One week from today is the Hospital Hill Run here in KC, and I think I'm ready. This morning I ran 10 miles in temps around 70 degrees. If it's the same next week that won't be too bad, but might be a little too warm to try for a PR. We'll see how it feels. Again today I tried to keep the pace slower, and came in at just under 10 minutes/mile average.
Listened to the new Drive-By Truckers and enjoyed it, and then most of a Hardcore History interview, which I didn't enjoy as much as some of the others. This guy had some direct observations about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Not sure when in the past 17 months or so this was recorded, but turns out he was pretty much wrong in his opinions. Gee, I hate when that happens. Anyway, this week I think I'll do one more speed exercise on Tuesday and maybe a recovery run on Wednesday, and then it's off to the races.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Getting Smarter?
This was one of those runs where I think maybe I'm learning how to run smarter. Then of course I'll do something stupid next week, but for now I'm going towards smarter. The temperature was in the mid-80's when I set out for a 6-miler with some 2x800 speedwork. I kept it nice and slow during my two warmup miles, and then didn't go all out on the first interval. Normally I would try to get to 7:30/mile or better, but today I just went with what felt right. That happened to be in the low 8's, and I didn't wear myself out. On the second interval I did the same and actually finished the whole thing without walking at all. Don't get me wrong, I was tempted, but I resisted. I guzzled a bottle of Gatorade when I got home, but I never felt absolutely horrible. Some would say maybe that's what I should be feeling, but I'm running for the long-term, not to puke my guts out every run.
On the iPod side, I finished the podcast of Part III of the Punic Wars on Hardcore History and then listened to another, which was an interview with Victor Davis Hanson. I really enjoyed that one since I've seen Mr. Hanson quoted extensively on several current event blogs I follow, and it was nice that the interview matched my earlier impressions. I'm really enjoying this podcast and am thinking about ordering the older episodes. Not only is it a good distraction during a run but it's just plain cool. Recommended.
On the iPod side, I finished the podcast of Part III of the Punic Wars on Hardcore History and then listened to another, which was an interview with Victor Davis Hanson. I really enjoyed that one since I've seen Mr. Hanson quoted extensively on several current event blogs I follow, and it was nice that the interview matched my earlier impressions. I'm really enjoying this podcast and am thinking about ordering the older episodes. Not only is it a good distraction during a run but it's just plain cool. Recommended.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
More Humidity
Ran 6 miles today and the humidity is picking up toward summertime levels. Not horrible yet, but on its way. I ran two mile repeats, with 1.5 miles in between them. That was my concession to the heat and humidity. I thought about waiting until later to run after the temperature dropped a little, but today was such a rotten day at work that I needed to run for de-stressing purposes. Good grief, Tuesdays suck. These days I'd rather go to work on a Monday than a Tuesday.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Remembering
Now I remember why I get up early on a Saturday to run. It's the heat, stupid. Today's not unbearably hot, topping at 82 degrees so far, but it's a lot warmer than it has been. Plus the wind is pretty strong. I was planning on going 10 miles but ended up going 8. That's probably as much a fault of my eating and drinking habits this week as it is the weather. Guess I'll go 10 next Saturday in my final long run before the race, which is two weeks from today.
I listened to some more Hardcore History, finishing the second part of the Punic Wars and most of the third part. Let me just say there's a lot of things I didn't know about that part of history and I'm really enjoying it. I don't remember covering any of this in school. It's certainly worth listening to and the parallel to some of the twentieth-century situations after WWI is frightening.
I listened to some more Hardcore History, finishing the second part of the Punic Wars and most of the third part. Let me just say there's a lot of things I didn't know about that part of history and I'm really enjoying it. I don't remember covering any of this in school. It's certainly worth listening to and the parallel to some of the twentieth-century situations after WWI is frightening.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
End of the Layoff
My three-day layoff after the race is now over. I walked a few miles with the wife on Tuesday afternoon, and today I ran an easy 6 miles accompanied by a few sprinkles of rain. I thought about taking off longer, but last night I signed up for the Hospital Hill Run here in KC. That race is on June 5th, or just over two weeks. And that means no time to take a week off. Alan should be coming up for this one, so we'll see how I feel as the race gets closer and I decide whether to take it easy or go for a PR again. I hear this is a pretty fast downhill race, so we'll see how it works out.
