« November 2004 | Main | January 2005 »

December 30, 2004

A thousand times better

I ran with Gilbert's group this morning and had a great time. I was downright giddy to have someone to run a track workout with. And I didn't just have one person to run with; I was with at least 5 other people and we ran as a nice group.

We did the same workout that Liz did today! Only ... we didn't do it in Rome and we did it considerably slower. We did 5x 1000 with 200 yards of rest. He had us start out slow, with a 4:14, and then we were supposed to hit 4:00 for the next 3, and we did 3:57, 3:54, and 3:56. Then we were on our own for the next one and I did 3:39, which is my fastest 1K ever in a workout by 6 seconds. And I used to do them regularly. So I was pretty stoked (even though the rest of my group dusted me on it!) I think I talked nonstop while I was there.

So I've got my old attitude back. Which is nice.

Anyone else sick of college football already? And it's only Thursday ...

Posted by jenandmats at 9:10 PM | Comments (3)

December 29, 2004

Back to Basics

Let me preface this entry by stating that I am *not* backpedaling from a sub-3 hour marathon goal. It's amazing how that 3-hr mark has come to define this whole training cycle. I need to get back to what I had planned for this cycle when I very first started back in June: I wanted to run more than I had ever run before and train the best I knew how, without excuses, for this marathon. I wanted to give myself the opportunity to run the best marathon I was capable of running. The three-hour mark was just an extension of that, really. A thought that maybe if I did all those things and ran the best marathon I had in me I could go under three hours and that would be icing on the cake.

One of the things I know about my running is that a "goal time" has been the root of each of my marathon disasters. My big breakthrough races have been when I didn't have a clue as to what I could do and I just ran, or I was trained way beyond an old goal and hadn't set a new one and just ran. After running a 4:08 first marathon I came back for my second one and ran a surprise 3:42. Then I tried to qualify for Boston (I needed two minutes!) and ran the next two marathons in the 3:50s. When I finally did qualify I did it easily, with 5 minutes to spare. I probably could have gone faster; later that year I completely surprised myself with a 3:20. And then I chose 3:15 as a goal, which I chased through three crash and burn marathons (one as bad as 3:56.) I finally got it on the fourth try, but I was trained way past 3:15 by then (and ended up with the 3:10.)

Another thing I know about my running is that when I'm supposed to run hard I run hard and don't slack off. But trying to run a certain pace or hit certain splits stresses me out. And as I've seen lately, when I don't run the goal pace or hit the splits it wreaks havoc on my mental state. I'd rather just run hard and see what I come up with rather than start a workout knowing what I'm supposed to do time-wise. What's more important is what I'm supposed to be doing effort-wise.

I know these things, yet I've let these goal paces and splits become the focus of what I'm doing. As of today I'm going to stick with what I know works for me: running by effort and listening to my body rather than focusing on my watch. I'm going to get in my workouts and make sure I do them right effort-wise and distance-wise. I'll still time certain workouts, but I'll use it more as feedback on my effort rather than letting it dictate my effort.

And I'm going to try to remember to run my marathon this way. I'll run hard at the half in Houston in two weeks, look at the time and the times of my other races this year, and get an idea of what's realistic for the marathon. But then on marathon day I'll just run hard, taking my cues from how I feel rather than from the clock. I'll run faster when it feels right and I'll hang tight and grit my teeth when it doesn't. And if it gets later in the race and I still feel good and I have a shot at a 2:59:59 I'll go for it.

I won't let the clock dictate my running. I don't run well that way.

Posted by jenandmats at 7:09 PM | Comments (7)

December 28, 2004

Coffee with Andy

No ... not *my* Andy.

