4/29/14. tuesday. 6 mile run

6 miles feels like a long way for a tuesday.  it felt pretty hot - about 70 degrees F, 28% humidity.  it was really nice that the sun was shining, but after a while i actually caught myself wishing for a little rain to cool me down.  not much, just a little.  although running in the shade was pretty good when I could find it.  hot enough that i ran in just shorts and running shoes.  but seriously?  have you never seen a scrawny old white guy with love handles, gleaming in the sun before?  the amount of catcalls and honks and yells i got was appalling.  I tend to tune out while I'm running, but this was excessive.  I'll just pretend that I was getting encouraged in my efforts.  because if i stopped to try and pick a fight everytime somebody said something out a car window to me yesterday, I'd never get my miles run.  who knows? I had my music turned up.  maybe I was getting propositioned by supermodels, not derided by idiots.  I didn't listen or look, so I'll never know.  it felt tough to run 6, but i ended up maintaining a steady pace.  it seems pretty fast in retrospect.  I think that once i turn around, I tend to run a little faster because I'm headed home.  avg pace was 8:19 min/mile, 7.2 mph.

days where i am on the go from 5:30am until 10pm are tough.  up early, work all day, longish run, fast shower/clean-up, quick dinner with E (A and T were at the gym), then to little league to watch a game, home, supervise homework, crawl into bed by 10.  tough days.

4/30/14. run.  coffee. orange. nuts. grilled chicken breast. mongolian grill. apple. granola bar. tortellini. broccolini. chocolate. granola/milk. lots of water.

4/28/14. monday. strength 1 and elevation mask run

at the gym for 5:30am strength training.  just keeping the weight/training consistent from week to week. maybe a few more weeks and I'll think about mixing this up a bit.  this will coincide with the transition in running (from speed to distance).  still on the fence.  I want to continue doing something but i want to make it the most efficient use of my time, the most bang for my buck.

after work i ran my 3 in the elevation mask.  I was feeling good, the sun was shining, and I ran a little faster than a normal mask day.  didn't feel too terrible.  although i was working hard to breathe, i never got that sick/pain in my abdomen.  maybe I either need to restrict the flow a little more, or start going a little further?  I think when the training plan transition happens, mask day will move to tuesday.  and the mileage will increase over time.  so i better enjoy these easy 3's while they last.

4/28/14. strength 1. presses. pull ups. push ups. GHD sit ups. GDH back ext. run in the mask. protein shake. coffee. orange. nuts. mongolian grill leftovers. apple. granola bar. mexican wraps (grilled chicken, guacamole, peppers) corn/feta/cilantro/lime. chocolate.  lots of water.

4/26-27. a 5K benefit, a tempo run, and a long run.

Sat morning I ran a 5K benefit run for the Oso Mudslide.  This was not a planned run, and I didn't count it towards my training.  I ran it with my sons and my good friend Jess. Theresa wanted to run it with us, but there was no way to guarantee we would be back in time for her to teach yoga.  I don't count this as training because my plan required a 40 min tempo run, and this was a 5K run at my son's pace.  I will do whatever it takes to support them in their goals to be active, even if it means 2 runs in a day.  I am extremely grateful to Jess.  She ran with Ethan, and encouraged him to do everything he could and he set a new 5K PR of approx 28 min (they actually ran an extra quarter mile or so because the 5K turn around wasn't well marked).  I ran with Alex.  This was his first 5K, and I just wanted to keep him motivated and moving the whole time.  He did it in approx 32 min, which is just awesome.  So proud of my boys, and just grateful to be alive.  Before the run their was a moment of silence.  then amazing grace on the bagpipes, and a rendition of taps.  Between the songs, they ran a bell once for each of the fatalities of the mudslide.  I was OK for the first few, but once they got over 40, and you thought about a human life snuffed out and gone for each chime... well, i choked up a bit.  After the run, I treated the boys to Double Downs for lunch.  tell you what, this really knocked me out for yoga.  i just wanted to lay on the ground and digest...

later saturday I ran a 40 min tempo run.  it was hard to run slow, and hard to run fast.  when I was supposed to run slow, I had to really be vigilant to stay on pace.  I kept creeping up on speed, and catching myself and forcing myself to clamp down on it.  then when fast, it was difficult to maintain that pace.  heaving chest, out of breathe, aching body, just wanted to stop.  ended up with about 4.8 something miles in the 40 minutes.

Sunday was the longish run - 8 miles.  Not fast, not slow, just a longish run.  I felt like I could keep going for a while longer at this pace.  this is probably about as far as i will go without carrying water.  and once the runs get longer, its time to re-introduce gels to get my system used to them.

it was a good weekend, and I am proud of my family.