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Consistency
It's been over 18 months since I ran my PR in a half-marathon here in KC, and today I was trying to beat that. This morning I ran the inaugural Five Trails Half Marathon in Leavenworth, KS, along with 265 other finishers. Rain threatened to make it even more interesting than it was, yet it somehow stayed away until I was almost to the finish line.
By the numbers, I missed beating my PR by two seconds. In October 2008 I finished in 1:48:11. In May 2010 my official time was 1:48:13. I suppose you could say I was consistent. This event wasn't chip timed, and according to my Garmin I finished in 1:48:05 from the actual starting line to the somewhat ambiguous finish line. It was weird because they had a chute at the end but no marked finish line that I could see. By the time I hit stop on my timer I was 2/3 of the way down the chute. But I'm going by official time, so the PR remains to be broken. I finished 8th of 20 in my age group, and 53rd of 266 overall. For those who are counting, I slipped just inside the top 20%. Yeah me!
I knew there would be some big hills, but mentally I was thinking that would be it and the rest of it would be mostly level or downhill. Wrong. The uphills were tough but nowhere near as bad as the uphill everyone, including the winners, had to walk in Columbia last year. And after the hill they call "Pike's Peak," the downhill was so steep I just let it fly with the help of gravity and had probably my fastest mile ever in competition. For several minutes I was hitting a 6:30/mile pace. Yeah, I know, elites hit that without going downhill. Whatever.
I suppose the big takeaway for me in all this is that 19 months later I came up with the same overall time on a much tougher course. The KC Half has some uphills, but it's nowhere near as rolling as this one was. Also, the conditions that day were durn near perfect, whereas today the humidity was pretty high. If I learned anything from the Heart of America Marathon, it's that humidity is a killer for runners. So all in all I feel really good about my time. Even though I went into it not feeling like I was in prime shape, I don't think I would have had this time on this course in October 2008. I suppose experience and continued hard work pays off.
One thing I was thinking and then talked about with Alan was that a half-marathon is a whole lot different from a full. Duh. Nevertheless, after running this race I didn't feel the rest of the day like I was half-dead and going to throw up at some point. Recovery from this should be pretty quick and maybe in a month or so I can run another. My thought is that in training for a full you break your body several times on long runs as well as in the race, whereas in a half you push some limits as far as speed goes but it doesn't break you down like running 26.2 miles does. That's probably why the half is the most popular distance these days.
For a first running, the organizers did a great job. Plenty of volunteers, in fact almost too many, from packet pick-up to course monitors to finish line to the refreshment area. I was talking to Alan on the phone afterward and told him I thought about picking up his packet, but what's the point? He wouldn't be able to wear the shirt anyway since he didn't run the race. Anyway, he asked me if I would run it again and I said yes, absolutely I would. Great organization and a big thanks to the people who volunteered and made it come off so well.
It seems weird to run my first race so late in the year, but let's just call it the beginning. Time to plan for the next one, wherever it may be. As for today, I had a good nap and then a nice T-bone for dinner. Tradition!
By the numbers, I missed beating my PR by two seconds. In October 2008 I finished in 1:48:11. In May 2010 my official time was 1:48:13. I suppose you could say I was consistent. This event wasn't chip timed, and according to my Garmin I finished in 1:48:05 from the actual starting line to the somewhat ambiguous finish line. It was weird because they had a chute at the end but no marked finish line that I could see. By the time I hit stop on my timer I was 2/3 of the way down the chute. But I'm going by official time, so the PR remains to be broken. I finished 8th of 20 in my age group, and 53rd of 266 overall. For those who are counting, I slipped just inside the top 20%. Yeah me!
