Run for Speed

A Lesson in Humility

2011-04-08T14:04:00.003-05:00

A few samples from http://www.quotegarden.com/humility.html

People that put themselves above others will fall longer and harder. ~Gina Lindley

Some people are born on third base and go through life thinking they hit a triple. ~Barry Switzer

If I only had a little humility, I would be perfect. ~Ted Turner

I'm concerned with my upper body strength, or more accurately, my LACK of upper body strength. On long runs my shoulders sag and ache. I'm sure it affects my speed because I can't pump my arms to maintain momentum. But mainly it wears on my mind. On a long run or marathon the last thing you need is yet another thing to make you feel miserable, so the lack of upper body strength probably hurts me most in the mental department.

Of course I could just do a few push-ups and yoga exercises right after I finish running, but who has time for five minutes of exercise after an hour+ of running? (Sarcasm.) The truth is that I'm too lazy to do anything other than run if I'm going to do "exercise". The deeper truth is probably that I don't like to do things in which I'm not good, and I'm certainly not good at anything that requires upper body strength.

So today I had what I thought might be a solution: a hybrid run/arm exercise regimen. I carried a 2.5 lb hand weight in each arm as I ran my normal 6+ mile route around the bayou. This is the point in this post where I tie into the title -- "Humility". Not only was it much hotter than recent days (85 degrees), I was running with tired legs thanks to two-a-days over the past two days and a hilly tour de bayou race yesterday evening. But I think the kicker was the weights. It's hard to say what portion of my excuses contributed to the higher heart rate and slower pace, but it was without a doubt my hardest "easy" run in many weeks. My heart rate hit the mid 150s late in the run, which is where I would like to be while running sub 7's as opposed to the 8+ I ran.

5.84 miles
48:33.75
8:18 pace
141 avg HR

I'm not going to abandon the weight idea, but I need to switch to some sort of weighted glove implement as opposed to clutching a mini barbell the entire way. My right hand "went to sleep" over the course of the run, indicating irritation to the nerve.

Cardiac Drift

2011-03-17T14:49:00.003-05:00

The human heart feels things the eyes cannot see, and knows what the mind cannot understand - Robert Valett

One way to measure fitness is to examine cardiac drift. I'll loosely define this as the tendency of the heart rate to increase as the length of the exercise session increases. If your heart rate doesn't change much over 10 miles then you're in great shape. If it steadily climbs to your maximum after only 5 miles then you may be able to improve your marathon performance by increasing your stamina.

The key to an accurate measurement of cardiac drift are these keys:
1) A sufficient warm-up
2) Consistency during the run (pace, hydration, temperature, elevation, etc.)
3) Distance of the test run

Today I ran 8 miles on the treadmill while I watched the first games of March Madness. I'll count my first two miles as a warm-up -- enough time to let my heart rate fall into a steady state. I kept the pace constant (7:41), the gym temperature didn't vary (although it was warm enough to leave me soaking wet with sweat). I kept the treadmill on a 1% incline the whole time. I did not drink anything over the entire hour run, which may negatively skew my results. Failure to replenish your fluids results in a higher heart rate in large part because the blood becomes more viscous, making it harder to pump. The heart increases the rate in order to maintain an adequate oxygen supply to the muscles.

As far as point 3 goes, I ran six miles after my warm-up. I've read studies that your drift should be under x% for distances of y miles in order to be in shape for races of z distance. I can't remember any of those variables, but I would think that a 6 miles cardiac drift test would be a good indicator of half marathon fitness.

This is how it played out, with each line representing an average heart rate for that mile:
7:41 pace throughout, 1% incline
124 BMP
132
135
139
141
143
144
145

I'm not really sure what to do with this, but for simplicity sake I'll subtract the average of mile 3-5 from the average of mile 6-8 to get about 6 beats per minute. if I take that number and divide it by the average of mile 3-8 then I get a 4% cardiac drift. If I factor in my resting heart rate (about 45?) then the drift is about 6%.

(144-138)/(141.167 - 45) = 5.67%

The thing is, I don't know if 4% is good, or if 6% is bad. And if I say that my warm up was four miles instead, then those numbers go down to 2% and 2.5%. And I also don't know the effect of not drinking during the run.

I guess the answer is not so much the absolute number so much as how these numbers change when/if I ever do this same exact test again.

The Power of Mathematics

2011-03-16T12:59:00.003-05:00

Life is the art of drawing sufficient conclusions from insufficient premises. –Samuel Butler

At one point in my life I thought I might want to be an actuary. I am a firm believer that mathematics can be used to explain (and predict) events. Take for instance the heart rate as it correlates to fitness and ultimately race performance.

Theoretically one could collect enough data in order to accurately predict a marathon time. Gather a history of the following training data: pace, course conditions (hills, wind, surface), distance, human conditions (health, fatigue, diet, weight, hydration, sleep, resting heart rate, running heart rate). Develop an equation or some artificial intelligence algorithms based on those factors, and then predict your race given the environment.

One key is to note that most models do much better "interpolating" results as opposed to "extrapolating" results. In other words, if all of the data input distances range between 6 miles and 13 miles then my model will best estimate times between those distances. If I use the model to predict a 20 mile race then I am extrapolating and it's likely to be less accurate. This applies not only to distance but also to heart rate and every other factor for that matter.

There's the rub. Since we so seldom work out at race pace, and never for race pace at race distances, the model will almost always be forced to extrapolate. Of course there are elegant mathematical methods to reduce this limitation, but they can only be so good. I think perhaps the biggest flaw in this approach is probably the general lack of data. If you ran every day for 100 years you probably wouldn't generate enough data to generate a comprehensive set that produced high r squared values. Which brings us to Mr. Butler's quote above. We all go through life making decisions aimed at returning the highest payout (however you choose to measure "payout"), with data sets far too small to be able to know definitively that our choice is correct. In short, we take risks based on our best knowledge. It's the same thing with our race predictions -- I'm going to pick a race goal pace at the beginning of the OKC marathon and hope I can hold on to it for 26 miles. It's risky, and I've almost always crashed in marathons, but I'm hoping this one will be different.

Of all those factors I mentioned above I tend to believe that the heart rate (both resting and running) is the most significant variable that drives predicted performance. To that extent I'm fairly happy with results like I recorded today.

8.29 miles, 1:04:48, 7:48 pace, 130 HR avg

In Sickness and in Health

2011-03-15T14:10:00.004-05:00

Health is not valued till sickness comes.
Thomas Fuller

I try to be keenly appreciative of my health. I consider it a blessing and a gift that I am nearing 40 with no major health issues yet.

That being said, I often fail in my attempt to offer thanks for my health until I find myself sick. Like today. Right now I'm not feeling 100%. I don't know if it's allergies or a virus, but my throat hurts and I'm generally achy. It's just a speed bump compared to more serious diseases, but if you ask my wife I'm sure she would tell you that I'm unbearable when I'm feeling this way.

So I looked forward to my lunchtime run for a different reason than normal today. I expected the achy feelings to ease after a warm-up and the heart rate to be generally higher at the same pace as non-sick runs. I wanted to analyze the correlation between sickness and heart rate during a run.

My hypothesis of a slower pace for the same HR followed through 3.5 miles -- an 8:03 pace at a HR of 135 BPM. And then something happened like a switch flipping, and I felt perfectly fine. I ran the next 4 miles at 7:41 with the same HR. I'm not sure what to make of that except that perhaps increasing my HR over my resting rate helped to temporarily flush out whatever was causing my ailment.

Overall: 7.38 M, 58:12, 7:53 pace, 135 avg HR

Stinky Face

2011-03-13T21:56:00.004-05:00

6.01M, 46:27, 7:43 pace, 134 Avg HR
No noticable residual effects from yesterday's long hill run.

I saw a skunk today about fifty yards short of my normal turnaround point. He was running away from me. A friend told me he stepped on a dead skunk while doing some night running and the stink was so bad that he had to throw away his shoes despite several attempts at cleaning them. No thanks. I made a 180 and got out of there.

If you have a child then I'd recommend this book:
I Love You Stinky Face

Our copy was a gift from my fellow Tornados.

The Hills of Conroe

2011-03-12T09:47:00.003-06:00

24M, 2:50:41, 7:44 pace, 135 avg HR

I went to Conroe with The Kenyan Way today. It's as close to hills as Houston gets. Sean Wade (KW coach and olympic marathoner) said the route had more hills than Boston. I think I'll join them again in a couple of weeks when they go back.

The legs feel great and the heart rate stayed really low . . . not really sure why, but don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

What a day

2011-03-11T13:16:00.003-06:00

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." --Abraham Lincoln

Although the majority of my waking hours today will be spent at work, I feel as though today is a vacation day. It's one of those days I like to call a "top 10 day". My lunch time run was as good as it gets -- no clouds, a gentle breeze and the perfect temperature, 6M, appx 7:35 pace. My outdoor companions included canoeists, cyclists, Segway riders, dogs and pedestrians/runners. We collectively soaked in the ideal conditions. Perhaps this is what Abraham Lincoln had in mind when he spoke of having "life" in our years.

Lenten Reflections

2011-03-10T13:37:00.004-06:00

I stumbled upon a treasure trove of quotes at http://www.tentmaker.org/Quotes/lifewisdomquotes.htm
I'll try to post a few here and there during this Lenten season.

In this life
Be kinder than necessary,
for everyone you meet is
fighting some kind of battle.

derivation of this quote:
Author James M. Barrie, of Peter Pan fame, said “Be kinder than necessary.” But his advice stops there. Plato is quoted as saying “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”

One time I was running two abreast along a narrow path and an older lady (50s?) approaching from the other direction stuck out her elbow and hit me in the rib cage, despite my attempt to make room as she passed. Unfortunately I'm too quick to anger so I got upset. After a while I was able to see that she was fighting her battle with the end of a long run. We've all been there -- everything stinks and you just want it to be over. And ultimately I was ok being the target for some of her frustration, because I probably was taking more than my fair share of the path.

My training is going well right now. I ran a 24M long run yesterday (an easy 7:52 pace) and my normal 6M lunch time run today without any residual effect.

I won't attempt to catch up from the last time I posted a blog, but I will say that right now I'm training for the Oklahoma City Marathon on May 1, 2011. If all goes well I'll post a Boston qualifying time in order to run Boston in 2012. I'm also training for the NYC 2011 marathon. If (big "if") the next three marathons go according to plan (OKC, NYC, Boston) then it's likely that I'll hang up my marathon shoes. Only time will tell.

Nice Weather

2010-09-28T13:35:00.000-05:00

This run brought to you by a cold front and a couple if successive 40+ mile weeks. It's been a while since I ran this speed without worrying about a heart attack.

Sent from a mobile device.

2010-04-16T12:42:00.001-05:00

Slower than normal with similar effort...must be some residual from yesterday's spin workout. It was my first one ever. I wasn't very good at it.

Sent from a mobile device.

Morning, Noon and Night?

2010-04-14T13:14:00.001-05:00

This morning I ran with Will's Hills for (I think) the longest workout they do. 22 minutes one direction around the Waugh/Shepherd,Allen cloverleaf, and then 22 the other direction with no break. Will took off and I couldn't keep up with him. In my heyday we were neck and neck, so I have some work to do. I'm sure he's chomping at the bit to beat me this year at the Heights Fun Run 5K in June since I beat him last year. I didn't bring my watch but I'm going to be conservative and guess a pace of 8:30

5.18 miles, 44 minutes, 8:30 pace

This picture below shows my lunchtime run. The legs weren't responsive based on this morning's hill workout, but it was good to get out of the office.

Will I make it a three-a-day by running this evening? I've only done that a few times before, but it won't be based on how I feel so much as how much I have to do at work and home. We will see if I have time.

Sent from a mobile device.

Winds of Change

2010-04-13T13:18:00.002-05:00

I'm a big complainer of the wind. Too cold, too fast, wrong direction, amd I making ANY forward progress . . . you get the point.

A really fast runner mentioned to me the other day that he sometimes chooses his route based on the wind direction. I think he gets to a fork in the road and goes right or left based on the wind direction. That made me wonder how he makes his choice -- delayed gratification by starting off running into the wind for the "out" portion and reaping the benefits on the "back" section? Perhaps he likes to run into the wind on the way back since the combination of the second half fatigure and wind makes you "tougher". Whatever his choice, I can pretty much guarantee you that his reasoning does not revolve around what is "easier".

I don't have any running routes that offer directional options, so I guess you can say that I'm at the mercy of the wind. Today I ran with the wind on the out and against the wind on the back. I think I prefer it that way -- not because of the logic above but because I typically start sweating around half way and it's nice to have the wind in your face as you get hotter and hotter finishing the run. It's like sailing with the wind at your back -- it gets really hot because the wind is at a standstill relative to your motion.

I forgot the Garmin today, but my GPS-enabled phone has a runner-friendly application that takes measurements for me. I'm not sure how accurate it is, but I assume it's at least as accurate as the Garmin since the GPS chip is better. I finally found out that my normal lunch route is 6.25 miles. The Garmin would never synchronize until I left downtown so I never knew how far it was, but the phone syncs up as soon as I step outside.

6.25 miles
46:10 minutes
7:23 pace

I ran the whole way without knowing the pace and I was pleasantly surprised that I was faster than the 7:45ish I was expecting.

Oh yes, I almost forgot to tie the title into this post -- those winds are bringing in 90 degree weather. I'm enjoying seeing my times drop right now as I get back into shape, but it won't be long before that is counteracted by the heat of the summer. Are you ready?

Altitude Training

2010-04-12T12:39:00.000-05:00

I stayed inside today for some "altitude training" (my gym is on the second floor). It seems like a waste to hit the treadmill when the weather is so nice, but it helps me to moderate my pace and I needed to be sure that I didn't overdo it today since I beat myself up over the weekend.

Just under eight minute pace and I'm feeling great.

Sent from a mobile device.

Congratulations to these Angie's Crazy Half Marathon Finishers

2010-04-11T15:38:00.001-05:00

Jenny and Adam also just recently became engaged!

Sent from a mobile device.

2010-04-11T08:28:00.001-05:00

I joined the Bayou City Road Runners on their River Oaks route and they gave me a beatdown. Saw Anne and Sim afterwards ... its good to be back and see all of my friends on the trail.

I'm TIRED. Not sure of the weekly mileage total, but you can bet the books advise against coming back so quickly.

Sent from a mobile device.

2010-04-10T09:14:00.001-05:00

Nice run through River Oaks with Stephanie, Augie, Josh and Randy. We hammered it for a mile at the end for my first fast mile in a while. Good to catch up with the crew.

Sent from a mobile device.

Happy Friday

2010-04-09T12:47:00.001-05:00

Sent from a mobile device.

Missed Tour de Bayou ...

2010-04-08T20:04:00.001-05:00

... but got a run in around the course after dinner.

Beautiful weather.

Sent from a mobile device.

Mobile Blogger Made This Easy

2010-04-08T12:36:00.001-05:00

Sent from a mobile device.

Ying and Yang

2010-04-07T19:39:00.002-05:00

Full "belly" of Chinese food slowed me down (Ying)
"Alive" by Pearl Jam sped me up (Yang)

In the end the Yang had the last punch as it started raining with one mile to go and I didn't want my phone to get wet.

6M, 7:57 pace

A Year Without Blogging

2010-04-07T16:29:00.004-05:00

A lot can happen to a person in the course of a year. You can have a baby. You can set a PR at the 5K distance (17:46) without speed workouts. You can get laid off from a job, start a new one and then get transferred to another department. You can stop running seriously for about five months and bomb the New York City Marathon (3:37:10) in the process. Then you can run a half marathon in New Orleans with your wife for one of the most enjoyable races of your life, and hear the road calling you back. That faint sound can guide you to “cram” a few weeks for a race, the Crescent City Classic 10K in my case (40:58). Finally, like the springtime explosion of the verdant running trail along Buffalo Bayou, the fire is rekindled.

I won’t try to “catch up” in one encyclopedic entry because if I’m going to start blogging again then it’s going to have to be easy and can’t be time consuming. Life-changing events like having a baby (actually my wife technically had the baby – I just sat there hopelessly) can have the effect of altering priorities. Running fell down the scale a bit and blogging fell down a lot. Tracking and analyzing my runs almost fell completely off the chart . . . at least for now. Philosophizing gained ground, if you can believe that's possible for me.

Suffice to say there have been some welcomed and unwelcomed twists and turns, but lately I’ve been as happy as I’ve ever been in my life. And things keep getting better. I think I’ll go for a run now. I don’t know if it will be fast or slow, but I’ll probably enjoy it!

Redemption

2009-03-29T19:19:00.006-05:00

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7897815

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/7897815

I finally put all of the elements together today and ran the best race of my career. I debuted in the half marathon distance today with a 1:22:30 (unofficial) in the Angie's Half Crazy Half Marathon in Clearlake, Texas.

I feel as though I redeemed myself for a sub-par performance at the Houston Marathon, and a few poor races since that time. I'm finally healthy, and I was very pleased with my results today.

My goal was 1:23:00 because that equates to an automatic bid to the New York City Marathon. Most people know that you have to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but it's less known that you can qualify for the New York Marathon and bypass the lottery selection process. I wanted to paste the Q-Times below, but the website isn't agreeing, so check out the site directly: http://www.nycmarathon.org/entrantinfo/guaranteed_entry.htm. The men's open division (under 40) requires a 1:23:00 half or a 2:55:00 full. Unlike Boston which gives you an additional 59 seconds, you don't get a single second of grace period for NYC.

My race equivalent full marathon time from a few sites is:
2:55:20 : http://runningtimes.com/Article.aspx?ArticleID=6765
2:54:00 : http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/mcmillanrunningcalculator.htm
2:53:20 : http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm
2:52:25 : http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html

VDOT = 56.31 http://www.attackpoint.org/trainingpaces.jsp?dist=13.1&units=miles&time=12230

I don't think I can hit any of those times, but I really believe that a sub-three marathon is mine for the taking, provided the conditions are right. And speaking of that, who could have asked for better conditions today!? The temperature was great, the sun wasn't too bothersome, and the wind was calm.

Garmin splits:
6:13, 6:10, 6:05, 6:04, 6:11, 6:10, 6:07, 6:12, 6:13, 6:19, 6:25, 6:20, 6:17, 1:36 for .27 miles

The course measured long on my watch by more than a tenth of a mile. I wonder how they made this mistake twice in a row (it measured 13.5 miles last year).

I finished fifth overall, but was in third as late as about mile 10 when I started to tire. With a little more than a mile left to go I realized that the course would probably be long and that I might miss my qualifying time, despite having the sufficient 6:20 overall pace. I kicked it in gear, but as you can tell by the split times, I didn't have much left as far as speed.

I won 1st in my age group, but that's because the top three in my age group got bumped up to overall winners.

Pros of this race:
* Great pre-race communication and organization
* Copious packet pickup locations
* Nice course, loop instead of out and back, great road conditions
* Good road management by the police#
* Great volunteers
* Plenty of good food
* Koala massage was the best I've ever had

Cons of this race:
* #One large intersection was unmanned, and I was completely in the middle of it before I noticed I had no protection
* $70 for a short sleeve cotton t-shirt . . . How much more could a tech T cost? People are willing to pay that extra amount!
* 10 year age groups instead of 5 year
* no finish clock or any clocks along the course, nobody calling time
* long course twice in two years
* Despite having the chip times squared away very quickly, the awards took forever to announce and I had to remind her that she didn't call out my age group

Overall I'd do this one again in a heartbeat.

Look out New York City Marathon (November 1, 2009). Despite the tough course I guess this will be my next attempt to break three hours since I have no desire to race any long distances races in the near term.

Congratulations to my fellow competitors and teammates, including:
Jeff Nunn, who finished his first half marathon in years. His training was inspiring, and I'm glad to see him in such good shape.
Dynegy Running Club -- we cleaned up with Manfred's third place finish, my fifth place finish, Chuck's second place Clydesdale finish, and several other great times posted by our other runners. I can't quote any times or age group winners because times aren't posted yet.
Leno Rios -- Thanks for helping me get to where I am
Katrina Stilwell -- A fellow Tornado, and the first place female at 1:26:45. This followed up a 1st place age group finish of 30:49 in the 8K the day before!
Mike Lowe -- a good friend from LSU who had an ironman-esque fall and spring by running multiple marathons and distance races. Anybody who knows Michael knows he doesn't do anything half way.

Thanks to my wife, mother and step brother for providing support and a nice pick-me-up at mile 7 (a figurative "pick-me-up", not literal.)

The Phoenix from the Flames

2009-02-22T04:38:00.007-06:00

I never intended to stop blogging, but a week turned into a month, and then three months . . .

It's been a period of relative stagnation. It was difficult to handle being sidelined by the Achilles injury, particularly since it came just as my marathon training miles should have been peaking. I raced the 25K on 11/9/08, and I didn't even try to run again until 11/27/08. That lasted all of one mile. As a last-ditch effort, I tried the Tornado 20M run on 11/30/08 -- the last 20 miles of the marathon route. I only lasted 8 miles. But it was enough to convince me to run the full instead of the half.

Two days later, on 12/2/08, I ran four miles at a 6:30 pace, and it was everything I had in me. It was obvious that I'd lost some conditioning by not running for essentially three weeks. But I still had a few weeks left before tapering, so I was going to give it a go. I ran 35 miles the second week of December, 76 miles the third week of December, and 69 miles the fourth week of December. My heart rate was through the roof and I struggled physically and psychologically during those weeks. But I toughed it out with a 23M run on Christmas morning, and a 20M run two days later.

And then, as luck would have it, I collapsed into bed after that 20M run on December 27th with a fever. I spent the next week in and out of bed without running a single mile. Just as I was coming back from injury, I was sidelined by sickness. And it was the whole nine yards -- nasal infection, fever, achiness, fatigue, lung congestion, coughing of rainbow-colored phlegm.

If you're doing the math at home, you know that the missed week was the last chance to train for the marathon. The next two weeks were spent tapering at 38 miles and then 16 miles.

But STILL, being the hardheaded person that I am, I wanted my 3 hour marathon. I worked so hard in September and October -- so what if November and December were bad to me. I was standing at the starting line, still coughing up fluid as I had ever day since December 27th, right next to the 3:00 pacers in 57 degree weather, ready to go to work.

