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October 31, 2004

Where did my extra hour go?

Man this weekend has gone by fast! We drove to Houston yesterday for a wedding last night and then drove back this morning. That's five hours in the car in the course of 24. And we had driven there and back on Thursday to visit Andy's uncle in the hospital, so I've had enough of the car for a while ...

Yesterday Steve had us run the "Run from Hell." It was a 16-mile course with 12 really, really, hilly miles. There were a few hills that were wheeze-inducing; ones where my heels were coming out the backs of my shoes. I handled them like the true billy-goat I am. Fortunately my shin held up well and I finished up really strong so it was a positive experience overall. The weather was still on the icky side, although not quite as bad as it was last weekend. Rumor is we're getting a cold front soon! That'll suit me just fine, thanks.

I did end up finding a Halloween costume at Eckerd's for $5. It's a yellow vinyl fireman's jacket and hat ... made for a 10-year-old. It's easy and it works. I never have to worry about Halloween costumes again.

Need to get in a run before the trick-or-treaters get here!

Posted by jenandmats at 3:18 PM | Comments (2)

October 27, 2004

Moonshadow Shadow

Did you guys see the eclipse? Pretty cool. We had dinner on a restaurant roof (I was a little embarrassed to still be in my running clothes, but we live out in the suburbs and it seemed silly to A) put my work clothes back on my sweaty self; or B) drive all the way home just to go back out again in 5 minutes.)

Why did I think I had another week before Halloween? I have no costume. Again. And the party's in less than 48 hours. Why do I do this every year? (Could it be that I don't just *love* dressing up?)

Posted by jenandmats at 9:57 PM | Comments (1)

October 26, 2004

Good recovery or bad judgment?

Tonight I ran again with our San Antonio friend on a 12-miler. Andy ran with us, too, and we had a good run. They did most of the talking; I was working hard enough that talking beyond a sentence or two would have caused me some stress. Definitely doable, but not ideal. You think that that qualifies as a high-end aerobic effort? If so, then it was a great run. We started easy then did most of the run at that pace and then finished up the last 1.5 miles really strong.

I passed a running friend as I finished up and he shouted after me "You're recovered from Sunday?" I responded "Not emotionally." But I guess tonight I didn't really feel too beat up physically, even though it was such a tough race. Too bad they're aren't any "recovery races." Maybe there's something I could be more competitive in. (Or maybe I'm not as recovered as I'm bragging I am and I'll pay for tonight's pace later on. I hope not.)

My work is starting to pick up. My job is tied to the Texas Legislature, which meets for 140 days every two years. It starts January 11 next year, which is 5 weeks before my marathon. It's incredibly stressful, and I can't believe I've committed myself to doing so much. But I managed it last session so I'm pretty sure I can do it again. All this spare time I have for blogging and reading blogs may quicky evaporate over the next few weeks as we start to get geared up. I'm going to have to ween myself off of you guys. This blogging business has become addictive!

Posted by jenandmats at 9:44 PM | Comments (3)

October 25, 2004

Summary - week 15 of 31

Week 15 of 31 (10/18-10/24)
Monday – 5am EZ w/ 8x strides; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 0pm - shin bothering me again
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – OFF
Friday – 5am EZ; 8pm treadmill w/ 2x 3min 10K pace (6:40-6:35), 3min rest; 2min 5K pace (6:27), 2min rest; 1min 1mi pace (6:07-6:00), 1min rest.
Saturday – 7EZ
Sunday - 15 w/ 10-mi race (1:09:55)
TOTAL - 50

Posted by jenandmats at 9:38 PM

October 24, 2004

Pervasive Power Charge 10-miler

At some point yesterday afternoon, after several attempts at answering the question about my goals for this morning's race, I had whittled down my long, tortured answer involving comments on the humidity and hills and my preference for running by effort level rather than pace, to a mere "If I don't run under 70 minutes I'll be really disappointed."

And it came down to 5 seconds: 1:09:55. And while I was glad to see that I was under 70 minutes it was still disappointing in the sense that I felt I was in a position to do something good today but wasn't really given the opportunity. But then again, if you've ever experienced an absolute BOMB of a race you know to be thankful when a race doesn't turn out that way!

