Sean's Running Blog

Felt pretty good today except that it snowed yet again over night. It was actually the perfect kind of snow. The wet stuff and the perfect depth to actually get good traction on. It was sunny as well which made for a very beautiful run. Pretty tough workout coming tomorrow.

Today was my second workout back and first workout with other people in months. It felt great. It was an 8 mile tempo run along the Samammish River Trail in Redmond. The four miles out were at 5:04 and the four miles back -- into the wind -- were 5:15s. Considering how hard 5:22s were for six mile on Wednesday, i was very happy with today's workout. It makes a world of difference running with others.

10 miles in the morning. We got yet another coating of snow overnight for like the 4000th night in a row. Roads were mostly clear though by the time I ran at 5:30.

6 more miles in the evening.

Pushups after both runs plus some side leg lifts and some crunches.

A windy but balmy 53 degrees in Redmond for my late afternoon jog along the eastern shore of Lake Sammamish. The clouds and wind were far more omnious than the rain. Just a few drops.

Did some stretches, push ups and hamstring exercises afterward. This will be a huge focus of my training over then next five months.

Today was supposed to be a speed workout but let's just say I would need an ark to get to the track in Snoqualmie. We've had ridiculous amounts of rain over the last 36 hours and combine that with temps in the low 50s and freezing levels above 7,000 feet and you get massive flooding. In fact, it looks like it will be historic flooding.

I set out with the intention of still trying to do the speed workout but it turned out that every road into town was completely closed. It was really eerie. Peoples homes were under water. Cars from the lower ground lined the streets of the higher ground. People were slogging through 2-3 feet of water to get to higher ground. It was sobering. Here I was in shorts out for a run. 

The weather this winter has been unprecedented in it's warmth, its bitter cold, its rain, its snow and now the flooding. I love 600 higher than the lower part of town but I saw first hand today the sobering reality of mother nature...yet again.

Here is a picture of Snoqualmie Falls two weeks ago during the frigid week of Christmas:

Here it is today just two weeks later:

This last picture is taken from a one-way bridge in Snoqualmie. The road the water is covering is mile 2 of the 5k and 10k I host in August. Crazy.

Well...today was supposed to be the make-up day for my speed workout missed Wednesday due to flooding. I couldn't run until late afternoon and one rep into the workout, it was raining so hard and it was so cold I called it an afternoon. Later that evening I ran 5 miles but will have to do the workout tomorrow.

Not sure what it is about workouts at the Redmond High School track but I consistently have bowel issues in the middle of workouts. The workout was 3x 400/400/800 in 67/67/2:21 with 2 mins after the 400s and 4 mins reast after the 800. Should have been easier than it was but the issues didn't help any especially on the last rep. I found myself a bit dizzy afterward. I really need to hydrate better even in the cold weather.

Today was a fairly sobering run. It was my longest in a while -- 16 miles -- but it was the route that caused me a lot of angst. I ran down Snoqualmie Parkway half way before cutting over to the ole miner's trail on the eastern border of Snoqualmie Ridge. Much of the trail was all mut washed out and will take some work to make it safe again. A mile down the path and I was in lower Snoqualmie which was hit very hard with flooding. There was, fittingly, a steady drizzle falling during the whole run which made it even harder to watch hundreds of people begin the difficult cleanup of their inundated home. By all accounts, this was the worst flood on record for a town that has seen it all. Homes that have never seen flood waters were engulfed this time around.

The flood waters were completely receded today, but the damage was just beginning to be seen. Virtually every house I ran by had what could very well have been the entire collection of furniture, carpet, herilooms, etc, piled high in the driveway waiting to be hauled off to the dump.

There is a wood carver in town who does those large tree-stump sized carvings. This is his living. The flood waters scattered his many wood carvings across a very large field and beyond. Several people were out looking for them. I spotted a few and pointed them out to the guy. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

Two short weeks ago I was complaining to myself about the thrice-daily show shovelings and the 3-4 foot snow drifts at my house. At least my family was warm and safe.

