so, got a few days away from the tiling thing. painted and did carpet for about 4 days. we went running on saturday - we wanted to try a faster run, so we did a 10 mile one.
we both had a great day - ran our fastest ever 10. felt great. only one water bottle stolen too! :-)
the new watch, a garmin 405cx went on it's first run. i need to make a lot of setup changes. it ran great for about 6 miles then for no FOCKING reason decided to chirp every time i moved my arm. two beeps for each step. once at the end of my arm swing and once at the beginning. beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. i ALMOST took it off and put it under a rock to pick up later. after about 3000 or so beeps i sorta got used to it. but GAWD it was annoying. did track my running though. i deleted the data, maybe i should have saved it from such a good run. but - i would probably only remember the beeping in the end.
what a good day.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
long weekend
well, last long weekend is over for a while. was a pretty tough one for me.
we ran 13 on saturday... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. its just hard to move my legs. too many days doing tile work i guess. i tough out the first 5 miles and then it gets easier. didnt have any sore spots or any thing that hurt. just dead legs. so all in all getting better at prepping for these runs. we left water every 3 miles and only one was missing when we got to it - so not bad at all. finished off tired but not gassed. so all in all a good run. just no jump.
on sunday we ran 22... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. lol. but today i get a bonus 20 extra miles. we found a 5.5 mile loop about 15 miles from the house and ran around that 4 times. we put water at two places. actually gatorade. i think in the end i drank too much of that - as i usually do when doing a really long run. i switched to water on the last loop.
resa had a strong run - so that was good to see. sadly i was trying to stay up with her for the entire run. the first loop went right away into bad as about halfway around i was pretty much feeling that i would have a really tough time from how i felt.
i also again drank a half bottle of the 5 hour energy drink. from about 5 tries with this stuff i feel it kinda gives me some jitteries - even though the advertising says it wont. just being able to drink it without dieing is pretty good though. i feel it takes about an hour to really get cooking though. i usually drink it minutes before i start - with the thought that if it makes me feel icky - at least i am running at the time. but the first lap and i am gassed. so it certainly didnt seem to be helping during that time.
i fight out the first half lap and we get our drinks. i dump my hat, gloves and sweater as i am sweating a ton. its about 60 degrees out and no wind - so as you can guess i was pretty warm. the second half of the lap is pretty nice. always good to be into the run. the start is not normally bad - but has been the last few months. again i might be starting out too fast. -- or not stretching out enough maybe. the night before we did a lot of massaging and stretching and drinking and i felt as recovered as i ever have.
the end of the first lap and the car has drinks and some candies. so i eat and drink up. the next lap was by far the best, although about 3 minutes slower. it was very relaxing. i think about this time i get a jump from the 5hour energy stuff. not much happened at during this lap. other than the wind went from 1 mph to about 20 mph in about 3 minutes time. the sun went behind some clouds and the temp seemed to drop about 10 degrees plus the wind. so when we got to the halfway point i put the hat and gloves back on. glad they were there still. the second and fourth lap we ran clockwise and the first and third was run counterclockwise. well the first half of the first lap seemed all up hill. like we gained about 300 ft in altitude. seemed that way heading the other direction too. very weird. and it wasnt just me, but resa thought it very odd too. and it felt this way all four times past this area. just weird.
