I'll be on my way in 2 weeks

It's hard to imagine but I'll be headed to the airport at this time 2 weeks from today.  I'm looking for my umpteenth trip to the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World as well as my 4th and 5th times I'll be running through Cinderella's castle as part of either the 1/2 or full marathon.  5th time running through the castle, 5th marathon, 10th anniversary of my 1st marathon and 1st run through the castle.  Nice way to wrap up my first long distance running decade!  And, no, not start my 2nd long distance running decade.  Rather, a start to my mid distance only running!!!!

Speaking of wrapping up, I had to say goodbye to Dottie Sue Tuesday mornng.  Her health had been in decline and it was time to put her down.  She lived  a great 15 years and 9 months; she was a calming influence at my side for the past 1/3 of my life.  This is one of my favorite picture of her along with Waldo earlier this summer.

I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday season.

Tapering?

I don't know that I can call this less than 3 week to race day period tapering as there hasn't been much mileage to be tapering from the past 3 months.  Nonetheless, I ran a high mileage weekend logging 9 miles Saturday and 19 Sunday.  I am confident at this point that I will meet my goal of completing both events next month.  This wasn't the case 10 years ago when I was heading to the same place to compete in my very first marathon.  I don't know what my training mileage was or how many miles I had on my race day shoes as I wasn't tracking mileage back then.  I think I ran one run over 16 miles and paid for my lack of training dearly.  I was the sorest after an event that I have ever been.  I compounded the undertraining by returning to my hotel room and sleeping for a couple of hours immediately after the race.  I'll be hitting the parks now post race to keep the muscles moving albeit very slowly this time around.  Depending on the weather conditions and the way my body feels, an ice bath may be on tap as well.  I'll leave that for a  post race decision.
Speaking of weather, Houston had chamber of commerce days both Saturday and Sunday.  I waited until 10 Saturday and noon Sunday to get out for my long runs.  The temps were near 50 both days at the start of my runs.
I just need to make it through this next week without any additional weight gain.  It'll be hard to do heading home for lots of sweets but hopefully I'll run enough to balance the additional food.

Taking it Inside

With feeling finally returning to my extremities, I packed my gym bag for a treadmill workout yesterday.  A nice evenly paced 10 minute per mile pace recovery run was what I needed after Saturday's 10k sprint and then run/walk struggle in Mississippi's cold and rainy weather Saturday.  I plan to get another slow 4 miles on the treamill again this evening.  Weather looks promising for my planned 21 miler this Saturday.  This will be my longest distance run since January's Houston Marathon.  No 20 Milers was my planned Goofy Challenge training this fall but since the high volume mid mileage plan has not been followed since early October I figure a 21 miler is in order.

MTC Half Marathon

Saturday I ran my 46th half marathon in Madison Mississippi on a cold rainy morning.  Mississippi is the 40th state that I have now run a 1/2 marathon or greater distance in since January 2000.  If this were 1889, I would have completed my run at chasing states.  However, its 2009 so I still have 10 states (and DC) to run before my goal is complete.

I've run races in colder conditions as well as wetter conditions, but this race was the coldest/wettest combination that I've run to date.  Saturday morning started with a steady rain and 37 degree temperatures.  The race start and finish was in the parking lot of Madison Central High School.  I arrived about 45 minutes before the start of the race.  I picked up my packet and went back to my rental car to wait for the start.  I opted to run with thigh tights rather than full length tights due to the rainy weather.  I wore a short sleeve shirt with a long sleeve shirt over it and a light shell to protect me from the rain.  I wore a skull cap to protect my head/ears from the cold and wore a hat with a bill to protect me from the rain.  I made a last minute decision to leave the Garmin in the car as it was raining a good bit and I didn't want to risk messing it up as it is not waterproof.  I also wore gloves to keep my hands warm.

The race started on time in the parking lot.  There were puddles covering the parking lot so my feet got a little wet right at the start of the race.  My fingers and toes ended up being the coldest parts as I ran the 13.1 miles.  The race course was a straight out and back on Highland Colony Parkway.  This was only the 2nd long distance event that I've run without a watch.  I really went out too fast and was pretty much done by the time I reached the turnaround point.  Too bad there wasn't a relay option.  I did a lot of walking on 2nd half of the course.  I managed to finish in 1:57:56; I looked up the results today and I was 5 seconds out of a 3rd place age group finish.  Amazing.  This was also my first 1:57 finish in 46 attempts; I had several 1: 56 and 1:58 times but never a 1:57 before this weekend.