Well, I didn't get it done. My official time was 3:05:18 -- which is respectable but still disappointing. I fought the good battle -- hitting the half in under 1:30, coughing all the way. I held up through about 21 miles with a 6:53 pace (needed a 6:52), but my next few miles were 7:28, 7:29, 8:02 and 8:11. I found some reserve strength to finish out the race at a 6:12 pace for .86 miles, but it was obviously too little too late. That last boost was due to a remarkable stream of cheers by my friends over the last half mile. I really appreciated (and needed) their support.

I made my way outside of the convention center to look for my family. Thanks go to my mother and Jeff for their support who drove in to track me, and who always had a genuine interest in my training. Thanks also go to my wife, who sacrificed perhaps more than I did by delaying dinners, modifying weekend plans, cutting trips short -- all so I could train. She weathered my emotional roller coaster, carried more than her fair share of the weight, and understood when I wasn't available physically because I was on the road or emotionally due to exhaustion. Without her I could not begin to contemplate, much less achieve, what I have done.

I continued to cough up fluid quite a few more weeks -- into February. Then Julie convinced me to take Zyrtec, the allergy medicine, and I was healed within a week. Who knows if the medicine has a placebo effect I finally kicked it on my own, or if the solution was right in front of me all this time. But as of the past couple of days, I'm starting to feel like I'm back to where I was before the injury. Hence, the title of this post -- The "Phoenix from the Flames".

And other than the fact that the song below uses that phrase, it has no other relevance to this post. However, I should comment that I really like this song, but I'll bet that nobody else does. It never charted, it's not exactly mainstream, and it takes some effort to enjoy. But the emotion that it takes to perform, much less write, wins me over.

This Is Over

2008-11-17T09:32:00.004-06:00

Trindon Holliday taking it to Ole Miss:

My Tigers are down this year, relative to recent seasons. But I can promise you they will be rocking this weekend as we take on the University of Mississippi. Colonel Rebel is shaking in his boots.

Weekly Totals

2008-11-16T20:57:00.000-06:00

M - Nothing (total rest & recovery from Achilles injury)
Tu - Nothing (signed up for UT Medical School gym)
W - 15 minutes aqua jogging in the outdoor pool (interrupted by the weather), 45 minutes on the bike, 10 minutes getting acclimated to weights
Th - 60 on the bike (pool still closed due to weather), 20 minutes of weights
F - 60 minutes aqua jogging, 20 minutes weights
Sa - 60 minutes aqua jogging, 30 minutes weights
Su - 90 minutes aqua jogging, 60 minutes bike, 0 weights
Totals - 3:45 aqua jogging, 2:45 bike, 1:20 weights

Minute Totals:
M - 0 minutes
Tu - 0
W - 70
Th - 80
F - 80
Sa - 90
Su - 150
Total - 7 hours, 50 minutes

Notes:
1) I figured out that wearing shoes in the pool increases resistance and helps get my heart rate up a bit higher
2) The best I can do (and sustain) is about a 130-135 heart rate on the bike an din the pool. My body might be getting a good workout, but my cardio is lacking.
3) I got sunburned on Sunday. I must be the only bonehead in the contiguous 48 to get a sunburn in the middle of November.
4) I'm using the weights to concentrate on my stomach, my hips (which never get a good workout but are always sore after a long run), and my legs (leg curls and leg extensions.)

It's difficult for me to follow this routine because there is no immediate feedback. I can't see what my time was on the last split, and I can't compare it to prior runs. So, being a numbers junkie, I'm having a hard time coping. I tried to count calories but that got old quickly.

W - 1803 calories, 31g fat, 349g carbs, 40g protein, B+
Th - 1156 calories, 15g fat, 200g carbs, 49g protein, A-
F - 2561 calories, 76g fat, 405g carbs, 45g protein,A-

http://caloriecount.about.com is helpful in tracking caloric and nutritional intake if you have the patience to enter your meals. It has lots of common food and serving sizes, plus it allows you to enter custom food. It will grade your diet and give you a nutrition report. Over those three days, plus half of Saturday, my ratios were:

18.0% fat
9.2% protein
72.7% carbohydrates

Looks like I need a little more protein in my diet. This web site recommends a ratio of:
Carbs = 40-60%
Fat = 20-30%
Protein = 10-15%

25K Fallout

2008-11-12T09:02:00.005-06:00

25K - 15.58 miles according the watch, 1:41:11, 6:29 pace, Max HR about 170 Zone 4.9(bad data at the beginning), Avg HR after dropping first three miles = 157 Zone 4.2
6:23, 6:27, 6:31, 6:15 (mistake to run this fast), 6:36, 6:23, 6:15 (another mistake), 6:30, 6:28, 6:38, 6:35, 6:23, 6:38, 6:42, 6:37, 6:17 for final .58

Typically I like to give a detailed race report, but I won't be doing that this time. I ran this race in a zone and I was more internally focused than any other race I've ever run. I paid close attention to form, stride length, breathing, drafting, endurance, cardiothoracic activity, and running the tangents. Because of that, I was rarely outside of the zone and didn't make any mental notes about my surroundings. I guess that makes for a boring race report.

A fellow runner wrote me about Lea Carruther's performance -- here was my reply:

I ran with Lea for about 6 miles. During that time we had about a 6:26 pace. Jeff Eisele was holding her back, telling her to take the first two easy and hammer the third. But as we rounded the first lap (five miles), Jeff dropped his watch and had to go back to pick it up*. The small group never saw him again. I guess Lea figured it was her get out of jail free card at that time because she started inching forward afterwards. I couldn't hold on (and didn't want to) and she left me in her dust. There was some confusion as to whether she was in first or not -- at least two girls were ahead of us but we weren't sure if they were in the relay or not. I guess they weren't, because I don't recall passing any girls after the first loop**.

Regardless, I don't know what she did to reduce her overall pace to 6:05 after running with me so long, but I wish I could have watched her surge. I'm sure it was a sight to see. I wonder if she was pushing to catch up with a phantom girl ahead of her.

Diana passed me right after we turned around at Shepherd for the last time. I was feeling pretty low at that point and made no point to hold on. My last five were run at 6:35 average -- not much a finishing kick.

As for my time -- I'm pretty happy. I hoped to be no slower than a 6:30 pace, but my 6:31 is good enough to put me where I want to be. Unfortunately my splits were mostly positive, making me think that it will get worse over longer distances. I'll have to be really smart about not going out too fast.

Edits --
* - Jeff was sick that day and it affected his performance. He's on top of his game, and regularly gives me a butt-kicking. He ran a 1:22:34 (6:18 pace) at the Koala/Luke's Half.
** - As it turns out she was in second at that point, behind the person who would eventually finish as the first masters woman.

The big news about the 25K, which isn't so pretty, is that my left Achilles tendon is now seriously injured. I've been feeling some discomfort, so I didn't run at all for the four days prior to the 25K race. I felt good at the starting line, and it didn't bother me much during the race. But after about 20 minutes of inactivity I started on a cool-down run and couldn't take a step without pain.

After referencing my blog for the last time I had issues with my Achilles, I determined that it took four weeks of just about no running before the other leg healed. This time I can tell it's injured a little worse. Hopefully four weeks is enough recovery time, though.

Loosely following the RICE theory (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), I medicated with ibuprofen, rested, elevated and iced my leg several times over the past couple of days.

Obviously with the Houston Marathon 67 days away, I can't sit idle while I lose all of my conditioning. So I joined the UT Medical School Recreational center to stay in shape.

Yesterday I did 15 minutes of aqua jogging (before they closed the pool due to weather), 45 minutes on a cardio arm cranking machine, and about 10 minutes of weights. Today the pool was closed again, so I did 30 minutes on a bike, 15 minutes on the arm crank, another 15 minutes on the bike, and 20 minutes on weights. I'll keep posting about my workouts, and I'd appreciate any feedback from those of you who may have been in a similar boat.

Comments:
10/30/08 - Viva la Vida -
bill said: 100 miles in a week? I'd have to say you are definitely hard core. I think you will probably reap some good benefits if your body holds up. Are you training for the marathon?

How prophetic . . . "if your body holds up". I was dumb to run 100 miles in a week, but even dumber to run it sandwiched between some 70 mile weeks. That's why I'm in this situation, and I'm wondering if I'll be able to bounce back in time for the Houston Marathon. It's just like the blog entry -- one day you're on top of the world, and the next day you're nursing an injury. I guess I flew too close to the sun. Check out Bill's blog at: http://bigrunningengine.blogspot.com. He ran a 1:19:06 at the Koala/Luke's Houston Half Marathon late last month.

Anonymous said: Don't worry, buddy. You've got quite a few years before you wake up with that horrible realization.

LOL. I suppose you're right about the age thing, but I wasn't just talking about age. It's about the inevitable downward spiral, and the relatively small amount of time during our peaks even when we're on the upside. You can't always be on top of your game.

11/9/08 - 2008 HMSA 25K -
kayry said - Very nice race Jonathan - quite an improvement since a year ago.

Thanks! I knew an improvement was in the works. I ran that race last year on only eight months of running from scratch. Hopefully I can knock off another 10-20 seconds per mile next year, but that might be too ambitious. Check out John's blog at http://kayry-john.blogspot.com/. Interestingly enough, I was searching for some Houston Marathon routes on motionbased a few weeks ago and stumbled across your id there -- before I even knew about your blog. A few days later I found the blog and I've become a fan. Keep up the excellent work.

I don't know what I did to get a couple of speed demons to read my blog -- certainly not because of my speed, and I can't imagine it's because of my skill with the pen . . .errr, keyboard. But thanks for reading.

2008 HMSA 25K

2008-11-09T20:45:00.003-06:00

25K, 1:41:08, 6:31/mi pace, 23rd overall, 5th in 30-34M

Thanks to my friends and teammates who cheered me on. This race as much more difficult than I expected, but they lifted me.

This time puts me in line with where I need to be in order to break a 3 hour Houston Marathon.

Jack Daniels vdot projection:
VDOT = 54.94, 2:56:05

Runner's World Projection: 2:59:16

PIM Speed Work

2008-10-29T12:57:00.002-05:00

10.16M, 1:29:22, 8:47 pace, includes 4x800

Today started off poorly from a training perspective. I found myself awake and alert at about 1AM, with no chance to go back to sleep. I fooled around on the computer (running stuff) and watched some TV. Suddenly it was 3:30AM. As you can imagine, my planned ten miles at 5AM turned into a snooze fest.

Today's PIM session was a challenging one. 4x800 on the black top track at Memorial Park. I've emphasized to my PIMsters that running on a track is the "real deal". Perhaps that's just my take on it, but I certainly get motivated when I'm running the oval.

1M warmup
3:00 800
3:11 jogging 400 for rest
3:25 800
3:12 jogging 400 for rest
3:30 800
3:07 jogging 400 for rest
3:32 800
appx 2M warm down.

I tried to engage my PIMsters throughout the run, dispensing motivational advice and trying to help through the kick. I try to be careful because that sort of feedback quickly becomes aggrivating when you're doing speed work.

After PIM I went out for a little more than a lap with Jack at about 7:50 pace. He keeps me up-to-date on the local events. I always try to get an update on Diana's progress (she kicked butt in the half this weekend) and other Tornado runners. Our club is looking really strong this year.

Viva la Vida

2008-10-28T23:56:00.000-05:00

by Coldplay

"I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemies eyes
Listen as the crowd would sing:
'Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!'

One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt, and pillars of sand"

---

I was taken by this Cold Play song the first time I ever heard it. The message I take from this song is that you're on top of the world one moment, and it's all gone before you get a chance to realize what happened. I believe this message is pertinent to all of us, regardless of where we fall on the continuum. Dealing with our success and eventual downfall is part of life.

A young person thinks they are invincible. In their prime they are unbeatable and victory comes easily. PRs fall, barriers are broken, enemies are defeated, gambles are taken and won. The world revolves around them, and their achievements and potential open the doors to another life.

And then it happens. One day they wake up hurting a little more than normal. The adversary who used to trail them is on their heels and then passing them. An exponential amount of work goes into producing a new PR, yet their body fails them under the extra workload. Their day has come and gone.

If they are lucky they can point to a single moment where they were on top of the world -- a paradoxical combination of their crowning achievement and the coup de grace for their career. The first place finish, the course record, the medal. They think about the days when people chased them -- when they left strangers effortlessly in their shadow -- when people wanted to BE them. Now those people have taken their throne and the associated brashness in exchange for fading memories and humility. The old king is dead, long live the new king.

-----

Although I wish I had taken to running in high school, I appreciate the fact that I found my passion in my early 30s. I will never be able to perform at the level I could have achieved during high school and college. I am disappointed by this realization because I'll never know what I could have achieved. But I'm currently riding the wave of continuous improvement as I approach the cusp of middle age. The ability to recognize and appreciate the cycle of achievement on the upside is the gift I've been given. It affords me the maturity to relish in my potential yet concurrently be acutely aware of the shelf life of my capabilities. One day soon improvements will cease, and I'll be looking at PRs in the rear view mirror. Fully appreciating the downside makes the upside that much sweeter.

-----

10/26/08 - 7.82M, 1:01:00, 7:48 pace This was a quick trail run around Julie's parents' neighborhood before mass. This link was famous for a day as it became a top Google hit for "Baton Rouge Trail Runs". My sister-in-law stumbled across it and let me know. Almost every half mile split was negative, and I hammered out the last 1.3M at 6:32 and felt like I could have carried that five more miles.
10/27/08 - 4.01M, 36:05, 8:58 pace, Avg HR = 118 (Zone 2.2) Wanted to run 6 but I gave in and only finished four since I got a late start. No PM run.
10/28/08 - AM10.08M, 1:13:35, 7:17 pace, no HR. I averaged 6:39 on the last four miles, and could have run another few with no problems. This isn't supposed to be happening based on the miles I have on my legs, but the weather provides great uplift. PMTour de Bayou final stage (4), 3.80M, 25:54, 6:49 pace, no HR. I finished third overall in this stage, and first overall for the cumulative open mens division. I finished the series races in 1st, 2nd, 4th, 3rd. This race wasn't particularly challenging, although I did kick it up a notch toward the end and put some distance between me and the 4th place finisher. My mile splits were: 6:53, 6:49, 6:54, and 5:13 for .8 (6:31 pace).

105.21M

2008-10-25T21:43:00.007-05:00

Su - 21.42
M - 10.11
Tu - 16.47M
W - 16.39M (6.14M AM, 6.07 before PIM, 4.18M after PIM)
Th - 10.04M AM, 10+M PM (no record because my watch died)
F - Rest
Sa - 20.78M AM

Weekly total = 105.21M

-----

I always wanted to see what it was like to run 100 miles in one week, and this week seemed like my best opportunity. It's a while before my next race, giving me plenty of chance to recover in case something happens. I'm in top form, based on recent races, my heart rate during training runs, and the general feeling I have about my fitness level. So I gave it a go, and it wasn't that hard.

The negative stuff first:
1) I should qualify that this is sort of cheating, because I ran my long run on Sunday, and the next long run on Saturday, thereby squeezing two long runs into one week.
2) Top athletes regularly run 140M per week, so I'm under no illusions that I'm doing anything special.
3) This is very time consuming. It took me 14 hours, 43 minutes, 33 seconds to run all of these miles.
4) Most of my easy runs started out REALLY slow for the first mile (9-10 minute miles)

The positive stuff:
1) I felt great. In fact there was never a moment where I was overly tired or slightly injured. In fact, the only thing I had going against me was the unwise decision to descend 58 flights of stairs on Monday, thanks to the fire alarm at my office. This caused burning in my quads at the beginning of runs until Wednesday night.
2) My body could handle this for multiple weeks in a row, although I doubt my schedule could do so. If I did manage to find time, I'd have to dispense with one of my two speed sessions like I did this week. Typically I run fast on Thursdays, but that was out the door.
3) Speaking of speed work, I managed to squeeze a race into the the week (Tuesday's Tour de Bayou)
4) Once upon a time, not so long ago, a "run" meant three miles -- and it wasn't hard but it wasn't easy. Then that three moved to six before I really felt like I was doing a run and felt challenged. Now that's ten. I can run ten miles non-stop at any time now, limited only by my schedule and not by my fitness or fatigue.
5) I actually managed to squeeze a rest day (Friday) into the mix.
6) I was really concerned about doing my Saturday long run on tired legs, but the combination of Friday's rest and my general endurance make Saturday's workout a cake walk, despite finishing the last fourteen at an easy 7:19 pace with only one brief stop.

This week I'll come back down from those heights and post about 50 or 60 miles total. I was originally going to run a 30K race in Dallas on 11/16, but I think that's going to change in lieu of the 25K on 11/9. The 52-38 thrashing of LSU by UGA convinced me not to drive into Baton Rouge for the Alabama game on 11/8, leaving me free to run the HMSA 25K on 11/9. If all goes well it will be my last proving ground before the Houston Marathon.

Health note -- I briefly complained about my right foot. A tendon running from my big toe to the heel has a small bump on it, causing it to be sore to the touch but not painful when running. It also causes symptoms similar to plantar fasciitis, but I'm ok once I stretch my feet out in bed before I get up. I'll monitor this over the next couple of weeks, but I have a strong suspicion that it's because of my shoes. I'm cycling through about five pairs of shoes right now -- none have less than 300 miles and some have more than 500 miles on them.

Totals:
105.21M, 14:43:33, under 8:30 pace overall

Comments

2008-10-22T14:00:00.006-05:00

I appreciate the fact that people take time to read this blog, and to comment. I've done a poor job replying to the comments, so I want to take the opportunity to reply to some of those comments in this post. A shortcoming of this blogging tool is that you have to click the comments section after each blog in order to read the comments. I'd prefer the comments to be displayed by default, so if anyone knows how to do that I'd appreciate it.

8/30/2007 Regarding Race, (Short) Long Run, Fun Run all in one day:
Kevin said...
What you failed to mention is that the "pub run" was the New Orleans Hash House Harriers Red Dress Run. Were you wearing a red dress? How about some pictures?

Guilty as charged. Pictures -- I don't think so.

10/11/2007 Regarding The Threshold of Motivation
Kevin said...
Nuthin' hang in there. You are doing awsome. My fat ass certainly could not keep up with you right now.
Suggestion for hydration: get a 1 liter Nalgene bottle and fill it with water in the morning. Work hard to drink it before lunch, even if you have to chug it right before lunch. Then fill it up after lunch and drink it all before you leave work. Finally fill it a third time when you get home and work to drink it before you go to bed. Yes you will pee a bunch but that is a good thing. Any way, keep up the good work.

Water sucks. I can't bring myself to hydrate throughout the day on just water. So now I drink G2 Gatorade with some frequency. It only has 100 calories (1 mile of running) per quart.

11/3/07 Regarding Sweet Home Alabama
Cory said...
Great run, Jonathan!

I've found that gloves are essential in cooler temperatures. For me, gloves seem to be the most important cold weather gear. If my hands are warm, it seems that the rest of my body is usually okay. I picked up a $5 "disposable" pair at a running store before the marathon with the intention of tossing them to the side during the run. However, I ended up keeping them on until the end even almost every other runner had taken their's off by the end. I'm glad that I had them and I'm happy that I kept them. They've come in handy on a few runs since then.

The thermometer already dipped to 60 degrees this fall, and I'm going to wear gloves each and every time it's that "cold", even if I'm running without a shirt. I don't understand how my hands can sweat and be numb from cold at the same time. Maybe I need wicking gloves.

11/11/07 Regarding More Race Info
Cory said...
While training this past summer, I wondered how temperature and humidity impact times. I found a few different ideas. The one that seems to be close to accurate for me is:
For every degree over 60, add 1 second per mile to pace.
Looking back at my long runs and even shorter tempo runs, this adjustment for temperature works fairly well.
Of course, this doesn't account for humidity. I found a suggested formula that uses heat index (which of course considers temperature and humidity) but didn't find that it translated well for me and it can only be used when temperatures exceed 80.

The dork in me wants to gather a bunch of data and fit it into a multivariable equation to spit out the predictor adder to any temperature/humidity combination. I can't believe something like that isn't out there. It seems like a relatively simple exercise.

3/8/2008 Regarding Bayou City Classic 10K
Gaslight ;-) said...
I think I beat you in the beer drinking, but it's okay because I'm not in your age group.
HAHAHHAHAHAHA

I accept your challenge (or at least I misinterpreted it as a challenge). Let's take this up at the beer mile or next year's Bayou City Classic 10K.

4/26/2008 Regarding 2008 Festival International 5K
elf said...
Congratulations on the new PR! Sounds like an outstanding race! Hope you had fun at Jazz Fest--watch out for the Hand Grenades... :)

I used to enjoy Hand Grenades until I drank one before I got drunk. Under that scenario it doesn't take long to realize that it's not exactly top shelf liquor.

4/27/08 Regarding Three Miles, Two Dogs, One Race
mccainiac said...
Very funny and well written! Whose dogs were they?

My mother has two mutts which are primarily labs. They're loyal, but they like to measure their affection in terms of gallons of saliva.

5/20/08 Regarding Morning Full Moon Run
Kevin said...
As long as you don't handle the bugs by screaming at a high pitch and waving your arms wildly, you should be OK.

I won't be doing that, but it wouldn't be too out of place in my neighborhood.

5/29/08 Regarding Late Evening Ten+
RTL said...
Hi. I leave downtown to go running at Memorial Park or with Kenyan Way each evening - so let me know if ever need a ride.

It's a very kind offer, but I don't know who you are. Your blog, Run Travel Live, is pretty cool. Even though I drive these days, I still like to carpool so maybe I can take you up on that offer at some point.

6/8/08 Regarding Mostly Alone Long(ish) Run
Anonymous said...
Jonathan,
Thanks for the nice comments. I also like to tour neighbborhoods, and hate the Memorial stretch. To miss it, when you leave River Oaks, cross Shepherd bridge, then cross Memorial, turn left toward the park then a quick right, up the hill on Sandman beside Depelchin. Go about 4-5 blocks north, then and take a left down Blossom to the park. There is a trail from Crestwood into the park that will get your new shoes dirty. It was nice meeting you, one of the fun things about our sport.
Kathy

Whenever possible I take that route these days, but I usually don't run through the crestwood trail because of the constant ankle-deep mud that you referenced.

