track fan

Wed, Nov 19, 2008

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Nice run -- very easy. Trying to rest for a hard run tomorrow.

Happy Wednesday bloggers!

Tue, Nov 18, 2008

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (8.5+, 1:13:11). Last 10` at ~ half-marathon effort (7:30 pace). Ran at about 75% effort easing into about 5 miles at 8:20 pace before the last 10 mins. I am sure it was more than 8.5 miles based on the mile markers, but it wasn't quite 9 miles. Felt pretty good, easy and relaxed on the faster part and I don't feel tired at all this morning. Trying to keep it a little easier at the begining of the week as I have a pretty hard workout scheduled on Thursday - possibly the hardest workout I have ever done, but really good for judging my fitness going into the cross-country race next week.

PM: (4.5 miles, 40:31). Ran (jogged) at Reid Park, got there a little earlier than usual - it was still dark, but I could see where I was going for the first 20 mins!

Sun, Nov 16, 2008

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

2:01:40. Very cool run today (not temperature-wise!). We went to the Saguaro National Park - West today. Ran a slightly longer than 8 mile very hilly loop on a dirt road and then added on more on an out-and-back to get to 2 hours. No water, but as long as it is not too hot (above 85F) I have found I can run about 90-1:45 without water - so we just left water at the car and included the car in the loop - it worked out just fine.

It was very beautiful ... lots and lots of Sahuaros (mountains covered in them) -- it is truly something to see, looks postcard perfect. Probably more beautiful in the early morning/late evening with the sun setting/rising.

Sat, Nov 15, 2008

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (8 miles, 1:11:06). Very slow miles -- mainly because the first 4 miles were into a headwind that was gusting at times. Felt better than yesterday - just wanted to take it easy and recover for tomorrows longer run.

PM: (4 miles, 36:34). Ran on the very cool trails up north -- I found a dirt road (off of the trails) that runs around the golf course. It was very cool, and better because the last 5 mins of my run was in the dark!!!

Fri, Nov 14, 2008

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:06:04. Whew, my legs could have used another 8 hours between runs ... tired today, but not any worse than I expected (I expected the run to be tough). I hope I ran slowly enough that I feel more recovered tomorrow.

Happy Friday bloggers.

Thu, Nov 13, 2008

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (9.5+ miles, 1:21:43). 25:31 wu + 18 x 1` @ slightly faster than 5k effort w 1` recovery + 20:22 cd. The first few were a little fast, so I felt these a little more than I should in the final ones ... but all and all a fun workout.

PM: (4 miles, 36:32). Reid Park ... in the dark.

Wed, Nov 12, 2008

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:12:40. recovery run on the river trail. I am tired today -- but it did not get any worse on the run so I guess that is good ;-).

Tue, Nov 11, 2008

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (9.5 miles, 1:18:09, 4 mile tempo run). So very cool. Today we had the day off from work (and decided to take it since we are not finished unpacking our house) so we drove to the Pima Community College track for our workout (Dean was doing 4 x 1 mile @ 10K race pace). There are all kinds of trails around the college for wu and cd and the view is spectacular. The track is very nice - mondo surface with alternating blue and gray colors so it looks like water from a distance. It is a wide track too, so the turns are a little less sharp (easier on the legs) - I have heard that the track in Indianapolis that they use for USATF track championships is similar.

Anyway, I am so excited! Last week was not a fluke! I ran a wu of about 3 miles (26:09) with 800m of short strides before I started the tempo portion. The tempo run felt great! I felt really relaxed and did not even start to struggle until the last 800m and even then, I just had to relax into it. My tempo run pace is somewhere between ...

Sun, Nov 09, 2008

Sun, 09 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:58:31 (1:03:11/55:20). Tough run (as you can tell from the massive negative split!) ... pretty cool for the most part. It took us almost an hour to drive to this old fire road that climbs up to Mt. Lemmon. As we suspected - it was very hilly. Mainly rollers but with a significant overall net elevation gain (eventually goes from 4500 ft at the start to over 9000 ft -- but this is over somewhere near 20 miles). Mostly it was easier than Jeremy Ranch Road, but there was one section that climbed quite a bit - about 2 - 3 miles of switchbacks. The worst part today was the wind - really really severe headwind going out (up the hills) - at some points the gusts were so high I simply was not going forward (but the gusts did not last long). It was severely dusty (since this was a dirt fire road) -- I will be tasting grit for days I am sure - and my eyes feel like they have been scratched!

It was a challenge - but so worth it! The views were something - ...

Sat, Nov 08, 2008

Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (7.5 miles, 1:04:19). Felt pretty good today, probably because I had some work (cross-friction type of therapy) on my legs yesterday -- it hurt so bad that at one point I jumped off the table! But, today my legs felt much better - my foot hurt pretty bad for the first 10 mins but felt fine after that. I have been wearing an arch support band that really helps - but I seem to have misplaced it yesterday. I tried hard to get an early start this morning so I would have a couple more hours between runs, it gets dark so early here in the evening that 5:00 is the latest I can get out safely.

