another california sunset

ideas

not much running the past few days, but lots on my mind.

the coach is giving me a rest week, so i had an easy four on monday, and some mid-range distance through the rest of the week with striders, capping off the week with a short 13 miler. it'll be nice to get a rest.

i've had some fun ideas that have been bouncing around in my head over the past year or so, two specifically, that are completely unrelated and have very different levels of probability of accomplishment.

first, is my cable news network idea. i've included this idea in a couple comments on friends blogs, but i thought i'd cut and paste a follow up email to mark and see if folks could give me a hand with brainstorming some with this. see, i, like so many people i know, are sick of the "if it bleeds it leads" philosophy of the media. getting good news out of a news brodcast is like getting blood from a turnip. so, my grand idea was to create a cable news network that would counterbalance all the negativity being spewed by the other networks.

enter gnn.

the good news network. a positive spin on breaking news, uplifting news stories, profiles on local heroes, success stories from around the globe and people making a positive impact in their community.

"when all you can see of the news is red, watch gnn for a rose coloured world"

seriously though, are you tired of the body count from Iraq? Tune in to gnn for a list of the basic services that have been restored lately, or an expose on the huge number of schools that have opened. are you tired of the blah, blah, blah from hollywood about celebrities that have too much ego to understand the simplicities of life? tune into our nightly show, "out of the spotlight", people making a difference without attempting to make a name for themselves.

i'd love to sit down and brainstorm programming ideas for different shows, put it all down in a proposal form and then start a grassroots/six degrees of separation thing and let it run wild. i don't want to manage it, i don't want an ownership portion of it, i just want to see it a reality.

the second idea is an epic one. well, epic for me. the military, mountaineering, marathoning, the majesty of the outdoors, they've all given me a taste for keeping an aspect of epic adventures in my life. so often i hear from friends and aquaintences, "you climbed a mountain? you're nuts!", or "i could never even run a mile, let alone 26!", or they'll watch an amazing story or movie about someone who has had a great adventure and while firmly planted on their couch, state, "wow, i wish i could do that". well, you can. it just takes some effort and making those first few steps.

so, to emphasize this point, i got the grand idea while touring california last year, that it would be so much fun to run from the oregon border, along the california coast, down to the mexican border. total distance is about 1000+ miles. over a six week period, it could easily be done by putting in six hours of running, six days a week, in six two hour increments (one hour of running, one hour resting and refueling).

of course, the schedule wouldn't need to be that rigid, but one of the main points is to have a schedule. one that would be public and used to encourage the running community to participate. the miles would be done at about a 10 minute pace, slow enough for most runners to handle. contact would be made with all of the running clubs i can scrounge up to get their people enthusiastic about taking part in it.

as part of the run, i'd be looking for some sponsorship, and trying to raise money for a yet to be determined charity, and journaling the entire run for a book. the book, which would be the direct by product of the run, would be about how to re-introduce the epic into your life. see, i'm not an elite athlete. several of you think i'm a quite fast runner, but i'm no where near elite status. i don't come from an athletic family, and honestly, there's some serious obesity issues in my family. if i sat on my butt and didn't run, i'd put on the pounds pretty quickly. so, the point being, you don't have to be gifted as an athlete to enjoy epic adventures in your life. and those epic adventures don't have to even be of a physical nature. safari in africa, quilting 1000 quilts for a 3rd world country, visiting every starbucks in the world, setting foot on every continent, etc...

so, two dream ideas that keep bouncing around in my head. i figure if i put them online, i now have a level of accountability to actually make something of them.

the homestead

wiener-bite

this is a long winded story about me nearly freezing off my twig and berries. it is not intended for children. if you are a child, go get your parents to read this, as they may find it funny.

okay, so the wind was supposed to blow through and leave just the cold behind. no one said anything about gale force winds AND temperatures in the 30's. dang, and all i had with me were shorts and a short sleeved shirt. i figured the wind would let up and that the air would get warmer as the day went on, so i set out to find a spot to run. i picked a park to start at and got my gear ready. as i stepped out of the car, i gasped at how cold it was. it's been a long time since i swore at the weather, and this morning i finally broke that fast.

coach was calling for 16 miles, with the last five at marathon pace. i knew that the hills and wind were going to take their toll, so i made a point of starting out slow. i made a point, you see. but the first mile ticked by in 8:45, and the second in 8:40 and the third in 8:36. and i was running slow. i was making a POINT. i didn't get it, but i felt slow, so i just chugged along. for miles 1-6, i'd been going in the same direction, planning on just doing an out-and-back. when i hit seven, my road ended and i had to make a right and climb up a hill to where i turned around at mile eight. when i made the turn, i realized why the miles had been so quick. duh, i had a tailwind. and it was blowing consistently at 20mph, gusting to 40. dang.