I was having coffee and working yesterday in Austin Java and a guy walked and I thought "hey that guy looks like Andy Roddick." Then I overheard comments about tennis and "growing up in Austin" so I gave up all pretense of working and hit the internet. I'd seen him and his friend walking in and had noticed the fancy car they got out of with Florida plates, and all the info I was able to get on the web supported my guess that that's who he was. And then later I asked the people who work there and they affirmed that it was indeed him. I would have easedropped a little more except two guys sat down right next to me, one of whom was pretty loud. I would have been mildly annoyed, but the loud guy was telling a story and giggling really hard in a way that made it hard to be annoyed at him. So Andy got his privacy.

Treadmill tempo run this morning. I cheated - had to break it up into segments. I'm really hoping the belt was fast because I couldn't maintain a sub-7 minute pace for very long. I've had a string of bad workouts, unfortunately. I'm trying very very hard not to let my mental state deteriorate. It's easy to stay positive when you've got 18 weeks left of training; it's much more difficult when it's only 6 and a half weeks away.

OB-VIOUSLY...

Dinner time. Turkey Tetrazzini. Sweet.

Posted by jenandmats at 7:29 PM | Comments (3)

December 26, 2004

Christmas celebration #2

It snowed in Houston on Christmas Eve! In Galveston they had several inches of snow on the beach. Pretty cool. We stayed nice and toasty inside, aside from a feeble attempt at a track workout on my part - after a few 400s by myself into a stiff headwind in one direction and in a pair of tights that insisted on creeping down to near-knee level I decided I wasn't doing myself any good. So I went back to the in-laws' and had a hot cuppa tea and hung out with family instead. And ate a *lot* of cookies.

This morning Andy and I ran with his sister and brother-in-law and our San Antonio friend Brian, starting in Memorial Park. I actually saw a few Austinites there who must've been visiting family too. It was quite a scene down there - this morning was three weeks out from the Houston marathon, so there were a *lot* of folks doing their last long run. Their taper starts now! I'm almost a little jealous, except that I feel like I've got so much work to do!

This morning was a nice kick-off for my favorite time of the running year: the Houston marathon followed by my sister- and brother-in-law's race in Bulverde followed by the start of my taper, the 3M Half Marathon and then ... Freescale! Seven weeks. Keep your fingers crossed for me - that training goes better than it has the past few weeks and that my work doesn't spin out of control ...

Posted by jenandmats at 8:57 PM | Comments (2)

December 22, 2004

Summary - week 23 of 31

Week 23 of 31 (12/13-12/19)
Monday – 9 w/ 7 at "MGP" (but was only 6:58 ave - 7:03, 6:54, 53, 54, 7:00, 6:54, 7:03, 6:58)
Tuesday – 8EZ
Wednesday – 11 w/ track (4x 800/300 - 800s at 3:05, 300s SPAZZY)
Thursday – 7EZ
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 20 w/ Desert Classic 30K in 2:12:31 (7:06 pace)
Sunday - 5EZ
TOTAL - 60

Posted by jenandmats at 9:25 PM | Comments (2)

Summary - week 22 of 31

Week 22 of 31 (12/6 to 12/12)
Monday – 5pm EZ
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 12pm w/some pickups (but not much)
Wednesday – 4am EZ
Thursday – 8am w/ 3.5 "tempo" (harder running but in the dark)
Friday – 7am EZ
Saturday – 21 w/ big monster hill
Sunday - 7EZ
TOTAL - 69

Posted by jenandmats at 9:15 PM

December 20, 2004

Christmas celebration #1

We arrived home from Phoenix last night at 1am, after a delayed, warm, stinky flight home. When we walked in the front door I noticed through our brown curtains a blue glow coming from the backyard. It seemed weird at the time but I was so tired I just didn't even want to deal with whatever it was. Turns out our friends Mark, AZ, and Kate had snuck into our backyard and set up an enormous illuminated blow-up Christmas penguin. Andy discovered it and I think it weirded him out since he couldn't figure out why someone would do that to us. Then I reminded him how last week while we were checking out the 37th St lights I'd complained to AZ about the ubiquity (yes, ubiquity) of those particular yard decorations, commenting that I found them somewhat obnoxious; completely forgetting that she had one in her yard. (It provides company for their dozen or so costumed pink flamingos.) So now we're babysitting an enormous blow-up penguin.

