Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run w/ 3 hill sprints. Average pace: 10:44.

Outside temp: 46°F. It's supposed to get colder later in the week, down into the 20s.

Hill sprints:

10.3 sec @ 6:30/mi

10.54 sec @ 7:20/mi

10.4 sec @ 6:40/mi

I discovered how to make myself run slowly: run with a slow person. I talked to a friend at church yesterday and she wanted to run with me on a dirt trail this morning. She normally runs on the indoor track at the rec center and she says that running on roads hurts her knees. So I got up and did the shred and then ran to her house this morning (about 1.25 miles) and then got in her car with her and we drove to the trail. I ran the trail with her for about a mile and a half at a very slow pace and stopping to walk sometimes. I told her that when we were finished running on the trail that I would run back home instead of driving back with her. Before we were all the way done with the trail she told me that she needed to walk the rest of the way and that I should go on ahead since I was going to run home, so I did that. I did the hill sprints when I got close to home.

I probably won't run with her much again, if at all, but I'm glad that I went with her. I didn't mind going slowly with her for that mile and a half and I was glad to find a dirt trail that's close to home and that I didn't know about. We didn't follow the whole trail. The trail continues on up a big hill, so I may go out there on a Saturday and try a longer run out there on the trail.

My kids are off school this week for fall break. I'm going to work at home half days and in the office half days so that I can be home at lunch time and make sure that they get something to eat. It does free up my mornings a bit, but I will have to exercise lots of discipline to get myself up on time every morning without the obligation of driving a kid to school.

Saucony Omni 6: 142.47

Easy run. Average pace: 10:29/mile.

Outside temp: 44°F. Clear skies.

I saw my next door neighbor out running again. I had walked a little ways down my street for a brief warm-up and was heading back towards my house when I saw her come out her front door and start running. She went the same way that I was planning on going but she was about 100 yards ahead of me. I ran my normal pace and gained on her very slowly. Just at the point that I was about to catch up with her (which happened to be at a corner), she turned around and headed back the way we came. I said Hi, but continued on around the corner and did the rest of my route. When I got home from my run about an hour later, she was pulling out of her garage to go to work. I waved to her again. So I don't think she ran more than to that corner where she turned around and back, which would be slightly over a mile, because she went on her run and got ready for work in the time that I went on my run. I really don't know her well at all. I need to be friendly and try to get to know her, but I see her outside only rarely. I suppose I could go knock on the door sometime, but I'll have to think of a reason to do that.

Easy run. Average pace 10:25.

Outside temp: 33°F, with a wind chill.

I bundled up pretty good this morning because right before I went out the local news was talking about the wind chill making it feel like 20°. But after I had been going for a while, I was feeling too warm. I unzipped my jacket and took my gloves off and was to the point where I was about to take the jacket off, but then I turned the corner and started going into the wind. I guess I had had the wind behind me up to that point. Right away, I zipped up my jacket, pulled the hood up, and put my gloves back on.

I also had a minor wardrobe malfunction, but it wasn't too big of a deal because I was wearing so many layers. But I'm not going to go into detail about it here on this public blog.

Saucony Omni 6: 147.59

Tempo run - 2 miles warm up, 3 miles pushing the pace, 1 mile cool down.

Average pace: 9:50. Splits: 11:13, 10:51, 9:34, 8:48, 8:32, 9:56.

Outside temp: 25°F, no noticeable wind.

My legs felt kind of heavy this morning, but I tried to do the tempo anyway. It was kind of hard, but I did it.

I dressed pretty warmly and it turned out to be too much since I was trying to run fast. I got too hot.

I've been having a weird thing with my right ankle this week. It hurts a bit, but not to the point that it makes me limp, when I get up in the morning. And then after a couple of minutes of running, it feels completely normal. By evening it's starting to hurt again and hurts when I kept up the next morning, until I start running, and so on. It's strange to me that running makes it feel better. I don't know what to make of it.

Saucony Omni 6: 153.77

Easy run. Average pace: 10:39.

Outside temp: 38°F.

I just feel tired and slow this morning. Nevertheless, I got up and did the shred level 2 with 5 lb. weights before my run. I think I'll move on to level 3 next week.

It was much warmer this morning than it has been the last couple of days. I bought a new mock turtleneck for running last night. It's polyester and spandex. I wore it this morning with my hoody. I've been wearing long sleeved t-shirts with the same hoody on other days with similar temperatures. This new shirt was a lot warmer than the long-sleeved t-shirts have been and I got too warm very quickly even though I wasn't running very fast. I spent most of the run with the hoody tied around my waist.

Tomorrow is the last long-run day in the foreseeable future that I have to get up early to do the long run because it is the last day of my daughter's swimming lessons. After tomorrow I won't have to hurry to be done with my Saturday long run before the swimming lesson. She could really use some more swimming lessons, but she wants to take a break from it and so do I. We'll start them up again in a couple of months.

Long run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp: 42°F

I feel good about today's run. I just tried to maintain a relatively comfortable pace and focused on relaxing. The first four miles were all above 10:00 pace, but with each one faster than the previous one, and then the remaining 6 and a half miles were all 9:30 or faster. And I feel fine, not wasted. I had about half of a hammer gel at mile 5.5. I don't know if that helped, but it didn't make me sick.

With the completion of today's run I have now run 6 days/week for 5 consecutive weeks.

I plan to lengthen out my Saturday run next week to about 12 miles. I'm going to run from home to the beginning of the trail I ran with my friend last Monday, run the length of the trail, which has a little loop at the end, run back to the beginning of the trail, and then run back home.

Now I've got to go pound the pavement on behalf of a political candidate.

Saucony Omni 6: 164.29