Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run + 2 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

I was still a little sore yesterday from Saturday's run, but not as bad as I was the previous Sunday, so I decided to get out and run today and see how I felt. I felt fine, but I was slow. I never got to the pace that I've been getting too lately. But I guess that's okay.

I finished up the run with a couple of hill sprints. I often encounter middle schoolers walking to school on my hill sprint hill when I'm doing hill sprints. This is a common occurrence because I try to finish my run at about the time my middle schooler leaves for school. This morning as I did my hill sprints, the middle schooler walking down the hill was my own son. He gave me kind of a funny look and didn't say anything. I'll have to ask him when he gets home if my running up and down the hill in my sweaty running clothes is embarrassing to him. I didn't say anything to him when he walked past me because I was busy running up the hill as fast as I could.

In other news, I finished The Pillars of the Earth today. I liked it except for the very end. The whole Prior Philip hanging out with Thomas Becket seemed too implausible to me.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:36, 10:05, 10:18, 10:03, 10:06, 0.20 @ 9:40.
Pace on hill sprints: 7:10, 6:50.

Moderate run.

6:01 am, 37-41° F, 38% humidity, wind 7 SSW.

This is the longest I've run on a weekday (not counting the week we did our long run on Friday instead of Saturday) in a long time. I started out on my old 6-mile route, and so I did the Gleneagles/Quebec hill, but then I wandered around my neighborhood for a couple more miles at the end of the loop. I didn't run terrifically fast today and I kind of struggled on the up hills, but I got it done.

I know that 7 mph winds aren't that bad, but the way things are here, most of my uphills were into the wind, so that was a bit of a challenge. 

I asked my son what he thought when he saw my running on his way to school yesterday. He said that he thought I was doing hill sprints. I asked him if it embarrasses him to see me out running and he said no. Then he asked how fast I was going on the hill sprints and I told him and he thought that wasn't very fast.

AP: 9:50. Splits: 10:13, 10:01, 10:00, 9:33, 9;52, 9;23, 9:57, 9:42, 0.08 @ 9:04.

Did the shred level 2. Weigh-in results: + 0.4. Time to get serious about healthy eating again.

Easy run + 2 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:00 am, 30-32° F, 72% humidity, wind 2 SSE.

I ran with Lindsay today which I haven't done for a long time. Talking with her made the time seem to go by fast, even though we were running pretty slowly. I was surprised when we were in front of her house and it was time for her to stop. But then I had to run a little under a mile more to get to my hill sprint hill, do my hill sprints, and then walk the rest of the way home.

I was in a bit of a hurry to get home because I had to drive Thing 3 to school. It is normally against my policy to drive to the middle school around school start or end time because there is only one way in and out and it gets terribly backed up. Also, it is much more direct to walk to the middle school from our house (the middle school is just across the green belt from my hill sprint hill) than to drive. However, I had to go against my policy today so that my son could talk part of his drum set to school. He and his little band are auditioning for the talent show after school today. So I guess I'll have to pick up him and his drums this afternoon, but it will probably be enough after school gets out that the traffic will be gone.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:29, 10:14, 10:07, 10:17, 10:11, 0.41 @ 9:33.
Pace on hill sprints: 6:37, 6:20.

Did the level 2 Shred.

Long Run

6:18 am, 42-64° , 61% dropping to 27% humidity, winds calm.

I met Michelle and Allie at the Highline Canal Trail early this morning. Michelle was planning to run 17 and Allie was doing 10, so Michelle's plan was to go out and back to the North to do the 10 with Allie, then do out and back 2.5 to the south (because if you go more than 2.5 that direction you have to cross Broadway, which is a pain), which would get her to 15, and then one more out and back to the North to get to 17. I had to decide what I would do because I wasn't sure I wanted to do the full 17 with Michelle, but I felt like I should support her.

At about 3 or 4 miles in, I had to go to the bathroom, but I held it until we got back to the rec center at the end of 10 miles. That might have been a mistake. In any case, Allie left at that point and I went into the rec center to use the bathroom and Michelle kept going. I told her that after I used the bathroom I would head out behind her and then join her after she turned around. I wasn't feeling well and took my time in the bathroom, but then finally headed out after her. I caught her when I had gone about 2 miles from the rec center.

