David loaded me up with 3 consecutive days of running over the holiday weekend, and I made the most of it logging 18 miles out at Town Lake in Austin.
I've said it a half a dozen times over the past year plus on this blog, but Town Lake is hands down my favorite place to run in the world, period.
There are a few other places that come close. Running on the Timberman course in New Hampshire on a crisp late summer morning, maybe with a little fog is hard to beat. Running after work at the Memorial Loop at Memorial Park in Houston with a pare of shades on so you can people watch to your hearts desire is a good way to pass the time too.
But nothing tops Town Lake. You've got musicians, political activists, Asian Buddhists meditating, fast people, slow people, beautiful people (lots), ugly people (not many), pairs rowers, canoers, dancers, swimming dogs, leashed dogs, unleashed dogs, 2 cold water stops about 2 miles apart hosted by Run Tex, the local legit running store. It has it all!
The trails are crushed clay so they are good on the joints, and they dip down to the water line, then up about 20 feet above the water line and back down, so it is flat, but there is enough variability to give yourself a total body workout with no risk of an overuse injury. There are miles of trails, but the most popular sections run from the pedestrian bridge underneath Mopac down to 1st St. It makes for about a 4.2 mile loop. I ran this loop twice this morning.
The leaves were turning with lots of yellows, reds, and oranges. The temps were perfect. It was amazing.
I ran a hard 4.5 mile tempo run on Thanksgiving morning, a 5 mile recovery run on Friday, and a long 8.5 mile run this morning.
A funny thing happened this morning. I was very stiff starting out and my lower legs from the knees down were tight. My workout was 20 mins base pace, the 3x20 mins (15 mins base pace, then 5 mins marathon pace).
As the run went on, my HR in both the three base pace intervals, and the three marathon pace intervals got lower. In the base, it started at 158, then 156, then 154. Each interval also got faster starting at 10:00 pace, then 9:48 pace, then 9:32 pace. In the marathon pace intervals, it started at 162, then 160, then 155 and the speed of the intervals was 9:15, 9:09, and 9:12. A very strange phenomenon. I guess it was me just getting warmed up, and my lungs opening up as the run went on. It obviously felt good and not only did it feel like it was getting easier as I went on, but I guess the data would say, IT WAS getting easier. Weird, but I'll take it.
On Wed and Thursday, I headed over to Barton Springs, the spring fed public pool in Zilker Park to soak my legs in the constant 68 degree water which aided in recovery.
I'm back at home now hoping for some upsets in the top 4 of the BCS, but it isn't looking good.
At least my Owls are giving U of H all it can handle.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sunday, November 16, 2008
San Antonio Rock'n Roll Half Marathon
The SAT RNR Half Marathon is in the books. I'm back at home on my couch getting caught up the USC game from yesterday just trying to enjoy the rest of the Sunday.
The race went very well for me. I managed to exceed my expectations again which I've been doing a lot of lately for a change.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with my buddies Tim and Darren from Houston. We met up for the race expo on Sat, grabbed lunch and dinner together afterwards, and carpooled to the race together this morning.
The race had over 30,000 people in it, with 20K doing the half marathon, and 10K doing the full. Packet pickup was at the Alamo Dome and as you'd suspect with that many people, was chaos.
Race morning went pretty smooth. We got dropped off real close to the start, got in a few pit stops in the bushes near by, a small jog in, and we just chilled out. It was about 38 degrees, but it didn't feel too bad.
The gun went off, but it took us over 12 minutes to hit the start line. They were good about staggering the corals, so we were able to get up to pace straight away.
The three of us ran together for the first mile, then everyone started doing their own thing. Tim took off, and I slowly pulled away from Darren. By about mile two, I lost sight of Tim, and just settled in to a good clip while trying to force myself to hold back a bit.
The highlight of the race for me came early on as we ran right past the Alamo. There was a 20 piece mariachi band banging away out front, huge crowds, picture perfect back drop. It was awesome. I'm Texan!
The course was nice and fast. Pretty much flat the hole way with only one small rise around the 4 or 5 mile mark as I recall, but benign in the grand scheme of things. The scenery was pretty good, and it was well supported as you'd suspect.
I started off with a couple of low 9 min miles before dropping under the 9 pace for miles 3-5. At mile 5, I took in my first gel, then dropped the pace down below 8:30.
