2.5+ miles / 4.5 miles on hills

Monday, as mentioned previously, I ran on the beach. It was cold-ish and overcast and early in the morning. I was in Lincoln City, and I ran with my nephew, Max. My friend Jackie was going to run with us but she decided it was too cold and ran later. Probably a good thing since she would have been much faster than either me or Max.

We just ran for 15 minutes in one direction and then ran back to our starting point. Max needed to walk a bit, so we probably averaged a 10:30-11:00 pace. No biggie. I wanted an easy run and I got it.

Tonight, though, I ran a hard hill workout. One mile warmup and cooldown, then my normal ~400 meter uphill run in Sellwood Park. I did 5 intervals, and jogged back down the hill.

As I started on my third try up the hill, a lady in a truck blocked the entrance to the park and I had to detour around her. In spite of that I was faster than my previous time.

As I jogged back on my third try, a large group of runners showed up, led by a blonde woman in an orange Nike shirt just like the one I wore. They gathered around the water fountain. I stood in the street and waited for my breathing to calm down a bit before going back up.

In fact, I was a bit faster each time up the hill, so it was a successful training run. I just let my breathing work without trying to focus on it. Here are my splits for each time up the hill:

1. 02:25.0
   
2. 02:24.1
   
3. 02:15.3
   
4. 02:11.2
   
5. 02:09.7

Next run: I'll probably be running to work on Friday. I found out today that my boss is moving me to another worksite in two weeks, so I won't be working out of downtown anymore. So I want to make sure and enjoy it while I'm still there.

8.0 miles

More than once in the past 24 hours did I try to talk myself out of 8 miles today.

It didn't work.

Last night I lay in bed and tried to mentally go over the route (my 4.0 mile out-and-back) and... it was so strange... I couldn't remember it past about the first mile. I must have been asleep and experiencing that strange dyslexia that affects us in our sleep because, in spite of the fact that I've lived in Sellwood for years and years, I just kept getting "lost". Such a strange memory.

Woke up at 6:15 AM, to the alarm. Smacky actually glared at the alarm when it went off. I know cats don't have the same facial expressions as humans (if at all) but if he had been human he would have been so very pissed. It made me laugh.

Of course, I turned the alarm off and then promptly went back to sleep.

Around 7:30 AM I woke up again and actually made it out of bed. I checked the temperature - I was worried that it had already warmed up to where it would be difficult running. But it was only 58° F. It had warmed up 2° F by the time I got my running clothes on and was ready to run, though. Still, 60° F isn't bad.

And... I was slow. I was able to keep about a 10:30 pace for most of the run, which means I was stopping about every 10 minutes to walk for another minute or two. Stopped three times for water, which isn't bad. The last mile I slowed down to the point where it dropped my overall average quite a bit - my finish time, including the water and walking breaks, was 1:28:10, which makes an 11:01.25 pace.

But, I did it, and this has been a tough week for me, with almost no "rest" or "easy" runs and 18.5 total miles.

Next up, on Monday I'll be at my sister's beach house with family and will try an easy 30 or 40 minutes on the sand... ahhhhh... One last summer vacation.

Catch-up edition: 4.5 miles / 6.0 miles

Tuesday: 1 mile warmup/cooldown + ~2.5 miles of hillwork. 5 x ~400 meters fast up followed by jogging down. Here are my uphill times:

1. 02:28.7
   
2. 02:31.9
   
3. 02:29.0
   
4. 02:31.1
   
5. 02:17.6

Yeah, I kicked it on that last uphill. Good for me!

Did that hillwork help me?

Well, on Thursday I did my 4.0 mile tempo run (plus the usual warmup/cooldown). Annnnd... Not so much. I did it late in the day (after 5:00 PM) and it was humid. Not too warm, though; in fact it was fine, especially in the wind.

The plan was 2.0 miles north on the Springwater corridor, marking off the half-mile times, and then turn around and come back. I was hoping for race pace - 9:30 - 9:40 miles, meaning 4:30 - 4:35 half-miles. Here's my splits:

1. 04:29.8
   
2. 04:48.6
   
3. 04:46.8
   
4. 04:47.3*
   
5. 04:30.2
   
6. 05:13.8
   
7. 05:15.7
   
8. 05:52.0

See that * up there? That shows that, at the turn-around point, I had to stop and catch my breath. For four and a half minutes. Yeah, at the time it felt like I sucked air. Had to jog-walk most of the way back, except for a small burst of speed on the first returning half-mile.

But looking at it now, my total time for the first half-mile was 18:52.5, though, which is a 9:26 pace, which is slightly faster than I wanted to be, actually. That might have been the reason I felt so winded on the returning section.

