Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run plus 3 short hill sprints.

I did the Jillian Michael's 30-Day Shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before my run.

It was warmer this morning than I thought it would be. But for some reason as I headed out the door I had this strange thought that I was kidding myself thinking that I could run 5 miles. Of course that's crazy. I have run that distance and more lots of times. It was just this strange "what in the world am I thinking" irrational thought.

Average pace: 10:40.

I goofed on the first hill sprint and hit the start/stop button instead of the lap button, so I don't have stats for the first hill sprint, but it was probably about the same as the second hill sprint. I pushed it a little harder on the third.

Hill Sprints:

1 - ????

2 - 11.25 sec at 7:27/mi

3 - 10.80 sec at 6:43/mi

Saucony Omni 6: 108.85

Progression Run - 3 miles easy, then 3 miles moderate to hard effort

I had to run early this morning because I had to get to work early for a meeting. As a result, I finished my run about the time I normally start and the whole run was in the dark. I'm glad I got the headlamp and reflective vest. I took the route I did because I wanted to see the progress on a new church they're building, but it was too dark to really see it. Oh well.

I was debating whether to do a tempo run today. I decided to just head out and speed up if I ever felt like it. I didn't feel like speeding up until the end of the 3rd mile, which not coincidentally was the point at which I had a long downhill after mostly uphill for the first 3 miles. So I guess it turned into a progression run instead of a tempo run. I would call it a moderate effort for miles 4 and 5 and the first part of mile 6, but then a hard effort for at least the last half of mile 6 because I had some more uphill then and I was really pushing it at that point and breathing very heavily.

Average pace - 9:40

Splits - 10:48, 10:33, 10:30, 9:08, 8:34, 8:31

Saucony Omni 6: 114.96

Easy run. Average pace 10:51.

I was tired this morning, but I got up and did the shred level 2 before my run. Then I made my easy run easier than I usually do. Besides tiredness, I have a sore spot on my foot. It's on the inside edge of my right foot just below my big toe. I've got bad calouses there and that's the spot where I got a big blister after I got the new shoes. The blister is gone and it hasn't bothered me for a while, but now all of the sudden it's red and sore. I had been switching off between the new and old shoes, but I've got over 100 miles on the new shoes now and I figured they were broken in, so I've worn the new shoes exclusively this week. I think I'll switch to the old shoes for the rest of the week, and then continue the alternating for a while longer.

I had a minor car encounter on my run this morning. I was going across a crosswalk where a side street meets a main road. A car on the side street was approaching the crosswalk and a stop sign. I thought she saw me, but apparently not, because she pulled beyond the stop sign and halfway into the crosswalk before stopping. I had to change my course and go around the front of her car in order to not run straight into it. I looked at her as I went past but she didn't seem to be looking at me. I wonder if she ever saw me.

A little while later I saw a guy in a tigger costume and a tae kwon do uniform standing on the sidewalk waving and holding a sign advertising the opening of a new tae kwon do studio. I decided that I would give him a high 5 as I went past. He must have had the same thought, because as I came up to him he held up his hand for a high 5. That erased the unpleasantness of the car incident that had happened minutes earlier. I would maybe look into the new tae kwon do studio, but my boys are already taking tae kwon do and we're very loyal to our current sabumnim.

Saucony Omni 6: 119.96

Fartlek run. Easy pace other than 5 times when I picked up the pace for an uphill stretch. Average pace - 10:10. I don't have stats for the faster uphill portions because I didn't time them separately. Those faster portions make my average pace faster so that it doesn't really depict the pace I ran for the slower parts.

I hadn't planned ahead of time to do a fartlek run. I've been doing tempo runs on Thursdays the last couple of weeks, but I thought I'd just go easy today since I did a progression run on Tuesday (which in the past has been an easy day) and I have a race on Saturday. However, I was feeling pretty good and when I got to the bottom of a hill in the second mile, I decided just to run faster to the top of the hill. After I did it that one time I decided that I'd do it a few more times during the run. On days when I don't do the shred (like today), I feel like I should push the pace a little.

This was mostly the same route that I ran on Tuesday, but it came out .33 longer because I took a loop at the beginning that I didn't take on Tuesday. I have so many different routes and they are all have common elements. I've got standard sections that I piece together to get different distances. So I sometimes get mixed up and forget whether I'm supposed to include a specific portion in a run or not. That's what happened this morning.

I put a bandage over the sore spot on my foot and wore the old shoes, and it felt fine during the run.

Update: I got feeling sick - drippy nose, scratchy throat - after I had been to work for a couple of hours. After lunch, I came home and took a nap and now I've got to work at home for a while.

Easy run. Average pace 10:26.

I was up a little late last night because it's hard for me to go to bed on time if I take a nap during the day and I had a long nap yesterday afternoon. But then I slept late this morning. I didn't get in until 7:00. I'm working at home because my kids don't have school today and I'm also trying to stave off a cold. But I kept with my exercise routine. I did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights and then went for a run.

It's pretty cold and overcast today. I was wearing an old long-sleeved Illinois t-shirt that I got when my husband was going to the University of Illinois. I was running along the sidewalk of a fairly busy road this morning and a guy in a car that was stopped at a light opened his window and hollared at me and then showed me that he was wearing an Illinois shirt too. That was kind of cool. It perked me up and I ran a little faster for a little ways until I realized I was running too fast and slowed down.

It's going to be cold and possibly rainy tomorrow for the 10 mile race I'm doing with Laura. It's on a dirt trail. I just hope it's not muddy.

It was a COOOOLD race. I started out with a sweatshirt on and took it off and tied it around my waist after a couple of miles, but I put it back on at about mile 8 because it got much colder all of a sudden. It was very cold at the finish.

It was also a somewhat treacherous trail. Most of the time it was only wide enough for one person. There were also rocky parts that were a little tricky to navigate, a stream to jump over (twice), some very steep (but short) downhills, and some sharp turns. It was also a strange course in that it doubled back on itself two or three times. And it was very hilly. It seemed like there was a lot more uphill than downhill, though I know that's not possible since it started and ended in the same place.

Laura and I ran together until the very end. It was really fun to meet and run with Laura. She did a great job with a sore knee.

Now I need to wash my shoes. It didn't rain (hooray!), but it was a dirt trail and my shoes got quite dirty.