Start Time: 7/19/08, 6:30am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 14 miles
Average Pace: 9:16min/mile
Total Miles For July: 59.5 miles

It was going to be a hot day today, so our running coach had said he was cutting our planned 14-miler short a bit, suggesting everyone break it up into two 7-milers. Did I do that? Bah! Instead, my plan was to get up early and go to the run site about an hour early and knock out 6-7 miles before they got there (and the heat got bad), then run the other 7 with them and all would be good.

Weeeelll, except that I got a late start and instead of having an hour beforehand, only had half an hour. Still, I knocked out 4 miles on my own, then got back just as they were about to begin. So, I ran 7 miles with Laura and Donna, then pushed through another 3 miles on my own. Victory! It wasn't too bad, aside from the fact that the last three miles had no shade whatsoever. I could really feel my strength sapping, especially in mile 12, which was the worst of it. Oof! Uphill and in the hot sun! But all done now, so hurrah for that.

(9:19, 8:54, 9:04, 8:55, 9:09, 9:13, 8:58, 9:17, 9:07, 9:16, 9:28, 9:52, 9:26, 9:19)

Start Time: 7/17/08, 7:20am
Location: Highland Street, Arlington
Distance: 4.7 miles
Total Miles For July: 45.5 miles

Today I finally went out and did a "just hills" workout; I jogged up to Highland Street (with its oh-so-apt name) and then ran down it from Hancock St all the way to Lee Highway, then back up, and repeated it for a total of four times. I was up for more, but I had gotten a very late start this morning (just couldn't wake up!) so I called it good enough and headed back home. It was a nice little run; non-timed, just powering up and down the hill while passing people on their way to work or out walking the dogs.

Start Time: 7/15/08, 6:45am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Half Mile Loop
Distance: 2 miles & ~2.85 miles
Average Pace: 9:46min/mile & ~9:49min/mile
Total Miles For July: 41 miles

It had been a while since I'd run "28 minutes of hell" so I gave it another stab this morning. It was actually kind of nice out at first (only 70 degrees) but just like yesterday morning's trip to the gym (rowing and elliptical), I was yawning before I even began. I ran Sunday's half-mile loop for the course, since it meant I didn't have to dodge traffic at all. That's a good thing. Part of me wished I'd pushed it up to the "48 minutes of hell" workout (where it's 3min, 2min, 1min for the splits) but who am I kidding, I wasn't up for that just yet. Maybe next week.

All-in-all, not bad. I'd like to push a little harder next time; I should've (even with 14 of those 28 minutes being walking) gotten a full 3 miles in. Ah well. As an added bonus, a lot of runners there this morning. It was nice to not be running where the only company is traffic whizzing by and people walking to work (hello, Arlington Boulevard Trail).

warm-up & cool-down: 10:13 & 9:19

Start Time: 7/13/08, 11:00am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center Half Mile Loop
Distance: 2 miles & 3 miles
Average Pace: 9:43min/mile & 7:44min/mile
Total Miles For July: 36.5 miles

Ok! On Sunday I vowed that I'd get back into my full running schedule (since Saturday's run went well-enough). The schedule had a quarter-mile repeat workout, but I didn't feel like going to Washington-Lee to use their track. So instead I picked the next one on the list, which was the half-mile repeats, and headed over to TJ since I'd recently discovered they have a half-mile loop on their grounds: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2080706

What's nice about that loop is that about half of it is shaded, so when the sun is bright, you aren't constantly in it. The schedule said to run 10 half-mile repeats, but I accidentally slept in a little too much and the heat had gotten up to the point where I had a feeling that I wasn't going to hit that. So I ran my mile warm-up, then decided that I'd keep running them until I hit 4:05 or slower... which turned out to be 6 of them. Considering after the second one I wanted to pack it in, I was happy.

It was blazes hot out, and one odd thing? When I got there at 11am the loop only had a couple of runners. When I left at noon? Right around then, a whole bunch of runners (and they weren't in a group so far as I could tell) had shown up. As stupid as I felt for starting at 11am, starting when it was even hotter seemed rather insane.

warm-up: 9:35
half-miles: 3:41, 3:47, 3:52, 3:50, 3:59, 4:05
cool-down: 9:52

Start Time: 7/12/08, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 12 miles
Average Pace: 9:30min/mile
Total Miles For July: 31.5 miles

Well, after missing my planned runs on Wednesday and Thursday (just wasn't feeling well, alas), Saturday morning I was back out there, and I'll admit a little worried on if the nasal steroid was really going to help or not. Thankfully, it seemed to; my nose was definitely not as bad as the last few times and I had an easier time with my breathing. Still wasn't at 100%, but it was a real improvement.

