A Giant's Foray

Did eight miles on the treadmill to celebrate finishing my first law school final. Went 7:30, 7:10, 6:50 and 6:30 two mile chunks, incorporating some incline. I hate the treadmill, but the time I got out of school, it was already dark and cold, so I avoided the outdoors. Felt good, might have pushed it a little hard on the last mile, but didn't really pay for it after in the legs.

Recovery, from the apartment to Green Lake, around the outer ring, and back. Clearly have to start working on my form to eliminate heel striking, but its going well. Went about an 8:15 split,  heart rate was at ~135 or less the whole time, which was nice to see. 

Was planning on doing two-mile intervals around the track, but I had another final today, and dusk was approaching when I finally left the confines of Sullivan Hall. Seattle's been in a bit of a cold spot as of late, and while it wouldn't be an unseasonably chilly set of temperatures for much of the rest of the country, my spoiled sea-side bones have had trouble adjusting to the oncoming Winter.

 So the treadmill it was, where I decided to just put in some good miles at recovery and be done with it sooner rather than later. Set the clock for 45 minutes, and adjusted the pace as my heartrate fluctuated; goal was to be stable from 130-135, and I was able to keep this pretty consistently until the last half mile, where didn't want to slow down. Had a good chat with the guy next to me in the gym about our collegiate sport exploits (he played b-ball, I rowed), and enjoyed myself as much as possible on the treadmill. Watch read 5.67 miles at completion (via foot pod). Did a 5 minute spin cool-down, and hit the showers.

 Was able to go out to dinner with the family (bro/gf, sis, mom and dad) to celebrate Mom's birthday. Costas Opa in Fremont has tremendous Greek food, with huge serving sizes; I've got enough for lunch tomorrow!

Can't wait to get done with finals, so I can properly focus on setting training up. Tomorrow I'm going to make up my missed track date for today, so that should be good times! Love going faster.

Did 3x2-mile around the track at Nathan Hale. Started off with a half mile warmup, did a few drills and a little stretching, and quickly got started, as it was freezing cold outside. I just got arm warmers in the mail today, and despite wearing a singlet and arm warmers underneath a tech shirt, I was really feeling the chill. Got started a couple hours later than I had wanted, as well.

 Here's the raw data: 

Interval 1 (7:14, 7:16, 14:30 total): Goal was 7:20/mile, so started out a little fast, but close enough that I wasn't really worried about anything.

 Interval 2 (6:56, 6:58, 13:54 total): Was aiming for 7:00, got reasonably close. Was feeling really limber after these miles. Now that I have a long-term goal that allows me to improve gradually, I'm not feeling pressured by calendar days to push myself beyond what I should. 

Interval 3 (6:31, 6:07, 12:38 total): Well, out goes that whole not pushing myself thing. While it felt great to push myself a little (it was the first time I've broken 13:00 on two miles, though the last time I tried was 5 years ago), it was stupid to do. Thankfully I realized with a lap left that I was being unreasonable, and slowed my pace. Glad to see I can run that fast while still having a decent amount left in the tank!

 Then it was home for shower and a nice burrito dinner, self-prepared of course with brown rice, lean ground turkey, a little sharp cheddar, and some great  homemade salsa from mom. Time to hit the books for a few hours and prep myself for Property on Monday! Easy run tomorrow, and I'm swimming ~5000 yards with my friend and classmate David. Should be a good day!

Really basic treadmill run, 45:00. Spent 15 straight hours in the law library, and didn't feel like freezing outside. Felt smooth, forgot my heart rate monitor, so the 5.7 is an estimate (the treadmill estimate is way off). Looking forward to a 10+ mile run tomorrow, though!

Went on my first long run since the Seattle Half Marathon, and was ecstatic with how it went. My goal for these long runs is to hit somewhere between 7:30-8:00/mile, so not a hard pace at all, just working on getting distance in. I'm playing around with my course, because I got bored of running flat laps around Green Lake, and I felt it hurt me on the hills in the Seattle Half. So with that, onwards and upwards!

