2 and a half laps at a time (Track 1000's)

Today, we gathered the herd for a visit to the Austin High track and 1000m repeats. It was lots of running round and round the oval. Almost all of the group that I've been running speedwork with ditched me today, so it was just Dennis, Amy and me as a pace pod. I guess it must have been something I said. :-)

Gilbert asked us to run the 1000's at the same pace as the 1200's from last week. That made sense to me, since I had noticed that the 1200's were done at a faster pace than the 1000's a few weeks prior to that. We aimed for 4:30 per 1000m, or about 7:15/mile. I did 5 x 1000m the last time we did this workout, so I set out to do at least 6, maybe 7 repeats today.

After a slightly slower 4:35 first 1000, we really got the bus rolling. The splits were 4:35, 4:31, 4:31, 4:30, 4:30, and a last 4:20. Gilbert told us 6 was a good number, and I was pleased that we were so consistent and that I could get faster on the last repeat. Except for that last repeat, I felt fairly comfortable. Stressed, but not unduly so. Was it 10K pace? Not really. But it was right in line with the 1200's.

Frank and I did our 200m striders, and then after some chatting with Gilbert about this weekend's long run route, Frank, Colleen and I headed back to RunTex.

I scored 8.45 miles for the day. Full stretching with Colleen, and I was off. I stopped at Gold's Gym for a quick core/upper workout, and then got cleaned up so I could get my massage from Ron. The massage found lots of junk in my quads and calves, but as usual, Ron worked all that out. I'm ready now for the long 20 miler on Saturday, and with a little recovery jogging tomorrow, it'll be a pretty solid workout week.

I've got plenty to do to get ready for guitar camp next week, but that easy 45-50 minute run tomorrow morning should be just the ticket to get me going.

Easy running in the Hood [Entered 7/25/07]

Yep, it's Tuesday, and that meant another easy run here in the 'Hood. I ran again in the new Creation 8's, a mere 45 minutes to shake loose some of the junk remaining from yesterday's pace run. I averaged 9:23/mile, and I felt much better after the run than before. No gym visit, though, due to errands galore.

Pace Running [Entered 7/25/07]

Monday, I showed up, vocal chords shot from all the jabbering at the reunion parties over the weekend, for a pace run with the Gazelles. I'd missed the first one of the training season a few weeks ago, so I was keen on getting this one in today. Weather was in ditto land, so we can dispense with that.

Kenny was there with Bernard to administrate the workout, since Gilbert was in Missouri for the day. The workout for us was a 3/5 run. That is, 3 miles nice and easy for warmup, and then 5 miles at a theoretical marathon goal pace (MGP). As usual, MGP is a concept that we trample over during these workouts. Just like "80% effort" and "10K pace," these suggestions tend to get put aside once the runs begin.

I did my easy 3 miles with Colleen and David(?), and we arrived at the mobile water stop all ready to go. I grabbed a couple cups of Accelerade and water, and then took off. My sense of pace was probably off, and I darted ahead of everyone for a mile or so. I was definitely too fast for the first mile or two, but it felt okay, so I just found a pace that felt tolerable and soldiered on. I got caught by the time we reached the water stop at Austin High School, and then after a quick cup of water there (only 13 seconds for that one), I took off again. I got caught once more as we hit the trail on the south side of Town Lake, but settled in and managed to recover my pace for the last mile.

It was definitely too fast, but for a workout I'll take it. Splits were: 10:11, 9:55, and 0.93 miles at 9:16/mile (warmups), then a 1:57 water/accelerade stop. Pace miles were 7:59, 8:06, 0.54 miles at 8:07/mile, 0:13 water stop, 8:21, 8:05, and 0.48 miles at 7:43/mile. I averaged 8:08/mile for the pace miles, including the brief water stop. Overall, including all water stop time, I was at 8:59/mile for the 8 mile day. Altogether a good workout. I easily managed to drop my pace over a minute from the 3 mile warmup to the 5 mile pace running, so mission accomplished.

Next time, I'll start out slightly easier on the pace miles, maybe 8:15-8:30/mile, and hope to finish strong.

Once we were done, I did 4 x 100m striders and then called it a day. 8.2 miles for the workout to start the week.

Most of the full stretching regimen followed, and my day was done.

