Thatcher's Running Blog

Today I was going to do hill intervals, and I found a good hill in Tahoe to do them on. It was pretty steep for a good 800 meters, so I did 800 meter intervals. The first half or so isn't too steep, but the second half was incredibly steep.

Here is the hill.

I warmed up about a mile and a half and did some drills before. I started out not knowing what to expect, and it was hard. My first interval was 3:34. That was hard, so I tried to keep them around that time. The second interval was 3:35. It felt all right. The third was 3:35. The fourth was hard, it was 3:34. I was really tired after that one. The next one was 3:37. The sixth was 3:37. After this one I was really lightheaded, but was all right to do a couple more. The seventh was the slowest, and the hardest. It was 3:39. The last one was the fastest, 3:33.

When I was done, I cooled down 3 miles. It made for a total of about 12 miles. I think that this was a good workout. I felt strong, and pushed hard on the hill. One thing I liked was that left at seven and it was a little bit chilly outside. My hands were cold when I started out. That was a nice change. I didn't really notice the higher elevation, and I wonder if it made a difference.

I went and ran at trail behind the South Lake Tahoe High School. It was a nice trail, but not very long. I did five miles at about 7:00 pace. I am going to do a longer run later, hopefully I can find a better trail. I feel pretty good, a little sore from yesterday.

I went out again later and ran 8.25 miles. I ran a 6:55 pace. I kept it really easy, at least it felt easy, and I felt good. I noticed my fifth mile was at about 6:30 pace about a half mile in, so I decided to do about a half mile push. I felt great and did that mile in 6:08. Overall, this is the best I've felt in a while. It was a great run and I felt very strong.

I felt good this morning and kept it fairly easy on the way out and pushed it going back. I averaged 7:00 for the run, and 6:40 on the way back. I ran on a bike path right by our hotel. It was nice outside, but I could see my breath when I started!

I later went with my dad to a gym we found near our hotel. (one where we could do deadlifts) I did some push ups and ab work, as well as doing three sets of three reps at 265 pounds for my deadlifts. It felt good. I then ran back from the gym to my hotel. It was about 5.5 miles. I ran at a 7:45 pace. The run didn't feel too good. I was sick to my stomach after eating not too much before. But I wasn't too tired.

Today I also hiked about 4 miles, which was pretty easy. My sister and I also went swimming to this island in the middle of Eagle Lake. The water was cold! I realized I am not a very good swimmer. Once I got in the cold water and started swimming, I got really tired!

I'm not sure on the mileage today, because my garmin didn't have a signal. We drove to a trail called "Powerline Trail" today. It was a pretty good trail, but had quite a few hills. The total time was about 85 minutes. I didn't push it too hard, but it wasn't really easy. On the way back, two bikers asked me if I had seen the bear! I hadn't, and I didn't want to, so I got a tempo run in as well. I felt pretty good, but was a little sore from weight lifting.

I got in seven miles on the treadmill before we left to go home. I averaged 7:20 pace. I felt pretty good, my hamstrings are sore.

Today was the Minuteman 5k. I got there about 7:00 and drove the course with my dad. I then warmed up and went to the bathroom. I stretched and got ready. I got to the line and it was very crowded. There were a lot of good runners at the race. The race started out very fast. I backed off a little bit and was a little bit behind the front pack at the beginning. The first half mile was 2:20 something, and the mile was 5:00. I was more tired at the mile than I should have been. I remember thinking that a five minute mile should not seem this hard.

The next mile was painful. There was a group of about three guys right ahead of me, and I tried to stay with them, but I couldn't. I wasn't breathing especially hard, but my legs wouldn't move much faster. I don't know if I need more speedwork, or if my legs are tired from the higher mileage this week, but I just couldn't push to get with the guys. After that another guy passed me, and I stayed with him for a little bit, but my legs were just so tired. The second mile was 5:16.

The third mile was the hardest. I tried to push it to close the gap on the group in front of me, but it was hard. I didn't have much of a kick at the end, but I pushed it in. It was also the slowest, 5:30.

I was disappointed with this race, but I guess I just have to move on. I'm sure that the high mileage and a ten hour car ride yesterday didn't help, but I can just focus on getting ready for the Autumn Classic now. I think I will hit around 70 miles for the next three weeks, then taper to 60 and 50 the week of the Autumn Classic.

After the race I felt sick to my stomach and wasn't going to cool down much, but Bill Cobbler asked me if I wanted to cool down with the East xc team. I did, and we ran 5 miles at a 7:59 pace. We pushed the last half mile to get under 8:00 pace. It felt pretty good and it was nice cooling down with them.