TGIF

Friday 5.25 miles/47:40/9:05 average pace

I SWEAR it felt easy. But, looks like more of the same old 9:00 pace!! I even had a couple miles around 8:40. wtf. I fear I am doing my recovery runs too fast? My long runs too maybe? OR.... is that my easy/long pace, and I'm doing my GA runs too slow? And WHERE the hell does marathon pace figure in??

sigh


20 miles tomorrow. I'm ready! I'm ready! I'm ready! (channeling spongebob) :)

No thanks!

Wednesday 6.00 miles/55:15/9:13 average pace

I was scheduled for 8 miles w/ 4 at LT pace, but I decided against it. I either had or imagained a slight knee twinge, which is spooky territory for me (previously injured that knee). So I used my "no thanks" pass on that one. Did 6 miles easy/GA. Knee definitely feels 100% fine today, but better safe than sorry, so no biggie. I might do 6 on Friday (instead of 4) to make up the mileage, but it's not that important.


So an interesting thing: every one of my runs for a while have been at pretty much the same pace. Is this good? Bad? Not sure. I'm sure it's not bad, I understand that I'm doing minimal speed/pace work. But am I not running my recovery runs slow enough? And does this 9:00-9:15 pace say anything about my ability to run the marathon at any given pace? I need to ask around. It's interesting for sure! I mean, look at this:

saturday 17 miles 9:14 average pace
monday 8 miles 9:06 average pace
tuesday 4 miles 8:58 average pace
wednesday 6 miles 9:13 average pace

And that's just my last 4 runs. It seems no matter the distance, I'm running 9:00 pace. Weird.

Tired Tuesday

Tuesday 4.00 miles/35:49/8:58 average pace

Not tired from training, tired from talking! Well, and drinking. And not sleeping too, I guess (funny how that works). In other words I was tired from having a LOT of fun with my best friend who was staying with me for the past several days. Finally got some serious sleep last night so I'm ready for the 8 miles scheduled for tonight- w/ 4 @ LT pace.

Monday hookey run

Monday 8.00 miles/1:12:44/9:06 average pace

Took the day off work so I had lots of time to run, which is always fun. Felt a little tired but not bad.

Here is the schedule for this week:

Monday: 8 miles GA (done)
Tuesday: 4 miles easy
Wednesday: 8 miles w/ 4 miles LT
Th: off
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 20 miles long
Sunday: off

total planned: 44

LR Week 6

Saturday 17.00 miles/2:36:47/9:14 average pace

This was a really fun run because it was point-to-point. That always seems SO much farther since you don't have to double back. Ran from my house to my favorite breakfast place in the town I used to live in. It was a nice morning, warm but a few sprinkles, and I felt good. Didn't listen to music at all until the last two miles. Also only had to stop 2-3 times to tie shoe, refill water, etc. No soreness afterwards! Good stuff. Feeling good about next week's 20.


TOTAL miles for the week: 43

Friday sleep-running

Friday 4.00 miles/39:00/9:45 average pace

Easy run on the treadmill feeling tired, dehydrated, and lightheaded (hungover). Fun!

Hanging in there Wednesday

Wednesday 5.8 miles/56:10/9:41 average pace

My legs felt pretty good, the pace felt easy, and it was nice to stop running before that all changed. I'm tired this week. I think it is because of last week's relaxing vacation followed by this week's not-so-relaxing reality (job+housework+training).

Goal Pace Goodness

Tuesday 10.20 miles total/1:25:46/8:25 average pace

10 miles Goal Marathon Pace: 1:23:47/8:23 average pace

then, .2 miles cool down (2:00/10:00 average pace)

I didn't really have a specific pace in mind for this run, because I haven't actually decided what my goal for the marathon is. That's kind of the funny thing about doing GMP runs in training. I figured 8:thirty-something would do the trick. Of course, in the back of my mind is the knowlege that my BQ pace is 8:24 or thereabouts. And of course, these "back of my mind" things tend to move their way up front quickly and become the goal. I honestly have not decided to go for the BQ in my marathon. I will probably make that my best case scenario/dream goal, but I am putting NO pressure on myself. And the waffling begins.

Back at it

Monday 6.00 miles/57:33/9:36 average pace

Recovery run after work. It was allright, my legs felt really tight and kinda dead. No pain, but definitely didn't feel comfortable. I finally warmed up a bit after 4-5 miles so at least it ended on a good note. My shins and ankles are kind of sore but not bad.

I think my legs were just shocked by the cold weather after some easy tropical miles last week and then a whole weekend off. Tonight's run is 10 miles goal pace, so we'll see how I do.

Plan for the week:
Monday: 6 easy (done)
Tuesday: 10 miles GP
Wednesday: 6 miles GA (group)
Thursday: off
Friday: 4 miles easy
Saturday: 16 miles long
Sunday: off

total scheduled: 42 miles

Aloha part II

Thursday 8.00 miles/1:12:15/9:02 average pace

The bike path paralleled the road (Kamehameha Hwy) which travels through little beach towns and past several beaches. I did 4 miles out, then back.

Friday 5.00 miles/49:43/9:57 average pace

This morning Zach and I went exploring around the resort property here, and our run included a trail along the beach and a little road that went nowhere.

I'm probably taking the next two days off, or perhaps going for a tiny run tomorrow when we get home. This has been a pretty average week so far and it is supposed to be an easy week, so I have to NOT run at some point. :)

Aloha.


ETA: Took weekend off.

TOTAL miles for the week: 26.

