Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run. Average pace: 9:53.

Weather: 62° F, 65% humidity, wind 7-8 SW.

I still haven't recovered the zip in my step. I had a hard time getting a good pace going this morning, maybe because I was going into a moderate wind for roughly the first half of my run. Splits were 10:29, 10:03, 10:11, 9;58, 10:17, 9:46, 9:29, 9:38, 9:30, 9:27.

I'm wondering if I'm really going to be up to the ADT marathon on Labor Day. I'm not registered for it yet and it's a small enough race that I don't think I need to register far in advance. I am registered for the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon on August 8. I guess I'll see how I do and how I feel in that race and then decide whether to do the ADT Marathon.

6:30 AM: Fartlek Run. 2 miles warm-up, then 30 sec. @ 5K pace every 3 minutes. Average pace: 9:16.

Weather: 62° F, 50% humidity, wind 6-12 WSW.

I felt sluggish when I got up this morning and when I started the run. I considered cutting the run short. But then I felt better once I got warmed up. This is pretty typical for me.

The temperature and humidity were pleasant this morning, but the wind was a factor, especially since a got portion of my run was going either south or west. My hat blew off during one of my fast intervals, so I paused my watch and picked it up and then resumed. I had to hold on to my hat to keep it from blowing off several other times.

I won't bore you by listing my pace on all 25 intervals, but suffice it say that on the 30 sec. @ 5K pace sections, I was around 7:15, with a few off them too fast and down into the sixes.

I'm wondering whether these all hills all the time courses I'm more or less obliged to run are wearing on me and whether I should do some of my interval workouts on the track. I've got ladder intervals on Thursday. Should I do them on the track?

My husband and 75% of my kids left for Utah this morning. My husband is coming back tomorrow and is leaving the kids there.

**Edited to Add**

My husband called me when I had about a mile left to run and told me they were in the car and were ready to go. I told them to wait for me and told them what street I was on. They came looking for me. When they finally found me I was on our street and was almost home. The 2 boys jumped out of the car and started running with me. They 14-year-old ran ahead because my easy pace was too slow for him since he was only running about 50-100 yards. The 12-year-old stuck with me and I told him that I was on my cool down or easy pace or something like that and he said it wasn't easy to him. They both thought it was really cool to run with me for a little bit. Maybe this will make them want to run with me more.

6:30 PM: 4 miles recovery run. Average pace: 10:23. Weather: 79°F, 29% humidity, winds calm. This run was solidly in my recovery pace range from my McMillan pace chart, which is about what I could handle. Last time I ran in the evening I ran after dinner and that didn't feel so good in the tummy, so tonight I ran first thing when I got home from work and put off dinner until after the run. I could do this because the only family member home with me is my 17-year-old son, who likes to eat dinner late. I don't think I'll be able to do it this way once the whole family is back unless I manage to get home from work earlier, which would require that I get to work earlier, which would require that I run earlier in the morning, which would require that I wake up earlier, which would require that I go to bed earlier, and that's hard to do when my family is home.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:55.

Weather: 62° F, 60% humidity, no significant wind, sunny.

I was supposed to do 8 easy plus hill sprints today, but I'm thoroughly sick of hills. I think last Saturday's 5K pushed me over the edge of my hill tolerance. And it's not like I didn't run plenty of hills during the 8 miles this morning. I had 700 ft. of elevation gain over the course of the run (and also 700 ft. of elevation loss because it was a loop). I've tentatively moved today's hill sprints to Friday. Tomorrow's workout isn't as hard as yesterday's was.

See Lori, I sometimes cut back from the planned workout.

Ladder Intervals - 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min. @ 3K-10K pace w/= duration active recoveries, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 9:07.

Weather: 61°F, 67% humidity, winds calm, cloudy.

I did this interval portion of this workout on the track. I live very close to both a middle school and a high school and each has a track. The middle school track is less than a half mile away, while the high school track is less than a mile away. The middle school track is more accessible because it's not fenced, though I think the gate to the high school track is always open.

I took a 2-mile long very out-of-the-way route to the middle school track. My average pace for these two miles was 10:02. The track is paved with asphalt, not that fancy track surface stuff. There was no one else on the track for a little more than half my run, so I ran in the middle lane and switched directions half-way through the workout. A little while after I switched directions a teenage girl and a younger boy, probably her little brother, showed up and started walking the track. They didn't get in my way at all. My pace on the intervals was 7:45, 7:43, 7:39, 7:24, 7:19, 7:24, 7:13. I think it was easier keeping a relatively consistent pace on the track that it would have been on the roads. I ran the out-of-the-way 2-mile route back home at 9:29 pace.

