track fan

AM: (~10 miles, 1:29:31).  9 hilly miles + 8 x 100m strides.  I say ~10 miles because I am sure it was longer than 10.  I ran to my turn-around point (rather than my time) and got there with almost 4 mins to spare!  quite a surprise, I guess I am feeling frisky today!

PM: (4 miles easy).  

A coyote came right up to our bedroom door this morning - if Dean hadn't have moved he would have run into the house!  I think he was following a scent -- most likely Titus the cat (who had "just" came back inside, yikes!).

Have a wonderful day and week bloggers! 

1:02:56.  Beautiful run up the Yeatman trail.  Was in a bit of a hurry because of it being a Wednesday and all (teach in the morning).  I can't believe how busy things are right now, and given that my life at work is always busy, for me to notice it being busier is saying something ;-).  We have some folks coming into town this week from Nashville, runners (she was a DI steeple chaser for Iowa and then was the women's coach at Belmont University and he was coached under Jack Daniels when Jack was head coach at Cortland).  I am sure they are going to LOVE running here this week.  I am trying to find out if she can run in the open track meet that is being held here at the University this weekend -- could be fun, our first track meet of the season!  That is, if I can get some of my work done so I can take an afternoon off.  Tomorrow Dean is having his arthrogram -- to see if surgery is an option to get him up and running again.  Lot's of things going on!

I hope you all  had a good hump day and are running strong with a smile!!

AM:(~11.5 miles, 1:29:32).  26:33 wu/25:15 cd. Fartlek workout 20 x 1`w/1` recovery.  Warm-up and cool down was somewhere around 2.5-3 miles.  The fartlek portion was a little shy of 300 meters -- I was going to go down the track, but I have a sinus/head cold and thought a workout based solely on effort would be better right now than one where I was trying to hit a time.  Anyway, it was slightly faster or right at 5K effort (~ 6:45 pace -- which means the first 15 felt pretty good, and the last 5 were kind of tough ;-)).

PM:(4 miles easy).  

Have a wonderful day bloggers! 

1:04:04. Up the mountain -- on such a wonderful morning.  It was chilly, but shorts weather nonetheless.  I will have to put the actual time in later, I did not look at my watch today after I stopped running.  I was in a hurry because Dean and I are carpooling so our friends can use my car today to go sightseeing.  I have a horrific head cold, but mainly just a sneezy runny nose thing ... it doesn't seem to affect my running much except for the fact I haven't slept well for past few nights.  

I hope you all have a wonderful Friday!!

AM: (9 miles, 1:21:16).  Hilly loop for 8 miles and then 8 x 100m strides.  Our friend Dave seems to have gone missing.  He went out for a run on the Yeatman trail and hasn't come home yet ... not that I am one to talk, but apparently he is directionally challenged.

PM: (4 miles easy).

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend!

1:55:32 (59:54/55:45) (AP 8:32/7:57), last 20` hard with the last two miles @ 7:46 and 7:19.  Ran out near my old stompn' grounds -- on the Rilito trail (hence the splits, since they have some mile markers ;-) ).  Took Dave and Jessica there - and let them go on without me, since I really did not want to even try to run too fast on the way out.  Good thing too because there was a huge headwind the whole way.  What really sucked is the storm came in during the run (it was raining pretty hard at the end of the run) and the wind shifted, so there was a headwind the last 4 miles too!  Drat.  I was surprised to see 8 min splits at miles 10 and 11, it did not feel like marathon pace at all - and I sort of worried about the last 3 miles, since I knew I wanted to get into 1/2 marathon pace near the end.  Luckily, the run went well (despite the 10mph headwinds) ... I finished really strong.  I saw Dave coming back about 1/2 mile before my turn around (he ran 16) and when I got to the car he said "wow, you flew the way back".

Now it is really storming ... a good day to sit around and visit with friends, maybe watch a movie or two ...

I hope you all have a wonderful relaxing day! 

AM: (10 miles, 1:28:34).  9 hilly miles + 8 x 100m strides.

PM: (4 easy).  

Busy day bloggers ... I am so tired.  I hope you have a great day!

Up the Yeatman trail - it was a brisk 37F today.  I didn't have my watch, somehow I left it in my office last night -- speaking of last night, I ran my 4 miles in the dark at the track ... mind numbing, I mean seriously, mind numbing!

Off to teach ...  Have a wonderful hump day!

AM: (14 miles, 1:51:45).  27:32 wu/25:19 cd.  8 mile Steady State run (severe chilly headwind on the backstretch of every one of these 32 laps -- it sucked).

