2008 coming to an end

Had an uninspiring run today - legs, body and head felt tired.  Just ran easy 5 miles.  Hopefully will have something in reserve so I can do the Killer 8 mile NY run in the morning.  L heel a little more sore today.  Push ups coming along.

In 2008: I ran Boston for the first time

I finished 3rd in my age grp for the Distance challenge

I actually took a 4 month break from heavy training

I won the masters Sunstroke Stampede as I ran all 12 races (during my 4 mth break!)

I finally started placing in the masters or my age group consistantly in bigger Austin races

I have successfully rehabilitated an 18yr old horse who the vets had given up on 9 yrs ago and he is doing great

I successfully treated my 16 yr old cat for hyperthyroidism

I helped my dog lose 10lbs

I helped my vet get closer to achieving her retirement financial goals!!

I suffered my first running injury and have actually successfully managed it

I have maintained my overall good health

I am still within 3 pounds of my weight watchers goal weight achieved 2 1/2 yrs ago.

I am still employed.

I still have retirement options.

I consider myself very lucky.  For 2009 I have running goals.  Whether I can achieve them is still to be seen.  I know that time wise I can't run 90 miles a week.  That probably means that for me to achieve my goals will take a little longer than those cranking out the big miles.  I could probably trim back a few things and get the miles in but that would leave me running, sleeping, working and if you are really lucky taking a shower occasionally.  I will be satisfied with what I can do on 60 miles a week - that's my mileage goal for 2009.  That will be a stretch I think.  Other than that I'm just going to continue being who I am - no big resolutions for me - I am who I am.  I can't be any less cranky!

Happy New Year everyone!

Runners in my neighborhood

Until today, I though that there were 2 runners in my neighborhood - myself and a guy that lives down the street.  He only runs one race a year - Marathon 2 Marathon.  Mostly he runs 3 miles a day with a longish run on the weekends.  Wears the same white t shirt every run and sometimes his wife rides her bike.  He is not fast but is a pleasant guy and loves to hear about the races/training I do.  Today I met a 20 some year old woman who is training for her first half marathon.  She is going to run Austin.  She told me the route she runs every day (flat) and that she does her longish run around townlake (flat).  She is training with a friend.  I suggested she look into a training group like Rogue and she said she was planning to do the run with the Pacers this weekend...good plan.  Since we live right on the Decker course, I told her she needed to go run some of the hills so she wouldn't be unpleasantly surprised in the race.  She had no idea there were hills on the race course.

I ran a nice easy 7 miles - 8:40 pace.  Legs a little weak at the start but got going by the time I was a mile into the run.

Diet is doing much better!

OMG!!

My arms are trashed - did day 1 week 2 and barely made it at level 3.  Total of 56 push ups.  

Legs are fine after Saturday's ordeal.  Plan to start increasing mileage now.  

After this push up deal I had better have abs of steel!  This is way harder than any running thing.  My arms are feeling weak!!

For those of you trying to learn to cook I saw a great recipe for Shepard's Pie with a combo of mashed potato/mashed cauliflour topping it off.  Looked really good.  Might make that on my days off.  The food network can give you great ideas....just stay away from Paula Dean and cut their portion sizes in half!

One day too late!

Wow.  I went out for an easy 5 miler tonight.  Despite the agony of yesterday's run, my legs  felt great.  I can feel my quads a little.  My left foot feels great - the final verdict will be in a few days.  I find it almost always feels great the day after a hard effort but a few days later feels like crap.  I had no pain in my foot yesterday other than a bit of stiffness afterwards.  The cold, crisp air today felt amazing after yesterday's soup.

However, I can say I did not hydrate adequately today - a hot chocolate, bowl of soup, diet coke and 1 glass of water is not enough.  Need to work on that.

Over all a nice day - slept in until 9:30, ate breakfast, rode my horse for 20 min, ate lunch, took a 2.5 hr nap, then my run.  

Perfect Timing

Unfortunately that does not describe my effort on the SB#2.  

Looking back I think we ran the first 15 miles a little fast.  We had a few runners with our group that didn't have the 5 miles MGP and 4 miles HMGP to do after the 15 mile part so they had nothing to lose by constantly picking up the pace.  Should have let them go.  The 5 miles at MGP went OK.  I was able to hang on just fine.  The 4 miles on the track was really hard.  My legs just would not go fast.  Given that it was in the 70's, very humid and windy I'm thinking that despite my almost constant drinking, I was not getting enough fluid in.  I took gu every 5 miles and tolerated it fine.  My shorts felt like a wet diaper by the time we got to the track.  Nasty!!  It is the toughest run in the worst conditions I have ever done.  

Lessons learned - if it looks like it will be warm for a run, hydrate more than you think the day before.

-if it turns out warmer than you thought it would be start out way slower than you planned

-the ladies were them little panties for a reason - They have to feel better than wet running shorts.

-I will not be stashing my goos in my sports bra for any marathon!!  Did that for one lap - the "girls" did not like it.

Despite not hitting my goal times, my soul was not busted.  I resisted walking many, many times so in that am a winner!!  Onwards I go.  By the way, the perfect timing refers to the fact that as the last runner crossed the finish line, the wind immediately shifted from south to north.   Weird!!  Thanks to the awesome North team folks that cheered us on while we ran around the track!

Preparing to kick some soul butt

Tomorrow is SB #2 for the North PP group.  Plan is 15 miles of long run pace, 5 miles of MGP and then onto the track for 2 miles HMGP and the 2 miles of at least HMGP if not faster.

I have prepared as carefully as I would a marathon.  Took it easy all day - just laundry and light housework - I will ride my horse tonight but that should be OK.  I wouldn't ride the week before a real marathon I was racing.

I am feeling some pain in my back related to the push ups so I back off and just did day 1 with only the minimum number for the last set.  A good coating of bio freeze helped too.  Stretched, rolled my legs and back.  Went for an easy 2 miles jog at 8:30/mile pace.  Very windy and humid - a good taste of what tomorrow may bring.

Made up a pace band and typed up route directions - laminated both with packing tape.  Packed my goos and a small bottle of water I'm going to carry.

Making my standard meal - plain pasta with a little butter and parm cheese and a salad.  I think back with horror as I recall my pre Boston dinner.  Didn't hurt me any and I ate it at 4:30 pm.

I slept great last night so if I can't sleep tonight I should be OK.  Last week I had a really hard time sleeping the night before the run.

Can't decide whether to use my Garmin or not - I know where the mile markers are some probably will not.  Will help me feel pace and effort and not work too hard into the likely gale force wind and possible rain!

Merry Xmas

I don't exactly celebrate Xmas.  I really couldn't care less.  In fact right now I'm not feeling merry at all.  My dog has made a point of irritating me for 12 straight hours (eating the cat's food, eating stuff off the counter and eating out of the litter box).  Work sucked last night.  At least I have 3 nights off.  Seriously thinking of getting a lottery ticket this week.

Hope all of y'all that do get together with your families have a great day and those that don't celebrate have a decent day too.  I'm going to take a power nap, then make a soup recipe I made up in my head, run and ride my horse.  If I am in a better mood, I may go have dinner with a friend's family.

I can really feel my abs!

Today as I dragged myself out of bed, I could really, really feel my abs.  Nevertheless, I hit the floor and did day 2 of week 1.  10/12/8/8/20.  Total of 58 push ups.  I never knew I could do that many.  Did a easy 4 mile run - short but I am adding a short run on Friday to keep my legs loose for the SB #2.  This one is specifically aimed at the Houston folks so they can see how hard running a flat course is on your legs.  I spent the running planning a successful execution of the run on Saturday.  Feeling good.

I can feel my abs

So after my first pushup workout on Monday, I could feel my abs when I got out of bed this afternoon. Not agonizing but the good light burn that lets me know they are working during my push ups. Looking forward to workout # 2 tomorrow.

Did a 8+ mile run with the North group tonight. Ran with Karen, Mike and a couple of people just joining the Team. Took 2-3 miles to warm up but then felt really strong the rest of the way. I am mentally prepping for Soul Buster #2 on Sat. The North Team folks are coming out to give moral support and do water hand off. Should be fun.

Fall out from the poor economy

So last night at work one of the people that processes bonds said she had interviewed 20 people who were charged with theft.  I saw a mother and daughter team who got arrested for shop lifting at Walmart.  Here is their scheme.  PIck up several low cost items and put them in the shopping cart, then get a guitar hero set up and put it under the main basket of the cart.  When you are ready to check out you go to the self check out, scan the cheap stuff and then with the guitar hero thing still on the bottom of the cart, head out the door (until security stops you and calls the cops).  Just pitiful.  I might have a little sympathy if they were lifting diapers or food but gifts??  Guess they forgot to sign up for Blue and/or Brown Santa.  I have a problem with that too but that's a whole different story.  I see on the front page of the NY Times an article that said with the downturn in the economy, there is a 10-20% increase in shop lifting.  What do you know!

Push ups Day 1 Week 1

Rocked it!!  10/12/7/7/20 (min was 9 in the last set).

Decisions

Tonight we had a North Team party at Karen's house. We spent 5 min talking about the Team process starting in January. That brings on the decision. Do I just use Austin as a training run and plan the big race for Boston? I am leaning towards that as the turn around after a hard effort at Austin may prove to be kind of difficult if I want to try and run fast in Boston too. It was tough last year and I didn't run that hard at Austin. If that is the choice I make, I will be joining the team work outs in January and changing course just a little.
My choice will be made and final by Jan 1.

Super windy today. The cold wasn't too bad but the wind. Felt like I was running in place when the gusts came and I think the tail wind was worst because my legs just didn't want to run that fast. Silver dog came along and I don't think 6 miles was quite enough for her. She was still leaping around when we were done.

Major pre-spring cleaning today. Still got a little left to do but things are looking a lot better around my house.

Stats from Sat MGP 10 miles

So initially I just went off my overall time for my 10 miles - 1:16:00 - average pace 7:36 - right on!  At first I thought I had been slow through the section on Jefferson, Enfield and Exposition.  Reviewing my lap times from my Garmin show the following:

Mile 1 7:30

Mile 2 7:35 Both these miles were generally downhill 

Mile 3 7:53 First part into the wind

Mile 4 7:43 Getting out of the wind

Mile 5 7:45 wondering if I was gonna make it

Mile6 7:37 getting on pace

Mile 7 7:35 on pace - on what I thought was a difficult section - no head wind though

Mile 8 7:38 right on pace

Mile 9 7:22 LAB to trail

Mile 107:36 pushing to the Lamar bridge.

