Same Time, Same Channel

Fartlek Run. 8 miles easy w/ 8 x 30 sec. @ 10K-3K pace.

4:57 am, 62°F, 47% humidity, wind 6 SSE.

My Garmin battery was dead this morning, so I don't have any stats. I didn't realize the battery was dead until shortly after I started my run. I worried about timing my 30 sec. fartlek intervals. My old cell phone had a stop watch function, but my current cell phone doesn't and the time on my cell phone doesn't show seconds. I would have been better off with my regular analog watch than with my dead Garmin, but I didn't want to go back home and change. I had just about resigned myself to just counting out the 30 seconds, but then I realized that my not-Pod shows seconds. It shows the time elapsed and the time remaining in a song in minutes and seconds. So when it got time to do the intervals, I pulled the not-Pod out of my arm band and used it. It was kind of hard to see the numbers while running because they're quite small, but I managed. The time between intervals was kind of inconsistent because I had to make sure I started each fast interval when there was at least 30 seconds remaining in the current song. However, I think the time between fast intervals was roughly 2 minutes. I didn't start the intervals until I was about 5 miles into the run because the 5th mile is the toughest on that particular route because it's mostly up hill. So I started the intervals right after I finished that up hill section.

After the 2nd interval, I had to stop and wait for a traffic light for quite a while. A guy who was running came along and crossed against the light. I'll do that if the light is for a small side street, but this was a major intersection and I don't take any chances with major intersections. Anyway, he crossed the way I was going, so he was ahead of me when I finally crossed the street. I think he was going about my easy pace because I gained some on him each time I did an interval. I finally passed him on about the 5th or 6th interval, but just barely, because he caught up to me shortly after I slowed back down. I talked with him for a minute - regular runner stuff like how far are you going today and what are you training for - until it was time for me to start another interval, then I left him behind.

After I got home, I did the level 1 shred.

In the good news department, Thing 2, aka  Shaggy, walked to seminary this morning.

In the bad news department, I think my daughter has the same sickness that my husband has. She's coughing and had a low grade fever last night. I'm keeping her home from school today, but my husband is home sick again too, so I'll leave the two sickies together and go to work. However, I'm feeling just a little bit congested myself. I'm hoping I can get by with just a mild case of this.

Very easy run. Average pace: 9:53.

4:55 am, 63°F, 38% humidity, winds calm.

It's a good thing I got an early start this morning because I ran slowly. I just felt tired and sluggish, especially at first. I think I've got a touch of this virus that is aflicting my family, but I'm not too sick. I figure going out and sweating in the morning helps to get rid of the germs. And breathing the (relatively) clean air probably helps too.

Splits were 10:37, 10:08, 9:42, 9:53, 9:37, 9:30, 9:40.

 I did have to run fast for a few seconds. I was waiting at a light and it turned green, so I started across the street, but it was green for about 2 seconds, then it was quickly yellow, and then red, and I was still in the intersection. It was a big street and there was a car waiting for me. I was glad I had on my reflective vest and headlamp because the car did wait for me while I hurried across the street.

**Update**

Hey, lookie there! I took a nap! At 9:00 in the morning.

Threshold Run. 2 miles easy, 10 min. @ half-marathon pace, 5 min. easy, 10 min.@ 10K pace, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:03.

4:58 am, 61°F, 49% humidity, wind 7 S.

I thought about skipping the run today but I couldn't really justify it, so I ran. The first threshold interval was hard because it was the 3rd mile of my route plus a little more, and the 3rd mile of that particular route is the hardest. In any case, my average pace for that 10 minutes was 8:04. I was shooting for 8:00, so it was pretty close. I was shooting for 7:45 pace for the second threshold interval, but I didn't hit it. I got 7:56 instead.

I had to modify my route a bit from what I had planned, because with about 45 seconds to go in the 2nd interval, I got to where I would need to wait for a light, but I didn't want to stop at that point, so I turned the corner instead and had to improvise the rest of the route. I was about a mile from home at that point, but I needed to run for 2 miles, so I wandered around the neighborhood. I saw a news truck setting up across the street from the middle school, but I didn't get a good look at the van and didn't see what channel it was. I wonder what they're reporting on.

After the run, I did the shred level 1. I didn't have to drive to seminary today. Shaggy skipped seminary because he had a bloody nose and had to spend a long time controlling it.