I knew there would be some big hills, but mentally I was thinking that would be it and the rest of it would be mostly level or downhill. Wrong. The uphills were tough but nowhere near as bad as the uphill everyone, including the winners, had to walk in Columbia last year. And after the hill they call "Pike's Peak," the downhill was so steep I just let it fly with the help of gravity and had probably my fastest mile ever in competition. For several minutes I was hitting a 6:30/mile pace. Yeah, I know, elites hit that without going downhill. Whatever.
I suppose the big takeaway for me in all this is that 19 months later I came up with the same overall time on a much tougher course. The KC Half has some uphills, but it's nowhere near as rolling as this one was. Also, the conditions that day were durn near perfect, whereas today the humidity was pretty high. If I learned anything from the Heart of America Marathon, it's that humidity is a killer for runners. So all in all I feel really good about my time. Even though I went into it not feeling like I was in prime shape, I don't think I would have had this time on this course in October 2008. I suppose experience and continued hard work pays off.
One thing I was thinking and then talked about with Alan was that a half-marathon is a whole lot different from a full. Duh. Nevertheless, after running this race I didn't feel the rest of the day like I was half-dead and going to throw up at some point. Recovery from this should be pretty quick and maybe in a month or so I can run another. My thought is that in training for a full you break your body several times on long runs as well as in the race, whereas in a half you push some limits as far as speed goes but it doesn't break you down like running 26.2 miles does. That's probably why the half is the most popular distance these days.
For a first running, the organizers did a great job. Plenty of volunteers, in fact almost too many, from packet pick-up to course monitors to finish line to the refreshment area. I was talking to Alan on the phone afterward and told him I thought about picking up his packet, but what's the point? He wouldn't be able to wear the shirt anyway since he didn't run the race. Anyway, he asked me if I would run it again and I said yes, absolutely I would. Great organization and a big thanks to the people who volunteered and made it come off so well.
It seems weird to run my first race so late in the year, but let's just call it the beginning. Time to plan for the next one, wherever it may be. As for today, I had a good nap and then a nice T-bone for dinner. Tradition!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Ready to Race
I ran 4 easy miles today, up to Pleasant Valley Baptist Church and back, and deliberately kept the pace slow. My average pace was 9:49/mile, pretty close to what I wanted. I just wanted to stretch out a little and not go four days between my last run and the race.
I printed off some stuff from the half-marathon web site today, which makes me feel a little more prepared for Sunday. Talked to Alan and chances for his appearance here have all but vanished. Oh well, time to do some research for another race. The weather forecast for Sunday includes some rain, but no telling yet if that's in the morning or later on. I don't mind the rain as long as there's no lightning. I think since I have to head out early that the family will be skipping this one, and that's okay. I'll be leaving about 6 a.m. for an 8 o'clock race. I don't blame them one bit. I'm already looking forward to a Sunday afternoon nap followed by a celebratory steak dinner with a nice glass of wine. To top it off, I'm off work Monday, so I can sleep late. I just have to get through the 13.1 miles first!
I printed off some stuff from the half-marathon web site today, which makes me feel a little more prepared for Sunday. Talked to Alan and chances for his appearance here have all but vanished. Oh well, time to do some research for another race. The weather forecast for Sunday includes some rain, but no telling yet if that's in the morning or later on. I don't mind the rain as long as there's no lightning. I think since I have to head out early that the family will be skipping this one, and that's okay. I'll be leaving about 6 a.m. for an 8 o'clock race. I don't blame them one bit. I'm already looking forward to a Sunday afternoon nap followed by a celebratory steak dinner with a nice glass of wine. To top it off, I'm off work Monday, so I can sleep late. I just have to get through the 13.1 miles first!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Last Real Run
Today was my last real run before the race on Sunday. I ran 6 miles, doing the fast 2x800 thing again. The weather was gorgeous this afternoon after some big rain yesterday. This run makes me feel like crap, but it's astounding to me to run at what feels like a snail's pace during the cool-down part of it and realize I'm running at a sub-9 minute pace. This is speedwork that I definitely feel pays off for the race. I'll do one more easy run of 4 miles or so tomorrow or Thursday, depending on the weather, and then take it easy until the race.