So as much as I thought I was all over the place, I was pretty even on pace.  Negative split too!!!

Soul Buster 1.5

OK Karen's North PP group did their first soul buster about a month ago.  Next week we do our second.  Todays might as well have counted as the third.  It was a measly 16 miles but it may as well been 26.2.  It was so humid our shorts were dripping like it was August.  There was a noticable wind from the south and since we started at gateway, we felt it quite a bit.

The first 3 miles were nothing special - I just tried to keep the pace easy for a warm up.  Starting at North Hills we ran MGP for 10 miles down to TLT and Lamar.  Seems easy enough but with the humidity and wind it seemed hard.  Thank goodness for LAB and the trail - I managed to make up sometime there.  Over all it was an unsatisfying effort because I never really got in a good groove.  The last 3 miles were painful - one foot in front of the other.

I did run in to Leslie Barcley and some of her running buds - ran with them for a bit on TLT.

Steven, Chris, Jason and myself had a good soak at BS and then headed home.

I slept about 2 hours last night, had nightmares about getting lost on the run and had to get up to slug down some pepto for my pissed off stomach.  Not good.  A shower at 4:15 am did get me going and I'm sure I'll sleep well tonight.

Lessons learned - if it doesn't kill me surely it will help down the road and a nightly prayer for good weather at the marathon is in order.

I did the test!

OK I did 20 man style push ups today - woo, hoo.  Will be starting week one on Monday.  I would not recommend doing it 15 minutes after dinner like I did.  It's called - I wasted too much time messing around today so this was the time I had to do it!

Tomorrow a meager 16 mile run, 10 of it at MGP.  In the past I would have doubted my ability.  Not anymore, I know I can run 10 miles MGP easy!!

I found a really good rider to help me get Riley a little more exercise.  That takes a load of my mind and lets me focus on running.

Bandits

So I'm at HEB stocking up so I can sustain my highly tuned engine of a body when so guy walks up and says "so you run with Rogue?".  I had a Rogue T on.  He goes on and on about how he didn't finish either one of the ultra trail races he attempted and that running on the road was just too bad for anybodies knees.   He asked what races I had run and I listed off a couple including Boston.  He mumbled something about not seeing what the big deal was and listed off a few other marathons.  I told him it was all about the atmosphere and achievement of qualifying.  Then he says "well I could always run as a bandit".  I was like "NOT".  I told him unless you qualify you don't deserve to be there (unless of course you fund raise for one of the worthy causes). 

So if you see a tall middle aged, balding guy with a gut that looks like it takes in a 24 pack every night and no number running in Boston, that's him!

Congrats to all of us that have qualified or are hot on the trail to qualifying for Boston!!

Week 15 so far...

The folks in Karen's north performance project are on week 15.  It is just about 2 months until Austin Marathon.  This week has been pretty tame running wise.  I am mildly concerned that we are not running enough mileage but I qualified 2 years ago with a max of 43 miles in a week once and 2 20 mile runs.  This year I did 1 20 mile run and maxed out at 50 miles once before Austin and although I did not kill my self at AT&T I ran an 11 min negative split and requalified.  I barely got into the 40 mile/week range between Austin and Boston, did 1 22 mile run and ran a PR and qualified yet again.  

I am feeling pretty good about MGP right now and know I can run 13.1 hilly miles at sub MGP without much effort.  Yet, I can't let my guard down.  For me running a 3:20 is going to take a level of effort, focus and relaxation I have not yet encountered.  Sure the first AT&T where I qualified for Boston was an ugly fight for the last 4 miles.  But that tells me I can dig down and suffer if needed.

I believe I have my foot situation under control.  That too is going to take constant monitoring and adjustment of my stretching routine to keep it happy.

I ran a solid progressive run today and was able to kick up the pace at the end when I wasn't sure I could.  I don't have the luxery of a 3:20 train to run with - the folks who are in the 3:20 range in PP just don't seem to run at a consistant pace.  So, this is all about me.  I am taking 100% responsibility for my running and am going to use Steve's analogy of the WR marker they used in the Olympic swimming when I use the pace group at the marathon.

Survey

Given my rant about the Austin Marathon and Priscilla's desire to have it go back to a point to point, do you:

a) like the current course (as it was LAST year)

b) prefer the point to point set up

Personally I have only run the newer course - I thought last years was perfect and the hills were manageable.  There has to be less aggravation with getting back to your car etc on a loop course.  Of course, I've never had a problem with 3M.  I like running Austin because it is a challenge for me to try and get faster on it each year that passes.  

OK I need to stop wasting valuable running time and go do my run so I can run my scorching fast time in February.

Good insight from others

After considering canning this blog this morning - I got good insight from other people.  So I will keep it going.  Thanks to those who have occasionally looked at it.  I need to jazz it up and make it more interesting to generate some comments.  I like Mike's idea of using it as a personal journal.  I think I may do it less frequently.  Next items I will be journaling will be whether or not I can actually stick to 100 push ups in 6 weeks!

Happy running or rehabbing!

Stopping Blog

Since no one reads this, I've decided I'm wasting my time and could spend my time being more productive.  By bye blog!

Invited readers only?

Seems like some of us bloggers have decided what they say should only be read by a select few.  Perhaps so that they only get comments they want to hear?  Hmmmm?

Lazzzzy Sunday

I woke up around 9am, dragged myself out of bed and hobbled to the kitchen to feed Silver dog. My right hip was pretty sore as was my quad. I've felt the quad part before and think it's related to the cambered road but the hip thing was new. I let the dog out and took a shower thinking that would wake me up and get me moving better. Nope. Ate breakfast and went back to bed. Got up at 2:30pm. Drove to the store to get a diet coke to wake me up and ate a sandwich. Still sore and hobbling. Thinking about whether to do my 5 mile recovery run. I spent the next 2 hours cleaning house and the activity loosened me up. Made a pot of soup for dinner, put my running stuff on, used the foam roller on my hip and quad and hit the road. Purposefully ran really easy. My leg felt fine. Took an ice bath when I got home.

Lessons learned - I should have taken the ice bath on Saturday! 2- when I'm stiff I can still run!

Hills to Heaven....

....or maybe that was to Hell.  Ran 18.45 miles of unrelenting monsters including Ladera Norte.  That was my slowest mile.  Otherwise kept up a good pace.  For sure the hardest run I think I have ever done.  Felt OK at the end - just tired legs.  Not much else to say.  It was fun to run with the other Austin marathoners.

Good Grief

What are they thinking???  I though the Austin Marathon course last year was very good and whoever thinks San Jacinto is treacherous needs help.  They are changing the course again!  Sounds like they are going all the way to Ben White - WTF???  Then they aren't going thru UT??  So, how are they going to get from North of UT to South of UT?  If they think that going on Red River to MLK is an improvement then they are sorely mistaken.  Someone thinks not running on San Jacinto is an improvement - not me!   I love running the Austin Marathon but the constant changes annoys the heck out of me.

Decker Dog

Silver and I went on a 10 mile run today.  Perfect weather and Silver dog did great.  She of course wasted a bunch of energy chasing grasshoppers and so forth but with 4 dips in water (she needs a bath now!) she did a great job.  She is tired out now and I think is gonna sleep really, really well tonight.

It was a great run - 10 miles 1:23:47 - average pace 8:23.  Finished fast 7:35 and 7:33 for miles 9 and 10 respectively.

The cool thing is I felt like I was really going pretty slow and these paces are right where I need to be.

Plan - lunch, ice bath, ride Riley, dinner, bed!

Pay Back

We had what should have been a fairly straightforward workout tonight. 1 mile wu then 1 mile MGP, 1 mile HMGP, 1 mile 10K, 1 mile 5K, 1 mile cd.

It was so freaking windy that when I turned into the headwind I felt like I was running backwards. I think my legs may have been a little tired from Sunday but even Jason who did not race on Sunday found it hard to hit the splits. We just could not make up the time we lost with the headwind when we had a tailwind. Good workout despite being a little slow on the last 2 (OK a lot slow!).

Total payback for the fantastic weather we had on Sunday! Thankfully, the rain did not start until I was back in my car driving to the gym for my 10-15 min hot shower!

Since our group has been drastically reduced due to the rest the Team is taking for the rest of the month, we only have AM workouts on Thursdays - I can't make them so it will be could practice for me to get out and do them on my own. I can always call on Jim Gelb to keep me company if necessary. I don't mind doing this weeks Thurs run on my own - it's just 10miles and I'd rather do it when it's not 20 degrees out.

This was not my A race

So, I did not go 100%.  My goal was to hang out at MGP or so.  I wanted to get a feel for it and not work so hard I needed a big recovery.

I ran the first 5 miles with Glenda Adams who had her Garmin with her.  She was clear when she said her only goal was to run no faster than MGP (her's is the same as mine).  That worked great for me because it helped prevent me from getting sucked into a faster pace than I needed to go.

1 7:11 - mile measured short

2 7:59 - mile measured long

3 7:28

4 7:34

5 7:38 - start of a long but gradual incline - pulled away from Glenda

6 7:30 - one steep, short climb a down hill and another longer climb

7 7:14 - steady downhill with one minor up

8 7:20  

9 7:31 

10 7:36 -  first long climb on 973

11 7:43 -  2nd long hill on 973

12 7:31 

13 7:35 - long hill to finish

14   :44 - last .1.

I am really happy with how it went.  Of course the weather was perfect.  Just like I predicted it would be.  

My foot feels almost 100%.  Here I come Austin Marathon - hang on tight!

Cupcake with icing and sprinkles

Decker 1/2 2008 - this is short and sweet (just like a cupcake)

1:38:40ish...2nd place Masters.

I'll dod a race report later.

No Excuses!

OMG - I just watched some highlights from the para olympic games in Bejing.  Unbelievable.  If a guy can swim with only one leg then there are no excuses.  I watched about an hours worth and it was very, very inspiring.  No drama, no attitude, just athletes doing their absolute best no matter the obstacles they had to over come.  Now I hear some guy yapping on the TV about Michael Phelps...I'm less impressed than I might have been.