When the Rain Comes... [Entered 7/25/07]

Friday, I had to get in my short long run (yep, it's oxymoronic) before leaving for a weekend of moderate debauchery at my 30th year high school reunion. I visited the gym yesterday for 30 minutes of indoor cycling and a core/upper body workout, by the way. Anyway, I got down to a deserted RunTex early on Friday, under threatening skies. I sat in the car for a bit, to see if the weather would either go ahead and let loose (as it did) or blow over. I had plenty of time to get the run in, so I had that luxury.

I guess I dozed off a bit as the rain pattered on my windshield, because the next thing I knew, Gilbert was knocking on my window. I got out and chatted with him briefly, and then he flew off with the Bomb Runners. It started raining pretty hard right after that, so I almost decided to bag the run entirely. As it was, I'd have to leave the iPod in the truck due to excessive rain. I moved the truck in preparation for leaving, and then finally decided to just get out and try running. I made a deal with myself to just get out and run at least the Longhorn Dam route. That worked, and I hit the trail by about 6:15am.

From there, it was a series of psychological tests, as I passed various opportunities to cut the run shorter. I ended up doing the full Grove loop, with only a couple of large streams to jump over east of the Longhorn Dam, and with only the one detour through Zilker Park around Point Neff. As it turns out, I think I could have gone around Point Neff, but that's not a big deal. It was fun to be able to actually run most of the trail, after it's been under water in spots for several weeks.

I did just one GU during this journey, and supplemented my CamelBak with stops at the Holly power plant, Mopac and between First Street and the old power station. This was sort of a cruise, in alternating heavy and light rain, and I ended up drenched but happy that I made the effort. I scored 13.8 miles at a relatively pedestrian 9:40/mile average, including water stop time. I was around 9:15/mile actual running speed.

So, except for extremely squishy shoes (first run in new Creation 8's), it was a good effort.

For the week, 25.6 miles in three runs. My calves feel fine after the big cramping last weekend, so I'm back on track.

Now, about that reunion? Maybe I'll report on that later...

Fast Stuff, 3 Laps at a Time

Finally, Wednesday I headed down to rejoin my Gazelles friends for a track workout. It's been a while, so I was looking forward to seeing everyone. My leg felt pretty good this morning, and it was even somewhat cooler out there. Can't complain about that!

Gentle warmup running led us to the track at AHS, and we split up into two bunches to do the drills. Gilbert set up the groups, and off we went. He told my group to aim for 400m splits in the 1:45-1:50 range. That's 5:15-5:30 per 1200m. Okey dokey.

I led the first couple of repeats, and we gently picked it up each repeat, right in range. The 1200's didn't seem any harder than 800's or 1000's, even though our pacing was the same. Go figure. The group had thinned down by the third repeat, which we clicked off even quicker. For the fourth and last repeat, we let the hammer down a bit, and kicked the pace faster still. I'm very happy with our times, especially considering how I felt just Monday! The 1200 splits were 5:27, 5:24, 5:23, and 5:15, so that's exactly as ordered. The 1200's were in a modest 7:13/mile average pace, but I'm pleased all the same.

Dennis and I did our 3 x 200m striders, and it was only on the third strider that the left calf barked at me a bit. Nothing big, but I could tell that was quite enough for my legs today. I ran back to RunTex with Colleen, and got caught up on her travels as we ran.

For a change, I stayed and did the full stretching, and that felt pretty good. Rachel hung out with us, along with Lisa, so it was like old home week. Gilbert told me that I had looked "tired" during the track work, which I can only attribute to my somewhat dodgy musculoskeletal condition. I felt pretty good today, but I suppose I appeared to be off form.

For the day, 7.22 miles. I'll aim to do a super easy HR run tomorrow, in the 45-50 minute range, and get in a gym visit. Friday, I have to do the scheduled Grove run (about 13.5 miles) on my own because of my high school reunion this weekend. But, I'll be back for Gazelles on Monday, whatever the workout may be. Busy, busy.

