What a bunch of crap

My running is getting better.  I am able to go longer distances at a faster pace and I am able to talk for a good bit of it.  I partially judge my fitness on how much I can talk on a training run.  I actually can't believe that I have become a running talker.  Or a talking runner.  I think it comes from my inherent hatred of long distances.  I need something to take my mind off the miles.  When running with people I am comfortable with, that means talking.  When running by myself, that means I need music.  Trail running provides all kinds of distractions.  Squirrels, bears, twigs, roots, rocks, cliffs, etc.  The miles go so much faster when I am distracted.  We ran yesterday in the aftermath of a "snowstorm".  In our area, we got about 5 or 6 inches of snow, which wasn't bad, but it was windy.  Very windy and cold.  The wind was blowing right in our faces for much of the time.  We also run in a fairly hilly area.  I found that the concentration it took to not let the wind blow my face off, took my mind off the hills.  My friend said that the hills took his mind off the wind.  It is all in the perspective.  My point being, I like stuff taking my mind off the run.  I may have said this before, but I don't think that I am a runner who goes out to run to clear my mind.  I don't find joy in the run.  I find joy in the effects of the run.  In other words, especially when I run by myself, I just want the run to be over.  Once it is over, I think back to how wonderful it was and I can't wait for the next one.  I think part of the euphoria is that I didn't die.  My runner's high comes at the end.  I'm in my car, I have a Dunkin Donuts coffee, and I am alive and thinking about what I just did.  Time spent with good friends sharing in the run is also incredible.  During a race, I am totally different.  I don't want to talk.  I can't talk.  I shouldn't be able to talk.  For those running purists out there who say you should just be in touch with your body and listen to your pace or your feet and shouldn't talk or listen to music or communicate with squirrels...well, fuck you.  I am a middle aged, average looking, middle of the pack amateur runner who is just trying to stay in shape and die in a healthy manner.  Speaking of music, I have had disagreements with people over whether to listen to music or not when we run.  My opinion is that if I am too stupid to see or hear a car coming, or a bear attacking me, then I deserve to be run over and/or eaten.  There are runners out there that take themselves far too seriously.  As important as it is to me, I have to rein it in every once in awhile and say it is just running.  I am a decent recreational runner with some goals I want to achieve.  Therefore, I train with the intent to perform at a certain level.  That level kicks me out of the run for joy club.  The joy I get is seeing my body respond to the miles and the surprise I still have when I am able to get certain results.  I am on a quest to see what my body can do at a semi-advanced age.

I just read an article about what aging does to performance.  Everything falls apart, basically, as we age.   I don't really need to read this to know it, but it when you read about it, it is kind of scary. Testosterone levels, heart rate, muscle tone, bone structure, fat loss, brain cells, rate of recovery...pretty much everything.  What gets stronger as we age, at least in some of us, is the resistance to quitting.  When we are younger it is just easier to quit.  We think we have plenty of time to make up for things.  Well, time catches up with us.  We get older.  Life beats us down.  At least it thinks it does.  But we make it to a certain point and we make it through certain things and we kind of beat time and life.  It pounds us and pounds us some more, until it just doesn't hurt that much anymore.  And something like running, while painful, is really nothing.  It is just running.  I personally feel that I am still in my twenties.  I am an old, kind of wrinkly, gray and sore twenty year old, but mentally I don't feel like maybe a 52 year old should feel.  However, I realize every day that I may hit a plateau physically at any time and I'm not ready for that yet.  I want to try to pull every bit of performance out of myself so I can start the slide down the other side knowing I did everything I could to see what I could do.  I can't go back to high school and do things again.  Back then I half assed everything, never really pushing too hard.  I can't get that back, but I can do what I can right now.  I would like to see what I can do.  All I really know, is at this age, pain just doesn't hurt that much.  I'm gonna leave it at that.

A Long Run

Today was my day to do my long run.  My goal was 10 miles, but with being sick and still having a bit of a cough I allowed myself to be happy with 7 as long as I got 3 in tomorrow to reach my goal of 20 miles for the week.

