Same Time, Same Channel

General aerobic + speed - 7 miles w/ 8 x 100 m strides.

6:28 am, 57° F, 28% humidity, wind 14 ESE.

I ran later than usual this morning because thing 2 doesn't have to be to school until 8:30 and thing 1 doesn't have to go to school at all since he has graduated now. The only issues were making sure that thing 3 was up on time and then getting thing 4 to the bus at 8:20. So I left on my run after I got thing 3 up and made sure he had everything he needed from me and could get himself to school. I actually wasn't really anxious to run today. I'm kind of burned out. But I feel good now that I've done it.

It was a windy morning. Parts of the run were hard, particularly heading uphill into the wind on Quebec St. I ran about 4 1/2 miles to the high school track, where I did the strides. There was a group of what looked to be middle schoolers gathering at the track but they were hanging out near the long jump pit. There was one guy who must have been there teacher. I wonder if it was a PE class from the middle school doing a final test or something. The middle school is right by the high school so it's conceivable that they would use the high school track. I think it has a better long jump it than the middle school track does. A couple of other runners arrived at the track as I was finishing. The track is oriented north/south, and so all of my odd numbered strides were with the wind at my back and the even numbered strides were into the wind.

AP: 8:56.
Splits before the strides: 9:56, 8:54, 9:02, 8:40, 0.51 @ 8:46.
Pace on strides (recovery pace): 5:53 (started too fast) (10:28), 6:55 (9:46), 6:24 (9:32), 6:27 (9:55), 6:28 (9:23), 6:29 (10:01), 6:01 (9:33), 6:14.
Splits after the strides: 9:07, 0.53 @ 9:01.

Recovery run.

6:43 am, 48° F, 32% humidity, wind 5 SSE.

Thankfully yesterday's strong winds are gone. We've got quite a pleasant morning today.

I set my alarm last night but neglected to turn it on. No matter. I only overslept by 20 minutes. And all I really needed to do again this morning was make sure that Thing 3 was up on time because once again, Thing 2 doesn't go to school until about 8:30. And today is the last day of school for my kids, so I'm going to be even more lazy in the mornings in the coming days. My husband still has school for the rest of the week, though, so I still have to deal with his getting up early.

I worked hard for a couple of hours last night trying to remove caulking from my bath tub. That is no easy job. I got most of it, but I need to take another crack at it tonight. I'm wondering if I have the guts to re-caulk it myself or if I should find someone who knows what they're doing.

AP: 10:13. Splits: 10:31, 10:08, 9:56, 10:16.

VO₂ max - 8 mi w/ 3 x 1,600 m @ 5K race pace; jog 50 to 90% interval time between.

6:35 am, 48°, 92% humidity, winds calm, overcast most of the time - perfect weather for a track workout.

Slept in and then went to the high school track for the workout. There was some guy walking on the track when I got there and he was still there when I left. I talked to him a bit some of the times that I lapped him. He made some comment about my lapping him and that's why I look good and he doesn't. But it wasn't very hard to lap him since he was walking the whole time.

It was overcast while I was running on the track and just as I left the track, the sun came out from behind the clouds.

I didn't do any caulking or caulk removal last night. Maybe tonight.

AP: 8:49. Splits on the way to the track: 10:22, 9:48, 0.39 @ 9:39.
Time on the 1600 m intervals (with pace on rest interval in parentheses): 7:31 (9:53), 7:19 (9:51), 7:19.
Splits on the way home from the track: 9:42, 0.65 @ 9:15.

Recovery run.

6:56 am, 60° F, 70% humidity, wind 4 S.

I have become the queen of lazy these days. I am having a hard time getting myself up and out the door in the morning. It's hard to be motivated when I don't have to get kids of to school and I only have 5 miles to run.

Yesterday my 18-year-old son came to me and said that he had decided to start running because he wants to get in shape. He wanted me to buy him some cheap running shoes and tell him a 2-mile route. So I took him to Target and got him some cheap running shoes and some shorts. I told him that I'll buy him better gear after he has proven that he's going to stick with it. I sent him out on the 2-mile route and told him to walk if he needed to. I didn't keep track of how long he was gone. When he came back he said that he had walked about 1/3 of it and he also said that he had new-found respect for me. I don't think it's just my example that has convinced him to start running. His new girlfriend is a runner. I think I won't say anything to him about it today. He's got a gig today with his band and has to work this evening anyway. But I think tomorrow I'll encourage him to go out and run again.

AP: 10:11. Splits: 10:42, 10:05, 10:12, 9:48 (this is a gentle downhill), 10:09.

Recovery + Speed - 6 mi w/ 8 x 100 m strides

6:50 am, 70° F, 28% humidity, wind 12 SSE.

I meant to run about 4 miles before starting the strides, but it only took me 3 miles to get to the high school track. I should have taken a longer route. I thought of running a slow mile on the track before starting the strides, but I got bored with it after two laps, so I started the strides after 3 1/2 miles. Since the strides are 100 m and I job for 100 m between strides, it takes me 4 laps to do 8 strides. So I had a mile and half to run home when I was done with the strides.

I didn't hit the lap button to record the time on my strides. I had auto lap on, so I just have mile splits today. The strides comprised the second half of mile 4 and the first half of mile 5.

AP: 9:56. Splits: 10:41, 10:13, 9:55, 9:32, 9:14, 9:60.

In thinking a head to next week, I'm not sure what to do on Friday, the day before the race. My schedule has a 4 mile recovery run, but it's a travel day and I need to leave for the airport at about 6:00 am. I'd have to get up really early to do the run. I'm wondering whether it's worth it or if I should just skip the run that day.

Medium-long run.

6:11 am, 70° F, 9% humidity, winds calm.

I had to get a relatively early start this morning because I'm meeting my visiting teaching companion and the women we visit for breakfast at 9:30.

I went to the Highline Canal Trail despite that I was in a hurry because I haven't been there for a few weeks and I thought it would be better to run an out and back on a relatively flat trail today than to run the roads and hills around the hood.

It was warm but not too bad because a good portion of the trail was shady. It helped that it was fairly early in the day.

I saw a couple of fields of little purple wild flowers along the trail. They were very pretty. It's interesting that I didn't notice them on the way out, but I did on the way back.

I tried to run a moderate effort, not too far beyond easy effort. The only place I really pushed the pace was the last half mile. I managed to get the 8th mile and the last mile under my arbitrary fast miles designation of 8:30, and so I'm reporting two fast miles today.

AP: 8:45. Splits: 9:57, 9:17, 9:12, 8:43, 8:43, 8:37, 8:35, 8:25, 8:32, 8:33, 8:33, 8:32, 8:09.