I also think, counter-intuitively perhaps, that my long rest at that point meant that I'd cooled down too much, because my legs felt heavy and cold, and my breathing didn't feel... as efficient, or something. I think that if I'd rested less, I might have had a better time on the return leg because I would have still been warmed up and running at peak adrenaline.

It's just a theory. Next time I try that workout I'll see if I can improve.

Had a couple of Blokz before my cool-down jog/walk back home. Wore the Brooks. No music.

So tempted

I'm so tempted to try a shorter tempo run on my "speedwork day" this week, instead of the hills. Like, say, a 4-mile tempo run, with a slow mile or so added prior and ante...

Oh, hell, after some consideration here's my new plan:

• Tuesday: 4.0 miles - hill work
  
• Thursday: 4.0 tempo + 2.0 miles warmup/cooldown
  
• Saturday: 8.0 miles "easy"

None of those are really "easy", but they're each hard in a different way.

Next week

Next week I'm going to do an easy run on Tuesday, some hills on Thursday, then a long run on Saturday.

That's as far as I'm going to plan. Tune in next week to see how I do. Or don't. I'll still be here, doing it.

8.0 miles - tried to tempo

As planned, I got up early this morning and headed out for a long run. I was going to do a mile warmup and cooldown, and in the middle I would do a 10K (6.2+ miles) at as close to race pace as I could manage.

Factors working against me: Not nearly enough water. I do really well drinking 2 liters or more of water during the week because I keep a water bottle at my desk and start drinking early. On the weekends, not so much. Saturday I think I had about 20 ounces of water.

Second - without being too gross, I should not have left the house until I'd, um, evacuated my system, if you know what I mean. Because that decision came back to haunt me during the run.

Third - no fresh legs. I had already run a hard, near-race-pace run this week, and had done a medium run on Friday. My legs weren't really rested well enough for another hard run.

Factors working for me: Well, I did manage to get up and leave early enough that the temperature was perfect. Also, the route I was using was nearly flat. I brought along some water with me, and some Cliff Blokz. Also, I had mental toughness (OK, I just threw that one in there 'cause I wanted four positives).

And... I didn't do as well as I'd hoped, but I didn't fail too badly, if you discount the huge "bio break" I took between mile 3.5 and 4.0. Yes, shamefully, I actually stopped the watch while I stepped off the path and, um, got rid of something holding me back.

And, truthfully, the early miles were hard, too. My legs just didn't want to move fast. I wasn't able to concentrate well enough to do my visualization thing, and I think I ran the warmup mile too fast and didn't allow enough rest before starting the actual tempo run. Even so, I ran the early half-miles a bit too fast, then slowed down to make each one as close to 5:00 as I could - which worked against me because I kept speeding up and slowing down, not getting into a groove.

I was eventually able to see each half-mile as a separate segment, like running 12 consecutive 800s.

Here's my half-mile splits, along with the mile times, and my total time:

1. 04:37.15
   
2. 04:49.74 (0:09:26.9)
   
3. 04.55.14
   
4. 05:03.39 (0:19:25.6)
   
5. 05:28.01
   
6. 05:25.79 (0:30:19.4)
   
7. 05:39.18
   
8. 05:35.25* (0:41.33.9)
   
9. 06:05.14**
   
10. 05:33.40 (0:53:12.4)
    
11. 06.26.60
    
12. 05.28.27 (1:05:07.0)
    
13. 02:02.36 (1:07:09.6)

* This is the segment for my off-path adventure.
** This is the segment where I slowed to a walk to drink my water and eat my Blokz.

So, I did pretty well on the first two miles - I averaged a 9:42 pace, which I know I can maintain for 3.1 miles on a decent day. But then I started losing it. Still, I finished the whole thing (not including my unscheduled pit stop) with an average 10:48.5 pace, which surprises me.

Still, lesson learned. Take care of business before going out for a long run.

5.5 miles - Run To Work

Ran in to work this morning. 5.5 miles. I wanted it to be an easy day, and I maintained a slow, steady, 10:20 - 10:30 pace the entire way in. Nowhere near my VO2 max...

It was very uneventful. I wore my Brooks. Didn't take any music. I just looked at my nano and didn't feel like having a soundtrack today. Maybe it's the extra-loud ringing in my ears lately?

Didn't see much wildlife. The osprey nest seemed to be empty, but didn't see it out flying around dive-bombing runners or bikers, either.

On Sunday - I'm planning on 8+ total miles, and... I'm going to do 6.2 miles (about a 10K) along the Springwater trail at race pace. My second "hard" run of the week. Should be interesting...

5.0 miles - tempo run

Decided on a hard run today, but didn't want to tackle hill repeats like last week.