After I got back home, I was walking down my street a little ways for a cool down and I saw one of my neighbors, who is a friend of mine, sitting on her porch with her little boy. I stopped and visited with her for a little while. That was nice.

At the race I ran last Saturday they gave passes to an advance screening of a movie called 500 Days of Summer to the first 100 finishers, and so I got one (I was the 71st finisher). The movie is tonight. I can take one guest and I'm not sure whether my husband or son is going to go with me. It will probably be my son because Zooey Deschanel stars in the movie and my son loves Zooey Deschanel.

Easy Run + 10 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 10:09.

Weather: 62°, 78% humidity, winds calm, partly cloudy. It felt muggy this morning and I sweated profusely on this run.

My easy runs seem to be slowing down lately. I guess that's okay. I was really slow on the first 3 miles this morning (10:35, 10:08, and 10:18). The third mile has a lot of up hill. I sped up a little bit on the next 3 miles (9:46, 9:44, 9:28) and worked on form, specifically heel lift. I actually felt pretty good on the hill sprints (7:28, 6:26, 7:02, 7:10, 7:31, 7:51, 7:08, 7:01, 6:38, 7:00). I maybe could have run the hill sprints a little faster, but I didn't really go all-out on them today. These were the hill sprints that I was supposed to do on Wednesday and didn't. I just moved them to today.

My 17-year-old son went to the movie (500) Days of Summer with me last night. We both really liked it. It's really kind of short on plot, but it was fun, and actually kind of sad. It just went through different days, not in sequential order, of this guy's 500-day relationship with a girl named Summer. I recommend this movie. And it was nice to spend some time with my son. He told me that he sees himself as the guy in the movie. I guess he's struggling to find the girl of his dreams. He recently posted a note on Facebook that was a job description for his girl friend. I don't think he's had any serious applicants.

Fartlek + Progression Run, aka Torture. 6 miles easy, 15 x 90 sec. @ 10K pace/90 sec. easy, 2 miles easy, 2 miles hard. Average pace: 9:12.

Weather at the start: 70°F, 46% humidity. Weather at the end: 81°F, 42% humidity. Winds calm. Not Bonnie's heat by any means, but still pretty warm.

It's been a while since I did a long run because last Saturday was the 5K race and the Saturday before that I was travelling. It's also been a while since I've been on the Highline Canal Trail. So today I went back to slogging it out on the Highline Canal Trail. Next Saturday will probably be a wash because it's the last day of Trek. The trail is fairly shady this time of year, particularly early in the morning. Unfortunately, I didn't get up quite as early as I intended to. That's the story of my life lately. I started my run at 7:30. It would have been nice to start at 6:30. I've got to start getting to bed earlier so that I can get up earlier.

There were a lot of people on the trail today. I saw a bunch of people from Team in Training at first, and then towards the end there was a group of teenage boys that I'm guessing were a high school cross-country team. They were pretty fast. Also, why is it that dog owners have to clean up after their dogs, and yet horse owners don't. There were a few piles left behind from horses on the trail. There were also a few horses and several bicyclists in addition to the runners on the trail today. It was quite busy.

Now for my statistics.

6 miles easy: 10:11, 9:36, 9:31, 9:46, 9:50, 9:39

Fartlek intervals (This was supposed to be for 5 miles. I did 15 intervals except I didn't do the 90 sec. easy half of the last interval because I had completed the 5 miles at that point, and I had 2 miles easy coming up.) My pace on the fast portion of the intervals was: 7:44, 7:31, 7:34, 7:13, 7:33, 7:37, 7:47, 7:50, 7:35, 7:54, 7:30, 7:40, 7:35, 7:37, 7:42.

2 miles easy: 10:26, 9:58. 3 miles hard: 8:35, 8:42, 8:23.

I really need to do a lot of housework and sewing today. When I got up this morning the thought occured to me that I should probably skip the run and use my energy to do those things. But of course, I used all my energy on the run and it will be a struggle to be anything more than useless the rest of the day. This is the story every Saturday. No wonder my house is a mess.