That was the mantra from the running podcast today - trust the plan! When you're in the middle of training for a race and you don't feel at the top of your game, or it's a grind, or you just don't feel like you're getting to where you want to be, that's the time you need to trust the plan you put together at the beginning. I hope I can remember that in a few weeks.
The other thing I remember from this podcast (RunRunLive!) was that you can't improve yourself without challenging yourself and changing your comfort level. I think that's true, which is why I'm gunning for a 3:30 time in the Memphis marathon this year. I'm going to get my virtual running buddy under four hours in Des Moines and then I'm trying to get to the 3:30 level about six weeks later. The conventional wisdom (i.e., the charts in Runner's World) say that I'm not a good candidate to run that fast based on my previous times. Sounds like a challenge to me.
Looks like I forgot to post my run from Saturday. There wasn't much to post about anyway. I got out the door a little later than I planned for an 8-miler that ended up being 5 miles. I blamed the heat and humidity, but really I just wussed out. Let's just put that one behind us and move on, shall we?
Today's was much better. The temperature and humidity were off the charts again, but I waited until almost 8 o'clock to get out the door. I ran 6 miles with the sun going down in the west and it went much better. I saw about a dozen people running this morning as I drove through the neighborhood on my way to work, a stark contrast to the two other people I saw this evening. Anyway, I kept the pace at about 10 minutes/mile and survived. I don't like running this late in the evening, but 'tis the season. The wife and oldest daughter have a triathlon this weekend and I have to go to Tulsa to pick up the boy from my parents, so getting in my planned 10-miler will be a challenge. But it's all a challenge, isn't it?
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Catching a Break
Thunderstorms pounded the KC metro area this afternoon and threatened today's run. The temperature was right, but as I've stated before, I'm not a big fan of lightning. After dinner I was in the kitchen talking to the wife and I said, "I'm wondering if I should head out for a run right about now." And as soon as I said it, a bright stroke of lightning flashed outside with a loud clap of thunder immediately following. We laughed because I'd received my answer.
I kept an eye on the doppler radar on the web site of one of the local TV stations and when the storms slipped south of us I hit the streets. I ran 5 miles, which was supposed to be an easy run. Instead I ran the last couple of miles at a pace under nine minutes/mile. Part of my motivation was the bank of dark clouds to my south. They generated a nice bolt of lightning as I was nearing my turnaround point, and even though the storm was a good 3-4 miles away I decided it was time to go home at a slightly accelerated pace. As I got back into the neighborhood another dark patch was to the north and threatening to turn my way. A few minutes after I arrived I went onto the deck to secure the grill cover and it was sprinkling. I'd say I caught the break in the storms just right.
I kept an eye on the doppler radar on the web site of one of the local TV stations and when the storms slipped south of us I hit the streets. I ran 5 miles, which was supposed to be an easy run. Instead I ran the last couple of miles at a pace under nine minutes/mile. Part of my motivation was the bank of dark clouds to my south. They generated a nice bolt of lightning as I was nearing my turnaround point, and even though the storm was a good 3-4 miles away I decided it was time to go home at a slightly accelerated pace. As I got back into the neighborhood another dark patch was to the north and threatening to turn my way. A few minutes after I arrived I went onto the deck to secure the grill cover and it was sprinkling. I'd say I caught the break in the storms just right.
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Dithering
Sleeping late seemed more important than getting up early, and I was all set to skip this week's long run. I ate breakfast, lounged, and kept looking outside at the overcast sky, wondering if I should just get out and do it. I kept thinking I should since this week the temperatures are supposed to be in the 90's. When I finally made the decision, I was out the door in under ten minutes, telling the wife and kids I was going to run anywhere from 6 to 10 miles, depending on how much sun there was.
Naturally the sun came out one-third of a mile into my run. It came and went but mostly stayed. At the end I'd gone 7 miles and I was kicking myself for not getting out the door earlier. I'm usually not so indecisive about running. By the time I got home the temperature was 84 degrees with a heat index of 93. Not as bad as some of the other days this past week, but still wore me out plenty. I'm working on a training plan for the Des Moines Marathon in October. The plan includes being flexible the next few weeks because of the heat and then stepping it up with hills and speedwork. I was looking at the July issue of Runner's World last night and there's a plan for breaking four hours I was trying to adapt to finish in 3:30. Still needs a little bit of work, and as I was looking it seemed like there's not enough time to get in all the things I want. Hard to believe with 13 weeks left, but true story.