6/16/08 Regarding Will's Hills 22 - 200 Meter Relays
Cory said...
The high school guys are fast. But my general observation is that they rarely have a concept of pacing nor do they exhibit strong endurance.
Having said that I'll acknowledge that they're still faster than I am!
I recognize their flaws because I was exactly like that when I ran XC in high school ... many, many moons ago.

It was that exact thought that made me think that I'd finish second (not fourth) at the last Tour de Bayou. But those two kids dropped the hammer in the second half instead of faded. They both ran a strong race.

6/30/08 Regarding Massage Run, Bug Eating and Passing Etiquette
Anonymous said...
Most of the time, it's some three mile warrior out doing his one loop. I just keep my own pace and wait for them to burn out on the new pace that they won't handle, anyway. But if I'm in a nasty and playful mood. I like to run up next to them and pretend I'm giving it all I've got, then try to lure them into going even faster and ruining their run. It's fun - try that next time.

These last few days I've been running some really easy recovery miles (9-10:30) and I'm getting passed quite a bit. It piques my competitive spirit, but not nearly like when I'm going fast and get passed. That happened when Lea Carruthers passed me last Thursday, but I didn't have anything in the tank to accept her challenge.

7/1/08 Regarding Controversy
Kevin said...
As one of the the three readers of your blog, you should do a post every once in a while with the Google Analytic stats for the "Run for Speed" website. I love Google Analystics.

Absolutely. I've been meaning to do so.

7/2/08 Regarding A Tale of Two Runs
Lucho said...
Jonathon- Hydration has a profound effect on how you feel. Performance and the numbers aside. Hydrating well ups your energy and lowers your HR and BP. I have found with most of my athletes that they drink roughly 1/3 what they should be when they're training hard in the summer. The 1 liter before every run still probably isn't enough! It can take days to rehydrate after becoming dehydrated.
Have you considered having blood testing done to find your AeT? AeT is your physiological marathon limit and is the point that your blood lactate levels are at 2.0mmol.. Training at this intensity produces great results.
Keep up the good fight!

Hydration is a battle for me because I actively dislike drinking water. But I'm going to take it more seriously going forward because I can feel the difference.
Regarding the AeT test, the first time I read your email I incorrectly assumed it was a static measurement of my marathon potnetial. I didn't wan't to know that, becuse it would be akin to knowing when you're going to die. Who wants to know their wall, because the incentive to push past that goes away? But of course the measurement isn't static and you talk about how to train in the right zone to increase your AeT.
My problem is that I'm cheap, and I don't want to pay for the blood tests. I've read of ways to plot heart rate against pace and determine when the relationship ceases to be linear. That inflection point tells you something, but I can't remember what it is and I can't find that online anywhere.
Any ideas for a cheap guy like me who wants to find his AeT?

8/4/08 Regarding Twelve Mile Monday
Kevin said...
I think TDLY stoppage is OK since you are starting to get to a point where you were actually running pretty good. May be throw one in about once ever two weeks for reference.

I dropped TDLY (This Day Last Year) like a bad habit and never reconsidered. It took too much time and added too little value.

8/10/08 Regarding 18M Tornado Long Run
RunColo said...
Your Avg. Heart Rate is low, good sign.
Good luck with you goal to break 3. I did last year for the first time at Denver Marathon.
Looks like your training is right on.

Thanks for your encouragement. It's always nice to get a shout out from a stranger, particularly one who knows what it takes to break the three hour barrier. I know you're disappointed with your 2:57:34 Denver Marathon PR three days ago. I'm upset every time I race even if it's the race of my life. There is something about running that draws me irrestibly to the light: no matter how good I do, I still could have done better. Best wishes.

8/11/08 Regarding Cerebral Run
Gaslight ;-) said...
I thought you were from BR, but idn't know that you did time in Norcross!
Before I moved to TX in 1981, I went to school (and church) here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_Atlanta_Christian_School (their real website appears to be down)

rw said...
Jon- Rockin' through '92! Go (Geaux) Blue Devils! I cannot believe I've come across your blog. I hope you're doing well - sounds like your running life is. Somehow we'll have to reconnect. I'm no blogger nor facebooker just good ol' email. It's been way too long... Randall W., NHS '92

Chad Moore said...
Chad Moore, here! Randall sent me an email about your blog. Never had seen that video, but still love "Forever Young" by Alphaville! You introduced me to that song. It brings back good memories from high School. It had been a long time since I had heard it - thanks for taking me back. I might have to post that video on Facebook, which I recently joined. I had searched for you about a week ago, but no sign of you on facebook. Would be cool to see you on there, and you can feed in your current blog, etc. If you are ever near Tulsa, OK...better let me know - and you have a place to stay. Really enjoyed reading your blog, too! And I am very pleased that you are doing so well. I sincerely hope we can catch up.
-Chad
P.S. I can do a marathon in under 3! ;)
(3 days, that is!)
(Come to think of it, that would be like over 8 miles a day! Yikes! Forget that! Make it 3 weeks, and I am pretty sure I could do it...so long as I could take some long breaks, eat, sleep, etc...)

Gaslight -- I'm pretty sure I competed against GACS in something (Math Team, Quiz Bowl, Swimming?). I drove by the school often but never really knew anybody there.

Randall -- Good to hear from you! Get my email address from Chad and drop me a line so I have your address. (That way you don't have to post it here for spammers to snag.) Some of my more vivid memories in High School are related to the OSS (Old South Society) and tailgating up for our high school football games. Do you remember the time the vice principal "busted" us for tailgating and forced us to pour out our iced tea? Yea, we were real trouble-causers. No telling what direction we would have headed in life without his intervention. How's your tennis game these days?

Chad -- I'm a facebook wimp. At one point I discovered that someone opened up a facebook (or maybe myspace) account with my email address, but set it up for the actor Jonathan Bennett. I'll try to get up to Tulsa. You've visited me a couple of times and I never returned the favor. Maybe I can try the Tulsa marathon. I'll shoot for 3 days and you can shoot for three hours.

8/23/08 Regarding Hood to Coast, Leg 9
Gaslight ;-) said...
I had no idea that you were running HTC-who was on your team? I reminisced about the event and its weather fondly during setup for Party in the Park on Saturday.

I got lucky. My best friend runs on a corporate team who needed someone. So he was the only person I knoew, and everyone was from Oregon. Their team is guaranteed a spot, and all runner are guaranteed to be included on the team so long as they don't skip a year. After experiencing HTC, especially with this team, they are going to have a hard time getting rid of me.

8/27/08 Regarding Vibram Five Fingers
Kevin said...
Nice feet! Can you still wear a toe ring with those shoes?
I would think that the bottom of your feet will have to adapt to the rocks and such but I would take some time and some sore feet to be able to do it.

Cory said...
I've had my eye on these for some time. Even talked to Randy and Christina about them the last time I saw you in Conroe.
Same concept as "Sasha" wearing Crocs to run. He actually graduated to 5 Fingers and has over 500 miles on them. From that, I suspect you'll get your money's worth.
Keep me posted on how they're doing for you.

Cruisinaltitude said...
I have a pair and love them. It is funny that they make a shoe to feel like you are running barefooted. Why not just run barefooted? hehe...

Melanie said...
Wow, these are ridiculously crazy! I wonder what Forrest Gump would say. . . .

Kevin -- yes, my feet are nice. I haven't tried to wear a toe ring concurrently, but the thought has crossed my mind.

Cory -- so far so good. I even raced a Tour de Bayou race in them. But other than that I haven't logged many miles and I think I'm going to put them down until the Houston marathon is over.

Crusin -- Thanks for reading! Good point, particularly since my feet tend to get hot in these shoes. I LOVE your customer service blog.

Melanie -- You pointed out one of the main reasons why I bought these shoes -- because people think they're crazy. Incidentally, my reference to Vibram Five Fingers gets plenty of google hits.

8/30/08 Regarding Bad Start for the Weekend
Kevin said...
http://frayedlaces.blogspot.com/2008/07/nathan-pritikin-diet-for-runners.html
A runner's diet book review that you might find interesting.
You might schelude yourself a two or three day down time.
We certainly missed you at the game, there was a good turn out at the game for being a 10AM with a storm heading our way. Good luck, my mileage took a dive but i am going to be getting back on it.

KCWoodhead said...
I UNDERSTAND!!! I don't feel like doing anything right now! This morning did help put a pep back in my step though with the humidity so far down at a beautiful 70%.

To both of you: YES, the weather change has put a spring in my step, and I'm feeling re-energized. Keep up the good fight with the training!

9/6/08 Regarding Week in Review
Randall W said...
Jon, I hope you and your family are doing well through Ike and its damage. Houston looks like it was roughed up a bit. That was a nasty storm. You may be running over debris for a months. You and your whole community are in our thoughts and prayers.

Gaslight ;-) said...
Dude, where ARE you? Are you saying that your lights are still out? Bring on the juice!

Randall--We were extremely lucky. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.

Gaslight--Blogging via my cell phone wasn't an option. But Comcast got the boot and now I'm flying high with AT&T.

9/29/08 Regarding Quick Update
Kevin said...
It is about time you got back to posting. I know how it is, I have actually not had time to even check my personal emails due to work getting in the way.

Anonymous said...
Do you know what I have had to read since September 6th? The news!?! Don't ever let this happen again, mister.

It's nice to be appreciated, even if I'm considered a diversion to reality. Does anyone know a place where I could work that would be difficult for me to check my work emails with my personal life getting in the way?

10/12/08 Regarding 10M Lakeshore Run Race
Kevin said...
Hey great race and great re-cap of the race. It was actually just the right lenght and kept me interested through out the whole article. I usually glaze over some of the blog that I read.
I might actually wait around at Houston this year to see you finish at 3:00. I am shooting for 1:45 in the half this year.
Cajun Cup 10K November 8th, you could hit it on the way to see the Tigers play.
I all ways feel like I am in the presence of greatness whenever I am around Kevin Castille. When I first started running, I took a running class at Red's. Guess who was teaching it? Yep, Kevin. He is an amazing runner and a heck of a nice guy. He certainly makes it look easy. He spend some time in Stork's hood running when he was trying to qualify for the Olympics.
Anywho, keep up the good work.

RTL said...
Ditch heavy socks (and tape) strategies for avoiding blisters. On race day all you need to do is always apply Vaseline to entire clean foot and use usual clean lightweight runners socks. (You already apply it to other parts that rub…). You will never get blisters with this trick, and no - feet don't slide around out of control! Also - everyone I know, and from own experience, regret compromising shoe weight in a marathon. A lot of my training is on trails and soft ground so I have to build up in last few month to survive pounding of running on concrete for 26.2 miles. So I need a more substantial ASIC with gel in forefoot which I'm landing on each stride. I think you'd have to do all training on concrete to get away with a racing flat for a marathon - and few can do that training program without injury. Or some inserts in a racing flat may be a compromise.

Anonymous said...
Great race and read. Jenny mentioned the blog tonight and thx for the props. I hope to be with you and other Sub3 come Houston. You're right on track. I'm a pronator and need the extra motion control. Their is some truth to the mental part. I chalk it up to it being the right day and being prepared. Announcing your goals works well. I'd always downplayed my race goals and settled for reaching attainable goals. RunBayou alias Chip Tyme got me to announce that if breaking 3 was my goal that I should say it proudly. The great thing about running is that there is positive feedback when you're times get lower. The better your time the more willing you are to train harder.
Good luck.
Avi Moss

Kevin -- I welcome the extra pressure of you waiting for me at the Hoston Marathon. One more reason to stay on track when I'm lagging at mile 22. And knowing that about Kevin Castille, I'm going to make a more concerted effort to engage him in conversation next time I see him.

RTL -- Thanks for the advice. Actually I don't use any sort of lubricant for any part of my body, so lubing up the toes would be a first. I decided on a 30K in Dallas (Nov 16) as a test ground for my shoes. If they pass, I'll wear them for the marathon. If not, I'll run with trainers.

Avi -- I use fear of failure as a motivating factor, so the fear is amplified when my goal is announced. (Even though nobody out there really cares if I hit the goal.) I'll be in Baton Rouge this weekend looking to do 20. If you get this in time, join me. I'm hoping to run seven before the organized tailgate run of 13.1, which means I'll start a bit more than an hour before their start time from the Baton Rouge Beach.

9/13/08 Regarding 6 Miles in the Neighborhood
KCWoodhead said...
Check out this: http://kcwoodhead.blogspot.com/2008/01/full-of-wisdom.html
And then this:
http://liamoconnell.blogspot.com/2008/02/mental-or-physical-mental.html

Anonymous said...
Okay, Jonathan, this whole "how fast can you run a mile all-out" is really eating at you, isn't it? Just hold it for six months...track season's coming!

KCWoodhead -- EXCELLENT reads. This just goes to confirm an adage of running. No matter how unique it seems to you, another more experienced runner has been down that path. I just wish there was more research and training methods on mental training.

Anonymous -- LOL. I'm seriously considering dumping marathon training for 1M-13M races after this marathon is over.

10/19/08 - If A Tree Falls in the Woods
Cory said...
Jonathan -
What plan are you following for your marathon training cycle? It seems a bit "anything goes" but knowing you there's got to be at least a framework that it's built on.

Nope . . . it's pretty much anything goes these days. I'm running by feel. More miles if I'm feeling good, less if I'm not. Faster/Slower depending on feel. I do have a loose framework of speed work on Tuesday evenings (typically 800s) and Tempo Runs on Thursdays (typically 3-4 miles). But everything has been in flux since the hurricane, and I haven't been sticking to my schedule like I'd like. Over the next two weeks I'll tally up a bunch of miles before tapering prior to a 30K race on Nov 16. After that I'll tighten the regimen and go by the book.

Tour de Bayou (Practice) 3

2008-10-21T22:43:00.002-05:00

AM
6.15M, 56:59, 9:15 pace, Max HR = 126, Avg HR = 113

PM
1.76M Warm Up for Tour de Bayou 3
Tour de Bayou 3, 4.31M, 29:03, 6:43 pace, Max HR = 168, Avg HR = 154, 64% Z4, 33% Z3
4.25M Warm Down for Tour de Bayou 3

The morning run was slow on purpose to recover from a string of high mileage days and to save my energy for the race later that day.

The race went well. I saw Joe at the starting line (he won stage 2), and he told me he'd be taking it easy today because of his upcoming Marine Corps Marathon this weekend. I already had my plans to take it easy because I'm tired, and because of a certain incident at work on Monday.

The fire alarm went off, disabling the elevators and trapping me 58 flights above a lunch date with my wife. I took the stairs down. It was easy while I was doing it, but I felt it in the quads all day today. They were screaming during the warm up but managed to be replaced by a general feeling of weakness by the time the race started.

Even so, I ran a good race. I came in fourth overall, behind a man and his two (high school aged?) sons. The family kicked my butt, but I'm still pretty happy with my work today. The out-and-back course was somewhat hilly, but the overall elevation gain on the out was only about 15 feet. So this gives me the opportunity to compare my out split with my back split.

Out:
2.16M in 14:44 (6:49 pace)

Back:
2.15M in 14:14 (6:37 pace)

So I managed to pick up the pace in the second lap. I'm not sure if I'm happy or upset that I kept my heart rate out of zone five. I didn't enter the race wanting to hurt -- I'm trying to save my legs. But to give less than a zone five effort on a race is disappointing. I just need to remember this isn't the goal race -- just a speed workout for the goal race.

Notes:
1) Jon Warren's group was doing their workout along our course, so it was nice to hear their cheers. Thanks to Jeff, Shon and Matt for the encouragement. At one point I merged with Katherine as she did her speed work, and running with her helped me to pick up my pace. Otherwise I ran pretty much by myself after the first mile. Thanks to Katherine for her post-race encouragement as well.
2) This is the longest Tour de Bayou race I've ever run.
3) The course that most closely corresponds to the second TDB race I did in the Spring. My pace was the same, although today I ran an extra .8M and my heart rate was significantly lower. I guess that qualifies as improvement. This is the blog entry from that race.
4) The post-run warm-down was a beating. I ran out of energy (similar to my PM run on this blog entry). I get to a point that I feel like I desperately need food and can't run another step. I'm a little lightheaded as well. My kingdom for a Gatorade! I mustered myself and trotted back to the car, but I absolutely have to do a better job of taking some calories before workouts. We shall see how this breakdown affects tomorrow's planned 6M morning run, and PM PIM session.
5) I ran most of the final 2/3 of the run with a feeling that there was a stick or rock in my right shoe. Mid-way through the warm down I finally decided to investigate it, and discovered a bloody sock thanks to an untrimmed toe nail. I hope I learn my lesson -- you can do all the preparation in the world for a marathon, but if you forget the simple detail of cutting your toe nails before the race then your goal can be sacrificed. I added a "clip toenails" reminder to my outlook calendar set for 24 hours before the marathon.

And if you're wondering why I'm sharing all of these gory details, you should know that I'm wondering why you're reading them!

Easy 10 With Some Friends

2008-10-20T23:14:00.001-05:00

10.11M, 1:27:51, 8:41 pace, Max HR = 135, Avg HR = 119

This was a nice, easy run with Jackie (first Memorial Park loop) and Ilya (first and second loop). I totally invited myself, because I know Jackie doesn't like to run with other people. And even though I end up talking with Ilya before and and after runs, I've never run with him. The conversation was great -- Ilya could talk the bark off of a tree. I think he knows everyone in the park, and he joked that he is the "Mayor of Memorial Park." He has my vote.

I ran the remaining four miles by myself. My heart rate stayed low as did my pace. I was a bit concerned because I have a small bump on the bottom of the arch of my right foot. It's sore to the touch, but doesn't hurt otherwise.

This week I'm going to try to do so something that's a little foolish. But I'm not going to tell you what it is until the end of the week. And I promise I'll tell, regardless of whether I succeed or fail.

If A Tree Falls in the Woods

2008-10-19T11:42:00.002-05:00

21.42M, 2:44:47 (including 46 seconds spent on two breaks),7:41 pace, Max HR = 153, Avg HR = 136, 1% Z4, 55% Z3, 43% Z2

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If I run an extra mile and a half but forget to turn on the watch in the middle of the run, did I really run those miles?

That's what happened today. I stopped my watch for a 30 second water break at the Sabine bridge and forgot to turn it on until about 1.5 miles later. Motionbased did a straight-line approximation of my distance and time, so it's relatively accurate and conservative since it doesn't pick up any turns. But my watch doesn't make those calculations on a real-time basis. So I ran until my watch said 20 miles, not knowing how much I over-ran, but knowing it wouldn't be an "official" 20 unless the watch said so.

This was a great run for me. My last 11 miles were run at a sub-seven pace, and my heart rate never got above zone 3. I averaged 136 BPM, and the sum of my breaks over the entire run was less than a minute. I feel pretty certain that I could have run the entire 20 miles at a sub-seven pace. As a point of reference, my goal marathon pace is 6:52.

It's nice to be "in the zone", but it's not hard for me to forget the time's I've been on the flip side of the coin. So I'll just appreciate the situation and hope it continues. And I'll also give credit to the weather which averaged 61 degrees with 80% humidity. It was cold enough for me to run with gloves until the final 3 miles. As I've mentioned before, my hands get really cold while running, and I've been know to run without a shirt but with gloves.

1) I ran mile two through seven with Jack and Diana. (Avg 8:35 through 7) Diana is just off of a women's overall victory in the 10M Warm Up Series Race. I haven't seen her in a few months, and she's looking like she's in top form. I'm pretty sure she will soar to great heights at the California International Marathon (CIM) on Dec 7,2008.
2) Afterwards I tried my best to catch up to Alejandro and Daniel at the front of the Tornado pack. I ran a 6:48 pace for a mile and a half to catch up.
3) Then I forgot to set my watch for the fastest 1.5M of the day. I know this because I tried to keep up with Daniel who was reeling off something in the low sixes.
4) I ran back to mile 0 at the park and did two more laps to make the watch read 20.
5) I wore a new pair of shorts today (with a zipper on the side) which I'll use for the marathon. The zipper gives easy access as opposed to my "famous" orange shorts with the zipper in the back. I can never get to that pocket unless I slow down or stop.
6) I also tried a new skin-tight Zoot top with a zipper in the front for ventilation. It also has two pockets for gels. It felt constricting at first, but I liked the fact that it didn't flop around on me like running singlets tend to do. I hope to run with this shirt as well.
7) With a plethora of pockets, I practiced my in-run fueling today by popping shot blocks every once in a while.
8) I wonder if the heart rate monitor was accurate today, given my low readings. It would be great if I could trust it. In the car before the run it read as low as 45 BPM for my resting rate. I know my heart goes slower when I'm sleeping, but I've never seen it this low while I was awake.

Back with Steph's Crew

2008-10-18T22:12:00.003-05:00

13.27M, 1:45:42 moving time, 7:58 pace, Max HR = 151, Avg HR = 118, 8% Z3, 85% Z2, 5% Z1

It's always good to run with Steph's crew. They're recently back from the St. George Marathon, where they all kicked butt despite adverse weather conditions.

Today's run was easy thanks to the weather front that pushed through. The average temperature was 59 degrees with 85% humidity. It was almost too cold for me, and I wish I had brought some gloves along. I don't know how it happens, but my hands get cold and sweaty at the same time. Why are they sweating if I'm cold? I've been known to run without a shit but with gloves. This would have been one of those days if I remembered the gloves. One of the reasons why I think I stayed cold today was because I get cold during the breaks. Today I took 20 minutes of breaks over spread out over two hours.

This week's total mileage was 63M. My plan over the next couple of weeks is:
70M
70M
50-55M
30-35M -- Race week (30K)

If the 30K on Nov 16 goes well then I won't race again until the Marathon.

You don't see THAT every day . . .

2008-10-17T10:25:00.006-05:00

AM 6.02M, 57:29, 9:32 pace, Max HR = 138, Avg HR = 119
PM 4.02M, 36:12, 9:00 pace, Max HR = 132, Avg HR = 118

. . . unless perhaps you have the pay-per view channels. And even then you don't see it in person.

