Hills for breakfast, hold the gnats

Tough workout; humid and hilly for the MP objective. I was off pace quite a bit of the time, but I am still pleased with my effort.  Only regret: running out of time to get 18 miles in total.  Might see if I can work in a 3 mile jog later with my daughter. 

Postscript:  AM run was 15.55 total.  I did manage to run another 4.31 this evening, though I didn't like it.  The satisfaction of avoiding two low mileage weekends in a row was worth it, however.

BTW, if you have a free moment, go over to my friend Meadow's blog and congratulation her on her Hobble Creek Half.  She PR'd by 9 minutes!

Recovery run.

It never ceases to amaze me that we can go to bed feeling like someone just took a hammer to our legs and feet, and wake up feeling ok.  I was a little stiff getting out of bed, but once I had that first mile under my feet it was an extremely pleasant run.  It's a cool morning here (50s), which felt great.

20 minutes abs & weights

Objective: General aerobic w/ hill attacks and cadence drills

Weather: cool (low 50's), dry. calm. Patchy fog (my favorite).

The mornings are starting out very dark now, so my unofficial job as Neighborhood Streetlight Outtage Reporter has begun again.  Using my headlamp almost daily again now.

Got a book at the library called "Brain Training for Runners" by Matt Fitzgerald.  Has anyone out there read it?  Very interesting so far.  I think I'm too late in my training cycle to benefit from it much right now, but I will consider it carefully for the future.  The main theme so far seems to be a method of training neural connections in the brain to minimize fatigue.  I do believe there is merit to this idea, or none of us would be able to dig deep and find a "finishing kick."  It's how to tap into that when the finish line is not in sight that would be a great tool to have.

15 min. abs & weights

Objective: easy

Weather: 50'sF Some light rain. Windy.

Feeling a bit tired today, which is no surprise (strong workout yesterday + heavy housework getting ready for visitors + less-than-ideal hours of sleep).  So I just really took it easy today.

15 min abs & weights

Random thoughts on running:

1) A friend came over to knit with me last night and I was telling her about the exciting Olympic men's 10K race.  She wondered that anyone could stand going around and around the track like that.  I just burst out laughing.  It's just like people can't understand why knitting is fun!  Just pulling loops of wool through other loops, over and over again.  She laughed too and did understand then. But we both agreed that people who only knit dish cloths are doing some pretty boring track work. :)

2) I wish I knew what my "real" PR is in the marathon.  You train for months like studying for a test, and then on test day your pencil might keep breaking, or there is a fire alarm in the middle of the test -- stuff you have no control over.  I look back at my last marathon and think of the things I had no control over: just not feeling "up" that day, having to stop at the bathroom -- twice! -- stuff that really felt different from my normal running self.  And it really does feel like I was being tested, and knew the material, but the pencil kept breaking.  Now a year has gone by (my spring marathon was cancelled due to illness).  Am I just as fit? More fit? Will my advancing age subtract from any added  fitness I've managed to gain this year?  And what was my true PR a year ago? What would my time have been if I my "pencil" hadn't broken?  Perhaps this is a lesson in racing more often so I have a better idea of what is under my hood.  But I remain apprehensive and puzzled about my running ability.

Objective: Tempo run. (w.u. + 2 x 20 min @ LT w/ 15 min jog b/t + c.d.)

Weather: 50'sF & showers

Good workout.  Wore my "A" shoes (the new Nike Triax shoes) which I am mostly saving for the marathon. Trying to keep under 100 miles on them before Oct. 5.  They felt great.  I hope this model shoe doesn't go out of production any time soon.  I hardly feel like they are there, and for once there is no pressure on my sensitive forefoot bones.  I also noticed how quiet my feet are in these. 

Thought of the day:  arm pumping... how come that makes such a huge energy difference? Of course it costs too, but when I came to some slight elevation changes in my tempo run and consciously got a really good arm swing going, I was just flying up the incline.   It's  just kind of weird to me that one body part can affect another so dramatically.

Objective: General aerobic

Weather: 60ish F,  mostly cloudy, breezy. Very pretty sunrise.

Kept the pace about midway between MP and "easy,"  10:00-10:15.

15 min. abs and wts.

I was thinking today about hills.  I used to walk up all steep hills and struggle on the not-so-steep ones.  I don't run that way anymore, but changing was so hard.  Walking hills is like an addiction.  When I set forth to overcome the "habit," every part of my brain was screaming "walk!"  I slowly improved to where I could jog the entire length of the steepest hills around here, but I had slipped into the habit of walking at the top, partly because I was so out of breath and partly as a sort of reward for making it all the way up.   So then a new habit had been implanted in my brain.  At the top of every hill it screamed "walk!"  But now I've conquered that one too, and it was almost as hard as the first addiction. 

It occurred to me today that if my brain gets so attached to bad running habits, maybe I could attach some good ones.    At each hill I tried visualize myself floating up, feeling light and springy.  I don't know if this will pay off in any way, but it might be a fun experiment.  

Later in afternoon:  3 mile hike to Twin Falls with sisters.

Day of rest.  Relatives visiting from out of town.  Weather has turned very cool again (48F this morning).