Ah yes, a weak reference to a lame velvet underground song makes for great start to this post. Even though the menu for tuesday's workout wasn't so appealing (3000/2000/1000), the forecast for that day had me excited. There was an 80% of rain with temps only in the 80s.
Sure enough, at 4:30pm it was pouring down rain and I couldn't have been happier. But by the time I got to Runtex, it had stopped and there was a hint of blue sky on the horizon. That didn't seem promising. The sun coming out right after a downpour would really be the least desirable of outcomes. But sure enough, by the time we finished our drills at Zilker, the sun was shining brightly and you could see the steam rising off of the road. Any enthusiasm that might have been lingering for this workout pretty much disappeared that point.
My new goal was just to try to finish all the repeats: 1x3000m, 1x2000m, 3x1000m. I took it nice and easy on the 3000, and felt reasonably comfortable and finished strong. 12:32. The 2000 was a little faster but nothing to get too excited about: 8:02.
My legs were already tired, but I still wanted to at least make a decent effort on the 1000s. We all took our time walking/jogging across the soccer fields to the starting point and on the first one, the group I was with did the first half really really easy and turned it on as we rounded the corner and went into the second 500. Despite a decent effort to finish strong, my time was 4:02, which I wasn't overly enthused about. The next two were much better: 3:48, 3:45, which isn't too far off of my pace from the old days. That last one took pretty much everything I had though, and I'm not sure I could have shaved much time off no matter how motivated I was feeling.
The good gossip from the workout was that Gilbert guaranteed Mario that G's time in The Human Race (tm) would be 12 minutes faster M's. Alright, it's on! I figure that means Gilbert's going to have to come in around 30-31 minutes or so, which could be tough on a hilly course in the heat.
I missed the thursday track workout, so I decided to try to run a couple fast miles this morning. Unfortunately, I got a late start and only had time for 4.5 miles. The 3 miles I timed were 7:40, 6:50, 7:28. Not great, but not bad.
Later in the day, I had a little free time, so I ran 4 easy miles on the greenbelt. My first two-a-day ever!
Doing two runs with one on ttalbl and the other on the greenbelt provided a really easy comparison of those two locales, and not surprisingly I found ttalbl much more tedious. The variety on the trail just seems to help time pass a lot more quickly.
I'll miss saturday's long run, but hopefully I'll get to do my usual 10 on sunday morning. I'm optimistic once again that I can continue to improve and get back down under a 7:40 pace.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
chronicle of the last week's running escapades
DV always says he doesn't want his blog to just be a running log, but I have no such reservations. So here goes.
I missed the Saturday long run on August 9, so I was forced to run on Sunday. After a not-totally-sucky performance in the previous Thursday's tempo run, I was actually pretty optimistic that I might surprise myself again. I set out to do the usual 10 miler a little earlier than usual (around 6 I think) since I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. Near end of the first mile, I started wondering if I maybe I was going out too fast. Then I consulted my watch and saw that my pace for the first mile was 8:40. Hmm, I guess it wasn't going to be such a good run after all. Anyway, I felt sluggish until around mile 7. Somehow I had worked my way down to a 7:40 pace, and then a couple of guys jumped on the trail at the First St and Lamar Bridges who were running a little faster and gave me someone to pace off of. I ended up running the next two miles at something like 7:15, I think, before easing up the last mile and jogging to Barton Springs . Overall, I did 10 miles in , like, 1:19, which might as well be an 8:00/mile pace. Not very impressive.
Tuesday I made it to another gazelle workout. Too bad it was Wilke. It was exciting to see Gilbert and Jean-Marie barrelling up the hill, but not so exciting that it encouraged me to do more repeats. In fact, I only did 6. I have to say, however, that my form was impeccable on those 6.
Wednesday was another PBJ run on the greenbelt. We left from the Spyglass entrance to accommodate Pat's lack of a car. This was a painful run. Apparently Wilke had sucked the life out of my legs because the entire return leg I kept wanting to stop and lay down. Then I'd feel bad for wanting to quit. It was a vicious cycle of self-pity. It didn't leave me feeling too excited about Thursday's scheduled workout of 800s.
As I was driving to Thursday's workout (my third straight gazelles workout!), my car's thermometer said 109 degrees. Granted, it's always a little high, but I've never seen it read that high. I usually expect whatever workout follows Wilke to suck, but apparently, the Wednesday recovery run actually helped me recover. My legs might have felt a tad bit tired, but it was nothing like the lifelessness I usually encounter post-Wilke. Due to the heat, Gilbert was being kind when instructing us on the pace we should targeting. He told me to run at 3:15, which even I thought was a little slow, but was not going to complain about. I had the honor of running with budding gazelle celebrity, Bob Newell, who was a pretty good partner for the day. We dropped down to 3:10 for the second, and then seemed to settle at about a 3:08 pace. I surprised myself by somehow managing to run 2:53 on the 8th one. Heck, I was surprised to even run 8, so while I would have liked to have been a little faster, I can't really complain. It was hot, and eventually I'll get some of my speed back. I hope.
