Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run with 5 hill sprints at the end. Average pace 10:14.

Shred level 3 with 5 lb. weights.

Hill sprints:

10.33 sec @ 6:54/mile

10.58 sec @ 7:29/mile

9.67 sec @ 7:31/mile

10.55 sec @ 8.02/mile

10.55 sec @ 7.32/mile

Outside temp: 50°F

It was warm enough to run in shorts. That may have been the last time I do that for a while. It's supposed to get colder this week.

My legs were still a little heavy from last Saturday's long run.

There were some kids coming down the hill I do hill sprints on on their way to the middle school while I was doing my 4th and 5th hill sprints. I knew one of the boys because he is in Tae Kwon Do with my boys. I spoke to them during my 4th hill sprint and I think that slowed me down.

My friend that I ran the Georgetown Half Marathon with and her husband are training for the Honolulu marathon. They are planning to run 18 miles this coming Saturday on the Highline Canal Trail. I'm very curious about the trail because I've never run it before and don't know exaclty how to get to it. They are going to start at mile marker 4 (the trail is marked) and run to mile marker 10 and back to 4, which will give them 12 miles, and then continue on to mile marker 1, and back to 4 again, which will give them 6 more miles for a total of 18 (his parents leave near mile marker 4). I'm thinking of running with them at least the first 12, and then I'll see how I feel and may go a little bit further. I wouldn't have to stick with them for the whole additional 6. I could just go to mile marker 3 and then back to 4 to make it 14 miles if I wanted, for example. They're planning to do it early in the morning so I'm seriously considering joining them.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:59/mile.

Outside temp: 43° F

This was probably the last warm day for a while. It's supposed to be significantly colder tomorrow.

This was just a kind of ordinary run. I was thinking of doing 7, but did 6 instead with the intent of trying to go longer than 12 on Saturday.

My high school kids are off of school today because the school is a polling place, so I didn't have to drive to seminary this morning. I still have to get the elementary school kids off to school. The situation is reversed on Friday.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:52.

Outside temp at beginning: 38° F.  Outside temp at end: 36° F.

It felt colder than those temperatures would indicate this morning. I kept putting my gloves on and taking them off. I wished that my ears were covered better.

Despite the cold temperatures I saw several runners this morning and I actually knew three of them. Other than that, it was a pretty uneventful run.

I've got to run about an hour earlier tomorrow than I usually do because I'm going with my son on an orchestra field trip and we leave earlier tomorrow morning than I am usually ready. And it's going to be really cold tomorrow. The forcast says morning lows from 20 to 25 degrees.

Tempo run - 2 miles warm up, 4 miles tempo, 1 mile cool down

Average pace: 9:19

Splits: 10:35, 10:36, 8:59, 8:37, 8:50, 8:01, 9:33

The route I've been doing my tempo runs on recently is mostly uphill the first half and mostly downhill the second half. I changed it around today so that it had more uphill in the second half in addition to the uphill in the first half.

I'm off to a field trip with the orchestra students today.

Recovery run. Average pace: 10:27.

Outside temp at start: 29°F

Outside temp at end: 33°F

As I started out my left quad felt unusually stiff. It bothered me to one extent or another throughout the run. I really tried to take it slow and easy today because of the sore quad, the fact that I did a tempo run yesterday, and my plans for a long run tomorrow. Only one mile was below 10:00 and it was 9:56.

I got dressed for running before I drove my son to seminary. I put on some old running tights that I have with some shorts over them. When I left the house to drive to seminary I realized that the tights were too thin, so when I got back home I swapped the shorts for long exercise pants. That worked out pretty well.

My face was really cold during the first couple of miles of the run. At one point I pulled up the hood on my sweatshirt and tightening the drawstring so that it just left a little circle around my face. That helped. Then the sun came up a little more and my face felt better. I'm going to have to get some kind of ski mask, I think.

My oldest son is in Greeley for Western States Honor Orchestra. He plays the string bass. They had auditions for chairs yesterday and he felt like he blew the audition. However, he got 3rd chair out of 10 basses. We're driving up to Greeley tomorrow to hear his concert and bring him home. I'll have to get my long run in early tomorrow so that we can make it up to Greeley on time.

Long run. Average pace: 9:46.

I'm not sure what the outside temp was, but it was warmer than I expected it to be.

I got up at 5:00 and ate a bowl of oatmeal and a banana, then got dressed and drove to the house where I was meeting my friend and her husband. We got started on the run at about 6:00. They are training for the Honolulu marathon. Afterward, they joked that I should go to Hawaii and do that marathon because I ran a little better today than my friend did, but I don't want to run 21 miles two weeks for now, like they are planning to do.

Their dog went on the run with us. She is a very well behaved dog. They let her off leash but she was pretty good about sticking with us or coming back when she was called. For the first 10 miles or so, she kept sprinting on ahead of us and would then have to come back, but by the end of the run she was just keeping up with us.

We went out a little faster at the beginning than I typically do, so the run was a bit of a struggle for me, but I could do it. We really kept a pretty steady pace throughout. It was a basically flat course. It was a dirt trail and I got some tiny pebbles and dirt in my shoes, which was kind of annoying.

Next week is supposed to be an easy week for me and I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what crazy demon possessed me to run 18 miles today. I was originally planning on doing 12 or 14 today, but when I found out that my friend and her husband were running this trail today, I decided to go with them because I had never run this trail before and wanted to find out about it.

I rented "Spirit of the Marathon" from Amazon.com Unbox last night and watched it on the computer. My 6-year-old daughter watched some of it with me and she saw kids holding up signs for their parent who was running the Chicago Marathon. I told her that my next race is a 5K on Thanksgiving Day, so she's making a sign to hold up for me. I also told her that there's a free kids race that day and so she's also making a sign for me to hold up to cheer her on. I guess I'll have to be sure and register for that Turkey Day 5K now.

In the movie it seemed like the first-time marathoners only did one 20-mile run before the marathon. The old guy commented that they tell you that you can do that and then you'll be able to run the marathon, but that's it's not true because you hit the wall, but then you push through it. I don't want to be like that. I want to run 20 or more several times before my first marathon. I don't think that you necessarily have to hit the wall if you train properly and then race at a speed that your training supports. Maybe I'm wrong because I've never run a marathon and I don't know, but that's my guess at this point.

Hey! I'm only 4 spots behind Snoqualmie on the weekly mileage board. But she's doing a long run today and she did her last one last Sunday, so she'll be way ahead of me after she records today's run. Oh well. I can enjoy it for now.