Doug's Running Thingy

Intended morning run evaporated when I flicked to the weather channel and saw 28° - blah.  Got in 4 miles at lunch though - yay.  Pretty good run too.  Hit the bridle trail and neighborhood streets and kept the pace sub 7:45.  Might have to make that a routine because I really really dislike running when its below freezing... ok, when its below 50!

Quick few miles starting from the track this morning.  Had to be in early to work, so only squeezed in 3.5.  Off to a better start this week than last at least.

Lunch run around the neighborhood and bridle trails.  After a mile warmup, did 6X 2 min on 1 min off.  Hit the ons between 6:05 and 6:18 pace - felt pretty good.  Trying to decide what to do for the next couple months.  Feel like I should concentrate on short fast stuff, core and lifting.  Maybe four or five runs per week of 4-5 miles, and resistance/core every other day.  We'll see.

Did the lunchtime run thing again as I was too wimpy to climb out of bed this morning to run in 35 degrees.  Hit the trails for quick tour around Lake Overstreet.  Quick indeed - for me  :)

Very good Lake Jackson trail loop run from Forest Meadows rec center.  First mile flat (7:37), second mile mostly downhill (7:07), third (7:27) and fourth (7:52) miles mostly uphill, and fifth flat (7:42).  Cool and sunny lovely midmorning run.  Took it pretty easy on the uphill 4th mile and then cruised on back to the jeep.

Feet are starting to ache a bit lately - just over 300 miles on the shoes - might just add some inserts since they are still really good on the outside.

From the track down and around Lake Overstreet clockwise.  Middle 2 miles right at 7:30 pace.  Felt really good this morning, but didn't press any harder than the fairly comfortable 7:30 pace.  Will do a hard interval workout tomorrow on the trails.  Decided to run a 6K race on the FSU XC course this Saturday.  Should be fun.

Upper 40s, crisp and clear for the run this morning - nice.  Started at the gardens trailhead and did ravine trail for warm up - on hindsight, just over 3 miles may have been a bit too much warmup for me.  Once I made it to the relatively flat Lake Overstreet loop, I did 6X 2 min on 1 min off.  First three were between 6:30 and 6:20 pace, but I backed off a bit on next two (6:35 pace) so I could finish strong on the slightly uphill final rep.  I hit 5:55 pace on that one and was pleased with the effort - pleasantly spent.  Just under a half mile back to the jeep real easy.

A little tempo this morning on the "2-mile loop" aka the ravine trail.  Ran easy from the track and once around the loop (8:11 pace), then worked it pretty good for the second 1.7 mile lap (7:09 pace).  Finished up easy back to the school and around the track once.

Very enjoyable inaugural 6K trail race this morning on the Apalachee Regional Park cross country playground.  Its a dedicated running trail with a main loop of a bit over 1.5 miles.  FSU XC teams race here at 5K, 6K, 8K and 10K, and the high schoolers use it during XC season as well for a few 5K meets.  I started out with the intention of going 4 min per K and even switched my Garmin over to metric to monitor my progress.  Well, I poorly managed my warmup/porta potty timing and didn't have time to head to the car to switch into my racing flats... more tragically, I failed to double tie the laces on my trainers and, at a bit shy of the first K, my left shoe came untied.  I was exactly on pace, but after tying my left shoe and retying my right to be safe, I found myself in a pack of a few guys I know and we just kinda cruised around the trail enjoying the morning.  Travis and Lisa also ran.  Trav wanted to just go out easy and negative split - he ran 22:17 for 12th and was pleased with that.  Lisa, in her 4th race ever, averaged under 12 minutes per mile and defeated nearly 20 of the 175 racers!  Very impressed and proud of her jumping into this silly running thing.

Averaged 7:43 for 5.3 miles around the ravine trail and overstreet loop this morning - bout the best I've run that route in quite some time.  Felt pretty good.

Did my weekly interval run on the trails to lake jackson early this afternoon.  Yep, had to wait until the chill wore off - ha ha.  Was 70 at 7AM and about 75 when I ran at 2PM - sheesh - Merry Christmas from Florida!

Each of the 2 minutes "on" were at between 5:55 and 6:17 pace - not too shabby.   

Nice midmorning run after the Inlaws left for 'bama.  Just zig-zagged around the trails until hooking up with Lisa for the last half mile back to the jeep.  Looking forward to having this week off work.  We shall see how productive I can be... 

Much rain over night, so just ran around the track while Lisa walked/ran with a friend.  I did five laps warmup then 8X200 - first 4 between 40 and 42, and the next 4 between 37 and 40, all with a 200 jog between.  Finished up with two barefoot laps on the infield.  Last day of morning lows above 50 for a few days, but I can live with the forecasted upper 30s.

Afternoon trip around the trails.

Did 3.8 pretty hard on the big fun single track red bug mountain bike trail this morning and then did an easy 2 and a half run/walking with Lisa along the St Marks Trail while Travis did the entire 16 miles on his longboard - kids!  Good day so far, now off to dinner at Carrabbas - gotta love gift certificates.

Dec 31 and I just returned from some track work in sunny 72 degree weather - shame, ain't it?  Two mile easy warm-up and then a couple 300s and a couple 200s before I ran out of time before lunch date with Lisa.  Sneaked in two barefoot laps on the infield and then headed off to Panera.  Got new inserts for my shoes last week and the heel pain has subsided nicely.