My phone was acting up, so I figured that was a sign to go and upgrade finally to the RAZR. The Cingular people were efficient, and I got my phone, changed phone plans and was out of there in fairly short time. I'm slowly figuring out how to use some of the more esoteric features, but at least I can retrieve voice mail, make calls, and check my address book. Now, if I can just figure out how to upload mp3's onto it for cool ringtones from my collection, I'll be all set!
No workout today, by the way. Various pre-travel errands consumed my day. No worries.
For the month, I scored 138 miles, and I'm about 145 miles ahead of last year's mileage pace.
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Running Through the 'Hood
Tonight, I finally got out and did the Thursday recovery run, for the first time in a few weeks. I had a really good time out there. Took off about 8:00 pm, and it got nicer and nicer as the sun went down. I kept peeking at the HR monitor when I felt myself speeding up, and eased back whenever I saw the HR creeping above my recovery rate number. That worked great to keep me in check, and I had fun just listening to tunes and cruising along. I ran for the second time in the new Fila Providence ii shoes, which admittedly look a little like golf shoes in their color scheme. Looks notwithstanding, they are some really comfy shoes. They're lighter than my Mizuno Creations, and it's a nice change to alternate the two different kinds of shoes. The Creations are still my go-to shoes for long runs, but the Filas are getting better with each generation.
The stats for tonight are 6.5 miles, 58 minutes, 8:56/mile. It wasn't that long ago that that was my 10k race pace. Amazing what happens when you (a) have a great coach, and (b) actually do what the coach asks you to do. :-)
The stats for tonight are 6.5 miles, 58 minutes, 8:56/mile. It wasn't that long ago that that was my 10k race pace. Amazing what happens when you (a) have a great coach, and (b) actually do what the coach asks you to do. :-)
Cross-Training via Lawn Mower
This morning, I wasn't feeling the pull of the open road or the gym, so I substituted some "cross training" by mowing and edging the yard instead. It was good for dropping some water weight, and I got a fun blister on my hand, but other than that, it wasn't much of a workout. I'm going out this evening for a casual 5-7 miler, though. Tomorrow, I'll do a full gym visit, covering all areas, and that will cover me just fine for the week. This weekend, I'll be travelling, so I won't be able to run Saturday morning. Instead, I'll go out early on Sunday for a relaxed Tour d'Lufkin, 90 minutes or so. I'm undecided on Monday. With that 5K leg on Tuesday, I guess I'll just do an easy hour run in Lufkin to shake things out. It's a drag when you don't get to run with your herd for the long runs. At least it is for me. While it's okay to take a tour down memory lane, for instance, I can only take so much solo running. It'll be nice to rejoin the herd for the relay and then Wednesday's group workout.
I thought Erine's entry in his blog from this week was really good, by the way. Check it out. I like the notion of having at least one really great running memory, as Erine defines "happy place," to come back to when needed.
I thought Erine's entry in his blog from this week was really good, by the way. Check it out. I like the notion of having at least one really great running memory, as Erine defines "happy place," to come back to when needed.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Warp Speed, Captain!
Today was the very tough mile repeat workout at Zilker Park. Many Gazelles pick this as their least favorite / hardest workout in the Gazelles canon. It is a tester, that's for sure, but for some reason, I don't dread this one near as much as Wilke or even the tempo race. You know you've worked hard after this one, that's for sure. At least the weather was great, again. It won't last, but it was another nice morning in the high 60's.
It was a smaller crew today, but most of my peeps were there. The warmup run was an actual warmup pace, and that helped start the day off well. Alex ran with us for the first mile or so before he peeled off on his recovery run. Drills were fine, and I actually felt warmed up as we got a drink of water. After yesterday's leg weights and the delayed onset from the circuit on Monday, my legs felt heavy this morning, and it took longer than normal to have them settle into the day.
Gilbert grouped us up, and told us that he didn't want us to go too hard today, warning us that he wants us to average 2 seconds faster per repeat the next time we do this workout. I was surrounded by something like 10 runners for my pace pod, including Brian, Emily, Mitchell, Jennifer, Jessica, Lisa, Brad, new guy Gabe and others hither and yon. They let me set the pace on the first repeat, and we cruised that one in a nice smooth pace. 2 minutes rest, and we hit the second repeat. Brian and Gabe led the second repeat, and even though we picked up the pace, it didn't feel all that much tougher. Great! Another quick rest, and it was time for number three. Again, I let the others set the pace, and it turns out we picked it up yet again. That one felt like a harder effort, but still not too bad. When I reported the numbers to Gilbert after number 3, he told us that four would be enough, and although he frowned at the fact that we were speeding up like we did, he said that we should all run the last one hard. I think he figured we'd all blow up or run slower. I started out leading the pack up the hill to the halfway point, but Brian and Gabe soon passed me. I was working pretty darned hard, but I didn't think it was crazy fast or anything. I tried to keep close to Brian and Gabe as we rolled to the finish. Brad caught me in the last quarter mile, along with Mitchell. We all gathered speed together all the way to the tape, and were very happy to be finished.
The numbers? 7:32, 7:18, 7:06, 6:34. Our average mile was 7:07, not a personal record for this workout. However, that last mile at 6:34 was a personal mile repeat best by almost 20 seconds! I was truly surprised to see those numbers. The nice weather was part of the reason for the good running today, but that's still pretty cool to see.
My HR data was really great, too. I didn't get into the screaming HR zone until the last repeat, and my recovery between repeats was substantial. I'm very pleased with how things seem to be going.
The cooldown run was with Frank, and we had fun chatting away as we ran back. We were quicker running home (8:33 pace versus the 9:32 warmup pace), but it still felt just fine after the stress of the mile repeats.
I did the full stretching routine afterwards with Mitchell, and that was the running day. Total miles today were 7.8. Time to go to the gym...
I Want to Pump...You Up!
An easy drive up to Gold's, and it was time to knock out a workout. Core and Upper body. It was back rack torture day, among other core exercises. I was feeling pretty spry, though. Maybe I'm actually improving? Upper body stuff was more of the same. I moved up to 60 lbs on the second set of bicep curls (that's a 60 lb barbell, not 60 in each hand :-), which was, uh, interesting. I muddled through 8 reps at that weight. On bench, I kept the 85 lbs / 95 lbs first and second set pattern. For all the arm exercises today, I really had to grit it out for the last rep or two on second sets. Still, all things considered, it was a very solid workout. Like I've said before, this is the hardest workout day, going from usually tough speedwork on Wednesday to a gym workout. From here on, it gets easier.
It was a smaller crew today, but most of my peeps were there. The warmup run was an actual warmup pace, and that helped start the day off well. Alex ran with us for the first mile or so before he peeled off on his recovery run. Drills were fine, and I actually felt warmed up as we got a drink of water. After yesterday's leg weights and the delayed onset from the circuit on Monday, my legs felt heavy this morning, and it took longer than normal to have them settle into the day.
Gilbert grouped us up, and told us that he didn't want us to go too hard today, warning us that he wants us to average 2 seconds faster per repeat the next time we do this workout. I was surrounded by something like 10 runners for my pace pod, including Brian, Emily, Mitchell, Jennifer, Jessica, Lisa, Brad, new guy Gabe and others hither and yon. They let me set the pace on the first repeat, and we cruised that one in a nice smooth pace. 2 minutes rest, and we hit the second repeat. Brian and Gabe led the second repeat, and even though we picked up the pace, it didn't feel all that much tougher. Great! Another quick rest, and it was time for number three. Again, I let the others set the pace, and it turns out we picked it up yet again. That one felt like a harder effort, but still not too bad. When I reported the numbers to Gilbert after number 3, he told us that four would be enough, and although he frowned at the fact that we were speeding up like we did, he said that we should all run the last one hard. I think he figured we'd all blow up or run slower. I started out leading the pack up the hill to the halfway point, but Brian and Gabe soon passed me. I was working pretty darned hard, but I didn't think it was crazy fast or anything. I tried to keep close to Brian and Gabe as we rolled to the finish. Brad caught me in the last quarter mile, along with Mitchell. We all gathered speed together all the way to the tape, and were very happy to be finished.
The numbers? 7:32, 7:18, 7:06, 6:34. Our average mile was 7:07, not a personal record for this workout. However, that last mile at 6:34 was a personal mile repeat best by almost 20 seconds! I was truly surprised to see those numbers. The nice weather was part of the reason for the good running today, but that's still pretty cool to see.
My HR data was really great, too. I didn't get into the screaming HR zone until the last repeat, and my recovery between repeats was substantial. I'm very pleased with how things seem to be going.
The cooldown run was with Frank, and we had fun chatting away as we ran back. We were quicker running home (8:33 pace versus the 9:32 warmup pace), but it still felt just fine after the stress of the mile repeats.
I did the full stretching routine afterwards with Mitchell, and that was the running day. Total miles today were 7.8. Time to go to the gym...
I Want to Pump...You Up!
An easy drive up to Gold's, and it was time to knock out a workout. Core and Upper body. It was back rack torture day, among other core exercises. I was feeling pretty spry, though. Maybe I'm actually improving? Upper body stuff was more of the same. I moved up to 60 lbs on the second set of bicep curls (that's a 60 lb barbell, not 60 in each hand :-), which was, uh, interesting. I muddled through 8 reps at that weight. On bench, I kept the 85 lbs / 95 lbs first and second set pattern. For all the arm exercises today, I really had to grit it out for the last rep or two on second sets. Still, all things considered, it was a very solid workout. Like I've said before, this is the hardest workout day, going from usually tough speedwork on Wednesday to a gym workout. From here on, it gets easier.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
It's A Beautiful Day
What a nice surprise this morning to find temperatures in the mid- to high 60's! The humidity is even quite a bit lower than usual, so all in all, it was about as nice as it gets here in the summer. Emily, Frank, Brian and Shannon (with Teek) joined me for the Tuesday recovery thang, and we had a grand time. The running felt even easier than usual, which was later confirmed by the HR data. Our pace was the same as previous weeks, but the weather made it easier on all of us. Now THIS was a recovery run! Coming across the I-35 bridge, we saw Jan and Brad ahead of us on the trail, but we never caught them this morning. Too bad. We made a couple of very quick water stops along the way and had the usual gabfest as we ran along.
Once we got back to Auditorium Shores, I persuaded them to join me for some striders to finish off the exercise day. Those were no trouble at all, so I guess we did it right today. Full stretching afterwards, some conversation with Alex, and I was done. The only side effects from yesterday's hopping and bounding were significant soreness and stiffness between the shoulder blades. Felt like I'd been in a car wreck. Gilbert told us that's from the strong arm assists that we used during some of the more energetic jumps and hops.
Stats: 7 miles, 1:05:51, 9:25/mile pace, including all stop time. Only about 2 minutes of water stops, so it wouldn't be crazily different if I calculated actual running pace.
I went home to get Ranger so that I could take him to the kennel for his summer shave. I think he's already feeling a little embarrassed about it. After that, and a quick breakfast snack, it was time to hit the gym.
GymTime
Core and leg weights today. I managed to do the Roman Chair stuff today, bumped up my reps on the floor crunches to 30 each set, and did my planks. Then, on leg weights, I was pretty aggressive. First sets on quad extensions and hamstring prone curls were 15 reps @ 40 lbs, then second sets on both at 50 lbs (I got 15 on quads and just 10 on hamstrings). Both types of calf raises were still the same, at 70 lbs. On leg press, I did a first set of 12 reps @ 140 lbs, my usual weight, and then did a second set of 12 @ 160 lbs. I wasn't expecting that second set to be that easy. Oh, well, that's what you find out doing this stuff. The rest of the summer, I'll occasionally do sets of bigger weight and lower reps as an experiment to see how much strength I can build.
Gold's was playing exceptionally bad music today, so once again, I was very glad to have the iPod. Now, I wonder how the mile repeats are going to feel tomorrow?
Once we got back to Auditorium Shores, I persuaded them to join me for some striders to finish off the exercise day. Those were no trouble at all, so I guess we did it right today. Full stretching afterwards, some conversation with Alex, and I was done. The only side effects from yesterday's hopping and bounding were significant soreness and stiffness between the shoulder blades. Felt like I'd been in a car wreck. Gilbert told us that's from the strong arm assists that we used during some of the more energetic jumps and hops.
Stats: 7 miles, 1:05:51, 9:25/mile pace, including all stop time. Only about 2 minutes of water stops, so it wouldn't be crazily different if I calculated actual running pace.
I went home to get Ranger so that I could take him to the kennel for his summer shave. I think he's already feeling a little embarrassed about it. After that, and a quick breakfast snack, it was time to hit the gym.
GymTime
Core and leg weights today. I managed to do the Roman Chair stuff today, bumped up my reps on the floor crunches to 30 each set, and did my planks. Then, on leg weights, I was pretty aggressive. First sets on quad extensions and hamstring prone curls were 15 reps @ 40 lbs, then second sets on both at 50 lbs (I got 15 on quads and just 10 on hamstrings). Both types of calf raises were still the same, at 70 lbs. On leg press, I did a first set of 12 reps @ 140 lbs, my usual weight, and then did a second set of 12 @ 160 lbs. I wasn't expecting that second set to be that easy. Oh, well, that's what you find out doing this stuff. The rest of the summer, I'll occasionally do sets of bigger weight and lower reps as an experiment to see how much strength I can build.
Gold's was playing exceptionally bad music today, so once again, I was very glad to have the iPod. Now, I wonder how the mile repeats are going to feel tomorrow?