Hanging out with my family is always a good way to pass the time. My mom fed us like royalty and we slept as late as we wanted and napped when we wanted. In between naps and meals we checked out the Arizona Biltmore and the Desert Botanical Gardens luminaria festival thingie, played a few rounds of poker, watched a few movies, and exchanged Christmas presents.

The 30K on Saturday morning went well, despite the dirt trail, despite the total lack of mile markers, despite our slower-than-desired overall pace (7:06), and despite the fact that most of the course was not just an out-and-back, but an out-and-back-then-back-the-way-you-came-again-and-then-back-again-one-more-time. We had no less than four opportunities to cheer on our fellow runners as we ran opposite one another. Which was good, actually, since we were pretty much the only ones out there! The surface was hit-or-miss throughout the race. When we first got on the trail I was pretty frustrated with how loose and uneven the surface was, but there were other parts of the trail that had really good footing. So not only was it a mental and physical roller coaster, as all races are, but it was a topographical one, too. One major positive was that I felt remarkably good for the last two miles - like I could have continued for quite a bit longer.

My dad and brother Richard came out to cheer us on, which was DEFINITELY appreciated. My dad ran the 5K, doing better than he'd anticipated he would, and Rich was the designated photographer. He did much better than I did two years ago for the Thanksgiving race, when my mom sent me off with the task of taking lots of pictures and I completely forgot. We reenacted certain scenes in the street in front of their house when we got home.

So now instead of unpacking I'm sitting here farting around on the computer ... Maybe I need to get my priorities straight?

Posted by jenandmats at 8:18 PM | Comments (5)

December 15, 2004

I should be packing

but I'm surfing instead. I always wait until the last minute to pack and invariably I forget something. I did that this morning, even, when all I did was pack my work clothes for one day. I had on nice black dress pants and black boots and ... and I forgot my socks. So I had to wear some old running socks I had in my office for keeping my feet warm. And the boots were short. So every time I bent at the knee and my pant leg rose high enough there were my white shins and the sliver of white athletic sock peeking out. So I hid in my office for most of the day.

I had an interesting run this morning. I started at 5:30 with one group and ran with them a mile and a half or so to the meeting place of a 5:45 group, then ran an out-and-back with them, hauling ass to get back to the rock to make sure my friend Shannon had someone to run with at 6:15. And she did. So I ran over to the track just as Steve's and Gilbert's Wednesday morning group was starting their drills before the track workout of 4x 800/300 repeats.

I'm still all squirly on the track. I ran with a guy who helped me get through my very-cool 4x mile workout a few weeks ago, and it was kind of amusing how I'd maintain a nice steady pace on the 800s, just a few seconds in front of him, and then on the 300s I couldn't stay anywhere near him for the life of me! I wonder if there was even any difference between my 800 pace and my 300 pace ...

And then I ran back to where it all started hours before. It was a good run overall, except that we started just above freezing at 5:30 and then worked our way down to well below freezing as the morning went on. Despite having run 5 miles already by the time we started the workout my left foot was nearly completely numb with cold while we were doing the intervals. And then my hands got so cold afterward that they started to hurt. I actually cut my run short because of it and felt a little nauseous when I got to the car. I'd never had that happen before. I had on cotton gloves and a shirt whose sleeves folded over your hands, and my jacket sleeves pulled down over that. Next time I'll need even more drastic measures I guess.

So Matty's at the babysitter and Andy's all packed and ready to go. And I'm still sitting here playin' on the computer ...

Posted by jenandmats at 9:21 PM

December 13, 2004

What's up with THAT?

Have you ever seen the episode of Cheers where Cliff tries to be a stand-up comic, but his whole schtick is just making a statement of obvious fact and then following it up with "What's up with that?" Something like "The ducks on the pond in Boston Common. What's up with that?" And Lilith thinks he's hysterical and can't control herself laughing?

