Longer Fartlek intervals...
Back with the herd this morning, I made my way to RunTex for the 6:00am start for our little workout today. It was hotter than it's been, and humid as usual. Fun!
Anyway, I had a nice confab with Amy while we waited on the festivities to begin. There was a pretty large group there this morning, and a lot of newbies (at least they were new to me). Gilbert put me in nominal charge of the group going 5 miles, and we took off for our workout. We were to do 15 minutes of warmup easy running, then 8-12 sets of 2:00 fartlek intervals with 1:00 easy running between, finishing with a little easy running. Margaret and I led the group through the 14:33 of warmup running, and we managed to keep it to a nice 9:23/mile average pace for 1.55 miles.
A couple of the younger, faster members of our group took off then on the first 2:00 interval, and Richard went with them. I playfully warned him that they were faster than us, but he waved me off. Margaret and I, and later a new guy named Jim and I, led the gang through the interval portion of the workout. I think we did a pretty consistent job of it. We took a quick water stop at Mopac, and continued our efforts to the finish. Jim and I caught up with Richard as we finished the last fartlek interval, and he admitted that those guys he went out with were a little quick. You learn stuff every day, right?
We knocked out a total of 8 sets of fartlek intervals, and then finished it off with a little less than a half mile of easy running back to the finish line. The speedy part of the run was 2.87 miles, covered at an average pace of 7:56/mile, which was pretty solid, I'd guess. The last cooldown bit was .4 miles at 8:40/mile pace.
The total run was 4.83 miles at an average of 8:27/mile. It was a good one, and interesting to see how much different it was to do 2:00 fartlek intervals rather than 1:00 intervals as usual.
We finished it off with 5 x 100m striders, which felt just fine today. Then, Gilbert joined us with the faster folks who did 7 miles this morning, and we all did some of Gilbert's hops and then the balance drills. A good day. We gathered at RunTex with Gilbert for a quick stretching session afterwards.
It was nice to rejoin the herd after a week of vacation. Saturday will be a longer run, and I need to decide if I'm running more like 12 miles or more like 14. I guess I'll figure that out as we progress on Saturday. The fall marathoners are going 16, but I don't need to go that far. I also need to get back to the gym tomorrow.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Monday, June 27, 2005
Pace Run along C&O Canal [Entered 6/29]
This morning, I got out earlier than on Saturday, despite my tired feet (from all that hardcore tourism, I tell you!), and went out for a peppy pace run. We had some early plans to get the free tickets for the Holocaust Museum (amazing place, by the way, but very somber) and for the Bureau of Engraving (neat tour showing how they make the paper money), so I had a narrrow time window to get my run done. I was out of the hotel by 6:00 am, and was ready to go by 6:15, synched up and stretched a little. I figured I had something like 45-55 minutes to get done. The plan was to go out for 20 easy minutes, and then go out further than that at pace, turning around at some point and retracing my steps. I was going to run on the C & O Canal towpath, heading away from DC this time. The Canal running path and bike path apparently goes for 12-20 miles all the way to Bethesda and beyond, which is really cool.
Anyway, down the street and across the Key Bridge again, and down to the running path, and I turned west for the next portion of the run. The surface was very much like the hike and bike trail in Austin, but running along a canal of water down below the hustle and bustle of the streets of Georgetown, with the Potomac just across a narrow strip of land to my other side, it was very peaceful, despite the fact that it was so near "civilization." I was able to lose myself in the solitude, and it was really fun going.
It was warmer today, around 75, and humid, but it felt okay because it was overcast. The 20 minute warmup came and went, and I had gone about 2.2 miles at 9:17/mile average pace. It felt really easy, but now it was time to get going. I decided to go out another 5 minutes along the path, and then turn around and crank it up for home. The five minutes of pace work was at about 8:15/mile pace, and then it was time to turn.
I pushed fairly hard coming back, but it seemed fun all the same. The return trip had more uphill stretches, but nothing like what we're used to in Austin. I finished in strong fashion, and did some minor stretching in the parking lot again as I cooled off some.
The stats? A somewhat abbreviated run, but good stuff. 2.2 miles of easy running (20 minutes) at 9:17/mile pace, and then 3.41 miles of pace running (27:33 minutes) at 8:05/mile average pace. Overall, 5.58 miles, 8:33/mile average pace. Not as fast as the last pace run in Austin, but for a vacation run, it was a good day's work.
I've had fun in DC, but it'll be nice to be back with the Gazelles herd starting Thursday. I'm better with the whole tribe.
This morning, I got out earlier than on Saturday, despite my tired feet (from all that hardcore tourism, I tell you!), and went out for a peppy pace run. We had some early plans to get the free tickets for the Holocaust Museum (amazing place, by the way, but very somber) and for the Bureau of Engraving (neat tour showing how they make the paper money), so I had a narrrow time window to get my run done. I was out of the hotel by 6:00 am, and was ready to go by 6:15, synched up and stretched a little. I figured I had something like 45-55 minutes to get done. The plan was to go out for 20 easy minutes, and then go out further than that at pace, turning around at some point and retracing my steps. I was going to run on the C & O Canal towpath, heading away from DC this time. The Canal running path and bike path apparently goes for 12-20 miles all the way to Bethesda and beyond, which is really cool.
Anyway, down the street and across the Key Bridge again, and down to the running path, and I turned west for the next portion of the run. The surface was very much like the hike and bike trail in Austin, but running along a canal of water down below the hustle and bustle of the streets of Georgetown, with the Potomac just across a narrow strip of land to my other side, it was very peaceful, despite the fact that it was so near "civilization." I was able to lose myself in the solitude, and it was really fun going.
It was warmer today, around 75, and humid, but it felt okay because it was overcast. The 20 minute warmup came and went, and I had gone about 2.2 miles at 9:17/mile average pace. It felt really easy, but now it was time to get going. I decided to go out another 5 minutes along the path, and then turn around and crank it up for home. The five minutes of pace work was at about 8:15/mile pace, and then it was time to turn.
I pushed fairly hard coming back, but it seemed fun all the same. The return trip had more uphill stretches, but nothing like what we're used to in Austin. I finished in strong fashion, and did some minor stretching in the parking lot again as I cooled off some.
The stats? A somewhat abbreviated run, but good stuff. 2.2 miles of easy running (20 minutes) at 9:17/mile pace, and then 3.41 miles of pace running (27:33 minutes) at 8:05/mile average pace. Overall, 5.58 miles, 8:33/mile average pace. Not as fast as the last pace run in Austin, but for a vacation run, it was a good day's work.
I've had fun in DC, but it'll be nice to be back with the Gazelles herd starting Thursday. I'm better with the whole tribe.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
A Running Tour of Washington, DC [Entered 6/29]
Today, Saturday morning, I got out early for a long running tour of the nation's capitol. We've been doing tons of walking around the various museums and monuments in town, but I haven't gotten out for a run since Tuesday in Austin. I sneaked out the hotel room early to keep from waking the family, and then stretched a little in the hotel parking deck while my GPS synched up with its new location. At about 6:30 am, all systems were "go," and I took off.
We were staying just across the Potomac in Arlington, VA, so I started off by going nice and relaxed to and across the Francis Scott Key Bridge into the edge of Georgetown. I was making up the route as I went, but I wanted to get somewhere around 10 miles in, and I wanted to get up to the Capitol during the run. From the end of the Key Bridge, I wound down to the C&O Canal and the towpath alongside it for a while. It ran out fairly soon going towards Washington, so I meandered through some side streets until I found my way to the running trail alongside the Potomac. I just ran as I felt, enjoying the sights and sounds of a new city. I passed the Watergate office complex and the Kennedy Center, and after a while longer, wound my way past some sand volleyball courts in a park, then past the side of the Lincoln Memorial, and headed north towards the Capitol. I was having fun, even though I was running alone on a long run for the first time in a while.
I dodged various "Road Closed" barriers and other "Under Construction" fences, and went up Constitution Avenue alongside the Mall, where I noticed the Vietnam Memorial to my right. It's very hard to see from that direction, as it is cut into the ground, but I did catch it as I ran by. I started passing various groups of folks on their first or second marathon training runs around this time (training for Marine Corps, of course). By the end of the run, I had probably passed 300 people in their pace groups going up and down the mall and around the Capitol, or across the Potomac along the George Washington Parkway. How cool would that be to have those sights as your regular running routes?!
The Reflecting Pool went by, then I ran closer to the WW II Memorial, which is relatively new, and checked it out as I rolled along. Crossing the street to run around the Washington Monument, which is surrounded by construction fencing on all sides, I was having a great day. It was reasonably cool, or at least not hot, probably 68-70 degrees, and not incredibly humid. I was probably four miles into the run around here, going along at about 9:05 pace, feeling good.
After the Washington Monument, I cut over to the Mall, and joined the wide crushed rock path that goes up each side of that huge expanse of grass. It was a little like running on the Austin hike and bike trail, only with monstrous buildings of marble and sandstone on either side of the open space. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival was encamped on this portion of the Mall, and I ran through the exhibit tents on my way up the Capitol. The road finally took a slight turn upwards here, as I negotiated Capitol Hill up and around that huge building, passing several more running groups, including a couple of Galloway groups (I know this because the group leader was barking out "Walk!" and then, a minute later "3-2-1, Go!" when the break was over). The Supreme Court went by on my left, along with the Library of Congress, and then it was down the other side of the Capitol and back to the Mall.
After this slight hill, the rest of the journey back down the Mall was even more restful than before. When I reached the Washington Monument again, I took a quick stop for a GU and the rest of my Accelerade that I was carrying along. A minute later, I was off again for the rest of the trip. I was 7.3 miles into the journey, average pace almost exactly 9:00/mile. Still, I felt really good, but I needed to get back to the hotel so we could start our day of tourism.
Down past the Washington Monument, I turned towards the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. I ran by the Bureau of Engraving, where they make the paper money, and then into West Potomac Park, and a running path again. I ran by the Jefferson Memorial, very near it, through the parking lot there, and then up to the George Mason Bridge and back across the Potomac again. I checked out the Pentagon and the tons of rowers on the Potomac as I crossed the long bridge, and remembered a similar trip over that bridge a long time ago when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. I was a lot happier today than I was during that final stage of that race, that's for sure.
Coming off the bridge, I joined the nice running path that goes alongside the Potomac, heading towards Arlington Cemetery. This path actually was paved, and had a yellow line running down the middle of it, to make bikers stay right on the path. Tons of runners were on this section of the trail, and I made my way through them, more or less pushing the pace to get finished with the run. I did some guesswork and wound my way across towards Arlington Cemetery, where I caught up with a group of four local runners. I asked them if I was headed towards the Iwo Jima Memorial, and they said if I slowed down, I could join them and they'd take me there. That sounded like a kind offer, so I eased back just a bit and joined them. We curved along the side of the Cemetery, and the woman I was running with told me that they were adventure racers. We exchanged pleasantries, and then I noticed that she was picking up the pace for the end of their 7 miler, leaving her companions behind. "Slow down," indeed! We pushed on up the curving road to the Iwo Jima Memorial, which wasn't as steep as I remembered it from my marathon there years ago, but it was still a nice little hill.
