Start time: 01/18/06, 6:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:05min/mile

It was indeed just me today, although I had to give serious thought to if I was even going to run. I forgot my iPodShuffle, and the only non-black-or-navy-colored clothes I had was a white hat, hardly a brilliant outfit for running at night. Oh yes, and I also was starting late and unlike other times hadn’t remembered to bring anything to eat beforehand. Oof.

Still, out I went. I hadn’t decided up until the last second if I was going to just run it, or if I’d stick with the 6:1 and see how that would do. I was really quite happy with the end results; the last mile slid a little bit (9:00, 8:54, 9:09, 9:18) but considering that fourth mile by the rules of math ended up with a second walk cycle, I’m not complaining. It’s always fun playing with a new ratio. I’ve got a 10K in March and while I know planet3rry is saying I should just run the entire thing all the way through, I still haven’t decided if I’d plug in a run:walk or not. If I could nail under a 9min/mile average for the St. Patrick’s Day 10K then I’d be delighted. (My last 10K, which was a PR, was a 9:22.) Shouldn’t be a problem, I hope.

Start time: 01/16/06, 6:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 10:29min/mile

We had a late start last night due to work, and I was feeling tired before we even began. I ran four miles with Julie, and she’s doing great at keeping the 10:30min/mile pace consistent. (10:29, 10:31, 10:24, 10:30.) Originally I was planning on knocking out two more miles by myself afterwards, but between the past weekend making me still a little tired, and also being more than a little hungry, I decided four was good enough for me and called it a night… especially since I’d spent most of the run talking with Julie about the weekend and explaining the long path of events. (Julie said she liked not having to say anything but understanding noises and phrases occasionally.)

A nice mental reset button, though. Wednesday I might be by myself for running, so I need to start thinking of what plan of attack I’m going for if that’s the case. Four “fast” miles? A slow build of five or six miles? Decisions, decisions.

Start time: 01/12/06, 6:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles & 2 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1 & all running
Average pace: 10:24min/mile and 8:51min/mile

Julie and I had another four miler together on Thursday; she’s been concentrated on getting her speed up and was aiming her sites at the 10:30 speed. Well, she hit it and did a great job, especially when you look at our mile splits: 10:35, 10:28, 10:14, and 10:20. When we finished, Julie said, “I feel like a badass,” and my response was, “That’s because you are.” After two months off because of injury, she’s doing fantastic at hitting her new goals. Yay!

I was definitely a bit tired after that and my additional 2 miles were slower than on Tuesday; I told Julie later that it was because she wore me out, and it’s so true. My half mile splits? Well, I’m certainly consistent. 4:22, 4:29, 4:22, and 4:29. What’s with those seven extra seconds on the back half of each mile? (Ironically, not even the same parts of the trail.)

Start time: 01/10/06, 6:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles & 2 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1 & all running
Average pace: 10:50min/mile and 8:35min/mile

First, a funny side-story. After planning on doing so for a while now, I started doing stomach crunches on Sunday. The idea was to start with with a reasonable amount, then add a few more on every day for a nice slow-and-steady build up. So I did the crunches on Sunday, added a few more on Monday morning, then got up this morning and… ow. My abs were not happy. So, new rule: on days when I’m going running, I don’t have to do stomach crunches. Phew! (I could still feel the soreness when I ran today, though.)

Anyway, Julie and I ran four miles together at a 6:1. Julie seemed to handle them pretty well, and I let her set the pace. I know she wants to build her speed back up, so once she’s used to these I’m going suggest picking the pace itself up a bit. The splits were actually back and forth, back and forth: 10:37, 10:59, 10:37, 11:05. Afterwards Julie headed out and I was going to do the same, but at the last second I decided to take two more miles and do them a bit faster; preparing, as you will, for possibly running with the speedies again.

For these other two miles I took splits for each half mile: 4:13, 4:13, 4:24, and 4:18. Very consistent early on, then slowing down a tiny bit later. It felt great to speed up, though. I’d love to be able to sustain that speed for longer distances—a goal to work towards.