This trip to Jackson was incredibly similiar to my trip to Louisville back in April 2005.  It was also a 1 night trip in rainy and cold conditions.  Aside from running the race, I really had no desire to see anything else in the area as the weather was just so miserable.  As predicted, I was delayed in both heading to Jackson and the return flight as well.  Both problems were on the Houston end.  On the bright side, I was able to print my return flight boarding pass when I arrived in Jackson as I fell within the 24 hour checkin time frame.  I was also able to change my seat to the emergency exit row seat, giving me more room to stretch my legs on the flight home.

Now it's back to 3 solid weeks of training for my January 1/2 full combination. 

Tis The Season

Back in July and August I'd be licking my lips at the thought of getting to run in temps near 40 with a 90% chance of rain.  Fast forward to now with my trying to get over a nasty cold, not so much looking forward to cold and rainy conditions.  Of course, all rains are not created equal.  Misty rain is most welcome to keep me cool.  Sideways stinging rain will be a pain for any part of 13 miles.  90% chance throughout the day seems like I'll be getting some kind of rain.  I may run my first race in a windbreaker or maybe even a garbage bag.  If all these races were the same, there'd be no adventure. 

Chances are I'll be delayed at some point in my air travel this trip.  With rain expected tomorrow here in Houston on my flight to Jackson and thunderstorms predicted around my return flight home, delays seem likely.  With this being the quick trip that it is, I may end up spending more time in airports than anywhere else.  Even with delays, air travel rocks.  I wonder how many 50 state runners would be around without air travel.  Looking ahead, I mapquested a route from Texas to Rhode Island.  I believe you cover 14 states on the trip which would take around 3 days driving 8 hours or so a day?  Train travel?  You'd have to leave Wednesday to make it in time for a Sunday race.  Talk about eating vacation days!

Going Backwards

A quick review of my monthly mileage in Buckeye confirmed my suspicion that my mileage has been decreasing since my marathon training began.  My program began early September and these are my  monthly run totals and mileage through the end of November:

September runs/miles: 19/121
October runs/miles: 13/83
November runs/miles: 12/77

The trend has continued with my December mileage at zero as of today.  What started as a lack of motivation turned into an injury then turned into a cold that has really cut into my training.  In the entire month of November I did not run twice the distance of what I'm going to run on the 9th and 10th of January.  If there is good news, it is that I am better prepared at this point than I was for my first marathon 10 years ago.  I also have a month to get in some quality training. I'll be running a 1/2 marathon in Jackson, Mississippi this Saturday and then no more races until the marathon weekend.  Hopefully December numbers will look more like September than October or November.

The good news is that my legs are feeling fresh and injury free.  Now I just need to get some miles in them.

GE Run Thru the Woods

I just realized typing the title above that the Run Thru happened on Thur, Thanksgiving Day.  Thru and Thur are typical typos for me....not sure if the name was intentionally made as such since its always on Thursday? probably just a coincidence.
As forecast, we had awesome running weather race morning.  In my pre race post, I mentioned wanting to run smart to avoid injury in order to not miss any training for my upcoming January endurance weekend.  More on that later.

With my family living in Louisiana, I only get to run this race every other year in order that I can make it back home in time for Thanksgiving lunch the years that my mom has everyone over.  I ran this event for the first time in 2007 on an even colder morning.  That year, around 4200 people participated in either a 1 mile kids run, a 5 mile run, a 3 mile teen run or a 3 mile walk.  This year they had 5500 people participating.  Pretty impressive for a home town event.

The local YMCA puts on this event.  I have been able to obtain a Heart & Health Grant through my employer to further support the sponsor.  This year we had seven people from my company participating in one of the events.

I ended up having a good race.  I watched the kids 1 mile race which started 1/2 an hour before my 5 mile race.   That put my warmup a little later than usual.  I entered the start line area from the back right from my warmup.  I weaved my way through lots of people to get at what I thought was a good starting area.  In hindsight, I should have kept weaving a while longer.  I often forget that these lower mileage events have lots of first time or people that don't run regularly.  I spent probably my first 2 miles zig zagging through runners of many different paces before the race thinned out somewhat.  About that time, I felt something rubbing both my achilles.  Turns out it was the zippers from my running tights that were rubbing my skin.  It wasn't a factor in a 5 mile race; it would've been raw had I run a half or full marathon.  Simply tucking my socks under the tights would've solved the problem; this may come in handy for a future long distance event.

