It's over, man. Let her go.

Riverside Run

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Location:

Bliss,ID,USA

Member Since:

Jan 04, 2010

Gender:

Male

Goal Type:

Recover From Injury

Running Accomplishments:

In late 2008 I decided I needed to get in better shape and started running again.  I ran my first formal road race ever, a half marathon, in late 2009.

(unofficial) Track 1 Mile - 7:32 (4/24/2010)  6:56 (9/27/2010)

5k - 27:31 - Riverview Run on 06/11/2010
22:39 - Gatorade Steelers 5k on 09/04/2010

10k - 50:43 - Riverside Run on 04/10/2010

Half - 2:02:58 - Just a Short Run on 03/27/2010
1:51:47 - IKEA Montour Trail Half on 09/11/2010

Short-Term Running Goals:

2011 Races:

Sept 25 - The Great Race 10k (59:15)
Nov 5 - Dirt Monster 5mi (52:59)

2012 Races:

June 8 - Riverside 5k  (27:49)
Sept 2 - Gatorade Steelers 5k (route) with Steve!  (27:39)
Sept 30 - The Great Race 10k (route)  (53:48)
Nov 3 - The Dirt Monster 5mi (52:55)

2013 Races:

May - Pittsburgh Marathon (started, but DNF about the half way point)
June - Riverview 5k  - Bummed I missed signing up for this one. It's one of my favorites!
Sept - Gatorade/Steelers 5k. (Signed up!)
Sept - IKEA Montour Trail Half  (prob not, but leaving it on here)
Sept - The Great Race 10k (My Running 101 goal race)
Nov - Dirt Monster 5mi (Gotta do it again no matter what!)

Long-Term Running Goals:

Finish recovering from my injuries and build mileage.  That is all.

Personal:

My name is Wes, I'm married with two wonderful children. The nickname BaldNSpicy came from the fact that I have been balding for a (long) while now and spicy for my love of very spicy foods (Thai and extremely hot wings are my favorites).  If eating doesn't bring me near tears and leave me sweating, it's not worth eating.  :-)

Oh, and I'm also known for my doorags.

Favorite Quotes:

"Running without hills is like motorcycling without corners." - rAtTLeTrAp

"Excellence is not a singular act, but a habit.  You are what you do repeatedly." - Shaquille O'Neal

"A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else."  - John Burroughs

Favorite Blogs:

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Miles:This week: 0.00 Month: 0.00 Year: 0.00
NB 758s #2 Lifetime Miles: 596.90
Brooks Cascadia 7 Lifetime Miles: 165.17
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
78.5917.5096.09
NB 758s #1 Miles: 56.25NB 758s #2 Miles: 38.59
Weight: 165.70
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.270.004.27

Wow...either my headlamp has brand new batteries or I was running during the daylight hours!! I ran out to get the car at the shop but decided to take the more direct route this time since I've got a cold! Thought it was just allergies yesterday, but it's definitely a cold. :-( No need to post splits...they were all in the 10:30-11:10 range since I walked a fair amount. I'm gonna try and get some sleep tonight and see if I can shake this thing by the weekend.

NB 758s #1 Miles: 4.27
Weight: 168.00
Comments(3)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Happy Easter, all!  Weak week last week...this week will be non-weak.

Weight: 0.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
3.101.254.35

First day back after being down sick for a couple of days.  I'm still not 100%, but getting there.  I'm still stuffy, a tickle in the throat and fatigue, but I had to get out today.  Beautiful day.  I decided to hit the track since I wanted to see how the Garmin did on tracking distance and pace on an oval track.  Plus, I figured if I started to feel bad I could always pack it in and not be worried about being miles from home.

