Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Five miles cut short

Ran four miles at work with Sean and Jason. The plan was five-six miles, but the thigh chaffing was too much to handle. We threw in four short pickups. Legs feel great.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4.05 miles
Time: 37:01 -- 9:13 pace
Splits:
10:00, 9:28, 9:07, 8:17, and some change
Location: Humble Fire Department
How I Felt: 10, without the chaffing. 8 overall

Inspiring words

Cool poem I read AFTER yesterdays horrible run. It's long, but worth it.

"QUIT! GIVE UP! YOU'RE BEATEN!" They shout and plead,
There's just too much against you now, this time you can't succeed.
And as I start to hang my head in front of failure's face,
My downward fall is broken by the memory of a race.

And hope refills my weakened will as I recall that scene.
For just the thought of that short race rejuvenates my being.
A children's race, young boys, young men; now I remember well.
Excitement, sure, but also fear; it wasn't hard to tell.

They all lined up so full of hope. Each thought to win that race.
Or tie for first, or if not that, at least take second place.
And fathers watched from off the side, each cheering for his son.
And each boy hoped to show his dad that he would be the one.

The whistle blew and off they went, young hearts and hopes of fire.
To win, to be the hero there, was each young boy's desire.
And one boy in particular, his dad was in the crowd,
Was running near the lead and thought, "My dad will be so proud."

But as he speeded down the field across a shallow dip,
The little boy who thought to win, lost his step and slipped.
Trying hard to catch himself, his hands flew out to brace,
And mid the laughter of the crowd, he fell flat on his face.

So down he fell and with him hope. He couldn't win it now.
Embarrassed, sad, he only wished to disappear somehow.
But as he fell, his dad stood up and showed his anxious face,
Which to the boy so clearly said, "Get up and win that race!"

He quickly rose, no damage done - behind a bit, that's all,
And ran with all his mind and might to make up for his fall.
So anxious to restore himself to catch up and to win,
His mind went faster than his legs. He slipped and fell again.

He wished that he had quite before with only one disgrace.
I'm hopeless as a runner now, I shouldn't try to race.
But, in the laughing crowd he searched and found his father's face
That steady look that said again, "Get up and win the race."

So, he jumped up to try again. Ten yards behind the last.
If I'm to gain those yards, he thought, I've got to run real fast.
Exceeding everything he had, he regained eight or ten,
But trying so hard to catch the lead, he slipped and fell again.

Defeat! He lay there silently, a tear dropped from his eye.
There's no sense running anymore - three strikes and I'm out - why try?
The will to rise had disappeared, all hope had flew away.
So far behind, so error prone, closer all the way.

I've lost, so what's the use, he thought, I'll live with my disgrace.
But then he thought about his dad, who soon he'd have to face.
"Get up," an echo sounded low. "Get up and take your place.
You were not meant for failure here, get up and win the race.

"With borrowed will, "Get up," it said, "You haven't lost at all,
For winning is not more than this, to rise each time you fall."
So up he rose to win once more. And with a new commit,
He resolved that win or lose, at least he wouldn't quit.

So far behind the others now, the most he'd ever been.
Still he gave it all he had and ran as though to win.
Three times he'd fallen stumbling, three times he'd rose again.
Too far behind to hope to win, he still ran to the end.

They cheered the winning runner as he crossed first place.
Head high and proud and happy; no falling, no disgrace.
But when the fallen youngster crossed the line, last place,
The crowd gave him the greater cheer for finishing the race.

And even though he came in last, with head bowed low, unproud;
You would have thought he'd won the race, to listen to the crowd.
And to his Dad he sadly said, "I didn't do so well."
"To me you won," his father said, "You rose each time you fell."

And when things seemed dark and hard and difficult to face,
The memory of that little boy - helps me in my race.
For all of life is like that race, with ups and down and all,
And all you have to do to win - is rise each time you fall.
"Quit!" "GIVE UP, YOU'RE BEATEN." They still shout in my face.
But another voice within me says, "GET UP AND WIN THE RACE!"


- Dee Groberg

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

What the HELL happened?

I don't want this to turn into a bitch session, but today's run SUCKED!