7:32, 7:25, 7:16, 7:18, 7:25, 7:20, 7:19, 7:14.  These were a little faster than I had intended them to be (target was 7:24-7:36), in part it was because there was some type of fitness group on the track and they kept standing in lane 1 while they were getting directions and whatnot.  So miles 3-5 were a game of bob and weave -- I couldn't really get into a groove.  I was really hating the workout about mile 6.  I loved that I was almost done for the last 8 laps!   All and all a littler harder than it was supposed to be, but not too far off.

PM:(4 miles easy).

Have a wonderful day bloggers!

1:04:01.  Easy (faster than I would have expected though) run up the Yeatman trail.  This run was much better than I had anticipated.  I was so sore last night before my 2nd run that I was worried about even doing that run, let alone today.  Miraculously, I seem to have recovered in my sleep.  Although that is not really true, my legs were really tired and I stumbled twice today.  Pretty scary both times, one time if I had fallen something would have broken for sure, either my wrist from falling on pointy rocks or my legs/hips from falling off the ledge.  The second time, I would have fallen right on top of  an extremely pointy cactus.  

A couple days ago we had our first snakebite of the season here ... reminding me that we haven't finished "snake proofing" our yard, and that soon I most likely won't be able to run on some of my favorite trails. bummer.  But, I get them over 1/2 of the year, I guess the natives can have it the other half.

Happy Friday bloggers!
 

AM: (8 miles, 1:12:xx).  8 x 100 m strides. Was running late so I had to do my strides during the last mile of my run today.

PM: (4 miles).  Ran in the dark at Tempe Town Lake.

So, Dean had a grant meeting up in Phoenix (at TGEN).  The plan was I would go up with him and go see John the Magic ART guy, find a nice coffee place and work for a few hours and then pick Dean up and take him to John on our way home.  John was way overbooked, so I went to his office and then rebooked my appointment for later when Dean was finished with his meeting.  The coolest thing?  As I was walking into Johns office I see another woman going in the door, I swear, she looked EXACTLY like Kim Smith ...  well, I sat next to her in the waiting room, and I knew it was her (she looks like she weighs like 90 lbs soaking wet, btw)!  Very cool.  Just as a bit of history, Kim Smith won NCAA cross-country, indoor 5K and outdoor 10K in 2005, she lost to Shalane Flannagan in 2006.  She has the NZ record in the 3K,  5K and 10K.  She just ran the New Orleans 1/2 marathon in 1:07 and some change (her first 1/2) and is training in Phoenix for the London marathon.  She is very nice.  John has a runner for ASU (she is a 10K runner) working in the front office and the three of us talked for a while about running, about how much we hate 5K's, and how much we like 10K's.  She (Kim) was hoping to find some ASU men or elite men runners to help pace her in a 10 mile tempo run today (her pace is too fast for even most of the women on the ASU track team - her 10K PR is 30:35).  So cool.  I stayed and chatted with her until John was ready for her.  Very fun.

It was a long day, we did not get home until nearly 10PM. 

I hope you all had productive, happy running today!  Sorry about the stupid course snafu at Rex 10K. I would be so mad!

1:59:13.  Ran on my "flat" trails.  It had been a few weeks since I had run here ... I missed it.  It has rained so much the last couple of weeks that it was green today (little tiny "grass" on ground)-- but the trees are still bare and the cactus are nearly blooming yet.  I did see my first lizard ... it is not going to be long until it gets hot and the snakes come back out.  Today was spectacular, about 65F and sunny, still snow on the mountain tops.  Very pretty.   

I read a very good article by Pete Magill in Running Times.  It basically talked about how he coaches his athletes for 5Ks (he is 47 years old and just ran a 14:49 5K on the road).  Very interesting - he does a lot of things similar to Greg, the main one, and what he focused on in the article, was training people to run by effort and not time.  Based on this, when I ran my 20` hard today, I focused more on how hard I could run for 20 mins and less about how hard I was running.  It was fun.

I hope you have a wonderful day with your families today bloggers!

AM:(8 miles, 1:10:42).  Super fast finish run ;-)  I am serious, that is what Greg calls it.  Basically, I ran my hilly route and ran the last 5` (actually the last 6:15) at faster than 5K effort.  Very refreshing ;-).  My miles will be lower this week because I am going to be jumping into a 5K for a workout this weekend.  Not my idea, definitely not my idea (I hate 5Ks).  Not a PR course, likely a small PR, but not really a "solid" 5K since I am not really in 5K shape (and, I hate 5Ks). 