I started out running 1.75mi at about a 9:15 pace to warm up.  Nice and easy, nothing too "fast."  Then I got this crazy idea to see if I could beat my current track mile PR.  Well, I did it, thanks to the Garmin and the immediate feedback on what my mile pace was.  :-)  I ran it in 7:54 which is pretty darn good for me.  I took it easy for a few laps then decided to see if I could run a 400 in sub-7:00 pace.  I did that as well, just squeaking by at 1:44.95.  Jogged another mile or so and called it a day.  Track was busy and I was getting tired of weaving in and out of walkers.

Tomorrow, I'm shooting for a 7-8 miler, fairly slow.

NB 758s #2 Miles: 4.35
Weight: 168.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.020.006.02

No pain, no gain!  Right???

This run was tough.  Not sure if it was the heat wave we've been having, the late dinner, or the fact I was exhausted and could have gone to bed at 10:30pm.  Instead, I decided I needed to get my run in, so I went.  Did my 6mi out and back.

Splits:  9:10, 9:00, 8:42, 10:21, 10:03, 10:32

I really need to run earlier so I don't have to stay up another hour or so before I can fall asleep.

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.02
Weight: 168.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Big fat 0 today, but I've convinced myself it's OK.  Just finished with work and it's past 12am, so that would mean any miles run now would count toward the next day.  I'll get in a few around 5:30am when I drop my daughter off for seminary since I've got another super long day of work ahead of me tomorrow.  Sigh...

Weight: 166.00
Add Comment
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.030.004.03

I decided to try what Rattletrap does and run super early in the morning.  So I ran at 6:30am :-p

My plan has always been to run before work after seminary and the kids are out of school, but today worked out OK.  I only get a max of about 60 mins though, so if I need to run longer than about 6 miles for my daily run, I'll have to do it during the day or at night.  Once school's out, I'll run in the morning then bike to work and back.  That should give me enough exercise for the day and won't impact my work schedule.  At least that's the plan, but I'm flexible.  :-)

Splits:  10:06, 8:30, 9:50, 8:56

I took it pretty slow because I was sluggish.  I don't know what my problem is for the last few days I've felt like this.  Running more than 4 miles or so seems to kill me.  Maybe it's the music on the iPod?  Today, my "Bring it home, mama!" song was Rubberband Man by the Spinners:


It helped, but I think I would have been faster if I had sequins on my doorag and had a rubberband at the end to close the run properly. I didn't have a running group to help me with the choreography either...darn, so many things missing from this run!

NB 758s #2 Miles: 4.03
Weight: 166.00
Comments(4)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.003.203.20

I only had an hour during lunch today, and it's freakin' cold with a 20-25mph wind, so I hit the treadmill.  I warmed up for a couple of minutes then I ran a mile at 8:34, the next mile at 8:13, then for the next 0.5mi I did 7:47 and the last 0.5mi at 7:30 - all at 2% incline.  Then a cool down, a good stretch and back to the desk.

I had just planned on running a slow 3 since I'm doing the 10k race tomorrow, but once I got going, I wanted to get my body used to running "fast."  I felt good, but I've been exhausted all week so I don't know how I'll really do tomorrow, but it will be a PR no matter what. :-)

NB 758s #2 Miles: 3.20
Weight: 167.00
Comments(5)
Race: Riverside Run (6.2 Miles) 00:50:43, Place overall: 56, Place in age division: 4
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
1.006.207.20

I decided a couple of days ago to run this 10k.  The weather was looking nice and two of my buddies were running in it so they convinced me to do it.  I figured I would do it and finally set my 10k PR.  I finished, therefore, I set a PR!  Woo hoo!  LOL  The race is somewhat small (only 203 10k runners, hence my 4th place AG finish, and had I run the 5k instead, I would have won my AG with my 3.1mi split - yeah, it was small) but it was a lot of fun.  My daughter decided she wanted to come with me and I welcomed that since then she could tote my bag and take pictures, etc.  I had to register before the race since online registration closed last week.  They gave me my timing chip, then pointed me to a line where they were handing out the t-shirts.  We stood in line for a couple of minutes.  While in line, my daughter said "I wonder if they'll give me one."  I said, "Hey, if they offer you one, take it."  They asked for her size, so she got a shirt too.  Needless to say, she was excited she came.