The sun was out for the first time in almost a week so that had me pumped up, and the fact that it was only 28 degrees motivated me, too.  With all the cool stuff I've bought over the last year or two for winter running, I like having the opportunity to actually use it.

Another nice thing about the weekend runs is that it's not going to be pitch black out so I get to wear my iPod and run to music.  Most times I don't because I want to be able to hear the packs of wild deer or raccoons if they try and attack me from the woods.  Daylight means more cars, so I have to pay attention to that, but I don't have to worry about critters as much.

I put on two pairs of my long stretch pants, three long sleeve shirts, my running jacket with the cool little iPod holder, and hat and gloves.  Turned out it was too much, I was sweating my butt off during most of the run.  Obviously I can handle even colder temperatures!  Bring it on, baby.

Since I haven't run a good, long way in almost three weeks, so I told myself to go out easy.  My McMillan calculater showed my target Long Run pace range to be between 7:52 to 9:05.  I decided I would be happy with 8:45 and thought that would help me make 10 miles.  But like I always do, I hit the half mile mark under 4 minutes.  Dude. SLOW DOWN.  I don't know why I have trouble running at slower goal pace when I'm alone.  I need to be better at this because it's how I'm going to get faster.  I need these long runs at the appropriate pace in order build my endurance, while recovering from the more intense speed and hill workouts.

Well, I forced myself to slow down and just relax.  Meanwhile, Green Day started playing which made it tough to slow down.

I reached the end of the street outside of my neighborhood and turned the corner to go up and cross Midlothian Turnpike for the first time.  This happens right at Mile 1 which I hit in 7:58.  Sheesh.  I thought I was slowing down.

Michael Jackson started up in my ears with Wanna Be Starting Somethin' as I tried to get across the street.  I was clear from one side and got across to the little median and turn lane but the other light had changed and traffic started pouring along.  So I just ran up the turn lane, checking over my shoulder now and then.  I got close to the next light with no way of getting across, so I kind of slowed up and the music was great so I kind of skipped to a stop then bounced in place.  I have no clue what got me right then, but I did a quick spin and started to dance like I was in my living room or something.  The cars came to a stop at the red light so I bounced off in between them to waves, laughs and someone honked.

Too funny.

I tooled on down by the high school and passed a couple of other runners who had just started out.  From there I cut down through a neighborhood that has a steady incline for about half a mile then drops down for about half a mile until I come back out the other side down by the interstate and community college where I get my first good uphill run.  I was at Mile 3 and decided to change my watch to the average pace and saw that I was at 8:10.  Still too fast and I could feel it when I got to the top of that hill.  I was breathing hard and still had the hardest hills in front of me.  I can go as slow as a 9 minute average, so I pulled back some more and had to tell myself repeatedly that going easy was the smart thing and would be good for me.

I went the "long" way on the next turn because I decided I would commit to going at least 9 miles and used that to keep my pace in check.  I just loved the music with some of my new additions of Neon Trees: Animal, Jack White: Shakin, and Dion: The Wanderer.

There were a lot of people out running and walking so it was kind of social with lots of waves.

I got hot though, but really liked the fact that my new Nike running gloves were warm.  My hands get cold first and sometimes it's pretty uncomfortable.  But not today.  I almost felt like taking them off for a bit, but it was below freezing out so I figured I'd just leave 'em on and put up with being a little warm.

I cruised up the last steep hill of my run between Mile 6 and 7 and was still running along 8:15 pace.  I told myself I could back way off and still come in faster than 8:45 pace and go the full 10 miles that would be nice Little Victory for the day.  I still had a lot of uphill running to do through the last neighborhood, but it's not real steep.  Just a mile of steady climb.

I got back up to Midlothian Turnpike and this time I didn't have any trouble timing the traffic and just needed a little burst to get across.  I always like that.  A quick sprint here and there just to jazz things up.  I rolled along back down to my house and saw that I would be right at 9 miles, and my hips were tired.  I could tell I haven't gone this far in a while, but I felt good, so I decided to bypass my neighborhood's entrance and run up one street and down by the railroad tracks.  I trotted down and back out and only had to run a little ways past my house to get to the full 10 miles.