I ended up running a 37:57, 7:35 pace for the 5 miles.  My pace was definetely slower than the Nike Human Race 10k that I ran in October.  I finished that 6.2 miler at an average pace of 7:39 but I hobbled in at the end of that race with a pulled left calf muscle.  I enjoyed the post race pancake breakfast, visited with friends and then headed home to pack for my Louisiana trip.  I got back in town Sunday afternoon and ran a 5 miler that evening.  My legs felt fine even though the weather was balmy Sunday.  Monday morning I woke up with a sore throat and 6 days later I'm now hacking up colorful stuff.  I have no miles logged since Sunday.  My legs are ready to go but this cold/bronchial funk has me sidelined anyway. 

I may try and run 5 miles or so Sunday just to see how things feel; I have a treadmill stress test scheduled Wednsesday morning that I should be able to keep.  Friday I fly to Jackson, MS to run a 1/2 Saturday morning.  Sounds like it will be another run smart event as I don't feel like I've trained enough to run this one all out either.

Michigan, Please Come Get Your Man

Sore

My 18 miler Sunday left me sore with tight calves and legs in general.  I took Monday off but went for a 5 miler yesterday at lunch around Millbend loop from my office.  My legs seemed to loosen up after a couple of miles into it which was a good thing.  After cleaning up, I headed over to Lukes Locker to pickup my race packet for Thursday morning's 5 miler.  It's gonna be racing weather tomorrow morning with lows expected near 40.   I'm just not sure if my legs are up for an all out race.  I need to try and listen to my body; put a bib number and/or a chip on me and it always seems to end up in an all out effort.  Given the timing of the event in relation to my upcoming Goofy Challenge that may not be the smartest plan.  An injury now would really set my training back.
After the run tomorrow and the post race pancake breakfast, it'll be another race to get home, get the dogs packed, and hit the roads to spend the holiday weekend with my mom.  At least Thursday morning traffic will be a breeze compared to the nightmare traffic that will hit I-10 today into tonight.
I wish everyone a happy and safe Thanksgiving holiday.

No More, NO LES!!

My weekend mileage plan was to run 16 miles yesterday morning at 5:30 starting at Lukes Locker with a couple of other Goofy Challenge runners.  Well, I woke up at 4:30 and it was raining lightly so I opted to sleep in.  The rain continued all day and then the @#$% LSU Ole Miss football game outcome put my run off until today. 
I started out at 9:30 with 55 degree temps and sunny weather.  Awesome weather for a training run.  I ran out further than I should have so the 16 miles turned into 18.33.  My left leg, mostly in the hip area, was hurting near the end of the run.  I took an ice bath when I got back home and took it easy the rest of the day.
I have a 5 mile race Thanksgiving morning and then hope to get a long run in this weekend as well.  Hopefully my legs will cooperate.

Help Me Make a Difference!

Please help me make a difference in the lives of people with lung disease. On March 21st, I will be participating in the Citizens Bank Caesar Rodney Half Marathon. This race benefits the American Lung Association of Delaware. My goal is to complete the 13.1 mile run, but also to help raise money to fight lung disease and promote healthy lungs.

Your donation would be so greatly appreciated. Please help me help others! thank you.

Dees States I Run

I'm not sure what causes this...may be a full moon or something in the air but it happened again this morning.  For whatever reason, it dawned on me that I should check to see if they had Saturday/Sunday 1/2's in the DC/DE area.  I knew that the National Marathon had a half and was sometime in March.  A quick check at Half Marathons.net and before I knew it I was signed up for the National 1/2 Marathon in DC on March 20th and the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in Wilmington, DE on March 21st.  Well not quite signed up as registration hasn't opened yet for the DE event but hotel is booked so I'm practically there!
Airfare on Continental (to BWI) was right under $225, both races have host hotels with decent rates, I'll take the Metro into DC and then rent a car Saturday at BWI to drive to DE.  I'm heading up a day earlier than I normally would to sightsee in DC as I haven't been there since the late 80s.  Wow, time flies.
Going back to my October, CT/MA trip, this will be my 4th consecutive running trip where I'll be running 2 events on the same trip.  January will have me doing the 1/2 on Saturday and then the full on Sunday in DisneyWorld, this DC/DE trip in March followed my a late May Sunday/Monday race weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming and Boulder, Colorado.
For some reason, I was dreading my hill run all day yesterday.  I did get out in what felt like the middle of the night at 7:00pm and got in a decent 4 mile run on Flintridge.  I really should start running at lunchtime weekdays now that it gets dark so early.
Earlier this fall, I ran consecutive "W" states merely coincidental and now I'll be running my first "D" state and DC and will be wrapping up the "D"s all in the same weekend.  I guess you run enough of these and patterns pop up everywhere.

