Running for a plane...

But snuck 5.25 in. Those may be the last miles for this low-mileage in.

Treadmill Speedwork

2mi warmup, 4x800m with .2mi jog between, 1mi cooldown. Total was just under 6mi.

Pottruck

Did an evening workout at Pottruck. 3.5mi on the 'mill (up the ladder from 8mph to 9.5mph). Then full leg lifting circuit.

Catching up

• Monday: Drank beer, ate BBQ'd veggie burgers, did not run (first off day in 20!)
• Tuesday: Sweetbriar Loop from Pottruck. 5mi, untimed.
• Wednesday AM: South Philly Loop with Jeff. 5.88mi.

Most of a SuperLoop®, Bonky weirdness.

Ran the SuperLoop (extension out to Ridge) which, if I'd finished, would have been around 13. But on the return leg on Kelly Dr, I felt my gut starting to cramp up. I *just* made it to the toilets at Lloyd Hall in time, and even after clearing out the old system, twice, when I started running the last bit, I started cramping up again.

I'm not going to read much into this (i.e., really strange to have been hit so hard by a truncated 12 miler). Obviously, for whatever reason, I found my limit today. I think I may have been starting to bonk? I didn't eat a whole lot today and I felt progressively weirder until getting something in me. I'll just take it as a sign that I got a good, hard workout in. Meh.

Montgomery Loop

Did my usual Tuesday loop in reverse. This takes one up to the Belmont Plateau and is about as hilly as one can get in a run of this distance from my house (i.e., without going up to East Falls or Manayunk.) Total was 8.65mi in a few ticks over 1hr.

Sweetbriar, Lemon Hill

BCP gave his talk in the morning, and I sent off the ICFP rebuttal in the afternoon. After another long week I was tired, but really, really wanted to get a good workout in. I came home, lay down and read some New Yorker fictions, which got my energy level back up... and did a Sweetbriar / Lemon Hill loop. It started slowly--I think I was around 13 minutes to W River Dr, but I felt better once I was on the river and, by the time I hit the back side of Lemon hill, felt great.

Repeat

Same thing as yesterday.

Oof

I woke up early today and worked pretty much continuously from 6.30am until 8.30pm (with only a few short breaks--coffee with DV at Good Karma Cafe in the morning, a trip to the Magic Carpet food truck to grab lunch, and the usual water/bathroom breaks.) Megh. Got home around 9 and did a brisk AM Loop in 28m; I think this is a little under 4mi.

I am very much looking forward to beer o'clock on Friday, and running long this weekend.

Sweetbriar / Lemon Hill

Another day of meetings. Woot.

Finally got home a little after 8, and was out the door a few minutes later. I didn't even have time to make a plan, but as I made my way through Fitler Square, I settled on warmout out to Sweetbriar, then a few Lemon Hill repeats. I wasn't sure I was up to run hard--I feel tired--but as it turned out it was one of those days when every stride feels bouncy and your lungs feel bottomless. Everything felt easy for the first three. I picked up the pace for the bit around the waterfall opposite Boathouse Row and was doing just under 6.30 pace (for .5mi at least) and it felt easy. Threw in another pick-me-up just before Sweetbriar, and then did 4xLemon Hill repeats. These are short--only ~1/8 mi--but very steep and enough to get your heart going. Came down the backside and came home via the Parkway and 22nd. Total was around 7.25 in 56min. A good run.

Monday

Pottruck is closed all week, which puts an odd hole in my usual routine (even when I run outside, I like to do it from campus; also gives the chance to do some weights after).

Came home after another marathon day of BCP meetings (we may have finally gotten to the bottom of the blame game: it seems to be a type algebra with two kinds of arrows!) and ran an AM Loop via Rittenhouse. 32 minutes which I'm estimating was 4.25 miles (may be closer to 5, but I'm too tired to GMap it, and they're junk miles, so really who cares what the pace was.)

