Same Time, Same Channel

Specific-Indurance Intervals. 2 miles easy, 4 x 1 mile @ 10K pace w/3-,min active recoveries, 2 miles easy.

First 2 miles were at 10:54 pace. Interval splits were 8:50, 8:28, 8:47, 8:27 (the first two were downhill and the second two were uphill). Last 2 miles were at 9:47 pace.

Weather: 44°F, 21% humidity, wind 12 SSW.

Darn that daylight savings time. I sure had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning. I let myself kind of oversleep because my kids don't have school today, so that eases up some of the morning rush. However, I still need to work today (will work from home since the kids are home). Tomorrow I've got to obey the "don't think, just go" mantra because I've got a 12 mile easy run and I do have to get kids off to school and myself to work.

It was relatively warm this morning, but is supposed to get colder as the week progresses. I was actually overdressed this morning. I stopped at the midway point for a restroom break and took off one of the two shirts I was wearing.

"Easy" run. Average pace: 10:04. Note that "easy" refers to the pace, not to the length of the run or to the conditions.

Weather at 5:30 am: 16°F, 85% humidity, wind 3 ENE. Snowing for the first hour, slick thereafter.

I manage to pull myself out of bed 5 minutes after my alarm went off. When I went out side there was just a trace of snow on the ground and it was snowing lightly. 20 minutes later it was snowing pretty hard. 20 minutes after that it had stopped snowing, but there was about an inch or so of snow on the ground by then. It was very cold. I was actually okay with the cold until the last couple of miles. My face was getting cold at that point, but I couldn't pull my neck thingie back up over my face because it was frozen solid. There was nothing to do at that point but keep running and get home. When I was almost home and was in my neighborhood, I encountered a couple of houses where people had shoveled their walks. I wished they hadn't. It was very slippery in those areas and I slipped pretty good and nearly fell on one of them. Running on the snow was much easier and not nearly as slick.

This was really a long, cold, dark, wet run. I was covered in ice when I got home. My daughter commented that there was ice in my eyebrows. Brrr. I've got to get warm now.

Easy run + 10 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 10:38.

Weather: 17°F, 62% humidity, minimal wind, clear sky with a full moon, dry streets/sidewalks for the most part.

When I left the house to drive the kid to seminary, the moon was small and white and high in the sky. A little later, on my run, I watched it set in the west, at which point it appeared yellow and quite large. After that, I watched the sun rise in the east.

I ran the easy part of this run a little slower than I have been lately because I was tired from yesterday's run. But I've been reviewing what Hudson has to say about hill sprints lately, and so when I got to that point I really pushed it on the hill sprints, and then walked back down the hill for recovery between them. And once again, I encountered a bunch of middle-schoolers walking down my hill while I was doing the hill sprints. I guess that's what I get for running on that particular hill at that time in the morning. My paces for the hill sprints were 7:17, 7:36, 7:56, 7:44, 6:33, 7:27, 6:55, 6:35, 5:41, 6:24. Hudson says that the hill sprints should be at maximal effort but very short duration, so that's what I tried to do.

P.S. I'm tired of being cold.

Progression Run - 10 miles w/ last 15 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:53. Pace for furst 8.3 miles: 10:11. Pace for last 1.78 miles: 8:26.

5:45 am: 21°F, 60% humidity, wind not a factor.

About 5.5 miles into my run (so as as far away from home as I get on this route) I was running on a crude dirt trail across an open space along a main road. I had just gotten across the open space to the point where the dirt trail ends and the sidewalk picks up. My left toe caught on the edge of the sidewalk and I went down hard. I lay there face down on the sidewalk for a minute, then slowly rolled over and got myself up. I looked myself over, walked a few steps, and then started running and finished the run. I had taken my gloves off at that point, and I scraped up both hands, my left knee, and my chin. I drew blood in all those places, but only a little bit. Throughout the rest of the run I periodically had shooting pains in my right hand, and at one point I tried to put my gloves back on and really had trouble getting my right glove on. I can't lift anything with my right hand now. I think I might need an x-ray. I'll call my doctor in a little while. I banged my left knee too, but I think it is ok. I'm having a hard time typing. It's the ring finger and pinky on my right hand that are really hurting, so I'm typing normally with my left hand and hunting and pecking with the index finger of my right hand and making lots of corrections.

*Update*

My hand is feeling a little better. I can make a fist now, which I couldn't do before. I think I'll hold off for a while on calling the doctor and see what happens with my hand.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:15.

Weather at 6 am: 24°F, 54% humidity, no wind.

My right hand still hurts a little but is much improved from yesterday. My left knee is a little wonky, but it didn't hurt to run. I was very careful about watching my step whenever I switched between sidewalk and road.

It actually felt a little warmer today than it has the past few days. When the temperature is around the upper 20s, lower 30s, I always struggle to know whether to wear my hoody or not. I wore it Tuesday-Thursday this week and was glad for it. But it turned out to be too much today. But I did manage to take it off while running, which was a neat trick since I had my reflective vest on top of it.

I've got 17 miles scheduled tomorrow. I won't be able to do it early in the morning because I've got to get thing 3 to the solo/ensemble festival at 7:30 am and there's no way I can get 17 miles in before that. I'll have to run afterwards. I'm not used to running at any time other than first thing in the morning, so I'll see if that makes a difference.

Long run. Average pace: 9:42.

Weather: 44°F, 17% humidity, minimal wind. Blue skies, sunny, perfect weather for running.

I went with my son to the solo/ensemble festival this morning. We left after his performance because he had to go to his youth orchestra rehearsal and I went on my run. After his rehearsal, my husband took him back to the festival and picked up his adjudication sheet. He got a superior rating. He called me when I had about 3.5 miles left on my run and the news made me excited and I ran faster for a little while.

A friend ran the first 5 miles with me. She has been on a treadmill all winter and it was a bit of a challenge for her to run outside. She's going to run the first part of my long runs with me some more.

Once again, I am declaring my highest mileage week ever. I'll have a low mileage week next week because I'll be resting up for the Canyonlands Half Marathon on Saturday.