Week 11 (56.7) - Time to hunker down

I'm not real happy with the month of July, and I can't blame it on travels or work. Not really. Monday night when we got back to Austin, I threw on my Nike Skylons for a neighborhood 5-miler, but only made it 5 steps. The San Francisco hills had hammered my quads bad, so I turned around and walked back up the driveway. Tuesday, I figured on running an easy 8, but Roger caught me early on the trail and we ended up doing 9.5 miles with 6.7 of the miles at a brisk 6:37 pace. Big positive surprise. It was good to open up a bit since most of what I've been doing during this Tahoe training has been around 7:30 to 7:45. Wednesday, I woke up in downtown Los Angeles. I usually don't run on business trips. Too complicated. I'd rather watch TV and order room service. But I got up early and went off to explore. This is another city that's not particularly runner-friendly. I ran down the sidewalks on Alameda Blvd, caught every red-light, and eventually found a small, dusty park with a one-mile run/walk loop that at least got me out of traffic. I ran for 50 minutes; not sure about the miles. Maybe 6 or 7.

Thursday was an honest 9.2 miles from Zilker. Friday, Leticia and I had planned on going to a film festival in Woods Hole MA, but as I was driving over to pick her up at 5:15 a.m., I realized that I was sick of flying, and after some brief discussion on the way to the airport, we decided to pull the plug and stay in Austin. So, I had a full day to run, but didn't.

Saturday was hot and humid and horrible, and I realized again that I hate training during the summer, that I'm a fall runner, and wondered what in the hell I was thinking when I signed up for the triple; I'll never be ready ...and this isn't fun. Enough whining. Mike's injured, but Roger and I run seven or so and then meet Greg at "the Rock" for another 11.5. I tried out a new workout drink that I found at RunTex. Can't remember the name. The grape flavor tasted good, but didn't give me a noticeable boost. Still, I count this as a successful fueling exercise since it absorbed quickly. The run itself felt so slow that I only took credit for 18. My heart was beating too fast. Afterwards, I felt light-headed and wobbly. I probably didn't eat enough carbs on Friday.

Sunday, I'd hoped to run 18 again, but stopped at 14. Could have gone further, but my dang heart was beating too quick again. Or at least, it felt that way. ...So, I ended up just short of 57 miles for the week. I know this isn't enough, although July's total miles will be a high for me. The plan for next week is to top 70 and get some confidence back. I don't expect this to be a problem if I can get seven runs in. I've bought three pairs of shoes in the past three weeks, so I'm well stocked for the Journey.

Week 10 (44.6) - San Fran Hills

It wasn't a great week for running ...and this probably won't be much of a post. I overslept on Thursday and stood up Roger on a planned tempo. It's been insanely busy at work, but Leticia and I had planned to take the girls on vacation for a while and finally managed to get our act together enough to book a trip. There really wasn't any chance of running on Friday as we woke in Oakland after a late night of traveling and had to catch a taxi to San Francisco ...college visits and a full day, which turned out to be too full for two 15-year olds who got tired of non-stop walking. On Saturday, I woke up sore from a sleeper sofa with a thin matress and an iron bar in the middle, put on my new $41 Wave Runner 10's that I found online and headed up California Street toward Golden Gate Park. For anyone who hasn't been to San Francisco, it's extremely hilly ...although you can avoid some of them if you know the right streets to take ...which I didn't. I didn't have water or gel, so I managed 35 minutes out and 33 back and never made it to the park. Since I didn't have a Garmin, the best I could do was guess on mileage and since the hills were severely steep, I guessed the overall pace at just under 9:00, so maybe 7.5 miles total. I only saw two other runners. Obviously, none of the locals run California Street.

