Archive for July, 2008

What a great day! You’d think I was bi-polar with how good I’m feeling.

Today was my mid-long 12. I did my usual 9 plus 1.5 times what I’ll now refer to as the Mile Hill. The biggest incline is the first half of the hill anyway, so it was a really good workout. But that’s not the event.

The event occurred as I was coming back towards home, I saw this tiny figure in the distance – a woman, oh so familiar…the walker I’ve referred to in the past, here and here. But today, even though she was quite far away, I could tell something was markedly different. Gone was the wide determined side-to-side armswing, I couldn’t believe it, could it be?

She was running! I’m telling you, I’ve passed this woman about 3 times a week since I started running, so this was an event all right. I lifted up my sunglasses and literally did this and gave her the happiest thumbs up I’ve ever given. She downright bubbled back, it was so fucking cool.

Now, I should say that I have nothing at all against walkers, on the contrary, physical activity in any form is fabulous and I would never try and talk anyone into running that didn’t want to. A year of divemastering was enough to know that there are some things people should never be talked into, you either feel it or you don’t and running is one of them. So anyway, I’m making a huge deal out of basically nothing, but it was something to me, like seeing a distant friend finally join my club. Gee, maybe I am bi-polar.

Other than that, Nick had the hardest day on his bike trip yesterday, they did 78 miles and climbed 8000 feet! The poor guy was absolutely beat when he called last night, and today he’s got 60, but he sounded much better this morning. Cheers to my honey! For a guy in his late 50′s (and one that got stents put in last year), he’s turned into quite the physically fit freak. Between the two of us, I’m wondering if there’s something in the water…

Continuing on my faux mania-driven morning, someone on the RW shoe forum posted this most excellent video from Mizuno last night, it’s GREAT! Watch it till the end, so cool.

I think that covers everything I wanted to blab about today. It’ll be another scorcher, so drink heartily and heavily. Have some water, too. Later, kids.

Since Mondays are a day off, today marks the beginning of week 10 in Pfitzinger’s 18/55 (he counts backwards to the race).

Previously, all the weeks were 3 days on, a day off, then 2 days. This week he shakes it up with 2 days on, one off, then 3 days on. And instead of the LT run opening the week, it’s not until Friday – 11 w/6 tempo, then a recovery and then a 20 miler. That little combo should be, er…interesting.

Today was simple since all he asked for was a 6-mile recovery run with 6 strides. Nice. Tomorrow is 12 so I’ll mess around with that mile-long hill again, this time doing 1.5 up and downs to make my 12 total.

This weekend I looked at the silly pile of shoes in my little office (I like them near me) and realized I’m doing with running shoes what I do with cosmetics and lotions. I use the bulk of it up, then about 3/4 into it I get bored and buy something else, so I’m left with the ends of a lot of perfectly good products. As far as shoes go, I have a couple pairs that are past 300 but still perfectly fine to use and a couple Asics in the high 200s that I stopped wearing when I fell in love with Mizunos. So I’m on a mission to use the 300+ pairs for recovery runs and the others for some medium runs so I can start clearing my room and my mind of extraneous shoes.

Other than that, the day after Nick left on his bike journey, the house started falling apart, so I’ve been repairing door handles, pneumatic door closers and my fave job of the week so far, killing a bunch of maggots in an outdoor garbage can because Nick’s son and his girlfriend who live in the downstairs apartment, are apparently unacquainted with their garbage disposal. After the disgusting job was done, every time a breeze from the window ever so slightly lifted an arm hair up, I kept thinking fat little white wormy bodies had hitched a ride on me. Ech!

With that image in mind, I wish you all a fine and fabulous Tuesday, may your day be larvae free.

Yesterday was my first 20 and a very nice run at that, though completely uneventful. The route is so familiar (my usual museum loop with a little tacked on and then going back the opposite way), that it was very low stress.

I ended up trying 3 different gels from 3 companies in my quest to find a favorite taste, so didn’t take the flask, though I did finally take some smart advice to snip into the tabs of the gels before I left so they’d tear off easier – much easier!

I think I’ve finally settled on Carboom Apple and GU Vanilla, though I had some wicked farting when I got home and since this happened on one other gel-eating occasion, I’d like to whittle the offending one down to Carboom, Hammer or Gu before I order a whole box of anything.

Btw, remember I thought I was going to be all about the Hammer gels? Couple things happened to change my mind:

1. The fact that without electrolytes, I’ll be tied to taking some kind of supplement or drink, which I don’t want to do, preferring to have it in the gel and 2. Their customer service did something really annoying which I didn’t report at the time but since I report the good, I should also report the bad. Here’s what happened:

If you recall, I ordered a variety pack of Hammer gels a few weeks ago and it was a nice package, they were very generous about sending samples of all their other products, so I was in Hammer love. It wasn’t till a day later when I sorted out the gels that I realized there was no Plain flavor, one I was particularly wanting to try since I’d heard it was supposedly a more subtle flavor. I thought I made a mistake about it because it was written on the invoice and packing slip that it had been included, but it simply wasn’t there, so I wasn’t going crazy, it really was missing.

