Where's the Donuts?

Track workout night, nice and warm out. Henry met me there and we warmed up together for one mile, then he did some Crossfit garbage while I ran around the track. Yasso 800s at 2:50 pace was the plan, between 10 and 12, w/200 jog between.

Splits went 2:50, 2:45, 2:51, 2:50, 2:50, 2:51, 2:51, 2:49. Then I took a break, got some water and chatted with Henry, and he talked me into a goofy finish (you know, that Crossfit crap). (I'm kidding. Maybe I wouldn't be such a weakling if I did that kind of thing more often). We ran 800/400/800/400 without a break, but the 400s were backward. I still hit 2:50 and 2:48 for the 800s, but the backward laps (2:37 and 2:13) were not relaxing in between. By the end of the second one my calfs were really fatigued/cramping and I felt a little dizzy.

Even though I was still hitting my times, the stress of the backward running made feel 10 good enough to call it a night. My quads are still pretty sore from Cross Pass, that's where I really feel beat up. But other than that this was a good workout. One slow mile cool down. 

supernova glide 4  

Warren-Manette bridge loop, my legs are heavy this week. 39:23

11th-Shore Drive, a short version then up to Manette Park for 8x75m barefoot in the grass. Felt good to do that. 39:00 

supernova glide  

Manette Hills loop, with a new middle part of the route to go through the Stevenson Canyon trails. I probably could have extended things a bit in there, maybe next time. My legs felt as good as they have in three weeks, first time I haven't been sore/tired in the quads as I get started. 47:25

brooks cascadia red 

Track workout night. Mile warmup, 6x1600m @6 min. pace w/200m easy between. They were a little uneven —5:56, 6:01, 6:04, 5:56, 5:51, 5:56 — but felt really strong, especially toward the end. Then an 800m jog with Henry and we got out of there. 

supernova glide 4 

Long out and back on Tracyton Boulevard (the road past the boat launch). Turned at Allen's Corner. Good pace, and I ran a few quicker miles on the way back because my legs felt a little frisky. Trail race tomorrow up in Kingston. 1:40:00 

supernova glide 4 -- 465 

The inaugural Peninsula Relay Challenge would have been ripe for complaints, if it wasn't such a perfect weather day and good group of racers who didn't really care who finished where. As it was, an imperfect race became a really enjoyable morning, so who cares about accurate splits, course directions or wins. 

My friend Mark talked me into this, he's a big stand up paddle guy. The race was a 10k SUP (which actually ended up being 5 miles) from Appletree Cove to a pretty little private beach in Indianola, where I took over for a 12k trail run (with some roads) to the White Horse Golf Course, tagging Brian, who rode 10k on a mountain bike and some roads back to Kingston Adventures. There were only like 6 teams and 5 solo racers, but that ended up being plenty. 

I warmed up for 12 minutes or so and then Mark tagged me as the third off the board. I was at least 3 minutes behind the first kid, who was one of those local 17-year-old XC runners who I dread racing against in August/September. The other guy was 90 seconds ahead of me, but in the shuttle over he confided that he hadn't run in 3 weeks at all, and 8 miles is his longest race ever. So I figured I could catch him. I didn't know how many times I'd have to catch him. 

 After running up the beach and across the driftwood, the race joins a really nice, moderate and shady trail. There were a number of little wooden bridges over what are usually wet spots, but it's been dry so they were no problem. Lots of twists in the path as well. I caught the guy in 2nd about 7 minutes in, after the first hill. I figured it was me chasing the high school guy, and I had no idea where he was. 

On to the first road stretch, then back into the forest. It really remained shady, which was wonderful on a warm morning (it's 80 here, which is like an oven for us). Through the trails, down a gravel road and then back on trail, then another asphalt stretch through a neighborhood. I missed a turn somewhere here, and ended up screaming down a big neighborhood street which, I didn't realize at the time, was near the Indianola Beach, and the mid-point aid. I hit a T in the road and saw no markers (the markers had been a little iffy up the that point as well, almost missed a few already). So I started to run back up the hill, until I saw a woman in her yard. I asked if she'd seen runners, and of course not. So I sighed, resigned to an extra hill climb with no idea where I was -- and then the woman goes "You mean those guys?" And the leader and guy I had passed once were headed down the street that mine T'd into. Somehow the guy in third had cut the course and passed the leader and me. Catch-up #1. 

So I caught them at the aid, and then we headed out on the beach, which I didn't know was part of the course. 3/4 of a mile through the sand and rock and some kelpy tide pools, so we got wet and I passed 2nd again and got right up behind the leader. Luckily a girl the leader knew was standing at the point where we turned back onto trails, I would have been completely lost without her. 

On the trails I stuck behind the leader, maybe 20 yards behind. We crossed the highway and got back on trail, then after cresting a hill I caught him. There was a split in the trail without ribbons or a chalk mark, though a permanent "trail" marker pointed right. We rolled the dice, and were wrong. We ran at least 10 minutes on this other route, which dropped us right back on the highway, maybe 40 yards from where we had been 20 minutes earlier. So back into the woods, back up the big hill for a second time.

