Running Week - Jan. 22nd to 28th - Because I can.

[Grog]

Great job Oakleaf!

I'm of for my last very long run (for me) before my half-marathon. Will report!

[froglegs]

3.1 on the dreadmill today. I just cannot get myself to run outside when there is wind, rain, and thunder.

[OakLeaf]

That's wise Frog. Here in the lightning strike capital of the USA, they're constantly reminding everyone that if you can hear thunder, you're in range of being struck, even if you can't see the lightning.

[Grog]

It's cool to read that many have discovered that they can run more than they thought this week! I also did that last week with six running days in a row. On the last day I thought I would just stop and sit on the sidewalk right then, so I think I will stick to five days a week for now!

Although I'm sure that it would be different (read: worse), I think I have a vague feeling of what the 20-mile wall in a marathon feels like.

I went for a long and slow run yesterday, 22 km with as low a heart rate as I can manage running (including on hills, which was a challenge). I wanted to give myself a little bit of a break because I had a tough intervals session on Saturday. I think I had run 22 km before, but never so slowly. It's great to run slowly, but it takes a long time, thus my joints got more tired I guess. I also had to be careful as a lot of the surfaces were quite frosty and some downright iced up.

The last 3 km were really unpleasant. Plus, I had needed to empty my bladder since km 12, had waited to get out of the woods (lots of people) and off to the beach (possibility of unlocked change rooms), only to find that all the beach restrooms were locked up. Really annoying, but another motivation to get home, so I picked up the pace on the last hill!

The cool thing is that on the 22 km loop I saw a couple of people, one local road racer on his mountain bike and another runner, whom I had also seen yesterday, two times at two opposite points on the loop. It makes for a more cheerful "good morning!"

This was my 18k+ run before my February 17 half-marathon. I'll take a week of active rest now.

[teigyr]

Just sayin' it so I'll do it. I wish I had trailrunning shoes but at least my running shoes aren't brand new and clean. It's dirty out there! I guess I won't do the 8 miles I was planning on and I'll do something closer to 3 or 4. Ok, off to run. Accountability and all.

[KSH]

Some of you ladies are gonig to... ... at this... but yesterday I had a 88 minute run scheduled... it was foggy and 32 degrees... so I went to the gym and hit the treadmill. I'm just not that hardcore when it comes to being cold.

I am trying to take up speed/race walking... so I decided to do this run with intervals of 5 minutes of walking and 2 minutes of running.

When I walked I had the treamill on 4.6/13:00 minute mile. When I ran it was on a 4.6/4.8, 10:20 minute mile.

After 88 minutes I did 7.25 miles with an overall 12:08 minute mile. On my long runs I would do around a 12 minute mile. So, I'm happy.

[teigyr]

3.5 slow, mushy, painful miles. Running in the snow wasn't so bad but in the bits of part snow, part thaw/mud it was kind of interesting. I don't know if it was just me or if my running style was changed due to the snow but I was slogging. It was almost like the my body was completely out of fuel or something.

Anyway, at least I did it! And I am grateful that it is over