track fan

2:37:39.  whew.  When I started out this morning the wind was gusting so hard that a chipmunk got blown down the road -- not very far but I had never seen that before -- I think he/she got picked up by a dust devil (looked like a tornado of dust).  It was interesting, I tried to run slowly as I knew it was going to be a rough run today anyway and I did not want to wear myself out even more fighting the wind.  As I got into the mountains the wind was blocked slightly - but it was a double edged sword because then it just got hot (it is 92F right now, I would guess it was 88-89 when I finished).  It was a hilly course - I timed the hills, the shortest one took me 17 mins to "crest" the longest took 38 mins -- luckily there were equally long downhills.  These are not steep - not like City Creek Canyon steep - just long grades.  The last one was about miles 12 - 15.  I was tired by the end, but finished pretty strong and was happy overall with the run.  Just really thirsty!

Happy Sunday bloggers. 

AM: (9.5+ miles, 1:24:53).  15 x 1` with 1` recovery.  Should be at about 3K pace or faster (almost a 200 m workout) ... probably wasn't quite that fast.  I just focused on strength and form while running fast.  This is my last week of 'effort' based stuff, next week it is back to the track.

PM: (4 miles) ... easy, I am sure! 

1:08:17.  Easy recovery run ... felt much better than last week!

Very busy today -- off to a meeting!

AM: (11.5 miles, 1:37:05).  25:48 wu 5 x 5` w/3` recovery 31:06 cd.  I was able to get an overall pace for 2 miles (average 7:40 includes both fast and slow parts - which means that the fast parts were around 6:55-7:00 pace - which surprised me).  This run was much more controlled and less taxing than last weeks run -- knowing that I have a tendency to run non-track fartleks a little faster than I realize I took it slower than I had wanted.  By the last one I felt tired enough that I was confident I ran them at an ok pace.  I did get some sort of weird pain in my adductor/quad during the recovery part of the 4th and 5th one, it sort of went away sometime during my cool-down ... but I am not happy about it.  I might cut my run this afternoon a little short if gets worse during the run. 

PM: hopefully 4 miles! 

I have a post-"surgical" appointment today for my skin cancer.  One of the areas has healed enough that I don't need bandages anymore (but it is an ugly scarred thing - icky really), the other one is horrible looking still.  I really am getting tired of the whole wound care stuff -- and I hope I can get some sort of cream or something that might speed things up.

1:06:07.  I can't believe how good I felt today.  A little tiny niggling pain in my quad/adductor, but nothing major and the rest of me just felt good. 

Happy Weekend bloggers!

AM: (8.5, 1:16:45).  Easy run on the river path.  Slept really well last night -- actually ate a little too well too (luckily it did not show up in my weight this morning - I am hovering at a weight I have not seen since my mid 30's right now, very cool). 

PM:(4.5) ... again with the favorite run of the week, I am usually tired, but I just love this run.

2:42:01.  A little longer than 18 - I did three loops near where I ran last weekend, though this is an easier run.  About 24 mins of long uphill and then downhill to flat for a little less than 30 mins ... it was breezy, but not windy.  Each loop is a little shy of 6 miles so I added on a 8:42 min loop (down to a picnic area) to ensure I got in 18 miles.  Loop splits were 52:20, 52:04 and 48:49.  A little faster than when I ran this in January (by a few seconds) -- my two first splits were slower than that run but my last one today was faster by over a minute.  I am glad, I really thought maybe I had been losing fitness (because I just haven't felt "good") - but I think I am mis-remembering that I did not really feel "good" before either.  Anyway ... I am happy and think I am ready for my first 20+ milers in the next few weeks (next week is more of a speed week).

Happy Sunday bloggers!

AM: (10 miles, 1:30:09).  What a difference a day makes.  Yesterday I felt really run down, my leg was sore and I was plain ole burnt out.  Today I got started on my run and felt so good I did not want to turn around when it was time.  45:43/44:25. 

PM: (4 miles easy).

Have a good day bloggers!

1:05:23 (33:07/32:16).  A little sluggish today ... I am trying to think positive, recovery thoughts for my first workout on the track in over a month tomorrow!

Happy Wednesday bloggers!

AM: (12 miles, 1:39:20).  8 x 1000 w/200 recovery + 3 x 200 w/200 recovery.  Glad to get the first track workout out of the way -- let's just call this my benchmark workout. 

