Windy Family Memorial Day March

We decided to go running today as a family! It is a very windy day but we went anyway. We drove up to Mary Kyer park just north of Interquest Parkway. We ran west towards the Airforce Academy and Santa Fe Trail, I pushed Lily in our jogger. We had to cross under I-25 through this dark tunnel that was covered in about 1cm of water. It was really creepy...even creepier on the way back realizing that it was a flash flood pathway! On the other side we met up with the Santa Fe trail just about a hundred yards from I-25 and headed north. It was very nice running together as a family. Lily of course started to get bored about 25 minutes in and said that we were "...running too long!" Right at North Gate, about 3 miles into the run, I handed the jogging stroller over to Julie, kissed her good bye, gave Lily a high five, and continued on down the trail without Julie and Lily; they turned around and played at the park when they got back waiting for me (they had a blast). I continued to run for another 26 minutes up to Baptist Rd. I would've turned around a few minutes earlier, but really had to go to the bathroom and knew that there was one at Baptist Rd. Then ran back. Overall, I went 102.5 minutes and a total of 10.6 miles. The first 3 miles were at an 11 minute per mile pace, the last 7.6 miles at a 9min 9sec pace. I have not been able to run much for some reason lately (life) and I think that the rest actually made me a bit stronger because I didn't have any real pain during the run and feel pretty dandy afterwards now! Of course, as you can see from the picture, this is probably the easiest trail I will ever run around here.

Out Toward Blodgett Peak and Back

Busy, busy, busy...a good explanation of how my life has been. This thus leads to not being able to get a run in. But five days later...today, I finally got one in. I went 7.0 miles over 61 minutes. I started out from my office out west on Woodmen Rd and then kept going up it to just past Woodmen Valley Park and then turned around. It was very rainy and stormy all day long. I got all ready to have a fun run in the rain and as soon as I started out it stopped raining and stayed dry until literally 2 minutes after I got back and it down poured again. Oh well!

The goal of the run was to do 20 minutes somewhat slow, then a medium-hard pace for 20 minutes, then go back to 20 more minutes of somewhat slow. Around 43 minutes into the run my calves started to get tight and both stayed tight throughout the rest of the run. Cardiovascularly I felt great, but yes again it was my legs that were the tired part. I really feel that my heart has the endurance to go a lot further, but my legs lag behind a lot. Hey, I am already able to go quite some distance now, I will just keep working on getting more leg endurance!

Down and then up Research Ave...and then again.

Needed to get a hil run in today and ended up not being able to run until after 10pm...so what do I do in this all too common situation? I make up something here in Briargate! I decided that Research Parkway was about the steepest thing within a short distance of our house (especially since we live on Research) and decided that it was my run tonight. We live almost at the top of Research and it is about 1.5 miles down to the bottom of the hill on Research and averages about a 4.3% grade. I decided to run down and up Research twice to get roughly 5.5-6 miles and around 45-55 minutes of running in.
The Results?
Ran 5.62 miles in 49 minutes and 40 seconds total average of 8 minute 50 second miles.
    Downhill average time was 7 min 40 sec the first time and about 8 min 30sec the second time.
    Uphill average time was about 9 min 30 sec miles both times.

I did see a large rodent type thing speed walking toward me on the sidewalk and as I got within 30 feet it jumped to the side and ran away. It was a raccon. Too bad it ran away, we could have been jogging buddies!

Quicky for Recovery

So I've been thinking lately that it is time for my body to start getting some small recovery runs it, just to keep my body moving. and not lose as much between my harder runs. When I got home from work today I grabbed Lily and she ecstatically jumped into the jogging stroller and cheerily sang the whole way as I pushed her around Rampart Park. It was only going to be a short run and I made sure to keep it that way. I went a total of 3 miles on the dot it 23.5 minutes. That is an average of 7minute 50second miles...pretty happy with that considering I was pushing Lily, ran up 3 steep hills, and wasn't pushing myself too hard. I wonder how fast I could run a 5K now since I've been training more..22...or even 21 minutes? Who knows? I might test it sometime in the next three months, but the most important is just getting my time in for the Ascent. Lily's songs were a very nice change to my run today!

1.5 Hour Jaunt

Another long run down! I planned on running 90 minutes today and it went well. I expanded from my normal Briargate routes and added a little here and there in the circle and came up with a route that ran me 9.26 miles. I averaged 9 minute 43 second miles doing this. It was a slow run and I felt good the whole time. I am happy that I am able to maintain this and do well. There was a spot about 5.5 miles in where I thought I was going to pee in my pants but was surrounded by only houses. I considered knocking on a strangers door or trying to pee behind a bush before someone saw me. I even thought about just letting it go but then thought about the smell that would permanently exude from my shoes afterwards and that turned me off of that thought. It started to hurt and I couldn't take my mind off the rythmic swaying of urine back and forth in my bladder with each step I took. Running was making it worse, but walking just meant longer before I could get to a bathroom. I ran by a church and was excited to see a car in the parking lot. I ran to the doors to only be denied! Finally I came to a spot where a quick swing out from my route put me into a 7-11 store and all my problems were solved...what am I going to do when I have to run for 4.5 hours?!?