I felt real good at mile 8 and 9 where I clocked my fastest miles, both 8:11. Mile 10 is where I first started to feel some of the pain. My pace crept up to the low 8:20s, and I had to slowly layer in additional effort just to hold it there the rest of the way.
I came through an aid station at about 10.5 miles and caught sight of Tim about 30-40 yards up the road for the first time since the opening minutes of the run. I just held my pace in the low 8:20s and he slowly came back to me. I know he'll read this so he'll get a kick out of this.
I probably fully closed the gap to Tim at about the 12.5 mile mark, but didn't want to pass him for fear that he would drop the hammer, and I'd have no choice but to go with him. I decided I had about a quarter mile of giddy up in my legs, so I wouldn't say hi to him until I felt we were within the last quarter to go. I didn't want to smack it, but probably could have at the expense of the rest of the upcoming training week.
We hit a slight hill right at the very end outside of the Alamo Dome, Tim slowed a bit, and I pulled up beside him and mumbled something like hello to him. I think he said "shit" or something like that.
I wasn't going to drop the hammer on Tim, and he was kind enough not to drop the hammer on me. We rolled across the finish line side by side. It was pretty awesome. A PR for both of us.
Darren PR'd too with a 2:05 and a solid effort.
Here were my mile splits:
mi 1 - 9:11
mi 2 - 9:07
mi 3 - 8:48
mi 4 - 8:54
mi 5 - 8:53
mi 6 - 8:26
mi 7 - 8:24
mi 8 - 8:11
mi 9 - 8:11
mi 10 - 8:22
mi 11 - 8:21
mi 12 - 8:21
mi 13 - 8:21
mi 13.1 - 1:43 (8:03 pace, my watch had the distance at 13.21, probably due to weaving)
Time: 1:53.10 official (1:53.19 on my GPS)
HR: 173 avg
I'm pretty happy with the pacing. The goal was to negative split the run, and while I don't have a half way point split, my last 6 miles were 3 min 32 secs faster than the first 6, so that is good.
My sciatica in my left leg is pretty painful post race. It was nagging and sapped some of my power starting at about the half way point of the run. I'm going to have it looked at pretty soon, just to see if I can start managing the discomfort a bit better. I've had the pain for years, but with the recent focus on running, it is more of a nuisance than it has been.
Other than that, I feel okay, just a little beat up from the hard roads and the fast miles.
The trip was fun, it was good catching up with my friends. We'll have to get some of those other Houston guys out at the next one.
The race went very well for me. I managed to exceed my expectations again which I've been doing a lot of lately for a change.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time with my buddies Tim and Darren from Houston. We met up for the race expo on Sat, grabbed lunch and dinner together afterwards, and carpooled to the race together this morning.
The race had over 30,000 people in it, with 20K doing the half marathon, and 10K doing the full. Packet pickup was at the Alamo Dome and as you'd suspect with that many people, was chaos.
Race morning went pretty smooth. We got dropped off real close to the start, got in a few pit stops in the bushes near by, a small jog in, and we just chilled out. It was about 38 degrees, but it didn't feel too bad.
The gun went off, but it took us over 12 minutes to hit the start line. They were good about staggering the corals, so we were able to get up to pace straight away.
The three of us ran together for the first mile, then everyone started doing their own thing. Tim took off, and I slowly pulled away from Darren. By about mile two, I lost sight of Tim, and just settled in to a good clip while trying to force myself to hold back a bit.
The highlight of the race for me came early on as we ran right past the Alamo. There was a 20 piece mariachi band banging away out front, huge crowds, picture perfect back drop. It was awesome. I'm Texan!
The course was nice and fast. Pretty much flat the hole way with only one small rise around the 4 or 5 mile mark as I recall, but benign in the grand scheme of things. The scenery was pretty good, and it was well supported as you'd suspect.
I started off with a couple of low 9 min miles before dropping under the 9 pace for miles 3-5. At mile 5, I took in my first gel, then dropped the pace down below 8:30.
I felt real good at mile 8 and 9 where I clocked my fastest miles, both 8:11. Mile 10 is where I first started to feel some of the pain. My pace crept up to the low 8:20s, and I had to slowly layer in additional effort just to hold it there the rest of the way.