On account of my not-totally-sucky performance on Thursday, I once again felt a little optimistic about my weekly 10 miler. This time I made sure to get some sleep, and maybe it helped, but it was definitely much better than the previous week. Splits: 8:30, 8:08, 7:53, 7:43, 7:34, water break, 7:42, 7:32, 7:22, 7:24, 7:20. That works out to just over a 7:40 pace. I'll definitely take that. Plus, instead of trudging through the last couple of miles, I actually felt very comfortable.
I went for a brief lunchtime run today, mostly so I could be someplace other than at work for a little bit, and to be out in the rain. I can't remember the last time I got to run in the rain, so that made the whole thing kind of novel.
Tomorrow's workout is 3000/2000/1000 intervals, which I normally would be full of dread over, but it's supposed to continue to be cooler and hopefully will be raining, so I'm actually looking forward to it. Let's hope the slow but steady improvement continues.
I missed the Saturday long run on August 9, so I was forced to run on Sunday. After a not-totally-sucky performance in the previous Thursday's tempo run, I was actually pretty optimistic that I might surprise myself again. I set out to do the usual 10 miler a little earlier than usual (around 6 I think) since I woke up early and couldn't fall back to sleep. Near end of the first mile, I started wondering if I maybe I was going out too fast. Then I consulted my watch and saw that my pace for the first mile was 8:40. Hmm, I guess it wasn't going to be such a good run after all. Anyway, I felt sluggish until around mile 7. Somehow I had worked my way down to a 7:40 pace, and then a couple of guys jumped on the trail at the First St and Lamar Bridges who were running a little faster and gave me someone to pace off of. I ended up running the next two miles at something like 7:15, I think, before easing up the last mile and jogging to Barton Springs . Overall, I did 10 miles in , like, 1:19, which might as well be an 8:00/mile pace. Not very impressive.
Tuesday I made it to another gazelle workout. Too bad it was Wilke. It was exciting to see Gilbert and Jean-Marie barrelling up the hill, but not so exciting that it encouraged me to do more repeats. In fact, I only did 6. I have to say, however, that my form was impeccable on those 6.
Wednesday was another PBJ run on the greenbelt. We left from the Spyglass entrance to accommodate Pat's lack of a car. This was a painful run. Apparently Wilke had sucked the life out of my legs because the entire return leg I kept wanting to stop and lay down. Then I'd feel bad for wanting to quit. It was a vicious cycle of self-pity. It didn't leave me feeling too excited about Thursday's scheduled workout of 800s.
As I was driving to Thursday's workout (my third straight gazelles workout!), my car's thermometer said 109 degrees. Granted, it's always a little high, but I've never seen it read that high. I usually expect whatever workout follows Wilke to suck, but apparently, the Wednesday recovery run actually helped me recover. My legs might have felt a tad bit tired, but it was nothing like the lifelessness I usually encounter post-Wilke. Due to the heat, Gilbert was being kind when instructing us on the pace we should targeting. He told me to run at 3:15, which even I thought was a little slow, but was not going to complain about. I had the honor of running with budding gazelle celebrity, Bob Newell, who was a pretty good partner for the day. We dropped down to 3:10 for the second, and then seemed to settle at about a 3:08 pace. I surprised myself by somehow managing to run 2:53 on the 8th one. Heck, I was surprised to even run 8, so while I would have liked to have been a little faster, I can't really complain. It was hot, and eventually I'll get some of my speed back. I hope.
On account of my not-totally-sucky performance on Thursday, I once again felt a little optimistic about my weekly 10 miler. This time I made sure to get some sleep, and maybe it helped, but it was definitely much better than the previous week. Splits: 8:30, 8:08, 7:53, 7:43, 7:34, water break, 7:42, 7:32, 7:22, 7:24, 7:20. That works out to just over a 7:40 pace. I'll definitely take that. Plus, instead of trudging through the last couple of miles, I actually felt very comfortable.
I went for a brief lunchtime run today, mostly so I could be someplace other than at work for a little bit, and to be out in the rain. I can't remember the last time I got to run in the rain, so that made the whole thing kind of novel.
Tomorrow's workout is 3000/2000/1000 intervals, which I normally would be full of dread over, but it's supposed to continue to be cooler and hopefully will be raining, so I'm actually looking forward to it. Let's hope the slow but steady improvement continues.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
tempo run at 99 degrees
Ah, yes, nothing like skipping gazelles workouts for weeks and then finally deciding to come back on the day tempo run is scheduled. Compound that with some hot, sunny and dusty conditions (99 degrees according the readings at weather underground), and before even starting you've got some great excuses for underperforming. There was actually a time when DV would say he enjoyed tempo runs and I wouldn't think he was crazy, maybe even agree a little. However, today was one those days where I might think, nah, he's just loopy.
Turn out was pretty good considering the conditions and the scheduled workout. And really, the weather could have been much worse --- the humidity at that hour was less than 30%, which made things a little dusty, but not so bad that you had dust caked on to your sticky sweaty body afterward (which has happened before). Also, there was just a touch of wind --- enough to keep you comfortable-ish, at least in the shade.
Pre-race, err..., pre-run goals were to try to get close to 7:00/mile. I though 7:10 might be realistic considering the heat, my lack of fitness, and the immensely disappointing time of my last tempo run (3 miles, 21:40). I shared these goals with John Colyandro and we planned to try to run together. (He's feeling a little out of shape these days as well.)
