Denouement

Ran with Jamie. The temp was about 24F but felt much colder at the start because of the infamous SF wind. We thus headed west into Leland, the farm country to the west of SF. We had some fast miles, including one 7:05 I'll call a marathon mile. I think it was just so cold and miserable that we kept a faster pace to get the run over and done with. The wind was to our backs and then not too bad when we turned around, until the last two miles when it got really windy and slowed our pace, especially mine. I am glad she came out because it would have been hard to get in the miles alone.

ave pace 7:45

evening ab workout, moved up to 12# for the crossover exercise (sorry don't know technical names) 

Mizuno

Morning:

Ran with Amber, Jamie and Ali at a later time, so I wasn't able to enjoy the weekly freeze myself at the grocery store experience. I guess I will go later. I wanted to do 8x20sec strides, but as we did them my lower leg hamstring started to twinge so I stopped after 5 strides and just finished the run easy. My hamstring hurt a little after the race on Saturday so I guess its time to break out the ice. I haven't needed to ice since September's high mileage, and it just doesn't sound as fun to ice in December when I already feel like a popsicle.

ave pace 8:20

Asics

Afternoon:

4 miles easy in Woodland Hills. The elevation at my home is 6010 so I ran above and below that, two hilly loops. It is nice to be in the snowy woods, to wear shorts, and to be able to see. It would have been nicer if there was sunshine, but it is overcast.

ave pace 8:30

Mizuno

 Evening: Ab workout

Met with MacKenzie early, then looped back for Jamie who met us at 5am. We almost missed Jamie, she had parked and started running without us, we were on the same road but it was dark enough that she didn't see us, and we didn't even see her drive up and park, though I thought we would. I imagined Jamie taking off toward SF ballpark, how we went last year, at 7 minute pace to try to catch us, so I thought we'd have to do 6:30 to catch her, but MacKenzie thought she saw Jamie and did this piercing whistle, and it did turn out to be Jamie. Boy can MacKenzie whistle!

My hamstring is bugging me! I guess I will ice again today. I hope it doesn't interfere with tomorrow's workout (3 mile faster tempo).

Mizuno

Evening ab workout.

Met Jamie and Amber at the track for Jamie's 3 mile tempo, with a goal of even splits.

We first warmed up for 3.09 and stretched. I was concerned about how my hamstring would feel since yesterday I had my worst pain yet with it (not bad, but tight and some pain). It didn't hurt while warming up, and never hurt during the tempo, nor during cool down. I just felt the "That place might start to hurt feeling". Not even tender.

So the goal were even, even, even splits 1:37 for 12. Jamie has a cold, so she wasn't sure how many she could do.

There was snow in the inside lane on the second straightaway which was annoying (I alternated between trying to run through it and swinging out into lane 2, both irritating), and some slickness on the final curve to get onto that straightaway. Other than that the track was clear.

1 - 1:38

2 - 1:36

3 - 1:37

4 - 1:37 First mile 6:28

5 - 1:38

6 - 1:38

7 - 1:36

8 - 1:37 in the seventh lap Jamie says she has had about enough, but she hangs on for one more lap to make it two miles Second mile 6:29

9 - 1:35 now on my own

10 - 1:37

11 - 1:36

12 - 1:35 the third mile still felt pretty easy so I tack on another mile Third mile 6:23

13 - 1:36

14 - 1:36

15 - 1:35

16 - 1:31 tried to pick it up to do a 90sec but came up short, should have pushed it more!

Fourth mile 6:18

The fourth mile was harder than all of the others. I picked it up a little in the fourth mile, but I think it was hard just because it was the last.

So I think I found my new 10K goal pace. Since I felt so good through miles 1-3 and only started to feel the pace in mile 4, I would think that my goal pace for a 10K should now be 6:20-6:30.

Cooled down for 3.26 (8:21 ave pace)

Asics.

Evening Ab workout.

MacKenzie was nice enough to meet me at my home in the wee hours of the morning.  We ran outside until my husband had to leave for the airport.  5.25 miles outside in the slush.  We did three neighborhood loops in Woodland Hills, from 5700 to 6200 feet altitude, so there were alot of hills and alot of slush (thankfully it was not cold) so our pace was slow, ave 9:30 or so.

Mizuno 

 I then came inside, changed clothes and shoes, and hopped on the treadmill. 4.8 miles @ 8 minute pace.  And yes, I want credit for the .05, because I could have stopped but I didn't, I kept going until a song on the radio finished.  I say, running is better than stopping, and getting credit for making more of an effort is part of what motivates me (sad, but true).  So even though a gps watch is not accurate to the hundredth, I know that my watch ticks the hundredths by, and if I do a circle my culdesac the watch ticks upward.  If I decide not to do a loop around the culdesac, my watch doesn't tick those hundredths.  Running is about incremental gains, including the lengths of our work outs.  That's my gps two cents for the day.

Asics
 

So here I am commenting on my friends blogs, and then realize I haven't posted my run yet.

 Met with the SF group at 6am.  I was actually really blessed that the forecasted snowstorm has been warmer than expected so the snow hasn't stuck like it could have.  Up where I live it was sticking to the roads, but the roads in Salem/SF were just fine, and the snow turned into rain as I drove down.  I have a babysitter because Paul is in Montreal, so I know I can go long without ruffling anyone's feathers, but the weather might keep me from going the 15.06 to get me to 70 miles this week. 

I started out with MacKenzie and Ali, and the pace dropped below 8 min after the first mile.  We stretched at Bishops at 3 miles, then MacKenzie and I were off. We went around the golf course and had great conversations, keeping below 8 min/mile generally.  MacKenzie had started before 6am so she stopped at the stake center.  Kevin Kuhni, Steve, Hal, and I ran serpentine-like through the SF neighborhoods, and they pointed out where different runners live, including Kevin's house.  Hal and I ran back to the Stake center, then I ended with about 1.5 miles alone to get to 70.  The weather was quite erratic, it rained, then it would stop.  As soon as I took my jacket off, it would start up again.  It eventually got colder and the rain turned into mushy snow. 

My body felt kind of banged up toward the end, kind of like it did after 20 milers this summer.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised because the last time I ran this long was Nov 19th.

Ave pace 8:09 (pace slowed with Kevin, Steve, and Hal) 

My weight this week has been 121-122, but weighed in at 120, my lowest since 9th grade in high school I think.  So 120 was my goal by Painter's, so just so long I watch the holiday splurging I should be fine.  I still think I look like an out of shape elite runner, as Sasha once put it.  The goal is to be an elite runner by the end of next summer, regardless of what I look like ;) Enough weight psychosis!

Asics