RnR: Week 4 Day 7

Great hill work this morning with my hubby and my BIL. We ran at the Los Gatos Creek Trail all the way to the top of Manzanita Trail at St. Joseph's Hill and down Jones rail towards downtown for a total of 6.65 miles @ 1:19:15. It was sunny, warm and humid. I had a tough time getting through the first 4 miles which happened to include 3 killer hills in today's running route. My legs felt like jello, I had a hard time finding my groove. I managed to get myself to a slow run the first hill towards the Lexington Reservoir but the St. Joseph's hill climb I pretty much just walked.

The way down the hills was a different story. I felt like I was flying out there and it felt awesome. It was well worth the struggle the first 4 miles. It was like a reward after all the hard work. My mile splits are as follows:

Mile 1 - 11:02
Mile 2 - 11:24
Mile 3 - 16:05
Mile 4 - 13:08
Mile 5 -10:59
Mile 6 -10:40
Extra 0.65mile - 10:08

Big thanks to my hubby, as always and to my BIL for running with me, for motivating and inspiring me to keep pushing myself to reach further. It was one tough but an awesome run nonetheless.

Our 6.65 mile route today

Today's elevation

RnR: Week 2 Day 6

Ran with my girl friend, Jane, this morning. We did a training run for the Dammit Run route which will be our next race happening mid-week of August. She picked me up promptly at 7AM and we drove to Los Gatos together. The actual Dammit Run route starts and ends at the high school track but to avoid having to weave our way through downtown LG, we tweaked the route a little bit. We drove to the parking lot at Miles Ave., took the Los Gatos Creek trail about 2.5 miles up to the top of the Lexington Reservoir, ran up St. Joseph's hill following Jones trail down to College Ave., looped back to LG Creek trail and back to the parking lot for a total of 4.41 miles @ 56 minutes.

Running early certainly has its perks. It was nice to enjoy the cool breeze for a change. The temps at 8AM is certainly different from the temps at 11AM. We were also able to avoid the crowd from Team In Training and other running clubs who seemed to converge at the same time at Los Gatos Creek Trail today. It was around the last 1/2 mile when we started meeting throngs of oncoming runners just starting there way into the trail.

Jane and I had a couple steep climbs during this run as you can see from the elevation profile below. The most ridiculous climb was at St. Joseph's hill at 858ft elevation around 2.45 mile which Jane and I basically walked. Definitely a butt kicker! I've done this route a few times but still couldn't manage a slow run up that hill. Someday, I'll be tough enough to hammer this hill down. =)

The good thing about a steep uphill is a really nice downhill but I held myself back from running downhill at my maximum pace to keep up with Jane. Not sure if she was also holding back to keep up with me. I do know she can run faster than the pace we did on this run. While I like having the hubby as my running buddy, it was a pleasant change to have a girl like Jane to run with. We chit chatted almost the whole time! Looking forward to more runs together with her.

Today's 4.41 mile route

Today's hilly elevation profile

RnR: Week 1 Day 6

Hubby and I did our routine weekend long-ish run starting at Campbell Park all the way to the 5 mile marker at the Los Gatos Creek Trail. The out and back is about 5.27 mile which we did at 54:37. It started off pretty slow since my left shin was a bit painful and it took awhile to warm up. Once we got it rolling though, it actually felt like I did a decent pace throughout the run.

Here's our mile splits:
Mile 1 - 11:14
Mile 2 - 10:36
Mile 3 - 10:44
Mile 4 - 10:12
Mile 5 - 9:41
extra .27 mile @ 9:20

Today's route

Today's elevation

It was kinda humid out there today but not too bad. We arrived to the trail at 9AM. If we had gotten about an hour earlier, we could have enjoyed a cooler, nicer run but that's what I know I have to deal with since it was my fault I don't wake up early enough.

4.5 Miler in the Heat!

Here's our treat once we reached
uphill - a beautiful view of the Lexington Reservoir

The hubs and I did our regular weekend trail run this morning. As usual, I didn't get up 'til mid-morning so I was gearing myself up for a run in blazing heat. Well, the heat was actually tolerable. It's the humidity that was a real challenge. We ran at the Los Gatos Creek Trail starting from Miles Ave. all the way to Lexington Reservoir and back. It's about 4.5 miles total but with the heat and humidity, the effort seemed longer than the actual mileage. I took it easy going uphill for the most part, careful not to over do it and exhaust myself too soon. I was hoping to do a longer than 4.5 mile run but was more relieved than disappointed when the hubs told me that we are turning back around instead of climbing up St. Joseph's hill.

Nathan Quickdraw Plus hydration. Love it!

Downhill is sweet! I love this part of the run. I picked up the pace on the way back and was almost surprised that I felt strong despite the heat and humidity. The heat can take its toll on you sometimes so I made sure I stay hydrated on runs like this. Whoever invented the Nathan Quickdraw Plus hand-held hydration deserves a big pat on the back. I love this thing. This is more or less $20 but worth every penny.

This run was short but I definitely felt accomplished having to contend with warm muggy weather and a steep uphill climb but never for one second thought about bailing out.