PM: (4 miles easy).

Busy day.  Busy week.  I have to get a lot of work done in the next couple of days because I need about 4 days to review grants - I will be heading to DC for study section (where we get together and rate grant applications) next week - yucky since because of DST they are now 3 hours ahead instead of the 2 hours they were last month when I was there.  Drats.

Have a wonderful day bloggers!  Hope is warm and sunny for your runs this week. 

1:01:19. Wow. I can't believe how fast this was. There were about 20 people out on the trail today. Dean thought they might have been part of an elder hostel group -- the cars in the parking lot were from all over the country. I felt bad because they were coming down the trail from "my" mountain and all stepped out of my way - and then after I turned around (at an insane split for this run) they all had to step out of my way again. It was good to see them out enjoying the beautiful day! Today will be our first day in the 80s. I am sad to see the "winter" end, even though there were some beautiful wildflowers in the wash(s) today.

I will have one more month of training, one more race (after Sunday) and then my "season" is over. I am not really expecting any more big things this year, I am happy with how the training (and my racing) has gone and am thinking really good thoughts about a good marathon next year. I will keep thinking 3:25 yea, 3:25 year, and maybe it will happen ;-). Anyway, after this weekend my next 1/2 marathon (Eugene?) will be more fun and less stress - since I am not really betting on any more PRs this year. I will enjoy my last months of racing/training, but am looking forward to some enjoyable base running too. Greg is coming down in April, and we will run and discuss the upcoming year, and maybe make some big picture plans based on how things went this year. I just am SO happy to be healthy and have had such a good year.

Oh, I forgot to tell you about what John was telling Dean and I last weekend. There is a USA throwing center in Phoenix (where the world and US throwers -- shot put, discus and hammer -- go to train, John works on their athletes, I am pretty sure for free). Some people bemoan the lack of support for up and coming distance runners. Compared to these guys (and women) runners have it MADE. The silver medal holder in the discus (on the womens side) can't even afford a new pair of shoes -- she was at a meet last week (where she won and threw an American record indoor) and the Nike rep was making fun of her shoes that were all taped up and scuffed. She said, "I can't afford a new pair". I am thinking about writing Stephan Cobert -- surely they are worth a Cobert bump?

Happy Hump Day bloggers!

AM: (7 miles, 1:01:15). Another beautiful run up the Yeatman trail. Not as many folks as yesterday, but still more than I am used to seeing. So, today I saw three types of wildflowers. One is a butter color, very delicate looking (I would say buttercup, but smaller than a true buttercup), the second is a similar looking but more deep orange and a little larger, and a new one (this week) is a deep blue/almost purple that kind of looks like a small daffodil. Very cool!

PM: (~3.5 miles easy).

Have a good day bloggers, may all your miles be sweet! 

Wildflower 1

Wildflower 2

I need to look at the third one again tomorrow.

43:57.  Hilly run, likely longer than 4.5 but I like to underestimate my mileage (and I was supposed to run 40 mins)  so I am logging it at 4.5.  I hardly ever run this route because it is too short for most of my runs and there are better routes for longer runs.  But, I like this one, it is very challenging with all the hills and it has some nice views.

Have a great day bloggers! 

32:01 (16:24/15:36). Decided to run down to the track (downhill) and then back up.  Pretty surprised to have negative split like that, even though it was a short and easy run.  I kept saying "trust" (trust your training, trust  your instincts, trust your body) - I think I might write this on my hand tomorrow ;-).  

 Off to try to finish my grant reviews.  I looked at the roster for the other people who will be at the review next week (about 25 people from many disciplines, mainly physicians, radiologists, physicists, and 2 statisticians including me) - these are grants studying uses of nanotechnology in cancer detection and treatment.  The other statistician is a VERY famous guy (well, in our small world he is very famous) - when I told Dean who it was he laughed really hard and said, "I can bet that is pretty intimidating isn't it?" - thanks a lot honey, it wasn't until now ;-).

I can't wait to see how everyone did in their races today!!  I am sending lots of positive energy your way!!!

