Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run + 8 x 10 sec. hill sprints + level 3 shred.

5:05 am, 23°F, 68% humidity, wind 5 SSE.

Oh how I hate to get up in the morning. However, I'm glad I live in Colorado instead of Utah (sorry Utahns) since I'm a morning runner, because the sun rises earlier in Colorado than in Utah (also sets earlier, but that's another story). I could see some lighter sky on the eastern horizon by the time I finished my run just past 6:30 this morning, but I know from my experience last week that it is still pitch black in Utah at 6:30 in the morning right now.

I ran the the County Line loop and I started out pretty slowly, but then hurried up, particularly in the 6th and 7th miles because I was anxious to get to the rec center for a pit stop. Then I ran a little slower after that. I've got to reprogram my body to get up and function early in the morning after my 2 weeks of slothfulness.

I consider today the beginning of the new year for myself. I was still on vacation up through yesterday. Now it's back to the grind stone. I've got the kids all off to school, and I've still got to shower and get ready, run a couple of errands and get to work. I'm running a little late this morning because I had to stop after the first circuit in the shred and drive Thing 1 and his string bass to school this morning. I finished the shred when I got back. Maybe life will be easier next year when Thing 1 is gone off to college. Thing 2 doesn't play an instrument.

AP: 9:45. Splits: 10:02, 10:03, 9:56, 9:47, 9:40, 9:12, 8:52, 9:08. Pace on hill sprints: 6:35, 6:59, 7:14, 7:36, 6:49, 6:37, 7:06, 6:54.

Easy run.

5:19 am, 34°F, 47% humidity, wind 9 S.

I got out the door late this morning because I had to iron a shirt for my husband first. He usually does his own ironing, but he needed some help this morning. Then I had to stop midway through my run to give him some encouragement via cell phone. All this, combined with having to wait at some lights, resulting in my getting back later from my run than I would like to. I was afraid this would result in Thing 3 oversleeping because he's not very good about setting his alarm, or hearing it when it does go off, and I often have to wake him up when I get in from my run, so I called Thing 1 when I had about 2 miles to go and asked him to make sure that Thing 3 was up (Thing 2 was already gone to seminary). Now the hot water is all gone from the bathing of Things 1 and 3 and so I'm writing my blog entry and maybe I'll go eat breakfast while I wait for some hot water.

It was no easier to get up today than yesterday, even though I got to bed earlier last night.

AP: 9:46. Splits: 10:29, 10:09, 10:06, 9:51, 9:59, 9:32, 9:22, 9:30, 9:22, 9:25.

Tempo run. 2 miles easy, 4 miles @ 1/2M to 10K pace, 2 miles easy. Level 3 shred.

4:50 am, 36°F, 53% humidity, very slight SE wind at times.

I managed to get out and run before the cold front came in. It looks like the temperature is starting to drop, and we're supposed to be positively frigid tomorrow. I saw several runners out before 6 am this morning and that surprised me. Maybe it's the New Year's Resolution crowd.

I didn't sleep really well last night. I started waking up periodically at about 2:30. I was paranoid because I needed to get out to run early enough to be done in time to drive to seminary, and I haven't driven to seminary or run that early in several weeks.

I kind of a struggled on the first couple of miles of my tempo run and felt like I couldn't get going as fast as I thought I should. I wanted to hit 8:00 pace on those miles, but couldn't. Maybe it was because those miles were net uphill, or maybe I just don't do well with a tempo run the day after a 10 mile run. Maybe I need to switch my schedule around a little. I finally got going on the last tempo mile because I was going downhill by that time.

AP: 8:45. Splits: 9:47, 9:44, 8:12, 8:15, 8:08, 7:44, 8:56, 9:05, 0.29 @ 9:27.

First things first: Happy Birthday to Michelle!

I haven't run yet this morning because a) it's 4 degrees outside, and 2) it's my third son's 13th birthday and I had to prepare a birthday breakfast for him. I'm just going to do some work now in the wee hours of the cold dark morning, and then run later, after the kids have gone to school.

