Marley and I got out for a nice 3 mile run this morning after a brief period of slacking off  I am finding it hard to be motivated in this Florida heat and humidity and Marley is no help. since she seems to hate it too.  For July and August here I may have to switch to mountain biking since that seems more tolerable in the heat.

I had a strange run last night.  I experienced pretty much every pain or niggle I have ever had related to running during my run last night at some point.  Each was short lived but I am pretty sure none of these were figments of my imagination.  But then I looked at my watch towards the end and realized it was my best pace for anything over 4 miles in a very very long time.  Ended at 6.5 miles.  And then I slam my knee cap on the door frame taking the dog out just after getting back from my run....swollen knee cap....

TT - great to hear from you again.  Sorry about the heat.  Think about the bright side, your winter weather will be great!

QOTD: Well last night's run was sort of tempoish.  This is something I have struggled with a lot the last few years.  I haven't done any consistent speed workouts since my HM days.  I have tried to add a tempo type of run once per week over the last 2 months.  I am just trying to get my legs to get some sense of turnover again.

Have a great day!

 

QOTD: Not very often. Definitely should do more. On the other hand, most of my runs are rather on the speedy side than slow. The only times I go intentionally slow is when I run with DD.

My trails don't allow for "speedwork" (the only speedwork I can do there is try to bomb the downhills, or practice skipping across the rocks really fast, but that always increases the risk for a fall and injury), but I have a nice park with a paved, flat loop of almost exactly .5 or .66 miles respectively, and I do my speedwork there.

That reminds me of something about speed work being relative. One of the things I usually do pretty well is move quickly, compared to many, over rocky or rooty terrain. For some reason, I do pretty well on that kind of stuff, or at least I believe that I do. As such, I try to incorporate some technical downhills, short though they may be, into that speed work. It is sort of like the tire drills in spring football practice, foot work.

 

That reminds me of something about speed work being relative. One of the things I usually do pretty well is move quickly, compared to many, over rocky or rooty terrain. For some reason, I do pretty well on that kind of stuff, or at least I believe that I do. As such, I try to incorporate some technical downhills, short though they may be, into that speed work. It is sort of like the tire drills in spring football practice, foot work.

I was thinking of tire drills, I think I might like them. Now I just have to find tires...

Meanwhile, I'll stick with the rocks. For me, practicing the speedy skipping on technical trails helps a lot. It really promotes "lightfooted" running, balance, and gauging the obstacles like rocks and roots. I have also noticed that I am fairly fast running technical trails in the night, and a lot of this skill comes from continuous practice, not talent.

Me and the mutts ran 3 miles on the mean streets of Grass Valley...didn't get up in time for a longer run.  Was up in the middle of the night cleaning the dog puke out of a white Flokati rug.  Luckily he puked at the corner of it.

QOTD:  What is this speed you talk about? 

Planning on another 7-8 miles later this afternoon. Too much stuff to do around the house to get up on the mountain.

QOTD:

I break my runs into three categories. Long, slow runs. Mid distance which may be slow or more of a tempo run, then short runs which I almost always try to run at high speed.  Almost all of my long runs are on trails and with my ankle problems I try to behave and don't push the pace.  My mid distance runs are on better surfaces and this is where I will work in my speed work. If I'm feeling good, I'll push the pace pretty hard and these turn into tempo runs. Lately most of my mid distance runs are more to the slow side. Since I rarely run short stuff I rarely do planned speed work. I should do more but I tend to get obsessed with distance over speed.  Basicly I don't do anywhere near enough speed workouts.

Got up early and hit the trails. It was 78 degrees and 98% humidity when I started.  Trails were wet and gnats were plentiful. Only saw 1 person the whole time and he was fishing.  I like when It's just me and the woods.  All in all about 12 miles.  I was down more than 3 pounds when I got home, and that was after drinking a full bottle in the car.

Couch, you can have this stinking heat, I'm with TT, I love the snow and cold runs much better than the sweaty spider-gnat-fly runs.

Wore the Topo Runventure shoes for the third time.  They did very well on the slippery rocks (better than the Lone Peaks) and the non technical sections.  Could feel the pointy rocky stuff pretty easily on the really technical sections.  They've felt better each time, so I think this is a shoe that needs some breaking in.  The one thing I don't like is the spacing for the last 2 eyelets.  There is a big gap and then the last 2 are close together on essentially the same line, so I had to use a runners lock lacing pattern but make it loose so they pulled where it felt comfortable. All in all a good shoe for keeping in the rotation.

QOTD:  The last 3 months, very little.  The next three months probably 3 times in a 2 week period with intervals and tempo runs.

Around 4 miles with 1,300 ft elevation gain, amidst a scary thunderstorm with very heavy rain. Served as this week's speed workout, and spared me the post-run shower - well, almost.

Then I decided to call it a day, as the lightning was very close and strong. A few times I realized that a lightning bolt had struck very close to where I was (causing me to jump and scramble), with instantaneous deafening thunder that made the ground underneath my feet shake. Lots of tree limbs fell down due to the rain, but fortunately there were no wind gusts, and the temperature remained at a comfortable level.

When the rain tapered off, many bright orange salamanders came out on the trail, and I had to be careful not to step on them.

AT: No, no snow. I could do without that. And temperatures always above 76, please!