I finished a 4 miles run today at a pace of 7:46. Big deal you say… well one month ago my 4 mile pace was 9:13! Now, I admit that I was really pushing it… but I also have a cold and did not feel like running at all. Oh, and I skipped dinner because I knew I had to run. I thought I’d just try for under 8, and not be too upset if I couldn’t reach it since I wasn’t feeling that well. I am very happy. Just one short month ago I couldn’t run a mile at that pace! I think I am starting to like this running thing. =)
I guess it is time to admit that my stretch marathon goal is 4 hours. I know I shouldn’t be setting a goal yet, and I know not having completed a marathon, I shouldn’t be setting such a lofty goal, especially for a 40 year old, but darn it… I am just going to throw it out there. My realistic goal will be 4:20… and yeah… I will be happy if I just finish upright.
Man I am tired. =(
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
The Chilkoot Pass
I just returned from a week long cruise to Alaska. It was like jumping forward two months in time to 60-65 degree weather and misty rain that is so common in the Pacific Northwest. I knew that it would be a big challenge to somehow maintain my miles and not gain the average 1 pound a day they say you do on a cruise.
The first time I ran on the ship on a treadmill. It had been quite a while before I did the hamster dance on the… (oh darn… I just finished a 7 mile run and my brain is just too tired to finish that sentence) Anyway… the miles on the treadmill were agonizing. I didn’t have any music and it seemed like time crawled. It was horrid. I am rethinking my wife’s suggestion to get a treadmill for the basement for the winter. I don’t know if I can handle running on that thing for so long. My miles fly by when I am running outside… but on the treadmill… the odometer seems stuck.
For the 2nd run we were docked in Skagway, so I decided to just run off the boat. It was very windy and cold at the bottom of the gangway as I waited for my GPS watch to synch to the new timezone. I was thinking… what the heck am I doing? This is NUTS!
I was supposed do a 5 mile run, but somewhere along the way my brain froze and I decided I would just do 8 and skip the 3 the next day. That sounded like a fine idea. Except…
Skagway is not a very big town. I suppose it is about 2 miles through most of the inhabited parts… but I do know for sure that when you head N NE from the docks toward Canada… at about 2.5 miles you start up a canyon leading to the historic Chilkoot Pass. Bottom line is that I had not really trained on any hills to this point. Just gentle sloping ones… not anything like what I ran into. And for my first 8 mile run ever no doubt.
The thing is… I was stressed from the trip on the ship… the constant bumping into people… lines…mass humanity… not to mentioned trying to referee my 2 and 8 year old step kids. I was determined not to turn around until I hit the 4 mile mark. I didn’t, but that last 1.5 miles of the first half was brutal. If it wasn’t for the awe-inspiring beauty I was running though… I would have actually been work. As it was however… the run was one of the highlights of my trip.
The first time I ran on the ship on a treadmill. It had been quite a while before I did the hamster dance on the… (oh darn… I just finished a 7 mile run and my brain is just too tired to finish that sentence) Anyway… the miles on the treadmill were agonizing. I didn’t have any music and it seemed like time crawled. It was horrid. I am rethinking my wife’s suggestion to get a treadmill for the basement for the winter. I don’t know if I can handle running on that thing for so long. My miles fly by when I am running outside… but on the treadmill… the odometer seems stuck.
For the 2nd run we were docked in Skagway, so I decided to just run off the boat. It was very windy and cold at the bottom of the gangway as I waited for my GPS watch to synch to the new timezone. I was thinking… what the heck am I doing? This is NUTS!
I was supposed do a 5 mile run, but somewhere along the way my brain froze and I decided I would just do 8 and skip the 3 the next day. That sounded like a fine idea. Except…
Skagway is not a very big town. I suppose it is about 2 miles through most of the inhabited parts… but I do know for sure that when you head N NE from the docks toward Canada… at about 2.5 miles you start up a canyon leading to the historic Chilkoot Pass. Bottom line is that I had not really trained on any hills to this point. Just gentle sloping ones… not anything like what I ran into. And for my first 8 mile run ever no doubt.
The thing is… I was stressed from the trip on the ship… the constant bumping into people… lines…mass humanity… not to mentioned trying to referee my 2 and 8 year old step kids. I was determined not to turn around until I hit the 4 mile mark. I didn’t, but that last 1.5 miles of the first half was brutal. If it wasn’t for the awe-inspiring beauty I was running though… I would have actually been work. As it was however… the run was one of the highlights of my trip.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Time stands still
Time stands still when I run. I don’t mean that the hands of time literally stop, but in general, once I start running I don’t think of much at all until I finish. When I first started running my thoughts were on agony. My legs hurt… I can’t breath… I am tired… I will never make it… what excuse can I come up with to stop this nonsense and still feel OK about myself? Now… nothing. If I ever stopped to consider the journey before the first step, I am not sure I could continue. The most I run right now is about an hour… but if I stopped to think about the next 7 miles… could I start?