Alan left me a voicemail that he's holding out slim hope of making it here for the race. Don't tease me.
I started listening to a new podcast on my run Saturday and continued today. It's called Hardcore History and I'm really enjoying it so far. The first one I listened to was an interview, and the second was about the Apaches. What was cool was that he talked about the area where I grew up, and before he even listed the locale and was talking about the names of some of the major players in the history of the Apache I was thinking to myself this sounded really familiar. This podcast was recommended to me by my neighbor Shawn, who said that the best ones were the episodes regarding the eastern front in WWII. I'm taking the episodes in order, so I'll get there eventually. Who knew you could combine running and history? Good stuff.
Alan left me a voicemail that he's holding out slim hope of making it here for the race. Don't tease me.
I started listening to a new podcast on my run Saturday and continued today. It's called Hardcore History and I'm really enjoying it so far. The first one I listened to was an interview, and the second was about the Apaches. What was cool was that he talked about the area where I grew up, and before he even listed the locale and was talking about the names of some of the major players in the history of the Apache I was thinking to myself this sounded really familiar. This podcast was recommended to me by my neighbor Shawn, who said that the best ones were the episodes regarding the eastern front in WWII. I'm taking the episodes in order, so I'll get there eventually. Who knew you could combine running and history? Good stuff.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Weirdness
So tonight I'm running 6 miles with 2x800m all-out sprints, one of my favorite speed workouts. During the 2-mile warmup I run past this guy who's walking toward me. He's aboiut 6'3", reasonably tan, mid-30's, wearing white shorts, no shirt, toned upper body, and blond. And the way he's walking he's obviously proud of himself. As I continue on my way I think to myself, okay, weird. Hopefully he turns off into a neighborhood and I don't have to see him again. Wrong.
During my first 800m sprint I pass him at about the 650m mark. He's still walking, and seems to be out for nothing much more than for all the commuters to enjoy the display. Still weird. And we weren't done.
After 15 minutes of recovery and the second 800m sprint, I see him ahead as I'm getting close to finishing the 800m and just as I'm about to die from running under 6 minutes/mile. I slow down to recover and he just keeps walking, almost like a big blond robot. After this I was just thankful I didn't see him again. Almost felt like the dude was stalking me!
In other news, Alan called today and told me he's 99% sure he won't be able to make the half-marathon next weekend. That totally stinks, and I'm keeping that muted since this is a family blog. He told me to got set a PR, and I was doing computations in my head during today's run on how fast I'd have to run per mile in order to get there, and boy, it's going to be tough. As I was running today in the 6-minute/mile range I realized how tough it would be to keep that pace for more than 800m, and yeah, I'm not there yet - if ever. Sad for my buddy that he can't make it and we don't get to hang out for a few days. Guess we'll have to come up with Plan B. (evil laugh) And maybe that will involve a baseball outing. You never know.
During my first 800m sprint I pass him at about the 650m mark. He's still walking, and seems to be out for nothing much more than for all the commuters to enjoy the display. Still weird. And we weren't done.
After 15 minutes of recovery and the second 800m sprint, I see him ahead as I'm getting close to finishing the 800m and just as I'm about to die from running under 6 minutes/mile. I slow down to recover and he just keeps walking, almost like a big blond robot. After this I was just thankful I didn't see him again. Almost felt like the dude was stalking me!
In other news, Alan called today and told me he's 99% sure he won't be able to make the half-marathon next weekend. That totally stinks, and I'm keeping that muted since this is a family blog. He told me to got set a PR, and I was doing computations in my head during today's run on how fast I'd have to run per mile in order to get there, and boy, it's going to be tough. As I was running today in the 6-minute/mile range I realized how tough it would be to keep that pace for more than 800m, and yeah, I'm not there yet - if ever. Sad for my buddy that he can't make it and we don't get to hang out for a few days. Guess we'll have to come up with Plan B. (evil laugh) And maybe that will involve a baseball outing. You never know.