i turned around at eight and began to really feel the effects of the biting cold. my face felt dry and cracked, my thighs began to go numb, and wiener bite began to set in. "no worries", i though. "i'll warm up considerably when i pick up the pace at mile 11. i can last for three miles". by mile eleven i was in extreme pain. it felt distinctly like the conditions at the london half marathon where i ran the last mile with my hand down my pants. seriously.

i dove into the marathon pace miles and began to really enjoy the stride. there's something about stepping on the gas late in long runs that i really enjoy. it feels like it's a whole new workout. the wind made it difficult to keep the pace i wanted, but i managed. i probably put out more than i should have, but it felt good.

what didn't feel good was my friend, the turtle. he'd shrunk so far into his shell, i was thinking he'd never come back out. and i was in real pain. child birth pain, or 'no possibility of child birth' pain. by mile 13, i was sure that if i didn't do something, i was going to have some damage to deal with. maybe it was late run fatigue messing with my head, but i hurt bad enough to stop. i stepped into a porta-potty in a construction area near the side of the road and went to the bathroom. oh heck did that hurt. i thought that the warm urine would have helped, but it was akin to pouring cold water into a glass right out of the hot dish washer.

so, i did the only thing i could think of to correct the problem. i 'warmed myself up'. and it worked. slowly the pain subsided and i began to feel normal. when i was 'all warmed up', i adjusted my shorts and stepped out of the porta-potty and continued the run. it was such a relief. i was able to finish up the run nice and strong and continue to hit marathon pace for the remaining three miles.

when i hit the park and dropped into a cool-down trot, i had that same surreal feeling as friday. i'd finished not only my run, but probably the hardest week of running i've ever had. cold, wind, poop, hills, intervals and a wienercicle couldn't keep me from finishing. i mentally floated as i jogged to the car, elated to be done with the week. now, it was off to north georgia to relax and watch some more of the race. a nice cap to the week.

oh, and here's a graph, just like dianna asked for...

tour de georgia

tour excitement

a really nasty cold front moved into georgia on friday. it was proceeded by some really wild thunderstorms (well, probably normal to a local – but wild to a californian). so, saturday morning’s run was a tad bit chilly, but it was the wind that was the killer. it was gusting into the 40mph range, and at times it almost brought me to a standstill. man, nasty headwinds and long hills will totally do a number on the amount of energy you’re putting out on a run. i was toast when i finished the seven miles for the day.

after the run, i headed up to gainsville to see if i could meet some of the cyclists at the start and then catch a bit of the race. boy, the start was a ZOO, so rather than get stuck in traffic trying to get there, and then not be able to get out for a while, i opted to drive up the course a little bit and sit there and wait for the riders. about 15 minutes after the start, the peloton came cruising by. i shot as many photos as i could as they roared (ever heard the sound of over 100 cyclists moving along at 35mph?) by. i got a couple of some of the marquee riders and was giddy with excitement.

no sooner had they come and they were gone. i was on such a high from seeing them, that i hopped in the car and began checking the map to see where i could hit them next. about 20 miles north, there was another perfect intersection. i tore off trying to catch them. knowing that virtually every georgia state trooper was following the race, i knew i’d be able to get away with going a ‘little bit’ over the speed limit. 5 minutes later i was at the intersection. traffic was backed up, as the troopers had it shut down for the coming cyclists. as i came to a stop, i found myself right next to a gas station. i made a quick turn, parked in the lot, grabbed my camera and sprinted for the intersection.

i made it just in time, for as soon as i caught my breath, the caravan of cars leading the way came into view. again, the peloton cruised by, and i shot as many photos as i could in the short time that they were there. i got an AWESOME shot of antonio cruz from the discovery team (lance’s team). again, they came and went in a matter of seconds. i walked back to the car, looked at the map and noticed that the next real spot that i could catch them at was a ways off, and closer to the mountains. considering how cold it was (reading the race reports, there were snow flurries up on brasstown bald), and the fact that i was wearing shorts, i opted to skip trying to catch them again and just try again on sunday.

i’ll tell you what though, it was EXCITING to see them. especially lance, seeing as how this is probably the last time that i’ll ever get to see him in a professional race. good times. good times.

the benefits of a coach

i’ve been meaning to blog about the difference that having a coach has had with my running. well, better late than never.

i had an opportunity to be coached, a sort of formal informal coaching. my coach is an olympic hopeful in the women’s marathon and has some great running credibility, so i jumped at the chance. her coaching would be a basic training program to get me a 3:25 marathon time in july and then a 3:15 in january. she’d provide the schedules and i’d give her feedback on how the runs went. based on my feedback, she would tailor my workouts.

i’ve found three major things that have changed in my training since i took on a coach.

first off, i’m not missing any workouts. in the past, i’ve used online schedules from the likes of hal higdon or from books on marathoning. i would find myself skipping out on the odd easy workout. in the big scheme of things, i don’t think it made that much of a difference, but now that i have someone other than myself that i’m accountable to, i find myself committing to consistency. the only workouts i’ve missed were when i was on my back with the flu.

