Monday, December 1, 2014, 5:10 pm

5.42 mi, 96 ft gain, 39:31. Through town, solo. New Balance MR10v2.

I felt great, especially considering yesterday’s 15 miler. I managed a pretty good pace while staying aerobic the whole time. I ran out for 20 minutes, turned around and ran back. It was a great run.

Average HR 137 bpm.

 

Tuesday, December 2, 2014, 4:08 pm

6.38 mi, 265 ft gain, 58:23. Road to Wallace Falls SP, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Decided to wear my wind breaker today. Glad I did. While I did get a little sweaty, the cold wind of the last couple days was worse.

Felt pretty good the whole run. Nothing particularly eventful on the way to the park. Kept it pretty easy. I looped the dogs’ leashes to the bbq grill at the park and used the restroom, then headed back home.

A little ways down he road it started getting dark, so I turned on my headlamp. I don’t really like running with the dogs on roads in the dark since they’re black. Shortly after turning on my headlamp, I was reminded why. A truck was coming towards us so I got off the road onto the small grass shoulder. Most vehicles give me some space. I turned my head so my light was shining toward the driver, but he didn’t move over at all. If I hadn’t made sure to pull Vida all the way off the road, he would have hit her. I pulled her over well before the truck drove by, but it was still a bit unnerving. I’m not sure if the guy didn’t see me, didn’t care or did it on purpose. I’m looking forward to my new headlamp arriving. It’s bright enough that they would have definitely seen me.

The rest of the run was fine.

Average HR 127 bpm.

 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014, 9:09 pm

6.87 mi, 540 ft gain, 1:03:30. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

Almost bagged it after the first loop. I didn’t feel that great. I’m glad I kept going, but I only felt moderately better by the end. I settled into a bit slower pace than I have been running.

The weather wasn’t bad tonight, windy and mid 30s. It was so much better than windy and low to mid 20s. It almost felt warm.

Also, I wanted to test my new Fenix E35 flashlight. Even with the cloud cover, the moon was bright enough to go without light. Still tried it out through a couple spots. It’s so bright. I think the medium setting will more than good enough for most of my needs. Looking forward to my new headlamp arriving and getting to use both more.

Average HR 122 bpm.

 

Thursday, December 4, 2014, 3:53 pm

4.47 mi, 34 ft gain, 44:17. Green belt and RR access road, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Felt slow. RR access road to the green belt between the RR and US2 out to the end of the cut grass just outside of town. Then back and hopped over the tracks to run nearer the river a little bit and home.

Average HR 128 bpm.

 

Friday, December 5, 2014, 4:21 pm

4.16 mi, 38 ft gain, 35:41. Road through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

Felt a lot better today than yesterday. Very windy for most of the run, at my back most of the way out and in my face most of the way home. I think it actually blew harder on my way back. There were a few big gusts that I had to lean into. Without rain and cold, I enjoy running in the wind.

Average HR 125 bpm.

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

1.2 mi, 50 ft gain, 9:38. Warmup at Redmond Watershed Preserve, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Average HR 140 bpm. For both this race and the last one, my HR was a little high before the race. Anticipation perhaps?

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

5 mi, 330 ft gain, 32:58. Redmond Reindeer Romp 5mi Race, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

I took off out front at the start, but dialed back a little almost immediately. Another guy caught up and went just ahead of me. I sat on his shoulder for a minute or two before I decided to go. I passed him and led for the rest of the race.

A few of the turns were pretty muddy and slick. The trail was pretty well groomed, not many roots or rocks. The course markings were easy to follow.

After a few minutes, I looked back and couldn’t see anyone. I kept looking back later in the race on just about every turn to see if anyone was closing. I caught a glimpse of someone once, but I saw her again later at the start finish line heading out for a second half marathon lap, and the organizers were pretty sure she missed at least one turn for the half marathon course. She wasn’t running nearly hard enough to be halfway done at that time.

I won, finishing in 32:58. Second was about 30 seconds behind. Third place was a 60 year old guy about 2:39 back. I hope I’m still running like that in 27 years.

Top three male and female finishers won reindeer antlers headbands. I also won some socks with a bull reindeer saying “hey girl” to a cow in the raffle.

Average HR shows as 158 bpm, but it looks like the Mio bugged out for about 7 minutes early on dropping from the 150s down to the 110s. When it corrected, I was in the mid 170s.

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 9:30 am

0.26 mi, 44 ft gain, 2:27. Back to the car post race, Solo. Altra Superior 1.5 Blue.

Just a short run back to where I parked my car. Left my HR monitor off.

 

Saturday, December 6, 2014, 4:09 pm

3.21 mi, 28 ft gain, 27:44. Shakeout run through town, with dogs. New Balance MR10v2.

I was rather sore for a few days after the Ravenna race, so I thought I’d head out for a short run to try to work out lactic acid and loosen up. I wanted to get the dogs out for a run as well.

Average HR 129 bpm.

 

Sunday, December 7, 2014, 5:57 pm

10.45 mi, 1597 ft gain, 1:40:41. Kellogg Lake Tree Farm Gate #1 to Wallace Lake, with dogs. Altra Superior 1.5 Red.

I wanted to get out earlier, but I don’t mind going in the dark. I got to test out my new Fenix HL55 headlamp. It was great. I started on the low setting, but ended up switching to mid to better see my dogs. Low was plenty of light to see where to place my feet. I kept it fairly easy pace, trying to stay aerobic on the climb.

I saw a third pair of eyes ahead of my dogs a couple times. Both just turned out to be deer. They were well ahead of my dogs too. The mid light setting worked out great.

The wind was blowing pretty hard at times. Fortunately, it was relatively warm and dry.

I’m not sure if I like how the front plate that attaches the light to the strap sits on my forehead. When I got home, I saw that I had 2 indents on my forehead from it. I might add some foam or something to it.

Average HR 135 bpm.

 

Weekly totals: 47 mi, 2943 ft gain