2.5 mile wu + strides (25:50).  1K splits (with mile equivalents): 4:25 (7:05), 4:28 (7:08), 4:24 (7:02), 4:22 (6:58), 4:22 (6:58), 4:23 (7:00), 4:23 (7:00), 4:18 (6:52) -- recovery jogs were 1:10 average.  200's (:50, :47, :49) with 1:06 average recovery.  2.5 cd (23:52).

My target range is 4:18-4:24 but Greg wanted me to start out on the slower side to "fatigue myself with the duration of the workout, not the speed".  So, I was targeting about 4:25-4:27 for the first few, and then my plan was to get faster with each repeat.  I had such a hard time "finding pace" the first couple that it sort-of didn't workout quite that way - although I actually found that 4:23 (7:00 min pace) was actually pretty comfortable for me for this distance ... so, I am pretty happy.  It does mean that my fartlek workouts have been much faster than I had thought they were - since I am sure I had been running them harder than most of these repeats.  I was still laughing at how slow my 200's are!  Jeremy Warnier would have finished his 400 meter race and have caught his breath before I finished the 200!!

PM: (4 miles).  Very slow!

1:07:44.  Recovery run.  Did not feel good at the start - never got better, but luckily it never got worse either.  Goal was to be out on my feet for more than an hour and this was accomplished.

I have told you I live on the edge of the wilderness -- well, there is a coyote that lives in a wash near my house.  I saw here this morning walking right in front of me (less than 50 meters away).   I was worried about her being so close to "people" and cars, but I stopped and talked to some people who were out with their dogs  and supposedly she has lived her for a really long time.  Her mate was killed by a car a couple of weeks ago (I saw him on the trail and was worried about him because he kept running toward the busy street).  According to these people the female has either just had a litter of pups or is about to, they could tell by the way she acted when their dogs walked by (the dogs avoid the coyote after the first time they ran up to her thinking she was a dog, they got pretty close and then just slowly walked away - I guess she did not smell like a dog after all!).

Happy Friday bloggers. 

AM: (8.5 miles, 1:14:20).  Easy run -- ran into Kelly Liljeblad (Keane) again today.  Actually ran with her a bit (yup me and an elite 2:31 marathoner) ... ok, she is three weeks out from foot surgery and was jogging super slow, but heck I did run with her! ;-).  I felt pretty good today, I was surprised that I recovered from my Thursday workout by today ... we'll see how well recovered tomorrow for my progression run.  I have some tough Sunday's coming up after tomorrow.  So even though tomorrow will be sort of tough on the speed side, I know there are some even tougher ones up ahead ...

I ran home, hurried and cleaned the pool and jumped on the internet to see how Snoqualmie did  - yippeee a 3 minute PR in the 5K (that is so huge a minute a mile!).

PM: (4.5).  Best run in the whole week ... I love this course.

Happy Weekend bloggers!

1:32:32.  Thirds progression run.  First 30` easy, second 30` medium and 30` medium to hard.  My legs were SOOOO tight and unhappy at the beginning of this run.  But, I was committed to getting a good workout.  The defnition for a good workout was to get progressively faster without it being a struggle at all ... So, I decided to take a different tack from the last time I ran this workout ... I went by feel and just tried to increase the pace slowly from mile to mile.  It worked out pretty well!!  I did have to slow down my pace during the last third, I started speeding up more than I was supposed to (I was supposed to keep my hard portion no faster than 7:36 pace).  I did not have mile markers on all of the course, and some of these miles have an overlap between thirds.  1:50, 9:45 (slightly longer than a mile because I was running on the trail and the marker is on the bike path), 9:07, 8:50, 8:25, 22:00 (2 1/2 miles - ave 8:00), 7:58, 7:41, 7:51, 7:53, 1:46.

Felt really good at the end, could have run more!

One problem that I have had this week in particular, but it has been going on for a couple of weeks now, is related to caloric intake.  As my mileage has gone up I know I need to take in more calories, but when I sit down to eat I am just not that hungry.   It is not uncommon for me to not really want to eat on my hard workout days, but usually I make up for it the next day (when I am pretty hungry) - but the past two weeks have not been like that, I just don't really have an "appetite"  when I sit down to eat.  Even weirder, yesterday, for the first time in 17 years - 17 years!! - I thought about a hamburger! wow.  It freaked me out.  So much so I ate a huge bowl of spinach last night (thinking I was low on iron or something).  I do feel better today (and was hungry this morning, finally - I think it was because this was not really as hard of a run as most of my Sunday runs are) -- so I hope it was just a fluke occurence. Is anyone else out there a vegetarian that sometimes feels the need to increase either protein or vitamins in their diet?  has the need manifested itself in a lack of appetite? 

