November 12, 2013 running

Today I was my running day. What am I saying...everyday is running day for next 2 weeks. This morning my run was pretty chilly. Showed 46 and felt like 41, well it felt colder. Especially with the light misting rain I ran in. The run was just a regular run, no sprints. Completed the 4.5 miles in 40:13 an 8:56 mile pace.
This afternoon's run was not chilly, it was cold. The wind was blowing pretty hard on run home and it blew right in my face for about 3.5 miles of the run. Temp this afternoon was 36 but felt like 29 according to weather channel. Whatever! It felt like 20. I completed the return run in 40:44 a 9:04 mile pace.
After getting home I spent 25 minutes on foam roll and doing some yoga poses to increase flexibility. My IT bands has some really good trigger points in them. I want to cry when rolling on them. The yoga poses are very basic, but I can feel the stretches. Think this will really help my running. Hope everyone had great day!

November 11, 2013 running/training

This week I am trying to increase my miles. I am wanting to be around 55-60 miles after Sat. I plan on doing this for 2 weeks then dropping back down for 2 weeks. Going to alternate back and forth for next 2-3 months and see how I improve. So this morning I ran to work, 4.5 miles. During my run I decided to incorporate my sprints into it. I decided I would do 4x1 min sprints with 2 min recovery jog this morning and then again on return run this afternoon. This turned out to be successful for my runs. The sprints I did b/w 6:30-7:15 mile pace and recovery was at 9:30-10 min mile pace. This afternoon I did my return run 4.5 miles with the 4x1 min sprint intervals. Very pleased with this. Eight total sprints and 9 miles of running today.
When I got home from my return run, I grabbed my dumb bells, rope and gloves and walked across street to the park for Tabata workout. I did 3 rounds of this routine. I really like the routine. After the Tabata workout, I did my abdominal routine. I added another set of toes to bar, first was 12 reps, second was to failure at 6 reps. I am going to continue with this exercise. Once I finished my ab workout, I did 10 min rolling on foam roll to massage out some trigger points on my legs. My IT band is really tender and made me almost come to tears. After rolling I did 10 min of yoga poses to increase my flexibility and decrease soreness. Downward dog tears my heels and calves up. I am going to work daily on this. Overall great day! Now rest and prepare for run tomorrow.

Update

I know I have not posted anything this past week. I have been recovering from a low back injury. I strained something in my low back last Sunday and it tightened up on me on my trip back home last Sunday evening. I have spent the week rolling on a foam roll and stretching. I really believe in using a foam roller when having muscle tightness. It really seems to massage out any muscle spasms and trigger points allowing for faster recovery. I will use the foam roll daily to prevent further injuries and tightness to muscles. I am looking forward to starting back on my routines this coming Monday!