Ugh, 5:30 on Sunday morning comes way too early... But up and out of bed I get, eat my cereal, load up everything: water bottle, 5 packs of GU, watch sweat rag, glasses, cell phone, keys and (of course) my driver's license. I'm out the door by 5:50 and at Barton Springs by 6:00. I got out of the car and finally on the trail by 6:03. Dave said that he was going to meet me at 6:30, so I wanted to get some mileage in before he shows up.
It's still pitch dark at six these days, so as I headed out and got away from the lights pretty quickly. I headed out on the hike and bike trail towards Mopac. I was completely alone on the trail. The only light was from the moon, a fat crescent that stood straight overhead. The trees cast moon shadows on the trail as I ran. It was really beautiful, having the trail all to myself, with only an occasional runner or two coming the other way to keep me company.
I ran all the way to the RunTex water coolers at Mopac, took a quick drink and headed back. I was back in Zilker by 6:33 or so and Dave was waiting for me. He says that he's in for as much as an hour and a half, so we set off on our normal Longhorn Dam loop on the hike and bike. Conversation floats around the usual stuff: kids, jobs, the weather, training. It's hot and humid and I have to not think about how much it hurts to run, but just stay in the conversation and appreciate the fact that I'm outside, by the lake, in the trees and watching the sun rise in front of me.
Overall, the run is good. There are enough people on the trail at this time to make it interesting but not so many as to be crowded. People watching is good; lots of sweat, a GU every 40 minutes or so and the time passes. It's great to have company, that makes a big difference on these really long runs. Finishing this loop will add 11 miles to the 3 that I started out with, but I still need more than that. So back at the Barton Creek footbridge, I bid Dave goodbye and continue on for another loop. One more time around S. First St. to Mopac will give me another four miles, which should get me up to 18 for the day. I'll be happy with that.
I notice that at some different points during my last four mile loop I feel totally worn out and then suddenly I find myself feeling great. It never lasts; the fatigue always sets back in, but I realize that these periods of feeling good tend to follow the previous GU by about 20-30 minutes. I guess that the quick energy really does make a difference. I'll have to remember that and get in the habit for the marathon of taking something every 30 minutes whether I feel like it or not.
In the end, I roll back into Zilker at about 8:55. So the total was around 2:45, 18 miles. I'm exhausted, but feel good. I made it through the week, which may be my highest mileage for the whole training. Now I get to back off for a week before having to pick things back up. The total mileage for the week is right at 41.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
The big week...
This was my biggest week yet, and probably the most mileage I'll do in a single week during my run up to Chicago. After last week, the fatigue was starting to really set into my legs. Looking back at my training log, I see that my mileage over the last eight weeks was:
27, 20, 33, 37, 31, 27, 33 and 34
That's pretty substantial for a guy like me. No wonder I feel so tired. But last Saturday's long run went really well, so I'm hoping that this week won't be as hard.
The week started out with a non-run on Tuesday. The alarm went of at 6:15 and I started to rouse myself. But a few minutes later I heard the rain start coming down hard. It does that around here. From nothing to flat-out pouring in a matter of seconds. As I lay in bed listening to the rain, I thought, "if I were already out and it started to rain like that I would keep going. But I'm not going to head out the door into that..." So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Never mind that 25 minutes later it wasn't raining any more, my decision was made. Besides I was very comfortable.
So the whole week started by slipping back a day. I got up on Wednesday for my aerobic 10 miler, trying out a new route that took me up Shoal Creek, across at Far West and then back down Balcones. Lots of hills, but as a relatively easy run, it was different and interesting. I finished up a little after eight and got into my day. My legs definitely felt tired, but not especially worn out the rest of the day.
I followed up Wednesday's run with an easy four miler on Thursday. Friday was anything but easy.
Friday's schedule called for 70 minutes of tempo. I had never done anything quite like that (other than last week's 60 minute tempo I suppose) and I wasn't looking forward to it. Still, I told myself that being out and running in the morning would be great, and I believed it enough to get out there. Things started easy enough. But at about 14 minutes, I started into the tempo part. 70 minutes is a really long time when you can't wait for the end, and so I tried to not think to much about anything except keeping my turnover going. The route was the 9.5 mile Shoal Creek / Foster / Great Northern loop. Early into the tempo, just as I started to feel good I heard steps behind me. Some guy with a fuel belt cruised past me. So much for feeling strong...
In the end, I managed to do it. I can't really do fast tempo the whole time, so I have to concentrate on staying strong and picking things up as I move along, finally running down around 7:40 - 7:20 during the last 15 minutes or so. (I hope anyway; though maybe I'm just so tired it only feels like that.)
I think that this was perhaps the most grueling run workout that I've ever done. I know that the rest of the day Friday and onto Saturday, my legs were more tired than they've almost ever been. And boy am I dreading my three hour run on Sunday.
27, 20, 33, 37, 31, 27, 33 and 34
That's pretty substantial for a guy like me. No wonder I feel so tired. But last Saturday's long run went really well, so I'm hoping that this week won't be as hard.
The week started out with a non-run on Tuesday. The alarm went of at 6:15 and I started to rouse myself. But a few minutes later I heard the rain start coming down hard. It does that around here. From nothing to flat-out pouring in a matter of seconds. As I lay in bed listening to the rain, I thought, "if I were already out and it started to rain like that I would keep going. But I'm not going to head out the door into that..." So I rolled over and went back to sleep. Never mind that 25 minutes later it wasn't raining any more, my decision was made. Besides I was very comfortable.