The first few miles were unremarkable, except maybe mile 3 when I saw a woman in my age group who beat me consistently for years until she went off and had kids. Now I think we're more evenly matched, although she just had a baby last spring so it's not really a fair comparison right now. But with her ponytail taunting me in the third mile I managed to click off a 6:34 mile. The real action started in the 4th mile when we hit a monster of a hill. It was a "swing your arms and tippy-toe up" kind of hill. I knew it was coming and didn't actually think it was as bad as I'd heard until maybe about a quarter mile later when we hit another, smaller hill, and I realized about a quarter of the way up that I hadn't actually recovered yet. So when we hit a third smaller hill I was toast, and then everytime I'd see a hill after that I'd feel demoralized. But it was happening to everyone. I felt like I was running through molasses, but I wasn't really getting passed like I thought I would. I'm nearly positive I passed far more people than passed me.

It was interesting to read this article about the race by Bob Wischnia (ex-Runner's World editor(?) who now lives here in town.) Greg McMillan's comments about not recovering sound pretty close to what I was feeling.

It was a fun morning. Aside from the relay, which wasn't really that big, this was my first race of the running year here in Austin and it was so fun to see everyone again. I felt like it was the first day of junior high or something ... I'd try to hold a conversation with someone and then somebody else would want to come up and talk (I'm, like, so totally popular.) I had at least 15 half-conversations.

So I'm trying not to overanalyze at this point. The negative is obvious - a 70 minute 10-miler is not a step in the right direction. It's slower than my half-marathon pace by more than 10sec/mile. So I can't affirmatively say that I'm progressing. On the positive side, I was the 4th overall woman, only 20 seconds or so behind the woman who for the past several years has been consistently right in front of me (did she and the other woman have a formal hand-off ceremony about two years ago that I missed?), which would normally be big progress since she ran a 2:57 marathon this year, but she just ran 3:00 two weeks ago in Chicago, so I can imagine that that set her back just a little today. I came in with a group of guys who ran 39-highs and 40-lows at the 10K a few weeks ago, which I'll take as a good sign. I gotta find something, man.

As for the shin, it's ok but feels really fatigued. It may be something I just have to learn to deal with. Hopefully with a little ice and some easy running it'll be back to barely noticeable.

Thanks to all of you who posted good luck wishes! Maybe all that good karma out there made the difference for those 5 seconds. Now I need to go read how everyone else is doing ...

Posted by jenandmats at 3:16 PM | Comments (9)

October 22, 2004

Gerbil workout

In an effort to give my shin a few hours of extra recovery and a day's worth of warming up I didn't run until 4:30 or so. And since we were near 90 degrees and over 80% humidity (I sincerely apologize if you're tired of hearing me bitch about this; I'm hoping it'll be over by next week) I decided to hit the treadmill since it's not only dry inside the gym but also flat and less likely to irritate my little problem.

After 3 miles of warmup I did 2 repeats of 3minutes 10K pace (6:40-6:35) with 3 minutes rest; 2 minutes of 5K pace (6:27) with 2 minutes rest; and 1 minute mile pace (6:07-6:00) with one minute rest. I think the 'mill may be a little fast. I did have it on 1% incline but it still felt fast. At least, it was *really* hard to keep pressing the buttons with my hands while the belt was moving so fast. My arms needed to be swinging. And I was flinging sweat *everywhere*.

The workout felt great, but I can feel some fatigue in my shin now, unfortunately.

My friend Kate got me a comped entry for the race on Sunday (I think her law firm is a sponsor and none of their lawyers wanted to run the race) so my procrastination in signing up has been rewarded!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:58 PM | Comments (4)

October 21, 2004

Blogging for good karma

I ran three whole miles this morning. I can still feel the ache in my shin, although I have to "try" to feel it at this point. I generally don't feel it when I'm running; It's when I'm walking, which requires more flexion of the foot, that I can feel it.