Monday, June 26, 2006
Bouncing and Bounding Along
Today was a really fun circuit day. The weather was slightly cooler and I think less humid, which made for a much more pleasant start this morning. A pretty good sized group met for the long warmup to Austin High, and once we got there, Gilbert had us skip the drills and do another 5 laps on the track for further warmup. It was funny to see that we sped up when we did the 5 laps on the track. It was all supposed to be warmup, but there's something about running on the track... Alex ran with us as far as Austin High, but then he kept going for his nice and easy Monday run. We were at the very back of the pack, and it was nice to see that the warmup pace has turned back into an actual warmup again...at least for today.
At any rate, after that, and a cup of water, it was time for the plyometric playtime. Instead of the typical circuit routine, we all worked as a big group on Gilbert's collection of fundamental drills. I don't recall the exact order, but we did all sorts of bounding, hopping, high knees, jumping, stepping and such. One-legged hops, two-legged hops, "African Jumping Jacks," and all the different bits of the running motion broken down into bite-sized chunks to isolate the weak links. It was really pretty neat. We even did two rounds of running while holding our breath on the football field there. I made it 85 yards the first time and 75 yards coming back. That's such a claustrophobic drill, even though all you have to do is open your mouth to get air. After all the drilling, we went over and did the two-legged hops over low hurdles (5 hurdles, I think), followed by 10 pushups. We did 5 rounds of that mini-circuit. I didn't feel as awkward as I usually do when showing off my 2 inch vertical leap. :-) To finish off the day, we did a single 2 minutes of fast feet. I didn't know if I could do a full 2 minutes, but with the singing and chanting, the time flew by.
I can tell that my quads might be sore tomorrow, but other than that, I felt great after we got done. The long cooldown run was quite pleasant, and the crew was pretty happy today. It wasn't like after the 2000m repeats when we all were pretty beat.
I did the full stretching and chatted a little more, and the day was over, for running at least. For the day, 6.7 miles, so we didn't even get cheated on mileage with all the bouncy stuff today.
At any rate, after that, and a cup of water, it was time for the plyometric playtime. Instead of the typical circuit routine, we all worked as a big group on Gilbert's collection of fundamental drills. I don't recall the exact order, but we did all sorts of bounding, hopping, high knees, jumping, stepping and such. One-legged hops, two-legged hops, "African Jumping Jacks," and all the different bits of the running motion broken down into bite-sized chunks to isolate the weak links. It was really pretty neat. We even did two rounds of running while holding our breath on the football field there. I made it 85 yards the first time and 75 yards coming back. That's such a claustrophobic drill, even though all you have to do is open your mouth to get air. After all the drilling, we went over and did the two-legged hops over low hurdles (5 hurdles, I think), followed by 10 pushups. We did 5 rounds of that mini-circuit. I didn't feel as awkward as I usually do when showing off my 2 inch vertical leap. :-) To finish off the day, we did a single 2 minutes of fast feet. I didn't know if I could do a full 2 minutes, but with the singing and chanting, the time flew by.
I can tell that my quads might be sore tomorrow, but other than that, I felt great after we got done. The long cooldown run was quite pleasant, and the crew was pretty happy today. It wasn't like after the 2000m repeats when we all were pretty beat.
I did the full stretching and chatted a little more, and the day was over, for running at least. For the day, 6.7 miles, so we didn't even get cheated on mileage with all the bouncy stuff today.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Climb Mount Bonnell!
Possibly for the last time for a while, I planned to run the full Mt. Bonnell course with the fall marathoners. Once they get above 14 miles, I probably will look to stay in the 12-13 mile range on the longer weekend runs, since I don't have a fall marathon planned. That'll mean some logistical considerations like starting with the marathoners and turning off at the appropriate junction, etc. Today, though, we ran with the crowd. It was muggy and 78 degrees when we started.
Gilbert is out of town doing an appearance, so Bernard started us off at 6:00. Within the first half mile, we had separated into our pace groups, but unexpectedly, the pace group around us was huge today. We had at least 20 people running as a small mob, which was a first for us. Carrie joined us after her post-triathlon recovery period, and we had a bunch of other folks with us, both veterans and new members. Richard joined us today, along with Mike, and probably 5 new people. I locked into the group's pace, and hung out as we rolled along. Since there wasn't water at Red Bud today, we all stopped at Mopac to top off the fluids, and then carried on. It must have looked a little like an oncoming 5k race to the drivers on Lake Austin Blvd., as we cruised towards the Scenic loop. A couple of peeps checked out the water fountain at the boat docks, but they reported that it appears out of order for quite a while. It is gone and the former location is covered in cement. Schade.
Into Scenic, I decided to follow today. With Bonnell looming, I wanted to save some energy for the big climb. Good conversation was had with everyone, and in retaliation for the gang picking on me for the Song of the Day, I chose "Jesse's Girl," which really is tough to get out of your head once it's mentioned. Nearing the dry cleaners, a sizeable portion of the group decided that 11 miles was plenty, and they peeled off to finish their run without the fun of Bonnell. I can't say that I blame them much. 5 or 6 of the Mt. Bonnell people stopped with them, too, to get a quick drink of water. The rest of us, probably 8 people or so, went on ahead to Bonnell since it was just another mile, and Gatorade was awaiting us at the top. Once we hit Bonnell, I moved ahead to tackle the climb, and was joined by Chad for that bit of action. Since he was running with me, I had to keep up my pace, so there was no slacking today! :-) Huffing and puffing a bit by the end, we were both glad to get to the top. The GPS shows it to be a 200 ft elevation change in something like half a mile or less, so that's a significant bump. Chad asked if we normally did some sort of celebration when we reached the top, in the style of "Rocky," but I just said we were so happy to get there that we didn't spend any more energy in a celebration.
We got our Gatorade, and I took my first GU, while we waited on the rest of the gang to finish the climb. Our subgroup was now Rachel, Chad, Wayne, Mitchell, Leslie, and somebody else, I think. All of a sudden, I can't remember. We stalled a little while we waited a bit more to see if the second Bonnell group wanted to join up with us, but once we saw Mike and Carrie, they told us to go on, and they'd build their own pack. Off we went. Gilbert likes us to go to Balcones Woods, touch the stop sign, and then retrace our steps down Mt. Bonnell Rd. Personally, I prefer to go down Balcones Woods instead, mainly because it's a more gentle downhill run, and the gang agreed to go my way today. It cuts off probably a half mile to mile, but hopefully, that won't hurt any of us. Since Gilbert said he was going to check the sign for our handprints, we all touched it on the way by. That sign was pretty tall, though, and it was more of a challenge than I first suspected. :-)
The descent down Balcones Woods was pleasant, and then we turned onto 35th. Everyone except Rachel and me stopped again for a quick drink of water at the dry cleaners. Rachel and I went on up 35th, taking advantage of a slightly more relaxed pace until we got to Exposition. The rest of the folks gathered up with us on Exposition, and we headed south again. I was getting fairly overheated along here, even with the overcast skies, but we got some relief when it finally started drizzling and then lightly raining. The temperature even dropped a little, down to about 75 degrees, so that bit of serendipity probably saved my running day. We picked it up a little heading to O. Henry Middle School, and got there in good fashion. As we crossed Enfield, or maybe Windsor, I think, a car caused us to hold up a bit, and I noticed that it had a model of the Milennium Falcon, Han Solo's spaceship in the Star Wars movies, mounted on its hood. Wacky! A last stop for Powerade and my second GU at O. Henry, and it was time for some sort of fast finish.
I wasn't feeling it at first, and just rolled along with the gang, but once we got to Lake Austin Blvd., I decided to push it just a little bit. I didn't get that far ahead, but the pace did pick up. Chad, and then Wayne, pulled ahead once we hit Mopac, and I ran in with Mitchell (I hope I've kept their names straight!). Leslie and Rachel weren't that far behind, either. My shoes were pretty heavy by now with the rainy conditions, but that wasn't a huge problem. The rain was really helping us with cooling us off, so I'll take that as a tradeoff. We picked it up just a little more in the last half mile of the run, and even dipped into the 7:-- range for that portion of the festivities. I was happy to see the finish line, that's for sure!
The numbers? 9:40, 9:08, .34 miles at 9:05 (water stop 1:18), 9:30, 9:16, 9:15, 8:51, 0.71 miles at 9:23 pace (Bonnell water stop 3:35), 8:48, 9:18, 8:50, 0.27 miles at 8:57 pace (O. Henry water stop 2:15), then fast finish at 8:17, 8:09, 8:13, and 0.2 miles at 7:05 pace. Average running pace 8:56/mile. With water stop time, 9:28/mile. 13.52 miles.
After some water (and some bonus Powerade in the RunTex coolers!), I knocked out 6 striders, and they felt pretty good. I wasn't as beaten up as I sometimes get, but I was definitely still tired. The rain was coming down pretty good by now, and we moved the stretching to the side of RunTex. After retrieving my stuff, I was joined by just a handful of peeps for the stretching. Most were discouraged by the weather, and just went home or stretched fitfully under the annex awning at RunTex. About 10 of us did the full stretching ritual under a nice deep awning on the south side of RunTex, and that really did us some good. The best rain happened while we were stretching, but it obligingly had stopped by the time we were finished.
I scored one of the nifty Gazelles gear bags from Leslie, and chatted for a while before packing up and leaving. It turned out to be a qualilty long run and a good day altogether. I remembered to pick up the cooler from Bonnell on my way home, so I didn't have to turn around like I've occasionally had to do. Bonus! :-)
For the week, 35 miles, a slight record mileage since Indy. That's about what I'm aiming for this summer, between 35 and 40 miles, so I'm getting there. Another good exercise week.
Gilbert is out of town doing an appearance, so Bernard started us off at 6:00. Within the first half mile, we had separated into our pace groups, but unexpectedly, the pace group around us was huge today. We had at least 20 people running as a small mob, which was a first for us. Carrie joined us after her post-triathlon recovery period, and we had a bunch of other folks with us, both veterans and new members. Richard joined us today, along with Mike, and probably 5 new people. I locked into the group's pace, and hung out as we rolled along. Since there wasn't water at Red Bud today, we all stopped at Mopac to top off the fluids, and then carried on. It must have looked a little like an oncoming 5k race to the drivers on Lake Austin Blvd., as we cruised towards the Scenic loop. A couple of peeps checked out the water fountain at the boat docks, but they reported that it appears out of order for quite a while. It is gone and the former location is covered in cement. Schade.
Into Scenic, I decided to follow today. With Bonnell looming, I wanted to save some energy for the big climb. Good conversation was had with everyone, and in retaliation for the gang picking on me for the Song of the Day, I chose "Jesse's Girl," which really is tough to get out of your head once it's mentioned. Nearing the dry cleaners, a sizeable portion of the group decided that 11 miles was plenty, and they peeled off to finish their run without the fun of Bonnell. I can't say that I blame them much. 5 or 6 of the Mt. Bonnell people stopped with them, too, to get a quick drink of water. The rest of us, probably 8 people or so, went on ahead to Bonnell since it was just another mile, and Gatorade was awaiting us at the top. Once we hit Bonnell, I moved ahead to tackle the climb, and was joined by Chad for that bit of action. Since he was running with me, I had to keep up my pace, so there was no slacking today! :-) Huffing and puffing a bit by the end, we were both glad to get to the top. The GPS shows it to be a 200 ft elevation change in something like half a mile or less, so that's a significant bump. Chad asked if we normally did some sort of celebration when we reached the top, in the style of "Rocky," but I just said we were so happy to get there that we didn't spend any more energy in a celebration.
We got our Gatorade, and I took my first GU, while we waited on the rest of the gang to finish the climb. Our subgroup was now Rachel, Chad, Wayne, Mitchell, Leslie, and somebody else, I think. All of a sudden, I can't remember. We stalled a little while we waited a bit more to see if the second Bonnell group wanted to join up with us, but once we saw Mike and Carrie, they told us to go on, and they'd build their own pack. Off we went. Gilbert likes us to go to Balcones Woods, touch the stop sign, and then retrace our steps down Mt. Bonnell Rd. Personally, I prefer to go down Balcones Woods instead, mainly because it's a more gentle downhill run, and the gang agreed to go my way today. It cuts off probably a half mile to mile, but hopefully, that won't hurt any of us. Since Gilbert said he was going to check the sign for our handprints, we all touched it on the way by. That sign was pretty tall, though, and it was more of a challenge than I first suspected. :-)
The descent down Balcones Woods was pleasant, and then we turned onto 35th. Everyone except Rachel and me stopped again for a quick drink of water at the dry cleaners. Rachel and I went on up 35th, taking advantage of a slightly more relaxed pace until we got to Exposition. The rest of the folks gathered up with us on Exposition, and we headed south again. I was getting fairly overheated along here, even with the overcast skies, but we got some relief when it finally started drizzling and then lightly raining. The temperature even dropped a little, down to about 75 degrees, so that bit of serendipity probably saved my running day. We picked it up a little heading to O. Henry Middle School, and got there in good fashion. As we crossed Enfield, or maybe Windsor, I think, a car caused us to hold up a bit, and I noticed that it had a model of the Milennium Falcon, Han Solo's spaceship in the Star Wars movies, mounted on its hood. Wacky! A last stop for Powerade and my second GU at O. Henry, and it was time for some sort of fast finish.