Happy Sunday bloggers.

AM:(9.5+ miles, 1:24:05). Probably a little closer to 10 but not quite. 15 x 1` @ 3-5K effort w/1` recovery. I know this workout looks easy - but it isn't when you do the first few too fast ;-). PM:(4 miles). nice and easy. This week is a sort of recovery week, I say sort of because I will have 3 'workouts' over the week so the intensity is about the same as most weeks with slightly less mileage.

PM: (4 miles, 36:24).  easy evening jog - it was very pleasant!

 Happy St. Patrick's Day bloggers!

(whoops ... how could I forget the Patron Saint of Ireland?)

1:07:01 (33:56/33:04).  Felt really good today, maybe I didn't run hard enough yesterday - although I was pretty tired last night when I ran ... I am sure a good night sleep (7 whole hours for the first time in a while) didn't hurt!

Things I love about running in Arizona:

1) I never have to run on concrete or even ashpalt

2) Mountainsides covered in sahuaro cacti - truly magnificent

3) Seeing a coyote sitting in a wash howling and barking (different one today)

4) Birds ... all kinds, everywhere, from little colorful ones to hawks (everyday I  see a new type)

5) weather in fall, winter, spring -- perfect

Hope you all are doing well today bloggers!

AM:(13 miles, 1:49:14). Tempo interval workout: 5 x 2000 w/400 recovery + 3 x 200 w/200 recovery. Goal pace (8:40 - 9:00/2000, which is 6:58-7:13/mile). These were actually faster than threshold pace, but not quite a speed workout - somewhere between 10K - 15K pace. 2.5 mile + 600 m of strides (24:21) 8:59 (7:13) 8:59 (7:13) 8:59 (7:13) 8:58 (7:11) 8:57 (7:10) recovery jogs were 2:30 average (:49, :50, :50) recovery was about 1:10 slightly less than 2.5 mile cd (20:30) I am very excited about this workout. This was a 10K workout at about 13 seconds slower than my estimated 10K race pace. There was a stiff headwind on the back stretch that I am telling got pretty tiring after 20 laps (mainly a problem on the fast laps) - I would estimate it cost me a couple seconds. I was pretty darn tired for the last 5 laps!

 PM:(4 miles, 37:04). I was a big baby when I first started this run ... my legs were so tired and tight. Once I got started I was glad I got out and ran, I loosened up immensely.

I am very excited -- tomorrow night we are going to go to the first U of Arizona outdoor track meet of the season! Should be fun, Abdi might be there (since he is an alum and I have heard he shows up to many of the meets held here in town).

1:09:22 (34:57/34:24). Ran a little further today than I meant to (I was planning on turning around at 33 mins - but I lost track of time).

I felt a lot better today than I thought I would. Yesterdays workout was much harder than I thought it was going to be. It was only 1.2 miles longer than the 8 x 1000 I did last week, but man I was beat. I guess doubling the length of the interval really does make it much harder (duh!) ... I felt a little better about my workout last week, but I am not sure why, I only did the ones yesterday 5 secs slower per 1000 ... so maybe yesterdays was actually a "better" workout. Or maybe I am overthinking this (duh again!).

Have a great weekend bloggers -- Good luck Carolyn and Sno - and everyone else who is racing this weekend!

AM: (8.5 miles, 1:16:09 (38:57/37:11).  Nice day today, I don't feel great, but I don't feel horrible -- my knee and adductor hurt a little, but not enough to really worry that much (I hope).

PM: (4.5 miles).  My favorite park run!

So last night was a blast.  We went to the track meet and as soon as we got into the stands I noticed a Utah State runner ... ah ha I thought, "I wonder if Ruth from the blog is here?" -- we looked in the program and sure enough she was running the 5K!  I saw her in the crowd of runners and called out to her.  She is such a nice young woman!  She had a great first track run of the season.  I will let her tell you about it on her blog -- basically she has an incredible kick!  Truly something to see.  She seemed to "fall asleep" during the middle part of the race (about laps 7-10) - but once she knew she was close to finishing she perked right up and simply made amazing ground!

