Week 5 In Review

8-23-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-24-10
7 miles (1hr 6mins)
Up East Rock; down Whitney after work. No further comments.

8-25-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-26-10
7 miles (59mins)
3x1600 at Wilbur Cross High School track (6:49; 6:55; 6:56)
Legs felt dead 0.5 miles into warmup. Intervals were tough. Strangely, legs felt best during last few minutes of cooldown. I was supposed to do 7:15 miles, but I went a bit faster (unintentionally). These times are much faster than the ones I did a few weeks ago.

8-27-10
7 miles (1hr 5mins)
Up East Rock; down Whitney before work. Legs felt tired but strong. Usually do this route a couple of minutes slower, but exerted same effort and produced slightly faster run. Left for Portland. Late night. Was kind of pissed about missing gym, but I survived.

8-28-10
Portland, ME. Three sets of pushups at hotel. Continued drive from Portland to Seal Cove.

8-29-10
20 miles (3hrs 7mins)
Mount Desert Island in Maine. Started at cottage in Seal Cove: ran south on 120, east on Seal Cove Road (Acadia National Park), north on 120, west on 120, south on 120, east back into Acadia National Park above Hodgdon Pond, and back to the cottage. The route was extremely hilly. Probably the hilliest route I've ever done. It was pretty hot, too. My legs didn't feel great, but I certainly had the endurance. Had at least another gear and some energy left to go farther at the finish. After the run, I wolfed down a big bowl of fruit salad and walked down to Somes Cove (across the dirt road) to swim in the ice cold water. That's the life up there.

Miles: 41
Time: 6hrs 19mins

The Camelbak returns!

After chafing my back raw a couple of months ago in Portland, I decided to give the camelbak a second chance. This time I wore a T-shirt underneath, rather than a tank top, and it worked great!

on another note, Niko the Indefatigable ran 16 miles with Dan yesterday and 18 with me today. he's tired but not tired enough to pass on chasing flies around the living room. I wish I had that kind of energy.

Acadia, ME for a long weekend

Jessica and I are leaving for Acadia, ME, this evening. We plan on stopping over in Portland and continuing the drive to Acadia tomorrow morning. I've got a pretty good 20-miler mapped out for Sunday morning. Check it out here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3993677

TMJD and running

I've been having jaw pain since two Thursdays ago--i.e., coming up on two weeks. The pain started after a tempo run, got better for a day or two and has gotten progressively worse since then. E.g., I couldn't open my mouth wide enough to fit a sandwich into it. It was that painful. I saw my dentist today. He said I have TMJD from clenching my teeth and, possibly, from grinding at night, although he thought it was less from grinding, as I don't have much wear. He wants me to put my tongue between my teeth while I run, so that I won't bite down. An interesting tidbit is that when you chew food you apply 200 to 800 foot pounds of pressure to your teeth. When you sleep or are otherwise engaged in something other than eating (like running), apparently you can apply up to as much as 2,000 ft lbs of pressure. He wanted to give me a prescription drug to relax the tense muscles and guessed that I was 120 pounds. That's because he couldn't see how muscular I was under my clothes. I'm actually 145 to 150. :-D

The toughest 10k I ever ran

As planned, I completed the Litchfield Hills tri today - and had a blast. It was hard, but it was one of the funnest experiences I've had in a long time. The swim was great. I was one of the few participants without a wet suit, but the water wasn't very cold and once you get moving you get warm pretty quick. Apparently, even the short time I had to work on my swimming form really paid off. I finished the swim in 25:41, some 15minutes less than I expected (that's a big difference for a 1.5km swim). Bike ride was also a lot faster than I thought, 1:20:45 (at least 10-20min faster than I expected). The run was a little rough. My legs felt incredibly heavy, especially in the first 10minutes or so, and at the end I got a stitch in my side I couldn't get rid of, so I had to slow down. But, I knew I should be able to do six miles without too much trouble, so I kept running and finished in 47:49, which is still better than I expected (I was expecting 50-55ish). Including both transitions, my total time was 2:39:16 which I still can't believe :)

I'm already getting excited for the next one and I definitely want to try a half ironman next year. Who's in?

oh, and I think I want to get an actual road bike :)

Week 4 In Review

8-16-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-17-10
7 miles (1hr 5mins)
Branford. Felt fine until the end.

