I think I know the answer to these musings, but why is my running so uneven? Sometimes it goes REALLY well, while other times it goes REALLY bad, and there doesn't seem to be any in-between. I know a lot of factors weigh in, like how much rest I have, how I'm eating, my mood, the weather, the phases of the moon, the stock exchange, but really. I mean, I understand I'm going to have good days and bad days, and I accept it. But look at these examples.

Last Monday was a GREAT run. 5.35 miles, average 9 min/mile. Tuesday was a gym day, Wednesday Tim wanted to run with me so I slowed down for him and only ran 2.39, making it an easy run. Thursday, the same way only a bit farther, so we ran 3.16 miles. Friday was all mine, so I did 5.34, but I ended up going out too fast at the start and petered out by 4 miles. I ended up walking part of it, and finished with 9:51/mi.

Then Saturday. Saturday was HORRIBLE! Now the weather had a lot to do with that one what with the rain and all, but still. I walked quite a lot of it and ended up with a 12:43 average pace, taking almost 3 hours to finish 14 miles. Sunday was off.

Why the long tirade? Today...

Today, I decided I'd just let it happen. I also told myself that if my pace was going well, I'd alter my route and do ~6 miles instead of my normal ~5. I felt AMAZINGLY well. Almost too well, if you get what I'm saying. The weather was next to perfect, 59 degrees and overcast the whole time. As I came over the freeway I felt wonderful, so extended the route to 6.19 miles. Check out these splits:



Mile 1: 9:01.54
Mile 2: 8:39.15
Mile 3: 8:27.80
Mile 4: 8:53.27
Mile 5: 9:07.93
Mile 6: 8:52.87
.19 mi: 1:29.51 (7:50/mi)
Total: 54:32.07, 8:48/mi average

So why such a difference? Was it the rest day that did it? I'm happy I did so well today, but man, things are inconsistent.



Actually, I do know what the problem was. It was fatigue, pure and simple. Gotta be careful there.

This morning was my weekly long run. It was raining, but not too badly so I decided to go out anyway. I wore my running shoes, running socks, running shorts, and a long-sleeve compression shirt with my lightweight waterproof REI jacket.

The jacket ended up making me way too hot. It's not designed for warmth, but mainly as a rain shell, and insulates better than you would think. At 2 miles in, I stopped to unzip the pits, but by 4 miles I was just drenched.

This would continue to be the case and feel worse as time went on. With the hood on my head, it reminded me of pulling the covers over your head in bed, which then makes your head a toaster oven.

As a result, I slowed way down, and ended up on my feet a lot longer than I would have been normally. In fact at quite a few places, I ended up walking. Also, at my turnaround point I had to use the restroom and had to find one, made a loop around Northgate and down Live Oak Highway to a mini market that ended up not having the facilities. The next one down did, and the person working there was nice enough to let me use it. By routing around this way, I ended up adding mileage so by the end, it was 14.09 miles total. It's the farthest I've ever run, but at least a mile of it was walking. I burned about 1700 calories. Also, my average heart rate was down due to the walking, at 132bpm.

Here are the splits:

Mile 1: 9:53.92
Mile 2: 9:21.45
Mile 3: 10:38.83
Mile 4: 11:05.96
Mile 5: 14:47.23
Mile 6: 9:40.42
Mile 7: 11:00.69
Mile 8: 16:09.46
Mile 9: 10:36.87
Mile 10: 11:53.30
Mile 11: 13:31.46
Mile 12: 17:45.64
Mile 13: 15:58.90
Mile 14: 15:56.20
Mile 15: 10:03 (partial .07 mile)



After entering my run into Trihard, I found out that I ran 30.3 miles this week, making this my highest-mileage week I've ever done. With the M-F 5-milers and Saturday long runs, I can see this becoming my average.

When I started today's run I expected it to be great. It was cloudy, sprinkling here and there, but overall a nice day. It didn't quite turn out the way I planned. I started out going way too fast (8:27/mi), which hurt me in the end. By 4 miles, I had to walk for about 1/8 of a mile. The rest of the run was a lot slower.

Splits were:

Mile 1: 8:24.78
Mile 2: 8:42.48
Mile 3: 9:21.95
Mile 4: 10:45.92
Mile 5: 11:48.02
Mile 6: 10:26 (.35 mile)

Total Time: 52:37.74, Distance: 5.35 miles, Calories Burned: 665, Pace: 9:51



Tomorrow's my long run. Fun, fun, fun!

Running Vlog #1

About a week ago I made my first running vlog, and thought I had deleted it mistakenly (as opposed to saving it). Come to find out, I had it stored on a different memory card. So here it is.



I know, I seem dorky in the video. When I do a new one it'll be better, I promise. I'm only using my Treo 755p, which is why the quality is low. Still, it's neat to have.