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Fartlek run - 10 miles w/ 8 x 25 sec. @ 3K pace.

Weather 9:20-11:00 am: 48°F, 28% humidity, wind 4 mph S.

We are having freakishly warm weather. I should have worn a short-sleeved shirt.

This was kind of a hard workout after Saturday's long run, even with a rest day in between. I was supposed to do 4 miles today and do this workout tomorrow, but I switched them because I had more time today on account of the holiday.

I took my mp3 player, which I haven't been doing lately, because it was warm enough that I didn't need to wear my warm ear cover thing. I have an arm band that holds my mp3 player. On my second fast segment today, my mp3 player fell out of the arm band. This has happened before and I've been meaning to sew up the bottom of the arm band (it's open at the top and the bottom) but have never gotten around to it. The mp3 player hit the ground harder this time because I was running faster and the little button in the middle of the dial fell out. However, I was able to snap it back in and it seems to be working fine.

Since I was in the middle of a fast segment and didn't finish it because of dropping the mp3 player, I ran a little ways more and then redid that second fast section. When I looked at the data after the run, I realized that I did 22 seconds of that fast section before stopping because of the dropped mp3 player, so if I count that fast section, I actually did 9 fast runs instead of 8. And once again, I ran them faster than I could probably run a 3K. My paces for the fast sections were 7:29 (uphill), 6:27 (this was the short one where I dropped the mp3 player), 6:29, 6:40, 6:57, 6:14, 6:32, 7:13, 6:37.

Easy run. Average pace 10:58.

Weather: 35°F, 48% humidity, wind 8 mph SW, clear skies and (with a nod to Snoqualmie) a waning crescent moon.

I really took to heart the directive to take easy runs easy today. Some days are just really slow. I guess I was worn out from yesterday. I was glad that today was a short run.

After the run I got breakfast for the kids and did a few things for them, and then did the shred. I feel like I need to do the shred 2-3 times/week to keep my upper body strength up.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:51/mile.

Weather from 5:40 to 7:40 am: 44°F, 11% humidity, wind 11 mph SW.

Another slow, easy run. The wind was kind of a factor today. I spent a good portion of the run running either south or west into the wind and it slowed me down a bit. I did get faster over the course of the run, however. My first 5 miles were all over 11 minutes, and the other 6 were all under 11 minutes. With a couple of exceptions, each mile was faster than the one before and I ran the last mile in 10:09.

I've got a little tightness in my right hamstring. I noticed it last night when I walked to a neighbor's house. I could feel it this morning when I started running, but it got better as the run progressed.

I need to get more sleep. It's hard for me to get to bed early because I often have to stay up in order to pick my son up from work at 10:00 pm. That was the situation last night because my husband was at a rehearsal until after 10:00. That will probably be the situation again tonight because the boy works until 10:00 and my husband is going down to Colorado Springs for a convention and may not be back before 10:00. I've really got to teach the kid to drive so that he can drive himself to and from work.

Easy run. Average pace: 10:52.

Weather at 6:30 am: 45°F, 28% humidity, wind 10 mph SW, partly cloudy skies, which made for a fabulous pink and blue sunrise. It looks like our warm spell is ending. It's supposed to be cold tomorrow.

According to my training schedule I was suppose to run 9 miles with the last 15 minutes moderate this morning. I struggled with the decision all day yesterday, but I finally decided to run 4 miles easy instead because my hamstring was bothering me and I've generally been feeling tired and run down lately. I had to convince myself that taking it easy would benefit me more than running the 9 miles would. I am able to slack off on things in other areas of my life, but for some reason I am very strict with myself about running even though no one cares whether I run except for me.

My hamstring was a little tight on my run this morning, but not as bad as yesterday, so I think it's getting better. I ran pretty slowly today, but I did manage negative splits (11:25, 11:05, 10:44, 10:16). I've got 6 miles plus hill sprints scheduled for tomorrow. I'll probably do it, but will attempt to do the hill sprints a little slower than I have been doing them.

Easy run plus 8 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 10:19.

Weather at 7 am: 32°F, 53% humidity, wind 10 mph E.

I felt much better this morning! My hamstring did not bother me at all. I increased my cadence just slightly over what I had been doing the last few days but still kept it easy and increased my pace as a result. Splits for the first six miles were 10:58, 10:57, 10:38, 10:03, 9:50, 9:35.

I tried to take the hill sprints slower than I have been doing them lately, while still going a little harder than an easy pace. Paces on the hill sprints were 8:28, 7:51, 8:55, 8:14, 8:11, 8:21, 8:04, 8:32. That's probably more the range they ought to be in.

Near the end of my run before I did the hill sprints I passed a woman who was walking a very large dog (the dog was on leash and didn't bother me at all). I just said to her, "That's a big dog." She said, "He would like to run with you." That was the end of the conversation because they I was past her, but it got me thinking. I don't deserve to have an opinion because I have never owned a dog, but I'm wondering whether if you have a dog that needs to run, you're obligated to become a runner so you can run with the dog. I guess you can take the dog to an off-leash area and let the dog run, and I saw a guy the other day who was riding a bike and was holding a leash with a dog running along side him. But it seems like it would just be more convenient to be able to run with the dog. It's neither her nor there, I suppose; just something I was thinking about.

I've got a really busy day tomorrow and I need to get my long run done early in the morning. My oldest son has to be to work at 5:30 in the morning, which is not the shift he usually has on Saturday, but that will get me up and going early, which will be helpful. I'm supposed to do 15 miles with the last 30 minutes moderate and uphill if possible, and boy is it possible.

Progression run - 12 miles easy + 30 minutes moderate, uphill. Average pace: 9:56.

Weather from 5:45 to 8:30 am: 18°F, 91% humidity, wind 3 mph SSE, misty/foggy.

I meant to turn off the auto lap feature on my Garmin before I started, but I forgot. I left it on until after the start of the 12th mile and then turned it off so that I would have a good mechanism for timing my 30 minutes moderate. So I have mile splits for the 12 easy miles (ranging between 9:32 and 10:52), and just the average pace for the moderate part (9:03).

There was a gradual downhill for about 3 miles starting after the 8th mile. I got going a little too fast in that section because it was so easy. By the time I got to the moderate part, I was tired, but I pushed it a little and managed to increase the pace a little, but not a ton on account of the up hill.

I had to drop my son off at work at 5:30 this morning, and then went running after that. I had to go early because my husband is at a music teachers' conference and I had to take son #3 to a youth orchestra rehearsal at 9:15. I was actually done with my run this morning before the time that I have left on my run the last couple of Saturdays.

I was thinking about whether aerobic capacity or leg strength is my limiting factor, and I think it's leg strength. I'll have to look in my Hudson book and see what modifications to the training plan he says to make when leg strength is the limiting factor.