Week 4 - 9,680 (38,930)

22 - 0' - Flat 8 miles - see previous post.
23 - 0'-5 miles flat with a 20 minute Tempo thrown in the middle. *
24 - 0' - 3 miles flat.
25 - 2,530' - up/down on Shut-In and Hard Times.
26 - 3,800' - up only on treadmill (119, 133, 139, 142, 142, 145) **
27 - 1,900' - up/down on Shut-In.
28 - 1,450' - up/down on Shut -In with 3 x .5/440'. ***

This was a pretty good week, especially mixing it up a little with some flat stuff. The really good news is that there's no problem getting in the 9,000'-10,000' of vert per week with a quality flat run thrown in there. Starting to feel a little fitness come back. Most of my runs are done at a pretty moderate effort and I feel it starting to come back around.

* = Used a car to figure out a 5 mile block route (in Florida), then programmed my MP3 player with a handful of songs that totaled about 20 minutes. After a casual warm up I started the music and ran hard until it was over, then jogged very easy the rest of the block and back to the house. There are lots of fun/creative ways to train without a watch.

** = Some interesting HR stuff here compared to the exact same run done last week. HR started much lower the first 2 miles this week, but by the middle and end it was pretty much the same as where it was last week. I'm thinking of increasing the speed by a 10th of a mph for each of the last 3 miles next time I do this.

*** = Had a lot of fun this morning doing a few hill intervals. This half mile climb averages about a 17% grade. The first 1/4 mile gains 250' for a 19% average and the 2nd quarter mile gains 190' for an average of 14%.

Side Note : The treadmill can be a little boring especially being on it for 86 minutes. It's a big help having the music as well as the HRM. A benefit of the treadmill that I hadn't realized before is being able to practice lowering my HR while at the same speed and incline. I'll look down at my HR and see it at 141 with an average for that mile at 139. My competitive nature, with about 3-4 minutes left in that mile, will be to make sure the average does not jump up to 140. I'll try and relax as much as possible and will see my HR drop 2-3 beats just from concentrating on that. Pretty cool.