4/24/14. thurs. run and strength 2.

up at 4:45am, on the road at 5am.  this may seriously have been the darkest and rainiest run yet.  and that's saying a lot, seeing as I have run outside all winter long in the pacific northwest.  it was so dark, and the water was just coursing down the streets.  gutters overflowed into the streets until it looked like i was running upstream.  running from streetlight to streetlight, through driving rain, soaked through jacket, pants, shoes.  at least it wasn't cold.  would you believe I saw 2 other runners out there? I think my pace was inversely proportional to the weather conditions.  as the weather got worse, i ran a little faster to get it over quicker.  needless to say, i passed both other runners and kept on going.  i think my training is going well.  this was a training run, mostly recovery, the 12 hours after a hard hard interval run, and i ran with a 8:06 min/mile pace.  i feel pretty good about how things are going.

strength 2. legs and core.  I kept the weight same as last week.  this felt hard, but not excessively so.  I won't have the aching legs and glutes I had a few weeks back when i went too heavy on the lunges.  I did get a little light-headed during deadlifts (3x5 at 205#).  I don't think I was holding my breath, so I'm not sure what was going on.  felt pretty good.  I'm stringing my toes 2 bars better than ever.  I just wish I had a little more time in the gym.

4/24/14  run. strength 2. back squats. deadlifts. front rack barbell lunges. russian twists. toes 2 bar.  coffee. orange. nuts. pasta/sausage/peppers. pork roast. apple. nuts. protein shake. chicken enchiladas. salad. chocolate. lots of water.

4/23/14. Wed. 6 intervals of 400m.

the plan called for six 400m intervals.  hard run for 400m, followed by easy 400m recovery.  repeat 6 times.  with a half mile bookends runs to get to the track, and then to get home after (warm-up before, then cool-down after).  waited until 5pm so the track/field kids would be off the track.  i don't have a 400m flat section of road within a mile radius of home, so I really wanted the track last night.  E ran with me, which was pretty cool.  we split apart on the track due to our different paces, but it was nice to look around the track and see my son running with me.  both boys are running a 5K benefit with me on saturday morning in Arlington.  all registration money is donated to help the survivors of the Oso mudslide.

my sprints averaged roughly 10mph, which seems pretty fast to me.  I feel like the speed work has been improving my pace.  I wonder how that will translate to pace over some significant distances?

4/23/14. interval runs. coffee. oatmeal. steak. pasta/sausage/peppers. peas. nuts. granola bar. vietnamese sandwich (pork roast, ham, pickled carrots/peppers, cucumber slices, cilantro, siracha sauce/mayo). chocolate. lots of water.

4/22/14. tues. 5 miles.

it was a hard run.  first my GPS watch wouldn't pick up a signal.  i waited and waited.  but I needed to take E to a little league game, so i ended up running before it was ready.  with no GPS, it was nothing but a big clunky stopwatch.  then i didn't notice when it picked up a signal until I got a while into it.  I knew the avg miles to a certain intersection, and I had to do some mental math to figure out how much to add to my current miles registered.  math and running don't mix for me.  it was tough conditions too.  when i left, it was low 60s and sunny, so I went short sleeves and shorts.  some sort of devil squall blew in with cold cold wind, and piercing hard cold rain.  was just awful.  plus 5 miles seemed like a long way for a tuesday.  anyways, i got it done, kept a pretty average pace, still got dinner and made it to the game on time.  maybe not the worst run this year, but close.  feeling a little stiff and sore.  quads, but mostly right calf.  need to watch that on Wed's interval runs. 

4/22/14. run. coffee. orange. nuts. sausage/peppers/pasta. steak. apple. nuts.  cheese/crackers. chicken. snap peas. stuffing. chocolate. lots of water.

4/21/14. monday. strength 1, and 3 miles in the mask. pace review from sat.

it was good to be in the gym at 5:30am.  i'm not sure if i was a little tired, or what, but i was feeling a little weaker and it was hard to press the same weight as last week.  I had to break my sets into individual lifts, in order to keep the weight constant from last week.  shape of things to come, I guess.

the weather was really good for a run after work.  sunny. mid 50s.  elevation mask monday.  i kept a pace pretty consistent with previous mondays, but it didn't feel too bad.  my chest/diaphragm/guts didn't hurt at all, and I didn't feel like i wanted to vomit when I was done.  I think its probably time to adjust the flow restriction valve and make it a little harder to draw air.  

below is are data plots of pace and elevation.  I was comparing the sat run (4 mile fartlek in the woods) vs. a standard 4 mile road loop.  I would say that I managed to vary my pace quite a bit. 

4/21/14. coffee. orange. nuts. hamburger. chips. apple. nuts. cheese/crackers. steak. green beans. bread sticks/marinara sauce. lemon cheesecake. chocolate. lots of water.