Last Year

I was a little disappointed with my race at the 2008 Earth Day Half Marathon and Week 12 of training.  I also registered for my first marathon – Twin Cities while Chicago filled up. I started a new series which lasted for awhile posting up various race numbers on Wednesday.  I highlighted a new report on running being a prevention for dementia.   Foto Friday was a glamor shot of me from the half-marathon.

Mileage:

Running – 26.2 (ironic eh?)

Monday I did an easy 3.28 mile run past Powderhorn.  It felt good and the weather was nice – 38 and overcast. I ran it in 25:46.

Tuesday was an interval day.  I wanted something different than the Greenway so I did my Riverfront loop – not sure how it would work out with my 6 x800 at 10k pace – 6:26 or 3:12 for an 800.  My warm-up time ended right before hitting the River Rd so I stopped the timer until I got there and began my first interval down the hill to the river.  I felt pretty good on most of them, some had more wind and hills than others but this workout was more like race conditions due to the varying terrain than on the Greenway. My splits with 400 meters rest were 3:03, 3:07, 3:19, 3:23, 3:16, 3:08.  So on average pretty good.  The total run was 7.14 miles in 54:10.  It was 38 and sunny with a 28 wind chill (so that says a little something about the wind).

Wednesday on a very sunny morning I went for a 3.25 mile run.  I’ve really enjoyed the change in pace of my runs through the neighborhoods – going out about 1.5 miles turning and coming back.  Today I went east towards Seward on 26th St – crossing Hiawatha at the light.  Turning on 29th Ave and heading back on 24th St.  It was 41 with a 35 wind chill.  About a mile into the run I saw a bicyclist get hit by a car.  Luckily the car was stopped and just started to roll forward.  I’m not sure what the idiot was doing since all 5 lanes of traffic were stopped and 3 bikes were crossing in a bike crossing lane.  She was fine and the driver and other cyclists were helping her so I continued on.  Everything felt pretty loose except for my heel for the first 1/2 mile or so.  I didn’t wear any tape on the run today.  I finished in 24:35.

Thursday was absolutely gorgeous – but I rested.

Friday was a beautiful day.  Sunny. Mid 60’s.  But a little too warm for my body.  I planned on the 60 minute tempo run but had to cut it short at 7 miles (52:45) because I could feel that I was overheating.  The run started out well on the Sibley trail but about 3 miles in things started falling apart – I went “exploring” a bit which was stupid and then struggled to get back into a groove.  I did get down into the 10k goal pace range for a little bit.  I could feel my breakfast sitting in my stomach, then my shoulder got really tight, and finally I could feel my face burning up and getting really hot.  I decided to just quit at mile 7 and walk the last 3/4 mile in.  I felt really hot the rest of the day.

Saturday morning I met Nathan and we along with a friend of his ran about 9 total miles.  We went from his house near Minnehaha Falls and ran to Pike Island at a nice easy pace and then watched the start of the 2009 Get in Gear 10k.  We didn’t see many people we knew but cheered them on anyways.  It was a pretty perfect day for a race – lower 40’s with a slight breeze.  We had an enjoyable – slow run about 80 total minutes (including our really slow jog back to Nathan’s house after the start of the race).  Looking at my map – the Garmin did a really weird thing while out on Pike Island – but the distances seem pretty close.

Sunday I did my now usual swim and rest in the hot tub at the YWCA.  I only did a couple of laps – 250 yards since I’m tapering.  No need to wear yourself out!  It was kind of a rainy morning too so it was nice to be inside.

Weekly Mileage

Running  -29.4 miles

Biking -29.8 miles

Swimming – 250 yards