The race starts right in front of Heinz Field, where our beloved Steelers play, along the riverside trail, out to the 31st Street bridge, around the little island and back to the stadium via the trail.  I know Twinkies was getting excited when I mentioned trail, but it's mostly paved with some hard packed areas so not really trail, trail.

I met up with my buddy from work at the starting line since I knew he'd be at the front (he took 6th - 34:25).  I very briefly met his All-American friend that he ran with at college - he took first, I think, with a 30:29 (4:55 pace!).  This is the same guy that won the Half I ran last month with a 1:07:xx, setting a new course record.  Unbelievably fast...  

After checking out the starting line and what it looked like from up there, I took my spot about 1/3 of the way back.  The trail isn't super narrow at the start, but there were enough people that I was having to weave in and out and got stuck behind people for about 1/4-1/2 of a mile before things started to loosen up.  I looked at the Garmin at one point during that time and saw a 10:20 pace!  CRAP!  I was getting really antsy, and I could have started out farther up front, but I was worried I'd be one of those people who thought they were faster than they really were and I didn't need people cursing at me as they fought to get around me.

After getting out of the crowd and I could better pick my pace, I settled into a "fast" pace that I knew was faster than I could probably sustain the whole race, but what the heck, why not go for it.  The first mile, I wasn't passed by anyone, but passed plenty.  The next 4 miles, I got passed by 4 dudes and 2 chicks.  I caught one dude and one chick by the end.

Paces:  8:11, 7:45, 8:06, 8:27, 8:25, 8:16, (.2) 7:34

I had thought that sub 50:00 was going to be tough, but possible.  I fell apart a little there around mile 4 & 5 and lost a little focus which hurt me a little.  The first mile was a little more tiring than it probably should have been fighting to get out of the crowds, but it did save me from going out way too fast.  I'll have to check the Garmin once I plug it in and see what my pace was between the first 1/2 mile and the second 1/2 mile.  I'm guessing I was close to a 7:30 the second half, maybe faster as I tried to make up for lost time.  I was happy with my splits.  I ran well, enjoyed the race, and even left myself a little room for another PR in a couple of months.  :-)  The race was well organized, the food at the end was pretty good, and best of all, it supported a good cause (the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Adoption Services).  Plus, my daughter got a shirt!  What more could I/we have asked for?

Just a bit of commentary:  My buddy is one of the nicest guys I've ever met.  He's freakin' fast but is incredibly humble, and you'd never know he was an elite runner from the way he acts and carries himself.  He's a member of the elite running team here in Pittsburgh, but yet he's always willing to go on runs with me, give me pointers, he designed a marathon training program that he teaches for our employees through our company's fitness center (for everyone from first timers to experienced marathoners), and is always very positive and encouraging.  The guy is 25 and doesn't mind helping out a 39 year-old wanna be speedster. 

On the flip side, and maybe it was just because the other guy didn't know me, his buddy that won looked me up and down and then just took off on a quick little warm up jog.  I hope I didn't embarrass my buddy by coming up to him, but I knew he probably wouldn't stick around by the time I got in and as small as the race was, I didn't see him before then.  I missed seeing him at the Half so I figured I'd at least say hello this time. 

I know people come in all shapes, sizes, and personalities, but I hope that when I'm winning my AG and qualifying for Boston that I'll be half as humble and helpful to others as he is to me.  Something to think about...