So the whole week started by slipping back a day. I got up on Wednesday for my aerobic 10 miler, trying out a new route that took me up Shoal Creek, across at Far West and then back down Balcones. Lots of hills, but as a relatively easy run, it was different and interesting. I finished up a little after eight and got into my day. My legs definitely felt tired, but not especially worn out the rest of the day.
I followed up Wednesday's run with an easy four miler on Thursday. Friday was anything but easy.
Friday's schedule called for 70 minutes of tempo. I had never done anything quite like that (other than last week's 60 minute tempo I suppose) and I wasn't looking forward to it. Still, I told myself that being out and running in the morning would be great, and I believed it enough to get out there. Things started easy enough. But at about 14 minutes, I started into the tempo part. 70 minutes is a really long time when you can't wait for the end, and so I tried to not think to much about anything except keeping my turnover going. The route was the 9.5 mile Shoal Creek / Foster / Great Northern loop. Early into the tempo, just as I started to feel good I heard steps behind me. Some guy with a fuel belt cruised past me. So much for feeling strong...
In the end, I managed to do it. I can't really do fast tempo the whole time, so I have to concentrate on staying strong and picking things up as I move along, finally running down around 7:40 - 7:20 during the last 15 minutes or so. (I hope anyway; though maybe I'm just so tired it only feels like that.)
I think that this was perhaps the most grueling run workout that I've ever done. I know that the rest of the day Friday and onto Saturday, my legs were more tired than they've almost ever been. And boy am I dreading my three hour run on Sunday.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Austin Triahlete's Open Water Swim
Sunday was the Austin Trithlete's Open Water Swim. This is the new late-summer edition to complement the one that happens in late spring. It used to be the Austin Aquatics open water swim and was a USMS sponsored event, but AT took it over a few years back. Now it's a USA Triathlon sponsored event and this year they changed it from the more swimmer-specific distances (800M, 1 mile and 5k) to the triathlon-specific distances of 800M, 1.2 miles and 2.4 miles.
Sunday was actually cool with a threat of rain. The first cool day since early May as far as I can remember, we have a rare late-summer cold front moving in from Colorado and giving us cool weather and a chance of rain. Fortunately the weather held long enough to get the race in.
I parked outside and walked into the park. The race is held at the LCRA Mansfield Dam park. There was a bigger crowd than I expected. It looked like probably on the order of 100 people were entered in the race. I got my packet, which included a cool AT mesh bag with a zipper pocket. Cool, I already had something to show for my $33 entry fee ;-)
I had brought my Fastskin legskin just in case, but the water was really warm and I thought better of wearing it. So I just went with the standard issue speedo. Open water tends to be where I'm at my best, and if everyone else can't wear wetsuits, I'm in pretty good shape. They said that the water temperature was 88. I had debated between the 2.4 and 1.2 mile distance, but because I haven't been swimming that much, and I'm so worn down from my marathon training I decided on the shorter distance. The fact that the water was so warm made me feel better about my decision.
They started us in 4 waves. The 800 meter swimmers went first. They were going around the point and then into the cove and back. For the 1.2 and 2.4 mile swimmers, we had to go down the coastline past the cove all the way to the yellow buoy and then back. The course was marked on the way out by a series of orange buoys. The 2.4 people had to do the loop twice, we only had to do it once. After the 800M start, the 2.4 people started. Then they started the 39 and under 1.2 mile swimmers, and last my wave of 40 and over 1.2 milers.
It's nice to start in a relatively small wave. Compared to some tris, where the wave is big and I have to do my best to get up front and avoid getting clobbered. Also, with tris, I tend to go out as fast as I can for the first 100 meters or so to see if I can separate myself from the pack as quickly as possible. With open water swims, I take a little different of a approach; I don't feel the need to go out as quickly because I figure that everyone there is a decent swimmer and it's not as important to separate myself quickly.
There was an older guy next to me. He went out quickly, so I figured that if he was really that fast I'd just draft off of him. I got right on his feet and tried to draft. But there's a funny thing about drafting, when you're off to the side of someone you might have to work to keep up with them, but then you get behind their feet and after a couple of strokes you're catching them and hitting their feet. So I kept catching him; after about 50 yards of this I decided to go on past him. Either he's not fast enough or I would get tired quickly and catch him again when he came by. I didn't see him again until the finish, when he arrived about 5 minutes after me, so I guess I made the right decision.
By the first buoy at about 100 yards I was already too hot. At this point I was glad that I had chosen the 1.2 over the 2.4 swim; I'll save the 2.4 until the spring when the water is colder.
I turned the 90 degree at the first buoy and headed down the lake. After a minute or so a curious thing happened; the orange buoys were suddenly about 20 yards off to my left. I think that I do a pretty good job of sighting when swimming in open water, so I was surprised that I could have gotten this far off course in such a short period. Clearly at this point the best strategy (as always) was to just sight down the line and keep going, correcting my course slowly. After another minute or so I could see the yellow buoy at the end, so I sighted on it the rest of the way, pulling myself slowly back on course. I'm convinced that the course must have been a bit curved, and that following from orange buoy to orange buoy would actually have been a longer course than the one I took.
At any rate, being so far out kept me away from most of the other swimmers. Already at the first buoy I had started to run into the wave in front of us, and as I moved along I continued to pass other swimmers. Still it's a lot better than a triathlon, because very few swimmers are swimming the breast stroke, so you don't have to be so worried about their feet kicking you.