I wasn't feeling it at first, and just rolled along with the gang, but once we got to Lake Austin Blvd., I decided to push it just a little bit. I didn't get that far ahead, but the pace did pick up. Chad, and then Wayne, pulled ahead once we hit Mopac, and I ran in with Mitchell (I hope I've kept their names straight!
The numbers? 9:40, 9:08, .34 miles at 9:05 (water stop 1:18), 9:30, 9:16, 9:15, 8:51, 0.71 miles at 9:23 pace (Bonnell water stop 3:35), 8:48, 9:18, 8:50, 0.27 miles at 8:57 pace (O. Henry water stop 2:15), then fast finish at 8:17, 8:09, 8:13, and 0.2 miles at 7:05 pace. Average running pace 8:56/mile. With water stop time, 9:28/mile. 13.52 miles.
After some water (and some bonus Powerade in the RunTex coolers!), I knocked out 6 striders, and they felt pretty good. I wasn't as beaten up as I sometimes get, but I was definitely still tired. The rain was coming down pretty good by now, and we moved the stretching to the side of RunTex. After retrieving my stuff, I was joined by just a handful of peeps for the stretching. Most were discouraged by the weather, and just went home or stretched fitfully under the annex awning at RunTex. About 10 of us did the full stretching ritual under a nice deep awning on the south side of RunTex, and that really did us some good. The best rain happened while we were stretching, but it obligingly had stopped by the time we were finished.
I scored one of the nifty Gazelles gear bags from Leslie, and chatted for a while before packing up and leaving. It turned out to be a qualilty long run and a good day altogether. I remembered to pick up the cooler from Bonnell on my way home, so I didn't have to turn around like I've occasionally had to do. Bonus! :-)
For the week, 35 miles, a slight record mileage since Indy. That's about what I'm aiming for this summer, between 35 and 40 miles, so I'm getting there. Another good exercise week.
Friday, June 23, 2006
And A Kick Save! The Week's Exercise Routine Lives!
Too dramatic? Yeah, probably. Anyway, after being sluggish yesterday, I got to Gold's today to finish off the exercise gym visits for this week. Since I skipped yesterday (and once again skipped the Thursday recovery run...), I had to make up for it today. So, keeping in mind that we have Mountain Bonnell tomorrow morning, I started off this afternoon with 15 minutes on the LifeCycle, random program, level 10 (halfway). That went great, and my legs did feel much better after I had spun for a while.
Then, I set out to hit the high points of the full body workout. Yesterday was supposed to be legs and core, today was supposed to be core and upper body. So, what did I do?
Core:
Roman Chair straight leg lifts (up to 2 x 12 on these...I hate them, but they are good for me)
Roman Chair knee lifts (ditto)
Floor crunches (finally up to 2 x 30 on these)
Floor leg extensions (ditto)
Floor "Jan" crunches
Back Rack raises
Back Rack Oblique raises (with 10 lbs in hand)
Legs (just enough to stimulate the legs without wearing them out):
Quad extensions 2x15 @ 40 lbs
Hamstring prone curls 2x15 @ 40 lbs (nice and easy)
Seated calf raises 2x15 @ 70 lbs.
Upper body:
Bicep curls 2x15 @ 50 lbs
Bench press 1x12 @ 85 lbs, 1x8 @ 95 lbs (woo hoo! Back up to 95 lbs, finally)
Seated rows 2x12 @ 80 lbs
Tricep pulldowns 1x15 @ 35 lbs, 1x12 @ 40 lbs
All in all, a tidy little workout. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did after skipping everything yesterday. I just need to figure out the magic nudge to get that Thursday back into the weekly routine. Everything else is going just fine.
Now, it's time to rest up for Bonnell. Should be fun!
Then, I set out to hit the high points of the full body workout. Yesterday was supposed to be legs and core, today was supposed to be core and upper body. So, what did I do?
Core:
Roman Chair straight leg lifts (up to 2 x 12 on these...I hate them, but they are good for me)
Roman Chair knee lifts (ditto)
Floor crunches (finally up to 2 x 30 on these)
Floor leg extensions (ditto)
Floor "Jan" crunches
Back Rack raises
Back Rack Oblique raises (with 10 lbs in hand)
Legs (just enough to stimulate the legs without wearing them out):
Quad extensions 2x15 @ 40 lbs
Hamstring prone curls 2x15 @ 40 lbs (nice and easy)
Seated calf raises 2x15 @ 70 lbs.
Upper body:
Bicep curls 2x15 @ 50 lbs
Bench press 1x12 @ 85 lbs, 1x8 @ 95 lbs (woo hoo! Back up to 95 lbs, finally)
Seated rows 2x12 @ 80 lbs
Tricep pulldowns 1x15 @ 35 lbs, 1x12 @ 40 lbs
All in all, a tidy little workout. I don't feel nearly as bad as I did after skipping everything yesterday. I just need to figure out the magic nudge to get that Thursday back into the weekly routine. Everything else is going just fine.
Now, it's time to rest up for Bonnell. Should be fun!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Zilker 2000's, The Longest Repeats [Edited 9:45 pm]
This morning featured the usual weather, with very minor misting/drizzle a couple of times. It was mostly warm and muggy, of course. A pretty good-sized crowd left RunTex early (5:45am) for Zilker Park and the 2000m repeats around the soccer fields. I hung out with some of the newer Gazelles on the way over, chatting about various training questions. For a change, we actually did the warmup run at a sane pace today, which was nice. (1.35 miles, 9:44 pace). Drills drilled, it was time to see what Gilbert had in mind. He called for 4 x 2000m for the marathoners, with the last one faster than the others. He warned us that he would be looking for improvement in a month when we do this workout next. I decided to do 3 x 2000, just because I don't have a fall marathon in the picture. We were split into a couple of groups, and we were off!
The City is doing construction projects all over Zilker, and one of the issues with that is that they dump water from somewhere on the site into the street and drains, right in the path of our run. It made me a little nervous about footing for a while after going through all that water, but I suppose it didn't do any real harm. I followed along for the first half of the first repeat, and then slowly found myself moving up on those folks leading the way. By the end of the first repeat, I was among the first few folks to finish. On the second repeat, I again drafted off of Brad and Dennis, and then pulled ahead on the short climb and finished a little ahead. And, after a quick cup of powerade, the third repeat was my fast lap, and I led almost the whole repeat except for Dennis passing me in the last quarter mile. After that, I was used up, and called it a day. Turns out, Gilbert also decided that 3 was enough for most folks anyway, so I didn't even have to cheat and sneak away. I forgot to mention the best thing about the repeats. On the first repeat, as we turned a corner near the new trail construction, we ran by a large snake lying in the road. It was maybe a 5 footer, and was very still. We all ran by with an extra burst of adrenaline, but I forgot about it soon enough. What I should have realized is that it was alive, because it was gone by the time we came around on lap 2. Exciting!
I clocked the distance all three times at 1.19 miles, so it's a tiny bit short of true 2000m, but since we run the same course for this workout every time, all that matters is a direct comparison to historical data. My splits were: 8:53, 8:43, 8:26, an average of 8:40 per lap or 7:14/mile. My record for 3 x 2000 was 8:36 avg laps, so I was slightly off my best. Not bad, though.
My HR recovery was pretty good on the 2:00 rest periods between repeats, so that was a good sign. After a cup or two of powerade and water, I started the cooldown run back with Brian. The group had scattered, due to differing paces, so we were the only peeps in our pace tribe left. Again, the cooldown run was actually fairly restrained. (1.4 miles, 8:55 pace).
For the day, 6.85 miles, with 6000m of repeats at high speed in the middle. I had a good stretching session this morning, and really enjoyed my Endurox and Powerade afterwards. Turned out to be a pretty good running day, despite my weirdly intermittent night of sleep last night.
And the gym visit?
Gymmin'
I felt much better before the gym workout, and ended up having a good workout, too. Core exercises included the floor exercises, the back raises and oblique raises (with weights) on the "rack," and Alex's medicine ball twists. I moved up to the 3 kg medicine ball today, about 6.6 pounds(?), and still did 2 x 45 seconds, but it was harder today. This was upper body day, and I can feel myself getting a little stronger each visit. I increased repetitions on bicep curls, and handled the other exercises pretty well. This is the hardest workout day, with a speedwork session and then the gym, but I feel pretty good right now.
Tomorrow, I plan on running around 10:00am to simulate the conditions I expect at the Silicon Labs Relay (I've got the anchor 5K leg), a nice and easy 5-7 miles. And, of course, a gym visit.
The City is doing construction projects all over Zilker, and one of the issues with that is that they dump water from somewhere on the site into the street and drains, right in the path of our run. It made me a little nervous about footing for a while after going through all that water, but I suppose it didn't do any real harm. I followed along for the first half of the first repeat, and then slowly found myself moving up on those folks leading the way. By the end of the first repeat, I was among the first few folks to finish. On the second repeat, I again drafted off of Brad and Dennis, and then pulled ahead on the short climb and finished a little ahead. And, after a quick cup of powerade, the third repeat was my fast lap, and I led almost the whole repeat except for Dennis passing me in the last quarter mile. After that, I was used up, and called it a day. Turns out, Gilbert also decided that 3 was enough for most folks anyway, so I didn't even have to cheat and sneak away. I forgot to mention the best thing about the repeats. On the first repeat, as we turned a corner near the new trail construction, we ran by a large snake lying in the road. It was maybe a 5 footer, and was very still. We all ran by with an extra burst of adrenaline, but I forgot about it soon enough. What I should have realized is that it was alive, because it was gone by the time we came around on lap 2. Exciting!
I clocked the distance all three times at 1.19 miles, so it's a tiny bit short of true 2000m, but since we run the same course for this workout every time, all that matters is a direct comparison to historical data. My splits were: 8:53, 8:43, 8:26, an average of 8:40 per lap or 7:14/mile. My record for 3 x 2000 was 8:36 avg laps, so I was slightly off my best. Not bad, though.
My HR recovery was pretty good on the 2:00 rest periods between repeats, so that was a good sign. After a cup or two of powerade and water, I started the cooldown run back with Brian. The group had scattered, due to differing paces, so we were the only peeps in our pace tribe left. Again, the cooldown run was actually fairly restrained. (1.4 miles, 8:55 pace).
For the day, 6.85 miles, with 6000m of repeats at high speed in the middle. I had a good stretching session this morning, and really enjoyed my Endurox and Powerade afterwards. Turned out to be a pretty good running day, despite my weirdly intermittent night of sleep last night.
And the gym visit?
Gymmin'
I felt much better before the gym workout, and ended up having a good workout, too. Core exercises included the floor exercises, the back raises and oblique raises (with weights) on the "rack," and Alex's medicine ball twists. I moved up to the 3 kg medicine ball today, about 6.6 pounds(?), and still did 2 x 45 seconds, but it was harder today. This was upper body day, and I can feel myself getting a little stronger each visit. I increased repetitions on bicep curls, and handled the other exercises pretty well. This is the hardest workout day, with a speedwork session and then the gym, but I feel pretty good right now.
Tomorrow, I plan on running around 10:00am to simulate the conditions I expect at the Silicon Labs Relay (I've got the anchor 5K leg), a nice and easy 5-7 miles. And, of course, a gym visit.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Misty Morning Run
With alternating rain, mist, and other assorted humid weather, eight of us had some fun this morning on our 7 mile recovery run. It was all good running, with lots of talk back and forth about topics hither and yon. We puzzled over soccer, yellow cards and the art and science of diving in mortal injury when you get nudged. We laughed about the fact that we were out in this weather. We learned more random facts about our respective lives. A typical recovery run. We made a few water stops, totalling about 3 minutes, and even with that, we ended up with a shade under 7 miles at 9:30 pace. My HR monitor showed that we stayed in a comfortable range of pacing for most of the run, so we did a good job. No strides today, but most of us stayed around for a full stretching session. Once Alex and the rest of the Tuesday group returned from circuit training, I chatted with them for a while as the rain came down much harder.
Alex finally decided it would be a good idea to head to the office, so I took that cue to get up to Gold's for an overdue workout.
Gym-m-m-m-m-m-m-m
I had yet another attack of the sleepy sickness while sitting in my car outside the gym, but recovered quickly enough, and got to work. I did just the floor exercises for core stuff, but did the full set of leg exercises on this recovery day. Once I got started, it was a good workout, and as usual, the leg weights will help finish off my recovery process from yesterday's exertions. Tomorrow will be challenging, with 2000m repeats, but it should be okay if I stick with 3 repeats.
Alex finally decided it would be a good idea to head to the office, so I took that cue to get up to Gold's for an overdue workout.
Gym-m-m-m-m-m-m-m
I had yet another attack of the sleepy sickness while sitting in my car outside the gym, but recovered quickly enough, and got to work. I did just the floor exercises for core stuff, but did the full set of leg exercises on this recovery day. Once I got started, it was a good workout, and as usual, the leg weights will help finish off my recovery process from yesterday's exertions. Tomorrow will be challenging, with 2000m repeats, but it should be okay if I stick with 3 repeats.
Monday, June 19, 2006
Circuits, rewired
Ah, yes. A June Monday, and more circuit training. I usually like these workouts, and today was no exception. We met early for the longer warmup (2.72 miles, 25:02, 9:12 pace), and were joined for that by Alex, who was cruising an easy 7 miler in his sparkling new shoes. Pete and Bernard were our coaches today, since Gilbert is off on another book tour engagement. Drills were uneventful, and it was time to play. Pete gave us the rundown, and sent us on our way. 800m runs between circuits for us, no stopping, no breaks. Once the first 800 was over, the group had spread all over the place, so getting the exercises done in an efficient fashion wasn't as tough as it could have been. The first time through, I had to alter the order of the exercises so I could keep moving, doing the bench stepups in the middle of the routine instead of first, but that's the only time it was an issue.
