Hill Repeats

Yes, they are as bad as the title sounds. I tried to find a hill that was steady (no downhills in middle) that I could run for 2 minutes without reaching the end. The hills around my house couldn't cut it, so.. drove to the Safeway parking lot this morning to run on Monument road. Took a leisurely 2 mile warmup, and then proceeded to run uphill for 1 minute for 4 times (jogging back down each time), then running uphill for 2 minutes for 4 times (jogging then then running hard back), and then... sprinting uphill for 1 minute for 4 times. I think my legs finally remembered how to sprint the last two repetitions. Until then, I was just running fast. The last two repetitions -- I got to the '1 minute marker' about 10 seconds ahead of time, so kept running. I was supposed to run 2 miles as a cooldown, but I was beat, so I ran .5 miles, got back into my car, and went home.

Later, walking the two blocks from the parking garage to my office, my left knee hurt really bad every time I took a step. Ouch. Hopefully, that will go away today. I'm supposed to run 5 tomorrow, but if my knee hurts, I don't know what I'm going to do....

One run after another

I didn't have a chance to post after my long run last week. Due to scheduling conflicts, I had to do my long run on Friday night. If you are *not* a night owl, I do not recommend doing a long run beginning at 8:00 pm on a Friday night. I do a lot of night runs, but most of my runs are nighttime -- morning, not nighttime -- late night. By 10:00 pm, I was sleepy tired. I could have just closed my eyes and fallen asleep, without breaking a step. Thinking that this was a little unwise, I decided to stay awake and finish my run.

My long run? 16 miles (actually, 15.8, but was too tired to get the last .2 miles in). I did it in a 9:57 pace, but for the first 9 miles, it was much faster. Miles 14-17 were hard (sleepy tired, and just dog-gone tired at that point). Saturday at 5:00 am I woke up (a little achy) and went to a Cub Scout leader training event -- until 2:00 pm Sunday.

Monday, I just couldn't get up to run, so I ran my easy 5 this morning (Tuesday). It was a very good run, a nice and easy run at a 9:04 pace. Tomorrow, hill repeats. I'm dreading this one....

Ouch, my legs

So today I ran a hill workout -- 7 miles at a hard pace (okay, an 8:51 pace -- which is hard for me), that included some longer hills. Ouch, I'm beat. My legs are very tired. I'm happy I was able to run the pace that I did, and today's pace was much faster than previous runs on this same course, so I *am* getting better (which is good, because I am training!). Anyway, tomorrow is a rest day, which I'm grateful for. I'm trying very hard to keep to this schedule, as it seems to be working. I'm a little afraid of next week's 'hill repeat' workout though. I have a feeling that someone will find me on the side of the road, unable to walk anymore. Anyway, a rest day tomorrow, 2 'easy' days of 5 miles each, then a 16 (!) miler on Saturday -- before my Boy Scout training campout (whew, what a weekend!)

Lets see if I can get through the week

This'll be a short post. I'm interested if I can get through the week, not only in getting my runs in, but also posting a little bit.

I ran an 'easy 4' today. I started off a little stiff, as we (the family) went to DC yesterday and walked through the American History Museum. My first mile was a little slow, but I quickly got up to speed. I did a little research on the 'easy' runs on this program. At first, I thought I was to keep a slow pace, and as it turns out, I just need to keep an easy pace. If I can run faster, I should do so. So today I ran a sub 9 (barely, an 8:59 pace). We'll see how my 'hill' run goes tomorrow. It's supposed to be an 7 mile hill run. Historically, the 6 mile hill run has really wiped me out -- so we'll see.

Very Irregular

Okay, so I'm posting on a very irregular basis (read: very seldomly). I have been running, but just not posting.

Today I bought new shoes to replace my Saucony shoes. I have thought about getting new shoes for some time now, but noticed that both of my shoes have around 500 miles on them. My Adidas have 520 miles and my Saucony has 470. However, my Saucony shoes have broken down faster than my Adidas. My Adidas are still going strong, but I need to make a mental note that at around 200 miles of my new shoes (New Balance 758), I should replace my Adidas.

Overall, my running has been pretty good. In August, I ran 104 miles. I'm running fairly consistently, as I have been following a modified Yasso Marathon training plan for the upcoming Richmond Marathon on November 14 (yikes). Actually, my running has been pretty good. Today, instead of long mileage, my plan had me to a 5k. Not able to find a local 5k, I ran a 2 mile warmup along the W&OD trail, a hard 3 miles (8:07 pace), and then a 2 mile cooldown. I was surprised I was able to keep that pace for 3 miles. Beforehand, I was thinking that I was going to try for a 8:30 pace for the 5k portion, but as I was warming up, I was noticing that I was running a sub 9 in spots, without much fatigue. Anyway, I felt good with my run.

I'm trying to keep to the training plan, although this week I ran only 3 times versus 5 times as per the plan. Previous weeks have been pretty good though. Anyway, we'll see.

I'll try to post more often as I get closer to the Richmond Marathon. It should be fun as my family will be joining me to the race, and we are staying an extra night in Richmond (after the race) to enjoy the town.

I forgot how to tie my shoelaces!

Last week was a good week. I ran 25.99 miles (had I known I was 1/100th of a mile short of 26...), including a long run at Burke Lake (9.2 miles) with my Montrail trail shoes. These shoes are huge. I got these shoes just before they totally remodeled their line. Montrail's trail running shoes now look a lot like regular running shoes. Mines, uh.. don't. Mine almost look like low cut hiking boots. They are pretty heavy to boot (get it?). Anyway, like all of my running shoes, the first thing I did was to replace the shoelaces with the Yankz shoelace replacement system (long words for replacing the shoelaces with elastic, to avoid tying your shoes). I like the Yankz because you can adjust the tension (tightness) very easily. In the past, my shoes would always be too loose or too tight, and of course, they would untie occasionally.

However, given the sheer bulk of the Montrail shoe, plus the uneven terrain, the Yankz didn't work too well. So, Friday night, I replaced the Yankz with the original shoe laces.

Wow, just re-reading this blog, and I noticed that I have spent a long time explaining shoe laces. What an exciting post!

This week? Hopefully, a good week. I just started the Yasso Intermediate Marathon training program for the Richmond Marathon. The official training time isn't until the week of July 26, but I'll be on a Cub Scout camping trip that entire week, so I figured I would start early. I'm adjusting the training plan a bit as I would like to do 10 miles on my long run this week. We'll see!

Is this thing on?

Okay, this is a short post -- just to let you know I'm alive. My running over the past several months has been spotty at best. While on business travel, I was able to run consistently (weird), but at home, not so much. I've run a couple of times this week, but only in the evening. For some reason, I can't wake up early anymore. We'll see what happens... as I just signed up for the Richmond Marathon (yikes!).

Stay tuned.