Spontaneous Planning

So I totally skipped yesterday's run, and I'm not going to pretend that playing ping pong for three hours makes up for a missed maintenance run. Still I wouldn't trade it. I got to play against each of the kids multiple times, and I can see already that my title as emperor of the ping pong table has a limited run. So I'm going to gloat while I can, and when my reign comes to an end, I'm going to fake an injury and walk nobly away from the table forever.

Today, I drove over to the rec center with plans to run a tempo workout on the treadmill. I like the idea of the tempo run, but, of course, the treadmill still sounds like the iron maiden in a lot of ways. Now I hate to complain, but we have had a family membership since the middle of December and have tried to make it to the gym at least once both weeks since we've been enrolled -- you'd think they'd call us if they were going to be closed on a weekday.

I was disappointment, because, like I say, I prefer an itinerary. If I had a calendar big enough, I'd already know what I was going to have for dinner this time next year. I have, as a result, on many occasions, shrugged my shoulders and walked away from a missed workout, grumping about not being able to run how, where, or when I wanted to, sticking my tongue out at the running universe (I called it the runiverse for a spell, but that never caught on), and watching television instead.

Today, I decided to go out for an hour. It was cold and dark, so I had to chose a route accordingly. I thought about running my hill-repeat workout, but the sidewalk is missing . . . well, it's missing sidewalk in a lot of places, and the run is not very well lit, so I didn't feel safe making that run. There's another hill very close by as well. It's about the same elevation change, but probably about half as long (therefor probably about twice as steep). I could make a loop that is just shy of a mile with that hill, so I thought I would run that loop for an hour, and see how my splits lined up after the fact.

On my first loop, I bumped into a group of young folks, I don't know, late teenish, and they creeped me out, standing next to a graveyard as they were. Had they been smoking cigarettes, had they reeked of beer, I would have felt less put out.

I decided not to run passed them again. Instead, I ran up and down eight hills, some longer than my repeat and less severe, others shorter and steeper. In the meantime, I tried to maintain a pace slightly more intense than my maintenance pace.

It was a great run. Truly great -- I ran all through this little town, up and down a dozen streets in a pattern I cannot normally run (this is a college town, and most of the students have gone away for winter break, so the streets are pretty empty, the bars are pretty empty, uptown is calm). I ran some hills I haven't run for a long time. I ran some hills I've never run. I kept a steady pace.

Before I was done with my run, I'd forgotten all about the rec center, and I hadn't thought once about what I would post on the blog -- maybe it was the total lack preparedness that allowed me this kind of running Zen. I am willing to admit that much.

Still, I prefer the preparedness.

Lancaster Hill

There's a hill beside my house that's just over .4 miles long. I run 8 repeats with the idea in mind that three intense miles is enough. It's, for the most part, pretty steep. I don't know how to guage that sort of thing -- now, if some generous patron came along and bought me one of those watches that's also an altimeter, this blog could be much more scientific.

The last time I ran it was the day before Halloween, and I ran an average time of 2:57. Before I dwell on that

My times weren't as good as the last time I ran this run, and I attribute that to several things. First off, it is much colder which, besides just meaning cold, means more and heavier clothing. Second, I blame Thanksgiving. Third, yesterday's ice skating with my daughters couldn't have helped.

But there were several things that I did note about this hill run, and none of them are new:

1. Because this is a hill workout, it's not about speed, so maybe I shouldn't be so conscious of my time up the hill, and focus instead on a consistent, tough pace -- times be damned.

2. Because this is a hill workout, I need to pump my arms more. Yes it's more of a workout when I'm using both parts of my body (top and bottom), but that's kind of the point, enit?

3. Because this is a hill workout, I need to focus on my breathing: when I ignore my breathing, I sound like a terrified raccoon. In heat. This is the kind of workout where I run best when I'm in a rhythm, focused, and consistent.

4. Because this is a hill workout, coming down the hill needs to be slow and recuperative. My best splits come after my longest recoveries: this seems like common sense to me, but common sense often goes right the hell out the window when I'm running.

5. Because this is a hill workout, it's a hill workout, not a blog post -- I found myself running best, again, when I wasn't thinking: "I hope this run is interesting enough to blog about . . ."

That last being said, there were other things that I thought about hill workouts, but I forgot them since my run. But the thing I regret was not that I forgot these things that I could be writing down this very moment; the thing I regret is that my mind was not fully in the moment during my run, and my splits reflected those stretches when I was thinking more about this (writing) moment than hitting those hills.

Times: (2:59), (3:09), (3:11), (3:00), (3:10), (3:00), (3:06), (2:57) -- these times are the most sporadic I've run since I started this workout. While I didn't expect to hit that 2:56 average from earlier this year, with greater concentration and consistency, I think, certainly, I could have averaged 3:02 +/- 4 seconds.

Something to shoot for.