Weekend Update!

I have had about two weeks of detraining and am ready for a two month build up for Twin Cities. This week I only ran 12 miles during the work week.

Tuesday: I ran a total of 4 miles from my house, around Joe Walker, and back. I went without a watch but felt like it was about 7:45 pace.

Friday: I ran 8 miles around Quartz Hill on my hill workout loop. The goal: push 3xhalf mile hills in the middle of the run (up 70th, up 65th, and up 60th). The toughest climb is up 65th between M and M-8. It is a really good workout, and the rest of the run is at an easy pace (1 min slower than marathon pace). I completed the 8 miles in 1:02:10 for an average pace of 7:46.

Saturday: Andi and I met Clay, Zac, and Dale on Ave. S and the aqueduct at 5:45 am(a stretch of aqueduct that I was not familiar with). It was a 2.5 mile stretch that we ran out and back on twice. The goal of the workout was a fast finish. We all ran together for the first 5 miles in 42:25 (avg 8:29 pace), then picked it up on the back 5. I decided to run the last five with this progression (2 at marathon pace, 1 about 15 seconds faster, and the last two with whatever I had left). The last five mile splits were 7:15, 7:05, 6:28, 6:15, 6:04. My second half was 33:07 (avg pace 6:37). I was running slightly over AT Pace and could feel the lactate building in my legs after about a mile at that faster pace. It was probably a little too fast (see Sunday's workout). See Clay's blog for the group photo. Total time was 1:15:34 for 10 miles (avg pace 7:35). Andi averaged 7:30-7:40 pace on the way back for a total time of just over 1:20!

Sunday: Andi and I met Clay and Dale at 60th and the aqueduct at 5:30 am for an 8 mile recovery run. This is the most weekend mileage (18 miles) that Andi has done in over 3 years. She we just got back and she is already asleep on the couch. We averaged 8:40 pace and even I was sluggish today from the previous 2 days of workouts.

Special thanks to Jon and Louise Fitch who have stayed with the boys while Andi and I have run together 2 days in a row now! We are both ready for a day off tomorrow.

Next weekend Clay and I are going to a Perform Better Seminar called Funcitonal Training Summit in Long Beach, CA. Stay tuned to see how creative we can be in also getting our workouts in.