Nine miles to nowhere

This morning, with 9 miles to complete per my half marathon training program and knowing it was supposed to get yucky overnight and stay that way all day, I got up and looked outside. It was really wet looking. I went downstairs and opened the front door and saw it was wet, but it wasn't really raining -- it was more misty -- and there wasn't a lot of wind to be found. I really thought about doing my run outside, but I didn't know what the weather would be like by the time I finished, so being a weather wuss I started to get mentally prepared to spend about 80 minutes running on a treadmill. But let me state right here that if it were 60-65 degrees out rather than the 36 it was I wouldn't have hesitated to run outside. Believe that.

Thanks to digital music and the individual televisions on each cardio machine at my gym I did indeed make it through 9 miles on the treadmill, although I finished about a minute faster that I should have because of the treadmill settings. It could have been worse, I guess.

Like I could have fooled myself into believing the weather would hold up and run outdoors. When I left the gym it was to go into a downpour. It could have been me running out there in that. Bleh.

So it wasn't really fun, and it definitely wasn't sexy, but I got my long Sunday run in as prescribed. That's a good thing for sure, and how many people are really that dumb anal motivated to get a run in no matter what? One that I know of, at least.

The weather wuss whines about the forecast

The messed up thing about training for a long distance run is having to deal with the weather on long run days. I'm due for 9 miles in the morning, but it's supposed to be 37 degrees with 10 MPH winds and steady rain. The temperature I could deal with. The wind I might be able to manage. Combine them with the rain? No way. Still way too much of a weather wuss for that.

So I'm constantly eyeballing weather reports that aren't in any way changing and looking at 9 miles on a treadmill tomorrow. But unless I stick it out in the elements I really have no choice. A 9 miler is too long to blow off and I can't really postpone it because the new training week requires new training commitments.

What I should have done was run today and then spent an hour on a stationary bike tomorrow at the gym instead of doing that today.

Of course, it might have helped if I'd have thought about that 12 hours ago or so too. Der.

2008 Turkey Trot run review

This Thanksgiving saw me starting my day at the Green Valley North Turkey Trot, a 5 mile, untimed, non-competitive event. It was so non-competitive that they issued no bib numbers, nor did they have a real start (someone just got on a bullhorn and said "the course is now open"), and if you didn't want a t-shirt I bet you could participate without even paying, although that's completely against the spirit of the event and there was no set amount to pay to participate. It was all donations.

An interesting thing about this particular trot is that while the course is on area roads, the gathering for it is literally in some guy's driveway and front yard. The house there is nice, and there may be about an acre or so of property, but it's no mansion and it's in no way secluded. It is held on a very residential street in a very residential neighborhood. If I was the organizer's neighbor I think I'd hate Thanksgiving morning, even if it is for a good cause, because while I think the estimate of 1,000 people gathered was a little exaggerated there had to indeed be at least 500 in attendance. Maybe up to 750. I kind of wish I was able to take pictures of the spectacle, but where would I put the camera while I ran?

The run itself was kind of hilly but in perfect weather at about 40 degrees with no real wind. I started off bundled up in cold weather gear but wound up running in a long sleeve t-shirt, shorts, cheap knit gloves and a knit Ravens hat.

During the run near the beginning there was a huge downhill portion and people were flying past me. It was difficult to let them go because of whatever competitive nature I might have, but since I was treating it as a training run I just watched as they blew by. I also realized that since the run started and ended at the same place if we were going down we'd eventually have to come back up, and boy did we. But that just gave me the opportunity to pass everyone who passed me going down. Heh.

Anyway, my training program called for me to run 8:22 miles for this workout. But since it was a hilly and I was unfamiliar with the course I had to settle for an 8:22 average pace. My actual per mile times were 8:08, 8:27, 8:10, 8:26, 8:26. Honestly, I'm more upset by the miles I ran too fast than by the ones I ran too slowly. But what can you do.