8-18-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-19-10
8 miles (1hr 6mins)
1-mile warm-up, 6-mile tempo (7:53/mile), 1-mile cool-down
Guilford: 146 to Sachem's Head. Late. Dark. Lots of hills. Felt amazing. Flying on parts. Best run in a while.

8-20-10
6 miles (55mins)
Guilford after half-day of work. Felt fine.

8-21-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-22-10
18 miles (2hrs 52mins)
Guilford to New Haven. First six were tough, but felt good otherwise. Legs never really fatigued, despite no GU. First time ever finishing an 18-mile training run out of three attempts. Got caught in a torrential downpour in East Haven. No lightening, though. It looked like it for a while. Cooler temperatures make a big difference. It took only 1 Nalgene before I had to pee again, not 7.

Miles: 39
Time: 6hrs

Pre-workout report

Tonight's the big night, folks. Well, not really. I've just always wanted to say that. Although, it is kind of a big night. Jessica and I are doing a 6-mile tempo run, plus 1-mile warm-up/1-mile cool-down. The big event will take place in Guilford, CT. We're going to run out on 146 to Sachem's Head. It's a nice shore run. Last time we ran out that way (we, as in Jessica), we encountered two very large bucks and a skunk. The skunk was much more frightening than the deer. I'd rather be spooked by a couple of deer with big antlers than sprayed by a smelly skunk. Anyway, it'd be nice to run into something like these animals again tonight, as it gives the run a little bit more excitement than it otherwise would have. Running tempo can be exciting, though, so maybe a run in with an animal or two won't be necessary. Jessica doesn't get out of work until 7 (more likely half past), and then we have to drive all the way to Guilford, so by the time we finish tonight, it most likely will be dark. That's O.K., though, as I welcome the adrenaline rush. In an ideal world, I won't be too sore after this run, and it will be relatively easy. Last week, I didn't recover fully from my tempo run for my long-run and paid slightly in pace. No big deal, but it would have been nice to hit my long-run pace. After all, the marathon is a "long-run," and that's what I'm training for. We'll see how it all plays out. Usually, I like to write in paragraphs, but it's so much easier to just write in one big block. There's a lot less thinking involved. I'd rather think about running than grammar and formatting; however, it's usually the latter that gets me every time. Not this time, though. Or, maybe, since I felt the need to mention it in the first place.

In any event (this warrants a new paragraph), happy running, be well, and safe journey. Cheers.

OH, I almost forgot..If I run well tonight (i.e., tonight after the run, regardless), I plan on enjoying a nice porter with a leftover lentil/quinoa burger. I took my first shot at a homemade lentil burger last night. I screwed up the first batch pretty bad by adding water to the mixture. Poorly written recipe. The second batch came out pretty good, although the spices are a little bit off. Only cumin and coriander? Next time, I'm going to try a different mix. Anyway, they came out well enough to plan on eating them again for dinner tonight. I guess that's all that really matters.

Coventry Tri

Dan and I did the weekly Coventry tri today. He wasn't into all the silliness so much (it took a while to convince him he needed a number on his arm), but it was still a nice workout, so I hope he won't object to me summing it up here.

ca. 5mi bike to Coventry lake, 0.5mi swim (give or take), 5mi ride back, 4mi run with lots of great hills. Sure, our transition times were abysmal but why not interleave a workout with some good chit chat, right?

oh and I think my swimming form is actually improving! yay :)

got my final race instructions and I'm getting a bit nervous about Sunday already. I think I'm quite likely to break the drafting rules, but I'll worry about that when the time comes. Three bike lengths between me and the person in front of me. How the hell am I supposed to tell how far that is? My ability to estimate distance is practically nonexistent. Oh well... we'll see Sunday.

Blog, eh?

OK, Dan says I should blog here, so here I am.

We just ran 20mi at Mansfield Hollow and it was as fun as ever, especially for Niko. I'm going to take a little break from running now, maybe except for a couple short easy runs, because my triathlon is next Sunday and I need this stupid knot in my left calf to go away. In case you're wondering, running 5 miles in the Fivefingers without easing into it is not such a great idea.

I got some good advice regarding my pathetically inefficient crawl stroke, so I'm going to practice a bit this week. I should probably clean/lube my bike, take off the rack and install the tube protector on the rear wheel. Most likely though, I will just lube the chain and ride with the rack and my fingers crossed for no broken glass on the course. Laziness is a horrible illness.