I ran with her back towards the rec center, but I was just not feeling it today. I really felt lousy. I didn't have it in my to run the whole distance. It's probably because I went up to Greeley and helped my son move out of his dorm room. We only had about a half hour between when I got there and his check-out time to get his stuff all loaded into the car and the room vacuumed. We both spent that half hour running back and forth between his room and the car, up and down stairs, carrying stuff. It was really quite strenuous and I was sweating like crazy. I didn't even make it the 2 miles back to the rec center with her. Instead, after a little more than a half mile with her, I took a different trail that was a short cut back to the rec center, and she kept going the regular way. I just gave up and went home. Also, it was getting quite hot by that time (note the temperature and humidity changes listed above).

I'm not sore today like I would have been if I had done the 17 miles, but I'm still fairly uncomfortable. I think the "holding it" for several miles did something to me. Maybe it changed my stride slightly or something.

In any case, this was my last long run with Michelle for a while. She's got two more long runs on her training plan and then she tapers for the Utah Valley Marathon. But she's got conflicts the next two Saturdays and so she's going to do her long runs on Thursday next week and then on Friday the following week. I don't want those miles enough to rearrange my weekday mornings to go with her. I've got to get kids of to school and get to work during the times she'll be running. So I guess I'll run alone on those Saturdays or see if Allie wants to join me and do distances that are more manageable for me.

AP: 10:15. Splits: 10:36, 10:30, 10:11, 10:09, 10:23, 10:11, 10:00, 10:08, 10:08, 10:03, 10:25, 10:26, 0.76 @ 10:05.

Easy run + 3 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:33 am, 59°F, 21% humidity, winds 6 SSW, overcast.

It was much warmer this morning than it has been in a long time. We seem to have skipped Spring and gone straight from Winter to Summer. But it was actually fairly pleasant running weather this morning because it was overcast.

I took the long way to the corner where I meet up with Allie and Lindsay on occasion. I ran about 1.2 miles before I met up with them. We ran about 3 miles together, and then I ran about a mile by myself to the bottom of the hill sprint hill.

About a minute or two into my run I went past a house where two dogs were out front. A man was out there with them, but one of the dogs chased after me and started running into me. He probably wanted to bite me but couldn't be because he was wearing one of those cone-shaped collar things. I told the dog to go home, but that didn't work. I thought if I just kept going that we would get too far from his house and he would head home, but that didn't work either. The man was calling the dog and the dog didn't respond to that either. The dog just kept coming after me no matter what. So I stopped so that the dog wouldn't chase me any more. I asked the man to please grab his dog so that I could keep going. He said he was trying, but it seemed to me that he wasn't trying very hard. In any case, he finally got the dog and I was able to go on.

During the part I was running with Allie and Lindsay, we crossed paths with Michelle and Michelle who were out running.

Most of my fourth mile was with just Lindsay. (Allie had turned off to go home.) That fourth mile was really slow. It's slightly uphill, so maybe that's why. Or maybe we subcoonsciously slow down when we don't have Allie to push us. Lindsay is not up for fast running right now because she's pregnant and is starting to get uncomfortable. At least I did speed up once I left Lindsay at her house and was on my own.

It's fairly common for me to see Thing 3 on his way to middle school when I'm doing hill sprints. But I was out slightly later today and so I saw Thing 2 walking to high school instead. Seminary ended last week and so now he doesn't go so early and  I told him he had to walk today. The high school actually starts 15 minutes later than the middle school. (They are right by each other and they share bus service.)

AP: 10:00. Splits: 9:49, 9:46, 10:01, 10:36, 9:43.
Pace on hill sprints: 7:01, 6:06, 7:21.

Fartlek run - 7 miles w/ 6 x 30 sec. @ 10K-3K pace

6:25 am, 42-49° F, 32% humidity, winds 10 SW.

I didn't get out the door as early as I intended to this morning, but at least I did get out the door.

I ran 2.6 miles before I started the first fast part because I wanted to get most of the big hill behind me before trying to run fast. I was just slightly uphill on the first fast part. After that, I went about 1/2 a mile, give or take a bit between each fast section. I sometimes started the fast section sooner or later in order to avoid crossing  street during the fast part. After I had completed all 6 fast parts, I had 1.25 miles more to go to finish. I saw Barbie during the last part. I thought about pulling out my cell phone and taking a picture, but I chickened out. She would have seen me do it.

