Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Feeling restless...  I got up this morning and wrote a poem. It's dreadful, so don't even ask me to share it.  But I will give you the nutshell version: I didn't run today.  I wish very much that I was back up to my usual miles.  I am at the beginning of a new training period with all this possibility laying before me.  Now is the time to make good choices.

The best thing to do at a time like this is immerse oneself in one's training books, planner in hand.  I may be having some coaching with Sean after all (haven't heard from him), in which case things will be somewhat simpler.  But for now I'm reviewing principles and picking workouts. 

When I got to my Daniels Formula book, I realized I had not yet plugged my new 5K PR (2 weeks ago) into his tables.  O-ho! A new VDOT number!  39.  That's up from 37!  But then I went to the pace table and the paces for VDOT 39 seem way high.  I guess that's just sticker shock; Mr. Daniels knows quite a lot more about these things than I.   (E = 10:23, M = 8:57, T = 8:22,  I = 1:54 for 400m, R = :53 for 200m)  But perhaps those are targets rather than current training paces.  I'll have to reread...

And as long as we are talking about Stuff Sno Doesn't Understand...  I would love someone to explain Peaking.  (Have I whined about this before?)  I've read all about it and I know what is meant by the term, but I cannot wrap my brain around it in a practical sense.  Let's say I lose all my senses and take a job as a refuse collection person (don't know the current PC term).  At first, my muscles will be very sore lifting the garbage cans into the truck.  After a while they will get stronger. Eventually, it will be no problem, lift, lift, lift.  There is no "peak," after which I will be come a less able lifter.   Why should running muscles behave any differently?  Maybe someone can straighten me out. 

Enough rambling... tomorrow I run!

Easy run, bringing mileage back up this week.  58F and cloudy. :)

ETA: 20 min. weights & stretches

The weather seemed to be welcoming me back today. Not that 58F is so very cool, but the cloud cover was heavenly.  (No pun intended, lol.)  The cool grey light makes all the colors of foliage stand out, and the temperature feels like what it is  without the sun warming up everything that isn't shaded.

New week, new training cycle, perhaps even new paces?  I glanced at my Garmin every now and then on relatively flat bits of terrain today to see whether I am fitting in with the Daniels "easy" pace I mentioned yesterday, 10:23.  I was a bit erratic actually. But mostly slower than 10:23, even after my warm up.  Nevertheless, a couple of times I was closer to 9:50.  I'm not going to worry about it, but I do find it interesting that my pace fluctuated so much. 

I signed up for RW's daily quotations, and received my first one today. It's pretty good, so I'm going to put it in my profile after I save this entry:  "As every runner knows, running is about more than just putting one foot in front of the other; it is about our lifestyle and who we are."  --Joan Benoit Samuelson

55F & cloudy.  :D   Objective: general aerobic and running form.  Trying to keep "easy" pace at 10:20-10:30. 

It was a great run, with the very interesting addition of seeing what that Daniels 10:23 pace feels like when done consistently.  With the exception of the warm up, cool down and a few very hilly places, I was right on target.  I cannot say it felt truly easy, but it was certainly doable and lots of fun.  (I'm pleased to see how great my legs feel this week.)  It made me start to wonder if I'm being lazy with my easy runs.  So now I'm contemplating using this pace for most of my non-speed workouts, but throwing in a really slow run every week and calling that "recovery pace."  

General reading...  Dean Karnzes in Forbes magazine.  (I think the title of the article should be Paradigm Shift instead of Hitting the Wall.)  Also, I'm enjoying the book Born To Run, about the Tarahumara tribe, distance running, and what humans are really capable of.  For your reading pleasure and background, I dug this paper on the Tarahumara.

ETA: Almost forgot to mention...  My run was cut short by a rather frustrating 5 minutes being locked inside one of the park bathrooms. That lock has been fussy for months and today it froze.  The 911 operator was just connecting me to local authorities when I finally freed myself.  I'll be calling the Parks Dept this morning.   Between that and having to be home by 6:15 today -- and for the next 3 weeks -- I'm short of today's goal of 9 miles.  Mr. Sno has to leave the house early during a road construction project, so I might even have to finish some of my runs... (cue horror movie music) on the treadmill!  Eeeek!

