track fan

40:43.  Pleasant run with Dean on a bike path that ran through a wetlands area.  Very nice day - saw some deer, some Oregon ducks, and some U of Oregon ducks ;-).

Tracktown USA it is ... there are lots of places to run and references to track meets and running permeate the town. 

One tiny little downside to todays run, concrete ... yuck. 

Have a nice day bloggers.

32:46.  Ran on a very cool woodchip trail with Dean.

We had dinner last night with Snoqualmie and her family and my cousin and her boyfriend.  It was SO much fun.  I wish we could do it again tonight, but I think we will both be too nervous for a fun family night ;-).

Happy weekend bloggers.

Not quite the negative split I had in mind, but what did I know? Overall the course was ok. It was flat, but the surface was uneven and the bike lane portions were not great until the end (when I did not really notice them). Lot's of turns, there were a couple of spots in the early miles (8-12 or so) where I thought I was going to fall, lots of jostling and elbows flying in some of the tighter turns. There were a lot of marathoners that missed the marathon turn off at mile 11 (some might have actually missed 4 miles of the marathon course) - the bike path was really narrow and there was a lot of back-up caused by the marathoners coming up to their mile 15 and running into marathoners coming into their mile 11. But, all and all it was ok. I did almost do a face plant at mile 16 or so, we were running on brick speed bumps! wow. I did not see the first one and tripped as I was looking longingly at what I thought might be a bathroom.

Marathons are really hard. My legs started cramping up at 21-22 miles ... I didn't really slow down until mile 23-24, and then my gel must have kicked in because I was able to get a couple sub 8:00 miles in there. But I have to say miles 22-25 were the hardest miles I have ever run at any pace. I am both disappointed and happy with my time ... but I am very happy it is over. Funny thing that Dean said, and I agree, in his first marathon he was disappointed that his legs kept hurting after he stopped running -- usually, when your legs hurt during a race it feels so much better when you stop running -- but not today. I stopped and geez, they still hurt ;-).

Anyway -- I finished my first marathon and now I am a marathoner.

ok ... so here goes:

Raining at the start - luckily stopped raining soon after the race started - couldn't really ask for better weather the rest of the time (other than cold, wet feet and chafing due to wet shorts).

miles 1-6: 8:25, 7:41, 7:46, 8:05, 8:12 (gu)

start was packed, I didn't want to spend a lot of energy trying to catch the pacer ... so I just kept them in view and relaxed. The pacer was really not very good, he kept speeding up and then when the split was too fast he would slow down and we would all bunch up. At mile 6 I just decided to run my own race and did not follow the pacer.

miles 7-13: 7:40, 8:05, 7:57, 8:06 (hill, gu), 7:49 (13.1 1:44:55)

at mile 11 we separated from the 1/2 marathoners and we did this little 4 mile loop (on a bike path) - things did get spread out here but then we actually hooked back up with the 1/2 at their mile 11 - which was bad because all of a sudden there were a bunch of people on the bike path again who were running about 2 mins/mile slower and we had to go around them and it got pretty packed up. I was not feeling bad at this point, I wasn't actually feeling like it was "easy" but I was talking to this nice woman from Portland for a while.

miles 14-20: 8:07, 7:57, 7:53, 8:03, 8:05 (gu), 7:57, 8:01

stayed with this one group until about 18 and then I lost my Portland friend at a water stop. I was happy there were only 6 miles left!

miles 21-26: 8:00, 15:55 (7:57 average, gu at 22), 8:04, 8:27, 7:58

I really did not feel good here at all, lots of things hurt. By the time I hit mile 23 my right quad was hurting really bad and I felt pretty sick. I really don't remember a whole lot about the specifics here. Lots of guys (I remember mainly guys - I think it was because there were more men in front of me than women) stopping in this section. Dean jumped in at 23 to run the last 3 miles with me - I don't remember much but everyone was yelling how strong I looked and we must of passed 10 -15 people from 24-25 ... it was not because I felt good I was totally running on autopilot and felt really crappy. I just wanted to make it to 25 because Dean told me that once I got there I would know I could finish (I believed him). I made a pathetic attempt at a sprint at the finished and managed to pass 3 people in the 1/4 mile finishing chute, I think they had given up.