I'm really only writing this entry to re-enact the routine I've followed for the other games the Astros have won in the past two weeks or so. I'm not freshly showered and exhausted from running, unfortunately, but there's not much I can do about that.

Congrats to the Red Sox fans out there.

Posted by jenandmats at 8:25 PM | Comments (4)

October 20, 2004

Good time for a time out

Well I'm not loving the fact that I've had to take today and last night off. BUT ... it was really fun to take a quick trip over the The Tavern from work and watch most of the NLCS Game 6 and drink a few beers like a normal working person. We had to be at dinner with friends at 6:30, and at 6:20 Bagwell tied the game up with a base hit. It's so fun to be so fired up you're yelling at the t.v and banging on the table in a public place. Too bad the end result wasn't what we wanted. Maybe tomorrow night (after a good run) I'll be jumping up and down in my living room in my robe, clapping and laughing at the t.v. like I was last night.

Civic Duty? Check. Early voting started today in Texas. I walked out of that polling place feeling like I'd done something truly worthwhile; something I'll remember doing for a long time. I triple-checked that ballot, which may explain why it took so long ...

I meant to give a shout-out yesterday to my friend Heather who executed one of those slow-mo falls on the trail in the dark yesterday morning. She kicked a rock and then stumbled and then lurched and then fell and then skidded and then rolled a little bit. And remember how I've been complaining about how humid it's been around here? Well she was covered in dirt that, with the humidity and our constant state of sweatiness, had turned into an adobe-like substance on her back and shoulders. And she had a pretty little skin flap on the heel of her hand. This morning she felt like she'd been hit by a truck. Well, Heather, I hope you're feeling better tonight (and I'm glad it was you and not me! Just kidding. Kind of.)

Here's to another (at least!) 12 weeks of dark morning runs. May all our feet be a little lighter and surer and our eyes sharper (and our hands and knees tougher!)

Posted by jenandmats at 9:07 PM

October 19, 2004

Foiled again

So here it is Tuesday night and I'm sitting on my couch after *not* having done the scheduled workout because my shin is knotted up. Again. So no running again tomorrow morning and we'll see how tomorrow night goes. Boo. I'm not sure why it's doing this; last week made sense after I tripped on the track. My schedule hasn't really changed; in fact, I was doing a little less mileage overall. BUT ... my shoes have changed so I'm wondering if that's part of the problem. Not necessarily just the shoes, but pounding down that big Monday night hill in new shoes? If I guess the right answer will it go away for good?

I did manage to watch Mean Girls tonight after having it for over a week. It was pretty cute. I would have rather been running, though, even in 93 degree temps and 80% humidity. (BTW, right now the forecast for Sunday morning race time is 70 degrees and 92% humidity. Blaaaaagggggghhh.)

I'm loving watching Curt Schilling simmer down the Yanks (sorry Becky.) Oh I hope I didn't just jinx him.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:29 PM | Comments (1)

October 18, 2004

Summary - week 14 of 31

Week 14 of 31 (10/11-10/17)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 4pm (lateral lower lelft leg knotted up from stumbling Mon night)
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – 10.5 w/ 4x mile @ 10K pace w/ 400 active rest (6:36, 33, 34, 34)
Friday – 5EZ
Saturday – 20
Sunday - 5EZ
TOTAL - 61.5

Posted by jenandmats at 9:59 PM | Comments (2)

October 17, 2004

20 ain't what it used to be

Yesterday was my first attempt at 20 miles during this training cycle. I met the training group for 18 and then added on an extra 2. We had great weather and we ran a new rolling hilly course out in the country with all kinds of scenery (and a surprising amount of traffic, unfortunately) so it went by pretty fast and relatively painlessly. When 20 miles is only a quarter or so of your weekly mileage it feels a lot easier than when it's half or more!

