A Balance, Redefined

Guess what?
Another busy day. After working on the paper until 11pm last night got a little sleep and up again this morning to get a little more in while Sandra did her workout. I had initially wanted it done no Friday, Saturday at the latest but what can you do? There are only so many hours in the day and each day needs a balance...
In any case I headed to the DC area after Sandra's run. The flight went fine and I did manage to get a little bit of work on the plane. Getting to the hotel was another matter with subways down and bus drivers going 15 min in the wrong direction before one of the passengers caught him. So much for public transportation. Not sure what it is with my luck and traveling. Good news is a made it in safely, checked in, changed and headed out the door just as it started raining. Which was GREAT! I love running in the rain. Plus it cooled things down a little. The hotel I'm staying at is about 1/4 mile from a trail that goes along the Potomac all the way to the Mall. I had planned 14 mi for today but at 7 mi I saw a sign that said 1 mi. However, that was 1 mi to the end of the trail. To get to the mall was a little over another mile but there was no way I was turning back. It was a very nice run and it rained about 5 miles of the run. There were a few other people out and I got very surprised by a deer. I think I surprised it too. It was only about 5 ft off the trail. The funny part is Sandra had a deer trapped in the East track with her this morning in Salt Lake as well.

So between sea level, the rain and running flat I went out way too hard. My first mile out was my slowest in 7:17 and my 4th mile was my fasted in 6:25. Spent a little time at the Lincoln Memorial but then had to get back. I random nice person even took a picture of me on her phone and e-mailed it. Have to like the advantages of technology being everywhere... I realized about 7 mi when I was deciding to go on or not that I hadn't eaten lunch. Bad move. The way back was obviously painful but still felt great to be running in that environment.

OUT 9.3 mi Avg. 6:47 HR 165
BACK 9.3 mi Avg. 7:32 HR 178 (OUCH)

Got back to the hotel in time to Facetime say good night to the girls, grab a subway and jump into the bath with a few buckets of ice from down the hall... Then back to work, except for this blog entry brake :)

I'm going to be my own undoing. Tough going to sleep with the 2hr time change. Up early to get some work on the review writing done before the meeting. It was interesting touring NIH. It is an impressive set-up but it is obvious how much the government is hurting as far as the little extras that were missing. Seeing the National Library of Medicine is truly staggering. It is amazing how much knowledge mankind has accumulated. Now if we could figure out the best way to utilize it all. After a day of touring, listening to talks and presenting my poster had a brief social and then went for my run. There were easily 10X as many people out there today. I have no self control and pushed harder than I probably should have. It was fun though but so humid. My glasses fogged up!

Avg. 7:14 HR 152

QUICK LOOK AS OF 8PM EASTERN I'M TOP OF THE MILEAGE BOARD!

First, thanks to Jeff and Jake for the suggestion. It is amazing how different the trail was heading out the other way. Rock Creek Trail was just wonderful. It was a maze of additional trails that I wish I could have had more time to explore. I saw some more deer. One was so tame. It stood along a fence and didn't move as I passed it. I could have reached out and pet it. Also, the birds, bug and frog sounds was so cool. Overall a great run. I took an extra effort to keep the pace reasonable, I didn't want to push my luck. The meeting ended this evening and overall went well. 

Avg. 8:05 HR 138

I have to be careful. The running the last three days was fun and for the most part my body is holding up. The problem is me and sleep. I know about circadian rhythm, I have to account for it in my studies because it is so important for regulation of metabolism and the function of the heart. However, I do not do well with changing time zones. I had to get up at 4am EST to get the first flight back to UT. I made it back by 10am MST which is nice, but then went into work thinking I’d just get a normal day, good nights sleep and back to it. On my way in from the airport we went past SugarHouse and saw Acorn running. Well my plan for the day worked so so until, more to come in tomorrow’s entry.

AM: Really, really early AM. I woke up at 2am and could not fall back asleep. So I finished editing and got it sent to my boss. At least I made the deadline although I had initially planned on having it to him last Friday. Then I ran into work around 5am to get an experiment done. Managed to get a solid 8 hr of work in before I crashed. Went home slept to hours and then was back at it.

2.5 mi Commute Avg. 10:04 HR 140

PM: Managed to have a fairly productive day. Saw Jake running down SunnySide. Then after dinner had to drop some stuff off in lab so did a sunset run up Dry Creek. It has been a while since I’ve been up there. I forget how slow going it is. I will say that coming from the flat lands of Bethesda to 1862 ft of Ascent in a 6 mi loop the slow pace is somewhat justified. It does put what Jon, Fritz, and the other trail racers do into perspective though.

6 mi Dry Creek Avg. 10:12 HR 134

So for those of you keeping track that is 20.5 hr of sleep in 4 nights and one 2 hr nap. NOT smart… I will try and sleep in tomorrow…

Well I got a little more sleep. But I actually feel more tired, cumulative damage I guess. I did the A&W commute run. It felt warm to me this morning but I still enjoyed it.

Happy Friday Everyone.

Avg. 9:24 HR 131

AM: This morning I played spectator at the Gravity Hill 5K. Sandra ran it pushing our youngest and ended up 2nd overall and because she was pushing the stroller won a $50 gift certificate. Always nice to come back from a race with something. The race was very nice and had tons of raffle prizes. The "Running with Passion" series has some very dedicated staff and it showed. The only mess up was they didn't have someone at the turn into Memory Grove so a few people ended up running 3.25. Sandra was one of those unfortunate few otherwise she might have won overall, EVEN pushing the stroller.

After the race we went to the sidewalk sale at Foothill. This is the third day in a row for the girls and my first. They had a bunch of fun bounce houses etc and freebies. At The Salt Lake Running Co. they were doing a 10 min challenge. Run as far as you can in 10 min at 15% grade and win a pair of shoes. I decided to give it a go. HOLY COW! was it hard. I wimped out a little and backed off my pace the last couple minutes. I managed 1.06 mi, two people ahead of me over the past three days. They said I have until close today to come back and try again. The two guys ahead of me had 1.08 and 1.09 mi. I suggest we get a blog record board version of this. It was a beast of a workout.

1 mi Avg. 10ish HR MAX

PM: After a fun day with the family did a sunset run with John up City Creek and down into Memory Grove.

8.5 mi Avg. 8:16 HR 131