It was my first time running outdoors since it got cold, and even with the challenging course I felt great. Running outdoors really is the best, and running to justify shoving turkey into your face later in the day is even better.

A guide book to follow faithfully

There are people who go around always carrying their bibles by their sides. There's nothing wrong with that, as it helps them keep their faith and whenever they feel the need to refresh it or get a reference to keep them on track with their relationships with their gods the good book is right there to do that for them.

Personally, I am not much into religion. I just have too many questions about it that I can't find answers to. My brain's too analytical by nature, I guess, and I have a hard time wrapping it around the idea of an all-aware invisible being overseeing everything all the time. I especially have a hard time understanding why a benevolent god would allow millions of people to die in his name for nothing more than referencing him in a different way, and "free will" is not a good enough reason. I appreciated cashing in at my bar mitzvah thanks to the jewish religion 25 years ago though.

Anyway, faith and religion are far touchier subjects than I'd ever want to get into on my dumb little running blog, so I'll just say that I bring it all up because it struck me yesterday that my new bible looks like this:



I carry it around with me everywhere (well, in my car at least), I have at least three bookmarks in it for quick reference of different things at any given time (the training schedule, the pace/speed charts, and at the cross training workouts, for instance), I have a bunch of notes from it scribbled onto post-its, which I stick on things when I think I'll need them (such as what interval paces translate into as treadmill speeds), and I'm always preaching its gospel to whoever will give me a minute to listen.

I never thought I'd be caught up in this kind of thing, but I guess I am now a congregant of the church of FIRST. For the next few months, at least.

Speaking of, the bible told me to run intervals yesterday. It was a pyramid type thing: 400M, 600M, 800M, 1200M, 800M, 600M, 400M, with 400M rest intervals between each. To say it kicked my tail is an understatement. With warm up and cool down the workout turned out to be 7.5 miles.

This doggone worshipping stuff better pay off in March.

Avoiding the cold when I mean to avoid the wind

I'm not going to lie. Since I've lost some weight over the last couple of years I have become the world's biggest weather wuss. I am always cold and I don't know why. Not enough chub to keep me warm, maybe? Whatever the case, while I love winter I mostly prefer looking out at it from inside a toasty warm building.

So when I woke up this morning knowing I had an 8 miler to get out of the way and the "weather station" in my kitchen that shows the temperature out in the backyard indicated it was 20.4 degrees outside I got a serious case of the dread. I now hate the cold so much that I decided it'd be better to run 8 miles on a treadmill at the gym than out on the road as god intended.

The bad thing is that when I left the house to go to the gym it was still sub-30 degrees, but without any wind, which I suddenly realized was my real cold-weather foe. It seemed like almost perfect running weather, although I would have needed a little more appropriate running gear than I had on. This moron loves the winter, and I guess he likes the cold, but homie don't do cold + windy.

It was too late to change up my plans though, so I went to the gym and suffered through 8 miles on the treadmill. It actually wasn't so bad. My training program called for me to do the 8 miles in 72:08 (Half Marathon Pace + 20 seconds, or 9:01/mile) and it really frowns on going outside of a 1-second per mile variation, but I did the 8 miles in 71:40. Guess I'll pay for not following the plan to the letter at some point, but oh well.

The end result is that I hung at a pace that I could run all day on a treadmill (6.7 MPH), and I had my music and the TV to keep me distracted. I also get a kick out of the people who get on the treadmills next to me and who use sideways glances to check out the electronics on my machine. I catch people doing that a lot (I'm sure I do it myself), and always wonder what they're thinking when they notice I'm up to 6.47 miles with no noticeable end in sight. They're probably thinking, "now that's a running moron." Heh.

It feels good to get the long run out of the way. Week one of my program is done. There are 17 left. I know that seems like a lot, but I have never seen time fly as quickly as it does when you're training for a long distance race. It's eerie, really.

Now I need that post-long run caffeine I always crave. I think a big ol' diet coke is calling my name. See ya!