Pete had fun with his make-believe drill sergeant chatter, and truthfully, it made the workout a little more fun than normal. I finished the third 800m run, and was a couple of exercises into the third circuit, when Pete told us to finish up our current circuit and join him for fast feet. That's different that last week, when we had to stop where we were at the end of whatever time limit they had set. So, I was still huffing and puffing when we started the fast feet (2 x 1:00 on those), and was really gasping at the end of each set of those. Still breathing pretty hard, we did the standard plank core exercise, 2 x 1:00 on those, and then finished off the day with the leg lifts over and around a partner's legs. We were all pretty used up today after this circuit fantasia! My 800's were 4:01, 3:46, and 3:51, so I didn't do too bad on those.
After a cup or two of Powerade, Pete told the marathoners (and I guess I'm sort of tagging along with them) to do the long cooldown run, too. We walked down to the trail, and then kicked it into a jog for the return ride home. All was nice and relaxed for a mile in the 9:30 range, and then Jan, Frank and Brad got excited about a guy who was playing some sort of racing game with us on the trail. We'd all cruise past him, and he'd work really hard to pass us back, even though we were on a cooldown run. That's fine with me, but all of a sudden, I realized that our three lead Gazelles were picking it up quite a bit on the alleged cooldown run so we could catch him again. We passed him back about a mile and half into the cooldown, and sure enough, he passed us back a little while later. That last time, Jan and Brad were determined to show him who was boss, and roared ahead to run him down to the finish. They kept the hammer down even after he had given up. The rest of us weren't as excited about this, and cruised home. I think we all ended up passing the guy, but it sure wasn't a quest for me. It just sort of happened. The upshot of all this is that the cooldown run wasn't as easy as it's supposed to be. 2.68 miles from where we started running, 24:04, 8:59/mile pace. Oh, well...
For the day, 7.4 running miles, so this was a good mileage day for a circuit workout. The new Garmin tracked perfectly. I wore it today to get solid mileage numbers for the long warmup/cooldown, and as a bonus, I checked out how close it was on the 800's, just for fun. It gave me .53, .50, and .50 miles for the 800m laps, so that was really dead on. Very cool. The old Garmin would be all over the place for track workouts, on the occasions that I wore it to Austin High.
Pete had fun with his make-believe drill sergeant chatter, and truthfully, it made the workout a little more fun than normal. I finished the third 800m run, and was a couple of exercises into the third circuit, when Pete told us to finish up our current circuit and join him for fast feet. That's different that last week, when we had to stop where we were at the end of whatever time limit they had set. So, I was still huffing and puffing when we started the fast feet (2 x 1:00 on those), and was really gasping at the end of each set of those. Still breathing pretty hard, we did the standard plank core exercise, 2 x 1:00 on those, and then finished off the day with the leg lifts over and around a partner's legs. We were all pretty used up today after this circuit fantasia! My 800's were 4:01, 3:46, and 3:51, so I didn't do too bad on those.
After a cup or two of Powerade, Pete told the marathoners (and I guess I'm sort of tagging along with them) to do the long cooldown run, too. We walked down to the trail, and then kicked it into a jog for the return ride home. All was nice and relaxed for a mile in the 9:30 range, and then Jan, Frank and Brad got excited about a guy who was playing some sort of racing game with us on the trail. We'd all cruise past him, and he'd work really hard to pass us back, even though we were on a cooldown run. That's fine with me, but all of a sudden, I realized that our three lead Gazelles were picking it up quite a bit on the alleged cooldown run so we could catch him again. We passed him back about a mile and half into the cooldown, and sure enough, he passed us back a little while later. That last time, Jan and Brad were determined to show him who was boss, and roared ahead to run him down to the finish. They kept the hammer down even after he had given up. The rest of us weren't as excited about this, and cruised home. I think we all ended up passing the guy, but it sure wasn't a quest for me. It just sort of happened. The upshot of all this is that the cooldown run wasn't as easy as it's supposed to be. 2.68 miles from where we started running, 24:04, 8:59/mile pace. Oh, well...
For the day, 7.4 running miles, so this was a good mileage day for a circuit workout. The new Garmin tracked perfectly. I wore it today to get solid mileage numbers for the long warmup/cooldown, and as a bonus, I checked out how close it was on the 800's, just for fun. It gave me .53, .50, and .50 miles for the 800m laps, so that was really dead on. Very cool. The old Garmin would be all over the place for track workouts, on the occasions that I wore it to Austin High.
Sunday, June 18, 2006
Will You Still Need Me When I'm 64?
Happy Birthday, Sir Paul! The Beatles' music has given me untold hours of enjoyment, both when I've performed it and passively listening, so I must thank my fellow Gemini each year for that gift that he and the Fab Four shared with us all.
Today, after spending time with the family in the morning, I made my way over to hear Los Romeros, the famous Spanish guitar quartet. They practically invented the idea of a guitar ensemble, at least the modern iteration of it, so I owed it to myself to check it out. My friend, Mike, scored some free tickets for me, so that made it even better.
Mary Anne and I went to the concert, and they had a huge crowd for the show. The Romeros played as a quartet, as solo players and even had a couple of duets. I'm glad I got a chance to see them. The two older brothers remaining from the first version of the group joined two of the next generation Romeros, and it might not be too much longer that they remain in that format. I wonder if there's another Romero being prepared for the next replacement chair? It was a fine show, and they received several standing ovations. For a Father's Day concert, it was probably the most fitting group they could have provided for our entertainment, no?
For the week, right at 30 miles running. I missed a couple of gym workouts and the Thursday recovery run, so it wasn't as complete a week as it should have been, but I think it turned out okay. More circuit training tomorrow, and some 2000m repeats on Wednesday. I'll guess that we may have a Mt. Bonnell run scheduled for Saturday. We'll see about that. Oh, yeah, I picked up a new pair of running shoes to work into the shoe rotation, some Fila Providence II's. They look a little like golf shoes, sans spikes, but they feel great. I'll use them for workouts shorter than 10 miles. I've got a pair of old Filas and a pair of Mizuno Creations that are teetering on the edge of being retired, so it's time that I got a new pair to add to the list.
Today, after spending time with the family in the morning, I made my way over to hear Los Romeros, the famous Spanish guitar quartet. They practically invented the idea of a guitar ensemble, at least the modern iteration of it, so I owed it to myself to check it out. My friend, Mike, scored some free tickets for me, so that made it even better.
Mary Anne and I went to the concert, and they had a huge crowd for the show. The Romeros played as a quartet, as solo players and even had a couple of duets. I'm glad I got a chance to see them. The two older brothers remaining from the first version of the group joined two of the next generation Romeros, and it might not be too much longer that they remain in that format. I wonder if there's another Romero being prepared for the next replacement chair? It was a fine show, and they received several standing ovations. For a Father's Day concert, it was probably the most fitting group they could have provided for our entertainment, no?
For the week, right at 30 miles running. I missed a couple of gym workouts and the Thursday recovery run, so it wasn't as complete a week as it should have been, but I think it turned out okay. More circuit training tomorrow, and some 2000m repeats on Wednesday. I'll guess that we may have a Mt. Bonnell run scheduled for Saturday. We'll see about that. Oh, yeah, I picked up a new pair of running shoes to work into the shoe rotation, some Fila Providence II's. They look a little like golf shoes, sans spikes, but they feel great. I'll use them for workouts shorter than 10 miles. I've got a pair of old Filas and a pair of Mizuno Creations that are teetering on the edge of being retired, so it's time that I got a new pair to add to the list.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
You Say It's Your Birthday! It's My Birthday, Too, Yeah!
Subtle, huh? Yep, my natal anniversary, the 47th such anniversary celebration. I've long said that as long as I get to keep counting birthdays, it's all good. I still believe that. I share my birthday with Venus Williams and Barry Manilow, which is a strange combo. Phil Mickelson's birthday was yesterday, Paul McCartney's is tomorrow, so in a three day span, it's a good crop of Geminis.
On this occasion, as we all do, I've ruminated upon what I have and have not accomplished, how I've lived my life to date, the friends I've made, lost, or have kept, and the ways in which I've been a good or bad father, husband, son and brother. Yeah, it's weighty stuff, but what else is a birthday good for? You don't want to sit around and ponder all that sort of thing every day, do you?
On balance, I've done okay, I think. I treasure the friends that I still hold close while regretting some of those with whom I've failed to maintain close ties. Relations with family are always a confusing thing, and I've not always done as well as I should in that regard, but I don't think any bridges have been permanently burned. Score that one as a passing grade. Accomplishments? Well, maybe not quite what we all had in mind at the occasion of my high school graduation (or upon college graduation, for that matter), but I'm proud of most of what I've done since then. I have a great nuclear family, I get to spend good times with the kids, and I haven't driven Mary Anne too crazy...yet. :-) I might be in the best physical shape in my life, so that's a good thing, too. I have a chance to be around for a long time.
As Todd Snider once sang, "I think I'm an allright guy," and I think that's about the best description of my self-evaluation. This year, I think I'll work on all those problem areas, and maybe I can give myself an improved grade next year. I might even be able to slay the dragon of procrastination for good...or should I wait until July for that project? :-)
Runnin' The Skyway, Barton Skyway
This morning, I got to use my birthday/Father's Day gift, the Garmin Forerunner 305. All charged up and set up last night, I couldn't wait to try it out on today's roundtrip journey from Porter Middle School, including the hilly terrain on and around Barton Skyway. For the first time in a long time, I'd also have HR data to mess around with later, so that'll be interesting (to me). It purports to have vastly improved reception capabilities, so I shouldn't have the anomalies that the Garmin 201 occasionally tosses at me. The verdict? You'll just have to wait... :-)
I spent some time yesterday setting up all the screens and settings on the Garmin to suit me, and got it all charged up. Mary Anne gave me the watch yesterday afternoon so that I could use it for the first time on my actual birthday for this long hilly run. It didn't take too terribly long to get ready for use, but I thought about some of the screens and made some changes after my initial setup. My main screen has the instant HR, time of the run, and total distance. Then, I've got a screen with all the average numbers...Avg HR for the workout, Avg Pace for the run, and accuracy of the GPS satellites. The last screen has lap pace, lap time, lap distance, and time of day. That covers most stuff I might be curious about during a workout. It'll be fun to have all kinds of numbers to analyze. The geek in me comes out, eh?
We met down south at Porter Middle School this morning for a rolling course, the route north mostly downhill trending to the Trail at Town Lake, then a brief stay on the trail over to Mopac and back on the south side of the lake, then up Barton Hills Road past Wilke, including a loop at the end of Barton Hills, then across on Barton Skyway and its two nasty climbs, finishing back on Lamar and on to Porter MS to finish. First half is pretty nice, and then it gets challenging for the second half. The weather was, surprisingly, rainy. It seems like weeks since we had rain, and it was refreshing to have it today, with certain exceptions. It was raining hard as we waited to get started, and we ended up huddling under a building entrance while everyone gathered together. Finally, it was time to go, and we wandered out into the drizzle for the morning's festivities. By then, the rain had largely stopped, so we had a super humid start to the run.
Gilbert told us to run this one a little easier, since it was hilly. I don't think anyone heard that, judging from how briskly we started. Once we headed out, I found myself at the back of the pack, cruising along and letting myself warm up. By the time we got to the first water stop, just short of 3 miles, I had bunched up with Amy, Emily, Leslie, Brad and Jan. Rich was running way ahead, and Brian was up there somewhere, too. A pretty quick stop, and we were off again. Gilbert was doing the rolling water stop trick, and with some encouragement, we crossed Barton Springs Road and then went across Town Lake at the Pfluger bridge. Brad and Jan dropped back at that point, and the rest of us picked up the pace just a little once we hit the trail. We had to make our way through a big stream of water near Austin High School, so one of my shoes got full of water there. The other one was pretty wet, too, but so be it.
Another quick water stop at Mopac, and we crossed back over Town Lake, heading into the hills. We added Richard and two new guys at this point, Michael and someone else. I met Michael later in the run. We made our way under Barton Springs Road on the new path and bridge, and popped up eventually on Barton Hills Road. Now, the hilly stuff would start. I picked it up through this stretch a little bit, or at least picked up my effort. When we passed Wilke, by the way, I think we all got a cold chill thinking of that evil workout location. That house at the top of Wilke looms way above the tree line. Soon enough, we were at the last water/powerade stop with Gilbert. The rain had started falling again by now, which was a relief after the extreme mugginess that we had dealt with to that point. I took my GU there, just for fun, and we dropped into the loop at the top of Barton Hills Road.
I guess I started picking it up even more here, because I soon found myself running alone, slightly behind Frank, Anne and Marcy. We saw most of the other runners as they looped around, including Rich and Alex, who seemed to be having a good time. The rain really pelted down as we went around the loop, and we even got some weird cool gusts of wind as the sky totally blackened. The water was pouring down the streets, and by now, our shoes (and everything else) got totally soaked. Oh, well. The rain and cooler air actually helped me a little by cooling me down a bit. During the loop, I laughed out loud to myself about how silly it must seem to people outside the running group for us to be out in weather like this. And they would be right! I pushed up that last hill getting out of the loop, and turned for home on Barton Skyway. There's two nasty hills on that piece of road, and by the second hill, I had caught up to Frank's group, which was a surprise. I was feeling pretty strong, so as we crossed Lamar, I picked it up a little more, and it was strange to find myself ahead of Frank's peeps on a long run. I guess they just weren't feeling it today. I know how that goes.
