My plan to run hard at first until I can’t, then walk a bit until I can run again seems to be paying off. I still have a long way to go, but I can tell that I’m pushing my legs hard and that’s exactly what I wanted to do. When I stop running and let myself walk, it seems like it’s my legs and not my lungs that are giving out. I think that’s where I want to be. Now if I could just get faster.

I did my traditional 10k out-and-back route today. I ran hard along Townsgate, but hit a red light at Carmel Country Road. I hate red lights. It looks like Strava is automatically removing my stops from my runs now. I’m not sure I like that, but it is what it is. I don’t see any of the red lights that I hit. I think that’s why they’re claiming that I got a new 10k PR. It’s not that I like one system over the other, I just want an even playing field to measure my results over time… so I really hope they stop messing with their algorithms and just let us run!

I hit another red light at the top of Del Mar Heights Road, but then I had no excuses (other than my weak legs) until after the 5k turn-around point. I immediately hit another red light trying to cross at the bottom of Del Mar Heights Road, but then I had mostly smooth sailing all the way back to Carmel Country Road. I always hit that thing red and it’s really annoying.

The last two days (since my first “run” after a 2-month hiatus) have been painful. I am genuinely surprised how much I lost by not running and only biking the last 2 months. I thought I would be a little slower than normal, but I didn’t anticipate having so much pain after such a slow outing. I was lucky enough to get a couple leg rubs over those two days and even though I wasn’t feeling 100% today, I felt good enough to go back out there and really hurt myself.

Instead of trying to never walk during my run, I decided I should start trying to run faster… even if it kills me and I have to walk a bit. I’ll still make sure I go the full distance, but I need to get some faster segments in there. With that in mind, I started off strong. I hit the light across Carmel Country green and I figured I would get a good time on that first mile. I did. I even set a PR for the hill climb (which is only possible when you hit the light green). But then I was dead tired. I hit the light to cross Del Mar Heights red, which gave me a good 30 seconds to catch my breath. I guess that wasn’t enough, because I still walked a bit on that next mile.

I walked a couple times on the way back, but for the most part I managed to keep running (except for the big hill climb). All in all it turned out to be a pretty good run. I am definitely hurting, but I think this is the right way to improve my speed overall.

I didn’t run even one time in June or July until today. I was busy riding my bike as much as possible; getting ready for the big Seattle to Portland ride. Now that the ride is done and life is back to normal, it is time to return to my routine of running, swimming, and biking. I didn’t swim yesterday. I’m not 100% sure how much swimming I want to do now that the pool is full of kids all the time. But I knew I had to run today.

The impending run was intimidating. While I was off training on my bike, my brother continued to train. He even ran 12 miles one day. I haven’t ever gone that far. My boss started running and has become amazingly fast while I’ve been on my bike. I wondered if I could even run at all after this much time off. It was really getting to me. I didn’t even sleep well last night, knowing that I had to run at least a little today.

I finally suited up and set out slowly. I thought I would go backwards through the 56 bike trail and then up El Camino. but I actually felt kind of good as I started, so I turned it into my regular 10k route along Del Mar Heights Road instead.

I was going slow, but feeling really hot. I was sweating like crazy and kept thinking I may be getting sun burned. At the 5k turn-around I didn’t wait long. I turned and started back, thinking I may even get a good time on my 10k. But then I was dead. I couldn’t run another step. My heart rate was fine. I wasn’t even that hot anymore. My legs were gone. I had no choice but to walk (or so I convinced myself). At least I would get my distance in.

And so I allowed myself to walk home. I ran 3 and walked 3. Next time I’ll have to do better.

There is a section of the 56 Bike Trail that crosses under Carmel Country Road and across the river where it is pooled. Sometimes, if nobody has been by for a while, you’ll see a turtle at the edge of the water, sticking his head up onto the bike path. Today as I came across that section, there was a turtle completely out of the water enjoying the sun. I stopped immediately and tried to take a picture, but my phone was sweaty and I couldn’t get it to unlock. While I was struggling to wipe it off and unlock it, someone rode by that put the turtle on alert. As soon as my phone unlocked, he bolted into the water. I may never get a good picture of him, but I’ll keep trying.