I'll probably work from home again today.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:54.

52°F, 58% humidity, winds calm.

I was really slow this morning. I guess I'm keeping my easy day easy. And I am a little under the weather.

I put new batteries in my headlamp yesterday. It dims gradually and so I hadn't realized how dim it was until I put the new batteries in. I was a veritable beacon this morning.

I really shouldn't stay up past 9 pm. I turn into a witch at 9 pm. I was pretty bad last night. My poor family. They only partly deserved the venom that I spewed at them.

Shortly after my run this morning, when I was driving to seminary, I saw a woman running with a dog and she really looked like the dog was pulling her faster than she wanted to go. After I did the seminary drop off and was heading back home, I saw her again and she looked just the same. I wonder how long she can keep that up.

I'm really looking forward to a 3-day weekend. I'm really glad I didn't sign up for the 10 mile race I was thinking about running on Monday.

Progression Run. 11 miles w/ last 20 min. moderate. Average pace: 9:21.

Start at 7:36 am, 51°F, 72% humidity, winds calm.

Finish at 9:20 am, 69°, 43% humidity, winds calm.

Another Saturday morning with the group on the Highline Canal Trail. We had one new person today, my good friend Donna, who is one of my favorite people in the whole world. With Michelle and Michelle and Carly and Nicole, who are the regulars, we were up to 6 people today. We started out like we usually do and after about a mile we realized that we had lost Donna. We turned around and could see her a ways back. So we ran back to her and then slowed to her pace and stayed with her. She told us we could go on ahead, but the point of coming to the group is being able to run with someone, so we stuck with her. We turned around after 2 miles and went back to the start, at which point Carly and Nicole and Donna all stopped. I continued on with the Michelles for 2 more miles. We kept the same pace that we had been going with Donna. Michelle 1 was struggling with allergies/asthma and had forgot her inhaler. At the turn around, she decided to walk, so the other Michelle stayed with her and I went on ahead because I needed to get finished and home in time to take my son to work. I was on my own for the rest of the run.

Splits were 9:34 (then oops, we lost Donna), 10:13, 10:16, 9:59 (now we're down to 3 people), 10:00, 9:59 (now I'm on my own), 9:21, 9:14, 9:11 (for 1/2 mile), then 20 minutes (2.54 miles) @ 7:53 pace.

There were a lot of people from Team in Training on the trail today. There are always some, but there seemed to be more than usual today.

I'm going to attempt to make some whole wheat pancakes today. I suspect I'm the only one in my family who will eat them. I better not make too many. My husband would eat them if he was home, but he's at work.

Easy Run + 7 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace on easy run: 9:14.

8:16 am, 65°, 47% humidity, wind 10 SSE.

I was very grateful for the opportunity to sleep in today. I could really use it after 3 solid weeks of early rising. But it was weird to get out and start my run in full day light. I felt kind of vulnerable somehow. I run in full daylight on Saturdays, but that's on the trail and it's more secluded.

Pace on the hill sprints was 7:13, 6:45, 7:07, 6:46, 6:54, 6:16, 6:09. It's weird how, except for the last one, I alternate between a faster and slower pace. I don't do it consciously.

A friend of mine from church is wanting to join the Army in order to attend nursing school. She needs to pass a physical fitness test in order to get into the Army, and right now she's not in condition to pass it. I agreed to help her get in shape. I don't have any kind of formal training or expertise in coaching/personal training. However, I have successfully taken myself from 200 lbs and sedentary to in pretty good shape. And most importantly, I'm free. So if anyone has any suggestions about what exercises I should have her do or how I should go about this, I'd appreciate it.

Fartlek Run. 8 miles easy w/ 8 x 40 sec. @ 10K-3K pace. Average pace: 9:07. Run followed by Shred level 1.

58°, 55% humidity, wind 3 S.

Just another early morning run in the dark. I ran my 8-mile County Line Road loop. I waited until after the 5th mile to start the fartlek portion. I programmed the workout into my Garmin this time, because I was afraid I would lose count otherwise.

At one point there was a bicyclist ahead of me who had stopped to fiddle with his bike. Just as I got to where he was, I started one of my fast intervals and he started riding his bike. He didn't get going very fast right away and I was actually running even with him for about 10 seconds. That was kind of cool.