It's the most runderful time of the year

To me, the most enjoyable races are holiday-themed. Last year, which is the first year I was running races, I ran a 5K turkey trot on Thanksgiving day and a "jingle bells" 5K around Christmas. They were great. I think my favorite "race" this year was a little 1.5 mile fun run I did with my son on Father's day. It was his first time with a number pinned to his chest and we both had a great time and sport our matching Father's Day 5K and Fun Run t-shirts proudly.

The turkey trot I ran last year benefitted the local YMCA, and I've been debating whether to run it again, which is a typical competitive 5K race, or a different non-competitive 5 mile run that features no timing, no splits (obviously), no water stops, no anything on course, but benefits an even better cause in my opinion (Crohn's disease and colitis), and will be held in a nicer setting.

While contemplating which to run it struck me that I'm in training. Again. I swear, training for half marathons and marathons has been as much of a hindrance as a help this year because I've had to forgo running some pretty nice races because the distances weren't long enough and/or there was a training conflict.

I looked at my training schedule and on turkey trot day I'm supposed to run a plain, ordinary 5 mile mid-tempo (i.e., slower than race pace) run. And what fits the bill for that better than a non-competitive 5-miler out in the countrified suburbs that I can run at my pace without worrying about where I place? Perfect!

So I'll be at the Green Valley North Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning, Garmin 305 strapped to my wrist and ear buds stuffed into my head. See ya there!

Hey pal, wanna run with me?

I don't know how much I've written about it here, but I really wish I could find a running group to join that met up at times that worked for me. As of now none of the ones around me do. So I guess the next best thing would be finding someone to run with. A training partner or something. The problem is that I have the people meeting and friend making skills of an orangutan.

A couple days ago I was picking my son up from karate when I saw some guy who looked to be about my age standing around waiting for his kid. He was wearing running gear, including a reflective vest and an iPod strapped to his arm. I thought hmm, this might be a guy I should get to know.

Then I noticed kids walking up to him and asking why he was wearing the vest, because it made him look like a crossing guard. The guy proudly proclaimed he was a runner and that he ran to the karate place (how he expected his kid to get home I don't know). Dude was really revelling in the fact that he was being noticed and he couldn't be more happy to share his being a runner with them.

That made me wonder about this guy. Until I saw he still had his D-tag (a disposable timing chip) affixed to his shoe from the Baltimore Running Festival over a month ago. Probably wanting someone to ask him what it was so he could tell them about his running the marathon or whatever.

At this point I knew fella was more interested in people noticing that he's a runner than he is in actually being a runner. And even if he's a better/stronger/faster runner than I am he has nothing to bring to the table that could help me out as a runner. So I declined to approach him and strike up a chat about pounding the pavement and I remain a solitary runner.

But then again, what if I totally misjudged the guy and he'd be the best partner imaginable for me? Guess I'll never know...

The FIRST workout is much tougher than the last

I've been thinking of the word to describe the first workout of my latest half marathon training program, and I think I have it: ow!

Even though I didn't do it exactly as prescribed because I was on a treadmill I did it the best I could and I am paying for it this morning in leg soreness I haven't experienced for quite some time.

The FIRST program leaves nothing to guess or to interpret. It tells you what to do, how long/far, how many times, and at what pace. My task was to complete 12 400M intervals with a 10-20 minute warm-up and a 10 minute cool-down. Each interval was to take 1:48 (roughly 8.4 MPH, which is what I set the treadmill to) and there was a 90 second rest between each interval. The entire workout from warm-up to cool-down was to cover 5-6 miles.

Knowing it was going to be tough since I've never done 12 intervals of any length, I even cut myself some slack and walked between intervals for my rest. That was allowed, and good lord did I need it. How I'm going to make it through 18 weeks I don't know, but if I do make it I should be ready to chew up nails and spit out bullets, or something like that.

Anyway, a vigorous cross training workout awaits today and I'm sure that'll have me crashed on the couch by 9:00 tonight just like the interval workout had me laid out early yesterday.

