Category Archives: 05mi

Hell and Back

0, 05mi, hell

Start Time: 9/18/08, 7:15am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: ~3.25 miles & 2 miles
Average Pace: ~8:37min/mile & 10:00min/mile
Total Miles For September: 20 miles

Another “28 minutes of hell” workout (4 repeats of fast 2, slow 2, faster 1, slow 1, still faster 30 sec, slow 30 sec), which I hadn’t done in a while. I’m not entirely convinced that I really got the fast/faster/faster still paces down pat, but I was definitely moving, and I also clocked more distance in those 28 minutes than with the others, so that’s something. I am a little glad I hadn’t gone overboard and attempted the “48 minutes of hell” workout instead, though. Maybe next week. (3/3/2/2/1/1)

Vacation’s Over

0, 05mi

Start Time: 9/9/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington, VA (Ballston, Clarendon, CourtHouse)
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 9:01min/mile
Total Miles For September: 5 miles

After my last run, I decided to take a week off; I needed to shake the mystery crud I’d come down with, and I was also heading out of town for a few days. But, all laziness must come to an end sooner or later. Yesterday morning I got back into the swing of things by hitting the gym (40 min of rowing and 20 min of the elliptical) but today it was time to start running. I almost didn’t run at first—I could have sworn I heard a rumble of thunder while getting ready, and there are supposed to be storms later today—but apparently it was some sort of construction truck or something.

This morning was nothing terribly fancy, just easing back into hoofing it, so it was a perfectly ordinary 5-mile all over town. (Down Arlington Blvd, up Washington Blvd, down Glebe Rd, cutting across Pershing and Highland, then Clarendon Blvd and Fairfax Drive to get home. Wheeeee.) I felt a little more tired than I should have, but I was also on an empty stomach and had just been rather lazy. So, not bad.

28 minutes of huh

0, 05mi, hell

Start Time: 8/21/08, 6:30am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Outside Track
Distance: 2 miles & ~3 miles
Total Miles For August: 58 miles

Ok, this is a little mortifying. I went to the outside track this morning and after my warm-up mile, ran the “28 minutes of hell” workout… and I lost track of how many laps I ran. I am pretty sure it was 6 laps (3 miles), but… um… you never know, right? It might have only been 5 laps. But I’m counting it as 6 laps. Hee hee hee.

Owie

0, 05mi, indoor track

Start Time: 7/31/08, 7:00am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles & 3 miles
Average Pace: 9:44min/mile & 8:03min/mile
Total Miles For July: 79.5 miles

Today’s scheduled run was a 3-5 mile tempo, plus warm-up and cool-down miles. It is still gross outside (when I left my house at 6:50, it was already 80 degrees) so off to the community center’s indoor track it was. (Sadly, the community center is closed for the next two weeks. Whatever will I do?) I was super-sleepy even when I got there, and had a feeling that I would end up more on the 3-mile side of things than the 5-mile side of things.

I honestly think I could’ve tricked myself into at least one more mile had it not been for a small foot issue. Around mile 2 of the tempo run, my right foot on the inside started to feel like something was poking at it, or perhaps a twig was in my shoe. Odd, and annoying. By the time I was finishing up the third mile, it had gone from annoying to hurting. Fearing it was not because of a stray object in my shoe, I called it quits, sat down, and shook out my shoe. Nothing. Hmmm.

All through my cool-down run, it continued to bother me and got worse. A little worried, I headed home, pulled off my shoes and socks… and there was a blister on my foot.

It’s nice to know it wasn’t some horrible internal rupturing of organs or such. Sheesh.

10:02
8:12, 8:06, 7:52
9:26

Doing Things By Half

0, 05mi, meter repeats

Start Time: 7/13/08, 11:00am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Half Mile Loop
Distance: 2 miles & 3 miles
Average Pace: 9:43min/mile & 7:44min/mile
Total Miles For July: 36.5 miles

Ok! On Sunday I vowed that I’d get back into my full running schedule (since Saturday’s run went well-enough). The schedule had a quarter-mile repeat workout, but I didn’t feel like going to Washington-Lee to use their track. So instead I picked the next one on the list, which was the half-mile repeats, and headed over to TJ since I’d recently discovered they have a half-mile loop on their grounds: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2080706

What’s nice about that loop is that about half of it is shaded, so when the sun is bright, you aren’t constantly in it. The schedule said to run 10 half-mile repeats, but I accidentally slept in a little too much and the heat had gotten up to the point where I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to hit that. So I ran my mile warm-up, then decided that I’d keep running them until I hit 4:05 or slower… which turned out to be 6 of them. Considering after the second one I wanted to pack it in, I was happy.

It was blazes hot out, and one odd thing? When I got there at 11am the loop only had a couple of runners. When I left at noon? Right around then, a whole bunch of runners (and they weren’t in a group so far as I could tell) had shown up. As stupid as I felt for starting at 11am, starting when it was even hotter seemed rather insane.

warm-up: 9:35
half-miles: 3:41, 3:47, 3:52, 3:50, 3:59, 4:05
cool-down: 9:52

New Route, New Breathing?

0, 05mi

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.

Try (Not) To Breathe

0, 05mi

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)

Getting Back into the Groove?

0, 04mi, 05mi

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)

On the Road

0, 05mi, 06mi, travel, treadmill

Start Time: 6/24/08, 5:00pm
Location: Long Beach, CA
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:57min/mile
Total Miles For June: 48 miles

Start Time: 6/26/08, 8:00am
Location: Long Beach, CA
Distance: 6 miles
Average Pace: 8:44min/mile
Total Miles For June: 54 miles

I was in Long Beach last week for a business trip, and while Long Beach is lovely (in places), the part I was in… not so much. So I ended up sticking with the treadmills, both times doing a progressive run where I just slowly pushed up the speed over time. A nice time, all in all. Not terribly scenic, but there you go.

Red-Faced Running at Pacers

0, 05mi, custis, pacers arlington

Start Time: 5/29/08, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon & Custis Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:37min/mile
Total Miles For May: 51 miles

Phew! It’s been a couple weeks since I tackled the hills of the Custis Trail; I clearly need to do this a little more often. I ran with a new woman, Stacy, who is from Boston and is super-nice. She definitely pushed me through those hills of death, which is a good thing on the way back! (7:23, 8:25, 8:59, 9:13, 8:50, and 2:53 for the .3 mile) I’d forgotten just how hard those hills are, to be honest, and I’m always relieved when it’s over. What doesn’t kill me really does make me stronger, in this case.

Also, I finally decided what I’m going to do with my MarathonGreg website; I’ll turn it into a WordPress site as well and have a good front page that links to the appropriate races and photos and such. That said, it’s going to take a long while to do so. But at least a decision has been made! Once it’s converted, I’ll add all of these entries into it, but it’ll still echo any new posts over here as well.