Running talk

I ran Grandma's Marathon last Saturday. Here's how that went:

I got that image from here.

The last two long runs on my training program for the Afton 50K are both 26-milers. I actually ran 25.88 two weeks before the Marathon and, of course, the Marathon is 26.2. I trust them to measure that right. I did about the same time...well, no...by the chip, I was considerably faster - even though there's a lot more wandering around on your feet before any race than there is before any training run.

Interesting factors: I mowed the lawn the night before the race. Probably not recommended. It was under 50 degrees (F - 10 degrees C) for most of the race and windy as hell. Mostly a tail wind, but when the strong gusts hit your sweaty back, it's quite a chill. Nasty day to be outside in shorts and a t-shirt - and all wet besides. I didn't stick around the Finish Area any longer than it took to fill up on free food.

They had the white "Hypothermia Danger" flags out. The fast runners liked it. The cold and the tail-wind, I mean. They might have liked the flags, too, I suppose. I doubt that anyone asked. (I know I didn't.)

Anyway, I took Sunday and Monday off, except for trimming my hedge, which was quite a bit overgrown. It made me sweat, but it didn't seem like terribly hard work.

Today I ran 8.35 miles or so. Since I the 50K is a trail run, I ran beside the paths, roads and sidewalks as much as I could. I avoided places where the cant was too steep and deep puddles. We had a thunderstorm today. And, actually, another tornado touched down a few miles north of where I work.

The run went pretty well: 87 minutes, and I felt strong enough to kick up to an 8-minute mile pace for the last 3/4 of a mile. I was feeling like freakin' Superman, actually. I wanted to go faster, but I've injured myself that way, so I didn't.

Edit: Oh, hey! I just looked at my training log on Map My Run. I did the 25.88 run in 5:23. That's almost a full 11 minutes slower than I did at Grandma's.

Bundling up for winter runs

The temperature went from 18°-22°F while I was running today, and I'd have to say that I was relatively comfortable. No doubt spandex, or whatever those tights are made of, works better than the cheap stuff I wear, but I'm not here to help rich people. Except maybe to preserve their wealth by not squandering it on unnecessary stuff. I mean, I don't think I'd look good in that anyway.

Today, I took the risk of skipping the long johns and the undershirt; I only wore one pair of socks (but that's been plenty - I haven't run in temperatures colder than 10 below, ignoring windchill). I was OK with just sweat pants and two layers of polar fleece jackets on my upper body - one with a hood. And my Twins ballcap. I just wore my TC 1-Mile technical shirt under the jackets.

Oh, I also wore a safety vest for visibility. It was foggy out when I started. And my little knit gloves. They work just fine once you're warmed up. Keep your hands in your pockets for the first couple miles.

If there'd been any wind, I would definitely have needed the long-johns and undershirt. As it was, my shirt got completely soaked with sweat and apparently my jackets were flopping around enough on the bottom, where the vest wasn't holding them in place, to fan cold air in and darn near freeze the sweat. When I showered my belly was red and the hot water stung it.

Other things I should mention before I forget: I ran 16 miles in 3:15. The 16 was planned, the 3:15 was surprisingly slow, but I suppose that was due to the fact that there were a lot of slippery patches, and I prefer to run on a layer of snow rather than frozen asphalt and concrete. Or ice.

I slathered my feet with Glide and duct-taped my nipples. Technical shirts are rough on those (the latter, not the former). I used inch-square pieces today as an experiment and they worked like a champ. I've tried ¼ inch squares and ½ inch squares, but they haven't lasted for a whole long run. I can't get these off even now. Oh, well. My wife's the only one who'll have to deal with them. Pretty sure I'll be rid of them by Tuesday.

I'm starting to get into some distances that I'm proud of in my running.

So, I may just be blathering on more about my workouts than I have been. Today I ran, according to Map My Run, 19.2 miles in 3½
hours (3:29:30 to be exact). That's at least half a mile farther than I was estimating during the run, and at an average speed under 11 minutes/mile, or 5.49 mph. I was doing better than 6 mph at least through mile 12.
Map My Run also tells me that I burned 2926 calories doing it.