When I am driving in the car sometimes it occurs to me the shear distance you can cover while running. I know the sidewalks by heart… where each bump is… how long the pedestrian lights take, where the dead animals are on the side of the road. I know the streets that for whatever reason, appear to be up hill both ways.
So far I have never had to run in the rain. I started in summer and well… two plus months later it still really hasn’t rain. I worry how I will hold up in winter. I am dreading the first foggy rainy morning… having to drag myself out of bed to head off into the haze.
Why?
To reach the finish line.
I feel a bit like the little engine who could… chugging up the hill… at first thinking…. ‘I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…’ Someday I hope to know I can. I am sure going to try.
When I am driving in the car sometimes it occurs to me the shear distance you can cover while running. I know the sidewalks by heart… where each bump is… how long the pedestrian lights take, where the dead animals are on the side of the road. I know the streets that for whatever reason, appear to be up hill both ways.
So far I have never had to run in the rain. I started in summer and well… two plus months later it still really hasn’t rain. I worry how I will hold up in winter. I am dreading the first foggy rainy morning… having to drag myself out of bed to head off into the haze.
Why?
To reach the finish line.
I feel a bit like the little engine who could… chugging up the hill… at first thinking…. ‘I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…’ Someday I hope to know I can. I am sure going to try.
Thursday, August 17, 2006
The one-man race
Sunday morning I was prepped and ready for the Garlic Festival 10K run. The butterflies were flittering though my stomach and I think I woke up about an hour before I planned. I donned my race gear and header over to North Planes, which is about 15 minutes or so from my place near the Hillsboro Airport. I was worried about finding a decent place to part, as always. When I approached the race area though… something was amiss. There was no one. No hoard of cars… no runners warming up… nothing. At first I thought… maybe it is just a small race… maybe there isn’t going to be a hoard of runners… but alas… the race was on Saturday.
What to do with all that adrenalin? I had already decided that I would run 8:30 miles for race… so I headed back to the Hillsboro Airport, and parked. I decided to try a new feature of my Forerunner 201… the training assistant or something like that. You set the pace and the distance, and the watch tells you if you are ahead or behind your goal. It worked… well… awesome. I was really surprised. I hit my pace target exactly, and I always knew how I was doing. I am definitely going to keep using that setting. I have new faith in my Forerunner now. I also realized it does autolaps… but you’d have to be looking at the watch when you hit a lap to know what the last time was. I think it beeps… but for someone with a hearing loss like me… it doesn’t do any good. I wish it would show you your last lap time. Ah well. I still like the watch though.
What to do with all that adrenalin? I had already decided that I would run 8:30 miles for race… so I headed back to the Hillsboro Airport, and parked. I decided to try a new feature of my Forerunner 201… the training assistant or something like that. You set the pace and the distance, and the watch tells you if you are ahead or behind your goal. It worked… well… awesome. I was really surprised. I hit my pace target exactly, and I always knew how I was doing. I am definitely going to keep using that setting. I have new faith in my Forerunner now. I also realized it does autolaps… but you’d have to be looking at the watch when you hit a lap to know what the last time was. I think it beeps… but for someone with a hearing loss like me… it doesn’t do any good. I wish it would show you your last lap time. Ah well. I still like the watch though.
Saturday, August 12, 2006
Garmin Forerunner 201 Review
I use the Garmin Forerunner 201 to assist in my training. I is a wonderful tool to tell me how far a given run was, especially when I don’t know the course. It is fairly light and I hardly notice it when I am running. The satellite reception is spotty in trees, and I assume it would be in the city also.
The pace feature is all but useless. I tried changing the interval that it measured the pace every which way and learned to just ignore it. It does measure time (I should hope so… =) ) and distance quite well. If I hit lap every mile I know what my pace was for that mile. That requires a bit of attention to the watch… more than I would like to give at times. I think the 301 has an auto-lap feature which will pace on mile / kilometer of whatever. That would have been a very very handy feature for me. If I upgrade in the future… that alone will be the driving reason. The 301 was quite a bit more expensive though. In think I picked up the 201 for $89, while the 301 is twice that!