There you go. I guess I never actually "fell apart", I just did not execute things the exact way I had envisioned (who does? everyone warned me about this!). There were lots of "micro runs" (e.g., ebb and flow of the run). I don't think it ever actually felt "easy", if I had to do anything differently in my training I think I would add some much longer runs (24-26) and some longer MP runs. I think I would have been a little stronger at the end, but maybe not, maybe you just have to get through it the first time.

Thank you all for your support over the past few months and all the sweet messages today!

Michelle said I should blog even though I am not running, so I thought I would do some free-association ;-) ... not really, I will leave that to Nevels blog. 

I might do a 20` jog tomorrow, but it really depends on how I feel. I am very sore.  My quad that was screaming during the race is now simply knotted up.  I can actually walk much better today on the flats, but stairs are still a bit of a challenge.  Wow.  I am feeling a little better about the race now.  And I have to say I am pretty surprised how even my half-marathon splits were - it was not by design - it just happened that way (1:44:55/1:45:33). 

I am very grateful for all of you bloggers, have I told you that lately?

By the way.  The winner of the men's race on Sunday ran an Olympic qualifier (2:18 and some change).  He runs for Strands - from what I can gather Strands is a social networking website/company.  They were out in full force at the expo (and did some sort of tracking for the marathon) - all pretty fast looking people, not bad marketing for a marathon. 

The other thing that was interesting was that we ran into some running friends of Dean's from Seattle, two women who used to run with him when they had the Monday night runs.  They opened a womens running clothes company (www.oisellerunning.com) - pretty cool stuff - the best of which I bought - a new t-shirt with a track on the front (too bad it only has 4 lanes).

Hope everyone is good, I am going to nurse my wounds some more.
 

20:30 ... probably more like 2.25 but you know? I feel kind of weird even posting these miles, just like it seemed like a lot more work to get out there than was worth it. By the time I did my exercises, stretched and worked on my quad, my preparation time to jog took almost 4 times as long as the jog itself!

So, one more story about Eugene that some of you might appreciate (and maybe even resemble ;-)). After the race Dean and I were walking to the car and there was this guy, probably in his middle to late 40's or even early 50's, standing near the road. He had his space blanket on and had an arm load of goodies in his hands. Well, he shifted his space blanket a little and a bunch of stuff (snacks of some sort, chips maybe) fell on the ground. The look on his face as he looked down, resignation? indecision? was priceless; he was pretty sure he couldn't bend down without considerable pain and effort and he wasn't really sure if it was worth it anyway. I wasn't able to help him (I couldn't bend down for him), but Dean went over and said (as he kind of giggled), "here let me help you with that". It was pretty funny ...

Have a great day bloggers!

Hello bloggers, does a planned goose-egg still count as a goose-egg? Anyway no running today, with 20 whole minutes planned for tomorrow. I am trying to spend the extra time I have in the morning doing my exercises and more stretching than usual (well, and catching up on some of my work). It is nice to be able to spend so much time on these things. So far, I have only gained a pound so it is not too bad. Dean is out of town so I spent a lot of time working last night, but when I wasn't working I was looking at bicycles. I took Sam's old bike into a shop last night and it will actually take more money to fix it then it is worth. I am debating on whether or not I want to spend money on a new bike. I did tell the bike guy that I want a bike to cross-train on during the summer, but that I am a runner and am not planning on being a cyclist. He said, "we all were runners" and went on to talk about his knee injury.

Close by, I actually read a very interesting article by Ed Eyestone (for those of you not near Provo/BYU, Ed Eyestone is the men's track and field coach at BYU - and a great runner in his own right). He says that 60 mins @ or above 70% of your maximum heart rate is roughly equivalent to a 5 mile run:

www.active.com/running/Articles/The_Next_Best_Thing_To_Running.htm

ARGGG, I can't get the create link function to work (despite using Firefox, I think it is this 64-bit Ubuntu going haywire again).

