Training Log Archive: Gswede

Ouch. Today was just a long workout. Nothing I can't handle but still tough. It was 2x3200 at T pace 2x800 at I pace and 2x400 at R pace. Everything was followed by a 400 recovery jog which usually takes me between 2:00 minutes to 2:30 minutes. Spence cut 2 400s from the end of my workout because I'm still coming back slowly and my foot was sore towards the end of it. No need to push that. I was happy with how it turned out. I wasn't feeling very hot in this workout but I still go out there and did it so I'm happy with it. I just have to keep trying to build consistency.
My Times:
11:21
11:17
2:32
2:34
70
71

I started out very slow today at a 7:50-8:00 pace with Kris as we went into town to look at some possible houses for the future. Then I went out onto the rail trail and decided to put in some varying speed miles. I was going between my entire range during the run (7:04- 6:34) so it turned out to be pretty fun and I actually felt great after doing it.

Long run in the mountains today. It gets so freaking sweet out there. I climbed from 600 feet to a 2100 foot mountain so thats 1500 feet climb right there but with the intense rolling hills on the way there I added a bit more. As I approached the mountains it was foggy and there was a literal blanket of clouds formed exactly to the shape of the mountains and as I continued rising up on Mean's hollow I was enveloped in this blanket. One of my strange fears is to be inside a cloud and today I had that. On top of the mountain it was only clouds around me and I felt a little nervous being on top of a mountain in a cloud but it was well worth it. I was in a fairly open area which would've provided a great vista on a normal day but because of the clouds I could only see the ridge I was on and nothing beyond that. Very surreal. I really enjoy these runs so in addition to getting some serious hill strength training in I am injecting fun into my running. Well worth it.

Race today with wamr up and cool down. I ran 9:33 in the 3k which was very frustrating because I was hoping for faster than that. I suppose my injury affected me more than I thought. I'll just have to keep working.

Night run on the rail trail to get in my mileage for the day. I had my head lamp on because the rail trail unlike forbidden drive does not have many lights around it. When it's close to ship there is enough ambient light but when it gets far out into the countryside there is nothing. I turned off my headlamp at a stop and saw pitch black. Sweet.

Early morning run on the rail trail. I got up at 6 to get my premeet done as I won't have time later in the day to do it. It took me a little while to get my body into it as the first few miles were a little slow and felt faster. It gets me worried that I won't be able to run well tomorrow in the race. But then again I'm not running the race today so I don't have to be ready for the race today. I also found this is one of the sweetest places in ship to see the sun rise.

Nice rest day. I slept alot and was very thristy all day. I remember hearing that muscles need alot of water to be made so maybe this is my body rebuilding itself quickly.

Workout day. 10x400 @70 with 400 recovery. I had my ankle taped today so that helped with the weakness I feel in my ankle. I had to do this workout alone today but I had no problem with it. I felt great during it and it turned out to be very painful but nothing I haven't worked through before. there was a strong (about 25 mph including my speed into it) headwind on the homestretch which was there on most but varied alot so it made pacing evenly difficult but the effort was there. I actually found it difficult for the most part to stay at 70 for each lap. 10 minute warmup then about 13 minutes in the grass barefoot as usual. I am very excited to see how I do in the 3k this weekend.
My Times:
69
69
72
71
68
70
70
69
70
69

Easy run on the rail trail with Bill. I had my foot taped up but it still felt uncomfortable and my ankle felt weak but its not so bad that I can't work with it. My 5 minute cooldown barefoot on the grass afterwards takes away all the discomfort it's very interesting. I like doing it though. 10 minute abs with alot of post run recovery activities (stretching, foam rolling, icing, and taking some ibuprofen.

Tough workout today which I had to do alone. Judging how this was done into the wind on the back stretch and after coming back from a few days off I felt amazing. I remember last year in track I struggled to run my 1200s in 4 minutes now I have advanced considerably so we'll see what this means later on. Workout was 10 minute warm up 6x1200 @ 3:48 with a 3 minute recovery jog in between and then a 10 minute cooldown in the grass. On my my 5th on I ran the first 400 in 78 seconds (I was supposed to run 76s) and I felt terrible so I decided to call that one and come back strong for the last one. As I'm just coming back this seems alright.
My Times:
3:50
3:47
3:50
3:50
1:18
3:47

Easy long run on the rail trail. My foot is still sore but the good news is that it feels good enough to run on it. I finished the last 7 minutes barefoot on the infield of the track and my feet actually felt amazing after this. This new tradition may be a very beneficial change to my training. Tough workout tomorrow so I'm kicking up my feet for the rest of the day.