So I decided on a 3.1 mile (approximately a 5K) tempo run. I was aiming for a 9:30 pace, which would be about the fastest I've ever run a 5K. Wasn't sure how close I'd get, though.

Ran just over a mile to warmup and ended up at SE Spokane St., just under the Sellwood Bridge. From that point to the 3.5 mile marker on the Springwater Trail is 0.1 miles, and then the rest of the trail is conveniently marked at half-mile intervals. So, 1.5 miles out, and then come back to the 3.5 mile mark, gives me a total of 3.1 miles.

I put the 0.1 at the beginning because I had to cross an intersection. Starting, I could time it to avoid cars, but if I was coming back, in the groove, and had to stop for traffic - I'd be pissed.

Weather was nice - a bit humid but cool enough, and overcast. I'd been having mild allergy problems most of the day, so before I left the house I cleaned out my sinuses with my neti pot. Y'know, just in case. Wore the Brooks. No music.

And... I kept a good, strong pace the whole way. I saw the osprey dive-bomb about a foot above this one runner's head. She didn't even seem to notice.

I didn't deviate from about a 9:40 pace for at least the first half. Stopped to walk briefly, just long enough to turn around, at the, um, turn-around point, just because of other runners and bike traffic.

I did really well on de-focusing on my breathing. I also employed a visualization trick quite a bit: If a biker or runner passed me (and many did) I imagined a rubber band around my waist and theirs, and tried to feel it pulling me along behind them.

In the last mile there were almost no runners or bikers passing me, so I imagined the rubber band around the telephone poles, and, when I was within sight of them, the half-mile markers.

I did stop for about 15 steps on the last half-mile. Dammit. I was able to motivate myself back up to running speed.

I finished the total distance in 30:06, giving me an average 9:42 pace for the distance. Fast, but not the fastest I've ever been. Still, 18 seconds per mile faster than my normal training pace is good for me.

After getting some water in the Oak Pioneer Church courtyard, I ran, slowly, the mile-plus back home and called it a day.

3.0 miles - easy

Got up early this morning before leaving for work and ran just over 3.0 miles. I ran an out-and-back along the route of my 4.0 mile loop, 1.5 miles each way.

Wore my fast shoes, rather than my Brooks. Didn't stop for water or anything. No walking. It was nice and cool, around 60° F. Saw no morning fauna...

I did keep track of time and maintained an average 10:00 pace, give or take, for the length of the run.

8.4 miles - longest run ever!

I wanted at least 8 miles yesterday, and was wondering how far I could push it. The day before I thought about various combinations of my other routes. Obviously doing my 4.0 mile loop out-and-back again makes 8 miles. The finish lines for my 4.0 and 5.0 mile runs are the same, so I could add those together for 9 miles.

Instead I decided I would just close the loop on my 4.0 mile run and run it twice in the same direction. That added 0.2 miles to each circle, making the total run 8.4 miles.

Was I ready to rock? Well... that morning, when it was nice and cool and overcast, I was not ready to rock. Too sleepy, still. After a gianormous lunch at my favorite restaurant, I was still not ready to rock. After a brief nap, I was almost ready to rock, but it was a bit hot.

In the end, I headed out around 7:00 PM, just as the heat of the day was starting to cool, which meant I would be getting home shortly after sunset.

Not much to tell about the run. I tried the visualization thing I'd done two days before but was unable to concentrate as I had before. Obviously that shit takes practice. And the same with my breathing. Maybe, mentally, I had psyched myself out with all that thinking "longest run ever"? Maybe. Who knows? Could have been the heat, could have been lots of things.

I ate two Cliff Blokz (Cran-Razz flavor) at around the 5.0 mile mark. Stopped a total of four times for water. Walked for anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute and a half maybe another... five?.. times. I saw at least three runners twice, once on each loop, which was fun.

Oh, another thing - a twinge of soreness (I don't want to call it full-on pain, just some discomfort) in my back, mainly on the right-hand side. I just want to note it here for future reference.

In the end, though, I completed both loops and even got to finish to a cheer from my neighbors, who were sitting outside on the porch when I crossed my personal finish line. That was nice. They invited me to sit and have a beer but I was so sweaty and tired I wanted my shower, and I was not hungry at all yet - right after a hard run I'm usually nauseous.

6.0 miles - medium/hard

Today was supposed to be an easy day, but I really wanted a longer run, but not a full 8+ miles. And it was kinda hot - 77° F around 5:00 PM when I was going to run, which, if you add the 20° F I supposedly gain when I'm running, makes it Africa hot.

Did I listen to the reasonable, logical voice in my head that said, "Go easy, don't push yourself, just cover the miles, walk if you need to, it'll be OK"? Did I?