I thanked her for getting me to the Memorial, which is still amazingly huge and impressive, and continued my run up and out of the park, through a couple of turns, and I was finally back at the hotel. A really good long run! 11.33 miles, average pace 8:54/mile, and my last several miles were at around 8:41/mile pace.
I did most of the usual stretching routine, and got cleaned up while the kids and Mary Anne went down to breakfast. The rest of the day was heavy-duty tourism and lots of walking, which probably did me some good.
The run was a great way to start my day, and it was just one of those things that you've got to do if you're in a city like that. It would have been disgraceful if I had decided not to run and see those sights in that way.
Today, Saturday morning, I got out early for a long running tour of the nation's capitol. We've been doing tons of walking around the various museums and monuments in town, but I haven't gotten out for a run since Tuesday in Austin. I sneaked out the hotel room early to keep from waking the family, and then stretched a little in the hotel parking deck while my GPS synched up with its new location. At about 6:30 am, all systems were "go," and I took off.
We were staying just across the Potomac in Arlington, VA, so I started off by going nice and relaxed to and across the Francis Scott Key Bridge into the edge of Georgetown. I was making up the route as I went, but I wanted to get somewhere around 10 miles in, and I wanted to get up to the Capitol during the run. From the end of the Key Bridge, I wound down to the C&O Canal and the towpath alongside it for a while. It ran out fairly soon going towards Washington, so I meandered through some side streets until I found my way to the running trail alongside the Potomac. I just ran as I felt, enjoying the sights and sounds of a new city. I passed the Watergate office complex and the Kennedy Center, and after a while longer, wound my way past some sand volleyball courts in a park, then past the side of the Lincoln Memorial, and headed north towards the Capitol. I was having fun, even though I was running alone on a long run for the first time in a while.
I dodged various "Road Closed" barriers and other "Under Construction" fences, and went up Constitution Avenue alongside the Mall, where I noticed the Vietnam Memorial to my right. It's very hard to see from that direction, as it is cut into the ground, but I did catch it as I ran by. I started passing various groups of folks on their first or second marathon training runs around this time (training for Marine Corps, of course). By the end of the run, I had probably passed 300 people in their pace groups going up and down the mall and around the Capitol, or across the Potomac along the George Washington Parkway. How cool would that be to have those sights as your regular running routes?!
The Reflecting Pool went by, then I ran closer to the WW II Memorial, which is relatively new, and checked it out as I rolled along. Crossing the street to run around the Washington Monument, which is surrounded by construction fencing on all sides, I was having a great day. It was reasonably cool, or at least not hot, probably 68-70 degrees, and not incredibly humid. I was probably four miles into the run around here, going along at about 9:05 pace, feeling good.
After the Washington Monument, I cut over to the Mall, and joined the wide crushed rock path that goes up each side of that huge expanse of grass. It was a little like running on the Austin hike and bike trail, only with monstrous buildings of marble and sandstone on either side of the open space. The Smithsonian Folklife Festival was encamped on this portion of the Mall, and I ran through the exhibit tents on my way up the Capitol. The road finally took a slight turn upwards here, as I negotiated Capitol Hill up and around that huge building, passing several more running groups, including a couple of Galloway groups (I know this because the group leader was barking out "Walk!" and then, a minute later "3-2-1, Go!" when the break was over). The Supreme Court went by on my left, along with the Library of Congress, and then it was down the other side of the Capitol and back to the Mall.
After this slight hill, the rest of the journey back down the Mall was even more restful than before. When I reached the Washington Monument again, I took a quick stop for a GU and the rest of my Accelerade that I was carrying along. A minute later, I was off again for the rest of the trip. I was 7.3 miles into the journey, average pace almost exactly 9:00/mile. Still, I felt really good, but I needed to get back to the hotel so we could start our day of tourism.
Down past the Washington Monument, I turned towards the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin. I ran by the Bureau of Engraving, where they make the paper money, and then into West Potomac Park, and a running path again. I ran by the Jefferson Memorial, very near it, through the parking lot there, and then up to the George Mason Bridge and back across the Potomac again. I checked out the Pentagon and the tons of rowers on the Potomac as I crossed the long bridge, and remembered a similar trip over that bridge a long time ago when I ran the Marine Corps Marathon. I was a lot happier today than I was during that final stage of that race, that's for sure.
Coming off the bridge, I joined the nice running path that goes alongside the Potomac, heading towards Arlington Cemetery. This path actually was paved, and had a yellow line running down the middle of it, to make bikers stay right on the path. Tons of runners were on this section of the trail, and I made my way through them, more or less pushing the pace to get finished with the run. I did some guesswork and wound my way across towards Arlington Cemetery, where I caught up with a group of four local runners. I asked them if I was headed towards the Iwo Jima Memorial, and they said if I slowed down, I could join them and they'd take me there. That sounded like a kind offer, so I eased back just a bit and joined them. We curved along the side of the Cemetery, and the woman I was running with told me that they were adventure racers. We exchanged pleasantries, and then I noticed that she was picking up the pace for the end of their 7 miler, leaving her companions behind. "Slow down," indeed! We pushed on up the curving road to the Iwo Jima Memorial, which wasn't as steep as I remembered it from my marathon there years ago, but it was still a nice little hill.
I thanked her for getting me to the Memorial, which is still amazingly huge and impressive, and continued my run up and out of the park, through a couple of turns, and I was finally back at the hotel. A really good long run! 11.33 miles, average pace 8:54/mile, and my last several miles were at around 8:41/mile pace.
I did most of the usual stretching routine, and got cleaned up while the kids and Mary Anne went down to breakfast. The rest of the day was heavy-duty tourism and lots of walking, which probably did me some good.
The run was a great way to start my day, and it was just one of those things that you've got to do if you're in a city like that. It would have been disgraceful if I had decided not to run and see those sights in that way.
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Off to Washington!
We'll be in DC the next few days, checking out the sights and letting the kids discover what the nation's capitol is all about. I hope to get in some morning runs on the many running trails available in the Metro area, but I won't freak out if I don't get everything in that I plan. I mostly want to do a long run on Saturday that takes me to the Mall so I can run by the monuments and all that stuff. It should be a fun time. Reports to follow, of course.
We'll be in DC the next few days, checking out the sights and letting the kids discover what the nation's capitol is all about. I hope to get in some morning runs on the many running trails available in the Metro area, but I won't freak out if I don't get everything in that I plan. I mostly want to do a long run on Saturday that takes me to the Mall so I can run by the monuments and all that stuff. It should be a fun time. Reports to follow, of course.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Meriden 1000's
This morning, we were treated to a noticeably cooler day. It was in the high 60's instead of in the 70's, and that was really nice. The scheduled Meriden 1000m hilly repeats caused a smaller turnout than usual, but that's the normal pattern it seems. Some people duck this workout and Wilke, just because running up hills isn't easy. For the most part, I go with the Nietzche thought: "That which does not kill you makes you stronger (might be paraphrased...)." Hills are a necessary part of training...they're just not much fun sometimes.
The warmup run is really short for this one, just .6 miles, and it's uphill, so I never feel very comfortable until after the first interval is underway. At any rate, drills were in full light on this longest day of the year, and Gilbert was able to see us clearly enough to do some correcting of various form issues. I had a good time chatting with Jan as we did the drills.
The assignment today was 2-5 x 1000m repeats, 2:00 rest between. The course is hilly, but it's maybe my favorite Gazelles workout. I just think it does a good job of building mental toughness and for teaching you how to recover after a steep hill in a race, due to the nature of the rolling course. Gilbert emphasized that this is about form more than time, but of course, we kept the times, so we were free to think whatever we wanted about that advice. Last time out, I did 5 repeats at an average of 5:00, on a much cooler day. I figured I'd shoot for 4 or 5 repeats today. My group was Jan, Richard, Kim, and David. There was some jockeying for position the first repeat, and I was pleased to note that I was catching people on the uphills. I ran with Kim on this one, and Richard finished right with us. By the second and third repeat, the group had splintered a bit, and Richard and Kim were my subgroup. We finished together on those two as well. The times were improving, too. Kim said that the fourth one was her last, so given the fast times we were running, I figured 4 would be enough for me, too. We cranked that one, and finished the four repeats in 4:59, 4:54, 4:51, and 4:45, each one faster than the one before. That last repeat was a new course PR for me, always exciting. Average on the slightly more than 1000m intervals was 4:52, or 7:37/mile pace. Kim is a faster runner than me, so keeping pace with her was a real test today.
After that, we did 5 uphill striders, about 100 yards each, I'd guess, for form. Those felt a lot easier than they did a year ago, that's for sure. To finish things off, we did 2 backwards running striders on that same hill. Surprisingly, I felt really good. I ran back afterwards with Kim and Jan, and that was the day.
I chatted some more with Jan and Patrick as I stretched, especially since I'll be out of town for a couple of workouts, and we were trying to figure out the rare times we'll be in the same place in July.
A good day at the running office, total mileage a measly but intense 4.8 miles. Tomorrow is a short and easy recovery run and hopefully a visit to the gym.
This morning, we were treated to a noticeably cooler day. It was in the high 60's instead of in the 70's, and that was really nice. The scheduled Meriden 1000m hilly repeats caused a smaller turnout than usual, but that's the normal pattern it seems. Some people duck this workout and Wilke, just because running up hills isn't easy. For the most part, I go with the Nietzche thought: "That which does not kill you makes you stronger (might be paraphrased...)." Hills are a necessary part of training...they're just not much fun sometimes.
The warmup run is really short for this one, just .6 miles, and it's uphill, so I never feel very comfortable until after the first interval is underway. At any rate, drills were in full light on this longest day of the year, and Gilbert was able to see us clearly enough to do some correcting of various form issues. I had a good time chatting with Jan as we did the drills.
The assignment today was 2-5 x 1000m repeats, 2:00 rest between. The course is hilly, but it's maybe my favorite Gazelles workout. I just think it does a good job of building mental toughness and for teaching you how to recover after a steep hill in a race, due to the nature of the rolling course. Gilbert emphasized that this is about form more than time, but of course, we kept the times, so we were free to think whatever we wanted about that advice. Last time out, I did 5 repeats at an average of 5:00, on a much cooler day. I figured I'd shoot for 4 or 5 repeats today. My group was Jan, Richard, Kim, and David. There was some jockeying for position the first repeat, and I was pleased to note that I was catching people on the uphills. I ran with Kim on this one, and Richard finished right with us. By the second and third repeat, the group had splintered a bit, and Richard and Kim were my subgroup. We finished together on those two as well. The times were improving, too. Kim said that the fourth one was her last, so given the fast times we were running, I figured 4 would be enough for me, too. We cranked that one, and finished the four repeats in 4:59, 4:54, 4:51, and 4:45, each one faster than the one before. That last repeat was a new course PR for me, always exciting. Average on the slightly more than 1000m intervals was 4:52, or 7:37/mile pace. Kim is a faster runner than me, so keeping pace with her was a real test today.
