Julie’s February Training

Friday, February 28: Easy, 50 minutes

Again, shocked myself by waking up at 5 to hop on the treadmill at 5:10am. Felt way better than yesterday and was entertained by a movie on the TV. Best treadmill run ever with distractions!


Thursday, February 27: Easy, 50 minutes

Easy on the treadmill before work. Shocked that I got up at 5am but still had a nice run, as I have commitments in the evening tonight and tomorrow night.


Wednesday, February 26: Off, Lazy

Knew I wasn’t going to the Seven Hills Group Run, took a nap after work and then just felt like a lazy bum. Ugh.


Tuesday, February 25: Easy, 70 minutes, 7.5 miles

Slow run from Fleet Feet with the running group. Went slower with a few other women and it felt good to go easy. Walked the 1.5 miles there, then ran the 1.5 miles home.


Monday, February 24: Off, 90 minutes yoga

Feeling the nearly 30 mile weekend today and glad to have scheduled a day off. Felt tired during yoga.


Sunday, February 23: Long Run, 3 hours, 18-20 miles

Did 3 big loops around Discovery Park, then ran home from the park. Each loop took about 40 minutes, all loops within a minute of each other, then ran 6 miles home. Took a gu every 45 minutes and wore my Solomon vest with a liter of water. Felt surprisingly springy for having run a workout yesterday and really didn’t feel tired until the last 10 minutes. Really happy with the progress.


Saturday, February 22: Workout, 75 minutes, 9.5ish miles

I have officially become a Weekend Warrior runner now that I have a full-time job again (Yes!), so the bulk of my long runs and workouts will most likely be packed into the weekend once again. I plan on sandwiching the weekend with zero days on Monday and Friday since I at least do Yoga on those days.

The goal today was a 6 mile MP workout which turned into a long Tempo effort because I just felt awesome. I imagine my legs were super fresh from not doing a workout in almost two weeks and from yesterday’s day off. After a 15 minute warm up I did 6 straight miles with a goal pace of 7:48 (MP), but kept consistent in more of a long tempo pace (7:30) and hit the miles at (7:32, 7:36, 7:32, 7:30, 7:30, 7:23), followed by a 15 minute cool down. Felt super easy and like I could have done at least a half marathon at that pace. Right calf a little tight but not noticeable enough to affect me on the run. Let’s hope this is the start of me coming back to heavier training once again. Chuckanut 50k is 3 weeks away! Yikes!


Friday, February 21: Off, 90 minutes yoga

As part of my new work schedule, I’ll likely only run 5 days a week and take M and F off and just do yoga. Already feeling fairly fat and lazy from sitting in an office all day, but just discovered how I can take the stairs to my 13th floor office, so going to start doing that to get up to the office in the morning and for lunch.


Thursday, February 20: Easy, around 6 miles

Ran to the Fleet Feet store, about 1.5 miles, then ran 3.5 miles (27 minutes) with a group, then ran home, so kind of disjointed but still a good run. All pavement around Capital Hill. Again went a little faster than my normal easy pace because I ended up in the all-men group. Right calf the tight one now; ugh, I’m such a mess.


Wednesday, February 19: Easy, 40 minutes, nearly 5 miles

Ran with the Seven Hills Running Shop in the evening, all testing out new Pearl Izumi shoes. All men at the run so the run was little faster clip than I’m used to for easy runs, around 8s or a little less for an easy, somewhat hilly run around Magnolia. Calves super tight but no real pain.


Tuesday, February 18: Easy, 30 minutes

1st day of work at the new job so I wanted to do something short and easy before work. Ran super slow and it felt great. No pains or sore spots anywhere, except for blisters from wearing my new work shoes!


Monday, February 17: Easy, 1 hour, 90 minutes yoga

Ran with Matt again outside and really windy, yet again. No rain though so we just toughed it out rather than treadmill it. Felt the left calf a couple times, mainly heading into the wind, and just tried to run comfortably. Happy we got out there.