I got up obscenely early today to get a 6M run in before arriving at the office early to do a last-minute emergency project. So there I was, taking it easy and enjoying the serenity when I notice someone in the distance near the red sculpture along White Oak Bayou. I try to make it a point to say hello to everyone on that trail because, in my opinion, people aren't friendly enough when they are out on that path and I want to change that one person at a time.

So I see what appears to be a homeless man waking up, and I prepare to tell him "good morning" as I pass. But as I get closer it becomes apparent that this is not a homeless man, and he isn't alone. He and his female companion were in an intimate horizontal "hug" (if you get my drift), oblivious to the world.

Now I've always thought that a city skyline can be a romantic sight. Do you remember the scene from Urban Cowboy where the scarlet lady seduces the hero? She takes him into her spacious loft with a great view of the 1980 Houston skyline.

Perhaps our enamoured couple were discussing how great that scene was. One thing led to another, and . . .

-----
Today's morning run was a massage run, so named because it has the effect of a massage by gently utilizing the muscles to get the blood flowing. My pace was really slow, but enjoyable. My heart rate stayed really low, and I felt no ill effects from yesterday's hard four miles.

My PM run was a bit tougher. I've been limiting my caloric intake trying to slowly drop down to race weight (135#). At about 140 I don't really have far to go. But the caloric deficit caught up with me at about mile two or three, and I felt the bottomless pit of hunger hit me. This happened twice before -- once at the White Rock Marathon and once during the Texas Independence Relay. So I cut my run short by two miles and kicked a 7:51 mile home and scarfed down a couple of bowls of cereal and some mashed potatoes. When Julie came home I had a great bowl of Vietnamese noodles at Mai's, Houston's first Vietnamese restaurant. I wanted to reload my carbohydrate supplies for tomorrow's long run.

A PR for a Threshold

2008-10-16T21:20:00.000-05:00

2.04M Warm Up at 8:49 pace
4.01M Threshold, 25:03, 6:14 pace, Max HR = 173, Avg HR = 164, 5% Z4, 85% Z4
3.09M Warm Down at 7:49

This is the fastest I've ever run a threshold run before, and I have to give credit to the change in the weather. It was 70 degrees with 78% humidity. It doesn't sound ideal, but it was the first cooler evening we've had this fall. During my last 3/4 of a mile I was passed by a girl in the Tornados. I was introduced to her but I've since forgotten her name. I won't make that mistake again. She's awesome. She ran for Arkansas, and I think she recently graduated. It will be fun to compete and train with her. Go Tornados!

I finished up with a 7:49 pace warm down (with a 7:21 final mile), and some tough core exercises 3x25 pushups, 100 bicycles and 4 minutes of planks (two side, one normal, and one backwards) with leg lifts. I probably need to push myself a bit further in the core department and add some time and repetitions.

PIM 400s

2008-10-15T21:13:00.000-05:00

7M with 4x100

I was proud of my PIMsters this week, and I we did some true speed-work for the first time in the program. I ran with the fastest group and Coach Yong brought up the rear, but all of our times were great and all of our efforts were maximized.

My times:
1:42
1:27
1:22
1:19

Afterwards we met at Luke's Locker for a social and sale. It took every ounce of effort to decline the pizza and beer.

Tour de Bayou (Practice) 2

2008-10-14T19:47:00.002-05:00

Warm Up
2.73M, 19:52, 7:16 pace, Max HR = 178, Avg HR = 165, 32% Z5, 58% Z4
Warm Down

This course, run around the bowl of Spotts Park, is by far the hilliest of the series. Roger structured the course as two reps of an out-and-back course. Prior to the start I was given the yellow lei, signifying that I had the overall men's open lead. I've never run a race with a target on my back.

I went out easy hoping someone else would take the lead -- it's a common strategy for me to follow since there is always someone faster than me and going out faster than them would be foolish. But nobody took the bait this time so I had to go out mostly by myself. One guy stayed with me, and we alternated leads through the first quarter of the race. I settled in behind him right after the quarter mark of the race and waited to see what would happen.

Five minutes later, at the halfway point, I found out what would happen. The guy dropped the hammer and opened up a lead that I'd never challenge. Once he did a lap, he was done with me. He must have won by at least thirty seconds. I think he was using me as a guide for the course, which is a wise strategy since it's not too hard to lose the trail like Alejandro did in the first race. In fact, on the way back during the first lap I did miss a turn and the guy yelled at me before I got too far off track.

I introduced myself to the guy afterwards. His name is Joe and he's from the Houston area, although he just returned home after getting his degree at UT. I don't mean to imply that I'm a formidable challenger, but the way he disposed of me makes me think he could clean up at a bunch of area races, particularly in his age group. The people who just graduated from college seem to prioritize place late nights and beer far above PRs. I certainly did.

I was really happy with my race effort. My heart rate was high, indicating that I didn't slack off, and I knocked off 30 seconds from the time I posted last time on this course. (Actually more than 30, but this course was a bit shorter so I scaled up my current time to 20:13 to be able to compare it to the 2.78M course I ran in 20:44 on April 1 earlier this year.)

4:58 out
5:00 back
5:04 out
4:51 back

so, Lap 1 = 9:58 and lap 2 = 9:55.

Great consistency considering I didn't look at my watch and I was doing everything I could do to survive. What's even more encouraging to me is that I ran a hard 10M race just 2.5 days ago and didn't have any problem running this race.

I ran this race with my Vibram Five Fingers, and they felt great. Feeling the ground with your toes makes me feel like I have a good grip, even though Gaslight swears that cross country spikes would improve my time. And speaking of Gaslight, I was treated to the opportunity to run the warm down with her.

6 Miles in the Neighborhood

2008-10-13T21:53:00.002-05:00

6.15 Miles, 49:11, 8:00 pace, Max HR = 142, Avg HR = 133, 59% Z3, 39% Z2

I don't have a lot to say about this run, with the exception that my legs were a tad heavy based on yesterday's race. I recovered well, giving me more reason to think the flats are ok (at least for 10 miles at a time). I ate a big dinner thirty minutes before running, which is sub-optimal. But unfortunately life often gets in the way of my running. I could run as soon as I get home from work, but then I'd miss dinner and time with Julie since she goes to bed early for work.

I think the best way to catch up on my missed entries, which I feel compelled to do, is to include an extra run or two every time I create new blog entries for the next couple of days or weeks. I'll start this next time since it's already late and I'm tired.

But if you want to read something of quality and substance today, please take the opportunity to read Tim Luchinske's entry on Mental Strength.

From what I can tell, I am somewhat unique in my belief that the mental aspect of running is more important than the physical aspect in regards to performance. Given the opportunity to improve only my mental or my physical conditioning, I truly believe that more is gained by improving the mental state. Our minds are so often the constraining element -- during a race or during life in general. In my humble, unscientific opinion, this is supported by multiple observations:
1) Confidence yields success, which yields more confidence. It's a positive feedback cycle. Confidence can quantify victory even in defeat. A new lesson learned, an alternate metric, greater future resolve -- even through failure confidence uncovers success.
2) Visualization has been demonstrated to work in lieu of physical practice. This goes for your race, your commute to work, your presentation . . . just about anything.
3) Massive breakthroughs are tough to explain through physical conditioning alone. If we were to depend solely upon physical conditioning, it makes sense that improvements in personal records (and world records for that matter) would be incremental, marginal developments. Massive breakthroughs would be impossible without major advances in our mental states. How can you set a PR one week and then blow the doors off a few weeks later? I assure you it's not the extra 100 miles you ran during that time, it's your ability to further tap into your capabilities by removing mental restrictions.

There are more reasons why I believe that the mental state is our primary wall, but I'll leave you with my simplest and most childish thought experiment:

What is the absolute fastest mile you could run right now? Think about it.

Seriously.

Now, could you shave 5% off of that if your life depended on it?

10M Lakeshore Run Race

2008-10-12T11:15:00.010-05:00

10M, 1:04:00, Max HR = 175, Avg HR = 168, 10M Personal Record

Julie and I drove home to Baton Rouge this weekend, meaning I had to forgo the first race of the Warm-Up Series in Houston. I missed running with my fellow Tornados and the Dynegy Running club, but I did manage to find a 10M race in New Orleans so I could run "in spirit" with my buddies. If I did well I could gloat, and if I didn't I could cower in obscurity. Unlike my financial portfolio over the past week, the gloat/cower strategy had no downside.

I want to use the warm-up series to gauge my fitness level, specifically as it relates to my goal of a three hour marathon in January. I decided, somewhat scientifically, that a 65 minute ten miler would equate to 3hr marathon conditioning. You can type "race equivalent calculator" in Google to find some online tools to make this calculation. I prefer the Jack Daniels vdot method, and this site breaks down your vdot number with decimals. The more popular spot, especially for Houston Runners, is found at http://www.runbayou.com/jackd.htm. But my engineering background craves more significant digits (even if they are bogus), and Runbayou only gives a whole number vdot. The moral of this paragraph is that I wanted to keep a 6:30 pace, and I figured it was right on the cusp of my ability.

The race was a 10M or 3M race -- your option. I know what some of you are thinking -- given that choice what sane person wouldn't pick the shorter distance. Ummm . . . I have no response for that.

So I busted out with the lead pack of about 15 people. I knew I was going too fast, but it was a calculated move. Now that I'm just a tad faster than middle-of-the-pack, I'm starting to appreciate and really enjoy the strategic aspect of racing. I wanted to use this group for two reasons -- 1) to shield myself from the headwind, 2) to pull me through the first three miles since I figured it would be the only time I was running with a group. This was a smaller race, so I wanted to take advantage of the company for as long as possible. And based on the group's rabbit pace, it was obvious they were running the 3M route.

Mile 1 = 6:09, HR = 154 avg, into the wind, tied for my fastest mile

The course was structured as a 1.5M out and back, and then a 3.5M out and back along the same course. All of the "outs" were into a fierce headwind, which averaged 14.39782 MPH according to the weather station at the New Orleans Lakefront Airport a few miles away. (I threw in some significant digits for the other engineers out there.) I relinquished my position in the pack after about mile one, knowing I only had to go another .5 mile on my own before turning around the first time. I reasoned that a half mile into the wind alone would be a wise decision as compared to holding onto this group and burning out early. Let them kick it out for their 3M race and I'll laugh at them as I circle back to pick up another seven. I'll settle into my pace for the rest of the race.

Mile 2 = 6:26, HR = 164 avg, first half into the wind, second half wind-aided.

As I approached the starting point/3M finish point/turnaround point for the 10M, the rabbits got the last laugh after all. Yep, they were going the distance after all, and they were indeed kicking my butt. From the 3M mark onward, I'd end up running mostly by myself. Turning around at the 3M mark was the scariest point of the race for me, knowing I had to run 3.5M into the wind and hoping that I wouldn't fade and lose my 6:30 pace. I had visions of the White Rock Marathon when I ran into a hard wind on and off for 8+ miles around the lake. But this wind was harder, and directly into my face.

Mile 3 = 6:15, HR = 166 avg, wind-aided

During the next 3.5 miles I hit two bridges. I thought this race would be flat! I watch as my overall pace declines, but I'm on the verge of 90% of my max heart rate so I don't want to pick up the pace for fear of burning out. I'm trying like crazy to run the tangents, and I'm reeling in a guy ahead of me (runner A). As I'm about five or ten seconds behind him, I get passed by another runner (runner B). Based on my heart rate and the way I'm feeling, I'm unwilling to keep up with runner B, but it will only be about one or two minutes until I pass runner A. I'm not happy with it, but at least my place remains neutral. And maybe runner B isn't holding back for the wind-aided return like I am. But alas, Runner A doesn't like being passed by Runner B, and they hold on together and pick up the pace. Damn. This developed over a long time and distance, and now we're almost to the turnaround point. I vow to pass them both on the way back.

Mile 4 = 6:44, HR = 171 avg, into the wind

Mile 5 = 6:43, HR = 171 avg, into the wind

Mile 6 = 6:22, HR = 171 avg, into the wind, but it died down a bit for about a quarter of a mile through a residential area with trees.

Just before I reach the turnaround at the 6.5 mile mark I pick up my pace and focus on bringing it home. For the last 3.5 miles into the wind I've averaged a 6:35 pace, which dragged my overall average up to 6:26. But I'm very enthusiastic because I'm feeling strong and I know the hardest part of the race is behind me. Negative splits are almost a given on the wind-aided return, and I never eclipsed 6:30 as an overall average. I'm now thinking about how far under 65 minutes I'll get, and not whether I'll be able to hit 65 minutes.

Joy of joys, I pass runner A and B from above. I'm feeling strong like I could reel off a sub-6 mile. This is fun and I want to run a fast mile just for the heck of it. But I don't want to get cocky and make any mistakes, so I reign in the urge and continue to run just at 90% of my max heart rate for the remainder of the race. I'm by myself, although there is someone about 20 seconds ahead. I gained on him until the last mile, and his lead remained constant thereafter. He picked up his pace at that point.

Mile 7 = 6:27, HR = 170 avg, first half into the wind, second half wind-aided. My slowest mile.

Mile 8 = 6:18, HR = 171 avg, wind-aided

Mile 9 = 6:17, HR = 171 avg, wind-aided

Mile 10 = 6:09, HR = 171 avg, wind-aided, tied for my fastest mile.

Notes:
1) Fastest miles were the first and last, at 6:09
2) The pace difference between my 3.5M out and 3.5M back was 20 seconds per mile (6:35 vs. 6:15)
3) I finished in 13th overall.
4) Positive Note -- I felt as though I could have held the overall pace for another three miles to complete a half marathon.
5) Flip side of #5 -- I should have run this faster. I should have kicked out a 5:50 mile at the end and laid it on the line. But I'm not taking it too hard because it was a technically challenging race, and I'm still a very inexperienced runner. I don't know myself and I don't know how to race. Also, I felt no pain after the race and a hard mile would definitely have caused some significant discomfort for at least the next day. This is a race, but a training race. The goal is Houston and I don't need to take any chances before I get there.
6) The winner, Kevin Castille, turned in a blazing 52:37. I cheered him on at one point and he returned the favor later on. He's an elite runner, probably the finest in Louisiana, and was the first American to finish at last year's Crescent City Classic with a 30:32. He ran in the 2004 10K Olympic Trials race in Sacramento, and ran a 14:18.08 5K earlier this year. I knew Lafayette had a stellar runner, but I've never seen or met him before and didn't even know his name. But his performance today, which was probably only a workout, made it plain that this was said runner. I talked to him briefly after the race and he seemed extremely humble.
7) New Orleans is a very nepotistic running community. I think everyone knows each other. Houston is very similar, but since it's larger it has a little more diversity. Julie watched all of the top finishers cross the line, and the announcer called out everybody's name because he knew them. When he got to me he said "I don't know this guy". I thought that was pretty funny. Maybe I'll wear my name on my shirt next time.
8) Incidentally, I wore my Tornados singlet and met someone who spent some time in Houston and trained with us (before I joined.)
9) Congrats to Avi Moss who turned in a strong race. I've been running with Avi ever since I met him on New Years day in Baton Rouge. He's a member of the Bayou City Roadrunners, and is temporarily located in Baton Rouge for work.
10) This is 5:30 faster than my 10M PR in Chalmette last year. Do you think it's possible for me to break 60 minutes next year?

-----

Racing Flats
Thanks to Jenny Peters from Varsity Sports in Baton Rouge for her patience fitting me with racing flats. I want to run the marathon in some light shoes, and I figured the 10 miler would be a good proving ground for longer races. The Nike Lunar Racers planted a seed in my mind that I don't necessarily need to wear ten pound cotton blocks around each foot. The Lunar racers are a light weight marathon distance shoe, so I decided to investigate a lighter racer.

As it turns out, I already might not be in the right shoe. I've been through thousands of miles since I started running last year, but every shoe salesman I've ever had must have been fitting me in the same type of shoe I already had, without ever taking time to investigate my foot. I've been in a stability shoe, which has a reinforced sole that prevents the shoe from torquing as it lands. I guess it's for people who overpronate. I don't know if that's right so don't quote me. I just know Jenny was confused with the conflicting data I was giving her (my shoe history, wear pattern, a foot examination). The reason why I was in that shoe type to begin with is that I got a deal on a pair at DSW. It's disappointing that so many people have led me astray, but I will take the blame. I'm hardheaded, and if someone was trying to steer me the other direction it's likely that I didn't pick up on the signal. Ultimately the salesmen aim to satisfy, and if I was unwilling to listen to them then I can't place the blame on the salesmen.

I told Jenny that I've never had any significant foot or leg pain. As it turns out, that's not completely true. I don't know how I could have let this slip my mind, but my feet hurt just about every morning when I wake up. It's symptomatic of plantar fasciitis, but it's not exactly that. It's more like a tired arch muscle and some localized soreness.

After trying multiple times to fit me in some lightweight trainers for the marathon, Jenny recommended the Brooks Racer T5. This was my hard-headedness at work. She wanted to put me in something with a little more substance, and I wouldn't listen. I reasoned that I could always use the flats for 5Ks if the 10M didn't feel work. So I bought the T5s and laced them up for this race with more than a little trepidation.

From the Brooks website:

"Note As this shoe is a very lightweight, minimal support racing flat, the vast majority of runners will not find it 'enough shoe' for a full marathon. If you have a light frame and a biomechanically efficient stride, however, you may be able to get away with it. We suggest you work up to it in several half marathon-plus races beforehand to see how it works for you before running in it for a full marathon."

Would I have to pull out of this race? Was I driving a Indy class car with Pinto class skills? Would this be too much for me? I had to chuckle when I saw Kevin Castille at the starting line with the same shoes. What had I done?

You already know the results of the race. I honestly can't say how much credit to give to the shoe. I didn't finish in Kevin's shadow, so apparently shoes don't run themselves. But it's got to help when you wear shoes that 6.2 ounces vs. 12.7 ounces for the Brooks Trance 7 that I would have worn otherwise.

But the weight, the look, the reason . . . none of that matters if I had foot pain during, immediately after the race, or the next morning after the race. And the verdict: Other than a blister on the right toe next to the pinky, these shoes felt better than my normal training shoes. They are designed for a neutral strike with minimal to no pronation. I think that's me. The Trance 7 and Asics 2120s are stability are for pronaters (I think) and I don't think that is me. So maybe I'm in the wrong shoe.

I think I'm going to run one more distance race in these (25K hopefully) and see how they treat me. But right now I'm thinking the marathon is a strong possibility. But I'll use thicker socks that cost more than $6 for a dozen pair so I won't blister.

I know this was a tough read due to the length, so thanks for sticking around. I promise to catch up my blog over the next few days since I finally have internet access at home, no thanks to Comcast.

Incidentally, if you have any feedback regarding anything in this post, please don't be too shy to comment. I can use your advice on racing, the wind, the shoes, the flats . . . whatever. Thanks.

Quick Update

2008-09-29T17:37:00.002-05:00

Frankly I'm shocked, but apparently there is a small minority of people who read this blog and are curious why I haven't posted anything in a while.

Hurricane Ike didn't cause any trouble for me with the exception that I'm without Internet access. I usually blog from home, but I've been known to post an item or two from work. But, horror of horrors, work has been too busy for me to post.

Couple that with the fact that the further behind I get, the more intense the effort becomes to "catch up".

I'll make my running update quick for now, and try to fill in the blanks at some other time:

* I went to Portland (along with Julie) and had a blast. It was a running, biking and hiking vacation for me, which was nice. I came back to Houston wondering what Ike did to my home, and I walked into an untouched house with power. As I mentioned, the only inconvenience I had (and continue to have) was no Internet.

* My company had people work from home for a week while downtown was cleared of debris. Having no Internet essentially transformed my week into a vacation. Having this break on the heels of a running vacation in Portland made me think I was a professional runner. It gave me time to run when I wanted to run, and how much I wanted to run. During one week I logged 80 miles and wished I ran more.

* I went back to work with an overfull slate of tasks, and I've been sleeping in on mornings. In other words, the last week has been woeful for me in terms of training. I'm hoping to rectify that starting tonight with a good run.

* I promise that I'll give some more color to all of those points. But for the time being, thanks for reading and I hope you're doing well.

Week in Review

2008-09-06T22:08:00.005-05:00

Once again I've allowed myself to get behind in blogging, and once again I'll bore you with a summary of my runs over the past week.

8/31/08 - 17.8 miles, 2:18:17, 7:46 pace. I showed up to the park for my Sunday long run with the Tornados, and I noticed that the Nike Human Race is taking place today. It's a 10K race, run in cities around the world. I'm not into the whole marketing thing, but I did get a free shirt out of it and a chance to run with my friend Cory. I took a long break after the 10K and ran almost 12 afterwards. I'm not going to lie -- it was tough and I wanted to quit a few times. Daniel joined me -- I met him about a month ago when he joined us for a Tornado long run. He's a good runner and a nice guy -- hopefully he'll continue to run with us and join the Tornados.

9/1/08 - Will's Hills Warm Up. Will's Hills Relays. Category 2 Hurricane Gustav made landfall on Labor Day, sparing New Orleans but ripping up Baton Rouge unlike any storm in history. Thankfully my family and friends are all ok, but without power. After a long hiatus I ran with Will's Hills today. Holiday runs are always festive with that group, and I've been missing running with them. It's always a challenging workout, although I entered the workout with the attitude that I would take it easy. We ran two man relays of appx 200M each, and of course I ran them too fast. I didn't want to let my partner, Phil, down, and I floored it. Pablo and I blistered the last 200 of the first set and had a nail biter finish. I ran that one at a 4:05 pace. I just looked that lap up and it surprised me -- that was in the twilight, on grass, with my Vibram Five Fingers, and it was my tenth one with 45 seconds of rest between. The shoes were a hit, by the way, but the most curious feedback I got was from a girl that told me I had a lot of confidence to wear those. I'm not sure what that means, but she said it with a smile.