Treadmill...Unfortunate...But Effective

So I got home from teaching tonight at about 9:10pm and didn't get available until about 10:45pm. Late or not, I still needed to get my run in! There was a chance of a storm coming in tonight and I really didn't feel like fighting anything, not even the dark outside. So I succumbed to a treadmill run tonight. I packed up a peanut butter half sandwich, made my homemade Gatorade, grabbed an apple, and off I went. In the gym I put the treadmill at 0.5 incline at a speed of 6.4 miles per hour, flipped on TruTV and started running. Found a funny show about a pawn shop. Didn't feel bad at all for most of the time. About 23 minutes into the run I picked up the pace to 7.6 mph which is just under an 8 minute pace and did that for about 2:30 minutes. Then I went back to 6.4 mph. After this both shoulders in the front were a little achy for a couple of minutes. At about 43 minutes I picked up the pace the same for another 2 minutes this time and did not feel any fatigue afterwards.

As far as my form and calf go, I was able to really focus on a light heel strike and noticed a big difference in the way my calf felt. It did get a little tight still, but it has been a little tight since last weeks running. I also noticed a BIG thing with the mirrors at our apartment gym. I noticed that I am leaning way to far forward when I run. I don't know if it is a habit that I've always had or if it is something that I've picked up from running steep inclines. Either way it was way too much forward lean. So I also focused hard on standing straight up and relaxing in that position. Interestingly, I did not feel as much stress on my calve when I was standing straight up. Another small notch put in my personal learning belt about my body and running style!

Squeak-owwww!

The only way to describe the last two days before todays run is "ohhhhhh I'm soooooooooore!" Since my run on Blodgett Peak my whole legs top, bottom, front, and back have been pretty darn sore. Blodgett Peak kicked my butt...AWESOME! So I was a little apprehensive about doing the long run of today. Nevertheless, the road was calling. I went on a 60 minute run around Briargate. The first 0.7 of a mile were all downhill, purposely chosen because my legs were not wanting to move. The first few steps were torture pushing through the soreness that plagued them, hence the word 'squeak' in the title of this post, but by the end of this downhill section they were nice and loose and ready to go. The next 2.5 miles were on a slight uphill climbing about 300 feet in elevation with only a small 1/4 mile downhill section. Then the rest was a nice dowhill slope back down and around to our house. I felt pretty good for most of the run and my right calf in the gastroc itself started to get a little tight at exactly 50 minutes into the run. It did not get any worse and I was able to finish the run without any problems. Overall, did 7.0 miles in 60 minutes equating to 8 minute 34 second miles...Oooops! I was supposed to do a slow run and I ended up going a little faster than expected. This may mean I'm getting more endurance, or that I was just absent minded and not paying attention. Unfortunately, I think it was the latter. Ahhhhh, rest the next couple of days and we'll be back running again by Tuesday!

Blodgett Peak Strain

Today was the first day that I have been able to get a run in this week and I decided to go with a hill run again. I had a couple hours off at lunch and decided to go straight from my office up to Blodgett Peak. I didn't want to go straight into the trail this time though because it is pretty dang steep. So I parked about 1/2 mile away from the trailhead and started there to warm up a few minutes before I hit the trail, though this first 1/2 mile was still an uphill run. It was exciting that this time up the mountain side I was able to go a bit longer before I had to start my run/walk series; I went 19 minutes straight uphill before I started. Once you get up to the water tower the trail gets very steep and averages between 30-55 degrees incline and kicks your butt!

I went 28 minutes up over 2 miles and then 17 minutes down over 1.3 miles (if that gives you any idea of the steepness) for 45 minutes total over approximately 3.3 miles. That's an average of 13 min 38 sec miles. About 3/4 of the way up for me my calves were incredibly ON FIRE! They were burning so bad and I just kept on pushing. I only stopped to tie my shoe. It is amazing how intense my heart beats with workouts like this. Running downhill on trails I have noticed that my right lateral ankle gets painful every time any eversion is introduced. I tried hard to not allow much eversion, but it still happened. I also noticed half way down that my right foot was hitting the ground a lot harder than the left foot which was frustrating to me because I'm trying so hard to keep injury free and maintain a good running schedule. I am now already sore and am a little surprised at how quick this soreness has set in. I'm glad my LSD on Saturday is only 60 minutes.