Sean's Running Blog

Back home and an easy 14 that felt pretty good. I'm working on getting my calves stronger so I started a jump roping routine. 90 seconds of jump roping is hard.

Today was my first day back at work in 10 days. I was hoping to get up early and do my workout but sleep got the better of me so I waited until after work and ran about 5pm.

The workout was

The workout you gave me was a threshold cutdown as follows:

6@5:26

2@5:18

1@5:10

I did the following:

:29; :21; :26; :20; :24; :20; :17; :10

I was kind of all over the place on the first six miles but on average well below the assigned splits. I ran those miles on my certified 10k course to avoid doing 4,000 laps around the track, then I ran the last TWO around the track. Yes, two. Not three. By the end of mile 7, the first one around the track, I knew I didn't have another two fast miles in me. So I made a deal with myself that if I hit the final mile time of 5:10 in Mile 8, then I would skip Mile 9. I did it although I was disappointed there wasn't gas in the tank for another. I should say there was gas in the tank, there just wasn't ixygen in the lungs. Since Hood to Coast, I have been battling a chest cold. This was my first workout since Hood to Coast so it was nice to run hard again, but my lungs are still working on 75% at best. It slowly improves each day but I simply didn't have enough for the workout.

8 easy miles this morning. I was surprisingly not sore or tired from my disappointing workout yesterday evening...some 12 hours prior. 10 more this evening along the Snoqualmie Valley Trail.

14 wonderful miles along the Samammish River Trail. It has been about a month since I have run that stretch and I made it from work almost to the RedHook Brewery in Woodinville before hitting my turnaround point. Wish I had more time to have gone all the way to Woodinville but my son had a pack meeting i needed to get to. Beautiful weather here right now. Cool in the mornings (mid to upper 40s) and picture perfect in the afternoons: low 70s.

Six miles this morning in clear but cool weather. Planning on another 15 or so this afternoon. My morning schedule is getting screwy now because I have to take my daughter to school at 6:55am. She's a big middle schooler now (and she knows it). So on my double days I'm having to do the shorter leg in the morning and the longer leg in the afternoon.

10 more this afternoon at 6:30 pace.

12 easy miles today on the East Lake Sammamish trail. Did 1.5 minutes of jumpropig afterward.

12 miles w/7x1000m @3:03 with 2:00 rest betweem. 15 minute jog then 5x60 sec. hills. This was a tough one.

Finally a very solid workout. 9-mile tempo run with first 6 @ 5:26-5:28, next two at 5/;18-5:20 and the final mile at 5:08-5:10.

5:31--oops

5:17--oops

5:29--feeling great but not finding the rythmn

5:23

5:25

5:22

5:19

5:13--really feeling good

5:05--felt great to crush the last mile

12 miles under cool but perfectly sunny skies this morning.

I decided early last week to not run a fall marathon so I will not be running TCM or SGM. There was no way I was going to hit the new qualifying standard at TCM anyway and I'm mentally really burned out.

So I'm dropping mileage to about 70 a week and just focusing on the cross country season. I am considering the Houston Half Marathon in January as my next big race but have some time before I need to commit to that. Hopefully backing off a bit a being more low key will help me re-engerize mentally and physically.

Best of luck to Logan and others running SGM and TCM.

12 easy this morning including 5 strides.

Couldn't run yesterday due to an injury. I saw the PT this morning and found out it is my hamstring, but in a weird place. It's actually where the hamstring and groin muscles attach to the knee. So the pain is on the interior of the knee but towatf the back or bend of the knee. I was able to eke out 9 miles this afternoon. I wasn't in pain but the muscle is very tight and very difficult to stretch. See how I feel in the morning.

Ugly week last week. The lower hammy injury kept me sidelined Friday and Saturday. My regular Sunday day off proved helpful. I ran 8 miles this morning pain free although the muscle is still tight and quite difficult to stretch. I will bump up daily mileage by two miles per day hoping to ease back into things which should put me back around 70 or so miles for the week which is where I want to be for cross country season. The injury caused me to miss both speed workouts last week and at least one week so there will be a set back but no big worries.

So far so good on easing back into things. Still some tightness in the lower hammie but no pain at all.

It was a dark and clear sky this morning with the temperature at the Sundwall house a chilly 37 degrees. That is the coldest it's been in months...another indication that winter is near. I woosed out and wore running pants this morning. I usually reserve those for sub freezing temperatures but as I said, I woosed out.

Lots of stretching afterward plus two minutes of jumprope and some hamstring exercises.

A balmy 58 degrees under a thin overcast layer this morning. It was weird feeling warm currents in the air when just yesterday I was wearing pants with temps in the mid 30s.

Still tight but no pain. Shooting for 14 miles tomorrow.

Another realitively warm and overcast morning. It rained all night but it was dry for my run which is always nice. Decided to do 12 this morning. It felt great. Averaged around 6:42 pace. A nice easy stroll through the dark streets of Snoqualmie Ridge. Hoping to get in a speed workout Saturday.

Another 12 miles this morning under dark but clear skies and a temperature of 49 degrees. It was a perfect morning for a run. Wet streets and the smell of fresh rain. 15-16 tomorrow with some speed thrown in.

First speed workout in two weeks. I was a but timid going in since I'm just working back up the mileage after a miserable injury week last week. So I decided to do the workout I had to miss last Wednesday mostly to see where I was.

6 miles @5:28

2 miles @5:18

1 mile @5:08

Well things went really well and I felt surprisingly great.

Splits were

5:28, 5:20, 5:25, 5:19, 5:18, 5:20, 5:17, 5:09, 5:10

Miles 1 and 7 were into a non-trivial headwind so I wasn't too worried about being slightly slow, particularly on Mile 7. I was just happy to discover I hadn't lost too much.

77 degrees and clear skies today...something we don't see a lot of in Seattle in late September. But I will take it. More of the same tomorrow and Wednesday.

Ran 12 miles up and down the East Lake Sammamish Trail. It was truly a gorgeous day with the added benefit that everything felt great as well.

Had to drop my wife's car off at the mechanic to get it's 60k checkup so I ran from there to work. I will run back later this afternoon to retrieve it.

Cool this morning but sunny. It's supposed to get warm again this afternoon.

As planned, ran back 8 miles to retreive my car.