After that, we did 5 uphill striders, about 100 yards each, I'd guess, for form. Those felt a lot easier than they did a year ago, that's for sure. To finish things off, we did 2 backwards running striders on that same hill. Surprisingly, I felt really good. I ran back afterwards with Kim and Jan, and that was the day.
I chatted some more with Jan and Patrick as I stretched, especially since I'll be out of town for a couple of workouts, and we were trying to figure out the rare times we'll be in the same place in July.
A good day at the running office, total mileage a measly but intense 4.8 miles. Tomorrow is a short and easy recovery run and hopefully a visit to the gym.
Monday, June 20, 2005
Pace Run at Town Lake
This morning was the same weather as the last three weeks, but overcast for a slightly different flavor. 6:00 at RunTex, and there was a pretty large group today for the pace run. The instructions for the day were to go 20 minutes or 2 miles easy, then run the rest of the 6.9 mile loop at a strong but steady pace. Gilbert added the idea that we should try to run faster than last week for the full loop. Those words caused a shift in how the workout was done.
I went out at what I thought was "easy pace," but was soon left behind as Richard jumped up and ran with Patrick and Jan ahead of me. Gilbert's casual mention that we should try to be faster had caused pretty much everyone to go faster even during the warmup. I was at the very back of the pack, running with Mike and Carrie. The alleged "easy pace" start of 20 minutes was clicked off at something like 8:31/mile pace (2.36 miles). That's a lot faster warmup than last week's pace run.
At that point, I started picking up the pace, and Carrie went with me. For a mile or so, we ran together, and then I pulled ahead of her and started chasing the pack ahead of me, which included Jan and Richard. I had a good long mile there while I chased down Jan, and then went by her to catch up with Richard and Shane, who were running together. I caught my breath a little bit, drafting off of them as we crossed the Mopac footbridge (I was planning to continue across the bridge, especially if Richard and Shane took a water stop, but they didn't, so that bit of "race strategy" wasn't used today :) ). Then, in the last two miles, I pushed the pace just a little more, and pulled away from them enough to finish maybe 20-30 seconds ahead of them by the finish line.
It helped me today to not look at my watch as I ran, so that I could just concentrate on how I felt, and I even was able to lie to myself and say how relaxed I was running fast. The final numbers were 6.9 miles in 56:09, or 8:08/mile pace, a big 3 minute improvement over last week's pace run. The actual "pace" portion of the run was 4.54 miles, at an average pace of 7:57/mile. Good one! I was really surprised at the numbers, and happy about it, of course. A quick visit to the outdoor shower to douse my head with cool water, and a couple of cups of water from the RunTex coolers, and I felt pretty refreshed.
After everyone rolled in, we did striders on the grass (Gilbert was standing there, so we felt obliged to do the right thing). I did 5, which felt pretty good, especially on the last 3 of them.
I stretched afterwards with Jan, Patrick, and Frank, and it just was a good day at the running office. The Gazelles are probably my primary social outlet, which says something about me that I can't quite figure out. That being said, it's sure nice to have a group of friends (or at least friendly people) who share my running hobby. My guitar friends understand that I love to run, but they don't know what it's like to train with the Gazelles. Fortunately, the herd takes care of itself, and we at least have some time before and after each workout that we can use to get most of the running talk out of our systems. :) Tomorrow, we have the always entertaining rolling 1000m repeats at Meriden Street. Whew!
This morning was the same weather as the last three weeks, but overcast for a slightly different flavor. 6:00 at RunTex, and there was a pretty large group today for the pace run. The instructions for the day were to go 20 minutes or 2 miles easy, then run the rest of the 6.9 mile loop at a strong but steady pace. Gilbert added the idea that we should try to run faster than last week for the full loop. Those words caused a shift in how the workout was done.
I went out at what I thought was "easy pace," but was soon left behind as Richard jumped up and ran with Patrick and Jan ahead of me. Gilbert's casual mention that we should try to be faster had caused pretty much everyone to go faster even during the warmup. I was at the very back of the pack, running with Mike and Carrie. The alleged "easy pace" start of 20 minutes was clicked off at something like 8:31/mile pace (2.36 miles). That's a lot faster warmup than last week's pace run.
At that point, I started picking up the pace, and Carrie went with me. For a mile or so, we ran together, and then I pulled ahead of her and started chasing the pack ahead of me, which included Jan and Richard. I had a good long mile there while I chased down Jan, and then went by her to catch up with Richard and Shane, who were running together. I caught my breath a little bit, drafting off of them as we crossed the Mopac footbridge (I was planning to continue across the bridge, especially if Richard and Shane took a water stop, but they didn't, so that bit of "race strategy" wasn't used today :) ). Then, in the last two miles, I pushed the pace just a little more, and pulled away from them enough to finish maybe 20-30 seconds ahead of them by the finish line.
It helped me today to not look at my watch as I ran, so that I could just concentrate on how I felt, and I even was able to lie to myself and say how relaxed I was running fast. The final numbers were 6.9 miles in 56:09, or 8:08/mile pace, a big 3 minute improvement over last week's pace run. The actual "pace" portion of the run was 4.54 miles, at an average pace of 7:57/mile. Good one! I was really surprised at the numbers, and happy about it, of course. A quick visit to the outdoor shower to douse my head with cool water, and a couple of cups of water from the RunTex coolers, and I felt pretty refreshed.
After everyone rolled in, we did striders on the grass (Gilbert was standing there, so we felt obliged to do the right thing). I did 5, which felt pretty good, especially on the last 3 of them.
I stretched afterwards with Jan, Patrick, and Frank, and it just was a good day at the running office. The Gazelles are probably my primary social outlet, which says something about me that I can't quite figure out. That being said, it's sure nice to have a group of friends (or at least friendly people) who share my running hobby. My guitar friends understand that I love to run, but they don't know what it's like to train with the Gazelles. Fortunately, the herd takes care of itself, and we at least have some time before and after each workout that we can use to get most of the running talk out of our systems. :) Tomorrow, we have the always entertaining rolling 1000m repeats at Meriden Street. Whew!
Saturday, June 18, 2005
"Recovery" Long Run - yeah, right
This morning, 6:00 saw us gathering at a new place for the Saturday long run. We met fairly far south in Austin at Porter Middle School, for a new route that Gilbert has chosen for us. After some confusion where some of us parked on the other side of the school in the actual parking lot, we all were herded to the same starting spot. It was to be around 10.2 miles (ended up slightly longer, but that was pretty close), and he warned us that it was hilly, especially in the second half of the run. True words, as it turned out. The usual admonition to run these long workouts "easy" was given, and the group of maybe 25-28 runners was off. I told Jan that we should run these long runs easier than her projected marathon race pace, but I suppose the pull of the group was stronger than my amateur advice. I found myself at the back of the pack, intending to run in the 9:30/mile range for the workout. I chatted with Francine for a bit, who is preparing for the San Francisco marathon in a month or two. Then, I eased forward and caught Richard and Jason, who were some 50 yards ahead. The rest of the folks had blasted ahead, and we wouldn't see much of them except for a few seconds at early water stops.
The conversation was amiable between the three of us, as we rolled up S. Lamar street. We got caught at a traffic light, and that was the last that we saw of Mike and Carrie, who had run with us last week. A quick water stop, and we were off. Crossed Town Lake on the Pfluger Bridge, and made our way over to the next quick water stop at Mopac. At this point, our mileage was a little over 4.5 miles, and our pace while running was 8:50/mile. If you count the water stop time and the time lost at the light, our pace for the entire day was 9:33/mile. Depending on how you want to count it, we were either right on target or way fast. Whatever.
We continued across Town Lake again, and took the trail up to Barton Springs Rd., where we crossed and took Barton Hills Rd as if we were going to do the Wilke hill repeats. That's a pretty hilly stretch, but it felt okay to me. I sort of enjoyed the hills and was pressing up them just a bit as a mental exercise. About 3 miles later, we were at the second "official" water/Powerade stop, just before a hilly loop that loomed before us. I took a GU there, just because I had one, and the three of us took off again. Once again, I guess I was having a good day, but I pulled away from Richard and Jason, finishing the very hilly loop about a minute ahead of them. I took another quick glass of Powerade, and we were off again. The hilly loop was about 1.65 miles long, and it was a tester, that's for sure. Having pretty big hills late in a run is a good exercise for the heart as well as the brain. We were at a little over 9 miles here, with an actual running pace for me of 8:51/mile. Pace including water stops was 9:37/mile.
The last stretch on Barton Skyway (the name should have been a clue) included two big hills, and I was glad to see the signs of Lamar street as I crested the second hill. Richard and Jason were running their own pace by now, so I just kept on pushing to the finish. A short cruise down Lamar, then onto Panther Drive, and we were done. Final mileage for the paced portion of the run was 10.5 miles, average pace 8:52 (9:31/mile if water stop time included). After a few seconds there in the nice shade at the finish of the route, I joined Alex for a loop of the school campus and a run on the grass perimeter for a cooldown (Gilbert suggested this). It turned out to be almost exactly one kilometer, and it was done at a truly easy 10:15/mile pace. Nice and easy.
I joined Jan for 3 long striders on the track at the middle school, and I felt really good, actually. Not nearly as stiff and uncomfortable as I usually am when doing strides.
After chatting with Frank, Jan and Patrick a bit, I hopped in my car and drove up to RunTex for the long stretching session. We had fun doing that, and it certainly helped us to finish off the day in good fashion. Pete had us send our psychic assistance to Paul Pugh, who was at that moment in the very early stages of Grandma's Marathon (Paul ran a fine 2:42:55, 6:13/mile pace, for 54th overall, so he'll be pleased with that, I think). Perhaps we helped him in some small way?
I stayed after and did the core exercises, which didn't feel too bad today. It was actually pretty nice in the shade of RunTex's awnings, and Joseph was there to chat with as I knocked those final exercises out.
It was a really good day at the running office, and it finished off a good week as well. I did all the scheduled workouts, and I feel fine as I recap the week. Tomorrow is a full day off, I think, unless I get motivated to hit the gym for a short workout.
For the week: 32.9 miles, 4 runs, 2 gym workouts, about 40 minutes of cycling.
