An Ice Story

Let's get the running part out of the way.

I decided to go ahead with the long run this morning and got to Old Settlers early to do a pre-RRFit 6 miles. It was a nice uneventful run, though I probably didn't take it as easy as I should have. Got back to the pavilion, picked up my group and set off on an 8 miler. I ran hard for the first few miles and waited at the turnaround to cheer on the guys before sweeping the last runner. Once we got back into the park, I upped the pace again and finished a very pleasant run. Nancy arrived with Gavin soon after, I put him into his jogging stroller and we took off for another 8 miles. This eventually turned into just 7 miles as we explored a new housing development with some lovely Cape Cod style cottages. I was happy with a 21 mile morning and we decided to call it a day.

So here's the good part. I needed to take an ice bath when we got home to minimize soreness for tomorrow's race, and Gavin was getting excited about pouring ice on daddy. So I dumped off my shoes, socks and shirt, climbed into the bath in my running shorts and filled it with cold water to cover my legs. Gavin enjoyed splashing me from time to time, but I could tell he was plotting evil deeds with the ice. He and Nancy carried the ice reservoir in from the freezer and he took great delight in pouring it all in. Of course, I hammed it up and squealed and complained every step of the way. Once the ice was in, he found it was extremely funny to grab pieces of ice and throw them down in the water so they splashed me. Then he got brave, dug his hands in and started splashing me. Let me tell you, that water was c-o-l-d. Finally I had enough and started splashing him back. Well, he thought that was hilarious, started giggling and doubled his efforts. I told him that if he didn't stop, I was going to pull him in.

What I did not expect was for him to think this was a great idea, and before I knew it he'd hopped in and was standing in the bath kicking water over me. Kicking ice water over me. When I complained that it was cold, he stopped, looked at me, and slowly sat down. "No it's not" he said and continued his splashing frenzy.

Humbled. By a 3 year old.

So I decided to splash him back and what followed was a riotous water fight - in an ice bath!!! That water was freezing cold, but I couldn't complain because Gavin was getting as good as he was giving and laughing fit to burst. There was water everywhere, and we were both soaking and laughing our heads off. When Nancy came to see what the commotion was all about, she couldn't believe it. In all, he was in the ice bath with me for a good 5 minutes and it didn't affect him one bit.

So the next time I chicken out of an ice bath, or boast about "mental toughness" (see yesterday's whiny post) I will remember the lesson I learned today from my 3 year old son, shut my mouth and just get on with it.

Needless to say, I am very proud of him. We sat down for sourdough waffles and pancakes afterwards (which really hit the spot) and he's now sitting on the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket and watching Nemo.

I think I'm going to join him.

The Wind Cries Mary

Hurricane Ike smashed into the Texas coast this morning leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. There were all kinds of predictions that Ike would sideswipe Austin, with predictions of 2 to 4 inches of rain, and what did we get? Not even a drop. West Texas is struggling with torrential rain, Ike is devastating East Texas, yet here in the capitol city we are dry as a bone. That's just weird.

One thing we did get from Ike was very high winds which made my 17 mile run this morning a real bitch. Last week I had a great run and averaged around 7:50. This week I struggled running into a headwind for most of the run and averaged around 8:45. On the few occasions I wasn't running into the wind it was super humid which quickly turned my singlet into a soggy, slappy, clingy, chafing deadweight. Did I ever mention that I hate running in the wind? Heat I can handle, cold - love it. But the wind robs me of any rhythm and I expended a lot of energy just trying to stay upright. This was a real head down, grit your teeth, wait for it to be over run.

I started out at 5:30 and got in a 10 miler before meeting up with my group to do another 7 miles. I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to going another 7, but I made myself head back out. My plan for these runs is that I would do my solo run beforehand, and then run with the group which would force me to keep up a fast pace on tired legs. Wearing a coach's shirt usually means that you have a target on your back and everyone in your group wants to finish ahead of you, which in turn motivates you to keep the pace going. Unfortunately most of my group weren't that motivated today and turned around at 3 miles, but three of us continued on the extra half mile to get in the full 7. On the way back I swept up one chap from one of the other pace groups who had missed his turnaround. I ran with him until we got back into the park when he stopped for water and told me to go on.

