Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run + 6 x 8-sec. hill sprints.

7:05 am, 65-69° F, 30% humidity, winds 5 SW, sunny.

I got up just after 6:00 this morning and could have gotten out to run earlier than I did, but when I turned on my watch, I got a low battery warning. Usually when the warning comes as soon as I turn the watch on, the watch is good for only about 5 minutes. So I plugged the watch in to charge it and did some housework for a half hour or so. I had a strange thought while I was folding laundry. I use the shoe tracker on the blog to keep track of the mileage on my shoes, but it might be nice to have a bra tracker. I have some running bras that are good for long runs and others that are old and worn out and that I wear only on short runs, kind of like I do with my shoes.

I just did a short loop around my hood, but I saw some things I don't usually see. Here is a short list of things I saw on my run today:

• 3 or 4 unpackaged multi-colored condoms on the sidewalk across from the high school
• 3 cars full of people parked in front of the closed gates of a garden center; they must be anticipating a big sale
• the remains of a dead bird (not the most interesting thing, but a list of 3 items is better than a list of 2 items)
  

I felt kind of sluggish on the run today, especially at the beginning. Maybe it was the heat. It was warmer than I am used to. If I keep running in warmer temperatures, will I get used to it?

AP: 10:09. Splits: 10:25, 9:57, 9:25. Pace on hill sprints: 6:28, 6:50, 7:21, 6:07, 6:58, 6:51.

Fartlek run - 8 miles w/ 8 x 50.sec @ 10K-3K pace

6:30, 59-66° F, 28% humidity, wind 10 SW, sunny but a fair amount of shade.

It's Fartlek Tuesday again. That means it's Table Time (see below).

I felt kind of sluggish today. Maybe it was the heat. I feel like a wimp that 60 degrees wipes me out, but it does. Or maybe I was sluggish for some other reason, like staying up too late to watch the Rockies game. The Rockies games are just too late on this extended California road trip. Darn Pacific Time. At least they won last night.

Two of the three things I saw yesterday were still there, but the condoms were gone. I could have taken picture of the dead bird or the cars parked at the gate of the garden center (it was three cars again; I think the same three cars as yesterday), but those things aren't that exciting and I didn't want to stop and take pictures.

Average pace for the whole run was 9:31. All but one of my fast intervals were below my fast miles threshhold (the one was close), but I put them all into the fast miles bucket anyway because I tried hard on all of them. The slowest one had a big uphill in it. (Excuses, excuses).

Now it's time for the table.

Easy run.

6:43 am, 50-56° F, 56% humidity, winds calm, sunny.

This was almost an unintentional progression run, but I blew it on miles 3 and 5 which where the only miles in the whole run that were net uphill. Interestingly, my average pace for the whole run was only 1 second slower than my average pace for my whole run yesterday, and I had some faster running in yesterday's run. I guess that yesterday I compensated for the faster parts by running slower than usual on the easy parts.

As for the sights on my run this morning, the dead bird was gone, and there were two cars instead of three waiting at the garden center. However, I also saw a dead fox by the side of the road. I've revised my guess about the cars waiting outside the garden center. I don't think that there's an awesome sale going on three days in a row. I think that they are day laborers and that there's some kind of work available at the garden center.

AP: 9:37. Splits: 10:12, 9:36, 9:42, 9:19, 9:34, 9:22, 0.07 @ 9:07.

Progression Run - 8 miles w/ last 20 min. moderate (uphill, if possible)

6:30 am, 54° , 75% humidity, wind 4 NNW, overcast.

It felt colder than usual in my room with the windows open this morning, so I thought that maybe it would be cooler outside today. But it wasn't particularly cool and it was kind of muggy.

When I got up I seriously considered bagging the run and just going to work because I have a lot of work to do right now. But I finally talked myself into running. Still, I didn't have much speed in my legs this morning. I didn't manage to get anything into the fast miles bucket. The plan says to do the last 20 minutes uphill, if possible. The penultimate mile was largely downhill, but the last mile had a lot of uphill. That's why the last mile was slightly slower than the one before it.

All the road kill was gone this morning, but the day laborers were at the garden center again. So there were no new interesting sites.

I'm just glad to be done and have these miles in the bank.

AP: 9:31. Splits: 10:05, 9:58, 9:47, 9:38, 9:36, 9:38, 8:41, 8:43.

Fartlek Run + Progression:
3 miles easy
3 miles: 1 min. @ 10K pace/1min. Easy
2 miles easy
2 miles hard

7:49 am, 63-66° ,13% humidity, wind 3 WSW, cloudy.

I've been dreading this workout all week. This dread factored into my decision to skip my 4 mile easy run yesterday. Other factors were the flatness I felt during my workout on Thursday, soreness from my workout on Thursday, and the need to get my boys to the church to leave for a campout at 7 am.

I did this run all by myself on the Highline Canal trail. While I was struggling through this run, I thought of Michelle and Rachel and others running the Utah Valley Marathon this morning. At least I didn't have to run a marathon today. I really missed doing my Saturday morning run with Michelle. And I missed getting a high five from her at the end of the run. I'll be alone again next Saturday because she won't be back from Utah yet.

During the first mile, I saw a little area roped off by the side of the trail with a sign that said, "Bee careful. Bee habitat in tree." Presumably it was still there when I went back that way at the end of my run. But I didn't see it. I don't see anything but the ground in front of me when I'm trying to push it at the end of a run.

I've had lots of runs lately that have requested moderate pace the last 20 minutes. This was supposed to be hard the last 2 miles. For faster runners, 2 miles would be a much shorter distance than the distance they would go for 20 minutes at a moderate pace. But for me, it's about the same distance. And it was hard instead of moderate. However, when I have moderate, I think I typically run hard, particularly the last mile. Another thing about this hard designation: It just says hard, not a specific pace. So my pace on those last two miles was not anything impressive. But it was hard for me. Really it was.

Since there are so many reps of the 1 min. @ 10K pace/1 min. Easy, I set up this workout in my watch prior to the run. The current version of Training Center is smart enough to do repeats of 1 min fast/1 min slow over a distance of three miles. However, my old watch isn't smart enough to accept that workout. So instead, I estimated 14 reps of the 1 min. fast/1 min. slow. This ended up to be 3.09 miles, so I cut the 2 mile Easy portion that was supposed to follow the intervals a little bit short by hitting the lap button when I got to 8 miles. I knew that I wouldn't want to run 0.9 past the finish line at the end. I was pretty tired by the time I finished those intervals, as you can see by my easy paces for the last few intervals and my easy pace after the intervals.

Also, I have no clue what my 10K pace is. I haven't run a race that I could base paces off of in a long time.

I put all those 1 min. fast intervals in the Fast Miles bucket even though they weren't all below the magic number. But I did try to run fast on them. Of course, I tried to run fast the last two miles too, but I didn't manage to get those miles anywhere near the Fast Miles bucket.

AP: 9:33.

3 miles easy: 10:17, 9:57, 9:54

14 x 1 min. fast/1 min. easy:

 1.91 miles easy: 1 mile @ 10:07, 0.91 mile @ 10:00

2 miles hard: 9:14, 8:56