Mile. Rinse. Repeat.

Did four mile repeats tonight. And the weather was perfect. The temperature was 73 degrees, the sun was shining, and there was a nice breeze. I'm loving this summer weather. It was hot a few weeks ago, and it will probably warm up again, but it's sure been nice lately. In total I went 10 miles with four mile repeats. I was hoping to get down to about 7 minutes/mile on at least one of the repeats, and on the first one I went about a third of a mile at a sub-7 minute pace. Looking at the map on the Garmin display I can see that it was in a downhill portion of the route. Not a surprise there. All in all I thought tonight's run went well.

Marathon Pace

The day was overcast, working in my favor to get out and run before the sun set. The schedule said 9 miles total, with 1-mile warmup, 7 miles at marathon pace, and a 1-mile cooldown. In total I went 7.7 miles, with 6 of that being marathon pace. I'm still getting used to this higher mileage program. Thursday calls for a 10-mile run, with a 16-mile long run on the weekend. Wow. Not sure how I feel about running for over an hour and a half during the week. Today's run actually went very well, although the hills were killer. I cut it short just because I didn't want to wear myself out, knowing what's coming the rest of the week. The wife's triathlon is this Saturday, so looks like my long run will be on Sunday again. That's not a big deal, and I think she'll do better this year than last. Go wife!

Overcast

I was going to head out about 7:45 tonight to avoid the worst of the heat, but some clouds rolled in and I decided to go early. I left about 6:40 and got in my 6 miles easy. The humidity was a little bad at times, but without the sun beating down it was okay. Even though my long run was yesterday I still felt all right. Seems like last week I had a few runs where my legs felt tired, but I blame that on the heat. Tonight was good.

Sunday Run

Not much to say about this morning's 12-mile run, other than I woke up real early and completed the run before the temperature rose too high. The first 45 minutes or so were in the twilight right before the sun rises, so that was a nice change. Looks like I'll need to run late in the evenings or early in the mornings for the foreseeable future.

Friday Night Heat

7 miles in the early evening heat. This was my first time to run Yasso 800's, which I picked up from an issue of Runner's World. In this workout you run 2 miles of warmup, then repeat 800m fast + 400m cooldown six times, and then finish with 2 miles of cooldown. I tried to run the 800's six times, but on the fourth one I had to walk because of the heat and the hills. Plus I ended up cutting the final cooldown by over a mile, so not the most auspicious start to the new workout. I don't know if it was the stress of the week at work, not getting good sleep, eating dinner about an hour and a half before the run, or just the heat, but it was a tough workout all around. I'm going to do my long run on Sunday morning, and I'm thinking about getting up very early to avoid the heat and humidity as much as I can.

Hill Repeats

Tonight was the first night I've done hill repeats, and yet it was still somewhat familiar. Must be because there are so many hills in the area. I found a hill in the neighborhood and ran halfway up and down three times. The next phase was to run all the way to the top, down halfway, and sprint the rest of the way down three times. Then a repeat of the first phase, halfway up and down three times. This was preceded by a couple of miles of warmup and cooldown for a total of 6.8 miles.

About 4.5 miles into the run a front came through and cleared out all the clouds. It was interesting because it had been threatening rain early in the run. The line between clouds and blue sky was clearly defined, and it was cool how quickly the clouds moved south.

Alan told me today he wouldn't be running the marathon with me on Labor Day due to some pain behind his knee. Quitter.

Drizzly

A light rain and 72 degrees for tonight's easy run, and just like Saturday it was perfect running weather. I went 6 miles and kept it nice and easy. No iPod in the rain, but that's okay since I got all my deep thinking out of the way and can now rest easy tonight.

Deciding Factors

As I was running 15 miles this morning, I determined there were two deciding factors in the success of that run. First of all, the weather was absolutely perfect. When I finished the temperature was 67 degrees. You can't beat that for a mid-July run. I started out a little after seven o'clock, and even though the sun was up and the sky was clear for the whole outing, it wasn't as brutal as it had been earlier this week. Thank God for awesome weather!

The second deciding factor was that I felt better in my upper body. This is the first week in a long while where I've been able to do my dumbbell exercises all three times (M-W-F) as well as my ankle weight exercises. When I'm able to get those exercises in, my upper body feels better and is less prone to breakdown and fatigue, which ultimately affects my run. It was nice to feel good again in that respect, and with baseball and softball season finally finished I should be able to keep up the schedule.

