Hill or H*** Workout?

Paula: The first thing I'm going to do when I get home is post that this was YOUR idea.
Julius: It was Maggi's idea first.
Julius: Does this count as a hill workout?
Paula: Did you say hell workout?
John T: (a minute later) Who's idea was this?
Julius: I'm not saying anything
Paula: It's a good thing I love you, Julius.

Later, probably half way through - "What were we thinking? It's 90 degrees out!"

When it was over? - "We're going back".

That is more or less the conversation we had tonight. All while huffing and puffing our way up and down the Art museum steps (at least a dozen times all told). That was followed by a variety of things including plank walking, lunges, side stepping and high knee running across the width of the Art Museum Steps courtesy of the Fairmount Running Co.

It was hard but in a strange way felt good --- when it was over. I estimate the three of us did about 2/3 of the enotire workout. We informally challenged ourselves to get to the point where we can do the entire workout AND follow it up with an easy run.

Memorial Day Run at Forbidden Drive

USAFit/Philly is the best thing that has happened to me in a very long time. Knowing that a group would be meeting at Forbidden Drive this morning got me out of bed to meet them at 7. At first I only knew that Pete, Kristie and Jeff would be there and they are much faster than I. I saw that Sonja said she was going to try but I didn't know where she was in the pace spectrum so I wasn't sure I'd have anyone actually running 'with' me but knowing my friends were out there and would likely wait for me at the end was enough for me to get going. As it turns out Sammy and Lynn and Marjorie came too. John C was there to run with the faster folks. So more or less we all had somebody nearby. And a group 'high five' at the end. Ok not a real one cause we would have just slid off each other but the mood was there.

It's going to be a hot one today. A good reason to get out early. My phillyfit schedule called for 30 minutes. I knew I wanted to do at least 4 miles. Someone suggested 5 which sounded good especially since 5 meant the turnaround was the Valley Green Inn. This meant I didn't have to watch the mile markers - just run. I like that :) Sammy, Marjorie and I did 3 and 1's and we started out much faster than we should. By mile 4 I was feeling sluggish. The humidity, ugh. As I've said before this "not going out too fast" thing, is something I really have to work on this season. I plan to be very mindful of it on my long runs but perhaps on the weekday runs - the ones that aren't speed or tempo workouts- I should as well. No real harm done though and Forbidden Drive is such peaceful place to run. I finished a strong last quarter mile.

And now I'm home, had breakfast and showered and it's only 9:30. :)

Longest run since Gettysburg

So I've been slacking since Gettsyburg. I did very little in the two weeks between the marathon and the start of USAFit/Philly and in the two weeks since USAFit/Philly started I really haven't been giving it my full potential of enthusiasm. (odd phrase but it works for me). I've done all the minutes and miles (except the one evening where i forgot my socks) but not with any gusto.

Today, part of Memorial Day weekend, was a unoffical Saturday for Phillyfit. We had 4 miles planned and met at Pawlings Road. I was happy to see about a third of our group turned out despite the holiday. Nice! I set out with one of our newer members who was on the fence about working with the walkers or our slowest running group. We had a nice chat in the course of four miles. We took it slow with lots of walk breaks. In the end she decided to start out with the walker group until she feels more comfortable with her endurance. I think she did a great job today and respect her choice. I believe we'll be seeing her in the run group before too long.

After we were done, I mentioned I wanted to go back out and Julius said he did too. My miles with our new member were slow and although they counted as time on my feet I felt the need for something more. So Julius and I did another a tour of the Audobon Loop at 3 and 1 (run/walk) intervals. We took some extra walk breaks on the back side of the loop and finished in good form. I probably went a little too fast on the run portions; something I have to work on for my long runs this season.

It was warm and very humid today. I drank water at every walk break and took an endurolyte about halfway.

So my total for the day was 8 miles. It felt good. My run group for Phillyfit is the slowest group and although we should run slower than normal pace for long runs this may be too slow for me. But I am their coach and that is my job. So I think I'll be doing extra miles before or after the group run. It will be good for me.

Going out too fast

So day two in Harrisburg, I had plans to run with my friend Terry at 6:30 this morning. We met in the lobby a little before this and I suggested we wait until 6:30 to leave because another friend of ours, Jim said he might join us. Jim never made it but as we were about to leave Tyler came off the elevator and the three of us headed down to the river.

On the way, I told Tyler (who is 20 years younger than me) that I would not be offended if he went ahead. I did not want to hold him back. Tyler said, no he'd be happy to run with us. This is not unusual - I've run with faster runners (my friend Kristie being one) on many occassions and it's not a problem when faster runner is willing to bring his/her pace down to mine and maybe I try to pick mine up a little bit (emphassi on little..lol).

So off we went. The first few minutes of any run (especially mornings) can sometimes be stressfull as my body gets with the program. So I thought nothing of feeling a litte uncomfortable in those first few minutes. As we made our way around City Island I lagged a few steps behind but held my own that way. As we returned to the river bank we went downhill and picked up the pace a bit and here is where I got in trouble. We never backed off from the downhill. By the time we got to the turnaround to head back to our hotel I was really feeling the effects of pushing hard. I begged off a walk break and Terry, too encouraged Tyler to go on if that's what he wanted.

Poor 'kid' was all apologetic about going fast. I told him that was nonsense. Every runner must be responsible for their own pace. I should have dropped back or said something sooner. So anyway we walked for a half block and then finished our run.

Later that day, I saw Terry in a meeting and asked her how she felt on the run. She said she was really glad I asked for the walk break. :) All in all, it was kind of nice to push the pace a bit. I was just embarrassed to have to beg off. Not ashamed ... just a bit embarrassed. I should have been paying more attention.

Protective Parents

So today I want for a run along the Susquehana River in Harrisburg. (I'm here for REALTOR state business meetings through tomorrow). I often go out in the morning while here to do this run. There is a nice path along the river. Today I went alone although (as I will tomorrow, I often have a REALTOR friend or two with me).

I woke up tired but made msyelf go out knowing that I'd feel better if I did. The river route here has an upper and lower trail. I went out on the upper trail and returned on the lower trail. On the way back I came upon a group of goslings with 4 parent geese. The parents started hissing at me. They made moves threatening to attack. I remembered what I'd been told about meeting dogs on the trail. The advice was to stop running and walk slowly. The geese, however, were not having any of this. I had two choices; scale 10 foot wall or turn back to the last set of steps back up to the upper level. I wasn't in the mood to run that far back and the wall.. well you probably figured that was not an option. So I decided to try walking slowly past the geese. It took a couple of tries but I finally got past.

Oh and I had a very nice run finished with a run up the steps to the upper level.