PM: (4 miles, 36:24). Ran on some really cool trails about 15 mins from our house (driving). There had been some sort of cross-country or mountain bike race there and there were arrows telling you where to go. Sweet! And, we got to see the sunset during the run -- if you haven't seen a desert sunset it is something to put on your "to do" list, it is beautiful.

Fri, Nov 07, 2008

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:02:02. Weird, I felt pretty bad today -- unmotivated actually (wrt running). My legs felt bad, then they felt good, then they felt ok, and so on. It was a strange multimodal feeling. However, in the end, I went much faster than usual - unintentionally. Also went a bit further than usual so either my 7's have been short, or this run was long -- but not by an amount worth counting!

Happy Friday bloggers.

Thu, Nov 06, 2008

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (9.5, 1:16:34). 25` wu/cd 6 x 3` @ slightly faster than 10K effort w/2` recovery. Felt pretty good. My legs are still a little tired from Tuesday, but the faster stuff felt good. One thing about fartlek runs are that as you do the faster bits the slower bits get faster! So my cd was a little faster than my wu ...

PM: (3.5 - or more?). I am going to try to meet up with the BPR group tonight for my second run. Whoops ... did not make it. I wanted to meet up with LaurenO and Laszlo, but I was installing software on my work computer and just couldn't get out in time. Instead it was the same run as Tuesday (I am getting bad about blogging my 2nd run) - run on the soft dirt around Reid park, in the dark.

Wed, Nov 05, 2008

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:04:02. Very slow recovery run -- my legs are tired today! I saw a baby hawk sitting on a fence - I stood about 5 feet from it and it did not budge -- very cool, but I am worried that he/she might be sick or something. It was tagged with a metal band ...

Happy mid-week!

Tue, Nov 04, 2008

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (1:21:33, 9.5 miles). Modified fartlek workout. I wanted to do 4 x 2000m tempo intervals, but I kept missing some of the 200m markings (and the ones I did see I was pretty skeptical about the pace they set me as going). So, I modified it to approximately 8` on with 3-4` recovery (I say approximately because I was trying hard to get an idea of my pace so I was trying to use the mile markers instead -- again I did not believe them!). So, I ran 8:15, 8:47, 8:00 and 8:11 on with ~ 4`. I finally was able to get an accurate mile reading the final one, HOLY COW, my original splits were right - I was running 7:00 - 7:05 pace! I really really really did not think I was running that fast. Actually, I was not supposed to be running that fast (tempo interval pace is about 7:15-7:25 for me). I need to get to a track - and I need to get up to Mt Lemmon (8000 ft) so I can retain some of this altitude training benefit. I am really shocked. I ...

Sun, Nov 02, 2008

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:46:37. Wow. My first desert trail run. It was really hard. We went to the Catalina State Park - our plan was to do a 6+ mile loop twice. Well, it was really steep, rocky, and sandy (what?) -- it was much longer than 6 or 7 miles too - I don't know if it was because we missed a turn-off (very possible as we were supposed to run on 3 different trails and I think we only ran on 2) or what ... but Dean ran it in 1:36/1:37. The last 5 miles or so were much easier (trail was more like a trail) except for the last mile which was essentially ankle deep soft sand! No water until about about 1:32 into the run -- which was not the plan, since it was pretty hot today. Luckily, we are pretty acclimated to running in the heat (since we start our long runs so late in the summer) - so 86F wasn't really too bad. I was glad to get some water - though I probably could have held out the the end of the run.

Next weekend we need to get up to Mt. Lemmon before it snows!

Happy Sunday bloggers. Tomorrow ...

Sat, Nov 01, 2008

Sat, 01 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (7 miles, 1:03:08). Tried to find a track (for future reference). I found a really cool dirt track but it is part of a private school and I don't think we are going to be allowed to use it. Too bad, it is about 2.5 miles away (perfect distance for warm-ups/cool-downs) and I liked that it was dirt. I don't think they use it either -- there were bleachers in lane 1 ;-).

PM:(3.5 miles).

My legs felt good day - although they were slow to "warm-up". I think it was because of the massage yesterday. I like my new massage therapist -- I could tell when one of the first things he said was "well, this won't be fun so I don't have to worry about you falling asleep". He does myofascial work, which is painful but exactly what I need. I got a late start today, so it was pretty hot (89F when I finished). Supposedly, it is going to cool down over the next week here.

Happy weekend bloggers.

Fri, Oct 31, 2008

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:00:21. Ran on the river trail -- on the dirt, very slowly.