This morning, 6:00 saw us gathering at a new place for the Saturday long run. We met fairly far south in Austin at Porter Middle School, for a new route that Gilbert has chosen for us. After some confusion where some of us parked on the other side of the school in the actual parking lot, we all were herded to the same starting spot. It was to be around 10.2 miles (ended up slightly longer, but that was pretty close), and he warned us that it was hilly, especially in the second half of the run. True words, as it turned out. The usual admonition to run these long workouts "easy" was given, and the group of maybe 25-28 runners was off. I told Jan that we should run these long runs easier than her projected marathon race pace, but I suppose the pull of the group was stronger than my amateur advice. I found myself at the back of the pack, intending to run in the 9:30/mile range for the workout. I chatted with Francine for a bit, who is preparing for the San Francisco marathon in a month or two. Then, I eased forward and caught Richard and Jason, who were some 50 yards ahead. The rest of the folks had blasted ahead, and we wouldn't see much of them except for a few seconds at early water stops.
The conversation was amiable between the three of us, as we rolled up S. Lamar street. We got caught at a traffic light, and that was the last that we saw of Mike and Carrie, who had run with us last week. A quick water stop, and we were off. Crossed Town Lake on the Pfluger Bridge, and made our way over to the next quick water stop at Mopac. At this point, our mileage was a little over 4.5 miles, and our pace while running was 8:50/mile. If you count the water stop time and the time lost at the light, our pace for the entire day was 9:33/mile. Depending on how you want to count it, we were either right on target or way fast. Whatever.
We continued across Town Lake again, and took the trail up to Barton Springs Rd., where we crossed and took Barton Hills Rd as if we were going to do the Wilke hill repeats. That's a pretty hilly stretch, but it felt okay to me. I sort of enjoyed the hills and was pressing up them just a bit as a mental exercise. About 3 miles later, we were at the second "official" water/Powerade stop, just before a hilly loop that loomed before us. I took a GU there, just because I had one, and the three of us took off again. Once again, I guess I was having a good day, but I pulled away from Richard and Jason, finishing the very hilly loop about a minute ahead of them. I took another quick glass of Powerade, and we were off again. The hilly loop was about 1.65 miles long, and it was a tester, that's for sure. Having pretty big hills late in a run is a good exercise for the heart as well as the brain. We were at a little over 9 miles here, with an actual running pace for me of 8:51/mile. Pace including water stops was 9:37/mile.
The last stretch on Barton Skyway (the name should have been a clue) included two big hills, and I was glad to see the signs of Lamar street as I crested the second hill. Richard and Jason were running their own pace by now, so I just kept on pushing to the finish. A short cruise down Lamar, then onto Panther Drive, and we were done. Final mileage for the paced portion of the run was 10.5 miles, average pace 8:52 (9:31/mile if water stop time included). After a few seconds there in the nice shade at the finish of the route, I joined Alex for a loop of the school campus and a run on the grass perimeter for a cooldown (Gilbert suggested this). It turned out to be almost exactly one kilometer, and it was done at a truly easy 10:15/mile pace. Nice and easy.
I joined Jan for 3 long striders on the track at the middle school, and I felt really good, actually. Not nearly as stiff and uncomfortable as I usually am when doing strides.
After chatting with Frank, Jan and Patrick a bit, I hopped in my car and drove up to RunTex for the long stretching session. We had fun doing that, and it certainly helped us to finish off the day in good fashion. Pete had us send our psychic assistance to Paul Pugh, who was at that moment in the very early stages of Grandma's Marathon (Paul ran a fine 2:42:55, 6:13/mile pace, for 54th overall, so he'll be pleased with that, I think). Perhaps we helped him in some small way?
I stayed after and did the core exercises, which didn't feel too bad today. It was actually pretty nice in the shade of RunTex's awnings, and Joseph was there to chat with as I knocked those final exercises out.
It was a really good day at the running office, and it finished off a good week as well. I did all the scheduled workouts, and I feel fine as I recap the week. Tomorrow is a full day off, I think, unless I get motivated to hit the gym for a short workout.
For the week: 32.9 miles, 4 runs, 2 gym workouts, about 40 minutes of cycling.
Friday, June 17, 2005
Birthday Visit to the Gym
Today's my birthday (along with Barry Manilow and Venus Williams...now that's a weird trio!), so I started celebrating by going to the gym for a solid workout. Well, hey, I had to go to test out how the new Mini iPod was going to work, didn't I? I loaded it up with a bunch of stuff and went to Gold's for strength training. They're doing some work there, so I had to use a different brand of stationary bike, but still warmed up for 21 minutes there.
Just as I started my ab stuff, I saw Joseph from Gazelles, and we exchanged pleasantries. It's good to see Joseph in the gym, and I think it's making a difference in his running. He's really been picking up the pace these last few weeks! As for me, I did the full ab/core stuff, then finally did leg exercises again and skimped a tiny bit on the upper body stuff to fit my timeframe (I left out the extra chest exercises with dumbbells). All in all, a good workout, and a lot more well-rounded in covering all the physical bases than usual.
The iPod? It worked great. It was nice to listen to the music I wanted to hear as opposed to the dance/electronica that seems to be blaring over the gym's sound system. No, I won't use it while running, as the rhythm of music messes me up while on the trail. The rest of the day is for hanging out with the kids and resting up for tomorrow's hilly 10 miler over a new course.
Today's my birthday (along with Barry Manilow and Venus Williams...now that's a weird trio!), so I started celebrating by going to the gym for a solid workout. Well, hey, I had to go to test out how the new Mini iPod was going to work, didn't I? I loaded it up with a bunch of stuff and went to Gold's for strength training. They're doing some work there, so I had to use a different brand of stationary bike, but still warmed up for 21 minutes there.
Just as I started my ab stuff, I saw Joseph from Gazelles, and we exchanged pleasantries. It's good to see Joseph in the gym, and I think it's making a difference in his running. He's really been picking up the pace these last few weeks! As for me, I did the full ab/core stuff, then finally did leg exercises again and skimped a tiny bit on the upper body stuff to fit my timeframe (I left out the extra chest exercises with dumbbells). All in all, a good workout, and a lot more well-rounded in covering all the physical bases than usual.
The iPod? It worked great. It was nice to listen to the music I wanted to hear as opposed to the dance/electronica that seems to be blaring over the gym's sound system. No, I won't use it while running, as the rhythm of music messes me up while on the trail. The rest of the day is for hanging out with the kids and resting up for tomorrow's hilly 10 miler over a new course.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Amazing What A Little Sleep Will Do (1000m Repeats)
This morning, it was actually slightly cooler, but conditions still were about the same as the last couple of weeks. We had a pretty big crew gather for the warmup run to Austin High School, and I ran at the very back of the pack with Alex, Amy, Patrick and Jan. Drills, and then it was time to get to work. Once again, Gilbert emphasized that we should strive for consistency, at something like 80-85% effort. The workout was 2-6 x 1000m repeats, with 200m jog between (and additional walking as necessary to get up to 3:00 between intervals). I was shooting for 5 repeats for my own workout. We had a huge pack at first, with all sorts of people in it, but as the workout went on, by interval number 3, we had a much smaller pack cruising with me. Jan, Richard, Patrick and a handful of other folks were just ahead of us, blasting away for some reason. I guess they were feeling good. My little pack was Shannon, Amy and me. We finished with some very consistent times, too. My average pace the last time we did this workout was 4:35/1000m, so I figured that would be a good target for today. Shannon (as well as most of the runners) cut it short at 4 repeats. Amy and I did the 5th one, and I think Jan knocked out her 5th repeat on her own, too, just ahead of us.
Our times: 4:34, 4:32, 4:35, 4:25, 4:30. A very nice set of work, average 4:32 (7:16/mile) for 5000 meters of intervals. Later, I noticed that my HR numbers were very good as well. My recovery between intervals was way better than normal, which is a sign that I was doing this the right way today. I'd say 80-85% effort was about what I was doing today.
We did 2x200m striders afterwards at the track, and it was time to call it a day. Amy, Alex, Jan and Patrick joined me for a true recovery run back to RunTex. With the heat, we've all gotten much better about really doing cooldown runs instead of blasting back after a hard workout.
Altogether a much better workout than on Tuesday. I'll keep trying to get my full amount of sleep, because that's something you can't compensate for in a morning workout.
I did the full stretching routine today afterwards, and found very few tight spots, which was a good sign. This has been a good week for exercise and running, and I've got just two workouts left. Tomorrow is cycle/gym day, and Saturday is a very hilly 10 miler. Sunday will be a full day off of exercise.
Oh, yeah, I finished off the morning with an hour of yard mowing, which I'll call cross-training.
This morning, it was actually slightly cooler, but conditions still were about the same as the last couple of weeks. We had a pretty big crew gather for the warmup run to Austin High School, and I ran at the very back of the pack with Alex, Amy, Patrick and Jan. Drills, and then it was time to get to work. Once again, Gilbert emphasized that we should strive for consistency, at something like 80-85% effort. The workout was 2-6 x 1000m repeats, with 200m jog between (and additional walking as necessary to get up to 3:00 between intervals). I was shooting for 5 repeats for my own workout. We had a huge pack at first, with all sorts of people in it, but as the workout went on, by interval number 3, we had a much smaller pack cruising with me. Jan, Richard, Patrick and a handful of other folks were just ahead of us, blasting away for some reason. I guess they were feeling good. My little pack was Shannon, Amy and me. We finished with some very consistent times, too. My average pace the last time we did this workout was 4:35/1000m, so I figured that would be a good target for today. Shannon (as well as most of the runners) cut it short at 4 repeats. Amy and I did the 5th one, and I think Jan knocked out her 5th repeat on her own, too, just ahead of us.
Our times: 4:34, 4:32, 4:35, 4:25, 4:30. A very nice set of work, average 4:32 (7:16/mile) for 5000 meters of intervals. Later, I noticed that my HR numbers were very good as well. My recovery between intervals was way better than normal, which is a sign that I was doing this the right way today. I'd say 80-85% effort was about what I was doing today.
We did 2x200m striders afterwards at the track, and it was time to call it a day. Amy, Alex, Jan and Patrick joined me for a true recovery run back to RunTex. With the heat, we've all gotten much better about really doing cooldown runs instead of blasting back after a hard workout.
Altogether a much better workout than on Tuesday. I'll keep trying to get my full amount of sleep, because that's something you can't compensate for in a morning workout.
I did the full stretching routine today afterwards, and found very few tight spots, which was a good sign. This has been a good week for exercise and running, and I've got just two workouts left. Tomorrow is cycle/gym day, and Saturday is a very hilly 10 miler. Sunday will be a full day off of exercise.
Oh, yeah, I finished off the morning with an hour of yard mowing, which I'll call cross-training.
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Rested and Ready, Back to the Gym
Finally, I got a full night's sleep last night, which was welcome after yesterday's somnolent stumbling through the 2000m repeats. After some errands and stuff with the kids, I escaped in the afternoon for a quick gym workout. 20 minutes on the cycle for warmup today, and it felt really easy. I ought to go up a level next time. I did the full ab/core and upper body routines, and scandalously skipped all leg exercises today. Just wasn't inspired to do those. I did a good job on the other stuff, though.