USRA Half Marathon Series

I received an email today for one of the races in a new half marathon series. This series along with the 131marathon series recently announced adds around 20 half marathons for 2010.  USRA hopes to have 20-25 events by 2011.  It's great to see the half marathon distance getting the attention that it deserves.  I may have to end up doing some state repeats as Iowa is the only state where these new events are being held that I have not yet run.
I hope to get a run in tonight.  My hip doesn't quite feel right but it's not intense pain.  I think I just need to get out the door and get my training started again.

Meb doing the Late Show Top Ten

I just saw this; just a week late.  Funny stuff!!!

Rocky Raccoon 25k

I ran my 2nd 25k Saturday morning on the trails in Huntsville State Park.  I ran my first 25k on the same course at the Hogs Hunt race earlier this year.  I'm happy to report that I got my 2nd 25k PR this year as I improved by time unofficially by about a minute and a half.  2 PR's at a new distance for me in the same year is pretty cool; even cooler is that running right under a 9:30 pace there is still plenty of room for future PRs, especially if I run a 25k on the road.

I let my HR soar today; according to the garmin data download, my max HR was 174 with an average HR of 160.  Both of those numbers were off the charts (and not in a good way). 
 
I saw a couple falls while on the course Saturday and heard of others comparing post race stories.  I still have not fallen on a trail race or even training run.  I'm convinced that my running gait is made for off road.  While I look goofy with my high step on the road, I have no issue with roots on the trails.

I just realized today that the 25k distance is quite a bit further than the half distance that I'm used to racing.  Where I would normally be in the clubhouse at 13.1 miles, I wasn't quite at 85% of the 25 distance Saturday morning.  That extra 15% is pretty significant.  My 2 25k's have gone pretty similiar to my 4 marathon distance events.  I run out of gas before the end of these races.  The last time that I ran 15.5 miles was for the Hogs Hunt event back in May.  I'm thinking I need to get in at least one (probably more) long runs before my Disney challenge in January.

I had some nice lawn mowing recovery this afternoon followed by road/driveway sweeping.  Gotta love that cross training!

Pre-formance

Drinking my Cytomax Pre-formance energy drink before my slow short run tonight.  I almost caught another cramp in my left calf again during the night.  That would be the 3rd one in 3 weeks.  I haven't changed my diet or anything recently and haven't had these kinds of night cramps in years prior to this round.  I have been running with water for hydration more than sports drinks the past couple of months.  I'm going to try more sports drinks to see if that helps.

Happy Halloween!!! Where were you 50 years ago?

My parents were in the south end zone at this game.  The guy in the suit running along the sideline starting around the 15 yard line or so lived a block down in the neighborhood where I grew up.