9/2/08 - 8.01M Morning run, 1:03:32, 7:55 pace. Tornado PM Speed Work (400s). We usually run speed work for time instead of distance so everyone starts and stops at the same time. So my 1:30 runs (with 2MR) were run at paces of: 5:21, 5:34, 5:49, 5:33, 5:18, 5:17. It was tough to run 200s yesterday, 8M this morning below a 8 minute pace, and then 400s today in 93 degree weather. But who said speed work was supposed to be "easy"!?

9/3/08 - 5.16M Morning Heights Run, 44:03, 8:32 pace. I've been avoiding running along White Oak Bayou since I inhaled more than my fair share of swarms of white bugs. I've never been real excited about running the Heights Boulevard trail, but I've warmed up to it lately. I'm doing my best to run all of my scheduled runs this week, and this one was difficult given my soreness from the last couple of days. 5.04 After-work Run to PIM Happy Hour, 41:01, 8:07 pace. The happy hour was great -- The owners of Anita's Bar and Grille are PIMsters, and I enjoyed talking to them. The downer of this run was that my left knee acted up as a result of too much speed work over the past couple of days.

9/4/08 - I rested my knee and my body, and Julie and I went to Discovery Green downtown to watch the Iguanas. They're based out of New Orleans, and the show had a strong Tejano influence. It was a good time, particularly since the weather has recently changed to a (dare I say it?) Autumn-esque feeling. Since I didn't run today I had to run my threshold on Friday morning -- alone. I slept uneasily on this day, wondering how my knee and my psyche will hold up.

9/5/08 - 9.23 as 3M Warm Up, 3M Threshold, 3M Warm Down, 1:18:15. 6:39, 6:53, 6:48. These are about 20 seconds slower than I should run, and 30 seconds slower than I want to run. But I'm giving myself a break since I've beat myself into the ground this week and I have 18M to run tomorrow.

9/6/08 - 18.08M, 2:28:53, 8:13 pace, Max HR = 149, Avg HR = 133, 36% Zone 3, 64% Z2, 78 degrees, 59% humidity. I was happy with this run, despite the fact that I started to experience some cardiac drift at about mile 13. Prior to that my heart rate was at about 128 the whole run. After mile 13 my heart rate rose even though my pace was flat to slightly faster. I suspect it was a combination of fatigue, the rising temperature, and dehydration. Running 18M by myself at a respectable pace was a confidence builder.

Summary:
Last Week = 73.44M, 10:02:45, 8:12 pace
August = 249.73M, 33:12:55, 7:59 pace, avg 8.06M per day (64 minutes 19 seconds per day)

The Houston Marathon is 19 weeks away, and I'm happy with my training to date, but it's time to get busy. I've been hitting the core exercises after almost run. 20 push ups were difficult at first but now I can do three sets of 25 without much of a struggle. After a six month break from core, I'm pretty weak in the upper body but hopefully I'll show some rapid improvement.

Bad Start for the Weekend

2008-08-30T21:44:00.005-05:00

8.09 miles, 1:03:39, 7:52 pace, no HR info

I'm supposed to be in Baton Rouge right now, enjoying the post-game tailgate. But Hurricane Gustav altered my plans. The idea was to drive back for the game on Saturday morning after my long run, and to drive back on Monday or Tuesday. But the game was moved up from 4PM to 10AM, making a Saturday morning drive all but impossible. Plus, interstate contra-flow is scheduled for Sunday so there is no guarantee I'd be able to drive back home if I did manage to get to Baton Rouge.

So this opened up the opportunity to join Stephanie's group for their 20M long run. Unfortunately I pulled my normal bone-headed move and forgot to turn on my alarm clock after setting it for 4:15AM. So it was another long run alone for me.

I planned on running for two hours, but I gave up and walked home about 3 miles after I hit the eight mile mark. I'm not sure what's wrong with me. Maybe I still haven't recovered completely from Hood to Coast, maybe I'm just TIRED, maybe my diet is out of whack, or maybe I'm just lazy. But I haven't been able to get going lately and I've been giving into my thoughts to sleep in, and cut my runs short. This is not a good sign. I'm resolving to make September a good month, and to get back onto my regular schedule of running. No complaints, no excuses. Oh, and I better start back on my core exercises in September.

Congratulations to the Fighting Tigers of LSU who handily disposed of the DI-AA champions, Appalachian State, by a score of 41-13. It's hard to read too much into these types of games, so I won't try to extrapolate this result and make any predictions for the season. However, I DO feel like it's going to be a long fall for my Ponies of SMU, as they were blown out by Rice on Friday night. Maybe June Jones is the answer, but getting thrashed by Rice certainly raises a lot of questions.

Jeers to Mississippi State for embarrassing the SEC by losing to Louisiana Tech. There is a reason why we (LSU) scheduled Miss St. for our homecoming.

Neglecting Life

2008-08-29T11:24:00.003-05:00

4.06 miles, 32:59, 8:07 pace, Max HR = 147, Avg HR = 136

Things that I've been neglecting due to running (in no particular order, except for the last is the most important):
1) Cutting my grass
2) Cleaning up my mess around the house
3) Sleep
4) Blogging about the wonderful time I had when Melanie and Adora (my beautiful Godchild/Niece) visited.
5) Blogging about the fantastic experience and great team I had during the Hood to Coast relay
6) Replying back to some old friends that recently caught up with me
7) Getting mentally prepared for another college football season
8) Changing the light in my bathroom
9) Tending the foliage around the house
10) Reading
11) My wife

In a few days I will follow Julie to Portland for a conference. Hopefully I can find some inner peace by taking care of some things on this list during my down time.

-----
Today's run was difficult, coming off of a longish prior night run. My heart rate was a bit elevated due to general physical fatigue and being sleep deprived. The sleep is going to continue to go on the back burner. I'll be up late tonight and up at 3:45 to run on Saturday morning so I can drive to Baton Rouge for the LSU game. Maybe I can catch some winks during the car ride.

Revolutionary Vibram Five Fingers Ad

2008-08-29T09:35:00.003-05:00

This is an old Saturday Night Live skit. It's from season 31 -- 2005 to 2006. I think it was before Vibram started making Five Fingers.

I found the video on this guy's blog

Eine Kleine Nachtlaufen

2008-08-28T23:53:00.003-05:00

8.55 miles, 1:11:36, 8:22 pace, no HR info

The only thing I want to say about this run is that I'm glad it's over and I'm tired of running long distances by myself in the dark.

I think the title of this blog entry translates to "Another Night Run", although I don't know German. I stole the idea from Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.

Backlog

2008-08-28T20:04:00.005-05:00

I've been busy and I failed to blog most of my runs for the past few weeks. My sister and niece visited for a week, I went to Portland and things have been getting exciting at work -- all of which cut into the leisure time that I use to blog. So this will be a boring post that serves only to satisfy my compulsion to put all of my runs on "paper". Feel free to skip over it, dear reader(s), but you might want to check out the link to my flights to and from Portland. I turned my Garmin on during the flight and uploaded it to motionbased.

8/12/08 - 7.59 miles, WU, 6x800 with 2 minutes rest, WD, Max HR = 179
2:57, 2:56, 2:59, 2:56, 3:11 (ouch), 2:56

8/13/08 - 11.60 miles, 1:37:58, 8:26 pace, Max HR = 147, Avg HR = 135
Twisted my ankle but ran through it. Ran without water until about mile 8 or 9.

8/15/08 - 9.10 miles, 1:14:59, Max HR = 163, Avg HR = 138Neighborhood Run.

8/16/08 - 15.34 Miles, 2:00:07, 7:49 pace, Max HR = 157, Avg HR = 131, 1025 feet of elevation
I mowed down the Conroe Hills with Sim and kept the heart rate at bay.

8/17/08 - 12.04 miles, 1:27:05, 7:13 pace, Max HR = 162, Avg HR = 141.
Tornado Long Run. Pedal to the medal.

8/18/08 - 4.01 miles, 34:37, 8:37 pace, No HR info
Tapering for Hood to Coast.

8/19/08 - 4.03 miles, 34:41, 8:36 pace, no HR info
Tapering for Hood to Coast

8/20/08 - rest
8/21/08 - rest (Plane Trip to Portland)

8/22/08 and 8/23/08 -- Hood to Coast -- I blogged about these runs.

8/24/08 and 8/25/08 -- Recovery and Rest and trip back to Houston.

8/26/08 - AM 10.64 Miles, 1:25:48, 8:03 pace, No HR info
Finally running again. I got up early in the morning to run and took this easy.
8/26/08 - PM 4.02 miles, 32:32, 8:05 pace, no HR info
Took a run after wring my blog entry about Cody after his visitation. It seemed like the right thing to do.

8/27/08 - Vibram 5 Finger Run that I already blogged about.

8/28/08 - I slept through my morning run, and now it's 8:34PM and I'm stuffed to the gills from a big Italian dinner and I'm watching college football on television. Will I make it out today? Given the fact that I've been lazy lately, and the fact that my weekend is going to be very busy, I'm going to try to run even if it ends up being very late before I start.

Vibram Five Fingers

2008-08-27T22:23:00.005-05:00

8.09 Miles, 1:06:34, 8:13 pace, no HR info

I bought a new pair of "shoes" today called Vibram Five Fingers. I've been toying with the idea of purchasing these shoes which give you the sensation of running barefoot, and finally broke down today and bought them. Here is an article from Runner's World describing the author's experience.

Here is what they look like:

And here they are on my feet. Notice the blade of grass between the toes.

I also have a reflector on my leg since this was a night run.

The alleged benefits of running barefoot are:
1) Develop a more natural gait
2) Encourage mid-foot striking and proper pronation
3) Strengthen individual small muscles in the foot, helping you to run faster.

My reason for buying the shoes:
Even though I'm a pretty normal guy, I like to be a little quirky from time to time.

I don't know if natural is really better. Technology generally improves things, so it's a hard sell to me that technological advances in footwear would be "evil" and counterproductive. But plenty of African marathoners grew up running and training without shoes, although I suspect the current generation of runners did not.

I can say this about my experience -- you would think that the pavement and concrete would hurt and the dirt and gravel paths would be the best, but it was the opposite. I struggled when I stepped on the smallest rocks and consequently ran a lot slower on the gravel path along Heights Boulevard. But the pavement didn't really bother me.

I hope for $80 they last, but even if they don't they're sure to turn some eyes.

Cody Eugene Smith

2008-08-26T21:12:00.006-05:00

CODY EUGENE SMITH, 26 of Cypress, Texas passed away on August 21, 2008 at North Cypress Hospital from an accidental drowning. He was preceded in death by his father William Eugene Smith, Grandmother Louis Smith, Uncle Terry Smith and (PawPaw) Juan J Rios. Cody went to Cy-Fair High School and then received his GED from Windfern High School and later attended ITT where he received his associate's degree. He was employed by Smith Services of Houston as a draftsman in the engineering department. When Cody attended Cy-Fair High School he ran cross- country track. He decided to start running again in Feb 2007. His first marathon was the M2M in Oct. 2007. After training four long hard months he ran the AT & T Austin marathon in Feb 2008 with a time of 3:06 which enabled him to qualify for the April 2008 Boston marathon which he finished with a time of 3:15:34. He also had started running with the Tornados running club in Houston. Cody is survived by his mother Olga Smith, Brother Casey Smith, two uncles, three aunts, and numerous cousins and many great friends. Visitation will be held 6-8:00 PM, Tuesday, August 26, 2008 at Brookside Funeral Home Cypress Creek. Funeral Mass will be held 3:00 PM, Wednesday, August 27, 2008 at Christ the Redeemer Catholic Community 11507 Huffmeister RD, Houston, TX 77065.
----------------

I just returned from the visitation service for Cody, a fellow Tornado Runner who died on Thursday of last week. I didn't know Cody well, but I ran with him -- which is to say I understood him. You can run side by side with someone for a hour without saying a word and still bond. A long run is like a battle, fighting the enemy of fatigue and the internal and external voices that say you can't do it. I went to battle alongside of Cody, and he was my brother in arms. He left his mark on me, and I won't forget him.

The last time I saw him was during the Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer 5K. Cody was fast -- so fast that I was originally intimidated by him because I assumed he wouldn't care to hang out with a slow-poke like me. It didn't take me long to find out how wrong I was about that assumption.

At the race earlier this month he was in a battle for the lead in an out-and-back course. I got to see him for a while, but he ended up too far ahead for me to see. I got to cheer him on again as he passed the turnaround point and ran by me in the opposite direction. As soon as I finished I looked for him to find out how he did. He was so excited that he broke his goal of 17 minutes (16:52). I could see the glee and innocence of a child in his eyes.

It seems unfair that someone twenty-six years old, born in 1981, should die while swimming laps at a gymnasium. Jaime (also from the Tornados) and I spoke with disbelief trying to make sense out of this nonsensical situation. We pondered the idea that you should live every day as if it were your last day. It seems irresponsible to disregard the future in lieu of "carpe diem", but then again you never know when you will take your life's last breath. I'm a planner and a saver, and I can't fathom emptying the bank account on trips, expensive food and experiences as though I was at the end of my days. But I finally settled on understanding that living like it's your last day doesn't mean partying it down. I think it means to be the best person you can possibly be. Be a good husband, wife, parent, sibling, son, daughter, friend. Add to the ultimate happiness of the world. And if you do that every day, your life achieves its maximum value.

Cody, you were always faster than me and managed to beat me in this race as well. So cheer me on as I complete my race through life and I'll do my best to run every day like it's my last.

HTC Leg 33

2008-08-23T17:13:00.001-05:00

This was it -- the oft misunderstood third leg. Like the Trinity, we have a grasp on the first two (The Father and The Son), but you never fully understand the implications of the third leg (The Holy Spirit) until you experience it.

7.71 miles, 51:41, 6:42 pace, avg HR 157

Many of you who read this run races and know the toll it takes on your body. But there seems to be an exponential effect of fatigue when running three races in eighteen hours. The beauty of running is on full display when you answer the call to run despite total exhaustion of body and mind. I looked to my teammates and competitors and knew we were all riding in the same boat.

In short, it was a blast.

I toed the exchange point, nervously wondering if I could live up to my self-imposed expectations of running a strong eight miles. Time wasn't my concern so much as strength. I didn't want to give anything less than my best, which is easier said than done. Aided by some restful sleep (I'm pretty sure I led the van in that category) I took off and ran a mile on feel before looking at the Garmin for split information. 6:32. After that the rolling hills began. They weren't so challenging except for the fact that they came on my third leg. Almost everyone else had more elevation issues than my relay legs, so it seems petty to even mention it. But the hills did slow me down, and I tried my best to take advantage of the downhills by focusing on my form and turnover. 6:43 mile 2.

Mile three was even slower at 6:48. My teammates met me here and gave me water. I picked up the pace and tried to look good for them. It helps when you see your fellow runners in good spirits because a positive attitude is contagious. My new pace was good, so I tried to keep it up and ran a 6:32 fourth mile. At this point I'm over half way done. The next two miles were slow (6:38 and 6:46).

But even though I'm slowing down, I'm mowing down the competition. During this leg I passed around ten people and I wasn't passed. I pushed through the final stretch and handed it off to Jeb.

I'll write more later because my battery is low.

HTC Leg 21

2008-08-23T10:29:00.000-05:00

I was without a cell phone signal so I couldn't post real time results until now.

4.98 miles, 31:57, 6:25 pace.

I passed six or eight others and didn't get passed. This run was on large chunks of gravel which wrecked my feet. I saved my pace so I would be ok for my third leg.

It was a rough night, only about an hour of sleep on the bench seat of a van, but that's what these things are all about, right? It was chilly, but perfect running weather. Very un-Houston like.

The body is holding up well but the calves (left one in particular) are very sore. Thank goodness I brought the massage stick . . . but you should have seen the look on the faces of the people running the x-ray machine at airport security.

Hood to Coast, Leg 9

2008-08-23T00:40:00.002-05:00

I didn't have a chance to write a Hood to Coast intro thanks to a grossly delayed flight from Houston to Portland, but I'll catch you up later.

Leg 9 - 6.87 miles, 44:03, 6:25 pace, avg HR 165?

I felt strong, but I made a mental mistake and thought I was running 5.87 instead of 6.87, so the last mile was challenging. I passed about 5 or 6 people, but four people whizzed by me at about a 6:00 pace. I hung with them for a quarter mile, but realized I'd pay for it later if I kept that pace. This leg was a great leg--mostly flat along an old railroad track. The first half was gravel, but the second half was on blacktop and it was faster. I ran this in the dark with my head lamp.

Cerebral Run

2008-08-11T21:32:00.004-05:00

AM: 4.03 miles, 33:47, 8:23 pace, Max HR = 139, Avg HR = 125, 20% Z3, 71% Z2
PM: 8.08 miles, 1:09:46, 8:38 pace, no HR info

I had a lot of random thoughts as I ran this morning and this evening.

I really enjoy living inside of a major city. My running path allows me to gaze on the Houston skyline as I run around a little league baseball field. I see wild flowers and a large red sculpture every time I run through Stude and White Oak park. Unfortunately I also see graffiti and trash. The tropical storm that recently passed through Houston caused the banks of White Oak Bayou to overflow, depositing thousands of plastic bottles and other floating trash in my park. Punks periodically decide to tag trash cans, concrete and even the sculpture I mentioned above with their names. "Noob" has done some damage recently, and "Vein" is the latest offender with fresh marks I saw for the first time this morning.

But the story is more positive than negative. The first thing I noticed about the park during my evening run was that the trash was picked up today. The city and volunteers do a great job taking care of our park. Trash and graffiti have a short life span around here. Unfortunately energy must be wasted in the clean up effort that would be better spent in other areas.

My evening run was more about reflection. I ran with an iPod, which I seldom do, and threw together a playlist on the fly. Alphaville's "Forever Young" took me back to high school. If you have a moment, listen to the song. It remains one of my favorite songs of all time.

I was a typical teenager, which is to say that I struggled with confidence and self-image. I lived a life of unnecessary stress about money, the future, am I good enough, who am I, etc. High school was tough, but it was good to me. It certainly wasn't "the best time of my life" -- I have to say right now is that time for me. But high school was a tremendous growth opportunity and it really launched me toward the person I am today.

I feel bad about not keeping in touch with my classmates. I missed my ten year reunion because I was on my honeymoon, and my 15 because it was just a picnic for locals (Norcross, GA). I had the typical superficial friends, but I also had some friends that I cared deeply about and miss to this day. The song I mentioned above reminds me of my good friends Rana and Alison. We bonded over a summer at GHP and kept in close touch until we graduated and went our separate ways. I miss those two.

I believe that we have an unlimited capacity to love. It takes tremendous effort to get to the point where you love a person, but once that's achieved it is never lost. Having that bond with one person does not preclude establishing another relationship. It's not like a glass that can only hold 16 ounces before overflowing. It's like a beam of light projected into space. The source can always get brighter and the energy created by the light is never lost -- it just spreads out.

Anyway, that's my amateur philosophy (C- grade, to stick with the high school theme) that went through my head today. Oh, and also I saw a guy that looked like Jerry Stiller.

The body felt a bit rough today, thanks to a race and a few extra miles on Saturday, plus an aggressive 6M stretch during an 18 mile run on Sunday. I cut it short in the morning (4 instead of a planned 6), but made up the difference in the evening because I felt better than expected. Last 7 days = 61.47 miles.

Forever Young by Alphaville

18M Tornado Long Run

2008-08-10T18:03:00.003-05:00

18.31M, 2:24:50, 7:54 pace, Max HR = 162, Avg HR = 126.

After watching the Olympics until 11:00PM, I woke up at 4:30 and got to the park by 5:00AM to run a bit with Jack, Stacey and Laurie before the Tornados kicked it off at 6:30.

6M with Jack/Stacey/Laurie at 8:41
1M warm up with Tornados at 8:15
6M with Sim at 7:13 pace (felt my fatigue from yesterday, but HR was ok)
5M back to the park at 7:56 pace

This wasn't as hard as I expected it to be, and I didn't even take my typical nap after the workout.

Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer 5K

2008-08-09T17:21:00.005-05:00

.71M Warm Up, 5K, 19:19, 6:13 pace, Max HR = 181, Avg HR = 164 (86%)
Later that morning: 6.17 miles, 48:50, 7:54 pace, Max HR = 158, Avg HR = 143

I had a fun time at today's Lazy Hazy Crazy Days of Summer 5K. This race was a last minute addition to my calendar thanks to an unused race entry from Dynegy. A quick look at the starting line confirmed my suspicion that I wouldn't be in the running for any significant placing, so I took this at a bit slower than all-out. The idea was that this would replace my missed tempo run on Thursday.

Mile 1 - about 6:07. I'm feeling pretty good here, taking it in stride, and I was shocked to see the mile marker come up so quickly.
Mile 2 - about 6:13. I don't really notice that I'm slowing down, although I'm fatiguing a bit. I heard footsteps at my left since about the half mile mark, and since they're not passing me, I'm assuming they're pacing off of me. It was during this mile that we did a 180 degree turnaround. I passed about three people with a quick turn.
Mile 3 - about 6:15. It's a bit disappointing that I slowed down so much, but I wasn't in the race to go all out so I guess I'm giving myself an out. Everyone else is slowing down and I passed a few people during this stretch. It's 79 degrees with 85% humidity and we're running on the concrete of Memorial Parkway, so fatigue was spread out across the course. The footsteps I heard over the last half of the race are now gone, so I must've dropped them. It turns out they were my buddy and fellow Tornado, Justo (who goes by "Chino").
Finish - I don't have anyone in striking distance in front of me or behind me, so I only mildly cruise it in. As I would have expected, I felt fine at the end (big change from my last two 5K races). This race was over quickly, which is a similar feeling to when I ran the July 4 race this year.

I didn't expect to place, but I was shocked to see myself listed as second in the 30-34 age group preliminary results. I was pushed to third when they re-printed the results and changed to ten year age groups (30-39), but excited to pick up an award. Unfortunately they didn't call my name -- I think they had some scoring kinks with the new disposable chips, and had to manually add a few people who came in ahead of me. Overall I was somewhere in 16-30th place out of more than 400, but I'm not sure because the official results haven't been posted yet. I did win an Astros coffee mug as a door prize. It was on par with the winners' prizes, which is to say this race had some pretty embarrassing "hardware". I felt bad for the age group winners who walked away with a wristband good for free admission to the Aquarium.