the second lap end and we get more drinks and yummies. more gatorade and cliff bars actually. probably too much junk and not enough water as the third lap goes from ok to really bad at the end. i stagger around the last mile and back to the car. 28 miles in the last 24 hours and i started out totally dead. at this point i am almost ready to say its a good weekend. but after about 10 minutes sitting next to the car in the sun i get my energy back. well enough to stand anyway. i am about a 3 on the 10 scale. we run off and we do about 2 miles before we decide to walk. resa isnt gassed at all but really sore. i am both. we walk a quarter mile and then run to the drinkies. about totally dead... but only 1/8th of the run left - about 3 miles. so we plod on. we run to the hard section and walk up a long hill. i am now about a 2 on the scale. still able to walk but not very fast. hard to see well. the world swooshes back and forth but i can fight it not be taken along with it. resa seems in pretty good shape so i let her talk about stuff while we walk the hill. really just made it to the top. 1.5 miles to the car. i remember thinking about some of the more difficult runs i have been in. this is probably the 4th worst. 2 times on the mtn bike trail and once in columbus were worse. both those times i got to where i couldnt move at all. and at miles 15ish and 12ish. this time i am at mile 20 for the day and 33 for the last 24 hours and i am just teetering on the edge of sitting down. but... somehow i think i have found a bit more physical endurance. i remember greg lemond with his ' it doesnt get easier, but i do get faster. ' maybe i dont get faster, but i do get stronger. i fight back some serious frustration and decide to run the last mile and a half regardless of how i feel. and we do. it wasnt all that hard even. just ran along to the car.
wish i had been ready to start the weekend, but i am totally worn out doing physical stuff down here and the heavy miles lately. but... in weight lifting - which i find very enjoyable - the times you gain the most is when you are willing to push your muscles to the fail point and then reverse fail your sets out to pretty much unable to move. but you cant do that the first year or so you lift weights - or you will be too sore to be any good for weeks. which i have also done. but once you have a good base you can push and push and push. and its mostly going to help you. maybe maybe i have reached that point after a year of running. the point where i go to *almost* failure and i gain from it. i am hoping its this way. funner to run faster each month and set personal records each run. but i did set a personal half marathon record and it was very easy about a week ago. since then i have had 3 very hard runs. i am hoping after some time off and recovery it will make me stronger than if i just pounded out some brainless miles.
so all in all a mixed set of emotions.
still - i guess i cant look on the negative side - i have never done that in sports, and it couldnt help. so i will say rather, that the glass is half full and i have just pushed myself into an even better place - at a pretty steep price.
find out at Goofy. which is our next stop.
we ran 13 on saturday... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. its just hard to move my legs. too many days doing tile work i guess. i tough out the first 5 miles and then it gets easier. didnt have any sore spots or any thing that hurt. just dead legs. so all in all getting better at prepping for these runs. we left water every 3 miles and only one was missing when we got to it - so not bad at all. finished off tired but not gassed. so all in all a good run. just no jump.
on sunday we ran 22... my legs are just dead. about 2 miles in and i am pretty much done. lol. but today i get a bonus 20 extra miles. we found a 5.5 mile loop about 15 miles from the house and ran around that 4 times. we put water at two places. actually gatorade. i think in the end i drank too much of that - as i usually do when doing a really long run. i switched to water on the last loop.
resa had a strong run - so that was good to see. sadly i was trying to stay up with her for the entire run. the first loop went right away into bad as about halfway around i was pretty much feeling that i would have a really tough time from how i felt.
i also again drank a half bottle of the 5 hour energy drink. from about 5 tries with this stuff i feel it kinda gives me some jitteries - even though the advertising says it wont. just being able to drink it without dieing is pretty good though. i feel it takes about an hour to really get cooking though. i usually drink it minutes before i start - with the thought that if it makes me feel icky - at least i am running at the time. but the first lap and i am gassed. so it certainly didnt seem to be helping during that time.
i fight out the first half lap and we get our drinks. i dump my hat, gloves and sweater as i am sweating a ton. its about 60 degrees out and no wind - so as you can guess i was pretty warm. the second half of the lap is pretty nice. always good to be into the run. the start is not normally bad - but has been the last few months. again i might be starting out too fast. -- or not stretching out enough maybe. the night before we did a lot of massaging and stretching and drinking and i felt as recovered as i ever have.
