Don't be a wimp

PM - 5.5 miles

Late PM - 4.5 miles

Good start to 2015. Gotta start off the year strong! Body felt pretty good after the tough miles I did yesterday. Should be able to go 70+ for the week. I'd like to stay above 70 for a few weeks and see how my body adapts. Its been a long time since I've done 70/week for an extended period of time (since college 8 years ago!)

Well, I've got pink eye. First time ever...and it's awful. I won't get into the graphic details but it's pretty gross and had me laid up pretty much all day today. Only productive thing I really did today was my run. I took yesterday off yesterday when it started. It is better right now than yesterday and even than earlier today so I'm optimistic that tomorrow will be a better day.

On the positive side, my legs feel great after the day off. Disappointed not to do 70 this week, but maybe this week or def next as I should be 100% by then.

Got eye drops today for the pink eye. It has gotten better but going to work from home tomorrow because it still is not good. Throat is sore as well. Took it easy on the mileage today, felt ok, but not as good as yesterday. We'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow, maybe make up some of the miles. I'm just judging how I feel on my runs each day and going the appropriate distance to not kill my body while i's trying to recover from this illness.

Sick day from work for pink eye. It does seem to be getting better. Drops are helping. Going to go in tomorrow. Supposed to be ok/not contagious after 24 hrs of drops.

Run was good, felt strong. Eyes burned afterwards though.

Eyes are much better today and I went into work and was pretty much ok, though my voice is very hoarse. My throat is very sore now so I'll prob need to get some medicine for that now too. Even worse, I tossed and turned all night last night and probably only got about 3 hrs of real sleep. I never have trouble falling asleep so it was very strange.

Anyway, run was fine, but my throat was killing me immediately afterwards. It's fine now so I guess it doesn't like the running. Main focus right now is just getting healthy and not completely losing all my fitness.

Felt awful when I woke up today so called out of work and went to the doctor. Got a prescription for non-eye drop antibiotics to go with the antibiotic eye drops I'm already doing. After taking the pills, I feel WAYYYY better. It's amazing. I had a violently sore throat and now it's completely gone. So I should def be fine to go into work tomorrow and I'm optimistic that if I keep taking these mess that the worst is behind me.

Went back to work today and had a great day. The drugs have come through and have me feeling almost 100%. I'm supposed to keep taking them til they're gone which will about a week more, but there don't seem to be any ill effects on my running. I felt great on the run today, probably should have kept going. I'm going to take a shot at 60 this week, but at least I'll be in the mid 50s which is still a solid week considering everything that happened.

Felt great on the run again today and didn't feel sick at all today so the medicine continues to work amazingly well.

My legs and body actually feel fresh. Amazing how a 50 mi week can make you feel that way after a couple 60-70mi weeks. I'm torn whether to do some heavy mileage tomorrow and try to get to 60 or to just be ok with mid 50s. Carmen has to work so I'll prob be bored and end up going for 60.

Had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I've had a few restless nights since I got sick which is really unusual for me. Usually I'm out before my head hits the pillow. I think it's prob just from the illness and medication. Carmen said DayQuil has stuff to keep you awake in it (thus why they call it DayQuil).

I looked at my mileage from the last two years and I'm actually off to a great start this year in comparison as far as my mileage. On pace for like mid 200s for mileage this month, never broke 200 in Jan since college. The illness hasn't really set me back at all. So I'm excited for a great year of running!

Slept in nice and late today, felt great. Decided to not go crazy and punish my body. Just get 50 for the week and get back to 60 next week.

Carmen and I had dinner with Geetha and Vivek at The Ivy and watched the Seattle/Carolina game. I had a pretty delicious burger. Good end to a week that started off miserably.

Slept in again and felt great on the run. Body feeling terrific, probably because I haven't done a double in a while. Plan is to go 60s this week and 70s next week.

Felt fatigued from a cardio standpoint at the beginning of the run but after about 5 or 6 miles I felt great. Happens to me sometimes, feel crappy at the start, but good at the finish. Never figured out why. Just takes some time to warm up I guess.

::EDIT::

Here's the historical charts of my running from my phone.  Good to post it here for reference.

Yearly Mileage Totals

Monthly Mileage Totals

Got off work late today (like 9:30) cause I stayed late to help out with some issues so by the time I got home, had dinner and had some time to digest it was pretty late. The dinner sat like a brick in my stomach on the run even though I gave myself a few hours to digest so it wasn't a great run. Oh well, try again tomorrow. At least my legs still really fresh.

Worked late again tonight but ate a much lighter dinner this time and it had no negative effect on the run.

I started out a bit sluggish today but by mile 6 I was feeling great and thinking about doing 10 or 11. Cardio felt great, legs felt great, everything felt loose and terrific. Then as I was approaching 8 miles, I felt a tightness in the back of my right knee, similar to one I had nagging me at the end of the year. I decided to cut the run short and not risk exacerbating it. Hopefully it'll be gone on tomorrow's run.

I think my cardio is at a really good level right now, def the best its been in years. I find myself wondering what I could roll a 10K at right now with zero speed work. I feel pretty confident I could go under 35, maybe even 34? I would be psyched to roll a sub-34. If I can keep it going for another month or so, I think I'll start looking for a road race to test it out.

