Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Objective: endurance & progression.  7 mi easy, 6 moderate, 4 MP effort (pace off w/ hills,  & wind)

 48 to 52 F.  very windy (20mph w/ gusts to 40). Partly sunny, turning more cloudy.

Hello March!  (Yes, Mr. Winter. I did receive your memo about how just because it's March doesn't mean you're through with me. Very impressive wind today. But I'll have you know I saw A Bee today. So there.)

I decided to have a little adventure today. After spending several miles running my usual haunts I went down the Parkway to old Snoqualmie to see... the track!  Going down that hill (~2 miles and 5-12% grade) is always really hard on me because I'm not a natural heel striker but you really have to on a hill.  As the wind howled, I comforted myself with the happy thought that all that wind would be behind me on the way up. (Not entirely, but pretty much was.)  I remembered to bring my new key and successfully found and entered the beautiful high school track, ran a mile on it, and decided that was quite enough for today.   After all, the point was just to break the ice and actually use my little key before I forgot where I put it, or that I even have it.

My "marathon pace" miles are, once again, effort level.  I just cannot stick to a pace  when I'm running up a steep hill, or when the wind is pushing me all over the place.  Is this dishonest? 

My plans for this run went quite well except for one thing.  Being spoiled as I am by the abundant bathrooms and year round working drinking fountains up here on the Ridge, I totally forgot to plan for hydration.  No money, no Camelbak, and every drinking fountain in town is closed down for the winter.   At about 13 miles, I realized I was in trouble.  I ended up drinking awkwardly from a sink in the creepy bathroom at the Railroad Museum.  I just hope it was potable.  If I die of some kind of poisoning later today, it's been really, really great blogging with you guys.  

Objective: easy

50F, wind 10-15 mph w/ gusts 25-30, cloudy

15 min. strength wk

I still cannot believe my luck.  From about 3 AM until 4:30 AM, the wind and the rain were so strong that I could not sleep soundly, for all the racket it was making on the windows.  When the alarm finally went off,  the noise had diminished but I could still see the rain pouring down under the streetlamp.  "Don't think, just go.  Don't think, just go."  I step outside and -- no rain.   I don't think this is what Dr. Phil meant when he said, "Life rewards action," but I feel like I got the grand prize today.  And I was so close to blowing off the run. It's especially tempting the day after a long run, when "recovery" could easily mean more z's. 

Objective: 2 easy, 5 moderate, 1+ easy, 5 hill sprints scattered through run

Mid 40's F, windy (10-20 mph), raining (heavy rain 1st 3 miles)

"The Evergreen State."  They just can't call it that if we don't get tons of rain most of the year.   And if you want to be a runner and you dislike the TM, ya gotta run in it!  The bright side:  my shoes never got so wet that they made squishy noises, I have great gear for this type of run, and -- as the Doplar on the website promised -- it did lighten up a bit after the initial car wash conditions.

Back when I ran in Cannon Beach in November, there was one run that was the wettest I've ever dealt with.  Flooded beach, pouring rain, vicious wind... I think of that day whenever I have a rainy run now: "well, it's not as wet as that time on Cannon Beach."  It makes me smile because I remember thinking when I did that run, "this is the wettest you'll ever have to be on a run."

Speaking of water,  a hydration story...  My DH works with a guy who entered a weight loss contest in which anyone who lost 10% of their body weight by a certain date got a share of the $1000+ pot.  This weekend was the weigh in.  He weighed in and found that he was 3.5 pounds over his goal.  Then he went home and got on his elliptical for an hour or so, came back and weighed in again and was 1 pound under his goal weight.  (Cheating?)  Well, the point is: drink lots of water after you run. 

ETA: One of my buddies from Ravelry has joined the blog.  Please send a welcome to April27!  

Objective: VO2 and leg strength:  2+ mi w.u., 4x .25 mi hill (5%) @9-9:15 w/ jog down, then moved to flatter area, 4x .3 mi @ 7:50-8:10 w/ 3 min jog between reps. 

38F, cloudy, wet streets but no rain, calm. 