Um, no.

I knew I was going to push myself as soon as I couldn't leave the house without my watch. Not taking the watch would have helped me slow down. And the funny part is, during the run I only looked at the watch three times, so it's not like I was watching the clock the whole time.

At any rate, I did my normal 6.0 mile loop. No music. And I only stopped three times, each time for water, and kept careful track of how long I stopped - the total time was 4:00.

I focused on relaxing my breathing. Maybe it's better to say I "de-focused" because I just let my body breathe as it wanted/needed to and tried to keep my conscious mind from regulating or even noticing my breathing at all. And this helped a bit.

But the other major thing I did differently, that helped me tremendously, was to practice visualization during the run. I would let my mind think ahead to the next section, and tried to picture myself conquering that section. It was aided by the fact that this is a familiar route, so I could fill in a lot of detail to make it stand out in my head. This was especially helpful on the hilly section along Holgate, but also a big assist during the long (and sunny and warm) section along the Springwater Corridor Trail, not to mention the final hill up Umatilla, where I normally have to stop and walk.

But... I didn't. I kept up an even, steady pace the whole time, which felt good. I didn't have any difficulty breathing, and except for the water stops (and gels, at the final water stop), I just kept going. It's been a while since I could say that on such a long run, so I'm pleased with my total time of 1:05:04, which translates to about a 10:50 pace overall.

If you subtract out the time I spent resting or getting water (that 4:00), I maintained about a 10:10 pace during my running sections, which are about 1.2 miles to the first water fountain, 0.9 miles to the next one, 1.9 miles to the next one, and 2.0 miles to the finish line. Nice work, Moon!

1.0 + 4.0 Miles

I wanted to do 5 miles tonight. I had originally planned to get up early, do a mile warmup and cooldown, and then try 3.0 miles at a fast tempo. Unfortunately I didn't get up early enough to do it.

So I packed a bag and planned to run after work.

I took my fast shoes, the Filas, instead of my normal Brooks. I wanted to mentally be as fast as I could. I worried about running on the asphalt and concrete in shoes with very little support. But I didn't worry too much.

I did 1.0 mile on the treadmill at a 10:00 pace to warmup. Then I headed down to the waterfront, where I ran my normal 2.9 mile loop, plus another 1.1 mile extension south and back to the beginning, for a total of 5.0 miles.

And I managed to keep moving. I finished the main section, 2.9 miles, in 28:34, which felt great. The weather was warm and a bit humid, but there was an awesome breeze. I focused on breathing and to just keep running.

I finished the last 1.1 mile section at a jog/walk to cool down.

Overall, I could feel the strength I used to have. I know if I get back to training, even just one day a week doing speed or hills or maybe some jumping exercises, I can regain the level of speed I had when I first started.

Tonight felt great.

6.5 Miles - slow

Couldn't get up early enough so I ended up going out shortly after 9:00 AM. It was already near 70° F and humid so I knew it would be a sweaty run. Of course, I sweat a lot even in the coldest weather. I come from a line of sweaty, hairy men!

Ran my 6.0 mile loop. Timed myself but I knew I was going to be slow (and I was) so I've tossed away the total time. Stopped three times for water, and had a couple of gels before the last 2.5 miles or so.

But it's done. Yay.

Got to see the osprey. Also, the traffic on the Springwater Corridor Trail was pretty heavy - lots of walkers, runners and bicyclists out. It was nice.

5.5 miles - Run To Work

5.5 miles, weather was cool (53° F according to weather.com), left home around 5:50 AM, tried to just keep going and only stopped to walk a couple of times, saw an osprey, many Canadian geese, a racoon and some nutria (in addition to many joggers, bikers and at least one redhead roller-blader), averaged just under a 10:00 pace.

Music provided for the run by Apple's iPod nano and Green Day's "American Idiot".

Easy-peasy.

4.3 miles - hill repeats

I needed to do some kind of speed- or hill-work last night. Because it was warm (around 80° F), I wanted to stay in the shade. So I decided to do my hill repeats. Measured out (using Google Earth) an approximately 400 meter (about a quarter-mile) section of the hill in Sellwood Park. The start of it is over a mile away from my apartment, so I ran there.

Then, I ran up and down the hill four times, timing each leg. It's good for speedwork because most of the way is on gravel, not pavement - easier on impact.

I wasn't particularly fast, because, y'know, I've been neglecting the speedword lately... but I did manage to complete four full times up and down without stopping to walk. That felt good.

Upcoming: Going to run to work on Friday, and then do a long run (7+ miles, not sure, depends on how I feel) on Sunday.

Another project: adding up all the miles I've run this year. That'll be fun! I can put it into a spreadsheet...