Hit the Trails 5k

I ran a local 5k this morning here in The Woodlands.  At $40 plus active .com fees, the race was Woodlands pricey for  a 5k; however, the race was put on by Girls Run for a great cause!  I learned of the event a couple of weeks ago from a company email.  The plan was to get 5 of us to run to get a $1,000 heart & health grant through work to further benfit this great cause.  Plan fell through and only 2 of us participated in the event.  The plan is to get a grant for next year Girls Run events.
My Garmin decided to sleep in this morning.  I had the dreaded low battery message when I went to put it on after finding my satellites.  I ran it for my 1 mile warmup run; it died around .75 miles.  I went ahead and removed my HR monitor when I got back from the warmup.  My left calf let me know that it was there while I warmed up so the plan on the fly was to just have an easy run this morning.
The trails became the concrete after a heavy soaking rain Thursday put the trails under water.  3 loops in the parking lot wasn't so bad for a 5k; however, I can see why people are not big fans of the 3 loop Houston Half Marathon run on Allen Parkway.
I ended up with a 24:12 clock time.  The first mile was around my warmup pace of 9:00; mile 2 was around 8:00 and the third loop was around 7:00.  The calf felt a little tight but I didn't have the same sensation that happened last Saturday at mile 6 of the 10k.
Depending on how things feel tomorrow morning, I  think I'll head up to Huntsville to get in some mileage there in preparation for next weekends Rocky Raccoon 25k Saturday morning.  No sleeping in next Saturday with a 7:00 race start up in Huntsville State Park.  I could get spoiled with 9:00 am local start times like todays.
I haven't entered today's mileage yet but I know that my marathon training is headed in the wrong direction this month.  I logged 120 miles in September; I know I didn't break 100 this month.  Too many races and no real motivation are dragging me down.  November only has 2 races and hopefully awesome weather so the mileage should be back up.

Yet Another Rest Day

Before:

After:

Waldo and his stuffed pelican were fine when I left the living room to go get ready for work yesterday morning.  The area needed to be roped off for a Crime Scene Investigation when I came back out.  Pelican innards....stuffing, honking noise maker and what not were scattered about.  I think it's time to order more toys.

I planned on running for the first time this week last night.  It wasn't to be with rain coming down in buckets.  I woke up with another cramp in my left calf during the night.  I'll just have to take tomorrow morning's trail run easy and listen to the calf to avoid another pull.  Not sure what's causing all the cramps.

13.1 Marathon series

Flipping through the December 2009 issue of Running Times, I just came across an ad for 3 races part of a new series produced by US Road Sports & Entertainment Group out of Dallas.  It looks like 4 of the 8 races will be inaugural events.  With early entry fees starting at $55, the series looks to be competitively priced; lets hope it remains that way. 
The apparent attempt to brand these events without the 1/2 designation may end up confusing the non running community.  I still occasionally get the "How long is this marathon?" question from non runner friends.  Calling this a 13.1 marathon will further muddy the waters.
Of the 8 events, I've run in all the states where they are being held.  The one event I could possibly justify would be New York as that is the only state where I've run a full marathon but not a 1/2 or a 13.1 marathon!

Blame it on the Cheap Air

Oops I did it again. Last night I found airfare to Jackson, MS for under $70 on Continental as part of the price matching of Southwest's 72 hour fare sale.  The sale window fit in perfectly with the Mississippi Track Club 1/2 Marathon in Madison, MS just north of Jackson.  The 1/2 advertises itself as a no frills event; you can't beat the $17 registration fee.  A quick trip to hotwire.com and I now have a rental car for around $25 after all fees.  All I need now is 1 nights lodging.  This trip may end up being cheaper than my Houston Marathon "trip" in January. 
Staying on road, this will be my 6th half marathon and 6th new state for 2009.  5 of the 6 were not affiliated with a full marathon.  All 5 of the half only events were under $60; 2 in the $50's, 2 in the $30's and this one at $17.  I am finding events where the 1/2 is the featured race to be cheaper in general than 1/2's that are part of the full marathon event.
I will be picking up state 40 much sooner than anticipated but I still have my goal of completing number 50 on my 50th birthday.

Human Race Recovery

Good news is that the calf pull was just that and nothing worse.  I hobbled around the rest of the day Saturday but was walking normal again Sunday morning.  My legs are still sore so I will not run until Thursday the earliest.  I have a 5k on the calendar this Saturday morning which I know I shouldn't race but most probably will end up racing.  Something about getting a bib number and a group of people together makes me want to run hard.....  Rocky Raccoon 25k trail run is the following Saturday so I am getting some miles in but it's definetely not your conventional marathon training.  That's ok as running a half and full combination over a weekend is not your conventional race so it should all work out in the end.   That's what I keep telling myself.

Nike Human Race 10k

What a great day for a race!

Lukes Locker put on a great free show this morning for The Woodlands runners.  I would've run further than a 10k this morning without an organized event, but I decided to race the 10k since we had a course and runners and post race party. 

I was having a good run until about mile 6 when my left calf muscle decided to lock up/tighten up/cramp on me.  Driving home I remembered that I woke up in the middle of the night during the week with the calf cramping up on me.  I was able to avoid a full out cramp but I guess it was enough for it to act up again while I was running.  Despite the cramp, I ended up running an unofficial 48:17.  Post race, they had a live band, coffee and breakfast, and even massages. 

