Oct 6, 2007

focusing on running

On Wednesday I did a 4 mile run with some hills after work. Luckily it stopped raining right before I got home so I stayed dry. As usual these days it took almost 2 - 3 miles to even warm up but even so I felt pretty good. No issues with my legs or feet which was really nice. Since it was such a short run I tried to keep the pace up a bit higher than I usually do - in the end it took me 32:39 min which was a nice 8:08 min/mile pace.

On Thursday Kyle and I flew out to Sun Valley for a mini vacation and visit with his Dad so I did not do a work out. Friday we woke up to it snowing pretty hard so we hung out in the kitchen and had a relaxing breakfast. Later we went into town and found out that most of the bike shops had already sold most of their rental bikes... Not to mention it was still snowing till the late afternoon. We considered running but instead we wondered around town and took it easy. It was probably for the best anyway since we are up at elevation and another day to acclimate could only help.

On the other hand this morning we woke up to sun... and oh 23 degree temps and snow still on the ground. So we waited till it warmed up to go for a run. By 1pm it was only 40ish but still sunny which worked. Kyle and I headed out and Kyle's dad came with us on his bike. I wore capris, a wind jacket, long sleeve shirt, a beanie hat, and gloves. It was perfect for the first two miles and slowly I started getting to warm, so first the gloves came off, then the jacket even though the first 5 miles were into a headwind.
We headed from the house down to the trail that run through the entire valley. the trail is amazing, perfect asphalt and an amazing view the entire way. We headed up the valley and into the headwind so that we could run down hill with a tailwind on the way back. This made mile 2 through 5 a challenge. The first couple miles I had a bit of hard time keeping my breathing under control - it was hard to talk. Luckily by mile 3 to 4 I got into my groove and my breathing evened out. I ran out to mile 5 and then headed back - I felt good - no foot or leg pain.
The rest of the way back was good - I just cruised along at my pace - though I did do a couple really short pick ups just for fun and to keep things interesting. Though I had a hard time maintaining very long before I ran out of breath. I felt good all the way back up the hill to the house even though on the final hill my heart rate reached my max and I had to walk a few steps to drop it - but only a few steps before I got back to running.
In all I'm happy with the run - 10 miles in 1:34:39 which was an average pace of 9:24 with elevation, some hills, headwind and cold temps. The best part is no real pain to speak of for the entire distance :) I feel good.

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