TERWILLIGER TORMENT

Last week was pretty good in terms of running. Two "easy" runs that ended up being around 9:00/mile. My easy runs have been in the 9:30 range, so to have them creep down to 9:00 was nice. On Friday I was trying to run easy and just kind of zoning out... I noticed I was breathing heavily and glanced at my watch... 8:00/mile. Oops! Kind of nice when you accidentally run too fast, usually it seems like I am constantly checking my watch and speeding up trying to keep pace.

The capper for the week was the 16 mile run with Coach Jim's group up Terwilliger on Saturday. For those of you who don't know, Terwilliger is a famous road in Portland for runners... it is known as a hilly challenge and a beast to climb. While there are certainly tougher hills around town, Terwilliger holds a special place in running lore because it's relentless uphill nature for multiple miles and inclusion in a number of famous Portland races (notably the Cascade Run-Off, now Shamrock).

Anyways, I still haven't quite figured out the pacing for the 3:20 group of Coach Jim. It seems like it's kind of up in the air each week, and this week it was decided, apparently, to do 8:45s up and down the hills. A week after 9:10s on a flat course. Whatever. It was a great challenge and one I embraced as part of becoming a stronger runner. I did it! It was hard, but it was doable. # Felt like a really good workout and while the last couple of miles sucked, it was great training for distance running events.

The only other time I've ran 16 miles that fast were during my three marathons. Otherwise, anytime I ran over 16 it's been above (mostly well above) 9:00/mile. I look forward to see if this whole faster long run pace will translate into a stronger marathon this spring. Based on how my legs feel two days later, I'd say it was a quality workout. Looking at the stats after the run I ran a 1:54 half marathon during this run.... not bad!

I just realized the Miami Half Marathon is in less than three weeks. Eek! Still don't know if I'll be running that one my speed or with my friend...