Step, Ouch, Step, Ouch! [Entered 7/18/07]

Monday and Tuesday...the calf recovery continued. I woke up ready to go on Monday for the scheduled easy running and circuit work, but I was severely hobbled. My calf hurt to the point that I wasn't moving at all normally, so after taking some ibuprofen, I climbed back into bed. Discretion being the better part of valor and all that stuff... I spent Monday gently stretching and massaging my calf, trying to get it to the point that it functioned better. After some walking around and careful attention, it felt better by the end of the day. But, there was no running on Monday. Tuesday, I continued the self-treatment, and then headed down to let Ron work my legs over. I suffered a bit more than usual, due to the residual effects of the calf cramp and my failure to stretch after the long run on Friday. But, by the end of the massage, he was able to work the calf pretty deeply, and I wasn't begging for the deep tissue work to end. So, I was assured that I hadn't messed up anything too badly, and that was a big relief. I even got out Tuesday evening for a gentle 45 minute jog, right at 4.6 miles, just to get the legs moving a bit. It didn't even hurt to run, so I was quite happy about that. Gazelles on Wednesday!!

A Week At the Beach [Entered 7/18/07]

We drove all day on Sunday to get to Gulf Shores, AL, and our family beach vacation with my siblings and my Mom. 12 hours in the car is a little rugged, but except for a stretch where I had to drive through a driving rainstorm, it was uneventful. It was great to spend a week with everyone in one place, and we did a good job building some fairly complex sand structures. Tuesday, we built the Sydney Opera House complex, and that turned out great. It was funny to see who recognized one of the 10 most recognizable buildings in the world. At Gulf Shores, it was about a 40% recognition rate, not including young kids. I'll post some pics once I get them downloaded. Wednesday, after a kid asked us if we'd ever built a sand submarine, I came up with the somewhat demented idea of a large submarine being attacked by a large sea creature. The whole sand sculpture ended up about 18 feet long, with a large sub being engulfed by a creature that had characteristics of a giant squid, a crab, a lizard, and a shark. Again, pictures may reveal things more clearly. This one was a big hit. Thursday, we finished up our presentation (we had sand groupies by this point in the week) with a large-scale Porsche convertible loosely based on the 911 model. We built this one big enough that smaller children could sit inside of it, and we had a dozen or so people come over and pose their children in the sand car. That was probably the most fun, but the sub/monster combo was the better sculpture. Friday, we had to start the journey back.

The running, you say? Well, I was not very inspired. I woke up Monday through Wednesday at the beep of my watch at 5:45am, and utterly failed to leave the room on any of those early mornings. C'est la vie. I wish I could report that I diligently got out there and did some miles, but alas, I did not.

However, I knew I had to do the scheduled 18 miler at the very least. So, on Friday, after gorging myself on Mellow Mushroom pizza on Thursday night, I was up and out of the condo at 5:45am, running. I had checked Gmap, and found that I could head west towards Ft. Morgan (a historic fort from Civil War times), and it was almost exactly 9 miles to the end of the peninsula. So, it was easy directions for the 18 miler. It was muggy, but somewhat overcast, so I had about as good conditions as could be expected in southern Alabama in mid-July. With the GPS synched, the iPod loaded, a Camelbak with 32 ounces of ice water, and a 20 oz. bottle of Gatorade, I set out, exited the property onto AL 180, and headed west.

It proved to be much more of a mental test than I had anticipated. I've never run more than 16 miles by myself in one run, so this was a new personal record. I drank from the Gatorade on the way out, finishing it up somewhere around mile 7, and got rid of that handheld distraction. I did my GU every 3-4 miles, and walked through all the water stops. I figured I'd just keep moving since I was alone, even though I'd shorten the actual running distance a little doing it that way. There was a volunteer fire department, several bird watching conservatories, a lot of traffic with people towing boats to the end of the pier, and of course, lots of condos along the way. The road was almost arrow-straight for the most part, which was both good and bad. It was good that people could see you from a long way away, and thus was safer, but it was bad in that you couldn't make a mental game of getting to a corner ahead. The road was pretty darned flat, as well. I started craving a hill, just for variety. :-)

I reached the end of the ferry pier, did my sun pose looking back east and then into Mobile Bay for a bit, sipping water, and then it was time to head back. I was working harder and harder, it seemed, as I turned back into the sun, heading east, but I focused on getting to the next landmark one at a time, trying to break up the journey into bits that I could manage. I took my last GU (actually, it was an Enervitene I had left over from Indy) at about mile 13.5, finished off my water (it would have been great to have another cold bottle of water at that point!), and fought my way home. There was a big water tower at the Beach Club entrance, and I finally spotted it about the time I did that last water stop. The bad thing was that it was so large, and the road so straight, that it was a lot farther to the finish than I would have liked. Oh, well. With the count on the iPod at something like 40 songs so far, I trudged on. My pace was slowing a bit due to the heat, but I kept at it, and soon enough, the actual entrance to the condo place appeared. After rubbing my eyes to make sure it wasn't a mirage, I gratefully turned into the drive, and finished the run off with a modicum of style.

