Where's the Donuts?

I was a little sluggish this morning coming off the evening run, but took it easy and didn't run far. Wound through Manette for awhile, no route, headed back knowing it wouldn't be many miles. I may be rounding up to call it 3.5. I ended up at Manette Park and did 6x100 striders on a nice grassy field, been awhile since I've stretched my legs like that. But a good run, I'll do that Ragnar simulator exercise a few more times before the race, I think it might help teach my legs something. 25:26. 

pearl izumi trail 

Morning run on the usual 11th-Shore loop. Really nice outside, good medium pace. Nothing to report on the foot, very slight irritation mid-run. Stretched my legs out some on the way home because I was rushing to the bathroom. 36:08. 

pearl izumi trail 

Another beautiful cool and bright morning to run, I hope this holds until NWP. I did the Lions Park-Warren-Manette bridge loop, realizing in the park that I had turned too early. My brain was on cruise control. So I rambled a few other streets on the way back, little extensions in Manette to bring the run up to 7 miles. Legs felt good and I stretched them out in a few places, but no sustained up-tempo. It feels a little late to do much tempo training before Ragnar, probably some more striders over the next two weeks are my best bet at this point. My left heel was a little sore to start, but no big problems and didn't get worse. Good start to the week so far. 52:05

supernova -- 392

Skipped the morning run because I was planning to play hoops at lunch. I suppose it's a cross-training workout, but really I just felt like playing ball and didn't want to be worn out. I got in about 40 minutes of stop-and-go running with my heart rate up, so it's worth blogging. 

The highlight (depending on how you look at it) was this: A guy named Marvin Williams is from my town. He plays in the NBA for the Atlanta Hawks, and apparently has nothing better to do in July than come home and play pick-up basketball. On one play a guy on my team drove baseline, pulling the guy guarding me and Marvin to double. I cut through the key and he passed to me, but me, not thinking about how quick a 6-9 NBA power forward and move four feet, tried to go to the rim. Marvin didn't think so. So I got swatted by an NBA player, my new claim to infamy.

With that, back to running.

I wanted to do another little Ragnar simulator, so saved my run until evening (to be followed by the Slug run early Saturday). I had planned for 5, but worked 30 minutes longer than I had hoped and I had to squeeze it in before they showed Top Gun on a roof in downtown Bremerton (couldn't miss that). So I sped through 3 miles in Manette, showered and got back downtown. The run was at about 8 p.m., I kept a good pace but nothing that could be called uptempo. Felt great after a long day at work, I remembered that when I lived in Chicago running late night on Fridays was the norm (1. because it's too hot in the summer to run any other times, and b. I was a loser with no better plans. Like watching Top Gun.). 22:05.

pearl izumi trail 

Early morning run on Beach Drive with Slug Club. They are ready for Ragnar, one woman is even sewing a commemorative patch for the team members. It was a great morning, cool and bright. I ran the first two then picked Mike up, but he just ran one or so with me and went back to meet another guy. I ended up taking off soon after I left him, I was feeling it and just went with the tempo for eight miles (Mike and Ernie would never have approved of this pace). Turned into a really good workout, the fastest consecutive miles I've run in awhile. And I was really comfortable once the pace sped up, no pain whatsoever in my left plantar or heel. The course is pretty true also, no big hills to aid those mile splits. I eased up on the last mile, about three miles from the finish there was an inkling in my brain to stretch the workout into a half-marathon and try to run sub-1:25. That would have been a bit much. 

Here's the splits: 14:08 (first two); 7:23; 6:54; 6:55; 6:55; 6:49; 6:41; 6:26; 6:08; 6:36; 7:01.

The 6:08 required some extra effort and I was trying to push, but other than that the sub-6:50 miles came very easily, which really encourages me heading toward Ragnar. I didn't feel any sluggishness from last night's run, though I did have 9 hours rest. That's less than usual though, so maybe it helps a bit. Anyway, a great running day. 1:22 total.

pearl izumi trail