It was a good workout, and I got to do more people watching. Today, I was there later than usual, and I got to see more of the after-work crowd streaming in. As always, there were plenty of folks in there to do sets of 3 repetitions of heavy stuff, just to pump themselves up for spectators. The guy who pounded the treadmill to death last time got there as I was finishing up, too. Bam, bam, bam, bam!
I'm looking forward to a snappier workout tomorrow on the track, doing 1000m repeats.
Finally, I got a full night's sleep last night, which was welcome after yesterday's somnolent stumbling through the 2000m repeats. After some errands and stuff with the kids, I escaped in the afternoon for a quick gym workout. 20 minutes on the cycle for warmup today, and it felt really easy. I ought to go up a level next time. I did the full ab/core and upper body routines, and scandalously skipped all leg exercises today. Just wasn't inspired to do those. I did a good job on the other stuff, though.
It was a good workout, and I got to do more people watching. Today, I was there later than usual, and I got to see more of the after-work crowd streaming in. As always, there were plenty of folks in there to do sets of 3 repetitions of heavy stuff, just to pump themselves up for spectators. The guy who pounded the treadmill to death last time got there as I was finishing up, too. Bam, bam, bam, bam!
I'm looking forward to a snappier workout tomorrow on the track, doing 1000m repeats.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Sleepy 2000's
This morning, I was totally wiped out. My cumulative sleep deficit has caught up with me, with a vengeance. I was truly sleepy driving down to the workout, and I guess I looked like hell, because several people commented on it while we waited to get started. You know the weather conditions, of course.
Anyway, we had a nice little warmup over to Zilker, and I ran with Margaret for the most part. I stumbled through the drills, and then gathered with everyone at the head of the course for our instructions. Gilbert reminded us that this is supposed to be an 80% effort workout, not a super speed deal. We had a big group to start with, but it thinned out as people fell into pace packs. Richard ran with Patrick and Margaret, slightly faster than we did. I ran mostly with Tony (who did 2 repeats) and Jan. We ran the first one easy, as instructed, in 9:21. I felt pretty relaxed on that one. Then the next one was faster in 9:12, still pretty comfortable. And I finished with a last faster one at 9:05. Given my fatigue starting the workout, that was enough.
I was pretty pleased with my results, considering things, and I ran each interval faster than the one before. Average pace was 9:12, or 7:24/mile, which was easily in the 80% range.
The crew running back to RunTex after we were done was Frank, Alex, Jan, Patrick and me. Surprisingly, we ran at a sane cooldown type pace. Good for us.
Good stretching afterwards. It was good to see Paul Pugh this morning, too, as he did his last tuneup run before Grandma's Marathon this weekend.
I'm looking forward to getting a full night's sleep tonight, and tomorrow is a cycle/gym day. Gilbert was telling Frank and I about Saturday's long run (10 mile) course, and it is a new hilly one, starting in South Austin. Should be a party...
This morning, I was totally wiped out. My cumulative sleep deficit has caught up with me, with a vengeance. I was truly sleepy driving down to the workout, and I guess I looked like hell, because several people commented on it while we waited to get started. You know the weather conditions, of course.
Anyway, we had a nice little warmup over to Zilker, and I ran with Margaret for the most part. I stumbled through the drills, and then gathered with everyone at the head of the course for our instructions. Gilbert reminded us that this is supposed to be an 80% effort workout, not a super speed deal. We had a big group to start with, but it thinned out as people fell into pace packs. Richard ran with Patrick and Margaret, slightly faster than we did. I ran mostly with Tony (who did 2 repeats) and Jan. We ran the first one easy, as instructed, in 9:21. I felt pretty relaxed on that one. Then the next one was faster in 9:12, still pretty comfortable. And I finished with a last faster one at 9:05. Given my fatigue starting the workout, that was enough.
I was pretty pleased with my results, considering things, and I ran each interval faster than the one before. Average pace was 9:12, or 7:24/mile, which was easily in the 80% range.
The crew running back to RunTex after we were done was Frank, Alex, Jan, Patrick and me. Surprisingly, we ran at a sane cooldown type pace. Good for us.
Good stretching afterwards. It was good to see Paul Pugh this morning, too, as he did his last tuneup run before Grandma's Marathon this weekend.
I'm looking forward to getting a full night's sleep tonight, and tomorrow is a cycle/gym day. Gilbert was telling Frank and I about Saturday's long run (10 mile) course, and it is a new hilly one, starting in South Austin. Should be a party...
Monday, June 13, 2005
Finally, a Pace Run on Monday!
It's been quite a while since I got my carcass out there on Monday mornings for a run of most any sort, much less the pace run. With the heat, if I don't do my run early, it's very unlikely I'll do it at all, and that's been the case since Indy for me. So, after a good Tuesday through Saturday workout schedule last week, I arrived, bleary-eyed, at RunTex at 6:00 to join the marathon peeps for the pace run. The weather was...never mind.
Gilbert prescribed a 7 mile pace run today, 20 minutes nice and easy, and the remainder of the I-35 loop at "run how you feel" accelerated pace. Not a progressive run, just steady pace after that 20 minute introduction. So, off I went, with Jan, Patrick, new Mike (hereinafter referred to as "Arkansas Mike"), and Richard. Frank and Anne went ahead on their own faster pace. We had a nice 20 minute introduction, rolling along at about 9:45/mile pace, and then our 20 minutes were up, and it was time to get going. Richard raced on Saturday, so he took it easy today as a recovery run. Jan and Patrick ran an intermediate pace and Arkansas Mike was in between Richard and JanPatrick. When we got ready to go at 20 minutes, Sean had caught us, and so I took off with him. We ran the first pace mile together, and then he took off. I maintained a steady pace after that. It seems that I averaged 8:10/mile for the 4.8 miles of pace running, which was very encouraging. Overall, the almost 7 miles was covered at a pace of 8:38/mile.
We finished it off with 4 striders at Auditorium Shores, and then I did some stretching at RunTex with Mike. He's an interesting guy, and it was good to get to know him a little. After saying my goodbyes to Frank, Patrick, Jan and Alex, it was time to get home. Despite the fact that it was really tough to get up this morning after the weekend of sleep deprivation, I'm glad I got out there today. These runs are really great for me, even if I'm not doing a fall marathon, and I need to keep them in the rotation of weekly workouts.
Tomorrow are 2000m repeats on the moderate road course at Zilker Park. It's been a long time since I've done those, so as always, it'll be interesting to see where I am.
It's been quite a while since I got my carcass out there on Monday mornings for a run of most any sort, much less the pace run. With the heat, if I don't do my run early, it's very unlikely I'll do it at all, and that's been the case since Indy for me. So, after a good Tuesday through Saturday workout schedule last week, I arrived, bleary-eyed, at RunTex at 6:00 to join the marathon peeps for the pace run. The weather was...never mind.
Gilbert prescribed a 7 mile pace run today, 20 minutes nice and easy, and the remainder of the I-35 loop at "run how you feel" accelerated pace. Not a progressive run, just steady pace after that 20 minute introduction. So, off I went, with Jan, Patrick, new Mike (hereinafter referred to as "Arkansas Mike"), and Richard. Frank and Anne went ahead on their own faster pace. We had a nice 20 minute introduction, rolling along at about 9:45/mile pace, and then our 20 minutes were up, and it was time to get going. Richard raced on Saturday, so he took it easy today as a recovery run. Jan and Patrick ran an intermediate pace and Arkansas Mike was in between Richard and JanPatrick. When we got ready to go at 20 minutes, Sean had caught us, and so I took off with him. We ran the first pace mile together, and then he took off. I maintained a steady pace after that. It seems that I averaged 8:10/mile for the 4.8 miles of pace running, which was very encouraging. Overall, the almost 7 miles was covered at a pace of 8:38/mile.
We finished it off with 4 striders at Auditorium Shores, and then I did some stretching at RunTex with Mike. He's an interesting guy, and it was good to get to know him a little. After saying my goodbyes to Frank, Patrick, Jan and Alex, it was time to get home. Despite the fact that it was really tough to get up this morning after the weekend of sleep deprivation, I'm glad I got out there today. These runs are really great for me, even if I'm not doing a fall marathon, and I need to keep them in the rotation of weekly workouts.
Tomorrow are 2000m repeats on the moderate road course at Zilker Park. It's been a long time since I've done those, so as always, it'll be interesting to see where I am.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Volunteerism at the Danskin Triathlon
Today, I woke up at 4:15am in order to get out to Decker Lake so I could volunteer for the Danskin Triathlon. It was early, my friends. Anyway, Frank had hooked me up with an on-site parking pass, so I parked near the volunteer tent and was able to take a quick nap for 15 minutes or so before I had to report for duty. I was assigned to the bike route team of volunteers, and sat down with my bag of goodies to wait my turn. I saw Henry there, who was helping with the bike transition area. With the skies still basically dark, we were trucked out to the bike course, and I was stationed at about the 1/2 mile mark, at the turn from Decker Road into the Expo Center parking area. It was a tough little corner, going from a pretty good downhill to a tight right hand turn, through a gate, and then up an immediate rise in the road.
I got to know the sheriff's deputy who was assigned to the same corner (his name was Greg), and once the ladies started coming by at about 7:30, there was a steady stream of riders until about 10:15. After the elite athletes, the next wave into the water were cancer survivors, followed by wave after wave of folks assigned by age group. So, mixed in with uncertain bike riders were really fit people on more expensive bikes. It made for some spooky moments at that corner, as the good cyclists wanted to scream around the corner, while the newbies rode their brakes down the hill, and creeped around the corner with no momentum for the hill to come.
We only had two crashes: One where a woman just went too wide, and got caught in the sandy shoulder on the road and twisted over (she was just fine, and went on her way after I fixed her bicycle chain for her), and a guy who was one of the cyclist helpers, who blew a front tire right in the middle of that same corner, and went down pretty hard. Except for some road rash, he was okay, too.
Jan stopped by for about 15 minutes to chat while on her way to the spectator area by the run course. I saw Tracy from the Gazelles, and Diane from the old Galloway team, but missed several other folks I had intended to cheer on in the crowds.
After the last cyclist passed my position, I was released to the transition area, where I saw Frank and his family. It was a pretty cool scene, watching all of those women fulfill either a long- or short-term fitness dream. I'm sure the feeling for most of them was akin to finishing your first marathon.
I was glad to help out for this event, despite the early start to my day. I managed to escape sunburn, and I'm looking forward to the coming week. Now, I just need a nap.