The run was just under 18 miles (17.98). With all water stop time included, it was 9:54/mile pace. That's a bit slower than usual, but with the combination of a solo run and less than ideal water supplies, I'll take it. The main thing is that I got out there, finally, and knocked out the most important run of the week. Actual running pace was more like 9:30-9:35/mile. I probably covered a half mile of that total during my walk-through water stops.

I found my way to the pool area, and spent a few luxurious minutes letting the beach shower cool me off. That was truly a great feeling. I figured I'd kick off my shoes before getting back under the shower for a more thorough dousing, and instead, I caused a massive calf cramp in my left leg as I pointed my foot downward. Ouch!!!!! It was one of those cramps that you can see. It looked like a small mouse had crawled under my skin. All I could do was sit down carefully and grab the cramped muscle with my thumbs, pressing on it. Eventually, and it seemed like a very long time, the cramp crawled out of my calf (you could feel it slide away under my thumbs), and I could breathe again. Man, that hurt!! I gingerly took off the other shoe, and enjoyed that cool shower some more, and then headed back upstairs to get going on our homeward journey.

I should have stretched, I should have iced the calf, and I should have taken ibuprofen. But, instead, we walked to the beach one more time, enjoyed the early morning sounds and sights on the beach until about 10:00am, and then it was time to go. I did chug an Endurox (12 oz.) and another Gatorade (20 oz.), along with a bottle of water, so I wasn't totally a post-run goof, but I certainly wasn't practicing what I preach to other runners. :-) After cramming the Tahoe full of our gear (we don't pack lightly when we drive somewhere), it was time to start back to Texas.

I suffered from my lack of stretching every time we stopped for gas or food. I tried to plead with the stretching gods by gently stretching at all those opportunities, but they weren't having much sympathy for me. Sigh... We had bad traffic issues, big rain, and other road maladies on Friday, but we finally made it to Baton Rouge around 5:00, and found a hotel for the night. We celebrated by having some Mexican food there (we had had plenty of seafood during the week, so it was time to get back to other cuisine). I slept the sleep of the very fatigued that night, and although I was very sore on Saturday, I was mostly rejuvenated. At least that portion of the drive only featured the usual craziness around Houston.

So, a good vacation, one quality run, small pangs of guilt over missing the other runs, and no sunburn. Good times...

Weekly Summary [Entered 7/18/07]

The end of the July 4th week featured a couple of workouts and runs. Thursday, the 5th, I got out for a super easy HR run of about 6 miles, at 9:30/mile pace, and hit the gym for a leg/core workout. I cut some of the core stuff a little short (only single sets of the Roman Chair exercises), but did the full leg workout. A rather quiet workout day, but at least I got the work in. That night, I had a guitar ensemble gig in Bastrop, which was a good chance to play all of our repertoire in front of an audience before we did our wedding gig on Saturday. I made a couple of nervous flubs, but it wasn't terrible. All in all, I'm glad we got the chance to play, and we're certainly ready for the wedding now.

Friday, I hit the gym again for a cycle/upper body workout. I did 30 minutes on the cycle, using the model of indoor cycle that they use for the spinning classes (it has more of flywheel setup, which feels more bike-like to me), and then had a good stretching session. Due to time constraints, I went right to the upper body exercises after that, and it went well enough. I continued my negative contraction emphasis and slowed down the exercises, which made them much tougher. Also, on bench, I did the second set at 95 pounds instead of 85, and although I was only able to do 6 reps at 95 lbs., it was pretty cool to finally see the 25 lb. weights on the bar instead of two 10 lb-ers. Aesthetically, it was more pleasing.