I successfully managed to not get caught up in the frenzy at the start and ran a safe 7:09. I continued to feel pretty comfortable for the next two miles: 6:59, 7:05. (I can't explain why that third mile was so much slower, and trust me, I've given it a decent amount of thought.) For the final mile, I was running alone. I was attempting to pick it up a little, but as I looked at my quarter mile splits, my pace was a not-so-impressive 6:59. Hmm. I certainly felt like I was working harder. Anyway, most of the last mile was an exercise in reminding myself that I only had a few more minutes to go. Somehow at about 600m I caught Michelle. She had been fading a little over the last mile and, well, it was just a weird experience. It's never happened before and it will probably never happen again. I expected her to pick it up and we'd torture each other by pacing one another the rest of the way, but instead she just offered some encouragement and let me pass. At the last 1/4 mile mark it was still looking like 6:59, maybe 6:58, but I guess I finally sped up for the home stretch and finished the last mile at 6:50. Total time was 28:03. Heck, that's pretty decent. Even an unapologetic glass-half-empty guy like me would have a hard time being too displeased with that performance. Oh yeah, plus I finished ahead of the reigning distance challenge winner.
Pat and I ran at lunch yesterday, from 360 out to sculpture falls and back. Nothing notable about the run (unless Pat not falling/not running into anything is notable) except that we saw a rat snake constricting a poor field mouse. I felt like we should have done something, and told Pat that if I saw a snake eating rodents in my yard, I'd be probably happy with that, but somehow seeing it out in the greenbelt where that field mouse wasn't bothering anyone upset me slightly. Anyway, there's something you wouldn't see on ttalbl.
I've resolved to get some trail running shoes since my asics just aren't rigid enough in the forefoot. If anyone has some suggestions, that would be appreciated. I currently wear mizuno wave riders (track/trail) and asics nimbus (pavement). I want something that feels like a running shoe, just a little beefier on the sole.
Turn out was pretty good considering the conditions and the scheduled workout. And really, the weather could have been much worse --- the humidity at that hour was less than 30%, which made things a little dusty, but not so bad that you had dust caked on to your sticky sweaty body afterward (which has happened before). Also, there was just a touch of wind --- enough to keep you comfortable-ish, at least in the shade.
Pre-race, err..., pre-run goals were to try to get close to 7:00/mile. I though 7:10 might be realistic considering the heat, my lack of fitness, and the immensely disappointing time of my last tempo run (3 miles, 21:40). I shared these goals with John Colyandro and we planned to try to run together. (He's feeling a little out of shape these days as well.)
I successfully managed to not get caught up in the frenzy at the start and ran a safe 7:09. I continued to feel pretty comfortable for the next two miles: 6:59, 7:05. (I can't explain why that third mile was so much slower, and trust me, I've given it a decent amount of thought.) For the final mile, I was running alone. I was attempting to pick it up a little, but as I looked at my quarter mile splits, my pace was a not-so-impressive 6:59. Hmm. I certainly felt like I was working harder. Anyway, most of the last mile was an exercise in reminding myself that I only had a few more minutes to go. Somehow at about 600m I caught Michelle. She had been fading a little over the last mile and, well, it was just a weird experience. It's never happened before and it will probably never happen again. I expected her to pick it up and we'd torture each other by pacing one another the rest of the way, but instead she just offered some encouragement and let me pass. At the last 1/4 mile mark it was still looking like 6:59, maybe 6:58, but I guess I finally sped up for the home stretch and finished the last mile at 6:50. Total time was 28:03. Heck, that's pretty decent. Even an unapologetic glass-half-empty guy like me would have a hard time being too displeased with that performance. Oh yeah, plus I finished ahead of the reigning distance challenge winner.
Pat and I ran at lunch yesterday, from 360 out to sculpture falls and back. Nothing notable about the run (unless Pat not falling/not running into anything is notable) except that we saw a rat snake constricting a poor field mouse. I felt like we should have done something, and told Pat that if I saw a snake eating rodents in my yard, I'd be probably happy with that, but somehow seeing it out in the greenbelt where that field mouse wasn't bothering anyone upset me slightly. Anyway, there's something you wouldn't see on ttalbl.
I've resolved to get some trail running shoes since my asics just aren't rigid enough in the forefoot. If anyone has some suggestions, that would be appreciated. I currently wear mizuno wave riders (track/trail) and asics nimbus (pavement). I want something that feels like a running shoe, just a little beefier on the sole.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
forward and back
The New York Times recently had a link to the men's 10k from the 2000 Olympics. I'm sure back in 2000 I couldn't have cared less, but now it seems so compelling. Check it out, it's got a great finish. And don't feel too bad for Paul Tergat, he's played the role of heartbreaker as well as Hendrick Ramaala can atest.
