track fan

1:54:21.  I am not going to give my out and back splits today because I ran a couple miles with a friend that I saw.  She is getting ready for a 1/2 ironman and was running 6 miles after riding this morning.  Up until I started running with her I ran about 9:10 pace for the first 6 1/4 miles ( into a headwind) and was averaging about 8:30s on the way back (tailwind).  I was sort of "racing" this really annoying guy -- but trying not to race him.  When I saw Anabel I dropped down to about 10 min pace for a little over 2 miles.  I am estimating about 13 miles -- it could have been a little more.

Titus is still not doing well, I am going to take him in tonight to have the drain taken out, he escaped from his collar last night and then when I put it back on him he went nuts.  It is just too hard (on both of us) ... I will take my chances with the heavy duty antibiotic (it is only one day before the schedule to have it taken out anyway).

Happy Sunday.
 

AM: (9 miles, 1:19:26, 40:14/39:12). A bit warm, but partly cloudy so it was tolerable. I am a little worried as I have not heard from all of my DC friends yet. The metro crash yesterday was close to a major transfer station from the green line to the red line -- this particular line/train is heavily used by my friends who work at the National Center for Health Statistics (where I did my post-doc). Tragic event, I am sad (and right now a little worried).

PM: (4 miles). Pre-blogging as I am busy all day and will likely not have much time to blog again until tomorrow.

Safe travels bloggers.

1:02:20 (31:42/30:37).  I felt so good on the last 3 miles today.  The start was tough, but once I got warmed up I felt really good.  This despite the fact that I seemed to have done "something" to my upper back -- it hurts like no ones business to take a deep breath.  It must have been some stretch that I did yesterday after doing my new Egoscue exercises.  Bummer since I was planning on riding my bike into work today ... now I don't think I should because I really don't want to inflame the area anymore than it is and hunching over on the bike for an hour probably wouldn't help matters.

So, I just have to say I love this town.  Last night I waited as long as I possibly could do to my PM run.  It was about 105F yesterday and I just couldn't get excited about running until it go below 100.  So about 7PM I left work and drove to part of the trail that is on my way home.  I figured it would leave me with just enough time to get home before it got too dark to see.  It was still warm (about 96F) but the sun was starting to go down so it didn't feel too bad.  First thing that happened was I saw the BIGGEST snake I have ever seen -- king snake I think -- he was about 95% inside a gopher hole and still had about 12 inches of tail sticking out.  He pulled his body out and I couldn't believe how long (and chubby in the middle) he was.  WOW.  This nice woman warned me about him, otherwise I might have stepped right on top of him.  Then ... I saw all of these people (probably 50 or so), some with nice cameras on tripods, hanging around near a street underpass.  I stopped and asked one of them what was going on and the guy said, "oh, its a nice night, I guess we are here for the bats".   

I don't know if I have ever told you guys about the bats.  There are two underpasses where you can hear them (particularly in the late afternoon) -- well, I can hear them, when I ran there with Dean he couldn't hear them (because the frequency was too high for him).  But I digress, I hurried up and ran to my turn around spot and sure enough AS SOON as the sun went behind the mountains thousands -- looked like about 10 swarms of  way over a hundred each -- poured from under the underpass ... it was SOOOOO cool.  I have seen them swarm around street lights before (looking for bugs) but I have never seen them at exactly this time and in such vast numbers.  There were still hundreds milling about under the overpass and I actually had to run up and over the busy street because I literally couldn't run through them.  VERY COOL.  Here is a very cool youtube video of exactly the place I was talking about -- it shows you why I couldn't run under the bridge!!

It got me thinking -- I have loved things about everywhere I have ever lived (and I have lived a bunch of places), but I really like living in places were people overcome extremes.  Like my brother who lives in upstate Minnesota - despite some of the worst temperatures on the lower 48 (routinely below zero in the wind chill for 4-5 months out of the year) - they manage to enjoy the winter -- hockey on the frozen ponds, ice fishing, etc.  Same thing here ... from about 2 - 5PM Tucson is a ghost town, most construction shuts down by 2 or so, and it is too hot to really be out much ... but as soon as the sun goes down people are out in full force ... walking, running, biking, and bat-watching apparently ;-).

