Home to PA

Thursday: Dragged crapradoodle on the 3.4 mile loop. Didn't write down the time. Some day historians may speculate. For now, we'll just be proud that I ran.

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Friday: Off.

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Saturday: Ran with my spouse on the bike trail. She went out to work on some of her derby skills on the bike trail, which meant I could mostly keep pace with her. When she practiced falling down, I worked in a few wind sprints. She went very fast for the final ten minutes and became a little speck clear out there on the horizon.

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Sunday: Drove to PA to do some research for a project on some local history: this means lots of library backrooms and basements: yippee!

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Monday: Ran one of my old high school runs, a little over two miles out the road past my folks' house. Wish I'd kept a journal back then -- I'd love to break out a floppy disc from 1994, and see what I was thinking back then. Also, I'd like to know my times.

Oh, well, better luck in the future, future me. Today, 22:00 out, 18:30 back. In a heavy rain, I felt like it was a fine time.

Pennsylvania reminds me quickly, by the way how relatively flat the rest of my life is. I remember writing once that everything in Northwestern PA is either on the way up a hill or on the way down. 

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Tuesday: Speaking of which, I ran an oil access road half a mile (4:20) from my folks' house -- another run I used to crank out in high school. From the bottom of the hill, from the road to the first moment when I was no longer ascending took 13:01 -- at a pretty fair clip -- then I slid down the other side of the hill to a small creek and ran along the bed out to the highway. It's one of my favorite, most adventuresome runs, though I always imagine the deer shaking their heads, thinking what a moron -- hasn't he ever heard of a treadmill?*

* Dear deer, mind your own business.

Maintenance, Maintenance, Something New

I still prefer updating every day, but here's another three-day post as we approach the end of January. I've been working on other projects, and, given a choice between taking the time to run and taking the time to write about running, I think, for the time being, I'll run.

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Friday: I got out for the 3.4 mile maintenance loop today, and made fine time (32:52), I think, considering I had the crapradoodle in tow. Something struck me while I was out and I feel the need to cast a local apology lest I have offended somebody.

In my own defense, I very rarely think about my attire, except in terms of the weather -- is it too cold to where this or too hot to where that: otherwise, I hardly ever think of myself in terms of how I look.

Which is why, when I grabbed this long-sleeve shirt this afternoon --

-- I was thinking only of staying warm on a slightly cool day. In retrospect, I apologize to anybody who might have read this shirt, seen me with my particular dog, and thought that I was being boastful. I assure you I was thinking only of my health, and not about my singularly talented dog.

The run, meanwhile was fine. Chillier, still, than I thought it would be, but we made good time. After the run, my spouse and I had dinner with friends, went to a poetry reading, and hung out with friends until very very late.

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Saturday morning 3.4-mile out and back (40:02). The crapradoodle was absolutely not in the mood for a run this morning. She'd been begging to get out of the house, but all she wanted to do was crap and sniff, sniff and crap, all along Columbia Road. Also, I finished off my lamb shank for breakfast, and, maybe, I am too old to get up early with the kid after staying out late with friends, so I also partly blame myself for an awful run. But I made it out and back, so, I suppose, that's better than no run at all.

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I thought it would be fun today to combine a hill workout with mile repeats. I've never actually done this workout before, so today was mostly about searching for a goal to set. I ran downhill (7:42), uphill (8:10), down (7:45), up (8:29), down (7:44), and up (8:26).

I think a fun goal for this workout would be to run each mile at a (7:45) pace. I don't know why that sounds fun or if it would even be scientifically useful or not, but I think I will try it. I had a hell of a headwind running uphill today. I was lucky enough to go for my run just as a snowstorm was blowing into my fifty-degree afternoon. I say this only to point out that I think I should be able to drop my uphill times considerably on a calm day . . . I suppose I benefited from the tailwind on the way down, but I'm not willing to think too hard about that just now.

Meanwhile, the crapradoodle says, "hi."

 

Eleven Day Tally 

Thursday: 8.0
Friday: 3.4
Saturday: 4.0
Sunday: 15.3
Monday: -----
Tuesday: 5.1
Wednesday: 3.4
Thursday: 6.1
Friday: 3.4
Saturday: 3.4
Sunday: 6.0

Previous:116.4 miles
Year To Date: 123.2 miles.

Running Days: 23
Days off: 6

Lancaster III: And a Note on Stretching

Ran Lancaster Hill (.4 miles) eight times again. Didn't realize it had only been a week. I guess that means today was supposed to be a speed workout, but I ran hills in stead. My bad. First, results:

January 16: Times: (3:14), (2:57), (3:01), (2:53), (2:57), (2:51), (3:00), (2:52). Average: (2:58). Mean: (3:02) +/-12.

January 09: Times: (3:04), (3:11), (3:12), (3:03), (3:03), (2:57), (2:58), (2:59). Average: (3:03). Mean: (3:05) +/-8.

December 19: Times: (2:59), (3:09), (3:11), (3:00), (3:10), (3:00), (3:06), (2:57). Average: (3:02). Mean (3:05) +/-6.

Results first, because one of these things is not like the other ones . . .

If I have a goal on this run, it's not so much for a specific time (though, for right now, an average of 2:55 is near on the horizon I hope), but I would like to get my mean very close to my average, and have my pace +/-3. Also, I'm only vaguely confident that I'm using "mean" correctly. Maybe I'll look that up.

What did I do so wrong, so early, on today's splits? I had a long walk before my run, and thought I had a decent warmup, but, clearly, I needed something more before I started my hills. Maybe I'll throw in a few short bursts to my warmup for future runs.

Also, I started controlling my breathing much better as I went . . . the importance of good breathing can never be exaggerated.

I was still a touch sore from Thursday's long run, which might have been part of the problem: I might need to loosen up. Which implies stretching. I haven't stretched for, hell, eight years. And I have only one objection to stretching as a workout supplement and aid -- but it is, you'll agree, a very good objection: I don't wanna.

Can stretching be any boringer?

No, it cannot. If it got any less fun, we would just go ahead and cancel the Olympics, because nobody would join teams, because coaches who insist on stretching (aka: all coaches) can bite me, and by extension, bite us, by whom I mean everybody who would be weeping in their gym socks from boredom if stretching got boringer.

I suppose I'm begging for an injury by not stretching and running in the cold and running fairly hard. And, certainly, everybody will look very forward to tsk, tsking the hell out of me when I finally do pull something . . . well, shame on you: making fun of a guy who just pulled something. I guess we know who's the truly poor sport here: the maker-funners, not me. I just need a bag of ice. Well, at least, that's what we'll be like when the time comes.

Still, I've been thinking about it. Might help me run better if I'm limberer. Though my boredom tears are certain to slow me down. It's a classic catch 22.

Eleven Day Tally

Friday: 7.5
Saturday: 3.4
Sunday: ------
Monday: 8.4
Tuesday: 3.4
Wednesday: 3.4
Thursday: ~13.0
Friday: ------
Saturday: 3.4
Sunday: 3.4

Monday: 7.0

Previous: 57.3

Year To Date: 64.3 miles.

Running Days: 11
Days off: 5

Remind me to tell you what I've been thinking about marathons lately. Some other time.