What Goes Up…

0, 07mi, tempo

Start time: 7/12/07, 8:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 7 miles
Average pace: 8:45min/mile

I was a little tired this morning, and having had little success with my last two mid-week tempo runs, I was determined to do a little better this time. Since I was giving the W&OD Trail another shot, I decided it was time to reverse my path; the entire section I use has a slight incline, so rather than my bad run two weeks ago where I ran down-up-up-down (and then pooped out at the end of the last “up”) I would reverse things and tackle it as up-down-down-up. That way there wasn’t such a long, steady uphill climb and breaking it up would do better.

Sure enough, my first two miles (up) were off-pace (9:07, 9:01) but I also don’t have a problem with taking those slower and then ramping up. The next stretch—aside from an incident that I will explain momentarily—the two stretches of “down” went pretty good (8:35, 8:26, 8:38). Even the final stretch of up wasn’t so bad; a little off-pace but nothing that I was going to worry about (8:46, 8:42). So, overall, an 8:45 average, which I’m pleased with. I’d have liked an 8:30 but I will take what I can get.

Oh yes, and the “incident”? Well, about two and a half miles in… a bird pooped on my face. This, by far, beats the infamous “Greg finds a cicada clinging to his neck” incident of 2004. GAH. SO GROSS. (Yes, I stopped and wiped it off.)

“Stop that, you’re making me giddy!”

0, 04mi, lactate threshold run

Start time: 7/10/07, 7:45am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: ~4.25 miles
Average pace: 10:00min/mile & 7:00min/mile

After running LTRs with Julie and Laura last week, it was a little sad to be by myself today. On the other hand, it is still hot as blazes in the DC area, so given an option of outside after work at the McLean High School track, or using the indoor (and therefore air-conditioned) track at my gym in the morning? I know which one I will take every time. Anyway, 8x2min were knocked out just fine. Hurrah! That said, using an 1/8th mile track? Ugh, you get a little dizzy after a while.

Hot hot hot!

0, 14mi

Start time: 7/8/07, 7:00am
Location: C&O Canal Towpath & Cap Crescent Trail
Distance: 14 miles
Average pace: 9:37min/mile

The DC area is a little warm right now. High of 98 degrees, which is needless to say not the most pleasant weather in which to run. Before we even began, it was stressed to us that we weren’t concentrating on time today; just focus on getting the distance done. After our speed demons zipped off, it was just four of us: Aaron, Laura, and Paul. We stuck together for about 9.5 miles, and while we were starting to slow down we were still doing well. As we hit another water stop, I noticed that Laura had refilled quickly and zoomed off. The guys wanted to walk for a minute and I decided that sounded good, so we watched Laura turn into a dot on the horizon. After about a mile and a half, though, Aaron and Paul were slowing down more and more, and then took another walk break that seemed to never end. Finally, I decided to keep running because I just couldn’t bear to be moving that slowly. (Also, I had a breakfast brunch to attend for my friend Britt.)

So, running along, I finally saw the next water stop ahead around the 12.5 mile mark, and Laura refilling as well. (Plus Julie, who unfortunately having some knee problems. Boo.) It turned out she knew that when we were back in the sun, she would start fading, so she headed off at the previous stop so she could get caught by us instead of behind us at the end. Laura and I crossed over onto the Capital Crescent Trail (shade! shade! shade!) and we finished together and strong. It was a really hard run, but at the same time it was also pretty rewarding to have finished. Phew!

Sir Sweat-a-Lot

0, 04mi, tempo

Start time: 7/6/07, 7:30am
Location: Clarendon
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:40min/mile

Went for a quick run this morning; not the full prescribed distance, but a lack of proper hydration coupled with early morning temperatures meant that it was a tad uncomfortable; according to the scale approximately 1.5 pounds of water were sweated out this morning. Oof. (Also, a sudden surprise while running: the Arlington Boulevard Trail doesn’t go past Glebe. Oops. I quickly changed direction and veered north on Glebe and continued there in a big loop, rather than my planned out-and-back route. Oh well.)

Round and Round and Round

0, 04mi, lactate threshold run

Start time: 7/3/07, 6:00pm
Location: McLean High School
Distance: ~4.25 miles
Average pace: 10:00min/mile & 7:00min/mile

Ah, a return to the LTRs! I ran these with Laura and Julie and it was a lot of fun; it’d been a while since I’d been able to do so, and we had a real blast. We hit all the splits at just the right time, and afterwards had a nice good cool down and stretch that made me feel really good about the entire experience. Great, great way to spend an hour or so after work.

