Friday Funny 2618: Work Anniversaries

It's nearly my wedding anniversary! I don't have many funny things to post about that (I have a DEAD SERIOUS marriage... obviously), but in honor of our upcoming wedding anniversary, here are some funnies about "work anniversaries:"

More funny things on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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Friday Funny 2617: Relationship Funnies

Lots more funny things posted all day long on SportsAndLaughs.tumblr.com.

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Detour Tempo Ride

I haven't been great about getting in the SHORT and HARD efforts that I need. And this workout was more of the same. D'oh.

I headed out for a hard 20 mile tempo effort, but based on some trail closures and not going as hard as I should have, I extended it to 24 miles.

I've LOVED biking up the Big Rivers trail in the last few years, but 7 miles into my ride, I came across a sign saying the 35E bridge over to the start of the trail was closed:

And the map was mounted sideways. It was very odd.

So I took off on RECENTLY REPAVED TRAILS(!!) towards downtown St. Paul. After a few great miles, then I was on horribly bumpy trails. I ended up alongside of downtown St. Paul next to the Mississippi River:

Turning around about a 1/2 mile later.

I cranked it hard through downtown, across the rough trails, gained some speed on the smoother trails, climbed that hill up from 35E on Shepard, got back on Cleveland Ave, and finally finished 24 hard miles back near home at split #5:

That "blip" by 35E is where I WANTED to head south but found the closed trail.

I was over 20 mph for all of the ride, but coming back through residential streets slowed me up to 20.0 mph after 24 miles. Nothing special. Just a hard ride before a longer cool-down.

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400 Repeats with Henry

Last week, Henry and I hit the track together for some 400s. He was not excited.

I waited for him to get up, so I pushed back my normal start time by about 2 hours. So it was hotter and sunnier on the track. We decided to use the 200 meter mark for our start/finish because it was in the shade (I'd never done that before on the St. Thomas track). I planned to do 3x(4x400) with 60 sec between 400s and 3:00 between sets, but figured after the first 4 that I would quit early. I didn't want to overdo anything on my calf that I'm still nursing back from an injury. So did 4, 4, then only 2.

I had Henry just do 8 intervals (2 sets of 4 intervals) because that feels a lot easier. So we took off together knowing that I would be slowly starting subsequent intervals before him.

I ran a slower 1:18 to start, but then the rest of my "first set" were all 1:14. I was trying to work hard. Here's what I ran:

1:18.8
1:14.2
1:14.3
1:14.2

1:15.6
1:14.5
1:14.6
1:12.3

1:14.8
1:12.7

Sure, it would have been NICE to get in 12 and not just 10, but at least I did a few in that 3rd set - those final 2 hurt.

Here's a pic of Henry finishing one of his middle intervals:

Ready on the watch, ready to hit the line.

He was faster than I thought he would be! I does NOT like running hard, but he knows it helps him to get faster. He had just ran some 200s at 0:45 each with his cross country teammates (that's 6:00 / mile pace for 200s, which is NOT fast for high school boys). So I wondered if he could keep up that same pace for 400s... so I told him his goal was to try to hit 1:30 for his 400s. His first 400 was 1:24! I think all of them were about 1:22 through 1:27, with him dying a bit more on his last one that was 1:29. That's not bad for someone still learning pacing!

Now I'll see if I can get him to the track with me with any sort of regularity. I was making sure I was nothing but positive with him while he was out there! (Which was easy because he TRULY was doing well.) He really did NOT like working that hard, but I hope he knows how helpful these hard workouts are for his cross country speed!

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Slow, Hot, Dangerous Long Run... Then a Better One

Two weeks ago, I woke up to SWAMPY weather. The temp was under 80, but it was SOOOOO humid. I knew my long run would suck.

I took off on my normal route, but was aware times would probably suffer. And sure enough, my splits were a bit slow. My "normal" long runs are 11+ miles with 2.5 miles easier, 6 miles harder, and then 2.5+ miles easier again. I had gotten 3 miles into my harder miles, and I was hurting. I just didn't feel "right." I looked at my heart rate and it said 197! I'd never seen that before!! (It's commonly in the upper 180s when I'm working, but I'd NEVER seen 197!) I finished another half mile and eased up... I didn't need to kill myself. I looked at my HR again and it was 195. Yikes.

So I only did 3.5 harder miles instead of 6, and here were my half-mile splits:

3:26, 3:16, 3:16, 3:11, 3:17, 3:20, 3:14

= 23:03 (6:35.14 pace)

Ouch. SLOW. Especially for working THAT hard and going THAT short.

Usually I go "out" farther, but I turned around a
bit early and ended the hard miles at half-mile split #12.


I was dying.

Then last week, I woke up as my last day in Portland for Henry's "Fencing Nationals" fencing tournament. (I posted about a hard treadmill run on morning #2 out there.) I took off along the Willamette River that cuts through downtown Portland, and just figured I'd make up this long run as I went. I was ready to do some sort of gross out-and-back-and-out-and-back route if needed, but I was going to go as far "out" as I felt comfortable.

I started off by crossing the big rail bridge just north of where we were staying:

Sunrise over the convention center where Henry fenced the day before and later this day!


A stretch of big floating walkway heading under the
Burnside Bridge (that we crossed on foot so many times for fencing).


A few bridges farther, looking back.


A submarine?

Just after that, the path turned away from the river. I thought I might be having to start my "hard miles" running back the way I came, but I followed the path through a few blocks of industrial city streets and then back onto a paved off-road path:

Is this sketchy? I felt like it was a little sketchy...


... but soon it opened up to more "normal" paths with other people working out.


Back along the river, but with a big island out there, so it felt rural.


More long, flat path! Nice for some faster running!


The end of the island.

The homeless population that is all over downtown Portland weren't on this trail. It was mainly guys my age running, older guys biking on their expensive road bikes, and young professional women e-biking to work in nicer clothes. The homeless population downtown was never scary or threatening, but I did feel just a tad bit safer on this trail than in downtown.

After turning around, going past an amusement park again! (That's a pink roller coaster.)

I finished a "normal" hard 6 miles in the middle of this run in a pretty "normal" time. Here are my half mile splits:

3:11, 3:08, 3:11, 3:09, 3:05, 3:14, 3:13, 3:09, 3:04, 3:02, 3:05, 3:03

= 37:41 (6:16.83 pace)

For the last few years, I've said that 6:0Xs are fast, 6:1Xs are average, and 6:2Xs are slow for my pace miles. So pretty average, which felt good as an "away from home" less-than-normal long run.

Semi parked overnight in the bike and pedestrian lane. Can't escape that on the west coast.


About to cross the rail bridge to our hotel on the other side.


Splits 1-5 were warm-up, 5-17 were faster, 17-22 were cool-down.

I crossed the bridge at the north, turned around at a bridge at the south, and ran under 5 other bridges!

THAT'S a more normal looking heart-rate graph!

I'm still not feeling great about my running fitness, still really working on my speed, still concerned about upcoming races... but it was nice having a decent feeling long run after some crappy training and busy days!

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