Waiting

Decided a nice hot bath last night would feel good on my legs.  Get the tub running and when I went back to hop in found COLD water.  WTF???  Guess my water heater broke AGAIN.  Off to bed without the relaxing soak.  Went on a relaxed 5 miler with Jim Gelb today.  Nice and easy.  My legs felt a little heavy but I think a decent warm up and some drills/strides tomorrow will get them moving.  Took a shower at my neighbor's.  She is nice enough to let me come over at 5:30 AM tomorrow for my pre race shower tomorrow.  Had lunch.  Rode my horse a little and shared some pretzels with him.  Now it's 3:30pm and I'm wasting time watching TV, stretching and rolling my legs.  A good reminder about how boring it is the day before a marathon.  Then I'll get my clothes together for the race.  It's a gorgeous day in Austin and looking to be as nice tomorrow.  Perfect racing weather.

Tempo Time

I had planned to do a tempo run with Jim Gelb tonight.  Unfortunately he had some kind of medical problem and was unable to so now I had to motivate myself.  I fueled up with some homemade tortilla soup - minus the tortillas, cheese and avocado and some pita bread and headed out.  I always worry in these types of runs that I won't be able to run tempo pace.  Did a 2 mile warmup and started my tempo run into the wind...now smart me had planned the run that I would only run about 1/2 mile directly into the wind and most of that involved 2 small up hills.  The rest of the run had a tail wind although I will say the last mile was tough because of the cross wind.  Overall my average for the 4 mile tempo part was 7:18 - a hair slow but the wind at the start and finish did slow me a bit.  I felt strong, my foot felt acceptable and I was paying attention to my form.  Looks good for Sunday.  I continue to hope this wind dies down.

Decker Forecast

The first year I did Decker it was freezing and windy...last year it was hot and muggy...3rd times a charm...low in the 40's at the start...warming up to 70 later in the day and SUNNY!!! No mention of wind. Yay!!! I'm feeling a good race in me!

Plantar Fasciitis treatment

OK - all you people out there suffering with PF listen up. I just read a thing on line about this procedure called dry needling and ultra sound guided cortisone injection. The doctor injects your heal with local anesthetic, the sticks a needle in and out of the fascia where it connects to your heel - causes micro trauma and stimulates bleeding and ultimately faster healing. Then under ultrasound, they inject the cortisone around the fascia to decrease the existing inflammation. In the study done in Italy, 42 out of 44 patients reported no pain after 3 weeks.

What I want to know-where do I sign up? I qualify - it's annoying and it interferes with my daily life!

The wrath of the Decker winds

First off - I can hear the wind howling outside my window now.  I do not want to hear the wind howling next Saturday night.  I hope the wind is not quite as brisk for the Decker race.

I blew off the long run on Sat AM since I did not feel great when I got up at 4:30 AM.  Went back to bed and slept until 10:30.  It was kind of a nasty grey day - the kind I hate and that did not improve my mood.  Did some errands and just kind of wasted the day away.  Rode Riley and he was fantastic.  You know things aren't looking good in my running life when I don't have too many good things to say about the running but the riding is good.  Made a really good veggie pizza and salad for dinner, watch a James Bond movie and went to bed at 9:45.  Took a Melatonin and Sleepy time tea to make sure I slept.

The goofy dog woke me up at 8am - obviously about to wet the dog bed so I got up and let her out to pee...it was chilly and windy but sunny - good day for running.  Had some water and a bagel, got my water bottle, ipod, arm warmers and gloves and set off.  At 973 I decided to run the direction of the race.  That proved to be a VERY wise decision.

I like, no love, the Decker Loop they use for the race.  Sundays are a good day to run it because there is less traffic.  If you don't like traffic or are intimidated by it you won't like the loop when you don't have the road to your self.  I find the drivers very courteous compared to people that live in Austin.   I braved the hills on 973, which after you run them a few times don't seem all that bad and when I turned onto Loyola (or whatever it's called east of decker lane) the wind hit me full force.  I just sucked it up and made a mental noted that the start of the race could be a bit windy and the finish would be brutal.  When I got to Decker lane, I stopped for a quick potty break and water refill.  Note - they have clean bathrooms at the gas station on the corner.

I turned onto Decker lane going north and realized the wind seemed to be blowing from the west.  I had assumed that I would be pushing into a head wind the whole way to Lindell.  It wasn't bad at all.  At Lindell, I was able to pick up the pace a little thanks to the tailwind, and that stayed with me the whole way home.  The little rollers on Lindell, Blue Bluff and Bloor aren't bad at all and the one fairly steep one on Blue Bluff is short.  It was helpful running the race course because it puts it into perspective.  I pushed the last couple of miles home and ended up at 16 miles.

Next week my A goal is 1:37 - that is a stretch given the nature of the course and my best effort at 3M is 1:35.  My B goal is 1:40.  My C goal is doing a water stop!!!

After this kind of sketchy week, I know I need a fairly easy run on Thurs, an off day on Friday and a easy shake out 4-5 miler on Sat.  Sunday will include a 2-3 mile warm up well over dressed to get my legs good and warm.

LAZY TURKEY DAY

I'm not one for overindulging on Thanksgiving anymore.  I don't have any family within 1500 miles and they already celebrated Thanksgiving 5 weeks ago.  I'm also not into crashing other people's family get togethers anymore so it's just another day.  It's not even an extra day off.  Just happens to fall on my day off work.  I had considered running right after work...when I got home I decided I would rather just sack out.  Slept from 8:30-3pm - my alarm had gone off at 1pm!  Finally dragged myself out of bed and rolled my calves and stretched and headed out the door for a progressive run.  As I was shuffling along in my first mile, I decided today was not the day for that.  So I decided just to run 8 miles at whatever pace seemed comfortable.  My foot was having a bad day and my quads felt heavy.  I ran an out and back on the Decker Loop - on the not so good roads.  As well as focusing on pushing the up hills and running easy on the downs, I paid attention to where the best parts of the roads where.  Miles 4-8 has some kinda bad sections.  The best parts are where I'll be running next weekend.  At mile 6.5 I had a weird sinking spell - just ran out of gas.  I stopped for a minute or too and then was able to finish up no problem.

Took a ice bath and made a tasty stirfry that did not have turkey, cranberries, corn bread or sweet potatoes in it and went to the barn to ride Riley.  He was pretty good - it was humid and he has enough fur to keep him warm in Minnesota so he worked up a good sweat.  Am considering clipping a little of it off.

Currently I'm feeling good - not stuffed like everyone else in America.  Time for a little TV - not football though!

Hot and cold

Feeling considerably better despite a lack of quality sleep today. Did the following w/o on the track - 400 x 4 at 5k pace w 200 recovery, 800 x 2 at 10k pace, 1 mile at HMGP with 400 recovery and 1 mile at MGP. Nailed the whole thing. As always, Jason has a great sense of pace.
Team Rogue North seems to be getting pretty pumped up about CIM and it's fun to be a part of it.
Felt pretty cold after the workout despite a nice hot shower at the gym and a big bowl of soup for dinner. I'm in my work office now with the little space heater cranked and I'm feeling like a nap might be in order! It is really pretty chilly in the jail and this seems to be the toastiest spot.
Not running the Turkey Trot. I'm going to keep my priorities in place and focus on sleep on Thursday over racing. I'll do my own progressive pace in my 'hood.
Next up - the Decker Half Marathon!!

Allergies

Not sure what's bugging me but it appears that the usual allergy suspects are low and the air quality is good.  I am dying a slow death of sneezing and a running (like a faucet) nose.  Today I took some benadryl, Zyrtec,Flonase with minimal effect.  Am considering calling in sick for work.  I hate to do it because it seems like such a lame ass reason to call in.  However, if you are an police officer or inmate you are hoping I do.  I was mighty cranky last night!  I'll give it one more hour and decide.  Thankfully it's a day off from running and hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

I don't follow football but....

65 to 21???  What's that?

Anyway, moving on...had a relaxed 5 miler with Silver dog tonight and actually felt pretty good.  Rolled my legs and stretched this am and did a quick roll and stretch before I ran.

Things I learned this weekend.  20+ miles ain't all that bad no matter if you don't have the best day.  It's just one foot in front of the other.  Soaking at Barton Springs works.  Getting enough sleep is critical - I slept 8+ hours each of the last 3 nights and I feel good.  My diet wasn't great - you just don't say no when an 80 some year old offers you dessert - you just take a smallish portion.

After my feeling sorry for myself last week, I think I have things in line again and my priorities in line.  Sleep, run, eat, work, ride the horse.

Nope - you couldn't bust me Steve!

That was a tough workout.  The worst part for me was the part thru Barton Hills.  I was not running fast, I got lost, added an extra mile and it seemed like I was the only one out there.

I was a few seconds slow on the MGP part but not enough for me not to say I nailed it!!  The last time I tried extended time at 3:20 pace I blew up bad.  Today I did the mile and the MGP and was still able to make it back in one piece to Rogue.  My foot is no worse.  My cold is no worse.  All good.  Had a good soak in Barton Springs where the Austin Fit folks were having Mimosas.  

The best part is that I have absolutely no plans for the rest of the day and plan to sleep in tomorrow.

Thanks to all the Austin Marathon folks that gave me a boost on LAB in the final mile of MGP!!

CV

I worked my L foot with the golf ball all night.  Definate improvement in how it felt.  I cut the CV workout short and just did 3 in an effort to save my foot.  Not feeling great about how this whole thing is going to work out but I'll keep trying.  I can suck up a lot of discomfort in a race but for another 5 months - I don't know.  Plan is to see how Sat. goes.  I'm going to give it 100% effort.  If my foot blows up during or after the run then I may have to get on my bike or some sort of cross training for a while.

This CV workout went way better this time.  I was slow on all of my 2000's but Karen was OK with that since we are doing them on the road.

I am going to buy a new pair of long run shoes today or tomorrow.  I think I need fresh ones for the long runs - mine have 250+ miles on them and if I recall my last ones, that's about when my foot flared up again.

Easy run

First run since Friday. We did an easy 6 mile group run from the Far West HEB. I kind of like that loop - easy not to get lost. Traffic was kinda crazy so we wore cute pink glow bands on our wrists. I felt pretty good - ran slowly with the group for the first 2 miles and then ran my own pace ahead of them for the rest. Feeling OK - can't say great since my foot is still uncomfortable. Not too bad though - wasn't hobbling at all. Going to try and leave work at 4:45 AM on Thurs so I can do the AM CV workout.
My goals this week include eating well, hydrating and tending to my aches and pains so I'm at my best for Sat.