Sunday, February 16: Easy, 1 hour

Went outside with Matt to both test out our injuries (his left arch hurts and my left calf hurts). Walked into a wall of wind and rain and took it inside to the treadmills. Did a 5 minute walk warm up then ran an hour easy, gradually increasing my pace every 2.5 minutes for 40 minutes, then decreasing the pace gradually, just to keep the boredom at bay. Felt fine the entire run and can still feel some tightness in my left calf but my legs don’t seem as tightly swollen as they were a few days ago. Still going to play it by ear this week and hope to get in a good 3-4 hour effort next weekend on the trails. Finished with the Myrtle routine, 5 prison cell pushups, and 3 pull ups.


Saturday, February 15: Off, walked 70 minutes

Woke up with fairly sharp pain in my left calf, near my Achilles and deepening into my soleus, and felt it just walking. Not taking any chances with those kinds of feelings so I went to Discovery Park with Matt while he ran with the Seven Hills Running Shop. After 10 minutes of walking, calf felt loosened up and I tested out just jogging the flats and slight downhills without any pain. Most likely just tight calves but wanted to be precautionary. Walked most of the time and did the 3 mile loop around the park, to and from the running shop. Did the Myrtle routing with 5 prison cell pushups and 3 chin ups.

Ended up doing another hour of walking later in the day and some jogging and sprinting in a city game of capture the flag in Capital Hill. Some of the most fun I’ve had running in a while, especially sprinting on the field to get the flag. Our team won all 3 rounds!


Friday, February 14: Easy, 50 minutes + yoga

Easy, uneventful run around Green Lake. Lower left calf is still questionable. I’ll wake up and it’s fine, only to feel lots of scary twinges after the run on my soleus and Achilles. Still playing it by ear and icing it right now. Also did the Myrtle routing, 3 pull ups, 15 pushups, and have 90 minutes of yoga tonight.


Thursday, February 13: Easy, 75 minutes

Failed attempt at a 2×2 mile tempo workout at Green Lake. Did a 15 minute warm up with fairly minimal extra warm up stuff, so that was strike 1. Started up and entire first mile was against the wind along the lake. Ran 7:24, yikes! About 10 seconds off the norm and started the second mile but felt awful by a half mile in. Thought about going to the track but just felt crappy and ran easy for time, trying to go longer than a normal easy run. The one bright side is I timed one of the easy miles and I was going 8:24 and feeling light, prancy and easy. Back in September, after the CDT, my legs could barely muster up 9:15 pace for an easy day.


Wednesday, February 12: Off, Walked 90 minutes

Walked on the treadmill so I can watch the Olympics. Crappy antenna and weak NBC signal means no Olympics for us unless we want to exercise. What a predicament. Walked 60 minutes at full incline, 15 percent, 3 mile per hour pace. Walked a half hour with no incline at same pace to loosen up the legs. Awesome Nordic combined race.


Tuesday, February 11: Easy, 40 minutes

Ran with Matt along the waterfront yet again. Left calf didn’t feel great yesterday but woke up feeling much looser. Decided to at least start the run and see what happened. No pain at all and nothing happening since. I feel like I’m plagued by lots of tiny pains lately, including my left shoulder, my lower calves, and my right knee. Oh, and I caught the side of my left calf on the car door and now have a huge bruise. Sheesh. Finished with the Myrtle routine (just looked it up today; I like it), 5 prison cell pushups and 3 pull ups.


Monday, February 10: Long with MP pace, 2 hours, 15 miles?; 90 minutes yoga

Put off this long run yesterday because of all the slush, snow and ice, so went out today and sucked it up. Would have liked to do the run on trails with some hills, but that wasn’t an option, so ran along the waterfront, out past Myrtle Edwards Park. It was so windy that I tried going over the Magnolia bridge, only to be hit so hard with the wind that I turned around a repeated a two-mile strip several times, back and forth. After 25 minutes warm up, I went straight into 5 sets of 10 minutes at MP pace, 3 minutes easy, then did the rest of the time easy back home.

