Sean's Running Blog

Went for an easy 16 miler this afternoon under partly cloudy skies and temps in the upper 30s. It's my longest single run since Saturday, September 22nd, which was my final long run leading up to SGM. While the run was easy, I recognized the need to get back into the mode of running one 18-22 miler each week. There's a strength, mental and physical, that comes with the longer runs.

With the mileage today, I ended the week with 94 miles, the longest since the week of September 10th when I ran 95. It was also my third longest mileage week ever. I plan to be in this mid 90s to low 100s range leading up to the Eugene Half Marathon in early May.  

32 degrees and crystal clear blue skies. Ran an out-and-back along the Sammamish River Trail and it was just gorgeous. 32 degrees and sun feels so much warmer than 32 degrees and cloudy. I'm sure there's a scientific reason for that. Covered the 12 miles in 6:44 pace.

PM--7 miles

28 degrees; 19 wind chill. A crisp but glorious, clear moonlit night. We're supposed to have four more days of cool but sunny skies. That is a big deal for a Seattle January.

30 degrees, light breeze and not a cloud in the sky. Two gorgeous days in a row and it's not even June yet.

Today was one of those days where I didn't want to run. I ran because my schedule says I was supposed to. It was also one of those days where I just didn't "have it." I ran 6:43s but just felt tired the whole time and kept wishing I was a couple miles closer to the end. Oh well. there are always going to be days like this.

Tough workout today. I had to do it alone due to scheduling issues so I headed up to the Redmond High School and used their track. It's inferior in every way to our high schools track but it's oval and it's presumably 400m in length. Oh...and it's 5 minutes from work.

The workout was 6x1000m @ 3:00-3:02 with 3 minutes rest between each rep. I hit 3:04, 3:00, 3:01, 3:02, 3:02 3:03. After the fourth rep, I wanted to quit in a bad way. The only reason I didn't was I couldn't live with myself if I skipped a third of my workout.

After finishing the fifth rep, I was bound to quit. But then the phrase "leave it all on the track" kept entering my mind as I was doing the 3-minute rest jog. Then I thought about having to tell my coach I quit a rep early and then there's you guys. This accountability thing works.

Anyway, I wish I could have done the reps faster or at least felt slightly less tired afterward but oh well. I left it all on the track today.

A.M. First 5am run in a while. 33 degrees under clear skies with sustained winds of 24 mph and gusts to 39. Not at all unusual for my neighborhood in the winter. First three miles were into the wind and all near 7:30s. Finished averaging 6:57s. It was a very peaceful run with very little traffic. More deer and elk than cars. Hoping to get another 8-10 in later today if time allows.  

PM

Ran out and back on the Sammamish River Trail. Felt great. Sun was setting and cool tempertures ruled but it was the fourth day of pure sunny skies in a row. One more tomorrow and then snow for the weekend.  

26 degrees and yet another glorious morning of clear skies. I enjoyed it because tomorrow brings snow. Ran the 11 miles in exactly 1:17. 20-22 miles tomorrow and then resting on Sunday.

Today was one of those running days from hell. I had a 20-22 miler planned with a speed workout built in to the front side. I was to do 5x1mile cutdowns starting at 5:02 dropping three seconds per mile finishing at 4:50. I felt great during the first two mile repeats but halfway into the third my bowels were screaming. I jumped the fence to take care of business and then came right back on the track to finish up the workout. But everytime I started running fast my stomach and bowels just wouldn't have anything to do with it. It's too bad because I felt pretty good despite 35 degrees and pouring rain. So I decided to bag the rest of the workout and just run the rest of the mileage. Well, for the first time ever, I couldn't even do that. It was the weirdest thing. Oh well.