Same Time, Same Channel

Day of rest.

The choir performed in church today. It went amazingly well, especially considering that at choir practice a week ago we were considering cancelling the performance because the piece wasn't ready. In fact, the returning missionary who spoke after the choir sang said it was the best ward choir he has ever heard. I can't quite say the same because I've been in some really fantastic ward choirs, but it was pretty good, if I do say so myself.

Now I'm going to try to take a nap, but someone is playing rock band downstairs and is pounding on the plastic drums.

I hit the snooze alarm once this morning and that put me behind schedule the whole morning. Oh well.

I did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights before I took my son to seminary, but I didn't have time to get dressed for running before I took him (I do the shred in my pjs). So after I got back home I got my running stuff on and headed back out. My legs felt heavy. I went faster on Saturday than I intended to and faster than I should have, and I'm still feeling it today. The legs got a little better as the run progressed, but it was easier than usual to keep the slow pace on the run this morning.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:42, Splits - 10:57, 11:03, 10:40, 10:34, 10:17

I've got a busy day today. My third son (possibly) broke his finger on Friday evening. I took him to the urgent care because it was too late for the dr's office and they took an x-ray but still weren't sure whether it was broken. So I've got to take him in to his regular doctor this afternoon and have them look at the finger and at the x-ray. I've also got to take my daughter to dance this afternoon. I've got to somehow get in a full day of work too. I'll have to do some work at home tonight. And my first son has an orchestra rehearsal tonight that he needs to be driven to and picked up from. And the second son wants to be taken to the store to buy a game that he's been saving up and waiting for. And I've got to get the third son (the one with the hurt finger) packed for a 3-day outdoor trip he's going on tomorrow with the sixth grade. I'm tired just thinking about it.

I actually got up on time this morning and was all dressed for my run by the time I drove my son to seminary. In fact, we got there a little bit early, but then we had to wait for someone to come unlock the door to the school.

I got my run in as soon as I got home from dropping him off and then got ready in record time because I had to take another son to his school early because his grade is going on this outdoor ed trip today. I burned about 40 minutes standing around at that school waiting for them to board the buses, then I finally gave up and left.

My legs didn't feel heavy this morning like they did yesterday, but I didn't feel great. I was still kind of tired. I hardly looked at my watch and ran more by feel and naturally went quite slowly. The first week of running 6 days/week wasn't too hard, but the second week is turning out to be a little harder, probably because I overdid it a bit last Saturday. But I'll keep running. I'm planning to do the same 10-mile run again this Saturday, but I think I'll do it early in the morning and I'll try to go slower than I did last Saturday.

Average pace: 10:49. Splits: 11:13, 10:58, 10:38, 10:27.

Saucony Omni 6: 62.9

I got up one minute before my alarm went off. I did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights. I figure I'll stick with level 1 this week and then move up to level 2 next week. I've been through all three levels in the past, but then I took over a month off when I had surgery during the summer, so then I started over with level 1.

I got out on my run pretty quickly after I took my son to seminary, so it was still a little dark when I started, but I knew it would be light within 15-20 minutes, so I wore a reflective vest, but not a headlamp. I didn't look at my watch for pace at all, but just ran by feel. At one point, there was an older man, I would guess about 70, running along the same street as me, but on the other side of the road. We were going roughly the same pace and I made sure to at last stay even with him, but then after a short distance he veered off onto a bike path. I tend to run on the main streets rather than on the bike paths. The bike paths are made of concrete, so they don't offer a better surface than sidewalks and I figure the main roads are safer at dark-thirty in the morning than the bike paths, which run through the green belts, are.