So I email Hammer saying I was missing a gel. Several days go by and no reply, so I call. I talk to a guy who admits the Plains were out of stock when they sent the package. He said he’d send me one. Great (though I was left wondering why they didn’t make mention of it or send me two of another flavor).

A day later, I finally get a reply to my email from a woman there who apparently never talked to the guy I spoke to, because she said, “We’re sorry, and don’t worry, we’ll make a note that we owe you a gel and we’ll include it with your next order.” Huh? I immediately wrote back that “Why in the world should I have to re-order to receive it? I already paid for it!” Then I mentioned my previous conversation with the guy. She sends back a very apologetic email and a few days later, I receive my Plain gel.

Now, at the same time I made the Hammer order, I’d also ordered some different gels from Zombie Runner. Oddly enough, one of the gels in that order got messed up in shipping, but unlike Hammer, Zombie Runner gave absolutely exquisite customer service, instead of giving me the runaround, the day after I contacted them, I get an email saying they’ve sent the whole variety pack again, when all I requested was the one replacement gel. Talk about over and above!

So all this boils down to me being a bit pissed at Hammer and from here on in, my gel ordering will be from Zombie Runner. Great company, great customer service.

Back to running. Another nice thing about yesterday’s run was, even though I’d downloaded a bunch of new songs, I started the run with my headphones tucked away and never pulled them out. A few months ago I wondered how I was going to run a marathon without music, but that worry is totally out the window now.

After the run, I did something new and different, I used a recovery drink – the sample of Hammer’s Recoverite. I’ve never taken anything specifically for recovery, usually just stuff some protein thing in my mouth, but the drink wasn’t bad, like a light creamsicle flavor. And I felt fine and dandy afterwards, legwise, so I might just get a tub of it, customer service be damned. On the other hand, Slimfast or chocolate milk sound even better, so maybe I’ll do that. Or maybe I’ll do what I’ve been doing, stuffing some protein thing in my mouth. All this food technology can really cloud a person’s perception of what is truly necessary.

Nutritional meanderings aside, let’s get to today’s run. First I went with Nick to the Museum steps to see him off on a big 6-day bike trip, 300 miles into the mountains ending in a beer festival in Cooperstown, NY. The ride is being led by our friends Jeff and Lara, the same Lara you’ve read about as my sometimes racing pal.

After some picture taking, good-luck hugs, and a “Go Team Yeast!” as the group rode off on their beer-guzzling adventure, I did my 7 recovery with 8x100m strides. I wasn’t sure how my legs would feel about the strides, having done the 20 the day before, but it went just fine.

It’s interesting to note that with all the heavy, yet pace-controlled runs in Pfitzinger’s plan coupled with the fact that it’s summer training (so a supposed pace deficit due to heat), I’m unable to really gauge how my speed is improving, though I assume it is. I haven’t been adjusting my paces for the heat, which doesn’t mean I’m faster on the whole, just that I’m pig-headed. What I am able to tell is that I’ve gained strength, I simply feel stronger and ready for the miles. I don’t fret about “oooh, I’m doing a 20″, it’s just a logical progression in the scheme of things. Now if only I could be so cavalier about the speed question…

Finally! The Gifted Runner is up and happening.

I’ve been kicking the idea around for a while now, designing runner-centric t-shirts and gift stuff, after all it is a subject I’ve become completely rabid about. Granted, the original idea was based solely as a tax write-off. I mean, how lovely to have a legitimate excuse for deducting race fees, shoes, everything really. But somehow, even that wasn’t enough to get my ass moving. All it would have taken was adding a couple designs to Fish Pie, but I just wasn’t feeling it.

Honestly, my main concern was “what would my forum peers think?” I didn’t want to design something I’d be semi-embarrassed about, but rather stuff that makes sense to me and my vision of running. Thus, you’ll find nothing touting, “It’s just about finishing” or “Go Jogging”.

What I have done though, unlike for Fish Pie – where the designs were based on shirts first and the other stuff was basically a shirt design slapped onto a lot of other items – this time I started with posters and the gift stuff first, because you can be a lot more elaborate for printing on paper, tiles, mugs, etc. than you can on fabric. So most of the designs have two versions, an apparel version and an everything else version, click in and see.

Anyway, I really hope you like it, though I’m aware it may be way off your cup of tea – my vision can be a little, ahem…unique. No worries. It made me happy to create it all and like I said, who couldn’t use a great tax write-off? Hehe.