Sunday, I got up at 5:45 and was running by 6:00. No coffee. No sports page. It was foggy and the city was pretty much asleep. I had a 20 oz 7-11 brand lake-green Gatorade in my hand and the temps were in the low 50's. Slight coffee headache. I'd taken a better look at the map the night before and got to the edge of the park in just over 30 minutes. The International AIDS walk was starting at 8:00 and the park was packed. I ran around every spot that looked interesting and eventually got confused about where I was in the park, but caught a break and popped out without actually having to admit to myself I'd been lost at all. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was 45 seconds short of two hours ...so I ran around the block once. I guessed this run to be a tad faster than Saturday, but not much. Maybe an 8:45 pace and 13.5 miles. I'm trying to decide if I should credit myself with more miles since it was hill work. At any rate, I finished the week with only 44+ miles, which kinda sucks because when I tried to run Monday night, I was too sore and had to turn around after about 5 steps.

Hopefully, I'll get a decent run in Tuesday morning because I'll be in downtown Los Angeles on Wednesday, and I'm not sure about the neighborhood. The new week will be a light one as well. I'm sure it's fine and maybe even a good thing from a recovery standpoint to have a couple of low mile weeks ...but it won't help my confidence one bit. I don't like business travel. It's a pain, but I do get to catch up on my reading. At the moment, I'm in the middle of "The Long Emergency" and it's scaring me to death.

Week 9 (65) - Distractions a plenty

Anyone who's been following the financial markets this past week knows that the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac news has been a huge distraction to all of us portfolio managers trying ramp up their marathon training miles. I'd figured that this week was as good a time as any to experiment a bit with 2-a-days, but didn't actually leave work most days until well after 6, which may sound plenty early, but I get in to work at about 7:30 or 8:00, and have to travel a fair amount ...and I was bushed. Plus, the market was painful - we were all grappling with the notion of complete financial system meltdown and clients were hugely worried. I'm not. I did make it to the gym twice during the early part of the week, which was total bonus. Tuesday's are American History Movie night, where Amanda and Leticia's daughter Sydney eat American food and rent movies that have something to do with American history. Tuesday's feature was "the Great Escape". It gave me a spark of adrenaline.


If you haven't already seen this video, watch it. I know I sent it out to a bunch of people already. And no doubt, it's been making the rounds, but man-oh-man, it's so life-affirming. To me, it says - everything is going to be okay. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY It reminds me of those Chex Mix commercials, where everybody's dancing because Chex Mix has 60% less fat and tastes really good - Chex would make me dance too. Tonight, when I do my Sunday night HEB run, I'm buying some.


Running - I was up too late on Tuesday night to run on Wednesday morning. I tried to get up, but hit the snooze button about 10 times. I toyed around with doing some intervals on Thursday, but Roger suggested a LBL loop ...and that was good enough for me. I'm curious as to whether all my speed is gone. It's been months (Chuy's 5k) since I did anything uptempo. Maybe next week, I'll do some 800's. If anything up to this point, it's been a consistent run plan, all slow. Despite Wednesday's snooze, I did get in four respectable days during the week, with a fairly brisk 9 on Friday.


Saturday, I ran with the "Black Shorts Running Club" and yet again, Roger's plan put us right smack in the middle of both the Gazelles and the Rogues. We were all heading for Mt Bonnell. For a change, I was well stocked with fuel - 2 gels and a Gatorade bottle filled with Endurox. The morning weather started out terrible, but a cool breeze started somewhere along the way. I was surprised to have not worked up the usual massive sweat. In fact, it was so unusual, that it worried me a bit. I was having trouble keeping up with the Black Shorts. By the time I passed Seton on 35th, I'd pretty much lost Greg, Roger and Mike, who are running great these days. To save face, I cut down Guadalupe and weaved my way through campus. While they were in Jester drinking, I stealthfully dashed ahead and then took a left on 17th, but McNeal caught me on San Jac and herded me back. For the last three miles, I was lucky enough to run with Bruce Coleman and Larry Bright, two Performance Project guys. This gave me a little spark at the end. Since my Garmin is broken, I could only guess on the mileage - 2:20:34 - maybe ...17.6 or so. Probably more, but I hate to cheat. Not bad in either case.