20 min. abs, upper body, stretches & Stick

Nice morning for running! I'm trying to appreciate that light in the last 15 minutes of my runs these days, as it will be taken away from me again this Sunday. :(

I am very pleased with this run, for several reasons.  It was my own idea to split the workout between hill reps and flat reps, and that provided some nice variety.  Challenging but still enjoyable. 

I also got in the planned miles, which doesn't seen to happen very often.  Between getting out of the house a couple of minutes late, stopping for a bathroom, and just general slowness (underestimating the time it will take?), I usually cover a bit less than I intend to.  The plan goes like this: Sun 18-20+, Mon 5-7 (depending on Sun), Tue & Thu 9, Wed 7, Fri 8.  I rarely hit those numbers, but it's a work in progress, right?

Ever since I got this cadence thing worked out (see last Friday's post), I've been thinking more about the other elements of faster paces.  Today I had a feeling that maybe I've spent too much time working on my cadence. I've done form drills too, but I am afraid the cadence drills have made my stride a little choppy.  Or maybe it always was.  Today I tried to really focus on leg power and arm swing.  But when the reps got really hard, when I asked myself, "what is your worst barrier to running farther or faster at this moment," the answer was, "lungs."   I'm sure it all ties together; I guess my over-active brain wants to understand what lies between me and my goal. 

Objective: easy to moderate.

38F, windy at times (10-20mph), light rain started at mile 2, heavy at mile 4 w/ increasing sleet (snow?) 

The white stuff took me completely by surprise.  I was expecting a "chance of light showers," so I did not wear my jacket, just a thermal fleece.  Once wet, the wind did not feel good!  Would anyone like to sell me a crystal ball? It might be more accurate than the National Weather Service.

My run felt pretty good today. I am surprised to feel very little soreness after yesterday. Nor am I extremely tired.  I hope that doesn't mean I didn't work hard enough. I was very thorough with my stretch n Stick routine yesterday; maybe that made a difference.

Have you had a bad day lately?  It cannot compare with the nightmare experience my friend told me about last night.  This was about 6 hours of her day yesterday I pass it on for entertainment purposes, and to help us all appreciate the little things that go right...

At a little past 5 AM, she was awakened by the sound of the large kettle of turkey broth (set on low simmer overnight) hitting the floor, having been pulled down by the dog.  As she is trying to finish up the cleaning operation, still in jammies, daughter reminds her of the time - she has to drop her off for an early class.  Grabs a coat and runs out the door, still in jammies(now turkey broth covered) , hair disheveled, forgetting to grab cell phone, almost neglects to put on shoes, does neglect to put on socks.  Drops off DD and gets back on freeway -- runs out of gas.  Walks about a mile on freeway to get gas in turkey soaked jammies, can only carry a gallon can, turns out it's not enough to start engine.  Passing commuter stops and takes pity, drives her to a phone. Calls her parents, gets larger can of gas, is driven back to car. Battery dead from lengthy use of hazard lights.  Parents too cautious to turn their car around on freeway to jump start.  All of them go searching for a new battery to buy.  Three stores, none found.   Eventually decide to make the dangerous turn around to jump start the car. Finally home.  Never run errands in your jammies, watch out for the dog, and take good care of your car!  :)

Objective: moderate w/ strides (when roads allowed)

28 F, clear, light breeze (6 mph), very icy (2 slips, no falls)

20 min strength work

We ended up getting over 2 inches of snow yesterday morning, followed by a partial melt in the afternoon.  Then it all froze in the night, creating a very challenging situation for navigating around the icy places. On some streets there were lots of dry stretches of pavement, in others none at all. 

When I realized how icy it was, I bagged my plan for a 3 x 1 mile MP workout and just threw in strides whenever I could.  Still, it was absolutely gorgeous this morning. First I had a starry sky to look at, then a beautiful frost covered world, witht the sky lightening behind the Cascades. I wouldn't trade it for a Dreadmill workout.  I had to soak in the pleasure of partial daylight on a weekday run, since this is the last time for another month or two (DLS time).  Oh well, I'll still have Sundays.