day three of the aggie plan

Well, I did a 5.3-mile maintenance run on Monday, 9.75 w/ 3x3 hills on Tues am and 30 min on Tues pm. This morning I did my hilly 9.3 route at a "moderate" pace -- 8:26 per mile, which I think qualifies.

I was sore in strange places after the hills. For instance, I could really feel it on the back of my arms just above my elbows. Weird. By "sore" I mean kind of a weightlifting burn and not a legs-full-of-lactic-acid sore like you get after 4x1600 with 2 min rest. I ascribe this to using muscles I'm not used to using, which is kind of the point of this hill exercise.

The moderate run went quite nicely. I could feel the Tuesday's hills a little but my legs were fine and a "moderate" romp through the hills seemed perfect. In a way, the hill repeats and moderate hill run are "orthogonal," if that makes any sense. They fatigue you in different, complimentary ways, so I can be recovering from the hill repeats while still getting a workout.

I also noted today that might pulse/heart rate was quite good. At one point near the end, I was doing 7:50 per mile at 150 bpm on a flat section. I wonder if my 26.2 at MP is reaping any benefits? It also makes me wonder if I added speed too late.

The one thing I'm not enjoying about this schedule is running at work. I'm not working, but I'm still at my work building very early and psychologically it feels like I'm at work longer. Plus, I've found that traffic in DC starts at 6am. Geez. When I left at 5:30 (to do my longer mid-week runs), I could travel full-speed the whole way. Leaving at 6am, it's bumper-to-bumper the last few miles and takes me 30-35 minutes to go 11 miles.

I'm considering trying to run commute again, but I'd need to run home (10.5) in the pm and run back in (another 10.5) in the am. The Rubio schedule doesn't seem to work with this. The only thing I can think to do is Gallowalk some crazy slow miles in the pm home and do my workout on the way to work. Tempo or 10x1k at MP is easy to fit in. I'd have to be more creative on the hill reps. There are plenty of hills, but I'm not sure they are long enough for 3x up. I'd probably have to double back and further increase the miles.

My wife is surprisingly in favor of the run commuting. She notes that I'd save some gas $$. I figure I'd save maybe $8 a week. I've also considered working a bike into the equation. Unfortunately, I don't own one now and I'm a little worried about the danger of bike commuting.