Thursday, 6.1 miles in :47
This morning was a "sub-tempo" run, based on an article by McMillan
in last month's Running Times (sorry, can't find the link). The sub-tempo
comes from Arthur Lydiard, and is like a tempo run at "3/4 effort", or a
bit faster than marathon pace, meant to be run during base training. I ran
a distinctively non-Lydiardian 79 miles this month, but I am hoping to
increase (maybe double) that total in February, and this seemed like a good
"effort" run to do today. The plan was to run my usual tempo course, but
stretch the "effort" part out from 2 to 2.75 miles by tacking on to the
downhill segment. The pace would be in the 6:45-7:00/mile range.
I managed to hear my alarm this morning, and got out the door by 6:15.
An easy 15 minute warmup got me to Shattuck Ave, and I picked up the
pace for the uphill. The first .75 miles went in 5:08, followed by a
mile in 7:00, and a bit over a mile downhill in 6:42. It worked out to
a 6:44 pace for the tempo portion, and the effort was tough but not too
demanding. For next week, I'll need to plot out a longer course so I
can stretch this out to about 4 miles, so I can feel some burn.
We bought tickets to visit Philly in May, which means I now have a goal
race for the spring.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
The other shoe?
Saturday, 8.2 miles in 1:02
Tuesday, 5.8 miles in :44
For the last 10 days, all of my runs have gone at an easily brisk pace, in the mid-7 minute rhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifange, that for me indicates either high fitness or, in the current case, too many rest days. That being the case, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I felt like today was the day. I felt like I was dragging at the beginning and end of the run, although I did manage to achieve a Zen like state in the middle, causing me to miss my usual turn from Hopkins to Gilman. It turns out that the run went a little bit farther, and a little bit faster, than I had thought. I know that things will slow down soon, but it should hopefully be due to extra mileage.
Tuesday, 5.8 miles in :44
For the last 10 days, all of my runs have gone at an easily brisk pace, in the mid-7 minute rhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifange, that for me indicates either high fitness or, in the current case, too many rest days. That being the case, I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop, and I felt like today was the day. I felt like I was dragging at the beginning and end of the run, although I did manage to achieve a Zen like state in the middle, causing me to miss my usual turn from Hopkins to Gilman. It turns out that the run went a little bit farther, and a little bit faster, than I had thought. I know that things will slow down soon, but it should hopefully be due to extra mileage.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Catchup
Saturday (last): 14 miles in 2:00
Saturday (this): 7.6 in :56
Sunday: 5.7 in :42
Monday: 7.9 in :59
What happened to that week? I felt beat for a couple days after the
long run, then...
I finally hit the road again on Saturday. As usual, six days off put
some spring in my step and I had an easily fast run to downtown Oakland
and back. I passed the infamous intersection of 51st and Shattuck where
Senate Pro Tem Don Perata got carjacked last month, but it didn't look
any more infamous than it used to. Perata is now driving a Crown Vic
instead of his previous ride, a red Charger with 22" rims. Seriously.
I repeated with comfortably fast runs on Sunday and Monday, and took a
planned day off today. I'm planning to wake up early tomorrow and try
to make this a 35-40 mile week.
Saturday (this): 7.6 in :56
Sunday: 5.7 in :42
Monday: 7.9 in :59
What happened to that week? I felt beat for a couple days after the
long run, then...
I finally hit the road again on Saturday. As usual, six days off put
some spring in my step and I had an easily fast run to downtown Oakland
and back. I passed the infamous intersection of 51st and Shattuck where
Senate Pro Tem Don Perata got carjacked last month, but it didn't look
any more infamous than it used to. Perata is now driving a Crown Vic
instead of his previous ride, a red Charger with 22" rims. Seriously.
I repeated with comfortably fast runs on Sunday and Monday, and took a
planned day off today. I'm planning to wake up early tomorrow and try
to make this a 35-40 mile week.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Monday am, 5.6 miles in :45
Tuesday pm, 3.2 miles in :26
Friday am, 7 miles in :56
Three runs so far this week. Tuesday's route is lost in the tubes, but
Silas and I ended up at the farmer's market, where one of the farmers
asked us if we liked running in the rain. I told her that it beats
walking in the rain any day. I probably wouldn't have bothered
squeezing in that run, if not for Seebo's report that Mike Huckabee had
squeezed in a 14 miler over the weekend.
