Easy tread run to loosen up the legs a bit after that hike on Wed. evening. Some sore muscles.
Looking for a better morning tomorrow hopefully and will go 8-10 with some MP miles in there since it's been a month from the marathon. Body feeling really good now and I will pick up the miles a bit.
I ended up not running at all this weekend...Nothing but eating and hanging out with friends and family...boy did I feel good that first mile today...just felt like I was flying! Sunshine and a light breeze...didn't start the run until about 9:20 in the morning... this weather is about as good as it gets...don't you think so C.K.? :-)
Haven't done any speedwork for a long time so today was hill day. Ran industrial area and deer park and then some speed hill work on the parkway. About .75 to .8 miles of which is up and some of it very steep. Now I remember why I don't really like speedwork...pain and discomfort. Glad it's over. I have got to get ready for some ragnar now.
Here are splits:
8:17, 9:03, 8:42, 7:52(this was the hill mile), 8:18 overall pace at 8:26
Boy have I been slacking off...2 runs this week is all. It sure is easy to run when your gas tank feels full!
Was planning to hike 4 miles with a friend and our 5 year old daughters late morning so figured to count that in as part of my run...however we only went about a mile. Played tennis in the afternoon for about 45 minutes and will count that as another mile.
Easy run this a.m. @ 8 o'clock temp was 68 and when I returned it was 78. Just a very easy run at the ridge with plenty of hills thrown in. Did a couple of the miles at 8:26 pace. Overall pace @ 8:40 I think.
I better put some more mileage in the tank for Ragnar in 2 weeks. Absolutely perfect weather today! High 70's and breezy...
Softball, 2 games and plenty of running...too bad we lost both games. It's just softball but people can lose their heads sometimes...umpire was pretty bad though.
Wow! A whole week without a run...that's not good, especially since Ragnar is next week.
5 hours of sleep lately is just killing me and some training in the mornings is taking it's toll.
Run was a little at the ridge then down the big hill to Riverside(view) park for water...then back. Thomas the Tank is in town(I think). There were a lot of people down by the railroad area and a lot of kids. Running by the old trains I noticed 3 older gentlemen with painting easels...each was painting one of the old rail cars and they were doing a great job. When I came back to where they were they really had put a lot of detail...they may be doing it for the museum or for Snoqualmie's railroad days festival in mid August.
Run was pretty easy except for the coming back up the hill part. Overall pace 8:46
5 easy miles...58 degrees at 9:15 a.m., crazy weather! But I love it for running!!
Moderate hills and moderate intensity. Will get some speed work in tonight at the softball games. A little stiff in the legs to start off but not too bad at all. Felt really good and pace was pretty quick(for me) but felt easy.
Overall pace: 8:29
Splits: 8:42, 8:32, 8:22, 8:26, 8:22
Another run Wednesday and another set of softball games on Wednesday and then Friday is Ragnar!
A little sluggish this a.m. from not much sleep with the warmer weather and eating probably too late. Pretty slow start and run for me. Got out a bit before 8 and the sun was already getting pretty warm and it felt good.
Wanted to keep this run reasonably easy with Ragnar on Friday.
Speedwork at softball game tonight if the other team actually shows up this time...
Thursday evening we had a pasta dinner together to go over
details etc., with most of the runners. We were missing 2 of ours due to1 being
out of town(Nick) and the other being barely recruited(Sommer’s dad Dale). We
had to rearrange our legs to accommodate Nick as he was out of town for the
guys first leg.
The ladies started the race at 10:30 a.m. and had their longest portion in the first
series so the guys didn’t start running until 4 ish. We haven’t had much heat
around here so the temp got to us a bit. Mark ran the first leg and then I took
second…Tim was third and then I took another short leg…both of which I hit at
about a 7:30 pace…I went out a
little fast and had to slow it down a bit.