Let me start from the beginning. I devised a four mile loop in the neighborhood, which has a small "roll" to it. I planned on running three loops. Essentially, I was switching Tuesday and Wednesdays SMART training and planned on upping the ante with a 12-mile mid-week run.

Anyways, the first loop (4 miles) was perfect. No effort at all. Just jamming with the ipod. Hot, but an occasional breeze seemed to make it tolerable. Finishing the first loop put me in front of my house. I took advantage and refilled my water bottle.

Then the shit hit the fan. First minor problem was the ipod. It just QUIT. No big deal, I took it off and left it at home. So, I took off on loop number two. The heat hit me immediatley. It felt like it was mid July at high-noon. I was sweating so bad it was burning my eyes. I thought it might simpliy be my imagination, but I could actually feel water slooshing in my shoes. As if that wasn't enough, I just couldn't move forward. It felt like I was pulling my truck with a rope.

Mile five, nausea. It got bad. I ended up stopping every half mile because I felt like shit. Some how, some way, I finished the second loop. I came into the house to cool off. Decided to try a GU and some cold water. The combination seemed to help the nausea, but I still felt bad. Determined to finish at LEAST ten miles I devised a new one-mile route around the house that would be safer, if things got ugly.

The third time out was a series of running and walking. I was forced to walk because I was lightheaded. I finished, but that's all I accomplished on this run.

I thought the worst of it was over. Oooooh no, I did some stretching and jumped in the shower. That's when I realized I had some chaffing issues. This time I took chaffing to a whole new level. When the water hit me, I nearly woke up Erin and Alison.

OK, I'm done complaining. Glad this run is over!

Activity: Long run
Mileage: 10 miles
Time: 1:53:42 -- 11:22 pace
Location: Kingwood - Trailwood and Kings Lake Villages
How I Felt: 4

Calling all bloggers

When are we going to see the debut of David "tater-salad" Minkin's blog!!!!

Maybe I'll do a poll. Would that make you fire-up a blog, tater?

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Recovery Run

Six miles through the neighborhood. Legs sore from yesterday's long run. The run was easy, but the legs felt heavy. Probably going to skip tomorrows run. My legs are waving a white flag.

Activity: Recovery Run
Mileage: 6.07 miles
Time: 1:09:34 -- 11:28 pace
Location: Kingwood > Trailwood Village
How I Felt: 8

I signed up for a race today. So, I have the 30k, the Houston marathon, and XXXXX. Anybody willing to guess what I added to the schedule?

Saturday, November 25, 2006

This morning I went running with some friends.

I'm tired of blogging.

Activity: Long Run
Mileage: 20.0 miles
Time: 3:47:34 -- 11:22 pace
Location: Harris County
How I Felt: 9

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Bad news

While running at work yesterday I started getting back spasms..... AGAIN. I immediately stopped and started stretching. Once I bent over, I never came back up. I was taken off the unit because the pain was so bad. Since I couldn't make it to my truck I stayed at the station all night. This morning the Chief asked me to go to the ER, because I couldn't put my boots on. Now I'm laid up in bed, not able to do anything.

This sucks.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 5.97 miles
Time: I'll plug in the numbers later. I know it was a 10:05 pace
Location: Humble FD
How I Felt: 10 during the run and 1 after the run

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Above and Beyond

Sean was concerned about the actual distance he ran Saturday. We used the google map finder on the RRCA web page. The mileage didn't seem to "add" up. Anyways... we went for a bike ride to confirm the distance. Google measured the course as 26.2. We guessed it was closer to 29-30 miles. The bike read 26.6 miles. We only biked one loop, because it was a double loop course.

So there it is. A nice bike ride at the end of a race day. My legs feel good! I did a little extra riding after our loop.

Activity: Bike
Mileage: 14.5 miles
Time: ??? We averaged 10-12 mph
Location: Kingwood, TX
How I Felt: 10

Anybody else notice the 25k results only show the gun time?

HMSA 25k race report

Great run. Great weather. Nice course. LOTS of Striders and bloggers in attendance.

I'll start with the obvious. Race distance PR! Yeah for me. Also did a better job of placing myself in the starting line, which helped.... kind of. I may have been too far up, because there was a steady stream of runners passing me. That was mentally hard on me. On the first loop I was giving "shout-outs" to all the runners I knew. The yelling got me a bit winded, so I was more selective with the comments on the last two loops.

