Woofed

Sunday, May 3, 2015:

A hilly ten miles about as fast as I could go.  We live in a river town, built on one side of a valley.  Our home is several hundred feet above the river, actually out of the valley on the flat, but today's loop took me from home down to the river - maybe three feet above the water - and back up again.

I pushed pretty hard, doing a run/walk of 1 to 1 most of the way, more running going downhill and sometimes a little less uphill.  I noticed that I was taking one full breath for every three footfalls much of the time, indicating a race pace for me.  Normal would be one full breath for every four footfalls.

The route included a concrete stairway with a 100-foot increase in elevation, followed immediately by a mile of road which climbs another 100 feet, and then, after a short downhill respite, another climb of 100 feet.  That's no big deal for a younger, fitter person (like I once was), but in that last climb I noticed some chest pain, probably from breathing so much of the 55-degree air.  I hope.  Anyway I'm still here to tell about it and feel fine - tired, of course, but better than fine.

Otherwise no pains at all!  I love that!  This was my "long run" (actually a medium-length hard run) for the week.  I'm building toward 20 miles, so perhaps next weekend will see a longer and gentler 14 mile run.  I can't wait.

9.8 miles in 1:55:21, overall pace 11:46.  Good enough!

Friday, May 1:

Once Around the Lake   The "standard" loop around our favorite lake is 3.4 miles.  Today I finished that in 37:42, for a pace of 11:05.  No pains.  Good run.

Wednesday, April 29:

Dex Day Again   I took my dexamethasone last night, so today I feel full of energy, if a little over-caffeinated.  I ran one of the 2-mile routes to Kwik Trip and back, for a nice 4-mile jaunt in 48 minutes.  No problems.