Denouement

 "easy" is uphill loafer canyon to the gate at 10:30 ave pace, downhill @ 8:30 ave pace

9:44 pace

Up Payson Canyon 2.25 miles then down 8.25 miles

9:30 ave pace

8:25 ave pace

Loafer Canyon

35:04 to gate (including down to stop sign and back)

13:34 from gate to top (PR for this year by about a minute).

I felt really good, like I had something to prove after the disappointing 5k last week. 

It was a great start to the week.

8:58 ave pace,

significantly slower at beginning and significantly faster toward the end.

Watch for speed workout tomorrow!

1200 repeats - always a good time.

First time doing this interval length this year. 

Did them on the track, mostly alone though some running buddies were doing 800's so I shared some laps when I could. 

gave myself a slow .5 mile rest since this was a first time for 1200s

times:

1 - 4:41

2 - 4:43

3 - 4:41

4 - 4:33

It felt great to have some left over on the last repeat. 

I am not sure what would be best for the next 1200 work out I do, but since the marathon is the major race, I will probably keep a long rest and increase reps to 6 next time (probably in a month - will do other interval reps in between).

Down Payson canyon,

7:22 ave pace, just slightly better than last all downhill Payson (Jun 14 at 7:26 ave), but didn't do it as fast as the downhill portion of last week's Thursday Payson run (7:16 ave).

My legs felt tired, probably from the speed work out the day before.  I was disappointed at pace but after looking at past payson canyon runs I wasn't that off. 

Dead legs.  Hope to have them back by tomorrow.

8:20-9:30 pace, 8:55 ave.

Up loafer just to gate, then tagged some miles on at the end to get to 9 in a bear free zone.

Tom and I pushed each other up it, 16 seconds faster than last week, 34:49 to gate, including going to the stop sign first.

I spent an hour installing sprinklers after the run so was quite dehydrated by the time I got in the house and got some water in me.  I need to be more careful to not push it too hard at the beginning of the week like last week.

9:19 ave pace, had water within 15 minutes, a banana within 50 minutes, and even took a short nap as Sasha suggested yesterday.

Had 4.5 hours of sleep last night, so I adjusted my speed workout.  I wanted to do a 400, 800. 1200, 1600, 800, 400 ladder, but decided just to do the 400 to 1600 part of the ladder

400 - didn't get the watch to work, dang it, but the pace was likely around 90 sec.

800 - 3:02 (went by the track, two laps, Garmin measured .54)

1200 - 4:46 (went by the track, three laps, was disappointed but the Garmin measured .78)

1600 - 6:07 by Garmin, by completing the 4th lap on the track fast I came up with a 6:23, I felt very tired starting the mile and was tempted to quit it, but I decided to hang on and see what the first quarter split was.  When it was 92 I was encouraged and felt better for the rest of the mile.  I think it is just daunting to do mile intervals, even if its just one (someone please comment to me that I am a wuss and need to buck up!).

The track is the SF track and has plastic fencing right against the inside curve to protect the precious grass, and the plastic fencing often spills over into the middle of lane one.  I have heard runners say the Garmin goes crazy on a track.  I would think any Garmin error would be cutting corners and thus measuring a lap short.  My Garmin measuring the laps long seems to indicate it is quantifying the extra distance I have to cover by running in the outside of lane one instead of hugging the inside lane.  Any feedback from others on this?

All in all, I would prefer to do my speed on the road but am afraid if I go on my own on the road I won't go fast enough or will cut out reps.  Even when I am on my own at the track doing the repeats, I have running buddies witnessing the workout and that is usually enough to keep me going.  Any tips on how to mentally gear up for a road speed work out?

Down Payson Canyon.  Felt better than last week.  My legs are only sore after Payson, not at the top of the canyon, while last week I was sore before I even started.

Ave pace 7:16, so a little faster than last week.

I felt like I was taking it easy for the most part, but toward the end felt more challenged.

9:13 ave pace

easy shorter "long" run since I am bumping my miles down this week. 

I am bumping them down for two reasons:

1) when you are increasing your miles, it is my impression that you should increase by 5-10% a week, but drop down every third week so that the increase is not a steady march upward.

2) I am running Speedy Spaniard on Tuesday and want to not be pooped out for it.

Just an easy run because of the 10K (Speedy Spaniard) I plan on running tomorrow.  I ran the Speedy Spaniard in 42:43 last year, so I just hope to be able to beat that.

OK, so the good news is that I didn't totally give up. 

The bad news is I did worse than last year, and not just by a little.