The race was pretty uneventful from there on. It was just hot enough to make me tired and I keep my turnover going as well as I could. Many times I though about how glad I was that I didn't have to make a second loop. Eventually I got to the yellow buoy, backstroked around it and headed home.
On the way back I continued to pass people, now mostly white caps (the 2.4 milers). I felt sorry for them. I guess I followed the buoys pretty well on the way back, but if they were bowed in this direction then there was no shortcut like on the way down. I came back to the point, turned around it and started trying to sight on the finishing chute. The water suddenly got very shallow and I had to shorten my strokes to keep from hitting the bottom. I had to correct my course out to the left back towards deep water until I could stroke fully again.
At about 100 to 75 meters out I decided that I was close enough to the end to bring up my finishing kick. When I'm trying to drop someone, especially at the end of an open water swim, I use my kick to try to do it. I can only do about a minute or two of hard swimming with a full kick, so I try to reserve it as much as possible. There were several people finishing up at this point right ahead of me, all 1.2 milers probably from the wave ahead of me. I decided to pass as many of them as I could.
I have to say that my finishing kick didn't last for too long. It got me moving, but after 30 seconds or so I started to feel sick and probably had to slow down some. I guess the combination of being out of conditioning and the hot water got the best of me. Anyway, I got to the finish and did everything I could to get to my feet and cross the mat. It's amazing how hard it is to get up and move forward on your feet after being in the water like that.
In the end, I finished in 31:58, fifth overall and good enough to take the overall master's winner. Actually there was one guy who beat me in my age group, but he turned out to be the overall winner. Results here. I got a cool Rocket Science transition backpack to show for my effort.
Sunday was actually cool with a threat of rain. The first cool day since early May as far as I can remember, we have a rare late-summer cold front moving in from Colorado and giving us cool weather and a chance of rain. Fortunately the weather held long enough to get the race in.
I parked outside and walked into the park. The race is held at the LCRA Mansfield Dam park. There was a bigger crowd than I expected. It looked like probably on the order of 100 people were entered in the race. I got my packet, which included a cool AT mesh bag with a zipper pocket. Cool, I already had something to show for my $33 entry fee ;-)
I had brought my Fastskin legskin just in case, but the water was really warm and I thought better of wearing it. So I just went with the standard issue speedo. Open water tends to be where I'm at my best, and if everyone else can't wear wetsuits, I'm in pretty good shape. They said that the water temperature was 88. I had debated between the 2.4 and 1.2 mile distance, but because I haven't been swimming that much, and I'm so worn down from my marathon training I decided on the shorter distance. The fact that the water was so warm made me feel better about my decision.
They started us in 4 waves. The 800 meter swimmers went first. They were going around the point and then into the cove and back. For the 1.2 and 2.4 mile swimmers, we had to go down the coastline past the cove all the way to the yellow buoy and then back. The course was marked on the way out by a series of orange buoys. The 2.4 people had to do the loop twice, we only had to do it once. After the 800M start, the 2.4 people started. Then they started the 39 and under 1.2 mile swimmers, and last my wave of 40 and over 1.2 milers.
It's nice to start in a relatively small wave. Compared to some tris, where the wave is big and I have to do my best to get up front and avoid getting clobbered. Also, with tris, I tend to go out as fast as I can for the first 100 meters or so to see if I can separate myself from the pack as quickly as possible. With open water swims, I take a little different of a approach; I don't feel the need to go out as quickly because I figure that everyone there is a decent swimmer and it's not as important to separate myself quickly.
There was an older guy next to me. He went out quickly, so I figured that if he was really that fast I'd just draft off of him. I got right on his feet and tried to draft. But there's a funny thing about drafting, when you're off to the side of someone you might have to work to keep up with them, but then you get behind their feet and after a couple of strokes you're catching them and hitting their feet. So I kept catching him; after about 50 yards of this I decided to go on past him. Either he's not fast enough or I would get tired quickly and catch him again when he came by. I didn't see him again until the finish, when he arrived about 5 minutes after me, so I guess I made the right decision.
By the first buoy at about 100 yards I was already too hot. At this point I was glad that I had chosen the 1.2 over the 2.4 swim; I'll save the 2.4 until the spring when the water is colder.
I turned the 90 degree at the first buoy and headed down the lake. After a minute or so a curious thing happened; the orange buoys were suddenly about 20 yards off to my left. I think that I do a pretty good job of sighting when swimming in open water, so I was surprised that I could have gotten this far off course in such a short period. Clearly at this point the best strategy (as always) was to just sight down the line and keep going, correcting my course slowly. After another minute or so I could see the yellow buoy at the end, so I sighted on it the rest of the way, pulling myself slowly back on course. I'm convinced that the course must have been a bit curved, and that following from orange buoy to orange buoy would actually have been a longer course than the one I took.
At any rate, being so far out kept me away from most of the other swimmers. Already at the first buoy I had started to run into the wave in front of us, and as I moved along I continued to pass other swimmers. Still it's a lot better than a triathlon, because very few swimmers are swimming the breast stroke, so you don't have to be so worried about their feet kicking you.
The race was pretty uneventful from there on. It was just hot enough to make me tired and I keep my turnover going as well as I could. Many times I though about how glad I was that I didn't have to make a second loop. Eventually I got to the yellow buoy, backstroked around it and headed home.