Congratulations to Stacey Almond who crushed her PR, and Cody (another Tornado teammate) who finished second overall with about a 16:52. Jackie, a nice girl that I see in the park who started running in March, ran her first 5K and she's ready for more. Leno, the Tornado head coach, has been working on signing her to the Tornados and I hope he's successful.

After I got home I ran my 6 mile neighborhood route since I usually try to get at least ten miles on Saturdays. It was, of course, even hotter, but I took it easy enough that it didn't bother me too much. I ran with sunglasses, which I've only done a couple of times before, but it makes all the difference in the world toward preventing misery. Sometimes I don't know if it's the heat or just the sun that kills me.

Last 7 days = 55.29 miles, 7:15:50, 7:53 pace average
next week goal = 70 miles and then a down week to get ready for the Hood to Coast relay.

Aborted Threshold Attempt

2008-08-07T14:10:00.003-05:00

2.09 M Warm Up @ 9:19, 3.81M, 32:14, 8:27 pace

I tried to get my Thursday threshold workout over in the morning in anticipation that I'd have to work late and miss the Tornado run. After a difficult warm up, I pulled up lame after a half mile into the threshold attempt. My leg felt funny/numb for a second. It went away after a second, but I wasn't going to risk it and I was going to run another half mile back to my car. But I ran into Stephanie, Laurie and Randy, so I did an easy loop with them. The leg thing came and went, but I'm pretty sure I need to start doing some back exercises again.

While running today I saw Diana Hurst. She's been doing some fantastic things with her running lately in preparation for The California International Marathon. She has an iron will, and a work ethic that puts me to shame. Already a sub 3 hour marathoner (2:58?), Diana has been working incredibly hard on a program designed by Jack McClintic. The CIM is one of the fastest marathons in the country, so I expect the combination of her training and the course will yield an outstanding result for her.

I really want to start doing a better job on my threshold runs, perhaps substituting my Tuesday speed work for a threshold run to get two per week. Seeing Diana out there reminded me that she runs her thresholds on Thursday mornings. Maybe I can gauge her interest in letting me tag along, since it's usually difficult for me to run with the Tornados at 6PM. Maybe some of her determination would rub off on me.

I Knew This Would Happen

2008-08-06T22:23:00.001-05:00

6.03M, 51:01, 8:27, Max HR = 141, Avg HR = 127

After six straight weeks of following my training plan almost perfectly, things fell apart today thanks to a long work day. I didn't get a chance to run my evening run, and it's not looking good for me to run tomorrow evening either. I knew as soon as I "published" my training plan, it would fall apart.

That being said, it's a good time to run a few less miles than I planned because I'm starting to feel tired and uninspired. As I've commented before, I believe that running is far more cerebral than most people assume. The way I usually apply that knowledge is by saying "if the mind says you can do it, then you will succeed." But the flip side of that statement is "if the mind says you CAN'T do it, then you will fail." I don't want to say that I'm feeling like a failure, but I'm certainly ready for a breather to recharge my batteries.

Today I found out that my company has an unclaimed entry to a 5K race this weekend, so I'm considering a race this weekend as a threshold workout.

My run this morning was pretty slow, but that's probably to be expected since I started at 5:09 AM (I'm never fast in the morning) and I ran nine miles ten hours ago at a sub-7:45 pace.

9:21, 8:19, 8:32, 8:10, 8:20, 8:06

Tropical Storm Edouard

2008-08-05T21:09:00.003-05:00

9.10 miles, 1:10:13, 7:43 pace, Max HR = 146, Avg HR = 134

Tropical Storm Edouard fizzled and the only impact to me was a work day from home and a spongy run around Memorial Park in lieu of Tornado speed work. Yes, I said "spongy" because the Memorial Park crushed granite surface feels like running on a sponge when it's wet. Today's run was an ideal situation because of the surface and because of the reprieve from the scorching temperatures we've been experiencing lately -- which is why I was surprised to only see one other Tornado show up to our scheduled speed workout. Paco and I skipped the 6x400 that Leno planned for us in lieu of some easy miles. He's been pounding out the miles lately, and picked up a lap before I even showed up. (About halfway through the run we did see Chino.)

I'm not certain it's in my best interest to run true "speed" work at this stage of my training. The wear and tear on the body probably isn't worth the extra speed I'll gain since I'm 166 days away from the Houston Marathon. And if I do speed work, I'd prefer to do repeats of 800 meters or longer. I'll reevaluate that in the fall.

So it was a good run. My heart rate stayed relatively low, averaging 70% of my max. I'm beginning to think that it's in the realm of possibility that I will break three hours at the marathon since I am finding it relatively easy to do the same workouts as others who consistently break three. The two things I feel as though I need to work up to are 5M tempo runs at about 6:15 pace, and 20M long runs. Easier said than done since my best tempo runs are just below 6:40 and 15 miles at a fair pace makes me pretty tired.

Last 7 days = 69.57 miles

Mile Splits today:
7:51, 7:41, 7:48, 7:50, 7:50, 7:46, 7:39, 7:31, 7:46

Twelve Mile Monday

2008-08-04T21:16:00.003-05:00

AM: 6.16M, 49:39, 8:03 pace, Max HR = 142, Avg HR = 128
PM: 6.05M, 49:59, 8:00 pace, Max HR = 145, Avg HR = 131

The morning run was relatively easy, thanks to a good night's sleep. Even so, the first mile of my runs have been difficult. Piling up the mileage isn't resulting in any injuries, but it does take me a longer to warm up and hit my groove. In a typical fashion, my first half mile was run at a 9:36 pace.

I joined Shon at Memorial park for my afternoon run. It was hot -- I think the radio said the heat index was 101 after I finished. We stopped for water twice, but this was an ideal day for a camel back. Although my cardio was in fair shape, my legs were tired most of the way. But when I finished I felt as though I could have done another lap without any problems. Fatigue is becoming my friend . . . I just wish we weren't on a first name basis.

I'm going to discontinue my "This day last year (TDLY)" segment because I don't think it's work the extra effort it takes to collect the data.

July Totals

2008-08-04T20:45:00.004-05:00

A little more than a month ago I put together a training schedule for the Houston Marathon. Each day is mapped out until the marathon on January 18, 2009. It's flexible from a long term perspective, but I'm relatively true to the schedule during the current week and month.

So far:
Weeks until marathon, week beginning, weekly mileage, total time, average pace
30, 6/22/08, 56.60, 7:47:26, 8:16
29, 6/29/08, 58.15, 7:40:46, 7:55
28, 7/6/08, 60.36, 7:45:01, 7:42
27, 7/13/08, 54.82, 7:30:07, 8:13
26, 7/20/08, 68.79, 9:25:12, 8:13
25, 7/27/08, 59.42, 8:13:11, 8:18

My goal is to work up to several 70 mile weeks prior to the marathon. I'm accomplishing this by adding several easy runs while keeping my speed work and threshold work relatively constant.

This week's schedule is a typical week:
Sunday 12M long @ 7-8
Monday AM 6M easy @ 8-9, PM 6M easy @ 8-9
Tuesday PM 3M speed work with 2 WU + 2 WD
Wednesday AM 6M easy @ 8-9, PM 6M easy @ 8-9
Thursday PM 5M Threshold @ 6:20-6:40 with 2 WU + 2 WD
Friday Rest
Saturday 16M long @ 8-9
Total: 68M

Blog Break

2008-08-03T14:48:00.003-05:00

I took a break from blogging, but not running. What follows are the boring specifics of the runs I completed in an attempt to catch up.

7/13/08 - 12.19M Long Run, 7:58 pace in the afternoon. The eat and dehydration destroyed me for several days, but it was nice to go back to the old stomping ground and run Hermann Park, Rice, and West-U along the marathon route.
7/14/08 - 4.03M at 8:30 pace in the afternoon.
7/15/08 - #%&@^! Rest. I missed my Tornado Speed Workout because of work.
7/16/08 - 6.04 miles at Memorial Park with Jeff Eisle, 7:55 pace.
7/17/08 - 2.05 Warm Up, 4.01 M Threshold at 6:39, 11% Z5, 72% Z4, Avg HR = 163, Max HR = 162, 3.00 Warm Down
7/18/08 - 7.14M Easy AM Run through Heights, Avg HR = 122
7/19/08 - 16.38M with Steph, 8:35 pace
7/20/08 - 14.10 M Tornado Long Run including some trails at the beginning, Avg HR = 132, Max HR = 157, 4% Z4, 60% Z3
7/21/08 - 6.00 M AM neighborhood with negative splits, 7:50 pace. 6.01 M PM neighborhood, 7:56 pace
7/22/08 - 2.04 Warm Up, .51M in 3:00, .51 in 3:00, .51 in 3:01, .51 in 3:01, .51 in 3:01, .52 in 3:02, 2.06 Warn Down
7/23/08 - 4.04 AM easy at 7:58 pace, 4.90 Striders Trail Run PM at 9:36 pace. Drank beer with the Striders President afterwards. Thanks to Ted for the invite!
7/24/08 - 2.05 M Warm Up, 5.01 M tempo at 6:38, Avg HR = 162, Avg HR = 173, 4% Z5, 81% Z4, 2.23 Warm Down. Luis Armenteros joined us for this on. He is a machine.
7/25/08 - Rest!!
7/26/08 - 16.55M with Stacey at Katy Fit, 8:26 pace
7/27/08 - 10.62M Tornado Long Run, 7:35 pace, Avg HR = 139, Max HR = 159, 33% Z4, 34% Z3, 31% Z2
7/28/08 - 6.06 Afternoon neighborhood run with Julie riding bike, 8:23 pace
7/29/08 - 1.13M warm up, 1.01M in 6:00, 1.01 M in 6:00, .99M in 6:01, 2.07 warm down
7/30/08 - 5M Will's Hills reprise with Erin. She took it to me on a day I was hoping to relax!
7/31/08 - 2.05 M warm up, 4.01 M threshold, 6:51 pace, Avg HR = 161, Max HR = 170, 2.91 M warm down. Jen Brown took it to me on this one. I tried to help her keep her 6:45 pace, but after an ambitious first mile our pace faded, and she pulled away from me with about 800 meters left.
8/1/08 - 9/80 day off and a rest day. I took a 6.24 M easy bike ride.
8/2/08 - 16.23 with Steph's group, Max HR = 137, Avg HR = 117, 8:52 pace. I organized this route and we planned 20 through Heights, but our group kinda fell apart this day and we ended up walking back a few.
8/3/08 - 12.03 Tornado Run, 7:29 pace, Max HR = 155, Avg HR = 139, 8% Z4, 73% Z3. Great run for tired legs -- heart rate stayed low, thanks in part to cloud cover.

Kenyan Way Long Run

2008-07-12T18:32:00.000-05:00

12.05 miles, 1:32:12, 7:38 pace, max HR = 157, avg HR = 141 (2% Z4, 93% Z3), 79 degrees, 82% humidity

I missed my chance to join Stephanie's group today, and their run on League Line Road in Conroe. It's a hilly route, and I was looking foward to it. I set my alarm to the correct time to meet the group, but I forgot to turn on the alarm.

When I woke up I realized I could meet up with the Kenyan way crew. I joined the 3:00 pace group, but they left me pretty much immediately. They took off quickly at a sub 7:30 pace, but I tend to need a warm up mile or two to warm up. Plus, they were only scheduled for 8 and I wanted to get 12 today. Also, I need to be rested for my Sunday long runs so I don't get embarassed running with the Tornados.

I enjoyed the run, and managed to keep my heart rate pretty low until the very end when I picked up the pace about the time the heat also picked up.

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TDLY - 7/11/07 - AM Kenyan Way, PM Run with Cory at Memorial Park, 6.02 miles, 53:40, 8:54 pace, Max HR = 171, Avg HR = 152

Threshold Attempt

2008-07-10T22:02:00.001-05:00

Warm Up
Threshold attempt, 5.01 miles, 34:42, 6:55 pace, Max HR = 171, Avg HR = 162, 89% Z4, 9% Z3, 85% and sunny, 68% humidity, 6:37, 6:39, 7:05, 7:11, 7:03
Warm Down

My attempt was to run this with a 6:30 pace for five miles, the first time this season that I've tried a five mile threshold. As you can tell, I missed the mark on every mile, and it got progressively worse. Many of the other Tornados struggled as well.

For me I think it was a combination of the heat and the fact that I ran 58 miles in the prior six days. Tomorrow's rest day will be well appreciated. I'll be watching Leno run at the last Rice All Comer's meet of the season. Next year I'll enter a few events.

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TDLY - Museum District Neighborhood Run, 4.16 miles, 36:54, 8:52 pace, Max HR = 152, Avg HR = 141, 86% Z3

After (Work) Eight

2008-07-09T21:05:00.001-05:00

8.00 miles, 1:05:19, 8:09 pace, Max HR = 149, Avg HR = 137

"After Eight" is an after dinner chocolate mint, hence the bad play on words for my eight mile after-work run. Yes, witticisms cease to be witty as soon as you have to explain them.

The story here isn't about the run so much as it is about the events around the run. First of all I was scheduled to run four this morning and four this evening. Ever since I set down a training schedule a few weeks ago, I've been pretty good about following it. I've also been very good about getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night, since fewer that than has hindered my performance in the past.

But last night I only slept about an hour before waking up at 11PM. I couldn't get to sleep until about 4:30 AM -- so I didn't run in the morning. Strangely I didn't feel that tired during the day, despite sleeping less than four hours. But I was determined to run eight today to keep on schedule, even though my tempo run tomorrow looms large.

Normally I run one of only a few routes when I start from home. But then again, normally I'm running about five or less. Since I had some slight distance scheduled for this run I decided to stretch out my geographical boundaries. I crossed I45 along the marathon route into what is considered somewhat of a ghetto. From there I headed North along N. Main and ran around the Holy Cross and Hollywood Cemeteries. Both of those areas were mostly low-rent districts, but what appealed to me was the apparent neighborhood pride. People were outside talking to each other, and the yards were fairly well maintained. This area gets a bad rap, but I think it's a nice place to live.

I ran through Moody Park where a soccer game was taking place, and dozens of families were enjoying the day. It was at that point I was "lost", so I looked at my map on my watch and determined the proper direction back home. I ran down Fulton street and into another neighborhood near Jim Hogg Park where many of the streets had biblical names. I crossed back over I-45 and came out by Dharma Cafe. At this point I figured I was right on track for an 8 mile run if I headed straight home. And indeed, 8.00 miles ticked off just in front of my house.

I enjoyed checking out my neighboring neighborhoods. It gave me the same feeling as when I was running in San Antonio recently -- just meandering around and taking in the sights.

Since I forgot to set my watch to auto-lap (I usually have it tick off half miles), my run was recorded as one big lap, so I have no easily accessible split information to report (not that it matters anyway.) Let's just hope I have some juice in the legs for tomorrow's tempo run.

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This Day Last Year (TDLY) - 7/9/07 - Kenyan Way, 10 minutes (2 hills, up fast, down slow) 5 minutes rest 10 more minutes, Max HR = 178, Avg HR = 157, 44% Z5, 46% Z4.

3x1M with 4 minutes rest

2008-07-08T15:03:00.003-05:00

2 warm up, 3x1M with 4 minutes rest, 2 warm down, Max HR = 178, mile 1 = 6:01, mile 2 = 6:01, mile 3 = 6:17

I've been running speed workouts with the Tornados on Tuesdays, and today's workout was a challenging one. The workout was three one mile stretches with four minutes of rest between reps. The first two were pretty consistent, but at the tail end of the second one I started to get a visit from my lunch (or more accurately last night's dinner, given the apparent progress along the gastrointestinal tract.) It reminded me again during most of the second half of the last mile. I had visions of this picture of runner #26 I saw on Half Fast the other day. If you want to see something unplesant, click the picture at the link I provided.

Other than that minor set-back, I was pleased with my splits.

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TDLY - Rest

Six in the Morning, Six in the Evening

2008-07-07T21:20:00.004-05:00

AM - 6.14 miles, 47:57, 7:48 pace, max HR = 140, Avg HR = 130, 54% Z3, balance below
PM - 6.15 miles, 46:23, 7:32 pace, Max HR = 153, Avg HR = 143, 1% Z4, 88% Z3, balance below

Motionbased weather is still down. It's been down for about a week or more. I guess you get what you pay for (free).

My route was exactly the same for both, so it makes for a good comparison between the runs. I ran faster in the evening and it was hotter, so my heart rate was understandable higher. Check out the graph where I compare my half mile split times and heart rates.
It's interesting to see how consistent I was over each individual half mile. This is probably because the terrain over the route is varied, so my times and heart rates go up on an incline, and down on a decline.

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TDLY - 7/7/07 - Run to Coco Crepes Restaurant to meet Julie, 7.23 miles, 1:03:57, 8:50 pace, Max HR = 170, Avg HR = 156, 73% Z4, 21% Z3, 84 degrees, 75% humidity. I was still fairly new to hour long runs at this point, and I very nearly quit during the latter stages of this run to meet Julie. It was quite difficult.

Tornados Spotted in River Oaks

2008-07-06T22:06:00.000-05:00

11.80 miles, 1:27:22 (5:40 rest), 7:24 pace (7:52 factoring rest), Max HR = 165, Avg HR = 140, 32% Z4, 43% Z3, 22% Z2

The Tornados hit River Oaks today in lieu of running down the bayou to Sabine. We didn't put out water so it was a bit of a dry run. But I followed Lucho's advice and drank plenty of water before my run (not quite as much as he recommends, but a lot for me.) I also had a gulp of water from a hose about 4.5 miles into the run.

I structured this run as:
1) 4.5 miles of warm up at 7:58 (about 4:00 rest)
2) 2.81 miles of tempo at 6:28 (about 1:30 rest)
3) 1.5 miles of cool down at 7:59 (no rest)
4) 2.94 miles at 7:12

I felt well afterwards, so I guess the tempo run wasn't a bad idea. The times I feel the worst is when I hammer the last mile or two (6 or sub-6), so I'll try not to do that except for speed sessions. Things can get competitive with the Tornados, but I know my place (almost all can beat me) so I wouldn't prove anything by racing them during a long run.

It's curious to me that I struggle to keep a 6:30 pace on a Thursday tempo session, but this 6:28 pace came easily for me, after a long warm up. I really think that hydration may be my magic bullet, as I'm usually running the Thursday tempo runs in a dehydrated state. As much as I complain about this, you'd think I'd just wise up and drink some water. But the truth is that I don't like the way water tastes, and I don't want the additional calories from sports drinks. I'm going to pick up some G2 so I can get the liquid without as many calories. It has 25 calories per 8 ounces, which means it only takes one mile to burn off a quart.

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TDLY - Rice and Hermann, 5.58 miles, 44:52, 8:02 pace, Max HR = 173, Avg HR = 157, 69% Z4, 25% Z3. No Blog Entry.

San Antonio Wanderings

2008-07-05T21:13:00.001-05:00

AM 10.04 miles, 1:20:58, 8:03 pace, Max HR = 151, Avg HR = 137, 78% Z3, 20% Z2
8:39, 8:32, 8:25, 7:54, 7:52, 8:30, 7:49, 7:40, 7:29, 7:34

PM 2.52 miles, 22:33, 8:56 pace, max HR = 149, Avg HR = 133, dehydrated, hilly and hot

Julie and I are spending the weekend in San Antonio. I don't know much about the city, and I didn't spend my usual time researching and overanalyzing. So my run from the Bed and Breakfast pretty much had no destination objective other than running ten miles before the day got underway. As much as I enjoy running, I enjoy my vacation time with Julie more so I didn't want this run to interfere with our planned activities. I was out of the door at 5:48 AM and finished at 7:08 AM.

Our Bed and Breakfast, The Bullis House Inn, was situated next to Historic Fort Sam Houston. I'm not entirely sure what kind of Army Base it is, but you can see very large mansions on the compound. I think it might be for Army doctors, since I read this as part of the "mission" of the base:

To provide quality service and support to our community, the Home of Army Medicine.

The Bullis House was OK . . . nothing spectacular, but it fit our needs. I wanted something a little closer to downtown, but those were all booked or required two night stays. Because this one was a little banged up and out of the way, it was significantly cheaper was well. But the service was great and the breakfast was so good that I ate my body weight in fruit, yogurt, eggs, potatoes, cereal, orange juice cocktail and biscuits. The room was nice as well. I guess the only downfall was the shared bathroom, which could benefit from a renovation and probably wouldn't smell as much if it had air conditioning.

Back to the run -- I meandered through San Antonio, alongside the fort and happened upon Brackenridge Park, the Zoo and the Japanese Garden. Upon later analysis I found out I was about 200 yards from Trinity University. Had I known that I would have checked out the campus. As I mentioned here and here, I've always enjoyed spending time on college campuses. The Japanese Tea Garden was nice, and I ran up several flights of stairs to the crest (which is why I had an 8:30 mile nestled in the middle of my run.) Speaking of pace, I want my Saturday runs to be easy (8:30 or whatever feels easy), so I can run my Sunday runs a bit faster (8:00 or perhaps a bit faster.) So I was happy that I was able to carry an 8:03 pace while feeling great.

After breakfast we headed to Gruene, TX (near New Brauenfels) to tube along the Guadalupe and go to Gruene Hall, the oldest Honkey Tonk in Texas. Julie and I squeezed in a short run, just to say we did it. It was uneventful, full of traffic, and was pretty terrible as far as runs go. Afterwards we went to The Gristmill River Restaurant and I ate until my stomach nearly ruptured. (I give myself a license to pig out on vacations.)

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TDLY - Rest Day

2008 Run Wild 5K

2008-07-04T13:22:00.003-05:00

5K Race, 19:19.9, 6:13 pace, Max HR = 183, Avg HR = 166, 31% Z5, 58% Z4, 8% Z3

warm down after race with Andrew, 3.06 miles, 25:10, 8:13 pace

For the first time in my life a 5K didn't seem so long. Every other time I'm counting down each half mile, trying to survive. For better or worse, this one seemed to fly by. That's probably because I didn't run it hard enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with my time based on weather conditions, the winding course and the fact that running on tired legs due to ramping up my mileage. But I wanted to break 19 on this race, and I think I didn't try hard enough to get it done.