There was quite the crowd there, Abdi was there (we talked to him because I am not shy - though I might be considered "weird" - I am truly a track groupie I can't help it), Bernard Lagat was there (I talked to him too), and there was a whole group of guys from the Oregon track club (the home to some of the best 800 meter runners in the USA right now) - we met Kevin Hicks (a very nice young man) and I think he was with Matt Scherer.  What a cool night.

Then, to top everything off, our cat must love us very much - this morning I went out the front door to get started on my run and I nearly stepped on a pile of dead lizards that had been laid there as an offering.  Either he loves us or he has a secret admirer (there is a pretty girl kitty next door, they might be in love, they fight a lot). 

Happy Saturday bloggers!

2:37:59.  3 hilly laps the dirt road in Sauharo National Park.  laps were 51:39, 49:49, 48:02 + almost a mile added on to a picnic area and back 8:26.  I was really pleased with this run, my legs are still a little stiff from the workouts this week but I still was able to run 18 hard miles and feel pretty good.  It was hot by the end - I tried to get out early (because it is already 88F right now, and pretty hot when the sun is beating down) and I am glad I did, 1/2 hour later and most of my run would have been pretty uncomfortable, as it was it was probably 75F when I started and 85F or so when I finished.  I have noticed this week that it is my legs that are my limiting factor right now, cardiovascularly I feel great, I can take hills easily and even on the track this week my breathing was good -- my legs are just tired and can only move so fast!

So ... over the past two-three months I have seen a couple of snakes (about 3 weeks ago I almost stepped on one).  Every time I describe these snakes (two of them looked very similar) people here seem to think, "well, it could have been a rattlesnake".  Well, I am not sure now.  Today I was RATTLED (literally and figuratively) - it was bizarre.  I heared a noise I had never heard before and instictually I froze in mid-stride (I didn't stop time just sort of froze for a second) and turned my head to the left -- there he/she was - HUGE, and slithering away (thankfully).  WOW!  I have to confess bloggers I meant to say "shoot" but said the wrong word ... it was pretty amazing.  And here I thought all I was going to tell you about was, "speaking of lizards ... I almost stepped on several today because they kept running under my feet!!". 

I have a really rough couple of weeks coming up.  I will be traveling to Nashville to work with some of my collaborators there.  I have some big deadlines (papers, grants and NIH reviews due) at the same time ... and I have two really big workouts coming up.  I hope I can manage to fit it all in without getting worn out too much.  

Happy Sunday bloggers!

AM: (11.5 miles, 1:40:40 (51:31/49:08).  Man, I felt really good today.  My legs are still a little stiff, but I just ran easy and it felt good.  Barely broke a sweat and kept my heart-rate and breathing really easy.  I am a little nervous about my workout on Thursday so I am trying to make sure I give myself every opportunity to feel good going into it ;-).

PM: (4 miles, easy).

1:06:50 (34:08/32:41). Felt much better than I thought I would. Last nights run was really hard until the last mile. Dean told me to quit complaining last night, but my legs were just so dead and my adductor hurt. It did not hurt at all on my run, but I could feel when I was stretching and when I walk around (weird).

Got to go ... lots of meetings today.

AM: (13.5 miles, 1:49:20) Yasso 800 workout + 24:53 wu and 17:59 cd.  10 x 800 meters w/equivalent time recovery (I did 600 meters).  I was not looking forward to this workout, first off I don't like 800s (they are hard). Secondly, I don't really think that this is a good "marathon predictor" for someone like me without leg speed (it is more like a 10K predictor in my mind!) - sorry Bart Y.  But -- I was sort of interested to see what would happen.  I do have to say that having a long recovery makes these a lot easier than when I have done them for speed in preparation for 5-10K's.    They still were hard though - with 600 meter recovery I got to alternate when I started off with the wind (it is always windy on one side of the track it seems) -- the faster ones were generally when I was able to finish with a tailwind (even though I hit the windy side twice every 800 of course).  Average was 3:23.  According to Bart Yasso, this should predict your time for the marathon (3:23); according to Greg this is on the average 5 mins too fast for most people.  So, supposedly, I would be in the 3:28 range right now.  Based on my recent 1/2 marathon (on a hilly course) most "predictors" (Greg's, Daniels, other online tools) would put me at 3:21 - 3:25.  So ... the only thing I can say is that on a good day I might break 3:30 - but I am still nervous and would not be surprised if I don't quite get it right the first time.  Regardless, this is the fastest 800 meter workout I have ever done (albeit with the most recovery between as well). 

