Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: easy / recovery

Conditions at 5:15 am: 49F, clear & starry, windy (15 mph gusting to 27 mph). 

15 min. core & upper body strength

In the middle of January, a clear sky and strong east winds normally means: cold! What a weird phenomenon to be having this little "heat wave."  Not much explanation on Cliff Mass's blog, just that the cold air got "scoured out." Huh? But where did the warm air come from? It's 27F in Ellensburg (just over the Cascades).

The legs feel only a bit sore today, but very heavy and tired.  I am so glad that I was able to push myself on Saturday.  The experience left me with a great feeling of motivation towards training hard in the months to come. 

I had a little time this weekend to read the recent issue of Running Times and found 3 particularly interesting pieces: 1) a short interview with Deena Kastor (she may be able to start racing again this spring!), 2) an article by Brad Hudson about hill sprints (nice to have the review) and 3) a column on mid-foot, forward leaning running style (sort of a review of all the different approaches and what they have in common - very relevant to what I've been working on).  There were also some interesting articles on Masters running.  A good issue.

Objective: easy, w/ 3 mi @ moderate pace (after 2 mi warm up), MP + 45-50 sec

Conditions at 5:15 am: 40F (colder in spots, eg icy in Stellar Park area), some wind (5-15 mph w/ gusts to 20), mostly clear. 

I think it may have been a little early (since my race) to throw in those faster paced miles. At the moment it felt wonderful, but then I paid for it.  I grew very tired and even got a little cold. I ended up cutting the run short by about a half mile.

Objective: easy run

Conditions at 5:00 am: 34F, wind 10 mph, gusting to 18, clear

20 min. strength work

How many times have you read this statement?  "Running is such a simple sport; just put on some shoes and go..."  It should be illegal.  Or, perhaps anyone who wants to print it should be forced to do just that -- in my neighborhood, in the dark, in January -- just put on some shoes and go.  I timed myself at 5 minutes this morning, from "time to go" to actually being on the sidewalk.  Maybe it's just me and my style, but there is an awful lot more than shoes to put on.

A couple of years ago Marathon & Beyond (Vol. 10, # 5) did a series of 3 articles by Guy Avery called "Training and Racing Within Your Personal Marathon Zone." At the risk of over-simplifying Avery's article (which provides quite a bit of information beyond this little tidbit), he advises the runner to add six minutes to the "realistic" goal time when calculating pace "for purposes of training recommendations:" miles 1&2 (of the marathon) @ MP + 30 seconds,  miles 3 & 4 @ MP + 20 seconds,  and miles 5 & 6 @ MP + 10 seconds.  "Essentially, this cutdown gets you to start slowly and ease in to training and racing at your operative goal pace." He points out that there are many variations on this cutback formula.

Last summer I asked what people thought about this on another marathon forum and the response was surprisingly negative.  "Even pacing is best" was the counterargument.  One 2:40 marathoner whom I respect a great deal warned me that to be 2 minutes behind goal at mile 7 is not something she would intentionally do.   I proceded to attempt even pacing at Portland and had a very bad race, partly due to inadequate warm up, imo.   At CIM, I started slowly and had a wonderful race, though not my fastest. 

Objective: 4 easy, 3 moderately hard, 1+  easy (coming to end of recovery/cutback week)

Conditions at 5 AM: 36F, mostly clear & calm, heavy fog in part of neighborhood

15 min. strength work

I was slightly underdressed this morning and had a hard time with the cold.  My hands and face never did get comfortable. 

I'm ready for daylight to start coming back.  I had a terrible nightmare last night that involved running in the dark, and I felt that lingering sense of anxiety on my run this morning.  The streets can be awfully deserted, especially very early in the run, and sometimes it feels like I'm the only person on the planet.  It will be months before I'm running in complete daylight again, but a lighter sky is just a few weeks away I think.

Objective: easy, finishing w/ 4 x 40 butt kick drills

Conditions at 5AM:  36F, patchy fog

The front of my clothing was covered in frost when I came home.  But I did dress more comfortably today, which made a big difference in my enjoyment of the run.

The trouble with counting the start of the week as Sunday is that it sometimes makes one's mileage appear inconsistent.  In my paper log, the week always begins on Monday, so that either a Saturday or Sunday long run will "belong" to the same week.  Last week's 60+ miles included a long run on Sun. and a Half Marathon on the following Sat.  "Snoqualmie good."  This week's sub 40 miles show a rest day on Sun. (post race) and a rest day on Sat. (before Sun. long run).  "Snoqualmie bad."  If I "equalize" them with my paper log, I get a week of ~45 followed by a week of ~48 (if my 18 miler comes through on Sun.).  "Snoqualmie a little low, but consistent."

Objective: 4 easy, 4 moderate, 1+ easy, with hill sprints (sort of; see below)

Conditions at 4:50 AM: Same as yesterday: 39F, heavy mist, SE wind 5-10 mph

After run: 15 min strength work

OK. About those hill sprints... With apologies to Mr. Brad Hudson, I decided to sprinkle them throughout my run instead of bunching them at the end, seeing as how I get a steep grade hill at least once every mile in this neighborhood, and "rollers" in between.  I'll admit, I have a very hard time following rules.  Not to say that I won't do it "right" in the future, but I really liked just throwing the sprints in here and there when a short, steep hill presented itself. 

I have an addition observation about arm swing, to continue the discussion from last week. Thomas Miller recommends the arm swing that Deena is using, where the forward motion brings the hand up and in, close to the heart. The Chi Running guy says to keep the arm at a 90 degree angle. Both recommend (along with other coaches) that the elbow come backwards pretty far (for speed anyway).   Sooooo... today I did an informal experiment with both methods to compare them.  I believe the Miller/Deena Way felt easier and more natural.  It seems like the concept of centrifugal force is at work here: that the arms require less energy to swing when they are kept close to the body. What do you think, bloggers?   And by the way, I am equally preoccupied with the whole push off vs. heel lift motion, but I just don't have anything to say about it. haha

Special treat today.  A guy on Ravelry (that's my virtual knitting community) posted a link to his wonderful photo essay of his Boston Marathon, here.  (Surprised at guys who knit? Don't be!) 

Hope you're smiling by now.  :) Sno