6 Miles of Thatch

So yesterday was supposed to be spent running an easy 60 minutes. Instead, D and I worked in the yard, thatching the lawn with a dirt rake and over-seeding the grass. Ah yes, good times. I thought we might be able to bang it out in around an hour or two. Hahahahaha. Yeah, that was a good one. It took 5 hours and an extra 10 bags of steer manure. It would've taken even longer, but I was given a same-day audition that I had to get ready for.

So yesterday's "Easy 60 minutes" became a 5 hour work in the yard. An even trade in my mind.

5 Mile Negative Split

This one was run on Monday, and again, it was on the treadmill at the gym. Considering the 10 miler two days previous, I felt pretty damn good. Numbers? I haven't got any stinkin' numbers. But it WAS a negative split. Actually, I've got the numbers, downstairs. Is it really that important?

Yeah, not really. I think I ran the second half about 3 minutes faster than the first.

10 Mile Time Trial

This was run last week saturday. My running watch is still on the fritz, so I had to run it at the gym, on the treadmill. I gotta say, I felt great. I ran 2 miles to the gym, then ran 6 miles on the treadmill and 2 miles back home. It's always tough to run on the roads after running on the treadmill for so long. It makes my legs feel like they're filled with concrete. I don't have any numbers. I felt fast running at or faster than an 8:00/mile and the last mile was broken up into 400's getting progressively faster. I think the last 400 was run around 7:25/mile or better.

Merry Christmas

I haven't posted in a few days. I've been good about getting my runs in, but so busy that I haven't had the time to post.

(yawn)

Right. Anyway, put in an easy 5 miles on Christmas Eve, then D and I put in about 3 on Christmas morning before we opened gifts from Santa.

My Garmin running watch took a big shit this week so the 10 mile time trial I'm supposed to run today will be tough to measure. I may have to run a course I'm familiar with and figure out what's going on with the watch.

Merry Christmas everyone!

30 Chill Minutes

Last night D and I went for a nice, easy run of 30 minutes. It was supposed to be 45 minutes, but D's knee was tight and we didn't want to risk it. It was probably just as well. I didn't want to push it too much either. Surprisingly, I wasn't very sore after Sunday's 9 mile trail run. There was a bit of tightness in my quads, but really, nothing to complain about.

Today: Slow Death. Eesh.

Gotta be Smart

Today, I had hoped to run 14 miles. It's what I had in my running schedule. After waking with a sinus headache and few realistic comments from D, I decided against the 14 miler. I think it was the smart move. It would've been too much. Instead, I stuck with 9. On the way out, I took it slow, averaging 9:59/mile. On the way back, I ran 8:38/mile and actually felt pretty good. I spotted some dude in a yellow running shirt about a mile ahead of me, and dubbed him the flying banana. I tried in vain to catch him, but I'm thankful he was there to push me.

4 Progressive Miles

After a long day yesterday I stuffed 4 miles of speed work in before we went to a friend's house. It was a 4 mile progressive run, meaning, that starting at a 8:00/mile first mile, each mile thereafter was to get faster. I had some problems with my Garmin 305 finding the satellites, so the first mile was clocked at 10:21/mile. That's bullshit. Once the thing found the satellites, I was running around a 8:00/mile or better pace. The rest looked like this:

Mile 1: 10:21/mile

Mile 2: (actually it was 1.09 miles) was 8:15/mile

Mile 3: 7:32/mile

Mile 4: 7:03/mile

I'm pleased with the times, however off they may be. It had been a long day, and I really needed to kick my own ass to get it out the door. I'm glad I did.

I realized the other day that if I have any hope of having a respectable time at the LA Marathon in March, I gotta get off my dead ass and get to work. Sunday, I'm scheduled for a 14 mile trail run. GULP. That's gonna be a mess.

Run It Off

Remember when you were a kid and you'd play some sport, football, baseball, hell, maybe it was just kickball, and you'd get injured? Your coach or teammates would say, "walk it off". Well, on wednesday I had a big audition. For a t.v. show. No, really, it's true! Actually, going back a bit, I got a new theatrical agent last week, (woo hoo!) That alone, is pretty epic. So, wednesday came and this new agent got me an audition. He got me two in the span of a week, which is 2 more than my previous agent had gotten me in the last 6 months. But I digress. I went to the audition and didn't do as well as I had hoped. I didn't quite shit the bed, but I wasn't exactly Daniel Day Lewis either. I bring it up because when I got home, I was pretty upset, and I needed to go on a run. D suggested it, but I was already ahead of her. I went to Griffith Park and ran 6 miles of hills, pretty hard. I wanted to leave it out there on the trail. I figured if I came home and was still pissed off, I hadn't run hard enough.

I was in a better mood when I got home.

I averaged 9:54/mile which wasn't too bad considering the terrain, although my legs did feel like lead. My average HR was 165 (kind of high) with a max HR of 182. I did 1368 feet of climbing.

3 Miles

3 miles with D. 25 minutes. 8:21/mile.

7 1/2 Mile Negative Split

This morning I finally got my ass out the door. D accompanied me for the first 2 miles and then I was on my own. I guess it was a combination of guilt and feeling great, that made me run more miles. I ran 7.5 miles and averaged a sub 8:00/mile. I was happy. Shocked, but happy.

A Few Days Off

Okay, this will be lame. Make no mistake. I have taken a few days off, and it's been hard to do so. Here is my reason, and my logic.

D wasn't feeling too hot the other day. Tightness in her chest. I booked a commercial that shoots tomorrow. It's raining in Los Angels today. Now then, it looks like something like this:

Sick(?) wife + impending commercial shoot + Rainy, cold weather = Absence of running.

Now, you could be asking yourself, "why don't you hit the gym, Red?" A fair question. The last time I was there, I felt like I was surrounded by petri dishes on feet. One dude in particular was hacking up a storm.

So, yes, I am rather worried about staying healthy for tomorrow's shoot. I love running in the rain, so it's tough to not lace 'em up and hit the trail. We're expecting a lot of rain this week, so I'm hoping I can do that next weekend. After tomorrow's shoot? As long as I'm feeling good, I'll be out there.

Oh yeah I almost forgot: D's feeling better now. No tightness.

Weight a Minute

Nothing major today. I went to the gym and lifted weights for about an hour, focusing mainly on upper body and a bit of core. My legs were still pretty stiff from the 10K on Saturday. Come to think of it, I didn't stretch very much after the race...

Oops.