New Running Stuff

Gavin at Bull Creek

Who doesn't like getting running stuff in the mail.  I just got a nice big order from Running Warehouse - shirts, shorts, socks and a foam roller.  Since almost every running sock I own seems to have a hole in the toe, that was a long overdue addition.  I treated myself to a couple of pairs of Adidas shorts because they are much lighter than the Nikes I've been wearing for the past few years, and have the added bonus of a back pocket.  Likewise, a couple of Adidas shirts - the same cut as the "Marathon Talk" shirt I got a few weeks ago, which I love.

I tried the shorts and shirt out on this morning's 15 miler, and was very pleased with both.  It was a muggy old day, but the lightweight shirt kept me comfortable, and the shorts were very comfortable.  I think I have some new favorite running attire.

So I'm sitting here with my right foot in a bowl of ice water, watching the Lord of the Rings with Gavin.  We had a great afternoon together - we hiked and ran 5 miles of the hilly trails of Bull Creek, gathered a fine collection of sticks and discussed elves, goblins and dwarves in great detail.

It was awesome.

But it didn't do much for my painful foot, which bothered me a little more than I wanted on this morning's run.  It's like a bruise on the ball of my foot that refuses to go away.

But it needs to be gone.  Because there are 2 weeks to Boston, and come hell or high water I want to run a good 26.2.

The Road is Too Long (so now it's gone)

Hello from Richmond, VA.  I arrived late last night, my luggage arrived this evening (I'm pretty sure I saw it last night from my window seat, sitting sadly on the tarmac with a few other bags as our plane taxied out of Dallas).  Ever made a presentation to clients while wearing running shoes, cargo pants and Adidas workout shirt?  It's very liberating - I highly recommend self deprecating British humor to see you through!!!

And my deepest apologies to you, dear blog, for neglecting you.  I didn't mean to, but it's just that I've been so very busy.

Well, that and I also got tired of doing my "Road to Boston" series of postings.  I mean come on, a 16 week training diary?  What was I thinking?  There are only so many ways of finding new and interesting ways to say "I ran xx miles this morning" before you start making shit up.  So I'm abandoning it and going back to my normal chatty postings.

But for that 0.001% of you who were enjoying those posts, here's the quick roundup.  I ran 20 miles last Saturday and felt really good.  We saw Lance on the trail.  The bottom of my foot hurts like a son of a bitch.  Hope I can keep it from breaking down until after Boston.

And if my parents are reading this, let me head off your pending questions.  No, I'm not going to stop all that silly running.  And yes, I'm pretty sure my legs aren't going to fall off.

I've also been catching up on my reading (I love my Kindle, have I ever said that - yeah, maybe only a few hundred times).  I read Meb Keflezighi's "Run to Overcome" a few weeks ago, and I just finished C.L. Bevill's "Veiled Eyes", a great paranormal mystery set in the Louisiana bayous.  Tonight I went old school and started reading a genuine paper and ink book - Jennifer Pharr Davis "Becoming Odyssa" which Clea kindly lent me.  It's about the author's through hike of the Appalachian trail.  I haven't gotten very far yet,  but I think I'm going to really enjoy it.  She's engaging, funny, and her early efforts sound as wonderfully disorganized as me.  Here's my favorite excerpt so far:

"I was never fitted for a pack before I left to hike.  Instead, I had gone to a downstairs closet in my parents' house and rummaged through thirty-year-old sleeping bags and campfire cookware to find an old external-frame backpack that my brother had once used at summer camp.  Its faded grey color and worn hip belt weren't glamorous, but it was free".

Yeah, that reminds me of my inner frugalness.  It also reminds me of the time I showed up for an all-night trail race having forgotten my headlamp.  But that's another story.

I'm pretty sure I will have finished it by the time my plane touches down back in Austin.

The Road to Boston (week 11 of 16)

This is the month that will either make or break my Boston race, so it's time to pull out the stops, knuckle down and do some hard work.  I'm finally back home for a decent stretch, and newly armed with a couple of new workout dvds.  Bring it on.

Saturday March 10th
5:10am, 45F and rainy.  Did 18 miles in 2:34:37 (8:35 average).

Sunday March 11th
5:30am, 55F, pouring rain and stormy.  Since this clocks went forward last night, this was a particularly early start.  Had a point in this run where I could have cut it short to 7 miles, but happy to report I kept with my original plan and continued for the extra mile.  Yay me!!!  8 miles in 1:06:54 (8:21 average) - not bad for a recovery run.