Silas has recovered from his foray into Eastern Standard Time, and is
sleeping in consistently enough that, as of today, I am starting back on a
routine of waking up early to run between 6 and 7 before he wakes up.
This means that I will be finishing my runs before dawn for at least the
next few weeks; the fact is made more bearable by reminiscing about the
old CWP days, when we monitored the progress of winter while running
Acme loops.
Tuesday pm, 3.2 miles in :26
Friday am, 7 miles in :56
Three runs so far this week. Tuesday's route is lost in the tubes, but
Silas and I ended up at the farmer's market, where one of the farmers
asked us if we liked running in the rain. I told her that it beats
walking in the rain any day. I probably wouldn't have bothered
squeezing in that run, if not for Seebo's report that Mike Huckabee had
squeezed in a 14 miler over the weekend.
Silas has recovered from his foray into Eastern Standard Time, and is
sleeping in consistently enough that, as of today, I am starting back on a
routine of waking up early to run between 6 and 7 before he wakes up.
This means that I will be finishing my runs before dawn for at least the
next few weeks; the fact is made more bearable by reminiscing about the
old CWP days, when we monitored the progress of winter while running
Acme loops.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
In with the new
Sunday pm, 7.8 miles in 1:03
The first run of the year was delayed by frigid weather in Florida (really!), a day of travel, and heavy rain in Berkeley. It was almost delayed again today because I couldn't get Silas to wear warm pants (he insisted on wearing his bus pajamas this morning and wouldn't allow me to cover them with overalls), but we finally made it out this afternoon while Christine went to yoga. As expected, Si was woefully out of shape after 3 weeks off, and we had to make several stops to watch the buses or seabirds while he regained his composure. The rest of the time, he referred to the graham crackers he was eating as "damn cookie". Since he calls his Grammie "Dammy", I think I can attribute this to phonics and not a slip up on my part.
The run was otherwise uneventful, although I appreciate that the sun is setting later nowadays and I was able to get home before dusk. Now is as good a time as any for a wrapup of 2007, my second full year of running.
Actually, not much to wrap up. I ran 1170 miles, compared to 1836 in 2006. I had one month (June) with more than 150 miles, compared to 9 months in 2006. I ran two half marathons, two 5Ks, a 12K, and a 10K, with no PRs. I would say that my best race was the Greening Up the Mountains 5K in Silva, NC, back in April. I stopped down there while moving from Philly and managed to win 3rd place on a very hilly course in 20:25.
For 2008? I'm not going to set goals, because all of my recent goals have fallen flat. I would like to run 1500 miles this year, and if I can find the time and opportunity, I'll run much more than that. If I am able to run as much as I'd like, I'll do some racing in the spring, and I should be able to either run a low-18s 5K or a marathon in the fall. If not, well, I'll just keep running when I can and enjoy it
The first run of the year was delayed by frigid weather in Florida (really!), a day of travel, and heavy rain in Berkeley. It was almost delayed again today because I couldn't get Silas to wear warm pants (he insisted on wearing his bus pajamas this morning and wouldn't allow me to cover them with overalls), but we finally made it out this afternoon while Christine went to yoga. As expected, Si was woefully out of shape after 3 weeks off, and we had to make several stops to watch the buses or seabirds while he regained his composure. The rest of the time, he referred to the graham crackers he was eating as "damn cookie". Since he calls his Grammie "Dammy", I think I can attribute this to phonics and not a slip up on my part.
The run was otherwise uneventful, although I appreciate that the sun is setting later nowadays and I was able to get home before dusk. Now is as good a time as any for a wrapup of 2007, my second full year of running.
Actually, not much to wrap up. I ran 1170 miles, compared to 1836 in 2006. I had one month (June) with more than 150 miles, compared to 9 months in 2006. I ran two half marathons, two 5Ks, a 12K, and a 10K, with no PRs. I would say that my best race was the Greening Up the Mountains 5K in Silva, NC, back in April. I stopped down there while moving from Philly and managed to win 3rd place on a very hilly course in 20:25.
For 2008? I'm not going to set goals, because all of my recent goals have fallen flat. I would like to run 1500 miles this year, and if I can find the time and opportunity, I'll run much more than that. If I am able to run as much as I'd like, I'll do some racing in the spring, and I should be able to either run a low-18s 5K or a marathon in the fall. If not, well, I'll just keep running when I can and enjoy it
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