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
Today's Excuse
Today's excuse for a bad run: I'm an idiot. The temperature was 79 degrees and the wind was blowing from the south at 20 mph constant. So of course I tried to run 8-minute miles. What a maroon. At least I ran into the wind to start off with so that I wasn't doing so during the latter part of the run, but that didn't really help. I should have kept my 'marathon pace' to a 9-9:30 pace. I walked from 3.8 to 4 miles and that helped me get through the rest of it. I did complete my 6 miles but it wasn't pretty. I don't think running two days in a row really hurt me - rather it's just the aforementioned idiot thing.
Monday, May 3, 2010
Added Easy Run
I had two reasons to run today:
#1 - Saturday's long run wasn't so good
#2 - It was a really nice day and to not run would be a crime
So I ran 6 miles, sans iPod, and I had a good time. I tried my best to keep it 9:30-10:00/mile and was largely successful. Was talking to my virtual running partner tonight and he wondered if I was going to try for 1:30 or faster in the half. I don't know if that can happen in any version of reality, so my actual goal is to set a new PR. If I'm not mistaken that would be something faster than 1:49. My actual goal is to manage the race a little better than I've done in the past. If I can go out and average 8:30/mile or better rather than starting off at 10:00/mile and making it up later in the race I think I'll feel better about everything.
I've been thinking about the 'dead legs' feeling I've had lately on several runs, and I think it has a lot to do with my diet, or lack thereof. In the past four months I've probably eaten more cake and doughnuts and drank more coke than I have in the past four years combined. I think that's contributed a lot to my malaise ($10 word for something that's not really in the malaise class but proves that I paid attention in high school). I'm trying to do better these last two weeks and I am definitely laying off the sweets. After an easy run today we'll see how the speed work goes tomorrow and if that thinking actually pays off.
#1 - Saturday's long run wasn't so good
#2 - It was a really nice day and to not run would be a crime
So I ran 6 miles, sans iPod, and I had a good time. I tried my best to keep it 9:30-10:00/mile and was largely successful. Was talking to my virtual running partner tonight and he wondered if I was going to try for 1:30 or faster in the half. I don't know if that can happen in any version of reality, so my actual goal is to set a new PR. If I'm not mistaken that would be something faster than 1:49. My actual goal is to manage the race a little better than I've done in the past. If I can go out and average 8:30/mile or better rather than starting off at 10:00/mile and making it up later in the race I think I'll feel better about everything.
I've been thinking about the 'dead legs' feeling I've had lately on several runs, and I think it has a lot to do with my diet, or lack thereof. In the past four months I've probably eaten more cake and doughnuts and drank more coke than I have in the past four years combined. I think that's contributed a lot to my malaise ($10 word for something that's not really in the malaise class but proves that I paid attention in high school). I'm trying to do better these last two weeks and I am definitely laying off the sweets. After an easy run today we'll see how the speed work goes tomorrow and if that thinking actually pays off.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
12 Miles
This morning would have been a perfect time to go running - the temperature was in the 50's, the breeze was very slight, the sky was covered with cloud - as I said, perfect. So of course I didn't go running.
The Boy had a birthday party this morning until after lunch, and I didn't have time to run for a couple of hours beforehand. By the time we got home and I was ready to run, the sun had come out and the temperature shot up to about 70 degrees. Still not bad, but I think it took a toil on me because that 12 miles sure felt a lot tougher than it should have. I thought several times about cutting it short, but I toughed it out, especially in light of my abbreviated run from Thursday. So now I guess I need to register for the race, which is in two weeks. And here's hoping my legs get a little more life in them by then.
The Boy had a birthday party this morning until after lunch, and I didn't have time to run for a couple of hours beforehand. By the time we got home and I was ready to run, the sun had come out and the temperature shot up to about 70 degrees. Still not bad, but I think it took a toil on me because that 12 miles sure felt a lot tougher than it should have. I thought several times about cutting it short, but I toughed it out, especially in light of my abbreviated run from Thursday. So now I guess I need to register for the race, which is in two weeks. And here's hoping my legs get a little more life in them by then.
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