Within the first two miles I met up with Mario. He's a Strider and a super nice guy. We were running a similar pace. For 90% of the run we were within 100 yards of each other. It was great to have a familiar face to talk to.

I did ok until the last four miles. I had maintained a 9:20ish pace. The muscles around my hips and down the side of both legs started aching. I maintained the same effort but the pace slipped to 9:45's. My response to the slower pace was thirty second pick-ups at the end of each mile.

Matt Wright, who had already finished found me falling apart with 1.5 miles to go. He ran me in. I'm SUPER thankful for his help. I was losing control of my pace. Matt helped me dig deep for a solid finish. Thanks Matt!

I did my "usual" 100 yard sprint to the finish. I'm probably doing something wrong, because I'm barely able to stand after my "finish-line" effort. I feel like a DRAMA QUEEN when I'm sitting or lying there in pain. I'll reconsider my finishing effort in the future, before I get some god-awful WCRH.

I'm proud of my time and effort. I was shooting for 3:00 hours. Last months 1/2 marathon was an ALL-OUT effort. Nothing was left on the course. I knew I couldn't maintain the same pace for another three miles. The McMillan calculator predicted a 2:24:47 25k. I wasn't too far off with a time of 2:26:06.

Saw a ton of people I knew. Too many to mention, but I want to say: Thank you for the generous support!

Activity: Race
Mileage: 15.61 miles
Time: 2:26:06 -- 9:21 pace
Splits:
10:00, 9:30, 9:24, 9:18, 9:34,
9:20, 9:10, 9:22, 9:13, 9:12,
9:24, 9:02, 9:13, 9:24, 9:57,
4:56 (0.61 mile)
Location: Houston, Texas
How I Felt: 9.0

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Say what?

Below is correspondence I had with my running Coach yesterday. To reduce its overall length, some sentences are paraphrased. I also omitted a lot of the "clutter".

Me: How bad of an idea is it to run 12 miles the day before Sundays 25k. If it is not too horrible of an idea, please give me a strategy for running both.

Coach: Really, really bad idea to run 12 miles tomorrow. You need to prepare and focus on your own race. Sorry for the quick response.

Me (2nd email): The SMART schedule calls for 4-miles tomorrow. What's the most you recommend running tomorrow. I feel good. Plus, I really want to pile on the mileage I missed earlier this month.

Coach: 36 hours before the longest race of your life is not a good time to pile on mileage! If you want to do extras next week, so be it. The best thing you can do for your marathon is prepare for the race Sunday.


All that and I still did extra mileage. SORRY COACH. No purposeful intention of going against Coaches advice, but it just happened. Sean and I measured out a 26 mile course for him. I planned to join him five miles from the finish line. Originally I wanted to run the second half with him, yet decided to adhere to the coaches response. Anyways the mileage came up 1.5 miles longer than expected.

I felt really good. No damage done with the exception of disobedience to coaches advice. You'll forgive me, right Coach?

For those wondering, Sean ran 30 miles in 4:00 hours, including restroom/water/traffic stops. I slowed him down for the final 6.5 miles. He's a machine.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 6.5 miles
Time: 1:05:33 -- 10:05 pace
Splits:
10:31, 10:19, 10:41, 9:53, 10:15, 9:20, 4:34 (0.50 mile)
Location: Kingwood
How I Felt: 10

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Unexpected Hill Workout

Sean called me at 10:00 am, asking if I knew of a good hill workout. I referenced the SMART schedule, which revealed a hill session for TODAY. After a small discussion we chose an appropriate size hill and made plans for an afternoon run in Kingwood.

I'm glad I did this workout rather than just running the miles. My hamstrings are SCREAMING!

Our workout:
2-mile warm up (10:42, 10:00)
Four sets of:
One long hill
Three half hills
One long hill
0.25 mile recovery
Splits for hill portion: (9:43, 10:20, 10:22, 9:54)
2-mile cool down (10:39, 10:20)

Activity: Hill Run
Mileage: 8.00 miles
Time: 1:22:13 -- 10:15 pace
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 9.5

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

1-day, 2-post, 3-runs

Kevin got off work early, so we went for a run. This weather rocks. Great day!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 6.09 miles
Time: 1:08:30 -- 11:14 pace
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 10

Nearly 13.5 miles for the day. Yeah me!