So, if I run 50 mpw and ride my back to-and-from work a few days a week, I should be able to keep my fitness level up (and give my old body a little break) to a over 60 mpw fitness for a couple months. Oh, and it will be good for the environment. That is the plan right now anyway. I do have my eye on a big 10 mile race in the fall, and there are a couple of local 5k's I might do, if the heat doesn't mess me up too much ... it is likely to break the 100F mark this week already. Though somebody said yesterday, "you will be surprised at how cool 90F feels, after the sun goes down, after it hits over 100 all day". Whoo, can't wait ;-).

Happy Thursday bloggers!

19:17. Much (well, relatively) faster than on Wednesday. I feel much better - today was the first day that I actually wished I could go for a "real" run. But then about 8 mins into it my quad started hurting again. Foam roller is my friend/enemy right now.

So ... yesterday at 1:53 PM we hit 100F for the first time (101F for the day). Apparently this is as big a deal, in terms of timing, as the Nenana ice cracks. This year the first three digit day has come earlier than usual (which usually signals a hotter than normal summer - great ). However, there are indications that the monsoons will come earlier and there will be more rain (I am not sure if this is good or bad).

I bought a new bike yesterday. It should get here early next week (so I can go down to the grassy park and practice clipping in and out - and possibly falling) for a while. I rode around the parking lot a while, practiced shifting and braking - it was pretty funny actually, it took me a while to get into it, and the guy who was helping me was steering clear in case I hit him (though he did not ask me to call the store before I get on the road, so apparently I did not scare him that much).

Funny thing, yesterday was very busy, I essentially was in meetings and conference calls until about 3PM - and I did not have time to eat lunch. Normally, this would freak me out, but since I am not running, it was not really a big deal at all! I am happy that I have not really had a problem adjusting my eating to lower (no) mileage - I am not as hungry and I seem (so far) to have adapted pretty easily to not needing as many calories. My portions are smaller, I don't snack, and so far, my weight is steady.

Happy Friday bloggers!

Scheduled goose-egg. Ok, I am starting to get a little antsy to run. If I had my bike, I would mitigate this feeling by going for a long ride, but alas, I am waiting for it to come in. Anyway, it is funny, I think Greg knew it feel like this because on my schedule he writes, "don't forget to enjoy the accomplishment of your marathon" -- kind of like, "don't forget why we are taking it slow right now". So ... instead, I am going to spend the day working on my grant, trying to work on the pool (which is having huge problems - like it looks like a pond not a pool - right now because I haven't been keeping up on the maintenance) and maybe I will go for a walk later tonight after it cools off a little.

I went and had some cross-friction/deep tissue therapy on my R quad yesterday, it was extremely painful, but my quad feels oh so much better today (except for the residual soreness from the work ... lots of little bruises).

Have a great day bloggers.

33:12. A little longer than 3.5, but whose counting, I am just happy to run! Bad news was my quad is still messed up. It was so painful the first 6 mins or so that I thought I was going to have to turn around ... but then it got a little loosened up and felt a little better. It never did completely go away. It is exactly the same place that cramped up last Sunday -- so maybe it is still sore from the cramp - but it feels like a big knot. I guess this is why there is a recovery period!

Also, I am using this time to get used to running in the heat. Sometime between my taper and my race summer came! It was 106F yesterday (did you know that "official" temps are always taken in the shade? wow. that means it was much hotter in the sun). So, today I waited until it was about 89F and sunny and then went for my run. Since it was so short and I am running so slowly anyway it was fine, I didn't need any water and it didn't feel too bad. By the time I actually start training again I will be able to run much longer in it. When we lived in the South it would take about 2-3 weeks to "get used" to running in the heat and humidity (It never got above 90F, but 85F and 80% humidity feels much warmer than 90F). The first long run where it got really hot I would always get really sick afterward (like throw-up sick) - but by the next weekend I would be able tolerate it and we just had to reduce our pace a little over the summer months.