I will most likely skip running in Huntsville tomorrow depending on how the calf feels tomorrow morning.  I'd like to get out there as Rocky Raccoon 25k is November 7th but if its bothering me there's no sense pushing it risking injury.

The Bigger Challenge?

Interesting article from USA Today in the Sky.  Prior to fees being institiuted for checking bags, I almost always checked a bag.  With the liquid worries at TSA checkpoints, it was just easier to not deal with trying to carry on a bag.  Start charging me to check a bag, and, yeah, I'm going to start carrying on my stuff.  I have started sitting further back on the plane to ensure that there is still room in the overhead bins for my bag; before I always tried to sit as far forward as possible.  Last in, first off made sense to me.  I have found that earlier in, later off with bag in hand is actually quicker so I must thank the airlines for speeding up my travel experience.
Oh yeah, after going through the airport, the half marathon that I'm traveling to is usually a piece of cake!!!
For my January 2 run trip, I have decided that carrying on and doing laundry after my first race will be cheaper and more efficient than packing enough for the entire trip.  Plus, it'll be nice recovery time between races.

Running Through Goofy

If I was on the fence, my current training intensity has pretty much decided my Goofy fate.  I have not been training to run a PR marathon.  Orlando's January historical weather is reason enough to not expect favorable running conditions for the marathon.  Add to that the 1/2 that I'll be running the day before and a marathon PR is not likely.  So my training to date has been more of the surviving a 40 mile running weekend compared to racing 40 miles.

Now that I've decided to not push myself through Goofy, it would be nice to have a target race early next year.  I am considering the 3M Half in Austin later in January.  The course sounds much more to my liking than the 1/2 course associated with the Austin full mid February.  Unfortunately, most of my local running buds will be doing the full and not the half only event.  Oh well, it's not like I haven't traveled alone for a race before!!!!

My recovery and the Houston sucky weather are a good combination this week.  This weekends weather looks like the best of the fall season here in Houston; it actually looks like fall temps!!! Who knows, I may even run Saturday and Sunday.

I updated my state map yesterday.  7 of the 11 remaining states being contiguous make a huge white hole in the northern midwest portion of the US.  Current plans are for 2010 races in Wyoming in May and Montana in July.  All other 2010 plans are currently repeat states.

Just One Run Short of Fabulous

It is 40 and fabulous right?  If that's the case I'm now one more state shy of hitting the big four 0 thanks to this weekends Massachusetts and Connecticut's cool and not-so-cool runnings.

Planes, trains and automobiles
This weeks travel to Boston and then Hartford and then Boston involved all 3 modes of travel.  I rate them as follows:

Planes: D- 
While all delays were supposedly weather related, I am really hating air travel these days for some reason.  My Friday morning (was it the 13th?  Sure seemed like it....) 11:05 AM flight that was due in Boston at 2:52 PM Houston time was delayed 4 1/2 hours.  I was still on the ground at Bush IAH when I should have been in Boston driving towards Hartford.  My initial travel plans had me picking up my Saturday morning race packet very close to the 7 PM Friday evening expo close in Hartford.  Thankfully, Hartford had a race day pickup option.  Many races don't offer such an option.  Once our plane arrived from Philly via a weather related diverted stop and refueling in Lake Charles, LA and we boarded and on our way, we encountered yet another weather issue on our approach to Boston.  1/2 mile visibility turned into 1/4 mile which led to our circling in a holding pattern waiting for visibility to improve.  I have never been so relieved to hear the "Welcome to Boston" greeting from the flight attendants once we landed as we could have easily been diverted to another airport.  The return flight Sunday evening was slowed a half hour or so by headwinds from Boston all the way down to Jackson, Mississippi as well as a landing approach at IAH from a westerly direction due to Houston winds.  Total planes lost time: 5 1/2 hours

