4.30m at work (Hills)

4.30 miles @ 8.64 pace w/ avg HR of 167 (Zone 3, 85.9% of MHR)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8.65/152 - Kept pace under control on this long downhill.
8.40/159 - 2/3s of this was downhill but that remaining third was tough!
8.67/175 - Rolling hills spiked the HR
8.85/179 - More of the same.
2.58/182 (8.60 pace)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I skipped the treadmill and decided to brave the elements (85 degrees with 70% humidity, and really sunny). Probably not a good idea but at least it got me off the treadmill.

LOE was pretty high on this especially on those hills. I tried to recover on the downhills, but the heat/humidity/bright-sun punished my efforts.

4.22 @ 8.44 @ TSFG (hill workout)

4.22 miles at 8.44 pace w/ avg HR of 167 (zone 3)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8.23/154
8.40/160
8.45/177
8.63/176
1.92/177 (8.73 pace)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I went to get my gym bag from my truck, it was overcast out and the temp didn't feel too bad so I decided to avoid the dreadmill and do a hill workout outside instead. You really can't do anything BUT a hill workout near my work so that's my only option.

I hammered out the hills pretty well, but the course is an out and back with the out downhill and the back just the opposite. You can see that uphill hit on my 3rd split above with that crazy spike in HR. I was proud that I was able to at least hold onto my pace though.

As usual, I started out this run too fast but it's hard to do when flying down a series of long downhills. Temp was about 77 and I was okay with a running tee shirt and no hat/sunglasses.

5 miles on way back from YMCA

5 m at 8.57 pace w/ avg HR of 166

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1 - 9.10/155 - (8.18/167)
2 - 8.43/166 - (8.43/172)
3 - 8.50/169 - (9.03/176)
4 - 8.43/166 - (8.43/180)
5 - 8.38/177 - (9.22/185)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The parentheticals are the times/HR from the past Saturday's run which was on the same course (just about - the last mile was a little different, I ran up the hill to my house in this run whereas I looped the flat clubhouse driveway this past saturday).

This is pretty interesting on a few points:

* The difference that about 10-15 degrees in heat can make.
* Miles 2 and 4 were at the exact same pace, but with wildly different HR.
* I was running much faster over the last 4 miles on average, but with much lower HR.

I think it was also helped by that slow first mile warmup. Lesson learned there.

5m LT from YMCA

5m at 8.66 w/ avg HR of 176

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
8.18/167 - Think I started out too fast?
8.43/172
9.03/176 - Total bonk city.
8.43/180
9.22/185 - Blah

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This course was from the YMCA and through the RW neighborhood and then home. It was too hot (80ish with high humidity) for these types of hills. Compounding the problem, I came out of the gate way too fast and was done about mid way through. I slogged through the rest as best as I could but was really hurting by the end, as evidenced by that last mile's avg HR which was close to my estimated MAX.

It also didn't help that I ran with my new C9 hat, which, while vented, is black. Don't think that's going to work on sunny days which is the entire point of wearing a hat. Ah well, it looks cool at least.

6m repeats on the way back from Soccer practice

6m @ 7.82 pace w/ avg HR of 173

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1st mile in 8.27 @ 150 - Supposed to be a warmup mile, but that's a little too fast

2nd mile in 7.43 @ 179 - Wow, pretty fast considering only half the mile was repeat pace.

3rd mile in 7.37 @ 178 - Ditto.

4th mile in 8.68 @ 176 - Obviously fading, but the repeat pace was probably closer to target (7.33)

5th mile in 7.85 @ 178 - Getting a second wind.

6th mile in 7.32 @ 180 - Finished up at the entrance of CH.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was supposed to be 5 three-quarter mile repeats at 7.33min/mile pace with a quarter mile in between of EZ, but I just couldn't gauge my pace early on and ran waaaaaaay too fast on the first repeat. As a result of that and a particularly hilly course, I cut all the repeats short at half mile instead. So, I did more total repeats overall, but not for the prescribed length. I'm just not that good at gauging my pace yet, as some of those early repeats were clocking at less than 7 min pace. (Made for a great overall pace though!) I got better as I got warmed up though and felt pretty strong there at the end.

