dedication, perseverance, self-discipline

I ran 10 miles today, running about .75 fast in order to catch up to a couple guys I saw out running on the trail ahead of me.  Total time for 10 miles was 1:17:39.

I ran to school this morning with a time around 1:06 (not sure about total time because I didn't start my watch after stopping at the stop light at Maryland Parkway.  HR up until that point was averaged at 139, and it was likely higher over the last mile or so after my watch got stopped.  I am still not sure what is going on there.  Things had gotten back to normal by the end of last week, and now the same issues have come back again.  I did notice that when I really zoned out my HR would drop to 130-132, which is where it should have been based on the pace.  As soon as I would start to think about my HR it would shoot up to 140-145.  When I would focus on breathing deep and getting plenty of air HR would drop to about 137-138.  In normal situations it doesn't matter what I do with my breathing, as my HR will stay fairly consistent as long as the effort is even.

PM:  I ran home from school in 1:05:28.  My HR only averaged 130 for the run, so it seems to be right back to normal again.  It seems very strange that my HR can be off the charts in the morning, and then no higher than normal in the afternoon.  Maybe there was something in the air which irritated my breathing, but the wind cleared it out by the evening?  On the way home I did run 1 mile fast in 5:35 in an attempt to practice running relaxed.

I ran to school this morning with a time of 1:06:33.  Average HR was 131.  It was windy, otherwise I would have made it to school faster.

I ran out on the Pittman wash today.  On the way there I took a detour to drop off some things at Kimia's work which I will count as .6 miles (more than .5 but less than .7 is what I figured).

Later on in the run I ran a 5 mile tempo in 27:28 (5:24, 5:28, 5:36, 5:41, 5:19).  I am glad that I was only trying to hit marathon pace effort on this tempo and not faster, because the conditions were brutal.  There was a strong wind that was gusting throughout the tempo, so even when I thought I should have a tail wind it still felt like the wind was in my face.  There was also a fair amount of rolling and climbing (although the course gave me a net drop).  The general layout of the tempo was as follows:  mile 1, gradual downhill and fairly straight; mile 2, mild net downhill but rolls a lot, includes running through a tunnel with a couple turns; mile 3, zero net uphill/downhill but has 14 turns and a 180, plus two nasty uphill sections with corresponding downhill that I couldn't take advantage of due to the turns; mile 4 was the same as mile 2 but in reverse, while mile 5 was the same as mile 2 following a 180 at the beginning.

I was rather happy with the 5:36 on the third mile considering the circumstances, but it did feel like the wind died down during that mile so it may not have been as difficult as it seemed.  The first mile should have been much faster than it was, because that mile gives me the majority of the net downhill during the tempo, but that was the worst mile in terms of the wind.  Miles 4 and 5 were also pretty bad in terms of wind, but the wind was a little weaker during miles 2 and 3.  I had to push fairly hard during mile 5 in order to get under 5:20 for that mile, but I was happy with how relaxed I felt when I sped up despite fighting a headwind.

Total mileage for the main portion of the run was 13.5 miles, plus the detour (so 14.1 miles total) to finish with a total time of 1:37:40.

I ran 14 miles today at a fairly brisk pace.  It just felt good to cruise at a pace that was not hard but not slow, rather than trying to run super easy like I normally do.  It also felt good to toss the HR monitor for today.  Some days I feel like I am a slave to it, so once or twice a week I just use the cheap walgreens watch that I have.  I ran 1 mile fast about 9 miles into the run in 5:16.  It was the same mile that I started with when I ran the 5 mile tempo yesterday.  There was no wind today, so it was expected for the mile to be faster, but I was happy because the pace felt easier as well.  I finished 14 miles with a total time of 1:30:43.

I ran 10 miles easy at the start of my run, followed by running 8 miles on my 2 mile loop at marathon effort, but picking it up some the last 2 miles.  I made it through the first 10 miles in 1:15:07, then ran out to the start of my 2 mile loop, ran my 8 miles hard and finished by running back to the house for a total of 18.3 miles in 2:01:42.

I was able to mark out quarter mile marks during the first mile of the 2 mile loop (when starting in front of my apartment complex) in order to give myself better feedback while running, and this was the first time that I had the opportunity to take advantage of these marks.  I was surprised to a certain degree by what I found out, as I learned that the uphill sections on this course really slow me down a lot.  When I would hit 5:20 pace on the flat sections I was hitting about 6:00 pace on the uphill sections.  This is a little deceptive because it was windy, and it was just my luck that the wind was killing me on these uphill sections while providing no net effect on my pace during the flat sections as a result of buildings blocking the wind (i.e. virtually no tail wind at all during the tempo).  But, it still seems evident that the hills slowed me down a lot.  The second mile where I don't have any quarter mile marks was windier than the first, and the 2 mile (distance is actually a little longer than 2 miles) splits showed the effect of the wind.  Splits were: 11:16, 11:16, 11:16, 10:54.  I was consistently hitting about 5:20 pace on the flat sections at the beginning of each loop with a HR of about 170, which is consistent with what I tend to see in more controlled environments like the track or the treadmill on a 1% grade.  The HR jumped to about 177 during the last loop, which felt manageable, but not for more than 8 miles I would imagine.

Overall I am happy with the workout.  It wasn't supposed to be a killer as I run the Santa Barbara International Marathon in 2 weeks.  I just need to start fine tuning things now that the race is getting closer.  I feel better prepared for this marathon than for any other marathon that I have ever run, so I am somewhat excited and nervous at the same time.  At least I am busy with the family, work, and school so I don't really have any time to dwell on things.