Yesterday was great ... I spent a couple hours on the pool, refinished a bench/glider, worked on my grant, and finally got some groceries! I like this extra time business!

Happy Sunday bloggers.  And a special Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's!!

22:22.  My first "almost" painfree run!! yea.  As I left the house this morning Dean said, "have a good jog, you do know you are a jogger now?"  ha ha ha .... yes, I am painfully aware that I seem to have left the "runner" class and am now a "jogger".

I hope you all have a great day today! 

another big ole scheduled goose-egg.  

Interesting, I have lost 2 pounds.  I am hoping it isn't muscle ... I have  reduced my caloric intake so I am hoping that is what it is.  I wanted to lose a couple (or 5 actually) pounds this summer for 5-10K racing ... but I expected it to take a month or even two to get there.  I think weight plays an even bigger part of shorter distance racing, especially in the heat, so if I want to PR I need to get a little lighter.  Shouldn't be hard actually, I am not really hungry when it is so hot out, but when I start training again (and cycling 60 mpw) I might get a little hungrier. 

Anyway -- I miss running, I am showing great restraint by following my schedule ;-).

Happy running, and happy spring/summer bloggers!

All the racing bloggers out there:  Get some sleep, eat well, stay calm, we are all behind you!

31:16. I can't say I felt great -- but I did feel like running faster, so I guess things are progressing. My leg did not hurt until the last .5 mile, so I am ever hopeful that it is getting better!

A huge huge shout out to the women's marathon team for the 2009 World Champs in Berlin. Along with Kara Goucher, Paige Higgins (McMillan Elite), Desiree Davila (Hanson's), Zoila Gomez and Tera Moody (Adidas/Boulder Running Company) will all be racing for the USA. The USA team has a very strong marathon contingent this year!

Still wishing all the bloggers who are racing this weekend lots of rest and calm for the next couple of days!

PM update: I got my bike today!  that is the good news.  The not-so-good-news is that I have already fallen twice in my practice of my clipless peddles.  Once on each side ... on the concrete in the garage.  I am going to have to practice this weekend on the grass, where it won't hurt so  much.  I am getting a little nervous about this now!  At least I have a nice helmet, but I think I might have to wear knee pads, shin guards, elbow pads and big ole' goalie gloves so I don't break and mutilate myself.  I got a little tiny pack thing to store my wallet, cell phone, and a big pair of baggie shorts or a skirt so I can cover up after I get off the bike and to the shower.  This is no easy thing bloggers, I had no idea things would get so complicated in my quest for a cleaner environment and a little cross-training. 

Another thing, that I had NO idea would happen.  I can actually tell the difference between 103F and 97F -- I always thought that once it was over 95 or so it was all the same, ahhhh contrare my dear fastrunningblog friends ... it feels much different.

31:02. I felt SOOOOOO good today. I wanted to run for so much longer. Maybe my body was shocked into running well after the fear of me becoming a cyclist was realized. My knees said, "yes running puts a lot of pressure on us, but all these scrapes and blood are no picnic either". I need a lot of practice before I will feel even remotely safe coming up to a stoplight and being able to clip out of my bike.

Part of my new found energy is thinking about the Tucson 5000 this weekend. I decided, since I have so much extra time and energy right now, to volunteer for one of Tucson's largest road races (the Tucson 5000). They used to have a lot of prize money, but I can't tell if they do anymore. Anyway, it is a fairly locally competitive road race (usually top men's winner is in the low 15's and woman's winner is in the high 17s low 18s) and it usually draws about 300 people. I think the only "larger" races are the 10 mile race (which I hope to do) in October and the Tucson marathon. Anyway - I hope I get to call some splits or timing (so I can keep an eye on the winners). The 5 and 10K races just have such high electricity! Ritz was talking about how mentally different the marathon is from the track (or shorter distance) -- with the marathon he (and most of us probably) need to be in an almost zen-like state, so we can stay focused and run easy (ier) for a long time. For shorter distances he (again most of us as well) likes to be on-edge, jittery even, ready to slam a strong pace from the beginning of the race ... anyway, I am getting pumped for some faster training this summer!!