On the way back I continued to pass people, now mostly white caps (the 2.4 milers). I felt sorry for them. I guess I followed the buoys pretty well on the way back, but if they were bowed in this direction then there was no shortcut like on the way down. I came back to the point, turned around it and started trying to sight on the finishing chute. The water suddenly got very shallow and I had to shorten my strokes to keep from hitting the bottom. I had to correct my course out to the left back towards deep water until I could stroke fully again.
At about 100 to 75 meters out I decided that I was close enough to the end to bring up my finishing kick. When I'm trying to drop someone, especially at the end of an open water swim, I use my kick to try to do it. I can only do about a minute or two of hard swimming with a full kick, so I try to reserve it as much as possible. There were several people finishing up at this point right ahead of me, all 1.2 milers probably from the wave ahead of me. I decided to pass as many of them as I could.
I have to say that my finishing kick didn't last for too long. It got me moving, but after 30 seconds or so I started to feel sick and probably had to slow down some. I guess the combination of being out of conditioning and the hot water got the best of me. Anyway, I got to the finish and did everything I could to get to my feet and cross the mat. It's amazing how hard it is to get up and move forward on your feet after being in the water like that.
In the end, I finished in 31:58, fifth overall and good enough to take the overall master's winner. Actually there was one guy who beat me in my age group, but he turned out to be the overall winner. Results here. I got a cool Rocket Science transition backpack to show for my effort.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Saturday Long Run
I moved my long run up from Sunday to Saturday this weekend so I can do the Austin Triathlete's open water swim on Sunday. I definitely didn't feel like running on Saturday though, but I managed to get up, make coffee and see Patty off to work before starting my run around 7:45. The schedule called for 2.5 hours, but I decided that I would be happy with 2 since I was doing it all alone and also that I was racing tomorrow.
I got out the door and started moving, not really feeling like it at all. But a strange thing happened after the last couple of painful runs; I felt really good. I can't explain it, but training is strange like that, and after the last couple of runs I'll take it.
It wasn't terribly hot, but the humidity was up there. At one point as I ran along the trail Fish (Andrea Fisher) and Louie came up alongside me and ran with me for a mile or so. They were in the final week of their taper leading up to Ironman Canada and doing a 75 minute run. It was nice to have someone to break the monotony, though I was just as glad to not have to continue with them as they headed into Tarrytown; I wasn't going to be able to keep pace with them for the whole remaining hour and a half.
I stayed on the trail to pick up an extra four mile loop between Mopac and S. First St I felt really good; at one point I checked my time by the mile markers and was holding at around 8:10 miles. I finished my loop and headed out into Tarrytown myself, going up Lake Austin Blvd. to Windsor and back home. Total time about 2 hours (1:45 of actual running) and around 12.5 miles.
I got out the door and started moving, not really feeling like it at all. But a strange thing happened after the last couple of painful runs; I felt really good. I can't explain it, but training is strange like that, and after the last couple of runs I'll take it.
It wasn't terribly hot, but the humidity was up there. At one point as I ran along the trail Fish (Andrea Fisher) and Louie came up alongside me and ran with me for a mile or so. They were in the final week of their taper leading up to Ironman Canada and doing a 75 minute run. It was nice to have someone to break the monotony, though I was just as glad to not have to continue with them as they headed into Tarrytown; I wasn't going to be able to keep pace with them for the whole remaining hour and a half.
I stayed on the trail to pick up an extra four mile loop between Mopac and S. First St I felt really good; at one point I checked my time by the mile markers and was holding at around 8:10 miles. I finished my loop and headed out into Tarrytown myself, going up Lake Austin Blvd. to Windsor and back home. Total time about 2 hours (1:45 of actual running) and around 12.5 miles.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Tempo again
I think that this week, the fatigue of marathon training has finally begun to set in. I had been feeling pretty good, even though at times during runs I would feel pretty tired. But this week, for the first time I started to feel fatigue from run to run.
Coming off of my two hour run on Sunday, I had a 10 miler scheduled for Tuesday. I ran my basic 10 mile loop, which is just my basic 6 mile loop to the lake and back with a four mile loop on the hike and bike trail added in. Things went fine, but from the get go my legs felt tired. I timed myself between a few of the markers down on the trail, and even though I thought I was going well every time I ended up with a 9:30 or so mile. But I finished and felt pretty good overall.
Tuesday was a 10 miler, but it was just an aerobic run. My Thursday runs I look forward to less because they're tempo runs and I always hate the anticipation of pain. This Thursday was scheduled for 60 minutes of tempo after last week's 50. I decided to go for a flatter route and head up Shoal Creek, assuming that 15 minutes warm-up + 60 minutes tempo + ~5 minutes cool down would equate to around 8 miles.
As with Tuesday, I felt tired from the start. I was slow for the first 15 minutes, well short of where I would normally arrive in that time. I started the tempo; without something to tell me exactly how far I'm running it's hard to really measure my pace, but I kind of know the difference between 8:30, 8:00 and 7:40. I try during these tempo runs to start out easier, around 8:15 and keep ratcheting it up every 10 minutes or so, hoping to end around 7:40 or faster. I have no idea whether I did that or not on Thursday, though I can say for sure that it hurt pretty badly by the end...
I've noticed in these weekly runs how it's getting darker early in the morning. I generally get started around 6:30 - 6:45, and now it's still pretty dark at 6:30. Also, while it's cool in the mornings, the humidity is higher. I knew when I signed up for Chicago, that it would mean training hard during the hottest time of the year here in Austin, and I'm not disappointed ;-) I've always theorized about training hard through the summer here, but it's a lot easier to imagine it and do it in your head than to do it for real. But I hope that this will make me tougher in the end. I have to admit, that when I'm running 8 minute miles out there and my legs are tired, I can't really imagine doing that for a full 26 miles, but that's where I hope to end up.