Naturally the sun came out one-third of a mile into my run. It came and went but mostly stayed. At the end I'd gone 7 miles and I was kicking myself for not getting out the door earlier. I'm usually not so indecisive about running. By the time I got home the temperature was 84 degrees with a heat index of 93. Not as bad as some of the other days this past week, but still wore me out plenty. I'm working on a training plan for the Des Moines Marathon in October. The plan includes being flexible the next few weeks because of the heat and then stepping it up with hills and speedwork. I was looking at the July issue of Runner's World last night and there's a plan for breaking four hours I was trying to adapt to finish in 3:30. Still needs a little bit of work, and as I was looking it seemed like there's not enough time to get in all the things I want. Hard to believe with 13 weeks left, but true story.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Summer Running
Today was a typical summer day in KC - pretty hot (low 90's) and humid. The heat index when I ran was about 97 degrees. Again I took my water bottle filled with icy, refreshing goodness. As I've said before, the biggest problem around here isn't necessarily the heat, but it's the lack of shade. I ran 4 miles before I encountered any real shade. At that point I walked for about five minutes before finishing my 5-mile run. I probably could have gone a full 6 miles like most of my easy runs, but I keep thinking it's better to not keel over from heat stroke than it is to get in an extra mile.
One other comment on the podcast I listened to during the run - it was an episode of RunRunLive!, which I normally enjoy, but in this particular episode there was a full ten minutes of the host washing his dog. To his credit he admitted afterward that it was lame and he needs to shake up the podcast. Guess I shouldn't complain too much since I'm a dog person and it's free and all, but that was just a little too much. Thank God it wasn't a cat. Although that probably would have been shorter, louder, and more entertaining.
One other comment on the podcast I listened to during the run - it was an episode of RunRunLive!, which I normally enjoy, but in this particular episode there was a full ten minutes of the host washing his dog. To his credit he admitted afterward that it was lame and he needs to shake up the podcast. Guess I shouldn't complain too much since I'm a dog person and it's free and all, but that was just a little too much. Thank God it wasn't a cat. Although that probably would have been shorter, louder, and more entertaining.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Dang
Hot. In the low 90's. Ran slow. Took water bottle. Poured more over head than drank. Ran 4 miles. Slow. Humid. Tired. Time to sleep.
Monday, July 12, 2010
The Short and the Long of It
This is a tale of two runs. I actually got up early on Sunday morning so I could get in a long run and ended up having one of the shortest long runs of my running career. And today, as the makeup run, I ran under cloudy skies and sweltering humidity.
First, on Sunday I ran a total of 2 miles. As I headed out at 7:30 a.m. everything looked fine with some gray clouds off to the northwest. I ran toward the back part of the neighborhood and as I ran up the hill I thought I saw a flash high up in the clouds. I continued to watch as I looped back toward the southwest and saw some noticeably closer lightning, no doubt about it. I certainly enjoy running in the rain, but I don't take any chances with the electrical stuff. There was a lady running ahead of me and she had stopped at the top of the hill as if pondering whether or not to continue. Or maybe she was just winded. As I got closer she took off again, but I peeled off quickly down the hill and back to the house. I really hadn't worked up much of a sweat and I set to making some eggs, bacon, and English muffins. Within about fifteen minutes the loud flash-bangs started going off and pretty soon we were getting some serious rain. One of my neighbors estimated two inches in a half-hour by his rain gauge. We had a river running through our back yard. Literally. I could see the current and it was moving fast. Glad I didn't get caught out somewhere in that storm.
Today was a different story with a relatively tame easy run of 6 miles. The humidity was high and all that, which is normal for a KC summer. The temperature was only in the low 80's, and I'm thankful for that. The bad news is that the motor has apparently gone out on our a/c and the temperature inside is still in the low 80's. I'm not real happy with the company that supposedly just fixed the unit and replaced the compressor. The attic fan is on and I'm hoping it cools down in here. Glad the wife and kids aren't here, too - they're up north for a few days. I might have to get in my car and drive around with the a/c cranked up just so I can cool down.