First mile, 6:01 – Didn't want to go out too fast. This six minute mile felt easy.
Second Mile, 6:24 – I wasn't looking at my watch and I didn't notice that I was slowing down, but I did notice the heat and humidity. I'm really not straining too hard here. I feel my cadence slip a few times, and I concentrate on picking up my turnover and landing on my mid-foot.
Third Mile, 6:20 – This is based on a strong second half mile when the end was in sight. I started passing people with about a half mile to go. My breathing falls into a once in/twice out pattern. This is ok for short distances, but usually isn't sustainable for me.
.1 finish, 0:35 (5:27 pace) – I surprised myself with my strength as I passed about four or five people during this stretch, including the second place overall female. I think I could have held this pace for at least another quarter mile, giving me reason to think that I left way too much out there.

Congratulations to Lilia for her first place finish! Lilia is a fellow Will's Hiller. I've run side-by-side with Lilia, and I have to say that she is a determined yet humble runner. Her work ethic is enviable, and it paid off for her on July 4.

In national news, Sean Wade won the masters division of the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta, GA. This is one of the largest road races in the country, with 15,000 participants and nearly 150,000 spectators. Sean's time of 31:24 was 21 seconds faster than his nearest masters competitor, and it placed him in 28th place overall. In a testament to the popularity and prestige of this race, the top ten runners all hailed from Africa. The open men and women were chasing a $15,000 first place check. The total purse was $83,100.

The competitive racing season is over for me, if you can even call what I do "competing." Unless things change, the next time I will give it my all is on January 18, 2009. Yes, I'll enter a few races between now and then, but I won't go all-out so I won't jeopardize my marathon training. My potential upcoming race calendar is as follows:

8/22/08 – Hood to Coast Relay
9/18/08 – Watermill Express 5k Marathon Kickoff
10/12/08 – USA 10 Miler
10/26/06 – Luke's Locker Half Marathon
11/9/08 – HMSA 25K
1/18/09 – Houston Marathon

Other possibilities:
11/27/08 – Baton Rouge Turkey Trot 5K
11/29/08 – Baton Rouge Beach Marathon
12/14/08 – Houston 30K

After the race I ran three miles with Andrew as a cool-down effort. This was after hydrating with two pints of beer. I've had easier cool-downs, but it was good to catch up with Andrew. We worked together at Texas Memory Systems during my first tour of duty in Houston.

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TDLY - 7/4/07 - 2007 Run Wild 5K, 20:54.2 chip, 6:45 pace, 78th overall, Max HR = 188, Avg HR = 102, 54% Z5, 39% Z4, 75 degrees, 90% humidity. This was a PR for me. Apparently I'm 94.3 seconds better this year, but it appears as though my effort level was higher last year based on heart rate information. No Blog Entry.

A Tale of Two Runs

2008-07-02T20:56:00.002-05:00

AM 5.52 miles, 44:39, 8:05 pace, Max HR = 150 Avg HR = 130, 35% Z3, 57% Z2
8:53, 8:15, 7:54, 8:14, 7:34

PM 5.01 miles, 39:58, 7:58 pace, Max HR = 159, Avg HR = 144, 22% Z4, 58% Z3, 16% Z2
8:21, 7:40, 8:01, 7:49, 7:58

In the morning I felt ok after a relatively light speed workout yesterday, and my heart rate reflects a comfortable run. In the evening I ran approximately the same distance, but I felt bad the whole way. I had a cramp in my shoulder and my rib cage and my heart rate was high the whole time. When I finished my legs were like concrete.

I'm not sure why the same run produced such different results, but I have some theories:
1) Dehydration -- I didn't hydrate well enough during the course of the day (hence the cramps and higher heart rate.)
2) Temperature -- Motionbased weather is down, but weather.com says the morning run was 76 degrees @ 87% humidity (feels like 76 degrees), and the evening run was 87 degrees @ 57% humidity (feels like 91 degrees)
3) Over training -- hopefully this isn't my body telling me I've had enough. I don't think so, but I'm a little concerned that I may have left my 5K out there. Let's see how I feel in 36 hours when I toe that line.

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TDLY - rest

Controversy

2008-07-01T12:49:00.002-05:00

Warm Up, 4x400 with 200 walk/jog recovery, Warm Down, Max HR = 174

My 400 splits, run at the Memorial Park black top track were as follows:
1:13.55
1:15.88
1:18.11
1:11.85

This goes to show that I don't know how to run 400s, since my pace was all over the place. In reality I would have liked to run about ten of these, but Leno (Tornados Coach) thinks that we should take it easy for our Friday races.

What? Controversy, you say? Oh yea, you're talking about the headline I used to lure you into this blog entry.

One would think that the Houston running community would be a pretty benign space. As a newbie, I'm finding out otherwise.

Check out this exchange between Kenyan Way, Wills Hills and bystanders on Bret Riley's blog, particularly the comments.

Did you check it out? . . . no you didn't, seriously read it. It's funny, sad and emotional. Kinda like a chick flick.

My take, which is worth exactly the amount that I'm charging for it, is this:
1) I love Kenyan Way, and credit Sean Wade and his training program for taking this couch potato to a 3:12 marathon in a span of six months. It is inspiring to be coached by an Olympian, and it's obvious he knows what he's doing as far as coaching and the tremendous business logistics behind running such a large program.
2) I really enjoyed Will's Hills, and regret that I no longer run with them. The best part of the group is the social aspect, as this seems to be much more of a "club" than a "program."
3) The groups are different in a few major ways.
i) First of all WH starts at 5:30 AM which allowed me to attend, whereas the 6:00 start time of Kenyan Way didn't mesh with my new job.
ii) This is perhaps my most controversial comment -- I think Will's Hills is a more advanced workout. True, you get out what you put in to a hill workout. But the people at Will's Hills seem to be faster, so the workouts are geared toward a higher calibre athlete. I'm usually exhausted after WH. KW was exhausting as well, but you also passed people who were chatting and walking like it was a social hour.
iii) Maybe this is also a controversial comment -- Will's hills is a not-for-profit endeavor, and is thus cheaper. Kenyan way is more expensive, but offers more amenities like an online training schedule, branded clothing, Accelerade (that stuff ain't cheap), an Olympic coach, a personal blog on the KW website, et cetera. You get what you pay for. And to further that, I love the fact that a professional runner is able to continue to make money after his "big" money race days are over. And even further, I fully understand Sean's business concerns regarding competition, because that is his means of providing for his wife and son. If you threatened my livelihood, I'd come out fighting more so than the petty disagreements posted in the comment section of Bret's blog.
4) I like Sean, Will and Brett, and I understand all of their positions. I also want to believe that it's not as heated as one might assume by reading the comments.
5) I think the comments by people like me who are uninformed bystanders are hilarious. Particularly the Dickensian "homeless man under shepherd bridge" who posted:

"AAAARRRRRGGGGHHH!!! You damned capitalists- I shake my fists at thee- BBUUURRRPP!!!"

I'm not sure how he got internet access, but the Heights Library, with their collection of 29 books, seems to be a hotbed of homeless internet activity.
6) As far as Brett goes, I wish I was training for a 2:30 marathon. Right now I have to wonder if 3:00 is in the cards for me.
7) The KW Saturday long run program is the most organized of all long run programs, with fantastic support along the routes. But I run with my running group, the Tornados, on Sundays because I think they have the most sub-3 hour marathoners in Houston on any given run. I believe that you get faster by running with faster runners. I call it the theory of viral running.
8) I've personally given written and oral glowing reviews of both programs and have recommended several people to each program, based on what I think works best for them. It's possible that my input as a PIM coach steered at least one or two people to KW, and I've taken visitors to Will's Hills. I use Google Analytics on my blog, and I can tell that my blog comes up often on searches regarding Kenyan Way, which hopefully helps businees.
9) I'm almost certainly a meaner person than all three of the parties mentioned, so don't get any false bad impressions of Sean, Will and Brett by reading internet comments that don't always accurately reflect emotions. That being said, I wrote this entry to give one more data point toward your opinion of the controversy. So don't take my input as fact.
10) Both programs let you give it a go without making a commitment, so contact them for a trial workout. Unless you're already very diligent and scientific with your exiting workouts, you're almost guaranteed to improve under either program.

One final comment, I don't know why I bothered posting this since all three of you who read this don't really care. But for some reason I seem connected since I know and trained with all three parties. The bottom line is that I'm proud of where I am as a runner, and I wouldn't be here without Power in Motion, Kenyan Way, AND Will's Hills. I hope and fully expect the Tornados to take me along during the next step of my journey. I wholeheartedly recommend all of those programs.

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TDLY - 7/1/07 - Tempo Run Around Rice, 7:15 pace after .85 mile warm up, max HR = 180, avg HR = 158, 18% Z5, 49% Z4, 23% Z3

Evening Fiver

2008-06-30T21:12:00.002-05:00

5.10 miles, 42:12, 8:15 pace, Max HR = 143, Avg HR = 130, 28% Z3, 69% Z2

Julie accompanied me on the bike for my after-work 5 miler. Along the way we saw plenty of gas lamps in the neighborhood (our next purchase for the home), and Gaslite, a fellow runner and blogger.

Yes, that is an incredibly bad pun. Everyone gets a refund for their purchase of this episode of runforspeed.

8:39, 8:23, 7:58, 7:56, 8:15

Massage Run, Bug Eating and Passing Etiquette

2008-06-30T15:13:00.006-05:00

5.29 miles, 44:31, 8:24 pace, Max HR = 140, Avg HR = 124, 13% Z4, 77% Z2, 77 degrees, 79% humidity

Massage Run
As my wife was leaving for work today she told me it was cool outside. Momentarily I had visions of a brisk breeze and long sleeves . . . until I realized I live in Houston. Yes, "cool" is a relative term, but I suppose it was nicer today than normal.

I headed out for a five mile jaunt at a recovery pace. This is part of my new two-a-day regimen, where my Monday morning run is very easy in order to work out some of the stiffness from Sunday's long run. I once read that these very easy runs (Zone 2) work like a massage by gently stimulating your muscles. I don't know if that's true because I've never had a massage. Well -- I did have a quick calf rubdown shortly after finishing the Houston Marathon, but I would file that under "less than pleasant".

Bug Eating
No major developments on this run except that I swallowed a small quantity of white bugs at about mile 3. I compensated by reducing the amount of protein powder in my smoothie later that morning.

Passing Etiquette
Just as I was finishing my fourth mile I came behind another runner who had been in my sight for quite some time. Sensing I was there, he picked up the pace. What's a man to do? Of course I accepted the challenge, even though I wanted this to be a very easy run. Regardless, I kicked it up a notch. The problem is that you have to maintain that new level of intensity because this is not a video game. When you pass cars playing Turbo they disappear into digital nothingness, never to be seen again. But if you pass a runner and slow down, you will be embarrassed by that runner passing you back. So I ran about a half mile below an 8:00 pace to shake him.

Every time I pass someone I get the urge to look at my watch. There is absolutely no information on there that I need to know that couldn't wait, but I have to resist taking a glance. It seems rude to me that someone would look at their watch as they pass someone, as if to say "Don't mind me as I ease past you -- I've got a schedule to keep" OR "How can I make this thing keep track of my road kill?

But then again, is it cool to pick up the pace after someone passes you?

I suppose all is fair in love and war . . . and running is both love and war.

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TDLY - 6/30/07 - Run to Onion Creek, 8.43 miles, 1:15:23, 8:56 pace, max HR = 166, avg HR = 149, 34% Z4, 61% Z5. A run to Onion Creek for a bite to eat. No blog entry (I took a month off from blogging last year.)

Tornado Long Run

2008-06-29T14:49:00.004-05:00

12.12 miles, 1:27:54 (plus 4:45 rest), 7:15 pace (7:49 with rest), Max HR = 165, Avg HR = 142 (38% Z4, 43% Z3), 79 degrees, 82% humidity

I ran this run with Francisco today. He tried to tell me that I was pushing him, but I know better. Regardless, we tore it up and posted mostly negative splits along the way. We took three quick water breaks along the bayou, and the weather was as nice as I could have hoped for during this time of the year.

Francisco is a roofer, the same profession as my father. I helped my father out during some summers, and I can promise you that roofing isn't easy. Oftentimes his only crew member, I carried shingles up ladders and picked up trash on re-roofs. As you're going through adolescence, some people tend to remember the first time they surprised themselves with their strength. I can remember the day when I realized I could carry two bundles up the ladder at the same time. Someone once told a story about how he broke two lugs on the wheel of his car by over tightening the lug nuts. That's when he realized that he was getting stronger with age.

Our growth is typically linear, but we tend to view it as discrete steps. If you train your mind to realize that you're always improving then your progress is less likely to be held back by mental constraints. Baby elephants are tethered to a pole at a young age. They aren't able to break free, so eventually they stop trying. As full-strength adults they could easily break the chain or rip up the pole, but their minds are programmed to belive that they can't break free.

To make that remotely related to today's run, I surprised myself with my strength today with the fast pace and relatively low heart rate. Now I need to work on some more endurance. The last four miles were at my goal marathon pace (6:50) or better.

8:55, 8:12, 7:24, 7:24, 7:09, 6:57, 6:54, 7:00, 6:55, 6:37, 6:45, 6:38

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TDLY - 6/29/07 - Morning Rice Run, 3.21 miles, 25:26, 7:55 pace, Max HR = 162, Avg HR = 146. No Blog Entry.

River Oaks with Steph and Laurie

2008-06-28T11:46:00.005-05:00

gmap link, Appx. 10 miles, Appx 8:45 pace (No Watch)

The gang was sparse today, perhaps because of the 5:30 start time. It was only Laurie, Stephane and me. Stephanie scheduled 19, but my Saturday plans called for 10 so I split off early. The small crowd didn't curtail conversation, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable run. Conversation centered around Triathlons (particularly IronMan Triathlons.) Here's an interesting tidbit: there are no restroom breaks during the 112 mile bike. Use your imagination . . .

I'd like to participate in an IronMan Triathlon in the future -- perhaps in 2009. I supposed I should get on the ball and make my decision, since most of the races fill up a year in advance.

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TDLY - 6/27/07 - Morning Run around Hermann, 3.23 miles, 8:18 pace, Max HR = 158, Avg HR = 143, 26% Z4, 57% Z3. I started this run at 5:50 AM -- unheard of for me at that time, but commonplace now. Blog Entry.

Do Whatcha Wanna - Rebirth Brass Band

2008-06-27T12:40:00.004-05:00

The Rebirth Brass Band is New Orleans' premier brass band, and this song is my favorite of theirs. If you can look past the poor audio and video quality of the youtube clip, you'll find what makes them great:
1) Organized Chaos (my wife's term for their musical style)
2) Unbridled energy
3) An uncanny ability to unite people. (Seriously, it doesn't matter what your race/creed/sex/religion . . . a Rebirth concert is for you, and you will be surrouned by friends.)

And for those of you keeping score at home, I believe it is Jackie Gleason at the end of the video on this post.

Hydration Ideas.

2008-06-27T10:48:00.001-05:00

This is a fantastic post by Tim Luchinske regarding hydration:

Hydration ideas.

Morning Threshold

2008-06-26T09:09:00.005-05:00

2.03 mile warm up, 9:09 pace
4.00 mile threshold, 26:38, 6:39 pace, Max HR = 171 (90% Max), Avg HR = 159 (83% Max)
3.43 mile warm down, 31:39, 9:14 pace

Two words: slow & tough.

I've pounded out 46.6 miles in the past five days, and tomorrow is a much needed rest day. Ideally I would have run this threshold run in the evening to squeeze out just a bit more recovery, but I'm going to the Astros/Rangers game with a friend later today. He brings his family to Houston every year about this time to visit his family, and they celebrate his son's birthday at the ballpark.

I'm divided between the Rangers, who I came to support when I moved to Dallas, and the Astros, which was my team as a youngster. In reality, baseball players are so transient these days that I'm hard pressed to care about any professional "team". I expend all of my team loyalty on my Fightin' Tigahs of LSU. (Did I mention that the women's track team won the National Championship!)

Regarding this workout -- as a result of the mileage and the morning run, this one was slower than my target of 6:30. I want to get this to about 6:20-6:25 over five miles pretty quickly. We shall see.

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TDLY - 6/26/07 - Rest. No Blog Entry.

Two-A-Day

2008-06-25T13:59:00.003-05:00

AM -- 4.21 miles, 34:01, 8:04 pace, no HR info
PM -- 4.04 miles, 33:38, 8:19 pace, avg HR = 133, 55% Z3

This is my first of what I hope to be several two-a-day workouts. Since I'm using Mondays and Wednesdays as recovery days now that Will's Hills is out, I'm planning on taking two easy runs on those days.

I find that I enjoy logging the easy miles, knowing that other days are for hard workouts. It gives me a mental break during the week from worrying about the strain of speed workouts or hill work.

In fact, I'm working on a master training calendar for the rest of the year to balance my workouts and extend my weekly mileage. The Houston marathon is 30 weeks away, and I've been mapping out my strategy over the past few days. I'll publish it soon. Sneak preview -- I'm going to try to ramp up my mileage to 70 miles or more for some weeks.

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TDLY - 6/25/07 - Kenyan Way, 4 sets of hills, Max HR = 175, Avg HR = 144. Blog Entry.

Mile Repeats at Memorial

2008-06-24T21:46:00.003-05:00

Warm Up, 1x3M with 4MR, Warm Down, max HR = 173, Avg HR = 136

I had to work just a bit late and I missed the start of the Tornados speed session. It's never easy running mile repeats on your own, but it makes you strong.
6:10
6:09
6:12

It was good to see Leno out there since he just got out of the hospital. Nothing can keep him down.
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TDLY - 6/24/07 - Hermann Park, 2.50 miles, 21:41, 8:41 pace, max HR = 159, Avg HR = 138. This was an uneventful easy run. Blog Entry.

Neighborhood run with Julie

2008-06-23T19:31:00.001-05:00

3.53 miles, 34:33, 9:49 pace, Max HR = 136, Avg HR = 120, 7% Z3, 70% Z2

Julie joined me for an after work run today, and we pushed ourselves through the heat on completely full stomachs. We dined on Niko Niko's, I felt every bite during the 3.53 miles we ran today.

Will's Hills 23 - Goodbye Wills Hills?

2008-06-23T12:52:00.007-05:00

5.47 Miles, 48:16, 8:49 pace, Max HR = 143, Avg HR = 127, 26% Z3, 67% Z2

Today was my last day as a regular participant in Will's Hills. I have to cut back on the number of intensive miles I've been running or face health consequences, so I decided to stop going to Will's Hills on a regular basis.

old regimen:
M - hills
Tu - speed work with tornados
W - hills
Th - threshold work with tornados
F - hills
Sa - moderate distance at easy pace
Su - long run

I would take a break whenever I was completely exhausted or injured. I'm breaking down at this pace.

new regimen:
M - Easy Day
Tu - speed work with tornados
W - Easy Day/Recovery
Th - threshold work with tornados
F - rest (no running at all)
Sa - moderate distance at easy pace
Su - long run

I'm swapping Will's Hills for rest and easy days.

So, as sad as it will be to put Will's Hills down for a while, it's for the best. Perhaps it's appropriate that my last day was the first day for my friends Laurie and Randy from Stephanie's Saturday long run group. They're great people, as is the rest of the Will's Hills group, so I hope they will enjoy it in preparation for their St. George Marathon in Utah.

I ran with Laurie and Randy today, and our assignment was 1 minutes fast, 1 slow, 2 fast, 2 slow for about five miles. We also ran a warm up and warm down.

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TDLY - 6/23/07 - Houston Fit Long Run, 8.78 miles, 1:28:31, 10:04 pace, max HR = 148, Avg HR = 137. This was my first "official" long run with a marathon training group. Blog Entry.

A Perfect Day

2008-06-22T21:15:00.005-05:00

12.05 miles, 1:29:59, 7:28 pace, (7:49 counting my 4:12 break in the middle), Max HR = 157, Avg HR = 139, 23% Z4, 59% Z3, 16% Z2, 76 degrees, 76% humidity

I had a great run today -- the fastest I've run over distance ever since I hurt my Achilles. I'd like to ramble on about the run, which was a great start to my day, but the big story is that today is my sixth anniversary. Fortunately Julie put up with my antics for six years so far.

I was going to elaborate on our day, but I think I'll keep that to myself. Suffice to say -- it was a perfect day.

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TDLY - 6/22/07 - My first tempo run - 4.75 miles including warm up and warm down, 7:19 pace over 2.94 miles for threshold, no HR info. Blog Entry.

Long Run with William

2008-06-21T18:52:00.004-05:00

14.38 miles, 2:29:20, 10:23 pace, still cant find HR monitor

I joined Stephanie's group today for a shortened version of their long run. My route inclued Memorial Park, River Oaks and Buffalo Bayou. It was an enjoyable run.

I tagged along with William the whole way and found out a lot about him. I'm not sure why it's so easy to bond during a run. Perhaps it's because the physical effort strips us down closer to our underlying being by distracting us from the mental effort we typically expend building psychological walls isolating us from strangers. Perhaps it's simply the shared experience and lifestyles that prompts us to open up to people "like us". Or perhaps the non-runner would say that a long run is so boring that eventually you have to talk about something!

William is an old fashioned family man with several college-aged kids. I was intrigued by his stint as a lawyer in the Clinton administration and by his involvement in the Buffalo Bayou Board. He gives back to the community and still lives in the neighborhood where he grew up, Houston's Third Ward. William is a good guy, and I walked away inspired by our time together.

Incidentally, I ran through the third ward few times when I lived near Hermann Park, and I really enjoyed those runs. One time when I ended up at TSU I decided on a plan for a "college run." One day in the fall I plan to run through the campuses of:
St. Thomas University
Rice University
Texas Southern University
the University of Houston and
the University of Houston-Downtown

I'm sure there are others I can add to the list and still keep it at no more than a 22-24 mile run. Does anyone know of any other campuses I could add to the list?

today's splits:
8:49, 8:28, 8:20, 9:04, 9:09, 9:37, 9:22, 9:27, 9:28, 9:26, 10:00, 10:37, 11:16, 8:32 for .86 (9:55 pace)

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TDLY - Rest, no blog entry.