Rest days

I ended up taking Sat, Sun and Mon off.  Tomorrow is an easy run.  Hopefully all that will put me in a better place physically.  My foot feels better but I am nervous about it.  I like the colder weather for running but I hate how it makes me feel otherwise.  Stiff, sore and sluggish.  Less motivation to go outside too.

On a good note - I wore my Boston 2008 jacket this weekend for the first time since April 2008.  Woo, hoo!!

Oh yeah...did I mention that Riley escaped from his stall last night just before he was to come home and I spent 30 min running around the expo ctr trying to find, then catch him.  Fortunately it ended well and he is no worse for his adventure!!

Having a plan...and sticking to it

This weekend I was at a horse show.  Have to say, I wasn't sorry I didn't have to get up and run in the howling wind and cold on Sat.  However, the cold made riding difficult yesterday.  I was cold and felt stiff, I just couldn't get in synch with my horse Riley and he did the best he could with what I was doing.

I slept almost 12 hours last night...what a treat and I wasn't about to get up when it was really cold.

Today was a new day at the show.  I had a plan - ride forward and keep my leg on no matter what - and I stuck to it.  My coach asked what had happened overnight that I was riding so much better and I listed off a bunch of goofy reasons but I think I just trusted that Riley was going to do his part so I just needed to do mine.

2nd and 3rd classes were spectacular - I rode fairly aggressively to the fences and took a couple of risks - they paid off.  He didn't win anything because he is a little ragged between the lines still but the jumps were great.  One guy said he cleared one 3' fence by close to 2 feet.  That's not a great thing but that's just Riley, he's really careful.  It felt smooth though and I wasn't been launched out of the tack like I was on Saturday.  A long day but fun.  No run, I'll do something really easy tomorrow afternoon.

Home, sweet, home!

I'm going to a horse show this weekend so I needed to get the long run done today.  Did a fairly harmless quality workout Thurs night then hopped up at 6AM to get ready.  I was scheduled to do 20miles so I drove to the almost 1/2 way point and dropped off some water.  I knew when I got up  it was going to be a tough 20 miler.  My left foot was not feeling so good.  I taped it up good and snug and headed out the door.  At mile 1 I seriously considered turning around but when I did, my foot felt OK so I turned back around and hobbled for another few miles until it loosened up.  I decided to run to 5 miles and if I still felt bad I'd turn around and call it a day at 10miles.  At the 5 mile mark I was feeling fine.  My foot was sore but I had managed to even my gait out.  At mile 8.9 (the entrance to the Expo Center) I stopped and refilled my water bottle.  Things were looking pretty good so I decided to continue on and finish the full Decker Race Loop.  I ended up running the full loop plus 4 miles so ended up with 16 miles.  Not 20 but the last couple of miles had me reverting back to my hobbling gait so it's probably for the best.  I was never so glad to be home.

I'll be working on my foot all week so it feels better by next weekend for whatever awaits us at the soul (sole in my case!) buster.

Now off to get horse show stuff together and head off for that.  Ahhh...a weekend of sitting pretty with the horse doing the hard work...not me!!

Feeling fine

So I got a reprieve from the track workout tonight and just did a 5 mile recovery run. My hamstrings have been tight this week - from the downhills on the Sunday race - and I figured I'd be shuffling a little tonight. Not at all. Ran 5 miles easy and felt good the whole way.

Now I need to stop the food rewards I have been giving myself for my good race on Sunday before I turn in to the Michelin (wo)man.

Amazingly, my left heel is no worse for the wear after Sunday - I was fully prepared for it to be screaming for a few days. Not at all - in fact it seems somewhat better.

Have our quality workout on Thursday and then I will be running a solo 20 miler on Friday. I have one last horse show on Sat and don't want to be mentally and physically tired for that. 20 miles alone ain't gonna be great but I'll drop water at the 10 mile point to refill the water bottle I'll be carrying. I'm going to try and get on the road before the wind picks up - at least I'll have a tail wind on the way back.

Parrot Predictor

So yesterday after I entered the warm up/cool down miles I didn't bother to time, on to Breaking the Tape, I noticed my parrot predictor improved my marathon time to 2:49.  So I emailed them to find out why that was happening and it turns out the program calculates the fastest 26.2 miles you run each week and that is your marathon predicted time.  Interesting.  So when I run 4 miles in 00:00, the program is impressed and uses those miles.  The guy says they will add a filter to correct that!  Interesting thing is that my correct parrot predictor and the Macmillan predictor are identical and they seem to work on entirely different premises.

Predictions

OK - this week my parrot predictor says 3:23:xx and when I plug in my 10 mile race time in to the McMillan Calculator, it says 3:23:xx too. Looks like I'm headed in the right direction!

YES I CAN!!!!

That is my mantra for the day!!  Awesome 10 mile race.  My plan was to run my own race and not worry about anything except effort.  It paid off huge.  Time 1:12:36 pace 7:16 place 3rd age group.   Last year's time 1:17:03.  I'm not going to bore anyone with a lengthy race report because there isn't much to say.  I plain ran with the same effort from start to finish.

It was GREAT to see a bunch of people from the 2008 Boston group - Jim, John, Rennie, Mike, Scott, Geezer.  I had a great time and actually enjoyed myself today.

Weather - perfect!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone's doing great

Meesha has been off her meds for 24hrs and was tying to steal my lunch from me today.  She's not eating tons but she's acting like her normal self now.  I will gradually start her meds back on Monday and see how she does.

Riley is doing great - he has now stepped up to the next level!  I was going to blow off the show next week but now that he is comfortably and confidently jumping 3 feet I am going to take him.  I had a couple of rides this week that made me almost want to give up the running and just do the riding again.  It is tough for me to do both well.  So I put most of my effort into running well and just do what I can with the riding.  I can't describe in words that satisfaction I get from helping a horse achieve as much of their potential as possible - especially older and sometimes misunderstood horses.  Thus I will do the long run on my own on Saturday afternoon or on Friday.

I took Silver dog to Decker Lake for a easy pre race 5 miler and she ran the mileage with ease and swam a bunch in the lake.  

Decker lake does not qualify as trail running but I did run face first into a spider web on the grass trails.  It would be cool if they could build trails connecting the Lake, Expo Center and power plant.

Haven't quite decided what to do with the race tomorrow - no matter what I do, I will be conservative at the start and build up once I get to Exposition.  I did that last year and that worked really well.

Is this fantastic weather or what???

Tempo loops

As it is dark in the morning and evening, Karen now has this awesome little 2 mile loop we do our tempo runs on.  No way we can possibly get lost so there is no straining to see street signs.  We did a 4 mile tempo run with 2 mile up and down.  Jason has been in Karen's group for years and has the same general goal time so we run together quite a bit.  His goal is 3:20 as well but we have both kinda informally agreed to start stepping up the pace a little so we are training at 3:15 paces.  We are not struggling to get it done and actually have to slow down just a hair so we are not going way too fast. The cool part is that on each lap we did the first mile (mostly downhill) slower than the second which was mostly gradually up.  It is great to have a consistant person to have to run with on the quality workouts.  We are the 3:20 train of 2!!

I am pretty sure that if I stop giving Meesha the thyroid meds, she will start eating again.  She is eating barely anything but did wake me up this morning acting hungry.  She has 1 tsp of kitten food and about 5 cat treats for breakfast.  Last night she ate nothing but I forced her to have a little high calorie cat supplement.  I'm taking her to the vet today and discussing how we will resolve this problem.  I am not happy about this situation (and I'm sure Meesha isn't) and dealt with a non-eating horse a year ago that ended up dying because he couldn't eat.  That is NOT going to happen if I can help it.

Windy

It was warm, windy and humid today.  I had a stellar run.  I felt rested and strong.  Silver dog came along and enjoyed herself a lot.  I am impressed by her improving fitness - running between 7:50 and 8:10 is not a problem for her.  I used to have to run a 9 min mile for her to be able to keep up.  I'll have to start her on some quality workouts...might take her to the run for the rovers race - when ever that is!

There is nothing better than a good run to improve one's mood.

Cat is looking better

The cat was actually standing up when I got home, ate some tuna and was eager to go outside for a while.  Looking more like her usual self.  The dog was wild - maybe she needs some of the cat's medication!  What she really needs is a good run - 5miles tonight and it looks to be nice and humid - will tire her out nicely.

Terrible night at work...I'll sum it up by saying the last 2 inmates I saw should have known better and behaved in such a way I was embarrassed for them.  If we are all lucky, they will lose their jobs.

Have a happy day!

Stressful days

The time change sucks for those of us that run in the evening. The whole run was dark and of course I got lost. I just have to remember to bring my headlamp with me. Thank goodness, I had decided to run the Run for the Water this weekend as a substitue for the hill workout because it was a crappy workout d/t me being lost. Karen had already said to take it easy tonight if we were racing so cutting it a mile short didn't matter much. On Sunday it will be light and there will be plenty of people to follow. My goal will be to attack the hills and follow the race plan. I'm not concerned about time or overall placing.
The time change affects everything for me...I'm used to driving home in the dark...now it's light. I'm used to waking up in the afternoon with the sun still high in the sky. Not anymore. It's stressing me out a little but I'll work at getting back on track in the next few weeks.
Another stress is my cat. She's 15 and really pretty darn healthy. Her normal activity level is high and she was eating heartily. A few weeks ago she was diagnosed with high thyroid levels and the vet said her activity level and appetite were not normal. So she is on meds that knock out her thyroid. She has been on them about 1 week and she is a slug. Today I noticed she hadn't touched her cat food in 24 hours. I offered her fresh - she took a few bites and walked away. I let her out to go get some exercise and then worried I wouldn't find her again before I left for the workout. Thankfully she showed up and I gave her some tuna which she ate right up. I called the vet and they say it's OK for her to eat tuna instead of cat food. It costs the same so that works for me. Apparently her behavior is now normal for an old cat. I try not to have favorites with my pets but this is my favorite pet and I hate seeing her like this.

New word of the day

OMG - I learned a new word at work - EMO.  My co-worker who has kids that recently graduated from high school had to fill me in.  What is our youth coming to?  If you don't know what an Emo is, ask your local teenager. 

Riley at the horse show

I cut my run short on sat. and took Riley to a little practice show...the jumps were tiny but he just needs to practice being good.  He can certainly jump big!  It was fun and a nice afternoon away from the usual.  By the way this horse is 18 and will be 19 in January...that is considered senior for a horse.  Riley doesn't think so.  He is one of 3 horses at the barn that doesn't eat Senior horse food!

