Great Alaska Maritime Marathon Week

I brought my laptop with me on my Alaskan trip thinking that I would blog daily. After opting to not fill out a loan application to pay the $$$ per minute internet charges on board the ship, I opted to put this all in one post. It was an awesome experience.

Sunday, June 22nd: Can You Hear Me Now?

The flight to Seattle went smooth as well as embarkation from Seattle aboard the ms Westerdam Sunday. Check in for the Great Alaskan Maritime Marathon (GAMM) went smooth as well. There are 80 participants in this years event.

We must’ve crossed another time zone before dinner because I missed our first group dinner by an hour last night. What I thought was 8 pm (per my Verizon cell phone) turned out to be 9 pm. Oh well, there will be at least 5 more group dinners. After eating at 9 I headed back to the cabin and was knocked out by 10:30.

Tomorrow morning we will be running a 2 mile run on the Promenade deck of the ship. This is a 3rd level deck; we will run 6 times around the ship to get the 2 miles in. Aside from no wind in the back and a crosswind in the front there should be wicked headwinds down one side and tailwinds down the other. We’ll see how that goes!

The Achilles tendonitis has been bothering me; I need to quit taking the stairs…..I hate waiting for elevators.

Monday, June 23rd: Stage One: 2 Mile Deck Run

This morning was the first stage of our staged marathon. At the briefing before the run, the strategy for the week was revealed. First, we were not allowed to wear watches this morning. We had someone timing and counting our laps onboard for the 2 miles. The 2 miles we ran this morning will give us the pace that we need to maintain for the whole week. The person that comes the closest to their average time today in the 3 remaining stages will win that stage and the person that comes closest overall will win the entire event. Similar to the Tour de France, yellow GAMM hats will be given to the stage winners. Oh and no Garmins allowed the rest of the week to try and get to today’s average mile pace.

Given all that I opted to run a slow pace onboard this morning. My target mile pace is 9:58 per mile. Wednesday mornings ½ in Juneau has rolling hills; rolling hills can be mountains to flatlanders like me. Thursday mornings 5 mile run will be adventure type race in that we will be given maps and directions and will have to find the mile markers for the event. Each mile marker will have a local running club individual marking our bibs. Thursdays 10k trail run should be the most scenic of the events. Like the ½ in Juneau, it also has rolling hills. Sounds like a fun week.

We had a strength and training flexibility seminar this afternoon. There was some overlap with the core workout that we’ve started doing with Woodlands Fall Fit.

Tuesday, June 24th: Cruising Glacier Bay

This morning at 2am the ship had a time change. We are now on my cell phones time that it adjusted to back Sunday. I’m sticking to the wake up call feature on the cabin’s phone for my official time.

Today we entered Glacier Bay National Park late in the morning and cruised around until late afternoon. We saw the Lamplough, John Hopkins, and Marjorie Glaciers while in the park. Weather was cool and overcast; I had on a wool cap and gloves. I stayed out on deck quite awhile taking advantage of the cool weather that I know I wont see again for months.

This morning we had a session with John Bingham entitled “Running For Your Life.” It was John’s story of how we went from overweight couch potato to running. I first heard John speak at the pre race pasta dinner before the Mini marathon in Indianapolis in May 2004. Quite entertaining.

Wednesday, June 25th: Juneau AK ½ Marathon

Just talking to a few of fellow GAMM participants, there appear to be some metronome pace setting runners here. I think I’ll forgo the attempted stage win in order to make it back in time to catch the 10am bus back versus the noon bus. With an 8am race start, I should be able to run the ½ in time to catch the 10 o’clock bus but that will be faster than the 9:58 2 mile deck run pace that I established Monday. Then again the Achilles may slow me down not to mention the rolling hills….. We’ll see. Headed out now for a 6am run briefing.

It was misting when we got to Juneau but not for long. Perfect weather in the 50s I would imagine. We bussed from the ship to Douglas Island where we ran the ½ marathon. From Douglas Island we had an excellent view of Mendenhall Glacier at the start/finish line as well along the route. The mayor of Juneau came out today as the race starter. The Juneau Empire was out as well covering the event.

My Achilles was feeling fine and the cool weather was awesome for running so I ran fairly hard today. I’m probably over 25 minutes under my goal pace after just the 2nd stage of the GAMM. I was the first male finisher and finished in 1:43:53. Not a PR but it was a sub 8 pace that I was able to crank out more often than not last year and had not yet done this year.

We got back to the ship around 11; I had a quick shower then headed up to grab more pasta for lunch. I took around a 3 hour nap after eating then headed back ashore to see some of Juneau. Walked through/by gift and T-shirt shops to try and loosen up the legs.

Thursday, June 26th: Stage 3, Sitka 5 mile run

GAMM participants caught the first 2 tenders from the Westerdam to Sitka for our 9am 5 mile run start. It was overcast and cool in Sitka; I was probably dressed with fewer clothes than anyone else but I felt fine in shorts and a short sleeved running shirt with a running cap. We received Sitka maps as well as turn by turn directions at our 7am race briefing while still on board the ship. The map and directions were both really straight forward and the mile marker individuals in orange vests were easy to spot. A local high school had the setup for this race and students were in groups of 3 marking mile numbers on our race bibs.