the end of the first lap and the car has drinks and some candies. so i eat and drink up. the next lap was by far the best, although about 3 minutes slower. it was very relaxing. i think about this time i get a jump from the 5hour energy stuff. not much happened at during this lap. other than the wind went from 1 mph to about 20 mph in about 3 minutes time. the sun went behind some clouds and the temp seemed to drop about 10 degrees plus the wind. so when we got to the halfway point i put the hat and gloves back on. glad they were there still. the second and fourth lap we ran clockwise and the first and third was run counterclockwise. well the first half of the first lap seemed all up hill. like we gained about 300 ft in altitude. seemed that way heading the other direction too. very weird. and it wasnt just me, but resa thought it very odd too. and it felt this way all four times past this area. just weird.
the second lap end and we get more drinks and yummies. more gatorade and cliff bars actually. probably too much junk and not enough water as the third lap goes from ok to really bad at the end. i stagger around the last mile and back to the car. 28 miles in the last 24 hours and i started out totally dead. at this point i am almost ready to say its a good weekend. but after about 10 minutes sitting next to the car in the sun i get my energy back. well enough to stand anyway. i am about a 3 on the 10 scale. we run off and we do about 2 miles before we decide to walk. resa isnt gassed at all but really sore. i am both. we walk a quarter mile and then run to the drinkies. about totally dead... but only 1/8th of the run left - about 3 miles. so we plod on. we run to the hard section and walk up a long hill. i am now about a 2 on the scale. still able to walk but not very fast. hard to see well. the world swooshes back and forth but i can fight it not be taken along with it. resa seems in pretty good shape so i let her talk about stuff while we walk the hill. really just made it to the top. 1.5 miles to the car. i remember thinking about some of the more difficult runs i have been in. this is probably the 4th worst. 2 times on the mtn bike trail and once in columbus were worse. both those times i got to where i couldnt move at all. and at miles 15ish and 12ish. this time i am at mile 20 for the day and 33 for the last 24 hours and i am just teetering on the edge of sitting down. but... somehow i think i have found a bit more physical endurance. i remember greg lemond with his ' it doesnt get easier, but i do get faster. ' maybe i dont get faster, but i do get stronger. i fight back some serious frustration and decide to run the last mile and a half regardless of how i feel. and we do. it wasnt all that hard even. just ran along to the car.
wish i had been ready to start the weekend, but i am totally worn out doing physical stuff down here and the heavy miles lately. but... in weight lifting - which i find very enjoyable - the times you gain the most is when you are willing to push your muscles to the fail point and then reverse fail your sets out to pretty much unable to move. but you cant do that the first year or so you lift weights - or you will be too sore to be any good for weeks. which i have also done. but once you have a good base you can push and push and push. and its mostly going to help you. maybe maybe i have reached that point after a year of running. the point where i go to *almost* failure and i gain from it. i am hoping its this way. funner to run faster each month and set personal records each run. but i did set a personal half marathon record and it was very easy about a week ago. since then i have had 3 very hard runs. i am hoping after some time off and recovery it will make me stronger than if i just pounded out some brainless miles.
so all in all a mixed set of emotions.
still - i guess i cant look on the negative side - i have never done that in sports, and it couldnt help. so i will say rather, that the glass is half full and i have just pushed myself into an even better place - at a pretty steep price.
find out at Goofy. which is our next stop.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
low five
just ran 5 and it was bad. well, the run was nice - the ken was bad. i just couldnt run very far before getting gassed.
my thoughts are either: 1 - it was the best ever 13 the other day, 2 - it was the first bike ride in months the other day ( hopefully not this as it will be all the time soon ) or... 3 - i am just gassed from doing 20 days of tiling. climbing stairs all day with materials and then spending hours on kneepads. wohooo boooo hooo hooo woe is me!
well, this weekend should be our peak weekend of running other than the goofy event itself for at least another year. planning on 13 and 25 miles. or about that. should be great fun. i am just going to recover til then.
my thoughts are either: 1 - it was the best ever 13 the other day, 2 - it was the first bike ride in months the other day ( hopefully not this as it will be all the time soon ) or... 3 - i am just gassed from doing 20 days of tiling. climbing stairs all day with materials and then spending hours on kneepads. wohooo boooo hooo hooo woe is me!
well, this weekend should be our peak weekend of running other than the goofy event itself for at least another year. planning on 13 and 25 miles. or about that. should be great fun. i am just going to recover til then.