Have a great day bloggers. I am so excited for all of you running Ogden!

Interesting article about what our very own Kelsy is doing right now:

Tornados 

One of the last scheduled goose-eggs for me.  It has been hard to show restraint this week, but I know from past experience that the conservative approach is best for me.  I am excited for next week ... many days of running, I will finally be able to eat an almost full plate of food again without worrying how many calories it has on it ;-).  Note-to-self: I am getting a little too compulsive about  weight, need to work on that.

I really really need to work on hydrating more.  Even though I am not running much this week, it is going to catch up with me next week when I am running longer than 30 mins in this heat.  2 weeks now of 100F and more (high 106F so far) every single day.  It is both better and worse than I had anticipated it would be. 

I have three weeks to get my grant done - I will be working until very very late pretty much every night until then.  Might even remind me of being a student agian, probably a good thing seeing how I am teaching a really hard class in the fall, it will be nice to the students if their type of pain is fresh in my memory ;-). Well, these days things aren't really "fresh in my memory" if it happened more than a couple of hours ago ;-).  Which reminds me, I met with a group of collaborators the other day and they were describing a grant that I had worked on about 3 weeks ago (ok, I worked on 7 grants during the same time period, but still 3 weeks ago).  I said, " I don't think I saw the final version of the grant, didn't we take that genomics bit out?" -- they said, "no, would you like us to send you the grant?".  Well, when I recieved the copy and started reading it I thought wow, who wrote that methods section, that looks pretty good ... well, it was me!!  My initials were all over the track changes and some of the verbage was stuff I always use (like referencing my own papers he he he)!!  I couldn't remember doing it!!  I am getting super bad.

Happy racing bloggers, I am so excited for all of you!!  HUGS and LUCK to all of you!!

44:33.  Yea.  Finally, a run that was a tiny bit challenging!  I didn't really hold back on the pace and it felt really good.  I got a little later start than I wanted ... but it was only about 78F anyway so it was perfect for running a little hard. 

I have to get going -- but I can't wait to see the Ogden results!!  Pins and needles!

~35-40` + ~6 miles mountain biking

Ran from the starting line of the race to the water stop (that I worked at) and back.  It was about 80F so we did use more water than I had ever seen for a 5K.  It was a little bit of work because the tables and water that had been left earlier in the morning got stolen!!  I felt bad for the race director.  Since I was out at the 1.5 mile mark, I don't know exactly what the winning time was, based on the split when they came to me it was somewhere in the low 15's with the woman's winner maybe in the high 18's maybe the low 19's (based on her 1/2 way split).  

So, I only fell once today on my bike.  It was a doozy though, I don't think I actually broke my arm, but it is swollen nearly twice the size in about a 10 x 3" section and is already about 4 different colors of black, blue and red.  That is what hurts the most (well, besides my dignity), I got a nice "dirt rash" on my leg too ... but that just looks very studly.  I am just not sure I am cut-out for this stuff, too many things to think about at one time, braking, shifting, peddling!!  I was pretty scared coming down the steeper sections, even though it was cool and my bike did a great job getting over rocks and through ditches.

I am just SO proud and happy for everyone for their races yesterday.  Even people who had tough days were so inspiring with their stories.  Thank you for sharing!!   

1:03:03 (32:14/30:49) - a little longer than 7, but not quite 7.5.  It just felt so good to be running today!!!  I did not mind the heat (80F) at all, I think mountain biking and just being outside the past couple of weeks have really help me acclimate even though I wasn't running in it.  I expected this run to not feel well since it was my longest run in 15 days ... but I felt great -- I wanted to run longer.