On the biking side of things, I ran over a woodchuck on Thursday; completely flattened it I thought but then it got up and ran away. These animals aren't very smart. If I had killed it, I probably would have given up biking and become a hermit. Now, it may have sustained some internal injuries, but I keep telling myself that it didn't that me and my bike are light enough and a woodchuck that size (it was giant by the way) has enough fat and fur to protect him. I haven't seen him since, but maybe he's on vacation or moved to British Columbia.

so that's about it. oh, i ran a 6:20 mile the other day on the track, which I thought was good enough to justify a big chocolate cookie. Because I never thought I could run a mile under 7 minutes and because the convenience store that sells ABC vegan cookies is right across the street from the track. So there.

Week 3 In Review

8-9-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-10-10
7 miles (1hr 6mins)
Up east rock, down whitney after work.

8-11-10
Strength training at NHHR

8-12-10
7 miles (57mins)
1-mile warm-up, 5-mile tempo (7:54/mile), 1-mile cool-down
Branford. Felt ok.

8-13-10
6 miles (56mins)
Up east rock, down whitney via davis during lunch break. Felt decent until the end.

8-14-10
Strength training at NHHR
No energy. Squats, lunges, hips, and upper body stuff.

8-15-10
16 miles (2hrs 36mins)
Out to Madison and back. Painfully slow. Legs had no pop. Dragged feet the whole time. Did too much leg stuff at gym this week. Thinking about doing less next week. Less on the three days I go? Or less days?

Miles: 36
Time: 5hrs 36mins

Week 2 In Review

8/2/10
Strength training at NHHR.

8/3/10
7 miles (1hr 6mins)
Up east rock, down whitney after work.

8/4/10
Strength training at NHHR.

8/5/10
6 miles (53mins)
First ever track workout. Loved it. 1.5-mile warm up, including 1-mile from jess's apt. to wilbur cross high school track in east rock and two laps around track; 1-mile interval (7:25); half-mile jog; 1-mile interval (7:11); 2-mile cool down (one mile on track; 1 mile back to jess's apt.)

8/6/10
7 miles (1hr 4mins)
Up east rock, down whitney after work. Pushed it a bit on whitney (unintentionally).

8/7/10
Strength training at NHHR. Didn't work legs as hard.

8/8/10
14 miles (2hrs 10mins)
Two east rock/whitney loops sans GU. Carried water bottle. Heat started getting to me after about 12. Negative loops, nonetheless.

Miles: 34
TIme: 5hrs 15mins

GMM Training Plan

This is my training plan for the Green Mountain Marathon in October. I'm posting it here in the hopes that some of our long runs will coincide. It'd be nice to do long runs as a group.

The dates are screwed up, so pay no attention to them. I'm currently in the second week of training. I wanted a more challenging plan for this marathon, so I'll be peaking at 50 miles (as opposed to 40) and doing quality workouts (tempo runs and speedwork every Thursday). So far, I like running four days/week (as opposed to five), because it allows me to fully recover and strength train.

Week 1 In Review

Monday, July 26
strength training at NHHR.

Tuesday, July 27
7 miles (1hr 4mins)
up east rock, down whitney during lunch break.

Wednesday, July 28
strength training at NHHR.

Thursday, July 29
6 miles (49mins)
1 mile warm up, 4 mile tempo (7:59/mile), 1 mile cool down
right hamstring giving me a bit of trouble late in tempo, but otherwise felt good.

Friday, July 30
6 miles (59mins)
up east rock, down prospect after work. easy does it.

Saturday, July 31
strength training at NHHR.

Sunday, August 1
12 miles (1hr 49mins)
legs a bit tired from yesterday. carried new water bottle for first time. worked well, but hand seemed to make water warm--not very refreshing, but i guess water's water.

Miles: 31
Time: 4hrs 43mins

Sunday Long Run

Good run today. I did a little over 16 miles,mostly pavement, though I did cut through a couple town parks with trails. Pretty hilly. First 8-9 miles with Niko and then I did the rest myself. Nice cool weather-70s, low humidity- makes a huge difference. I carried a bottle of water with me, which is a practice I am going to make the norm. No GU. All natural.