Misty Tempo

I'm leaving for the east coast on Thursday (whoohooo!!) so I'm trying to cram my runs in before I go. I suspect there will be much merriment and not much running in the 10 days I am home. My goal is to get three runs in next week at home, with no long run. Sarah and I start marathon training on Jan 4th so I'm thinking this will be a nice little break before the torture, I mean "fun" begins.

So yesterday I did my 75 minute run down Lake Street extra early and I must have been missing the track because i did a 800 in the middle, mostly because I was running so slowly and I had an early meeting I had to get to. That was pretty fun though. This morning I woke up to the sound of the rain but was determined to get my 60 minute tempo workout in (20 mins at tempo pace). I think my tempo pace needs a little work and I hope to improve in the New Year. I ran along Chrissy Field trail to the "Hoppers Hands" sign for a nice misty yet flat run. It was pretty quiet down there - just me, a cop car, a few runners and some birds.

Cold, windy, raining and a rainbow!

Weather was at its most interesting again today. I didn't know what to wear or expect but it kept me going during the tempo. Again, I put off my speed workout until the day after a long run - silly to do this I know, but I've been taking advantage of Sundays as run days more lately. The tempo went well. I'm hoping for a 2:10 or 2:15 1/2 marathon in Feb (Kaiser half) so that's what I'm using to figure out my tempo times.

Also ran again with Dan which was nice. After we went to Sports Basement and I finally broke down and bought running capris - I'm the type of person to run in shorts all year long in San Francisco, but it seems really cold lately and I think my legs deserve a warm up. Should be motivation for my next run, probably on Tuesday.

Saturday I ran in Oakland with Sarah. I've been doing all of my long runs alone, so it was nice to get lost in our chats and my pace was faster which was nice. I felt a little tired after but still managed to run today. I'm taking tomorrow off from running :)

Faster than fog

After last week's track workout I felt like I didn't need to bust my butt anymore until the day of the marathon. Sarah, my overachieving, perfectionist, hardcore runner, running buddy is relentless about making the marathon day seem "easy" so she made sure even this week our plan would include a real workout. So after work I picked up Dan and went to Chrissy Field for the last tempo workout of training. The bridge was yet again eaten by the fog monster, but the wind was at our backs during the 20 minute 1/2 marathon pace portion, so all went well. I split the 20 minutes into 5 minute segments so I could track each - I got faster for each segment and didn't feel exhausted at the end. I stopped cursing Sarah as I realized that this faster pace did indeed somehow (how?) feel, dare I say it? Easy!

Also, Sarah sent me this article about pre marathon tips. I plan on utilizing them figuring I need all the help I can get.

ps. We only have four runs this week - 50 easy, 45 tempo, 40 easy/med, and an easyish 8 miler on Saturday.

Boy am I tired!

The golden retriever running next to me made it look easy today as I attempted to master the "tempo run." I ran for 25 mins at an easy pace, 20 mins at a faster speed, and then a 10 minute cool down. The path from my brain to my legs is a muddy one sometimes, "run! run!" my brain tells my legs. My legs are like the golden retriever laying in the sun, "not today, thanks." But I somehow nudged them away, and they ran.

Last week I felt like I had a breakthrough with my running and my legs felt great. This week they felt tired. The next two weeks will be hard as we get into the "meat" of our training.

Sarah just won the lottery, the NYC Marathon lottery - go Sarah! I did not get in but am happy (and only slightly bitter) for her :)