Once I finished, I had enough time to get in a stretch and gobble down some pretzels before heading off to work to manage some system upgrades. Tomorrow is my last group run with the work crowd before next week's Silicon Labs marathon relay. I'm debating whether or not to run Ken's beforehand. I must admit, the temptation of a rare lie in is very appealing.

Running in the Lap of the Gods

Yesterday I had one of my best runs in recent memory. Not in terms of time or pace or any of those incidentals, but in terms of sheer enjoyment.

I got to Old Settlers Park at 6am to get in a 6 mile run (6 at 6 - has a ring do it, don't ya think?) before my group arrived. It took me a mile or so to get into a rhythm, but by the time I got out of the park and onto the dark country roads I had relaxed into a leisurely pace and was in the groove. The sky opened up into a mosaic of stars, a seemingly endless cosmic highway, and I enjoyed the feel of the cool early morning (good news folks, Fall is coming). The world seemed to begin and end within the beam of my headlamp - alone with my thoughts I could have been the only person in existence. Just before I reached my turnaround, an armadillo wandered across the road in front of me (I passed him again on the way back), glanced up and then continued his pottering. These are the kind of magical mornings you live for as a runner, when everything comes together just right and running is effortless. Runs like this make me realize how good life really is and I am so grateful to be fit and healthy, and able to be out there doing this. The moral of the story is that there is so much more to running than times and distances. Whatever your pace or ability level, do it for the enjoyment and everything else will just flow.

I got back to the pavilion just as dawn was breaking, dumped off my headlamp, refilled my water, picked up my group and headed back out. I positioned myself in the middle of the group and moved up and down chatting to friends old and new. We took a slightly different route and I stopped at the turnaround to sweep the last runner. I ran with him for a mile or so and then took off and hit the last 2 miles hard.

I got back to the pavilion, socialized a bit and helped do teardown. By then, Nancy had arrived with Gavin so I strapped him into the jogging stroller and we all took off for my third 6 miler of the day. This was a nice easy-paced run and I spent the entire time talking and laughing with Gavin. We pointed out the horses and the cows and he told me all about his hopes to spot elephants and tigers along the way. We had a grand old time - I think I've found my mental equal, and he's 3 years old. I'd promised him that if he was a good boy I'd play on the swings with him when we got back to the park, and sure enough he wanted daddy to chase him. We spent a good 30 to 40 minutes tearing around and playing on the slides. Nancy had brought a picnic (tea and trail mix) which we enjoyed, and we had a lovely time.

So three runs, all different and all super enjoyable in different ways. What a great day. That along with a fast downtown 4 miles this morning made for a great running weekend. Bring it on.

Running on Empty

Pushup Challenge : Week 6 Day 1
Plan : 56, 45, 42, 40, at least 56
Actual : 56, 45, 42, 40, 56

Round Rock Fit kicked off again yesterday and I was up at Old Settlers' Park bright and early to help get everything organized. It was good to see some old friends but there were also a lot of new faces. We had registration, a lecture and a time trial to determine which pace group folks would drop into. Part of my job was to take the groups out, so I ended up running the 3 mile loop several times. The first time I went out with some fast guys, stopped at the turnaround and handed out water to the other runners before doing sweep behind the group. The last run was my favorite - there were about 8 people in this group and they were all around the same pace (roughly 10 minute mile). We chatted the whole way out, and then I waited at the turnaround for one girl who had dropped slightly off the pace and ran back with her. I could tell she was struggling so I kept up the conversation to keep her mind off running. We nattered away about everything and nothing for the whole 1.5 miles back and before she knew it we were done. She thanked me for getting her round and said she'd enjoyed running with me. I told her to stick with it because it would only get easier from here on. This is why I like doing this coaching lark - it is very rewarding to help people through these initial humps, and then see them a few months later running 10 miles.

