Running around

I keep thinking that I will either get pretty good or that I will get injured. One of the two. The reason is that I pretty much do all my runs on tired legs, I do hard days back to back, I do track workouts off the bike and I know that I do not recover properly between training and work and I do not know how sustainable it is.

Common sense tells me that I should not do that but it is hard to fit all the workouts in and then I end up never running on fresh legs. But of course on the other hand it is good I guess because I will get used to pushing through the fatique.

This is the first time I am training for a half-marathon. Well, I already trained once for a HM, in 2010, but I think that that lasted 2 weeks and then my ITB has flared up. So it is kind of new to me. All those long workouts, wow. Totally something I have not really done before.

For example I did 7x1k @ 10k pace w/ 2min jog recovery today. It was easy-peasy but sooo long. 7x1k is a lot for me. It went pretty well, I was not sure how fast to run it so I started conservatively and then see how it goes. 4:04, 4:04, 4:02, 4:00, 3:58, :58, 3:56.
I kind of feel that I am not running my intervals fast enough. I do not know.

I also do long runs with running at HM pace embedded in them. Like for example 2x15min, or 25min. That is also completely new to me. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it does not. I kind of arbitrary chose my HM pace to be somewhere around 4:25 pace (4:25/km, not mile....but I wish:)) but how fast I run really depends on a day. For example two weeks ago I ran 25min at 4:13 pace because I felt good, but this week I tried but my legs just would not go.

I also have this one workout that I do every two weeks so I can kind of gauge my progress (1k @5k, mile @10k, 3k @HM, mile @10k, 1k @5k). Problem is that sometimes I do it after work, sometimes in the morning and last time I did it off the bike so I cannot really compare. The one off the bike was interesting.I normally do 1k in 3:50-4:00, miles @ 4:05-10, 3k @ 4:20-25. But last Sunday I did a 3h30min bike and then then did this workout. I felt awesome at the beginning and ran 1k in 3:55, mile @ 4:04 pace and 3k @ 4:14 pace, which I knew might have been little too fast but I decided to see whether I can pull it off. Turns out I could not because then I ran mile @ 4:10 pace and 1k in 4:15 or something like that. Wheels came off and I think that I might have bonked too.

I do 3-4 runs a week (depends on my work schedule): 2 interval runs (one long intervals, one short intervals), 1 long run and 1 easy short run if I do 4 runs. Overall the running is going well. ITB seems to be doing fine, it does not bother me at all. I still go to the PT every 3 weeks and I tried to run with a good form that I know helps to prevent ITB flare ups. So hopefully it will all be good. Although I can tell that it is not 100%, I can feel that there is something wrong in that right ITB in the knee area.

I am doing an Oly tri on May 25 in Michigan and it is the one I did in 2011 as my first triathlon. It is the same course and everything and I think that it will be super cool to see how I have improved in last two years. I do not expect any improvement on my run because I have not trained enough in those two years but swim should have improved and so should have my bike.