NB 758s #2 Miles: 7.20
Weight: 166.00
Comments(16)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.400.006.40

I went out late tonight and ran the 5k route that I'll run on June 11, and ran it twice.  I mapped it out on mapmyrun.com from the map they show on the race website, and it came out to 3.2 miles.  I ran it with the Garmin and sure enough, 3.2.  So, maybe they move the start or finish or maybe it's just a little longer "5k" but anyways, ran it the way they have it mapped out.  The first mile has a hill you go up and then down, then it's slightly downhill.  The second mile is basically all down hill, but from 2.0 - 3.2, it's all uphill.  So, it's a tough finish.  I ran the first time at a fairly leisurely pace and did it in about 27:00.  The second time, I ran it a little harder, racing my "ghost" on the Garmin and did it slightly faster.  It will be a fairly tough course to do under 25:00, I think.  I've got some time to work on my hills and my fast downhill running, so I may do OK.

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.40
Weight: 165.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
2.201.103.30

Jogged a couple of miles with my daughter this evening then had time for a quick 1.1 at 7:30 pace before needing to get back home and finish getting dinner ready.

NB 758s #1 Miles: 3.30
Weight: 168.00
Comments(8)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.300.006.30

Quite the day at work!  I figured could either go to scouts tonight without running and take it out on the poor kids or leave work early to get in a good 60+ mins before I went.  I chose the latter.  I think my boys appreciated my running tonight.

Went to the track and the HS team was using it until 5:30 so I had 35 mins to kill.  I decided to kill myself and run some serious hills. I ran around the area, charging hard up every hill and did a little walking at the top or on the way down the other side when needed.  There's no shortage of hills in Pittsburgh.  I stepped out of my car at the track and that started the first uphill.  :-)  I found some incredibly steep hills to run.  One I found that was about .08 mi and rose 75'.  Is that right? That's like a 17% grade - it felt like it!  Not a long hill, but it was tough!  Anyways, I ran that thing twice, walking down after the first time.  Rattletrap's quote was in my head, and that was a pretty killer "corner" but I convinced myself there were plenty of other hills to run, why kill myself on just that steep one?  I'm pretty sure that the phrase "I used to walk to school in 10' of snow, uphill both ways" was coined in Pittsburgh.

Ran 4.12 mi in 41:29 (10:04) which isn't too bad for as much as I had to walk and the hills.  I was spent at this point.  Got back to the track and it was past 5:30 so I decided I needed to get in another couple of miles - easy on the track.  I also wanted to check to see how accurate the Garmin was once and for all.  I ran two laps in lane #1 and I was shocked by 1) how accurate the Garmin was (almost spot on!), and 2) how mean the track coach was when telling me I wasn't allowed to run in lanes 1 or 2.  I finished my mile in lane 4.  Didn't matter at that point since I have the Garmin and it told me when my mile was up.  Laying the laps over Google Maps shows that it wasn't exactly accurate in lanes on the track, but they're all on the track, just off.  The distance was accurate, and if I shifted the Google map just a hair, it would be almost perfect.  Very cool!  The roads are much more accurate, so I think it has something to do with the oval path...

Anyways, finished up another 1.2mi or so at a 8:20 pace and I was pretty well done and out of time.  I was glad to be done.  Now it's time to get to bed a little earlier tonight since I avoided my Midnight run!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.30
Weight: 167.00
Comments(8)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
9.080.009.08

I'll blog my run after I actually get my run in tonight, but I downloaded the SportTracks software and it's pretty sweet.  It gives the same picture as the connect.garmin.com software as far as the points on the map, but I wanted to post a picture of what the Garmin recorded for my 1/2mi Lane 1 track Garmin test and what looked like.  The little "blip" on the first corner is correct, I forgot I had to go around a walker.  If you shift the whole oval of what the Garmin recorded just a bit, it's fairly close to being on Lane 1.  Not perfect, but the fact that the 1/2 mi mark is just shy of the start is pretty darn impressive, IMO.  I'll blog more later, but here's the pic:



View Larger Map


Oh well, I tried to get google maps to zoom in on the stadium and track, but it's there near the marker, you'll just have to zoom in some to see it. Not that anyone probably really cares, but hey, it's my $$$ that's going to it, so I might as well be proud of it...even if I can't use it when I want to. :-)

I finally got out at 11:30pm tonight.  Didn't really feel like going since my legs were feeling pretty lead-ish.  But I went, hoping to do 10.  The first couple of miles felt great, but it started to go downhill from there.  I ran the river trail so I knew it would be flat.  I decided I'd turn around at 4.5 miles.  I averaged 9:25 or so if I remember right.  I was getting my dreaded foot pain about mile 4, so that's why I didn't stick out the rest of that 1/2 mile to make it 10.  I was just happy to get back without having to walk much.