You know you're tired when...

...you realize you got up earlier than you needed and once realizing that seriously consider going back to bed for a while.

I thought that not once but quite a few times!  I even considered going back to bed and blowing off the entire days activities.  As it is I'm only doing 10 miles because I'm going to a horse show.  I've done long miles and a horse show before but I've been tired since I missed my nap on Thurs.  and think it's in my best interest not to be completely drained before I jump my unpredictable horse.  There is another show in 2 weeks and I'm not going to go!

Crap - the dog's barking - got to go let her in!

Good deal

I just signed up for the Decker 1/2 marathon.  $27 and change (with my ARC discount).  I challenge you to find a better deal in the Austin area!  Plus they always have those great long sleeve tech shirts and I believe this year they are giving out medals.  I'll be doing that while y'all are doing CALI.

On a roll

Notched another good workout this week.  Good for confidence building.  Did a 8 mile progressive run today.  Started at 9min/miles and worked our way up to just faster than HMGP.  Nailed it - we were a bit fast on the miles near the end but that was the reward for being patient at the start.

Details - 8 miles 1:04:01 8:00average

M1 8:53

M2 8:42

M3 8:22

M4 8:14

M5 7:53

M6 7:38

M7 7:16

M8 7:02

Legs felt good.  We knew we were fast on the last mile but kept thinking the slight up hill on Greenlawn would slow us down.  Nope!

Running Injury

Poor Silver dog seems to have gotten her first running injury.  One of her front paws is quite swollen and she is favoring it.  I'll have to look at taking her to the vet this week to have it checked out.  She is good and tired tonight after her run this afternoon which is a very good thing.

Hopefully her injury is minor because I don't think she'll be happy if she has to miss too many runs!

A different venue

On my easy runs I pretty much do the same out and back...over and over and over.  Mostly because it is convenient.  Today I took the time to do something different and it was well worth it.  I took Silver dog and we did 6 very easy miles at Decker Lake.  It was a good change to run on the grass and Silver enjoyed some water time as well.  The best thing about the loop at Decker Lake is that includes the long climb alongside 973 that we are all familiar with from the Decker race.

Smooth...

Today we did 400m MGP and 10K pace alternating back and forth every 400m for 4 miles. After last weeks distaster on Tuesday I was a little nervous. However I am good at this kind of workout because it doesn't involve stopping. Jason and I rocked it - -were slightly fast on every lap and flying on the last 10K lap. Thanks Jason for keeping track of the laps. I love that workout - just relaxing for me going from one pace to the other. We easily could have done at least another mile but Jason smartly suggested we should stop while we were ahead. We averaged 7 min miles for the 4 miles. It felt easy. No struggling or fighting to maintain pace at all.
Details:
Per calculator MGP lap should be 1:54, 10K 1:43
1:52
1:43
1:52
1:45
1:52
1:46
1:52
1:42
1:50
1:39
1:53
1:40
1:50
1:38
1:49
1:34
I changed a couple things in the last week. I have started an aggressive ankle flexibility routine and using the TP massage set up regularily. My left ankle felt more supple and functioned normally tonight. We also did some drills tonight - I think that helped loosen me up.
After the workout we headed off for happy hour - that was fun and gave me a chance to get to know some Team people I might not have talked to a ton otherwise.
Fabulous weather!!

Glorious marathon weather

Today was the Performance Projects first 20 miler.  It was an easy course - out and back on the last 10 miles of the Austin Marathon but I like the course so there were no complaints from me.  Chilly at the start - my arms and hands were actually a little cold - I wore a shirt!  We started at 6am with the San Antonio, Dallas, New York crowd and the Team and PP folks were quickly off the front.  I ran by my self.  I have found that as the longer distances become more managable, I prefer to run on my own.  I don't get sucked into stupid stuff and I can focus on what I am doing and how I feel.  Easy first mile and then I got up to my long run pace.  Plan today was easy out and back with a fast finish.   As we are running up Congress, they are getting set up for the Live Strong 5K.  Not sure how that will impact the way back.  They were closing UT down as we ran past the stadium - yeah - that means traffic free roads on the way back.  A few of the side roads between Duval and red River were freaking pitch black - I was extra careful.  Cruised all the way to Northcross Mall - uneventful - I'm just feeling good and enjoying this absolutely, off the charts perfect weather.  Turned around at Northcross Mall and now am on the marathon course.  Felt great on the slight down hills - smooth - I didn't worry about pace - it was all about effort.  Still on my own.  As we got back to the Intermural fields, we caught the AT&T 7 am group.  A lot of them turned around at that point.  I found their inane chatter annoying.  I can see how that would annoy people who were sleeping - it was really annoying me.  Left most of them behind on 46th and focused on maintaining rythym and form on the slight up hill to Red River.  Did not lose pace as I have in the past.  Still feeling really strong.  Reminded myself to hold back until UT.  As I turned on to 41st street across from Hancock Center - I remember thinking last year how the Austin Marathon was in the bag - a done deal and that it was time to haul butt.  Once back at UT, I picked up the pace to MGP.  That's not a super fast finish but for me it's a safe fast finish.  There was a lot of foot traffic and redlights to negotiate and I didn't want to have a wreck because my brain was tired.  Maintained pace up San Jac and down 11th - turned onto Congress - now I'm going backwards on the LiveStrong course - I ran through the finish backwards and cruised past the people walking to the finish - this whole section from UT until 6th street was closed to traffic - yay!!  Kept going along 4th over to Rogue and even managed 5 strides at the end.

Did I mention the amazing weather?  It was freaking perfect.  I felt great even though my left ankle is just plain stiff and I can't seem to loosen it up.  I can remember when 20 miles was a momentous occasion.  Not now, it's just another opportunity to get out and enjoy running.

Hope everyone else had a great day too!!

Kick butt dog

So today we had an 8 mile medium long run scheduled.  I had to do the morning run due to an evening conflict.  I could barely drag myself out of bed this morning.  Not Silver dog - she could barely wait for us to get in the car.  Picture on the left is Silver working out during the summer!

Since it was quite cool this morning, I decided Silver could come along.  I'm really not into waiting for her when she decides she is tired.  Silver rocked the 8 mile run...she did lag a little at the end but not badly at all and after a drink and relaxing for a few minutes she wanted to go with the guys doing one more lap.  She loved all the attention she got at the end of the run.

Her reward for being so good was a trip to the vet for her annual vaccinations.  Usually she is a nervous wreck and pees on the floor.  Not this year.  You see, Silver has been on a self improvement project - no more cat food, no more eating food off the counter and getting more exercise.  Recently she is averaging 10+ miles of running a week.  So she hops on the scale...just a little nervous because we don't know how much weight she has lost since last year when she was a tubby 60 pounds.  This year - 49.9 pounds - woo, hoo!!!  The vet is blown away and impressed at how good she looks.  Silver celebrated with a handful of dog treats.  The vet is also impressed with the level of flexibility she has in her hind legs - Silver is 8 and it seems everyone thinks that is old.  Not Silver - the vet thinks she will live a really long time.  Only glitch in the appt was that she had a cracked tooth from biting a rock or something and has to get it pulled.

I'm excited for Silver and me because she is the best running partner.  Once it gets a little cooler, I'll take her on some trail runs for my Wednesday and Sunday runs.

All in all a great day - I felt good on the run too.

Dead Legs

Crap...my legs were just dead for the CV workout tonight. Actually my legs feel dead just sitting in my chair at work. No soreness anywhere - just no get up and go. We did our 4 x 2000m on the road with a lovely uphill for the last 600m. I had trouble even making my pace on the flat and downhill parts. The effort felt way too hard. I will attribute this to 3 hard workouts last week with no relaxing long run. I am pretty much eating as much as I want now and still losing about 1/2 pound per week so I may just have to eat a little more quality carbs and protein. Thankfully we have a recovery run tomorrow, a hilly but nice 8 miler on Thurs AM and then 20 miles on Sat. I can handle that cuz it's not fast. Was planning to do the 10 mile race coming up but will need to talk to Karen about adjusting my workouts before so I have a better recovery. Have a ART session tomorrow and will try to fit an ice bath in.
I'm also participating in the Bio Marker study and will be interested to find out a little more tomorrow when I go for my first blood draw tomorrow.

Olympic Qualifying Time

I ran a super easy 5 miles with Silver dog. As always she raced around like crazy for the first mile and then trotted along behind me for the rest of the way. As we hit mile 2 I asked her if she was up for 5 miles today and although she was panting hard, she was right there looking like she had dreamed about running all day. At Mile 4.5, she had enough left to chase a cat and have a minor altercation with the cat owner's dogs. It was a really slow run but after the first mile where my left foot was complaining quite a bit, I felt good.

So I get home and am reading blogs and entering my run on Breakingthetape.com and I check my Parrot Predictor time. Strangely, it says 2:37:8. I'll be curious to see if it corrects it's self by tomorrow. For now, I can see I'm in shape to qualify for the next Olympic Trials...woo,hoo!! I'll live that dream until the bubble is burst and it corrects it's self and goes back to the 3:30 range!

Congrats to all the Team runners who kicked IBM's butt!!

5K of fun in Hutto

Since most everyone in PP and Team were doing the IBM 10K and I had forbidden myself from doing it to avoid getting sucked into the Distance Challenge, I ran a "fun run" in Hutto instead.  My plan was to run 8-10 miles before the 5K, do the race and then a short cool down.   Here is a summery of how it went:

The Good - perfect weather, flat course, very friendly race crew, helpful police officer, friendly racers, did not run a PR, the cutest orange paw prints on the road to mark the way.  Got first in my age group after passing most of the Hutto cross country team in mile 2.

The Bad - got my butt whipped by a 10yr old in the open female division.   Poorly manned water stations that had styrofoam cups.  I took out almost a whole line of cups grabbing water on the fly - otherwise the volunteers were great.

The Ugly - obviously I can't run "slow" in a 5K.  My plan had been to run 1 mile MGP, 1 mile HMGP and 1 mile 10K+.  At mile 1 my time was 6:50 some.  So since I was relaxed, I just maintained pace and averaged about 10K pace the whole way.  I thought I had lost my valet key that was in my skirt pocket, the friendly police officer attempted to open my car door and after not succeeding, went over to the driver's side and found my key in the door (duh!!!).

It was an easy and fun way to get 12 miles in.  I would highly recommend the race for beginners and PR seekers.  However...it is not chip timed and I suspect it is not certified.  Per my garmen though it was accurately measured.