A couple of Garmin notes: Apparently I had left it on and not sitting on its cradle between Tuesday and Thursday, so on my Thursday run I couldn't take it with me due to the low battery. I now know I have to make sure it's off when not in use. Also, when my run is finished and I've reached the target, it stops and won't continue. I was interested in continuing today after my 15 miles so I could see how my heart rate declined and the length of time it took to do so. There might be a way to keep it going, but after pressing a few buttons I discovered I sure don't know what the method is. Guess I need to read the manual some more. Again, I still like the device and was kind of bummed I didn't have it on Thursday. But I ran without it before, and I'll run without it again if I have to.

That's More Like It

Waited a little later today to head out the door, and it paid off. Seems like every day this week it's been overcast until I leave work, at which point the sun breaks out and starts baking the ground, releasing all the humidity into the air. Ugh. I left the house about 6:45 tonight and the evening was much milder than the two sessions earlier this week. I ran a mile warm-up, then 5 miles at "marathon pace", and then a little over a mile cooldown for just over 7 miles total. The "marathon pace" wasn't quite as fast as I would have liked. I feel like I'm in recovery from Monday and Tuesday's runs. Even though the temperature was in the upper 70's, there was stiff wind from the north. The recover part of the run felt like I was going in slow motion. No complaints here, though. I'll take that over 100 degree heat index any day.

Hot, Hot, Hot, Again

89 degrees, feels like 99. 7 miles of hills which turned into 6.5 miles with a few walks. Even less to say about it than last night.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The sky was overcast all day. Until, of course, I left work and was ready to run. The temp was in the low 90's and not as humid as Saturday, but the sun beating straight down on me was brutal. I ran 6 miles slooooooooow, and somehow made it that far. And that's all I have to say about that.

Oppressive Humidity

Yes, I used the word oppressive. The temperature wasn't too bad this morning at just below 80 degrees, but the humidity was about 90%. Really, rain would have felt much better. I saw the wife biking and jogging, and I'm proud of her for getting out in this weather. I left from the house about 7:20 a.m. and I don't think leaving earlier would have helped that much. When I came in the door after my run the wife told me I looked terrible. The honesty was nice, because I sure felt terrible.

I planned on going 13 miles today, but that didn't happen. As I made the turn onto the hills of Flintlock at mile 9, I tried picturing myself coming back up those hills at about mile 11.5. My mental picture included a lot of walking. The humidity just saps the strength from my legs. I hydrated and kept it slow, at about 11 minutes/mile, but nonetheless I was just glad to finish 10.5 miles. Whew, what a day. I seem to be running slower since I got the Garmin, but I think that's more a result of the heat than of the watch.

Hot and Beeping

91 degrees was the temperature when I returned home from my run today. Even though I took a frozen sports drink in my handy-dandy plastic bottle, it wasn't enough. I was going to run for 6 miles and do 2-3-4-3-2 fartleks. Instead I ran 5 miles and did 2-3 fartleks. Ugh. The "feels like" temperature was 97 degrees. Walked for about six minutes in there at about mile four. Should have been smart enough to just stay home. But at least I didn't press it and so I live to run another day.

I learned that I need to change some settings when I create a workout on the Garmin. I put in an expected pace for each part of the fartleks, and I found that the Garmin beeps at you every 15 seconds or so if you're not in the right zone for that part of the run. Yeah, I'm not going to keep doing that. Especially after I pooped out and walked and then ran slow the rest of the way home. Let's just say the constant beeping was annoying. I know I could have pressed the lap button and proceeded to the "cooldown" phase of the workout, but my overheated brain didn't quite catch that concept. Guess I'm still learning.

Nice Run, Quick Update

After the boy's baseball game tonight I went out for the first speedwork session since my last race. As always it felt good to stretch out, and I included an 18-minute tempo run in my 6 miles. I ran about marathon pace, and also learned how to use the lap function on my Garmin. Very cool. Not sure about the heart rate readings, though. I'll have to do some more studying on that.

Ode to a Nike+iPod

Dear Nike+iPod,

I apologize for ever doubting you. I thought since you were mainly a pedometer that you would be fickle and tell me what I wanted to hear. Yes, Randy, you're running at a nice, fast pace. Great long run, Randy, I'll add on an extra tenth of a mile to make you feel better. That was so shallow of me to think the worst of you, and I wonder if you can ever forgive me.

