Start Time: 4/19/08, 7:30am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1.25 miles & 4x100m
Total Miles For April: 6.5 miles

I took two weeks off of running after the Cherry Blossom disaster, which felt really nice. I did a lot of rowing, elliptical, and spinning to stay active, but stopped pounding the pavement. But, last Saturday everything started back up again. We ran about a mile and a quarter in our warm-up (including up and down the bleachers! Ugh!) and did a bunch of drills (butt-kicks, knee-highs, cross-overs). We then ran four 100m drills, each one faster than the previous, which was fun. (22:88, 19:94, 16:56, 14:11) The plan was to then run a timed 1-miler, but another group was also using the track and it was too crowded so that part was postponed until next week. Oh, darn.

Start Time: 1/12/08, 8:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x100m & 200m/400m/800m/400m/200m

Saturday was another group session with Empowered & Fit. After a mile warm-up, we did four 100m runs progressively faster (forgot to time those, oops). Then we did a pyramid: 200 meters, then 400 meters, then 800 meters, then 400 meters, then 200 meters. And for each run, we were supposed to transition every quarter of the distance and get progressively faster. It was fun, if hard. It was great to have Emma there, acting as a rabbit in front of me and pushing me through the end each time. I like having someone a little faster than me there for an event like this, because it really pushes me hard. (0:45, 1:31, 3:33, 1:33, 0:37)



Start Time: 1/14/08, 6:30pm
Location: McLean High School
Distance: 2 miles & 12x200m

"Oh, don't worry, Greg. McLean High School's track is lit at night."

Well, it isn't. Argh. Still, ran my warm-up mile (9:34), then with a deep breath... started 12 200-meter repeats. Ugh. That's four more than I'm used to, but I was able to ramp things up pretty well... ok, #11 not so much, but all in all, I was pleased. (50.15, 49.11, 43.43, 43.71, 43.15, 40.35, 40.99, 40.38, 39.45, 39.32, 41.42, 40.03) And then afterwards, amusingly, the cool-down mile? Kind of fast. (8:35) Funny how it's all relative.

Start Time: 1/5/08, 8:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x100m & 4x400m

Saturday's session was the return to our group workouts, hurrah! For this run we started off with four 100meter runs, the idea that each one pushing a little harder and in a slightly tougher zone. (20.13, 18.06, 16.30, 15.02) Then, we were to replicate those four zones over the course of 400meter repeats, with each quarter of the track faster than the one before. It was fun but tough, ratcheting each segment up a little more. While my times decreased for the second and third, my transitions were getting stronger each time, and it made sense that I was a tiny bit more pooped with each one.

For the fourth, though, Fred said that our goal was to go faster than the first. And... much to my surprise... I did! Hurrah! (1:31, 1:34, 1:40, 1:28)


Start Time: 1/7/08, 6:30pm
Location: Custis Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average Pace: 9:19min/mile

Back in the day, I used to regularly run part of the Custis Trail as part of a group workout. (About a mile and a quarter of its distance, then back.) But it had been a while, and the weather was so fantastic on Monday that I decided I'd go tackle an 8-miler on the Custis Trail.

Ooooooof.

When I ran with the group on Tuesdays and Thursdays, my times on Thursdays would always be much faster than Tuesdays, and this was no exception with a 9:19 average, even as I felt I was putting in an 8:30/8:45 amount of effort. Phew. That'll learn me! (9:10, 9:12, 9:04, 9:30, 9:07, 9:22, 9:20, 9:47)

Oops! Whole bunch of updates here.

Start Time: 12/13/07, 6:30pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 6 miles
Average Pace: 8:49min/mile

Start Time: 12/15/07, 8:00am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 4x200m & 3x400m

Start Time: 12/17/07, 6:30pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles & 8x200m

Start Time: 12/22/07, 3:45pm
Location: W&OD Trail
Distance: 8 miles
Average Pace: 9:16min/mile

Start Time: 12/24/07, 9:30am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 2 miles & 8x200m

Start Time: 12/25/07, 4:00pm
Location: Vienna, VA
Distance: 5.8 miles
Average Pace: 9:12min/mile

( Read more... )

Start time: 12/2/07, 8:30am
Location: Sidwell Friends School
Distance: 1 mile & 6x100m

Start time: 12/4/07, 6:30pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 2 miles & 6x200m
Average pace: 43sec

Start time: 12/6/07, 3:00pm
Location: Thomas Jefferson Community Center
Distance: 5 miles
Average pace: 8:34min/mile

Start time: 12/8/07, 8:30am
Location: Washington-Lee High School
Distance: 1 mile & 200/400/600/800m

Oops... haven't put the last couple of these in here. I've been starting a new speed training ("explosive running") program for the winter, and I'm not entirely sure how to categorize a lot of these. But it's been fun. Our first session we ran a warm-up mile, then did some running exercises involving "butt-kicks", "high knees", and "form runs". Then we did six 100-meter runs, with the idea that each one got progressively faster. It was really enjoyable, but hard; I could feel it in my quads the next day!

Next up that Tuesday was six 200 meter fast runs, once again, trying to get each one a little faster. My fifth one slowed down a bit but I did recover in the end. I must say, though, having a 200 meter track to run it on is a little less than enjoyable. All those curves! (45.38, 44.57, 43.47, 42.00, 44.00, 42.06)

Thursday was a slower, enjoyable 5-mile run. It snowed out so it was back to the indoor track for me... but after all those speed drills, just having a breather was good.

On Saturday after some warm-ups and running exercises, we ran 200m, then 400m, then 600m, then 800m. The idea was to do them at a faster pace but to also maintain that pace through all four of them. Mine slipped a tiny bit for the third and fourth, but not too drastically so. (0:50, 1:41, 2:38, 3:33.) For the 800m we were supposed to try and speed up for the second half and I did accomplish that, so that was good. It's been a very different running experience, but I'm actually looking forward to more torture drills ahead!

Start time: 7/1/03, 7:30pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 1.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:00min/mile

Nothing cuts a planned 3-miler in half quicker (or speeds up that home stretch) than a potty emergency. Oh well.

Start time: 5/26/03, 6:30pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 1.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 14:00min/mile

Well, I don't know if it was because of sitting in the car for four hours on the way up to Pennsylvania on Saturday and then four more on the way back today, or something completely different, but my calves were positively screaming at me when I tried to go running today. I mean, it was pretty bad; I finally cut it short and even then my pace slowed to a crawl. Which, in retrospect, meant I was going too fast early on for it to have evened out as much as it did. Bleah. I better not be getting shin splints again... *sigh*

Start time: 3/2/03, 7:30pm
Location: Treadmill
Activity: Running
Distance: 1.5 miles?
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 14:30min/mile

Well, February was a disaster. Snow, snow, more snow, and still more snow helped a laziness that extended through an entire month. Yeesh. So today I promised myself that I'd start up again. By the time I'd gotten everything done that I needed to during the day, though, it was already getting cooler, so I figured I'd use my parents's treadmill.

Ugh.

I hate the treadmill under the best of circumstances, but this was an absolute nightmare. A mile into the run (I'd planned on doing three), my lower back started hurting. And hurting. And hurting. Half a mile of that was all I could take; it wasn't going away and all enjoyment had gone out of the proverbial window. I'm not proud of calling it quits, but I think it was the right thing to do.

It's going to be an uphill battle to get back to where I was, though, that's for certain.