 Grabbed a Clif shot shortly before running, as I haven't had the chance to eat well today (law studies continue). Headed out down Ravenna Blvd., and did the outside ring of Green Lake at 7:15-7:20, which was really comfortable, and about what I was hoping for, as I knew the hills were going to slow me down. I then took Latona to 5th, went up 80th, and then ran from Roosevelt to Northgate. This stretch is pretty brutal, with 300 feet of elevation gain in a mile and half, followed by a 200 foot drop in the next half mile. Taking Northgate to 15th, I looked up at the hill I had to climb and cringed, and ended up climbing another 200 feet in 2/3 of a mile. From there it was all downhill, save a little elevation at the end, but this was pretty tough on my legs.

The advantage of ending with all the downhill was that I felt great cardiowise, once I finally hit my apartment at 9.64 miles, in 1:12:49, a 7:33. Was looking to do a 10-mile run, and with simple estimates (ie me guessing) I got close enough. Really happy with the split, as I was cruising the whole time, and the hills were quite brutal. Legs were a fair bit stiffer than I was hoping for, but I'm actually feeling pretty good a little bit after.

 One final note, for some reason I thought it was like 25 or something, so I bundled up, as I can't stand the cold. Had a singlet and arm warmers with a long-sleeve tech, a hat, and some lightweight gloves. Of course it was actually like 40-42 outside, so had to pocket the hat by mile 1.5, roll the warmers up by mile 5, and shed the long-sleeve (I tied it around my waist, looking  like a silly man) at around 8.5. As much as I hate the cold, it really wasn't that cold. Hope that continues!

 Alright, enough procrastinating! Onwards and upwards to more thrilling property law! 

Treadmill run with some incline thrown in. Same splits as last week, got it done a little earlier so I did some cooldown. Gym water was shut off, so I didn't have a water bottle which frustrated me a little, as I'm definitely a sweater. Muscles are a little tight; I think I need to get some new shoes. These beasts probably have close to 500 miles on them at this point. 

 Saw my dad at the gym on the stairstepper and lifting biceps, which was nice, as I haven't talked to him in a few days. Made sure he knew I wasn't going crazy doing finals. 

 So now, I'm just working on getting the mileage up while maintaining my splits, and looking for dividends to come! This week, I'll probably be sub-40, as I've got a murderer's row of tests, but next week and beyond... I'm truly excited. Looking for a 5k to crack 20, and the elusive 10k, which, for some reason, Seattle has far fewer of.

 That's all! Test tomorrow, so I should study, or I won't be sleeping tonight. 

2-mile intervals x 3, with 800m rest. Aimed for 7:20, 7:00, and 6:40 splits respectively. Trying to do this by feel, without glancing at the watch until the end of the run, and of course I went fast, at 7:03, 6:55, and 6:19 respectively. Need to get my feel better. Knee had a slight sharp pain, though I bonked it against a desk earlier today, so I think that's the probable cause.

 Good run on the whole! 8.5 hours until my last final, and I'm probably going to be awake for at least half that time! No more procrastination, I swear! 

Basic treadmill run. Was going to go outside, but missed weights yesterday, so I did weights just before the run. Felt solid, tossed a fast mile in there in the middle for a change of pace. Looking forward to the long run tomorrow.

Ouch... was terribly stiff for this one. Had more than 700 feet each of ascent and descent; pretty much everything after the first 4.2 miles was climbing and going down hills, but I did decently enough that I can't really complain. Ended up going 1:23:17, without really pushing anything, though I was definitely really stiff getting back to the apartment. None of the major aches and pains that I've had traditional problems with, but just tightness in general. Felt much better after a long shower.

 I will say one thing though... after a solid diet for three months, I headed to the Seahawks football game and today, and lunched on half an order of garlic fries, and had a hot dog with cream cheese and onions as I left the stadium. I can say without a doubt that I will never eat that garbage the day I have a run again. 

No running today, went swimming for the first time in awhile with my buddies David and Brent. Its been a few weeks, since before finals, and David's been a monster in the pool since then. I was definitely weaker than I've been in the last few months, but David was lapping me on 400s. Yikes.