I was planning to run a little less mileage next week so I'm ready for the 10-miler, but with the unexpected break this week I'm not so sure what I want to do. Something new to overanalyze ... sweet.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:44 PM | Comments (3)

October 15, 2004

Mass-aaaaaaah-ge

When I started on this high-mileage journey I bought a 5-massage package deal so that I could get a massage once every four weeks. Today I got #3 in the series and it was good as usual. I usually just get them for maintenance, so I'm not walking away sore or anything. Who knows how much physiological benefit I get from it. I can tell you, though, that the psychological benefits alone make it worthwhile. Sometimes it feels like she's just squeezing all the lactate buildup out of my legs (ok ... or whatever out of my legs. That's about as scientific as you'll ever hear me talk about running, which is somewhat sad because I actually have an undergraduate degree in Physiology. And it's not that I'm not interested in running physiology; it's just that I obsess over running enough when I'm trying to keep it simple!)

So if today was massage #3 was today that means that #5 will be in the middle of December. And I need to get through February. Do I smell a Christmas present?

Posted by jenandmats at 9:01 PM | Comments (2)

October 14, 2004

"Wolf!"

Whatever it was it went away. I'm a little ashamed of even writing the words "I'm hurt" in light of what some of you are going through. In my defense, though, it actually got worse yesterday before it got better today. After aborting the workout on Tuesday night I committed to taking yesterday completely off and to not run until the pain was completely gone. When I woke up yesterday I couldn't even flex my foot to walk; I had to drag my foot through. By the time I got to work I didn't have to drag it through but I was still limping. As I sat at my desk I worked on flexing my foot and massaging the sore area, and by the time I left work I could only feel it if I flexed my foot in a certain way. This morning it didn't hurt at all, but I decided it'd be better to give it a little more time, so I decided to wait until tonight to run. And then when I ran tonight I couldn't even tell that anything had happened. I'm so thankful, but pretty perplexed. Whatevah.

So tonight I got through the workout I aborted on Tuesday: 4x 1600 at 10K pace with 400 rest. It was pretty boring, except for the one mile that I actually had company in some friends who were running a mile at the same pace. I have a great 10K pace in 6:40; each quarter is 1:40 which means a 25s 100 and a 50s 200. Lots of feedback. I was just a little fast on each - 6:36, 33, 34, 34. Felt pretty good the whole time, so hopefully I wasn't too fast. My 10K pr pace, from last year, is more like 6:37 pace anyway.

I'm going to try to go 20 this weekend. Good time to do it, too, since I got a little extra rest this week.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:19 PM | Comments (4)

October 13, 2004

Summary - week 13 of 31

Week 13 of 31 (10/4-10/10)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 12pm progressive
Wednesday – 5am EZ; 6pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 11pm w/ 4x half mile hilly repeats
Friday – 7EZ
Saturday – 16 hilly
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 86

Posted by jenandmats at 9:36 PM | Comments (2)

October 12, 2004

Are we the bad news bloggers?

I'm hurt. Can you believe it? I'm icing my lower leg right now after having to skip my workout tonight. It's somewhat interesting to note that my log from 10/16/02 says "hurt leg from run yesterday; stumbled on a rock?" This is the same thing I did two years ago during this very same week, only this year I didn't stumble on a rock but on the track last night. I was just tooling around running a really slow warm up when my ankle just gave way without pain or warning and I just lurched forward, like I did when I tripped on the rock, and caught myself funny on the opposite leg. The real soreness didn't start until after I finished the run and my shin just got tighter and tighter. I can feel there's a bump on one of my tendons, just like last time, too.

I'm not too down about it right now; last time I took a week or so off and then came back and pr-ed that winter in the marathon, so I know it's not a death knell or anything. Plus, I waited longer last time to give it a rest because it really doesn't hurt. It just gets harder and harder to flex my foot as it becomes more and more irritated. So hopefully since I caught it early it'll take less time to get rid of. In the meantime I may be hitting the elliptical like some of you other ladies!

I had been running so well, too. Hardly any fatigue despite all the miles. And the weather's been perfect for running. Booo.

Posted by jenandmats at 7:26 PM | Comments (3)

October 11, 2004

How do you Cubs and Red Sox fans do it?

The Astros have provided me with enough heartache over the years. I'm hanging by a thread watching tonight's game after yesterday's disappointment.