Maybe it's because the rest of the world has better things to do with their Saturday evenings, but it was oddly empty on the The Trail At Lady Bird Lake (henceforth referred to ttalbl) this evening. Due to miscellaneous life stuff, running opportunities have been thin as of late, so I jumped at the opportunity to get a run in at 7:30 this evening. I was originally hoping to run out to sculpture falls on the greenbelt, but that would have required me stashing some fluids out near mopac, so I figured it was late enough that ttalbl would probably would mostly shady. I parked at robert e lee and decided to run out to the east side for 8 miles rather than doing the 7 mile loop. It was immediately obvious that no one runs at this hour on Saturdays. Between the mile 1 marker and 1/2 mile marker I saw exactly 1 other runner. Then the floodgates opened and I saw 8 before mile 0. I saw 2 more runners before I-35 and then a total of 5 on the east side. I stopped counting after that since it was getting dark, so the absence of runners didn't seem as surprising.
The run itself was so-so. I stayed right around 8:00/mile for pretty much the whole run. It was hot, and I was tired from a couple of sleepless nights, so I was mostly happy just to finish. It would have been nice to have had some daylight when I finished so I could have jumped in the overflow at barton springs, but instead I just headed home.
So to catch up a little, we went to Boston to visit friends and family from July 14 - 21. It was the first (and possibly the last) trip with el beskrownito. He did great on the plane, but trying to mix in a full itinerary of visits with his sleeping and feeding routine was challenging and exhausting. By the end of the trip, we were telling people "sure we want to see you, but if you want to hang out, you have to come to us."
Despite staying at places that had good running options nearby, I didn't get to run once the entire trip. Sigh... Which was a bummer because I really felt like I had been building up some momentum leading up to the trip. The week before leaving, I had run 6 out of 7 days and put in over 40 miles which, and I know this will seem pathetic to many gazelles, was the first time I'd ever done that. I felt like I was getting some strength and maybe even a little speed back.
Then came the trip, and in the two weeks since returning from the trip, I've run a total of 4 times.
OK, enough with the self pity. The plan for the future is try to get in an many lunch time runs as possible. Since it's so freaking hot, this will probably mean running on the greenbelt. A lot. This has it's benefits. I can essentially walk out the door of my office and walk across the parking lot to the 360 entrance, and the run to sculpture falls and back is a pleasant 5.5 miles. I've really grown to enjoy this quiet and shady run. There's no water (like ttalbl), but there's spring right by sculpture falls with some cool water you can splash on your back, and because of the nature of running on a trail, it's a pretty damn good workout.
I'll still go to as many gazelles workouts as possible (as long as they're not the 3-2-1 fartlecks), but realistically, that's going to be tough for the near future.
I guess now that I've posted in August, I can wait until September to post another update.
Maybe it's because the rest of the world has better things to do with their Saturday evenings, but it was oddly empty on the The Trail At Lady Bird Lake (henceforth referred to ttalbl) this evening. Due to miscellaneous life stuff, running opportunities have been thin as of late, so I jumped at the opportunity to get a run in at 7:30 this evening. I was originally hoping to run out to sculpture falls on the greenbelt, but that would have required me stashing some fluids out near mopac, so I figured it was late enough that ttalbl would probably would mostly shady. I parked at robert e lee and decided to run out to the east side for 8 miles rather than doing the 7 mile loop. It was immediately obvious that no one runs at this hour on Saturdays. Between the mile 1 marker and 1/2 mile marker I saw exactly 1 other runner. Then the floodgates opened and I saw 8 before mile 0. I saw 2 more runners before I-35 and then a total of 5 on the east side. I stopped counting after that since it was getting dark, so the absence of runners didn't seem as surprising.
The run itself was so-so. I stayed right around 8:00/mile for pretty much the whole run. It was hot, and I was tired from a couple of sleepless nights, so I was mostly happy just to finish. It would have been nice to have had some daylight when I finished so I could have jumped in the overflow at barton springs, but instead I just headed home.
So to catch up a little, we went to Boston to visit friends and family from July 14 - 21. It was the first (and possibly the last) trip with el beskrownito. He did great on the plane, but trying to mix in a full itinerary of visits with his sleeping and feeding routine was challenging and exhausting. By the end of the trip, we were telling people "sure we want to see you, but if you want to hang out, you have to come to us."
Despite staying at places that had good running options nearby, I didn't get to run once the entire trip. Sigh... Which was a bummer because I really felt like I had been building up some momentum leading up to the trip. The week before leaving, I had run 6 out of 7 days and put in over 40 miles which, and I know this will seem pathetic to many gazelles, was the first time I'd ever done that. I felt like I was getting some strength and maybe even a little speed back.
Then came the trip, and in the two weeks since returning from the trip, I've run a total of 4 times.
OK, enough with the self pity. The plan for the future is try to get in an many lunch time runs as possible. Since it's so freaking hot, this will probably mean running on the greenbelt. A lot. This has it's benefits. I can essentially walk out the door of my office and walk across the parking lot to the 360 entrance, and the run to sculpture falls and back is a pleasant 5.5 miles. I've really grown to enjoy this quiet and shady run. There's no water (like ttalbl), but there's spring right by sculpture falls with some cool water you can splash on your back, and because of the nature of running on a trail, it's a pretty damn good workout.
I'll still go to as many gazelles workouts as possible (as long as they're not the 3-2-1 fartlecks), but realistically, that's going to be tough for the near future.