next, i have smarter workouts with a focus on types of running that come from her experience. she’s brought in new methods to how i run. her commands to ignore the watch and just run what was a comfortable pace when building base miles has allowed me naturally increase my speed. when she says run easy, i honestly try to run easy. when she says to hit a specific pace, i follow the workout exactly. and when she tells me i’ll be fatigued for a run, she’s got me nailed.

finally, i find myself training at a consistently harder tempo. in previous training cycles, the miles i would put in would rarely be at my true threshold. now, i dig in and push. wednesday was a prime example. the legs were heavy and in the past, i would have run an easy pace, but i knew i needed to maintain a certain intensity, so i sucked it up and ran the race before me with the tempo i knew i needed for that workout. i think it’s a combination of having someone else auditing my distances and times, coupled with knowing that my time for july is not an optional pace.

so, through these three things, i’ve seen huge speed gains, quicker recoveries and enhanced enthusiasm for the sport i love. taking on a coach was the needed step to take me off the plateau and onto the slopes of the mountain. and i’m counting on a successful summit come july and january.

got it done!

yesterday’s failure to get in the interval workout had me really wanting to make sure i did it today, regardless of how my stomach felt. so, i hopped online and found a couple local high schools with tracks and headed out track shopping. the first school had a really nice all weather track, but it was completely fenced in with ‘no trespassing’ signs everywhere. normally, i’d hop the fence and run anyway, but the last thing i wanted was to be incarcerated in the fine state of georgia, with a bad case of diarrhea. so, i headed off to the second school and struck paydirt. it had a really nice all weather track as well and it was open to the public.

i did my warm-up and then started into the intervals. it was some tough running, and there were points where i felt like i was running with a rock in my stomach. but, the intervals ticked off, one by one, and i hit my target pace for every one of them. i did the warm-down and it felt sort of surreal to be actually done with the workout.

tomorrow it’s off to the races. i’m hoping to get to gainsville in the morning to watch the start of stage five and hopefully meet and photograph some of the cyclist. wish me luck!

airline food strikes back

well, had a good couple days with my running. i got into town okay and with enough daylight on tuesday to get in my five miles with strides. and then on wednesday, found a highway with a decent shoulder to run on...but, i forgot that georgia is hilly. long, rolling hills. that made the 10 mile run challenging, but fun.

work at the office out here is going well, and the time here is productive and the trip is feeling worthwhile.

that was until today. something i ate just is not agreeing with me. i spent about every hour in the bathroom. and then when i headed out to do my hard interval workout this afternoon, the stomach just did not want to cooperate. instead of doing the three mile warm-up and then the intervals, i switched with tomorrows four mile run and called it a day. i'm hoping the stomach feels well enough to do the interval workout tomorrow. i don't want to miss out on such awesome speedwork.

my guess is that the airline food wasn't fresh or something. guess i'll need to load up on bananas tomorrow morning...they always do the trick.

sorry about all the 'detail'. at least you can't accuse me of not being honest! haha!

georgia on my mind

well, this week will see me on the east coast again. i’ll be in atlanta (well, to be more accurate, buford) until sunday evening. being out of town all week should pose it’s usual hurdles to training, but i’ll make do the best i can. if i remember correctly, the area that i’ll be in had decent shoulders on the highways for running, and there was a pretty big lake nearby, so maybe even some trails to run.

the coach has me down for some pretty tough speed workouts this week though, so i may be spending more time on a local high school track than the roads and trails. today is an easy five with striders during the last mile, tomorrow is a mid-week long run of 10, thursday is a four mile recovery, friday has some really tough speed intervals (8x4 minutes at 6:50-7:00 pace, ouch!), saturday is a quick seven and then i cap the week off with a 16 mile long run with the last five at marathon pace. that should put me just a hair over 50 miles for the week. a little bit shy of what i’ve been running lately, but with a much higher intensity than any week i’ve ever had previously. it’ll be interesting, to say the least.

but, running isn’t the highlight of the week. today starts the tour de georgia, america’s premier cycling event. stage five’s finish in georgia’s northern mountains is considered the most difficult day of pro cycling racing this country has to offer. and the city i’m staying in? smack dab between stage five and six. i’m hoping to get out on saturday to watch part of the stage and then the finish as the cyclists climb bald mountain. then on sunday, if timing is right, i’ll try to be at the finish to watch the close to the race. lance armstrong, along with bobby julich, levi leipheimer, george hincape, will be featured in the race, with lance trying to defend his title from last year. since lance announced that he’ll retire after this year’s tour de france, it’s really the last opportunity to get to see him ride at this level here in the us.

needless to say, i’m excited and will be filling every memory card i have with photos of the event.

pins and needles

been tracking alison via the boston marathon website since she started. they just posted her 1/2 marathon time, 1:36:50, a 7:24 pace so far. it's so flipping cool to be able to virtually cheer on the runners! i'm mentally imagining where she's at and how she must be feeling.

warren and i have been e-mailing back and forth. i don't either of us will be able to get any work done today. too much running on the brain. watching these events and cheering for family members is so inspiring! i want to be out there running with them NOW, not in july!

