track fan

1:57:48 (58:28/54:45 + 4:35). 2 hilly loops in Saguaro Park West. I mapped this run, to see what the actual elevation is (because it feels so slow to me!) ... most of the steepest climbs are in the first 3 miles, one of them is a mile long and 7% grade and then there are 2 others that are about 3/4 - 1 mile long and about 5-6% grade. Not bad, but enough to get your legs working! I added on a little at the end, because I think that the loops are a little short of 6.5 miles each.

I saw a red racer snake today! It was very cool - there was a couple standing off of the road staring at a tree ... so I looked over at them and they pointed to the snake who was wound up on a branch of the tree. I guess they had seen it slithering on the road so they stopped it went up the tree! It was very cool. The couple were British (though they live here) -- they said to say hi to Chris M and Samantha Dean Howard.

Great NCAA action this weekend, I can't wait for two weeks for the finals. Wheating is on a tear, wow! and Jordon Hasay is really shaking things up for a freshman. Heres hoping the Utah man, Luke Puskedra can save up for a good showing. In the Commrades marathon, the two winners were the winners from last year. In the mens race Stephan Muzhingi (from Zimbawe I believe) ran the 55.9 mile (hilly and hot) course in 5:29:01 (5:53/mile). Th womens winner, Elena Nurgalieva (Russia) ran a 6:13:03 (6:13/mile) has won this race 5 times, trading wins with her fellow countrywoman two times over the past 4 years! The first American was Michael Wardian, 26th with a finish time of 6:02:36 (maybe not as "rested" as we had hoped Nevels); First American woman was Kami Smick who was 4th woman (a masters runner who ran a 6:32:55 (7:01/mile)!!!  WOW!!! LetsRun favorite, Josh Cox, had a tough day and finished 186th with a time of 6:51:29, but he finished and raised money for World Vision in the process.

I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

AM: (11 miles, 1:34:22). 36:23wu/36:03 cd, 3 mile Steady State run. My range is 7:16-7:30, I was expecting to be 7:30 (and I thought there was even a chance I would be in the 7:40 range because is was 80F and sunny... but Dean said, "I doubt it, just take it easy"). So I opened up with a 1:45 1/4 and said, "hey, I haven't lost too much fitness at all running slow for 3 weeks!".  Actual splits: 7:17, 7:19, 7:18.  All and all it was fun to run fast again. Originally, I was going to run this on Thursday, but Summer has arrived and by Thursday we are going to be up around 106F (probably closer to 85-90F in the morning when I run) -- so, I thought I would make use of my last "cooler" morning. Up to now things have been "uncomfortable" during my runs -- 75F and sunny feels like about 85F, not pleasant, but not dangerous like this next month (until we leave for Flagstaff) will be ... I read yesterday that 106F is 106F in the shade, and is more like 116F in the sun -- I don't know if I buy 116F, but the sun is pretty much "out" by 5AM and "up" by 8AM, and by 3PM it is pretty hard to move outside .... by the time the sun goes down even 90F is "doable" -- but that darn sun really makes it tough to be outside.

Anyway -- nice "workout", felt good ... I tried to take it pretty easy, I have nothing to gain by doing hard workouts now (and technically a lot to lose by going too hard); I think Greg just wants my legs (and body) to remember what it feels like to run a little harder.

We went up to see John Ball yesterday (magic ART guy). At first he thought I might have a stress fracture (which I did not believe) -- but then he found that it is more of the darn nerve stuff -- this time my popliteal nerve -- I have some exercises to do to help keep my muscles from getting too tight -- both my sciatic nerve (from my psoas muscles) and my popliteal (from my hamstrings) are getting inflammed because of the muscles that they run between. My stretching alone is not helping, so I need to be more diligent about rolling on the trigger point ball and doing my new exercises.

PM: (4 miles easy).

I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday (that feels like a Monday) ;-)

1:04:48.  Up the mountain.  Lately, I have had the unfortunate experience of brushing up against what I think is the same prickly pear cactus.  The reason I think it is the same one (I can't tell by looking at it, and the scenery looks about the same) is that it gets me at exactly the same place on my thigh every time.  I seem to have a perpetual rash from the tiny little cactus spikes that get embedded in my skin.  Anyway, today I managed to avoid the grabbing prickly pear.  I generally happens on a Friday, so I will see if I can outsmart it this Friday ;-).

Have a wonderful day bloggers!! 

AM: (9 miles, 1:19:21). 30:32wu/29:25cd (I don't know how I ran this part faster, it is mainly 2.5 miles uphill, I guess my legs were all warmed up ;-)). 10 laps of "ins and outs"/"curves and straights" -- basically you sprint the "straights" (100 meters) and jog the "curves" (100 meters) on a 400 meter track. Whenever Greg puts these on my schedule I always say, "oh cool, these are fun", and they are. They are much more fun than if he wrote 20 x 100m w/100 recovery ;-). I have no idea how fast the 100m bits were, I kept track of the laps mainly so I would know how many I have done without thinking about it ... the 1/4s were between 1:52-1:58, they got faster as I got into it. Mainly, it was fun.

PM: (4 miles easy).

I hope you all have a great day, and to all the weekend racers (Carolyn in Colorado, Snoqualmie, April27 and Snoqualmie Ridge Runner) -- GOOD LUCK!

1:03:29.  I fought the prickly pear and I won ... no rash, no spines today! 

It is like a desert out here today ... getting hotter every day and we should be at our "normal" 108F by Monday.  Yuck.  At least right now it is tolerable in the morning. I am so glad it is Friday - although I don't really see much of a difference in weekdays and weekends right now, my grant is due in a month and I am freaking out (again).  I have two students who are working with me on projects that they will be presenting at national conferences this Fall, it is cool, but it takes a lot of time to get them started, unstuck and finished ;-).  

I am so excited for all the racers this weekend ... have a great time! 

AM(8 miles, 1:11:15). Easy run ... very hot, I guess tomorrow needs to be even earlier. I know that Burt has it worse (we were in Phoenix today, it was 109, it is only 102 here). Anyway, summer has sprung.

I saw the coyote that Dean has seen every morning this week, apparently it crosses the wash at about the same time every day -- I am a little worried about it, I hope it doesn't get hit (probability - KPs favorite subject, well second to donuts ;-)).

Some good racing going on out there bloggers -- way to go!!

 PM: (4 miles more than easy).