I used the lap button on my watch to time the fast parts, so my splits are all different lengths. Average pace for the whole run was 9:42. Splits for the warm up at the beginning were 10:12, 9:51, and then 0.6 @ 10:00. I'll make a table to show my pace on the faster parts and the slower intervals in between.

Pace for 30 sec.	Distance and pace for rest interval
8:12	0.5 @ 9:52
7:26	0.54 @ 9:46
7:58	0.4 @ 9:43
7:06	0.66 @ 9:51
7:11	0.62 @ 9:32
7:23	1.0 @ 9:43, 0.25 @ 9:21

I did the shred, but I forgot to weigh myself this morning. I'm sure I've gained weight in any case. I'm having trouble getting my eating in control again these days, maybe because other parts of life or so stressful right now.

Easy run + 3 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:28 am, 33° F, 87% humidity, winds calm, snowing.

I had to check the date this morning. Is it really mid-May? It feels more like early March. Was it really warm enough to run in shorts just 2 days ago?

It snowed for the entirety of my run and is snowing still. It's mostly sticking to the grass and not to the roads. However, some of the places that I ran were slushy or snow-covered. And the most joyous part of all was when a car would drive by in the lane next to me and spray me with slush. At one point I had to stop to tie my shoe. I had my back to traffic and my foot up on a bus bench. A truck came along and sprayed my backside.

I started my hill sprints a little ways up the hill instead of at the bottom of the hill because there was a little river running across the bottom of the hill.

Michelle was planning to do 18 miles by herself on the trail this morning. I wonder if she's doing it, and if so, how it's going. I feel a little bad for bailing on her but not bad enough to drag myself through 18 miles this morning.

AP: 10:02. Splits: 10:20, 10:18, 9:55, 9:34, 9:48.
Pace on hill sprints: 6:51, 7:12, 6:59.

Progression run.

7:52 am, 42° F, 69% humidity, winds 2 NE, overcast.

Since I was meeting anyone to run this morning, I had a hard time getting myself out the door. I got up plenty early because I had to get my boys off on a young men's activity at 6:30, but then I dragged around for a while before finally heading out to run.

The instructions for my workout today were 7 miles, last 20 min. moderate (uphill, if possible). It is somewhat challenging to do a workout such as this where I have to estimate how far I will run in 20 minutes at a moderate pace in order to figure out when to start the moderate paced running. I figured I could go better than 2 miles in 20 minutes, but not a ton better. I decided to start the moderate part with 2.25 miles to go. I could have done it the last 2.15 miles because I actually ran the moderate pace for 21 minutes and 20 seconds. Oh well. I hit the lap button when I started the moderate part so that I could time it separately. Also, I was running at an increasingly fast pace prior to the moderate part, except for the last .75 miles before I started the moderate part. I think I slowed down in anticipation. The last 21 minutes were not all uphill, but there was a significant amount of uphill, especially in the first mile of that part.

AP: 9:31. Splits for the easy part: 10:10, 10:04, 9:52, 9:43, 0.75 @ 9:55. Splits for the moderate part: 8:49, 8:34, 0.25 @ 7:55.

So here's something strange that happened last night. We had been in the garage working on bikes with the garage door open. I went in the house for a while and left the garage door open. In the mean while, it got dark. Then I needed to go to the store for something, so I opened the door from the house to the garage to go out to the car and I was startled by something big moving around in the garage. I couldn't really see what it was. I hurriedly closed the door. Then I opened the it again and looked and there was an owl sitting on the garage door. The garage door was open, so it was in a horizontal position parallel to and a little ways below the ceiling of the garage. I closed the door again and called my boys to come look. They looked and saw the owl but then it found it's way out and flew away while they were looking. My daughter was upset that she didn't get there in time to see the owl. I told my husband about it later and he asked if the owl had brought us a letter. It hadn't occurred to me to think of Harry Potter.

Easy run + 4 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:54 am, 38-48° F, 60% humidity, winds calm.

I had a hard time getting to sleep last night because I took a really big long nap yesterday afternoon. As a result, I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed and getting myself out the door this morning. Now I'm going to be late to work.