Saturday, I made my final long run with the Gazelles for many weeks to come. Due to vacations and other weekend commitments, I'll be missing the next 4 weekend runs. Anyway, Saturday was muggy but not quite as warm, and it ended up raining on us in the last 3 miles. A fairly pleasant weather day, actually. The course was moderately hilly, with a tough middle section featuring a new hill on River Street. I had a good time, running with Renee, Lisa C., Sue and Amy for the most part, along with some other folks. In keeping with my new long run pacing strategy, it was more fun than usual, and we stayed right at 9:15/mile pace for most of the actual running. Renee, Lisa, Sue and I added some extra distance at the end of the run to bulk the run up from 10 miles to just under 13, and it was just fine. The conversation was enjoyable, and we got the work done. We had to stretch a little from the last water stop to the finish, some 6 miles, but with the rain saving us a little, it didn't cause problems. I just did one GU today, at 5 miles, but again, on a somewhat shorter run, that wasn't an issue, either. I scored 12.8 miles, more or less, at something like a 9:18/mile running pace. With water stops, it moved to 9:45/mile. All good, and my HR numbers were solidly in the long run training realm. I'll tag this as a very successful "short" long run.

I led the stretching for the last time until August, after some form drills and bouncing and hopping with Gilbert. A fun day at the running office, for sure.

For the week, I was right at 30 miles (I skipped the second recovery run on Tuesday), and I feel very rested and ready for the week ahead.

Oh, yeah, the wedding gig went very well. It's super easy to play those type events, because no one really cares about the music...they just want to see the bride and groom do their thing and then hit the reception for the wine and champagne. :-) It stormed on us coming back from Georgetown, but that was the only negative for the event. Off to Alabama now!

Tempo Racing & A Gym Visit

Independence Day morning a hardy group gathered at RunTex for the scheduled tempo run/race. Since the trail is still flooded in several key spots on our normal course, Gilbert had us do a longer 2 mile warmup over east on the trail to a spot on Lakeshore Dr. After a quick cup of water, and a final admonishment to run this at something like 10K pace plus 10 seconds/mile (yeah, right!), we were sent off.

The course was a point to point affair, instead of the usual out-and-back, which made for a different experience. There was none of the usual greetings from our fellow Gazelles as we hit the turnaround, and the course was ever so slightly tougher than the usual route. No worries, though. I started out near the back of the pack, and by the end of mile 1, I was running alone just ahead of Courtney (?), who I passed near the Longhorn Dam. At the end of mile 2, near the softball fields, I was feeling okay, and I had been pretty consistent with my pacing. Now it was time for a little negative split action. I saw Karen and her new dog as she was training it going the opposite direction, which was pretty cool. I thought I was dragging during mile 3, but it turns out I was picking it up then. During the last mile, I freely admit that I was digging the 1/4 mile markers as they counted down the race. Again, I thought I was slowing down even more during mile 4, but those feelings were due to my increased speed, not to a bonking event. Vasil was ahead of me then, and I was slowly catching him, but with a half mile to go, he decided to pick it up to stay ahead of me (he told me this later). It worked for both of us, though, and after negotiating the little drops and climbs around the rowing center, I held it together pretty well to the finish just past the Congresss bridge. My time was slightly slower than the last tempo run, but that course is very slightly shorter than this one, so it was a wash. My pace was the same as last time out, 7:40/mile.

Splits: 7:47, 7:49, 7:39, 7:27. 30:42. For the day, 6.35 miles of running action.

We walked from the finish, crossed over Town Lake at First Street, and then the bottom fell out of the sky, giving us the rain that had been hovering in the area. We trundled over to RunTex and huddled under the awning while Gilbert gave us an advance look at Saturday and Monday, and then we got out while the rain was temporarily stopped to knock out 6 striders in the parking lot at the Chamber of Commerce building. Yee haw.

I messed around a while, and then finally got the stretching done. After that, I just hung out for a while and enjoyed the company of my running pals. Lisa and I chatted, and then it was time to get going finally. Let's go to the gym!