It took about a half mile or so to get my left Achilles loosened up but it felt good again today and I dug a deeper hole in finishing well under my target time that I set with the 2 mile run Monday. My time for the 5 miles was 36:58….not exactly a 9:58 per mile pace.

We last tender left at Sitka at 4:30 and we are now sailing to Ketchikan. We will run the final stage of the GAMM tomorrow morning; a 10k trail run. I believe we will be bussed a good ways out from where the ship docks. Sounds like a great way to see parts of Ketchikan that most tourists never see.

Friday, June 27th: Stage 4, Ketchikan 10k trail run

We arrived in Ketchikan at 7am this morning. School busses picked us up about 15 minutes later and bussed us to Tongass National Forest where we met members of the Ketchikan Running Club. Like Juneau, the Ketchikan mayor met us for the race today; however, he actually ran with us.

The course started and finished on pavement, was mostly run on crushed rock, and also included some dirt. The rolling hills here made Huntsville State Park look flat; I ran my slowest time today at 52:58. Unlike Juneau, the 2 busses stayed together and we didn’t head back to the ship until everyone finished the race. It was after 11am by the time we got back to the ship; with an all aboard time of 12:30pm I opted to get back on board, cleanup and grab lunch rather than hang out in Ketchikan.

I don’t know if anyone mentioned it, but we actually have run 26.3 miles rather than the 26.2 marathon distance. Could this be an ultra? Several of the GAMM participants including myself will be doing the ON DECK FOR THE CURE 5K WALK at 9 am tomorrow morning. The walk raises money for the Holland America Line Foundation to benefit the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Saturday, June 28th: 5k Walk

There must have been at least 25 GAMM participants that walked the 5k this morning. It was really foggy but not too rough walking 9 laps on the same deck where we ran our 2 mile pace run Monday. Weather was still nice and cool; probably lo 50s. We docked in Victoria, BC around 7 this evening for our last port of call before arriving back in Seattle Sunday morning. It was sunny and noticeably warmer than it had been all week. Still long sleeve shirt weather but not nearly as cool.

Sunday, June 29th: Seattle Marathon

No, I didn't run it but was told that it was run earlier this morning. Actually it was the VM Team Medicine Northwest Marathon and 1/2.

I had time to kill so I went on my only excursion of the week on the Best of Seattle tour. My 5:30 pm flight was delayed and we encountered headwinds back to Houston so we didn't land until around 12:20 am. After baggage claim, it was off to a very crowded Parking Cents to get my car.

Do as I say.....

I found a website with a VDOT calculator this week. I plugged in my RTW 5k time from last week and was going to run a 9:37 pace at Woodlands Fall Fit this morning. That was my computed easy pace given a 43 VDOT. I started out right around/under a 9:00 per mile pace and held that around 7 miles. About that time, I was ready to get back so picked up the pace a little; I ended up averaging 8:55 for the 9 1/2 mile route. I can get away with that for a 9 1/2 mile run but need to get in the habit of running my training runs at a slower pace to be prepared when the distances start increasing.

My shoes were pretty much soaked by the time I finished running this morning so the humidity had to be high out there this morning. I fly out to Seattle tomorrow morning and board the msWesterdam tomorrow afternoon for the Great Alaskan Maritime Marathon Cruise. I should be running in 40 and 50 degree weather the next week; I'm really looking forward to that relief!

2 More Running Days Til Alaska!

I ran today for the 5th consecutive day in quite awhile. I have been running Saturday and Sundays and Tuesdays through Thursdays with Mondays and Fridays as rest days so that I run no more than 3 consective days. With me headed out of town next week, my running schedule will be off so I tried to front load the week. We are running from Don's house tomorrow evening and then from Luke's Saturday morning for the Fall Fit program. After those 2 runs my next 4 will be in Alaska where the high temps look to be in the upper 50s and lows in the 40s. Sounds quite chilly compared to the Houston heat and humidity that we've been dealing with down here. I'm sure I'll acclimate just fine!!!!

Trail/Road Run from Falconwing Park

Part of the group ran Flintridge west towards Forestgate to get in the normal hilly out and back this evening. Grant and I took Falconwing to Flintridge and headed east to run the Trail Loop in the Mitchell Preserve. I made sure to stay on the Trail Loop today; no off trail adventure runs for me this time! Only saw 1 horsefly today compared to the hundreds that were out the 2 previous times that I ran this trail. Hopefully the horsefly season is almost over.

Lost in The woodsy Woodlands

Today was one of the more interesting training runs that I have had in all my years of running. The plan was simple enough; I was going to run about 10 miles with a combination of concrete and trails this morning to make up for my running a 5k yesterday morning instead of my long run. I made sure my Garmin was fully charged last night after having the battery die in the last 1/4 mile of yesterday's 5k. Only problem was that I left it at home today. Turned out to not be a problem as Karen and Sara both had Garmins with them.