I ran a little faster than usual today and it felt pretty good. Of course, it was a fairly short run, so no big deal.

AP: 9:40. Splits: 10:05, 9:45, 9:32, 9:09, 9:19. Pace on hill sprints: 7:25, 6:54, 6:51, 6:12.

Fartlek Run - 8 miles w/6 x 40 sec. @ 10K-3k pace.

6:34 am, 39-45° F, 84% humidity, winds calm, cloudy.

It was a little cold in my bedroom (we'd had the windows open over night) when I was getting ready. I knew it would get warmer during my run, but I was unsure how to dress. I put on shorts and a light-weight long-sleeved shirt, but then I chickened out and changed to a heavier long-sleeved shirt. I should have stuck with the lighter shirt. I got really hot on this run. And the shirt I was wearing is quite tight and I couldn't even push up the sleeves. I was really dripping sweat like crazy by the time I was done.

This was a pretty hard run. I decided to wait until I finished the Gleneagles/Quebec hill before I started the fartlek, but then I stuck with doing exactly 1/2 mile between the fast parts, regardless of physical features such as cross streets and hills. The upshoot of that was that on the 2nd fast interval I had to turn a corner and take a little detour to avoid waiting for a light at a street I needed to cross, and I had to do the last interval up a fairly steep hill. I struggled with the two miles I had left after I finished the intervals. A lot of it was uphill and I tried to keep a relatively good pace.

Average pace: 9:24.

Here's a table to show what I did. (Pace for fast intervals are bold.)

I had a double date with Jillian this morning. I got up and did the level 2 shred, then after I got my daughter off to school, I did the level 1 shred. Level 1 really is easier than level 2.

I have a bit of a sore throat this morning. I hope it doesn't turn into anything more serious.

Easy Run - 7 miles + 4 x 8 sec hill sprints

6:45 am, 40° F, 87% humidity, winds calm, overcast with a light mist.

I got to bed before 10:00 last night, but I couldn't get to sleep until around 1:00 because of all the drainage in my nasal passages. It was hard for me to get up and get out the door this morning, but I did it.

I thought about leaving my glasses at home, but then I decided to wear them. With the light mist that was in the air, they quickly became covered with water droplets. So instead of being blind, I saw the world with spots this morning. And I failed to see a big puddle that I stepped in.

Strangely, the air kind of smelled like fish.

Incidentally, my arms are little sore from yesterday's double dose of Jillian.

The pace felt pretty easy today except on the uphills. It was a little harder on the uphills, but I didn't push it too much. I was pleasantly surprised when I looked at my stats afterwards to see how fast I had run.

AP: 9:37. Splits: 10:05, 9:46, 9:32, 9:19, 9:22, 9:24, 9:19. Pace on hill sprints: 6:51, 6:26, 6:47, 6:53.

Nothing at all today. Got kids off to school and then went back to bed.

Progression Run - 10 miles, last 20 minutes moderate pace

6:20 am, 48-54° F, 50% humidity, wind 4 SW.

Today was Michelle's 20 mile run for her marathon training. I kept up with her long runs until two weeks ago. I toyed with the idea of trying to do the 20 with her today, but I decided that would be foolhardy. Plus, I needed to take my daughter to gymnastics class and running that far would have interfered with that. My plan called for 7 miles with the last 20 minutes moderate, but in order to run a little farther with Michelle, I did 10 miles with the last 20 minutes moderate. So I actually ran a little less than 8 miles with Michelle and then I sped up. We ran on the Highline Canal Trail and it was just the two of us. I told her about some problems in my life and as a result of the nature of the discussion, I think we ran those first few miles a little faster than she probably should have given the distance she was going.

Last time I had a progression run like this, I hit the lap button on my watch as soon as I sped up and timed that portion separately. I didn't do that today. I sped up when I got to 7.8 miles, but I didn't hit the lap button. I just let the auto lap go. So I don't really know how fast I went for that first 0.2 miles that I sped up.

AP: 9:35. Splits: 10:12, 9:55, 9:29, 9:31, 9:45, 9:50, 9;53, 9:53, 8:51, 8:30.