I started off my run fairly slowly today, for no particular reason other than I talked myself into a “rolling start”. Maybe it worked, because I felt pretty good the whole run. I wasn’t really fast or anything, but I managed to do pretty well even though I hit a few lights red on my way back up the hill from the bike trail.

My legs were still sore from all the riding the past few days, but maybe running uses a different set of muscles? Isn’t that the whole point of cross-training? I was about to find out.

I hit a couple lights red, but I still managed to keep a pace that wasn’t too ugly. My legs were definitely sore, but I usually only felt it when going up something steep. I can’t close the book on cross-training though, because I have no idea how I would have felt on a bike today. Maybe that would have felt just as fine? Maybe we’ll never know.

I was feeling pretty good today when I started my run. I had a nice pace going down around the bottom of the school and all the way up the hill. Normally when I get to the light at Carmel Country Road, I have to stop and wait, which really makes it hard for me to get back into my rhythm (not to mention the time I waste waiting). Today as I approached the light, a car pulled up to go straight. I pushed hard, hoping the light would change by the time I got there. It did. I ran straight across Carmel Country without slowing down. I knew it would be a good run.

As I neared the top of Graydon Road, I felt like I had set a PR for the hill climb. I cut down to the light at Del Mar Heights Road and it was red. I was upset, but not extremely. I needed to catch my breath. When the light turned green, I took off and never looked back. I kept a good pace all the way to the turn-around spot just after the 5k mark. I promised myself that if I set a PR for the 5k, that I could take a break there and just walk home. When I got there, I checked. Yes, I had a new PR for my 5k.

I stood there for a minute, drinking water and washing some salt off my face. Then started walking back. I didn’t really feel like walking, so it quickly turned into a nice slow jog. That was just what I needed. When I got home I felt great.

Maybe I pushed too hard on my ride yesterday. Maybe swimming after riding yesterday was too much for me. Maybe skipping breakfast because we were out of milk and orange juice was a bad idea. Maybe I just let those things serve as excuses. Bottom line, I had a rough time out there today.

I have been trying to use both RunKeeper and Strava at the same time, because RunKeeper links to my Pebble Watch and displays stats about my run while I’m running. I don’t really like it for anything other than that. Strava is a ton better, and that’s where I log most everything else. Using both at once has never been a problem until today. RunKeeper just kept crashing and uploading little snippets. I almost gave up on it, but it finally started working after I killed everything and rebooted my phone. I lost all the distance I ran before that, but I don’t really care.

After I stopped messing with my phone, I couldn’t find a good pace for about a mile. Once I did I only held it for about a mile or two, then went back to walking. I was really sweating a lot today, even though it wasn’t all that hot. I didn’t even feel super thirsty or anything. Maybe it was just humid. I don’t know. But I do know that I was really wet out there.

I’m not proud of my results, but I’m proud that I made myself go the whole way despite everything else.

I told myself I had about 3 good miles before my legs would give out. That’s almost exactly how long I lasted. The question is, did I give up at 3 miles because I sort of told myself I would? Or was it actually all I could do to even make it that far? I tend to believe it’s a whole lot more of column A than column B. Sure, I pushed hard on my ride yesterday, but it was a short ride. And sure, I did jumping jacks, wall sits, push-ups, lunges, and squats before I ran today, but those exercises mostly just warmed me up. So I’m not blaming the huge bowl of pho I ate late last night. I’m blaming my mental breakdown. At least I didn’t allow myself to walk all the way back, right?

On my way back I hit a red light that stayed red forever. I thought about crossing against the red, but there were a ton of cars waiting to turn left, and a ton of cars waiting to cross exactly where I needed to run. I kept pressing the crosswalk button, and the cars kept rolling back and forth trying to trigger it, but it just refused to change. It was pretty upsetting. One of these days I need to find a route where I can run without even the possibility of hitting a red light.

I talked myself out of running today on several occasions. My normal start time came and went. A few hours passed. Then I decided to do a short run and try to include some actual “running” instead of my normal “jogging” the whole way.

I am a terrible runner. When I try to go much faster than my typical pace, I die quickly and with prejudice. I can’t just go back to my normal pace for a while to recover. I have to walk. It’s not pretty. Clearly I need more work in this area. The first 3/4 of the first mile were pretty good, but then it all fell apart. Luckily I was only shooting for 2 miles, otherwise it would have been really ugly.