Supplemental Bike in the rec center.

Easy run on the rail trail. Foot hurts but it doesn't seem like anything I can't work through. I ran my 5 minute cooldown barefoot on the infield of the track. My feet actually felt amazing during that. I think I'm going to make a habit of that so it strengthens my feet and increases flexibility. Also just walking around without shoes as much as possible.

Another biking day. I talked with the head trainer again today and he believes that it's my extensor which is giving me trouble. He also thinks that with ibuprofen, taping my feet and icing I'll be able to run no problem. He did say that the judgement rests with me though. Today it felt pretty good although I did have soreness in it. I'm going to attempt running for 30 minutes tommorow. I hope it goes well.

Another bike in the rec center. Kept it interesting with 1 minute hard and 1 minute easy with a 5 minute warm up and cool down. No pain in my foot. This definently works other muscles in my body as certain parts are very sore afterwards so this may actually be beneficial to my training.

I ran on the rail trail with Kris at a very slow pace because he is just returning from Mono. My foot was hurting alot so I decided to cut my planned 80 minute run short and talk to the trainer. She told me that the flexors in my toes are strained so that's one problem then I'm trying unconciously to compensate for it with my upper foot which is putting alot of strain on my upper foot. She recommended I take 2 days off and see what happens.

Biked in the rec center for 30 minutes to supplement my run. I didn't feel any pain in my foot so its nice I can get a workout in without placing strain on it. I'm feeling really nervous about this because if this means that I can't qualify for another PSACs I will be very frustrated.

My ankle was having trouble bearing weight today so I decided to give it and my toe a rest day. I spent the majority of the time which I would've been running rehabbing my soft spots. It's frustrating but denying it doesn't help any. As I write this now it does feel alot better so I'm hoping that it will get better soon.

Very tough workout today. 10 min warmup. Then 3x 1 mile at I pace. 4 min recovery job after each mile Then 3x800 at I pace. 2 min recovery jog after each 800. Then a 10 min cool down. I had to stop at the 1200 in my 3rd mile because nature was calling and I wouldn't have been able to run normally through the rest if I did it that way. Overall I was happy with this workout because of how it turned out in terms of how I was feeling before it. I had my foot taped in order to lower the stress on my already hurting toe. Good news though is that it didn't hurt at all through the workout.
My Times:
5:08
5:06
3:50
2:31
2:32
2:32

Long run on the dirt roads in the Mountains of Michaux State Forest. I had a 9 mile loop planned for today but I got a little turned around and had to run part of it under the power lines which was extremely hilly. Really beautiful day to be running in the forest and I really loved it. I am very very tired. Ok after resting for a while I can describe this run in more detail because I don't want to forget it. It was cloudy today so that made for a lot of fog in the mountains and in alot of points where there was a good vista I could see the mountains going for a ways and then melting into the fog. I felt like a scene I remember from Braveheart where William Wallace is running up mountains and gets to a great view above all else. Yea that describes it pretty well. I had to ask a nice man who was raking outside of his mountain home how to get to a certain road and he told me the road was barricaded and recommended that I take the trail under the powerlines. He really knew what I was looking for today. Lots of really big hills. I found what I think I'd like to keep as my favorite spot to be alone. It's on Stillhouse hollow rd and I won't give anymore information because then I may not be alone there for long. There was also a fairly large bike race going on in the same area where I was running with a lot of Austrailians and Coloradians biking the intense trails of South Mountain. It was cool to randomly see them come popping out of the woods. I think that does this run enough justice. I just want to mention also that there was a time during this run that I had no idea where I was and just hoping that the powerlines led me in the right direction.

Tough workout today but it was fun to get out there and do it. It was 4x200 meter on a 200 meter recovery jog. Then 4x1000 on a 400 recovery jog. And finally 2x400 on a 400 recovery. I felt good through the whole workout despite the large amount of discomfort I felt throughout the workout. In the 1000s I was on pace for the whole thing and then suddenly I was just 3 seconds behind so that screwed me up a little bit. It was tough doing it alone today. No one knew where my training partner Eric Evans was so I had to run each one alone. It was nice to get out there and pound away alone though a nice change. My Times:
200s:
34
35
35
35
1000s:
3:10
3:11
3:13
3:13
400s:
70
65.
The last 400 was interesting because I just keep feeling stronger and stronger the further and faster I went. I feel very fit right now and I think thats a good way to start an outdoor season. I feel so fit that I may venture to say this is the most in shape I have ever been.