After I finished running, I went hope and took a quick shower and then I had to take my daughter to gymnastics. Since gymnastics takes place at the rec center right by where we start and end our trail runs, I decided I would do a little something to support Michelle in her long run. I put my son's bike in my car and put some popsicles in a little cooler. I took my daughter in to gymnastics and watched her class for about 10 minutes, then I went out and got the bike and rode up the trail until I found Michelle. She had a little less than 1.5 miles to go at that point. I rode the bike along with her as she finished and tried to give her encouragement. After she finished, I went to the car and got the cooler and gave her a popsicle. Then I went back into the rec center for the end of the gymnastics class.

Short, slow, easy run + 4 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:41 am, 47-50°F, 74% humidity, winds calm, partly cloudy.

I thought that Lindsay was through running for now on account of pregnancy discomfort, but she wanted to run today. So I met up with her this morning and we did a short slow run together. We crossed paths with Michelle and Michelle who were out running. After we split up, I did my hill sprints.

My plan has my running 6 days this week, so I don't have days off to do the shred. So I decided I better fit the shred in when I have time on shorter run days, so I did the level 2 shred when I got home from my run this morning.

Now I've got to head over to the middle school for a talent show that a band that consists of my son #3 and two of his friends are playing in. My son is the drummer.

It looks like I'm going to take the day off work tomorrow to go to a Rockies game. Fun times.

AP: 10:10. Splits: 10:03, 10:13, 10:02, 0.18 @ 9:39. Pace on hill sprints: 7:12, 7:05, 6:23, 7:17.

Fartlek Run - 7 miles w/6 x 50 sec. @ 10K-3k pace.

6:51 am, 49° F, 76% humidity, winds 3 SW, very overcast.

I took a different route today than I have the last couple of Tuesdays when I've done similar fartlek runs, so the hills were in different places this time. The 4th fast section was distinctly downhill, while the 5th one had a pretty steep uphill in it. The 6th one was slightly uphill, but not too bad. On the whole, though, my fast bits were slower this time than they were last Tuesday.

After I was done with the fartlek part and I was doing the additional distance to get to 7 miles and to get home, I came around a corner and saw a male runner up ahead. We were heading up hill. I caught him just as we reached the top of the hill, but there's an intersection there. He turned sharply left without crossing the street and I crossed the street (the light was green) and then turned left. We were both on the same street and going slightly downhill. He crossed the street diagonally and so gained and list distance on me and he must have sped up because he got ahead of me again and I couldn't catch him unless I increased my speed more than I wanted to. However, I was able to figure out that it was Lindsay's husband. A little later, he turned into his neighborhood to head home and I called out to him by name and said hello. He turned around and looked confused. He hadn't realized that it was me. I'm not sure he realized who I was even then. I'll have to call Lindsay and ask her.

When I got home, I got my daughter off to school, and then I did the level 2 shred. I figure I've got to fit it in this week when I have time and I have time today since I'm taking the day off from work. Now if I just do the shred on Friday when I have a short run, then I'll have done it 3 times this week.

It just started to rain. I'm worried that we'll get rained on at the baseball game today or that there will be a rain delay or cancellation. They're supposed to play a double-header today and the weather is looking kind of sketchy. Maybe it will rain this morning and the rain will be done by game time this afternoon.

In other news, today is the last day of school for my kids. That means I'm the only one who has to get somewhere by a certain time in the mornings. It is going to take lots of discipline for me to get out early to run so that I can get to work at a decent time.

Here are the stats for today. Average pace for the whole run was 9:37.

Easy Run

6:49 am, 43-47° F, 83% humidity, winds calm, overcast.

I'm proud of Thing 3. He went to a party last night to celebrate the end of 8th grade and he called me shortly after he got there and asked me to come get him because he wasn't comfortable with some of the things that were going on at the party. When I drove to the house the party was at to get him, I was reminded of a route I used to run that I haven't run in a long time. So when I got home I mapped it out to make sure that it would be enough distance and then ran that route this morning. It's mostly uphill in the first half and mostly downhill in the second half.

I've got a little tightness in my left quad.

We had a good time at the game yesterday. It rained a little near the end of the game, but didn't bother us too much because we were up so high that there was a roof over us. It was kind of cold, though. But the Rockies won 12 - 4, so that was kind of exciting. Unfortunately, they used up most of their offense in the day game and lost the evening game. But I guess we picked the right game to go to.