Felt great on the run today. Another late one after a late day at work again. Best part of the run was no tightness in the right knee, really hoping it was a one day event. During the first mile I did have a weird tightness in my right foot though, almost like it was cramping or trying to cramp. I thought about stopping to see what was going on, but decided to run through it and it went away after a couple minutes. Maybe wasn't hydrated enough or something. Planning to retire my current shoes in a week or two, might be contributing to some of the pains that have been popping up.

Legs felt crappy on the run today: Very sore at the start (especially calves) and towards the end my knee felt a bit dicey. Will be interesting to see how the legs hold up next week as I try to get back to 70+ mpw.

Sluggish start to the run but got better as I went. Right knee was a problem towards the end again and a bit worse. Might need a day off soon. Good news: got some new running shoes today so I'll probably retire my current shoes tomorrow or sometime soon.

PM - 9.25 mi

Later PM - 3.75 mi

I wanted to go further on the second run to really set myself up with a good start to my 70 mi week, but the back of my right ankle didn't feel right so I stopped. Felt fine after I stopped running. Regardless, a 13 mi day is a good start to the week. Planning to do mostly 8-9 mi days during the week and then Fri and/or Saturday do a bit more to get me to 70 mi.

Disappointing run. Now my left ankle is bothering me in the inside back (Achilles I think). First time I've had any problems on the left leg. It felt really "not right" so I cut the run short. Might take tomorrow off as a precaution, haven't decided yet. Definitely done with these old shoes, will switch to the new ones on my next run.

Strategy is to choose health over miles right now. Nothing would be worse than suffering a major injury after we're only a few weeks into the year. I've got plenty of time to make up the miles and I'm actually well ahead of plan for the year anyway.

Off day to heal the weird pains

Switched to new shoes today (Nike Pegasus) from my Vomeros that had 860+ mi on them. I don't know if it was the new shoes or the day off yesterday or both, but my legs felt great on the run. No tightness in my knee or pains around the ankles/feet like I've had over the past week or so. Pretty exciting.

I'm thinking I need a better strategy for recovery. Honestly, right now I don't really have one other than take a day off when I feel an injury coming on. I think my body does best with a day off about once every two weeks. Need to make a schedule that allows me to get the mileage I want and still get that day off every other week. Prob just need to mix in one longer run per week or an extra two a day. I think it'll work better than no days off.

Great run. No issues. Guess I should have switched shoes earlier after all.

Slept til 2pm today! I guess I was tired! Felt great on the run today after taking the day off yesterday. Stinks to only get 43 miles this week, but hey, my body is feeling great and I've already surpassed my mileage for all of January last year...with a week to go! So I'd call that a win. I'm also ahead of pace to reach my goal of 2,500 mi this year.

Got lots of errands to get done tomorrow. Hopefully I can find some time to get some good mileage in!

Afternoon - 8 mi

Evening - 4 mi

Very productive day for me! Got a haircut, did laundry and grocery shopping, studied for two and a half hours for PMP class (I'm preparing to take the PMP exam), and cooked dinner and watched my Hawks win their 16th straight game! I'm trying to get tickets to the Golden State game in a couple weeks, that will be epic. Was hoping to do taxes as well, but couldn't find time. Oh yeah, and most importantly, got two runs in!

Felt really good on both runs. Only complaint is I've got some soreness in sole of my left foot. Doesn't feel too serious, hopefully just feet adjusting to new shoes. Legs feel great as well as cardio. Glad I got this week off to a good start. My 13 miles last Sunday allowed me to clear 40 mi while taking two recovery days. This week, I should be able to get 50 pretty easily and maybe take a shot at 60 if I'm feeling good.

Another one of those sluggish start/strong finish runs. Legs left great, left foot felt all better. Hopefully this bodes well for a good mileage week. I think 60 should be in the cards.

Felt great! Lots of pop in my legs and no pains anywhere.

Went over 200 mi for the month, making it my best January since college. Previous best was 198 mi in 2013. I'm on pace to have my second best month since college, second only to my mileage last month. So undoubtably, I'm in the best shape I've been in since college, almost 8 years ago at this point. Great feeling.

Good run, legs felt great again though I was a little fatigued. I need to start getting more sleep. Was a late night at work though so didn't get home until 8:30 and needed some time to eat and digest before my run. Def need to catch up on some sleep this weekend and then get in a better sleep routine.

Felt great! Prob the best run of the year!

Felt great. Tempting to go for the 70 mi week tomorrow. Maybe I'll see how I feel on the run and decide then whether to go the extra miles.

Decided to stick to the plan and just get my 60+ mi week. 5 mi today felt great and should allow to get in some good mileage tomorrow that will set me up for 70+ mi for the week. My whole body is feeling tremendous right now. Some adaptations have def taken place.

Had a great January of running to start the year. Well ahead of my goal pace, but also some other milestones:

-First back-to-back 200+ mi months (since college, all of these milestones have the caveat of "since college")

-2nd most miles in a month

-Most mileage in January and first time over 200 miles in January

-Increased longest streak of 40+ mi weeks to 14 straight weeks

I think the last one is the one I'm most proud of because it speaks to the improvement in consistency. Also, the resilience in the face of some adversity this month (sickness, some pain issues). Running every day is back to being a habit for me and that makes it much easier. Looking forward to a great rest of 2015!