I have my next round of injections in two weeks :-( next week, I think, so hopefully that will help more than the first round.  Haven't seen much improvement at all with a single dose of cortizone.  It's now 2am so I'm off to bed.  Nite all!

NB 758s #2 Miles: 9.08
Weight: 164.00
Comments(10)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.001.251.25

Had to sprint to my car from work when my umbrella got turned inside out in the 30mph gusts.  I was drenched.  Could have turned back and stood in the rain waiting for the bus and spending $2 to ride a mile to the car.  Or just run it.  Either way I was going to be drenched.  Might as well get a mile in (wasn't planning to run today) and save the $2.  Yeah, I'm cheap.

Weight: 167.00
Add Comment
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.000.006.00

Just went on a 3 mile out and back without the Garmin.  Ran it in 31 mins out and 29 mins back.  That included two stops on the way out and one on the way back adjusting lacings as I was playing with different lacing to see if it would help some with the foot pain.  Not sure yet, but it may help...

 

Oh, my first 6 run week and I think my first 30+ mpw!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.00
Weight: 166.00
Comments(9)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.420.004.42

The last 4 days have been horrible, but I got out today so I have to be happy about that.  My weight is way down (170 is about normal for me)...not surprising with everything that has been going on.

Anyhoo, this was a pretty flat out and back along the river downtown.  I felt really sluggish and definitely dehydrated, big time.  You know when you're about 1/2 mile into your run and you've got cotton mouth, you're feeling sluggish, and have a side stitch that you haven't hydrated well and it's just not going to be a good run.  The sun felt good and it was nice to just get out of the office. 

I didn't wear my Garmin and just went by feel, concentrating on taking it easy and trying to stride out a little more but keep a midfoot strike, work the hamstrings, etc.  I really felt I was keeping about a 9:45-10:00 pace but when I got back and put it into mapmyrun.com, I was very surprised by the splits.  I tried to pick it up coming back, but I was running into the wind part of the time, so I missed my negative splits by a couple seconds.

Out / Back - 8:46 / 8:47, 8:20 / 8:22, 1:45 / 1:44 (0.21 = 8:20 / 8:15 paces)

Slightly slower coming back.  It was a good run...just need to keep it up and DRINK!

Commentary:  If you want funny video clips and pictures, see RivertonPaul.  If you want funny Photoshop'd pictures, see Burt.  Me?  I tell funny (to me) stories.  Ok, so my bare feet have never touched the floor of a locker room...EVER.  I've always been paranoid about getting athlete's foot, etc.  So I always wear flip flops - thongs to some people (I prefer to wear my thongs elsewhere, but I digress) - from the time I take my socks off after exercising, into the shower, until I can stand on my towel getting dressed.  Now that you know my issues and my locker room rituals (TMI, I know), here is the funny part. 

So, I took only the bare minimum to work today in my work backpack and left my gym bag at home since I didn't feel like toting it in, hence no Garmin, etc.  But when I get to the locker room, I realize that I didn't bring my flip flops.  Paranoia sets in...do I let my bare feet touch the floor and the (gasp) shower?  Do I not run?  Do I just not shower (ewww)?

I ran, figuring I'd think of something...and I did.  Got back and wore my socks into the shower.  I'm quite certain the few other people in the locker room thought I was a freak, but hey, I wasn't going to risk athlete's foot the ONE time my bare feet touch the floor!  That's like....nevermind.  At least I wasn't wearing my 80's tube socks!  Could you imagine the looks then???

