Thor's Running Journal

2 mile warm up with 3 x2 mi/ .5 mi recovery + cool down Felt much better than I expected. I settled in during the first interval, felt strong for the second, and managed the third 2mi interval with care. It's a good workout when I'm not completely spent because I know that I will be able to recover in time for the next effort a few days later. It also reminded me how much more I enjoy running fewer longer distances rather than more shorter distances (i.e. 12x400 ...yuk). I didn't feel especially motivated to get going out of bed this morning, but I did the calculation in my head and there wasn't going to be another 1.5 hours in the day when I'd be able to get a run in so I might as well just get it done. In case you were under the impression running is all rainbows, there are these occasional days like today when I wake up from a dream of one kind or another and would rather just stay in bed. I'm sure I mentioned this before, but staying in bed just means wastin...

The internet communication crews were out in full force this morning with their trucks and trailers pulling apart strange boxes near the edge of the road and digging shallow holes for one reason or another. It's not the first time I've run into to these crews at work. In fact, it seems as though 3:30am is a fairly regular time for them to get their work done. Their not drilling or making a bunch of noise that would wake the neighborhood and I imagine that corporate did some analysis that showed this would create the least disruption in service.  The crew workers wear hard hats that have lights around the brim to make them look like they are from outer space. Going up in the bucket of the bucket trucks adds to the effect.   We exchanged casual hellos and good mornings. I didn't want to be disruptive but also didn't want to cause a scare when I ran by with my own light up attire. 6 miles. Thursday easy effort. Seeing the workers this morning made me think about how much t...

 The cut off times for Boston Marathon came out. Those running 4:35 under the qualifying time will get invitations to participate. This means 9000 people who ran qualifying times and entered will not be running. It's fair but mysterious math. I mean it's their race and its certainly  the most judicious way to get to run the course, but it certainly feels like I'm aiming at a moving target. It means setting goals and sights much higher than first glance.  goal of 3hrs and 15mins huh? Not good enough. got to run a 3:10:26 I thought maybe I could get to 3:13, but 3:10? That's next level.  Not unreal for this go around given my current training paces, but it would be the ceiling and considering my struggle at mile 20 last year, the smart thing would be to play it more conservative, get into Chicago, and give 3:10 a try then.  As I learned last training cycle nothing is guaranteed which makes it tempting to just go all out with a 3:10 mindset and hope for the best. E...

 Hot foggy morning today for the work out.  2mi wu, x4(1.5 @mp-10sec,800m recovery) 2mi cd.  I wasn't quite sure how it would go considering the way the miles are stacking up now.  Although I pulled this workout off  during my previous training cycles there is still a bit of mental trepidation about how my body will hold up after the 16 miler on Saturday. Focusing felt difficult, but my splits told another story with consistently hitting the same pace for 3 of the 4.  7:05 7:05 6:59 7:05 Not too shabby. Technically I know this too fast, but felt challenged without feeling over extended. I think it feels easier knowing that rest day is coming. Thank goodness for a rest day. Fog made things very atmospheric.   

 Throughout the Christmas season, lights are everywhere on homes. It is one of the most fun times to run around in the wee hours of the morning. That aside, there are still a handful of homes that keep strings of lights up year round. Generally they are color changing so they fade between colors across the spectrum. This morning one of these said houses also had a purple glow in the window. Looking with out looking I noted someone with a bunch of screens that I can only imagine are part of the person's gaming empire. The tricked out computer inside likely cost some hundreds (perhaps thousands?) of dollars to build.  This observation made me think about how running at 2:30am might not be such an out of place hobby after all. I mean, if someone can game at that hour, why not participate in a less sedentary past time? I won't take the time to get into a fight about the appropriateness or inappropriateness of gaming in the early hours of the morning, but I will say the flavor of a...

 I passed two lovers holding hands walking down Shattuck at 2:300am this morning as if it were full day light. Because I run in the dark so often I can tell the difference between a typical object and an atypical "something" along the horizon and I'm especially consciences of things that brake the horizon along the path of the sidewalk. All this is to say I immediately sized up the two figures.  Typically when I come across someone on my early runs (and when I say 'typical' I don't mean often), the individual is solitary. Once a woman carrying a take out container. In another instance I gave a woman quite the fright as she said a rosary. Occasionally there's lady who walks her dogs along Adams Blvd. I never feel frightened when I come across another person mostly because I figure I can out run them. Anyway at first, I couldn't really see if the couple was coming toward me or moving away from my direction. A few more steps it became clear they had their...