800s (1600 equivalent)	recovery
3:27 (6:54)	3:33
3:24 (6:48)	3:33
3:23 (6:46)	3:23
3:23 (6:46)	3:24
3:24 (6:48)	3:22
3:22 (6:44)	3:22
3:23 (6:46)	3:15
3:20 (6:40)	3:16
3:22 (6:44)	3:18
3:22 (6:44)	3:24

PM: (very very very easy 3.5 miles, 33:19).  It was VERY windy -- gusts were way above 25 mph, tumbleweeds everywhere!

I really need to take it super easy the next couple of days, I have a very tough 22.4 miler on Sunday -- in one of my most favorite -- though very hilly (http://www.harpethhillsmarathon.com/) places in Nashville.  I have some friends that are coming out to run parts of it with me -- so it should be a fun time.  But, as I recall, just one of these loops can really wear you out, I have never done two loops before.  It should be a really good workout!

Happy Thursday bloggers.

1:07:21.  Recovery run.   Felt better than I expected I would, my body is really tired though.  I tried to keep my pace below 9:15.  Most of my time I just let my body tell me how fast/slow to go - the two exceptions are "workouts" and the day after said workouts.  I will likely try to keep a really slow pace for both of my runs tomorrow too, my mileage will be higher for the next two weeks, I am traveling and have a lot of work stress and I don't want to get sick!! 

One thing that is cool about my workout yesterday is that I am pretty sure I am ready to PR in the 5K and 10K this summer.  I am sure that is why Greg has us do that type of workout - it is a little of a confidence booster.  When I showed Dean my splits he said  that type of workout is much easier when you run with a group.  He thought I might have been closer to 3:20 on them if I was running with someone else (who is not faster than me, otherwise I would have gone out too fast). 

Have to go pack and make sure I have all my work stuff with me, it is going to be a very busy week, hopefully productive though!  If all goes well I will have two or three papers submitted in the next month or two.  It will look good for my grant that is due in June.

Happy Friday bloggers!

1:29:28.

Drat. After 6 hours at the airport, 3 hours standing in lines, 3 sets of boarding passes, and two canceled flights, I am still in Tucson today. There were a bunch of storms in Dallas (and in Nashville as well) and they kept canceling flights into (and out of) Dallas yesterday - by 6PM I just gave up and rebooked (for the 3rd time) for today. The main bummer is it ruins my "running schedule" for today -- I will be 27 mins (~3 miles) off of my schedule this week. In the big scheme of things - this is so very minor. It is nothing compared to all of those poor people in Fargo (and nearby) that after 2 or more days out in the freezing cold packing sandbags (that froze as soon as they were packed and therefore not as useful) were told to give up and had 1/2 hour to pack up the things they wanted to try to save; nor is it as bad as the poor soldier I met yesterday in one of the many lines I stood in, who after 16 months in Iraq and 25 hours of flying was not going to get home to his family last night. It is probably good for me to be slightly inconvenienced and get my "schedule" off kilter, I am too wedded to "hitting" the schedule anyway (a little of a control freak with respect to running and my work).

I will however, be packing running shoes and kit with me no matter where I travel in the future -- even now I really don't know where my luggage is -- I just hope I find it late tonight when I get into Nashville. And - because I was polite to the ticket agents last night I am flying first class today -- so I can actually work on my computer with lots of table room - sweet. I will miss my 2nd run though.

Happy Weekend bloggers.

3:21:14 (1:45/1:38).  Two really really really (did I mention really) hard loops - more like 22.4 since each loop is 11.2 miles.  I am very excited.  I am now positive I can run a marathon.  I ran the first loop with my friends Doug and Jeannine (average about 9:20 pace) and then ran the second by myself (average about 8:45 pace) - I have all my splits but don't have time to write them all down now.    

Happy Sunday bloggers.

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:20:30).  15 x 1` w/1` recovery.  Ran on the new Richland Greenway today - this was done after I had moved from Nashville (when I first moved here I used to live right near here) .... very nice.  Tiny rolling hills, it is greening up here (thunderstorms last night) so it is so pretty.  The weather was similar to Sunday - drizzling - but warmer today (about 45F versus about 35F on Sunday).  I miss a lot of things about Nashville.  Very busy though.

PM: (4 miles).  Planning on running in Centennial Park!