Now, the temp didn't get above 65° F, so that, no doubt, had a considerable bearing on my results. Once again, it was sunny and dry. Absolutely gorgeous day! September is a wonderful month. And, I've got to praise my new New Balance shoes for keeping my feet comfortable. That's the same brand as my old shoes, but they were breaking down and causing me knee pain.

I have some bizarre-ass feet, so what works for me might not work for you. If you're thinking about taking up running, you've gotta at least go talk to a professional running-shoe expert, or go to a lecture on it, like I did. It's made a huge difference in my shoe choices, both for running and wlalking/work. I no longer have the foot, knee and hip pains that I was contending with before. Or, when I do, I know how to fix them.

I invented a trick to help me pick up the pace when I catch myself dogging it: I start to breathe deeper, inhaling to a count of four steps and exhaling to the same count.

Whoa! Tighty Whities? Bad running gear!

17 miles in 'em - extreme discomfort.

Enough said, eh.

Training for the Half Marathon is done.

Now it's time to rest up.

I've got some painting to do tomorrow - on the house; nothing artistic, just painting the white highlights. Oh, and I need to mow the lawn and take the old garage door to the dump.

I'm on vacation.

Whoops! The numbers don't lie

1:34:15

That's my time for the Manitou 15K. They don't use electronic chips, so that's my gun time, and I wasn't paying attention to anything but whose feet I was about to step on at the start, so I can't even estimate how long it took me to get to the starting line. Maybe twenty seconds - it wasn't that big a crowd.

Some were probably turned away by the thunderstorm predictions, but we only got a few raindrops during the race. It was raining pretty steady out last time I looked outside, but that didn't start until after noon sometime. Race conditions were cloudy and high sixties, with almost no wind. A little warmer than perfect racing weather, but pretty close.

For the first 5K I just hung with this group that seemed to be going the speed I wanted to go. The second 5K the crowd was pretty stretched out, so I just concentrated on breathing at the rate I thought would keep me at about a 10 minute mile pace. My watch verified that I was doing a heckuva job at it, though I was lagging a bit. The final 5K I pushed it a little more, though it started on a long upgrade - you probably wouldn't notice it in a car, so I waited on that until I got to the "top" before pushing. Then, finally I did a real kick for the last quarter mile, steadily accelerating through the finish line.

They probably haven't posted the results yet, but let's see anyway.

Nope. Not yet. They're supposed to post them on Apple Raceberry JaM by 6 PM.

I bet you're wondering how I feel now.

I've got a couple of raw spots - notably, one blistered toe, but other than generally tired legs, I feel pretty good. I mean, thank god it's raining and the yard work is all done for the week.

Oh, yeah. The floor drain in the basement is backing up so I've been hauling three gallon buckets of water from the clothes washer to the shower drain. Now we've knocked a hole in the wall between the laundry area and the bathroom and run a hose directly from the washer to the drain that works. I put the hole in a spot that wanted some work anyway, so no biggy there.

Ok, here are the official Manitou 15K results.  Apparently I lost a second: 1:34:16.

79 Mins for 7 miles yesterday

33 Mins for 3 today.

Just keeping track.

Moron running

Just so I don't forget, after the race last Thursday I jogged back to the start to get the girls, so there's two miles total that day. I ran 38 minutes Friday night - not sure how far, I cut across a park at one point. Saturday I ran from the house to and around Palmer Lake - seven miles in 80 minutes; and today I ran 75 minutes for an as-yet unmeasured distance. I'd like to think it was over six miles, but I haven't mapped it out yet. It'll be a good route to have in my Map-My-Run profile, because I'll be using that one again and expanding out from it.

I'm feeling over trained right now, so I'm going to rest tomorrow.

I'm feeling pretty cocky today

No, I can't say that I really kicked butt in the TC 1-Mile. I ran too cautious a race and finished in 8:09. I was slowed in the beginning by people who had no business lining up in the front. That's what I get for running in the "Family Wave."

No, I had good reason to do that. The Master's wave started a half hour later, and I was headed back to the car by then. And that was good, because... Laurie was working late and I had the girls with me. I think they had a mildly good time. After picking up my race packet - number and chip and a pretty cool looking shirt - we had an hour to kill downtown, so we walked over to this sculpture park in front of an office building. Naturally the younger girl got us all yelled at by a security guy by climbing all over everything. Actually, he looked like he understood perfectly, but 'orders is orders.'