I guess now that I've posted in August, I can wait until September to post another update.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
It was not a bad week running-wise. Tuesday when I showed up for the gazelle workout it was ridiculously hot, and there was almost not breeze. The plan was to run to Austin High, do 3000m for warm up, and then a bunch of core exercises. I decided I wasn't tough enough to run all those laps on the burning hot, complete unshaded track, so I opted to take the long way around. The trail was pretty deserted (I've got to believe due to the heat), but it was still dusty thanks to the lack of rain. Whenever the occasional bicyclist rode by, you wished you had something to cover your mouth.
Once I arrived at Austin High, I did one lap and it was as miserable as I thought it would be. Maybe I wasn't just happy to be there. In fact, running on ridiculously hot days like that day (~100 degrees) really makes me question my sanity. Anyway, Gilbert decided it was too hot to stay at the track, so we ran back to Runtex and did our core work there. Thanks Gilbert! I ran back the long way as well figuring I needed a little more mileage than I'd been putting in, and was surprised at how hard it was.
Wednesday at lunch DV and I ran about 5 miles on the greenbelt, from 360 to sculpture falls and back. I tried to pre-hydrate that morning at work, but I still felt tapped from the heat. Neverthelss, it was a nice run... no scary spider webs this time. Despite all the time I've been putting in on the trail, I'm still finding it tough on the quads.
I missed Thursday's workout because I was stuck at work, so that brings me to this morning. I was hoping to run on the greenbelt trail again, but no one seemed game, so I figured I'd try to get up at 5:45 to run with Pat. Seriously, that's earlier than anyone needs to be up, but I figured with the earlier start I'd be able to get home and get in a nap and start my day at around 10 if I didn't piddle around too much. See? Sometimes I can be a glass-half-full guy...
So I met Pat at Barton Springs (who was waiting with a couple of Dans) at just after 5:45 (I'm never on time that early in the morning) and was rewarded for my effort with temps in the low 70's. Woo-hoo! We ran to RunTex to meet the rest of the Gazelles group which, by the way, was GIGANTIC this morning. Someone had made cute little pace group signs, which was a great idea.
Once we all took off, it was mob scene. It was literally like the start of a race with so many people leaving at once. I was going to try to run an enhanced 10-mile loop with Pat, which would have ended up being 12-14 miles with the additional mileage added on by going under the dam and looping back, but ended up doing the standard 10-mile loop. I was happy with that, since it had been long time since I had done 10 miles. My mile splits were pretty good too. I didn't get the first couple of miles, but I know they were very slow. After mile 3: 8:11, 7:39, 7:36, 7:43, 7:27, 7:13, 7:26. Relative to my pace in recent runs, those splits are smokin! It should be noted, however, that there were a lot of breaks: stop at RunTex after the first mile to meet with the Gazelles, stop at bathroom at mile 5 and also get water and gu, stop at gazelle water stop at mile 6. All of those breaks were pretty long, especially that last one since DV ran up while I was drinking and chatted a bit, and then Shannon (who looks awesome and awfully comfortable so late in her pregnancy) ran up as DV was going away, which just meant more socializing, less running. Maybe all the stops put me in a good mood, because I didn't have as many of the usual feelings of utter despair as I got deeper into the run. I'm hoping to have more runs about this pace this summer, but I'm not going to bet on it.
Oh yeah, Barton Springs afterward - of course.
The other big running-related news for the week is that I'm the proud owner of 4 new pairs of shoes. This inundation of running merchandise somehow provided me with a little more motivation this week. The new arrivals were two pairs of mizuno wave rider 10s (in hideous white and red, $55/pair from runningwarehouse.com), and two pairs of asics nimbus 9s (in not-too-atrocious silver and blue, $80/pair from runbargains.com). They were discounted because there are newer versions of each shoe, but they were such good deals, I'm wondering if I should get more. (Normal prices: $90 for the mizunos, $120 for the asics)
On the home front, el beskrownito has been sleeping especially well this week (I'm sure I just jinxed myself for tonight), which we're hoping he'll carry forward into the the second quarter of his first year (he's 3 months old today).
Finally, ugh, the Euro Cup is killing me. The first three games in the quarter finals have been upsets, and genuinely surprising upsets at that. (Well, maybe not the Germany win as you can never count them out.) I'm most distraught about the Dutch loss to the Russians today. To say the Dutch had been playing awesome might be understatement, but they met a young and unintimidated Russian team that played very clever soccer, and lost in overtime. Just to add insult to the whole event, I missed the second half and overtime because our power had gone out during a random but extremely intense afternoon thunderstorm. At this point, I'm feeling some apprehension that Italy will find a way past Spain tomorrow and end up winning the whole thing. Ugh, that's such a depressing though that it almost overcomes that satisfaction that I'm still feeling from this morning's run.
Once I arrived at Austin High, I did one lap and it was as miserable as I thought it would be. Maybe I wasn't just happy to be there. In fact, running on ridiculously hot days like that day (~100 degrees) really makes me question my sanity. Anyway, Gilbert decided it was too hot to stay at the track, so we ran back to Runtex and did our core work there. Thanks Gilbert! I ran back the long way as well figuring I needed a little more mileage than I'd been putting in, and was surprised at how hard it was.
