8x400s

Wind. Lots of wind. I did the first 6 400s with no problem, but the last two were very difficult. I decided to jog it in, and do the full set another day. Still, not a bad way to end the month: 2 good, purposeful runs and a good swim. I'm still not certain when the first run of the year will be.

Second Swim of the Month

Last night I made it over to the pool for another ~3/4 miles of swimming. I'm still hoping this helps my breathing. The runs have felt tough lately. Today, I hope to make it out for intervals: either the 10x400s or 5x1000s.

11K Today

I did 6.9 miles in 59:45 today - good for ~8:40 pace. Nothing spectacular, just took advantage of a rare day with nothing on my calendar to get the mileage up.

Treadmill Tempo

I bypassed a potential icy run yesterday in favor of a treadmill run at the YMCA. I started with 10 slow minutes warmup, then did 3.4 miles in 25 minutes at a progressive 7:22 min/mile pace: I started slow ~7:40, and dropped the pace so that I was running ~6:30 at the end. I finished with a legit 10 minutes slow cooldown. Total mileage was pushing 5.5. The total for the week was over 15 miles.

It's worth mentioning that our planned trip to Jersey was postponed - likely for next weekend, which means the hare hop is probably out. So was my 2 nights to myself - which kept me from getting a swim in this week. Funny how things can go south like that.

Aimless Cold Run

Today I went out for 4.3 miles at some unknown moderate pace. One of the few runs I've done with no clear goal in mind. It actually felt hard. I may still swim tonight.

10K+

Today Larry and a I took advantage of the 50 degree temps and did nice Monday run. I actually did 2 loops of Avery - the first at a ~8:20 pace and the second sub-8:00 for an average 8:07 over 6.4 miles. The weather was overcast, but the nice misty overcast that reminds me of Northern California, not the 'I want to kill myself' depressing slate grey - so that was good.

Feeling Ill Hills

It's been a while since the last hills. A lot of reasons for picking that workout today: I wasn't feeling well today, so instead of killing my self with intervals or a tempo run, I thought I'd do 7x90 second hill repeats. Also, the Hare-hop 3 mile race has a nice long hill before the 1/2-way turnaround - so getting a little hill work in should help. It sounds hard, but running up a hill for 9o seconds seems easier than doing the 10x400s - not sure why. I think next week I'll do those.

Finally a Swim

It's been a few weeks, but I finally made it back to the pool for a swim. I managed 1200 yards/meters/whatever: 1x200, 5x100, 6x50, 6x25 + 50 cooldown. Almost 3/4 of a mile - good for 4.3+ converted miles.

Lunch Time 5 Miles

Today I did 5 miles at work doing the reverse loops - with both Jupiter and Avery. The overall pace was 7:41 min/mile. The first 3 miles was faster, 7:32 min/mile, while the last 2 were just below 8:00 min/mile. I didn't get the 45 minutes I was aiming for, but the pace was almost fast enough to count as a tempo - kind of a 'tweener' run. Injury report: PF, ankle and lower back - but nothing major. Weather report: cold (20s), but sunny and not much wind.

Soggy Bluff Point Run

50 degrees and rainy - perfect Feb. running weather. I did the figure 8 loop at Bluff point - good for 5.2 miles at about a 8:00 min/mile pace. The figure 8 loop uses the 90 second hill twice - which slows me down a bit. I was pretty happy with the run overall. Legs still feel sore. I'll have to get out there more often.

Grey 5 Miler

Today I went out with Chris for 5 miles - normal route - both Avery and Jupiter loops. The run lasted 42 minutes (~8:15 min/mile). The weather looked ugly but wasn't very cold or windy - just a dull, uninspiring gray. My right calf was sore this morning after I got up, loosened-up, then was sore after the run - something to keep track of since I've never had problems before.