Elite Jogging For Dummies

This morning I took Jack on a tour of 11th Avenue and Memory Grove. It seems Jack is much heavier than the last time I pushed him or I am much more out of shape. In any event, the run was slow. Going up Virginia Street to 11th was a bit of a pain, even taking the Shriners route. We stopped in Memory Grove and played around for a few minutes, which was fun. On the return I pushed the stroller up the super steep section on 3rd Avenue between Canyon Road and B Street.  In the middle of the hill Jack said "Dada, run?" I guess he could feel that the pace had slackened considerably.

Black Sheep workout at East High Track. It was one of those mornings where the idea of a workout just doesn't seem like great plan until it gets underway. I think that is the value of doing speedwork with a group--it gives you some extra incentive and motivation to do something that, on your own, you may not want to do. You just have to suck it up and do your part to help the group through its collective pain.

Johanna was coaching today and when she announced the workout I wanted to go home. After a 1.3 mile warm up and a lap of strides, this was the plan: 1 x 400, 1 x 800, 2 x 400, 1 x 800, 3 x 400, 1 x 800, 4 x 400, 1 x 800, 5 x 400. So, if you're keeping score that means 15 x 400 with 4 x 800 thrown in for fun. The first 400 was slow, after that I was basically running very consistently 81-82 seconds. The 800s varied a bit, with an outlier of 3:04 for the first and a fastest of 2:49. So those were a bit easier. The last 400 was 72 just to celebrate almost being done.

The group started with 21 runners today and there were just a handful finishing the workout. That kind of attrition means that it was probably a pretty good workout.

I ran a couple of laps for cool down and headed home.

The East XC team was meeting up at the track today too but they headed over to Sugarhouse park. I hope Bill didn't have a track workout planned that we stifled with our vast numbers.

I had limited time this morning and was only able to swim 1000m at Steiner.  Ran into Johanna who was just starting her own workout in the pool, a 3000+m painfest.

I dragged my body out of bed at 5:05, got ready, and drove to Holladay to meet at Divas for the Mansion/Canal tour. This group runs a brisk pace that rarely dips below 7min except maybe for the section along the canal path which is fairly unpredictable, especially in the dark. We ran a couple of long surges that hurt. My legs had not fully recovered from Tuesday's workout so I probably overdid it a little. My knee hurts a bit too, but not terribly bad. It occurred to me this morning that one of the benefits of high mileage is that you recover more quickly from day to day. Since I don't have that fitness now and can't expect the same results.  An enjoyable run overall.

I swam 1800m at Steiner.

I flew up to Portland, Oregon on Friday afternoon for a family event.  I got up at around 6:45 and got out the door for a little about 45 minutes later.  From the start of the run I had knee pain almost the entire time.  The route was quite nice, even though it was sunny there was shade all over the place because of the amazing trees.  I ran through some neighborhoods and along a minor arterial route in the Milwaukie area. The knee, however, was a real concern the whole route. I think it's the combination of a slight increase in mileage the last few weeks combined with quite a bit more intensity.  I should know better!