Start time: 01/04/06, 6:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5.5:1
Average pace: 11:04min/mile

I’d talked with Julie about shifting the run:walk ratio up to a 6:1 with the New Year, and she agreed to give a 5.5:1 shift a try on Wednesday. Since the past couple of runs I’ve done with her have averaged between 11:15 and 11:40min/miles, I was curious to see how just the 30-second addition would do. It’s a little hard to say but I think it helped a bit; 11:03, 11:04, 11:23, 10:44 for the splits. I’m curious what a fifth mile would’ve meant for mile #4–back up to 11 or down towards 11:30?

Either way, a faster pace certainly doesn’t bother me; when most of the group was gasping and groaning last Saturday I still felt really good. Now that Julie’s been back out on the trail regularly for a month hopefully everything’ll start really coming back for her.

Start time: 12/22/05, 6:00pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:13min/mile

Start time: 12/24/05, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 6 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:55min/mile

Start time: 12/27/05, 6:00pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:25min/mile

Oops! I’ve been a little remiss in updating here. The only big news is that the Custis Trail is hilly. Very very hilly. Julie and I have continued to run on it for our weekday runs and we pushed through an additional mile on Monday… yep, more hills. It never looked that hilly from my glimpses of it as I drove by along I-66, but perhaps that’s because my attention was better focused on, oh, the road.

Perhaps the biggest sign of its hills is the difference in our pace between running on the Custis Trail versus the W&OD Trail. Julie has moved that Custis is now called “The Billy Goat Trail” and I’m all for that. Hopefully I’ll get to go running on Saturday because I think I’m going to unavoidably miss running between now and then due to other commitments. One final run before the end of the year sounds good, though.

Start time: 12/19/05, 6:00pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 11:40min/mile

Julie and I went running again on Monday, but sick of the snow and ice still clogging the W&OD we instead veered off onto the Custis Trail itself for a change. The new scenery was nice, even though half of it is nothing more than a view of I-66, boy oh boy. We guess-timated where the second mile would end (because we started on the overlap with the W&OD and I don’t have my fantastic new gift of a running GPS unit functioning just yet) based on the fact that we were feeling sluggish, and later I mapped it out on the Gmap Pedometer and it seems to have been pretty dead-on accurate. So, a little slower than normal but right now I’m just A) happy to be running on a weekday, and B) really happy to see Julie getting the mileage back up and her body clearly having an easier time of it than last week.

Hopefully, another 4-miler tomorrow (Thursday), some short distance on Saturday, and maybe even another short distance on Sunday if it’s not raining. It’s nice to have that afternoon break from my family on Christmas, even if it’s just for half an hour. It’s a big reset/recharge button in need of pressing.

Start time: 10/26/05, 5:30pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 10:06min/mile

Well, that was that; the final pre-race maintenance run. (I was originally planning on knocking out a 3-miler on Friday morning but now it just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen.) Mark and I talked about “guy stuff” for a while, and it was nice to get that last run in with him and just be able to chat about this and that. I’m going to miss our Mon/Wed running sessions together; with Mark’s upcoming scheduled for Hexagon and everything else it just won’t be happening for quite some time. Once Julie’s toe is completely healed I’ll see if I can still drag her out onto the W&OD after work since I know that having someone else with which to run makes a huge difference. Otherwise I’ll be hoofing it up and down Arlington, which is good in its own right but having a running partner makes a huge difference.

Start time: 10/24/05, 6:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 5:1
Average pace: 9:47min/mile

Oops, totally forgot to post this. Again. Er, anyway, this was supposed to be a 3-miler but somehow Mark talked me up to 4 miles. I’m not sure why because it was cold and rainy and miserable out. That does, however, explain our pace. I think we were both just desperate to get out of it all, especially once it really started coming down. Yuck. Still, it bodes well for Sunday because honest, we weren’t really trying that terribly hard.