Cursed Realm of the Faceless Ghost

Elliott had a rough night (daylight savings it tough on toddlers) and I was up with her, so I skipped the run this morning. I was a little worried because the scheduled run was pretty tough, and I don't usually do well in the evenings. But I planned my day so I would be ready to run at night (which means I ate the right things at the right times) and the workout went without a hitch. 

Seven 1-mile repeats at 5:52 with eighth-mile recoveries at 10:00. Faster than my previous my repeats, with less recovery, too. I think that the fact that it went well means I'm getting stronger.  

Six miles. Late at night. 

I wanted to get off the night schedule, but because I ran so late last night there was no way I would have been ready for an early morning run today. So I went out around 11:00 with Elliott in the jog stroller. It was a little tricky, since I was running intervals, but she loved it so it was worth the hassle. Besides, I've missed my runs with her.

Thirty minutes of 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. It wasn't perfect because of the realities of navigating the River Trail with a stroller, but it was close enough that I'll count it as a complete workout,  

This week up until now has left me pretty sore, so I wasn't looking forward to a longer run this morning. That's why I slept in a little bit. Once I got out, things weren't that bad, even though it was a bit colder than I had anticipated. 

Tomorrow is a rest day. I'm looking forward to it.  

Rest day!

This one didn't go as planned. 

 I headed out around 7:30, which seems to be the perfect time to run right now, and headed up the River Trail to Provo Canyon. The plan called for 17 miles, with four miles at goal pace. I decided to throw those in early in the second half of the run, so I wouldn't have to worry about them at the end and so I could practice running hard on a slight decline (I hear there's a bit of that at Ogden). The first three fast miles went fine (6:14, 6:16, 6:04), but a little more than a quarter of the way into the final miles I felt a rumble just below my tummy. I was able to find a relatively discreet spot in the office parks north of Riverwoods, but I was a little rattled because it's been a while since I've had an, ahem, "intestinal malfunction" while running, and because my rhythm had been wrecked. I got back on the trail and jogged the rest of the mile and then ran one more fast mile (5:55) before settling in for a steady cruise back home. 

Unfortunately, the last fast mile gave me a terrible side stitch, which, on top of the earlier incident, killed what was left of my running mojo for the day. So I took a shorter route back home and finished with 16 miles instead of 17. But when I got home Catherine and Elliott were out on their own run with some friends, so I turned right around, and slogged through the last mile in our neighborhood.

So, in the end I did all the running I needed to, just not quite the way I had planned to. On the plus side, the whole run took just a couple minutes over 2 hours, even with all the stops, so I think I'm in reasonable shape, especially compared to where I have been for the last few years.