The wind made this run really difficult, as half of each 10 minutes at MP was into the wind, so I went more by effort than strict pace. The cool down home was the hardest part as it was directly into the wind and I ran at a snail’s pace. My left calf hurt the most on the cool down because I was up on my toes, trying so hard to run into the wind. Not sure what’s going on with my calf; it just feels tight overall and achy in lots of spots around my ankle, my inner calf, and lower soleus. Ugh.

Finished the day with yoga and then hours in front of the TV to watch the Olympics.


Sunday, February 9: Easy, 40 minutes

It’s amazing how much my motivation swings, and when we woke up to slushy sidewalks from last night’s snow/ice/rain shower, I wasn’t excited to run. So we made waffles instead. Yum. Then went for an easy 40 minute run along the waterfront, one of the first times that Matt has done an easy maintenance run with me, and it was soooo much better than running alone. No real left calf pain to speak of, but definitely feel like I’m working some kinks out in my legs and lower back. Perhaps all the core and yoga is doing something; let’s just hope it’s for the better!


Saturday, February 8: Easy, 70 minutes, ??? miles

Ran with a group at Seven Hills Running Shop. When I saw that it was 7 men and me, I knew I was in for a faster run. While it wasn’t crazy challenging to keep up, I definitely had to work a little harder than most other easy runs. I was glad I took yesterday off, given how much harder today was than I expected. Ran all over Discovery Park, literally, taking all sorts of side trails, faint paths, and rock-strewn beaches. My left Achilles felt a little funny on the stairs going down, but otherwise, no pain.


Friday, February 7: Off, 1 hour P90X Core Synergistics

Woke up with a good amount of pain in my lower left soleus and didn’t want to chance it with an easy run, so took the day off but got in a quality hour of core with P90X. It still kicks my ass every time and was quite the workout. Walking pushups are my biggest downfall, while I’m getting very good at Plank to Chataranga.


Thursday, February 6: Tempo, 8+miles

Tempo workout at Green Lake. 15 minute warmup with drills, then 5xmile at 7:16 goal pace with a 200 meter rest. Ran 7:15, 7:14, 7:11, 7:13, 7:13. Then a 10 minute cool down. Had a hard time warming up in 20 degree weather; my hips and butt were freezing so I started out a little sluggish and finally felt good by the end of the second repeat. Left calf a little tight and sore around my ankle; a familiar tendonitis feeling so I’m going to be careful about that. Felt it in the final minutes of the cool down and cut the cool down by 5 minutes.


Wednesday, February 5: Easy, 45 minutes, 45 minutes walking

Walked 25 minutes to Discovery Park, ran a little more than a large loop, then walked back to a coffee shop where Matt had a study group in Magnolia. Coooold outside, relative to Seattle, high 20’s but sunny. Felt fresh.


Tuesday, February 4: Easy, 50 minutes, 1 hour P90X Plyometrics

Easy, flat run along the waterfront in the morning. Cold and windy but took it easy and felt like I was working out some kinks from taking the last four days off, with flying in cramped seats and standing all day on Saturday for the race. Went straight into an hour of plyometrics, as it’s my goal to do this once a week in addition to once a week of core exercises. A little pooped after all that but not too bad.


Monday, February 3: 3.5 miles walking, 90 minutes yoga

Right calf in lower soleus has felt a little funny these past few days so decided to just roll with the lazy train and not run again. Walked up to Trader Joe’s and back with Matt, up the hill out of downtown, so not much of a workout, but still something. Also did yoga in the evening.


Sunday, February 2: Off

Flew home to Seattle and lost another running day to travel. I just didn’t care enough to fit it in before or after travel. Damn, I’m getting lazy.


Saturday, February 1: Easy, 3 miles run/5 miles walk

Crewed for the Rocky Raccoon 100 and ran and walked a two mile section between 3 aid stations. Was up and moving all day so I was much more tired than just 3 miles worth of running. Wish I could have gotten in more miles but my job was crew, not runner.

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