I couldn't help think of that earlier today when I got an email from a coach/ runner guy in Phoenix whose group I've run with before while I was there, telling me that the 30K that we're running on Saturday is on the dirt path next to the canals. What's up with THAT? I finally get a chance to run outside of Austin and away from its hilly race courses and I get a DIRT TRAIL? Boo. Honestly ... I wouldn't be complaining except that I'm supposed to do marathon goal pace out there. Seriously. I've done enough whining for one week. But I'm really kinda stumped as far as what to do on Saturday. Trying to run MGP, especially an MGP that's already in the realm of unrealistic, on that trail (I've run it before) would be considerably harder than on the road, and it might just be a frustrating endeavor. I might be better off to just run it as hard as I can and just be happy with the result.

Speaking of running marathon goal pace on a dirt trail, I tried to do 6:50 pace for 7 miles on Town Lake trail this morning and couldn't quite get it done. How embarrassing. I opened with a 7:03 and then followed with 6:54, 6:53, 7:00, 6:54, 7:03, and 6:58 for a 6:58 average. Yay. (*sigh*)

Posted by jenandmats at 7:26 PM | Comments (4)

December 12, 2004

Sunday night runs

are my favorites I've decided. Especially on a gorgeous day like today when everyone's out on the trail. I felt more like I was out just enjoying the weather and checking everyone out than actually getting exercise. Of course, that could be because I let myself run as slow as I want, which is nearly a crawl at first, and it takes a while for me to even break a sweat.

Andy grilled steaks tonight and made some mashed sweet potatoes. I remember having steaks pretty much every Sunday night growing up; it's a tradition I wouldn't mind starting around here. Not only would we get a great meal each week, but we'd be doing the neighbors a favor by smoking things up - one of my favorite smells ...

And then we settled in to watch Gods and Monsters. I thought at first that I'd have a hard time watching Ian McKellan without seeing Gandalf since we'd just watched part of The Fellowship of the Ring on t.v. on Friday night. But he was just amazing to watch. And to listen to. Problem is, I teared up quite a bit watching it and if I go to bed anytime soon I'll wake up with a headache. I'm a real easy crier when it comes to entertainment (usually in real life I cry mainly out of frustration and not very much at other stuff I *should* cry about.) It used to be embarrassing but I think Andy's gotten tired of making fun of me. It's old hat to him now.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:15 PM

December 11, 2004

Well ... WAH!

I ran a great 21-mile route with Steve's group this morning. It wasn't too far off from anything I've done before, but it was just different enough to make me feel like I was doing something new. And it included one crazy mutha of a hill. Unfortunately I felt kinda crappy during the whole thing; I felt like an old lady - my hips hurt and I just couldn't shake the feeling. I think part of the problem was I had plenty more "introspective time" along the way: my usually-upbeat company was more subdued that normal. One of the guys was worried about making the distance (he did fine) and the other was recovering from Strep and not having a very fun time. So we didn't talk much, and there was nothing to do but think about how my hips hurt and how I *still* felt all rickety. I've felt that way since my recovery week over Thanksgiving!

I had intended to run this run as a "fat-burner:" I'd planned to run really slow and not ingest any carbs this morning at all before the run or during it so that my body would learn to burn fat more efficiently. But I woke up in a panic about it and decided not to do it. I know how I feel when I feel depleted, and I knew that trying to haul up Ladera Norte (the mutha of a hill) on an empty stomach wasn't the greatest idea. So I scrapped the idea and just ran. Not fast, not slow, just there. And when I got home I had this feeling like I'd wasted the opportunity to get something worthwhile done. I feel like I should have either tried to run it harder or use it as a "fat burner" but I did neither.