gooooooo alison! we're all cheering for ya!

running weekend

well, it was my friday off this week, and that meant a long weekend. rather than get out of town and explore the state, like we usually like to do, we stayed at home and relaxed. this weekend is sandwiched between two weekends of travel, so smsmh and i wanted to be low key and spend time together.

aside from relaxing and catching up on rest, the weekend was full of running. thursday evening, i did a 10 miler in back bay with one of the other regular runners there. instead of taking the regular trail, though, we headed along the opposite side of san diego creek. turns out theres a audubon society reserve back in there, loaded with trails. the run was pretty slow for the first eight, and then i picked it up for marathon pace for the final two.

friday i headed out to the aliso creek trail to put in seven. i was tired starting out and the legs didn't want to turn over. i took it easy for the first couple miles, and by the time i hit the half way point, i was feeling well enough to continue with a decent pace.

saturday called for a really easy five miles, so i did the hill loop around our house and completed it in just a hair over an eight minute pace.

saturday evening, we were heading out to dinner with some good friends for a birthday party. i really wanted to give tim something special, since he's one real cool cat. i know he really enjoys fishing, so i decided to take some photos and have them framed for him. i dug through the garage and pulled out all my fishing tackle and took some photos. a couple turned out pretty decent, so i had some prints made, framed them and wrapped 'em up.

we headed to claim jumper for dinner. while getting out of the shower before hand, i happened to step on the scale in the bathroom and saw the it read 142 (i mention this for a reason). at the restaurant, tim opened the gift and really enjoyed the photos. it was pretty cool for me, too. it was the first time i'd ever given photos of mine as a gift, let alone do a photo shoot specifically for a gift. it felt good to give a piece of myself like that.

anyway, i gorged myself at dinner. i wanted to load up on fuel for sunday's 18 miler. not only did i put away quite a bit of mashed potatoes, biscuits and chicken, but i filled up on glass after glass of water. i was feeling like i need to be wheeled out of there in a wagon. when i got home, i happened to step on the scale again.

149.

i'd gained seven pounds of food and fluid at dinner. ugh! i told smsmh and we got a pretty good laugh out of it.

sunday was a long 18 miler. i hooked up with ken and his brother, andy, for the run. the schedule called for the first 14 at long run pace, with the last four at marathon pace. we cruised the first 14 in about an 8:45 pace. it's amazing just how quickly the miles melt by when you're running with people who's company you really enjoy. the next four at mp turned out pretty awesome too. i dropped down into a 7:15 pace (yeah, a little fast) and finished up the run pretty strong. by the time i hit 18, i was ready to be done, but didn't feel like i'd pushed myself too hard. i actually felt like i could have done a couple more miles at that pace and not felt like i was completely wasted.

so, a great weekend with friends, relaxing and lots of pretty decent running. i'd consider the weekend a roaring success.

tackle

good luck, alison!

best of luck from all of us in california.

we know you'll do a fantastic job and have loads of fun running the race. remember the whole rbf is pulling for you and cheering you on.

run hard, run smart and run fun!

POSE testing

mark and aaron have been talking so much about POSE and their trip to la this past week, that during yesterday's run, i thought i'd pay close attention to my stride and see how close to the POSE method i come. coach had me down for six miles, so i felt that'd be a good distance to get the whole range of my form - fresh to fatigued.

i first paid close attention to where my foot was landing, and it was pretty consistently right under my body. my foot landed pretty much evenly on the heal and the ball of the foot. no major heal strike here. next i tried to take stock of if i was pushing off with my calf vs. pulling on the ground with my quads. i found that for the most part, i was using my upper leg and core to rotate my legs through the running movement. finally, i checked my posture. i'm a pretty straight up-and-down runner, with my back pretty straight. i did a little leaning at the ankles again and could easily notice the speed increase. that's a tough posture to master, though, because the natural tendency is to lean at the waist, which reduces your air intake.

as i focused on form and testing it against the POSE method, i felt a complete fluid motion in my running. this ended up turning into a tempo run, without the tempo effort. i did the full 6 at an average of 7:13, despite feeling like i was holding back. i think i'd like to actually video tape my running, just to see if i am indeed getting close to the POSE method. i think it'd be interesting.

one other thing, i checked all the soles of my shoes, expecting to find extreme heal wear on the pairs close to 400 miles, and it was the ball of the foot that was worn down, not the heal. super good news!

large mass rant

so, i spent last week in the south. i head to georgia about once a year, and over the past few years have found myself in florida and virginia as well. add in the four years i lived in north carolina, and i'd say that i've had a pretty decent sampling of the south.

this past week was a real eye opener though. the resort i was staying at for the conference was also hosting the florida tow show. never in my life have a seen a larger collection of pregnant men. it could have easily been mistaken as a conference for the '2005 annual lard eaters expo' or the 'heart attack contenders summit - 2005'. i thought that our experience on the cruise back in november was an indication of how unfit our nation had become, but this past week put the cruise to shame.