First, on Sunday I ran a total of 2 miles. As I headed out at 7:30 a.m. everything looked fine with some gray clouds off to the northwest. I ran toward the back part of the neighborhood and as I ran up the hill I thought I saw a flash high up in the clouds. I continued to watch as I looped back toward the southwest and saw some noticeably closer lightning, no doubt about it. I certainly enjoy running in the rain, but I don't take any chances with the electrical stuff. There was a lady running ahead of me and she had stopped at the top of the hill as if pondering whether or not to continue. Or maybe she was just winded. As I got closer she took off again, but I peeled off quickly down the hill and back to the house. I really hadn't worked up much of a sweat and I set to making some eggs, bacon, and English muffins. Within about fifteen minutes the loud flash-bangs started going off and pretty soon we were getting some serious rain. One of my neighbors estimated two inches in a half-hour by his rain gauge. We had a river running through our back yard. Literally. I could see the current and it was moving fast. Glad I didn't get caught out somewhere in that storm.
Today was a different story with a relatively tame easy run of 6 miles. The humidity was high and all that, which is normal for a KC summer. The temperature was only in the low 80's, and I'm thankful for that. The bad news is that the motor has apparently gone out on our a/c and the temperature inside is still in the low 80's. I'm not real happy with the company that supposedly just fixed the unit and replaced the compressor. The attic fan is on and I'm hoping it cools down in here. Glad the wife and kids aren't here, too - they're up north for a few days. I might have to get in my car and drive around with the a/c cranked up just so I can cool down.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Mild Days
More decent weather, if a bit rainy and cloudy, but at this time of year I'll take it. The temperature was in the 70's today and I felt a few raindrops on the run but not much more than that. At least today I remember to bring the Garmin and ice the Gatorade. I ran 6 miles,, doing the same workout as last Thursday with a 3-mile tempo in there after a 2-mile warmup. With the lower temperatures I tried to keep the tempo pace at around 9 minutes/mile but had trouble finding a steady pace for some reason. I was probably four miles into the run before I felt like I was keeping a normal rhythm going. Still very humid but again, I'm not going to complain.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Vacation Runs
No, I didn't get the runs on vacation. But it is time to catch up on the runs I've done in the last week or so since I haven't kept up with my logging on here. The first three were with Alan, my virtual running club member, since he and his family were here on vacation.
Our first run was a 6-miler on Monday, 28 June. We took a couple of walk breaks in there somewhere since Alan was so freakin' out of shape. I actually own him now and will run his butt into the ground with training plan I'm developing to get him under 4 hours at our next race. This particular run was an easy run to get him into the swing of things.
Our second run was another 6-miler on Wednesday, 30 June. We warmed up for two miles and then ran three at a faster tempo pace. The weather wasn't brutally hot but it was plenty warm and humid, so I kept our tempo at about 9:30/minute. After that we walked for a few minutes, but he did pretty well on the hills and we didn't push too much.
I kept telling him he was going to be running 12 miles with me for our long run, and he believed me and even bought a couple of gel packs for the run. I intended the run to be only 8 miles, and that's what we did on Friday, 2 July. We had about three walk breaks on our out and back route down Shoal Creek Parkway to I-435. It was a good week with a total of 20 miles, about right for 'easing' back into a training pattern.
Today our guests left and I ran an easy 6-miler while the temps weren't too high. Humidity was over 80%, though, and I sweated buckets. I was down the street before I realized I'd forgotten both my Garmin and to put a bottle of Gatorade in the freezer to chill. Nevertheless, I survived and it was a good run to cap off my vacation time. Now it's back to afternoon or evening runs. And work. Ugh.
Our first run was a 6-miler on Monday, 28 June. We took a couple of walk breaks in there somewhere since Alan was so freakin' out of shape. I actually own him now and will run his butt into the ground with training plan I'm developing to get him under 4 hours at our next race. This particular run was an easy run to get him into the swing of things.
Our second run was another 6-miler on Wednesday, 30 June. We warmed up for two miles and then ran three at a faster tempo pace. The weather wasn't brutally hot but it was plenty warm and humid, so I kept our tempo at about 9:30/minute. After that we walked for a few minutes, but he did pretty well on the hills and we didn't push too much.
I kept telling him he was going to be running 12 miles with me for our long run, and he believed me and even bought a couple of gel packs for the run. I intended the run to be only 8 miles, and that's what we did on Friday, 2 July. We had about three walk breaks on our out and back route down Shoal Creek Parkway to I-435. It was a good week with a total of 20 miles, about right for 'easing' back into a training pattern.
Today our guests left and I ran an easy 6-miler while the temps weren't too high. Humidity was over 80%, though, and I sweated buckets. I was down the street before I realized I'd forgotten both my Garmin and to put a bottle of Gatorade in the freezer to chill. Nevertheless, I survived and it was a good run to cap off my vacation time. Now it's back to afternoon or evening runs. And work. Ugh.
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