Coming off of my two hour run on Sunday, I had a 10 miler scheduled for Tuesday. I ran my basic 10 mile loop, which is just my basic 6 mile loop to the lake and back with a four mile loop on the hike and bike trail added in. Things went fine, but from the get go my legs felt tired. I timed myself between a few of the markers down on the trail, and even though I thought I was going well every time I ended up with a 9:30 or so mile. But I finished and felt pretty good overall.
Tuesday was a 10 miler, but it was just an aerobic run. My Thursday runs I look forward to less because they're tempo runs and I always hate the anticipation of pain. This Thursday was scheduled for 60 minutes of tempo after last week's 50. I decided to go for a flatter route and head up Shoal Creek, assuming that 15 minutes warm-up + 60 minutes tempo + ~5 minutes cool down would equate to around 8 miles.
As with Tuesday, I felt tired from the start. I was slow for the first 15 minutes, well short of where I would normally arrive in that time. I started the tempo; without something to tell me exactly how far I'm running it's hard to really measure my pace, but I kind of know the difference between 8:30, 8:00 and 7:40. I try during these tempo runs to start out easier, around 8:15 and keep ratcheting it up every 10 minutes or so, hoping to end around 7:40 or faster. I have no idea whether I did that or not on Thursday, though I can say for sure that it hurt pretty badly by the end...
I've noticed in these weekly runs how it's getting darker early in the morning. I generally get started around 6:30 - 6:45, and now it's still pretty dark at 6:30. Also, while it's cool in the mornings, the humidity is higher. I knew when I signed up for Chicago, that it would mean training hard during the hottest time of the year here in Austin, and I'm not disappointed ;-) I've always theorized about training hard through the summer here, but it's a lot easier to imagine it and do it in your head than to do it for real. But I hope that this will make me tougher in the end. I have to admit, that when I'm running 8 minute miles out there and my legs are tired, I can't really imagine doing that for a full 26 miles, but that's where I hope to end up.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Another long run
Sunday morning, the alarm goes off way too early, especially after a late night watching Olympics. My goal is to be out and running at 6:30, but things move slowly and it's 6:45 before I'm parked and out of my car at Barton Springs. Jim said he'd meet me starting at 7, so I only have a little bit of time for a short out-and-back on the greenbelt before catching up with him. I've given up on wearing sunglasses during these early morning runs. By the time the sun comes up and I need them, they're too dripping with sweat to be of any use. I grab my water bottle and a couple of GUs and we hit the road.
Jim is only in for 70 minutes or so today. Note that when Jim says "70 minutes" he means exactly 70 minutes of _running_ and doesn't count any of that other time. I'm a lot more, uh, flexible in how I count my time, either just looking at my watch when we start ("well, we started at eight and now it says 9:30, so that's an hour and a half") or actually starting the stopwatch when we hit the road, but not stopping it every time we stop for water.
So we head out of Zilker and run the I35 loop on the hike and bike trail. It's not a bad morning, but as usual, the humidity starts to overwhelm you after a while. My legs are feeling tired today; I ran a 4 mile recovery run yesterday and I don't feel like it recovered me too much. I guess that the training mileage is starting to wear on me.
The loop is fine, the sun comes up, I sweat a lot and eat a GU somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, without Dave or Scott, we have no excuse to stop at all of the water fountains along the way since Jim and I each carry our own water. I realize how much my run around the lake is broken up into fountain-to-fountain segments, and it hurts (mentally anyway) when I have to keep running past one of those fountains. But still, it's only about an hour and fifteen minutes and we're cruising back into Zilker. Jim, of course, has kept track of his real running time and delcares that he needs another ten to fifteen minutes. I know that, under whatever circumstances, I really need about another 40 minutes or so, so we head out on the greenbelt.
Now my legs are tired and I'm ready to stop, but I will say that time on the greenbelt goes by much faster than on the road or even the hike and bike. Jim turns around after 10 minutes or so, I keep going aiming to go out 25 minutes. It's funny how the "back" part always seems to happen faster than the out, so I've learned if I really care about the time to add an extra five minutes on the out side. Anyway, it's really nice on the trail and I can mostly forget about how hard it is to run this last half hour. I pass a few people with their dogs and some mountain bikers blow past me, but mostly it's just quiet and beautiful out here.
Finally I turn back at 25 minutes and make it back to the parking lot. As I arrive, I meet a woman who looks sort of lost. She's at the start of the greenbelt and asks me how to get back to downtown Austin. Good thing she didn't keep going on this way! I explain to her how to get back over Barton creek and then on towards downtown. She's from Lebanon, and is here to get her daughter started at UT. It's definitely a good introduction to Austin for an outsider...
Ok, so week nine of Chicago training is now in the books. The bounce that was in my step a few weeks back is now officially gone. I totaled something like 33 miles this last week, and I'm starting to feel more work out in the lower body with each week. I just have to keep going, stay healthy and take advantage of the rest weeks when they come up. Hopefully all of this training will pay off when I start to taper and I'll get the freshness back in my legs in the last few weeks leading up to the race.
Jim is only in for 70 minutes or so today. Note that when Jim says "70 minutes" he means exactly 70 minutes of _running_ and doesn't count any of that other time. I'm a lot more, uh, flexible in how I count my time, either just looking at my watch when we start ("well, we started at eight and now it says 9:30, so that's an hour and a half") or actually starting the stopwatch when we hit the road, but not stopping it every time we stop for water.