i'm not talking out of shape, not even overweight, but more, a majority of men who couldn't actually walk, but had to waddle. i found it absolutely disgusting. a total disregard for personal health. a cardiac body on the verge of going supernova. i easily slipped into the 'fitness snob' mentality, finding their presence revolting. i was auditing what foods they would pile onto their plates, mentally criticizing their choices. while running past groups of them smoking, drinking and dipping, i'd be thinking about what unhealthy activities they were involved in.

and then the situation began to spiral. since the convention was being held at a disney resort, they'd brought their families. the spouses and children were in no better shape. and it wasn't just the fitness levels that were unhealthy. it was the language that the kids were being subjected to. a constant flow of f-bombs around infants to teens, so much yelling instead of instruction, contempt. and it wasn't reserved for the kids. spouses received no better treatment.

and at that point, i slowly began to come to my senses. the elitist attitude was replaced with a sadness. i thought about the health issues that these families would be constantly subjected to, i thought about the lifestyle that would be perpetuated to their children's children. i thought about the emotional, financial and physical strain that these families would be burdened with. it just saddened me.

how did we get this way, as a nation? such a low value placed on our physical health, our relationships, the upbringing of our youth? i'd hazard a guess and say it goes back to a lack of faith, but ask any one of those men if they believe in God and i guarantee you you'd get a hearty "yes". God is as popular in the south as hush puppies and fried okra. is it education? is it the media? is it the Man trying to develop a government dependant population? is it aliens farming humans? yeah, i joke, but seriously, how do you turn around generations of unhealthy lifestyles? you know, though, i look at fathers like bd, mark and bill, or both of my brother-in-laws, or my pastor, or...the list goes on. it gives me hope that there those families out there that doing their damned best to counter this trend. so, it does give me hope.

i don't know where i'm really going with this, other than wanting to journal how elitist i was feeling, and then the ensuing sadness. you know, just wanting to vent and put it down in text. although, i'm seriously doubting whether i'll save this as published vs. draft. i guess it just goes as a reminder to keep from being so critical based off of a first impression. lesson learned.

okay, guess i'm done.

froth explained

okay, i did some extensive research about how froth, or lather is generated while perspiring, and why so few people have experienced this. well, here's the basics, without getting into too much chemical and biological detail. apparently, there are two types of sweat glands, eccrine and apocrine. the eccrine glands are the ones that generate most of your sweat and are found all over the body. apocrine glands are mostly found in the genital, chest and armpit regions. they're attached to hair follicles, and will produce material along with the fluid, so that the fluid can adhere to the hair in those regions more readily for cooling purposes. when perspiring heavily, the apocrine sweat glands go into heavy production, thus generating lots of material in addition to the lost electrolytes that the eccrine glands are producing. all that fluid and material ends up turning into a lather when friction is added. basically, generating the same type of lather on the flanks of a horse when he's been run hard.

so, the genetics (there's a reason my father is named 'harry'), all the exertion, perspiration and friction from thursday's run lead to prime conditions for latherage. since it's mostly dry here in california, it'll probably be rare that i'll ever see it that intense again. good thing, too, it really was sorta embarrassing. so, if you're not hairy, running in really humid conditions and really pushing yourself hard, you don't really have lather to worry about.

oh, and a word about searching google for information about sweat, lather, froth and legs...those terms aren't limited to returning results about running...

googlers be warned!

google searches

got some funny searches when i checked my logs today. i think they're legitimate and not made up by jon, tracy or chris, which make them even funnier:

"fourbucks drink or coffee or we'll break your legs"
- i didn't know guido had opened a starbuck's franchise...

"hugging platypi"
- getting ready for earth day later this month?

aye, there's the rub

one word.

ouch.

i warmed up the muscles by doing some walking and then spent about 15 minutes stretching, and the thighs and calves were still tight when my massage started. i had the masseuse do a deep tissue massage on my thighs and calves, and boy, can that hurt. she was digging in so hard on my thighs that i ended up with knots in the hair on my legs. i just had to chuckle. and when she was done, i stood up and thought i was going to fall over. the walk back to my room was comical, as my noodles, i mean legs, could barely function. but they did feel amazingly relaxed. i should have eaten dinner before the massage so i could go straight to bed.

i got up at 5:45 this morning to do my run and felt very awake and ready to tackle the 17. i headed out of the resort, planning to run up the road and do the loop around disneyworld. within two miles, i was out on the main road, which turned out to be a highway with absolutely no shoulder. there weren’t any ‘no pedestrian’ signs, so i went ahead with my plan. i ran against traffic so i could move onto the grass shoulder when there were oncoming cars. even at 6:30, there were a significant number of vehicles on the road, mostly busses and shuttles.