Compounding this feeling is the fact that the last few "work days" have been pretty lame or unsuccessful: the slow, sporadic, lurching, short, tempo run in the dark on Thursday, the other lame attempt at uptempo in the traffic and in the dark on Tuesday, the slower-than-mandated track workout the Thursday before, and the weird, stumbling, sporadic hilly fartlek thing that Tuesday.

I've got work to do, people, and I'm running out of TIME! We only have seven weeks of hard work before we taper. I ran miles and miles and miles in the heat of the summer so I could run some great workouts in the fall and winter!

I think one thing I could do to improve my workouts is to eliminate the dark, stumbling runs: either time the hard part in the morning as it's getting lighter or hit the treadmill. I think it'll end up being the treadmill, unfortunately. I'm just not very good at pushing myself when I'm on my own. But I do ok with pushing the buttons on the treadmill and then trying not to fall off!

Man ... I need to lay off myself a little. I ran 21 miles this morning for cryin' out loud!

Andy is making Texas sheetcake and just gave me the mixing bowl to lick. Things are suddenly much bettah.

Posted by jenandmats at 4:38 PM | Comments (4)

December 9, 2004

Hi Janie.

Guess who has her first blog addict? (Me.)

Have you dudes told your friends about your blogs? (Aside: My friend Megan sent me this article about the term "dude." Pretty interesting.) When I first started writing things down I was reluctant to tell anyone about it; I didn't want to be accountable to anyone, and I worried that people wouldn't like the fact that someone was tellin' stories about them on the internet. Over the months I've gotten more and more comfortable with it, though, and have started telling more and more people about it. I'm finding that *certain* friends and family members desperately want to have a shout out to them on the internet.

Which, of course, makes the pressure unbearable.

So I'd like to take this opportunity to say hi to Janie, the addict (who must not realize that she's already made an appearance here - she gave me the sticker about the shoes.) And Heather, the stumbler. And Richard, the ignored brother. Are you people happy now?!

I ran with a new group this morning. I'd thought they were going to do a tempo run, but it turned out they'd run tempo yesterday and today was easy. So I ran easy with them for half of the run and then ran a L-A-M-E "tempo" run on the way back. It was dark. I was on the trail, lurching and stumbling and tripping every few steps. I was on my own with no one to push me. At least it was *something.* But it wern't much.

Ruth fed us good tonight at her "girl's night." And I had a glass of wine (or two.) And it's time to get ready for "girl's morning" in the morning for our run at 6am (boo.)

Good night, Janie.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:46 PM | Comments (2)

December 8, 2004

Summary - week 21 of 31

Week 21 of 31 (11/30-12/5)
Monday – 8pm hilly
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 10pm w/hilly fartlek
Wednesday – 5am EZ
Thursday – 5am EZ; 11pm w/ ladder workout 4x400 (1:28, 29, 26, 27 - supposed to be 1:25); 2x800(3:07, 04 - supposed to be 3:05); 4x400 (1:27, 28, 29, 27 - supposed to be 1:25)
Friday – 5am EZ
Saturday – 6am EZ
Sunday - 15 w/ Decker Challenge 20K (hilly) 1:25:21
TOTAL - 70

Posted by jenandmats at 9:25 PM

December 7, 2004

The heart is a bloom ...

(Beautiful Day.)

So I ran twice today and both runs were near perfect. I toodled around the lake for 5 miles this morning watching the sun come up over the water. I saw the swans out for the first time since the floods. I could tell, though, by watching the ducks paddle their tails off as they tried to swim upstream, that the water is still high and still moving fast. It was probably mid-50s and low humidity.

Tonight was the same story, only a slightly warmer at the start. I met our San Antonio friend Brian and we both felt like we could have run for hours. I found out that Brian has selfishly prioritized his Iron Man training over his marathon this year so I won't be running with him on race day. Bummer. One of the great things about Brian is that he loves to talk about training and running as much as I do. So we can talk for miles and miles without me starting to feel like he's going to start pulling out his hair in frustration and boredom over my nonstop running chatter. I swear I'm not as one-dimensional as I may seem. I can talk about other things. Seriously. Like ...

