Felt Excellent Today, What is Up With That?

Today I am posting directly from Google Chrome/Web vs. the blogging app I have been using recently. Like the regular interface better. For one thing, I can have my ipad horizontal instead of vertical.

So anyway, it is beautiful weather today. I did my scheduled four miler on the route I call "Settle," which includes the Murray Ave. bike/hike trail. I felt great. Ran faster than I have in months for a training run. Probably fastest I've gone since the marathon in March on a training run.

I'm fatter than I've been for awhile, too. So it's not like I'm suddenly more fit. I think it is the weather. After getting acclimated to heat and humidity---at least somewhat---it is a nice change to have the temps drop into the low 60s and have relatively low humidity. So that must be it.

Also, was wearing the Newtons which do seem to give me a little more speed. Although, I was relatively fast yesterday, too, and that was in the clunky old Vomeros. So I think it is mostly the weather.

Noticed that more people say hello on the bike trail. Is it the better weather or is it the bike trail? Or the type of people who are on the bike trail vs. the street?

Never did find those supposedly for sale Newtons on The Clymb, but I got an email today from Gearbuzz offering them at a discount. They have them for $111 to $130. I do seem to be liking the ones I am running in. But I only paid $55 for them, so...even $111 is more than I like to pay for a pair of running shoes. Plus these Newtons I have seem to be wearing out really fast. I am kind of amazed at how the tread is disappearing after just 30 miles or so.

I might stop by Roncker's and see if they have any of those $55 Newtons left in my size. Of course, that was back in March that I bought them so its doubtful.

What else to say about running today? Well, I was making a list of stuff I need to bring for CPE nationals, and what I need to shop for and whatever and what I need to think about, and I was thinking about how am I going to get a run in, and I have these ideas. First, I could get up really early on Thursday and do a 4 miler before I leave. That takes care of Thursday. Then for Friday & Saturday I could just try to do a mile, maybe even on the hotel treadmill since there does seem to be one. Highly unlikely I will run into any fellow dog owners in the hotel gym! Or I could get out for a little run on Friday after I am done showing. Probably not too hard to get in 3-4 miles outside the hotel.

On Sunday, depending on what I did on Friday, I could either do a mile when I get home or do 4-6 if I have the energy and it is not too late. And with all of that, I will still be on schedule and also keep the streak going.

The PITA about using Chrome with the iPad is that I really miss my mouse.

Week 5, Day 1

Today's schedule called for another "Fartlek Workout"--- 10 to 20 minute warm up, followed by 3 to 4 times 5 minutes at "half-marathon effort" (whatever that is supposed to mean) with 1 minute recovery jogs, followed by a 10 to 20 cool down.

It was another beautiful day, so I could run outside after I got back from walking the dogs around the park. I followed the same route as last Monday, where I run down Erie Ave., make a little loop of Broadview, go back out to Erie and turn right on Murray Ave, do a little out and back on the bike path, and then run back up the hill to home.

It worked out so I could do all the intervals on the bike path. I only did three. If you tell me 3-4, most of the time I'm going to pick 3, because I am just a lazybones.

Pace-wise, I just tried to imagine that I was at State to State and trying to run a decent half-marathon. According to the McMillan Pace Calculator, my current half-marathon pace is supposed to be 9:17, but last year I ran S2S faster than that. So...

How do you do this? Well, I start the interval and just say, okay, imagine you have 13.1 miles ahead of rolling hills. How fast can you go? And that seemed to work. The Murray Ave. bike trail also has a similar hill profile to the half-marathon I was imagining in my head.

Time was 51:37 for 5.14 miles. Achilles felt fine. Iced the knee afterwards even though it felt okay during the run, because it felt a little tight when I stopped.

Sleep-wise, I went to bed around 11 pm and got up a little before 6, so that was 7 hours. Felt like enough. Seems like seven is what I need.

Week 4, Day 6

Another easy run was on the schedule for today. This one was to be 40-50 minutes. I did my little 4-mile route down Erie to the Murray bike trail, turning around at Settle and back up Erie.

It was another gorgeous day. I first walked the dogs around the park, then headed out for the run at 10:45. Felt a little better and "easier" than yesterday---well, this is an easier route, which is a funny thing to say about a route where the last mile is uphill.

Time was 44:39 for 4.46 miles, or 10:01 pace. I iced my left knee and achilles afterwards. I don't know quite what is up with the achilles, but it's making me nervous. Am I going to need to change shoes after a couple of happy years with Nike Pegasus? Is it something to do with my Keen walking shoes or my Teva sandals?

Tomorrow is yet another easy run, even shorter. It is weird to be doing these short weekend runs on a weekend with perfect weather and when I would easily have had time to run long. If I wasn't trying to follow this schedule, I would either have done a long run today or the Newtown 5k race (where I would for sure have won my age group based on the results). This is driving me a little nutty. I think I am going to sign up for that 10k in Morrow next weekend after all, even if Susan doesn't want to go.

I Had Forgotten How Lovely Ice Baths Feel

It's Week 4, Day 1. Today's workout was the Fartlek intervals again, just like last Monday. It's a lovely day, temperatures cooler and less humid, so I got it done outside. Outside is better because I don't baby myself as much as I do on the treadmill. I do the warmup faster, I get some hill running in, and I run the intervals more on perceived effort than some artificial pace that I set on the treadmill.

I went out around 10:30, following a long dog walk around the park. I decided to do a route that covers the Murray Ave. trail, because that would give me a good stretch to get the intervals in without having to stop for traffic. The workout was supposed to be 10-20 minute warmup followed by 8-10 time 2 min at 5k to 8k pace, with 1 minute recovery jogs, followed by a 10 to 20 minute cooldown.

So I did about 20 minutes of warmup, did the intervals as prescribed except for the recoveries I walked 30 seconds, jogged 30 seconds, and then finished up with a bit over 10 minute cooldown. My total time is a little bit approximate because I forgot to start my watch until I got out to Erie Ave., but it was about 57 minutes and I covered 5.77 miles.

The route was out to Erie, down Erie, around the Broadview loop, back out Erie and across to Murray Ave., out to Settle and back, up Erie, and around the neighborhood.

I felt a little gimpy, especially at the start, probably as a result of the weekend of agility and maybe not getting enough sleep. I'm also a little congested and have a slight headache (maybe a sinus thing, or maybe again, just fatigued). But I didn't have any particular problems during the run.

On the intervals, I switched the Nike pace band over to show pace instead of miles, and I just tried to keep it around 8:30. Of course, I went up and down depending on the hills. The route worked out pretty well, because I got around 6 intervals in on Murray, and then finished the last two on the hill, so the cool down was around the neighborhood. The only times I had to stop for traffic were in the beginning when I crossed Erie at Saybrook and when I crossed over to get to Murray.

When I got home, I fixed my glass of chocolate milk and I was ready to sit down with the bag of frozen peas on my left knee. But then I started thinking about how my hips and my thighs really felt stiff also, and decided to take an ice bath. Haven't done that in awhile. So I dumped all the ice out of the ice maker into the tub and filled it up with cold water and hopped in for ten minutes. I had forgotten how great that can feel after a hard effort.

Right now I am sitting outside on the patio with the dogs, because it really is a very lovely day. My head still hurts a little but overall I feel pretty good.