Sunday, I got up about six times and finally made it to Barton at 7:30. There wasn't a soul around, which was fortunate since I felt like crap. I brought along some gel and a small grape Gatorade ...and $3 since I wasn't about to finish in time for a free soak. It took a while to get going. Lots of aches. I had my MP3 to keep me company, but am getting tired of the same 18 songs. Mental note - load some different tunes. The pace was a bit quicker than Saturday. I did the 10.1 mile Longhorn loop, added the 2.9 mile mini loop and a few loops around Zilker for good measure. In my mind, I ran Tahoe. I've run it dozens of times already. In my mind, I never make pacing mistakes. I always finish strong. This morning, I won.

I have 10 weeks to go. The rest of July will be a challenge. Lots of traveling. I'm not very good at running on the road, but hopefully, I'll be able to get my act together for once.

Happy Birthday to Mike McNeal, who keeps getting faster and faster every year.

Week 8 (62.6) - The first mini trip

I dug up some old mileage logs to get some perspective on my training - during the serious training years, from 2000 to 2005, I logged a total of 8 months above 200 miles ...with a high of 228. I only counted three long runs of 20 miles or more in 2003 when I ran a marathon PR. The quality workouts were very fast, but not long. I got pushed continually by Floyd Watson and Mike Woo and I chased Richard Mendez on race day. Most summers, I ran less than 100 miles per month. So, it's all uncharted waters here. I'm really intrigued by the massive miles that the Rogue Performance Project is doing, but am not sure it'd work for me. Still, I'm watching the experiment closely. Good luck Geezer, Bruce, Mike and Ken.

I took Monday and Tuesday off again, although Tuesday's break was unintentional as I had an early flight to Dallas and a late night. On Wednesday, I noticed a weird pattern emerging - I felt really crummy after the two-day rest, and struggled through the familiar Town Lake seven mile loop. No more two day rests if I can help it. Thursday's 7.8 mile run is identical to Wednesday's except that I feel less stiff and less sore. ...hmmm. But both days are filler since this week is all about the "mini-triple".

Thursday after work, I went to Kneads for a massage from Rachel, who's excellent by the way. On Friday, I ate a Tangerine gel for breakfast and brought two with me. The weather was cool despite the fact that I overslept and didn't get to Barton until almost 7:00. I really didn't have much of a plan except to run at least 13. I did 14. ...total struggle. I'm bored and know that I've got two more long runs to go this weekend. So my knees hurt. But my ankles seem to be getting better. After a rare paid dip in the springs, I picked up a couple bags of ice for a chilly bath, drank two slim-fasts, ate some Bear Naked grains and a powerbar. I feel like I'm doing a bit better with my eating. Not great. Long nap.

Saturday, Roger had a 18-mile route in mind for Mike, Greg and the Black Shorts Running Club. David Weaver joined us for the first six miles and pushed the pace to what felt like 7:15. As much as I love running with David, I was glad to slow down when he headed back to the Rock. We ended up doing 19 at a 7:30'ish pace. It wasn't easy. Roger saved me at the cleaners by sharing his last Gu, which was plain, a flavor that I'd always imagined tasted like Vaseline, but it was really more like marshmallow. I finished well behind Mike and Greg, but it was very encouraging. After a soak in Barton, a three-bag ice bath, consuming a variety of food and beverages and downing a couple of Advil, I took a two hour nap.

Sunday I didn't know what to expect from my body, but oddly enough, I wasn't sore at all. I'd planned on putting on headphones and doing the 10-mile loop plus four, but ran into Paul and Cindy Salazar, James Allen, Jennifer Stewart, Danny Spoonts and a few other familiar faces and ended up running my 14 with them for a three-day total of 47. During the run, Paul told me that he'd run a trans-Rocky ultra last summer and that although he was really stiff and sore at the start of his day two, he was able to run through it. I love hearing this kind of talk. But honestly, I'm not worried about not being able to run the entire distance unless I screw up and run way too fast on day one ...which could definitely happen.