Did one mile warmup and one mile cooldown, with 8 "treadmill miles". Felt a lot out of it, as my sleep schedule is suffering, but feel great. Tired legs at the end, but not sore. Very good sign.

Simple easy run; 6.28 miles in 50:10. Went a little faster from 5-6 than I intended on going, because I was in front of a faster runner on a narrow shoulder of busy arterial, and felt bad holding him up; other than that, relaxing and easy, with some hills tossed in just for the sake of it.

 This is a pretty big week for me in terms of mileage upping,  but I haven't felt any pain at all. Legs weren't even really tired, and I'm comfortable enough with the mileage that how I feel after a run is actually based on how long/hard that run was, and not building chronic pain. This is a very good thing. 

Nice run, felt supreme. Finished in 1:10:54, a 7:56 average. Last couple miles dragged off a little bit, but I held what felt comfortable as an aerobic pace until the, last mile, when it started getting pretty chilly and I just wanted to be done. This replaced the 2-mile track intervals I had been doing. I definitely feel much better after the run yesterday than after what I've been feeling doing on intervals. 

Ran in just a singlet and shorts, and felt great, as the sun was shining and it wasn't too cold... for about a mile and a half. Pushed the pace faster than I should've in an effort to stay warm. Ready for a great family Christmas dinner! Bring it on, roast!

 Totals: 6.37 miles, 7:25 pace, 47:18. 

Oh man, felt supreme today. Lots, and lots, and lots of hills on this one, but felt invincible until the last quarter or mile or so, when my legs started getting really stiff. Downhill for about 1.25 miles, a simple level loop for about 3 miles, and then huge ups and downs the rest of the way. Total elevation gain/drop of 787, total time 1:31:39, average split of 7:49, almost all of it basic aerobic.

 We'll see how I feel tomorrow, but at this rate, I'll be hitting every run at 8+ miles by February. Amusing to think that in the buildup to the Seattle Half-Marathon a month ago, I had done a total of 7 runs of 8+ miles in 3 months of training. I've done 4 runs that length in the last 7 days, and pretty soon will be doing 6 a week. The running's going well, now I just need to maintain healthy sleep and diet habits! 

Didn't feel nearly as good today... legs are straight up tired after the long-run from yesterday. Ran at an 8:04 pace, as I was simply pretty toasted. Going to enjoy the day off, and love me some swimming and weights tomorrow. 

Nothin' but about 2500 yards in the pool. Some real easy stuff with my friends David and Brent; will probably go again tomorrow, in addition to the run, as my legs feel a trillion times better after swimming. 

Did this one outside; going to try and do all of my runs outside, as the weather has been unseasonably non-rainy and sunny. Just did the run down to and around Green Lake twice, and back to the apartment. Started inexplicably slowing down on the second lap (no clue why, I wasn't remotely tired), but got out of that funk. Probably had something to do with the swim workout I did today; hard to get back in the pool after a month of taking it easy. 8.94 in 1:10:35, 7:53 pace. Green Lake laps of 25:40 and 25:22. Probably need to slow it down a little, especially over the last .25-.5 miles (which are they only uphill portions of the entire run), but it felt good.

Legs are still tired and a little achey, but they're adjusting well to the increased mileage, nothing is getting worse, and I'm definitely feeling better. I think I'm going to try and avoid hills until I'm able to handle 60+ miles without a problem, as my knees were a little shell-shocked after the last couple weeks of long runs.

Really basic run involving Green Lake again. Probably going to the structure of almost all of my running, as the course has a mostly dirt path around the outside, and grass to run on most of the way to and from my apartment. Still pretty tired at the end, going up the final hill, despite not really feeling too tired during the flat parts. I'll have to watch my effort level. 7:53 pace, probably a little faster than I should've gone, but wasn't too rough.

Basic run, felt tremendous, was zooming around Green Lake its my job. Finished 9.01 miles in 1:08:48, a 7:38 pace, without really breaking a sweat until I got up the final hills, when I started getting tired. Boy oh boy is it getting mucky out there!