3 x Centennial 1/2 mile Hill Repeats (3:27, 3:25, 3:29) + 35 easy min @ Pineridge
As most Mondays and Thursday go (Hill climb or hill repeat days), I ventured out to take on Centennial hill, for a few repeats. For the first time in a few days it was not windy! And this felt great for a change.
The location where I start these repeats is great because its just a short 1/4 mile uphill jog from a parking lot at Pineridge. Easy access.
I felt pretty good today overall. Nothing major to report on.
After I finished my 3rd repeat I jogged back down into Pineridge for an easy 35 minute run.
An easy run on the dirt always feels good after a hard uphill push on asphalt.
--- Tuesday - 01/24/12 ---
Track Workout - 3 x 1,000m (3:07, 3:08, 3:08) + 32 minutes easy on Foothills trail
2 lap jog warmup and some striders.
Since I had to miss my track workout after work last Tuesday because the CSU track team. I decided to move up my workout to lunch time.
The weather was surprisingly warm, like 60. and it felt great!
There was, however, a solid 15-20 mph head wind on the backstretch. Which meant I would have a headwind 3 times for each of these 1,000m repeats.
My main goal today was to keep each repeat at or close to 5:00 min pace. I wasnt quite sure how that would play out, with the wind and all.
I felt good. I actually felt like I was running slower than a 5 min pace, but as I kept checking my watch...I was right on target.
After work I headed over to Maxwell TH, for an easy 32 minute jog. Basically ran up the hill behind the stadium to Centennial and back down.
--- Wednesday - 01/25/12 ---
Foothills Trail - Easy 35 minutes
After a couple of days pushing out a hard effort both uphill and on the track, an easy day on the trail was needed. I basically ran the same as yesterday afternoon plus a small loop up top, before heading back down.
There was a wicked head wind at the start, like 25 mph. Uggh. But I was just jogging, and so no need to really push myself on an easy recovery day.
--- Thursday - 01/26/12 ---
3 x Centennial 1/2 mile Hill Repeats (Monster Hill) -- 3:20, 3:24, 3:23 + 25min easy on Foothills Trail
Its hard to tell from these pictures, but this is one heck of a hill to run up for hill repeats. A lung buster!
You can see a car in the first photo, and how small it looks in comparison to the overall size of the hill. This hill is actually mile 1.5-2 in the Horsetooth Half Marathon course.
Anyway, after a solid 3:20 first 1/2 mile repeat I was feeling good. I wanted to keep these at about 7 min pace (3:30). And I did, all sub 6:50 pace.
After the third repeat, I ran back down the Foothills trail, ran behind the stadium, to Maxwell TH, and back to my truck at Pineridge for a little trail action.
--- Friday - 01/27/12 ---
Foothills Trail - 56:40
Todays weather was nice, a little chilly, but great running weather. Earlier in the day it snowed a little. More like flurries for an hour before dissipating. Either way, the trails around here were perfect!
Workout went like this:
Maxwell TH > Foothills trail North to North dam (turn around) > Foothills trail South > Shoreline trail > back onto Foothills trail > down the hill and back to Maxwell TH
I felt pretty good today. I wasnt pushing the pace at all, but an easy even keel pace up and over these rolling hills were fun.
Total Time : 56:40
--- Saturday - 01/28/12 ---
Pineridge - 39:30
Fell asleep last night after 1am, then woke up at 3:30am for a random feeding/teething? alarm from Eliana. Then fell asleep and woke up at 7am to the sweet sound of Eliana saying "Dadda, Dadda...", from her crib across the hall. A sound I love to hear first thing in the morning! ....Ahhh, life is good!
I was planning on running a longer run first thing in the morning...but I was..........tired. Super tired.
So I didnt run in the morning. Then I thought that I could run during Eliana's first nap, however as the morning wore on, the sound of a 90 minute nap sounded too good to pass up. ;-)
After my nap, I felt much better and had more energy. And at 4pm, just before the darkness of the evening began to creep up on the day, I got out for a short run out at Pineridge.
--- Sunday - 01/29/12 ---
Easy 30 minutes around the neighborhood @ 8pm.
Another late night last night. Fell asleep somewhere between 1:45am and 2am and woke up by 8am. Ugh. Watched a movie and didnt realize how late it was until I checked the clock at 1am.
Anywho- another tired day. And much like yesterday, I wanted to get out for a 2 hour + run this morning, but didnt have it in the tank. And like yesterday, I opted to take a 2 hour nap (in place of my 2 hour run) during Eliana's nap.
Around 4pm the 3 of us went on a nice walk on the Poudre river trail. Temps today were in the low 60's...simply perfect. And the walk along the river was nice and relaxing.
After dinner and just before Eliana went to bed, around 8pm, I finally got out for an easy 30 minute trot around town. Mostly throughout neighborhoods and side roads. Nothing fancy.
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My hill workouts and track workout went great last week. I felt good on all of them and despite the volume of these workouts being somewhat minimal (which is fine for these winter months), the actual time results and how I felt while running each of them for this time of year is exactly where I want to be.
The weekend didnt go exactly as planned. Lack of sleep and just an overall urge to nap during the day surpassed any effort I wanted to put into a solid long run in the mountains. Although a few easy weekend runs will probably do me good, as long as it doesnt become a habit.
I still havent purchased a new pair of running shoes yet. But its on my list this week!
Also, at some point in the somewhat near future I plan on running a long solo run. I'll probably take a day off work during the week and head out for a 6 hour + run in the local mountain trails. Not sure when I will do this. A lot will depend on my work schedule and the winter weather. But I feel like it is necessary for me to get in a long quality run at some point this winter before I attempt any sorta Ultra come race day this spring or summer.
I wish I could add a run like this to my training every week, but realistically speaking its just not logistically possible.
Here's hoping for more warm days ahead!
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