Weather was great, dry and cool at about 60. It was dark by the time I got home so I purchased a reflective vest to wear from Walmart for $6.67.

P.S. This was the fastest I've ever run 6 or more miles (or 4 for that matter) , and by a good margin too (7.82 vs 8.00).

5.01 miles at CH Trail/Road Mix (LSD)

5.01 miles at 8.95 pace @ avg HR of 162.

With this run, I was specifically focused on keeping my HR below 170. When I saw it exceed 170, I was committed to slowing to a walk for 5-10 seconds each time. This was fine most of the time, but the hills on this course are extreme (but short thankfully), and part of it HR-taxing (to me) trailwork, so I probably slowed to a walk 4-5 times overall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1st mile in 8.62 @ 157 - This was all road and was my warmup mile.

2nd mile in 8.50 @ 161 - This was mostly road, with some trail at the end.

3rd mile in 8.73 @ 161 - All trail (I think).

4th mile in 10.17 @ 165 - Mostly trail, with some hard hill sections where I walked some.

5th mile in 8.80 @ 167 - Back on the road.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I don't think I do enough "easy" or "recovery" runs in my schedule so I was determined to keep my HR down in this run, but the speed didn't suffer too much, so I'm proud of that at least.

5.26 @ CH (Repeats/Speedwork)

5.26 miles at CH in 8.37 pace w/ avg HR of 170.

This was speedwork, consisting of 1.5 mile warmup, then 6 quarter mile repeats at 5k pace, with EZ quarter miles in between, finishing with a 1 mile cooldown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1st mile in 8.57 @ 150 - Warmup mile before the repeats start.

2nd mile in 8.06 @ 169 - This mile included the first of the repeats.

3rd mile in 8.05 @ 177 - Fully into the repeats here. Nice to see that time is consistant.

4th mile in 8.36 @ 179 - The last of the repeats, time slowed down here a bit.

5th mile in 8.66 @ 177 - One repeat, with the rest part of the cooldown mile.

extra .25 in 2.32 (9.28 pace) @ 177 - Remainder of the cooldown.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking back, I ran the repeats a little too fast and couldn't hold the pace as a result. The first 3 were all sub 7 minute pace (with the 3rd actually at a 6.48 pace), with the final 3 average more closely to about 7 minute pace. The pace was supposed to be "5k pace minus 10 sec" so for me that should have been no faster than 7.50 pace.

Oh well, I should be glad I pushed myself harder, right?

3.46 @ TSFG

3.46m at 8.36 pace w/ HR of 162

1st mile in 8.48 @ 150 - After my last few runs on this course, I am reeeeeaally trying to keep my pace down on this first mile or so. 8.48 is still pretty fast. At least my HR is flat.

2nd mile in 8.20 @ 157 - Most of this mile was still downhill, so that would explain the pace increase.

3rd mile in 8.56 @ 174 - Okay, this was after the turnaround point so all of this was uphill, steep uphill, so that's why the HR suffered. I even tried to moderate my HR by taking brief walking spells. That, along with the fact there was a good headwind hitting me, I think this is a decent pace.

Remainder .46 at 3.70 @ 176 - HR continues to suffer through these uphill sections.

I do this thing where I calculate my pace together with my HR to come up with a "HR Efficiency Score." Basically, it's a measure of how fast I can go while keeping my HR in check. This run scored pretty high on that scale, so that makes me feel a little better after the past couple of sub-par runs I had.

4 miles at TSFG

4 miles EZ @ 8.48 pace w/ 161 HR.

1st mile in 8.45 @ 130 - I'm purposely trying to keep my pace down here. Most of this mile was downhill though so that's why the HR was so low.

2nd mile in 8.67 @ 170 - The reverse of the first mile, this is mostly uphill, which is why the HR spiked.

3rd mile in 8.55 @ 169 - Doing okay with the pace and HR here.

4th mile in 8.30 @ 174 - Finished up pretty strong as the course levelled out.

Decent middle of the week run for me. This is a hilly course so I got a better workout in than I would have on the treadmill. It would have been warmer though! It was 34 out and I was hitting some major headwinds that were just outright painful. I had on a longsleeve t and shorts, and my running gloves, which was comfortable when I could get some shelter from the wind at least.

