Grapevine and more!

My "long" run for the week was today's 6 miler, and I enjoyed a lovely route in North Berkeley with a few hills plus solid amounts of sweat. I have to admit that I miss my 10+ mile runss, though I'm certain they'll be back soon enough.

After the run, I did a set of drills which had been prescribed by my coach. They included high skips, butt kicks, strides, and the grapevine, so I was basically dancing the horah up and down the sidewalk in a lovely North Berkeley neighborhood :> Ah, the silly things us runners do! And, my legs feel nicely stretched out after engaging alternative muscles during those drills.

Testing

Today's 20 minute fitness test was a beastly way to start a Friday. I warmed up and incorporated three 20 second sprints/strides. I had to stop and re-position my heart rate monitor due to a SNAFU :O Then the fun began with the first mile at 7:47, then 8:06--at which point my legs felt like jello!! But, truckin' onwards, I hit sub 8:00 pace for the last half mile.

When I finished the 20 minute interval, I felt downright woozy, and my system did not know which way was up....Overall, I ran just over 2.5 miles in 20 minutes and gave it my all. Now I'm curled up with coffee, a blueberry muffin, and some good music.

What's new

This weekend, I got to do a couple short runs (3 miles and 5 miles) up at Stinson Beach. The roads were flat, and I ended up running at a speedy clip. Maybe the ocean air, hot tubbing, and beer galore inspired my legs ;)

This week, I'm beginning my coached training plan. This morning I did a functional workout with weights, lunges, and core exercises, while this afternoon I ran 4 miles in the rain. And, on Friday, I'm running a 20 minute fitness test. Yowzers!!

Summer routes

For the past month or so, I've been doing most of my training around my neighborhood. That means plenty of runs up Pleasant Valley and Wildwood, loops around Lake Merritt and its beloved menagerie of wildlife, and cruises around Trestle Glen....I'd love to get out there to do some different routes. So, here are a few running routes that I'd like to hit over the course of the summer:

• Inspiration Point in Tilden
• Tiburon
• Over the Golden Gate Bridge & Sausalito
• Ohlone Greenway in North Berkeley
• Alameda

Coach me this

I'm working toward my PhD in Education Policy and am studying instructional coaches. Coaching is really interesting because, in schools, it potentially pushes and supports teachers at the same time. In other words, coaching challenges AND helps, or even nurtures. Right now, you're probably thinking---how in the world this could connect to running (except for the fact that my 4+ year grad school venture has gifted me with an odd schedule that permits running and more running)?

Well, guess what?!?! I feel very, very fortunate to say that I'm getting a running coach, Mary! I think Mary will focus on my running, rather than my capacity to teach phonics or manage munchkins. I'm looking forward to getting my tail kicked AND my hand held for my next training cycle. And, who knows, maybe I'll even get some ideas about coaches' work for my dissertation ;)

Something new

For the past couple runs, I've been wearing my heartrate monitor.

On Friday, it was an epic fail because, according to the monitor, I took a nap a few minutes into the tempo run....In other words, the monitor's band failed to get accurate readings from my heart. Oops. Today, I do think that I got clear data from my 7 mile run, and I learned that big hills definitely pushes up my heartrate!! So, I'd like to keep tracking my heartrate to figure out more about my pacing.