Same Time, Same Channel

Easyish run.

6:40 am, 22° F, 81% humidity, wind 4 NNW, freezing fog.

My kids are off school today because the teachers have a professional development day, so I was able to run a little later. I met up with Lindsay and Allie at our standard meeting corner. We ran the same loop that I run with Michelle on Saturdays. But from where we started, the big hill started just before 1.5 miles into the run and went until 2.5 miles into the run. It was hard, but not as hard as it is for me on Saturdays. Maybe I do better with it if it's early in the run instead of at the end. Or maybe it made a difference that we ran on the other side of the street for the Gleneagles part of the hill.

We got just a dusting of snow last night and the snow was on the grass only, but the sidewalks were slick in spots. And I took my glasses off about a half mile into the run because they were all fogged up and carried them in my hand for the rest of the run. I couldn't ever put them back on because the lenses quickly became covered with a thin layer of ice.

I didn't set out to run 5 miles today, but I ran straight home from the point at which we all split up and when I got to my street, I was at about 4.6 miles with about .1 mile to home, so I decided to do an extra little loop in my neighborhood and make it an even 5 miles.

We're supposed to get a decent snow storm tonight. Because of that and because I ran a little longer today than I have been running on weekdays, I think I won't run tomorrow. I hereby resolve to do the shred tomorrow instead. Maybe if I put it in writing I'll actually do it.

AP: 9:57. Splits: 10:01, 10:09, 9:59, 9:53, 9:46.

I finally did the shred this morning. I've been thinking of doing it for a long time, but it took my publicly declaring my intentions yesterday to get me to do it. Inasmuch as I have not done it lo these many months, I'm sadly out of shape, and I will probably still be feeling this tomorrow.

Incidentally, we did not get near as much snow as expected last night. There's just a thin layer of snow and ice on everything outside. My son will be disappointed. He was hoping to earn money from shoveling.

Easy run except when it wasn't + 3 x 10 sec. hill sprints.

6:30 am, 23-28° F, 59% humidity, wind 4 N.

Last Saturday I was debating the merits of going to the trail on Saturdays vs. staying at home and running the big hill. It finally occurred to me that I can run the big hill on weekdays. I ran it on Monday with Lindsay and Allie and I ran it today by myself. While I was running it today, I saw a couple of runners quite a ways ahead of me. I'm pretty sure that it was Michelle and her neighbor Michelle. They were too far away for me to catch or even get within shouting distance. But it occurred to me then that Michelle is running that hill on all of her weekday runs. I would do that except I think I'll skip the hill on Fridays in order to be a little more rested for Saturday. Michelle runs M, W, Th, so she gets a rest on Fridays anyway. I can't switch to Thursdays from Fridays because I have standing appointment to run with Lindsay on Fridays and she can't run on Thursdays.

I also decided to start doing short hill sprints once/week. I need to start small, so I did just 3 today. The problem with the place where I do hill sprints (besides that I have to contend with middle schoolers who are walking to school) is that after the last hill sprint, I have to run uphill to get home. But I can't do the hill sprints closer to home because the uphill to home isn't steep enough. I could move further up the hill sprint hill itself, I suppose.

I'm a little sore today, possibly from doing the shred yesterday and possibly from playing with a medicine ball while watching tv last night.

Today the big hill started at 0.9 into my run and went through 2.1.

AP: 9:57*. Splits: 9:45, 10:03, 9:44, 9:49; hill sprints: 7:27, 7:10, 7:56; 0.16 @ 10:49.

*The walking down the hill after the first and second hill sprints and then the slow 0.16 home from the hill brought down my average pace.

I got up this morning and drove to seminary and then came home and was making my husband's lunch when I realized that I needed to clean out my refrigerator because my mother-in-law is coming this afternoon. If I didn't clean it out, she would find things to throw away and make me feel like a failure for having spoiled things in my fridge. I don't deal well with that scenario.

 I thought about doing the shred and then cleaning out the fridge, but my anxiety about the fridge got the better of me, so I did that first. Then I started the shred, but I had to stop after 2 circuits and drive my daughter to school. That took about 10 minutes. When I got home I finished the shred.

Now on to the rest of my busy day.

Easyish run.

6:15 am, 38-40° F, 33% humidity, wind 3 SE.

I ran with Lindsay and Allie this morning. I ran about 1/2 mile to the meeting place, then ran 2.5 with them, and then the rest by myself. Allie tends to run just a wee bit faster than is really comfortable to me, so I was slightly out of my comfort zone for the first couple of miles. They weren't blistering fast (in fact, they were rather slow), but they had a fair amount of uphill and it's hard for me to start at that pace with an uphill. It takes me a couple of miles to get warmed up. Maybe that's because I'm a good chunk older than Lindsay and Allie.

I wore long pants and a long sleeve shirt, though I was smart enough to skip the ear covering and gloves. But I was too warm by the end. I hereby resolve that next time the temperature is about 40° and it's sunny when I leave for a run, that I will have the guts to wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt.

AP: 9:51. Splits: 10:02, 10:06, 9:38, 9:43, 0.2 @ 9:30.

Should be called an easy run but wasn't.

7:17 am, 30-37° F, 50% humidity, winds calm.

So I sent on the 7 mile run with Michelle. My favorite hill was mile 6, which we took very slowly. Then a little later when we were .1 miles from finishing and heading uphill, Michelle decided to run fast. I tried to hang with her and made it the .1 miles, at which point I stopped and puked for several minutes. Apparently now I can't run at 9:00 pace for one minute without puking. OK, it was running uphill and was at the end of a run, but still. I am pathetic. If I keep running, I'll get better, right?

I told Michelle that Jillian would be proud of her for pushing me to the point of puking.

AP: 10:09. Splits:10:03, 10:02, 9:58, 9:59, 10:10, 10:55, 9:53.