 5 miles was at 8:10 pace and felt really easy (though still a bit of mild discomfort in the legs).  

I've been very consistent so far in 2022.  Only thing truly lacking is the long run.  I've had quite a few runs between 9 and 11 miles but haven't gone much farther (one time I hit 12.6 on the treadmill).  I don't want to get hurt as I transition, outside but I almost think I'm running into a bit of a mental barrier.  

One issue is that the few times I have been able to get outside I choose to run fast rather than slow down and run long.  Hopefully as I get out more out more this will resolve itself.

I feel like I'm starting to approach the limits on how many miles I can comfortably fit into a week.  50 miles used to be a push and now it's easy but to hit 60 requires better time management on my part.  I think I can get up to a steady 60 by getting out a little bit earlier and getting my long run back up.  After that I'm starting to get squeezed for time.   

Near time goal is to get 6 straight weeks of 60+ miles and see where that gets me.

Day 53... *only* 5 miles

 Slept in a bit and ran 5 easy miles on the treadmill at 8:24 pace.

5 miles feels like a day off these days so I'm brimming with energy.

I'm just short of 200 miles for the month so I'm basically back at my preinjury mileage level.  the pace has been slowly increasing as well.  Last month I ran 193 miles averaging 8:15 pace and this month I'm averaging 8:04... this isn't something I specifically target but it's interesting to see the time creep down as the exertion level stays the same.  

52 days

At the very least, I can now say that I averaged at least 1 day of running a week this year.

8.5 on the treadmill with ~ 4 miles at 6:40 pace and 3 of those miles at 2% incline.  I was working pretty hard with 20+ minutes of HR exceeding 160... tempo work basically.  The incline definitely made it more difficult to maintain... I feel like I got a good solid training effort in without overdoing it.  

Still just following my slow and steady plan of building mileage and fitness with almost all easy runs and then pushing the pace a bit once or twice a week.  

Today and tomorrow are highs of 27 and 29 but by Saturday the temp is up to 38 and after that we're seeing highs in the 40s and 50s for the rest of the 10 day forecast.  Got a race on March 12... Assuming no rain, I plan to spend everyday after Friday on the roads getting my legs prepped.  Hopefully in a good position by March 12th right before my yearly Day light saving F-over!

9 more miles

 Today I turned 43.  Last year I celebrated with a fast 5 miler and ran my fastest 5 mile to that point with a 6:37 average pace.  I was very happy with that effort but wound up running the same loop in 6:12 a few months later in May and ran a 10K at 6:09 pace soon after that.  

This year it was colder and I just ran 9 easy miles on the treadmill instead.  I'm not sure I'm quite as fit as I was last year at this point but hopefully I will be soon enough.  At least I'm getting the mileage in.  

50 is nifty

 I've now run 50 days in a row (assuming that you count treadmill running as "real" running).

Woke up this morning to a 53 degree day and was all ready to go outside and run at about 6:20.  Had my shorts and shoes on and was headed out the door when the lightning flashed and the thunder crashed.  The weather frickin' hates me!  So back on the treadmill and I only got in 7.5 miles because I started later than normally waiting for it to get light outside.  

Tonight the temp drops down to 13 degrees so I'm probably sticking to the treadmill for at least a few more days.  After wrecking my legs on Sunday running outside I'm really getting desperate to get more road miles in.  I was a lot better about at least getting outside on the weekends last year.  Next year I'm going to have to force myself outside at least once if not twice a week.  I wouldn't imagine it'll take too long to get accustomed to the road but I'm really jonesing right now for some fast paced 8, 9, 10 mile efforts.  

My initial streak goal was 50 and now that I've reached it I'm not sure how to proceed.  I don't really feel like I need to stop at this point and I'm more motivated than ever...  April 13 would mark 100 days.  Not sure I'm needing to do that but we'll see.

7 weeks straight (Day 49)

 Running streak has hit 49 days today... that's 7 straight weeks without a break.  