NB 758s #1 Miles: 4.42
Weight: 161.00
Comments(9)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

No run today, too many things going on.  Finished everything in time to go to Silky's Crow's Nest Restaurant and Marina with my wife to meet up with my wife's favorite professor, Dr. G., and some friends in her Master's program to celebrate the end of the semester (and for my wife and a couple others, their graduation!).  Just so happens that the Pens were playing Ottawa in the 5th game of the series so we had to hang out and watch the game to the end - triple OT!  We lost, so we'll be headed up north for game 6 tomorrow night.  We'll finish them off then.

We love Silky's - it's a bar with a restaurant and their food is excellent.  My wife and I got there first and so we waited for a few minutes before ordering our appetizer - chicken nachos, which come on a huge plate piled super high with stuff - had to ask for more jalapenos since they didn't put enough on it for me.  I gotta have a jalapeno per chip or it's just not happenin'.  So we pounded that.  I got water to be good....and the fact that they've changed their policy and sodas are no longer free refills.  So, I wasn't going to pay $2 per Coke.  Probably a good thing.

Their burgers are awesome.  Normally, I'd get one of their special burgers (my wife always gets a steak), but tonight I decided I needed to go for it all and get the Pittsburgher.  It's a 1 pound burger with just about everything on it. I knew after the nachos that I'd only be able to eat about 1/2 of it, but it's only about $0.50 more than the other burgers so I figured that would be two meals for me.  I did, in fact, only eat about half as planned, but since the game went into OT, I started munching on the wings that Dr. G. had gotten and helped polish off the last 8 or so.  I was pretty full by the time we left around 1am.  Enjoy the pics!

 


Weight: 164.00
Comments(3)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.230.004.23

Yawn...finally dragged myself out of bed after last night.  I weighed myself after the shower and I account the weight gain to the amount of water my hair was holding since I hadn't dried it yet.  I can't think of any other reason for it.  Looks like I'll need to do a double today to make up for last night.  Oh well, it was worth it!

Update - Whew, just finished my run.  Did close to the same route as Wednesday.  Had to adjust the start location since my Garmin wasn't picking up the signal at the gym.  Anyways, it felt great to run even though I thought I was going to chuck a couple of times today and as I was heading down to the gym, it was bad.  I had a nice run in the sun. 

Splits:  8:10, 8:01 (stopped and rested for 30 sec due to high HR), 8:13, (walked for 1 min here) 8:54.

Pretty fast splits for me, especially since I wasn't feeling that great.  Legs are a little tired after the run so I think I may not do a double today. Instead I may just hit the bike for 45 mins or so this evening.

NB 758s #2 Miles: 4.23
Weight: 168.50
Comments(6)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
5.503.509.00

Whoever said that procrastination doesn't pay off lied!  I was going to go running this morning.  It was raining and I wasn't sure when my daughter's morning side with John Bytheway was going to be done, so I didn't want to go on a long run and then find out that she had been waiting for an hour.  So I decided to wait until she was done.

I started on some projects and finished those up around Noon and when I looked outside it was beautiful!  So, I decided I'd head out.  I needed to be close to my phone so I decided to go to the track and do 8-10 miles.  I wanted to do about 4 or 5x800s and see if I could do them pretty "fast".  I started off with an 400m jog clockwise on the track (against the rules).  I was feeling good, so I kept going to start off with a warm-up mile on lane 1 (yeah, Track Nazi, I said lane 1), and to calibrate the Garmin again to make sure it wasn't some fluke that it was very accurate.  I thought I'd possibly fool it by running the wrong way on the track.  Those Garmin guys are pretty smart!  It remained very true.  I have it set to capture every second, so maybe that helps it to be more accurate.  Anyways, so I started out on my mile and after a lap at 2:08 (8:32 pace), then the second at 2:00 (8:00 pace), I realized that if I pushed it, this easy mile could turn out to be a PR for me.  So I started pushing it and did the third lap in 1:49 (7:16 nice!), then the final lap in 1:35 (6:20!!  holy cow!) for a mile split time of 7:32!  With that split, I'm half way to being 'fast'!  (Note the single quotes since I'm half way there.  haha)  I should have started out with the idea of beating my PR and I probably could have come pretty close to 7:00, which is my threshold for when I'll consider myself fast (without the quotes!)  Oh well, there's always next week/month!