Automobiles: C
Car rental shuttle from Logan to Hertz rental site rather quick.  Very smooth rental process with my new Hertz Gold status thanks to a new company contract with Hertz!  Kia Spectra more than adequate for my needs.  Loving the Garmin nuvi GPS that was on its 3rd out of town trip with me.  GPS does make solo navigating much easier than trying to read mapquest and drive at the same time.  As I realized that Hartford pasta dinner wasn't going to happen I stopped at the Framingham rest/service area on the Mass turnpike around 9:30 PM.  They actually had a pizza and pasta place there.  Unfortunately all they had left was pizza so I opted for McD's grilled chicken and fries.
Made it out of Taxachusetts tolls right under $8.00.  Not sure if I was in Mass or Connecticut when it happened.... nuvi showed me being 20 minutes from Hartford when I saw a red glow up ahead; made it up a hill and saw red brake lights.... 3 lanes worth... as far as I could see.  Someone decided it was a good night to merge 3 lanes of interstate traffic into 1 lane on the right hand shoulder to restripe the lanes.  Watched the 20 minute ETA time move up with real time as I crawled along with all the traffic.  Orange cones eventually stopped and all 3 lanes were open.  Made it to downtown Hartford without further incident.  Checked in quickly at Crowne Plaza, moved car to CP garage and made my way up to my room with my bags.  Got a call from the front desk 5 minutes later.  They had my wallet downstairs.  By this point had no idea how that happened.  I either brought it to the front desk for some reason (didn't need it as my drivers license and credit cards were in my front pocket)  or it fell off my lap when I got out of the car.  It was in my lap for the toll booth stops I made thru Mass.  Headed down and retrieved wallet after midnight, set alarm for 5:30 and caught a few hours sleep. 

ING Hartford 1/2 Marathon:
The 1/2 was part of the full marathon weekend; a 5k was also offered as well.  They had a total of 10,000 runners in all 3 events.  I put on my warmup pants and a long sleeve T shirt and headed out the door to the XL center to pickup my packet.  It was a short walk to XL.  Of course forgot my race number that had been emailed to me earlier in the week and my drivers license. Got my packet and race shirt quickly and headed back to hotel to get ready.  Warmups and T shirt weren't neeed as temps were in the 60s and humid.  Headed out to Bushnell Park/race start in running gear with no need to check baggage. 
Probably a combination of lack of sleep, poor fueling/carb loading and warmer temps had my heart rate higher than where I wanted it most of the race.  Kept reining myself in..... telling myself that I had another 13.1 to run the next morning.
Finished in 1:50 and change with wet clothes and wet shoes.  Had more clothes for the Boston 1/2 and another pair of shoes in the shoes that I wore for traveling.  Post race food was provided by Whole Foods; great job by them.  I headed back to hotel; applied some blow dryer heat to the shoes to jump start the drying process to try and run in the same shoes for Boston.  Got out of downtown Hartford without too much difficulty; had to head west on I-84 a few miles and turn around once outside of race closures as full marathon had roads still closed.
Headed back to Logan to return the rental car and make it to Back Bay Fens in Boston.

Trains: A+
After returning the rental car, took Hertz bus to Logan terminal B to catch the MBTA blue train shuttle to the Airport T stop.  Walked right into shuttle bus; bought my $4.00 round trip ticket and headed to Prudential center stop headed for the Boston Sheraton.  MBTA station and Sheraton were both within Prudential Center.  Didn't have to leave the block.  Also noticed a Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs and food court on the walk to the Sheraton.  Ate pasta at Cheesecake and took a nap; stretched legs a little and settled in for the night after getting directions to race start for the next morning.
Sunday morning warmups and sweatshirt came in handy with 40 degree temps.  After walking a little out of the way by Fenway Park, I found the race start/packet pickup.  I started to head back to the hotel after picking up my packet but realized it was too far to walk so I just stayed and checked a bag. 
The Boston course was tougher than Hartford but the cooler temps more than compensated. It was a beautiful morning for a run through several Boston parks.  I wound up running a 1:45; this was my 4th race run with a HR monitor; my HR was the most controlled that I had seen it.  I chalk it up to cooler temps.
Grabbed post race lunch in Prudential Center and then headed to airport.  Caught the end of the early NFL games and the beginning of the late games pre flight.

All in all a nice quick trip to pick up states 38 and 39.  This has been my 3rd straight Columbus Day weekend where I've run 26.2 miles.  Must be a popular time of year for races!!!! 

It's Great to be a......