AP: 9:44. Splits: 10:03, 9:52, 9:55, 9:36, 9:30, 9:38, 0.16 @ 8:58.

Progression Run - 8 miles with last 10 min. moderate (uphill, if possible)

6:31 am, 46-53° F, 72% humidity, wind 4 SW, sunny part of the time, partly cloudy the rest of the time.

I got out the door a little earlier today than I did the last few days, but I also ran a bit farther, so I still ended up finishing at a time that will make me late for work. I need to hurry and get ready for work.

I had kind of lead legs this morning, especially at the beginning of the run. Maybe it's from the cough syrup with codeine I took last night at 10:30.

This workout asked for the last 10 minutes to be uphill, if possible. I did manage to get a net uphill in the last mile. Incidentally, just to give you an idea of what the landscape is like around here, my Garmin recorded about 1000 ft each of ascent and descent on this run.

AP: 9:25. Splits: 9:54, 9:47, 9:23, 9:16, 9:32, 9:42, 9:12, 8:35.

Easy Run

7:00 am, 48-51° F, 70% humidity, wind 6 ESE.

My original plan was to run and do the shred today, but I decided to stand-up Jillian this morning in order to give my left quad a little rest. I don't like squats and lunges very much right now.

So since all I had to do this morning was run a measly 4 miles, I slept a little later. I can't seem to get myself up any earlier than absolutely necessary. I keep adjusting the time I start my run in order to finish around the same time, which is really too late to be finishing. I need to figure out a way to get out earlier.

AP: 9:50. Splits: 10:21, 9:50, 9:35, 9:35, 0.7 @ 9:20.

Fast finish run, but not quite fast enough to be called fast miles.

7:18 am, 53-59° F, 26% humidity, winds calm, sunny.

It was just Michelle and me on the Highline Canal Trail today. We started a little later than we have been since we weren't running as far now that she is tapering for UVM. We had a nice run together. We sped up the last couple of miles, per the specifications of my training plan. When we finished, I commented that I had kept up with her. She said that she had been trying to keep up with me. So I guessed we pushed each other.

I didn't want to spend $5.25 to shower in the rec center, so after we were done I went into a restroom in the rec center and sponged myself off and put on clean clothes, then went and watched my daughter's gymnastics class. Now it's off to the pool with my daughter.

AP: 9:35. Splits: 10:07, 9:45, 9;45, 9;37, 9:42, 9:52, 9:49, 9:04, 8:35.

Easy run + 5 x 8 sec. hill sprints.

7:41, am, 56° F, 88% humidity, winds 3 N, partly cloudy, muggy.

I met up with Michelle for a short run this morning. We don't usually run together on weekdays, but our schedules are more open today because of the holiday. She ran further than I did because it is further from her house to the meeting point than it is from my house. Also, she continued on while I stopped and did the hill sprints. We took a very small detour during the run to check the reservation list at a park where we're planning to have a bar-b-que this afternoon. It looks like it's not reserved.

At one point, I had been planning to run the Bolder Boulder with Lindsay today, but then Lindsay got pregnant and decided not to do it. I didn't want to do it bad enough to haul myself up to Boulder and run it by myself, so I didn't.

It was very muggy this morning. That is unusual around here.

Since I had a short run and I have extra time today, I had to take advantage of the situation and do the shred today after my run. I did level 2, but I stuck with Anita on any squats or lunges. My left quad is feeling better, but it's not quite 100% and I didn't want to hurt it.

I was fairly slow on the 3 miles, but then tried to run the hill sprints faster than I have been doing lately.

AP: 10:10. Splits: 10:25, 9:54, 9:45. Pace on hill sprints: 6:33, 5:35, 6:50, 6:08, 6:29.

Easy run

6:27 am, 48-52° F, 33% humidity, wind 7 SSE, sunny.

I didn't have a fartlek run on my schedule today like I've had the last 3 Tuesdays and like I have next Tuesday. I just had an easy run. But I was somewhat surprised when I looked at me splits to realize that it had turned into an unintentional progression run. I never ran very fast, though.

AP: 9:43. Splits: 10:18, 10:0, 9:57, 9:30, 9:20, 9:13, 0.18 @ 8:44.