I probably ran the intervals faster than I should have, but I was running them by feel, not looking at the watch because the "real-time" pace on the watch isn't that accurate, plus it's hard to see the watch in the dark and I didn't want to keep turning on the back light. In any case, my pace on the 40-second intervals was 6:56, 6:46, 6:52, 7:27, 7:14, 6:35, 6:41, 6:59.

Easy Run. Average pace: 9:21.

51°F, 82% humidity, winds calm.

I overslept by about 10 minutes this morning and it's thrown my whole morning off. I've got a busy morning. I've got to go spend some time training my Army-recruit friend before work.

Threshold Run: 2 miles easy, 15 min. @ 1/2M pace, 5 min. active recovery, 15 min. @ 10K pace, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 8:38.

Shred Level 1.

59°F, 55% humidity, winds calm.

I got up on time this morning but was a little late getting out the door because I spent too much time doing other things such as changing the laundry. But it was okay because I had asked Shaggy to walk to seminary. In fact, just as I finished my workout and was just a few houses away from home, I came upon Shaggy on his way to seminary.

I felt a little sluggish when I started and thought about scrapping the workout, but decided to do it anyway. I struggled a bit through the first interval, but managed to pull out an average pace of 8:08 (I was shooting for between 8:00 and 8:15). Perhaps it's worth nothing that that interval had an elevation gain of 158 ft. and an elevation loss of 107 ft. so it was slightly net uphill. I didn't really feel ready to go on the second interval after the 5 min. recovery, but I did it anyway. This interval had an elevation gain of 113 ft. and an elevation loss of 202 ft., so a pretty good net downhill, which helped me. I was aiming for 7:45 pace on this interval but pulled out an average pace of 7:37.

The problem with running a workout like this on the roads is that I had to stop and wait for traffic lights. I had a fairly long stop about 5 minutes into the first interval, and a shorter stop, probably less than a minute, with about 5 minutes to go in the second interval. I paused my watch during the stops. Perhaps it's cheating to have a complete stop and rest in the middle of a threshold interval, but I'd never make it home if I just made turns to avoid crossing streets.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:39.

61°F, 47% humidity, wind 6-10 sometimes SSW, sometimes N.

I had the feeling as I left the house this morning that I was forgetting something, but it took me a minute or two to realize that the thing I had forgotten was my glasses. They're not essential to my running; I run without them in the winter because my lower face covering causes them to fog up. So I continued on without them. I am more prone to seeing things that aren't there when I don't have my glasses on. This morning I was perlexed for a while by what turned out to be traffic lights reflected in a wet spot on the sidewalk (it was wet from sprinklers).

Boot Camp was cancelled this morning because the recruit was unavailable. It's a good thing, because I've had a freakishly busy morning without it.

In other news, I registered yesterday for a half marathon that I'm planning to run in November. This is the inaugural running of this race. They just posted the course description and it says this: "This is a hilly course that is 95% trail. It is scenic and challenging." Of course the name of the race is the Wildcat Mountain 1/2 Marathon. And it is sponsored by the Highlands Ranch Community Association (HRCA) and for most of their races the description says that the course is suitable to all skill levels, and then it's a wicked hilly course. So I'm not sure what to think when THEY say it's a challenging course. And I can't go check out the course because 1) The course map makes absolutely no sense to me, and b) Parts of the trail are not open yet (it's a new trail). What have I gotten myself into?

Progression Run. 12 miles w/ last 20 min. hard. Average pace: 8:53.

51°F, 51% humidity, wind 3 N, very cloudy and overcast.

Shred level 1.

We had a small group today. It was just me, Michelle, and Carly. We ran 5 miles with splits of 9:09, 9:12, 9:14, 9:16, and 9:21. Then Carly stopped and Michelle and I continued on for 4 more miles with splits of 9:23, 9:18, 9:26, 9:14. Then Michelle stopped and I continued on by myself for .44 miles at 8:55 pace, then I picked up the pace for 20 minutes. Up till now my progression runs have always specified a moderate effort for the finish, but today's workout called for a hard effort. My moderate effort for the last two Saturdays produced 7:54 and 7:53 pace, so my goal today was just to run hard and be faster than 7:53. I didn't have a more specific pace target than that. I ran the last 20 minutes at 7:29 pace.