Sometimes you have to reward yourself after making yourself pay

After a confluence of events that forced me to take a sick day (I'm not the one who's sick), and knowing I'd be unable to get in a workout during my usual after-work time, I hit the gym at about 6:30 this morning. The kicker was that I had no real idea what to do while I was there. Duh. Treading water while waiting to start a training program is tough work sometimes.

I decided that I felt sufficiently guilty enough about blowing off 3 miles of my Sunday treadmill experience to punish myself with a gruelingly fast (for me) 5K treadmill program. Probably a bad idea since I did some kind of running yesterday and I have a tough interval workout to welcome me into the FIRST half marathon training program tomorrow, and since I'm of the opinion that like lost sleep you can't really make up lost miles, but I made it through. I did feel a little bad for the people around me who had to deal with my sweating, huffing, puffing, gagging, wheezing, throat-clearing, coughing and singing -- especially my singing. I have one american dollar that says no one who trolls my gym in the early morning will miss me not joining them too frequently. But isn't that how everyone is while trying to run hard in the early morning? Especially on a Monday? I mean, seriously.

Anyway, I kind of like getting my workouts in during the early A.M. and kind of wish I could do it all the time rather than just for my long weekend run, but the thing about it is that when I finish I'm almost always seriously craving caffeine. Whether it's coffee, of which I'm not a big drinker, or soda (Diet Pepsi Max!). I don't think I'm that much of a caffeine fiend, but my body post-early morning workout suggests otherwise.

Whatever the case, I usually reward myself with caffeine after a good, tough early A.M. workout and this morning was no different. It was coffee in this case, and it was delicious.

Now I'm off to tend to the sick and infirm. I'm an angel, really.

Lazing about during the end of non-training period

I've been trying to think of things that are interesting to blog about, but the truth is that my running life is just not that interesting right now (not that my non-running life is). I've been running, logging junk miles maintaining a base, but nothing over 5 miles, and today I was running on the treadmill because it was cold and windy outside and I'm a wuss, and I couldn't even muster the desire to run more than 4 miles when I was hoping to do about 7. I did do some crosstraining afterwards, but nothing really compensates for not logging the miles.

Speaking of cross training, I was reading the book that accompanies the FIRST training program (Run Less, Run Faster), and it does not recommend elliptical and stair climbing machines for cross training workouts. Of course, those machines are basically how I get all my cross training in.

FIRST recommends swimming, cycling and rowing. Swimming for me is out because of a bum shoulder, so I guess it's down to the stationary bikes and rowers in the gym. Switching it up will probably be good for me, so I doubt I'll miss the ellipticals of the world.

Speaking of the FIRST program, mine starts up this week with the first workout being 12X400M intervals. Good lord, what have I gotten myself into?

Welp, even if nothing is going on today there will plenty of whining about my half marathon training program starting this week. Yay for that, I guess.

Making plans for the new year

It's time to think about what and where I'm going to run in 2009. Truth is, I believe my fall is already set. I can say with 92.3% confidence that I will be running the Las Vegas marathon in December 2009. While I took the mantle in bringing people to Baltimore to run here in 2008, I'm turning over the reigns to a running message board buddy to round us all up out in his town next year. I'm already pretty excited about it.

So with that pretty much settled it's all about spring races and such until I begin training for Vegas around August. I'll only be running half marathons since I think one marathon a year is enough for me at this point.

Anyway, I'm trying to run in new places, but I'm already committed to a return engagement in Washington, D.C. for the National half marathon on March 21, thanks to discounted registration and a free t-shirt. I'm such a sucker for stuff like that.

Here is what I'm considering:

Frederick Running Festival half marathon (Frederick, MD), May 3: I ran there in '08. It was a great race and I set a PR. You have to run this if you want a "double dare" medal after finishing at the Baltimore Running Festival, but if I participate in Baltimore in '08 it'll be either the half marathon as a training run for my December marathon or a leg of the relay, but I'm not promising to run anything in Baltimore in '09 (although I'm sure I'll run something).

