Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run. Average pace: 9:45.

Weather at 6:30 am: 42°F, 21% humidity, wind 6 S.

I'm was still feeling pretty good this morning. There's no seminary this week until Friday because of CSAP testing (that's the statewide standardized test in Colorado), so I slept in a little bit. It's been getting light early enough in the morning now that I'm able to leave my head lamp at home most days. However, with the switch to daylight savings time next week, I'm going to be plunged back into darkness for a while.

While I was out running this morning it occurred to me that I'm about to turn 40 and I'm in the best shape I've been in in my life. That's a nice feeling.

Happy March everyone!

Fartlek Run. ~10 miles easy w/30 sec. @ 5K pace every 3 min. Average pace: 9:30.

Weather at 6 am: 53°F, 27% humidity, wind 20 mph SW. It really was unseasonably warm but fairly windy this morning.

I was a little tired this morning because I did a new Jillian Michael's DVD called No More Trouble Zones last night. It's an hour long and is pretty tough.

This run was an exercise in 3 times tables. When my total time hit 3 minutes, 6 minutes, 9 minutes, and so on, I ran faster for 3 seconds. That only worked up to 60 minutes and then the total time doesn't show seconds any more, so I had to switch to lap time, which worked for about a minute and then the auto lap feature threw me off. So then I turned auto lap off and was okay for the rest of the run. But that little mixup is the reason I ran 10.23 instead of just 10.

I think I might have a friend to run with tomorrow.

Easy run + 10 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 10:23.

Weather at 6:30 am: 53°F, 28% humidity, very WINDY.

Too long since 3 day rest + not eating so swell the last few days + not enough sleep + wind = tired legs. I really struggled through today's run and went slower than the average pace would indicate for the first half or so when I was going into the wind. Of course the wind was from the southwest, and a huge portion of my run was going south and then going west. I did speed up a little once I started heading north and had the wind behind me, and that brought my average pace down a bit.

I went out and bought the March issue of Running Times yesterday. It has an article by Brad Hudson about hill sprints. Because of what it said in that article, I walked down the hill between hill sprints today, whereas I used to jog down. And I wasn't terrifically fast on my hill sprints. I was tired. I need to decide whether I really want to do ladder intervals tomorrow. I've never done ladder intervals before, and I don't want to skip them. Maybe I'll do them, but do them slower than prescribed.

Ladder Intervals. 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min. @ 3K-10K pace with equal duration active recoveries, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:38.

Weather at 6:30 am: 50°F, 13% humidity, wind 20 mph sustained SSW.

I'm a creature of habit and I've been doing slight variations of the same route most days for the last while. So I decided to change it up a bit this morning and head out going a different direction and run a stretch that I haven't run in a while. Now I remember why I don't run this stretch very often. It has some significant uphills in the first 2 1/2 miles or so. My first two intervals ended up being uphill and into the wind.

I didn't feel particularly strong this morning, but I didn't feel sluggish either. I got feeling better as the run progressed. My paces on the intervals were: 8:45, 8:23, 8:13, 7:46 (I think I had the wind behind me at this point), 8:00, 8:21, 8:16.

I've really got to sew up the bottom of the arm band for my mp3 player. I don't normally run with the mp3 player, but I did today because it was too warm for my normal winter ear covering, but too cold and windy for nothing on my ears (my ears are very sensitive), so I used the headphones to give myself just a little ear covering. In any case, I started one of the intervals just after I crossed the street that the high school is on and that had a lot of traffic right then. As I started that interval, my mp3 player fell out the arm band. I had to stop and look for it for several minutes before I found it. I worried that I had dropped it in the cross walk, but I found it in the grass. It still works okay, but I did lose a tiny screw on the back of it.

In other news, my 6-year-old daughter made my bed for me this morning while I was out running. She also left a cute note on the bed.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:03.

Weather at 5:30 am: 25°F, 52% humidity, wind 6 SSW. The warm air we've had the past few days has blown out of here. At least wind went with it.

Not quite two years ago when I started running, I got a small notebook and started writing down my workouts. Even after I started this blog, I've continued to record each workout in the notebook. I normally fill 2-3 lines per workout. Well, yesterday I used up the last 2 lines in the notebook. I will now retire the notebook since I am keeping this blog, as well as a spreadsheet, and data from my Garmin. Looking back, my first entry was on May 9, 2007, and that day I ran/walked 2.84 miles in 41 minutes. I've come a long way since then.

I've got a crazy fartlek + progression long run tomorrow.

Fartlek + Progression Run. 6 miles easy, 5 miles of alternating between 90 sec. @ 10K pace and 90 sec. easy, 2 miles easy, 3 miles hard. Average pace: 9:38.

Weather: 27°F, 53% humidity, wind 4 mph gusting to 10 mph, SSW.

I ran on the Highline Canal trail again. I use it for long runs when I'm aiming for a specific pace or when I don't want too many hills. The trail was nice and flat today. The park service must smooth it periodically or something. I had to get a fairly early start because I had to be done in time to take my son to work.

I was feeling okay, not fabulous today, but I made it through the run. Average pace for the first 6 miles was 10:22. For the next 5 miles I ran the fast 90 sec. intervals at about 8:30, and the easy 90 sec. portions between 10:00 and 10:30, for an average pace over the 5 miles of 9:10. I ran the next 2 miles at 10:18, and the last 3 at 8:33. I really had to push on those last three, but it was supposed to be hard. I found myself slowing down and then focused on really swinging my elbows back, which helped me keep up the pace.

I've said this before recently, but once again, this is my highest mileage week ever. But I'll probably beat this week just slightly next week. Then it's a lower mileage week, including the half marathon.