Laura'd had a couple of weeks off of so we decided to take it easy and stick together, letting Paul and Donna zoom off. Our first four miles were really consistent, right around a 9:30 pace. The fifth mile dropped a bit, and that was around the point that Laura decided she was going to just run 9 miles today. So, we stuck together until mile 7, at which point she turned around to run two miles back, and I kept going. It was also around there that we saw Paul coming back, which seemed a bit off (was he really 3 miles ahead of us?) and it turned out that he'd turned around too early on the second leg of the course. (Start at marker 5, run to marker 2.5, turn around and run to marker 8.5, then back to marker 5.) He went to get some water, and I kept heading on, picking up the pace a bit, although the mile after that was the return of the Hill of Doom, which meant slowing down a bit.

It was around there that Paul caught me, and we ran the rest back together, although after mile 10 I decided to slow down a bit, and offered to head back by myself but Paul said he was running out of fuel too.

Not a great run in terms of, "Wow, I was really flying" but it was good in that I did the whole thing with no issues. What a relief to be, perhaps, out of the woods.

(9:32, 9:29, 9:26, 9:34, 9:55, 9:49, 10:05, 9:08, 9:31, 8:45, 9:20, 9:24)

Start Time: 7/8/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington (Clarendon, VA Square, Ballston, Bluemont Park)
Distance: 5.6 miles
Average Pace: 8:43min/mile
Total Miles For July: 19.5 miles

I had my doctor's appointment on Monday and I've been given a nasal steroid to see if that helps matters. I've also got some more tests scheduled for next Tuesday, and a follow-up appointment the Tuesday after that. In the meantime, though, I can feel my belly getting more and more huge with each passing moment, so off for a run I went. I changed up my normal "run down Wilson Boulevard" route a tiny bit; I started on 10th Street (less people but also less traffic to worry about) and took it to Wilson Boulevard, and then once I got to George Mason Boulevard instead of sticking on Wilson, I finally took the mystery trail that I was pretty sure would eventually take me into Bluemont Park and the W&OD Trail.

I'd glanced on a map last night and was thinking if I did that route, it would be about 5 miles. So, I strapped on the Garmin and headed out. The run itself went not too bad; it definitely heated up a lot in the time I was out there, but nothing energy-sapping. The Garmin went fairly berserk, though; I'm pretty sure that neither of my mile splits were in the 7- or 11-minute range. When I got home I mapped the route out on the Gmap Pedometer and it turned out the actual distance was 5.6 miles. A nice surprise! That averaged out to an 8:43, and I am just fine with that. Breathing wasn't too bad, although I'm not sure if that was placebo effect or not. I know the packaging said it will take about 10 days of regular use to get the full effects, so we shall see.

Start Time: 7/5/08, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:52min/mile
Total Miles For July: 14 miles

Well, I'm glad I have a doctor's appointment for Monday morning. Just like last Saturday, I was having real problems catching my breath while I was out running. Is it allergies? Exercise-induced asthma? Something entirely different? I have no idea, but fortunately I'm not not the doctor. Really, really frustrating, though. It sucked to stop after 5 miles (it was supposed to be 10) but I did the right thing. Maybe I could have toughed the rest out, but I might have just as easily gone splat. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, to use an old chestnut. (8:45, 8:45, 8:51, 9:06, 8:52)

Start Time: 7/1/08, 5:00pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 4 miles
Average Pace: 8:37min/mile
Total Miles For July: 4 miles

Start Time: 7/3/08, 5:00pm
Location: Clarendon, Virginia Square, Ballston
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:54min/mile
Total Miles For July: 9 miles

Last of the catching-up posts, honest! I'll try and be better about this so it isn't a flood of posts again.