As you know, I have a new friend. Garmin is a precise GPS accessory. Now don't worry too much. I'll still take you on my runs. I could never drop you like a trashy date who suddenly developed an interest in my brother's tonsils. You mean much more to me than that. But my new friend has proved that you were right all along. Today I took both of you out on a run. When I compared the readings from both of you, you were right there with the state-of-the-art precision GPS. Why did I ever doubt you?

Even though today's run was only 5 miles, I promise to take you out soon for longer runs. We'll frolic over the hills and through the neighborhood like we used to do before Garmin came around. I know it's tough to run in the heat like we did today, but we had the Old 97's accompanying us on the iPod, and really, it doesn't get much better than that. It'll be hotter later this week, but I know you'll be there for me. You always have been.

So ignore my past remarks and take them for what they're worth - the rantings of an oxygen-deprived mind. You're better than I gave you credit for. You're way better than a politician since you under-promised and over-delivered. Take pride in what you've done. And let's do some more running together, okay?

Your running buddy,
Randy

Meet the Garmin

Looking ahead at the next race and the training plan I've drawn up, I thought a little bit of training help would be appropriate. I thought about it all day Thursday and decided on my run that it was time to buy the Garmin Forerunner 305 I've been eying for several months. Right after the run I placed the order with Amazon and it arrived Friday afternoon.

This morning I went 10 miles. The sky was overcast, the clouds sprinkled on me a little bit, the humidity was a little high, but really not too bad a day for a run. I donned the heart monitor and punched in a 10-mile run on the Forerunner with a 10-minute/mile pace and headed out. I quickly discovered some pros and cons of this handy little device.

First of all, last night the wife was asking about a 10-mile course and I explained to her what route I was going to be running this morning. With the built-in GPS I discovered I was off a little bit. When I finished the Garmin rang up 10.02 miles. Nice to know my runs have been accurate up to this point.

Next I soon discovered that it would be so easy to be a slave to the numbers. On a long run like today's, I normally start sloooooow and when warmed up run at a little faster pace. My first couple of miles was at a pace of about 11 minutes/mile, way off what I was shooting for overall. If I'd sped up to match the pace I wanted I would have gone out too fast. I've already told myself that I need to run by how I'm feeling, not by what the number on the display tells me. I'm sure I will have to repeat this over and over, and no doubt there will be times when I forget this lesson. Happily my overall time was right at the pace I wanted. Thanks to the law of averaging for that.

Another thing I learned is that I speed up hills. Well, I already knew this, but the Garmin confirmed it for me big-time. My normal tempo was near ten minutes, but as I checked going up some of the hills on the route I could see I had sped up by thirty seconds to over a minute per mile in some cases. I'm not going to change the way I run up hills, but I thought it was interesting.

Coming home and plugging in the device and then being able to see my route, pace, heart rate, and elevation totally geeked me out. I remember I told myself when I started running several years ago that I wouldn't be one of those runners with all the expensive gadgets. Some promises were made to be broken, because this is totally cool. As I learn more about heart rate this feature will really help. I can also set up runs and have the Garmin cue me when to speed up or slow down. I have plenty to learn about this thing, but my first impression is that it will be money well spent and if I manage it correctly will help me with my training.

Another Hot Run

Almost 90 degrees by the thermometer and mid-90's by the heat index, this afternoon was sunny and hot again. Yesterday I almost left without a water bottle, and was glad I took one with me. Today there was never a question about it. I froze some water in my hand-held bottle. By the time the run was over it was completely thawed and becoming lukewarm. But I'll take it. It's MUCH better than running when the temperature is in single digits.

Today I ran 6 miles, nice and easy. That's the only way to do it on days like this. I was grateful for a little bit of shade on Shoal Creek Parkway. And even more grateful for the air conditioning when I arrived home. Whew!

Setting New Goals

Today was a nice easy 5.25 mile run to Target and back. Or more exactly, to Chipotle and back since that's the side of the street I was on. The temperature was 84 degrees, the sun was bright and hot, and it was a good day to get out.

Now that I've broken the four-hour mark in a race, I suppose I should set a goal for the next race. The Boston qualifying time for my age bracket is 3 hours and 20 minutes. That seems like a good goal, but not necessarily for the next race. That would be quite a jump, so I think it's better to try and get to that point in increments. With that in mind, my next goal is 3 hours and 45 minutes or better. That's still quite a bit faster than I've ever run, but I think it's attainable if I work at it. And without a goal, what's the point?