I ran through some of the northern neighborhoods. I don't typically go in these subdivisions because getting to them requires running on long stretches of road without sidewalks and typically with cars going at a little faster pace. But at 3am there isn't more than 1 or 2 cars and enough of a shoulder to stay to the side. I can see them (and hopefully they see me) from a long way off because the roads are flat and straight.  The 'strength' part of the work outs started this week. These are longer intervals run at marathon goal pace minus 10 seconds. For example today... [wp] x6 (1mi @mp-10, 400m recovery) [cd] I'm  in a little bit of a quandary about the pacing because, I've been running a little hot for all my paces.  goal marathon pace is 7:24, but in reality, during marathon pace workouts I am consistently hitting 7:14 without straining. During moderate long runs, the goal is 8:05 and I am at 7:50 pretty consistently. Again without feeling out of control, lik...

Although I'm still only half way through the training now, I am entering the " oh don't get injured now" mental state. Having come from a training cycle that fell apart a few months ago I am acutely aware of the many things that could derail this effort. At the same time, forward is the only direction I can go to get to the finish line. It would be nice to just press pause and wait for November 8, but that's not the way it works. Got to love the process they say. Yeah, I guess I do, but I don't have to love it all the time with the same intensity. I have to give myself permission to grumble every now and again so long as it isn't a sustained grumble.  It was the double 10 milers the past two days.  10 miles at easy effort pace on Friday  10 miles at slightly more moderate pace on Saturday I wanted to wait until daylight this morning, but it just didn't work that way and in classic form I decided getting the milage done would be better than staring at t...

 

I think it was a little less than a full moon this morning, but one way or another, it was bright enough to illuminate the running path. This turned out to be a good thing because I got the end of the driveway without my headlamp. 99.9% of the time I go through my getting ready to run routine without error so this doesn't happen, but today fell into that  .1% space. I also didn't put my earbuds back in to the charger so they were low on juice. Nothing worse than earbuds saying "low battery" as I'm trying to finish off x6 800m @5k pace with 400m recovery. I solved this second problem by just letting the earbuds charge during my 2 mile warm up. That worked and my "upbeat tempo pop music radio mix from previously listented to songs" playlist cranked out the tunes.  But back to the moon's illumination. I've run through the moonlight before, and this time around wasn't unique in that sense, but each and every time it fills me with wonder at just h...

  Carts like this one claim to have wheels that lock up when they are removed from the parking lot of the supermarket. If that is the case, a very determined person pushed this cart for three-quarters of a mile just to abandon it in front of YaYa Chicken. I wonder if they recorded it as a Strava activity. It was long run day today, and I had every intention of sleeping in, waking up slowly, and heading out once the sun was up. But all those good intentions went out the window when my body woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. I stared at the clock for a minute, debating whether to try going back to sleep. I knew, though, that I probably wouldn’t—and I’d just end up frustrated that I missed the chance for an early run. So instead, I decided to swing my feet out of bed and put my shorts on one leg at a time. Usually I don't eat before runs, but with a long run I like to put some fuel in my tank so I had half a plain bagel with a bit of almond butter spread ont top Even though I’ve run...

 I started listening to musicals on my runs. I'm a fan of the idea of musical theatre, but frankly not really a fan of musical theatre itself. I don't know it all seems very, dare I say, dramatic? But the idea of creating a story with themes and characters and the use of song for expression impresses me. There is a particular genius in musical theater I can appreciate the way I suppose some people can appreciate the idea of running as a hobby or for fun. But I like challenging myself and trying new things so I've been filling my earbuds with show tunes.  Here is the other neat part. The sound track lengths are about right for various length runs. Oklahoma: 1hr 14 mins / 8-9 miles easy effort miles Sunday in the Park with George: 1 hr 17 mins /8-9 easy effort miles Westside Story: 1 hour 18 minutes / 1mi wu, x7@marathon pace 1mi cd Hamilton: 2hours 22minutes / this is likely going to be two runs Les Misérables: 1hr 44minutes / 12 mile long run Having an audio experience tha...

In August I logged over 220 miles. This is the highest mileage since things took a dip in April. Frankly, I don't think too hard about the total miles that often because I am usually just breaking it down into days. Even when I am looking at daily mileage, I am thinking about the day's goal. Speedwork...easy effort...marathon practice...long run... Just doing what it takes to check off the box for the day. It usually takes until about week 14 before I get to the point of "I don't want to do this any more" and then at that point I figure I only have a few more weeks left so I might as well just get it done. That attitude rarely lasts more than a day or so. More miles are just the outcome of the effort toward the big goal. As awful as it sounds I could run 2000 miles again this year, but if I miss the mark and can't qualify for Chicago (and meet the Boston standard) I'll probably still be a little irritable.  I want to celebrate "the process", and ...