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.
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