One of the neighborhood kids was going to find his friends and decided to run along next to me for a little ways and we high fived as I turned to my house.

Just a little something that made me smile and add a little more fun to a successful run.

10:06 miles in 1:23:30 and 8:18 pace.  I really felt great about going the whole 10 miles and holding a pretty decent pace for having such a long layoff.

I knew I'd get back on track in short order but now I'm feeling more confident about that.  Although I have my first Short Hill workout coming up next week I think I'm ready to wade into that pain again.

So tomorrow I've got church and will try to get my sprint workout in during the afternoon.  I need to keep that piece in my routine so I've got those additional muscles for when I begin the 100 and 200 workouts.  I'm really looking forward to that!  Plus I have a couple of indoor meets coming up that I could do and would like the opportunity to see what I can turn an 800 in.

The work continues!

Dark Morning Runs

Ed -

If you read that title wrong it's just gross.

What I was actually referring to was the fact that as winter approaches it gets darker, and stays darker throughout my morning training runs.  And I kind of like it.

I don't know why.  There are moments where a shadow is scary, and others where the very real dog or deer is suddenly out in the road near me, unhappy that I came along to bother them.  My guess is they just got scared, too.

"Dude! What the hell!!  It's one of those ugly bald things!  Run!  Lunge at it first then run!!!"

I've learned that a very stern and loud "NO!!" while thrusting a pointing finger at it will stop most dogs in their tracks.   Regardless, any encounter like that drives the heart rate through the roof for a few minutes.

And, still, I like running in the dark.

I guess because I feel alone and it's quiet.  Most of my days are very crowded and loud.  Sure the better portion of that is self inflicted, and I like being around people.  But that hour or so before anyone else is up is really nice.

It also helps me focus on what I'm trying to accomplish in my workout.

Yesterday I did my short hill workout.  8 repeats up a .21 of a mile steep hill.  With no distractions and little visibility I feel really fast when I push off and start up the incline.  I also can focus on how I feel throughout each repeat.  Like at what point I feel my quads begin to burn and the acid start to flood my blood stream.  Maybe that's all in my head, but I can tell the fatigue factor moves lower and lower down the hill with each repetition and I like it.  Makes me surge to the top and get deep into that muscle pain that feels so good.

It's not just you, that sounded kinky.

Today's run was another hard day that I decided to put back to back with the hill workout.  Normally, I try and rotate hard days with either rest or an easy run, but I feel like I haven't pushed myself much the last couple of months and I'm losing some speed.

So on tired legs today I did a mock race as a variation of a tempo run.  I set out to do 5 miles, but I would attack the first two miles like I would a 5K race.

Attacked turned out to be a strong term.

My first half mile was 3:24 and I was aiming to be at 3:15.  I have lost some speed.  Still I pushed knowing I hadn't warmed up at all so that was going to be the toughest feeling half in this run.  A moment later I felt better and looser and lengthened my stride out.  Hit the first mile right at 6:44 though.  Slower than I wanted it to be, but not bad.  I kept on pushing and felt like I was really struggling, telling myself there was no way I could do this for 3.1 and that bothered me since I should totally be able to do this for that distance.

As I angled down the incline that would bring me to the two mile mark I pushed a little harder and in a couple of moments I started to gag.

"I can't puke.  Wuss!!"

And I also couldn't slow down.  That's even more of a wuss move.

I got myself together and finished those first two miles in 13:28.  Breathing really hard.

From there I continued on with my 5 mile loop and wrapped the whole thing up in 39:44.

Being alone and in the dark allowed me to focus on the process I was pushing through that first mile after my fast two.  Flushing out the lactic acid in my muscles.  Resting while running.

"Getting stronger," I said to myself.  "Getting faster."

And no one had to see me look like a ragged, old man in the process.