Then the fun began…our next runner has run hood to coast
quite a bit and he was really looking forward to running this with us. He may
have been a little overanxious though…he started hard and passed several people
and then hit the hill on his route…it was still pretty warm. Upon seeing him
come to the top of the hill he was staggering a bit. We made him sit on the
back of the van to collect his breathe…but he didn’t want to stay long…he was
off again and we were a little concerned about him. We hustled to the next
exchange to meet up with Dale as he had to work and this would be our first
contact with him. Mark and Tim dropped me off to help get Dale ready and they headed
back to check up on Dan. As they drove they saw him about a mile from the
exchange and he was wobbly. Before they could get to him he toppled down a hill
into a barbed wire fence. Tim jumped out and went down and got him off the
fencing and held him off…Mark was stuck as there was no where to park and he
couldn’t find the hazard clickers. He just parked it and went down the hill to
help Tim get Dan back up. Mark went ahead and finished the leg and poor Dan was
pale and sweating like crazy for quite sometime sitting in the front seat with AC full blast…too much heat!
After some rest Dan got back to being himself and was able
to run his other slots/legs and finish on a positive note.
We headed to the hotel and Mark and I hit the hot tub to
relax the legs…worked great! Then while Dale and Dan slept, we went and got
some pizza, we were pretty hungry after all that. Later Mark would say that he’d
had one piece of pizza too many.
My next leg was a 4.8 with hills here there and everywhere
it seemed. It was also in the dark and there were few lights anywhere except of
the support cars. Thankfully the moon was out and almost full. When the guys
were done we headed back to the hotel and we all conked out for about 1-1.5
hours. Boy that felt good! We had to head out a little early as our next leg
started quite a ways from the hotel. Mark and I both had 6.3 on the next legs
so I challenged him to see who could be the fastest… He ran his in 48 minutes(I came in at 49, Dang!)
and then I started mine… first check of the watch showed a 7:45 pace which would get me close to his time but I knew
there were hills ahead and didn’t want to die on them so backed off to 8 min.
pace for the first 1.5 miles. Then the hills(from 1.5 to 4) started and there
was a pretty long one…pace got down to 8:30
and discouragement was starting to set in. I kept going and finally got to
where there was a very steep up and then the hills where reasonable and I
wasable to crank the pace back up and
got it down to 8:15 and then finally to 8 and then finally crested the
hill(didn’t feel like there was much downhill) at a little past the 4 mile
mark. This leg was a non-support leg and so there were 2 water stations, the
first at 2.8 and the book said 5.8…what a great feeling to see the 2nd
one at 4.8 which was perfect for me…at both I drank a cup and poured another on
my head to cool off. Picked the pace up as much as I felt comfortable with and
just tried catching the guy ahead of me. Finally at 5.8 caught him and passed…he
showed signs of life so I kicked into gear to give him no reason to even try…he
slowed back down. Then once I turned the corner I saw another guy way down
there and decided that since this is my last leg…what the heck…I put the
burners on…this part was downhill. Caught the guy with about 20 yards to the
finish line…my pace on the last .3 was 4.58…didn’t know I had it in me.
That was such a good feeling to know that I’d given it all I
had and finished strong. Dale finished up our race and we ran in with him…poor
guy had a bad back and blisters on his feet but he never complained…he just hit
it hard and was apologetic that he didn’t do better at the end…he was only a
minute off his predicted time and had to run in the heat and some hills.
We had a really fun team! The girls rocked their legs and we
hit ours pretty close. After all of that we ended up being only 1 minute off
what Sommer had predicted for our finish!
Then it was time for pictures, etc. Our team name was “No
charge for Awesomeness or Attractiveness” from the movie Kung Fu Panda. We had
hoodies made and put them on in the heat to get pics.
I was happy with my runs for the most part. I had a lot of
roadkill too. I don’t remember exacty how many on the first thru third legs but
I got 10 on that last leg and was only passed by one young punk.
Good Times and challenging…now time to take a little break
again…legs feel pretty good. Not sure if I will run Torchlight on Sat. evening
or not…we’ll see.
Got the idea to run a decently hard run this a.m. and thought I would tackle the whole enchilada of the Snoqualmie Parkway from bottom to top.
Started out going down thru industrial area to add some mileage, then down the hill and finally back up to industrial and then up the final hill. Wasn't really enjoying the final hill but pushed thru with decent pace. Finished relatively strong and then walked .25ish miles home.