Today, I woke up at 4:15am in order to get out to Decker Lake so I could volunteer for the Danskin Triathlon. It was early, my friends. Anyway, Frank had hooked me up with an on-site parking pass, so I parked near the volunteer tent and was able to take a quick nap for 15 minutes or so before I had to report for duty. I was assigned to the bike route team of volunteers, and sat down with my bag of goodies to wait my turn. I saw Henry there, who was helping with the bike transition area. With the skies still basically dark, we were trucked out to the bike course, and I was stationed at about the 1/2 mile mark, at the turn from Decker Road into the Expo Center parking area. It was a tough little corner, going from a pretty good downhill to a tight right hand turn, through a gate, and then up an immediate rise in the road.
I got to know the sheriff's deputy who was assigned to the same corner (his name was Greg), and once the ladies started coming by at about 7:30, there was a steady stream of riders until about 10:15. After the elite athletes, the next wave into the water were cancer survivors, followed by wave after wave of folks assigned by age group. So, mixed in with uncertain bike riders were really fit people on more expensive bikes. It made for some spooky moments at that corner, as the good cyclists wanted to scream around the corner, while the newbies rode their brakes down the hill, and creeped around the corner with no momentum for the hill to come.
We only had two crashes: One where a woman just went too wide, and got caught in the sandy shoulder on the road and twisted over (she was just fine, and went on her way after I fixed her bicycle chain for her), and a guy who was one of the cyclist helpers, who blew a front tire right in the middle of that same corner, and went down pretty hard. Except for some road rash, he was okay, too.
Jan stopped by for about 15 minutes to chat while on her way to the spectator area by the run course. I saw Tracy from the Gazelles, and Diane from the old Galloway team, but missed several other folks I had intended to cheer on in the crowds.
After the last cyclist passed my position, I was released to the transition area, where I saw Frank and his family. It was a pretty cool scene, watching all of those women fulfill either a long- or short-term fitness dream. I'm sure the feeling for most of them was akin to finishing your first marathon.
I was glad to help out for this event, despite the early start to my day. I managed to escape sunburn, and I'm looking forward to the coming week. Now, I just need a nap.
Saturday, June 11, 2005
Longer Run, Scenic Version
This morning, we gathered at 6:00 for an early start to the scheduled 11-12 miler on the Scenic loop. My pace group was two new folks, Mike and Carrie, along with Jan and Patrick. Patrick is back with us, easing into the routine again after rehabbing a hurt calf muscle. It's good to have him back! We vowed to go for something in the 9:30/mile range, given the heat and such. For the marathon goals that Patrick and Jan have, 9:30/mile is just about right. Would we stay on goal?
We had two of the first 3 miles more or less at the proper pace, and reached the first water stop in good form. My HR monitor was giving me some wild numbers, which I can only attribute to Jan's new Garmin 301? Who knows? I do know that at no time did my HR actually reach 236, despite what my watch said afterwards!
The Scenic portion of the festivities was pretty hard, since we kept a pretty hard pace through the hills. Patrick and Carrie turned off at a point that would give them a lot closer to 10 miles, and Jan, Mike and I continued on the fuller route. Once we reached Exposition, Jan started feeling pretty good on those long rolling hills, and left Mike and I behind about 30 yards or so. We picked up the pace coming down Exposition to the Powerade stop at O. Henry Middle School, and had several miles in the 8:40-8:50 range. After a GU and some Powerade, we were off for the last 3 miles or so. Patrick had waited there at the water stop, and joined us for the final miles. Mike took a shorter water stop, and went on ahead of us. Jan pulled away once we hit the trail again, and I ran in with Patrick. We had a couple of miles around 8:40-8:55 to the finish, and were glad to see the zero mile marker!
Final distance about 11.2 miles, average pace 9:04/mile. Too fast for marathon training purposes (for Jan and Patrick), but okay for me since I'm not doing a fall marathon. Still, we should try to dial that back just a little bit for their longer runs this summer. I drenched my head in the outdoor shower there, just to start the cooling process. The weather was the usual stuff...nothing new there.
We did 5 striders on the grass there, and as usual, I felt a lot better after doing those. I don't have to like them, I just have to do them. The first one or two make me feel like a wooden man, but I loosen up pretty well by the last one every time.
I got my Endurox and stretching gear from the car, and found my way back over to Auditorium Shores for the stretching and such. The full gang had gathered by then, and we did some hopping things, and then Gilbert's balance drills, mostly for the people who are new to the program, the folks specifically joining for a fall marathon training program. I know exactly how the newer folks feel, trying to figure out how to gracefully do those drills. I had already changed into my post-run sandals, so I did the drills in sock feet (later, barefoot), and it really wasn't too bad doing them that way. I noticed a bunch of Gazelles had the Nike Free shoes on for post-run attire, but I don't know if I'm ready for those or not.
Next was the stretching, in a big circle on the grass field at Auditorium Shores. The sun stayed behind clouds for the most part, so it felt pretty nice out there. There were the usual groans and laughter as we worked our way through the various contortions required for the stretching, and a good time was had by all.
It was a good run, despite the conditions, and it was fun to run with Jan and Patrick, in particular. Sort of a reunion of our marathon training group for Freescale. Tomorrow, I've got to wake up even earlier to go out and volunteer for the Danskin triathlon out at Decker Lake. It's a women's only event, and is a pretty huge race in these parts. I've got lots of friends and acquaintances racing in it, so it should be fun to cheer people on as we hand out water.
This morning, we gathered at 6:00 for an early start to the scheduled 11-12 miler on the Scenic loop. My pace group was two new folks, Mike and Carrie, along with Jan and Patrick. Patrick is back with us, easing into the routine again after rehabbing a hurt calf muscle. It's good to have him back! We vowed to go for something in the 9:30/mile range, given the heat and such. For the marathon goals that Patrick and Jan have, 9:30/mile is just about right. Would we stay on goal?
We had two of the first 3 miles more or less at the proper pace, and reached the first water stop in good form. My HR monitor was giving me some wild numbers, which I can only attribute to Jan's new Garmin 301? Who knows? I do know that at no time did my HR actually reach 236, despite what my watch said afterwards!
The Scenic portion of the festivities was pretty hard, since we kept a pretty hard pace through the hills. Patrick and Carrie turned off at a point that would give them a lot closer to 10 miles, and Jan, Mike and I continued on the fuller route. Once we reached Exposition, Jan started feeling pretty good on those long rolling hills, and left Mike and I behind about 30 yards or so. We picked up the pace coming down Exposition to the Powerade stop at O. Henry Middle School, and had several miles in the 8:40-8:50 range. After a GU and some Powerade, we were off for the last 3 miles or so. Patrick had waited there at the water stop, and joined us for the final miles. Mike took a shorter water stop, and went on ahead of us. Jan pulled away once we hit the trail again, and I ran in with Patrick. We had a couple of miles around 8:40-8:55 to the finish, and were glad to see the zero mile marker!
Final distance about 11.2 miles, average pace 9:04/mile. Too fast for marathon training purposes (for Jan and Patrick), but okay for me since I'm not doing a fall marathon. Still, we should try to dial that back just a little bit for their longer runs this summer. I drenched my head in the outdoor shower there, just to start the cooling process. The weather was the usual stuff...nothing new there.
We did 5 striders on the grass there, and as usual, I felt a lot better after doing those. I don't have to like them, I just have to do them. The first one or two make me feel like a wooden man, but I loosen up pretty well by the last one every time.
I got my Endurox and stretching gear from the car, and found my way back over to Auditorium Shores for the stretching and such. The full gang had gathered by then, and we did some hopping things, and then Gilbert's balance drills, mostly for the people who are new to the program, the folks specifically joining for a fall marathon training program. I know exactly how the newer folks feel, trying to figure out how to gracefully do those drills. I had already changed into my post-run sandals, so I did the drills in sock feet (later, barefoot), and it really wasn't too bad doing them that way. I noticed a bunch of Gazelles had the Nike Free shoes on for post-run attire, but I don't know if I'm ready for those or not.
Next was the stretching, in a big circle on the grass field at Auditorium Shores. The sun stayed behind clouds for the most part, so it felt pretty nice out there. There were the usual groans and laughter as we worked our way through the various contortions required for the stretching, and a good time was had by all.
It was a good run, despite the conditions, and it was fun to run with Jan and Patrick, in particular. Sort of a reunion of our marathon training group for Freescale. Tomorrow, I've got to wake up even earlier to go out and volunteer for the Danskin triathlon out at Decker Lake. It's a women's only event, and is a pretty huge race in these parts. I've got lots of friends and acquaintances racing in it, so it should be fun to cheer people on as we hand out water.
Friday, June 10, 2005
Take It To Da Gym
Perhaps I've finally gotten back into the groove with the whole weekly schedule. This morning, I took my sore body back to the gym for more mild torture/exercise. Just 16 minutes on the bike to warm up, and then I did the full ab/core routine. I did a different oblique exercise on Wednesday and today, and those muscles were sore! I did lunges, calf raises, and abductor/hip flexor raises on the 4-way hip machine for leg stuff. Then, bicep curls, bench, lat pulldowns and tricep extensions for upper body. I left out some of the extra exercises that I sometimes do, and even with the cycle warmup, I finished the workout in a nifty 1:25.
While I was doing my ab stuff, a guy got on one of the treadmills, and just pounded the machine to death. He was crushing down with each footfall, and he wasn't in bad shape, either. Just the loudest treadmill runner I've ever heard...it was actually distracting. He only lasted 10 minutes or so. Other than that guy, there weren't any amusing figures to observe today.
So, it was good to get to the gym, do the work necessary to improve my running and everything else, and to get out of there in a relatively efficient amount of time. Tomorrow is the long Scenic loop, about 11-12 miles.
Perhaps I've finally gotten back into the groove with the whole weekly schedule. This morning, I took my sore body back to the gym for more mild torture/exercise. Just 16 minutes on the bike to warm up, and then I did the full ab/core routine. I did a different oblique exercise on Wednesday and today, and those muscles were sore! I did lunges, calf raises, and abductor/hip flexor raises on the 4-way hip machine for leg stuff. Then, bicep curls, bench, lat pulldowns and tricep extensions for upper body. I left out some of the extra exercises that I sometimes do, and even with the cycle warmup, I finished the workout in a nifty 1:25.
While I was doing my ab stuff, a guy got on one of the treadmills, and just pounded the machine to death. He was crushing down with each footfall, and he wasn't in bad shape, either. Just the loudest treadmill runner I've ever heard...it was actually distracting. He only lasted 10 minutes or so. Other than that guy, there weren't any amusing figures to observe today.
So, it was good to get to the gym, do the work necessary to improve my running and everything else, and to get out of there in a relatively efficient amount of time. Tomorrow is the long Scenic loop, about 11-12 miles.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Tempo Run
This morning, it was humid and warm, as usual by now. Those who were racing this weekend got to do fartleks, so Richard and Amy left to do that. Frank and Jan got permission to do the 7 mile loop at casual pace instead of the tempo run...Frank nursing a troublesome quad, and Jan just wanted to do 7 miles today. So, that meant that most of my pace partners were doing something different today.