What I love about being a runner

I love being able to tell the lady at the bookstore, who asks if I run everyday, "yes pretty much so".  Then when she says "I tried and I just couldn't...I wish I could".  I told her yes you can!  I asked what was going wrong and she told me she couldn't run a 1/4 mile.  I told her to walk and when she felt ready, to run for 30 seconds and just to slowly increase the amount of running and decrease the amount of walking.  That's what I did.  Took me from March 2006  until June 2006 to be able to run 5 miles.  Nine months later I started a marathon, finished it and qualified for Boston.  I love encouraging people at work and sharing tips.  I love giving the APD officer whose butt I kicked at AT&T this year a hard time because I know next year he will try harder.  I practically have a running advice clinic going at work and it works...quite a few people who might not have done so, have taken up a healthier diet and some form of exercise.  They come to me with questions all the time.  Am I an expert - heck no, but I've been there and I can tell them how great it is after you stick with it a few years and it just seems so much easier.

So to Geezer, who is having a hard time with injuries and his attitude I say "yes you can".  Are you going to run a PR - probably not.  Are you gonna run sub 3?  NO!  Does it matter - NO!  Go to CALI and have a fun time, jog - walk - do what ever it takes to cross the finish.  Then regroup and put together a plan for Boston.

Ahhhhh....cooler weather!

What a difference 20 degrees makes.  It's still a little humid but our workout tonight was perfect.  Sunny, no wind and 69 degrees.  Can't beat that.  We did the same workout as the Team people so, it was great to have people to run with.  Nice easy 2 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo and 2 mile cool down.  We ran the tempo a little fast but I felt strong the whole way.  The first mile was the slowest but after that the miles were very consistant.  

I had a very laid back day.  Got up to take the cat to the vet only to find out her appt is Friday.  Quick ride on a very muddy horse and then he had his shots.  I was beat - I slept badly on Wed. night so I just lounged around today - a little laundry, watched TV and took a nap.  Can't complain about that.  Hopefully I will sleep tonight.  Broke my diet rules and treated myself to ice cream tonight.  No biggie...I've been pretty good lately and just felt like having some.

I'll sum this all up by saying my workout was by far my most solid performance so far.  I nailed it!!

Rain,rain,rain

I slept in and got down to the barn and Riley ridden just before it started pouring.  Spent the rest of the day running errands and then ran an easy 5 miles with Silver dog.  She still hasn't grasped the concept of conserving energy but enjoyed the run regardless.

Tomorrow starts vet appt month.   Meesha (cat) and Riley get the shots tomorrow and Silver gets hers next week.  To complicate manners,  Meesha needs to be sedated to get her vaccinations (she is like a pissed off tiger at the vet).  Also either Silver or Meesha peed on the floor 2 nights this week (thank god I have no carpet) and I honestly have no idea which one did.  The volume of pee on the kitchen floor might prove the dog guilty but the spot by the chair in the living room makes me think the cat did it.  Whoever did it peed on, part of my TP massage kit, my lunch bag, my purse and my bag I carry my post run clothes in.  So, my plan is to get urine samples from the dog and cat and see who has the urinary tract infection.  That has been the culprit in the past when this happened before.  What I really need is a closed circuit camera!!

I have a plan for my own mini Soul Buster this weekend.  Since we are on our own Saturday and I am not doing IBM 10K, I came up with my own form of entertainment for the weekend.  I will blog about it on Saturday!

Dumb and dumber

My whole day was off kilter because of 2 work related meetings that were held after I finished my usual night shift.  I am also on call for court all week.  So far no one has called.  I decided last week when these meetings were called that I would not go to work tonight.  I ended up having about 5 hours sleep today - not bad but my eating schedule was messed up too.  We had a track workout today - I won't bore you with the details but I did OK considering I did not read the workout instructions properly and took 200m recoveries instead of 400m.   To make the whole situation more ridiculous, I had the workout written down in a baggie and carried it with me the whole time.  Needless to say the workout was tough and I was a bit slow on a few intervals.  Oh well...hopefully I'll get one workout right before the marathon.  I'm thankful for the extra nights sleep tonight.

Not Running Related

Totally not running related but important to me.  Today marks a year since I had to put my wonderful horse Taylor to sleep.  Despite all of the physical things wrong with him, he had so much try and heart.  We can all learn as runners that even when things don't look so great out there, you can still put in a tough effort.  

I learned a tremendous amount from this horse...not only as it applied to horsemanship but life too.  He was a beloved pet and an exceptional athlete.  

Remembering him makes me thankful for my dog, cat and other horse and all the great friends I have in the running community.

Have a happy day everyone!

Body abuse

So after the 18 miler yesterday, I drove to Houston. This was to attend the wedding of a friend I met in my first beginner group with Rogue 2006. We will be going to Boston together in the spring. She is Alix - some of you know her by the extensive tatooing she has. I wondered how that was going to look with a wedding dress but it looked great.
The ceremony was short and sweet and really classy. There was an open bar which I chose to avoid as a)I don't want a DWI and b) I don't drink much and it generally makes me feel like hell. The food was tasty even though it was all high fat and high salt. Tried not to eat too much. I met to college friends of hers who were a ton of fun and just maybe Alix and I will take a trip next summer and do the Park City Marathon as a training run since one of the girls lives there. I left at 11pm as I was dead tired and had only 4 hours sleep on Friday night. Slept like a rock and in the AM decided to blow off my run in Memorial Park and just drive home. Stopped at Panera Bread and had an unhealthy but delicious breakfast sandwich and a cookie. Once home I crashed and slept for 3 hours after which I contimplated blowing off the 4 mile run and doing it Monday. Read everyone's blogs from the Soul Buster, got motivated and headed off for my run. I took the dog, telling her that she might want to conserve her energy as we were running my pace not her's and as she was racing around, set off. Just ran an easy 4 but it felt great. My legs were not bothering me at all and I ran my usual pace. The dog was dragging at mile 3. Had a salad and salmon for dinner and here I am at work. So far no action...let's hope it stays that way.

Surprise Hills!

I had no idea todays version of Runtex to Rogue included Redbud and Stratford.  I hydrated and ate well yesterday, slept like crap and hopped out of bed just before 4am.  My plan was to start a little easier this week and finish strong.  This all hinged on me thinking it was down to the track from Gateway - no hills.  I left my earphones at home since there would be a large group of runners out today.  Met Chris at Austin High and headed up to Gateway.  Started off with a large group but quickly let most of them go as they were running a bit quick.  Took about 5-6 miles to settle in but them I felt just great.  Ran with Jason who ran really well today.  He left me behind on Redbud and I didn't catch him until coming back around the soccer fields.   Finished with a strong last mile and while my legs were tired at the end, they didn't feel as bad as last week.  Last mile was about a minute faster than the first and we averaged 8:23min/mile.  It was a treat to do strides on the football field - felt great.  Had to dodge a ton of doggie -do.  Then we watched and cheered as the Team folks gutted out a tough 10K on the track (after 18-20 miles).  They all looked good.  Standing out there handing out water was freezing.  Chris, Steven and I drove over to Barton Springs and had a relaxing soak.  

Right now I'm fixin' to have a nice hot shower and a power nap and then head over to Houston.  Just what I need, a 3 hr drive!!

What not to do before and after a marathon

After reading Mike's post, I just had to share this story.  This is the story of an officer that works for the jail.  At the time he ran his one and only marathon, he was working night shift in Central Booking.  I'm quite sure he was inadequately trained.  He was unable to get the nights off work before and after the marathon.  

So he works from 10pm until 6 am Saturday night.  Drives like a mad man to the start of what was then the Motorola Marathon, runs the marathon in 4hrs and some, goes home and gets some sleep.  Gets up and comes back to work at 10pm.  Had a job that night that involved sitting down all night - I think the supervisor felt bad for him at this point and thought if the officer could sit down all night it would help him.  The officer sat in the chair for 8 hours, maybe getting up once or twice.  By the end of the shift, he was so stiff and sore, he had to be helped from his chair out to his car.  He has quit running but still brings his Motorola Marathan backpack to work everyday!

That would suck.  The most I have done after being up all night was 21 miles but it was a long run and not as intense as the marathon...I was OK that night after the run.

Nickel and diming

So I just signed up for Boston - quick and straight forward - no one was trying to get more of my money than the entry.  Then I signed up for Austin - NO training group discount and they tried to sell me an event poster for $20 and added $8+ for a service fee.   The poster is free at Boston and you can have as many as you like.

Head Lamp Review

On Mike's advise, I got a Petzl head lamp.  It's a basic model - no bells or whistles (the Tikka model) but it was on sale at REI and that counted for a lot!  It worked great.  I was much more relaxed on the run because I could see the route directions, the street signs and the road.  Also I was now visible to traffic and bikes.  Ran 10 mile medium long run today.  Still could feel a little tightness in my legs but overall it was a very good run.

Did a 10lb ice bath - really could have used 20lbs but since I was cold...it's a good 10 degrees colder where I live than in Austin...10 lbs seemed about right when I was buying it.  Made some tasty oatmeal pancakes too.

The good thing about running early AM, is that I have the rest of the day ahead of me...house chores, pedicure, nap, ride the horse.  Other than the house stuff, sounds pretty good.

Other good thing this week is that I'm taking Sat night off  workto go to a friend's wedding in Houston.  Plan to do my Sunday easy run in Memorial Park.

Legs feeling the track

I ran 6 miles on the track yesterday - first real track w/o since April.  Wasn't super fast or anything but today is the first day I could feel some weakness and tiredness in my legs as I did my easy run today - it was a big 4 miles and while it was slow, it wasn't awful and each mile was a little faster than the last.  The odd thing was that my legs seemed to want to be kinda close to each other and I couldn't get my calves apart.  Felt it in my upper inner thighs.  Just kinda weak.  Now as well as the track w/o I have been doing some hip strengthening exercises but I've been doing those for a week so I just don't see how that would have appeared today.  Maybe it was the 4 hrs sleep I had today.  I will be crashing early tonight as I am doing the AM run tomorrow.  Mike - I got my head lamp and will be testing it out tomorrow!

Geezer - big news flash!!  I no longer qualify for the fat girl division!!!  Finally am below 140lb...woo,hoo...celebrated witha size small Gelato.  I'm not so sure that's the right way to celebrate but I had a healthy lunch and why not.  My feet are good - Geezer my trick is 10 minutes on a heating pad and then 5-10 min of progressively more aggressive work with the golf ball 1-2 times a day and the night splint.