Tuesday my original plan was to run 3 x 2miles at a fast pace, plus a mile warm up and another cooldown. I was tired before I even began, though, and halfway through the warm-up I knew that it just wasn't going to happen. So, instead, I just turned it into a 4-mile progressive run, and that went a-ok. (9:02, 8:52, 8:32, 8:02)

On Thursday I was thinking about running a 6-miler, but I'd forgotten that it was extremely hot out. (I know, a whiny trend. I need to get better about the heat this year.) Still, I would have been all right had I not realized around mile 3 that I was already almost out of water. Whoops. Where's a lemonade stand where you need it? I ended up truncating to five miles with a parched mouth and an empty water bottle for the last three quarters of a mile. I really should plan this a bit better. Still, not a bad run; my goal was just a 9:30min/mile pace as I ran through Arlington, and my splits were distinctly less, even with me halfway through mile 3 deliberately trying to slow down. (8:48, 8:46, 8:57, 9:01, 8:56)

Start Time: 6/28/08, 7:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 3 miles
Average Pace: 8:00min/mile
Total Miles For June: 57 miles

Start Time: 6/29/08, 7:00am
Location: Washington, DC
Distance: 3 miles
Average Pace: 9:00min/mile
Total Miles For June: 60 miles

Ugh! Saturday was a dreadful day to be running; already in the high 80s by 7am, and even worse it was so humid it was like breathing water. We had our 3-mile time trial, and it went really badly for me, there no way around it. I completely bonked on the last mile, and I felt so congested and hard to breathe that I actually have a doctor's appointment about it on July 7th. Hmph.

On Sunday I was going to run a few miles on the treadmill at Charlie's place, because it was still really darn hot out. Unfortunately, I couldn't get the air conditioning unit to work properly (argh) and it was so stiflingly hot I gave up after three miles. Ah well!

Start Time: 6/24/08, 5:00pm
Location: Long Beach, CA
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:57min/mile
Total Miles For June: 48 miles

Start Time: 6/26/08, 8:00am
Location: Long Beach, CA
Distance: 6 miles
Average Pace: 8:44min/mile
Total Miles For June: 54 miles

I was in Long Beach last week for a business trip, and while Long Beach is lovely (in places), the part I was in... not so much. So I ended up sticking with the treadmills, both times doing a progressive run where I just slowly pushed up the speed over time. A nice time, all in all. Not terribly scenic, but there you go.

Start Time: 6/21/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington, Washington DC
Distance: 9 miles
Average Pace: 10:00min/mile
Total Miles For June: 43 miles

Catching up, here! Emma, Donna, Laura, and I ran a route that Emma mapped out on Saturday; we started at Iwo Jima, headed into Georgetown and then through Glover Archibold Park. This part was a lot of trail running, which slowed us down a great deal because huge storms had knocked branches and (at one point) an entire tree onto the trail. Fortunately we were able to crawl over the tree, and we continued, but it was certainly quite interesting. Eventually we exited near the Cathedral, then headed back through Mass Ave, Rock Creek, and then Memorial Bridge. Laura was slowing down a bit towards the end, and I hung back with her—it had been a while since either of us had run a 9-miler.

Start Time: 6/15/08, 8:00am
Location: Arlington, Washington DC
Distance: 7.5 miles
Average Pace: 10:08min/mile
Total Miles For June: 34 miles

Laura and I met up with Emma, Donna, Susannah, and someonewhosenameIcan'tremember for a planned 8-miler (or so) on Sunday. It was a group of varying speeds, so we decided we'd just take it easy. We had a walk break request, so on each mile we took a minute walk break and then trucked on. It was nice—we started at Iwo Jima, ran past Memorial Bridge down the 14th Street Bridge, then around a slice of the Tidal Basin and by the Lincoln Memorial before heading up into Georgetown, onto part of the Capital Crescent Trail, then over Key Bridge and through Rosslyn. Donna, Susannah, and the other person (sorry!) slowed down after a bit, but Laura, Emma, and I trucked through to the end. It all went really well...

...well, until we hit Rosslyn and Laura tripped on the curb and wiped out pretty spectacularly. From the sound of the thud, Emma and I were convinced she'd broken something, but thankfully it was just a scrape. Still, that was the end of the run for that day! Otherwise, though, it was a nice run with good company.

Start Time: 6/14/08, 7:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & ~3.5 miles
Total Miles For June: 26.5 miles

Oops! I almost forgot to put last weekend's entries in here...

For our last spring session (the summer ones begin on June 28th), Fred introduced us to the horror that is "Kill Your Partner". We were put into groups of 2-4 runners based on ability, then were sent out on the track with one person taking the lead at a fast clip and the others trying to keep up. This would go on from anywhere between 30 seconds and 3 minutes, at which point Fred would blow his whistle and we'd slow to a jog for the same amount of time that we'd just run. Then the whistle would sound again, and the next person would take the lead, once again for that undetermined amount of time that only Fred would know, and so on.

