Every Run is a Great Run!

I'll usually endure about any weather rather than resort to a dreadmill run.  But dang windy days can bring out the wimp in me and push me onto the mill. Today happened to be one of those days. Strangely enough I didn't mind the treadmill so much, usually I about go bonkers but for whatever reason I was OK today.  I was however ready to be done after my 7 miles.

8:30 pace, incline around 1 or 1.5 seemed to put my HR in the same zone I'd be at this pace out on the roads. 

Ran 7 with Kimi in the late AM on a cloudy but calm day.  Neither of us slept so great last night so we mostly kept the pace nice & easy.  Sure love being able to work at home and run whenever and hang out with Kim over lunch!

8:59/136

What's the deal with it being stormy every weekend? Snowing lightly this morning and the roads had enough snow sticking to make things a little slick in spots. Kim and I met up with the SF running gang to begin the run. 

Had quite a few runners out today despite the weather.  Actually with the light snow and not much wind the weather wasn't too bad. Not too cold either. The main problem was just the slick spots on some of the roads.

Ran with the gang for 5 or 6 miles then I was in dire need of the bathroom at the park so Kim and I parted ways with the group and did our own thing for a while. Felt pretty sluggish for much of the run, I think I must have some minor bug this week causing my wimpiness and GI distress the last few days.

Finished up solo for the last 5 or 6 miles, actually got feeling better toward the end, maybe the endorphines kicked in.

9:09/147

AM: Since my treadmill run last week wasn't as horrible as usual to me for a treadmill run, and after seeing the temps were around 12 degrees with wind chill around 0, slick roads, etc...  I decided to fire up the treadmill in our basement that a neighbor gave to us a few months ago.

YUK! Last week's TM run must have been a fluke because I really was hating it the entire run. If I'm forced to run on the TM again I'll try it with MP3 player and maybe buy a fan and see it that helps. Only made it to 4 miles until I just couldn't handle any more. 

Noon: Much better run outside in the sun.  Still cold around 20 degrees but with the sun it felt more like 30.  Ran 7 miles mostly with Kim. SOOO much nicer than the treadmill.

8:37/150 

Ran 7 miles just before lunch, some with Kim and some solo.  Even though it was only around 20 degrees I thought it was a beautiful day with the sun shining and no wind. Legs seemed to have a lot of zip but I held back since I have a hard workout planned for tomorrow.

8:23/146 

Another chilly but nice & sunny & NOT windy December day. Speed work day today. Jogged for a mile and a half or so down to the river bottoms with Kim, then did a few strides in prep for a Yasso style workout.  

Plan was for 6-10 x 800 repeats at around 3:00-3:20 pace, similar to what I did a couple times last summer.  Kim didn't do the same workout but she stayed around the stretch of road (by the row of trees) I was running on and provided great support and encouragement. 

Temps in the low 20's which is not ideal for speedwork but with the sun shining it wasn't too bad. I don't think the cold slowed me down any more than maybe 2 or 3 seconds per 800.

Ended up doing 8 repeats.  I suppose 10 would have been better but 8 was better than 6 or 7. The first 3 repeats I was going off some markings on the road that supposedly .5 miles apart, but it became obvious based on what the clock and both mine and Kim's GPS were telling us that it was short.  

Kim figured out that if I ran from a certain tree to a certain road sign it was right at .5 and my GPS agreed.  So I ran the modified stretch of road for the last 5 repeats and ended up being right around 3:10 for each of them.  I think the first 3 too-short repeats were just a hair quicker than this. Splits & HR info below.

Max HR 191

1 - 2:56(short, 3:09 rest) ave HR 173

2 - 2:56(short, 3:06 rest) 178

3 - 2:58 (short, 3:03 rest) 178

4 - 3:10 (3:10) 180

5 - 3:09 (3:10) 181

6 - 3:11 (3:11) 182

7 - 3:09 (3:11) 182

8 - 3:10 182

Ended with 2 mile cooldown with Kim.  Overall I'm pleased with the workout. 

Nice & easy 7 miler at work just before lunch in the sun. 

8:15/145 

Another nice & easy 7 miler just before lunch in the sun.  Unfortunately the haze seems to be getting a little worse each day the last few days and the sunshine was a bit on the filtered side.

8:18/144

Early morning long run with Kim and the SF gang. Today we were treated to a pretty groovy lunar eclipse between 5:45 and 7:15.  A bit chilly below 20 degrees and windy at times, but overall a very enjoyable run.  Finished the last 4 or 5 miles solo to get to 18 miles for the day and 60 for the week. Haven't done that for a very long time and it may not happen again for a while.

8:46/150 

Early AM: 5 miles on a very breezy but not as cold as usual morning. Been dealing with a stupid kinked neck again.

8:41 

Late AM: 6 miles out and back at work. I was surprised how easy the pace was feeling on the way out, but then I finally figured out when I turned around I had had a tail wind that I didn't notice. But I sure seemed to notice the head wind on the way back and ended up slowing the pace quite a bit.

8:13/156 

Nice 7 miler with Kim around 11am.  Weather a little bit unsettled with a mix of sun, clouds, light snow and a touch of breeze.  But overall warm enough for shorts and maybe 2 layers of running shirts.  

Had a nature run today, "birds and beavers" was the theme.  First we found that a beaver had dropped a tree by the river across the trail.  Then saw a huge owl, an even huger Blue Heron(??) and a fat fluffy hawk being tormented and picked on by some dinky little bird with an attitude. Fun stuff!

8:52/135 

Hard workout day. I haven't been at 100% this week dealing with achey/stiff neck and upper back. Not sure if it's virus related or if I've just have skeletal/disk issue in that area. So wasn't sure what to expect for the planned workout - 3 x 1.5 mile repeats with .5 active rest/recovery in between each one. 