I noshed on a PowerBar as I drove up to Gold's, and so I was charged up enough for the work ahead. I changed out of the wet running clothes and put on dry gym clothes, which was actually sort of silly, but what the heck. Core workout was floor exercises and a serious set of planks. I bumped up the time on planks to a full minute each, which was pretty tough, but it's where I need to be with those. Upper body was the full version of that workout, using the negative concentration technique and the new order of exercises as well. Thanks again, Marty, for your suggestions! I went up to 95 lbs on the second set of bench press, as an experiment, and was able to grind out 6 unassisted reps. Amazing how much 10 pounds can seem! Then, dumbbell chest flies, and finally tricep pulldowns. Those tricep extensions were pretty rough, and doing them slowly really increased the "Yowser" factor. Then, it was time for the other side of the body, and I did lat pulldowns and then bicep curls. Curls are way tougher when I do them properly, but I know they're doing some good.

Now, I was done and the rest of July 4th can be all fun and games. Maybe the rain will stop at Wimbledon and they'll actually play some matches today!

Oh, yeah. I was reminded once again, when I heard two tunes from it today on the iPod, that Run DMC's album, "Raising Hell," is just awesome. It never fails to make me smile when I hear those phat beats and actual LP vinyl scratching by JamMaster J. And the rapping over the top of that foundation is just too much fun. It's on my top 30 all-time list of albums. I say, "Check it out!" You be illin'.

GymStuff [Entered 7/4/07]

Tuesday, I failed to do the recovery run. Oh, well. But, I did get to the gym for a nice workout, so I'll give myself a "B minus" for the day. Started with a different cycle, one like the model they use in spinning class, and it did feel smoother than the electronic versions that I've been using. Just 12 minutes on that to get my legs warm. Then, I did a good long stretching routine, which felt great. Core workout was floor exercises and the evil Roman Chair exercises, and I was surprised to find that I wasn't too sore from yesterday's circuit workout. On legs, I really piled it on. I did the full routine, and experimented with emphasizing the negative (lowering) cycle of each repetition, which did make the exercises more difficult. I also incorporated the idea of moving from larger, more complex muscle groups to smaller, more specific ones, and that changed the way some of the exercises felt. All in all, I was pleased with the workout, and no one broke into my car this time, so I'll score this as a success. :-)

Circuits and a New Window

I was sporting my homemade cardboard and plastic (and duct tape) passenger window on the Tahoe as I made my way down to RunTex for the long warmup circuit workout today. It was raining pretty insistently as I drove, so I was happy that my cardboard engineering worked as well as I had hoped. It was quite strange not being able to see out of that side window, though. I never realized how much I use that side mirror until it was not available. :-)

Anyway, with the trail flooded in a bunch of places, we had to modify our long warmup route to Austin High School, going to the north side of the trail at Congress, but I felt really great doing so. Lately, I've been dragging a bit on the warmups, getting to the workout site towards the last of the pack, but today, that was not the case. The drainage canal near Austin High was totally full, so we had to do a long detour around that. Still, it came to 2.35 miles of warmup. Gilbert had us start doing circuits immediately, so we threw ourselves into the routine upon arrival. It was the usual circuit, with two additions. The first was that the guys had to do 6 pullups at the end of each circuit (I scored 4, 6, 5 and 4, which is better than the last time we tried these!). The second was that on each circuit starting with the second one, we were to do one round of medicine ball tosses. Those can start wearing on you a bit by the time you get to the later stages of each set.

After four circuits (400m runs between), Gilbert called us over to the Forum for extra stuff. Today, we just did the 15/30/45 deal and the Arch/Smash set, ending with 2 x 1:00 of "Fast Feet." I did much better on the core stuff today, so the gym work is starting to show its worth. That's very cool. Kudos to Alex and Anne for their stints singing the "Iyo Ngwe" song during Fast Feet! Woo-hoo-hooooooo!

I ran back with Alex, Frank, Vasil and Colleen, but Frank peeled off at Pfluger to do the longer cooldown run today.

I felt strong all day, and that's a relief after my unpleasantness after the 16 miler. No signs of residual dehydration, muscle cramping, or anything like that. Cool.

For the day, just over 5 miles. This week is intentionally lower in mileage to allow our bodies to recover and rebuild, so I'm looking forward to it. Next week will be a challenge while I'm on vacation at the beach, especially the 18 miler, but I hope to be up to that test.

I didn't get a chance to hang around afterwards, as I had to get up to the auto glass place for my 8:15 appointment to get a new passenger side window in the Tahoe. I made it with time to spare, and they were finished well within their estimates, so that was relatively painless. Now I can see again!