Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run.

6:53 am, 45° F, 96% humidity, wind 8 SSE.

If I put my Canyonlands Half Marathon time from last March in the McMillan calculator (I use this instead of my recent marathon because the 1/2 time gives me slightly faster paces), it gives me an easy run range of 8:49 to 9:19. That's what I was shooting for this morning. I feel like with all the recovery runs in that last training plan, particularly in the final weeks, I flirted too much with 10:00 pace and I need to get out of that habit and get comfortable running easy a little faster.

I managed to barely eek into the target range on my overall pace by virtue of my first mile being too slow, but I ran the rest of the miles just a little bit too fast. Oops. In any case, the run didn't feel as easy as 10:00 pace, but it wasn't too hard. I made sure that I stayed in a 3:2 breathing pattern (in for 3 steps, out for 2) so that I didn't expend too much effort. And I felt good when I finished, like I could have kept going.

AP: 8:50. Splits: 9:23, 8:47, 8:44, 8:35, 8:45, 0.09 @ 8:41.

In other news, we spent Saturday evening at the urgent care getting this done to my third son:

He was at a friend's birthday party and the friends little brother jumped down the stairs and then told Sam to try it. So Sam did it and bashed his head against the ceiling. Afterwards, the other boy said that he forgot to tell Sam to duck.

The gash was about an inch and a half long, as you can see, and about 1/4 inch deep. After the doctor cleaned it up and showed me before he stapled it, I think I was looking at Sam's skull. He was a big hit at church yesterday. The other kids starting calling him Staples.

Easy run.

6:39 am, 53° F, 50% humidity, wind 14 SSE.

I ran the same route as yesterday and tried to run it a little slower but still in the 8:49 to 9:19 range. Once again I was slower than that on the first mile, but all the other full miles were in that range except for the 4th. I really tried to slow down on the fourth, but a good junk of it was slightly downhill with the wind behind me.

I'm still working on a reverse taper and just running a few more miles this week than last week. My plan is to do 5 miles each week day and then 8 or 10 on Saturday. But I'm thinking about maybe doing 6 tomorrow.

AP: 9:02. Splits: 9:28, 9:02, 8:58, 8:46, 8:59, 0.10 @ 8:41.

Easy run.

6:35 am, 62° F, 56% humidity, winds 13 S, sunny.

The main reason I wanted to do my 6 mile loop today instead of the 5 mile loop that I've done the last couple of days is that the 6 mile loop has some good hills in the first half. I wanted to see if I could maintain my slightly faster easy pace (8:49 to 9:19 pace) on those hills without working too hard. Also, for the first time this week, I managed to get my first mile in the range, just barely.

I saw Ali out running on University when I was in my 4th mile.

It was quite warm this morning. I had sweat dripping into my eyes towards the end. The sweat band in my hat wasn't doing a good enough job. I tried to wipe my face with my sleeve. I'm wondering if it would be worth it to carry a little cloth with me when I run to wipe my face with.

AP: 8:54. Splits: 9:16, 8:45, 8:57, 8:51, 8:56, 8:47, 0.74 @ 8:48.

Easy run.

7:00 am, 68° F, 21% humidity, wind 5 S, sunny.

I've really got to figure out a way to get to bed earlier and get up earlier over the summer even though the rest of the family is on a late schedule. Also, I haven't been carrying water with me because my runs have not been more than an hour long lately. But I'm going to have to start wearing the dreaded fuel belt when my miles start getting a little higher next week. I was dripping with sweat when I got home this morning even though I did not run terrifically far or fast.

AP: 8:58. Splits: 9:24, 8:51, 8:53, 8:52, 8:52, 0.10 @ 8:33.

GA run.

9:20 am, 65-73° F, 60% humidity, winds calm, some sun, some shade.

I didn't run yesterday. I didn't want to. I preferred to sit around and read a book. I wasn't all that anxious to run today either, so I slept late, then read just a little bit and then hauled my sorry butt to the Highline Canal trail.

My first plan was to do 10 miles, but as I approached the turn around, I decided I would turn around when my watch said 5 miles, when I hit the 5 mile marker if it was there (it was - some are missing), or when my watch said 45 minutes, whichever came last. I turned around when my watch said 45 minutes. So then I decided just to make the run 90 minutes long rather than 10 miles. I was faster on the 2nd half, as usual, so I ended up running a ways past the place where I had started.

There were a lot of bicyclists on the trail today. And they weren't the serious bicyclists with their fancy biking clothes. They were just ordinary people in shorts and t-shirts and the like, including some families with kids. It was really a lot more bicyclists than usual, but it didn't seem to be any kind of organized thing. Maybe that's just what happens around that time in the morning on a warm Saturday in the summer.

I tried to keep it a relatively easy effort, but it was probably a moderate effort toward the end. I never pushed really hard. I didn't look at my watch much either. I mostly went by feel.

AP: 8:43. Splits: 9:15, 8:52, 8:52, 8:35, 8:42, 8:45, 8:42, 8:34, 8:30, 0.33 @ 8:12.