Cruising back down Lamar, I ended up running the very last bit of the run with Michael (that's where I met him by name). The rain had slackened a little by then, but my shoes must have doubled in weight by the end of the run. Slosh, slosh, slosh.
The rest of the troops came in pretty quickly after that, and most of us did striders on the middle school track. Those didn't even suck today, so I suppose that means good things. Gilbert drove by and told me not to bother with the stretching session today, since the weather was so bad. Okey dokey. As we chatted a bit on the track, Frank suggested a birthday pancake fest at Kerbey Lane, and that sounded like a fantastic idea! I changed clothes in the truck to get out of the wet stuff, and that made a huge improvement in my attitude.
Breakfast was fabulous! Brian, Jan and Brad joined Frank and me, and we had a grand time chatting away and attempting to finish the enormous portions of breakfast goodies. They were nice enough to treat me, as a birthday happy, and that was both unexpected and appreciated.
It was a great start to a birthday, and I can only hope that the rest of the day is as fun.
The numbers: 9:12, 8:43, 8:57 (water stop), 8:58, .5 at 8:39 (water stop), 9:04, 9:21 (hills!), .8 at 9:01 (water stop/GU), 8:37, 8:27, 8:23 (fast finish on rolling hills). 10.2 miles. Overall, 9:13 pace including water stops, 8:51 pure running pace. Once I got home, I found that the Garmin worked flawlessly under very tough GPS conditions. No weird anomalies on the route or data points, and I noticed it even correctly tracked the spiral ramp on the Pfluger footbridge and the path under Mopac. That was very impressive. The software shows the correlation between HR, elevation changes, and pace, which went about like you'd expect, but it's still cool to have that information. Considering that I've moved up from the very first Forerunner as an early adopter to this unit in one step, I shouldn't be so surprised, but it's refreshing to be able to simply look at the data instead of having to meticulously adjust bad GPS points after the fact.
On this occasion, as we all do, I've ruminated upon what I have and have not accomplished, how I've lived my life to date, the friends I've made, lost, or have kept, and the ways in which I've been a good or bad father, husband, son and brother. Yeah, it's weighty stuff, but what else is a birthday good for? You don't want to sit around and ponder all that sort of thing every day, do you?
On balance, I've done okay, I think. I treasure the friends that I still hold close while regretting some of those with whom I've failed to maintain close ties. Relations with family are always a confusing thing, and I've not always done as well as I should in that regard, but I don't think any bridges have been permanently burned. Score that one as a passing grade. Accomplishments? Well, maybe not quite what we all had in mind at the occasion of my high school graduation (or upon college graduation, for that matter), but I'm proud of most of what I've done since then. I have a great nuclear family, I get to spend good times with the kids, and I haven't driven Mary Anne too crazy...yet. :-) I might be in the best physical shape in my life, so that's a good thing, too. I have a chance to be around for a long time.
As Todd Snider once sang, "I think I'm an allright guy," and I think that's about the best description of my self-evaluation. This year, I think I'll work on all those problem areas, and maybe I can give myself an improved grade next year. I might even be able to slay the dragon of procrastination for good...or should I wait until July for that project? :-)
Runnin' The Skyway, Barton Skyway
This morning, I got to use my birthday/Father's Day gift, the Garmin Forerunner 305. All charged up and set up last night, I couldn't wait to try it out on today's roundtrip journey from Porter Middle School, including the hilly terrain on and around Barton Skyway. For the first time in a long time, I'd also have HR data to mess around with later, so that'll be interesting (to me). It purports to have vastly improved reception capabilities, so I shouldn't have the anomalies that the Garmin 201 occasionally tosses at me. The verdict? You'll just have to wait... :-)
I spent some time yesterday setting up all the screens and settings on the Garmin to suit me, and got it all charged up. Mary Anne gave me the watch yesterday afternoon so that I could use it for the first time on my actual birthday for this long hilly run. It didn't take too terribly long to get ready for use, but I thought about some of the screens and made some changes after my initial setup. My main screen has the instant HR, time of the run, and total distance. Then, I've got a screen with all the average numbers...Avg HR for the workout, Avg Pace for the run, and accuracy of the GPS satellites. The last screen has lap pace, lap time, lap distance, and time of day. That covers most stuff I might be curious about during a workout. It'll be fun to have all kinds of numbers to analyze. The geek in me comes out, eh?
We met down south at Porter Middle School this morning for a rolling course, the route north mostly downhill trending to the Trail at Town Lake, then a brief stay on the trail over to Mopac and back on the south side of the lake, then up Barton Hills Road past Wilke, including a loop at the end of Barton Hills, then across on Barton Skyway and its two nasty climbs, finishing back on Lamar and on to Porter MS to finish. First half is pretty nice, and then it gets challenging for the second half. The weather was, surprisingly, rainy. It seems like weeks since we had rain, and it was refreshing to have it today, with certain exceptions. It was raining hard as we waited to get started, and we ended up huddling under a building entrance while everyone gathered together. Finally, it was time to go, and we wandered out into the drizzle for the morning's festivities. By then, the rain had largely stopped, so we had a super humid start to the run.
Gilbert told us to run this one a little easier, since it was hilly. I don't think anyone heard that, judging from how briskly we started. Once we headed out, I found myself at the back of the pack, cruising along and letting myself warm up. By the time we got to the first water stop, just short of 3 miles, I had bunched up with Amy, Emily, Leslie, Brad and Jan. Rich was running way ahead, and Brian was up there somewhere, too. A pretty quick stop, and we were off again. Gilbert was doing the rolling water stop trick, and with some encouragement, we crossed Barton Springs Road and then went across Town Lake at the Pfluger bridge. Brad and Jan dropped back at that point, and the rest of us picked up the pace just a little once we hit the trail. We had to make our way through a big stream of water near Austin High School, so one of my shoes got full of water there. The other one was pretty wet, too, but so be it.
Another quick water stop at Mopac, and we crossed back over Town Lake, heading into the hills. We added Richard and two new guys at this point, Michael and someone else. I met Michael later in the run. We made our way under Barton Springs Road on the new path and bridge, and popped up eventually on Barton Hills Road. Now, the hilly stuff would start. I picked it up through this stretch a little bit, or at least picked up my effort. When we passed Wilke, by the way, I think we all got a cold chill thinking of that evil workout location. That house at the top of Wilke looms way above the tree line. Soon enough, we were at the last water/powerade stop with Gilbert. The rain had started falling again by now, which was a relief after the extreme mugginess that we had dealt with to that point. I took my GU there, just for fun, and we dropped into the loop at the top of Barton Hills Road.
I guess I started picking it up even more here, because I soon found myself running alone, slightly behind Frank, Anne and Marcy. We saw most of the other runners as they looped around, including Rich and Alex, who seemed to be having a good time. The rain really pelted down as we went around the loop, and we even got some weird cool gusts of wind as the sky totally blackened. The water was pouring down the streets, and by now, our shoes (and everything else) got totally soaked. Oh, well. The rain and cooler air actually helped me a little by cooling me down a bit. During the loop, I laughed out loud to myself about how silly it must seem to people outside the running group for us to be out in weather like this. And they would be right! I pushed up that last hill getting out of the loop, and turned for home on Barton Skyway. There's two nasty hills on that piece of road, and by the second hill, I had caught up to Frank's group, which was a surprise. I was feeling pretty strong, so as we crossed Lamar, I picked it up a little more, and it was strange to find myself ahead of Frank's peeps on a long run. I guess they just weren't feeling it today. I know how that goes.
Cruising back down Lamar, I ended up running the very last bit of the run with Michael (that's where I met him by name). The rain had slackened a little by then, but my shoes must have doubled in weight by the end of the run. Slosh, slosh, slosh.
The rest of the troops came in pretty quickly after that, and most of us did striders on the middle school track. Those didn't even suck today, so I suppose that means good things. Gilbert drove by and told me not to bother with the stretching session today, since the weather was so bad. Okey dokey. As we chatted a bit on the track, Frank suggested a birthday pancake fest at Kerbey Lane, and that sounded like a fantastic idea! I changed clothes in the truck to get out of the wet stuff, and that made a huge improvement in my attitude.
Breakfast was fabulous! Brian, Jan and Brad joined Frank and me, and we had a grand time chatting away and attempting to finish the enormous portions of breakfast goodies. They were nice enough to treat me, as a birthday happy, and that was both unexpected and appreciated.
It was a great start to a birthday, and I can only hope that the rest of the day is as fun.
The numbers: 9:12, 8:43, 8:57 (water stop), 8:58, .5 at 8:39 (water stop), 9:04, 9:21 (hills!), .8 at 9:01 (water stop/GU), 8:37, 8:27, 8:23 (fast finish on rolling hills). 10.2 miles. Overall, 9:13 pace including water stops, 8:51 pure running pace. Once I got home, I found that the Garmin worked flawlessly under very tough GPS conditions. No weird anomalies on the route or data points, and I noticed it even correctly tracked the spiral ramp on the Pfluger footbridge and the path under Mopac. That was very impressive. The software shows the correlation between HR, elevation changes, and pace, which went about like you'd expect, but it's still cool to have that information. Considering that I've moved up from the very first Forerunner as an early adopter to this unit in one step, I shouldn't be so surprised, but it's refreshing to be able to simply look at the data instead of having to meticulously adjust bad GPS points after the fact.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Tempo Race & That Dream You Had When You Were In School...
Not the dream where you found yourself trapped in a sorority house on "Tickle Fight" night....that other dream, the one where you show up for class, and everyone is busily at work on a test that you didn't know about. :-) When I got to RunTex this morning, I stumbled out of my car, groggy, and made my way over to the meeting area. I saw Gilbert and Frank, but no one else. What up?! Turns out, coach called for a 5:45 am start time today, but I didn't get the memo. The other troops had already left for a 2 mile warmup for the tempo race, so Frank, Rachel, Shannon and I left when we could, to do just a one mile warmup. That wasn't nearly as useful for me, but it helped wake me up a little, anyway. The main gang had finished their drills when we got back, so the gang of late arrivers formed up and did our drills after the main gang. We watched them leave on their tempo race as we finished up our drills...it was sort of strange.
Anyway, our group of maybe 15 people toed the line some 5-7 minutes after the first group had gone, and after the usual instructions about the tempo race (go out easy, finish fast, negative split, "10K pace"), we were turned loose on the trail. I didn't feel great, so I vowed to go out and run a 32:00 tempo today. Thus, I started out dead last in the smaller group. In the first half mile, I managed to pick off 4 or 5 runners, and caught up to Rachel. We ran together to just past the one mile mark, and I started feeling better then. I picked it up from there, and pulled away from Rachel during mile 2. After that point, I didn't have any more Gazelles to chase, so I was running based on internal cues. Mile 2 was a nice pickup, and as I made the turnaround, I thought I might have a shot at 30:00 after all. I'd have to move along, but I could do it.
Miles 3 and 4 were sort of a blur, as I pressed the pace all the way to the tape, but I managed to put together a pretty respectable tempo race by the time I finished.
Splits: 8:00, 7:23, 7:20, 7:16. Final time 29:59, 7:30/mile pace. I was pleased with my progressively faster performance and big negative split. This was the third best tempo race for me, but the best in a while. I'll take it, on a warmer morning.
I knocked out 4 striders, and then Gilbert wanted us to join him for balance drills. I'm actually fairly proficient at those drills, so except for the fact that I still seemed to be out of breath from the tempo race, I enjoyed that part of the day.
Instead of stretching, I hung out and talked with Rich and Richard for a while, and then headed up to Gold's for the gym workout. For the day, just 6 miles, but some hard running in there!
Gym, Gym, Gym, Gym, Gym...
Today was core and upper body workout day at Gold's. I wandered in and launched into the core stuff before I could think too much about it. Floor exercises and the back/oblique raises on the "rack," and then a couple of rounds of Alex's medicine ball twists. I used the tiniest medicine ball today for Alex's twists, just 4 pounds, and I could handle 2 @ 45 seconds pretty easily, so I'll bump up to the next heavier ball next time. For upper body, I had a great day. For some reason, it felt comfortable to get 2 x 12 in bench at 85 lbs, which is a nice thing. On the other stuff (bicep curls, dumbbell chest flies, seated rows and tricep pulldowns), I cruised to higher reps and/or weights on most. Nice workout.
Tomorrow is an easy 5-7 miler in the 'Hood, followed by a gym visit. I get to sleep in, which will be great!
Anyway, our group of maybe 15 people toed the line some 5-7 minutes after the first group had gone, and after the usual instructions about the tempo race (go out easy, finish fast, negative split, "10K pace"), we were turned loose on the trail. I didn't feel great, so I vowed to go out and run a 32:00 tempo today. Thus, I started out dead last in the smaller group. In the first half mile, I managed to pick off 4 or 5 runners, and caught up to Rachel. We ran together to just past the one mile mark, and I started feeling better then. I picked it up from there, and pulled away from Rachel during mile 2. After that point, I didn't have any more Gazelles to chase, so I was running based on internal cues. Mile 2 was a nice pickup, and as I made the turnaround, I thought I might have a shot at 30:00 after all. I'd have to move along, but I could do it.