9pm.  50 minutes of core work.  Gavin joined in with me, and we had a good time working out together.
 
Monday March 12th
9pm.  60 minutes of circuit training.  Earned a good bit of sweat equity for Boston tonight with a good hard workout.  Sweated through my shoes for the first time since running through last summer's heat.  Concentrated on lots of variations of squats, lunges and jumps.  Really pushed it, and it felt great.  Tired but happy.

Wednesday March 14th
5am, 68F and muggy.   Was supposed to run 10 yesterday, but was awake with a "not quite feeling himself and wants his dad" Dylan instead.  Wanted to make up for it by meeting James for a pace run this morning.  Did 7 miles in 54:50 (7:50 average).  Not as fast I would have liked, but I'll still take a sub-7.

5pm.  Did an hour of kettlebell swings, squats and holds.  Legs like rubber, back really tight, sweat pouring off, sweated through my shoes again.  Paying my entry fee for Boston right here.

Thursday March 15th
 5am, 68F and muggy.  7 miles with Clea this morning.  Legs still sore from last night, but got better the further we went (possibly fueled by the conversation about closets and cockney rhyming slang).  Ran 58:44 (8:23 average).

The Road to Boston (week 10 of 16)

6 weeks to go, and I really don't feel prepared at all (so what else is new, right?).  My running does not seem anywhere near as easy as it was a few short months ago, and my focus has wavered (plus I've been eating way too much junk stuff on all my travels).  On the other hand, I probably don't want to be smooth sailing this far out.  If I play it right, I can run myself into form and straight into the start line at Hopkinton.

And I'm still contemplating what to do after Boston.  Part of me wants to sign up for another race (like the super fun BCS marathon I ran last December), while another part of me wants to give it a break for a while.  Good angel, bad angel.  Jekyll and Hyde.  Right now the powers of light and darkness are in perfect balance.

Though as my plans to run a marathon with my brother in the UK this summer fell through, I guess I don't need to make a decision for a while anyway!!!

Saturday March 3rd
5:10am, 55F and windy.  Met Clea for 18 miles, with a guest appearance by Megan in the middle of the run.  Sore hamstring because I was stupid and did a boat load of leg curls last week on an already dodgy hamstring.  No monster Stratford hills today (thank goodness), but still enough inclines on Scenic and Jefferson to keep me interested.  Finished in 2:36:11 (8:41 average), with the highlight being a quick stop to check on a "drunk as a skunk" yuppie sprawled across the trail.  At the risk of sounding old, man I do not miss the party scene at all!!!

Sunday March 4th
5:30am, 48F.  7 mile Shoal Creek recovery run with Clea.  We kept a good pace and equally good conversation to finish up in 57:37 (8:14 average).  Big day as I rushed home to celebrate Gavin's birthday.  Good thing I clocked up the miles this weekend, as we all enjoyed Cheesecake Factory cheesecake.  I only wish I hadn't looked at the nutrition label!!!

Tuesday March 6th
5am, 58F and humid.  Met James for our 7 mile pace run.  He's training for London and me for Boston, so we're right at the same point in our training.  Which means we were both tired from 18-20 mile runs this weekend.  Still, we managed 7 miles in 53:55 (7:42 average), which is not bad at all.

9:30pm.  Traveling again at another client site.  After a 4 hour drive to North Texas after work, needed something to loosen me up.  In the absence of a good single malt, that something turned out to be Bob Harper's 15 minute "yoga" abs workout.  Now I'm ready for bed, with the best intentions of getting up for an early morning run in a bid to avoid the runner-unfriendly local motorists, thus saving wear and tear on my middle finger.

The Road to Boston (week 9 of 16)

Ok, completely disorganized this week, but greetings from Little Rock, AR.  Man am I ever racking up the air miles and hotel points these days!!!  Been slacking on the blog front after some late night work sessions, but sneaking in a few minutes to get it done.

Bad news this week when I heard my little brother had to pull out of what would have been his debut marathon at London due to injury.  Tried to convince him to run his first marathon with me when I'm over in the UK this coming summer, but it's not to be.

Oh well, take care of yourself and heal up quickly bro.  I am not accepting that as an excuse when I nail your ass at a park run this summer.