Wednesday at lunch DV and I ran about 5 miles on the greenbelt, from 360 to sculpture falls and back. I tried to pre-hydrate that morning at work, but I still felt tapped from the heat. Neverthelss, it was a nice run... no scary spider webs this time. Despite all the time I've been putting in on the trail, I'm still finding it tough on the quads.
I missed Thursday's workout because I was stuck at work, so that brings me to this morning. I was hoping to run on the greenbelt trail again, but no one seemed game, so I figured I'd try to get up at 5:45 to run with Pat. Seriously, that's earlier than anyone needs to be up, but I figured with the earlier start I'd be able to get home and get in a nap and start my day at around 10 if I didn't piddle around too much. See? Sometimes I can be a glass-half-full guy...
So I met Pat at Barton Springs (who was waiting with a couple of Dans) at just after 5:45 (I'm never on time that early in the morning) and was rewarded for my effort with temps in the low 70's. Woo-hoo! We ran to RunTex to meet the rest of the Gazelles group which, by the way, was GIGANTIC this morning. Someone had made cute little pace group signs, which was a great idea.
Once we all took off, it was mob scene. It was literally like the start of a race with so many people leaving at once. I was going to try to run an enhanced 10-mile loop with Pat, which would have ended up being 12-14 miles with the additional mileage added on by going under the dam and looping back, but ended up doing the standard 10-mile loop. I was happy with that, since it had been long time since I had done 10 miles. My mile splits were pretty good too. I didn't get the first couple of miles, but I know they were very slow. After mile 3: 8:11, 7:39, 7:36, 7:43, 7:27, 7:13, 7:26. Relative to my pace in recent runs, those splits are smokin! It should be noted, however, that there were a lot of breaks: stop at RunTex after the first mile to meet with the Gazelles, stop at bathroom at mile 5 and also get water and gu, stop at gazelle water stop at mile 6. All of those breaks were pretty long, especially that last one since DV ran up while I was drinking and chatted a bit, and then Shannon (who looks awesome and awfully comfortable so late in her pregnancy) ran up as DV was going away, which just meant more socializing, less running. Maybe all the stops put me in a good mood, because I didn't have as many of the usual feelings of utter despair as I got deeper into the run. I'm hoping to have more runs about this pace this summer, but I'm not going to bet on it.
Oh yeah, Barton Springs afterward - of course.
The other big running-related news for the week is that I'm the proud owner of 4 new pairs of shoes. This inundation of running merchandise somehow provided me with a little more motivation this week. The new arrivals were two pairs of mizuno wave rider 10s (in hideous white and red, $55/pair from runningwarehouse.com), and two pairs of asics nimbus 9s (in not-too-atrocious silver and blue, $80/pair from runbargains.com). They were discounted because there are newer versions of each shoe, but they were such good deals, I'm wondering if I should get more. (Normal prices: $90 for the mizunos, $120 for the asics)
On the home front, el beskrownito has been sleeping especially well this week (I'm sure I just jinxed myself for tonight), which we're hoping he'll carry forward into the the second quarter of his first year (he's 3 months old today).
Finally, ugh, the Euro Cup is killing me. The first three games in the quarter finals have been upsets, and genuinely surprising upsets at that. (Well, maybe not the Germany win as you can never count them out.) I'm most distraught about the Dutch loss to the Russians today. To say the Dutch had been playing awesome might be understatement, but they met a young and unintimidated Russian team that played very clever soccer, and lost in overtime. Just to add insult to the whole event, I missed the second half and overtime because our power had gone out during a random but extremely intense afternoon thunderstorm. At this point, I'm feeling some apprehension that Italy will find a way past Spain tomorrow and end up winning the whole thing. Ugh, that's such a depressing though that it almost overcomes that satisfaction that I'm still feeling from this morning's run.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
just happy to be here
It's been over two months since I last updated this blog, so why the sudden burst of motivation to finally write a new post? Well, the amount of shame I feel every time my last entry from the beginning of April shows up on the Gazelle home page keeps increasing, but also things have settled down a little recently. Sure, my schedule with the new child is still non-determistic at times, but Meghal is working occasionally now, and Alayna (our nanny) is helping on regular basis. This has allowed to at least think that I might be able to run on with some regularity. Also, after a similarly long break, Michelle updated her blog and I feel like that makes me look bad. (Apparently the Maton-ettes are playing with skunks these days.)
So about the running... A couple of two week periods where I've done absolutely no running finally ended up costing me a lot of fitness. For example, I showed up to a tempo run a week and half ago after not showing up for the previous two weeks' worth of workouts. My time was 21:40. I'm pretty sure that's only 20 seconds better than the very first tempo run I ever did with the Gazelles. (By the way, DV was present at that tempo run, and I think he ran exactly 21:00.) I went in saying I would be happy with a 7 minute/mile pace, but after finishing I backtracked and claimed what I really meant was that I'd be happy if I ran a single mile at 7 minutes or less. (My last mile was 6:50-something.) It certainly crossed my mind that a couple of months ago I probably would have run around 6:30/mile or so, but the self-pity didn't stick with me for too long. I've accepted by this point that I'm going to have work to get back to where I was, and (like the title of this post says) I'm just happy to be able to focus on running again. I actually feel somewhat excited about running, which hasn't happened in a while. And this is especially surprising considering this is such a miserable time of year to be running. Not only has it been hot, but it's been windy and dry, making for stifling, dusty conditions.
