Same Time, Same Channel

Normal rest day.

I think I might have broken the pinky toe on my left foot yesterday. I stubbed it hard against the corner of a wall. It doesn't hurt too terrifically bad, so maybe it's not broken. I figure it doesn't make a lot of difference one way or the other. I've got it buddy taped to the toe next to it. That helps. I wonder if I'll be able to run on it tomorrow. Stupid little toe.

Easy run + 4 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:28.

4:57 am, 52°F, 67% humidity, winds calm, under a waning crescent moon and Orion's belt.

I started wearing the head lamp last week. Today I broke out the reflective vest as well. It was plenty dark when I started this run. By the time I finished, it was light, but the sun wasn't really up yet. Last year I would often encounter kids walking to school down the hill where I run my hill sprints. That won't happen this year because I have to be finished with my run well before they go to school.

My toe hurt a little bit during the run, but not bad enough to keep me from running. The worst is if I go side-to-side, like on a sharp turn, but mostly I don't do that during a run.

Splits were 9:45, 9:23, 9:33, 9:12, 9:18, 9:08. Paces for the hill sprints were 6:36, 7:01, 6:21, 6:29.

Thus begins 10 months of running in the wee hours of the morning.

Easy/Moderate Run. Average pace: 8:51.

4:57 am, 57°F, 76% humidity, wind 10 SSE.

It was quite cool in my bedroom this morning with the windows open, and so I put on a long sleeved shirt. But when I got outside it was warmer than I thought it would be and I wished I had worn a short-sleeved shirt. I guess it was the wind that messed up my perception of the temperature. The wind was also a bit of a challenge while I was running.

I meant to do an easy run today, but I got going a little on the fast side. I kept up the pace because I wanted to be sure to be home in time to drive my son to seminary, and then I really poured it on at the end because I needed to get to the bathroom. Splits were 9:13, 9:06, 9:10, 9:01, 9:08, 8:36, 8:41, 8:02. I figured it wasn't a big deal to push the pace a bit today because I had an easy day yesterday and I have an easy day tomorrow.

Eight miles is about the furthest I can run in the morning before seminary unless I get up earlier, which I don't want to do. Maybe on the occasions when I have a longer run, which will be about once a week in the coming weeks, I'll tell the kid he has to walk to seminary. It won't kill him. It's less than a mile. And he's a big boy. He'll be 15 on Friday and he's nearly 6 feet tall.

I haven't slept well the last couple of nights, which is unusual for me. I think it's apprehension about waking up on time to run before seminary.

Today is my 19th wedding anniversary, and so chances are very good that I'll overeat tonight. I wish I could find a way to eat out without overeating.

**Update**

My toe felt fine during my run and I thought it was getting better. But then I put on the cheap shoes I wear to work just before I went out the door to work. Yeow! I grabbed my flip flops and stuck them in my bag. I drove to work and only made it half-way through the walk from my car to the building before I stopped and took off the shoes and put on the flip flops. So I guess the toe is still out of shape, but is happy in running shoes. It is still swollen and kind of discolored.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:32.

5:05 am, 58°F, 41% humidity, wind 4 SSE.

The 6-mile easy run makes a frequent appearance in my training these days. I've decided to turn it into 1-hour easy instead, which takes me just a little past 6 miles. I have two standard 6-mile routes. I ran the slightly hillier one this morning. I don't run this route as often as my other 6-mile route. Splits were 9:49, 9:56, 9:39, 9:25, 9:16, 9:13.

I've been thinking about whether I should make my son walk to seminary in the morning. I've thought of a couple of other benefits to my running early enough to take him to seminary. The biggest one is that I am home when my other two boys are getting ready and leaving for school (they go about a half hour after I get back from the seminary drop-off). I'm not home when they get home from school, so it's nice for me to be here in the morning for them. The other benefit is that I'm getting to work on time, which I wasn't doing when I was running later. So I think I'll stick with running at about 5:00 am and driving him to seminary. That works as long as my run is no longer than 8 miles. On the occasions when I have a longer run, which will happen sometimes, he'll have to walk. I told him that this morning and he wasn't too happy.

