Workouts this week: Nov. 12-18

Trying to come back from knee junk. Got some solid speed workouts in and had good runs. Some were hard. But hard is okay right? Hard work means progress later?

Monday: Off
I made tomato soup.

Tuesday: 5 easy miles
Indoor track. 40 laps. I am so glad I got new headphones after losing my last pair. Running 40 laps is so much easier with music.

Wednesday: Speed work

I'm not actually sure what my 5k plan said for my workout. So I texted Kristin what should I do. She told me 3 400s. 2 800s. 3 400s. And sandwich workout. I liked that. I liked 400s so that's what I did except I did 4 400's for a total of 3 miles. I did this at the indoor track. (It's been rainy, cold and miserable ALL week,)
400s: 1:48 (slow), 1:45 (goal), 1:44, 1:43
800s: 3:29, 3:27
400s: 1:41, 1:43, 1:39, 1:34

And I did it. I felt HARD. I remember working on my 1:30 400s felt hard this summer. But ugh. I did this workout. I'm putting in the work.

Thursday: Off

Friday: Easy miles
I ran 5 easy miles of trails after work. It was an ordeal getting to the trails. I got stuck in traffic. It took 4 light cycles to make the left turn into the trails. Then there was no parking because of marching band practice. And then I only had one elastic in my hair. So I had to get 2 so my ponytail wouldn't fall down. And then it got dark fast. But I got my miles in.

Friday night run

Trails

Sunset

Saturday tempo
My knee is mad at me again. I was hobbling around the house after the previous run. This exactly what happened on my left side. Now, it's happening on the right. (Which is why you should always do exercises on both sides.) I knew this would happen after PT from the last knee issue. The goal was to loosen up that outside quad muscle. So I used the massager on it. I used the heating pad. I rolled. I did an extensive warmup, of heat, exercise bike, rolling and walking. And the run went fine!

The workout was 1 mile warmup, 2 miles at tempo, and then a cool down.
I ran 1 miles in loops around the school next to my house. Mile 2 was on the road. The goal was 7:30. I'd be happy with a hair faster. My watch kept saying 7:40 pace. But it was so hard. How am I this out of shape. I shouldn't be.
7:07 my watch beeps on that mile. Yikes. That is too fast. And I took 10 seconds to catch my breath.
7:07 again for the next mile. Again my watch was saying 7:20 pace and it felt hard. I just kept telling myself I could do it and to just keep pushing. And I did it. Faster than I wanted. But would love to get a 5k at that pace. Though that seems too fast for me now.
And then I just did a .5 mile cool down. I was beat. And then I walked home.

And I used the heating pad a few times that night to really loosen up that muscle.

Senior cat + heating pad

Sunday: Long Run

Longest run since Oct. 6. I did 9 miles of trails. Most of my friends ran this morning. I waited until it was 60. Which is my favorite temperature to run. And it was glorious. Why wouldn't you wait until your favorite temperature if you could? It was sunny and beautiful. And just a good, good run. It was the kind of run that makes me thankful to be alive and to be about to run for more than an hour.

I did stop about 3 times to take pictures. And 2 bathroom breaks! Eek. I had to pee after about 1 mile of running. And then midway through the run I really had to go. This is what happened in high school. All the running just makes me need to use the bathroom. (Short, short breaks. Way shorter than Rogue breaks.)  But that's why I run at the IM Fields. Lots of bathrooms and lots of cute, happy, spoiled dogs.

After the run, my hip flexors were mad at me. I spent about 20 minutes trying to roll them out. I'm hoping it helped. They didn't seem to loosen up. I should roll more.
(Also knee is fine! I did it!)

Miles this week: 27.6
Runs this week: 5