I've been thinking about the best way to increase my weekly mileage. I think right now I should focus on increasing my week-day mileage and keep my Saturday long run at 10 miles for now. Last week, my week-day mileage was 4, 3, 5, 3, 4. So far this week it has been 5, 4, 5. I think I'll do 4 each tomorrow and Friday and then try to do all 5s next week. Then I'll take a couple of weeks to move all of the weekdays up to 6. I don't know whether I should stop at 6 miles/day with maybe a little bit longer run one or two days during the week or if I should try to get up to 8 miles every weekday. I don't think I have time in the morning to do 8 miles every day unless I make my husband drive my son to seminary every day and get out on my run earlier. Any suggestions for what my weekday mileage should be are welcome.

Also, I bought the Run Faster book by Brad Hudson yesterday and have started reading it.

Stats for today:

Average pace - 10:44. Splits - 10:58, 10:57, 10:49, 10:32, 10:26.

My pace was more consistent not looking at my watch than it usually is when I look at my watch.

I got up and did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights this morning. I was just going to do the shred on M, W, and F this week, but I decided to throw it in today as well. I'm still planning to do it tomorrow, but not on Saturday.

I had a nice 4 mile route planned out for today, but then I wasn't paying attention to where I was going and took a wrong turn, which accidentally cut out about a mile of my route. At the point that I realized I was off course I was near a mile loop that I sometimes throw into my runs, so I threw in that mile loop in order to get the distance. That mile that I threw in is more hilly than the one I missed.

I decided to push the pace today. I did not look at my Garmin at all and just went by feel. I guess I was pushing it harder with each successive mile. And I had no idea I had been so slow on the first mile. So I'm putting splits in today since this was a faster workout and not what qualifies as an easy run for me.

Average pace - 9:44. Splits - 10:57, 9:48, 9:25, 8:47

At the end of my run when I was walking up and down my street for a cool down I met another neighbor. This is not the next door neighbor that I talked about before. This is someone who lives across the street and down a couple of houses. She was just heading out and looked like she was going for a run. I stopped her and talked to her for a minute. I think there's a potential for running with her sometimes. I run by myself almost all the time, and I think it would be nice to run with someone else once in a while.

 Saucony Omni 6: 66.9

Easy run. Average pace - 10:50.

I was going to let my self sleep in a little today because the kids don't have school (professional development day for teachers) and so I wouldn't have to drive my son to seminary or spend time getting kids ready for school. So I set my alarm for 5:30 instead of 5:00, but then I let myself sleep in even more by hitting the snooze alarm a couple of times.

I got up and did the shred level 1 with 5 lb. weights and while I was doing it I remembered that I hadn't made my husband a lunch last night. So after I finished the shred, I made his lunch, and then I got dressed and went for my run. I tried to take it slow and easy since I went faster yesterday and I've got a long run tomorrow. I took the route that I intended to take yesterday but messed up yesterday.

I think I'll do the same 10 mile route tomorrow that I did last Saturday, except I'm going to do it early in the morning instead of at noon and I'm going to try to take it slower than I did last Saturday.

Easy long run. Average pace 10:20.

I ran the same route that I ran last Saturday but it was a much better run. The differences were that last week I ran at noon and this week I ran at about 6:30 am. I also had a bowl of oatmeal right before running this morning. Last week I had eaten before the run since the run was later in the day, but didn't eat right before. Also last week I did the shred in the morning a couple of hours before the run and this week I did the run first thing. Finally, I attempted to run slower this week. I did start slower, but finished faster and ended up with exactly the same average pace, which I think is kind of funny. I think the biggest difference and the reason this run felt so much easier was that it was early in the morning and so the temperature was about 20 degrees cooler. Another interesting thing I noticed about the run today is that I got progressively faster through the seventh mile, and then I started getting slower, so that probably says something about my endurance.

I'm have to travel to Foster City, California next week. I fly there on Tuesday afternoon and back home on Thursday evening, so my Wednesday and Thursday morning runs will be there. I mapped out a 5 mile route that starts and ends at my hotel. We'll see if I have the guts to run by myself in the dark in a strange place. I can always do the treadmill at the hotel if I chicken out. In any case, it will be interesting to run a flat course at sea level when I'm used to running hills at high elevation.

 Saucony Omni 6: 77.0