How about more potty humor? All the talk about the Brown Santa made me think of a phrase my brother Christopher taught us at Thanksgiving. Rather than saying you're going to "drop the kids off at the pool" you say you're "taking the Browns to the Superbowl." I'm going to start using that one at work I think.

(Chances are this entry will get edited when I read this in the morning. It's not very appropriate. Part of the reason I wrote that little anecdote, though, is that my brother Richard, who regularly reads my blog, has been annoyed lately that I've mentioned Running Richard several times while he's gotten nary a mention. I told him that it's because he doesn't run. Ok and I don't see him that often - he lives hundreds of miles away. But I know that putting in an anecdote about our other brother, who doesn't even read this thing, will just make him even madder. It's all in the spirit of the holidays, see.)

How's that for a rambling, pointless entry? Maybe somebody spiked our milk or something ..

Posted by jenandmats at 9:17 PM | Comments (7)

December 6, 2004

I'm so famous

I was on the news last night in a story about the race yesterday. I guess it was a shot of me at the finish line high-fiving the guy in my training group who helped get me through the final two miles. Fortunately I didn't actually see it - I did see what I looked like when I got home, which was pretty raggedy even without the dirt streak I apparently had on my face that Andy wiped off just after we finished. My coworker said I looked like I was dancing like Ed Grimly - the Martin Short character from SNL. I am one cool chick.

We got some serious rain on our run tonight. I took it as a sign to pack it in a little early. I felt remarkably good for having run 12 hard hilly miles yesterday - and this is good because I'm already dreading our hilly 21-miler on Saturday. It's such a hard run that Steve's giving us tomorrow night off from the workout. He wants us to be ready. (So I won't run *too* hard tomorrow ...)

Posted by jenandmats at 8:15 PM | Comments (3)

December 5, 2004

You gotta get your head straight

Good news: I pr-ed on this course by a wide margin. Bad news: My overall pace was slower than two weeks ago at the half and I came in behind - a good ways behind - people that I finished with or ahead of last week. So what does it all mean?

I think it means that it's hard to run your best race when you're not committed to running hard or getting a specific task done. It's not that I didn't run hard; man I was tired at the end of this race - no strong kick in for me. Definitely more of a sputter. But when things got rough at different points I started to lose focus, thinking that I didn't *have* to run hard today, so why was I doing it? Mental focus is a highly underrated element of running, I think, and I have the ability to do it well. I just didn't do it today. And I'm not kicking myself over it or anything - it was a good race and I had fun and I worked hard. I'm just not jumping for joy about it!

And yes Meghan is as cool as you think she is. We didn't have a whole lot of trouble finding one another after the race based on physical descriptions. Funny - Alison didn't have a hard time picking me out of a crowd, either! I guess I'm just *that* short. (And knowing what you're going to wear ahead of time is always helpful, too.) Andy and I ran part of her cooldown with her and then hung around the awards ceremony with her for a while. Hope she and her West Texas friends have a great time in the big city today. It was also my first time to meet Richard, even though we've been running in the same circles for months now.

There was a 5K that started 5 minutes after the 20K this morning that was called the "Brown Santa" 5K. Andy couldn't *help* himself with the Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo references. Very inappropriate. (But very, very funny.)

And the mommies ran really strong this morning! I missed them coming in - I got pretty cold pretty quick after standing around the finish for a while and they probably finished while we were putting on layers of clothes. But their results looked great. Don't you hate it when your friends set the bar way higher than they need to?

I must admit that I did feel a little bit of pressure this morning after all the good feedback I'd gotten after the half-marathon. It's always so nice when people notice that you're running well, but at the same time you worry a little that now they're more likely to notice when you *don't* do as well. I'm a little more sensitive to it this year than most because most people know I'm running a lot of miles, and I've gotten more than a few warnings about overtraining and peaking too early. WELL ... I could say ... I ran the half marathon at the end of an 80-mile week and this race at the end of only 70, and prior to that was a 25-mile week! Sure looks like high-mileage works better for me. Hmph!

