Saturday, 18 Aug 2012
This was my vacation week. Nancy and I had intended to go camping, but she got busy at work and we couldn't. So I managed some runningchunk-relevant activities during my time off.
On Thursday, I did a "micro-tour" on my Surly Long Haul Trucker.
I put a few things in my panniers and took off up US-41.
The wind. Wow. The ride up to Calumet was nice. Wide, smooth shoulders, separated from the lanes by rumble strips so that I could hear any cars about to run me over. I felt like continuing on, but stopped to eat a granola bar at the Holiday gas station.
As I hit M-203, the wind hit me. It's mostly downhill to Hancock, but I had to crank even the steepest declines. Seriously, it was windy. But this was about how my bike and I handled a (lightly) loaded ride, and that's what happens.
Only 36 miles, but it felt like 60. With the wind now at my back, I chased a few cars through Hancock, hitting my maximum speed for the ride right on the lift bridge. I didn't see the sign, officer.
So, running. A total of 21 miles this week, capped by today's 12-mile run. This was the best I've felt after a long run, and that even after running yesterday and my micro-tour the day before. Steel-cut oats, jam, and toast for breakfast; a Hammer Gel at 5, 7.5, and 10 miles, and the usual DT hamburger for recovery. I'd wanted to do the run in 2:20 or less, but I was happy with the time given the number of hills we hit.
And somehow I still had time this week for other stuff, like finishing the build-up of my new commuter MTB. It was supposed to be just a frame swap from my old too-small GT Ricochet but, well, scope creep.
Ain't it pretty?
Saturday, 04 Aug 2012
"No, no, the next round's on me. By the way, Nancy, how long is our run tomorrow?"
"10 miles."
So my night-before carb loading consisted of Ambassador bacon, green olive, and garlic pizza and Bell's Two Hearted. And it apparently worked.
This morning's humidity defied the laws of physics, and I left a trail of sweat from about Mile 5 to the shower. But we finished in a pretty reasonable time. Nancy showed me a neat graph comparing our pace today with the last time we ran this loop, and we were consistently faster by about 30 seconds a mile. Hopefully she'll blog for once so you can see it...
I feel a nap coming on.
Thursday, 02 Aug 2012
Pretty much this blog in its entirety:
I'm Truly Sorry For This, But You're About To Hear All About The Last Marathon I Ran
Except you might not feel as bad as you sigh and close your browser window.
Thursday, 26 Jul 2012
Columbia® All Trail™ shirts are the most effective portable nipple graters I've found so far. Wow.
(Considering adding a "nipples" category to the blog.)
Saturday, 21 Jul 2012
This morning Nancy and I did the 5 mile race at the 2012 Canal Run. It was a fun race, and I met the two goals I set for myself:
- finish in less than 55 minutes
- don't finish last in my age group
My time was 54:34.3. I'd honestly hoped for a bit better time than that, but the murmurs we heard before the race were true. That last hill is a killer. At mile 3.5, you turn the corner into Hancock, and it's a steady uphill for the next mile. We'd enjoyed shade up until that point, but now there was no relief from the sun until a shower from a hydrant the fire department had opened for us. I really wanted to hit that last half mile hard once we crested the hill, but the climb and the heat were keeping my heart rate at the redline, and I played it safe so I could still look sexy for the finish line photo.
The turnout was impressive. There were walkers and runners from both the 5 and 10 mile races on the road with us, so we were never without people to chase and occasionally dodge. The shared experience and impossibility of putting on airs while you're embarrassing yourself makes for a great atmosphere during and after the race. No matter what everyone says, running can be fun.
I think we'll be back for the 10 mile run next year.
Friday, 20 Jul 2012
Nancy and I ran a pretty quick three miles last night. I wasn't really paying attention, but using the MacMillan pace calculator, we would have run a 30:42 5K if we'd kept running for another minute. Which, for me, is fast. Around 2.5 minutes better than my time in the 2011 runningchunk.com 5K, and we were just out for a training run yesterday, not a (obviously very serious) race.
I've been bike commuting to work for the last two months, and have done a handful of longer rides on the weekends. I think there's something to cross-training on a bicycle. Any cardio strength gains aside, I feel like my legs use less energy now when running. So I can go faster. And faster is funner.
Saturday is the Hancock Canal Run, and Nancy and I are running the 5-mile course (recreationally, of course). Last night's faster run has kind of messed with my pace planning for the race, and 5 miles is an odd distance. But I'm feeling pretty positive about it, especially if the weather is reasonable. Let's race!
Saturday, 07 Jul 2012
The IT Band: An all-sysadmin running and rock group.
All my best ideas come during or after running.
It was warm but less humid today. My 6.5+ miles felt pretty good, and our pace was better than I was hoping. The first 1.5 miles of this route are a good climb, which really seems to blast out the cobwebs and get things set for a good run.
Also, check out the odometer on the right.
300 miles*
*Gah, I can't get my 3-mile treadmill run to upload, so I'm stuck at 299.9. Close enough.
Wednesday, 04 Jul 2012
You never know if you'll like something until you try it. I was pretty sure I didn't like treadmills.
Being 413* degrees out tonight, it was either run at midnight when it finally cooled down, postpone until a cooler day, or do something else. I suggested the SDC Fitness Center, at which I've been lifting weights (or pulling cables out of machines that have weights in them somewhere), so Nancy and I headed up.
The treadmill I chose was equipped with the next generation BMW iDrive system, which fortunately didn't interfere with the giant UP and DOWN button, the former of which I mashed repeatedly to get going. At 1.0 miles, I noticed I was sweating a lot. The man on the TV was talking about hearty winter vegetables. At 2.0 miles, the windshield wipers on the treadmill navigation system came on. At 2.5 miles, the SLIPPERY WHEN WET indicator light came on, and traction control was activated.
But I made it to 3.0 miles (in 32:35), which is what's on my training schedule for today. And I didn't fall off the machine. And I won't be back on a treadmill again. If God had wanted us to run on treadmills, he wouldn't have given us the outdoor sports industry.
*85
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