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'.