Will's Hills 22 -- Toughest Workout I've Ever Done

2008-06-20T12:18:00.000-05:00

Bike ride there
Warm Up and Hard Mile to Elanor Tinsley Park, 6:18, no HR info
10x100M sprints all out, hills, hard mile back to YWCA, bike ride back home

Recap:
Hard Mile out -- hit this too hard for the beginning of a workout
10x100 -- shouldn't have hit these all-out
12 minutes? of hills -- absolutely died, and ended up walking portions
Hard Mile back -- absolutely exhausted and forgot to start watch, but I'm pretty sure I didn't break 9:30 for this mile

I think I red lined too early and hit the point of no return. I think this is a valuable lesson for beginning, intermediate and advanced runners alike. If you go out too hard, something physically happens to your body and you can't recuperate despite taking rest intervals. That's why some people claim negative splits on marathons lead to PRs and world records. The theory is that the high level of exertion makes your body switch over to burning fat as an alternative to carbohydrates. Since it's less efficient to burn fat, you fatigue faster. But once you start the fat burning cycle, you can't easily switch back to burning carbs for fuel. So you're stuck in this fatigue mode.

To be honest, I don't necessarily believe it. I think it's a theory that hasn't been proven, so I'm unwilling to believe it until there is more empirical evidence. But I can't dispute the feeling of continued fatigue once you red line, even if you do slow down and take it easy. I was just as exhausted after this hour workout as I was when I finished the Houston Marathon.

I'm just glad I didn't have to go to work afterwards.

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This Day Last Year (TDLY) - 6/27/07 - Kenyan Way Progressives, 2.72 Miles, 5x.55M with rest, 7:19 pace, Max HR = 179, Avg HR = 156, Blog Entry.

First Tornado Tempo Run

2008-06-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

2.03 mile Warm Up at 8:18
4.01 mile tempo run, 26:17, 6:32 pace, no HR info

I wanted to wimp out and run only three tempo miles since I haven't had a tempo run in quite a while, but I gutted it out and did all four. I'll have to move this up to five some time soon, but I know I'm not there yet.

Goal miles = 6:30
1) 6:29
2) 6:28
3) 6:39 -- ouch
4) 6:36
Overall = 6:32

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TDLY - 6/18/07 - Kenyan Way, 3 sets of hills with warm down, 21:50, Max HR = 171, Avg HR = 147. Blog Entry.
6/19/07 - rest (or perhaps run to Niko Niko -- can't remember). My watch didn't record this run properly, but I think it was on the June 19th. Anyway, Julie and I ran to Niko Niko for a Gyro. This is the best Greek/American casual restaurant in town. Blog Entry.

Tornado

2008-06-17T20:52:00.002-05:00

Warm Up, 3 min fast, 4.5 min fast, 4.5 min fast, 3 min fast, Warm Down, no HR info

3:02 = .53 miles = 5:43 pace
4:33 = .74 miles = 6:04 pace
4:31 = .74 miles = 6:06 pace
3:05 = .52 miles = 5:55 pace

The name for the Tornados Running Club was chosen because it symbolized speed and carries a connotation of destruction.

I ran a speed workout with the Tornados today, and I'd like to suggest that there is yet another justification for the name. We will run in any weather conditions, including drenching rains and tornado-like conditions.

The rain came down so hard today that my "waterproof" Garmin flooded. Luckily no damage was done. While running along Memorial, cars would hit puddles and send a wall of water our direction that was taller than we were. Puddles were everywhere, and a tree was arching low which required ducking. None of this led to "good" times, but it didn't really matter.

As I've said before, I like running in the rain. And I particularly liked running in it with my fellow Tornados.

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TDLY - 6/17/08 - Morning Run around Rice. 4.56 Miles, 39:04, 8:33 pace, Max HR = 164, Avg HR = 143. Blog Entry.

Will's Hills 22 - 200 Meter Relays

2008-06-16T15:06:00.002-05:00

Two-man 200 meter relays for 13 minutes, 3 minute rest, relays for 13 more minutes, no watch

Occasionally Will's Hills meets at the "Dog Bowl" along the bayou to do some speed work. It's named that because it's an informal dog park. And where you find dogs, you also find dog poop.

Through some crazy cosmic twist or divine intervention, I don't think I've ever stepped in any dog presents at the dog bowl. But of course I just doomed myself next time I run there.

Today's workout was a two man relay, each covering 200 meters and resting while your partner runs his leg. I ran with Shane, a senior cross country runner for Bellaire High School. He's a likable guy, as is evidenced by his friends' shirts that read "Beat Shane". Shane is thinking about going to UT San Antonio when he graduates. "Not too close but not too far."

We tore it up, and only a few teams were faster than us. The all-star team was a Will and Brett. Interestingly, I found that the high school guys were generally faster than me in the beginning, but that I held my pace (or sped up) and passed many of them in the second set.

I wish I hadn't forgotten my watch so I could have recorded my splits to see if I really did hold my pace.

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TDLY - 6/16/07 - 10.19 miles, 1:30:12, 8:50 pace, Avg HR = 143, Max HR = 163, 23% Z4, 56% Z3. I took a big step forward that day with a new personal record distance and total time running. It was after this run that I knew I could continuously run a half marathon. Blog Entry.

Biking in One City, Running in Another

2008-06-15T21:29:00.002-05:00

AM Morning Bike Ride along the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon Route, 12.64 miles, 7:07 moving pace, 8:33 including breaks

PM Run in Houston, 8.57 miles, 1:08:18, 7:57 pace, 91 degrees, 52% humidity

I left my shoes at Julie's parents' house, so I couldn't run this morning at my mother's house. So I joined her on a bike ride along the Baton Rouge Beach Marathon. For her it was her longest bike ride in quite some time, but she handled it like a champ. We stopped a couple of times to cool off and hydrate. It was a pleasant experience and a great way to catch up with my mom. Afterwards we picked up one of my two sisters and headed to Lafayette to have lunch with our brother. We seldom have that many of us under one roof at the same time, so it was nice to be able to arrange that.

Even though I'm cutting back my mileage I still want to do a long run every weekend. So I went for a run after the drive back to Houston. It was 5:05PM in the heat of the day, and I wanted to run about 12 miles and I wanted to get it done before sitting down to watch LSU play in the College World Series.

It didn't take me long to reassess my intended 12 miles and cut back. At first I was only going to run 6 miles, and then I decided to run for one hour. But it was brutal. I ran the entire time without water (none along the route) and often without shade. The stretch along Shepard was the worst, particularly crossing over the railroad tracks on the bridge. But I've been wanting to run in the heat for a while now just to see what it's like and to conquer it. Now I know I can do it.

Unfortunately LSU dropped their game to UNC. They play an elimination game on Tuesday.

7:58, 7:43, 7:59, 7:53, 8:13 (bridge), 8:01, 7:56, 7:58, 4:27 for .58 miles (7:40 pace)

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TDLY - 6/17/07 - 3.55 miles with hills at the end, 34:35, 9:44 pace. Blog Entry.

My Favorite Brass Instrument

2008-06-14T14:17:00.000-05:00

You should watch this:

Does anyone recognize the white guy making the cameo at the end of the clip?

If you liked that one you might like this one even more:

Jackie O' Run

2008-06-14T11:59:00.002-05:00

2.99 miles, 21:15, 7:04 pace, no HR info, 7:17, 7:22, 6:32

I'm spending the weekend in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. On tap today is a combination of three festivals in and around the New Orleans French Market: 1) Seafood Festival, 2) Creole Tomato Festival, and 3) Cajun Zydeco Festival. But before we head out of the door, I wanted to go for a short run this morning.
My sister-in-law is moving back to Baton Rouge and was in town scouting out apartments. She brought her dog, Jackie O', a Jack Russell Terrier. Jackie O' came in second place in a recent human/dog one mile race, and apparently the human was the anchor in that partnership. In other words, Jackie O' is reputed to be very fast.

Dear reader(s), you know I can not pass up a challenge, so I accompanied Jackie O' for a run today. I intended to ease into it like I normally do -- maybe an 8:30 first mile, and top out at around 7:30-7:45. But Jackie O' didn't get the memo.

She raced off to a 7:17 first mile before we slowed up to a 7:22 second mile while winding through the neighborhood trails (and making at least one bad turn). She led me during the first two miles, providing a gentle tug on the leash which was enough to make it a bit difficult to swing my arms. That's no big deal at slower speeds, but you really need your arm swings as balance when you're going faster.

She looked strong, so I decided to drop the hammer for mile three to see what I was dealing with. My route encompased an optional bail-out if Jackie O' appeared fatigued. It was dog-unfriendly weather (78 degrees, 82% humidity) and I didn't want to give her heat stroke. I kicked out the last mile at 6:32, and she ended up trailing me a bit. But I never had to pull her. I wonder what her top speed is, and if she could outrun me in a mile. I suspect so.

The human handled this run well, and I could have kicked out another 6:30 mile without collapsing if called upon to do so. I'm pretty sure I'm going to spend the next few weeks doing lots of speed work in lieu of more mileage. It helps with my Achilles recovery and it will hopefully help me to redeem my 5K performance at the Heights 5K. So this workout suited me well. I'll know if I'm onto a good strategy when I run my next 5K on July 4.

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TDLY (This day last year) - Rest. No Blog Entry.

Will's Hills 21 - W's

2008-06-13T13:45:00.003-05:00

4.15 miles including warm up

We ran W's today, which is essentially a route that looks like a W when viewed from above. Each pen strike is a hill. The agenda called for 23 straight minutes, but I bowed out at 20 minutes and walked the mile back to the car because my Achilles started acting up. I think it was a wise decision, because it is now 1:47PM and I don't feel any pain.

I think this will be my strategy from now on: don't run long distances on back-to-back days, ice/ibuprofen when it hurts, and quit the intense workouts as soon as I start to feel the pain. Who needs a doctor!?

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TDLY - 6/13/07 - Kenyan Way 8x300 and 800, no watch. Blog Entry.

Threshold Run

2008-06-12T22:41:00.003-05:00

2.00M Warm Up
3.01 miles, 20:10, 6:41 pace, no HR info, 6:38, 6:50, 6:35, no HR info
1.42M Warm Down

It's been a while since I pushed myself through a threshold run, mainly because it's my least favorite run. I don't mind a 20 miler, and I don't mind a dozen reps of speed work. But for some reason I have a real difficult time running for a long time at a tempo pace.

Today's mission, suggested by a Tornado coach, was 2M warm up, 4M threshold, 2M Warm down.

I'm not really sure what my threshold pace is, since my last 5K is a full minute off of my PR 5K. But I estimate it's between 6:25 and 6:45 in this weather. Ideally I'd have a better picture of my threshold pace after running today, except I still can't find my heart rate monitor.

Regardless, I didn't accomplish today's mission. After attending a wine tasting event after work, it was difficult to get out of the house at all. But I didn't drink much so I didn't want to give myself a pass this evening, particularly since I skipped Will's Hills this morning due to some residual soreness.

The mission was four miles at tempo, but I scaled that back to two. About one mile into the run I decided to make it three. Overall pace = 6:41 -- which is probably a good start given my relatively log layoff from threshold runs. Perhaps I could have handled another mile at that pace, but the contents of my stomach were starting to disagree with the current course of action, so I backed down.

Soaking with sweat, I headed back to the house in an attempt to get some sleep before Will's Hills.

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TDLY - 6/12/07 - Rest Day. Blog Entry.

Will's Hills 20 - Four Mile Repeats

2008-06-11T12:38:00.001-05:00

Warm Up, 4x1M with .6M recovery jog, Warm Down. No HR info.

I think this is the most difficult of all speed workouts. Running a mile four times as fast as you can maintain with minimal recovery is not for wimps.

I did OK today, although I've done better in the recent past.
6:04
5:32 rest
5:58
5:10 rest
6:00
5:35 rest
6:05

The course was marked for exactly a mile, but my Garmin picked each one up at .96 miles. But its a somewhat hilly course, so perhaps I should consider it a wash. I'd like to be at a point right now where I could do these at 5:45. But there is only one way to make that happen, and wishing is not that way.

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TDLY - 6/11/07 - Kenyan Way Hills. Blog Entry.

First Speed Workout with the Tornados

2008-06-10T21:54:00.003-05:00

2M, 2.25M speed work, 2M warm down

I didn't wear my watch today, which makes me feel half naked. Perhaps it's a good think to free myself from the watch from time to time, but I'm not convinced that's true.

The workout was a 2M warm up followed by 3x4:30 with three minutes of rest between reps. 4:30 was chosen because it equates to a quarter mile at a 6:00 pace. And since people of various paces were running, stopping after a certain time keeps us all on the same clock.

That being said, I don't know how far I went but I'm pretty sure I was running a bit faster than a 6:00 pace, and I think I did a fair job running all three at about the same speed.

(After elevating and icing my twisted ankle last night, and sleeping with four tight socks on (for compression), it didn't bother me on this run. I wouldn't have been good for the lateral movement require by soccer, but I was fine to run.)

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TDLY - 6/10/07 - LSU Lakes and Garden District, 8.61 miles, 1:18:59, 9:10 pace, max HR = 159, Avg HR = 151, 45% Z4, 42% Z3. Except for the first mile, I had all positive splits. Mile five was the breaking point. Blog Entry.

Twisted Run

2008-06-09T12:02:00.004-05:00

1.36 Miles, 11:10, 8:11 pace, 1 twisted ankle

I ran through the trails of Hogg Park for the first time since the Tour de Bayou,and twisted my left ankle pretty badly at the onset of my run. I seldom run with my iphone, but I did today thank goodness, because I called Julie to come pick me up. I iced the ankle and took some ibuprofen. I expect to be ok by tomorrow, but you never know. (This is the opposite ankle than my achilles issue.)

Speaking of the Tour de Bayou, I never reported on the results. My cumulative time over all five races was 2:04:33. That places me at sixth overall out of 28 men and 12 women on non-adjusted times. However, these races are age-graded, which attempts to equalize the disadvantage older athletes have. My time isn't adjusted because I'm in my "prime", but older athletes have seconds and minutes removed from their time. On an age graded basis I finished eleventh overall (behind two women).

Congratulations to Adam Jackson (44) who was the overall winner on an adjusted and non-adjusted basis.

Official Results.

I'm looking forward to the fall series.

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TDLY - 6/9/07 - It looks like I was drunk if you view my route during my Highland Park Run, 3.65 miles, 34:11, 9:22 pace, Max HR = 165, Avg HR = 152, 59% Z4, 37% Z3. Blog Entry.

Mostly Alone Long(ish) Run

2008-06-08T11:27:00.005-05:00

13.09 miles, 1:47:22 (plus 2:55 of water breaks), 8:11 pace, Max HR = 161, Average HR = 146, 82 degrees, 76% humidity, 15% Z4, 80% Z3

I promised Joe and Jack from the Tornados that I'd be there at 6AM for a long run today, but I set my alarm clock for 5PM instead of 5AM and missed them. I was able to get out to the park by 7AM and expected to run alone. As I started I saw Tom and his girlfriend Kathy, so I followed them for about three miles before they headed home.

I could tell that Kathy was a serious runner after watching her for just a second. You can tell when someone knows what they're doing. For instance, I was watching my new favorite TV show the other day, Corner Gas, and there was an episode about a running club. The character Karen, played by Tara Spencer-Nairn, jogged for about five steps and I could tell that she had some talent. I did five minutes of research just now, and I found out that she was a competitive gymnast. Check out this interview question:

Mark: So, can you run pretty fast then?
Tara Spencer-Nairn: I'm pretty good...

Not exactly evidence of an Olympic gold in track, but the point is that there is a world of difference between a hacker like me and a professional -- and it's easy to tell the difference without looking at a stopwatch.

Back to Kathy. I found out that she had a career as a competitive runner, finishing sixth in the 1982 Marathon with a 2:41:12. (That's the "Duel in the Sun" marathon where Salazar and Beardsley competed.) She also finished fourth place in the Pan American Games marathon in 1987. I could tell she knew what she was doing.

We parted ways in the Tanglewood area, a nice stretch of expensive homes along the Houston Marathon route. As I've mentioned before, I seize the opportunity to run along the course whenever I can.

I've often wondered what these wealthy people think about people running through their neighborhoods. Do they embrace it or do they get upset when we make noise by talking before dawn, blow snot-rockets on their pavement, and set up impromptu water stops in their medians? Personally I'd love it if I lived on a popular running route, and I'd do my best to accommodate the runners. There is a house along the running route around the Baton Rouge lake near LSU that installed a water fountain for runners. (How did you like all of those prepositions in that last sentence!?) I'd be that guy, and I might even install a dog fountain as well. Other people will set up sprinklers -- probably more for their lawn than runners, but it's appreciated nonetheless.

So, back to the run. Since I started late I had to deal with the heat and the boredom of running alone. I ran up and down Tanglewood, and then through River Oaks for the first time as a solo runner. By looking at the map it doesn't look hard to navigate, but I'm always concerned about getting lost through there. After River Oaks I headed back to Memorial Park along Memorial Drive (from Shepherd). That 1.5 mile stretch along Memorial is really ugly, and I wish the city would put up some green space to separate runners from the traffic. A trail along the bayou back to the park would be fantastic, but probably cost prohibitive.

After that it was a half loop around the park back to my car. It was nice to see some fellow Tornados after the run with refreshments. I also helped myself to a couple of their water/Gatorade stops along my route today. It's nice to be a part of the team.

All in all this was a good run, even though I'd prefer to be about 20-30 seconds faster per mile -- especially on the later miles when I start to tire.

8:12, 8:24, 8:17, 7:54, 7:58, 7:58, 8:20, 8:10, 8:20, 8:29, 8:19, 8:28, 8:14

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TDLY - 6/8/08 - Low Motivation Rest Day. Blog Entry.

Heights 5K Run Post Party

2008-06-07T21:48:00.006-05:00

Thanks to all of you who attended my post-race party. For those of you who didn't, we missed you and we hope you can make it next year in what I hope becomes an increasingly larger annual event.

On the menu was pulled pork, chopped brisket, hamburgers, hot dogs, pasta salad, potato salad and chips. I also had some good beer (Abita Purple Haze, Honey Brown, Corona, Dos Equis, Shiner Bock and Black) balanced by bad beer (Miller Light and Miller High Life).

But the menu wasn't the highlight -- the people were. 40-50 people showed up over the course of the three hours after the race, and everyone was in good spirits. It was great to have so many friends show up, but I wish I could have spent more time with each and every one of you. A big thanks to everyone who pitched in and made everything run smoothly.

If you want higher resolution versions of these pictures, drop me a line.

Cheers!
Jonathan

2008 Heights Run 5K

2008-06-07T16:51:00.003-05:00

5K, 19:31 chip time, 6:17 pace, Max HR = 185, Avg HR = 170, 48% Z5, 46% Z4, 83 degrees, 75% humidity
Official Results = 44/668 overall, 6/43 age group 30-34

I had a good time, even though I didn't have a good time. Translation: I enjoyed myself, but I finished a minute slower than my 18:32 PR set in Lafayette on April 26 of this year.

This should come as no suprise since I haven't been training at my normal intensity level over the last month as I nurse my ankle. Furthermore, the race temperature was oppressive.

But I've said in the past that I gauge my race day success as a function of effort, and I have to call this a very successful race in that regard. In Lafayette my max HR was 182 (lower), my average was 168 (lower), and I spent 43% in Z5 (lower) and 50% in Z4 (higher). So I put forth more effort at this race than I did in during my PR. (It was 70 degrees with 90% humidity that day)

Notes:
* My goal was to follow Jeff Eisle as long as I could. I knew it wouldn't be the whole way, but I thought it would be longer than a half mile. Hahaha. He's running really strong right now.
* Sean Wade won with 15:02 chip time. He hasn't had "time this week to get a good workout", so he ended up entering for a workout and running alone the whole way. He is a machine.
* I stayed up until 2:30 AM getting ready for the party, and I woke up at 6:30 AM to get ready and finish the party preperations. So I was running without lots of sleep.
* No Achilles pain, although the pain never seems to be a function of intensity so much as distance.
* Will passed me at about the 3/4 mile mark. He looked strong, as usual, and floated right past me en route to a 18:17 chip time and a third place age division award (45-49)
* Diana Hirst took the female overall with an 18:24 chip time. She was the only female ahead of me, and you can believe I tried as hard as I could to keep up with her. It became obvious to me at a very early point that I would end up in her wake. I don't know her personally, but I've met her at Will's hills before and I admire her competitive spirit and work ethic.
* Thanks a bunch to the Power in Motion group that cheered me on after I made the turnaround and headed back. I felt like a celebrity being cheered on by name, and my spirit lifted as my pace improved.
* Joe Oveido, my PIM coach, finished fifth overall with a 16:38 chip time.
* Bret Riley won his age group (35-39) and came in third overall with a 16:20.
* Ted Traynor destroyed his age group (55-59) with an 18:38 chip time.
* As usual, the Tornados kicked butt, and I'm proud to be a member of their team even if I can't keep up with our ringers.
* Kudos to the Heights Neighborhood association for putting on a great race with 5 year age groups and chips for the first time.
* Thanks to the Dynegy Running Club for sponsoring my entry.

I can't really remember much about the run itself. After the half mile point I started getting passed until about the 1.5 mile mark. After that I don't think I was passed but I did pass a few people. One guy would yell out in apparent agony about every twenty feet. I was motivated to pass him so I wouldn't have to hear him, but also to see if he would yelp as I passed. I had a strong finish, as compared to the rest of the run, but I probably should have started my kick earlier.

I'll write more about the after party later, which was a complete success by the way. Thanks to everyone for coming!

splits: 5:58, 6:30, 6:28, 0:35

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TDLY - 6/7/07 - I tried to run a threshold run with Cory, but I didn't have it in me to keep up with him. I think I loaned him my watch this day and it was the first day he ever used a GPS watch. If you're a competitive runner then beware -- the watch can be addicitive after only one use! Blog Entry.