10k under 10

In my effort to do my base runs under 10 min mile pace, I picked up my pace for my ending uphills through Reed and on to Woodstock, 2 miles in all. I did faster than eights to make sure I averaged under ten. Turned out my math was off and I did 9.5, made me happy. I’m pretty pooped tonight, pasta dinner and I have nothing else to do other than lay in bed and watch basketball. I’m sure I’ll get some stretching in too though.

Rotating my new shoes is going really well so far. Both pairs feel really stable and I am getting a good mind-strike with them. They are starting to get a worn-in look. Hopefully they don’t look like resolution shoes anymore. I still have been having foot issues like pain and spasticity, but I guess overall it isn’t too bad. I’d love to find the miracle shoe, but I don’t think it is out there.

Oh today I actually wore shorts without tights for the first time in months. It was nice to get my legs out in the sunlight! I started taking vit D again, not for any other reason other than I should. I wonder how much good the 1000 mg(?) caplets I take actually do for me? I saw some massive dose wafers for sale, the 50000 mg(again I am not sure what they are) really expensive (I thought) at four wavers for $20.

I watched an interesting parkour movie called Beyond the Brink. Daniel Ibaca was really pretty amazing, but kind of a jerk too You can see a trailer here.

Back to back

My run today was also warm, but I did manage to get out a bit earlier before the real heat hits, I did the same exact run as yesterday, except today I ran the whole way out of the canyon (yesterday I pooped halfway up) AND I was 3 seconds faster. It amazes me how I can do such similar runs over a 6 mile length. Hopefully the 3 seconds and the hill indicate that I am in slightly better shape today! I doubt it, at least measurably anyway. Looking at the numbers from the two runs I see I climbed 28 more feet today (which would be my hill). Its not that much of a hill obviously, but coming out of the sweat-box that is the canyon environment, it is a beast.

Other numbers of interest, by avg HR yesterday was 160, today 154. My max HR has also 6 beats less. So while it was later in the day yesterday I think it was actually hotter today. Feels good to sweat!

I think I mentioned the new parkour obstacles in the canyon yesterday. Today I took some really good leaps over them. I still chickened out for the dicey one with the big spur. There is no room for wisdom with parkour! Still, I’ll take the wisdom!

Run in the heat

Since I didn’t manage to go yesterday I promised myself I would today no matter what. Well the morning wore on and I kept finding myself saying, ok after this. Ok after this. And again, ok after this. Pretty soon it was getting into the afternoon and the heat was rising. Well I say heat was rising but it was only getting to about 70, hot for Portland as of late. Tomorrow to the 80s! I’ll believe it when I feel it.

So by 2 I hadn’t eaten lunch and was kicking myself for not running. Then I realized, well a hot run won’t be the best of conditions, but the what the heck. I am going anyway. I wolfed down a clif bar to hold me over, grabbed my seasonally neglected water bottle and ran out the door. The day was just gorgeous but the sweat quickly began to sting my eyes. Wipe it away and keep going, though I. So I did. I decided on doing 6 miles, not fast nor slow. My HR was pretty high throughout, I definitely need to work that back down. I am sure as my fitness level picks up, the old heart rate will drop compared to my efforts.

The water bottle was just what I needed. Over the winter I had forgotten what it takes to keep the hydration level up. Small sips every quarter mile or so really helped. No heat would stop me today! I actually went fairly routinely. I didn’t make it all the way up the hill out of the canyon, but that is nothing new. New features in the canyon, several trees have fallen this winter. The people who maintain the canyon have a fairly hands off approach to managing it and they leave trees that fall (sometimes they get around to cutting out a portion that has fallen over the path). This makes for great parkour obstacles. One of them scared me and I had to climb over it. The path was especially skinny there and there was a huge spur sticking out. Probably a good choice to not leap it!