Special Running Guest

Bill Cox and long time friend, Marshall Ulrich

Just kidding about the long time friend part. I met Marshall last night, at this months formal Strider meeting. This is one-cool-dude. He redefines; Been there, done that. As a VERY SMALL recap, his accomplishments include, but are not limited to:
  • Mountaineered to the highest summit of each continent
  • Participant of all nine Eco-challenge adventure races
  • 116 ultra races, averaging more than 100 miles each
  • Crossed Death Valley 19 times, including a solo and quad
  • Four Badwater WINS

Yeah there's a lot more, but you get the point. This morning Marshall lead the way for an easy 9:00 minute pace. If you've been watching MY pace, you'll understand why this run was far from easy for me. It felt good to get my butt kicked. Coach Steeve always does an excellent job of occupying my mind when I'm struggling and I thank him for that.

After the five miles at Memorial, I had business to do near Chimney Rock. I was early, so I put the garmin back on and took off down the road. I was surprised to look up and see Matt Wrights Barber shop. I had hoped to get some water, but he was not there. Must be nice being the BOSS! The lady there seemed surprised to see a sweaty fat-man walk through the door, so I asked her to tell Matt I stopped by and then was on my way again.

The leg pain has disappeared. I'm glad, because several people had me worrying about it. Its time to get back on some type of diet. Why does food have to taste so damn good?

Hearing Marshall speak about his accomplishments makes what I do seem not worthy. Only if the Striders met in North Houston..... I could be SOMEBODY. ;-)

As a General Public Service Announcement: David Minkin ROCKS!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 7.37 miles
Time: 1:10:15 -- 9:32 pace
Location: Memorial park and Along Chimney Rock
How I Felt: 9.8

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Hot morning run

Late morning run on the Greenbelts.

What is the deal with this weather? It was nasty outside! It's mid-November for crying out loud.

Another slooow pace run. I was able to fix most of the problems with the stroller, so Alison was in tow.

Activity: Run (pushing Alison in stroller)
Mileage: 5.8 miles
Time: 1:07:49 -- 11:42 pace
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 9

Monday, November 13, 2006

Misc. Exercise

Settling into the new house and doing home repairs is getting old. For a change of scenery, I decided to do a small bike ride this morning. You'll notice a REALLY slow mph, but in my defense... I was riding a mountain bike, hauling a bike trailer with Alison and her dog.

This evening I worked a few hours for a co-worker. Two of the guys on this shift just started running. Both guys were excited about the 2-mile distance they planned on running. So, my off day included a casual run with them. I didn't have a watch or my garmin so there isn't any hard data. I know the distance(s) by heart, because I've run around the station so much. We had a great time and those two are doing a great job! On the final 100 yards, the pace got a bit manly. Steve F. thought he could take me on a sprint, but I was glad to prove him wrong. I'll admit he's quick, but he didn't plan on my determination.

Activity: Bike (trailer w/Alison & dog)
Mileage: 5.45 miles
Time: 42:30 -- 7.7 mph
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 9

Activity: Run
Mileage: 2.35 miles
Time: ?? No watch, but I assume 12-13 minute pace
Location: Humble Fire Station
How I Felt: 10

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The Run Home

I didn't get much sleep at work, so I was tired this morning. Even being sleep deprived, the run home was wonderful!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 6.21 miles
Time: 1:07:13 -- 10:49 pace
Location: Humble FD to home
How I Felt: 10

Saturday, November 11, 2006

Unique venture

I'm all pumped up. Yesterday I read about Dean Karnazes' newest adventure. Dean just finished running 50 marathons, in 50 states, in 50 days. His final marathon was in New York, NY. This week Dean decided to "run home" which is on the West coast (San Francisco, I think). So I started thinking about doing something new and exciting in my life.

I decided to run to work this morning. It may not be exciting, but it is certainly new and different for me. The route proved to be a lot shorter than I had expected. 6.20 miles to be exact. It was a great run. I shifted into a slow gear to had a grand time. I arrived much earlier than I had expected, so I added four extra miles around town for an even 10-miles.