These long days are wearing me down and when I got back from running, I really felt like doing something non-academic. I did my latest obsessions for dinner--tofu / bok choy / scallion / red pepper pepper spring rolls with Braggs liquid aminos, natch, and spinach salad--then made hummus and baked bread for the week, then made a double batch of Cara2's almond / cranberry biscotti. Yum.

The Loop

I woke up (at 9.30! I've been rising with the sun--5.45ish or so--sans alarm clock all week, so it was good to sleep in a bit) to a grey, gloomy day. The rain was coming in and out, which made for a nice morning with coffee, a crossword, and music. Fueled up for an early afternoon run, but the ran started coming heavier, so I went to Good Karma and worked for a while. Then went to BCP's for yet another meeting on The Meaning Of Blame (if Hinze is right, then contracted functions are the arrows in the Kleisli category of a comonad--woah categories!) We finally finished around 6 and by then the high-carb fuel I'd put in my belly was gone so I loaded it up again, gave it an hour to settle, and finally hit the trail a little after 8.

It was a gorgeous time to run: everything all wet and green, dogwalkers (including Darren), birds, and worms all out enjoying the first clear skies of the day. Ran a sunset East Falls Loop and came back via the river path for 11.75mi in unknown time. 45 miles for the week. No speedwork, but some tempoish shorter runs during the week. I'll have to taper down for my next race which is ... in ALASKA!! Yeah, I finally got my act together and bought my ticket last week! I'm so psyched: 8 days in Anchorage / Denali. Unfortunately I won't be able to stick around until the solstice half marathon, but Clare and I are going to run a 5k in Anchorage on my last day. ALASKA!!

Pottruck, Strawberry Mansion

Did a 3mi run at the gym last night, and 9.75 today.

Leif Statue

A long (13hr) day today: the first half spent compiler hacking and the second half spent in BCP's office trying to figure out what "well typed programs can't be blamed" means, if anything.

I stepped onto the treadmill at the gym, thinking I'd do a speed workout, but as soon as I tied my shoes and stretched, I realized there was no way in hell I'd be doing a hard workout. My legs feel fine, but my head is really, really tired, and therefore not in it. I decided to take (another) easy day and just did the 5mi+ out to the Leif statue. Sigh. Total time was 36 even. Finished with a 12min bike cooldown.

So many easy days! Perhaps I'll do that hill workout I like tomorrow, or sneak into Franklin Field (if it's not closed for graduation.)

Pottruck

3mi and change in 22 flat. Then full upper body circuit.

Tuesday 8

Back to my usual Tuesday workout: the Montgomery Bridge loop via Mantua and the Concourse. The total time was 58min and sumthin', but really there is only one number I care about: the split for miles 5-6. When I do this workout well, I warm up to Civil War memorial (about 18min), then pick it up a bit across the Concorse and down the hill from Belmont to the river, and then work the measured mile on MLK Drive at a good pace. This time the split came in at 6:34.

I want to get faster, and for that I need to train with specificity--easy workouts easy and hard workouts hard. Too often, like most recreational runners, I just run at the upper end of comfortable (for me, 7-7:15 pace.) I'm still not very good at pushing myself on hard days, but I'm learning...

Morning AM Loop

Met Jeff for a morning Art Museum Loop. 4.62mi in unknown time.

Wissahickon

Ran for 1h47m up into the Wissahickon. Didn't get all the way to Forbidden drive, but that had really better be 14mi.

Strawberry Mansion

I was supposed to meet up with KT and another Jeff resident, but they got delayed and told me to go ahead, so I ran Strawberry Mansion solo. My legs were pretty sore after lifting two days ago, but it ended up being a solid run. I guess the low mileage this week helped. Total was 9.5mi in 1h13m (not actually so slow: I stopped at Good Karma to say hey to Aaron).

Pottruck

Weather is meh, legs are meh, workout was... meh. 3mi in about 22, upper body circuit.

It's been an easy week, and that's OK. But I really want to put some tall blue bars on it the next few days.