My arm was throbbing like crazy, I can still make a fist, but it is not easy because my whole forearm and hand is swollen -- I spent most of Sunday night and yesterday debating on whether or not to go to the clinic and get it x-rayed ... in the end I decided it is just too hot for a cast so I am going to try to live without (though I need to find some sort of protective brace when I bike again (hopefully Thursday) in case I fall again (I don't want it to get any worse).  I am pretty sure it is cracked though, it looks like what is called a "nightstick fracture" (from putting your arm up to protect your face when a stick or something is coming down on you).  I think what happened was when I fell (on my left side -- you can tell because of the rocks and debris in my leg and the huge bruise on my hip) my handlebars flew up against my forearm. 

It is interesting, on Saturday I had a really tough session with the ART therapist who worked on my hip and left large bruises up and down my right leg ... now from the fall my left side is bruised (much larger bruises) ... I look pretty banged up right now!!  I feel tough.  I don't have time to relish my studliness though, I am giving a huge talk tomorrow (it will be televised locally) that I have to prepare for ...

Have a great day bloggers!

~36:00.  Easy run on Dean's "4" mile route (really much more like 4.25 or so). 

My talk went ok.  It wasn't bad considering I did not have as much time to polish it (and practice it) as I would have liked.  All the grant submissions cut into my best laid plans when I agreed to do this talk 4 months ago.  I have not watched the video tape of it ... I am not sure I want to know how it came out.
 

Last of the planned "goose-eggs". Next week will be an almost normal week of running, with long run and everything - yippee. I was planning on riding my bike into work today, but my arm is still hurting pretty badly so I am going to get it checked out tomorrow (and likely get some sort of splint for it) - I don't want to ride again until I have some protection for my arm. And, I am going to switch out the clipless peddles for a little while, even though it will mean I won't be getting quite as good of a workout. My weight is holding steady, haven't lost yet, but haven't gained any either. I am still confident (best laid plans again) that I can get down 3-5 pounds by fall ... especially if I bicycle to work a few days a week. I would love to be in the 125-128 range by the 10 mile race in the fall.

Happy Thursday bloggers!

*************************

Update... my arm is not broken (yea - even my almost 47 year old bones are pretty tough!).  The x-ray was very cool it was digital, very crisp.   He showed me where the muscle was "distorted" - he called it a "severe soft tissue injury". 

Two things about the visit, first was I met a woman in the waiting area that is a runner, and has a running group that meets on Tuesday and Saturdays.  The Tuesday runs are on trails near a state park that I tried to run in the first weekend we moved here -- we couldn't find any good "runnable" trails (they were either super rocky or sand) -- so this will be cool to run with some people who can show me around the trails.  I am excited.  The second thing was the doctor was a runner (the woman had told me) - so I told him about cross-training as I recover from the marathon and he just looked at me and said, "cycling is dangerous, why would want to do that?".  He described some exercises he wanted me to do to make sure I don't lose any muscle mass as my arm heals he said, "and the good news is you can run".  When I asked him if I could ride this week - he just said, "why don't you just run?" -- ha ha ha, my kind of doctor.

1:05:03 (32:53/32:09).  Did not feel quite as good as Tuesday, but still great to be running again!  

Interesting (to me), yesterday I got a package from the Eugene marathon people.  It was a plaque for 3rd place in the 45-49 year old age group.  I wrapped it back up and sealed it and placed on the table to send back to them so that the actual 3rd place finisher would get her award.  I emailed the race director and told him about the mistake (I also offered to give him my list of excuses for not getting 3rd place ;-) ).  He mailed me back and told me that the first place finisher had won overall masters and was not eligible for an age group award.  Kind of bittersweet.  I don't generally display my trophy's anyway, but there are some that I fondly get out of the box every now and then just to remind myself of the day, I don't think this one will be one of those, because really I got 4th place not 3rd.   

Have a wonderful, and safe, Memorial Day weekend bloggers.

Good luck to all those racing  this weekend!

35:31.  Felt really really good today. It was all I could do not to keep running.  I am getting very excited about doing a long run next weekend.

Off to get bruised.

Happy weekend bloggers!

