Let the Sunshine in!
Tuesday's run: 8 miles of General Aerobic at 8:05 pace, including 10 x 100m strides.
With great fortune, the sun came out in the afternoon and I got to run in daylight without rain. Yay!
I felt a little sluggish today. My pace indicates that, but only slightly. I decided to only lightly harness myself with the heart rate monitor, and it really only kicked in on the Fort Mason hill. Various possible causes for the slow-down (less sleep last night, strong winds, added hill, legs a little sore from Saturday...?)
Today was the daylight savings time Embarcadero route, like the start of the marathon. The main reason I avoid it when running at night is that Jefferson Street is the heart of the tourist dive of Fisherman's Warf, and I end up weaving into the street when the sidewalks aren't clear.
I do like this route, however. It goes past Aquatic Park, a place of romantic significance to my wife and me. And it leads to the Marina Green which breaks things up.
Today I took note of the kitch on Jefferson Street, the kind of things I was drawn to as a kid when we visited San Francisco. I scanned the street in vain for Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, but it was all too easy to notice the Hooters and In-N-Out Burger right next to each other. (No, I won't link to Hooters!)
One thing about any heavily populated area: insane people. There was a fellow ranting about something. All I picked up was this:
The 100m strides at the end actually wore on me a bit. On the one hand, the feeling was glorious. I don't know if any of the speed-work I did in high school included 100 meter sprints, and there's something fantastic about just getting the arms pumping and the strides open and flying like that. I love playing softball for that reason, but the bases are too close together to get that kind of momentum going.
On the other hand, after about the sixth repeat, I was remembering what I felt like in the middle of the high school track workouts: "I need to do this how many more times?"
With great fortune, the sun came out in the afternoon and I got to run in daylight without rain. Yay!
I felt a little sluggish today. My pace indicates that, but only slightly. I decided to only lightly harness myself with the heart rate monitor, and it really only kicked in on the Fort Mason hill. Various possible causes for the slow-down (less sleep last night, strong winds, added hill, legs a little sore from Saturday...?)
Today was the daylight savings time Embarcadero route, like the start of the marathon. The main reason I avoid it when running at night is that Jefferson Street is the heart of the tourist dive of Fisherman's Warf, and I end up weaving into the street when the sidewalks aren't clear.
I do like this route, however. It goes past Aquatic Park, a place of romantic significance to my wife and me. And it leads to the Marina Green which breaks things up.Today I took note of the kitch on Jefferson Street, the kind of things I was drawn to as a kid when we visited San Francisco. I scanned the street in vain for Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum, but it was all too easy to notice the Hooters and In-N-Out Burger right next to each other. (No, I won't link to Hooters!)
One thing about any heavily populated area: insane people. There was a fellow ranting about something. All I picked up was this:
"It's easy to buy all that crap that they're selling you on Entertainment Tonight!"
The 100m strides at the end actually wore on me a bit. On the one hand, the feeling was glorious. I don't know if any of the speed-work I did in high school included 100 meter sprints, and there's something fantastic about just getting the arms pumping and the strides open and flying like that. I love playing softball for that reason, but the bases are too close together to get that kind of momentum going.
On the other hand, after about the sixth repeat, I was remembering what I felt like in the middle of the high school track workouts: "I need to do this how many more times?"
posted by Brent at
7:55 AM
3 Comments:
I'd like to hear other people's ideas on this one: I was under the impression that the 100m stride-outs were supposed to be fast (duh) but not an all-out sprint. I vaguely remember reading: as fast as you can go without breaking form (for me, there's an obvious point where I either have a form breakdown or switch into full-on sprinting form). I also recall being told: about 1 mile race pace. So how fast are we supposed to do these? Thoughts? Comments? Rejoinders?
By
Anonymous, at 2:17 PM
Correct, they're not sprints. I made that mistake too when I first followed the Pfitzinger plan because he doesn't explain strides adequately. Best way to do them is as a gradual acceleration where the last 30m or so are at 90-95% effort. Keep in mind, the benefit of strides is not aerobic conditioning but form. You don't have to sprint all out to get your arms pumping and legs kicking.
By
Anonymous, at 10:17 AM
Thanks for these clarifications! You two are serving as quite a coaching team. Thomas: how about you join us for a K-Star run some Saturday morning and brunch so you and Mike can meet?
By
Brent, at 12:13 PM
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