So we head out of Zilker and run the I35 loop on the hike and bike trail. It's not a bad morning, but as usual, the humidity starts to overwhelm you after a while. My legs are feeling tired today; I ran a 4 mile recovery run yesterday and I don't feel like it recovered me too much. I guess that the training mileage is starting to wear on me.
The loop is fine, the sun comes up, I sweat a lot and eat a GU somewhere along the way. Unfortunately, without Dave or Scott, we have no excuse to stop at all of the water fountains along the way since Jim and I each carry our own water. I realize how much my run around the lake is broken up into fountain-to-fountain segments, and it hurts (mentally anyway) when I have to keep running past one of those fountains. But still, it's only about an hour and fifteen minutes and we're cruising back into Zilker. Jim, of course, has kept track of his real running time and delcares that he needs another ten to fifteen minutes. I know that, under whatever circumstances, I really need about another 40 minutes or so, so we head out on the greenbelt.
Now my legs are tired and I'm ready to stop, but I will say that time on the greenbelt goes by much faster than on the road or even the hike and bike. Jim turns around after 10 minutes or so, I keep going aiming to go out 25 minutes. It's funny how the "back" part always seems to happen faster than the out, so I've learned if I really care about the time to add an extra five minutes on the out side. Anyway, it's really nice on the trail and I can mostly forget about how hard it is to run this last half hour. I pass a few people with their dogs and some mountain bikers blow past me, but mostly it's just quiet and beautiful out here.
Finally I turn back at 25 minutes and make it back to the parking lot. As I arrive, I meet a woman who looks sort of lost. She's at the start of the greenbelt and asks me how to get back to downtown Austin. Good thing she didn't keep going on this way! I explain to her how to get back over Barton creek and then on towards downtown. She's from Lebanon, and is here to get her daughter started at UT. It's definitely a good introduction to Austin for an outsider...
Ok, so week nine of Chicago training is now in the books. The bounce that was in my step a few weeks back is now officially gone. I totaled something like 33 miles this last week, and I'm starting to feel more work out in the lower body with each week. I just have to keep going, stay healthy and take advantage of the rest weeks when they come up. Hopefully all of this training will pay off when I start to taper and I'll get the freshness back in my legs in the last few weeks leading up to the race.
Friday, August 8, 2008
Barton Springs Morning
Finally got myself out of bed this morning to go to Barton Springs. It's great at this time of year, though it is kind of crowded in the morning. It can be more fun to go in December or January when you can almost have the whole place to yourself. But still, there's something about that place that's just good for your soul, no matter how crowded it might be.
The disadvantage to swimming there at this time of year and that time of day (around 7:00) is that when you swim towards the dam, you can't see a thing because the rising sun is right in your face. You just have to kind of hope that the people coming the other way are watching out for you. I know, that's not a good bet, but you've got no other choice.
Anyway, I only did about 1600 m, or eight laps of the pool. I can't believe that I'm this out of shape for swimming, but I felt pretty tired. And I'm thinking about doing a 2.4 mile race next weekend??
But in the end, it's all worth it. When you feel that cool water and are down in the pool, it's just a really special feeling. Every time I get out, I just want to linger on the side and enjoy the morning. Ahh, but out of the water, home we go and off to work...
The disadvantage to swimming there at this time of year and that time of day (around 7:00) is that when you swim towards the dam, you can't see a thing because the rising sun is right in your face. You just have to kind of hope that the people coming the other way are watching out for you. I know, that's not a good bet, but you've got no other choice.
Anyway, I only did about 1600 m, or eight laps of the pool. I can't believe that I'm this out of shape for swimming, but I felt pretty tired. And I'm thinking about doing a 2.4 mile race next weekend??
But in the end, it's all worth it. When you feel that cool water and are down in the pool, it's just a really special feeling. Every time I get out, I just want to linger on the side and enjoy the morning. Ahh, but out of the water, home we go and off to work...
Thursday is tempo day...
Thursday's are really the hardest days. I have to get up and going as early as I can in order to get the run in before work, and I have long tempo sessions to look forward to. No wonder I don't feel like getting out of bed.
The alarm went off at about 6:10. I got up and moving pretty quickly for me because we're babysitting Flash, my dog-nephew, and that makes things complicated with our cats who are terrified of dogs. So with both cats in the room and the dog encroaching on the bedroom door, I had to get up and get things sorted out right away. That meant pushing Flash out the back door and then getting the cats out the front. By then, I wasn't asleep any more, so I just went ahead and got moving.
Even so, by the time I ate my cereal and got everything ready, it was 6:45. I had a 50 minute tempo run scheduled, so add in the 15 minutes warmup and some cool down, and you've got 8 miles plus or minus a little. I had plotted a route the night before because I wanted something different. This was to go over through Tarrytown and back up the Scenic loop to 35th with an extra loop up Jackson/Bull Creek to 45th and back on Shoal Creek.
It was a nice morning, in spite of the humidity. I got going and shook the stiffness out of my legs. I had my water bottle on my back because I wasn't sure where I'd find water, plus it's better to avoid stopping during tempo sessions if possible. I knew that I was in for hills, and of course I had to start the tempo work right as I hit them... That slowed me down I'm sure, but still it's good on my legs to force myself up and down the hills and still try to keep moving at a decent pace.