Not a good day for me ... sometimes you have good races, sometimes bad. Today was a bad for me ... but the mark of a good athlete is to think about it, but not dwell on it, and move on.  So, I am moving on.  The course was super hard. I was running with my friend Merry.  The first  mile is uphill, then a short downhill of about 1/2 mile and then 1/2 uphill (these were about 6% grade hills - worth about 10-15secs) and then downhill the last mile.  I hit the first mile at 7:00, the second at 6:58, and then disaster struck.  I stopped to pee. I shouldn't have, I know I shouldn't have, I should have just pee'd my pants (TMI I know).  It was the toughest part of the race and I let myself get distracted.  I am angry with myself now.  I knew I wasn't going to PR, but I should of hung in there (pee and all) anyway.  Oh well ... thankfully, I don't make my living running.  My last mile (after pit stop) was 6:54, as I desperately tried to catch Merry (and more importantly, this woman that I have traded races with a few times).  They ran about 21:28 or so, I ran 22:03. I blew my 9th place streak - and fell to 10th.

2 mile wu/ 7+ mile cd with Merry.

Happy Sunday bloggers!

easy 4, did not wear a watch.  I have to change up my week because I am on my way to DC today.

Made it to DC ... very long travel day.  Even longer day tomorrow.  

Have a nice week bloggers!

1:37:30. Shhhhhh... don't tell Greg, I was only supposed to run 70` today, but after being cooped up on a plane all day Monday and in a conference room for 13 hours yesterday I was just SOOOO happy to be outside that I did not want to turn around at 35`.  I had to get up super early again today, but I knew we would be finishing up around lunchtime so  I thought I would just run after the meeting was over.  Right after the meeting I had to run up to my room and finish a project that I couldn't finish into the weee hours last night (because I was so tired) - finally, I was able to get outside, and what a beautiful day.  It took me about 20 mins to get to the Rock Creek Park trailhead, but it was such a pretty day ... I did not even might all the traffic.  And the trail was heavenly.  I saw a deer and a fox, the deer was so close, he did not even run when I came up on him ... these city deer are hard core ;-). 

Now I have to shower before my 4PM conference call and tonight I am going into the city to have some dinner with friends ... yea, just like old times.

Hope you are all doing well, I miss you, I will get caught up this weekend!

1:03:51.  I tried to find a trail that I saw signs for ... unfortunately it wasn't really a trail, more like a sidewalk that went along Rockville Pike (a very busy intersection).  After a little zigging and zagging I did find a pretty nice bike path that could possibly take me to the Rock Creek Trail, I might have to take some time to investigate this next time.  For a big city, Washington DC (metro area, including Northern Virginia and Montgomery County Maryland) is a pretty nice place to run, lots of good places to choose from (many off roads and with dirt surfaces).  

AM: (14.5, 2:03:40). 29:39 wu/28:45 cd +  Aerobic capacity intervals 8 x 1200 w/600 recovery.  So, I do practice what I preach, I knew going into this workout that I was not really going to hit the "recommended pace" - these are just not my forte, as this gets into the true "speed workout" paces that are just a challenge for me.  Gregs calculator puts these at 4:55-5:10 (6:32-6:52 pace).  I figured I could probably hit about 5:11-5:12.  The radio weather forcast called for strong winds building up to 30-40 mph this afternoon.  I did not really feel it too much on the way to the track, but then after I got there I realized it was because it was a tailwind -- it was gusting up to about 10-12mph ... it hurt and it got worse as the run went on, right now it says 12mph but I swear on some laps the gust shot up and I felt like I wasn't moving forward at all.  Going this fast is struggle anyway, let alone if 200 meter of every lap basically blow you backwards.  Since my recovery jogs were 600 meters I started from opposite sides of the track every 1200, and you can tell from my splits which ones were the hardest - when I started into the headwind it was easier than when I had to turn into it on the back stretch.  Anyway, not the best in terms of speed, but a good solid workout none-the-less, I guess.  It sure was long ;-).

5:12 (3:24), 5:11 (3:19), 5:11 (3:22), 5:12 (3:20), 5:13 (3:23), 5:18 (3:19), 5:12 (3:02), 5:18

PM: (easy 3.5).

Happy Friday bloggers, I have meetings all day, about 1 every hour until 6 tonight (4 with students who are either trying to finish masters theses or projects or getting ready for their first professional meeting presentations).

AM:(8 miles, ~70-75 mins). I did not wear a watch today, I needed to run extra slow and the main reason I wear a watch on days like today is make sure I don't go too fast, I knew that wouldn't be a problem today, yesterday kicked my behind.

PM:(easy 4).