My group started with me, Paul, Emma, and Courtney. Now, I know that Emma and Paul are both faster than me, and Courtney's got some real strength behind her, so I was feeling a little uneasy about this run. I was person #4, and with Paul being #3 I remember thinking that for my turn it would be all I could do to not just die. As it is, after my round, Courtney dropped back to the next group, saying we were going too fast. Suddenly I felt very, very alone in my relative slowness to them... I kept up with Emma and Paul for almost the entire exercise; on the second-to-last round, though, I started dropping back, about 100 meters behind them. As it was, on the last round the same thing happened to Emma as Paul zoomed off into the sunset. Yeah, he's fast. We did it for 30 minutes, and I certainly felt like I got a good, if really hard, workout. Not knowing how long the bursts are going to last? That's hard for me. Something to work on.

Start Time: 6/10/08, 6:45am
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles & 6 miles
Average Pace: 10:08min/mile & 7:57min/mile
Total Miles For June: 22 miles

Slight break in my running since last Tuesday, alas. On Thursday I ended up helping friends unpack their moving van instead, and I decided that was a good enough leg workout (the new place was on the third floor). Friday through Sunday, not only was I out of town but more importantly one of my calf muscles felt really tight; probably from all those stairs while moving heavy stuff. Since the temperature outside was boiling on the weekend, a lack of running didn't bother me. Monday was rowing and elliiptical, and so today was back to the grind.

With the potential for triple-digit temperatures, coupled with my still vivid memories of what it's like to run on a particularly bad air quality day (it was admittedly code purple instead of today's red, but it felt like I'd been gargling with glass for the next three days) and I opted to run on the indoor track at the gym. It's not ideal, but it meant I got it done. I started the first set a little fast out of the gate, but quickly adjusted. The second set seemed to go by a bit easier, in part because there was someone else on the track that I was passing every quarter mile or so that had made encouraging comments. So often I do better with an audience. (That, and going about 13 seconds per mile slower.)

Certainly a better job overall on maintaining than last week, though!

Warm-Up: 10:24
Set #1: 7:40, 7:58, 7:53 (7:50)
Set #2: 8:05, 8:01, 8:05 (8:03)
Cool-Down: 9:52

Start Time: 6/3/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 2 miles & 6 miles
Average Pace: 10:17min/mile & 8:18min/mile
Total Miles For June: 14 miles

Today's schedule offered some variety in terms of "Make or Break" runs. Up until now it's just been 2x2miles, but in addition to opening up another "Level I" workout (3x2miles), other options were from the Level II workouts (2x3miles and 3x3miles). I decided it was time to belly up to the plate and try one of the tougher-looking ones, so 2x3miles was the winner. Because I was going to run on the Arlington Boulevard Trail, I decided the best option was to make both sets the same route. So mile 1 would be running west and uphill, mile 2 is east and downhill, and then mile 3 is half of each. (I'd turn around halfway and head back early.)

Round 1 wasn't too bad -- I knew the first mile would be the toughest (especially that final quarter mile climb) and I was a little bit tired at the end, but ultimately a victory (8:30, 7:50, 8:07). I stretched a little bit, decided it was enough recovery time, and headed back out. OOF. I didn't feel like I had lost too much ground at first, but that sure caught up with me by the end. (8:41, 8:08, 8:30) Clearly I will need to work on this a bit!

Then again, when I did this workout last week (only just at 2x2mi) my average was 8:14min/mile, and this was 8:18... so, not too bad, I guess.

Start Time: 6/1/08, 10:30am
Location: Mount Vernon Trail
Distance: 2 miles & 4 miles
Pace: 10:03min/mile & 8:29min/mile
Total Miles For June: 6 miles

It's been a long time since I've run on the Mount Vernon Trail; I gave it a try once and really hated it. Too many bicycles that whipped by without any warning, really narrow sections of the trail, and generally speaking a big headache. But it'd been almost three years, and I figured I should give it another shot, if only for variety's sake. My plan was to drive over to Roosevelt Island early, while there's still parking, and head out from there. Unfortunately I was so tired this morning I slept in a couple of extra hours, and I knew it was going to be a humid day. But, it was only 10:30, so despite the lack of shade, I decided to give it a try instead of diverting back over to Rock Creek.

