Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run.

6:43 am, 36° F, 50% humidity, wind 9 SSE.

It's not much, but it's something. Thank you for your concern during my extended absence. We've had nasty weather - cold and snow, and with my waning motivation, it's been enough to keep me indoors. We're getting warmer temperatures now and the roads and sidewalks are fairly clear, but there's still a fair amount of ice.

AP: 10:23. Splits: 10:20, 10:30, 0.22 @ 10:07.

Easy run with a little bitty faster finish.

6:44 am, 43° F, 27% humidity, wind 8 SSW.

After freezing our hineys off last week, we're unseasonably warm this week. Go figure. There's still a bit of ice around, but not as much as two days ago.

I figure I'm okay with these short distances if that's what it takes to get some consistency back. The hardest part is getting dressed and out the door. If I can get into the habit of doing that, then increasing the distance is easy. Except that I need to start before 6:40 if I'm going to increase the distance since I have to be home around 7:00.

I went a little ways beyond my house this morning to get to an even quarter mile. And I tried to run a little faster for the last quarter mile.

AP: 9:57. Splits: 10:09, 10:00, 0.25 @ 8:56.

Easy run.

6:15 am, 29° F, 48% humidity, wind 2 S.

Lindsay and I agreed to each leave our houses at 6:15 this morning and meet at a certain corner at about 8:20. If one of us left earlier or ran faster than the other, the meeting place would just be a little different. But I left right at 6:15 and we both got to that corner at the same time at my clock read 6:20. It was just kind of funny how precisely the plan worked out.

But I am sorely out of shape. We got going and I had to ask her to slow down a little bit.We didn't go far, but at least it was farther than I went by myself on Monday and Wednesday.

AP: 10:21. Splits: 10:40, 10:15, 10:12, 0.5 @ 10:10.

An embarrassingly difficult run.

7:05 am, 35-40° F, 44% humidity, winds 5 S.

I met up with Michelle for this run. In days of yore, I would have run the 1.5 miles to her house, run with her whatever distance she was going, and then run the 1.5 miles back home, and maybe even more than that. But those days are gone. I drove to her house, ran whatever distance she was running because it was short enough that I could handle it, and then drove home. And the last mile nearly killed me even though it was the slowest mile of the 4. It was up hill pretty much the whole way and I so wanted to stop and walk but I didn't. I did stop at one point to tie my shoe (and paused my watch), but then I ran the rest of the way. Michelle was doing much better than I was. She reminded me that one time when we were running that stretch before and she was struggling I told her to think of the street light at the top of the hill as a magnet that was pulling her forward. So she gave that advice to me today.

I've really got to get back into shape. At least I made it out for a run 4 times this week. If I can keep that up for a few weeks, maybe I'll be on the road to getting back.

AP: 10:01. 9:59, 9:52, 9:55, 10:18.

I just commented on my weekly mileage to my son, and he thinks I should go run 0.03 miles, but I'm fine with the lack of a whole number.

No run is an easy run anymore.

6:41 am, 13° F, 66% humidity, winds calm.

I've got the day off from work today, so I was able to meet Lindsay at 6:45 (we meet at a corner that's halfway between our houses, so I had to leave a little before 6:45). She normally meets Allie at that time on Mondays, but Allie wasn't available today.

It was cold this morning and I haven't done laundry recently enough, so I had to wear my cheap part wool shirt that is slightly too short for me now that I've put on some weight. So it kept coming untucked and bunched up above my jelly roll. I had on another shirt that was long enough to keep me covered, but with only the one layer over my jelly roll, it got quite cold.

I figure I'll try to run 4 days/week. If I can do that for three consecutive weeks, then I'll add in another run.

There was a hill in the last mile today that slowed me down.

AP: 10:07. Splits: 9:42, 10:15, 10:23, 0.12 @ 10:07.

Short progression run.

6:57 am, 27° F, 42% humidity, wind 5 E.

I failed to get out early this morning, but I didn't want to miss the run, so I went out and ran even though I was starting at the time I should have been finishing. Now my whole morning is running late, but oh well.

As I got started I decided to try to run just a little bit faster than I have been running lately. Eventually that formed into a goal to get the average pace for the whole run below 10:00 pace. It wasn't until I was finished that I realized that it had been a progression run.

Following my somewhat arbitrary standard of putting anything faster than 8:30 in the Fast miles bucket, I put my last 0.1 in there today.

AP: 9:44. Splits: 10:05, 9:47, 9:29, 0.1 @ 8:23.

Easy run.

6:15 am, 18° F, 79% humidity, wind 3 NE, freezing fog.

Thanks to my two faithful running friends, I've only had to run alone once this week. I ran with Lindsay on Monday and today, and I'll run with Michelle tomorrow. I was alone only on Wednesday.

I was supposed to meet Lindsay at our corner this morning, but I beat her there, so I headed towards her house and we met along the way.

My good wool top was clean this morning and so I didn't have to freeze my jelly roll like I did on Monday. I better wash it today in case I need it tomorrow.

My glasses got fogged up at one point and I couldn't see very well, but they cleared up after a couple of minutes.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:28, 10:15, 10:07, 0.27 @ 9:32. (That last faster bit was by myself after Lindsay and I parted ways.)

Easy run with a tough finish.

7:02 am, 37° F, 51% humidity, wind 6 SW.

I drove to Michelle's house and then she and I ran the same 4 mile route that we ran last Saturday, but with a little detour to do a mile on the high school track in the middle of it.

The last 1.2 of this route is steady up hill and it nearly killed me once again. This time, I stopped midway through the uphill part and rested for about 30 seconds because I felt like I was going to throw up. I paused my watch while I was stopped, so my pace doesn't reflect the stop. Michelle kept running when I stopped, and then when she saw that I had started running again, she came back and met me and we ran the rest of the way together. I used to be able to run this stretch. It was roughly the 2nd mile in the 6 mile route that I used to do from my house all the time. It was usually my slowest mile, but it didn't kill me like it's doing now. Maybe if I keep running it, it will get easier.

I really like running with Michelle. She's a great running partner.

AP: 9:59. Splits: 10:03, 10:02, 9:57, 9:49, 10:02.

Easy-ish run.

6:31 am, 35° F, 29% humidity, wind 4 SSW.

I headed it out on my standard 4-mile loop that I've done many times before. It's good that I was on a loop that I knew the distance of because my Garmin battery died about a mile into the run. Based on the time on my cell phone when I finished, I ran for about 41 give or take 30 seconds. So I was a little slower than 10:00 pace overall, but I really think I was slower than 10:00 for the first two miles and faster than 10:00 for the second 2 miles.

It's a busy morning.