This morning I got up (way too) early to run Ken's loop and was amazed to see a fast flowing river where not a few weeks ago there was a dry riverbed. I guess we've had more rain than I thought. I had a reasonably good run but my "nemesis" hill had its revenge on me. I was determined to really drill it so I pretty much sprinted up the damn thing. By the time I got to the top my legs had turned to rubber and didn't recover for the rest of the run. I suddenly realized I still had a 7 mile road run to do before going home. Whoops - not the smartest move.

So I drove downtown to meet up with some of the boys from work. There were 5 of us, three of whom were doing a 5k distance and James and myself who were doing 7 miles. We all ran together for the first mile or so before I directed the 5k guys to their cutoff and we carried on Northward. James is another British guy and a really fast runner. We were going at a fairly steady 8 minute mile pace when I realized that the tank was dry - I tried to push into the extra gear only to discover there wasn't one. That isn't a nice feeling and hasn't happened to me that often. My pace kept dropping off and we ended up walking the last portion of the run. Oh well, I guess these things happen. I'm thinking it was a combination of my earlier trail run, some hangover from last week's 50 miler and the high humidity. I've also been feeling crappy and lethargic all week which didn't help. By the time I got home, the only thing I wanted to do was go lie down in the shower. So I did.

This afternoon I had to really force myself to do the pushup challenge. Into the final week and my arms are feeling it. I did 239 pushups today. They were hard (especially the last set) but I am starting to believe I can do the 100.

So here's the big question. Now that my training season has officially started, will I have the motivation to get up at 4am tomorrow morning and run 6 miles? Bets are on.

Finally, commiserations to Carl - the only other Welsh guy I know in Austin. His second attempt at completing a hundred miler ended this morning at Cascade Crest due to vandalism on the course which sent him the wrong way and out of the race somewhere after the 50 mile mark. Apparently he also had an encounter with a mountain lion!!! I bet he'll have some stories to tell though.

Laughter - a Great Core Workout

Pushup Challenge : week 5 day 1
Plan : 40, 32, 30, 25, at least 40
Actual : 40, 32, 30, 25, 40

I recently DVRed a yoga show on PBS called "Wai Lana Yoga" and tried it out this evening. To be fair, let me say first up that it was a very good stretching routine (something I could definitely do more of) and I found some of the positions (especially the lotus) challenging. Having said that, part of the difficulty stemmed from the fact that I was shaking with laughter most of the way through. Picture the scene - camera fades in on tropical Hawaiian beach where we find bizarre pseudo-hippy yoga yoda lady, complete with comedy voice and wearing some kind of baggy clown jumpsuit - WTF???? Half way through we fade to fish swimming peacefully and when we get back to bliss beach, she's doing a happy dance. Oh, manna from heaven for this cynical Brit. I can't take it any more. Unable to stop laughing, my abs haven't been this sore in years. Any more of this and I'll have a six pack to rival the one in my fridge.

Classic stuff.

Once I'd recovered from that I had a crack at week 5 of the pushup challenge. Wow, this program has ratcheted up suddenly. I forced myself to grit out the final 40 and just about made it, but it was close. 167 pushups tonight - I think this is going to be a hard week.

We had our Round Rock Fit coaches meeting last night at the Main Street Grill, an upscale restaurant in downtown Round Rock. Wow, that place serves great food. It is located in an old bank and one of the tables is actually inside the old vault - very cool. There were about 15 of us in the group and we shared a whole bunch of yummy appetizers. We filled out and signed all the required paperwork and then socialized. I haven't seen some of these folks since marathon day back in February and it was great to catch up with old friends over a few glasses of red wine. I can't believe the new Round Rock Fit season starts up again in less than two weeks. Happy days.

Back Home

Pushup Challenge : Week 3 day 3
Plan : 30, 22, 22, 20, at least 27
Actual : 30, 22, 22, 20, 30

This was the hardest day of the pushup challenge so far - the first time that I wondered if I would complete them all. But I did and am now officially at the halfway point. I did 124 pushups tonight - bring on week 4. I also realized that I've been cheating myself and only taking 60 seconds break between sets for the last four weeks (day 2 of each week is supposed to get 90 seconds and day 3 gets 120 seconds). That will teach me to read the rules properly.