When I read this morning that Ken Caminiti had died I had the same feeling I had when I saw the headline that Princess Di had died: just looking around me for some sign that it was a joke. As freshmen in college my roommate and I would drive up to the Astrodome from Galveston to drool over Caminiti and Craig Biggio. They were the young guys on the team then. I can't imagine that Biggio's had an easy day of it today, but he just managed to drive in a run (and Bagwell, who also played for years with Caminiti, just knocked a two-run homer.) The Astros' winning tonight would be such a great tribute to a fantastic but torutured baseball player. I've got my fingers crossed. And a little heaviness in my heart.

Two good runs today. Need to post a summary of last week. I know you've all been wondering where it is ...

Posted by jenandmats at 9:32 PM

October 10, 2004

So many shoes, so little time.

So tonight I tooled around our neighborhood for a great, easy seven miles. It was great for a number of reasons: the weather was great for an easy run (would have been too warm for a long run or a workout, though), my legs felt good despite the hard run yesterday, and ... I had new shoes!

I'm currently running in several different pairs of shoes. I have one pair each of Adidas Supernova Cushions, Fila Flows, Mizuno Wave Riders, Brooks Burns, and Nike Zoom Elite. And my racing flats are Reebok Premier Competitions. I really like all of these shoes, but the Zoom Elites were the only ones I could run long in without the bottom of my foot hurting. So a month ago I went to RunTex looking for them and they didn't have them but they ordered them for me. I had no idea it'd take so long, and in the meantime the ones I had went completely south. Yesterday I ran in the Burns and my foot felt incredibly tight and sore today. So I went back to RunTex (annoyed) and tried on some other types to get me through until the Nikes came in. I bought some Brooks Axiom and New Balance 833. I ran in the Axioms tonight and really liked 'em. Keep your fingers crossed for the bottom of my foot.

So much for brand loyalty for me. I have all the major brands covered, I think, except for Saucony, and I even have a pair of those in my office at work to knock around in.

Are y'all running in something you *really* like?

On an unrelated note ... if you haven't seen Da Ali G Show on HBO you might want to check it out if you like irreverent humor. We just watched an episode where he actually asks former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft if they ever caught the guys who sent Tampax in the mail, and Scowcroft has to explain the difference between Tampax and Anthrax. Scowcroft sure is a good sport!

Posted by jenandmats at 10:03 PM | Comments (6)

October 9, 2004

Hills, anyone?

This morning was the first time I've run with my marathon training group and not had to tack on miles before or after. They're catching up to me mileage-wise, which is good. And it's a good thing I didn't have to add anything on because I was pretty tired when we finished.

Steve believes in hills. I believe in hills, too, but Steve *really* believes in hills. So this morning we started off on the trail and then headed out to the hills. The first and last four miles weren't hilly, but everything else (the middle 8) was. In fact, we ran through some rolling hills to get to the big hill (Mt. Bonnell) and the subsequent rolling hills on the other side just to turn around and run it all again in the other direction.

I actually consider hills my strong suit. I'm not very tall and have a strong lower body (read: short with a big butt) to get me up hills with relative ease. Downhill, as I've mentioned, is another story. Gradual downhills are fine, but I become a complete mess on anything steep. So not only was I fighting fatigue from the miles and uphills this morning, but the jarring of *everything* on the downhill was taking its toll. My feet in particular were starting to complain. I wish we could find a course that's just as challenging without the downhill pounding.

I had good company again this morning. We were a little more spread out than we've been in the past, though. My friend Ruth, who's one of the coaches, is running with us now that she's gotten most of her fall marathoners through the heart of their training. Ruth will run whatever pace you want to run, but when I'm running with her I have a tendency to push. In fact, we all stopped socializing once we got back on the flat part and pushed it in from there.

The homestretch, though flat, was the least pleasant part of the run, too. We were out of the neighborhood and out on the long uncovered stretch leading back to Town Lake Trail, heading east into the sun. It didn't feel like October, I'll tell you that. At least once we got on the trail we got a little bit of a cool breeze. It's in the 80s right now. Good grief!

Glad to have the hard parts of another week behind me.