We encountered a really big group of men and little kids on bicycles at one point. There were probably 30 or 40 people in the group. The strange thing about it was that there were no women. There was a lone man on a bicycle right behind Michelle and me and even though we moved over to give him room, he waited until we were past this big group of bicyclists before he passed us. As he passed us he commented that he was wondering where the mama ducks were, or something like that.

**Update**

I did Marion's yoga. Man, am I tight! Also, my kids kept coming in and interrupting me. I finally locked the door. I think I can maybe fit in yoga once/week, but I should probably do it more than that if I want to get rid of some of this tightness.

Easy Run. 6 miles + 8 x 8 sec. hill sprints.

58°F, 63% humidity, wind 4-6 S.

I ran the 6 miles on autopilot this morning. About midway through I realized that I had forgot to turn auto lap back on after Saturday's progression run. I hadn't even looked at my Garmin to that point and so I decided not to look at it at all until I got near the end of the 6 miles and got ready to do the hill sprints. I ran those 6 miles pretty slowly, with an average pace of 9:53. That's slower than I've been doing my easy runs lately.

It was considerably darker when I got to the hill sprints than it was at that time of day as recently as three days ago, which is the last time I ran in the early morning. This is the first time I can remember doing hill sprints when it was dark enough that I had to use the light to see my Garmin. I ended up fiddling with the Garmin on the first hill sprint trying to get the light on and the display to the screen that shows lap time, and as a consequence, I was a little slow on the first hill sprint. The paces for my hill sprints were 8:12, 7:59, 7:57, 8:09, 7:27, 6:56, 7:15, 6:15.

I was supposed to go train my Army recruit friend this morning, but she called and cancelled. She also cancelled last Friday. So we should have had 3 training sessions by now, but we've only had one. If she keeps cancelling, she's not going to accomplish her goals. I've been doing the Shred on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the last few weeks, but I had decided to do the Shred with her and switch to doing the Shred to Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. So after she called this morning to cancel, I went ahead and did the Shred myself. My daughter kind of did it with me. She wanted to use hand weights, but I had her hold two Wii remotes instead. Interestingly, my daughter has better form on push-ups than my Army recruit friend does.

I'm hanging out at home this morning instead of going in to work because my work computer is still out of commission. So since I have some extra time this morning, I did the yogatoday.com free routine after I got my daughter off to school. I also did it last night, so that makes 3 days in a row of yoga for me. I think I did a little better job with it today than I did last night, because I'm a little more familiar with the routine. I had a little trouble, though, because the video kept buffering and the audio got ahead of the video. I had to pause it and go back at one point.

Fartlek Run. 8 miles easy w/8 x 50 sec. @ 10K-3K pace. Average pace: 9:13.

58°F, 60% humidity, wind 6 SSE.

I did the County Line Road loop as I've done on Tuesdays for the last few weeks. I ran 5 miles easy (10:13, 9:38, 9:21, 9:15, 9:30) and then started the fartlek portion. Paces for the fartlek intervals were 6:52, 6:51, 7:22, 7:22, 7:15, 6:58, 6:51, 6:16. I'm not sure why I slowed down in the middle, but I intentionally picked it up on the last one.

One year ago today was the beginning of the first week that I ran 6 days/week. With a few exceptions for injury, travel, or racing, I've run 6 days/week every week since then.

Easy Run. Average pace: 9:15.

54°F, 81% humidity, winds calm.

I finally did an Easy Eight. I had to hurry a little bit because I was a few minutes late getting out the door.

On my run this morning I finally saw another runner with the headlamp. I've seen bicyclists with headlamps before, but never a runner (besides myself). There were two women running together and one of them had a headlamp on.

I did the Level 1 Shred with my Army recruit friend this morning. She seems to be backing off of the Army idea. I told her that I'm willing to keep working with her regardless of whether she joins the Army, but we'll see how long she puts up with me.

Yesterday morning as I left for work I encountered my friend Carly who was just finishing her run and who was getting ready to do hill sprints. I told her previously about hill sprints and encouraged her to add just one or two hill sprints to the end of one run a week. She lives on my street, so she can use the same hill that I use. I also talked to her last night and I don't know how many hill sprints she had done in the morning, but she said it was fun.

Threshold Run. 2 miles easy, 2 x 15 min. @ half-marathon pace/10K pace, w/2-min. active recovery, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 8:44.

