Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run + 2 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

I was still a little sore yesterday from Saturday's run, but not as bad as I was the previous Sunday, so I decided to get out and run today and see how I felt. I felt fine, but I was slow. I never got to the pace that I've been getting too lately. But I guess that's okay.

I finished up the run with a couple of hill sprints. I often encounter middle schoolers walking to school on my hill sprint hill when I'm doing hill sprints. This is a common occurrence because I try to finish my run at about the time my middle schooler leaves for school. This morning as I did my hill sprints, the middle schooler walking down the hill was my own son. He gave me kind of a funny look and didn't say anything. I'll have to ask him when he gets home if my running up and down the hill in my sweaty running clothes is embarrassing to him. I didn't say anything to him when he walked past me because I was busy running up the hill as fast as I could.

In other news, I finished The Pillars of the Earth today. I liked it except for the very end. The whole Prior Philip hanging out with Thomas Becket seemed too implausible to me.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:36, 10:05, 10:18, 10:03, 10:06, 0.20 @ 9:40.
Pace on hill sprints: 7:10, 6:50.

Moderate run.

6:01 am, 37-41° F, 38% humidity, wind 7 SSW.

This is the longest I've run on a weekday (not counting the week we did our long run on Friday instead of Saturday) in a long time. I started out on my old 6-mile route, and so I did the Gleneagles/Quebec hill, but then I wandered around my neighborhood for a couple more miles at the end of the loop. I didn't run terrifically fast today and I kind of struggled on the up hills, but I got it done.

I know that 7 mph winds aren't that bad, but the way things are here, most of my uphills were into the wind, so that was a bit of a challenge. 

I asked my son what he thought when he saw my running on his way to school yesterday. He said that he thought I was doing hill sprints. I asked him if it embarrasses him to see me out running and he said no. Then he asked how fast I was going on the hill sprints and I told him and he thought that wasn't very fast.

AP: 9:50. Splits: 10:13, 10:01, 10:00, 9:33, 9;52, 9;23, 9:57, 9:42, 0.08 @ 9:04.

Did the shred level 2. Weigh-in results: + 0.4. Time to get serious about healthy eating again.

Easy run + 2 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

6:00 am, 30-32° F, 72% humidity, wind 2 SSE.

I ran with Lindsay today which I haven't done for a long time. Talking with her made the time seem to go by fast, even though we were running pretty slowly. I was surprised when we were in front of her house and it was time for her to stop. But then I had to run a little under a mile more to get to my hill sprint hill, do my hill sprints, and then walk the rest of the way home.

I was in a bit of a hurry to get home because I had to drive Thing 3 to school. It is normally against my policy to drive to the middle school around school start or end time because there is only one way in and out and it gets terribly backed up. Also, it is much more direct to walk to the middle school from our house (the middle school is just across the green belt from my hill sprint hill) than to drive. However, I had to go against my policy today so that my son could talk part of his drum set to school. He and his little band are auditioning for the talent show after school today. So I guess I'll have to pick up him and his drums this afternoon, but it will probably be enough after school gets out that the traffic will be gone.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:29, 10:14, 10:07, 10:17, 10:11, 0.41 @ 9:33.
Pace on hill sprints: 6:37, 6:20.

Did the level 2 Shred.

Long Run

6:18 am, 42-64° , 61% dropping to 27% humidity, winds calm.

I met Michelle and Allie at the Highline Canal Trail early this morning. Michelle was planning to run 17 and Allie was doing 10, so Michelle's plan was to go out and back to the North to do the 10 with Allie, then do out and back 2.5 to the south (because if you go more than 2.5 that direction you have to cross Broadway, which is a pain), which would get her to 15, and then one more out and back to the North to get to 17. I had to decide what I would do because I wasn't sure I wanted to do the full 17 with Michelle, but I felt like I should support her.

At about 3 or 4 miles in, I had to go to the bathroom, but I held it until we got back to the rec center at the end of 10 miles. That might have been a mistake. In any case, Allie left at that point and I went into the rec center to use the bathroom and Michelle kept going. I told her that after I used the bathroom I would head out behind her and then join her after she turned around. I wasn't feeling well and took my time in the bathroom, but then finally headed out after her. I caught her when I had gone about 2 miles from the rec center.

I ran with her back towards the rec center, but I was just not feeling it today. I really felt lousy. I didn't have it in my to run the whole distance. It's probably because I went up to Greeley and helped my son move out of his dorm room. We only had about a half hour between when I got there and his check-out time to get his stuff all loaded into the car and the room vacuumed. We both spent that half hour running back and forth between his room and the car, up and down stairs, carrying stuff. It was really quite strenuous and I was sweating like crazy. I didn't even make it the 2 miles back to the rec center with her. Instead, after a little more than a half mile with her, I took a different trail that was a short cut back to the rec center, and she kept going the regular way. I just gave up and went home. Also, it was getting quite hot by that time (note the temperature and humidity changes listed above).

I'm not sore today like I would have been if I had done the 17 miles, but I'm still fairly uncomfortable. I think the "holding it" for several miles did something to me. Maybe it changed my stride slightly or something.

In any case, this was my last long run with Michelle for a while. She's got two more long runs on her training plan and then she tapers for the Utah Valley Marathon. But she's got conflicts the next two Saturdays and so she's going to do her long runs on Thursday next week and then on Friday the following week. I don't want those miles enough to rearrange my weekday mornings to go with her. I've got to get kids of to school and get to work during the times she'll be running. So I guess I'll run alone on those Saturdays or see if Allie wants to join me and do distances that are more manageable for me.

AP: 10:15. Splits: 10:36, 10:30, 10:11, 10:09, 10:23, 10:11, 10:00, 10:08, 10:08, 10:03, 10:25, 10:26, 0.76 @ 10:05.