Old Familiar Territory

0, 06mi, tempo

Start time: 7/1/07, 8:00am
Location: National Mall
Distance: 6 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile

It’s been ages since I ran across the National Mall to the National Gallery and then back up to Georgetown, so that was a nice surprise this Sunday. We were supposed to run a tempo run for this 6-miler, so an 8:30pace was my approximate time I was shooting for. The group in front of us shot out of the gate really fast, and Zack and I made the mistake of trying to get around them. Oof. We hit our first mile way too fast and spent the rest of the run paying for it. The other four caught up to us around mile 2, and we were just a couple feet behind them until mile 4, at which point they made it across the light at 17th Street and Zack and I narrowly missed it. A solid minute later and then some… yeah, there’s no catching them at that point.

But a very, very nice run even though we were both more than a little wiped out at the end… but in a good way. I think.

Back on (the) Track

0, 04mi

Start time: 6/29/07, 8:00am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:50min/mile

Well, I ended up taking several days off—lots of stretching, though, and just taking it easy. My knee was actually feeling better on Wednesday, but I decided not to chance it and took it and Thursday off as well. (I actually got up Thursday morning, decided the weather was putrid, and climbed back into bed.) Today was supposed to just be a 4-mile “EZ” run, so I headed over to the gym a little later than normal and knocked it out on the indoor track, since it was supposed to rain this morning. The run went great (a tiny bit fast actually); only problem I really had was starting half an hour late meant a new wave of senior citizens arrived before I’d finished up, and using the equipment afterwards was no longer an option. Oh well!

Finally With the Group

0, 12mi, knee

Start time: 6/24/07, 8:00am
Location: C&O Canal Towpath & Cap Crescent Trail
Distance: 12 miles
Average pace: 9:10min/mile

Finally! I got to actually run one of the weekend runs with my new group; between travel and the achilles mechanism strain, it was a while coming. Fortunately it went really well; we took the first couple miles at a 9:30 pace, and then shifted up to our 9:00min/mile pace for the rest of the run. The six of us stuck together on the way out; on the way back, Dave and Cassie zoomed off ahead, Aaron and I took the middle ground, Laura was right behind the two of us, and Paul decided to take some walk breaks and wasn’t that far behind the rest of us. No problems during the run at all, which was nice.

Frustratingly, my left knee has been sore on Monday and now today as well. I’m trying to stretch it out and hopefully that’s all it needs. But bother, bother, bother. We’ll see if I’m up for some LTRs tonight or not.

Tempohell and VO2 Splat

0, 03mi, 04mi, tempo, vo2 max

Start time: 6/21/07, 7:30am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:31min/mile

Thursday’s tempo run (an 8:30min/mile pace) started out well enough; a bit fast, even, with the first three miles being 8:09, 8:28, and 8:33. Then somewhere around mile 4 I started slowing down bigtime, finally hitting the marker at (oof) 8:51. It was at that point I ended up declaring it quits. I was just tired and worn out; frustratingly because last week’s 5-mile tempo run had gone so well. I ended up walking about a quarter mile back, then jogged the rest in at a 10min/mile pace. Ah well, some runs are good, some… not so much.

Start time: 6/22/07, 7:45am
Location: Washington & Lee High School
Distance: 3 miles
Average pace: 10:00min/mile & 6:00min/mile

Today’s schedule was a VO2 Max run. Now, I’d only ever done one of these before, six weeks ago before the injury. So I knew eight reps was going to be right out. I’d figured if I could do six, though, I’d be delighted. Actual total? Three. It was through the third that I suddenly realized what I’d done horribly wrong, though. I hadn’t taken my allergy medicine (or my multivitamin but that’s not as much of an issue). Which would explain my breathing difficulties. Argh. Oh well, under the circumstances, getting three reps (exactly one mile at that speed) was a victory. Next time I’ll plan this out a little better.

After two great runs in Wilmington, though, two crappy runs? Pretty discouraging. I hope this does not bode badly for Sunday.

Running in the Carolinas

0, 04mi, 10mi, travel

Start time: 6/17/07, 8:45am
Location: Greenfield Lake, Wilmington, North Carolina
Distance: 10 miles
Average pace: 8:58min/mile

10-Miler ViewI was vistiing friends in Wilmington, North Carolina this past weekend, so I tackled my two scheduled runs at a nearby park that had a 4.25-mile trail running around a lake. Well, a lake full of alligators, apparently. That’s an incentive to not stop, huh? The run went well, though. I did have to stop twice, though. It started to rain on me halfway around the first loop, so when I completed the loop I stopped at the car and put my glasses inside because there’s nothing worse than water hanging on the lenses. I also took a quick bathroom break at mile 8, because when you’re by yourself and there’s no one to disract you, it’s two ugly miles othewrise. But a good run, and right on pace. Yay!

Start time: 6/18/07, 8:00am
Location: Greenfield Lake, Wilmington, North Carolina
Distance: 4 miles
Average pace: 8:52min/mile

A pretty unremarkable “EZ” run for Monday. I had no idea if I was actually on pace at first, but thankfully that was the case. It’s hard to tell the day after a long run what’s really going on!