Thankfully Kim had good motivation and attitude to help me get over my low motivation to do anything hard today.  Overcast and light snowy weather wasn't helping much either, but after a mile warmup jog with Kim I was feeling pretty good. We parted ways at that point and I finished my warmup with another mile slow easy running and some strides.

Did the 1.5 m repeats on the same stretch of road I've been doing most of these types of workouts lately that has net downhill and sometimes a tailwind. Not much wind at all today but I felt OK. Not super but OK and I was OK with that for today.

Wimped out a little on the last repeat but stayed within the goal pace range of 6:15-6:45. Split time/pace/aveHR info below:

1 - 9:38/6:25/172 (most the downhill is during this one)

2 - 9:45/6:30/183

3 - 9:51/6:34/186

Max HR 191

Just a nice little 7 mile recovery run. I was hoping for a bit warmer and a bit more sunny but not bad for winter.

8:15/145 

Day off work today.  Waited until after kids were off to school then Kim and I drove our problem-child-used-car (is it the car that's the problem child or is it our problem child's car?) down to the mechanic shop then we ran back home along random roads and trails on a bit of a dreary, cloudy, chilly morning. 

Feeling a little sluggish, seems like with cold, humid weather it's always hard for me to get going. But still a good run as we kept the pace nice and easy.

9:09/139

Nice early morning run with Kim and SF runner crew and a few solo miles.  Chilly and foggy/smoggy again but no wind and it seemed warmer than what weather.com said it was.  Legs seemed to have pretty good pep so I did a few MP miles and a couple HMP miles.

8:08/156

Got out just about sunrise time although with our lovely inversion as of late we don't ever get to actually see any sun unless we drive up a canyon. Ran about 4 solo then 7 more with Kim. Felt OK but with the cold/humid/smoggy conditions my calves like to be real tight.  Looking forward to Christmas and seeing some sun and warmer next week!

8:53/136

Went out around 9:30 with plans for 5 x 1 mile repeats with .5 mile jog rests. Warmed up a mile or so with Kim, just about the time we headed out the door it started snowing pretty good and many of the roads were getting slick. Wasn't sure if the fast workout was going to work but fortunately the main roads were clear enough to do it.

I've learned the hard way before that in cold, snowy weather (probably 25-30 degrees today) I need to ease off the pace a bit or I'll just end up getting frustrated and tired and quit the workout early or maybe get injured. So I decided to give myself a big pace window (6:15-6:55) and just take whatever my body wanted to give me. This seemed to workout OK as I was able to complete the workout, just at a slower pace than I could likely do in nicer conditions. Thankfully the wind stayed under control and I didn't have to deal with any nasty headwinds.

Did this workout on pretty much flat stretch of road and not on the slightly downhill stretch that I've been cheating on for most my recent hard workouts. 

Splits as follows (ave pace/HR):

1 - 6:35/172

2 - 6:37/179

3 - 6:34/181

4 - 6:39/183

5 - 6:38/183

Overall: 7:51/161 max 191 

Went out around 11am. Beautiful sunny day with no smog. A bit of wind from the south but can't complain much since everything else was so nice. Just a nice easy recovery run.

8:29/140 

Another nice sunny (albeit a bit nippy) day.  Ran 7 miles easy with Kimi around noon.

8:40/139

A bit on the nippy side this morning around 10-15 degrees. But I must be getting used to it, it didn't seem too bad. Maybe because the canyon winds were being gentle. Kim and I got in a couple miles before the group got together then we joined up with the gang.  I was able to get in quite a few faster miles that dipped into the MP range.

8:13/156

8:45/145

Six easy miles with Kimi on a glorious sunny desert morning in St George. Did a little exploring in areas we haven't run before. Gotta love the mornings down here when the sun first hits the red rock.

Drove with Kim down to the Dixie Center then ran on the trails that are part of the Painter's 1/2 course.  Wanted to get in a tempo run ideally 6 miles at around 6:50 pace but with the cold weather and my head cold I just didn't have it going today. Couldn't seem to get my legs to want to move at all even though my HR wasn't very high.  Probably should have done a longer warmup before starting in on the tempo.  Ended up stopping the tempo run at 4 miles.

Gotta say that even though the mornings are cold, the afternoons are glorious down here in St George with temps in the high 50's, might even hit 60 today. Great for hiking! Been having a blast with Kim and the kids!

7:47/160

Still in St George with Kim. The kids went home yesterday so we're enjoying some time just the 2 of us and also getting some work done at the condos. We waited until just before lunch to get out today so we could get a little more warmth with our sun! Had a great low-key run that Kim described nicely on her blog for today.

Since it's supposed to be a rest/reduced week for me this week and since I've been fighting a head cold, decided to take an extra rest day yesterday and focus on a good long run today. Slept in a bit in hopes of having better luck with the planned tempo run 10K in the middle of the long run. I always seem to do a lot better with the faster stuff later in the day. I think I made the right call as the run went pretty well, although headwind from the NW caused me some grief.

Warmed up for 5 miles, did some strides then started the 10K tempo. Started at the mile 1 marker for the Speedy Spaniard (which just happens to be at the top of a hill) and went from there.  Followed the SS course for a couple of miles then ran 1/2 mile up river bottoms before turning around and running down river bottoms road, then over to South road, then finishing up just west of the ballparks.

The headwind was especially tough the last 2 miles and I had a hard time holding the pace. Wanted to average 6:52 pace which translates to a 1:30 half marathon but with the dang headwind I just missed it and ran 6:53.  But still happy with the run and felt alot better than Wednesday when I had a lousy tempo run that I had to end early.

Tempo overall pace/HR: 6:53/179