52°F, 77% humidity, wind 6 S.

I think the intent of this workout is to run the first 15 min. interval at half-marathon pace and the second 15 min. interval at 10K pace. That didn't quite work out for me this morning. The first interval was mostly downhill with the wind at my back and it was too easy. I had to keep slowing myself down. I ran that interval at 8:08 pace. I turned a corner right as I started the 2nd interval and ran that interval mostly uphill and into the wind. Where I had had to slow myself down on the first interval, I had a hard time keeping the pace on this interval. Also, I only had a 2 minute rest in between intervals, whereas last time I did this workout I had a 5 min. rest. So I didn't hit the 7:45 I was shooting for on the second interval. Instead, I ran 8:04 pace, just barely faster than the first interval. In any case, I'm glad that workout is over.

I'm going to the Colorado Symphony with my friend Carly tonight. It will be fun but it will mean that I won't get to bed early. I have not been able to get to bed early all week.

Easy Run. Average pace 9:37.

51°F, 66% humidity, winds calm. It was a little chilly this morning. I might have to break out the long sleeves and gloves soon.

I got to bed late last night and didn't sleep really well. I'm tired. I got up on time this morning, but was late getting out the door to run because I had to iron some clothes for my husband first. When I got back from my run, I was stretching on my porch as is my habit, and I noticed that there were no lights on in the house. Usually, Thing 2 gets up while I'm running and turns on some lights and he's supposed to be ready for seminary by the time I get home from running. I figured (correctly) that he had overslept, so I went in and woke him up. He got ready quickly and I took him to Seminary. On the way to Seminary, I realized that Thing 3 should have been up by the time we left for Seminary but that he had also overslept. I woke him up when I got back from the Seminary drop-off and so now he's hurrying to get ready for school. Everybody's tired today.

My Army recruit friend, who shall hereafter be known as Cindy, called last night and called this morning's workout. I was going to do the Shred without her this morning, but I'm too tired and so I'm skipping it.

Good luck to everyone who's running TOU tomorrow! And שנה טובה to everyone who's celebrating Rosh Hashanah!

**Update** I was useless at work so I came home and took a nap. Now I need to get some work done.

AM - 58°F, 55% humidity, calm - 6 miles on the Highland Canal Trail with the Michelles. For a change, they kept going and I stopped after 6 instead of the other way around. My Garmin was dead and it was just an easy run anyway, so I don't have a time or splits or pace.

Noon - 72°F, 47% humdity, calm - 2 miles warm-up and then the HRCA Oktoberfest 5K. I know that 72 degrees is cool to Bonnie, but I've been running in relatively cool early morning weather all summer, and particularly the last month or so. This was tough for me. I went out too fast and it was a very hilly course, as these HRCA races always are. It was downhill for the first half mile, then up hill for a mile to roughly the midpoint of the course, then downhill for about a half mile, a steep uphill for another half mile, then a steep downhill for a little more than a quarter mile, then uphill to the end (the reverse of the start). I lined up pretty near the front and there were a bunch of little girls in front of me. I nearly tripped over one of them who wasn't quite so little right at the start. Incidentally, the overall female winner was a 10-year-old girl. She looked like she maybe weighed 80 pounds soaking wet. I went out too fast and lost time each mile. My splits were 7:12, 7:41, 7:54, with the last bit at 8:02. They tack a 100 meter dash on the end of this race and time it separately. I gave the 5K all I had and didn't feel like doing the 100 meter dash, so as soon as I crossed the finish line for the 5K, which was the starting line for the 100 meter dash, I started walking and walked the whole 100 meters. I hate 5Ks. They're too fast and too painful. Well, I guess it was a PR by 10 seconds. I'd like to find a flat 5K to run some day. I'll have to go away from home for that.

My husband, oldest son, and daughter watched the race. My daughter gave me some advice before the race. It was to keep my arms and legs moving. She also made a poster that she held up to cheer me on at the finish line.

Now I've got to check out how you all did at TOU.

Easy run + 9 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:52.

41°, 81% humidity, wind 6 NW.

I slept in for an hour and ran later this morning because my husband has a comp day today and so he could do the driving to seminary. As a result, I had to deal with some middle schoolers on my hill when I was doing my hill sprints.