All things said, it wasn't bad. It's still got a lot of cyclists who think it's ok to not warn people they're about to pass (trust me, I had no headphones on, I would've heard a bell or a "passing!" from them), but there were enough that understood how things are done that it wasn't too bad. (I was a little horrified that I only saw one cyclist actually get off their bike and walk it through the two sections where the signs say as much, because of the path being incredibly narrow at that point. It's an accident waiting to happen.) It was supposed to be another 5-7 mile run (including the warm up and cool down miles at either end) and I made it as far as the airport (3 miles in) before deciding I was going to turn around while I still could. (There are some parts around there where there's no shoulder.)

The way I was definitely huffing and puffing a bit, and (so far as I can tell) with no uphill grade as an excuse. Ah well, that's why I'm doing these, to get better at this. Not to bad, all in all. Perhaps the most important thing was that knowing it would be warm, I threw out my pride and wore a racerback tank top that I'd gotten from Pacers. I felt very silly afterwars when I stopped at Giant to get a drink, but otherwise? Not so bad. So maybe I'll keep from baking this summer. We'll see.

Start Time: 5/31/08, 7:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x1200m
Pace: 9:30min/mile & 7:02min/mile
Total Miles For May: 55 miles

(Oops! I actually wrote half of this entry yesterday. Then the power went out briefly due to a thunderstorm and I just this morning remembered I didn't finish it. I'm normally even later with this sort of thing but darn it, I was on time for a change.)

The idea for our latest workout was to run three laps around the track, and to stay on pace throughout the entire run. So at each lap you can gage how you're doing, and try and get back on track. That's when Emma and I learned two important things. First, if I run behind Emma, I find myself speeding up a tiny bit to stay on track with her even though she is going faster than I. And second, if Emma runs in front of me, she starts speeding up a bit to try and stay in the lead. Finally on the last one, she stayed about five paces behind me (and "concentrated on [my] shoes") and lo and behold, perfect pacing. Go figure. (5:15, 5:20, 5:14, 5:16)

Start Time: 5/29/08, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon & Custis Trail
Distance: 5 miles
Average Pace: 8:37min/mile
Total Miles For May: 51 miles

Phew! It's been a couple weeks since I tackled the hills of the Custis Trail; I clearly need to do this a little more often. I ran with a new woman, Stacy, who is from Boston and is super-nice. She definitely pushed me through those hills of death, which is a good thing on the way back! (7:23, 8:25, 8:59, 9:13, 8:50, and 2:53 for the .3 mile) I'd forgotten just how hard those hills are, to be honest, and I'm always relieved when it's over. What doesn't kill me really does make me stronger, in this case.

Also, I finally decided what I'm going to do with my MarathonGreg website; I'll turn it into a WordPress site as well and have a good front page that links to the appropriate races and photos and such. That said, it's going to take a long while to do so. But at least a decision has been made! Once it's converted, I'll add all of these entries into it, but it'll still echo any new posts over here as well.

Start Time: 5/27/08, 7:00am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 2 miles & 4 miles
Average Pace: 10:01min/mile & 8:14min/mile
Total Miles For May: 46 miles

After my previous two make-or-break runs were mostly downhill, or on a flat track, I decided that I needed to be a little tougher. So, the plan was to run on the Arlington Boulevard Trail, where the first mile of the 2-mile repeats would be uphill (as well as the cooldown run), while the second mile of the 2-mile repeats (and the warm-up) would be downhill. And... oooooof. That kicked my butt, big time. Specifically, the uphills; I could just feel myself running out of energy. Each time. I'm glad I did it, though, now that it's over. Clearly I need to add hills back into my running life. Here's how the breakdowns ended up:

warm-up: 9:52
first 2-miler: 8:23, 7:48
second 2-miler: 8:47, 7:59
cool-down: 10:10

Start Time: 5/25/08, 11:00am
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 2 miles & 4 miles
Average Pace: 9:51min/mile & 8:23min/mile
Total Miles For May: 40 miles

Fred had warned us that yesterday's run might leave us a little sore today. I wasn't feeling too bad—my glutes are a little sore, but other than that I was feeling a-ok, which is good because the schedule has a run scheduled for today. I headed out onto the trail, which was clogged with fair-weather runners and cyclists, and did a warm-up mile (9:54) before picking the pace up a bit. It went well; I was a little tired towards the end, but I think I kept pace pretty good (8:35, 8:11, 8:22, 8:23). That said, I sure was glad I was only running 4 miles at that pace instead of 5 because I was a little bit tired. (Some leftover from yesterday afternoon/evening's super-heavy tiredness?) I did my cool-down mile (9:48), stretched for a bit, and went home.