 
Now I need to go enjoy my breakfast, an awesome fresh fruit smoothie (made with fresh melon, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, a banana, and some frozen peaches, all blended with no sugar, no concentrate, organic apple juice) YUM!!!  Dean is going to start to incorporate some principles of the Paleo diet (basically do away with grains, legumes and milk) - I can't really go all the way without not being a vegetarian, but I am going to go less on the grains and milk, and incorporate more nuts and fruits.  I want to see if some of my stomach issues (that I have had all of my life) might be sort of a low level gluten problem.  Anyway, I love my fruit! 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

2:15:12 (1:10:29/1:04:42). Ran my usual "flat" trail - this time I ran 2 x 8 miles instead of my usual 8 miles + 6 mile loop. My schedule called for the last 2-4 miles at 1/2 marathon pace, but since I had run 9 miles at 5K-10K pace this week, I decided to just see how I felt and run harder at the end without actually thinking about running fast. Sometimes it is more important to listen to your body and not your schedule (especially so early in my 1/2 marathon training cycle). I felt better than I would have expected on the second loop -- especially since it is really windy today again -- unfortunately it was a headwind on the uphill part, and tailwind on the downhill - and a cross-wind on the flat sides. Yuck. But, since I wasn't going 6:50 pace it was much easier to deal with!!

Nice to start running a little longer on my long runs again. The wildflowers are blooming -- I promise I will get some pictures this week (I am going to be updating my facebook photo albums anyway), I think I was way too ensconced in marathon training last year to have realized just how beautiful the Spring is here ... lots of greens, purples, yellows and oranges. The cholla (a type of cactus) is also starting to get some redish flowers.

Congratulations to the women's USA cross-country team on their BRONZE metal in World Cross-Country!!  Shalane Flanagan, Molly Huddle, Magdalena Lewy-Boulet, Amy Hastings, Renne Ballie (nee Metivier) and Emily Brown!! YEA!!  I believe this might have been the first US cross-country medal in ever?? I know we have had individual winners (Craig Virgin and Lynn Jennings) - but I don't know if we have had a team medal winner ... I will have to do some searching on this.  Regardless -- this is a HUGE deal!!  Women's distance running here in the US is on a tear right now!!  At the first big outdoor track meet yesterday (Stanford Invitational) Lisa Koll ran a huge US leading 10K race in 31:18 - and this is EARLY in the season, her first 5K split was faster than winner of the 5K!!!  And she is still in college.  Things really could be looking up!!
 

I hope you are all enjoying your family and rest day today!

AM: (8 miles, 1:09:31).  Usual 70` hilly route, I ran the last 10` at 1/2 marathon pace - or thereabouts.  Since I don't know exactly how fast I usually run, or how fast I ran today, I just ran what I thought was 1/2 marathon effort.  I guess I was pretty darn close - since the last time I ran this route I ran it in 1:10:42 (and I had run the last 5` of that one hard) ... so I figure I was about 7:30 or faster.  Felt pretty good.  I really don't know why, but Greg still has me doing aerobic threshold workouts for the next couple of weeks (I hate them, seriously - probably that is why I have to do them, they are my weakest system).

PM: (easy 4).

Our septic system is messed up, it is gross, we just can't win with the plumbing in this house.  And, of course, it has to happen on a day that I have two talks to get finished by tomorrow! 

Just wanted to post a blog of a friend of mine... Dallas wrote a book a few years back called "Falling Forward" about his ultramarathoning experiences.  He is not doing as many ultras these days, but is, instead, breaking all the Tennessee state age group records (and probably a few grandmasters American records as well).  Anyway, he posted this link to his facebook page today, and I wanted to share it with you.

1:03:24.  Beautiful run up the Yeatman trail... I have missed it!  Three things I have to remember to share, first of all -- I promise pictures soon, but there were parts of the run on the trail today that were so awe inspiring!!  Wall-to-wall carpeting of the buttercup yellow flowers ... in some parts it looked like a blanket ... just beautiful.  Second, I saw about 20 deer on my run yesterday, they were way too close to one of the high traffic arteries through the mountains, I guess they were feasting on the wildflowers.  Thirdly, I have such a hard time sleeping that for a long time I was taking Ambien.  Well, I got off them about 5 months ago and the melatonin is finally starting to work.  However, I have the strangest dreams.  Yesterday *just* before the alarm went off I was "digging" into a huge (I mean like 3 soup bowls worth, in a small trough shape) bowl of ice cream (chocolate chip) -- I was eating with a large "spatula spoon".  What makes this so remarkable is that it has probably been about a year since I have even eaten a little tiny spoon of ice cream (I don't eat sweets much at all).  Weird.  It kind of disturbed me all day ;-).

Have a great day bloggers!