While I'm still missing a lot of Gazelles workouts, I'm trying to run when I can out on the Barton Greenbelt. There's a lot of advantages to this. First, it's a block away from our house, and the 360 entrance is literally connected to the parking lot of my office. Also, it's shady, meaning I can run mid-day, and the scenery is a little more interesting than running on Lady Bird Lake. Sometimes you get to distract yourself by thinking about things like, "what exactly is running in brush right next to me?" The main downside is that there are no water stops. The pace is always a little slower on account of having to watch out of ankle-tweaking rocks and tree roots, but it's an excellent workout because you're always having to lift your knees and my legs are often spent afterward.
This past weekend, I managed to work the greenbelt into my long run as well. Paul (aka Pablo Rey) agreed to meet me at Barton Springs and we ran out to just before Mopac and circled back. I had stashed some Gatorades near the 360 entrance to make sure we were hydrated enough to make it back. It was pretty uneventful except for "the web incident". When you run in the mornings on the greenbelt, you often find yourself running through strands of webs that have been spun across the trail overnight. In general it's just an annoyance. However, on this particular morning, I was watching the ground for ankle-tweaking obstacles and ran right through a large web which contained, I noticed at the last moment, what appeared to be a large spider in the middle. I reacted by yelping, falling on the ground, and frantically wiping at my head and shoulders in case there was a large scary spider on me. Paul gave me the all clear (he gave me the impression the spider stayed with the web), and I eventually calmed myself down and we resumed our run. I did make sure to be a little more careful about watching where I was going the rest of the way.
We finished our run at the Barton Springs parking lot, and it wasn't 9:00 yet, so hmm... how convenient, let's jump into the pool. (Barton Springs is free before 9:00 for those that don't know.) Is there a better way to finish a run? I think not. I was in such a chipper mood I jumped off the diving board a couple of times. I was diver in high school --- good enough to make it to the state meet, but not good enough to actually be competitive at that level. Anyway, I'm apparently very rusty because I did a one and half and was surprised at how utterly disoriented I was in the air.
I can't help but mention the European Cup. I've decided the European Cup is more compelling than the World Cup. First, all the teams are pretty good, which you can't say about the World Cup. (I mean, England didn't even qualify for the competition.) But the main thing is that it's all so localized, there there are real rivalries and the supporters are able to attend their country's games creating a really frenzied atmosphere. You can sense the passion involved when you watch the games. Anyway, how about those freaking Dutch? You've got to wonder what became of the formerly dominant French and Italians teams. I mean, I'm never sorry to see the Italians lose, but I certainly wouldn't have expected them to get spanked the way they did by the Netherlands. And France, they received an even worse beating.
And did anyone catch the Turkey-Czech Republic game today? I missed the exciting part (i.e., I watched the first 75 minutes). In the last 15 minutes, Turkey scored 3 times to come back from a 2-0 deficit. Or so I hear.
Anyway, now I'm babbling. I should save some energy for a future post.
So about the running... A couple of two week periods where I've done absolutely no running finally ended up costing me a lot of fitness. For example, I showed up to a tempo run a week and half ago after not showing up for the previous two weeks' worth of workouts. My time was 21:40. I'm pretty sure that's only 20 seconds better than the very first tempo run I ever did with the Gazelles. (By the way, DV was present at that tempo run, and I think he ran exactly 21:00.) I went in saying I would be happy with a 7 minute/mile pace, but after finishing I backtracked and claimed what I really meant was that I'd be happy if I ran a single mile at 7 minutes or less. (My last mile was 6:50-something.) It certainly crossed my mind that a couple of months ago I probably would have run around 6:30/mile or so, but the self-pity didn't stick with me for too long. I've accepted by this point that I'm going to have work to get back to where I was, and (like the title of this post says) I'm just happy to be able to focus on running again. I actually feel somewhat excited about running, which hasn't happened in a while. And this is especially surprising considering this is such a miserable time of year to be running. Not only has it been hot, but it's been windy and dry, making for stifling, dusty conditions.
While I'm still missing a lot of Gazelles workouts, I'm trying to run when I can out on the Barton Greenbelt. There's a lot of advantages to this. First, it's a block away from our house, and the 360 entrance is literally connected to the parking lot of my office. Also, it's shady, meaning I can run mid-day, and the scenery is a little more interesting than running on Lady Bird Lake. Sometimes you get to distract yourself by thinking about things like, "what exactly is running in brush right next to me?" The main downside is that there are no water stops. The pace is always a little slower on account of having to watch out of ankle-tweaking rocks and tree roots, but it's an excellent workout because you're always having to lift your knees and my legs are often spent afterward.
This past weekend, I managed to work the greenbelt into my long run as well. Paul (aka Pablo Rey) agreed to meet me at Barton Springs and we ran out to just before Mopac and circled back. I had stashed some Gatorades near the 360 entrance to make sure we were hydrated enough to make it back. It was pretty uneventful except for "the web incident". When you run in the mornings on the greenbelt, you often find yourself running through strands of webs that have been spun across the trail overnight. In general it's just an annoyance. However, on this particular morning, I was watching the ground for ankle-tweaking obstacles and ran right through a large web which contained, I noticed at the last moment, what appeared to be a large spider in the middle. I reacted by yelping, falling on the ground, and frantically wiping at my head and shoulders in case there was a large scary spider on me. Paul gave me the all clear (he gave me the impression the spider stayed with the web), and I eventually calmed myself down and we resumed our run. I did make sure to be a little more careful about watching where I was going the rest of the way.