But, sorry, no death, destruction or great bodily harm ensued... No chases - per se - or slaking of wanton lust, for those who demand such things.

Cinco de Mayo? Aw, bleep! Missed it.

Misleading title alert.

As a follow up to the previous post, I found myself sending this message...yes, to someone who cares:

I'm signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon on Oct. 3, but I'm not asking you to include that. I'll need to do some races to train for it, so it won't be hard to get the numbers. I'm signed up for the Twin Cities 1-Mile next week. There's the Manitou 15K on June 5th I could be ready for, the Minnesota Half Marathon on Aug. 7… so 1+9.3+13.1 gets me 23.4… Just need to throw in a 5k.

So there's a basic outline of my training program for this summer (summer starts right after the snowstorm tomorrow night). 9.3 miles by June 5th is pushing it quite a bit, but I'll deal with it (I hope).

Now I've done it

I finally overcame my ambivalence about running another marathon and signed up for this fall's TCM. I certainly wasn't expecting any feeling of elation over it, but I feel downright euphoric. I'll be darned.

I had already signed up for the TC 1 Mile on May 13th, but I was having a heck of a time getting motivated to train for it. I'd done a few 2 and a half mile runs, but I wasn't working it into a habit. Now I walked 3 miles at lunch yesterday and ran 2 and a half last night and this morning. Last night I pushed a measured mile a little. I did it in ten minutes. This morning I dogged it a bit and did the mile in about ten and a half.

Sunny and 52 this morning. Kind of cool for a t-shirt and shorts, but I managed to work up a sweat. I took a "before" picture of myself, but I don't think I'll share it until I have a fairly impressive "after" picture.

I was surprised by how elated I felt after I filled out my registration. Apparently something inside me really, really wants to do that. I guess I don't just want to be "a guy who ran a few marathons." This'll be my fourth TCM. I took last year off to let my feet and legs heal up, but, emotionally I felt rotten all year. I didn't like not having the big goal out there to reach.

It's absolutely the peak of Spring here. There are pink, white and red apple blossoms all over everywhere, the lilacs are in bloom, the young leaves are neon green, the whole world smells like candy... What a wonderful time to be coming back to life! It was sunny and 52 during my run this morning. A bit cool for a T-shirt and shorts, but not too bad. Exactly the weather I'll want on October 7th, or whenever race day is.

I banged my knee on a chair last night. It's hurting pretty bad now, though since I managed a slow jog for two and a half miles, it probably won't screw up my training for the TC 1-Mile. It would if I were planning to win, I suppose, but I don't. I just want to get close to 7 minutes.

The wife's at Clutterers Anonymous right now and the kids are watching cartoons. I haven't showered up yet.

Oh, good. It's clearing up. (Not for the squeamish.)

[Before I get to that, remind me to say something about Snopes' Sarah Palin articles before the election. I've got that page sitting open now and I'm about to use it for something else.]

Yesterday was my last chance to take a really long run before the Marathon. I had the day off, so I decided to run down from the house here to Victory Memorial Parkway, south to Wirth Parkway to Cedar Lake Parkway and on over to Lake of the Isles. The whole route is just beautiful, except for the plain old city streets in this neighborhood.

Let's see if I can find some good images... Not so good of Memorial Pkwy, it was taken too early in the spring... Here's the Theo Wirth Golf Course as it will look a few weeks hence, I ran by that... I've gotta get a new digital camera. Somehow ours didn't make it back from Oklahoma. Oh! There's Brownie Lake! I like to look at that as I run by.

This guy's got some pix of the Cedar Lake Bike Highway. I run for a mile or so alongside that on the pedestrian path. And this pic is definitely Lake of the Isles, not Lake Calhoun. If you flip through those pix, there are several of Lake of the Isles. Calhoun is a big, round thing. Oh, this is better!

When I get a new digital camera, I'll post some good pictures.

Well, the run went just dandy, though it took me four and a half hours. I'm sure it was a full twenty miles, maybe a little more. Wouldn't want to peak too soon, don't you know. I was draggin' my a-- pretty bad by the time I got home. That was at 1:12, I started at 8:40 AM. It's been tough to train consistently this year, for the same reasons it's been tough to blog consistently. Some of the same reasons, anyway.