The Scenic part of the run is always great, especially in the morning. You could look out over the lake for a mile or two up stream and see the morning sun starting to shine on the giant houses across on the other side. It's nice because there's not really any boat traffic that early in the day, so the lake is still peaceful and quiet. Through the neighborhood all I see are cyclists, other runners and people walking their dogs.
Tempo hurts, did I say that? Especially going up and down the hills. But I forced myself to try to be steady all the way up the last long hill on 35th street over Mopac and then I could finally think about mostly flat (or at least false flats) for the last 8 minutes or so of hard running. I tried to pick up the pace once again and hold a pretty fast tempo for the last part. It hurt, but I eventually made it and had still about 1+ mile to go, which gave me plenty of time to cool down.
Whew, another hard workout down. I'm not thinking about Sunday's 2 hour run or about next week's 60 minutes of tempo yet.
The alarm went off at about 6:10. I got up and moving pretty quickly for me because we're babysitting Flash, my dog-nephew, and that makes things complicated with our cats who are terrified of dogs. So with both cats in the room and the dog encroaching on the bedroom door, I had to get up and get things sorted out right away. That meant pushing Flash out the back door and then getting the cats out the front. By then, I wasn't asleep any more, so I just went ahead and got moving.
Even so, by the time I ate my cereal and got everything ready, it was 6:45. I had a 50 minute tempo run scheduled, so add in the 15 minutes warmup and some cool down, and you've got 8 miles plus or minus a little. I had plotted a route the night before because I wanted something different. This was to go over through Tarrytown and back up the Scenic loop to 35th with an extra loop up Jackson/Bull Creek to 45th and back on Shoal Creek.
It was a nice morning, in spite of the humidity. I got going and shook the stiffness out of my legs. I had my water bottle on my back because I wasn't sure where I'd find water, plus it's better to avoid stopping during tempo sessions if possible. I knew that I was in for hills, and of course I had to start the tempo work right as I hit them... That slowed me down I'm sure, but still it's good on my legs to force myself up and down the hills and still try to keep moving at a decent pace.
The Scenic part of the run is always great, especially in the morning. You could look out over the lake for a mile or two up stream and see the morning sun starting to shine on the giant houses across on the other side. It's nice because there's not really any boat traffic that early in the day, so the lake is still peaceful and quiet. Through the neighborhood all I see are cyclists, other runners and people walking their dogs.
Tempo hurts, did I say that? Especially going up and down the hills. But I forced myself to try to be steady all the way up the last long hill on 35th street over Mopac and then I could finally think about mostly flat (or at least false flats) for the last 8 minutes or so of hard running. I tried to pick up the pace once again and hold a pretty fast tempo for the last part. It hurt, but I eventually made it and had still about 1+ mile to go, which gave me plenty of time to cool down.
Whew, another hard workout down. I'm not thinking about Sunday's 2 hour run or about next week's 60 minutes of tempo yet.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Balcones Pool
Today was my first time at Balcones Pool. I should have gotten up early to go to Barton Springs, but I was too lazy laying in bed and didn't. But I went ahead and brought my swimming stuff in the car to work in case I had the opportunity to get out around lunch time. I did, and so I decided to head to Northwest park to swim. But when I got there, the parking lot was suspiciously empty. I walked in and saw the pool empty and all of the life guards playing cards around a table. "Sorry, our pump is broken," they said. Aargh, there's a waste of time (and gas) driving over here for nothing!
So on the way back, I though that I'd check out Balcones. It's pretty close to my work, just in the other direction (it's north on Mopac, just off the Duval exit at the corner of Duval and Amherst). I found it easily and saw that a) it was basically empty, just a few lap swimmers, and b) it had *real* lane ropes, about six of them! And as an added bonus, it's a free pool, so I didn't even have to burn any of the punches on the swim card.
But the real bonus came when I jumped in; the water was actually _cool_. Not (of course) Deep Eddy cool, but I've swum in Ramsey and Northwest pools at this time of year, and I know what an Austin pool feels like in August, and this was not at all what I expected. I guess that they must have an aerator or something to keep the water from boiling in the Texas summer.
I had already planned a basic anaerobic workout because I only had a little bit of time left on my lunch, so I got in a short 1300 yards, including a 10x50 on 1:00, trying to swim fast and hold a consistent pace. Today my pace turned out to be about :33. Definitely not fast, but probably the best I could do given how little I've been swimming lately and how warm it was.
So on the way back, I though that I'd check out Balcones. It's pretty close to my work, just in the other direction (it's north on Mopac, just off the Duval exit at the corner of Duval and Amherst). I found it easily and saw that a) it was basically empty, just a few lap swimmers, and b) it had *real* lane ropes, about six of them! And as an added bonus, it's a free pool, so I didn't even have to burn any of the punches on the swim card.
But the real bonus came when I jumped in; the water was actually _cool_. Not (of course) Deep Eddy cool, but I've swum in Ramsey and Northwest pools at this time of year, and I know what an Austin pool feels like in August, and this was not at all what I expected. I guess that they must have an aerator or something to keep the water from boiling in the Texas summer.
I had already planned a basic anaerobic workout because I only had a little bit of time left on my lunch, so I got in a short 1300 yards, including a 10x50 on 1:00, trying to swim fast and hold a consistent pace. Today my pace turned out to be about :33. Definitely not fast, but probably the best I could do given how little I've been swimming lately and how warm it was.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Edouard run
Tropical Storm Edouard is on his way. Not that you could really tell this morning when I started my run. I was scheduled for a 9miler this morning, but got a bit of a late start (about 6:45) so I decided to cut it to 8 so I could attempt to make a conference call for work at 8:00. It was just another typical summer morning in Austin, plenty warm and humid. I decided to go without the water bottle, so that meant heading for the hike and bike trail at Town Lake, where I could get water.