**Addendum**

8:52 am, 7-10°F, 64% humidity, winds calm.

I was going to go to work and run on the treadmill after I got all the kids off to school, but when I took my daughter to the bus stop, I realized that we had blue skies and sunshine. I was in kind of a bad mood and I decided that sunshine and fresh air, even if it was very cold, would do more to improve my mood than fluorescent lights and heated air in the fitness center would. So I covered myself in smartwool and strapped on my yaktrax and headed out the door.

I had 10 miles on my schedule, but I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go more than 6 in this weather. I have a 6-mile route and a 10-mile route that share a little more that the first 3 miles. So I ran those 3+ miles and then got to a corner and had to decide whether to turn and do the 6-mile route or go straight and do the 10-mile route. I was feeling relatively comfortable, so I went straight.

Some of the sidewalks had been plowed with varying levels of success and some hadn't, but the yaktrax were fine in all cases. I did hit one slipper spot where there must have been a sheet of ice under the snow, but had good traction other than that. I surprised myself a little by running slightly faster than I ran this same route on Tuesday (9:35 average pace vs 9:46 average pace).

AP: 9:35. Splits: 9:55, 9:42, 9:41, 9:26, 9:50, 9:37, 9:09, 9:22, 9:34, 9:38.

Easy run + level 3 shred.

9:15 am, 20-26°F, 36% humidity, wind 8 S, sunshine.

I was up late working last night. I was awake off and on between 4:30 and 5:30 this morning while my husband got ready for work, and then I went back to sleep until I had to get up at 6:15 to drive to seminary. After the drive to seminary, I did the shred. I often neglect to do the shred when I alter my routine and don't run first thing, so I made a point of doing it today.

I managed to get some work done while I was getting the kids off to school and then I finally got out for my run after the kids were off to school. I wore the same clothes that I wore yesterday (I washed them after my run yesterday) and I was a little too warm today. The temperature was warmer, but it was windier, so I thought that with the wind chill it would be like yesterday, but it wasn't quite.

I felt really sluggish when I started out, but I was feeling better by the end.

AP: 9:41. Splits: 10:08, 9:49, 9:46, 9:25, 9:34, 9:27, 0.20 @ 9:21.

I'm having trouble with Garmin Training Center this morning. I managed to get todays run uploaded and then it crashed and now I get an error every time I start it. I've tried reinstalling it, and no dice. I've sent the log file of my error to Garmin. I hope they're able to help me.

Long run.

7:28 am, 29-40° (it really warmed up over the course of my run), 30% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

I normally meet up with the Michelles at 7:30 on Saturday mornings, but I wanted to sleep in a bit, and so I pushed it back to 8:00. But I was running to Michelle's house, so I had to leave just before 7:28 (it would have been before 7:00 if I hadn't changed the time). I ran about 3.5 miles to Michelle's house. They were standing in the road waiting for me when I got there, so I just kept running and they joined me when I got to them. We took a hilly route that Michelle had run once before. It went through a couple of neighborhoods that I had not been in before, and I was impressed that she didn't get lost.

We ran 8 miles together and then I took a 2.5 mile route back home. On my way back, I saw Barbie out walking. I've seen her quite a bit recently, but it's usually when I'm driving kids to school in the morning. This is the first time in a while that I've seen her while I've been running.

When I got home I came into my house and changed into my VFFs. I had a nice little 1/2 mile route in my neighborhood and I was just going to do that, but after I did that I was feeling good and decided to do it again. My husband was waiting for me when I got home because I told him it would only be 5 minutes, but it turned out to be 10. I had a quick shower and then we went to IHOP. I like pancakes after a long run sometimes.

I'm hoping that we get no new snow and get some thawing the next week so that we can run on the trail next Saturday. I'm a little tired of pounding the streets all the time.

AP: 9:53. Splits: 9:30, 9:11, 9:07, 9:19, 9;56, 10:09, 10:32, 9:52, 10:29, 10:27, 10:06, 10:23, 9:39, 9:45, 9:55.