Today we went to the track at Summit High School to time our mile. Wow, that is a serious sports complex. The last time I set foot on an actual track was college and that was at the air force base in Austin and it was nothing like this place. I hope those kids at that school understand the opportunity and privilege they have with that facility. Well, we took full advantage of it on this rapidly heating day. After a couple of warm up laps, Jessica, Nick and I (in that order) starting at random intervals, began a 4 lap quest to reach our individual speed goals. Mine was an 8 minute mile. Nick had 7 minutes and Jess was shooting for 7 1/2. First, I must say that if there ever was a way to make running more boring it’s running on a track. That said, we had goals to reach and reach them we did. To get an 8 minute mile, each lap had to be 2 minutes. I made the first one in 1:30 so I knew I was golden. Plus, chasing Nick helped. The second lap was a bit slower and the third even slower but the last lap matched the second and my final time was 7:02. Beat my goal by nearly a minute. It felt great. It also pissed me off knowing I was capable of that speed yet have bonked on all my race runs. Ugh! I need to get a coach if I’m going to continue this madness. But… scratch another feat off the list.
OK. What did I say about the memory of pain subsiding with time. Here is 3 days later and I’m committing to another duathlon. The Pacific Crest Weekend Sports Festival is June 26-28 and features Endurance and Olympic Triathlons and Duathlons among other events. It will be Nick’s first tri of the year and now my second du. I’ll be doing the Olympic so it’s the same distance as the Deschutes Dash. As I mentioned in my previous post, I’m still debating if I’m actually going to do a tri. Besides, wouldn’t three duathlons be as or more impressive than one triathlon?
What I have discovered is blogging about exercise is so much harder than doing exercise. Ugh. Despite my silence on this blog, I have continued to train, adding long distance runs and sprints as well as a couple of brick workouts (a ride followed immediately with a run). I have my first duathlon this weekend – The Dual in The Desert. Wish me luck.
Thanks for checking in.
After a trip to Texas and a week of catch up at work, workouts are back in full swing. It’s been more than two weeks of bloglessness but there were a few runs decent runs that I never logged and there’s no reason to try and go back now.
Monday was our long run and it was great. 8 Miles in 65 minutes. Personal best. Later in the day I did another 8 miles on the bike up Awbrey Butte. Nice to be back in the saddle though I have not been taking care of my Felt and the gears are quite dirty. Add that ride to the 4 mile commute for the day and it’s 20 miles for the day. I’ll call that a good Monday and try to repeat that weekly.
Wednesday (yesterday) had another solid run. 5.6 miles along the river trail north. Had a time of 49 minutes which works out to 8.75 minute miles! Another personal best and getting close to that goal of 8.
And today I registered for the Duel In The Desert Duathlon happening at the end of May. It will be my first duathlon and first bike competition. Really looking forward to that.
Side note: Shaved the legs during the break to prep for bike training. It’s a strange, new experience. But I like it. Not sure my wife is into though – think it kinda freaks her out.
Filed under: Running
With Nick recovering from the flu, I wound up doing my lunchtime run at 4 today. It was absolutely beautiful. And hot. Well, relatively. It was a tough run, mostly because I was seriously unmotivated. Kind of like how unmotivated I am to finish this post…
Filed under: Running
You’d think after running a 10k two days prior, a run I do three times a week would be be easy squeezey. Sadly, it was a pretty crappy run today. I struggled most of the way. Perhaps my diet isn’t getting me everything I need. Need to investigate.
Filed under: Running
Today was The Grin and Bear It 10k run, my first competitive run. It won’t be my last. It was a lot of fun and the competition revitalized my training efforts. Nick and I both decided we must shake up our routine a bit with some races and such even if it’s just a 5k here and there. Or whatever. Just something to break up the monotony.
The race itself kicked my butt. In fact, I was ready to quit after the first 5k. I just had no lungs and my legs weighed a ton. But I pushed on and the second half was way better. The loop was supposed to be the usually one we run but instead it wound through the neighborhood. Lots of turns and streets that kinda left you blind as to where you were. It was frustrating not knowing where you were in the route and no landmarks to judge your distance. The good news was the weather was not nearly as bad as expected – no snow or strong winds. Although I did complete the race and finished strong, I missed my goal time by nearly 3 minutes. Oh well. It was my first try and I overcame the overwhelming urge to quit and that’s something to be proud of. I feel like I could really kill it next time.
I did win one of the raffles and scored a half day adventure trip for two with Wanderlust Tours. That will be fun. And there was lots of nice feedback on the logo design and other materials. The turn out was over 100 more participants than last year’s total so I think everyone considers it a success. And the woman that runs Health Beginnings officially asked me to be on the board so that’s pretty cool.
Filed under: Running
First off, thanks to Chris and Breena for their kind words of encouragement after Monday. It was a really disappointing day. But today is another story. Went running with Nick and Amy and the FootZone crowd. I went longer and faster than ever (with now breaks). Instead of crossing over the foot bridge we kept running to and crossed the Reed Market bridge. The wind was brutally cold off the river on the back half of the run but we pushed through. It felt so good when it was over. And on the heels of a horrible to have my best yet… awesome. I really think I’m ready for the 10k on Saturday. Though, word is it’s supposed to snow. Yikes.
Date: 03/11/2009
Start Time: 12:00:00
End Time: 12:50:00
Time Taken: 00:50:44
Total Distance: 5.07 mi.
Burned: 651 (kcal)
Workout Weight: 175.0 lbs.
Pace: 10:00 (avg)
Speed: 6 (mi/hr) (avg)
I don’t know what I was thinking when I said “If Nick can do it, so can I.” He’s just a freakin’ kid. I’ve got 10 years on him. And suddenly, after 41 years of nonathletic activity I commit to doing a triathlon. I’m out of my fucking mind. I had a good month of solid and progress but the last few weeks have revealed a body not prepared for constant challenge. The pain in my left calf surfaced yet again today and ended my run for the most part. And my lungs again feel like those of small woodland creature. Can I complain a little more? Yes. Yes, I can. And I will. Stay tuned.
Filed under: Running
Nothing like a nice long, 5.3 mile run in the rain. It actually would not have been that bad but my left calf has been cramping bad the last two runs. It’s hard to deal with such set backs while I feel like I’m progressing in other areas, manly aerobic. Work is slow so I went searching online for videos of proper technique to help illustrate what my tri book talks about. Found a lot of helpful tri stuff on youtube by Ironman Dave Scott – very cool. Everything from exercises to fueling to transition techniques. Watched some good videos on freestyle swimming which is helpful since tomorrow’s my first swim class. I’m excited and a little nervous – haven’t been in the water in a year.