Warmup and drills served their purpose, and we gathered for Gilbert's last words to us. I partnered up with Shannon, and we both made the usual empty promise to run this tempo workout nice and controlled. Gilbert told us that this was not a race, and to try and run it about 15 seconds/mile slower than 10k race pace. That would mean about 7:55 pace for me. My typical pace on this workout has been 7:42/mile, about 30:40-30:50 finish time. I was feeling a little out of sorts, but knew a time somewhere between those two numbers would be just fine.
As the pack sorted itself out in the first mile, I found myself running with Shannon, Margaret, Tony and Tess. We clicked off a first mile in 7:57, and then eased the pace down a bit to 7:40 at the turnaround. Tess turned around at 1.75 miles going out, but finished pretty consistently for her 3.5 mile day. At the turnaround for the rest of us, I pushed the pace a little more, and surprisingly found myself running alone pretty quickly after that. I kept hearing footsteps back behind me, though, and so I didn't turn to see who it might be...I just kept running at my current pace. At mile 3, I clicked off a 7:17 mile, a 23 second drop from mile 2. I crossed the footbridge, and fought off various mental demons in the last mile to finish pretty strong with a 7:38 mile. Final time 30:32, which is faster than I've been in a while. 7:38 pace.
Shannon and Margaret finished together about 20 seconds back. We did 4 striders afterwards, and that was the day. I stretched with Tess, Alex, Chelsea and a new person who I didn't get to know today. It was a good workout day, despite the climate conditions.
Once I got home, I did the core exercises, and I'm glad I did those. The Saturday run is 12 miles or so, and that will be fun to hang out with a bigger long run crew.
This morning, it was humid and warm, as usual by now. Those who were racing this weekend got to do fartleks, so Richard and Amy left to do that. Frank and Jan got permission to do the 7 mile loop at casual pace instead of the tempo run...Frank nursing a troublesome quad, and Jan just wanted to do 7 miles today. So, that meant that most of my pace partners were doing something different today.
Warmup and drills served their purpose, and we gathered for Gilbert's last words to us. I partnered up with Shannon, and we both made the usual empty promise to run this tempo workout nice and controlled. Gilbert told us that this was not a race, and to try and run it about 15 seconds/mile slower than 10k race pace. That would mean about 7:55 pace for me. My typical pace on this workout has been 7:42/mile, about 30:40-30:50 finish time. I was feeling a little out of sorts, but knew a time somewhere between those two numbers would be just fine.
As the pack sorted itself out in the first mile, I found myself running with Shannon, Margaret, Tony and Tess. We clicked off a first mile in 7:57, and then eased the pace down a bit to 7:40 at the turnaround. Tess turned around at 1.75 miles going out, but finished pretty consistently for her 3.5 mile day. At the turnaround for the rest of us, I pushed the pace a little more, and surprisingly found myself running alone pretty quickly after that. I kept hearing footsteps back behind me, though, and so I didn't turn to see who it might be...I just kept running at my current pace. At mile 3, I clicked off a 7:17 mile, a 23 second drop from mile 2. I crossed the footbridge, and fought off various mental demons in the last mile to finish pretty strong with a 7:38 mile. Final time 30:32, which is faster than I've been in a while. 7:38 pace.
Shannon and Margaret finished together about 20 seconds back. We did 4 striders afterwards, and that was the day. I stretched with Tess, Alex, Chelsea and a new person who I didn't get to know today. It was a good workout day, despite the climate conditions.
Once I got home, I did the core exercises, and I'm glad I did those. The Saturday run is 12 miles or so, and that will be fun to hang out with a bigger long run crew.
Wednesday, June 08, 2005
It's Gym-Tastic!
Okay, that's a lame heading. Sue me. After quite a long layoff from the gym (2 weeks!), I returned to Gold's this afternoon for a workout. Warmup on cycle 18 minutes, just to get the body started. I did the full ab portion of the festivities, and surprisingly was right on target there. I skipped the leg weights today, due to the tempo run tomorrow (and due to the fact that I've not done the leg stuff in quite a while, so I'll get back to that on the next gym visit). I was slightly pressed for time today, so that's the choice I made. The upper body stuff went very well, too, and I was actually able to boost my numbers on a couple of exercises. The dumbbell flies after the bench press were really tough, since I bumped up 5 pounds to 20 lbs. on that exercise.
Still, it was a good visit to the land of Iron and Stationary Locomotion. As usual, I vow to get back with the consistent program. For some reason, perhaps the 95 degree afternoons we've been enjoying here in Austin, I've struggled to get motivated so far in June. It might also be the fact that there is no immediate racing goal to act as a carrot for me. Hmmmm...well, I've got my leg of the Silicon Labs marathon relay on July 4th, and I don't want to be the weakest link on our team, and then there's a 5k in North Carolina in late July when I go over for guitar camp. Perhaps I should set some outrageous goals for those two races and use that as motivation?
Enough psychobabble. Tomorrow's tempo run (a/k/a Time Trial) should be interesting. It's been a while since I've done one. Hopefully, I'll finish in a solid time.
Okay, that's a lame heading. Sue me. After quite a long layoff from the gym (2 weeks!), I returned to Gold's this afternoon for a workout. Warmup on cycle 18 minutes, just to get the body started. I did the full ab portion of the festivities, and surprisingly was right on target there. I skipped the leg weights today, due to the tempo run tomorrow (and due to the fact that I've not done the leg stuff in quite a while, so I'll get back to that on the next gym visit). I was slightly pressed for time today, so that's the choice I made. The upper body stuff went very well, too, and I was actually able to boost my numbers on a couple of exercises. The dumbbell flies after the bench press were really tough, since I bumped up 5 pounds to 20 lbs. on that exercise.
Still, it was a good visit to the land of Iron and Stationary Locomotion. As usual, I vow to get back with the consistent program. For some reason, perhaps the 95 degree afternoons we've been enjoying here in Austin, I've struggled to get motivated so far in June. It might also be the fact that there is no immediate racing goal to act as a carrot for me. Hmmmm...well, I've got my leg of the Silicon Labs marathon relay on July 4th, and I don't want to be the weakest link on our team, and then there's a 5k in North Carolina in late July when I go over for guitar camp. Perhaps I should set some outrageous goals for those two races and use that as motivation?
Enough psychobabble. Tomorrow's tempo run (a/k/a Time Trial) should be interesting. It's been a while since I've done one. Hopefully, I'll finish in a solid time.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Gazelles Circuit Workout
This morning, it was warm and humid, which will be the weather for all subsequent posts from Austin runs. A fairly small group left from RunTex, and we actually ran pretty relaxed for a change. I talked with Jan, Chelsea, Amy and Frank on the way over - an enjoyable start to the day. A good number of folks were waiting at the track for us, so the eventual group was around 30 people. After drills, we were already soaked, but we were ready for circuit. Henry was there to help administer the circuit part of the workout, and to lend support. It was good to see him again, even though he's hurt and out of action on the running side of things for a while.
This workout usually ends up with people just running their 800's more or less on their own, with the occasional lap done with a running buddy. It is rare to stay right with someone the whole circuit workout. I did the first 800 with Richard, the second with Chelsea, and the last 800 with Jan. I kept up a consistent, but relaxed, pace on the 800's, all of them around 8:00/mile pace, and for a change I didn't slow down on them as the workout progressed. A good job of pacing, I guess. The actual circuit exercises aren't that tough anymore, but the combination of lunges followed immediately by the next 800 is not easy. Once again, my HR actually recovered a bit on the running.
We finished off the festivities with a couple of rounds of Gilbert's "Fast Feet," which were made a bit more fun today when I realized that Ramone's songs are perfect for that exercise. Sue and I were singing "I Wanna Be Sedated" as we did the second minute of FF, and we got a kick out of that.
The cooldown run today was actually just that, which was a welcome change. We had Richard, Shannon, Chelsea and Jan running back, and we eventually caught Joseph. I did some good stretching and talked with Frank, Patrick, Jan, Alex and Gilbert afterwards as well.
As always, it was a lot of fun to hang out with my running friends this morning, despite the heat and humidity. That common suffering is a strong bonding experience, I guess.
This morning, it was warm and humid, which will be the weather for all subsequent posts from Austin runs. A fairly small group left from RunTex, and we actually ran pretty relaxed for a change. I talked with Jan, Chelsea, Amy and Frank on the way over - an enjoyable start to the day. A good number of folks were waiting at the track for us, so the eventual group was around 30 people. After drills, we were already soaked, but we were ready for circuit. Henry was there to help administer the circuit part of the workout, and to lend support. It was good to see him again, even though he's hurt and out of action on the running side of things for a while.
This workout usually ends up with people just running their 800's more or less on their own, with the occasional lap done with a running buddy. It is rare to stay right with someone the whole circuit workout. I did the first 800 with Richard, the second with Chelsea, and the last 800 with Jan. I kept up a consistent, but relaxed, pace on the 800's, all of them around 8:00/mile pace, and for a change I didn't slow down on them as the workout progressed. A good job of pacing, I guess. The actual circuit exercises aren't that tough anymore, but the combination of lunges followed immediately by the next 800 is not easy. Once again, my HR actually recovered a bit on the running.
We finished off the festivities with a couple of rounds of Gilbert's "Fast Feet," which were made a bit more fun today when I realized that Ramone's songs are perfect for that exercise. Sue and I were singing "I Wanna Be Sedated" as we did the second minute of FF, and we got a kick out of that.
The cooldown run today was actually just that, which was a welcome change. We had Richard, Shannon, Chelsea and Jan running back, and we eventually caught Joseph. I did some good stretching and talked with Frank, Patrick, Jan, Alex and Gilbert afterwards as well.
As always, it was a lot of fun to hang out with my running friends this morning, despite the heat and humidity. That common suffering is a strong bonding experience, I guess.
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Fun Music Evening
Last night, I hosted a party for the classical guitar ensemble of which I'm a member. We take a break every May, and then kickoff rehearsals in June for the coming year. At any rate, I just figured it would be fun to get everyone together outside of our normal classical environment. The only rule was that no classical music was to be played. Everyone was encouraged to bring their favorite non-classical guitar(s) for an "impure" musical outing. We had a good turnout, and several people brought their electric guitars and amps, to supplement the various musical toys that I had here already.