Miles 3 and 4 were sort of a blur, as I pressed the pace all the way to the tape, but I managed to put together a pretty respectable tempo race by the time I finished.
Splits: 8:00, 7:23, 7:20, 7:16. Final time 29:59, 7:30/mile pace. I was pleased with my progressively faster performance and big negative split. This was the third best tempo race for me, but the best in a while. I'll take it, on a warmer morning.
I knocked out 4 striders, and then Gilbert wanted us to join him for balance drills. I'm actually fairly proficient at those drills, so except for the fact that I still seemed to be out of breath from the tempo race, I enjoyed that part of the day.
Instead of stretching, I hung out and talked with Rich and Richard for a while, and then headed up to Gold's for the gym workout. For the day, just 6 miles, but some hard running in there!
Gym, Gym, Gym, Gym, Gym...
Today was core and upper body workout day at Gold's. I wandered in and launched into the core stuff before I could think too much about it. Floor exercises and the back/oblique raises on the "rack," and then a couple of rounds of Alex's medicine ball twists. I used the tiniest medicine ball today for Alex's twists, just 4 pounds, and I could handle 2 @ 45 seconds pretty easily, so I'll bump up to the next heavier ball next time. For upper body, I had a great day. For some reason, it felt comfortable to get 2 x 12 in bench at 85 lbs, which is a nice thing. On the other stuff (bicep curls, dumbbell chest flies, seated rows and tricep pulldowns), I cruised to higher reps and/or weights on most. Nice workout.
Tomorrow is an easy 5-7 miler in the 'Hood, followed by a gym visit. I get to sleep in, which will be great!
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
EZ Runnin'
It seemed way cooler outside today than yesterday morning, but it was just a few degrees difference. Tiny changes sure do help! I met up with a bunch of my peeps this morning for a relaxed 7-mile tour around Town Lake. Shannon, Emily, Rachel, Laurie (I think that was her name), Frank and Brian made up our happy crew. We did the I-35 loop clockwise, so that the Riverside hill came late in the run instead of at the start of mile 2, and it was a welcome change. Just looking at the same trail in a different direction made it seem fresher to us. As usual on these runs, we took turns running with each person in the crew, so that it was more of a social outing than a serious workout. After a first mile that I tried to get loose, I settled in for the rest of the run, and had a good time. We made two quick water stops along the way, maybe 1:40 worth of stop time, but I left the watch running today. Even though it felt nice and easy, we still clocked the 7.1 miles at a nice 9:05/mile overall pace.
Once we returned to RunTex, I went ahead to Auditorium Shores and did 4 x 100m striders to loosen up a bit after the run. No one else wanted to join me for that, but I didn't take it personally. I wonder if they were trying to tell me something? :-) A full stretching session there at RunTex completed the process, and a day's running work was done. I chatted a bit with some of the Tuesday/Thursday Gazelles as they finished off their circuit workout, and it was time to get going to the gym.
DGymbe
Once I got up to Gold's, I stopped in the parking lot for a bit to wait on 8:30, when I could call the kids and wake them up at home. While I was sitting in my truck, though, I was feeling really sleepy, and dozed off for little microsleeps. I guess I need more sleep than I've been getting, huh? I got them to answer the phone, finally, and went in for the workout before I changed my mind. Since we did the extra-effort ab stuff yesterday, I felt justified in skipping the Roman Chair exercises on core, but I did the floor exercises and the full set of plank exercises, 2 sets of 45 seconds each. For the leg stuff, I was bad and skipped the 4-way hip machine, but I did full sets and weights on the rest of the leg exercises. All in all, I felt like this was a "B" workout, but I did some good work, nonetheless.
Tomorrow is the Tempo Race, so I hope I don't find that I've regressed on that Time Trial workout too much. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to run a new PR?
Once we returned to RunTex, I went ahead to Auditorium Shores and did 4 x 100m striders to loosen up a bit after the run. No one else wanted to join me for that, but I didn't take it personally. I wonder if they were trying to tell me something? :-) A full stretching session there at RunTex completed the process, and a day's running work was done. I chatted a bit with some of the Tuesday/Thursday Gazelles as they finished off their circuit workout, and it was time to get going to the gym.
DGymbe
Once I got up to Gold's, I stopped in the parking lot for a bit to wait on 8:30, when I could call the kids and wake them up at home. While I was sitting in my truck, though, I was feeling really sleepy, and dozed off for little microsleeps. I guess I need more sleep than I've been getting, huh? I got them to answer the phone, finally, and went in for the workout before I changed my mind. Since we did the extra-effort ab stuff yesterday, I felt justified in skipping the Roman Chair exercises on core, but I did the floor exercises and the full set of plank exercises, 2 sets of 45 seconds each. For the leg stuff, I was bad and skipped the 4-way hip machine, but I did full sets and weights on the rest of the leg exercises. All in all, I felt like this was a "B" workout, but I did some good work, nonetheless.
Tomorrow is the Tempo Race, so I hope I don't find that I've regressed on that Time Trial workout too much. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to run a new PR?
Monday, June 12, 2006
Short Circuits
It's Monday, and Circuit training again. A fair sized group of us met early to do a longer warmup run before the circuits, and we knocked out 2.7 miles or so on the way to Austin High. It was muggy today, not nearly as nice as it was on Saturday. Oh, well. We waited for the gang to get there from RunTex, just a few minutes wait time. I estimate that there were 50-60 Gazelles there this morning once everyone rolled in. Just a huge crowd of folks! The drills were challenging, just to make sure we didn't run over anyone. Those done, Gilbert called us to the start. Marathoners were to do 800m between circuits, and I guess for this purpose, I'm calling myself a marathoner. I ended up doing just two circuits before Gilbert stopped everyone for other "fun stuff." My two 800's were okay, with 3:55 and 3:44, so I sped up on the second one, at least. The exercises weren't all that tough, but the combination of running and exercise makes it difficult to really recover until we're done.
The new fun stuff was a series of leg lift planks, with increased leg/floor angle on each successive set, as well as increased time on the hold. We did 20 seconds at 15 degrees, 30 at 30, and 45 at 45 degrees. They were easier as the angle increased, presumably because we could recruit more and more of the ab muscle set as the angle steepened. After that, we did the leg lifts over and around a partner's legs. And, to finish things off, 2 x 1:00 of "fast feet." I was huffing and puffing after the fast feet, but it actually felt pretty good.
Return run was with Rich, Shannon, Richard, and Emily, and we were actually pretty snappy with that. Full stretching afterwards and it was a day. Total miles were 5.8, and another exercise week gets underway.
The new fun stuff was a series of leg lift planks, with increased leg/floor angle on each successive set, as well as increased time on the hold. We did 20 seconds at 15 degrees, 30 at 30, and 45 at 45 degrees. They were easier as the angle increased, presumably because we could recruit more and more of the ab muscle set as the angle steepened. After that, we did the leg lifts over and around a partner's legs. And, to finish things off, 2 x 1:00 of "fast feet." I was huffing and puffing after the fast feet, but it actually felt pretty good.
Return run was with Rich, Shannon, Richard, and Emily, and we were actually pretty snappy with that. Full stretching afterwards and it was a day. Total miles were 5.8, and another exercise week gets underway.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
...And Where Did This Run Come From?
It was packed at RunTex this morning, as a giant group of Rogue Training folks spilled around the Annex, and we Gazelles gathered to the side. There were probably 30 Gazelles there today, all paces. Gilbert and Bernard were out of town, racing or book touring, so Rudy was the Assistant Coach of the day. We were to do the Scenic route, with an option to climb Bonnell if we wanted the extra distance. My group was all about "just" the Scenic route. Amy was off racing in Dublin, TX, so we were down a runner. However, with all the new folks, we had no problems making a pretty big pace group. Rich and Shannon went ahead and ran with Frank's bunch, so we wouldn't have them to chase for the "fast finish." As the first mile unfolded, slightly quicker than usual for a first mile, our group formed up as: Brian, Emily, Rachel, Leslie, Susan, Richard and new folks Jennifer, Jill and Lisa. Jan and Brad formed a groupetto slightly behind us.
We mixed in with the Rogue folks on Lake Austin Blvd after some good-natured repartie (also repartee) with them as we all started out. They peeled off on another route once we got close to the Scenic hills, so that was only an issue along Lake Austin Blvd. We were actually pretty efficient with the fuel/water stops all day, despite the size of the group. Water about 4 miles in, and then we toured the Scenic hills. I purposely ran in the middle of the pack for the opening 5 miles or so, just following the pace of the leaders. It was fun to hang out and let others do the pace work for a while, and I got to chat with the new folks a bit and get to know them a little. When we got close to the water/Powerade stop at the dry cleaners, I moved ahead and led that last half mile or so with Richard. Another efficient stop there (Rudy had left Clif Blocks there and at the first stop, so that was a treat for those who didn't bring a GU). I took a GU, just because I could, and we continued our journey.
On 35th, I moved to the front and led the way with Brian to Exposition. That hill always feels tougher than I think it should for some reason...who knows? Once we hit Exposition, Brian was feeling it, and pulled away by 30-40 yards. I ran with Rachel and we had some fun chatting...at least when the terrain permitted. We picked up the pace a good bit after that second water stop, and it turns out we were really getting it done today. I felt pretty good, but I was glad to see that last tough hill on Exposition come and go! Rolling into the O. Henry Powerade stop, we regrouped one last time before the "fast finish."
As usual, it was every runner for her- or himself in the "fast finish" from O. Henry back to RunTex. Gilbert doesn't really give pace guidelines for this exercise in mental toughness, except to say to run the last 3 miles "hard." For me, this is the most important part of the long runs. If I can pick up the pace significantly at the finish, that means I ran the rest of the run at an appropriate pace. If not, then it usually means I was too fast early in the run. Rarely, it just means I overheated or did not eat properly the day before, but that's a story for another day.
I took off from O. Henry and set a pace that felt challenging, but one that I believed I could maintain to the finish. Rachel, Brian and Leslie went with me, and the rest of the gang formed up behind us somewhere. I don't look at my watch for the fast finish, preferring to run by feel, but it seemed like a good pace. We flew across the Mopac bridge, and then settled in for the last couple of miles. Brian moved up to the front with me after Mopac, and we cruised along to the finish. They've finished the new corner at Point Neff, so that was really nice running around there. The slope is much more gradual, and there's a bunch more room to turn the corner. Anyway, once we crossed that last footbridge at the one mile mark, it seems that Leslie dropped back a bit, and Rachel locked in with Brian and me for that last push to Auditorium Shores. We were moving pretty strong there. Later, it turns out, Brian told me that he kept waiting for me to back off on the pace so he could slow down. Of course, while we were running those last two miles, I was waiting on him to back off so I could slow down. Sigh...
Brian pulled away a little on the last half mile, but we all three finished in a tight bunch anyway. What a run! It was a record Scenic run for me, and the fast finish was really fast. That's the best I've done for that stretch at the end of a long run, ever. Don't know what got into us this morning, but I suppose we were all just feeling it. 6 striders later, it was time to get our stuff together for the stretching session. We had fun with that, and the giant tribe of Gazelles all groaned and giggled through the whole thing. I had my post-run Endurox plus another full bottle of water to try and recharge my system, and I was really drenched at the end of the run. So, I'll give this run an "A+," and hopefully this is a sign that I've improved more than I had thought.
It's sure nice to have running friends who can help push and pull you through a workout like we do. I'm positive that we wouldn't have been able to turn in a performance like this on our own.
Splits: 9:26, 9:10, 9:39, 0.75 miles at 9:12, then Scenic at 8:49, 8:45, and a half mile at 8:29, 35th and Exposition at 8:42, 8:26, and then fast finish at 6:53 (some gentle downhill, but still fast!), 7:22, 7:24, and .35 miles at 7:20 pace. Crazy fast finish! Overall pace for 11.5 miles was 8:29/mile. With water stop time included, we were still sub-9:00 at 8:58/mile. Strong running for the Moderately Paced Gazelles. Maybe we need to change our name? :-)
After the stretching, I met up with Alex for a good cold soak at Deep Eddy, and that totally refreshed me. What a running day!
For the week, just over 30 miles (I missed that Tuesday recovery run), 3 out of 4 gym workouts, a good week. Tomorrow is a full day off from exercise, which will be great.
We mixed in with the Rogue folks on Lake Austin Blvd after some good-natured repartie (also repartee) with them as we all started out. They peeled off on another route once we got close to the Scenic hills, so that was only an issue along Lake Austin Blvd. We were actually pretty efficient with the fuel/water stops all day, despite the size of the group. Water about 4 miles in, and then we toured the Scenic hills. I purposely ran in the middle of the pack for the opening 5 miles or so, just following the pace of the leaders. It was fun to hang out and let others do the pace work for a while, and I got to chat with the new folks a bit and get to know them a little. When we got close to the water/Powerade stop at the dry cleaners, I moved ahead and led that last half mile or so with Richard. Another efficient stop there (Rudy had left Clif Blocks there and at the first stop, so that was a treat for those who didn't bring a GU). I took a GU, just because I could, and we continued our journey.