After that detour we were behind three runners, and I thought the gentlemanly thing to do was stick together. So the kid and I settled into a pace, talked about his season, and just enjoyed a nice run. We caught one one the streets through Suquamish, and he happened to be the guy who designed the course. Guess what we asked him about? 

Then the trail leveled out, and I had a sense we were somewhat close because we were over 50 minutes. The kid's mom or someone was there yelling at him to beat me, so I decided the sportsmanship award was back up for grabs. I took off, and left him pretty quickly. After spreading out the gap, the trail turned onto a power line trail that was wide, rutted, overgrown, rolling and in the sun. It was a little rough to finish on, but I trucked through. I caught another guy who I hadn't seen all day, and then picked off the young guy for the third time, maybe 400 meters from the finish. Rolled in and tagged Brian with my watch at 1:07. I have no sense of the distance, so I'll guess that we added a mile. 

Brian lost ground to three guys on the bike, and we ended up third overall for teams, and behind one solo. Of course, he also got lost. The race director was real apologetic, he blamed it on someone else but we laughed it off. Kingston Adventures had plenty of pizza waiting, it was beautiful and full at the Kingston Marina, so I went home happy.

Also, it was good to run a longer tempo run backed up against yesterday's longer run. It was good to catch and beat a kid who's been training for XC, and hold him off. I've got a marathon in a few weeks, so I'm trying to squeeze in some training like this.  

brooks cascadia 6 

Warren-Manette Bridge loop. 36:00

brooks cascadia 6 

Lions Park, beautiful morning. Any maybe newsy: I heard a lot of sirens, so better go find out what's happening! 

brooks cascadia 

I had this scheduled as a long slow run, but got into a rhythm and changed my mind a few miles in. So it was a longer tempo run that I cut a little short of what I had planned, and I'll head back out tomorrow so I get good distance for the weekend. 

Back at Annapolis for the first Saturday since May or so, and it was quiet. Cloudy and muggy. First few at 7:10 pace or so, then a 7/min and worked down into a marathon goal pace for the rest of the run. 6:40, 6:50, 6:50, then a slower mile up the Manchester hill, then 6:30 to 6:40 the whole way back in. Mike met me at mile 10 or so and we ran a few together, he didn't expect the uptempo pace today. 1:50:09 overall. 

Other than a little hamstring and right hip flexor fatigue at mile 15 everything went well. Wore new shoes, although I mistakely bought Supernova Sequence rather than Glide last night. (The running store emailed to say "We sold you the wrong shoe!" That's customer service.) But my feet did feel good, the glides were ready to go.

In the back of my mind I'm worried I don't have enough base miles, but I have done more tempo work in this prep than usual. And I suppose I do have some long runs in me with Chuckanut/Crow Pass base earlier in the year. So we'll see how that goes in a few weeks at Skagit Flats. 

supernova sequence -- 16 

YMCA loop, a little stiff from yesterday but not bad. I think these shoes will be ok, they are more sturdy than the glide though. Hopefully they break in a bit. 30:57

supernova sequence -- 20 

Lebo to Pat Carey Vista and back, 44:04. My hamstrings are really, really tight and sore from bending over doing yard work yesterday. Hopefully they loosened up with an easier run, I'm headed to the track tomorrow. 

Speaking of yesterday's yardwork, when I was in my front lawn pulling weeds a large group of runners came trickling down Alder Street. The first guy was wearing a diaper, others had weird knee socks, others had dreads, and a few were carrying mai tais. We have Hash House Harriers in Bremerton! They invited me to "come hash, man!", but those weeds don't pull themselves. 

 supernova sequence -- 26

Track workout Tuesday, I moved it up this week because I have friends in town the next two days. I'll do some hiking, but probably no running. Hammys still pretty tight and sore from Sunday. 

Yasso 800s today for the last time of the summer before the marathon. Mile warm-up, then 11x800 with 200m at 8/min pace between. Splits went 2:56, 2:56, 2:53, 2:53, 2:53, 2:56, 2:58, 2:56, 2:56, 2:56, 2:50. The last one was tough on the quads and hammys, but I was pushing it then. Fitness was fine though, so that's a good sign. 

supernova sequence -- 34 

Bad run today on what should have been my last long one. A combination of things led to an afternoon rather than evening run. It was warm, my legs were worn out from hiking Wednesday/Thursday, I have some stress at work I'm not handling well, and I got 5 miles out and knew this was a bad idea to push it. Mostly an overall slog feeling, with really tight calves. So I'm discouraged about what should have been a better day and better week, and a little worried about what the race holds two weeks from now. 1:15:00

supernova sequence -- 44

20 minutes through a business park in Cincinnati before my meetings got started. I spent most of the week here, at an outpost Holiday Inn next to the airport, and didn't really enjoy it. The trip and the lead-up at work was not good for running, and given the poor past week of training, big distractions at work and some nagging doubts about my fitness and health, I'm dropping Skagit Flats. It's just not a good idea right now, that's the way it is sometimes. 

supernova sequence