Anyway, I'm back home in Austin, but not without one of my "idiot" moments this morning. As my hotel room had a fridge, I bought a carton of milk on Monday evening. I figured I'd better finish it off before I left so I grabbed it and took a big swig from the carton. Unfortunately, unknown to me, the fridge was not working and the milk was off - and I mean way off. I ended up with a mouth full of clear liquid and a whole bunch of solid yuck left at the bottom of the carton - nice.

But I had a nice relaxing drive back from Dallas this afternoon. Made pretty good time - just over 3 hours. I put a Patricia Cornwell audiobook in the cd player as I left the parking garage in Dallas and it finished just as I was turning into my neighborhood. It was nice to spend a few days away, and I met a good bunch of folks, but it's nice to be back home too. I'll be headed up there again at the end of August.

And it was nice to find the air conditioner working again. Not so nice to see the $500 bill for fixing it though. Oh well. The DVR is still not quite right - it seems to have developed some kind of timing issue on startup between the backend, the database and the client (I wonder if little fingers have been pressing buttons). I managed to get it up and running by inserting a 30 second delay into its boot up time while I figure out what the problem is (don't see anything in the log, so maybe the database just needs a reorg).

Tomorrow morning I have to get up early to do my run with the work group I'm coaching for the marathon relay. I've split up the groups into 2 runs, and I plan on going out with the 10k group and getting back in time to go out with the 5k group as well.

I also have the coach's meeting with Round Rock Fit coming up in a few weeks at the Main Street Grille in Round Rock. Looking forward to seeing all my friends again, and Main Street put on a really good spread last year. Should be a fun night.

And Sunday I'm back into cheerleading mode as Nancy is doing the Jack's Generic triathlon. It's at the Texas ski ranch and is her favorite triathlon of the year.

Pushup Challenge : week 1 day 2

Plan : 12, 12, 10, 10, at least 10
Actual : 12, 12, 10, 10, 25

Well today was week one, day number two of the pushup challenge. I kept on top of the schedule and was happy to manage 5 more on the final set than I did last time. The hundred still seems a long way off though. Congratulations to my pal Jeff for a strong start to his pushup challenge. Anyone else out there doing this?

I've been co-opted onto the "health and fitness" committee at work, and have been given the task of assembling and coaching a team of runners to compete for the Governor's Cup at the Silicon Labs Austin marathon relay. Going to my first committee meeting tomorrow morning, so should be interesting. Guess that's yet another race to add to the calendar.

Unfortunately the trip to the Guadalupe mountains looks like it's off. I will be up in Dallas until the Friday evening before labor day, and may need to be back there directly after (I have a lot of deadlines coming up). Plus I have coaching commitments with Round Rock Fit, and that Saturday is the first real chance to meet up with my group. It turns out my buddy busted up his ankle again last night and may not be able to make it either. He is also no longer planning on running the Cactus Rose 100, which is a bloody shame since I once said that if he didn't run it then I would. Fortunately I think I may have found another buddy who needs a pacer, so that may be my "out".

And speaking of ankles, mine is fine. I tried out some different trail shoes last Saturday - Vasque Velocities - and I loved them. They were very comfortable and I felt like I could run a long way in them. Enough to tempt me away from the Montrail Hardrocks? We'll see.

On the Road Again

So I'm going to be a coach with Round Rock Fit again this year, though I'm probably not going to run the Austin marathon (it's only a week after the Rocky Raccoon 100). I've been thinking about it for a while, and finally decided to go for it. It will force me to keep up the road side of my running, help maintain my pace for the flatter trail races and it's something I've enjoyed doing for the past few years. It's very rewarding to help people reach their goals.

Meanwhile, back on the trail I returned to the scene of the crime early Monday morning and ran the same Walnut Creek route that clobbered my ankle the other week. No such problems this time, just a nice relaxing run.

And my only other newsworthy item - I got some new songs for the jukebox. "Sad Sad City" by Ghostland Observatory and "I Will Possess your Heart" by Death Cab for Cutie. Pretty boring week, huh?