Flying Pig half marathon (Cincinnati, OH), May 3: I only really know about this by reputation and word of mouth, but I have some friends running there and I understand it's a really good time. But it's not in driving distance and other races are being held the same weekend that are a lot closer.

Pittsburgh half marathon (Pittsburgh, PA), May 3: A friend came down from Pittsburgh to run in Frederick last year, so I know it's a do-able road trip but it's still far enough away to be worthwhile. It also looks like several running friends are going to this one, one of whom I may even be able to carpool with.

Marine Corps Historic Half (Fredericksburg, VA), May 17: This one is another newer race, in its second year in 2009. It features a course through a town not unlike Frederick. I won't know a soul at this one, but that's not much of a hindrance for me. It's also only about a 90 minute drive, and it starts at 7:00am, so I'd be finish by about 9:00, which I like. The problem is that by May 17 it could be pretty darn warm, and there's a 100ft. incline over a short 1 mile distance starting at mile 10.

Boston's Run to Remember (Boston, MA), May 24: Another one I ran last year. It was a nice race and I love Boston, but it was way too hot when it was held on Memorial Day weekend. In 2009 it's going to be the weekend before Memorial Day, which wouldn't be as easy for me to run as in 2008 because I'd probably have to take two days off work instead of one. However, I kind of promised my cousin I'd run it with her, so if I choose not to do it in '09 I'm going to have to figure out how to weasel out of my promise to her.

Maryland half marathon (Timonium, MD), May 31: This one is pretty much in my backyard, and is being held at the same place as the Men in Kilts 5K I ran last weekend. So it definitely puts the kibosh on my wanting to run somewhere different. The rub on this one is that it's the inaugural running of this race, and I'm a sucker for being one of the first participants of a new event.

I figure I can run three half marathons. I did three last spring, and while I was pretty much worn out by the time the third one rolled around I had a lot of fun doing them all. After thinking about it here's my list of 2009 long-distance races, subject to change:

1. National Half Marathon, Washington, D.C., March 21
2. Pittsburgh Half Marathon, Pittsburgh, PA, May 3
3. Marine Corps Historic Half, Fredericksburg, VA, May 17
4. Las Vegas Marathon, Las Vegas, NV, December 6

Running harder now in anticipation of running harder later

I've decided that from now on I want to be uncomfortable when I run. That's not to say I want to wear compression shorts that are too small or run with form that encourages injury, but I want to huff and puff just a little harder than I'm used to when I run. The hitch in that strategy is that I've also decided I'm a wuss who is not yet mentally prepared to run outdoors when it's a breezy 25 degrees outside in the morning.

To compromise I'm running harder on a treadmill for now. Today was a glorious day off of work (thanks to us veterans) so I hit the gym pretty early. I did have a couple commitments during the day and was unable to run the 5 miles I wanted, but I did get in a brisk 4 miles in just under 31:00. There was some incline involved, but not much. I was taking it a little easy today, but still huffing and puffing a little harder than usual (four treadmill miles generally takes me around 33:00).

The truth is that I'm getting myself geared up for the FIRST half marathon training program. It includes only three runs a week, but pacing is crucial to the prescribed runs, and all runs -- even though they're different types -- are meant to be hard.

Since I'm going to be selling out to the FIRST program starting in another week, I figure I may as well get used to what I'm going to be in for. There is that goal of crushing last year's time at the National half marathon dangling out in front of me to keep me driven.

I'm still waiting to be unwussed enough to venture outdoors in the cold again though...

When we run we run like men, only we do it in man skirts

For World Run Day today I participated in the Men in Kilts 5K race. It was the first time I ever ran in a man skirt. It was also the first time I ran a 5K race without music (no pockets in the kilt and no place to put my mp3 player). It was also kind of chilly and the course was kind of hilly and there was a section where the two conspired together to produce a nice headwind going up a nice hill that really worked against the runners.

