track fan

maybe closer to 14.5.  1:59:19.  Ran my "flat"route in the valley of the Tucson Mountain Park.  I tried a little variation of my normal route, so I am pretty sure it was long by at least 1/2 mile ... maybe more.  Since I wasn't sure where I was -- though I had an idea -- I wasn't sure when to start running hard (was supposed to run the last 20` hard) -- so I just ran pretty hard for about 30` and just kept running a little harder until the end -- when I found the "main" trail I knew I still had 10` to go -- I ended running the last 45` hard.  I would estimate I was running a little faster than marathon effort, finishing up at a little faster than 1/2 marathon effort to 10K effort.  Felt good to finish ;)

Took my Mom to the airport yesterday -- then took some paintings that we got in Australia over 4 years ago to be framed -- not an inexpensive venture I have to say ... but it will be worth it when we hang them up!

Happy Sunday bloggers!  Rest well!

AM: (13 miles, 1:46:27). 33:27 wu/28:34 cd. 16 x 400 @ 10K>5K pace w/ 200 recovery. It was brutal, it was ugly. The wind was blowing so hard that I was going sideways a few times -- despite weighing in 3 lbs heavier this morning ... All the way down to the track I kept telling myself not to compare todays workout with the one I ran a few weeks ago, I figured the wind was going to cost me at least 1-2 secs/lap. I ended up running the first lap too hard, but tried to just relax.

Summary:

1st 1600: 1:39, 1:40, 1:41, 1:41 (6:41), ave recovery 1:08

2nd 1600: 1:41, 1:42, 1:38, 1:41 (6:42), ave recovery 1:08

3rd 1600: 1:38, 1:39, 1:41, 1:39 (6:37), ave recovery 1:12

4th 1600: 1:39, 1:40, 1:39, 1:38 (6:36), ave recovery 1:10

I ran a littler harder than I meant to, because of the wind (did I mention how windy it was? :-) ) - but all and all, I have to be happy about the weather here, and my improvement this month (last month I ran 6:52, 6:35, 6:49, 6:49). This was the last hard workout until my race ... the goal is to have 10K pace feel "easy" (at least compared to 5K pace ;-) ).

PM: (4 miles super duper easy).

Alas, my blogger friends, my cat Titus has struck again. He was obsessed with the laundry room since Sunday -- I told Dean that he must have brought something inside (from outside), I saw little blood stains on the floor yesterday morning. So Dean moved the washer, dryer and all the other things around last night but did not find anything. This morning I saw the mouse/desert rat ... I told Dean that we needed to catch it (while it was alive) because I did not want Titus torturing the poor thing any more. Well, when I got back from my run Dean had left me a note "I caught and removed the mouse, unfortunately, he did not survive". RIP little fella.

1:05 or so ... I did not really time it today - ran up the Yeatman Trail.  A deer and I startled each other ... he was way close.   I felt really good this morning on my run, I was surprised, and a bit nervous so I made a very conscience attempt to run as slowly as I possibly could.  They say you never get injured when you are running badly (because you push yourself when you are running well).  Anyway -- it was weird, I had something happen last night that hasn't happened in a while, I had bad night sweats.  I used to have these all the time nights after I did really hard track workouts.  I guess yesterday really was harder than I have been running in a long time - guess that is good ;-).  

Anyway, classes started today, I am teaching an early class on Monday and Wednesday and did not have time to get to blog until now.  And so it begins again!

I hope you all had clear air, sunshine and happy running today bloggers!

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:32:43).  8.5 miles + 8 x 100m strides. 

I hope to get a PM run in, but I am not sure.  Our water heater (brand new, manufactured in May 2009) broke yesterday when we were at work.  Flooded the house caused substantial water damage.  We did not sleep last night (water damage restoration people were here until 11PM - and we have huge noisey industrial sized blowers and dehumidifiers everywhere). We still don't know if our tile and carpets are salvagable at this point, and about 4 ft or so of wall might be compromised too.   The insurance company is moving us to a motel for 3-5 days ... I have a grant due tonight, so I am not sure I will be able to move and get my work done let alone go for a run.  But I am hoping to try for at least 3.5 miles tonight. 

Stay toasty and safe bloggers (and don't get water-logged, it is not fun).

 PM: (4 miles).  I snuck in a run, now I am working in our quiet, dry motel room.  Sleep tight bloggers.

59:52.  Our hotel is on the "other side" of town - actually much more populated (and some would say the "nicer" part of town -- I liken it more to more and less populated.  There certainly are more stores and resturants over here.  Anyway, I ran over to a park about 2 miles from the hotel.  The run over there was not really pleasant, mainly a sidewalk run next to a 6 lane road.  The park was ok. I was able to find a series of trails that ran around some sort of a dirt/rock facility ... maybe a dump?  Anyway -- I followed  a series of trails left by other people and their domestic animals (dogs) - there might have been some javelina around, it was certainly close enough to people (and more importantly, garbage).  

I got up early and worked, so I could send some grant stuff out before the day actually started, so it was pretty warm by the time I started.  Good thing, since I forgot to pack my gloves, although I am not compeletely adverse to using socks on my hands, I was glad I didn't need them by the time I ran.

Happy Friday bloggers! 

AM: (9 miles, 1:17:53).  8 miles + 8 x 100m strides. I ran Sabino Canyon + one of the lower trails off of the visitors center.  Sabino Canyon is a beautiful place, despite most of the run being on ashpalt. I have heard a lot about it since moving here, but had never actually been there (since it is on the North East side of town and I live on the West side).  Rocky canyon that snakes up about 600ft (start is at 2800ft, so low to you high-landers, but higher than sea level).  The road is closed to cars, though they have a tram/bus thing that takes people to the top and stops at 8 different stops over the 3.7 miles up.  Not a really steep uphill (~3.2%) but steady uphill out and downhill back - I liked the uphill part, it was a good workout.  I did not like the downhill part, I tried to take it really easy, but I swear with every footfall I felt my body go 'ouch' ;-).  I am spoiled I know, I like my dirt trails and I like rolling hills.

PM: (4 miles, easy easy easy).

Happy Saturday bloggers -- I hope you all had nice runs and awesome races!