Progression Run. 8 miles w/ last 15 min. moderate. Average pace: 8:51.

4:55 am, 58°F, 60% humidity, wind 2 ENE, clear skies, no moon.

I've been surprised lately how many runners and walkers I've been seeing out at dark-thirty in the morning. But it's also interesting that some of them, even runners, are wearing long pants and long sleeves. I'm still in shorts and short sleeves or no sleeves. I wonder if these people will last outside into the winter. This morning I also saw a man riding a bicycle wearing a suit and a tie. I hope he didn't have too far to go, or he might get to work all sweaty and stinky.

One problem I've encountered with getting up this early is that my intestinal system doesn't really wake up until about an hour into my run. I made a pit stop at a gas station this morning during the 6th mile to avoid the uncomfortable run I had on Tuesday, even though I ran fast on Tuesday as a result.

Here are my splits: 9:42, 9:27, 9;13, 9:28, 9:05, 8:47, 15 min. (1.99) miles @ 7:36 pace, 0.47 miles at 8:29 pace. The 15 minutes moderate was supposed to be at the end, but when I got to the end of the 15 minutes I wasn't quite home. I thought I'd just run easy as a cooldown the rest of the way, but I looked at my watch and realized I needed to hurry home. I was a little late finishing my run on account of a little farther than 8 miles and the time I spent on my pit stop.

I feel like my core strength has not been what it ought to be and I've had a little fatigue in my lower back when I've been running, so I decided that I need to get back to doing some weight training. Accordingly, I did the shred this morning after the seminary drop off. I figure I'll start doing that 2-3 days/week. I don't have time for the longer workouts that I like to do, but I can fit in the shred because it's only 20 minutes.

Easy run. Average pace 9:28.

4:53 am, 57°F, 55% humidity, wind 2 SSE.

My little toe is still hurting a little bit when I first put on shoes, but then it's okay when I run. And walking around in either bare feet or flip-flops doesn't hurt. Doing the shred yesterday hurt it a little bit and so I tried to tape it yesterday morning, but that hurt worse.

I usually see a handful of runners or walkers in the morning, but this morning I didn't see anyone until I was almost home and then I saw one guy. I guess everyone slept in this morning.

It was an uneventful run this morning, except I had to make a pit stop at the rec center. This pit stop business is getting annoying.

I didn't get splits on my run this morning because auto lap was off. And I didn't do much Garmin Gazing. I haven't been looking at the Garmin much lately because it's dark out there and it's just too much effort to either tilt my head so my headlamp shines on it, or push the power button to turn on the back light.

Today is Thing 2's 15th birthday. We'll be going out to dinner at a place of his choosing tonight. And Thing 3 is going to miss it because he's leaving on a one-night scout campout this afternoon. Not only did I drive Thing 2 to seminary this morning, I stopped on the way and bought him a donut. I suppose that's not teaching him very healthy habits. But he did note that I did not get myself a donut.

Progression Run - 11 miles w/ last 15 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:12.

7:35 am: 63° at start, 71° at end, 50% humidity, winds calm.

I met with the group at the Highline Canal Trail again. This was week 2 of the group. We had 2 new people today, for a total of 5, including myself. The Michelles wanted to go 6 and the other two were thinking of 4, but were maybe up to 6. At mile 2, which would have been the turnaround for those going 4, they decided they could do 6. So we turned around after 3 miles. The first 6 miles went by pretty fast and pleasantly with people to talk to. When we got back to the start, I continued on the other direction for my remaining 5 (2.5 out and back). Splits for the first 9 miles were 9:34, 9:16, 9:19, 9:32, 9:32, 9:44, 9:19, 9:26, 9:20. Average pace for the 15 minutes moderate was 7:59.

I had my not-Pod but just had the headphones hung around my neck during the first 6 miles since I was with other people. After I left them, I put the headphones on, but it was tough because my ears were already sweaty and I had a hard time getting the headphones to stay in. They are the wrap-around-the-ear kind, but I still struggle with them, probably because the ear piece from my glasses gets in the way.

My oldest son's band is playing in a Battle of the Bands tonight, so we'll be going to that.

I hope that everyone who's racing today is having a great day.