Start Time: 7/8/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington (Clarendon, VA Square, Ballston, Bluemont Park)
Distance: 5.6 miles
Average Pace: 8:43min/mile
Total Miles For July: 19.5 miles

I had my doctor’s appointment on Monday and I’ve been given a nasal steroid to see if that helps matters. I’ve also got some more tests scheduled for next Tuesday, and a follow-up appointment the Tuesday after that. In the meantime, though, I can feel my belly getting more and more huge with each passing moment, so off for a run I went. I changed up my normal “run down Wilson Boulevard” route a tiny bit; I started on 10th Street (less people but also less traffic to worry about) and took it to Wilson Boulevard, and then once I got to George Mason Boulevard instead of sticking on Wilson, I finally took the mystery trail that I was pretty sure would eventually take me into Bluemont Park and the W&OD Trail.

I’d glanced on a map last night and was thinking if I did that route, it would be about 5 miles. So, I strapped on the Garmin and headed out. The run itself went not too bad; it definitely heated up a lot in the time I was out there, but nothing energy-sapping. The Garmin went fairly berserk, though; I’m pretty sure that neither of my mile splits were in the 7- or 11-minute range. When I got home I mapped the route out on the Gmap Pedometer and it turned out the actual distance was 5.6 miles. A nice surprise! That averaged out to an 8:43, and I am just fine with that. Breathing wasn’t too bad, although I’m not sure if that was placebo effect or not. I know the packaging said it will take about 10 days of regular use to get the full effects, so we shall see.

Start Time: 7/5/08, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:52min/mile
Total Miles For July: 14 miles

Well, I’m glad I have a doctor’s appointment for Monday morning. Just like last Saturday, I was having real problems catching my breath while I was out running. Is it allergies? Exercise-induced asthma? Something entirely different? I have no idea, but fortunately I’m not not the doctor. Really, really frustrating, though. It sucked to stop after 5 miles (it was supposed to be 10) but I did the right thing. Maybe I could have toughed the rest out, but I might have just as easily gone splat. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, to use an old chestnut. (8:45, 8:45, 8:51, 9:06, 8:52)

Start Time: 7/1/08, 5:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:37min/mile
Total Miles For July: 4 miles

Start Time: 7/3/08, 5:00pm
Location: Clarendon, Virginia Square, Ballston
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:54min/mile
Total Miles For July: 9 miles

Last of the catching-up posts, honest! I’ll try and be better about this so it isn’t a flood of posts again.

Tuesday my original plan was to run 3 x 2miles at a fast pace, plus a mile warm up and another cooldown. I was tired before I even began, though, and halfway through the warm-up I knew that it just wasn’t going to happen. So, instead, I just turned it into a 4-mile progressive run, and that went a-ok. (9:02, 8:52, 8:32, 8:02)

On Thursday I was thinking about running a 6-miler, but I’d forgotten that it was extremely hot out. (I know, a whiny trend. I need to get better about the heat this year.) Still, I would have been all right had I not realized around mile 3 that I was already almost out of water. Whoops. Where’s a lemonade stand where you need it? I ended up truncating to five miles with a parched mouth and an empty water bottle for the last three quarters of a mile. I really should plan this a bit better. Still, not a bad run; my goal was just a 9:30min/mile pace as I ran through Arlington, and my splits were distinctly less, even with me halfway through mile 3 deliberately trying to slow down. (8:48, 8:46, 8:57, 9:01, 8:56)

Start Time: 6/15/08, 8:00am
Location: Arlington, Washington DC
Distance: 7.5 miles
Average Pace: 10:08min/mile
Total Miles For June: 34 miles

Laura and I met up with Emma, Donna, Susannah, and someonewhosenameIcan’tremember for a planned 8-miler (or so) on Sunday. It was a group of varying speeds, so we decided we’d just take it easy. We had a walk break request, so on each mile we took a minute walk break and then trucked on. It was nice—we started at Iwo Jima, ran past Memorial Bridge down the 14th Street Bridge, then around a slice of the Tidal Basin and by the Lincoln Memorial before heading up into Georgetown, onto part of the Capital Crescent Trail, then over Key Bridge and through Rosslyn. Donna, Susannah, and the other person (sorry!) slowed down after a bit, but Laura, Emma, and I trucked through to the end. It all went really well…

…well, until we hit Rosslyn and Laura tripped on the curb and wiped out pretty spectacularly. From the sound of the thud, Emma and I were convinced she’d broken something, but thankfully it was just a scrape. Still, that was the end of the run for that day! Otherwise, though, it was a nice run with good company.

Start Time: 6/14/08, 7:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & ~3.5 miles
Total Miles For June: 26.5 miles

Oops! I almost forgot to put last weekend’s entries in here…

For our last spring session (the summer ones begin on June 28th), Fred introduced us to the horror that is “Kill Your Partner”. We were put into groups of 2-4 runners based on ability, then were sent out on the track with one person taking the lead at a fast clip and the others trying to keep up. This would go on from anywhere between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, at which point Fred would blow his whistle and we’d slow to a jog for the same amount of time that we’d just run. Then the whistle would sound again, and the next person would take the lead, once again for that undetermined amount of time that only Fred would know, and so on.

My group started with me, Paul, Emma, and Courtney. Now, I know that Emma and Paul are both faster than me, and Courtney’s got some real strength behind her, so I was feeling a little uneasy about this run. I was person #4, and with Paul being #3 I remember thinking that for my turn it would be all I could do to not just die. As it is, after my round, Courtney dropped back to the next group, saying we were going too fast. Suddenly I felt very, very alone in my relative slowness to them… I kept up with Emma and Paul for almost the entire exercise; on the second-to-last round, though, I started dropping back, about 100 meters behind them. As it was, on the last round the same thing happened to Emma as Paul zoomed off into the sunset. Yeah, he’s fast. We did it for 30 minutes, and I certainly felt like I got a good, if really hard, workout. Not knowing how long the bursts are going to last? That’s hard for me. Something to work on.

Start Time: 6/3/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 2 miles & 6 miles
Average Pace: 10:17min/mile & 8:18min/mile
Total Miles For June: 14 miles

Today’s schedule offered some variety in terms of “Make or Break” runs. Up until now it’s just been 2x2miles, but in addition to opening up another “Level I” workout (3x2miles), other options were from the Level II workouts (2x3miles and 3x3miles). I decided it was time to belly up to the plate and try one of the tougher-looking ones, so 2x3miles was the winner. Because I was going to run on the Arlington Boulevard Trail, I decided the best option was to make both sets the same route. So mile 1 would be running west and uphill, mile 2 is east and downhill, and then mile 3 is half of each. (I’d turn around halfway and head back early.)

Round 1 wasn’t too bad — I knew the first mile would be the toughest (especially that final quarter mile climb) and I was a little bit tired at the end, but ultimately a victory (8:30, 7:50, 8:07). I stretched a little bit, decided it was enough recovery time, and headed back out. OOF. I didn’t feel like I had lost too much ground at first, but that sure caught up with me by the end. (8:41, 8:08, 8:30) Clearly I will need to work on this a bit!

Then again, when I did this workout last week (only just at 2x2mi) my average was 8:14min/mile, and this was 8:18… so, not too bad, I guess.