Ever hopeful me, this morning was dark and rainy with clouds forcasted for most of the day and I was so involved in this project I’m finishing up that I waited until noon to go out. Of course, a few steps into my run the sun came out so I was wishing for my sunglasses from there on in. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Today’s run called for 11 miles, what Pfitzinger calls a mid-long run, which means treat it like a long run as far as starting 20% slower than MP, getting to 10% by the end.

Now, in case you’ve just tuned in, I’m doing Steamtown in October which has a net downhill of 955′, so next week was the week I was going to start working on long downhills. My local forum pal, Joe, suggested this one-mile hill about 4.25 miles from my house, Midvale Ave.

Since today I was given a “speed allowance” of sorts thanks to the mid-long parameters (an ok to be on the slow end) I figured today’s 11-miler would be a great backdrop for experimenting with Midvale for the first time. It turned out to be absolutely perfect.

Seriously, the only thing missing was one of those motorized stair chairs to take you to the top (Nancy Marchand in Sopranos…that vision still makes me laugh). It goes up (or down) 200′ in that mile which is steeper than Steamtown, plus it’s mostly residential, so pretty quiet, though there are a few restaurants with huge windows so I can watch the reflection of me dying on the way up – what a bonus.

My splits were pretty good today, even in the noonday sun the slowest I went was one mile at 9:45 and that was the long uphill, as for that downhill…well! What a wonderful taste of MP, because that’s what I did. The great Arthur Lydiard suggested downhills for working on legspeed and boy, does it work! I was to be able to feel Marathon Pace without the agony of hoisting myself anywhere, just letting the downhill take me. I can totally see how pacing myself will be a challenge, the urge to speed will definitely be there, so how fantastic to have this hill for rehearsal.

Also interesting was I was really hot and draggy getting to the hill and doubted my ability to pull out 9:13s on the way home (10% above MP) but once I finished the fast downhill, it was as if I’d found a new gear, so the last 4 miles averaged 9:05. Not bad for 82 degrees against 13mph gusts.

So a big thanks to Joe for finding me a hill I don’t have to drive to and one that fits all the requirements for Steamtown prep. All systems are looking good at this point.

Now back to my project which I’ll soon be blogging about, maybe tomorrow even. It’s no biggie but I’m excited about it. And with that bit of mystery, I bid you adieu for the day. Happy runs, folks!

Had a great weekend hanging with my friends and doing activities. We got a little culture in, going to Olana, home of the famous landscape artist Frederic Church where we took a house tour. Admittedly, I’m not much of a history maven, so I was just happy the place was air-conditioned. Afterwards we went to Mama Mia! which Nick and I pretty much despised, though the rest of the group liked it. I think Abba is pretty high on the genius scale as far as pop-songwriting, so the familiar tunes were the only thing that kept me from wanting to poke its movie eyes out.

Got back to Philly yesterday afternoon and I’m happy to say I’ve already completed today’s hot, miserable tempo run – 10 w/5 tempo. You know it’s trouble when it’s 81 degrees out at 5:30 am.  It was 6:15 when I got outside.

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to dreading this workout. I mean, tempos are hard on their own, without being couched between 5 extra miles. Ordinarily I’d do all but one of the regular miles up front, then the tempo, leaving a single mile left for cooldown, but it wasn’t going to get cooler and I figured I’d better get the tempo crap done sooner rather that later, so 3 miles, then the 5 tempo, then 2 sluggish miles at the end.

The tempo was good, near the top I passed a guy going the other way and when I turned around, he was ahead but pretty much even with my pace, so I used him as a carrot. Then he walked so I passed him, stopping later at a fountain and when the tempo portion ended, the guy (very nice Brit) caught up and ran next to me, saying he hoped it was ok that he’d been pacing off me. I think he was afraid I’d think he’d been stalking me, but I laughed and said, “sure!”

I gave myself a pass as far as pace because the heat was undeniable. My tempo miles averaged 8:10, and according to Glover or Daniel’s accounting for heat, that’s equal to 16 to 22 seconds faster, so actually pretty darn good! I stopped 4 times at the fountains – once before the tempo, once during and twice after, that last time I pretty much parked myself there for 30 seconds, couldn’t get enough! I admit to stopping my clock today at every fountain stop, better that than feeling rushed and not drinking enough.

I brought music with me but during the first tempo mile felt it was slowing me down so I tucked my ear buds away. I’m turning the music off or leaving it at home more often lately but I think it’s mainly because I need some new stuff. That’s the good thing about car trips…Nick has XM in his car so I write down songs I like and get them at Napster or Itunes when I get home. Got a handful to download from this weekend’s trip so I suppose it’s time to refresh the soundtrack to my running life. Later, kids.