There was a little drizzling rain when I started my run, but then it stopped. The weather wasn't downright nastry today, but it was unpleasant. I guess it was a little taste of things to come.

Splits for the 6 miles were 10:08, 9:40, 9:34, 9:30, 9:32, 9:27. Paces on the hill sprints were 7:18, 7:12, 6:15, 8:00, 7:04, 6:35, 7:20, 6:08, 6:47.

Hill Repetitions - 2 miles easy, 8 x 50 sec. uphill @ 5K effort w/jog-back recoveries, 2 miles easy.

30-Day Shred Level 1

40°F, 58% humidity, winds calm.

Alone. In the cold. In the dark.

Actually, the hill repetitions warmed me up pretty well, but I got cold really quickly after I finished the run.

There was a street sign that I kept not quite reaching on each hill repetition. I decided that I would try to reach it on the last repetition. I almost made it to the sign on the last repetition, but not quite. Pace on the hill repetitions was 7:22, 7:44, 7:32, 7:33, 7:19, 7:20, 7:28, 6:47.

Happy Autumnal Equinox everyone.

Easy Eight. Average pace: 9:26.

44°F, 64% humidity, winds calm.

I'm tired and hungry and cold.

Splits: 9:45, 9;28, 9:19, 9:14, 9:33, 9:13, 9:27, 9:27

Threshold Run - 2 miles easy, 2 x 15 min. @ half-marathon pace/10K pace w/1 min. active recovery, 2 miles easy.

30-Day Shred Level 1

41°F, 82% humidity, winds calm.

Since I struggled so much with the hills and the wind last time I did a workout like this, I decided to try it out on the track this time. I went to the Middle School track, which is about 1/4 mile from my house, but I ran a 2 mile out-of-the-way route as a warm up to get there. I actually kind of liked running this on the track. It made it easy to keep track of my pace without using the Garmin's pace calculation.

My target for the first interval was 8:00 pace, which equated roughly to 2 minutes per lap. I checked the time on my watch at each lap to make sure I stayed on pace and I actually managed to run 8:00 pace, according to my Garmin. I ran almost exactly 7 1/2 laps in the first interval and the Garmin says 1.87 miles.

My target for the second interval was 7:45 pace, and I knew from the first lap that I was going a little faster than that, but I just kept up the same pace that I had in the first lap. I knew what my time should be at the end of each lap and I just kept getting increasingly below that time. I ran just barely more than 8 laps during the second interval. The Garmin says 2.01 miles @ 7:28 pace.

A person (I couldn't tell whether it was a man or woman) and a dog showed up on the track during my second interval. They were taking a leisurely stroll in the inside lane. I lapped them 3 times. I was running in the inside lane and so I had to go out around them. I was a little annoyed that they didn't move into an outside lane. They left the track shortly before I did and I actually passed them one more time on the trail during my cool down.

On the whole, I feel pretty good about today's run. I didn't mind running alone in the dark on the track and it was so much easier to maintain a steady pace on the track than it is on the road.

Standard Six + in Sixty Minutes. Average pace: 9:35.

30-Day Shred Level 1

46°F 81% humidity, wind 2 ESE.

My kids are off of school today because the teachers have a professional development day, so I slept in until about 5:15 this morning since I didn't have to drive any kids anywhere. The streets were wet from rain, but the rain had stopped by the time I got out.

Progression Run. 14 miles w/ last 20 min. moderate. Average pace: 8:50.

58°F, 38% humidity, wind 4-8 SSW.

Perfect weather for running on the Highline Canal Trail. The trail was quite shady and the breeze was cooling. After a week of freezing in the mornings, the weather for this run was fabulous. Today is warmer than it's been all week plus I was out later in the day.

We did not have a big turnout for running group today. It was just Michelle and me. Michelle is very consistent and dependable. I appreciate that. She wanted to do just 6 today so that she could go to the local high school Homecoming Parade. Even though I've got two kids at that high school, I skipped the parade. We started out kind of fast and when we were nearly finished with three miles, she commented that it felt faster to her. I hadn't been looking at my watch, so I was surprised to see how fast we had been going. We slowed down a little for the next 3 miles, but still kept up a decent pace. The splits for the six miles I did with her were 9:05, 8:51, 8:58, 9:14, 9:15, 9:10. I kept going after she stopped and my splits were 9:03, 9:01, 9:05, 8:59, 9:00, and 8.56 (for a half mile). Then I started my faster part and tried to keep it moderate, but maybe bordered on hard some of the time. In any case, in the 20 minutes I ran 2.57 miles at 7:48 average pace.

