Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run plus 1 short hill sprint. Average pace: 10:13.

Hill sprint: 9.42 sec @ 6:18/mile.

Outside temp: 33°F. Wind 11.5 mph from the south.

Last night I was reading Daniels' Running Formula and he talked about how you should have a cadence of about 180 steps per minute and suggested that to learn to run at that cadence, you should try running at that cadence but shorten your stride length to maintain the pace that you're supposed to be running, rather than speeding up because of the increased cadence. So I gave that a try on my run this morning. I checked my cadence periodically throughout the run by counting steps for 15 seconds. I always got 44 or 45 steps in 15 seconds, usually 45. So that puts my right at 176 or 180 steps/minute. At first it felt more tiring and my shins were hurting a little, which is really unusual for me. After the first 3 miles, I picked up the pace a little while keeping the cadence the same and that felt more comfortable and the shin pain went away.

I did one hill sprint at the end because that is what is prescribed by the training program I'm doing. It seems kind of silly to me to do just one hill sprint, but whatever. I used the same hill that I was using a couple of months or so ago when I was doing hill sprints, only the marker I used to use was gone (it was liter anyway) and so I just guessed when I had gone about the right distance.

My training program says that tomorrow should be a rest day or cross-training. I think maybe I'll do the shred, which I haven't done for at least a month and then go for an easy 3 or 4 mile run. I've been running 6 days/week for quite a while now and I don't see any sense in going down to 5 days/week because the training program says to. The training program has 5 days/week for the first three weeks and then goes up to 6 days/week with the exception of three different weeks later in the plan.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:43.

Outside temp: 49°F. Humidity: 18%. Wind: S 12.1 (avg), 6.9 (low), 17.2 (high)

It didn't feel to windy during the run, but I can really hear the wind howling outside now. We're having an unusually warm morning, but a cold front is supposed to come in this afternoon.

I did the level 1 shred this morning. It was a pretty tough workout after not having done the shred for 5-6 weeks. I may drop the pushup program that isn't really getting me anywhere and go back to doing the shred, though it will be hard to fit in the shred with the longer daily runs I'm planning to do.

In any case, I plodded through my run today. I just could never really get going, though I did feel a little better on the second two miles than on the first two miles. Maybe I was tired from the shred, or from running with 180 cadence for 6 miles yesterday, or from staying up too late last night, or all of the above. I'm supposed to do 10 miles tomorrow morning, so I better try to get to bed early tonight.

Objective: Progression run - 5 miles easy, 5 miles moderate

Weather: 19°F, 73% humidity, no wind.

I really went to extremes this morning. I was supposed to do the first 5 miles easy and boy howdy did I do them easy - much slower than I normally do an easy run. I think I was holding back in anticipation of the moderate portion. My splits for the first 5 miles were: 11:20, 11:03, 11:25, 11:01, and 11:17.

For the moderate portion, I probably pushed harder than I should have. I defined moderate to myself as as fast as I could go while mainting a 3-2 breath pattern. My splits for the last 5 miles were: 9:21, 8:58, 8:58, 9:11, 9:09, and the last 0.33 was run at 9:29 pace. My legs are a little sore now, but not so much that it affects the way I walk. I'm supposed to do 8 miles easy, with the last 10 minutes moderate tomorrow. I wonder how that will go after what I did today.

Today is my oldest child's 17th birthday. I had to make a birthday breakfast for him this morning after I got done with my run, and I was very late to work as a result. But I'm working only a half day today, so it's fine.

I am wondering when I got to be so old. Ages 13-16 just seem to me to be teenage years and it didn't bother me that much to have a teenager (now I have two teenagers). 17 is still a teenager, but it feels perilously close to adulthood. It's freaking me out a little.

Progression run: 8 miles easy, but with the last 10 minutes moderate.

Weather: 48°F, 23% humidity, wind 9.2 SSE.

Motionbased.com says the wind was 9.2 at Centennial Airport, which is about 10 miles from where I live, but I think it was windier than that here when I was running. My hat blew off twice, the second time just as I was entering an intersection right in front of a car that was waiting to turn right. Fortunately he saw me and waited for me.

In the original training plan I'm using it didn't have yesterday's 10 mile progression run and today's 8 mile progression run next to each other they way I did it. It had 6 miles easy with one short hill sprint today and the 8 mile progression run tomorrow. However, I switched it around to put the easier workout on Friday because I have to do my long run on Saturday, whereas the original schedule has the long run on Sunday with a rest day on Saturday.

My easy pace today was a little faster than my easy pace yesterday. I thought my moderate pace was slower than it was yesterday, but looking at my splits, I guess it wasn't. But it felt easier. I guess that's because I only had to do it for 10 minutes, not 5 miles. In an any case, the splits for the first 7 miles ranged between 10:05 and 10:58, while the 8th mile was 8:55, and the last 0.14 of a mile was at 9:08/mile pace.

I ran much later in the day than I normally do on a weekday because I've got the day off from work. I work tomorrow, so I'll have to run early tomorrow morning. And next week I've really got to get back to getting up earlier because the kids go back to school. It's so hard for me to get up early these days because the son doesn't rise until about 7:30.

Easy run with one short hill sprint. Average pace: 10:33/mile.

Weather: 42°F, humidity 36%, wind 10.4 (avg) 13.8 (max) SSE

This was a windy run, I was tired, and I went fairly slowly. I didn't feel like doing the hill sprint when it got time for it, but I did it anyway and managed to go 10.13 seconds @ 6:45/mile pace.

I hope I have energy for a long run tomorrow.

Long run. Average pace: 10:07/mile.

Weather: 28°F, humidity 77.3%, wind 5.2 mph SSW.

The humidity actually increased slightly during my run and now it's snowing. I'm glad I got the run finished before the snow started.

I live just south of the county line between Douglas County and Arapahoe County. I usually run east, west, or south from my house and stay in Douglas County. I decided to do something different today and run north. I didn't have a route planned, so I decided to just go four 7 miles then turn around and come back. I was able to go north for about 5 miles, but then the route I was on ended, and so I turned east for a couple of miles. There was a gas station at about the place where I turned around, which was forunate for me. I made a pit stop.

The elevation profile of my run looks like a W with the ends higher than the point in the middle. The initial going north part was mostly downhill and then the going east part was uphill, and of course the west and then south were the opposite. The uphill at the very end of the run was really hard.

I'm glad to have completed my first week of official marathon training. I might revise my training plan a little before next week. I switched Saturdays and Sundays from the official plan so that I would have my long run on Saturday and rest on Sunday instead of vice versa. Because of that, I also switched Thursdays and Fridays so that I would have an easier run on Friday before the long run. Now I'm thinking I should switch Tuesdays and Wednesdays because I currently have relatively hard days on Wednesdays and Thursdays and it's not good having them next to each other.