Seattle Half 08 - Run 5 of 63

Distance: 2 mile speed
Time: 20:20
Course: Loop from home

I was supposed to do this run on Thursday, then yesterday, and wimped out both times because of the heat. Today, though, we spent the afternoon in an air-conditioned theatre watching Tropic Thunder and the first part of the evening in the air-conditioned bedroom watching the Olympic swimming and running. Paula Radcliffe finishing 23rd in the marathon, running basically on one leg after a horrible three months leading up to the Olympics? Yeah, time for me to suck it up and do my measly two 1-mile intervals.

We warmed up with a 1-mile jog, and then started at the corner of the block for the first interval. I tried to be steady all the way through, and truthfully was waiting the entire time to just completely lose it. The plan says 2 one-mile intervals at a 10:43 pace; I did the first mile in 10:04, on a slight downhill. Recovery was a half-mile walk/jog over to the next block, and then we started the second mile interval. By this time I was really afraid that I wouldn't even make it to the halfway point, but somehow at the quarter-mile point, I felt myself start to get into a good glide and rhythm. I ran the first half-mile at a 10:49 pace, and then bumped it, going uphill even, to finish the second half-mile at a 10:32 pace.

I need to keep doing speed intervals, because they give me solid evidence that I can, in fact, go significantly faster than my usual 12:00 pace, and over a decent distance as well. Evidence means confidence. This was fun!

Seattle Half 08 - Run 4 of 63

Distance: 2 mile easy
Time: 25:00
Course: Loop from home

So, morning running. UGH. 2 miles felt like forever, but I have to admit, it felt pretty good the rest of the day to know that I'd already gotten my run in. CM thinks that doing this short run every Tuesday (or Wednesday, as the schedule permits) in the morning is a good idea.

What would an athlete do? Embrace the morning run, right? Ugh. We'll see how it goes.

Seattle Half 08 - Run 3 of 63

Distance: 5.86 mile long
Time: 1:16
Course: Loop from home

When I'm being coached, I do whatever the coach says to do, but left to my own devices, I tend to shy away from pain, or even the possibility of pain. I'm not afraid of pain itself; I think it's more that I don't trust myself to know where the line is between pushing hard into the zone where you break down and improve your muscles, and the redline zone where you just break down. I'm terrified of hurting myself, and that's keeping me from trying harder.

I guess it comes down to not wanting to take a risk. But I'm pumped up now from watching two days of Olympics coverage, and I'm thinking that I probably know enough about my body now to start bumping up the intensity in an intelligent manner.

Today's run was listed as a 6-mile long run at a 13:00 minute pace. I went out a little too fast for the warmup, managed the big hill at about a 14:00 minute pace, and walked twice to ease off some persistent numbness on the ball of my left foot. According to the Garmin, my pace wavered quite a bit between 11:30 and 13:30. I wonder if part of that is because when I run with CM, he tends to change up the pace so that his legs don't fall into the same slow rhythm.

I concentrated on going easy, which for me means barely noticeable breathing. Today felt good.

The upcoming week looks like this: 2 miles easy on Tuesday, 5 miles speed on Thursday, and 6 miles long on Sunday. FOCUS, DISCIPLINE, ATTITUDE.

Seattle Half 08 - Run 2 of 63

Distance: 3 mile tempo
Time: 34:45
Course: Loop from home

We did a one-mile warmup, and then did a 3-mile tempo run at an average pace of 11:35 per mile.

I tend to use any excuse that I can to slow down: my shoulders ache, my back hurts, I'm starting to breathe hard, et cetera ad infinitum. So today I focused on RPE, and keeping myself honest. For the most part, I don't think I pushed hard enough. My mind was telling me this was a hard run, but I kept checking the state of my breathing (medium tending to medium-hard near the end) and my legs (not tired at all, just slow) and an honest assessment of my physical state says that I could have pushed it more without going into the red zone.

I'm not disappointed; on the contrary, it was a lovely misty morning and I had a great time. But I know I have a lot to work on, mentally even more than physically, and that's going to be a big challenge going forward.

Seattle Half 08 - Run 1 of 63

Distance: 2 miles easy
Time: 24 minutes
Course: Treadmill

I had a super long day and it's been hot for the past few days, so instead of jinxing the start of the training plan, I opted to get my easy run done on the treadmill. Easy peasy. I can't express how much I love an air-conditioned gym. I'm a wimp.

No, wait, no negative self-talk! That's my focus this time around--eliminating the internal criticism. The mental aspect of training is definitely much more challenging for me than the physical workout, so for the next four months my touchstone words are FOCUS, DISCIPLINE, ATTITUDE.

Last run before real training begins

Distance: 6 km
Time: 44:57
Course: Loop from home

I got a Garmin Forerunner 305 as a first anniversary present, and I've gone for just a few runs with it so far. I love that it tells me everything I want to know about my run: pace, distance, heart rate, elevation, temperature. I hate that it tells me everything that I fear: that I run really really slow, that I've lied to myself in the past about how far a run actually was, that my heart rate likes to sit in the 160s no matter how slow I am. I think Garmie and I are going to have an interesting relationship.

Today's run was nothing special. I had the Shuffle with me, so I went out way too fast and ended up having to take a few walk breaks in the second half, which killed my overall pace. On the plus side, it's nice to know that a 6 km run is not a scary proposition at all.

This week I have three runs: a 2 mile easy run tomorrow, a 5 mile tempo run on Thursday, and a 6 mile long run on Sunday.

Goal #4 - Seattle Half-Marathon, November 30

I didn't mean to take a blogging break, but as the days counted down to the May half-marathon, I was less and less inclined to record every detail of every run. I think I just got tired, what with everything else going on in my life. In any case, I did complete the half, but just barely. I totally ran out of juice at the 10-mile mark, and walked a good part of the final 5K.

So I've registered for the Seattle Half, and as I did last time, I've counted out the number of runs remaining to the race. 63 this time!

I probably ran about 50 of the 67 runs that I had planned out last time, so my goal this time around is to hit every one of the 63 I have planned for Seattle. I know that if I complete all of the training, the race itself will not be a problem. I've had some difficulty in the past two months hitting any kind of consistency with my runs. Now that I have a solid goal and the training plan in place, I have no excuses.