Easy run up the mountain on Thompson's hollow today. I ran with Eric Haidinger and for the first 2/3s its nothing too steep and then after that it gets very steep rolling and intense. We got up to 2000 ft above sea level so we got some pretty sweet views of the Cumberland Valley. I enjoyed everything about this run including the massive climb.

Workout day. 10 minute warm up with striders afterwards. Then 4x10 minutes @ 5:36 per mile with a 3 minute recovery period. Then a 10 minute cool down afterwards. Eric Evans and I ran together on the track and we were rolling very well. The others on the track looked very good and I was pumped to see how well our team was doing. It was only difficult in the last minute and a half of each workout. We ran the 4th one at 5:30 pace so it was little more painful. Overall I really enjoyed this workout.

Rail trail today. It was amazingly windy in certain open spots but nothing alot of leaning and pushing couldn't get through. I felt really comfortable this run which was cool. 8 20/40s to go with it.

I decided to hit up the mountains today because I was running enough time to make it there. I felt really good and I really enjoyed Thompson's hollow a ton. It felt so easy to cruise up the hill. I was flying uphill but then on the way back I think I was averaging somewhere around 5:40 and loving it. Man oh man I love being able to do this.

A needed rest day and I feel its well earned. Whew fun week ahead.

I was running on the drive today and I was running 6:40s incredibly easily. It felt like I was running 8 minute miles so I decided to hit the hills around the valley again. Man they are tough but I was very happy that I did it. Those hills are good training.

WOW. New definition of amazing pain from 400s in my brain. I expect that definition will change alot in the coming weeks. I'm looking forward to it. But todays workout was 16x400 @ 70 secs per quarter with a 400 recovery jog. There was only one other guy with me today and he was supposed to run his in 72s. 10 min warmup to tempo ( 5 minutes easy, 3 minutes at tempo, 2 minutes easy) and then right into the workout.
My times:
70
72
71
70
71
70
70
69
72
71
72
69
74
71
71
67
Then into a 10 minute cooldown. Overall I was right around where I was supposed to be. It was windy on the homestretch so that messed up my pacing a bit which doesn't bother me because the effort was there. I'm so out of it now and I love it. I'm really looking forward to alot more workouts like this.

I decided to hit the trails around the wissahickon today because the drive was a muddy mess. The trails were muddy in some spots but for the most part better than the drive. I felt great today and I was really moving on the trails which I was happy about. I also did about 15 minutes of jump roping and my core o'clock routine. So it was a fun day. Workout tomorrow. Looking forward to it.

I had a track workout planned for today which is fairly difficult. The problem is that most tracks around me are under about three inches of snow. The best one we could find was clear for 3/4ths of it but had a three inch layer of thick slush covering the first turn. We tried the workout anyway. It was supposed to start with 20 minutes at 5:42 pace I could only manage a 5:50-5:52 pace with the snow. The next part was supposed to be 4x1200 meters at 3:48. My times went 4:03, 4:04, 4:10, 3:59. This wasn't that bad of a workout because at least effortwise I was there but timewise everything was off. Everyone was frustrated but it is what it is.

Another run on the drive. It's starting to thaw out so its getting much easier to run quickly on it. I decided to run easily today because of the long run yesterday and very difficult workout planned for tommorow. Phase III is tough.

I ran my longest run in 2 years on a snow covered forbidden drive. There were spots where it opened up to the dirt below but not many. I'm happy with how it turned out. I'm also very tired. Run happy.

I was slowed down alot today by all the snow but I still wasn't moving poorly. It felt like a much faster effort though. Thankfully a small plow went down the drive and cleared away most of the snow covering it leaving a hard layer which actually still was slippery. So beautiful on the drive today.

Another late night run due to a packed day. I got out at 9 so it wasn't as bad as Friday but the drive had a half inch to one and half inches of fluffy snow on it so I was slowed considerable. I got to watch my teammates compete in the PSAC indoor championship today. I wish I could have been out there with them but my sickness a little while ago took me out of qualifying for it. Still it was exhilarating to watch them go and spank the other teams in the PSAC.