Here are my splits:

1 - 6:50

2 - 6:50

3 - 7:04

4 - 7:28

5 - 7:15

6 - 7:11

last little bit 54 sec.

So I felt good at the starting line.  I was nervous, but able to relax with effort which is about usual for a race start.  I guessed that I would be able to beat last year's time, but thought my place would be worse because of three ladies that didn't race last year were racing this year that I thought would beat me.  The first mile is uphill and I hung with Hal and Gina.  I was hoping for 6:45 splits but could tell by mile 2 that 6:50 would be about the best I could do.  And by mile 3 and especially mile 4 I just wasn't strong enough to keep up pace.  I tend to get weak mentally as well in the middle of races. 

By the middle of mile 5 I knew I had just over 1.5 miles to go and started to pick it up (admittedly from my slow 7:30ish pace).  I wasn't able to keep up a strong pace through that entire period however.  With a mile left I found myself asking, "Why do I race for fun?  Why is this my chosen hobby?  I could be making beaded jewelry or canning fruit right now."  By .5 miles to go I knew I needed to pick it up to at least finish strong, and I told myself out loud, "Come on!  Come on!"   Funny, that didn't help much. 

I was trading places with another girl for the last two miles and was able to find it in me to pass her with .25 to go and was able to kick it in. 

I was 43 seconds slower than last year, about 7 seconds a mile slower.

I am seeing the wisdom in focusing on endurance instead of speed since this seems to be my race weakness.  I guess I should do my speed in the form of long tempo runs and only occasional long intervals on the road.  And keep my miles above 60 throughout the summer.

The good thing is that races tell you where you are.  By knowing where I am, even though it seems I am slower this year, I can run races smarter and refocus my training.

I was surprised at how sore I was today.  Normally on the racing day I feel tired all that day, but yesterday I didn't feel tired, but just nauseous all day long.  I was downing Pepto for much of the day.  So I didn't notice any fatigue or soreness.

That is, until I got out to run this morning.  My hamstrings were especially tired.

I ran for .6 miles then stopped and stretched.  Then I went on.  At times I was able to go under 9 min pace, but averaged 10 min pace. 

Payson canyon downhill run.  7:21 ave pace.  Wanted to take it easy today because of tired legs from the 10K.  So slower pace in general, but did one 6:27 mile on mile 6.  I felt a little pain in one hip for a while but it went away and I haven't felt it after running. 

Took an easy run.   I have been running my slower runs at a slower pace than I would like, so I tried to push just enough on the first mile to get me around a 9 minute pace.  I think that worked like a charm because it helped se the tone for the run and I was able to stay under 9 minute pace without too much effort for the rest of the run.

8:42 ave pace.

My legs are still tired but not "dead". I should be able to run a long run tomorrow without trouble but want to keeep the pace mellow (around 9 minute pace) for the first half so that I can do it.  I have never run more than 18 miles in one day.  I plan on going 18-19 tomorrow. 

8:57 ave pace long run.

I took it nice and easy, especially since I got only 4 hours of sleep for sundry reasons.  The sleep deprivation made the first 5 miles quite difficult -- I remember closing my eyes for a few seconds at a time to see if it would help me feel rested.  Amazingly, I felt pretty much like it was a normal run the second half, like the lack of sleep was not affecting me.  Perhaps it was the gu I took:  I ate half at mile 9 and the other half at mile 11.

This is the longest run I have ever done, but not the longest I will ever do ;)

Loafer Canyon

for some reason, my watch missed .15, so extrapolated time to the gate, including going down to the stop sign was 35:56, not close to my fastest this year.

I went up the last steep part beyond the gate in 13:55, close to my fastest for the year. 

I felt like I was running it great, though it was hard to keep up pace the last mile before the gate.  I think I could have done better if I had someone pushing me, but I was mostly alone, with my three running buddies finishing behind me.  In the end, though, I of course am responsible for my own pace.  I think I might try running up Payson Canyon with those who run up and down, but I am slower than them (they are a faster bunch), so again I will be alone.  I sometimes feel like I am in no-man's land!  I think the Payson Canyon run would be more helpful because it is not as steep and I can run it longer without resting (they normally go up 5.5 miles without resting, I think).

Ran with the early SF group.  Nice easy run.

9:06 ave pace.

I gave up caffeinated sodas, cold turkey starting last Sunday.  I am hoping kicking this habit will help my running, but it sure isn't going to help my ability to wake up for early runs in the near term.  I think I will take a nap today!