I'm eating well for our 10 mile run tomorrow - it's a little hilly and I don't want to have a crappy run - hopefully my legs will be back to life tomorrow.

Trouble with pacing ... too fast.

I don't think too many people would complain about being too fast on their workouts if they weren't completely trashed at the end. My complaint is that I need to have a better handle on my paces prior to my race so I don't go too fast at the start. We ran our first track w/o of the season tonight - 1 mile wu then 1 mile MGP/1 mile HMGP/1mile MGP/1 mile HMGP/1 mile MGP/1 mile 15K then 2 laps cd. I also need to work on using my watch more effectively. It took me a while to unscramble my lap times and come up with mile times. I also need to figure out a way to count laps...I ran 5 MGP laps instead of 4 the 2nd time (I just eliminated that lap from my calculations). Karen told the PP to take breaks as we needed and so I took a break for water after the HMGP miles. Perhaps not doing so would have slowed me down. I felt like it was a pretty tough w/o and in retrospect am not surprised I was slow on the 15K mile. I thought I would nail it but obviously my perception of pace is messed up.
My splits -
M1 7:30 should be 7:38
M2 7:03 - 7:14
M3 7:29 - 7:38
M4 7:08 - 7:14
M5 7:27 - 7:38
M6 7:14 - 7:04

Good confidence builder but next time I won't take breaks unless they are specifically worked into the w/o.

Procrastination

Holy crap, can I cut something close.  I became an American citizen sometime since the last federal election.  They gave us a voter registration card which I filed out of my brain.  Never bothered with any of the local elections.  So with all the upheaval in the world, I'm thinking that I had better vote.  I hear ads to get people to vote on the radio and on TV.  It's on the news.  Yesterday morning, all I knew was that I could register at Thundercloud Subs.

So I'm driving to work trying figure out where there is a TCS close to work so I can register...I'm feeling sick and a little worried.  I was feeling like I couldn't live with my self if the wrong candidate won by 1 vote (I know, that's not how it works here, but you get my drift).  Went to TCS on Lavaca, this was at 9pm - the lady said she was getting ready to call it a day.

Whew, got there just in time and registered.  I will sleep better today.  My goal is to go to early voting the FIRST day I can, not the LAST!!!

I chicked a Gazelle

So I was running along 381/2 - not entirely sure I was on the right course and as I pass Shoal Creek Blvd and Seton, this guy crosses over the road and is now running just ahead of me.  As we approached Lamar, I passed him and it was apparent the effort he had put out to stay ahead. He chokes out "are you going to Lake Austin Blvd?".  I'm like, "nope...you must be with the Gazelles".  He replied yes and completely faded.  Never saw him again!

Up, up and away into the dark!

While the team folks slogged out 28 miles today, the PP group ran 16.  Needless  to say we ran the tough part of the 28 miler.  Lot's of hills.  I definately felt my legs at the end but instead of running slower was able to keep up my average pace without a ton of extra effort.

In my mind the highlight of the run was running up Mt Bonnell in the dark along the top and then down the side street to Balcones.  Really cool, really dark.  The low point was dodging traffic along 35th street.  Obviously the drivers don't care about anyone but themselves.  I had to run through some sort of bush to avoid being killed.

My pace was slower this week but the hills would account for that.

Overall 16.05 miles - 2:19:35 - 8:41/mile

1 - 8:43

2 - 8:33 

3 - 8:16

4 - 8:26

5 - 9:05 

6 - 9:34 (Mt Bonnell)

7 - 8:29

8 - 9:29 (35th hill)

9 - 8:17

10 - 8:33

11 - 8:45

12 - 8:30

13 - 8:39

14 - 8:44 (legs getting tired on Red River)

15 - 8:34

16 - 8:33

Overall I'm happy with the run.  Only thing I would do different is eat a little more yesterday - was hungry when I went to bed and go to bed earlier.  I slept terrible on Thursday night so assumed I would sleep terrible last night soooo decided I'd rather watch one extra episode of House than be tossing and turning.  I slept like a rock and the alarm came a little too quickly!   Now time for a shower and nap.

Phenylephrine to the rescue

On my way to our Thurs workout I stopped at CVS and got a box of phenylephrine to reduce my sinus congestion.  Took about 20 min to work.  Midway through the first loop, my nose started to run.  Not bad, just enough to be noticeable.  Headache and sinus pressure was gone.

Felt great on the run...lots of energy.  Did 8 miles in NW hills.  Felt strong the whole way.  Averaged 8:02.  I ran with my Ipod because pretty much everyone ran in the AM.

Splits - 

1 - 8:45 up North Hills

2- 7:59

3- 7:50 down Greystone

4- 8:08 up North Hills

5- 7:48 

6- 7:57 down Greystone (worried about being lost and looking for greystone!)

7- 8:10 up North Hills

8 -7:44 down North Hills

Legs feel great - no soreness at all!!  Woo, hoo!!!  I'm feeling super strong.  Can't wait until it's not 85-90 degrees out for the workouts.

Pre work out meal - 4pm - 2 waffles with jam and 12 oz accelerade

Post work out snack - chocolate milk, 1L NUUN.

Sniff, sniff, sniff

My allergies that I thought were just usual are now rising to an all time new height of horror.  Headache, congested sinus, scratchy throat, muscle aches,cough, sneezing, running nose and eyes.  Last time they were anywhere near this bad I couldn't run effectively for a week.  Tonight's run should be interesting.

Fit Day

Seems like several people have been using Fit Day as a food diary.  So, I thought I'd check it out and see how I was doing on my diet plan by Meredith.  After doing the diary for Oct 1 I noticed I'm about 20gms over my fat allowance, 75gm below my carb allowance and just a few gms low on protein.  I was surprised.  I thought I would be way over on the carbs.  It also has a section for activities and it seemed to accurately calculate calories burned - unlike my Garmin!

While I was in the food mood, I made a recipe I had seen in a magazine recently.  Curried Carrot Spread.  If you like hummus, you'll love this:

Cook 3 cups sliced carrots in a little water until tender 10-12 min.  Saute 3/4 cups onion and 3 chopped cloves of garlic in 2TBsp olive oil.  When the onions are tender add 1Tbsp curry powder and 1tsp cumin (I added more).  Put carrots, onion mixture, 15 oz can of drained/rinsed cannolini beans and 3/4 tsp salt in food processor/blender and process until smooth.  Taste and season to taste.  Chill at least 4 hrs and enjoy.  2Tbsp=40 cal/1gm fat.  It's good on a sandwich or with crackers or veggies.  Will last in fridge for 3 days.

Before you beat me down, I know I should have included a picture - I'll see about that tomorrow.

Great run today.  Averaged 8:27 for 6 miles.  Plan is to never be above 8:40 for long runs or easy runs unless I am dead then any pace will do for the easy runs!

While the air quality is horrific...my allergies are really annoying, I'm still loving this weather.

Simple Fix

One week ago, Karen suggested I try a night splint to make my left foot get better quicker. I'm all for quicker...get fast quicker, strong quicker...anything quicker. So I got one and have slept in it for 4 days now. Today I have no pain in my heel or arch. The only thing I did different was the night splint. It was almost surprising today...I could focus on landing on my heel/midfoot without the fear of soreness.
Did a 3 mile loop with alternating miles of easy and HMGP. It was rolling hills with some long down hill sections and long gradual climbs. We ran 2 laps. I feel like I ran well...a little slow on the long gradual up hill but not too far off pace. Right on target on the section with the short steeper climbs so that was good.
I continue to be a little surprised that my legs are never sore. Thursday looks like a similar sort of workout. I am going to try a little harder on the uphills and recover better on the downs. I am already looking forward to the long run this week.
In the new more positive me, I am trying a new approach at work. Better communication between my team and less bitching. If someone has a complaint, I want to hear about it now not next week. I also realized that I can't get after people for doing a lousy job if I can't do that part of the job. So I am focusing at learning some new stuff at work. I have been carried by the LVN's I work with for years and had a real eye opener last night when I had to do the stuff they normally do. Yikes...am I disorganized! I can sit and interview inmates all night long, but when it comes to paper/computer stuff, I'm useless! Oh well, as in running, if it doesn't kill me, it can make me a better person, employee and nurse.

Running on the edge

In regards to an exchange I had with Mike in my blog comment section, how does one know when you are running too hard on the long and easy runs??  From my experience, it's when you blow up somewhere along the way and then need several weeks to recover.  Do I trust the McMillan charts??  I dunno.  I have always kind of run where I am comfortable on the long runs and I think do best when I am on my own.  This weekend was a good example...sure I can push a little and keep up with the faster guys but then my legs are tired by the end and I am flailing for the last few miles and more likely to get injured.  I am also pushing through my normal aches and pains at the start instead of easing into my pace over a few miles.  I'm feeling surprisingly good right now so I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.  I just need to pay attention to excess tiredness etc OR poor performance on the quality w/o's and ease up a little if necessary.

Had an amazing run today on my usual 5 mile out and back,  Agonizing at the start (as usual) but I felt loose and fast by a few miles in.  Worked on pushing a little up the small hills.

I love this weather...cool in the morning and gorgeous in the afternoon.

Cruisin'

Tried to sleep with my night splint last night - lasted one hour and I decided sleep was more important than a less sore foot.  Had annoying cramps and aching on the bottom of my foot.  I decided to try a new pre run nutrition routine - had 12 oz of accelerade and an ww english muffin with jam.  Went down easy and I left for the run not feeling full (good thing).  Since I'm trying to use up long run food I took a package of shot bloks with me.

Was planning to do the 16 mile Campus loop today.  Happily the distance of the long runs is long longer an issue.  I still get nervous at the start that I'll run out of gas and have to shuffle the remaining miles.  Only has to happen once for me to worry for the rest of my life!  Started of with Javier and a few other shirtless runners.  Let them go on Congress and some how caught them again at Speedway.  As we were heading north on Speedway, I knew the pace was too fast - at mile 4 I had clocked 32:08 - way to fast.  I let them go for go and worked at settling into a steady pace.  I know I can maintain an 8 min mile for 16 miles but I also know that would be plain stupid and Karen would likely tie a heavy weight to my ankle for the next long run.  Water seems to be a minor issue with Rogue these days - no cups at Bull Creek and Hancock.  Everyone was just drinking out of their hands and of course there was a lot of wasted water - hopefully there was enough water for those behind us. Amy, at the next waterstop said she would take some cups back tot hat stop.  

