Sunday, 29 Apr 2012
It goes like this: "Hey, I'm gonna run up to my house." Josh takes off on foot and runs to his house.
It didn't exactly work that way, but it did work. Instead of running from Houghton to Calumet, we ran from Calumet to Houghton along the Jack Stevens Trail (the old Mineral Range Railroad grade). The warm-up walk started at my house at 9:30 yesterday morning, and my 12 miles ended in Hancock about a mile before the lift bridge. Nancy continued on to finish up her 14 miles.
Most of the interesting stuff Nancy talks about in her blog post. The last mile was rough for me, since I ran out of energy and was kind of hitting the wall. I think I didn't eat enough for breakfast, and then didn't eat enough while running. Depending on which algorithm you believe, I burned between 2500 and 2700 calories, and this Cadillac doesn't go far on fumes.
But hey, again, 12 miles and not dead. If I can figure out the nutrition thing and stay uninjured, I might just make it to the finish line.
Monday, 23 Apr 2012
Still working on pacing. My goal was a consistent 10:45 for the whole five-mile run. Not as consistent as I'd like, but I'm getting there:
10:38
10:30
10:41
10:49
10:59
Overall was a 10:42.
Thursday, 19 Apr 2012
Work, class, weather, blah, blah, so I missed my Tuesday run. No matter, tonight's run was fun (except for me being pissy during the first mile).
The Ghost 3s came for a run today, and they really do feel faster than the Glycerins. Definitely less cushioning, but they seem more nimble.
I had some ideas about doing a tempo run, but ended up doing it the wrong way. The first mile was fast, and fun. I almost blew up at near the end of the mile, but made it in 9:46. Somewhere in the run I managed a 9:22 mile. We bounced along both Nara boardwalks, and I manage to eke out a 10:13 for the last mile.
This was the first trial for the Alien Happy Turbo Bottle Lovely or whatever it's called, and it wasn't too annoying. I need something for longer runs, and this should do the trick.
RUNNING YESSS.
Sunday, 15 Apr 2012
Here's a thought exercise. Think back to the life experiences you recall when you hear the phrase "bleeding nipples". I'll list mine to get us started.
- Lending a t-shirt to Wil Spicher (designated funny guy in the grade ahead of me) during a high school trip, after which he remarked "I guess this would be a good time to tell you about my bleeding nipple disease."
- Finding the runner with the bleeding nipples on the top of a Brooks running shoe box, "Where's Waldo" style.
- My own nipples today, after a ten-mile run.
In the course of today's activity, my man-bosoms jiggled enough to cause some serious chafing, which I didn't notice at all until the end. I think they make special pasties for this purpose (tassels optional). At any rate, please hold off on any friendly titty-twisters for the next few days.
Nancy rode her bike along with me, operating a simulated aid station service. I drank water every two miles, and scarfed Swedish fish and fig newtons nearly as often. She'd ride ahead and hand off the fuel, me still barreling along, fig newton particles soon flying out of my mouth. Here I come, race photographers.
Anyway, it worked. The fatigue I felt at the end of my nine-miler was gone today. My legs are pretty sore from all the mileage of the past few weeks, but I still felt strong, managing negative splits for several of the miles.
Also, let me know what you think of my new custom t-shirt design:
Thursday, 12 Apr 2012
I added one of the Nara trail "boardwalk" sections to my run today for something different. It's bouncy, especially for this chunk. Might not be up to code.
One of the bridges was especially wobbly, and I thought briefly about putting Calvin's dad's bridge load rating theory into practice.
Next time I'll bring a sign just in case.
Other than that, it took an exceptionally long time to "zen out" today. This is where I feel like I'm running on all cylinders, and I stop thinking about anything at all and just motor along. Today it happened at about 4.5 miles. When the lady in my watch announced the end of the fifth mile, it scared the crap out of me.
Tuesday, 10 Apr 2012
At one point today, it was snowing. Bleh.
It was clear but gusty for my run. As I ran, I felt as if the constant wind was changing my perception of the hills. They seemed to flatten out, and even looked less steep to me. The balance is that I was much slower fighting the wind all the way, hills or not.
We cut through the Tech Trails to see what it was like, since that's part of my planned route for this weekend (a 10-miler). I'd like to poke around there a bit more to see which trails are easy to add into a road route without getting too slow and twisty.
Sunday, 08 Apr 2012
Whew.
I had nine miles to give, and not much more. The finishing point came downtown, so it was a slow slog back up the hill for me, though Nancy was doing hill sprints or something ridiculous. I barely had enough energy to stretch afterward, though I eventually summoned the strength to make it back downtown for food and beers with Nancy and James.
The lady in my watch said I burned 1901 calories during my run which, even if it's not accurate, probably means I should think about eating more than a few jellybeans during the run. James was talking about fig newtons in a way that made me think he has a custom dispenser on his handlebars, so maybe that's the ticket. All I know is that being wrecked after nine miles isn't quite what I need to run 13.1. But I have a few more weeks to work through that.
Grr, bogus average pace there. It was actually an 11:49 average, which I'm okay with for now.
Friday, 06 Apr 2012
Yesterday, Nancy and I hit the Chassell trail with a jaunt down the Peepsock trail on the way back. The ground was a little soft, but it was great to be back in familiar surroundings. We were both decked out in our fluorescent trail shoes and other select pieces of clashing clothing, earning us some funny looks from less "serious" trail users. Are we trying too hard, or not hard enough?
Anyway, it was a good run. The first mile or so I wasn't paying attention to my pace, until the friendly lady in my Motoactv announced that I'd done a 10:12 mile (0.46 to 1.46, I think). So let's call it a tempo run. I turned it down a notch for the rest of the run, but it all felt swift and smooth.
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