at mile four, i passed the toll booth to the park and the road i was on turned into an access road that went back behind disneyworld. it was a very frustrating run, as i spent most of the loop running in the grass, heavy with dew, along the side of the road. i only encountered one small section where there was a sidewalk, and that was through an underpass on the back side of space mountain. at mile eight, i hit the toll booth again and started the leg back to the resort. i had emptied the bottle i was carrying and as i ran past the toll booth, there was a guy standing there. i asked him if he could throw it away for me, and he said yes, and also commented that there was only highway ahead. he stood there, slack jawed, as i kept running.

by mile 11, i was back at the resort, and was happy to be running without any traffic. i decided to just do six loops around the lake to finish up the run. my pace had been consistently between 8:30 to 9:00 minute miles, and at mile 13, i picked it up a bit so that it wouldn’t be such a huge change when i switched to mp for the last three. i finished 14 a hair under 8:00 and then dropped down into mp. mile 15 was 7:24, mile 16 was 7:22 and i got goofy (seeing as how i was at a disney resort) and did 17 at 6:48.

i stopped by my room, got some fluids and walked a cool-down mile. then it was off to the pool to stretch and relax, and back to the room to take a 15 minute ice bath. i filled the tub first this time, got in and then dumped the ice in. it made it much easier to take the initial temperature change. i think next time, i’ll need another trashcan full of ice, though. it was cold, don’t get me wrong, but i think i could have handled it even colder.

not a bad run, as i felt good and hit my pace goal for the end of the run, but i think my legs are going to feel running on all that uneven grass tomorrow. i’m hoping the ice bath will make a difference with recovery.

proof in the pudding...er...froth

well, the ten mile run last night went fantastic. i did the three mile warm up at just a tad under eight minute pace, and then dropped into marathon pace for the middle four. the weather was quite a bit cooler than the previous day, with a strong breeze blowing and relatively low humidity. unfortunately, not prime froth conditions. so, the last mp mile, i pushed it a little harder than mp to work up a decent sweat, and during the last cool-down mile, i ran pretty quick too, just in an attempt to get enough perspiration flowing to get 'frothy'.

well, it worked, kinda. there was a little bit, but no where near what it looked like yesterday. i quickly returned to the room, snapped a couple shots, and then headed down to the pool to stretch and relax. i tried another ice bath after i'd stretched. this time, i filled two trashcans full of ice, since i wasn't sure if thursday's bath was cold enough. oh, lordy. my legs could handle it, but, ouch. that extreme cold did a number on my feet. it was so cold, it was painful. i think the key to ice baths, is to fill the tub with cool water, get in, and THEN put the ice in. i'll try that tomorrow.

i did a quick four miles today, nothing special to report. after getting cleaned up, i headed over to the spa and booked a massage. i've never had one before, and have never really had an interest in them. but, after all the reading i've done on itb and whatnot, i figure a deep tissue massage of the legs before tomorrow's long run might be great. plus, my right calf has been giving me a niggle after the duck stalking.

for now, it's off to the pool to relax a bit. the conference is over, so the rest of my time here is my own. long run of 17 tomorrow morning, with the last three at mp. that should be fun!

yellow tree

thunderstorms, milkshakes and ducks, oh my!

you’d think with all the traveling i’ve done for the company that i’d know by now what all i need when i leave home. but when was the last time you thought to check to see if your drivers license had expired? yeah, i received a new one in the mail a few weeks back, but i kept forgetting to swap it out. that was the furthest thing from my mind when i left home on wednesday morning.

but it was definitely the first thing on my mind when the gentleman at the car rental counter pointed out that my license was expired and they couldn’t rent me a car with an expired license. he suggested faxing a copy of the valid license, and after a couple quick calls home, we had fax in hand…but another guy in the rental office came by and shut me down. a fax wouldn’t do, he said.

so, i took the shuttle back to the terminal and hopped in a taxi. $50 later, i was at my hotel. it put me in my room by about 8:30, i hadn’t eaten and was exhausted. i headed to the resort restaurant to get something to eat, and $14 later, i’d finished off a small chicken quesadilla. boy, at this rate i figured i’d end up using well over my per-diem each day. silly disneyland resorts. by the time i finished, it was nearing 9:30 and there was no way i was going to try to get my eight miles in. i set the alarm for 4:30 so i could run before the start of the conference. but when that alarm went off at what back home is 1:30am, i smashed the clock, and reset the alarm to 6am.

after a full day at the conference, i was finally back to feeling human, and in a much better mood than the night before. at about 4:30, i headed out to do my run. the resort is situated around a lake, with a walking path that is just a hair under a mile running around it. i set out and it was in the high 70’s with nearly 100% humidity. the pace was a little quick, but i was feeling good at the start. i backed off a bit after the first mile and tried to settle into a comfortable pace. i was really feeling the heat and humidity, and i was leaking like a sieve. at mile four, i started into my strides. six of them for 30 seconds. i placed them into the run every half mile. by the time i had finished the fifth one, i was beat and took an extra half mile break between five and six.