After chowing down on chicken fajitas and having a few beers and/or margaritas, we got down to musical business. We started off with "Blues in E," a standard offering, and then fitfully worked through some metal riffology. Eventually, I put down the bass, and picked up my steel-string guitar, and started playing bandleader. That's when it started getting really fun. I've actually learned a good number of songs, lyrics and all, and I took the band through a bunch of those, plus some others that started coming up from the other folks. By the end of the evening, we had sung and plowed through everything from the Ramones to the Beatles to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Springsteen to the Monkees to the Troggs to Prince, and even stuff in between. My voice is pretty shot this morning, but it was for a good cause. The evening was a big success, and hopefully, we'll do it again. A couple of the guys (and one of the gals) really were into the spirit of the evening, and it would be fun to get together semi-regularly for jamming. There's nothing quite like making music with friends, especially when they can pick stuff up as quickly as these folks can!
Last night, I hosted a party for the classical guitar ensemble of which I'm a member. We take a break every May, and then kickoff rehearsals in June for the coming year. At any rate, I just figured it would be fun to get everyone together outside of our normal classical environment. The only rule was that no classical music was to be played. Everyone was encouraged to bring their favorite non-classical guitar(s) for an "impure" musical outing. We had a good turnout, and several people brought their electric guitars and amps, to supplement the various musical toys that I had here already.
After chowing down on chicken fajitas and having a few beers and/or margaritas, we got down to musical business. We started off with "Blues in E," a standard offering, and then fitfully worked through some metal riffology. Eventually, I put down the bass, and picked up my steel-string guitar, and started playing bandleader. That's when it started getting really fun. I've actually learned a good number of songs, lyrics and all, and I took the band through a bunch of those, plus some others that started coming up from the other folks. By the end of the evening, we had sung and plowed through everything from the Ramones to the Beatles to Creedence Clearwater Revival to Springsteen to the Monkees to the Troggs to Prince, and even stuff in between. My voice is pretty shot this morning, but it was for a good cause. The evening was a big success, and hopefully, we'll do it again. A couple of the guys (and one of the gals) really were into the spirit of the evening, and it would be fun to get together semi-regularly for jamming. There's nothing quite like making music with friends, especially when they can pick stuff up as quickly as these folks can!
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Humidity Training Run
This morning, I met Amy at 6:30 for our jaunt around the Longhorn Dam Loop. Weather was warm and humid. There were a couple others who were considering joining us, but they failed to arrive...alas, we would be left to fend for ourselves.
Amy and I have run together quite a bit during the weekly speedwork sessions, but never for a longer run. This was fun to have an hour and a half or so to chat and laugh about stuff as we slogged around the Hike and Bike Trail. As usual, anything discussed on the run stays on the run, but we had the usual mix of psychological insight and outright hilarity. I think neither of us was willing to say "slow down," so we kept up a nice pace the whole day. My GPS locked up in the parking lot of RunTex, so only the overall time is available, but it looks like the splits along the way were pretty consistent (I had to resort to the "Old School" method of just using a regular running watch. Go figure). We took a few very short water stops (I didn't carry water today, so we used the trailside water fountains), including a one minute stop at the Rock for really cold water that I drank and also poured over my head. I was getting overheated a little in the conditions of the day.
We saw the Gazelles marathon people coming on the trail in the opposite direction a little more than halfway through our run, so it was fun to see them while we were toiling. For the last couple of miles from the Rock, we pushed the pace a little, including an 8:33 last mile. Nothing spectacular, but for the whole 10.1 miles, an exact 9:00/mile pace. Well done, I'd say. We did very little talking over that last mile, but ran stride for stride all the way to the finish.
It was a good run. Just like me, Amy is using these summer long runs to build a base for Freescale Marathon training, so I suspect we'll be running together a lot until the start of Freescale workouts. Afterwards, we gathered up our stuff and went to the stretching area at RunTex to be able to cheer on our fellow Gazelles and Gilbert in the News 8K race happening this morning. Gilbert looked comfortable as he flew by in the lead (we were at about the 4 mile mark of the course), and Peter, Paul, Frank, Sean, Dick, Anne and a host of other Gazelles were looking pretty strong as they went by as well. We got a little goofy (well, I did, at least), and sang the Iyo Ngwe song for them as they ran by.
The full stretching was fun, and I needed it today. We had a pretty big crew, including some new folks who started the Gazelles marathon training this morning for fall races. Gilbert showed up about when we were doing the ab/core exercises after the stretching. (I did the whole routine, double sets, and I can tell I've been neglecting those exercises!) It was a nice day at the running office.
This morning, I met Amy at 6:30 for our jaunt around the Longhorn Dam Loop. Weather was warm and humid. There were a couple others who were considering joining us, but they failed to arrive...alas, we would be left to fend for ourselves.
Amy and I have run together quite a bit during the weekly speedwork sessions, but never for a longer run. This was fun to have an hour and a half or so to chat and laugh about stuff as we slogged around the Hike and Bike Trail. As usual, anything discussed on the run stays on the run, but we had the usual mix of psychological insight and outright hilarity. I think neither of us was willing to say "slow down," so we kept up a nice pace the whole day. My GPS locked up in the parking lot of RunTex, so only the overall time is available, but it looks like the splits along the way were pretty consistent (I had to resort to the "Old School" method of just using a regular running watch. Go figure). We took a few very short water stops (I didn't carry water today, so we used the trailside water fountains), including a one minute stop at the Rock for really cold water that I drank and also poured over my head. I was getting overheated a little in the conditions of the day.
We saw the Gazelles marathon people coming on the trail in the opposite direction a little more than halfway through our run, so it was fun to see them while we were toiling. For the last couple of miles from the Rock, we pushed the pace a little, including an 8:33 last mile. Nothing spectacular, but for the whole 10.1 miles, an exact 9:00/mile pace. Well done, I'd say. We did very little talking over that last mile, but ran stride for stride all the way to the finish.
It was a good run. Just like me, Amy is using these summer long runs to build a base for Freescale Marathon training, so I suspect we'll be running together a lot until the start of Freescale workouts. Afterwards, we gathered up our stuff and went to the stretching area at RunTex to be able to cheer on our fellow Gazelles and Gilbert in the News 8K race happening this morning. Gilbert looked comfortable as he flew by in the lead (we were at about the 4 mile mark of the course), and Peter, Paul, Frank, Sean, Dick, Anne and a host of other Gazelles were looking pretty strong as they went by as well. We got a little goofy (well, I did, at least), and sang the Iyo Ngwe song for them as they ran by.
The full stretching was fun, and I needed it today. We had a pretty big crew, including some new folks who started the Gazelles marathon training this morning for fall races. Gilbert showed up about when we were doing the ab/core exercises after the stretching. (I did the whole routine, double sets, and I can tell I've been neglecting those exercises!) It was a nice day at the running office.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
400's Again?
This morning, the Gazelles herded themselves over to Austin High School for 400m repeats. It was sunny and clear, but a little cooler (high 60's to 70 degrees), so weather was nice. I chatted with Amy on the way over, catching up on her fine triathlon performance on Monday, and that's always a good way to start your running day. I felt a little stiff during the drills, but loosened up sufficiently that I felt good about the start of the intervals. Oh, yeah, we did the lap around the track for striders, easy 50m, fast 50, etc., instead of two straight 100m strides at the end of drills.
Anyway, today's workout was all about specific and consistent pacing. Gilbert gave each group a very specific number to run, and expected them all to come out like that. My group got 1:45, which was a little slower than the last time we did these, but it made for a good workout all the same. My gang was Amy, Shannon, Richard and one guy whose name I always forget...plus me, of course. They mostly locked in behind me or beside me, leaving the pacing to me. Fortunately, I did a good job of pacemaker again. Our times were mostly within a few tenths of a second of each other. I rounded up when reporting them here, but they were mostly 1:45.x, where "x" was .6 usually. Richard and Amy had to leave after 12, and Shannon and I were the Lone Rangers on the track for the last 3, most of the groups having finished by then. We were really locked in, and then threw down on the last lap, which I ran without looking at my watch. It was cool to run so fast after being so controlled for the first 14.
The times: 1:46, 1:46, 1:46, 1:46, 1:43 (oops), 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:45, 1:46, 1:45, 1:46, 1:44, 1:45, 1:34. Nice.
Except for some minor form tips from Gilbert to keep my abs engaged to keep my form from leaning back, he was pleased with our performance. I ran back with Shannon, and unwittingly, we ran pretty quickly.
Alex, Frank and I did moderate stretching while we chugged down our Endurox, and I chatted briefly with Coach about what my approach should be to this summer's training, since I'm not racing much and I'm not doing a fall marathon. His advice was to concentrate on building strength (keep up the gym work), to do long runs in the 10-12 mile range, and to do medium numbers of most of the speedwork sessions, running quickly but not to worry about really blasting out PR numbers every time out. I can do that.
For the day, 7.5 total miles. Average pace for 15x400m was almost exactly 1:45, or 7:00/mile pace. Good day at the running office.
This morning, the Gazelles herded themselves over to Austin High School for 400m repeats. It was sunny and clear, but a little cooler (high 60's to 70 degrees), so weather was nice. I chatted with Amy on the way over, catching up on her fine triathlon performance on Monday, and that's always a good way to start your running day. I felt a little stiff during the drills, but loosened up sufficiently that I felt good about the start of the intervals. Oh, yeah, we did the lap around the track for striders, easy 50m, fast 50, etc., instead of two straight 100m strides at the end of drills.
Anyway, today's workout was all about specific and consistent pacing. Gilbert gave each group a very specific number to run, and expected them all to come out like that. My group got 1:45, which was a little slower than the last time we did these, but it made for a good workout all the same. My gang was Amy, Shannon, Richard and one guy whose name I always forget...plus me, of course. They mostly locked in behind me or beside me, leaving the pacing to me. Fortunately, I did a good job of pacemaker again. Our times were mostly within a few tenths of a second of each other. I rounded up when reporting them here, but they were mostly 1:45.x, where "x" was .6 usually. Richard and Amy had to leave after 12, and Shannon and I were the Lone Rangers on the track for the last 3, most of the groups having finished by then. We were really locked in, and then threw down on the last lap, which I ran without looking at my watch. It was cool to run so fast after being so controlled for the first 14.
The times: 1:46, 1:46, 1:46, 1:46, 1:43 (oops), 1:46, 1:45, 1:45, 1:45, 1:46, 1:45, 1:46, 1:44, 1:45, 1:34. Nice.
Except for some minor form tips from Gilbert to keep my abs engaged to keep my form from leaning back, he was pleased with our performance. I ran back with Shannon, and unwittingly, we ran pretty quickly.
Alex, Frank and I did moderate stretching while we chugged down our Endurox, and I chatted briefly with Coach about what my approach should be to this summer's training, since I'm not racing much and I'm not doing a fall marathon. His advice was to concentrate on building strength (keep up the gym work), to do long runs in the 10-12 mile range, and to do medium numbers of most of the speedwork sessions, running quickly but not to worry about really blasting out PR numbers every time out. I can do that.
For the day, 7.5 total miles. Average pace for 15x400m was almost exactly 1:45, or 7:00/mile pace. Good day at the running office.
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