My last two days I've actually gotten outside for the forth and fifth time this year!

The weather was particularly cold this year and the timing of the weather patterns was fairly unlucky with the coldest and windiest days falling on the weekend and the tolerable days happening during the work week.  Right now I'm regretting not forcing myself out a few more times.  Last year I was out in 10 degrees when my treadmill broke so I don't have a great excuse... I was just being a wimp this year.  It's hard though when the choice is between suffering on the cold, windy, gloomy, icy roads or binging Ozarks in the comforts of your own home on a treadmill.

Now that I'm getting outside again, I'm awakening to the reality that while treadmill miles are a pretty damn close facsimile to running outside, they just aren't 100% the same.  Take yesterday, case and point.

The girls had some early basketball so I saved my run for the afternoon.  By then it was upper 40s and sunny.  I actually got to run in a shorts and t-shirt and felt great.  Almost perfect running weather really (minus the 15 mph wind which wasn't actually that bad since it was a warm day).

I was really excited to finally be out on a nice day and took off too fast.  Ran the first mile in 6:38.  I actually felt reasonably comfortable... like tempo effort.  Wasn't breathing too hard but my HR was fast approaching 160.  Kept pushing mile 2 and ran an even fast 6:33 mile... still relatively comfortable but HR was up to mid 160s.  By the 3rd mile I was starting to slow and pushed to hit 6:42.  After 3 miles I let up a bit but then picked it back up... I finished with a 7:04 split.  I kept going but kept slowing, 5th mile 7:14, 6th mile 7:31 HR still at 165.  At mile 6 I stopped and walked for about 15 seconds and tried to loosen up my left ITB and hip.  Nothing serious going on but there were definitely some muscles in my legs that were not used to working so hard. I walked a bit more at mile 6.5 and wound up with a 8:01 split for 7th mile.  Then rallied and ran a 7:08 for the last mile.

Final Stats:
8 miles
56:54
7:06 pace

Maybe I would have been able to run slightly faster if I didn't start off so hard.  Kind of sucked slowly dying (in all honesty I never felt like I was working too hard and my effort was consistent, I just kept slowing down and my legs felt like trash).

Got back on the road this morning for 5 easy miles at 8:22 pace.  Felt some general fatigue in the legs and hips especially but nothing alarming and the run went well.  It was 34 degrees but sunny and no wind so if felt pretty darn good.  

Right now I feel like I can run forever on the treadmill at low effort but I'm not used to the balancing and pounding of the road.   Looks like another spell of sucky weather coming... I might have to force myself out for at least one day during that time... really need to get my road legs back in order.   Got a 5K coming up in 19 days that I'm not totally optimistic about.  Would like to get an interval session in or two before then to get my legs ready for the pace but I'm not sure I'm up for it yet and also don't want to get hurt.  I think I'm mostly in pretty good shape right now though so maybe with a couple more weeks of work I'll surprise myself.  

DAY 45 mini-workout

 Yesterday I finally got outside.  4 miles on the treadmill then 5 outside.  I ran relatively easy but was still a little disappointed with the 8:07 pace.  Hopefully a week or two of consistently outside running will get me back in the groove.  Of course it's snowing and freezing again today so I'm still a week or two away from truly starting the transition back to outdoor running.  

This morning I felt fairly fatigued again.  I've actually felt pretty good the last few days but today the motivation was lacking. I wound up doing 7.02 miles at 7:46 pace.   Quite a bit of running was at 7:30 pace and I did 3 sets of 4 minutes at 7:30 pace with 6 degree incline.   This kicked my ass more than I would have liked.  It just plain hurt and not really in a good way.  Mostly in my gut, kind of like I was sick.  I did 3 minutes at 9.8 mph near the end of the workout and that felt a lot easier.  Maybe just too much easy treadmill running and I need to get used to higher intensity again or maybe too much easy treadmill running and I need some recovery.  

Need some rest tonight and an easy day tomorrow heading into the weekend.  At 33 miles so far this week with a goal to hit 60 again.