I really haven’t messed with any of the other features the watch has yet. I may never. Most of them are just not applicable to what I am interested in right now. I currently don’t do any heart rate monitoring, which I think the 301 offers as well.
Bottom line, the Garmin Forerunning 201 is a great tool to tell you how much ground you have covered. It works best on straight courses, with a clear view of the sky. It seems to have more of a problem on trail running because I think the basically draws a straighter line than you may be running, and of course, the reception is worse on trails. It is wonderful to take on a vacation and just head out and run… then you can turn around when you have covered half the distance you want.
I am happy with the purchase, especially since the price was rather cheep, but I sure wish it could accurately tell me my pace.
The pace feature is all but useless. I tried changing the interval that it measured the pace every which way and learned to just ignore it. It does measure time (I should hope so… =) ) and distance quite well. If I hit lap every mile I know what my pace was for that mile. That requires a bit of attention to the watch… more than I would like to give at times. I think the 301 has an auto-lap feature which will pace on mile / kilometer of whatever. That would have been a very very handy feature for me. If I upgrade in the future… that alone will be the driving reason. The 301 was quite a bit more expensive though. In think I picked up the 201 for $89, while the 301 is twice that!
I really haven’t messed with any of the other features the watch has yet. I may never. Most of them are just not applicable to what I am interested in right now. I currently don’t do any heart rate monitoring, which I think the 301 offers as well.
Bottom line, the Garmin Forerunning 201 is a great tool to tell you how much ground you have covered. It works best on straight courses, with a clear view of the sky. It seems to have more of a problem on trail running because I think the basically draws a straighter line than you may be running, and of course, the reception is worse on trails. It is wonderful to take on a vacation and just head out and run… then you can turn around when you have covered half the distance you want.
I am happy with the purchase, especially since the price was rather cheep, but I sure wish it could accurately tell me my pace.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Chris Carr's Blog
No running partner today… just me and 4 miles. Ran an easy pace 8:50. It was a bit hot for running… around 80, but the heat really didn’t bother me. I soak my hat with water before I head out and that keeps me cool for most of the run.
I am discovered the wonders of running with synthetic fabric… much preferred to cotton. Cotton is rotten is what I remember reading in Chris Carr’s Blog. (http://www.startribune.com/blogs/marathon/?p=101) Chris works for a newspaper and decided to keep a Blog of his marathon training efforts. I am not copying Chris. I swear! OK… maybe I am, but honestly… no non-runners want to hear anything about running… so I am using this as my outlet so to speak. I might have even copied that from Chris. =) Anyway… check out his Blog… pretty cool.
I feel some shin splints coming on. I have been lucky to avoid them so far… but now two months into training and they are starting to be a problem. Hopefully it won’t slow me down though.
I am discovered the wonders of running with synthetic fabric… much preferred to cotton. Cotton is rotten is what I remember reading in Chris Carr’s Blog. (http://www.startribune.com/blogs/marathon/?p=101) Chris works for a newspaper and decided to keep a Blog of his marathon training efforts. I am not copying Chris. I swear! OK… maybe I am, but honestly… no non-runners want to hear anything about running… so I am using this as my outlet so to speak. I might have even copied that from Chris. =) Anyway… check out his Blog… pretty cool.
I feel some shin splints coming on. I have been lucky to avoid them so far… but now two months into training and they are starting to be a problem. Hopefully it won’t slow me down though.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Eight seconds shy
I tried to hit the 24 minute mark for 3 miles but came up 8 seconds short. I really felt I was pushing it… but alas… it was not meant to be. I think my times from a few weeks ago may have been wrong because I felt I ran quite a bit harder for just a few seconds. Perhaps my first mile was too fast and I lost it at the end. Or maybe… I forgot to hit the stop button on the watch at a red light. Doesn’t matter… there will be another day… and soon that 8 minute mark will be history… and the 7 minute mark will be in my… um… well… my dreams.
After finishing the run I dunked my head in the sink, stretched a bit and then collapsed in my familiar spot under the ceiling fan in the living room. (Yes… I threw a towel down first) My cat Boo always joins me in my post run comatose, getting his love tanks filled. Sometimes it gets very hard to get up after watching the hypnotic fan go round and round and round and round.
I will be sore tomorrow I bet.
After finishing the run I dunked my head in the sink, stretched a bit and then collapsed in my familiar spot under the ceiling fan in the living room. (Yes… I threw a towel down first) My cat Boo always joins me in my post run comatose, getting his love tanks filled. Sometimes it gets very hard to get up after watching the hypnotic fan go round and round and round and round.
I will be sore tomorrow I bet.
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