I plan on making this a staple run. It may not be 50 consecutive marathons, or a run across the US, but it is a start. Even Dean had to start somewhere less than what he's doing now.

Its really nice to have run 10 miles and have the whole day ahead of me. Very slight right medial leg discomfort.

Activity: Run
Mileage: 10.13 miles
To work: 6.19 miles -- 11:36 pace
Running around downtown Humble: 3.94 miles -- 11:26 pace
Location: Kingwood to Humble and misc Humble mileage
How I Felt: 9.5

Friday, November 10, 2006

Small run

Probably the hardest 2.5 miles I've done this year. I was pushing Alison in a new jogging stroller. There were several problems with a wheel vibrating and the brake was dragging. If that wasn't enough, it is really hot outside. And the worst part, I simply wasn't in a running mood. BUT, the leg felt normal!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 2.5 miles
Time: 27:09 -- 10:52 pace
Location: Greenbelts
How I Felt: 4

Thursday, November 09, 2006

SMARTie workout and a bike ride

Activity: Bike (with Alison inside bike trailer)
Mileage: 8.55 miles
Time: 1:01:48
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 10

Activity: Run
Mileage: 4.26 miles
Time: 45:16 -- 10:37 pace
Warm up: 10:16, 10:28
4 greyhounds plus Cool down: 10:12, 11:29, 2:49 (0.26 mile)
Location: Terry Hershey Park
How I Felt: 7

Smartie Hop. Cut two miles off the cool down due to more right side leg pain. Ran 9-9.5 on the greyhounds, which made me nauseated for 15 minutes. Felt good to run hard.

Here is a cool useless fact, which I can't resist posting:
When I hit mile 13 of my VERY first half marathon, I logged my 1000th mile this year. Now, that's a cool number and the timing was unique!

I hate titles

I've had a rough time this last week. I'm sick and tired of being "sick and tired" because of all the little bullshit stress. At least 90% of the issues are work related, which stays at work. The timing has proven bad with the move and my marathon training. I'm most bothered by the impact is has placed on my running and my mental state of being. I'm trying to make the best of it, but its hard. I'm just tired. Know what I mean? What little sleep I get, I toss and turn all night. Lord knows I need to run. I'm in a tail-spin with the diet. I've said it over and over; when I'm stressed I eat. Lots of stress has equaled lots of eating. I don't even want to talk about it. Thank you for listening.

With that out of the way, I have a WAY positive post for you:

I received some of the best news in my life yesterday. Erin's pregnant! We are so completely happy and excited! We decided to start "trying" two-weeks ago. Last time it took fourteen months for Erin to get pregnant and this time is took fourteen minutes. A couple guys were joking with me yesterday and called me, The Sperminator. I thought it was funny.

Well Coach, I may not be running, but now you have solid proof of my cross training!

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Wanta smile?

I know Keith can appreciate the value of a hug. This video gave me a much needed smile. Enjoy!


Monday, November 06, 2006

Cross training

I should have run, but I only had enough time for a bike ride. Something is better than nothin'.

Activity: Bike
Mileage: 8.40 miles
Time: 43:30 -- 11.6 mph average
Location: Kingwood Greenbelts
How I Felt: 10

Sunday, November 05, 2006

I'm back....

Hi. Still no internet connection at home. Can you believe I have not run in six days? I'm incredibly busy and will be for another week. I DO NOT like moving! Don't even get me started on the weight. UGH!!!!!! Stress equals bad eating choices. Can't wait to get back into a consistent regimen.

Went for a leisure run at work. Sean, Jason, and I ran around the station, in the rain. I started with 2-miles in mind. Two miles was "too" easy, so I decided to make it 5-miles. Then I thought 7 miles would be even better. We would have run 9 miles but I got a horrible pain on my right side. The outside of my right hip, outside right knee, and outside my right shin all hurt at the same time. It went away with some stretching, but it hurt bad enough while running that I was running with a "limp". I took the safe road and quit at the 7-mile mark. I think it is all the loops around the station.?!?!?!

Activity: Run
Mileage: 7.03 miles
Time: 1:13:05 -- 10:24 pace
Split:
10:13, 9:55, 10:00, 10:06, 10:18,
11:14, 11:00, 0:20 (.03 mile)
Location: Humble Fire Station
How I Felt: 7