I stopped and got a drink then ran my intervals:

400m - 8:55
800m - 7:11
400m - 9:13
800m - 7:40
400m - 12:48
800m - 7:23
400m - 11:12
800m - 7:35
400m - 13:18
800m - 7:30
400m - 12:00

3mi - cool down @ 8:26 avg pace
800m - 13:47 (very slow jog/walk)
800m - 17:23 (saw a guy with a Just a Short Race shirt on from 2 years ago so I walked with him for a couple of laps while we chatted.  He's about 75 years old and has done a ton of marathons and Halfs.  He's jogging/walking the Pittsburgh Marathon next month.  He was telling me which ones he liked the best, etc.  Super nice guy.  He knows another marathoner at my work that runs about a 4:00 marathon, so I'll have to look him up!)

Cruised home to get the lawn mowed since it was starting to sprinkle.  Just as I finished, it started to rain.  I <3 Procrastinating!

NB 758s #1 Miles: 9.00
Weight: 163.50
Comments(3)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Rest day before I begin another 30+ mpw week.  After smashing my mile PR yesterday with a 'fast' mile, I deserve a break.  lol

Feeling just slightly sore in the hamstrings and a little in the calves.  Feeling great otherwise and looking to have a great week.

1 week to the Pittsburgh Marathon!  Happy tapering to the 3 people that I know that are running it!

Weight: 166.00
Comments(5)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
4.500.004.50

It was windy and rainy off and on today.  I tried procrastination, but it didn't work.  So about 5pm it looked like the rain was stopping so I headed out and was going to run a 5k course 2 times, possibly 3 if I had the time.  As I was driving over there, it started to rain.  No problem, I've brought a water repellant jacket to wear.  I warmed up for 1/2 mile and during that time it started to down pour!  I wasn't going to go back without my miles, so I decided to run the course twice.  I started up the course but about 1/2 mi into it, I wasn't enjoying it.  It was raining so hard and I was drenched.  So, I saw one of the trails off to the side and decided to ditch the course and hit the trails.

I did a couple of miles on the rain soaked, muddy trails and it was awesome!  Totally different experience, the mud was fun, the rain wasn't such a bother even though it poured the full 45 mins I was running.  I finished my mileage at about a 9:30 pace.  Not bad for the killer hills I found on the trails and the few times I walked for a period of time.

I'll definitely be hitting the trails more!  I just ran until I came to a Y or a T and went a direction at random.  I noticed when I came back with the Garmin that I went around in circles a little.  No matter, I wasn't trying to get anywhere, just enjoy the change of scenery and the trails. I can see how Twinkie loves the trails!

After only a couple of hours of sleep last night and now with only a possible 4.5 if I fell asleep immediately, I've got to get to bed.  I'm exhausted.

NB 758s #1 Miles: 4.50
Weight: 166.50
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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
6.040.006.04

Nice run in the sun.  I only had about 90 mins to work with between the time I could sneak out of work and my (dum dum dum dummmmm) podiatrist appointment.  So I did my 6 mi route from my house.  Some hills in there, which was good.  No real problems with my hamstrings but the feet were hurting again by the end, so it's good I have my appointment today.