at the beginning of mile six, i looked down at my legs and was shocked to see what was developing on my calves. i was putting out so much effort with the strides and perspiring so heavily, that my legs had started to froth. i’ve seen mild cases of this when i’ve been exerting myself and perspiring heavily, but this time was the most extreme case i’d ever seen. it looked like i had poured a milkshake down my shorts. there was white foam running all down my legs to just below my knees. amazing, disgusting and somewhat embarrassing. oh well, i just had to laugh and keep running.

i barely finished the sixth stride, as i was really pushing myself. boy, i sure do need to make a conscious effort to pull back my pace. i did a walking cool down after the eight miles and then back to my room to get some fluids. no sooner had i walked into my room and the heavens opened up with one of the wildest thunderstorms i’d ever seen. it dumped tons of water. but, as quickly as it came, it was gone. i walked over to the pool near my room and jumped in. it felt great and relaxing after such a hard run. i was alone in the pool, since the rain had driven everyone indoors. two ducks landed in the pool, and being the goofball that i am, i started stalking them underwater. at one point, i got close enough that i could have grabbed their feet, i did a quick kick to spook them, and as a result, got a painful cramp in my right calf. i painfully kicked my way back to the edge of the pool and tried to stretch it out. dang did that hurt!

at that point, i headed back to the room, grabbed the ice bucket and filled the tub with freezing water. i took a exhilarating ice bath for about 15 minutes and then cleaned up and headed out to dinner.

i’ve got another 10 miler with four miles at marathon pace in the middle. i think i’ll take some fluids along this time and be more diligent at keeping a mild pace for the three mile warm up and cool down.

a pox on lax

what airport doesn’t offer wi-fi access to it’s passengers? lax, that’s who. i opened up the laptop, expecting to get online while i waited for my flight (i’m at the gate two hours early – more about that later). the wi-fi card picks up a signal, but it’s a secure network, obviously not for the passengers in the terminal. boooo. john wayne airport has wi-fi and it’s not even an international airport. what’s with that? anywhoo, the gsm wireless card did the ticket. i have to remember to thank my boss for that.

i used a shuttle service for the first time this morning. trying to get into lax during the morning rush hour is a futile activity. from about long beach, it’s a parking lot. to ask smsmh to take me at that time of day would have been an unreasonable request. so, i hooked up with a shuttle. the only drawback was that they pick you up eons before your flight is scheduled to leave. for my 10:40 flight, they were at the door at 7:10. after an hour drive in, going through oodles of security i’m at the gate two hours before the flight is scheduled to leave. eep…time to catch up on some reading.

yesterday’s run was great. i’d been expecting the coach to give me the usual 7-8 mile run with a couple hard paced miles at the end, but instead, i had a simple four miler on the schedule. i hit back bay after work to do my run. as i drove up, bryan, dave and the vanguard girls track team were on the bluff, warming up. i stopped to chit-chat with dave and bryan for a bit, and then headed off. i went out quick, posting a marathon pace first mile. a little too quick, as during the second mile i could feel the lactic acid building up in my legs, and the shins were on the verge of complaining. i did what felt like a tad bit slower pace for mile two, but looking at the forerunner at the two mile mark showed that i’d dropped the pace by a couple seconds.

i tried to coast for mile three, feeling like i wasn’t going any faster or slower. the legs began to feel good, and the shins became a distant memory. the chirp at the end of mile three indicated that i’d bettered my pace by about :20. i told myself to take it easy on the last mile, but stay on pace. i again felt like i wasn’t increasing the pace, but when the watch chirped four and i came to a stop, i had dropped the pace by another :20. total time for the four miles was 28:22. woohoo! i cooled down for a bit, chatted with bryan and dave for a bit again and then headed home for the evening.

coach has me down for eight with striders for tonight. that may be tough to pull off since i don’t get into orlando until 6:20pm, and i’ll be jonesing for some real food. my guess is that the earliest i’d be able to run would be 8pm. let’s hope that the running path around the lake by the hotel is lighted!

bad news, good news, bad news, good news

bad news: got word last night from my boss that his son is back in the hospital with blood clots in both legs. he's been dealing with the weekend staff at the hospital and they've been less than competent. johnny has had some pretty serious health issues lately. issues with tumors in the pituitary gland, pancreas and wildly out of control weight gain, all at the age of 17, must really be taking their toll on him and the family. keep them in your prayers.

good news: this means i'll be taking the trip to florida for my boss this week. i was really hoping that our company would have been willing to send my boss and i for this conference, so it's good for me to be able to be the one representing the company.

bad news: this also means i won't be back until late sunday night and will more than likely miss any opportunity to visit with mark and aaron while they're in town. dagnabbit.

good news: my forerunner just arrived from garmin. rather than try to repair it, they replaced it with a brand new unit. this will REALLY make running in florida easy. rather than try to map out distances with the rental car, i can just slap it on and go.

again, all the good/bad stuff pales in comparison to what is going on with johnny. really, really keep him in your prayers.