 

44:49. I am feeling so good. Flexibility in my hip and lower back is so much better ... lots of extra time to stretch and the ART therapy has done wonders. One of the things I am planning to work on in the next couple months is getting better leg extension. Because I have problems with my right ankle (my foot points out, both when I run and walk - a function of poor biomechanics and tight hip flexors -- due mostly to the fact that I tore all the ligaments in my ankle when I was 18, it hurt really really bad) my right leg has all sorts of issues and I can't fully extend my leg - and this is why I have problems with PF and my quad. Anyway -- I feel better than have since my last mesocycle of training, and am really looking forward to starting fresh again! I will work on some bounding exercises and am looking for a good way to measure leg extension before and after some strength work ... I was thinking of putting some baking powder on a flat stretch of grass ~ 100 meters long -- and sprinting on it. Then I can measure the distance between strides. I can then do it again in about a month, and again in another month ... to see if the exercises are working. For a good article on hill bounding read this - I prefer to do these on grassy hills, but Dean doesn't think it matters much.

Last night I made a new pasta ... it was very light and tasty. I found this recipe in a magazine at the doctors office, luckily I found it online too (since I left the journal article I was reading at the time, on the role of K-Ras mutation and colon cancer ;-), and where I wrote the recipe, at the office!). Anyway - here it is - herbed veggie and artichoke pasta
(I used fresh beans and canned artichoke hearts, in water)

Have a wonderful Sunday bloggers!

22 miles on my bike (to work and back). UPDATE: Wow, biking is fun. I have to say that I could go much faster than I thought I could, but it took a little longer than I had thought it would (54` each way - for a little longer than 11 miles). When I got off the bike my legs were a little rubbery, but cardiovascularly it was generally easier than running. I say generally because uphill and especially uphill into a headwind was much harder than running. And, can you say "ouch", running can cause pain, but man, almost two hours on a bike seat causes very specific and very point tender pain that is hard to describe -- they don't call it saddlesore for 'nuthing.

(131.8)

Happy Memorial Day bloggers. 

Today is my scheduled day off (no goose-egg day).  I went for a 60` bike ride.   Mainly because the only way I am going to get "rid" of this saddle sore stuff is by consistent riding ... blah blah blah, Dean says ... blah blah blah (this one is for you Lucia!).  But, he really does know since he had a girlfriend who was a professional bike-racer (he was the team driver for a summer - they just went all over the country racing in stage races).  Anyway ... I got out there.  I have decided that the reason I can go so fast is 1) because I have a nice bike and 2) because I am an obsessive runner who isn't working out unless she is sweating/breathing hard.  

(130.0) 

1:12:46.  Trail run in the Catalina mountains.  I met the group that was introduced to me by the woman that I met in the doctors office last week.  A very nice group of people.   Diverse in terms of running (e.g., marathoners, ultramarathoners, fun runners) and in general.  I was one of the youngest people there (there was one college student that was much younger than the rest of us).  

The trail was pretty nice, a few steep parts, but nice footing (single track with little stones).  Weird things were that we ran up some "stairs" (long hiking path type of stairs) and some of the people walked after the steepest climb (which I didn't really like since we only had 15 mins of the run left), but it was still nice to have company and get to know the trails.

Have a great day bloggers.

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little longer than 4, but not quite 4.5 (37:48). Ran "Dean's loop" today - it is a nice dirt "path" next to a "lush" wash, by Arizona standards. Very pretty out. Funny thing -- I came around a blind corner and seriously - I nearly tripped over a coyote. I swear he looks like the one I saw the other day (from a much further distance) -- I am pretty sure it just that they all look the same to me ;-). I saw this guy with his dog and told them that the coyote was up ahead, he said, "thanks, we are pretty used to them, we just throw rocks -- there are a bunch of them right in here". I can't wait until I see the javelinas!

 I ended up drinking about 2 gallons of water yesterday - I am pretty dehydrated.  In retrospect, the 33 miles I rode on the bike was an interesting lesson -- you actually really have to watch your hydration.  It is so dry here (even dryer than Utah), and when you bike the sweat evaporates as soon as it hits your skin.  You don't feel it - and unlike with running I am not as conscience of drinking - but it catches up with you.  I think the severe muscle craps that I have been having (reference discussion board topic) were really just issues with dehydration.  I am learning! 
 