I did hear from two of my friends yesterday (I knew they were out of town, but I did not know if they had heard anything about anyone else at NCHS) ... what a relief.  They are safe and sound, and so far all of "our" immediate group is safe and sound.  From a statistical perspective though, it had to have affected them (NCHS) in some way since about 90% of the people at NCHS who ride the metro would have been on that particular train in one direction or the other.   Tragic.

Be safe, stay cool!

(128.8)

AM: (10.5, 1:30:01, 47:15/42:44).  12:46 @ HASS pace (heat adjusted steady state pace -- Daniel's threshold pace) - I was supposed to run 10` @ SS pace (7:23-7:36) but I wanted to time it so I had to add on to use the mile markers (so I ran 2:46 over).   It was about 82F when I started and 88F or so when I finished.  It was partly cloudy, when the clouds were there it was pretty much ok - when the sun was out it was brutal.  I knew it was going to be hard, so I had already figured that the heat would cost me about 10/secs a mile.  Pretty funny, that is the way it worked out (I learned this from the nasty Nashville summers!).  I felt great on the run, it was fun to run faster again.  I love the base cycle of training - I look forward to most of the my runs, I feel good when I run and I am encouraged that I am still feeling the effects of all that marathon training.  By the time I start training for races again I will be anxious to race and be ready to take down that 10K PR (maybe the 5K too, but I am less confident about that) -- I am also hoping to get a 10 mile PR this fall, even though it will be a race that I won't be training for so it will be off of base mileage.

PM: (4.5 miles, 38:40).  Ran with Dean - a little faster than usual (by about 1.5 mins)  - it wasn't his fault, I am always intimidated when I run with him and tend to speed up a little.  Still pretty easy, just not as easy as it should have been!

1:04:38 (32:38/32:05).  I slept pretty well last night, my back was feeling a little better after seeing the chiropractor last night.  And then I blew it this morning by trying to do an exercise that is specifically for bad backs .... my back went into spasms so severe that I literally could not move - and could barely breath - for what felt like an eternity!  Basically whatever I did is not based on core (because the chiro made me do all sorts of "poses" that did cause the pain) but is base on my hip flexors and lower back - which in turn puts pressure on my neck that causes severe spams. Ouch.  I am so grateful I can run, although I can tell I am running a little differently because I can't use my arms much (and I can't too fast because I can't take deep breaths).

What a wonderful night of track it was last night -- WOWOOWOWOOWO

Amy Yoder-Begaly - what a gutsy and amazing race she ran, beating the american record holderin the 10K!!  Amy, Shalane and Katie McGregor, our TEAM USA for the 10K.  All got the A standard in this race.

Congrats to Galen Rupp, Ritz and Tim Nelson -  RITZ ... what a great race, very tactical.  I was a little bummed that Abdi fell the pace so much, and I was holding out hope for Meb too - I guess all the  pace changes in the first half really hurt them both.  2 of the top 3 had the A standard and one had the B so the team choice is easy.

Dean and I were making predictions on how the races were going to play out, and he got them mens 1500 prelims down pat -- it really played out exactly like he predicted.  The first two men in the first 3 heats were all kickers, the final 6 guys all came out the final heat, with those guys just running really fast from the gun. 

The 5K should be interesting too, since they are running 2 heats with the team coming from the fastest times in both heats.  There won't be too much tactical racing in the 2nd heat - since they all will know what they have to run. 

One final word, as someone who was was a teenager in the 1970's yesterday was pretty sad.  Both Farrah and Michael Jackson were a part of my teenage years.  Farrah pretty much defined hair and clothes for a generation ... and for all of his faults MJ was a very talented entertainer and I would even say artist. RIP.

AM: (8 miles, 1:14:58 37:51/37:06).  Very hot ... about 85F when I started and 89F by the time I finished.  As usual, it was the sun that was the most unpleasant.  I took my own advice and just slowed down about 10 secs/mile and kept my HR and breathing under control.  

My back is such a mess.  I did talk to the Egoscue people and got a couple exercises to try, they did not hurt my back so we will see how if they help.  After I did them I could actually take a sort-of deep breath, so maybe ... I will see the chiro again on Monday.  

PM: (4.5 miles in my favorite park!).

 
Exciting 5K last night -- both the women and the men.  A couple "upsets", a few favorites!
 

Happy weekend bloggers, stay cool, run and bike safely!