128 bunnies can't be wrong

okay, so there were more than 128 bunnies, but that's when i stopped counting. but, 128 bunnies can't be wrong. spring is in the air. the time change was a curse and a blessing on sunday, as i got up at zero-dark-thirty in the morning for my long run. smsmh and i had a meeting at 10:30, so that meant getting my 15 miler in prior to that.

i hit the aliso creek trail from the community center at 7am. the blessing was that it was in the 50's for the start of the run, the curse was that i wasn't sure i was fully awake. i headed out and the legs were tired and heavy. i told myself i just needed to warm up, reminding myself that some of my best long runs have been when i felt rough for the first four or so miles.

speaking of feeling rough, saturday's easy four miler was one of the most difficult runs i've done recently. i never felt comfortable, the legs were just plain lead, and i felt like i couldn't have done another mile when i finished. funny how the body will run the mental race that you lay before it...

anyway, i felt like i was just slogging through the miles as i headed down into aliso canyon. by the time i hit the wood canyon trail at mile five, i was beginning to feel good. the legs had loosened up and i was really beginning to hit my zone. the plan was to do a five mile out and back up into wood canyon to the base of cholla hill and then return the last five miles up the aliso creek trail to the community center.

as i hit the dirt trail heading up wood canyon, that 'alive' feeling hit me and a much quicker pace just felt natural. on the run down aliso creek, i was amazed at the number of bunnies lining the trail, so i'd begun counting them (something i used to do when i would bike into work). now that i was on the dirt trail, and one of the first people in the canyon for the day, there were bunnies EVERYWHERE. and they sure were frisky. there were lots laying on their sides in the middle of the trail, doing this funky wiggle in the dirt. when i'd get close, the one on the trail would bolt, along with another one hiding in the grass right at the edge of the trail. there was even more evidence of this 'wiggling' in the dirt all along the trail.

the pace for the run was just great at this point. since the early five miles, all at just under a nine minute pace, i began posting negative splits for every mile. i slowly began to eat away at the pace, and by the time i headed back out of wood canyon at 10 miles, i was right at an eight minute pace. for the last five miles back up the aliso creek trail, i wanted to continually push the pace and eventually finish at marathon pace.

the quick pace continue to feel good until about mile 12, when i started to get tired. i continued to push the leg turn-over and kept the pace drop going, but it became more and more difficult. as i pushed through the final mile, the splits looked good and i was able to maintain marathon pace. i was beat when i finished, but after a couple minutes of cooling down and soaking my head, i began to feel human again. finished up the 15.2 miles in 2:07.

and all the bunnies playing grab ass? most of them had scattered by the time i was heading back up the aliso creek trail and i stopped counting when i began my push from mile 12. the last number i remember was 128, although i'm sure there were more...a sure indication that spring is in the air.

high mileage and high heat

the past couple days have been high, mid-week runs. thursday, the coach had 10 miles on the schedule. i headed out to my customary spot after work in back bay and decided to put in a comfortable paced run. the santa ana winds were blowing again, and the heat from the desert that they were bringing had it in the 80's again. fortunately, the sun was lower in the horizon, so i wasn't in danger of ending up with a lobster face again.

i headed out on the back bay trail, hooked up with the san diego creek trail, past uci and then just past the 405 freeway, headed along the bike trail that parallels the freeway. the whole five miles out, i was running against the santa anas. it wasn't too bad, but i was really looking forward to getting the boost from them when i turned around.

when i hit five miles and started heading back toward back bay, the winds magically died down, and by the time i hit mile six, the air was as still as could be. blah! blah, i say! well, at least the wind didn't change direction and force me to run against it the whole way. i keep the pace reasonable the whole way and ended up finishing the 10 in 1:21.

this morning, i took chris's challenge. since it was my day off, i was able to do aerobics with smsmh for 60 minutes. we did two 30 minute sessions with denise austin on the lifetime channel. smsmh made me promise that i wouldn't be goofy and make fun, but it was SHE who was being all giggly. it was fun, and i think i may try it again.

later this morning, i headed over to the laguna hills community center to put in my scheduled run for the day. even though the santa anas aren't blowing today, it's still pretty warm. as i left the house, i noticed the thermometer stating 80 again. i put in an easy three mile warm up on the aliso creek trail, up to sheep hill park and back, and then jogged up the small hill at the community center to the track at laguna hills high school. coach had me down for a three mile warm up, three miles at marathon pace, and then three mile cool down.

i dove into the speed section of the run and was feeling good as i hit each of my miles. i was moving a little bit fast, but i felt good and comfortable. the nice thing about the track is that it's up on a bluff and was getting a nice breeze, but since you're running in a loop, it's not always a head wind. i nailed the three miles in 21:09, a 7:03 pace. 27 seconds fast per mile, but again, i felt good.

i was enjoying running the track, so i stayed there for the three mile cool down. there were drinking fountains off to the side, so i was able to periodically head over to them and soak my head to keep from getting too hot.

came home, grubbed on burritos, guacamole and chips, took a short nap, and now it's off to help some friends move. have a great weekend!