I came through an aid station at about 10.5 miles and caught sight of Tim about 30-40 yards up the road for the first time since the opening minutes of the run. I just held my pace in the low 8:20s and he slowly came back to me. I know he'll read this so he'll get a kick out of this.
I probably fully closed the gap to Tim at about the 12.5 mile mark, but didn't want to pass him for fear that he would drop the hammer, and I'd have no choice but to go with him. I decided I had about a quarter mile of giddy up in my legs, so I wouldn't say hi to him until I felt we were within the last quarter to go. I didn't want to smack it, but probably could have at the expense of the rest of the upcoming training week.
We hit a slight hill right at the very end outside of the Alamo Dome, Tim slowed a bit, and I pulled up beside him and mumbled something like hello to him. I think he said "shit" or something like that.
I wasn't going to drop the hammer on Tim, and he was kind enough not to drop the hammer on me. We rolled across the finish line side by side. It was pretty awesome. A PR for both of us.
Darren PR'd too with a 2:05 and a solid effort.
Here were my mile splits:
mi 1 - 9:11
mi 2 - 9:07
mi 3 - 8:48
mi 4 - 8:54
mi 5 - 8:53
mi 6 - 8:26
mi 7 - 8:24
mi 8 - 8:11
mi 9 - 8:11
mi 10 - 8:22
mi 11 - 8:21
mi 12 - 8:21
mi 13 - 8:21
mi 13.1 - 1:43 (8:03 pace, my watch had the distance at 13.21, probably due to weaving)
Time: 1:53.10 official (1:53.19 on my GPS)
HR: 173 avg
I'm pretty happy with the pacing. The goal was to negative split the run, and while I don't have a half way point split, my last 6 miles were 3 min 32 secs faster than the first 6, so that is good.
My sciatica in my left leg is pretty painful post race. It was nagging and sapped some of my power starting at about the half way point of the run. I'm going to have it looked at pretty soon, just to see if I can start managing the discomfort a bit better. I've had the pain for years, but with the recent focus on running, it is more of a nuisance than it has been.
Other than that, I feel okay, just a little beat up from the hard roads and the fast miles.
The trip was fun, it was good catching up with my friends. We'll have to get some of those other Houston guys out at the next one.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Back in the Water
My Masters swim team has been swimming at an alternate facility at super early times for the past 3 weeks while the bubble was being installed over the regular pool at Northlake Community College. It was supposed to be a 1 week install job, but they bought a new bubble for this winter and with it came installation troubles.
So I've only been in the water twice since Longhorn on Oct 5th, and only one of those swims was a propper workout.
This morning was the first day that the normal pool was back and business, which meant I was too.
I've got to say, I felt terrible in the water. Slow, weak, and sloppy. But I managed to get in 3,800 yards, and feel like it will come back quick.
When my swimming is going well, it is always a sign that the rest of my training is going well. I'm not sure why, and could probably spin a chicken and egg story if I had the time, but the two always seem to go hand-in-hand.
Here was the workout:
400 swim, 400 pull, 300 kick, 100 swim
5x200 swim even paced for all 5 (30 secs rest)
4x300 swim with fins descend 1-4 (30 sec rest)
400 warm down
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advice of the week:
I think airline stocks are severly undervalued right now, and see a buying opportunity. The only thing to be weary of are airlines that hedged over the summer in a manner that puts their price floor on their collars $20+ above the prompt month price. They will have liquidity problems in 1Q09.
So I've only been in the water twice since Longhorn on Oct 5th, and only one of those swims was a propper workout.
This morning was the first day that the normal pool was back and business, which meant I was too.
I've got to say, I felt terrible in the water. Slow, weak, and sloppy. But I managed to get in 3,800 yards, and feel like it will come back quick.
When my swimming is going well, it is always a sign that the rest of my training is going well. I'm not sure why, and could probably spin a chicken and egg story if I had the time, but the two always seem to go hand-in-hand.
Here was the workout:
400 swim, 400 pull, 300 kick, 100 swim
5x200 swim even paced for all 5 (30 secs rest)
4x300 swim with fins descend 1-4 (30 sec rest)
400 warm down
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advice of the week:
I think airline stocks are severly undervalued right now, and see a buying opportunity. The only thing to be weary of are airlines that hedged over the summer in a manner that puts their price floor on their collars $20+ above the prompt month price. They will have liquidity problems in 1Q09.
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