We finished our run at the Barton Springs parking lot, and it wasn't 9:00 yet, so hmm... how convenient, let's jump into the pool. (Barton Springs is free before 9:00 for those that don't know.) Is there a better way to finish a run? I think not. I was in such a chipper mood I jumped off the diving board a couple of times. I was diver in high school --- good enough to make it to the state meet, but not good enough to actually be competitive at that level. Anyway, I'm apparently very rusty because I did a one and half and was surprised at how utterly disoriented I was in the air.
I can't help but mention the European Cup. I've decided the European Cup is more compelling than the World Cup. First, all the teams are pretty good, which you can't say about the World Cup. (I mean, England didn't even qualify for the competition.) But the main thing is that it's all so localized, there there are real rivalries and the supporters are able to attend their country's games creating a really frenzied atmosphere. You can sense the passion involved when you watch the games. Anyway, how about those freaking Dutch? You've got to wonder what became of the formerly dominant French and Italians teams. I mean, I'm never sorry to see the Italians lose, but I certainly wouldn't have expected them to get spanked the way they did by the Netherlands. And France, they received an even worse beating.
And did anyone catch the Turkey-Czech Republic game today? I missed the exciting part (i.e., I watched the first 75 minutes). In the last 15 minutes, Turkey scored 3 times to come back from a 2-0 deficit. Or so I hear.
Anyway, now I'm babbling. I should save some energy for a future post.
Friday, April 4, 2008
pinch me
I actually got to participate in a Gazelles workout on Thursday. It was the first time I ran hard since the Daisy 5K, so I didn't have high hopes, but it was awfully nice to be back. The allergy issues are still lingering a little, but I didn't really notice them once I got warmed up.
All in all, it wasn't a bad workout... I did 6x1000s at a 3:45 average. I was a couple seconds slower on my first one, and couple seconds faster on my last one. A couple of weeks ago I would have at least made an effort to run with the fast group, but I was content not to overdo it this time. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have stuck with those guys anyway... I heard Kyle ran a sub-3:00 on his last one. My only complaint is that I had to run my last one alone.
It was good to see Gilbert too. If anyone sees him before he leaves, make to sure to wish him well in London.
I also managed to get out for a quick 30 minute run around the neighborhood on Tuesday. I live in Barton Hills, so I figured I'd incorporate both Spring Creek (aka, "secret hill") and Wilke into my route, just to make things interesting. However, on my way home, I started thinking I would skip Wilke because, you know, it's just not *that* fun. Then, as I approached the intersection, I saw that there was a different training group there. I'm not sure if it was rogue or texas iron or what, but I couldn't resist seeing how many people I could pass on the way up. Granted, they were doing repeats and I was just doing one, but I wasn't about to let that little technicality keep me from pumping up my ego. I think I passed 15-20 of them (it was a very large group), but I'm pretty sure the fast people in the group were coming down as I was going up. Later when Meghal and I were driving by there, I recounted the story for her. "You are *so* cool" she said very sarcastically. I sighed satisfyingly and said, "I know."
I just discovered that my manager Margaret, who recently started with the 5K/10K group, has discovered my blog. It's a little embarrassing, but it's not like I hadn't considered this possibility. Sadly, I guess that rules out any work-related tirades on these pages.
All in all, it wasn't a bad workout... I did 6x1000s at a 3:45 average. I was a couple seconds slower on my first one, and couple seconds faster on my last one. A couple of weeks ago I would have at least made an effort to run with the fast group, but I was content not to overdo it this time. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have stuck with those guys anyway... I heard Kyle ran a sub-3:00 on his last one. My only complaint is that I had to run my last one alone.
It was good to see Gilbert too. If anyone sees him before he leaves, make to sure to wish him well in London.
I also managed to get out for a quick 30 minute run around the neighborhood on Tuesday. I live in Barton Hills, so I figured I'd incorporate both Spring Creek (aka, "secret hill") and Wilke into my route, just to make things interesting. However, on my way home, I started thinking I would skip Wilke because, you know, it's just not *that* fun. Then, as I approached the intersection, I saw that there was a different training group there. I'm not sure if it was rogue or texas iron or what, but I couldn't resist seeing how many people I could pass on the way up. Granted, they were doing repeats and I was just doing one, but I wasn't about to let that little technicality keep me from pumping up my ego. I think I passed 15-20 of them (it was a very large group), but I'm pretty sure the fast people in the group were coming down as I was going up. Later when Meghal and I were driving by there, I recounted the story for her. "You are *so* cool" she said very sarcastically. I sighed satisfyingly and said, "I know."
I just discovered that my manager Margaret, who recently started with the 5K/10K group, has discovered my blog. It's a little embarrassing, but it's not like I hadn't considered this possibility. Sadly, I guess that rules out any work-related tirades on these pages.
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