5 miles @ TSFG

5 miles in 41.46 at 8.29 pace w/ HR of 174

1st mile in 6.82 @ 157 HR - Uh oh, I'm in trouble. That's way too fast to start out. By my record that's the fastest mile I've ever run. Not a great way to start out an easy 5 miler, even if it's aided by being mostly downhill.

2nd mile in 8.48 @ 176 HR - Not paying for it too much yet, at least not pace-wise, but that HR is spiking. Alot of this was still downhill though. All of this mile was in the new section/subdivision that I tried out for the first time.

3rd mile in 8.27 @ 173 HR - Okay, this is just plain screwy as my speed increased? I guess this was the remainder of the big downhill section as I turned around shortly after finishing the 3rd mile.

4th mile in 9.27 @ 179 HR - This is where I start to pay. Long stretches of uphill and I am really struggling. I even walked a few segments. HR was pushing 190 in spots.

5th mile in 8.62 @ 181 HR - I started to get my 2nd wind here and the last half mile honestly didn't feel that bad. I'd say I probably ran the first half of this mile in 9+ min pace, with the second half around 8 min pace. Not very consistant but I started to feel significantly better, despite that really high HR.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was supposed to be an easy run, but I obviously screwed that up by pushing it too much, a bad habit of mine. Just like last time I ran this course (1/7/09), I've got to start taking it easy on the first half.

4 miles at CH

4 miles at CH with Ollie with me. 8.55 pace @ 156 HR.

1st mile in 8.60 @ 137 HR - I think that HR is kinda low though.

2nd mile in 8.57 @ 159 HR - Pretty consistent running.

3rd mile in 8.50 @ 160 HR - More of the same.

4th mile in 8.57 @ 165 HR - More consistancy and a decent HR considering this was pretty hilly country.

Ollie did fine and seemed to have energy left. Pretty good for an eleven year old pup. It was chilly out (42) and I was cold in my performance shirt and shorts. Should've worn some gloves.

6 miles thru H Forest

6 miles, the first 1.50 was on the road from my house to the trailhead, then 3 on the trail, then 1.50 back home.

1st mile in 8.25 @ 143 HR - This was on the road and almost all downhill. Pretty easy going.

2nd mile in 8.85 @ 170 HR - The first half of this was on the road (uphill) and the 2nd half was on the trail. That's why the pace and HR spiked.

3rd mile in 9.40 @ 171 HR - Talk about pace spiking! All of this was on the trail. I didn't really expect it to slow me down this much, but wow.

4th mile in 10.47 @ 173 HR - More of the same, I was really slowing down and my HR was getting up there.

5th mile in 10.17 @ 174 HR - The second half of this mile was back on the road and downhill. That tells me that first half still on the trail was SLOW.

6th mile in 8.08 @ 175 HR - Fast road running. At least I had something left over, even though I'm pushing that HR pretty good there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Not sure what really happened here. I ran pretty much this same course last April with consistent 8.58 splits each mile. And that was all trail. Oh well, at least I got a good HR workout out of it. I'll skip the interval/repeat work tomorrow and count this as that instead.

4 @ TSFG

Overall - 4.0 @ 9.03 pace w/ HR of 157

1st mile in 8.95 w/ HR of 115 - Basically don't know if I believe either of these numbers. The "avg pace" on my watch was showing 8.25-8.50 the entire first mile prompting me to consciously try to slow down. Not sure how there could be such a huge difference.

2nd mile in 8.68 w/ HR of 161 - These numbers seem more accurate. Half of this mile was a huge downhill and the other half was back up that same hill.

3rd mile in 9.57 w/ HR of 176 - This was a series of huge uphills coming back but I still think this was a little slow. My GPS died during the next (4th) mile so maybe it was being wonky because of that. Anyway, I handled this series of hills much better than I did when I ran this course on 1/7, even if the numbers don't show it.

4th mile in 8.92 w/ HR of 176 - This mile was much flatter and I felt a lot better. As I said above, the GPS died during this mile so the distance is estimated using Google Maps Pedometer.

Overall, a decent hills run for maintenance.