We met at 6am at Forestgate Park to run a little over 2 miles on road to the entrance of the George Mitchell Preserve trails on Flintridge in Indian Springs. Our plan was to take the trail to the new Creekside village. I ran the Trail Loop earlier in the week so was familar with that part of the trail. Our first attempt to Creekside was taking the Bedias lake trail off of the Trail Loop. That took us to Bedias lake but didn't seem to go any farther. We then backtracked on the Trail Loop to the Wetlands signpost and headed in that direction. There did not appear to be any trail to follow so we just ran on soft dirt which appeared to be have been wet not long ago. The dirt soon gave way to grass and we continued for awhile before determining that there was no trail. At that point we weren't sure which way to get back to the Trail Loop. After attempting to follow a dried up creek a few times and winding up in the same spot every time (they can't have that many cracked green buckets in the woods) we attempted heading east (in the direction of the sun). The brush was too heavy to continue in that direction; after giving that up and heading towards more open ground we found the cracked green bucket again. We then headed north and found a larger creek; we followed that creek quite aways through brush until we made our way to Bedias lake after about 2 hours of wandering off trail.

It turned out to be a nice shaded experience; more of an adenture run than a long run but you gotta take what is given to you sometimes. I'm sure we will find the trail that we were looking for someday.

Run the Woodlands 5k Series

RTW 5k Series happens the 2nd and 4th Saturday of every month. I've been wanting to head out there and run and finally made it this Saturday. I actually run most of the course on our Thursday evening social runs.
I charged my Garmin last night and even checked that it was off when I removed it from the cradle. I got a low battery message when I turned it on this morning. It made it through my warmup and lasted until around the last 1/4 mile or so of the 5k.
I ran almost a minute faster than I ran the Astros Race for the Pennant 5k only 2 weeks ago. Just further evidence that the achilles is continuing to improve.
I'm glad I made it out there today and hope to make more but with my marathon long runs being on Saturday mornings it's not gonna happen anytime soon.

Name Your Favorite HOLLIDAY

To LSU fans, its gotta be the 5'5 all around offensive threat on the football field Trindon Holliday. Trindon won his semifinal heat in the 100 at the NCAA championships yesterday to advance to the finals Friday.

Horseflies on Trails

I guess I wasn't running trails at this time the last couple of years because I don't remember horseflies being this bad. I'm not talking about the occasional one that you see for a few yards on a long run; what we've had the past 3 trail runs was a swarm of them shadowing you as long as you keep moving. They really have become a motivational factor as stopping becomes more miserable than continuing to run. Hills become more an enemy to you as the horseflies are (yeah) flying so they continue at the same pace while uphills tend to slow me down.

As I was running today at lunch on the concrete trails here in The Woodlands I got to thinking how there's probably a swarm of horseflies in the woods just a few feet away. I just hope they don't realize that they have fresh meat not far away. Maybe they are out there as a distraction to make the heat and humidity more bearable for us :-)

Woodlands Fall Fit

Yesterday was the first orientation session for the Woodlands Fall Fit inaugural season. The achilles is still feeling better every week. I was feeling good so ran a little faster than I should have been for a long run but it was only 7 miles. My Thursday weekday easy run was almost that same distance.
I have been running 5 days and resting 2 the past couple of months while building up a training base for when Chicago training begins. Friday has been one of my off days; I had been mowing my lawn with my push mower than evacuated with me from the New Orleans area. Its been on life support since the 2006 mowing season; one of the rear wheels cracked and fell off Friday with less than 10% of my lawn mowed. I opted for a self propelled mower for the replacement; Fridays are now more like rest days with the self propelled feature.
The trail group met at Burroughs Park this morning for a 5 and a half mile trail run. I believe everyone used bug replellant after witnessing or hearing the horsefly stories. The horseflies were out again but weren't so bad as long as you kept moving.

HEB Wine Walk @ Market Street

I'm headed over to the Wine Walk at Market Street tonight so i got my run in early for a Thursday. I felt a little sore early in the run and walked some towards the end today. I had better results earlier in the week which probably had me somewhat tired today. I also had a productive deep tissue massage last night (productive being my quads were sore today).

I combined a couple of runs I've been doing today to get almost 7 miles; the only major intersection I crossed was Woodlands Parkway@ E Panther Creek. I had to stop a couple of times due to lost satellites. I had to stop twice yesterday as well. May have to contact Garmin; I've run the same areas many times without any satellite problems.

Now that I've got the run in for the day, I'm going to enjoy myself this evening! I'll be drinking with some professional wine drinkers here in my office; I probably should have been training for this!

Running with Horseflies....

The Woodlands Fit trail group had an unofficial run at Jones Park this morning. I've run at Jones Park 2 or 3 times before and have always enjoyed it. This morning there were more horseflies than I have ever seen. They followed us most of the 6 miles that we ran; stopping was not an option as they would swarm around you if you did. The only place they weren't so bad was where our cars were parked.