Thu, Oct 30, 2008

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (9 + miles, 1:22:05, 12 x 100m strides w/1` recovery). Ran on the River path ... found a cool thing. By crossing to the South side of the wash at La Cholla I can run entirely (the whole path is at least 11 miles one way - I think?) on dirt! From La Cholla to I-10 the dirt path is on the North side of the wash. No "official" bathrooms on the dirt sides (lots of virtual ones though), but water is available at least every 1.5-2 miles (very cool).

preblogging because I am really busy trying to get unpacked today!

PM: (3.5 miles, ~30 mins).

Wed, Oct 29, 2008

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0100

1:01:53. Ran from the house to the river trail, then headed West towards I-10 just to see what the trail looked liked -- most of the bathrooms are on the other side of the wash (since that is the paved part and the one that the bikes go on) -- it is pretty nice to run on hard packed sand though - it is a forgiving surface but not so soft as to be hard to run on. Much warmer today -- probably in the 80's -- since we got out later (we got distracted with unpacking and looking for things!).

My adductor is hurting a little again -- I have a massage appointment scheduled for Friday, someone that a local running group suggested (there is a running group in the NW side of town - the wife is an olympic trials competitor and the husband is a marathoner as well -- good people to know as they know a whole host of people from PT's to LMP's and chiropractors). I hope I can nip this little injury in the bud so I can train a little for the Thanksgiving Day xc race!!!

Miss ...

Tue, Oct 28, 2008

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 05:00:00 +0100

AM: (8 miles, 1:13:xx). Nice run on the River trail from La Cholla to 1st Ave (I parked at the trailhead here because I had to drop the dogs off at day-care while the movers were at the house). The trail is marked at 200 m intervals (sweet). It is primarily ashpalt, but I chose to run on the packed dirt along side the trail -- part of the trail was even shaded! Bathrooms/water about every 2-3 miles (sweet again). Going West of La Cholla (towards our house) the path is hard-packed dirt on one side of the river (a wash actually, no water except during monsoon season) and ashpalt on the other. Nice morning - I had to get going by about 8AM because the movers were at the house, it was about 70F and sunny.

PM: (3.5 miles, 31:xx mins). Ran with Dean to the River trail from our house -- along a busy street a little over a 1.5 miles (my car registered about 1.7 miles). There is a bike lane and dirt road so it is ok -- but I did not like the ...

Sun, Oct 26, 2008

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

1:45:xx

Hello bloggers!!! Wow, so much is going on since I have been away -- a new fastrunningbaby the biggest news! We just got our internet connected!!

So, Dean and I ran with Greg McMillan on Sunday -- Greg ran the first hour with us, showing us some cool trails in Flagstaff. They were nice - not too rocky, some small hills, but mainly pretty easy (except that they were at 7500 ft). We dropped Greg off after an hour and Dean and I headed out for an extra 45`. As usual, I ran too slow for Dean and he was complaining about his hip flexor for the rest of the day. I was SOOO happy, my adductor barely hurt! I have started wearing an arch band, and it helps my PF a whole lot - so I am not limping anymore on my runs (even the first couple of miles). Yipppeee.

We decided to stay in Flagstaff an extra day, so we could have dinner with the McMillan Elite team tonight. The mover did not call us, so we expecting our furniture ...

Sat, Oct 25, 2008

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

Ran with Dean along the Flagstaff urban trail - it was a tough day yesterday. We drove 525 miles after getting a late start (we had to get the contractor started on our basement/foundation problem so we can get our house rented out). Tonight we are meeting up with my coach, and friends here in Flagstaff ... the animals are having some tough times on this trip.

Fri, Oct 24, 2008

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

Ran with Dean - our last run together in Salt Lake City. Today we are packing up the cars and leaving. We will be having breakfast with our friends and neighbors ... it will be sad.

Thu, Oct 23, 2008

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

Movers are here -- had to sneak away to get this run in! Thankful I could run today.

Wed, Oct 22, 2008

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

Packers are here and I have to finish packing up my office ... my leg is "better" but I am still trying to take it easy and stop running when it starts hurting.

Tue, Oct 21, 2008

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

I felt my adductor "strain" on Saturday (on my PM run) -- I was very worried. On Sunday, I could feel it, and it got worse by the end of the run, but I did not want to abort the run. Finally, the last mile I felt it "seize" and I had to stop and stretch. I was pretty sure it got worse with both intensity and hills.

Yesterday was my day off and I went to my ART guy -- he said that the adductor and gracilis were pretty inflammed ... he worked what he could but told me to back off a little this week and see if I can get the inflammation to go down a little. It was most likely caused because I changed my gait last week when my foot flared up so badly -- so we worked on my achilles and PF too (it was very very painful).

So - today I ran on the wood chip path in Liberty Park - I told myself I would quit if I felt any pain in my adductor/groin at all. I kept the pace at 9 - 9:15 pace and it felt ok. I got bored though and kept ...

Sun, Oct 19, 2008

Sun, 19 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0100

1:36:45 - Jeremy Ranch Road.