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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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)
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:
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.
I'll let Cory post his race account before I comment on the race. I don't want to take away from his thunder. But I will say a marathon is a battle, and I'm proud that he chose me to pace him in his battle.
I have to classify today's long run as a success. I honestly started this run ready to call it quits at any minute, not knowing if I would be able to go one mile without the sensation that I could be causing long term damage to my Achilles. But I finished this run without anything other than minor discomfort, and that included a 7:36 pace over the last 2.22 miles.
This was the confidence boost I needed to roll into the Ogden Marathon in one week. I'm going to be ok.
I joined Stephanie and her group today, thanks to a piggyback invitation from Cory. Cory has battled his fair share of injuries this season, and it was nice to see him in good shape. Cory and I will be running the upcoming marathon together, and I'm hoping to help him have a breakout performance. We have several potential goals:
1) 3:20:00 -- This is Cory's Boston Qualifying Time (7:38 pace) 2) 3:29:45 -- This equates to exactly eight minute miles 3) 3:40:17 -- This time or better represents a PR for Cory (8:24 pace)
Cory will ultimately decide what our initial course of action will be. And between the two of us, I hope we collectively stick to our goal as the race unfolds.
As you may know, I have a tendency to be dramatic regarding running. Please allow me the following discourse. A Marathon is like a living being. You never know what you're going to get. You could be married to your spouse for fifty years, but you will never be able to completely predict subtleties in their mood change. Marathons also have their moods: weather, course conditions, how that pre-race bagel sits in your stomach, the degree of mental fortitude you have that day, your own emotions. You never know what kind of mood your marathon will present to you, and you never know when that mood will change. Like a marriage, the best you can do is to show respect and react appropriately. What's behind you is over, and what is in front of you means nothing if you don't properly handle the present. I don't know what our goal will be, but I do know that it has to be approached incrementally. I'll focus my energy on doing whatever is necessary for us to survive, one mile at a time.
You may interpret that preceding paragraph as experience. But if you've been reading my blog for long, you know that I lack experience as a runner. I try to offset that lack of experience through reading, asking questions of mentors, and practicing visualization. LSU's most successful baseball coach, Skip Bertman, is a big proponent of visualization, the act of mentally projecting yourself into a "game-day" situation.
A body is only good for a limited amount of top-notch marathons. A batter has a limited amount of opportunities to face the star pitcher of the league. An executive has limited number of times in front of the board of directors. Everyone knows that "practice makes perfect", but there are numerous studies which say that visualization is nearly as effective when additional practice is impractical.
The next time you race, picture yourself along the course. Mentally rehearse how you will handle and overcome expected and unexpected obstacles. Think about your pacing strategy, think about your clothing, think about others who have done this before you. Imagine how strong you feel as the miles roll by. Embrace the crowd's support, raise your hands as you cross the line, rehearse what you will say to your loved ones once you finish.
You can't compete in a marathon every day, but you can certainly visualize the competition on a daily basis.
Specifics about this run: 1) We took three breaks, totalling about 5 minutes which has been backed out of the average pace and time listed at the top of the page. 2) I ran in a comfortable Zone 2 & 3 until Cory and I picked it up to marathon pace for the last couple of miles. 3) River Oaks has nearly as much street construction as the Heights. 4) 8:54, 9:09, 8:53, 8:24, 8:25, 8:29, 8:26, 8:39, 7:31, 7:41, 1:41 (.22 miles 7:39 pace)
It was good to run again.
----- TDLY - 5/10/07 - Run Home From Downtown, 5.19 miles, 49:59, 9:38 pace, Max HR = 162, Avg HR = 139. I think this was my first destination run, meaning that I ended up some place other than where I started. I met Cory after work and watched him run a 5K downtown. After the race I meandered through downtown and midtown to get home, stopping for some hills along the way at the Miller Outdoor Ampitheater. I loaned my Garmin to Cory for this race, and he got one shortly thereafter. Blog Entry Last Year.
Notes: 1) Forgot to set auto lap, so I had one 18.19 mile lap and no splits. 2) 56 degrees! and 85% humidity 3) Ran for about two to three miles into a stiff wind along the Mississippi River Levee. Although the Mississippi is off it's maximum height this year, it's still higher than I've ever seen it. 4) I took this really slow because I'm still a bit sore from my 5K race on Saturday and I was one a one man mission to eat and drink my body weight over the past two days and two festivals.
I'm ready for the Ogden Marathon. I hope and expect Cory is as well, although he's been struggling with some health issues and had to walk the last portion of the Striders 30K that he ran this weekend along a similar course as the Ogden Marathon.
