track fan

1:47:40  Jeremy Ranch Road.

Felt much better than last week.  First of all, I told myself I wanted to negative split the route, so I wanted to go so slow on the way out that there was no way I couldn't negative split, and secondly it was much cooler!  We dropped water today, which also helped a lot.  I did not negative split, but it was mainly because the first uphill section on the way back had a serious headwind ... I am talking a serious headwind, odd really because there was a headwind at the start but it kind of turned into a tailwind as the road went out ... luckily, I was feeling good and it did not really hurt me much (except for time ... 52:30 out, 55:01 back with last 3 miles nice and strong).

48:20 probably longer than 5.5, but not quite 6. 

It was almost cold this morning!  because of the weather I had to really concentrate on taking it easy so I wouldn't run too fast.  Legs were a little tired, but overall things were great!

1:15:57 (might have been a little shorter than 9 did wu and cd on the trails, some of which were pretty steep)

28:34 wu

12 x :25 about 3K race pace w/1` recovery

29:24 cd

Had a choice to run 60`-75` easy or do this workout -- decided that my legs felt pretty fresh and decided to do the workout - for next couple of months I can choose between some very short bursts of speed on Tuesday or easy runs -- I plan to do as many of these as possible.  These workouts are supposed to help leg turnover lactic acid tolerance ... so they are really good training for just about any training distance (Greg wrote an article about this in Running Times last year) - they sound pretty easy, and for the most part they are, unless you do the first few too fast, in which the last ones are pretty hard!!  The best part is they are short enough that there is no real penalty for doing them, they don't really trash your legs.  When you do them in the middle of the run they also seem to give you the added stimulus of running when your legs are a little fatigued.

It was so BEAUTIFUL today - perfect weather! Dean saw a tarantula yesterday afternoon on the trail!! yuck! he even poked it with a stick to see if it was alive!!!  I guess it would be cool to see, but I am afraid it would scare me -- and then I would fall off the trail!!

probably a little longer than 8.5, but not quite 9.

8 x :60-:65 sec hill repeats (~10% grade) up Federal Point Dr (?) -- about 200-225 m long

pretty hard, did first 2/3 way too fast and it made the last 2 hurt way bad.  first time I had done hill repeats since moving here ... feel so-so about the workout, much harder than I wanted it to be, but I finished and had a nice cool down (30` wu 22` cd).

45:00 ... a little longer than 5 (I had to add a little to make a bathroom stop). 

my "run up hills" muscles are pretty sore.  I have to say I dread seeing "recovery day" on my schedule, it usually means the run will be both slow and unpleasant - today was no exception to this rule.  In hindsite, yesterday I should have looked for a lower percent grade hill  (5-6%)and run for a longer time (90s) ... these short bursts of speed up a higher grade (~10% for 65s) are really more for 5K training ... but, with my general lack of speed right now I guess any increase in speed will be helpful. 

I believe that Lydiard used hill repeats as a way to transition from base training to speed/stamina training, and I had done a month of these in Nashville just before I moved here ... but yesterday I had the option of doing hill repeats or doing an aerobic capacity workout on the track - and I chose the hills because I thought it would help me measure where I am versus where I was 2 months ago.  But, the hill I used yesterday was quite a bit steeper (and Dean pointed out to me last night) so it really is not a fair comparison.  During the workout (especially the very painful last few meters of the hill) I wondered why I had chosen this workout !!  Anyway -- despite the pain, both physical and emotional ;-) -- I am hoping to eek some benefit from it down the line. Today was about recovery so that is what I tried to focus on ...

I will be traveling a lot over the next couple of weeks (including the fair city that is the home to Randy) -- this will be a challenge for training and in health - as the stress of travel, lack of sleep and dietary challenges is always difficult for me ... so the focus will be on staying healthy.  I have uploaded a picture (though a couple years old it is all I have right now) so if Randy sees me on the Rock Creek or C&O trail sometime the week after next he will say "hey Bonnie" ...

Have a good weekend -- good luck to all that are racing!

1:03:45 - long 7

 Legs are feeling a little tired today, might be because we slept in and I was hungry even when I started ... also, started out a little fast because I had to chase down the mailperson!