I set myself up for this. An extra half hour of shuteye was my downfall and I mother nature had her revenge!!!

I missed my easy 3-miler on Tuesday and decided to stack in on top of my 5-mile tempo run on Wednesday. I was actually looking forward to some longer miles during the middle of the week to offset the stress a little bit. The one thing I wasn’t looking forward too was the forecast. A cold front was coming thru Las Vegas and the winds preceding it had already started howling early in the evening.

By the time I awoke at 5:30 a.m., the winds had whipped up to a constant 25 m.p.h. gusting to 35-40 m.p.h. Not wanting to skip another day of training, I strapped on my gear and head out into the waiting sunrise. At the beginning, it wasn’t that bad. Sheltered from nature’s full wrath by the surrounding homes, the first .8 miles were “breezy”. That was until I hit that stretch of Charleston/Rt. 159 heading west – straight into the beast.

A little foresight spared me from having to worry about a hat a flapping jacket but a face shield and leg armor would have been a good idea now…looking back. You know those stories your grandparents used to tell about walking to school – uphill – both ways? Yeah, this is another one. Not only did I have to fight the wind this blustery morning but I would do so – uphill.

On the way towards Red Rock, there’s a section that narrows towards the top as it cuts thru a hill. On an average day it’s a cool site – Wednesday morning, it was a NASA wind tunnel test. Struggling against an immovable object, a cyclist on the other side of the road circled back towards me and wished me luck, they weren’t having any part of this. With tears streaming from the corners of my eyes and the occasional gust expanding my cheeks, I carried on. Using the 45º angle running form, I made it to the other side with only 1 1/2 miles to go until I got my reprieve…or so I thought.

You might think it would be a “breeze” running downhill with a 30 m.p.h. hand on your back pushing you, but it’s not. It’s like being in a large fast moving crowd – move with the flow or be run over!!! If you’re not going fast enough, the wind made sure I almost toppled over. If there was any thought of skipping my tempo miles this morning, those thoughts were quickly quashed by this locomotive at my back.

The proof is in the numbers (I’m a numbers guy).
4 miles (headwind): 10:45 pace/mile
4 miles (downwind): 7:49 pace/mile

It was a crazy morning but one I’ll remember for a long time. It could have been deadly still and the run would have been just another 8 miles. Instead, I was treated to another running memory I won’t soon forget. Don’t always pack it in when the going looks rough, you never know what awaits you on the side!!!

RMFR

This year I’m trying something new. I’m calling them Speed Hills (for lack of a better name). I’ve never done speed or interval workouts before but thought I’d add them into my running routine. My running schedule had always included some tempo runs where in the middle of a longer run, I would pick up the pace for 3-4 miles. Trying to push myself to get a little faster (I consider myself slow and I am).

With the introduction of combining speed work with hills, I’m hoping to build leg strength and speed at the same time.

There is a 1/3 mile stretch of road near myself that I have dubbed “The Road to Nowhere.” It actually is a paved road that really does lead to nowhere. It’s close to traffic and hasn’t been connected to any other streets until more housing developments are completed. The name also has another meaning. It’s a really steep climb – ascending over 100 ft. – over the stretch of the climb. At the bottom is starts out gradually and evens up into a steady ascent which attacks your legs unmercifully!!!

After a 1 mile warmup running to the street and down to it’s base, I planned on doing 5 intervals for my first time out. I’m going to have to work up to sprinting the entire .3 miles so I’ve decided to start with half that distance (.15 miles). Using lampposts as my guide, I would sprint up at a fast but sustainable pace and then do a recovery jog back down to the start.

To my surprise, I was extremely consistent on my intervals (without timing them) averaging 1:03 per interval (6:45/mi. or 8.9 mph). For me this is extremely fast and going uphill, an awesome workout!!! After finishing, I walked and recovered up the remaining part of the hill and then jogged it back to my house. The entire workout ended up being 3.2 miles total but it wasn’t the total mileage that I was concerned with.

The change in pace and workout type has actually spurred my need for this workout. There’s nothing better than the feeling of near exhaustion and recovering just as quick. I’ll keep you updated on these workouts as I increase repetitions and distance in preparation for the Red Rock 1/2 Marathon where the hills are long and steep.

RMFR

As most of you know, I’m a morning runner. I’m not just talking sunrise kind of morning but 4:30 am kind of running. It’s pitch black and there’s almost no traffic.

Last week I didn’t get my tempo run in one morning and planned to take an hour to fit it in at lunch. Well, that didn’t work out as planned (as it never does) and I settled for running when I got home. Last week we experienced some major winds (20-30 mph) so I wasn’t expecting anything spectacular. That and the fact that I’m usually spent afterwork didn’t fuel my confidence either.

I decided to pace it slow and see how things went. Luckily the wind was from the side so I didn’t have to head right into it on either part of my route. I did however have to lean 15º to one side to avoid being blow into the ditch or oncoming traffic (no lie)!!! With the change in time and the extreme weather conditions, I was done before I knew it. With so many external factors in play, I didn’t even look at my watch or worry about my pace. The result – one of my fastest pace runs this year.

This just goes to show that changing up your regular routine can throw unexpected results your way. Need a change? Mix it up a little bit and see what happens. You never know what’s in store.

RMFR