Posted by jenandmats at 4:03 PM | Comments (2)

October 7, 2004

I'm a speed weenie

Well tonight was my first real "workout" since June. And yes the quotation marks are warranted. We did hilly half-mile repeats, and my plan to do six of them went out the window about half way up the first hill. "Don't overdo it on your first day back" I rationalized. "Don't get too tuckered out for your long run on Saturday." Oh whatever.

I worked pretty hard on the ones I did do and if I wasn't fast I was definitely consistent. Adding to the frustration was the fact that I'm a *horrible* downhill runner. Complete spaz. Remember the episode of "Friends" where Phoebe and Rachel go running? I'm Phoebe when I run downhill. I should just be glad I didn't fall down.

The group I ran with, Al's Ship of Fools, is incredibly social and we had a good old time. Tonight we were joined by none other than Greg McMillan. What a cool coincidence. I told him how happy I'd been to find that article last week about the "thirds" progression runs right after I'd done one. I did *not* tell him that I'd been finding the results of his "calculator" a little unsatisfactory lately. Maybe he can fix that for me. He's new to town and was just looking around for groups to run with and had no problem whatsoever running with a gang of midpackers. Last week he ran with the beginner group! Dude just wanted a workout.

6am is going to roll around awfully early tomorrow.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:58 PM | Comments (2)

October 6, 2004

People will come, Ray ...

Every year in April and then again in October Field of Dreams is played over and over on t.v. I've seen it nine million times and know a good chunk of the dialogue by heart. It's nearly 15 years old now and it still makes me laugh and, of course, cry like a baby every time. The first scene that gets me is when they pick up Archie Graham on the side of the road and Ray tells Terrence Mann how he quit playing catch with his dad. And then when Archie has to leave the field to save Karen. And then again OF COURSE when Ray finally gets the chance to play catch again with his dad. Tonight it's on TNT and is sponsored by Kleenex of all things. I *can't* watch the end of this movie before I go to bed or I will have a horrible headache in the morning from all the crying. I *should* be watching the actual ballgames.

I did two really slow runs on the trail today. I've been joking with my friends that I'm the Mayor of Town Lake. It's kinda nice to be able to go down there at almost any time and see people you know. Kinda like Cheers! I'll be back down there in 8 hours; it's a good thing I like it down there.

Omigod ... they're about to play catch. I'm gonna lose it, I think.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:24 PM | Comments (1)

October 5, 2004

You all can have my candy corn

I'm not a fan. I'll eat it but only if there's nothing else left. I'm just thankful they now make Halloween Peeps. Can I still be part of the group?

I got in 12 tonight with a friend from my sister- and brother-in-law's San Antonio running group. I think running with him is going to work out well. He's up here for work on Tuesdays and he says that since I'm doing him a favor by running with him I can rule the run! Water and potty stops whenever I want, running the pace I want, even the starting time and place is at my discretion. So I get company without having to give up *control*. Sweeeet.

We did the run progressive-pace style, but it wasn't very structured. I may have run a little too hard near the end - I was on the verge of a wheeze - but I finished up strong and was happy with it.

Posted by jenandmats at 10:28 PM

October 4, 2004

Summary - week 12 of 31

Week 12 of 31 (9/27-10/3)
Monday – 5am EZ; 7pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 7pm w/ 2mi time trial (12:20)
Wednesday – 5pm EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 7pm (progressive run w/ last 20 minutes at best aerobic effort)
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 7EZ
Sunday - 14.5 w/ 12.5mi progressive pace run at 10mi race (race = 1:10:56 w/ splits of 7:20, 7:32, 7:34, 7:20, 7:11, 6:52, 6:58, 6:48, 6:42, 6:37)
TOTAL - 62.5

Posted by jenandmats at 9:58 PM

October 3, 2004

United Space Alliance 10-miler

ok ... excuses first. I ran this race in *Houston*, ok? Hello!? They had a "cold front" that resulted in something like mid-70s and 9,000% humidity at the starting line. Nasty, nasty. I ran off behind some bushes during my warmup and could feel the mosquitoes chomping on my back. My shoes weighed 5lb each by mile 3 and were audibly squishing.

