Same Time, Same Channel

Easy Run + 10 x 8 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 9:47.

30-day Shred Level 2

48°F, 52% humidity, winds calm.

The new shirt I wore this morning did a good job of keeping me cool, which is not what I wanted. I was chilly on top throughout the run. Maybe it will be a good as a layer when it gets colder and I start wearing multiple layers.

It's been quite a while since I've done level 2 of the Shred, and I have to say, it kicked my butt this morning. I did level 1 for about the last month. My plan is to do level 2 for about a month, and then do level 3 for about a month. Then I'll have to either find some other strength routine to do, or take a break and lose my fitness so that the Shred becomes hard again, like I've done in the past.

Ladder Intervals. 2 miles easy, 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., 2 min., 1 min., 2 min., 3 min., @ 5K-1,500m pace w/=duration recoveries, 1 mile easy. Average pace: 9:13.

45°F, 80% humidity, winds calm.

I went to the track again today. I have a nice 2 mile route that goes from my front door to the track, but I was day dreaming this morning and missed a turn and ended up doing a little loop in the route twice and so my warm up was actually 2.32 miles. And it was slow - 10:13 pace.

My pace on the intervals was 1 min. @ 6:53, 2 min. @ 7:25, 3 min. @ 7:06, 2 min. @ 7:01, 1 min. @ 6:53, 2 min. @ 7:01, 3 min. @ 7:06. I knew I went out too fast on the first one and so I guess I slowed it down a little too much for the second one as a result. After that, I looked at my watch only for time, never for pace, and just ran by feel. It's interesting that I ran exactly the same pace on both of my 1 minute intervals. I just noticed that both of my 3 min. intervals were at 7:06 pace, and, if you throw out the first 2 min. interval, the other two 2 min. intervals were both at 7:01 pace. That is really freaky. I checked my Garmin data to make sure that's what it really shows, and it is.

The person and dog that I saw on the track last week were there again today, but this time they stayed in an outside lane.

The track is in the green belt between my neighborhood and the middle school. There are lots of paved trails going through the green belt. There also a lot of short cut dirt trails through the weeds that the kids have made walking to the middle school. I take one of these organic trails to get from a paved trail to the track. That's fine when I'm going to the track, but when I went to leave the track and head home, I have a hard time finding the end of that trail in the dark, even with my head lamp. I had to wander around in the weeds for a little bit this morning to find the trail. When I stopped running and was walking around looking for the trail, my glasses fogged up, which made it even harder to find the trail.

Okay here's a picture that shows the area I'm talking about. When I took this picture, I was standing on the hill where I do hill sprints (the hill doesn't look very impresive from this angle) and just a few yards behind me, the trail meets the street that I live on about 10 houses down from my house.

Now I'm adding Hill Sprint Hill pictures taken from the other direction. In this first one, I'm standing on the hill, near the bottom and I think it makes the hill look a little scary. This is what I see while I'm running it.

This one is from a little farther away, on the aforementioned dirt trail and probably gives a more objective view of the hill.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:07.

Shred level 2

61°F, 34% humidity, wind 5-8 SSW, gusting to 11.

I enjoyed the warm this morning in anticipation of the cold that will be here tomorrow. But I got out the door a little bit later than I should have, so I ran on the faster end of my easy range.

I was sweating buckets by the time I finished the shred. That level 2 is no joke.

It seems much windier now than it was when I ran. I think the cold front is on its way in.

Hard Run. 2 miles easy, 4 miles @ maximum effort, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 8:34.

41° to start and 39° by the end, 34% humidity, mostly clear skies, wind 10 mph average, gusting to 21 mph, WNW.

My workout plan calls this a time trial for some reason, but I prefer to call it a hard run. Rather than doing one of my two 8-mile loops, I decided to run my 4-mile loop twice this morning. The wind was howling and I decided that I wanted to stay closer to home and avoid open areas. The weather wasn't nearly as bad as it was for you Utah folks yesterday morning. But it wasn't pleasant either. I expect that it will be worse tomorrow.

I had to run across the grass a couple of times to avoid sprinklers this morning. But there was one sprinkler that I didn't see and it whapped me right across the chest. I expect that the sprinklers will get turned off for the season pretty soon. These sprinklers that I ran into where on a large grassy area along a main street, so they belong to the city (though it's technically not a city), not to an individual.

Splits today were 9:49, 9:23, 7:34, 7:32, 7:48, 7:38, 9:32, 9:10.

**Later Addition**

I don't know if I should mention this, but my oldest son told me about it last night and then I got confirmation about it via an email from the school this morning, but a boy on the cross country team from my sons' high school was running the Highline Canal Trail with some parents and teachers yesterday and collapsed and died on the way to the hospital. I don't know any more details than that.

Slow Six. Average pace: 9:54.

Shred Level 2

30°, 50% humidity, no significant wind.

I ran really slowly this morning. I guess I'm still tired from yesterday's hard run. I'm glad it's almost the weekend. I need some rest.

I think I have to accompany my son on a drive up to some town north of Denver this evening so that he can get in some driving hours in pursuit of his drivers license and so that he can see a girl that he likes. I don't really want to go. I'd rather stay home and do nothing, but I guess I should go. We really need to get some driving hours in so that this kid can get his license. It will simplify my life when he gets his license.

Fartlek + Progression Run. 2 miles easy, 4 miles (1 min. @ 10K pace alternating with 1 min. easy), 2 miles easy, 2 miles hard. Average pace: 8:30.

32° at start, 45° at end, average humidity 50%, but decreasing during the run, winds calm.

At met Michelle and Michelle on the Highline Canal Trail, as is usual for a Saturday morning. It was quite chilly, so I wore long pants, a long sleeve shirt and a jacket, gloves, and an ear covering.

The Michelles were planning to run 6 miles, so I ran the first 2 miles with them, but then I had to start my fartlek intervals, so I left them behind. I was supposed to turn around at the five mile marker, but I had was in a fast interval at that point and I didn't want to turn around during a fast interval, so I went a ways beyond mile marker 5 and then turned around when it was time to run easy for a minute. As a result, I ended the 10 miles a good stretch ahead of where I usually stop, so I had a cool-down walk at the end.

I ran the first 2 miles at 9:28 pace. My paces on the fast 1 min. intervals were: 7:14, 7:31, 7:24, 7:17, 7:13, 7:21, 7:18, 7:20, 7:32, 6:59, 7:14, 6:54, 6:59, 7:26, 7:07, 7:06, with recovery paces varying between 8:47 and 9:38. The 2 miles easy after the fartlek were at 9:12 pace, and then the 2 miles hard at the end were at 7:39 pace.

As I started the run shivering, I thought of all the people running St. George this morning and wondering whether they were cold.

I did drive up to Frederick/Firestone with my son last night and went and had sandwiches at the shop where this girl works. It was actually a fairly pleasant outing.