So now I get to work the rest of the afternoon. I really like my job, by the way. I just wish I could do it on my terms and only when I felt like it (which is not right now!)

Posted by jenandmats at 2:39 PM | Comments (5)

December 3, 2004

Mommies on the comeback trail

I honestly can't decide what to do at the race this weekend. Do I want to race the thing or do what my coach told me to do and just run easy? If it's nice weather I hate to pass it up. I'm starting to appreciate nice weather (or just not affirmatively bad weather) more and more! And this race is one of my favorites and favors my billy-goat running style with all its hills. On the other hand, I'm still feeling creaky and I've got two tough weeks ahead of me - next week is a *hilly* 21-miler and the following week is a 20-miler with 30K at marathon goal pace. On the OTHER hand (did you know I had three hands?) I've been able to recover so easily from things lately I don't know if I should really worry about the two tough weeks coming up.

Regardless of what I decide to do, the *real* excitement this weekend is that I have three friends who've had babies in the past six months to a year and who have been training for this race for months now. No comeback 5Ks for these ladies - we're talking a notoriously hilly 20K. When we all started running together this race was *the* tough race of the marathon warm-up series. Now that they've added the hilly 10-miler and the hilly half-marathon its reputation as the hilliest race is in dispute, but one thing's fer sher: this is *not* going to be a walk in the park. And I'm pretty sure they're ready. They're going to kick this thing's ass.

So it should be a fun Sunday: Andy'll be there, the comeback mommies'll be there, and then we've got more than a few other friends trying to do marathon pace runs out there. And I'll finally get to check out this Meghan character.

Andy's torturing the dog. She's an awfully good sport.

Posted by jenandmats at 10:22 PM | Comments (5)

December 2, 2004

Lurch

I had two good runs today. I met "the dudes" for what they call the "dice run" which they do every Thursday morning. Andy usually meets them, but he was out of town so I thought I'd take his place. They have different runs assigned to different rolls of the dice, so you never know what you're going to get. They let me roll this morning and I rolled a great loop through one of the rolling-hilly neighborhoods in town. It was cold and clear and *fabulous.*

Tonight I'd scheduled to meet our friend Danny for one of Steve's "extra-credit" workouts on the track. Due to a miscommunication we didn't actually run the intervals together, which made it a little tougher than it would have been with someone to push us probably, but we both got it done at least. What we were *supposed* to do was a ladder with 4x400 at 1:25, 2x800 at 3:05, then 4x 400 at 1:25 again. What I *actually* did was 1:28, 29, 26, 27, 3:07, 3:04, 1:27, 28, 29, 27.

I was surprised that I was somewhat inconsistent since I can be so consistent sometimes. I think part of it was that I'm just not very good at 400s! When I did my mile repeats last week I felt so smooth and so in-control. Tonight I felt like a complete spaz - like different parts of my body had their own agenda. Especially going around that 2nd corner on the 400s. I know on one stride my leg was nearly completely locked. Maybe I was trying too hard. I never really expected to hit the 1:25s (although it sure would have been cool to do it,) but that 1:29 on the second one kind of startled me and made me realize that I was *not* going to be able to coast through these.

Glad I got it done, though! I'm gonna sleep gooooood tonight.

Posted by jenandmats at 9:15 PM | Comments (3)

December 1, 2004

Summary - week 20 of 31

Week 20 of 31 (11/22-11/29)
Monday – 4.5am EZ
Tuesday – 5am EZ; 6pm w/ 4x mi 10K pace (6:10, 12, 11, 09)
Wednesday – OFF
Thursday – 5am EZ
Friday – OFF
Saturday – 4EZ w/6 strides
Sunday - OFF
TOTAL - 24.5

Posted by jenandmats at 9:22 PM