On 35th, I moved to the front and led the way with Brian to Exposition. That hill always feels tougher than I think it should for some reason...who knows? Once we hit Exposition, Brian was feeling it, and pulled away by 30-40 yards. I ran with Rachel and we had some fun chatting...at least when the terrain permitted. We picked up the pace a good bit after that second water stop, and it turns out we were really getting it done today. I felt pretty good, but I was glad to see that last tough hill on Exposition come and go! Rolling into the O. Henry Powerade stop, we regrouped one last time before the "fast finish."
As usual, it was every runner for her- or himself in the "fast finish" from O. Henry back to RunTex. Gilbert doesn't really give pace guidelines for this exercise in mental toughness, except to say to run the last 3 miles "hard." For me, this is the most important part of the long runs. If I can pick up the pace significantly at the finish, that means I ran the rest of the run at an appropriate pace. If not, then it usually means I was too fast early in the run. Rarely, it just means I overheated or did not eat properly the day before, but that's a story for another day.
I took off from O. Henry and set a pace that felt challenging, but one that I believed I could maintain to the finish. Rachel, Brian and Leslie went with me, and the rest of the gang formed up behind us somewhere. I don't look at my watch for the fast finish, preferring to run by feel, but it seemed like a good pace. We flew across the Mopac bridge, and then settled in for the last couple of miles. Brian moved up to the front with me after Mopac, and we cruised along to the finish. They've finished the new corner at Point Neff, so that was really nice running around there. The slope is much more gradual, and there's a bunch more room to turn the corner. Anyway, once we crossed that last footbridge at the one mile mark, it seems that Leslie dropped back a bit, and Rachel locked in with Brian and me for that last push to Auditorium Shores. We were moving pretty strong there. Later, it turns out, Brian told me that he kept waiting for me to back off on the pace so he could slow down. Of course, while we were running those last two miles, I was waiting on him to back off so I could slow down. Sigh...
Brian pulled away a little on the last half mile, but we all three finished in a tight bunch anyway. What a run! It was a record Scenic run for me, and the fast finish was really fast. That's the best I've done for that stretch at the end of a long run, ever. Don't know what got into us this morning, but I suppose we were all just feeling it. 6 striders later, it was time to get our stuff together for the stretching session. We had fun with that, and the giant tribe of Gazelles all groaned and giggled through the whole thing. I had my post-run Endurox plus another full bottle of water to try and recharge my system, and I was really drenched at the end of the run. So, I'll give this run an "A+," and hopefully this is a sign that I've improved more than I had thought.
It's sure nice to have running friends who can help push and pull you through a workout like we do. I'm positive that we wouldn't have been able to turn in a performance like this on our own.
Splits: 9:26, 9:10, 9:39, 0.75 miles at 9:12, then Scenic at 8:49, 8:45, and a half mile at 8:29, 35th and Exposition at 8:42, 8:26, and then fast finish at 6:53 (some gentle downhill, but still fast!), 7:22, 7:24, and .35 miles at 7:20 pace. Crazy fast finish! Overall pace for 11.5 miles was 8:29/mile. With water stop time included, we were still sub-9:00 at 8:58/mile. Strong running for the Moderately Paced Gazelles. Maybe we need to change our name? :-)
After the stretching, I met up with Alex for a good cold soak at Deep Eddy, and that totally refreshed me. What a running day!
For the week, just over 30 miles (I missed that Tuesday recovery run), 3 out of 4 gym workouts, a good week. Tomorrow is a full day off from exercise, which will be great.
Friday, June 09, 2006
Gyminy Cricket
Okay, the bad "Gym" titles may have gone too far today... Today was the "just a gym workout" day of my workout week, which is usually pretty fun. I started off with core exercises, and added reps to the oblique raises (to 2 sets of 25), and added Alex's medicine ball twists, too. Those were pretty cool. Per Alex's suggestion, I did the twists using a regular fitball instead of a medicine ball, to start. I arbitrarily chose 45 seconds, and did two sets at 45 seconds of twists each. Next time, I'll see if I can do as much using the smallest medicine ball.
The upper body stuff went really great. Bench press was much smoother than usual, so I think I may finally be back on track with that particular exercise, and may be able to move up in weight after next week. Dumbbell flies went fine, and then I moved up in weight on lat pulldowns to the amount that I was using back in February (90 lbs), so that's come back pretty quickly. I even moved up in reps on the tricep pulldowns, so the upper body workout was my best since I started back in the gym a few weeks ago.
Pleasantly tired, I was done for the day, and now it's time to hydrate a little for tomorrow's warm Scenic run. I've almost finished reloading all the software that I had used previous to the big computer meltdown on Monday, so except for the data that was lost, things are more or less back to normal on the electronic front. I'm mostly upset that some audio home recordings that I did have been lost. I had backups on some projects from 2000 and 2001, but the stuff since then is gone. That bites. Backup your computer data, my friends!
Okay, the bad "Gym" titles may have gone too far today... Today was the "just a gym workout" day of my workout week, which is usually pretty fun. I started off with core exercises, and added reps to the oblique raises (to 2 sets of 25), and added Alex's medicine ball twists, too. Those were pretty cool. Per Alex's suggestion, I did the twists using a regular fitball instead of a medicine ball, to start. I arbitrarily chose 45 seconds, and did two sets at 45 seconds of twists each. Next time, I'll see if I can do as much using the smallest medicine ball.
The upper body stuff went really great. Bench press was much smoother than usual, so I think I may finally be back on track with that particular exercise, and may be able to move up in weight after next week. Dumbbell flies went fine, and then I moved up in weight on lat pulldowns to the amount that I was using back in February (90 lbs), so that's come back pretty quickly. I even moved up in reps on the tricep pulldowns, so the upper body workout was my best since I started back in the gym a few weeks ago.
Pleasantly tired, I was done for the day, and now it's time to hydrate a little for tomorrow's warm Scenic run. I've almost finished reloading all the software that I had used previous to the big computer meltdown on Monday, so except for the data that was lost, things are more or less back to normal on the electronic front. I'm mostly upset that some audio home recordings that I did have been lost. I had backups on some projects from 2000 and 2001, but the stuff since then is gone. That bites. Backup your computer data, my friends!
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Easy Runnin'
This morning, I drove, bleary-eyed, down to RunTex for a recovery run with my friends. I had doubts about how I'd feel on the run, given how sleepy I was, but staggered out of the truck anyway. The huge Tu/Th Gazelles group was milling about, but I found Frank, Shannon and Richard for our little run. We took off right before the other Gazelles did, and we were soon swarmed and then passed by various groups of the larger herd. They were off on their fartlek workout, and we did all we could to keep our easy pace as they roared around us. The storm had passed by the end of the first mile, and from there, it was a very pleasant run. It was good to see Richard again, now that he's finished their move into a new house. Our course for the day was the portion of the Longhorn Dam loop that lies to the east of First Street. We figured it would be nice to check out some terrain that wasn't painfully familiar to us. It was pleasant out there once we crossed the I-35 overpass, and we had a good time. I was a little distressed during the first mile, but settled in after that, and the run ended up being very comfortable. We were drenched, of course, but that's just the way it is here this time of year.
One water stop behind the Holly power plant, maybe a minute, and other than that, it was a straight run. I ended up clocking 6.8 miles, about 63 minutes, for 9:18/mile pace today. We finished things off with some striders at Auditorium Shores (I did 6 of them), and chatted a bit with some of the larger pack of Gazelles as they did the same.
Alex said that the group really cranked the fartleks today, so I guess it's just what happens when we get lots of new runners who want to prove to themselves that they belong or something. I can vouch for the fact that you feel like you should be running pretty quickly when you join the Gazelles. I was the slowest Gazelle for a while when I joined, and it's sometimes intimidating. You're made to feel welcome, but as a runner, you like to fit in with the crowd. Hopefully, the Gazelles, both old and new, will settle down in a week or so.
Stuck around for stretching, which felt really good, and I was off to the gym. Alex showed me a couple of new and evil core exercises that I might add to my routine, but they are tough!
Gymnatique
After a Clif Bar on the way up to Gold's, I made my way through the regular Core / Leg workout. I increased the reps on the Roman Chair exercises, and added time to the various plank exercises, so that was a big improvement. I bumped up the weight on the calf raises (both kinds), but other than that, it was a status quo sort of day. I could tell that my legs were tired once I got to the last exercise, leg press. I did the full set/rep numbers, but those last few reps were the work of a tired set of legs.
Tomorrow, no running, and all that's on my exercise schedule is a gym visit for core and upper body. Should be fun!
This morning, I drove, bleary-eyed, down to RunTex for a recovery run with my friends. I had doubts about how I'd feel on the run, given how sleepy I was, but staggered out of the truck anyway. The huge Tu/Th Gazelles group was milling about, but I found Frank, Shannon and Richard for our little run. We took off right before the other Gazelles did, and we were soon swarmed and then passed by various groups of the larger herd. They were off on their fartlek workout, and we did all we could to keep our easy pace as they roared around us. The storm had passed by the end of the first mile, and from there, it was a very pleasant run. It was good to see Richard again, now that he's finished their move into a new house. Our course for the day was the portion of the Longhorn Dam loop that lies to the east of First Street. We figured it would be nice to check out some terrain that wasn't painfully familiar to us. It was pleasant out there once we crossed the I-35 overpass, and we had a good time. I was a little distressed during the first mile, but settled in after that, and the run ended up being very comfortable. We were drenched, of course, but that's just the way it is here this time of year.
One water stop behind the Holly power plant, maybe a minute, and other than that, it was a straight run. I ended up clocking 6.8 miles, about 63 minutes, for 9:18/mile pace today. We finished things off with some striders at Auditorium Shores (I did 6 of them), and chatted a bit with some of the larger pack of Gazelles as they did the same.
Alex said that the group really cranked the fartleks today, so I guess it's just what happens when we get lots of new runners who want to prove to themselves that they belong or something. I can vouch for the fact that you feel like you should be running pretty quickly when you join the Gazelles. I was the slowest Gazelle for a while when I joined, and it's sometimes intimidating. You're made to feel welcome, but as a runner, you like to fit in with the crowd. Hopefully, the Gazelles, both old and new, will settle down in a week or so.
Stuck around for stretching, which felt really good, and I was off to the gym. Alex showed me a couple of new and evil core exercises that I might add to my routine, but they are tough!
Gymnatique
After a Clif Bar on the way up to Gold's, I made my way through the regular Core / Leg workout. I increased the reps on the Roman Chair exercises, and added time to the various plank exercises, so that was a big improvement. I bumped up the weight on the calf raises (both kinds), but other than that, it was a status quo sort of day. I could tell that my legs were tired once I got to the last exercise, leg press. I did the full set/rep numbers, but those last few reps were the work of a tired set of legs.
Tomorrow, no running, and all that's on my exercise schedule is a gym visit for core and upper body. Should be fun!
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
Fartleks With a New Herd
All day Tuesday was taken up by the computer rehab, so I didn't get to do either a run or a gym workout. Bummer. I was ready for action today, though, and again joined the newly large group of Gazelles for our fartlek tour of the trail. Gilbert wasn't there, so he sent Bernard in his stead to send us out. After some milling about, we got going. Our pace range was newly enhanced by a bunch of new folks (I met Shelly today, for instance), and after the easy 19 minutes or so of warmup running, the group slowly split into as many as four smaller pods. I was running with Shelly most of the way, and we dropped some folks and then gathered some others from groups that had gone out faster, ending up with the two of us and Rachel at the end of the run.
Even the warmup running was quicker than usual, with the new people bringing some extra energy to the proceedings. We were around 9:20-9:30 pace for the easier running, right at 2 miles. After it was time to "go!," we commenced the 10 x 2:00 fartleks, with 1:00 recovery jogging between the faster bits. From the start, I think we were going faster than normal, but that's okay. We did our last accelerated bit, ending at the footbridge at the one mile marker, and from there, it was a nice easier last mile to Auditorium Shores. Done!
The numbers? The fast section was 3.7 miles knocked out at 7:55/mile pace overall, which was really moving along, considering the 10 minutes of recovery jogging in that portion of the day. Our fast 2:00 segments must have been in the low 7:00 range. With all the warmup and cooldown added, we scored 7 miles, more or less, at 8:36/mile overall pace. This was quick little workout today!
Those last couple of fartlek intervals were a mental test, that's for sure! Once we were done, a bunch of us stayed around for stretching, and it was just a good day of running. To the gym now!
Gymunology
I drove right to Gold's before I lost my desire to do so, and knocked out a good little workout there. The shorter core routine and upper body were on the schedule today. I felt good, and I can see that I'm making continued progress on the upper body exercises. It's a process, but I'm sneaking back up on the sort of shape I was in shortly before Freescale.
Tomorrow, I plan to join the peeps for the full 7 mile recovery run followed by a gym visit.
Book Alert!!!
My Page A Day Booklovers Calendar convinced me to pick up a copy of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. The author's goal is to present a heavy dose of practical science in a format that is entertaining and informative. I must say, he's succeeding in a big way with me. I have a science background from college, so I had a passing familiarity with some of the topics in this book, but I've really enjoyed the 250 pages or so that I've read thus far. We've covered Geology, Paleontology, Physics, Chemistry, and a host of other topics, and it's great reading. Bryson has a wry sense of humor about the great men and women of science and their lives, and it's been fascinating so far. For what it's worth, I highly recommend this book. I checked it out of the library, and you should, too. :-) Just wait until you read about what lurks beneath Yellowstone Park!