Also strength training for 20 minutes Sunday. It's good to be home (sorta)

ALOHA

Just posting quickley from my condo on the North Shore of fabulous Oahu, Hawaii. :)

First, yesterday before we left

Monday 7.00 miles/1:02:19/8:54 average pace

A nice solo run while Zach finished up packing and cleaning at the house. It was really nice to have no schedule to and no need to be home at any given time. So I did what I felt like, how I felt like. Nice.

Tuesday 6.00 miles/57:41/9:37 average pace

After arriving in Hawaii late last night, and less-than-fantastic sleep due to torrential rains overnight, I didn't plan on running today. We had a fun morning roaming around and exploring the beaches and stuff, but I was jonsing to run! So after picking up some fresh (LIVE!) shrimp and other food, we headed back to the condo and went for a run. Yes, it's raining here. A lot! But it is still warm, beautiful, tropical, and exciting. So we did a half-trail, half-golf course adventure run in the pouring rain. Rave run, no doubt. More to follow. Aloha!

LR Week 4

Saturday 18.00 miles/2:47:xx/9:20 average pace

I didn't monitor my pace or anything, just ran by feel. I was somewhat surprised to see my average pace at the end. It felt comfortable the whole time!

I actually almost skipped this run, or at least shortened it. I just wasn't as excited about it as I have been for the previous 3 weeks. So Friday night, I told myself that I could do 15-16 since that distance seems so much less intimidating. Also my right hamstring was sore from weight lifting twice this week. (I usually did once). But alas, I got up and felt fine and had a great run.

TOTAL miles for this week: 40.5


I"m off to Hawaii for a week!!!! So no posting. I plan on running every day while there, but no more than 10 miles at a time and all easy miles. No long run this week. I guess I'd predict 30-ish. :)

Easy Friday

Friday 4.00 miles/38:43/9:41 average pace

Easy recovery run with running buddy :) It was a beautiful (but cold!) morning.

weekly catch up!

Monday: 4.00 miles/38:35/9:40 average pace

Easy run in the pm with Zach. Felt good. Kinda tripped and almost ate it, but I recovered mid-air. It was amusing.

Tuesday and Wendesday I was in Los Angeles.

Tuesday 7.00 miles total/56:31/8:04 average pace (Santa Monica)

This run was so awesome. I invented a fun new workout called "Race the Parking Meter!" This is how it works: you put enough change in the meter to buy you one hour of parking. You know you are supposed to run 8.00 miles, but you realize you are not *that* fast, so you just try to run as far as possible before the meter expires. GO!

Miles 1-3 were hard: HUGE headwind, then gradual uphill (which feels extreme when running hard!). The return trip was faster, but an even effort. After six miles in 48:08 (8:01 average pace) I saw the parking meter had several minutes left so I did a cool down mile at 8:25 pace. If I subtract the first mile and consider it a warm up (it was 8:50 pace), my middle 5 miles were 7:51 average pace. :) I'm going to call it a "Progression Tempo" run (did I make that up just now? Probably) due to my increasingly speedy splits:

mile 1: 8:50 "warm up" (really it was not, it was just slow due to massive headwind, but let's pretend)

mile 2: 8:24 (uphill)
mile 3: 8:02 (still uphill)
mile 4: 7:52 (down we go!)
mile 5: 7:41
mile 6: 7:20 (!!!!!!)

mile 7: 8:25 "cool down" (it really was, considering it was 1:00 per mile slower than the previous, but still fast)

Oh, and 20 minutes strength training in hotel

And finally on to:

Wednesday 7.50 miles/1:08:51/9:11 average pace (The Strand)

Easy fun run. :)

LR Week 3 Now with Goal Pace miles!

Saturday 16.00 miles/2:27:14/9:12 average pace

A wonderful hard run. I didn't pay attention to my watch the whole time, so I ended up running a bit faster then intended. It actually turned into a goal marathon pace workout, as I did my last 5 miles at approximately goal pace.

First 11 miles 1:43:47/9:26 average pace

Last 5 miles 43:27/8:41 average pace

So actually that isn't quite my goal pace (if I go for BQ, it is more like 8:22) but very close considering I'm 3 weeks into training with 9 weeks to go.

It felt great. My legs were sore the next day (yesterday) but in a good way. Feeling fine today.

So, I was planning on running a goal pace workout next weekend (18 miles w/ 5 to 8 GP) but since I basically did it this weekend, I plan on skipping it and doing the 18 at a constant slower pace. This GP workout is far too hardcore to do twice in a row.


TOTAL miles for the week: 40. yay.

More rain running

Friday 4.00 miles/38:58/9:45 average pace

My best running buddy came down and ran with me this morning :) And we got drenched. :( But it was fun. My lower legs are a smidgen sore but not bad.

Oh, and 40 minutes weights training last night. Whoo hoo!

Hawaii countdown: 10 days.

10 miles mid week- a first!!

Wednesday 10.00 miles/1:30:04/9:00 average pace


Well, I skipped the group run (planned 8 with them)and did a run with Zach. So I went out to run a couple (planned 2) right after work, then he would run 6 with me. Well, I did 3 before returning home, then we did a loop that was 7 miles! I was so excited and proud.

This was my first 10 miler on a weekday. Also, I didn't walk or stop for even a second, also I ran it at a good fast-ish pace! ANDDDD there was a giant hill in the middle! It was a long tough run and I felt fantastic during and after (only a tiny bit of the "good sore" today) I am really proud of this run. It was "one of those" runs that left me with a huge smile on my face. A breakthrough run I guess you could say. Go me.

Oh, and this means I'm on track for a 40 mile week. :)

Today I got up and did 20 minute yoga DVD and I plan on a full body weights work out after work. :)

February Recap

Total mileage for the month:

133.44

Including 1 race- KP Half Marathon, official result: 1:44:56

:)

And it was a short month! Go me.