50:58.  12 x :30 @ faster than 5K effort w/1` recovery.  Felt good to get some leg turnover.  Pretty easy for the first 10 or so (basically a little longer than 100m so more like doing strides really).  I felt much better today than yesterday, I think it is that I am just getting warmed up at 40`  ;-)

Happy Thursday bloggers.  I can't wait until I get this grant finished, no sleep, pretty much very high stress levels all the time, and no running have made me a very jittery person of late!!! 

22 miles on my bike.  I did not realize until last weekend that I did in fact have 2 days scheduled off this week.  I can't say I was happy about it ... but it is ok, I rode my bike (to work and will ride it home) so I burned about 600 calories and it was actually pretty pleasant! I am just excited I have a long run this weekend, yippee.

Have a great day and a good weekend bloggers.

45:50. I don't know exactly how long this run was (well, I don't really know how long any of my runs are except my track workouts and long run) -- it was longer than 5, of that I am sure.  I started off on my "usual" 5 mile route and detoured at the end - it was cool, I found another wash that takes me back to where the other wash begins  ... it meant that I got to run on dirt for about a mile that I would normally have to run on the road.  

So, I have something to tell you about, it is kind of embarrassing.  On Monday I will be interviewed by someone from Runners World on my training.  I guess Greg is writing an article with this woman about different training styles and I am an example of someone who worked (for years) on developing their 5K/10K and half-marathon times before tackling the marathon. 

Happy weekend bloggers.

(my bike ride yesterday was 1:50:25 round trip).

1:49:04 (56:26/52:34). Yippee. Averaged 9:00 pace on the way out and 8:30 on the way back. I did find that I have been running my runs this week a little on the fast side, which was good to know because I was hoping 9 min pace would feel easier than it felt yesterday. I will have to readjust my internal garmin as I build my mileage back up again. I was a little uncertain how it would feel today, seeing how I haven't run any longer than about 8 miles since the marathon. I wanted to make sure I kept it really easy for the first 1/2; once I turned around I was feeling good and the pace just picked up naturally. It was good to see that 2 miles is 2 miles again (instead of that time-warped 10 mile-like 2 miles of the marathon ;-) ). I got out just in time today, the weather was tolerable about 70F at the start of the run and 86F at the end.

One thing I forgot to mention yesterday is that is one of my favorite times of the year bloggers - there are basically two time of the year that are awesome -- indoor track season and outdoor track season!! for about a month in the winter and a month in the late spring I can watch track ON TV every weekend! yea! This weekend was the Reebok grand prix and so many people made the A qualifying standard for the World Championships in August. Which is good for them because now they can train for the championships and not chase the standard ... but there is still more great races to come over the next few weeks, the next one being the Prefontaine meet next weekend in Eugene! Highlights of yesterdays meet: 3 men in the 5K ran faster than HAD EVER BEEN RUN on US soil!! Bernard was second with a 13:03 -- did not break the AR of 12:58 but still a PR for him. The womens races were spectacular, Christin Wurth-Thomas ran the fastest 1500 so far this year with a gutsy kicking lead with 600 meters to go ... she decimated the field. And wow, Linet Masai (Kenya) beat Tirunesh Dibaba by 5 seconds, she looked good the whole way and just kept pulling away with every stride - this was the first race that Dibaba has lost since the world xc championships (she won gold in both the 5 and 10K in Beijing). Ahhhhh .... it was a great evening. Which was good since I worked about 9 hours yesterday and was brain-dead in the evening ...

Off to work I go! Happy rest of the weekend bloggers!

One more thing -- in reference to Carolyn in Colorado's blog post earlier this week ... Pete Magill has some interesting advice on running longevity (specifically for us older runners, but good read nonetheless). I love his blog ... although he does have a funny list of marathon tips that starts off with "don't run one" ;-)

ok, now I really do have to get back to work.

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