Monthly Archives: January 2009

Back to the Repeats

0, 05mi, indoor track

Start time: 1/27/09, 2:15pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles & 3 x 1 mile
Average pace: 9:43min/mile & 7:54min/mile
Total Miles For January: 40 miles

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve run mile repeats. I was hoping to get four of them in today, but I also knew I was potentially biting off more than I could chew at first. I figured if I would go by the old adage from Fred that if you can’t complete the exercise at the desired pace, to terminate the rest. I ran my warm-up mile, then went for my 8min/mile targets.

The first two were fine—heading a little fast out of the gate on each of them at first, and then adjusting accordingly. And for the first half of the third one, it was the same as the first two… but then I definitely started sucking wind towards the end of the third. Three? Three sounds good to me.

warm-up/cooldown: 10:05, 9:21
mile repeats: 7:38, 7:58, 8:07

Finally

0, 10mi

Start time: 1/24/09, 1:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 9:27min/mile
Total Miles For January: 35 miles

This run had all sorts of “finally” meanings.

Finally running again after a week’s break. That wasn’t intentional, although at least I walked my butt off on Sunday (5mi) and Tuesday (7.25mi). Unfortunately while I made it through spinning on Wednesday, then all the inauguration exertion caught up with me, big time. Oof. Oh well. I got a lot of sleep last night and everything seems to be back to normal.

Finally running outside. I mean, come on, this should be a given. It’s just been too darn cold, though. This run seems to have shown that treadmills are indeed (as I was hoping) the enemy. Bleah. No more treadmills for a while if I can help it! Sure was windy out, though. Brrrr.

Finally hitting double-digit mileage. The last time I did that was when I ran 13 miles of MCM with Sarah… at the end of October. Yikes! It felt nice to get the mileage moving up again.

The run itself wasn’t bad. It wasn’t one of those, “Wow, I did great,” but after last week’s major poop-out on an 8-miler, I’ll take it. Once again, I ran downhill for the first mile, then turned around and started my climb up through mile 6. Oh, did it feel nice to turn around at marker 7.5 and start heading back downhill after all of that! Slowly getting back there. It felt nice to make some real progress today.

(9:03, 9:20, 9:36, 10:09, 9:55, 9:48, 9:30, 9:15, 9:09, 8:42)

Preparation for the Walks to Come

0, 08mi, treadmill

Start time: 1/17/09, 12:30pm
Location: Thomas Circle Sports Club
Distance: 4 miles & 4 miles
Average pace: 10:19min/mile & 10:56min/mile
Total Miles For January: 25 miles

Ugh. Maybe I’m allergic to treadmills, now? It would explain my continual crappy performance on them, versus elsewhere. Hopefully that’s it. I was supposed to hit 8 miles on Saturday, but it was rather frigid out and Charlie offered up his gym as a location instead. Not happy at all with how I did, though. Not really sure what’s up with it, either. Hmph.

(Clearly I was so non-enamored that I then forgot to record them until now. I didn’t do my Tuesday run this week, but since I walked about 7.25 miles very briskly, plus another 5 on Sunday, I don’t feel at all bad about doing so. My legs were definitely moving!)

Not so bad

0, 04mi, indoor track

Start time: 1/15/09, 6:40pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 9:06min/mile
Total Miles For January: 17 miles

Hey, that wasn’t bad at all. One full month after surgery, and two and a half after bronchitis, things are starting to come back together. Just four miles at the gym tonight, but after a slower first mile my pace picked up and at no point in time did I feel like I needed to stop for a few minutes. Maybe this weekend’s 8-miler won’t be so bad… well, aside from it being outside. Brrrrrrrr. Not looking forward to that already.

(9:45, 9:05, 8:48, 8:48)

Huffing and puffing

0, 06mi, treadmill

Start time: 1/11/09, 4:00pm
Location: Basement of Charlie’s condo
Distance: 3 miles & 3 miles
Average pace: 9:42min/mile & 9:58min/mile
Total Miles For January: 13 miles

Two things I really dislike about winter running are the cold, and the treadmill. It’s honestly a wonder I get any running done at all, really. I decided today’s wind was the bigger enemy, doubly so since I had a grumbly stomach yesterday so I didn’t want to be several miles out and then hit an, “I don’t feel good” moment. So, I went over to Charlie’s and ran two sets on his treadmill with a couple minutes off between them. That last bit felt like some real failure; I am bad when it comes to bouncing back from extended time off and expect to be immediately back up to speed. Nope. I had to take that second set a tiny bit slower, unfortunately, but after a mile or so I picked the pace back up so it ended up not being as bad as it could’ve been.

Sooner or later it’ll all be back up to full speed, but until then, I’m mister grumbly.

Faster but less distance

0, 02mi, gym, indoor track

Start time: 1/9/09, 7:30am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles
Average pace: 8:27min/mile
Total Miles For January: 7 miles

I went to the gym this morning with two goals—get back on the rowing machine, and run a couple of miles. Both were accomplished, although for less than planned with each of them. I ended up just rowing 20 minutes on the machine (the idea is on Monday I’ll go back to the full 30), although I could not help but notice that the calorie-per-hour numbers were lower than normal. Still, to be expected.

Afterwards I ran two miles on the indoor track. At first I started out at a 9:00min/mile, but the Arlington County Fire Department’s recruits were also using the track, and about 3/4 through the first mile I started speeding up as either I passed them or they passed me for the rest of the distance. Heh. On the bright side, it felt good for both miles being under 9 miles. On the not so bright side, I was beat afterwards. Still, I know it’s going to take time to get back up to speed (no pun intended). Patience. Patience. And enjoy the victory.

(8:40, 8:14)