Monday, December 14, 2009
biker
finally went for a bike ride... about 20 miles. i averaged about 18-19 miles per hour. was nice to sit down and exercise again! :-)
easy week
well, every 4th week we had planned on making an easy week and this one is it. thursday i ran 6 and sunday was 13.
the time off really helped my speed. last weekend i didnt have much speed going on, but a ton of miles. the opposite was true this weekend. the 6 was pretty uneventful, i got dropped off 6 miles from home and ran back. yeah!
the thirteen had three interesting things. all three i should remember for a long time. i got all prepped for the run as usual. advil, bandages, body glide, knee brace, clothes. i didnt go with the 5 hour energy drink this time. i am going to save it for runs over 13 or when i am totally feeling dragged out.
so the run started later in the day - i knew i was going to finish in the dark. set out my 3 water breaks on a course that was out and back for 13 miles. the run started well, but i had just drank a full bottle of gatorade and at the first water stop at mile 2 i had to pee... so there are some nice bushes there and that solved that. but! there were also mosquitoes there. it was about 70 degrees and overcast and the little buggers where all over in the bushes. so i did the running hopping pee thing. glad nobody was around for that. but i got out alive, maybe 3 bites and i drank some water and off running again.
my knee brace itched. which it never does. figured i had a bit of dirt or something in there. i ignored it and ran on to the next water stop at mile 4. ( i put the waters at 2,4,6 miles and then run out to about 7 miles and come back giving me drinks every 2 miles ) at mile for everything was going well. i was really fresh still and picked up the pace. ran a bit faster. sooner or later i end up paying for that, but i felt pretty good so i kept going. the knee still itched so i adjusted the brace and didnt find anything in it. trot trot trot into the sun set. for once there was no wind too, how nice. :-) until mile 5. there was a storm through in the last few days and the roads flooded. they were still flooded and you had to run do the middle line of a two lane road with speed limits at 55 mph. so you are pretty paranoid about getting whacked by a car. but, the really bad part was the water. it had sat there for a few days... and spawned about 1.7 trillion mosquitoes! well, i think there might have been more, but only 1.7 trillion could get up enough energy to attack me. it was INSANE. more extreme than the canada adventure races or the michigan swamp tour races. i had water at mile 6 but i didnt stop, they were so thick. they could land on your legs and at this time i was freakin moving. did 3 of my fastest ever miles. and they followed me out and back to the 5 mile mark again. then poof gone. i didnt drink on the way back either obviously. just left the full bottle sitting there for the pickup later that night. so that was number one event. the mosquito clouds.
the run from 5 back to 0 was a some of the most relaxing running in a long time. was going fast but not very hard to do. breathing was very moderate but i was moving pretty quick. the sun set behind me and the wind and mosquitoes stayed away. my knee went from itchy to burning, but at that point i didnt care any more. number two event happened when i got home. i checked the time and it was the fastest ever half marathon for my by over 5 minutes. so i have a new personal best - but since i didnt time it exactly i would have to say it was between 2:14 and 2:18 which is at least 5 minutes faster than ever before. and not very hard either. nice to know i have taken over 30 minutes off our spring 1/2 marathon. resa also seemed faster than me the last time - 2 weeks ago we ran together. ( she is in ohio another 4 days then comes down here for a month ) so big time improvement. just took a week of low activity for it to show up. really happy about this.
the third memorable event was the knee brace. wtf? it was rubbing my whole upper leg area the whole time. and all the skin is torn off. its a freaking mess. i couldnt sleep last night i have bloody sticky goo all over my leg - about the size of my hand is totally messed up. it hurts just sitting here. bending my legs hurts... every thing about it stings. now i have to get on my knees and do tile work. :-/
i threw the thing in the wash as always, i will have to get it out and figure out what happened. my first guess right now is that the elastic is dead and it gained an inch in size and rather than being tight and unmoving on my knee it is now loose and rubbing. if so - out it goes. i have two, and probably wont be able to run with one again for a few weeks.