It's nice to start early in the morning, once I can get my lazy self out of bed. I like the calm of the dawn air and the still mostly-sleeping city. Heading down through my neighborhood is nice, just a few people out and about, mostly walking dogs. I did my typical Harris - Blanco - Town Lake - South 1st St. loop on the way out. As I turned to the east on the hike and bike trail, I could see the sun rising and the towering storm clouds that indicate (I assume) the outer boundaries of the approaching storm. It was very cool in the morning air to see the clouds silhouetted against the rising sun.
I crossed the bridge over the lake at S. 1st Street and stopped at the Run Tex water coolers. Continued on there on the south side of Town Lake to the Mopac footbridge. From there it was back across the lake (more water coolers here!) and up the Johnson Creek greenbelt to home. The route is visible here. About 1:20 total time on the road, probably a good 9:00 pace or so.
I got home just in time to find out that the meeting was over. Sweet! I got to go straight to the shower and get my coffee; a perfect morning ;-)
By the way, Edouard looks to be a complete bust here in Central Texas, not even a drop of rain. Bummer.
It's nice to start early in the morning, once I can get my lazy self out of bed. I like the calm of the dawn air and the still mostly-sleeping city. Heading down through my neighborhood is nice, just a few people out and about, mostly walking dogs. I did my typical Harris - Blanco - Town Lake - South 1st St. loop on the way out. As I turned to the east on the hike and bike trail, I could see the sun rising and the towering storm clouds that indicate (I assume) the outer boundaries of the approaching storm. It was very cool in the morning air to see the clouds silhouetted against the rising sun.
I crossed the bridge over the lake at S. 1st Street and stopped at the Run Tex water coolers. Continued on there on the south side of Town Lake to the Mopac footbridge. From there it was back across the lake (more water coolers here!) and up the Johnson Creek greenbelt to home. The route is visible here. About 1:20 total time on the road, probably a good 9:00 pace or so.
I got home just in time to find out that the meeting was over. Sweet! I got to go straight to the shower and get my coffee; a perfect morning ;-)
By the way, Edouard looks to be a complete bust here in Central Texas, not even a drop of rain. Bummer.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Sunday's run
Today was the last day of a recovery week. My long run was only scheduled for a 1:30, about 11 miles give or take. I met up with Scott and Jim (two of my running buddies) at 7:00 at Barton Springs. We gave Dave the week off since he's in San Francisco on vacation with his family.
It was really humid with pretty much no breeze. The run was fine, though sweat abounded. We did the full Longhorn Dam loop taking about 1:40 to finish it including stoppage time. In general, it was a good run. My legs held out pretty well, though they got tired as time went on. I took a couple of GUs along the way (one at 45 mintes and the other around 1:15). Jim didn't send me the official splits, but he said we were averaging around 8:18 overall, which felt about right. They have a tendency to start out slow and then pick up the pace as things go along; I feel like I'm always at the back pulling them to slow down ;-)
I'm more tired this evening than I expected; somehow I don't seem to ever really get used to those 1.5+ hour runs.
Now the training really starts to ramp up. I've got a couple of pretty long runs this week (9 miles on Tuesday and a 50 minute tempo on Thursday) plus two hours on Sunday. At this point, my body is feeling pretty good and I've managed to stay injury free. So I hope that holds out!
It was really humid with pretty much no breeze. The run was fine, though sweat abounded. We did the full Longhorn Dam loop taking about 1:40 to finish it including stoppage time. In general, it was a good run. My legs held out pretty well, though they got tired as time went on. I took a couple of GUs along the way (one at 45 mintes and the other around 1:15). Jim didn't send me the official splits, but he said we were averaging around 8:18 overall, which felt about right. They have a tendency to start out slow and then pick up the pace as things go along; I feel like I'm always at the back pulling them to slow down ;-)
I'm more tired this evening than I expected; somehow I don't seem to ever really get used to those 1.5+ hour runs.
Now the training really starts to ramp up. I've got a couple of pretty long runs this week (9 miles on Tuesday and a 50 minute tempo on Thursday) plus two hours on Sunday. At this point, my body is feeling pretty good and I've managed to stay injury free. So I hope that holds out!
Friday, August 1, 2008
So, in a fit of insanity this spring, I signed up to run the Chicago Marathon. I don't know what I was thinking, given that that means training through July, August and September here in Austin, the hottest months of the year. At this point, I'm nine weeks in, which is the halfway point. Of course the second half is tougher than the first half in terms of the distance of the long runs.
This last weekend was my first 20 miler. I only made 19 in the end, but still it was a long 3+ hours. Getting going early is important here in the summer, and that's tough for me, given that I'm not really an early morning person. But if you don't start a 3 hour run at 6:00, you end up really regretting it!
This week has been a back-off (also known as recovery) week. So I'm only in for about 11 miles on Sunday. Whew! I've come a long way if 11 miles is considered a recovery week.
This last weekend was my first 20 miler. I only made 19 in the end, but still it was a long 3+ hours. Getting going early is important here in the summer, and that's tough for me, given that I'm not really an early morning person. But if you don't start a 3 hour run at 6:00, you end up really regretting it!
This week has been a back-off (also known as recovery) week. So I'm only in for about 11 miles on Sunday. Whew! I've come a long way if 11 miles is considered a recovery week.
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