Got home, stretched well and showered then off to get another round of cortizone shots.  So far, they had helped some, but the pain pops up on different runs.  A few 9 mile runs, I don't have any pain.  Other 5-6 mile runs I start hurting around mile 3.  She did the "test" and they appear to be smaller, which is good, but are still irritated. Shots hurt like heck again, but hopefully it will solve my problem...well, one of them at least.  :-)

Splits:  9:17, 7:58, 7:53, 8:52, 9:00, 8:00

Here's a shout out to my UT bloggers.  My daughter is going to EFY in Provo the first week of July.  We will be driving out on about the 10th.  We don't have any family/friends in the area anymore and are looking at places to stay.  If someone would like to put up a poor blogger and his wife and 2 kids, that would be cool.  I'll even pay your entrance fee to a race out there.  :-)  Figured I'd throw it out there...

NB 758s #1 Miles: 6.04
Weight: 163.50
Comments(2)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
0.000.000.00

Nice little rest day while my feet get rid of their soreness while becoming more black, blue and purple where the injections were  :-/  Tomorrow I'll be back!

 

On a positive note, I got great seats to the Collective Soul concert and Zambelli firework show at PNC Park following the   game.  I love knowing the primo ticket guy in the sales organization that always hooks me up with great seats when I need them (thanks Steve!)   Now if the Pirates could stay over 500 past the first 10 games...17 losing seasons won't look good on the 'ol resume.  Surely they understand there's a recession and that losing your job, even as a "professional" ball player doesn't make you immune to living on the streets.

Darn, I should have taken advantage of my weight loss and my rest day to hit the AYCE seats!  To the contrary, I did the work sponsored National Walk@Work day walk.  What was I thinking??

Weight: 162.50
Comments(4)
Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
5.501.006.50

I decided to run a course from work downtown that would take me up a steep hill, turn around and jog back down  I'd read about using hills as your primary strength workout since it's running focused vs. weights in the gym.  I figured I'd find a nice big hill and run up it!  It was about a mile over to the base of the hill, no problem.  Ran a pretty good pace.  Started up the hill and had to walk a few times.  Legs were just worn out.  Jogging down, I know I take it slower than others would, but I feel out of control and like I'm putting a lot of pressure on the knees if I go too fast.  

Anyways, here are my 1/2 mi splits with elevation:

7:35 (+101)
7:29 (-47)
10:24 (+180)
13:11 (+264)
8:35 (-259)
7:13 (-183)
8:24 (-30)
7:56 (-42)
-------------
Avg Pace:  8:50

I had wanted to get in about 6 miles, but I was pushing it on getting locked out of the gym so I stopped back in and hopped on a treadmill to run a couple so I could get in the miles, grab my stuff and just go home when they closed.  I ran 1 min intervals of 10:00 recovery, and 7:30 speed @ 3% incline.  After that, I finished with a 'fast' mile @ 7:20 and 2% incline.  Walked for 5 mins then stretched for 10 mins and left.  Good workout, but I'm exhausted!

I also walked my 1.5mi each way to/from my car where I park (it's free - yes I'm cheap) to work (try and do that everyday).  I don't count those miles, of course, and I hesitate to count any mileage walking during runs because it gives the illusion that I do more miles than I really do.  I hope to start biking to work to get in some more exercise!

So here's a question, when I'm on a run and I'm going up a steep hill or I'm just fatigued and I decide to walk for 30 sec or a minute, do I stop the watch and stand there or let it continue to run and continue moving, counting the mileage?  To me, unless I'm at least slow jogging @ 12-13:00 pace, then it's really resting and I don't feel like I should count that.  It inflates my mileage, which is misleading.

Just wondering what everyone else does...  Also, I'm amazed that Rattletrap can keep such consistent splits (within 10 seconds) for an entire 10 mile run that includes hills!  Amazing!

NB 758s #2 Miles: 6.50
Weight: 164.00
Comments(4)
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Missed run due to working late and then family stuff.  :-(

Weight: 0.00
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Slow milesFast milesTotal Distance
78.5917.5096.09
NB 758s #1 Miles: 56.25NB 758s #2 Miles: 38.59
Weight: 165.70
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