Same Time, Same Channel

Easy run + 10 x 10 sec. hill sprints. Average pace: 10:04.

5:00 am, 39° F, 55% humidity, winds calm.

I got some trail shoes because I have a challenging trail race coming up and I'm hoping that they help me stay on my feet during the race. But they have a big clunky heel and I'm blaming them for my running slowly today. But maybe I should blame all the junk I ate over the weekend. In any case, maybe I'll just use these shoes on days that I'm supposed to do an easy run to help me keep it easy.

My splits this morning for the 6 miles before the hill sprints were 10:05, 9:51, 9:52, 9:56, 9:52, 9:37. It occurred to me this morning that one thing the Monday-morning hill sprints do for me is wake up my legs after the Sunday off and the slow Monday morning run. My paces on the hill sprints were 7:10, 6:37, 6:33, 6:47, 6:29, 6:16, 6:22, 6:40, 6:41, and 6:28. It was nice that it was starting to get light by the time I was doing the hill sprints. I should enjoy it while I can because before long it will be dark at that time again.

The best thing about Daylight Savings Time (who came up with that name anyway?) is going off of it. Although I have to admit that if we didn't have DST, here in Denver we'd have full sun at 4 am in the Summer.

Specific-Endurance Intervals - 2 miles easy, 5 x 2K @ half-marathon-10K pace w/3 min. active recoveries, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 8:36. Level 2 Shred.

5 am, 41°F, 40% humidity, winds calm.

My neck is still a little stiff, but the discomfort seems to have moved from my neck into my left shoulder. The shoulder doesn't feel too bad, except when I run. The bouncing seems to bother it. The first time it bothered me was yesterday morning when I ran. I remember it hurting at the first of my run, but then I didn't remember it bothering me for the rest of the run, so I decided to run with it this morning. Once again, it hurt at the beginning of the run but not so much later on. I could still feel it later in the run, but it didn't hurt as much. I wonder what's going on with it. It's very strange.

I didn't get back from my run until after Thing 2 had gone to seminary. Apparently he got his ride okay. I'm glad that we've started this car pooling arrangement because it lets me get some relatively long runs in on some mornings.

I was going to do this workout on the track, but my son reported yesterday that there was still snow on the track, so I programmed this workout into my watch and did the workout on the roads instead. Since my watch uses English measurements rather than metric, I set the intervals to 1.25 miles instead of 2 K. In any case, my paces on the intervals were 7:58, 8:01, 7:36, 7:35, 7:26. The first two (especially the second one) were mostly uphill, while the last three were more downhill than uphill.

Very slow run. Average pace: 10:05.

5 am, 33° F, 67% humidity, wind 3 SSE.

I can't blame it on the shoes today. I guess I was just cold and tired. It was noticeably colder than yesterday morning. Yesterday I took of my gloves for most of the run. Today I was wishing I had a second pair of gloves. And it took me 2 minutes more to run 10 miles today than it took me to run 11.5 miles yesterday. Splits were 10:30, 10:23, 10:25, 10:05, 10:11, 9:59, 9:53, 10:00 9:46, 9:38.

Threshold Run - 2 miles easy, 2 x 15 min. @ half-marathon pace/10K pace w/1-min. active recovery, 2 miles easy. Average pace: 8:45. Level 2 Shred.

5:30 am, 53° F, 26% humidity, wind 8 S.

What a difference a day makes. Yesterday I was wishing for a 2nd pair of gloves. Today I ran in shorts and a short-sleeved shirt and I was fine. However, I still struggled with the pace a bit on account of the wind, especially on the first 15 min. rep. It was mostly uphill and into the wind. The second 15 min. rep. started out uphill and into the wind (because there was precious little rest between them), but then I turned the corner and had a cross wind instead of heading straight into the wind and also things started to tend downhill then. My pace on the first rep was 8:18. My pace on the 2nd rep was 7:54.

A few times recently I've seen an old white-haired guy out running when I've been driving home from the seminary drop-off. He has kind of strange form. He holds his left arm bent close to his body and doesn't swing it, while the right arm swings. I was running a little later today since I didn't have to do the seminary drop-off and so I actually encountered him in the last mile of my run. I passed him and thought that if I kept the same pace I would put some distance between us since I was going faster than him when I passed him. I don't know if he picked up his pace to chase me or what, but I kept hearing his footsteps right behind me. I glanced back a couple of times and he wasn't far behind. I was running about 8:20 pace at that point (it was a gentle down-hill). He followed me for a good half mile or so until I turned off onto my hill sprint hill to head home. I kept up the pace because I didn't want to let the old guy pass me.

Easy run. Average pace: 9:12.

7 am, 54° F, 33% humidity, wind 6 S, overcast.

My kids are off school again today because the teachers have a professional development day. So I took this opportunity to sleep in and run a little later. I felt pretty good on my run and got going at a fairly decent pace. It turns out that Midnight Trail to Georgia has a good beat and eight notes make a good running tempo. That song was responsible for my fast 6th mile. Splits for the first 6.5 miles were 9:56, 9:09, 9:31, 9:13, 9:06, 8:27, and a half mile at 9:10 pace.

I ran for an hour, which gave me 6.5 miles, but when I got home I asked my 12 year old son if he wanted to run a mile. He's been wanting to start running, but it's been hard to find a time that we can run together because he doesn't want to do it in the mornings and evenings are too busy. So I went out for another mile with him. I tried to let him set the pace and he started out kind of fast. I told him I thought it was a little too fast, but he thought he could do it. He did slow down over the course of the mile, but still we ran the mile in 9 minutes. As we we approaching the end of the mile, I told him that we wouldn't make it quite home before the mile ended, and that we could either stop and walk after we completed the mile or keep running until we got home and he wanted to stop and walk.

I got an email yesterday about the Colder Boulder 5K on December 5. They put you in waves based on your finish time in the previous Bolder Boulder and they they consider each wave a separate race and award three finishers in each wave. I'm irritated by all these hilly 5Ks out here in Highlands Ranch and I haven't been able to run one of them at as fast a pace as I ran the Bolder Boulder this year, so I'm thinking that maybe I could get a good time in the Colder Boulder. Also, each finisher gets a Chic-Fil-A chicken biscuit and a Headsweats Alpine Reversibe Beanie. I'm really tempted to do this race, even though it's 9 days after the Turkey Day 5K I'm signed up for and it's a hassle to get to Boulder. Maybe I'll run the Turkey Trot with my son and then race the Colder Boulder. I'll have to think about it.

Also, for those of you who are considering the Canyonlands Half Marathon in March, they have now announced that registration for the lottery will run from November 25 to December 10, so put that on your calendars.

Progression Run - 12 miles w/ last 20 min. moderate.

7:30 am, 44-50° F, 40% humidity, wind 2 SSW, sunny.

It felt kind of chilly at the beginning of this run but then it warmed up a little bit and was perfect running weather. Both Michelles as well as Carly and Nicole ran today. Carly and Nicole did 5 miles, but the two Michelles did the full 12. I split off from them after 9.5 miles and picked up my pace. I was surprised by how soon after I finished they both finished. They both picked up the pace as well. Michelle #1 finished just a minute or two behind me and was running strong at the end, and Michelle #2 was just about a minute later and was also running hard at the end. My splits were 10:06, 9:49, 9:45, 9:39, 9:26, 9:55, 9:48, 9:59, 9:59, then 9:57 pace for a half mile, and then 8:01 pace for the last 2.5 miles (20 minutes and 5 seconds).

My husband and I have to drive up to Greeley this afternoon to see our oldest son in a concert with the Western States Honor Orchestra.