All day Tuesday was taken up by the computer rehab, so I didn't get to do either a run or a gym workout. Bummer. I was ready for action today, though, and again joined the newly large group of Gazelles for our fartlek tour of the trail. Gilbert wasn't there, so he sent Bernard in his stead to send us out. After some milling about, we got going. Our pace range was newly enhanced by a bunch of new folks (I met Shelly today, for instance), and after the easy 19 minutes or so of warmup running, the group slowly split into as many as four smaller pods. I was running with Shelly most of the way, and we dropped some folks and then gathered some others from groups that had gone out faster, ending up with the two of us and Rachel at the end of the run.
Even the warmup running was quicker than usual, with the new people bringing some extra energy to the proceedings. We were around 9:20-9:30 pace for the easier running, right at 2 miles. After it was time to "go!," we commenced the 10 x 2:00 fartleks, with 1:00 recovery jogging between the faster bits. From the start, I think we were going faster than normal, but that's okay. We did our last accelerated bit, ending at the footbridge at the one mile marker, and from there, it was a nice easier last mile to Auditorium Shores. Done!
The numbers? The fast section was 3.7 miles knocked out at 7:55/mile pace overall, which was really moving along, considering the 10 minutes of recovery jogging in that portion of the day. Our fast 2:00 segments must have been in the low 7:00 range. With all the warmup and cooldown added, we scored 7 miles, more or less, at 8:36/mile overall pace. This was quick little workout today!
Those last couple of fartlek intervals were a mental test, that's for sure! Once we were done, a bunch of us stayed around for stretching, and it was just a good day of running. To the gym now!
Gymunology
I drove right to Gold's before I lost my desire to do so, and knocked out a good little workout there. The shorter core routine and upper body were on the schedule today. I felt good, and I can see that I'm making continued progress on the upper body exercises. It's a process, but I'm sneaking back up on the sort of shape I was in shortly before Freescale.
Tomorrow, I plan to join the peeps for the full 7 mile recovery run followed by a gym visit.
Book Alert!!!
My Page A Day Booklovers Calendar convinced me to pick up a copy of Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. The author's goal is to present a heavy dose of practical science in a format that is entertaining and informative. I must say, he's succeeding in a big way with me. I have a science background from college, so I had a passing familiarity with some of the topics in this book, but I've really enjoyed the 250 pages or so that I've read thus far. We've covered Geology, Paleontology, Physics, Chemistry, and a host of other topics, and it's great reading. Bryson has a wry sense of humor about the great men and women of science and their lives, and it's been fascinating so far. For what it's worth, I highly recommend this book. I checked it out of the library, and you should, too. :-) Just wait until you read about what lurks beneath Yellowstone Park!
Monday, June 05, 2006
Circuitry [Entered 6/7/06]
It's a Monday in June, so it must be circuit training day! It was a huge crowd that started off together this morning, as the fall marathoners and a couple of other new Gazelles groups have started, and they all want to run early. I think most of the 5:30pm group is moving early as well, so it was a big crew that hit the trail today. I managed to learn one guy's name on the way over (Tim), and we all had a good warmup to Austin High. Drills were crazy, with all the peeps, but no one was damaged from collision with a fellow Gazelle, so that was good. Once we were done, Gilbert separated us into veterans and newbies, and those of us who knew the drill took off. He prescribed 400m runs between circuits, so it was actually easier than Memorial Day for us. The circuits were the usual exercises so far. G has promised us lots of new things this June, so it should be interesting before the month is out. Even with all the folks, we managed to pretty efficiently get through 3 circuits in the time allowed, and I even got in a fourth 400, but didn't get a chance to do a fourth circuit of exercises. Times were consistent on the 400's, so that was a success (1:49, 1:49, 1:48, 1:51).
After he gathered us all together, we did two rounds of "fast feet," and we were done. Singing the Iyo Ngwe song helped make the second minute of FF go by easier.
A relaxed return run to RunTex, and we were done. I stuck around afterwards for stretching, and that was the day. Just 4.7 miles total, but it's a nice start to the week.
The rest of the day, however, wasn't so good, with computer problems galore (Windows decided to corrode into useless binary jibberish, and I was out of commission until late on Tuesday). I thought I had gotten a full backup onto my external drive, but it turns out that was only a mirage. I managed to save all the digital photos, my running log data, and the iTunes music was already on the external drive. But, all my nifty running spreadsheets and various documents (race reports from marathons and other races before I started blogging) are gone forever. I can rebuild the spreadsheets as need be, but it's sure a drag to have to do it. Sigh...
It's a Monday in June, so it must be circuit training day! It was a huge crowd that started off together this morning, as the fall marathoners and a couple of other new Gazelles groups have started, and they all want to run early. I think most of the 5:30pm group is moving early as well, so it was a big crew that hit the trail today. I managed to learn one guy's name on the way over (Tim), and we all had a good warmup to Austin High. Drills were crazy, with all the peeps, but no one was damaged from collision with a fellow Gazelle, so that was good. Once we were done, Gilbert separated us into veterans and newbies, and those of us who knew the drill took off. He prescribed 400m runs between circuits, so it was actually easier than Memorial Day for us. The circuits were the usual exercises so far. G has promised us lots of new things this June, so it should be interesting before the month is out. Even with all the folks, we managed to pretty efficiently get through 3 circuits in the time allowed, and I even got in a fourth 400, but didn't get a chance to do a fourth circuit of exercises. Times were consistent on the 400's, so that was a success (1:49, 1:49, 1:48, 1:51).
After he gathered us all together, we did two rounds of "fast feet," and we were done. Singing the Iyo Ngwe song helped make the second minute of FF go by easier.
A relaxed return run to RunTex, and we were done. I stuck around afterwards for stretching, and that was the day. Just 4.7 miles total, but it's a nice start to the week.
The rest of the day, however, wasn't so good, with computer problems galore (Windows decided to corrode into useless binary jibberish, and I was out of commission until late on Tuesday). I thought I had gotten a full backup onto my external drive, but it turns out that was only a mirage. I managed to save all the digital photos, my running log data, and the iTunes music was already on the external drive. But, all my nifty running spreadsheets and various documents (race reports from marathons and other races before I started blogging) are gone forever. I can rebuild the spreadsheets as need be, but it's sure a drag to have to do it. Sigh...
Saturday, June 03, 2006
Talkin' 'Bout Runnin' Grove (Excess apostrophes are intentional)
This morning, Gilbert had an organizational meeting of the fall marathon group, so we didn't get started on the long run until 6:45 or so. It gave me time to stash some water out on the Grove extension, near the community college, so I didn't have to carry any with me. I found a convenient shrubbery to stash the water bottles and cups, and then made my way back to RunTex and hung out waiting for the marathoners to be released.
I had planned on providing water mainly for my crew, so it wasn't the usual cooler out there. Once we started running, I got nervous when I saw that all the groups were heading out to Grove, including a bunch of new Gazelles who joined for the fall marathon program. My group was the middle pace group, and I was concerned that the front-runners wouldn't leave enough for the rest of us. Alex ran ahead with Joseph and Liliana, among others. My group was the usual gang, but we were joined by Thon, Carrie and Leslie today. We had two packs going, and ended up spread out a little more than that by the end of the day. It was good to see Richard out there this morning, and even though he was suffering from "I've Just Moved" fatigue, he did just fine. Gilbert, Bernard and Pete passed us about 3 miles into the run. Whoosh! Except for some excitement with traffic along Riverside, we made it to the water stop in good time. I was surprised to find that the front groups had not taken any water. Were they just going so fast that they didn't see it?
Our large double group took our time chugging water and taking a few GU's (3:42 of stop time), but soon enough, we got moving again. I think that's when we started getting a little faster. It wasn't intentional, but later review of the numbers shows that we picked it up in the park there off of Grove, and just kept the throttle down all the way home. We kept it faster, but not crazy, through the next water stop at the Holly plant, and then I guess we just got a little carried away. It didn't seem to be really fast, but it was a strong run by the time we were done. I ended up running the last few miles with Brad and Rachel. I did 4 x 100m striders at Auditorium Shores, and then went to get my stretching gear. Good run, it turns out!
Splits: 10:09, 9:06, 8:53, 8:34, .2 miles at 8:11 (water/GU stop), 8:28, 8:28, .75 miles at 8:38/mile (second water stop), 8:32, 8:04, 7:52. Overall, 10.07 miles at 8:40/mile pace. With 5:42 of water stop time included, pace was still a fine 9:14/mile. Unexpectedly good running today!
It was a huge crowd for stretching, and we did a bunch of Pete's "optional/bonus" stretches. Except for some minor discomfort in the left Achilles, I felt great today. It was hot, yes, but not horrible. Turns out that the front groups of runners couldn't find the water stash on Grove. I had told Alex where to look, but they failed to locate it. Oh, well. I tried. :-)
For the week, all five running workouts were done, and I plan to do the usual Friday gym workout on Sunday. I took yesterday off. Total mileage this week, 33.24 miles. Next week, I guess we'll run the long run with the marathon group, and after that, we'll possibly run a little shorter than them when we feel the need. June will be Circuit Month, so every Monday will be circuit training, which I think is a good idea for the summer season.
This morning, Gilbert had an organizational meeting of the fall marathon group, so we didn't get started on the long run until 6:45 or so. It gave me time to stash some water out on the Grove extension, near the community college, so I didn't have to carry any with me. I found a convenient shrubbery to stash the water bottles and cups, and then made my way back to RunTex and hung out waiting for the marathoners to be released.
I had planned on providing water mainly for my crew, so it wasn't the usual cooler out there. Once we started running, I got nervous when I saw that all the groups were heading out to Grove, including a bunch of new Gazelles who joined for the fall marathon program. My group was the middle pace group, and I was concerned that the front-runners wouldn't leave enough for the rest of us. Alex ran ahead with Joseph and Liliana, among others. My group was the usual gang, but we were joined by Thon, Carrie and Leslie today. We had two packs going, and ended up spread out a little more than that by the end of the day. It was good to see Richard out there this morning, and even though he was suffering from "I've Just Moved" fatigue, he did just fine. Gilbert, Bernard and Pete passed us about 3 miles into the run. Whoosh! Except for some excitement with traffic along Riverside, we made it to the water stop in good time. I was surprised to find that the front groups had not taken any water. Were they just going so fast that they didn't see it?
Our large double group took our time chugging water and taking a few GU's (3:42 of stop time), but soon enough, we got moving again. I think that's when we started getting a little faster. It wasn't intentional, but later review of the numbers shows that we picked it up in the park there off of Grove, and just kept the throttle down all the way home. We kept it faster, but not crazy, through the next water stop at the Holly plant, and then I guess we just got a little carried away. It didn't seem to be really fast, but it was a strong run by the time we were done. I ended up running the last few miles with Brad and Rachel. I did 4 x 100m striders at Auditorium Shores, and then went to get my stretching gear. Good run, it turns out!
Splits: 10:09, 9:06, 8:53, 8:34, .2 miles at 8:11 (water/GU stop), 8:28, 8:28, .75 miles at 8:38/mile (second water stop), 8:32, 8:04, 7:52. Overall, 10.07 miles at 8:40/mile pace. With 5:42 of water stop time included, pace was still a fine 9:14/mile. Unexpectedly good running today!
It was a huge crowd for stretching, and we did a bunch of Pete's "optional/bonus" stretches. Except for some minor discomfort in the left Achilles, I felt great today. It was hot, yes, but not horrible. Turns out that the front groups of runners couldn't find the water stash on Grove. I had told Alex where to look, but they failed to locate it. Oh, well. I tried. :-)
For the week, all five running workouts were done, and I plan to do the usual Friday gym workout on Sunday. I took yesterday off. Total mileage this week, 33.24 miles. Next week, I guess we'll run the long run with the marathon group, and after that, we'll possibly run a little shorter than them when we feel the need. June will be Circuit Month, so every Monday will be circuit training, which I think is a good idea for the summer season.
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Easy Running [Entered 6/3/06]
This evening, I went out for a nice recovery run, and I ended up with 42:30 minutes of running, 4.77 miles, just under 9:00/mile pace for the run. I was just running by feel out there, and it didn't feel all that tough except for when I picked it up late in the run. Good deal. My left Achilles was acting up, though, so I iced it down several times tonight after I got back inside, for preventative purposes. Maybe I've overdone the calf raises in the gym? No matter.
Gymboree
The gym workout was leg weights and core today. I bumped up the reps on the roman chair lifts, and extended the time on the planks, so that portion of the festivities was pretty tough. On leg weights, everything stayed the same except for a 10 lb raise on standing calf raises. I just do one set on the standing calf raises, but I do 3 positions with the feet, so it's sort of like doing 3 sets. At least for me, that is. :-)
This evening, I went out for a nice recovery run, and I ended up with 42:30 minutes of running, 4.77 miles, just under 9:00/mile pace for the run. I was just running by feel out there, and it didn't feel all that tough except for when I picked it up late in the run. Good deal. My left Achilles was acting up, though, so I iced it down several times tonight after I got back inside, for preventative purposes. Maybe I've overdone the calf raises in the gym? No matter.
Gymboree
The gym workout was leg weights and core today. I bumped up the reps on the roman chair lifts, and extended the time on the planks, so that portion of the festivities was pretty tough. On leg weights, everything stayed the same except for a 10 lb raise on standing calf raises. I just do one set on the standing calf raises, but I do 3 positions with the feet, so it's sort of like doing 3 sets. At least for me, that is. :-)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)