I am reading "Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham and the Science of Success" by Matthew Syed.  It is a fascinating book that delves into the psychology and similarities of the most successful people in sports, music etc.  There are some real insights into human behavior, though I think it's telling me I'm not much good at anything because I'm lazy.  To be fair, it's probably right :-)

Saturday February 25th
5:15am, can't remember what the weather was doing.  13 miles, annoying hamstring injury, the hills of Stratford, 1:56:07 (8:54 average).  On the plus side, I got home in time to watch the Wales rugby team win the Triple Crown by beating England, and the Marathon Talk technical shirts arrived from the UK (Boston race shirts for Clea and myself).

Sunday February 26th
5:30am, no idea about the weather.  Weird run - seemed to get more into it as it went along.  7 miles in 57:45 (8:17 average)
pm. 1 hour of strength circuits.  A rare chance to work out with Nancy.  Oh man, she ground me into the dirt!!!

Monday February 27th
In Little Rock.  The hotel I am staying at has free access to a gym across the road, and very nice it is too.  Found myself working out on the 29th floor in front of floor to ceiling windows with magnificent panoramic views of downtown Little Rock.  Did the elliptical, the stair climber, the bike and then beasted my legs with 5 sets of 15 reps of leg extensions, leg curls and weighted squats.  Oh boy, those leg curls did nothing for my sore hamstrings.

Tuesday February 28th
Drama at the gym tonight as some guy collapsed and had to be carted out by the EMTs.  Spent a bit extra time on the eliptical as I watched events unfold.  Did more leg extensions, but my hamstring was in full rebellion mode as soon as I tried the leg curl machine.  Gave up and went to eat Chinese instead.

Wednesday February 29th
Happy leap day.  Back in the gym tonight - more bike, elliptical, stair climber and weighted squats.  Also did weighted core rotations and lat pulldowns.  Then I had a go on the heavy bag (pretended it was some of my clients - haha), and had a great time with the battling ropes, making them dance for me.  Never used them before - they were fun.  And tiring.  Will have to get me some!!!

Thursday March 1st
Last night at the panoramic gym as I fly back to Austin tomorrow.  Did the elliptical, the bike, the old "rubber legged" workout, and threw around the battling ropes with somewhat of a spring on my step.  Spent quite a bit of time chatting with the receptionist in the hotel.  She was flirting big time, which explains the spring in the step!!  Useful things these British accents :-)

The Road to Boston (week 8 of 16)

I'm counting this as the mid-term break.  I did not run a step last weekend - a combination of thunder and lightning, Brownwood duty and plain old lack of motivation did me in, and I did nothing at all.

And what's up with the motivation?  I have no idea, but it's suddenly gone South.  Nancy is putting me to shame - she gets up at 4:30 most mornings to work out (and you can tell because she's looking really good), whereas I have to drag my lazy butt out of bed to grind out runs that are nowhere near as easy as they seemed a month ago. I have a nagging fear that I have peaked, and I'm now on the slippery downslope.  The good part of that is that I have more than enough time to regroup, come again and peak once more for Boston.

And another spanner in the Boston wheel is a lot more business travel coming up.  In the next month I will be heading out to Virginia, Arkansas and North Texas.  I will have to keep my discipline, zip up the old man suit and just get out there and do it.

In other news, I am reading "Into the Silence" by Wade Davis (author the "The Serpent and the Rainbow").  It is the story of George Mallory - taking apart the legend that surrounds him, and going into painstaking detail, not only about his legendary Everest expeditions, but also the motivations and political posturing of the age.  It delves into the Great War, along with the implications and attitudes of the Raj and the British Empire.

The human cost of trench warfare is unimaginable, and described in vivid detail.  I remember my grandfather telling me stories of being in the trenches when I was a boy, but I didn't truly appreciate it then.  Now that I would, he's no longer here to tell them - funny how that works.

While fascinating, it is a huge book.  I am a fast reader, but I have been working on it for weeks and am still nowhere near half way through.  It is one of those that I may need to break up and come back to in bits.

Anyway, on to the training log.

Saturday 18th February
Woke up to thunder and lightning and the prospect of a trip to Brownwood.  Not motivated.  The zipper on the man suit broke right off, and I lose my 100% Febulous record.

Tuesday 21th February
5am, 48F, foggy and humid.  Finally got my butt back into gear, and met up with James for a pace run.  Dang, I seem to be trying twice as hard only to go a lot slower than I did a month ago.  What's up with that?  Still, we managed 7 miles in 54:47 (7:49 average), while we both enjoyed a good old moan.  Fantastic!!!

Thursday 23rd February
5am, 60F and humid.  Relaxed run around Mueller with Clea - she is recovering from pacing the marathon last weekend, I am carrying a slight hamstring strain.  Knocked out 7 miles in 59:43 (8:32 average).