At Amy's stop, Jason caught up...forgot he was low on gas so was a little late and had to play catch up.  We ran the rest of the way together.  He was obviously feeling good as I was feeling the run once we hit the trail.  Once we got back onto asphalt though, the aches in my glutes eased up and I felt a lot better.  Did some pathetic strides although by the last one I did feel my feet relaxing a little.

Good - stayed off my toes way better today, was smart and backed off the pace before it was too late, ate a big recovery lunch and had a massage.

Not so good - ran too fast at the start, should have eaten all of the Shot bloks - not just 3.  Might need a little more calories before the long run.

Overall pace 8:17 - need to back off a little more as we add miles.

Last but not least - a shout out to Scott McIntyre who's kicking some Lake Tahoe ass this weekend!

SPLAT!!

Due to scheduling conflicts during the day, I postponed my usual Wed 5 miler until Friday.  I went to ART and PT.  My foot is making great progress and I am cautiously optimistic that it is getting better.

Have a horse event Thursday night so got up on Thursday morning at 4AM for the 5:15 run.   Decided to wear a new pair of shoes - fresh out of the box.  For the record, they are neutral shoes - Saucony Tangents.  I have worn them before and liked them.  Got them on sale at Rogue a while ago.  The shoes I have been wearing since September 2007 have been Stability shoes - Nikes and Mizunos.  Like the Mizunos, hate the Nikes.  Overall the Nikes keep my feet the most comfortable but they feel like boats.  The Mizunos and Saucony are a little snug in the forefoot and cause so discomfort from the darn neuroma in my left foot but the feel good on the road.

As I left my house, I realize I am still wearing my glasses.  I remember that I have some contacts in my purse so all is good.  At Northwest park, I put the contacts in and as I get out of the car, realize I only have one contact in - have no idea where the missing one is other than it is not in my eye.  So I have to run half blind!  It is dark - really dark!

Ate the Sport beans I brought along and head out for the warm up mile.  Feel OK.  Just a little soreness in my heel.

Get back to the start and swear to myself I will not go out too fast.  Start with the guys and their slow 2 min section seems a little fast so I let them go.  Todays run is 2 min easy and 3 min push at HMGP to below MGP.

I quickly get in the groove and am feeling good - much better than Tues.  Of course, there are no hills!  No probs on the push part.  I have no idea where we are going but keep the guys in sight ahead of me.  Follow them on the turns.  At Shoal Creek I see 2 people ahead to the right, so I turn right.  As I pass them, I realize I should have turned left.  These are not people in our group.  I get lost a lot so I'm good at just making it up as I go along.  I'm still doing well with the pace.  

In the last mile and a half, I am running fast down a dark street when SPLAT, I am on the ground.  I tripped over a speed bump.  I lay on my back for a few seconds, then got up, assessed my injuries - a few scrapes and got going.  No problem getting back to speed.  I really don't like to run in the dark when I'm not familiar with the streets.

Got back to the park at a little over 4 miles and did my strides.  Still feeling great.

Today, I will go to Rogue and work on the shoe thing again...I think I'm going back to neutral shoes.

Warm up - 8:57

3 min on/2 min off 4 miles - 7:42,7:27,7:43,7:44,3:50(1/2 mile extra)

Cool down - 9:00

No gas in the tank

I ate on Tues AM, got plenty of sleep and was more organized than last week about getting to the workout and then to work. So I figured I'd be good to go on the run.
NOT!
The warm up mile was fine as were the first 2 miles of our "easy" rollers. Obviously, I have been babied in Rogue in the past. My legs completely ran out of gas and by the time I got back to water stop #1 I felt a little sick and was running pretty slow and once I got to water #2 where Karen was she kindly let me bail and run the easy way back to the start. My brain was kind of fuzzy during most of the run and when I got back to the start to do strides and core work, I figured that my problem was low blood sugar. Obviously I have to look at my diet. I am not eating enough. I'm eating better than I have in a while but not enough. Once I had my chocolate milk I felt fine.
After showering at the gym, I ate way more than I normally might have and then had a chicken sandwich at 2:30 am. Will have a snack before I go home and then will go to bed.
While I was eating dinner, I read a recent edition of Texas Competitor...there was an article about eating before you run directly related to low blood sugar but saddly it didn't give any worthwhile info at all. Did suggest drinking some Accelerade prior to a run, so I might try that.
Anyway, that is my second crappy hill workout in 2 weeks...gotta work on that. Karen wasn't concerned, just told me to stick with it and I would get stronger and learn to love the hills.

Why do I run?

Steve, in a pre marathon pep talk a few yrs ago, told the runners they needed a reason for why they were doing it beyond a time.  Honestly, I couldn't come up with one.  Yesterday, as I drove to work, I realized I was still in the happy place I get to when I am in the zone of my run.  I had dreaded going in but when I realized I was still having a major endorphin rush 3 hrs after my run, I decided just to stay there as long as I could and not worry about work.

Thus, I decided, my reason to run is to reach the happy place and to balance the less happy moments of my life.

So you're thinking I must have had a life changing run yesterday.  Nope, just a day after long run workout - 5 miles.  Nothing fancy, not fast.  Just enjoyable.  It seems more enjoyable these days.  Maybe it's the cooler weather.

At work a coworker left The Kite Runner for me to read.  I am sure I'm the last to read it.  Awesome book.  Thankfully we had a slow night so I read 1/2 of it.  Had to leave it in the living room when I got home so I would go to sleep instead of reading all day.  Will be taking it to work tonight.

Burger King to the rescue

Today's run was a shortened Runtex to Rogue (14miles).  The PP group joined Team Rogue who did 22 miles plus an all out mile at mile 1 or so.  I suspect that influenced the problems I had at the water stops.  Saw Steve on Balcones - he tried to egg me on by yelling "they're right behind you".  Steve got to the first water stop shortly before I got there.  That was the only water stop ready by the time I got there.  At 35th and Jefferson - no water - I had water courtesy of Burger King.  After accidently turning on Windsor instead of Enfield, I got to waterstop #3 - no water that I could see.  At this point, one guy from Team Rogue had passed me - hadn't seen anyone else.  I knew that this would happen so I had brought my IPod.  Wasn't sure where the guys from PP were but suspected they had stopped to watch the torture on the track.  It was cool out so the lack of water was not a problem.  Ran the final 4 miles back to Rogue through downtown - completely uneventful.

Ran pretty consistant pace with an increase of effort in the last 2 miles.  Averaged 8:30 - right where I should be.  Tried the new Gu Roctane gu.  I have not tolerated gu's in the past but am getting sick of carrying all the shot bloks with me.  The Orange Cream flavor was good - went down easy, not to sweet and didn't upset my stomach.  Thanks Sadie for the tip.  Should be easy to carry 2 or 3 of those in a marathon.

I had left a bag and recovery drink at Rogue yesterday so I had dry clothes and drinks when I got back - then I had a bowl of oatmeal from Progress.  Chris, Jason and David had finished by that point and after they stretched we drove back up to Gateway.  Now I had 2+ hours to burn so I grabbed a few things at Whole Foods and sat outside with a magazine and fruit for an hour.  Perfect day for that.  Took a nap in my car after that and then got to Performance Wellness and they got me in early.

I live on the Longhorn Half Ironman course and there were tons of people biking and running on the course as I drove home.

Saw a sign on 183 telling people not to drive to Houston due to shortages of gas.  It's interesting that while there is some coverage about IKE, it's nothing like Katrina.

Overall a good day - now it's time for a nap.

Finally..nailed a progressive run

In all my years with Rogue, I have always come up short in the progressive runs.  Today we did one that ended at HMGP.  Granted it was a total of 7 miles with the first mile being at a very easy pace.  I did get lost by turning left instead of right on White Rock but figured out that I had made a wrong turn and added a couple of loops to make up for the lost miles.

Warm up mile 9:20

Mile 2 8:20 - supposed to be 8:30

Mile 3 8:15 -   8:15                 

Mile 4 8:02-   8:00

Mile 5  7:37 -  7:45

Mile 6 7:22 -   7:30

Mile 7 6:59 -   7:15 (was only .94 miles).

Finished with strides and some crunches and push ups.

Foot killing me but that's just life.

Got home and whipped up a pot of chicken tortilla soup.  Sorry Rachel Ray, you ain't the only one who can whip a healthy and delicious meal in 30 min.

Free Run

Here's my definition of a "free"run.  No Garmin, no ipod.  Just me and my dog.  Used my watch but didn't look at it.  Ran 5 miles very easy and worked on bio mechanics.  Noticed that when my arms are too much in front of me, so are my legs.  Move my arms back and my legs go back too.  Practiced going from easy, easy pace to strides by just leaning forward and keeping my legs behind me.  Effortless.  I was very tired today and slept way too much...no motivation to do anything when I got up but after doing nothing for an hour or so, I went and spent a couple hours of quality time with my horse (that means, to him, no riding!) brushing him, taking care of his feet, and giving him treats.  After I got the horses  fed, I got the dog and did my very relaxed 5 miler.  I haven't run with her in ages.  I am impressed at how easy it was for her - the cooler weather helps a lot. Now I'm going to eat light and try to go back to sleep.

Sleepy right now.

Work has been extra tough lately so maybe I wasn't quite as rested as usual Tuesday.  I didn't run on Monday but instead spent an hour doing TP massage, stretching and doing my ankle strengthening exercises then rode horse Riley for 30 min.

Tuesday was supposed to be an easy workout with the PP group at the FarWest HEB with a little extra effort on the few big uphills we encountered.  I suck on hills and hopefully Karen will help me get better.  I ran with Jason and it seemed like he wasn't working very hard.  After we were done, I felt like I had been working way too hard.  Average pace for 6.60 miles was 8:07.

Worked on my biomechanics during the strides and I think I'm getting it.  At least I know what I'm doing wrong and now I just have to practice doing it right, over and over and over.

Looks like were going to have a team for the Silicon Lab relays this weekend.  I hope my team doesn't have any dreams about winning because I'm going to run the 1st leg and I'm not going to be running fast!!  Karen is just great...taking care of all the little details like entries/singlets etc.

Overall...things are looking good.  Weather is nice and cool, I'm down another pound, my foots doing OK, my legs are not hurting this morning!!

Nap time...zzzzzzzzz