Still, for it being windy, chilly, hilly, music-free, my first post-marathon race of any distance, and for having a skirt billowing behind me when I ran I felt pretty ok about my 24:23 time.

This had to be the most low-key, casual "race" ever. There might have been 25 people running, and it was the first time everyone hung around waiting for the last runner to come in. There was a water stop at the half way/turnaround point, but there were no mile splits (or mile markers for that matter) and while police manned a couple intersections to make sure we could get through, no streets or lanes were blocked off for us to run on. Good thing we were mostly residential streets, I guess.

Even so, for being more or less just a bunch of goofs running around in man skirts, it was a fun time. After it was over we were rewarded with donuts, coffee, and even pitchers of Guiness if we wanted them.

I'd do the race again, but I'd hope the organizers would try to publicize it a little more for some extra participation. Every man shoule feel the freedom of a running skirt. Ha.

Anyway, here's a picture of me in a kilt. I'm staring in the sun, and I'm trying to hide my glasses behind me. And it's not my good side. But then I'm not sure I have a good side:



Bleh, I know.

Flashing a little leg for the masses

This Sunday, November 9, is World Run Day. (It's not too late to participate, and you only have to run anywhere and any distance in an organized event or not.) I personally did not want to run just to run, but I couldn't find anything organized on that date and the race I ran last year to mark WRD isn't being held this year.

I was getting a little concerned about doing something that'll enable me to wear my WRD t-shirt (I know it's weird, but I can't wear a t-shirt I didn't earn from an event), but somehow I stumbled upon a race: the Men in Kilts 5K.

While it's not mandatory, kilt wearing is encouraged for the race. I live in a metro area of over 1 million people and this is the only race I can find to run this weekend? It's not really at all publicized (they don't even have a web site for this year's race -- here's one from past years -- and no online registration) and when I went to pick up my kilt yesterday a guy there said he didn't know why it isn't. He said there were only 80-some participants last year.

I told the guy who helped me with my kilt that I wanted one that was a little snug so it wouldn't ride up and get on my nerves while I ran and stuff, and boy did he hook me up on that. Good lord, I can hardly breathe in that thing.

Anyway, running a 5K race in a kilt is what I'll be doing for World Run Day this weekend. I told some friends on a running message board that I may post a picture of me in my kilt there. If I do I'll cross-post it here.

No promises though; that will be an incriminating photo of me, after all.

Post-weekend update, complete with preaching!

I'm finally beginning to admit that I have a cold. But that won't stop me from logging junk miles maintaining a base. It will, however, stop me from running outdoors for now. If I'm not healthy I hate the idea of being miles from home and just not feel well enough to go on and be stuck, especially since I don't carry a phone when I run and it's in the 40s (if I'm lucky) when I run.

So yesterday I went to the gym for a Sunday treadmill run; my first Sunday treadmill run since last winter. I did seven miles (wanted to go eight, but bleh... I was on a treadmill) in 58:something and at various inclines. For being on a treadmill and not feeling great it wasn't a bad workout. I will say, however, that when you're on a treadmill for an hour minutes 40-50 are the toughest to slog through. And when you sing with your iPod to get through it you're bound to get stares from people on treadmills around you.

I've also noticed that with the winding down of the long-distance running season (around here, at least) interest in running has waned a lot. Some of the running blogs I read are being updated either very sporadically or not at all, visits to this blog have plummetted by at least half (from like 4 to 2), and there just seems to be a post-long running season malaise.

In the latest Runner's World magazine there's an article about how taking time off after the running season ends will kill you when you try to start back up in the spring. You gain weight, lose endurance/ability, and make things a lot more difficult for yourself overall. And for people like me, who are coming up hard on the "masters" category (i.e., old age), getting back into playing shape isn't quite as quick a rebound as it used to be.

So just because the marathon is over and there's nothing too major to run for, it doesn't mean it'd be a good idea to not run at all.

That's what I keep saying to myself to get through, at least. I hope it keeps working.