Same Time, Same Channel

Run #1: Un-pre-meditated progression run.

9:39 am, 57° F, 60% humidity, wind 10 N, mostly cloudy.

I didn't get to bed until midnight last night because I took a long nap on Saturday and slept late on Sunday morning, and I had a bunch of stuff I was trying to get done. Even then, I had a hard time going to sleep. So I didn't think it would be a good idea to get up at 4:30 to go running. Instead, I slept until 6:30 and then worked until a while after the kids were off to school, and then went out for my run.

It was supposed to be a recovery run, but my legs were feeling okay after the first little bit and I was in kind of a hurry because I'm busy with work and I had to get home in time to drive my son to his AP Physics test. I'll take today's second run at a more recovery pace. I think this is the last time in this training cycle that I have to do doubles. I don't particularly care for doubles because I have a hard enough time fitting in one run per day, let alone two.

AP: 9:35. Splits: 10:08, 9:57, 9:48, 9:24, 9:14, 8:57.

Run #2. Recovery run.

2:32 pm, 65°F, 17% humidity, wind 12 WNW, sunny.

I don't know how you people who run in hotter temperatures and higher humidity do it. Actually, this temperature wasn't too bad to run in, but I was really dripping with sweat when I finished. I'm not acclimated to heat at all.

I really tried to keep it slow. Thus the slow down on the last mile.

AP: 10:07. Splits: 10:33, 9;57, 9:51, 10:07.

V0₂ max intervals - 11 mi w/ 5 x 1,200 m @ 5K race pace; jog 50 to 90% interval time between.

 5:23 am, 38°F, 79% humidity, wind 1 ENE.

I dawdled a lot this morning before getting out the door. I was dreading this workout. I debating whether to put it off until later in the day, but at this point I'm glad I got it done and over with in the morning.

I ran 3 miles to the high school track and then did the intervals there. There were hurdles on the track, but the first and second lanes were open. I did roughly 500 meters on the recovery intervals and I did them the opposite direction than I did the faster intervals. When I was between the 3rd and 4th intervals, a guy came and started running on the track. He stayed in the 2nd lane and didn't bother me.

I have to make deals with myself to do a workout like this. I'd tell myself things like, "just 3 laps and then I get to rest," or "after this interval, just two more intervals to go."

After I was done with the track part, I ran 2.9 miles back home.

AP: 8:55.
Splits before the intervals: 10:18, 9:50, 9:48.
Pace on the intervals (with rest pace in parentheses): 7:21 (9:45), 7:18 (9:55), 7:14 (9:34), 7:15 (10:05), 7:05.
Splits after the intervals: 9:57, 9:26, 0.90 @ 9:24.

Medium-long run.

10:02 am, 33-36° F, 81% humidity, wind 5 NNW, overcast with a sprinkling of snow on the grass, but not on the roads or sidewalks.

My daughter asking me this morning, "why can't we just have spring weather." I'd like to know the answer to that myself.

As I near the end of this training plan, I have to say that the hardest thing for me about this training plan has been the weekday medium-long runs. It's not so much that they're physically demanding, though they are that, but that they take such a big chunk of time. In order to do one of these runs in the morning and be done before the boys all leave for school, I need to be out the door between 4:30 and 4:45, and I just can't manage that most of the time. It would be interesting to look back at my blog entries and see how many of these medium-long runs I actually did first thing in the morning. With cold temperatures and snow on the ground this morning, I opted to sleep in a bit, then get up and work and run later. Of course, it wasn't much warmer at 10:00 or noon than it had been at 5:00 am.

I departed a bit from my normal routes today and ran through Lone Tree on Yosemite Street. It turns out that section of Yosemite Street is pretty hilly.

AP: 9:11. Splits: 9:47, 9:30, 9:20, 9:08, 9:25 (Park Meadows Center Drive from Acres Green to Yosemite), 9:25 (Yosemite Street), 9:19, 9:00, 8:51, 9:09, 9:06, 8:56, 8:54, 8:46.

General Aerobic + 8 x 100 m strides.

5:37 am, 34° F, 89% humidity, winds calm, overcast.

It's supposed to get warmer today than it did yesterday, but it was still pretty cold this morning. At least it wasn't dark when I got out.

This was just kind of an ordinary run. I ran my regular six mile loop, which ends near the middle school track, so I ran a little extra to get to the track and did the strides, and then ran home.

AP: 9:38.
Splits before the strides: 10:26, 9:58, 10:06, 9:38, 9:40, 9:19, 0.29 @ 10:04.
Pace on the strides (recovery pace in parentheses): 6:26 (9:52), 6:23 (10:07), 6:41 (9:22), 6:49 (9:41), 6:54 (9:40), 6:53 (9:25), 6:36 (9:54), 6:01.
The run home: 0.77 @ 9:47.

I started fast on the strides, and then my pace slowed in the middle section, and then I picked it up again at the end. I guess I kind of lost focus in the middle.

Recovery run.

9:56 am, 50-54° F, 60% humidity, wind 6 S.

I'm taking the day off work today in order to clean my house because my brother is coming from Alabama tomorrow to play the oboe with my church choir on Sunday. This is not my favorite way to spend a day off from work, but oh well. In any case, since I wasn't going to work today, I didn't feel compelled to get up and run early in the morning. Instead, I slept in and then got the kids off to school, did some laundry, and cleaned a bathroom before I went out to run.

I felt very sluggish when I started this run, but then I got feeling better after a couple of miles, which is very typical for me.

Now I need to take a shower in my newly clean bathroom, and then get back to work cleaning the house.

AP: 9:56. Splits: 10:32, 10:00, 9:55, 9:30, 9:40.

Long run.

9:09 am, 47-55° F, 78-59% humidity, wind 7  N.

I fully intended to get up and run early this morning. But I was on my feet a lot last night ushering at my husband's orchestra concert (I do that in order to get a discount on the tuition for the youth orchestras that my boys are in). Then I got roped into going to the after-concert party, so I was up late last night. And then a family member woke me up in the middle of the night for a while because that family member was having a rough time. So I didn't manage to get up early this morning. When I did finally get up, I spent a couple of hours doing some more house cleaning.

After all this, I wasn't exactly full of energy when I headed out the door to run this morning. For this reason, I decided to do multiple neighborhood loops instead of driving to the trail. This saves some time and staying closer to home is less stressful. I was going to do a 5-mile loop five times, but when I got to the point where the five-mile loop departs from the 4-mile loop, I changed my mind because to turn it into the five-mile loop I would have to cross a busy street twice and that would just waste time waiting at lights. So I did the four-mile loop five times instead. I stopped at home for a pit stop and took a gel after the 2nd loop and after the 4th loop.

I tried to push the pace a little on the last mile. I'm glad to be done with this run. This means that I have finished the third mesocycle without missing a workout. The fourth mesocycle is much easier.

I've been thinking today about those bloggers who are running in Ogden. I hope you're all having a great day.

AP: 9:22. Splits: 10:19, 9:50, 9:32, 9:26, 9:23, 9:16, 9:04, 9:02, 9:15, 9:10, 9:09, 9:11, 9:28, 9:28, 9:19, 9:13, 9:28, 9:24, 9:24, 8:47.