Archive for August 24th, 2008

Such a lovely number, dontcha think?  I like it even better now that I’m done running it.

Got up at 5:30, had my usual bit of coffee, even had something to eat beforehand (rare occurrence)…peanut butter on a 1/2 a hot-dog bun (don’t ask).  I knew I was going to be out for a while, so figured a little something in my gut might be a good idea.

Wore my Tramp Stamp shorts which I am no longer mad at.  Now that I know where to apply the Body Glide, I’m liking them quite a bit – a gal can always use a back pocket.  I filled my gel flask with 2 gels & water and then stuck an as-of-yet-untested-flavor Power Gel Double Latte (double caffeine) in that back pocket.  Wanted to see if more caffeine at the end would be noticeable or not.  It wasn’t.

It was 73 degrees with 75% humidity when I started at 6:30, so I actually took the first 3 miles at recovery run pace – 10:07s.  I told myself that the object of today was time on my feet, and not to feel guilty if I went slower than usual.  By the end of the run it was 80, so it was a bit of a toasty morning.

I had a good run!  Did the museum loop and the Schuylkill riverwalk, then went back the way I came, detoured onto Smile Hill at around 15.5 for a single up-and-down (I won’t kid you, I was happy to see I only needed to do it once to make the correct mileage to get home), then 4.5 back home.

I lucked out, didn’t have one red stop light the whole run, so I never stopped the clock, the only physical stopping was 1:20, the amount of time it took to refill my water bottle 4 times.  Avg. for the run: 9:32, pretty much smack dab on Pfitz’s prescribed pace with the last three miles averaging 8:48.

Btw, don’t know if your city has them, but Philly is putting those fab new walk lights at almost every main intersection now, they give you the actual time left before the lights change, which is soooo helpful.  No more kamikaze running across to beat the light, I can actually see I’ve got 6 seconds left and speed up accordingly.  Really cool.

In other running news, I’m pretty excited because my schedule calls for an 8k-15k tune-up race next weekend but there isn’t anything local, so I was going to do a time trial.  But I found a 4mile race for Labor Day in a town about 45 minutes away, so I’m going to do it!  OK, it’s not 8k (aka 5 mile race), but it’s better than a 5K and I’ll be able to give it a proper race effort, which a time trial wouldn’t have been. I’m scared though!! I don’t race enough to be used to them yet, which is all the more reason for doing it (and one of the reasons Pfitzinger puts them in the plan in the first place).

And now, I’ll leave you with this link to a hilarious Usain Bolt spoof.  He’s the guy that set new World Records at the Olympics in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay.  But in the 100m, Bolt showed an unfortunate lack of good sportsmanship when he looked around, then beat his chest in self-congratulations before the race was even over.  Hah, this video is perfect.  Enjoy, and I’ll see you back here later.