Anyway...this is a running blog, but running today seemed a bit secondary life altering effects of the most recent weather here.

A slow 8.25 miles this morning. Planning on doing about the same tonight.

Another 8.25 this evening in a balmy 50 degrees and no rain...finally. I brought my iPod along for only the second time ever. It was kind of nice to have some company.

Went the Dempsey Indoor at the UW for a workout with some of the other guys on the team. It's the first time I have worked out there in over a year. It was very nice to be in a wind-free, relatively warm buliding to do a workout. Even better was the fact I got to run with someone, something I rarely am able to do but will be doing with greater frequency. Brett Winegar and I were paired together to do 6x800 with 2:30 rest in between. The target times alternated between 2:21 and 2:18. I'm never very good and the fast-slow repeats as I can't much tell the difference between 2:21 and 2:18 over 800m. My times were 2:20, 2:18, 2:18, 2:17, 2:19, 2:21. I doubt I would have hit these times on my own.

After 5 reps I was ready to call it a night. I was tired and the original workout called for 5-6 800m reps. I wanted to opt for the 5. But my coach encouraged me to do one more and given I was running with Brett, whom I compete against on a regular basis in local races, I didn't want to leave any impression that I was quitting. This was another benefit of running with someone else: Accountability.

Easy ten miles along the shore of Lake Sammamish. Cool cloudy day made it feel colder than the 41 degrees showing on a sign I saw. Did a bunch of stretching and some strenghtening exercises as well.

A very foggy and cold run this morning. It was boring too. Just had a hard time getting excited about running this morning. What I would do for a daytime run in the sunshine...

Another morning of very dense fog except this morning it was only 29-30 degrees so the roads were slick in spots which made the leftover gravel on the side of the road from the big snowstorm very helpful.

I really solid workout this morning. In keeping with my goal of doing more workouts with other people I was able to cajole John Timeus to come up from Kent and run the workout with me this morning. Even one person makes a workd of difference.

The workout was a 9-mile run with the first 6 miles at 5:25, the next two at 5:15 and the final one "all out" hoping for a 5:08.

We finally had some sun but the temp was 29 degrees to start so I decided to wear double gloves, a long sleeve shirt with a fleece pullover and running pants. Not exactly conducive to a fast workout. But I was warm!

I shed the fleece just after mile 1 and had no warmth problems the entire way. I even shed the outer glove layer at mile seven.

We ran the fix six miles on my RR Days 10k course which, except for a bridge crossing, is very flat. There is a turnaround just before mile 4 which accounts for the slowest of the six miles but it's a good course to workout on with very little traffic. First six splits were: 5:28, 5:22, 5:18, 5:28, 5:19, 5:19.

I was feeling pretty strong at this point despite having taken the lead position the whole way. There was no real wind to speak of other than what I was creating myself but it is nice when you can trade off the lead.

We reached the 6-mile mark and ran at basically the same speed back to the start line of the 5k/10k and hit it hard again for the final three miles. The final three splits were 5:17, 5:12, 5:14. I was very happy with the the 5:17 and 5:12 but knew going into the final mile that 5:08 was going to be very improbable. That said, I was perfectly fine with the 5:14 to finish up a strong workout in less then ideal weather and clothing conditions.

I was also very grateful to John for making the 30-minute trip up to run with me.

A beautiful morning. It was breezy but the temperature was a balmy 49 degrees. We are barely above a very strong inversion layer which has Issaquah, a town just 10 miles down the road at 29 degrees and freezing fog this morning. I took advantage of the nice weather and flexible holiday work schedule and ran long this morning. Planning on another 8 tonight which will give me a good jump on breaking 80 miles for the week.

Another eight miles tonight.  

Another Tuesday meant another workout at the indoor track at UW. The same track and Kara Goucher ran on over the weekend at an UW invitational.

Workout was 5x1000m @3:00 or better with 2:30 rest in between. Hit 2:57-2:59 each time which was nice and even had a little left over at the end. First time that's happened in a while.

