May Day Hills

I worked from home today - then managed to head over to Haley Farm/Bluff Point.  It was so beautiful and vivid out after the rain that I decided on the 'long' loop - but once I hit a nice hill I went ahead and did the hill workout: (60;75;90)x2 - it actually felt easier on the rough hill - probably because the footing makes it impossible to go as fast as on a paved hill.  After the hill - I worked my way back to the Haley Farm parking lot.  Total run - 1 hour 9 minutes.  Probably about 8 miles.

Long Run Home

Today I left work a little early and ran home. The run covered 9 miles and I did it in 1 hour, 9 minutes and 20 seconds - an astounding 8 minutes faster than a few weeks ago. The weather had a lot to do with that - as it was a beautiful sunny/cool/dry afternoon. I decided to run a little hard 2x2 miles, so I started with ~1 mile warm-up at an even pace, then did 15 minutes faster, slowed for 10 minutes, then did 14 minutes fast. I then had an uphill (Brooke Street) for about four minutes - then did another 1/2 mile (4 minutes) fast, before hitting the Fishtown hill (3 more slow up-hill minutes) before finishing with another fast 8 minutes. I think I did ~5.85 miles fast at about a 7:10-7:15 pace, and another 27 minutes (~3.15 miles) at a slower (8:3oish) pace. All told, a pretty satisfying workout - since I *needed* the long run - but also wanted to mix in some faster tempo-type stuff before these shorter races come up.

Kids in Bed Brick

So I managed my Brick tonight: 57 minutes riding (~11 miles, all trail) + 18 running (~2.2 miles). This would be about 5 eq.miles - so a pretty good night. Actually, it marks the most miles and minutes on the bike so far. I'd like to do about 3 more 60 minute bricks (2 with a road bike) before the triathlon. Yes, I'm going to try and do it, and maybe even bike in a few more times after that - can't let the fear of getting run over by a car keep me in one! Although, I have to say - hitting the Bluff Point and Haley Farm trails tonight was awesome - I may have to try that workout again. The 'Twilight Trail Ride'. I saw 2 deer and one ground hog and a few cute baby rabbits.

My totals for the week turned out pretty good: 20 miles running - flat out + 3 eq. miles swimming and about 3 riding - for about 26 total - my largest in a while. Not bad considering how well I was doing mid-week. Hopefully I can bump that up a tad more next week. I'd like to get close to 30 two weeks in a row. And maintain some good cross-training aerobic capacity through August before bringing back some speed and tempo work in the early fall.