kinda weird all around. but... whatever! :-)
the time off really helped my speed. last weekend i didnt have much speed going on, but a ton of miles. the opposite was true this weekend. the 6 was pretty uneventful, i got dropped off 6 miles from home and ran back. yeah!
the thirteen had three interesting things. all three i should remember for a long time. i got all prepped for the run as usual. advil, bandages, body glide, knee brace, clothes. i didnt go with the 5 hour energy drink this time. i am going to save it for runs over 13 or when i am totally feeling dragged out.
so the run started later in the day - i knew i was going to finish in the dark. set out my 3 water breaks on a course that was out and back for 13 miles. the run started well, but i had just drank a full bottle of gatorade and at the first water stop at mile 2 i had to pee... so there are some nice bushes there and that solved that. but! there were also mosquitoes there. it was about 70 degrees and overcast and the little buggers where all over in the bushes. so i did the running hopping pee thing. glad nobody was around for that. but i got out alive, maybe 3 bites and i drank some water and off running again.
my knee brace itched. which it never does. figured i had a bit of dirt or something in there. i ignored it and ran on to the next water stop at mile 4. ( i put the waters at 2,4,6 miles and then run out to about 7 miles and come back giving me drinks every 2 miles ) at mile for everything was going well. i was really fresh still and picked up the pace. ran a bit faster. sooner or later i end up paying for that, but i felt pretty good so i kept going. the knee still itched so i adjusted the brace and didnt find anything in it. trot trot trot into the sun set. for once there was no wind too, how nice. :-) until mile 5. there was a storm through in the last few days and the roads flooded. they were still flooded and you had to run do the middle line of a two lane road with speed limits at 55 mph. so you are pretty paranoid about getting whacked by a car. but, the really bad part was the water. it had sat there for a few days... and spawned about 1.7 trillion mosquitoes! well, i think there might have been more, but only 1.7 trillion could get up enough energy to attack me. it was INSANE. more extreme than the canada adventure races or the michigan swamp tour races. i had water at mile 6 but i didnt stop, they were so thick. they could land on your legs and at this time i was freakin moving. did 3 of my fastest ever miles. and they followed me out and back to the 5 mile mark again. then poof gone. i didnt drink on the way back either obviously. just left the full bottle sitting there for the pickup later that night. so that was number one event. the mosquito clouds.
the run from 5 back to 0 was a some of the most relaxing running in a long time. was going fast but not very hard to do. breathing was very moderate but i was moving pretty quick. the sun set behind me and the wind and mosquitoes stayed away. my knee went from itchy to burning, but at that point i didnt care any more. number two event happened when i got home. i checked the time and it was the fastest ever half marathon for my by over 5 minutes. so i have a new personal best - but since i didnt time it exactly i would have to say it was between 2:14 and 2:18 which is at least 5 minutes faster than ever before. and not very hard either. nice to know i have taken over 30 minutes off our spring 1/2 marathon. resa also seemed faster than me the last time - 2 weeks ago we ran together. ( she is in ohio another 4 days then comes down here for a month ) so big time improvement. just took a week of low activity for it to show up. really happy about this.
the third memorable event was the knee brace. wtf? it was rubbing my whole upper leg area the whole time. and all the skin is torn off. its a freaking mess. i couldnt sleep last night i have bloody sticky goo all over my leg - about the size of my hand is totally messed up. it hurts just sitting here. bending my legs hurts... every thing about it stings. now i have to get on my knees and do tile work. :-/
i threw the thing in the wash as always, i will have to get it out and figure out what happened. my first guess right now is that the elastic is dead and it gained an inch in size and rather than being tight and unmoving on my knee it is now loose and rubbing. if so - out it goes. i have two, and probably wont be able to run with one again for a few weeks.
kinda weird all around. but... whatever! :-)
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