Taking a scheduled day off.  Not crazy about missing the run, but the sleep was wonderful! After tapering and then recovering, my brain had forgotten how to wake up at 4:30. Even though Monday and Tuesday were not super high mileage days, I still had to get up before 4:30 to accommodate Mr. Sno's temporary early commute.  By last night I was really feeling it and was happy to hit the pillow.   

More cloudy weather today - I love it!  

Cloudy, 57F.  Moderate run (9:45-10:20).

15 min. weights

I had to finish this run on the dreadmill.  So now I'm thinking, how bad would it be to get up at 4:00 instead of 4:15, just two days per week?  And the road construction in Mr. Sno's commute won't last that long. Just a few weeks.  Even 15 minutes on the dreadmill is too much if there is another way...

My camel may have found its last straw.  We added one more activity to the Amazing Young Miss Sno's life this week.  There may be periods of time when I seem kind of quiet on the Comments.  I may have to do more lurking and less typing on my busiest mornings.

Food for thought:  "The optimal level of aerobic support for the marathon is also half-marathon pace. Because the endurance challenge of the marathon is so severe, your goal marthon pace has to be a virtual cakewalk, aerobically..." -Brad Hudson, Run Faster.

Lastly, here is an interesting video showing the difference in footstrike, for at least one runner, between barefoot and shoed running.

55F, clear.  Slow, easy & short.

Pretty morning.  I saw a buck with huge antlers -- kind of unusual.  Have a great weekend everyone!   

Warm morning: 60F rising to 66F, sunny (w/ waning gibbous in blue skies).  Objective: club run with descending/ascending Parkway (Spirit Crusher Hill) before and after meet up w/ club. 

The Cat Who Must Be Obeyed had A Need just as I was leaving and I was already a couple of minutes late to get to the club meeting place. Now a good 5 minutes late, after a mile of gentle warm up I decided to crank up the pace. I was descending the Parkway at that point, which is a 1.7 mile long hill. From the bottom of the hill into old Snoqualmie I tried to keep the pace up, wanting to reduce the lateness of my arrival. From my house to the high school is 3.8 miles, a bit farther than I thought - "run even faster!"

I scarcely had time to catch my breath and say hello when the 10:00 pace group was ready to go.  We didn't spend any time at all getting into a 9:40 pace and stayed there pretty much the whole run, out the Snoqualmie Valley Trail to the North Bend library and back.  We picked up another woman on the way back who seemed interested in joining the club. That was fun.  :)

At about 9.5 miles I was back on my own, and running towards home.  When I hit the Parkway (S.C. Hill) I dropped down to about an 11:00 minute mile, which gradually slowed to nearly 13:00.  The last half mile of the hill is incredibly steep and the sun was beating down.  My usual heat nausea began to arise, but wasn't too bad.

About 5 minutes into the hill climb, a pedestrian stopped me. She was an elderly Chinese woman who wanted very much to ask me something, the only English word of which was "Seattle," and then she was making binocular gestures with her hands on her eyes. Uh oh. You are a long way from Seattle, ma'am.  I tried to help. Dangit, how do you say "very far" in Chinese? She seemed to want me to point the direction, so I did, repeating the word "bus," while she nodded vigorously.  Hope she made it.

I am thrilled with this run!   I pushed my pace for a long time, and then ran up a killer hill -- all just 2 weeks after a marathon!  From mile 2 through mile 9, all miles were within 30 seconds of marathon pace (they ranged 9:26-9:50) except for mile 9, which included my running group's cool down -- and even that mile was only 10:03. The "easy miles" category on my blog record seems ill fitting today!

We interrupt this blog for a philosophical reflection:   I find that, depending on the day, I either hate or love the Bobby McFerrin song, Don't Worry Be Happy.  The frowny, "realistic" Sno finds it highly irresponsible to have such a gleeful attitude regardless of circumstances.  On the other hand, in Bobby's own words: "in this life you have some trouble - when you worry you make it double..."  I thought about that at the bottom of the hill today. :)

Now I have to rest and rehydrate to be sharp for a wedding gig this afternoon.  Sun is here on the one day I really actually need it. (Outdoor wedding.) Tomorrow the clouds return. Life is good!