Category: exercise

• Monday: Rest day.
• Tuesday: 2 miles, 6×1:30 AI, 2 miles
• Wednesday: 3 miles, or rest day.
• Thursday: 4.5 miles + 6 GP
• Friday: Rest day.
• Saturday: 6.5 miles
• Sunday: 4.5 miles

Wow! I beat the Burnside!

Caleb, Becky and I left the Forestry Center at 8:00 AM sharp. The course was beautiful, and you couldn’t have asked for a nicer morning for a run. Becky quickly left Caleb and I in the dust. I got the feeling that Caleb could have gone faster but kept pace with me.

The first couple of hundred meters or so were uphill, and there was at least one surprise uphill near Council Crest Park, but for the most part it was downhill, in places very steeply downhill. A fun, fast course, although, once again, I tried to maintain a steady even pace.

As Caleb and I approached the bridge, because of the angle, it looked like it was already up! I hadn’t remembered that the bridge itself curves up and over the river. About halfway up the slope, I saw people waving flags and thought that was the finish line, and started running faster; I always try to sprint to the finish (or at least lumber along faster)! But when I crested the hill, I saw that the actual finish line was down further, another couple hundred meters. Argh! Trickery! Of course, in hindsight, it makes sense; since the bridge is being raised at 9 AM sharp, you don’t want people standing around on the part that goes up.

The race isn’t professionally timed (not sanctioned by the USAT&F) so I don’t know what my official time was. I’m not sure if I’m going to post the results on my Trophy Page or not. But I saw the clock as I finished and it read almost exactly 8:46 AM, which would make this my first 8K and my fastest 8K ever! That translates into a 9:15 pace! Whoo-HOO!

Caleb crossed the finish line just seconds ahead of me (he saw me running faster and his competitiveness kicked in!) and Becky finished in about 42 minutes! Go, Team Saponified!

Pictures are up in my Flickr gallery.

OK, broke my training again today. Should have done 6 miles, per the Runner’s World 10K Training Plan for Beginners, but, dammit, I only did 4 miles. I’m worried about totally killing myself in the Beat the Burnside tomorrow morning, even though I keep reassuring myself that “I’m only using the BtB as a training run”.

Yeah. It’s not sinking in. The course tomorrow has 650 feet of elevation drop in 5 miles! It’s going to be tougher than the Mt. Tabor Challenge!

Anyway, the 4 miles were a bit tough, probably because of the 4 miles I did yesterday in Tryon Creek State Park (see previous post). I’m pushing myself… but am I near the limit? Or over the limit? Or do I have lots of room left before I hit the limit?

Time will tell.

I ran my 4 miles last night. But I didn’t do the 3 “gentle pickups”. Why? Because I ran with friends, and instead of wanting to run somewhere nice and flat where I could do my training stuff, they wanted to run in Tryon Creek State Park.

Sure it’s beautiful up there, and since it was so hot yesterday it was nice to run in the shade and on the trails, and sure the hills give me a good overall workout… but I did only part of what my training plan was and that mildly frustrates me.

I’m supposed to run 6 miles today but, hoo-boy I am achy all over and don’t know why. Shoulders, arms, back, legs… ears are stuffed up, too. Maybe I’m coming down with a cold? Aw, man. Summer colds are the worst! I hope I’m not, I hope I’m not, I hope I’m not…

Arrrgh! I didn’t run yesterday as scheduled. I didn’t run because for some reason I thought Thursday was a rest day. I was supposed to do 4 miles + 3 “gentle pickups”. I’ll have to do them today, which is going to make for a tough weekend: I’m scheduled to run 6 miles on Saturday and then I’ll be running the “Beat The Burnside 8K” on Sunday (about 5 miles). Hmmm…

I’ll tell you, I wasn’t looking forward to running tonight, at all. I was pretty energetic today at work, even playful at times (the weekend at the beach really helped to recharge my batteries), I got a bunch of stuff done, but by the time I got home I was dragging a bit. Might have been the warm weather, or it might have been my lack of calories today (medium breakfast, medium lunch, no dinner after I got home)… could have been a lot of things, I guess. But an hour or two after getting home, I was in bed napping.

Got up around 8:00 PM, though, and forced myself to get into my running shorts and shoes and head out the door. Today was the “2 miles, 4×1:30 AI, 2 miles” routine. Once I finished my warm up and started running, I surprised myself at how easily I fell into a decent pace. My training instructions tell me to go easy, keep it slow, go for endurance… but I swear I was keeping a 9:00 – 9:30 pace without getting winded. My legs and feet felt light as feathers. It was great!

I finished the first two miles in no time, then started my intervals. Again, I was flying along at a great clip! And it took me much less time than the last time I did intervals (two weeks ago) to completely recover, maybe two minutes total.

Then the two miles home again, and I purposely ran a route that had me going uphill for at least the last half-mile, and I still felt so strong and fast. Tired, but a good tired.

I hope this isn’t just a random variation. I’m going to chalk it up to my training routine kicking in. I’ll bet I’m going to kick some serious ass on the “Beat the Burnside” run this weekend! Whoo-HOO!

• Monday: Rest day.
• Tuesday: 2 miles, 4×1:30 AI, 2 miles
• Wednesday: 3 miles, or rest day.
• Thursday: 4 miles + 3 GP
• Friday: Rest day.
• Saturday: 6 miles
• Sunday: 4 miles

Since I lost a day to my sore ankle last week, here’s what my schedule for this week looks like:

Training Schedule for week of 7/5 – 7/11

• Monday: Rest day.
• Tuesday:
• Wednesday: 2.5 miles, Waterfront/Esplanade
• Thursday: 3 mile run in my neighborhood
• Friday: 4 miles (Four Parks Run) + 3 GP
• Saturday: Rest day.
• Sunday: 5.5 miles at the beach!

Ran three miles last night. Around my neighborhood. Yay.

Didn’t keep track of time. Just wanted to work on endurance. I did have to stop a bit, but it was when I crossed Tacoma Street near the Sellwood Bridge. I have to stop for traffic.

Exercise update: Ran 2.5 miles on the waterfront last night. Kept at an easy pace, didn’t go too fast but also didn’t have to stop and walk at all. Wanted to go easy on my ankle.

I know, I know, I was supposed to do the 2 miles + 4 x 1:00 AI + 2 miles, but I didn’t. I went back and checked the printed version of the training schedule and it wasn’t in there, either, so I think it’s not a typo.