Dressing The Part

Last night on our way home from dinner, there was a guy in the elevator who was dressed in some workout gear and carrying an iPod. I asked him if he was heading out for a run and he said that he was, but that he was going to the gym and wasn't going to run outside in the dark. I then made some sort of comment about feeling like a badass because I do run in the dark. Not all the time, not every day, but I do in fact run while it's still dark outside quite often. I think I'm often quite smart about where I run while it's dark and this is New York City! You're never alone here!

I have to say that once we got off the elevator I felt bad for making my comment to that guy. Drew said I basically called him a wimp. So, sorry guy! But, in fairness, he was wearing a cotton t-shirt and I just couldn't take him very seriously as a real runner.

This morning I got up and headed off to the Terrier run (in the dark, I might add). I knew before I got there that today's run was going to be hill repeats, which I figure can't be the worst thing for me for San Francisco training. We did our normal strides (about 0.50 miles) and then instead of having us just run right over to the hill, which is maybe 0.1 mile away from where we do our strides, Spencer had us run a small warm-up of 0.75 miles around to the hill.

And then we did 40 minutes of hill repeats. I have to say that I actually felt pretty good about the 40 minutes part, mainly because that was the half-Ironman workout. I guess I'm officially in that group now! Eek! I did 4 miles in my 40 minutes, which was not easy. By the end of it, my calves were screaming out to me to give them a break!

I did walk for just about 2 minutes after finishing the hill repeats and then jogged the rest of the way home. When I was leaving the Park, I saw three girls all decked out in running gear, but they were carrying Starbucks cups - the plastic kind where you can clearly see that they all had gotten whipped cream drinks. They were walking along the path very leisurely. I guess that just goes to show that you can dress the part of a runner, but you can't always be the part. I'm guessing the guy in the cotton t-shirt was a bit more of a runner that the Starbucks girls. Goes to show you can't judge a book by its cover.

I went home and showered as quickly as possible since I was dying to put on my compression sleeves on my calves. They were definitely needing some special attention after five straight days of biking and a nice long run today!

Run to Park
Time: 12:06
Distance: 1.30 miles
Pace: 9:18/mile
Calories: 125
Maximum HR: 173
Average HR: 163

Running (Cat Hill Repeats)
Time: 45:43
Distance: 4.75 miles
Pace: 9:37/mile
Calories: 563
Maximum HR: 188
Average HR: 178

Run Home
Time: 14:25
Distance: 1.35 miles
Pace: 10:40/mile
Calories: 159
Maximum HR: 180
Average HR: 168

Total Running, including strides: 7.90 miles