But... This is where the squeamish might want to turn away. I got in the shower and soaped up, when suddenly the call of nature became urgent enough, that I got out of the shower all soapy to take care of it. My pee was all red! Real red! And then I got nauseous and dizzy. I'm not sure if that was just squeamishness or if I had really lost that much blood... I feel exactly the same way if I watch someone take blood out of my arm, whether its a lot or a little. I can't watch that. Now I know what happens if I see it coming out of my you-know-what.

I still needed to rinse off the soap, but I was afraid of what might happen if I didn't sit down, so I sat down in the shower stall to rinse off. Thank God! Next thing I know, I'm at a party where everybody's talking and moving like a vidoetape on fast-forward, I open my eyes and can't figure out what the hell's going on or where I am. I was having such a nice nap, why do I have to get up now? What the...? Oh, I'm in the shower!

I'm still too soapy, the shower head is still in my hand so I finish rinsing; apparently I was in a stable position, I hadn't flopped over much... Now I have to get up and get the towel. Okay, that worked out OK, but I rushed through the drying and grabbed a pair of shorts in case my daughter, who was due home from school any minute now, walked in on me. Put the shorts on and went to the next room to flop on a mattress we have on the floor.

Then the doorbell rang. I'd locked her out.

The details get rather mundane after that. I read somewhere that blood in the urine is a common occurrence after a long run. Don't bother the doctor unless it persists longer than a day or two.

So, I guess I'll just monitor the situation for another day, and if I'm not happy with the progress, I'll go bug somebody about it.

So that's what's on my mind. How about you?

Well, I ran 18.6 miles yesterday.

I didn't exactly burn up the roads (and trails). Took me 3 hours and 39 minutes. I was stopped by traffic a number of times, I stopped at a convenience store for 5 or so minutes to buy an energy drink (I wonder what the lady thought of me dripping all over the place, or if she got it that it wasn't all rainwater), and a couple times I just needed to stop and reset, I was draggin' my ass so bad.

By the way, 18.6 miles is a full 30K. The important thing was to go the distance. Once again, I ran the first half too fast and couldn't maintain the pace after that. When I checked it out on MapMyRun I found out I had my mental mile-markers in the wrong places.

Ah, well. Same route next weekend, plus another 1.4 miles.

Running stuff

Hey! The City [Duh! But just try to navigate their frickin' website. Here's the Google search I did to find this: "'brooklyn center' walking path map"] has the distances for my run to and around Palmer Lake:

Community Center to Palmer Lake
1.0 mile

Palmer Lake Loop
3.1 miles

So that's 5.1 Miles right there. Now I just have to figure out how far it is from my house to the Commity Center. I figure it's close enough to just call it a mile.

MapMyRun.com says it's 1.1 miles, so I ran a full 10K in an hour.

Now all I have to do is multiply that by 4.

I jogged on Saturday.

15 minutes was what I planned. We had company over for the weekend.

I put my shoes on in front of my father-in-law, answering questions about practical household matters as I did so.

I may not have answered his last question or comment as I headed out the door.

I started my run at 8:32. I reached the Civic Center at 8:41 and the foot of the 694 foot-bridge at 8:42. That was half-way to where I figured to turn around, as I figured it at that point.

"But this is where it just starts to get pretty!" said the devil on my shoulder.

He was right!

When I got to Palmer Lake, I took a right. I knew I was making a commitment to run all that way around it. But I said to myself, "Almost 18 minutes. Halfway there!" I had changed my mind from a 20 minute run [oh, yeah! I originally planned a 15 minute run! What happened to that? ...Um. I don't know.] to a 35 minute run. I read somewhere that 35 minutes is the magic training number.

Well, I tell you something about magic training numbers. Somewhere between 18 and 25 minutes, my breathing and stride fell into a rhythm and the next c. 40 minutes were very easy.

A jogger is never forced to say, "I have to get up this hill fast!" or "I have to be the fastest here!"

Saturday, I learned I have it in me to achieve this goal.

Now, I have to DO it.