I was supposed to do this race as a progressive pace run. But not the kind I've been doing on Thursdays. I was supposed to start at a pace over 8 minutes, during my two-mile warmup. The first mile of the race was supposed to be 7:50, and then I was supposed to run each mile after that 10 seconds per mile faster, hitting my 10K pace (6:40, based on my 2-mile time trial and not real life, which is slightly faster) for miles 8 and 9 and then going all out to the finish.

It didn't go quite as planned; the first mile of the actual race was, well, the first mile and it was downhill so I ended up at 7:20 easily rather than 7:50. So I backed off and the rest of the race ended up 7:32 (playing the role of "7:40"), 7:34 ("7:30"), 7:19 ("7:20"), 7:11 ("7:10"), 6:52 ("7:00"), 6:58 ("6:50"), 6:48 ("6:40"), 6:42 ("6:40"), and 6:37 ("all out.")

I ended up with just under 1:11 total, which got me 2nd place in my age group and a little astronaut glued to a pedestal. By the time we left for Austin a little after lunch the little astronaut's glue had melted in the car and he was a free-standing little astronaut. My father-in-law had tried to pick him up to show to my mother-in-law and my father-in-law not only burned the snot out of his fingers on the hot metal but pulled the little astronaut completely off the pedestal. Oh well. "It was just a training run anyway."

I hope you people in colder climes appreciate what you have right now! I'm reserving the right to laugh at you when, in a few months, your pipes freeze or you have to wear seven layers of clothing on your afternoon run.

The bad news is that I had such difficulty hitting my 10K pace in miles 8 and 9 (I guess I'd thought it would be easier and didn't push as hard as I should have.) The good news is that 6:50 wasn't a walk in the park, but it wasn't that big a deal, either. I tried to imagine running that pace for a few hours and, while it didn't seem overly pleasant, it didn't seem completely out of the realm of possibility, either.

So there goes my "easy week." Now back to our regularly-scheduled program ...

Posted by jenandmats at 8:41 PM | Comments (3)

October 1, 2004

Gettin' the heart rate up a little

I've struggled for a while with what kinds of workouts to put in Thursday night's time slot. For years I've done a Tues/Thurs workout schedule, but Steve's group only does a Tuesday night workout. This is actually fine with me; although it's great to have a group to get you through the tough spots in workouts, I like having some flexibility to try some workouts that I've wanted to do.

Last week, after having read that Kellogg article about "high-end aerobic pace" I decided to do my 12-miler as three four-mile loops, just getting comfortable on the first one, staying comfortable on the second, and then doing the third one at the high-end pace. Amazingly, right after I did that I found an article on the McMillan site that advocated exactly that: dividing the run up into thirds and running them just the way I had run them. It was so cool to have such an affirmation that what I was doing was right. McMillan even recommends that you start incorporating these workouts at the end of your base period, and last week was my last week of base. How cool is that?

So that's what I did again last night, although I just used a 7-mile loop and divided the run up into 20-minute segments. It was a perfect loop to run this type of workout on: the first third is more or less flat, the second third is pretty hilly, and the last third starts hilly but then flattens out as you head back home, so you can really just cruise down the road. I was feeling good at the end. And unlike last week I couldn't get an exact pace for each segment so I can't beat myself up over how slow my high-end pace was.

My only problem last night was traffic. I ran from about 5:15 to 6:15 and traffic in the first and last thirds of the run were bad. I almost got smacked coming around a curve in the bike lane (with no sidewalk to jump up on.) The road is one way in both directions, and a car going toward me was making a left-hand turn, so the people behind him were just going around him (and around this blind curve) in the bike lane!

After the run we headed to a friend's house to watch the debates. I was in completely hostile territory, and I didn't know anyone there well other my friend and her husband (and Andy, who is *completely* non-confrontational and pretty apolitical.) I didn't say much until afterward, when the host and his friend talked with me, but sitting in silence, listening to all their comments I could feel my pulse in my throat and could feel my face getting really red. It was like a second workout for the night!

Posted by jenandmats at 8:42 AM