Sean's Running Blog

After diluvial rainfall for most of the day, I broke away from work around 3:30 and went for a run along Lake Sammamish and the Sammamish River. Not a drop. And it was warm. Almost Floridian. 52 degrees and no gloves. Everything still feels pretty good. Planning on a workout sometime tomorrow although my schedule may put that into question.

Couldn't break away until very late this afternoon but managed to sneak in 10+ miles before rushing to my son's basketball practice. Rained most of the run but it was again very warm...mid 50s which is just crazy warm for this time of year. Thank you Mr. El Nino. Track workout tomorrow.

Well, I couldn't possibly have picked a wetter day to do a workout. It just poured all day and during my run was no different. I got a very late start -- 4:00pm. With pitch dark coming at 5pm I knew I would be runninf back in the dark. So I bolted for Redmond HS which is 3.7 miles from work including a monster hill too steep for hill workouts. Was already drenched upon arrival. Shoes schlosshing with water and all.

Workout was 400m-400m-800m three times except dropping the final 800m. Goal was 69s for the 400s and 2:26 for the 800s.

1st – 70, 70, 2:26

2nd – 70, 70, 2:30

3rd -- 73, 71

 A touch slower than I wanted but I finished it under ridiculously soaking conditions and did it injury free.

As I was running back to work, I realized that I would not have been wetter if I were swimming underwater. Ugh

Another day of warmth but just drenching rain. We're almost triple the average rainfall for the month to date. As much as I hate running in drenching rain, at least it's not snowing...or worse...raining and 35 degrees. Everything seems to feel pretty good after last night's speed workout.

I managed to miss the rain until the last two miles and even then it wasn't bad. Nice and warm again -- 47 degrees -- although it felt cooler than that. Ran along Lake Sammamish again. Didnt see another runner until eight miles in.

I'm officially registered for Boston. They were giving me a hard time because I didn't have a qualifying marathon time in the 18-month window. That was because I didn't finish a marathon in timeframe. I gave them my Indy Mini sub 1:08 time and that seemed to work for the elite entry. So I'm working now toward Boston.

Today brought the end to my first full week of solid productive training in at least two months. I woke up early for a church meeting and then around 9am headed out for my run. It was supposed to be a soaker today but instead, it was a partly sunny, wind-free 36-degree morning...near perfect for a track workout.

I ran from home to the MSHS track -- exactly 4 miles. I wore running pants because it was quite a bit colder than what I had run in all week and I was having flashbacks to that bitter cold morning last month when I pull my hammy in that race in Kent. So mostly as a precaution i put on the pants. After stretching and doing a couple of warm up laps at the track, I shed the pants and jacket and began the workout: 2x2M @5:12 with four minutes active rest. By this time, it was almost completely sunny...still chilly but no wind.

For the first time since my race in December, I felt REALLY good during hard running.

First mile was in 5:09. Second was in 5:11. I was feeling really good and had developed a solid rhythmn through that rep. The four minutes rest seemed to long so at 3:30, I was ready to go for the second rep. Mile 1 was in 5:11 and Mile 2 was in 5:09. I felt really good and probably could have done another rep but was happy to have completed a solid workout feeling strong and injury free.

To be clear, this wasn't a super crazy hard workout. It was fairly short and the times weren't blistering, but as I work my way back into shape it was the perfect workout physically and mentally.

The jog back home took me back up Snoqualmie Parkway. The clouds started to roll in and the wind picked up a bit making it a bit chilly but toally manageable. It helped that I had nailed a solid workout for the first time in a while.

Hopefully I'm getting back on track.