About midway through my fast part I passed a group going the other direction that looked like 2 married couples. The 2 women each had a dog on a leash, and the 2 men were each pushing a double stroller with a couple of kids, plus there was a little boy, probably 7 or 8 years old, riding a bike. I had a turn around shortly after I passed them and so then I was behind them. They were going at a pretty good clip because I had a hard time passing them despite that I was running pretty fast. About the time I was passing them, they took a turn off the trail onto a street and the little boy on the bike nearly hit me. I had to call to him to watch out.

During my cool down walk I talked briefly to a woman that I see on the trail pretty regularly on Saturday mornings, and who I talked to even more briefly last Saturday before the race. So I am meeting some more runners, which is nice. Incidentally, there were a ton of people on the trail this morning.

Easy Run + 10 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:47.

30-day Shred Level 2

48°F, 52% humidity, winds calm.

The new shirt I wore this morning did a good job of keeping me cool, which is not what I wanted. I was chilly on top throughout the run. Maybe it will be a good as a layer when it gets colder and I start wearing multiple layers.

It's been quite a while since I've done level 2 of the Shred, and I have to say, it kicked my butt this morning. I did level 1 for about the last month. My plan is to do level 2 for about a month, and then do level 3 for about a month. Then I'll have to either find some other strength routine to do, or take a break and lose my fitness so that the Shred becomes hard again, like I've done in the past.

Ladder Intervals. 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., @ 5K-1,500m pace w/=duration recoveries, 1 mile easy. Average pace: 9:13.

45°F, 80% humidity, winds calm.

I went to the track again today. I have a nice 2 mile route that goes from my front door to the track, but I was day dreaming this morning and missed a turn and ended up doing a little loop in the route twice and so my warm up was actually 2.32 miles. And it was slow - 10:13 pace.

My pace on the intervals was 1 min. @ 6:53, 2 min. @ 7:25, 3 min. @ 7:06, 2 min. @ 7:01, 1 min. @ 6:53, 2 min. @ 7:01, 3 min. @ 7:06. I knew I went out too fast on the first one and so I guess I slowed it down a little too much for the second one as a result. After that, I looked at my watch only for time, never for pace, and just ran by feel. It's interesting that I ran exactly the same pace on both of my 1 minute intervals. I just noticed that both of my 3 min. intervals were at 7:06 pace, and, if you throw out the first 2 min. interval, the other two 2 min. intervals were both at 7:01 pace. That is really freaky. I checked my Garmin data to make sure that's what it really shows, and it is.

The person and dog that I saw on the track last week were there again today, but this time they stayed in an outside lane.

The track is in the green belt between my neighborhood and the middle school. There are lots of paved trails going through the green belt. There also a lot of short cut dirt trails through the weeds that the kids have made walking to the middle school. I take one of these organic trails to get from a paved trail to the track. That's fine when I'm going to the track, but when I went to leave the track and head home, I have a hard time finding the end of that trail in the dark, even with my head lamp. I had to wander around in the weeds for a little bit this morning to find the trail. When I stopped running and was walking around looking for the trail, my glasses fogged up, which made it even harder to find the trail.

Okay here's a picture that shows the area I'm talking about. When I took this picture, I was standing on the hill where I do hill sprints (the hill doesn't look very impresive from this angle) and just a few yards behind me, the trail meets the street that I live on about 10 houses down from my house.

Now I'm adding Hill Sprint Hill pictures taken from the other direction. In this first one, I'm standing on the hill, near the bottom and I think it makes the hill look a little scary. This is what I see while I'm running it.

This one is from a little farther away, on the aforementioned dirt trail and probably gives a more objective view of the hill.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:07.

Shred level 2

61°F, 34% humidity, wind 5-8 SSW, gusting to 11.

I enjoyed the warm this morning in anticipation of the cold that will be here tomorrow. But I got out the door a little bit later than I should have, so I ran on the faster end of my easy range.

I was sweating buckets by the time I finished the shred. That level 2 is no joke.

It seems much windier now than it was when I ran. I think the cold front is on its way in.