dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran alone this morning now that I am here in California visiting the inlaws. I ran along the Los Gatos Creek park trail. On the way back I wasn't paying attention so I accidentally took a wrong turn after I got off the trail, and I added a little extra distance onto the run. Total time of 1:19:26 for about 10.5 miles.

I ran along the same parkway trail as yesterday, although I went a little farther.  My knee has been bugging me the last few days, so I decided to keep the pace a little slower today.  On the way back home, the discomfort in the knee was the same as it had been previously, so I decided to run a fat mile as an experiment to test the knee.  The discomfort actually lessened while I was running faster (5:51 mile according to trail markers, but I think that it might have been faster and the markers were wrong) and as I slowed down, the discomfort returned, but to a lesser extent.  This prompted me to try a few sprints near the end of the run of shorter duration, but a much higher intensity, and the result was the same.  I think that the discomfort might be related to tight muscles pulling on the knee after the race on Saturday, and running harder actually helps to stretch them out a little more and thus relieves the discomfort.  Not sure about that one, but it is a guess.  Total time for the run was 1:32:42, for 12 miles.

I ran 12 miles alone this afternoon in 100 degree heat.  I did a little experiment to see how much the heat affected me.  I ran 1 mile at a little harder than "fat" mile pace, and then ran a half mile at a considerably harder effort.  The result was an average 5:40 pace over 1.5 miles, with the last .5 being done in 2:44 (5:28 pace) with a HR around 172-173.  A HR that high normally means I will be hitting 5:15-5:20 pace at altitude, and here I was at sea level and I was barely under 5:30.  Oh, I was also running on a net downhill.  Total time for 12 miles was 1:26:51

I decided to repeat my little experiment from yesterday since it wasn't as hot out when I ran today (maybe 80 degrees instead of 100).  The results were interesting.  Here are the half mile splits:

yesterday                              today

2:55 (average HR 160)  -  2:50 (average HR about 153)

2:51 (average HR 166)  -  2:43 (average HR 163)

2:44 (average HR 173)  -  2:45 (average HR 162)

                                            2:50 (average HR 160)

I ran the last half mile because it is a little flatter than the previous mile and a half, although I think it has a net uphill, while the previous section of trail has a net downhill.  I think the results of this little test tell me a lot about how my body reacts to the heat.  In order to go the same speed as yesterday along the same section of trail I did not even need to run marathon effort today, whereas yesterday I was going considerably harder.  It is not like it was cool today either.  It was still warm, just not scorching.  Total time of 1:29:28 for 12 miles

I ran up in Concord today because we spent the night at Kimia's sister's house last night.  There is a nice little trail that runs alongside a creek that I ran on for quite a while today.  It feels cooler here than in San Jose.  I liked running up here better, because I felt more relaxed.  Total time of 1:22:03 for about 11 miles.

I ran on the same trail that I have been running on for the majority of this week, except that I ran on the trail for much longer than the other days this week.  I actually made it to the end of the trail, and then had to run about 2 miles further on some streets near the highway that goes down to santa cruz before turning around and coming back.  I was going uphill most of the way out, including some monster hills near the dam, and I finally started heading downhill just past the fire station, and I got distracted, so I turned around a little late (thus the extra quarter mile).  I pushed the pace a little harder on the way back, and was consistently hitting sub 6:00 pace despite 90 degree heat.  I turned around at 1:08:20, and I finished at 2:08:27.