I realized after the third rep that I had forgotten to change into my racing flats. Oh well.  

It was nice once again to work out with others, especially in a relatively warm environment like the indoor track.

A nice run this morning at about 6:40 pace. Faster than I wanted given a solid workout less than 12 hours earlier. Chilly morning but at least we were above the fog.

A cold and, at times, very foggy run this morning. I need to get better gloves. It even took a while for my toes to get warmed up.

A cool but beautiful sunny run through Marymoor Park and along the Sammamish River trail. After three days of running in dark and foggy morning weather, a sunny reprieve felt very nice indeed.

A great ending to a really solid week of training.

35 degrees and a light breeze under beautiful sunny skies. No one to workout with today so I was on my own.  

Workout today was 6M in a 2:2:2 format. Warmed up for 3+ miles before hitting the Mt. Si track. Times to hit were 5:20:5:12:5:04. The 5:20s felt great, as they should. I hit both in 5:18. The 5:12s felt pretty good as I hit them in 5:12 and 5:13. I was admitedly worried about hitting the 5:04s but focused on just getting the first one under my belt and then trying to gut out the last one. First one came in at 5:06. I would have been ecstatic if the final mile would have come in at that. Surprisingly though, through the first two laps I was right on pace at 2:32. Third lap had me a second off at 3:49 and I was definitely tired, but I managed to pull it all together and hit a :73 on the final lap ending the mile in 5:02. I was thrilled if not surprised I had it in me.

Anyway, a great week first time I'm back into the 80s for a few months and I'm feeling strong. I've also lost all of the excess holiday weight and now just have another seven or so to go. Those will be the hardest.

Yikes. It was frigid this morning. 19 degrees when I left the house at 4:30am. One week ago at this time it was over 50 degrees. My plan was to run 14 this morning and then 8 tonight. About three miles in I was contemplating flipping that and doing 8 this morning. I just couldn't get my fingers and hands to warm up despite the double gloves. Once I got to 8 miles I kept saying "just one more" and before I knew it, I was passing 12 which will make this evening's double that much easier. What I would do for a 50-degree run under sunny skies.

Another 10.25 this evening. It was a balmy 28 degrees. Didn't know what to do with myself in such warmth.

Tuesday workout at the Dempsey Indoor at the UW. Perfect weather in there. :-)

The workout was 5x1200m alternating between 3:39 (73s) and 3:36 (72s). The first one was in 3:39 on the dot. The rest were fast. All 3:34 or better. I was quite happy and I felt strong on every rep. Again, it helps to run with someone else on these even if it was just one person. Going to try and do at least 12 tomorrow and maybe 14 if I can break away long enough.  

48 degrees and mostly cloudy with a few sunbreaks and a couple of rain dribbles. Almost felt like spring in Seattle.

Ran through Marymoor Park and along the Sammamish River Trail. It's a great blessing to have so many trails and paths nearby.

38 degrees and a few sprinkles this morning at 5am. It was slow going this morning -- ~7:00 pace for most of it except for the 5k stretch where I was remeasuring a new course for the St. Patty's Day run I am doing. I must have been in race mode as I unknowingly picked up the pace a smidgen.  

Perfect day for a workout. Upper 40s and sunny around noon. Started with a 4-mile warmup and then hit the track for a 3x2M set with 5 minutes rest in between each two mile repeat. Goal time was 10:10-10:12 for each rep. 

First set was in 10:06. Second was in 10:07 and the final one was in 10:05. I was very pleased with how things went. No one mile segment was slower than 5:05 and I had a couple 5:02s as well. I thought going in that this was going to be a tough one to do alone but I managed just fine. As I write this, it's now rainy and breezy. Glad I didn't wait until Saturday to do the workout. Shoul break ninety for the week.  

A cool but beautifully sunny morning run this morning on Snoqualmie Ridge. Manged to find 17 miles of winding and twisting through the streets and trails. Also finalized my route for the St. Patty's Day run I am hosting here on March 14th.

Broke 90 miles for the first time in several months.