Gator Hater!!!  I'll be geauxing gold on Saturday up in Boston.  Extended forcast for Hartford Saturday morning has upper 40s for the low with a rain chance.  Sunday morning in Boston mid 40s.  Must remember to pack garbage bag/throw away clothes.  Mid 50s in Washington state last month in drizzle was chilly.
No running this weekend at moms plus more eating than normal is not the best taper week plan but the trip had to be made.  Should be a nice taper week of running then a quick trip to the northeast to pick up states 38 and 39!!!!!

Running Free

I headed to Huntsville State Park Sunday morning for the first time in at least 6 weeks.  A couple of miles into the ride I realized that I forgot my Garmin watch.  Had shoes so I had a free day to not pay attention to the HR monitor.  I ran a route that I was familiar with the distance and ran it pretty hard.  My Friday run was without a HR monitor as well as I just used the Garmin 205 on a 6 mile run.
Saturday's run didn't happen.  I spent the morning trying to get local channel 55 working with my digital rabbit ears.  Ended up putting a step ladder outside and ran the ears through a window.  Thank god the community association doesn't have a satellite view as this was behind a fence. 

Hi tech:

Lo tech

Freezing frames didn't help ease the frustration watching LSU sleepwalk through its morning game with Mississippi State.  Will another top 5 team go down this weekend?

Super Jock n Jill 1/2 Marathon

This basically sums up the 4 days of weather that I experienced in Seattle this past Labor Day weekend.  The above pic was taken driving from Redmond to Woodinville on Labor Day for the start of the Super Jock n Jill 1/2 marathon.  Yucky weather for alot of outdoor activites but pretty darn awesome for running.  It drizzled/misted most of the race and I don't believe the temps got out of the 50's.

There were quite a few rolling hills throughout the course with the signature hill/mountain coming about the half way mark during mile 7.  This course had to have the most turns of any course that I've run.  The Garmin download reminds me of spaghetti.

Given the cooler weather and overcast conditions, I ran 11 minutes faster than just 2 weeks earlier in West Virginia and wrapped up my 37th state in 1:42:48.  This race was also timed with gun time only but it was announced prior to the race and there were signs to line up according to expected pace which led to a much smoother start than Parkersburg last month.  Next up is Hartford and Boston on a Saturday/Sunday back to back Columbus Day weekend.

Non running trip highlights/lowlights:

Dropping off the pups/heading to Parking Cents/IAH security check/ and flight takeoff all went off as smoothly as possible.

First hiccup came at Alamo car rental counter in SeaTac; I had reserved 3 days at $21.61 per day (before all the outrageous add-ons) through a travel agency.  When my flight settled down to a red eye flight I called the agency and requested a change from a 3pm return to a 10 pm return.  Agency assured me my rate hadn't changed; Alamo wanted $115 for the additional 6 hours (before all the outrageous add-ons) which would have put those few hours costing more than the entire previous 3 days!!!!  Consequently, if you have any questions about where anything is in SeaTac, let me know as I was in the airport for hours waiting for my flight (no way I was paying over $100 bucks additional).  Of course Continental ended up adding a 3:55pm flight which was of course sold out.  That was the 2nd of 4 return flights that I was on at some point in time.

Saturday evenings weather for the LSU/UW game only had a few sprinkles.  UW does a much better job handling game day traffic in my opinion in that they charge to park on campus and offer free park n ride bus service from various locations in the area.  I rode the bus and got in and out of the stadium area very quickly.

Redmond Town Center where I stayed reminded me very much of Market Street in The Woodlands.  Microsoft's campus was located nearby.  They even had a Saturday farmer's market just like Market Street.

I traveled sout to Mt Rainier National Park Sunday morning. 

My trip ended up being mainly a driving trip from west to east throught the park as it rained pretty heavily most of the day.  I did manage to get in one mile or so hike with a rain poncho on.  Getting back to civilization earlier than normal due to the rainier conditions was a blessing in disguise as I  missed a cell call but later got the message that my 15 1/2 older dog was having problems and needed someone to pick her up.  Thanks a million to Sara and  Dr Sarah for getting Dotty the attention that she needed.

I got a couple hours of sleep on the plane but not the restful night that I envisioned.  Looking at a 11:45 PM departure and a 5:20 AM arrival, I hadn't factored in losing 2 hours with time zone changes so I spent most of the morning napping once I retrieved the pups.

Name that Run

This weekend is the weekend after a race and the weekend before another race and the weekend before I start my January marathon training plan.  So today's run was a recovery, taper, base building run.  That's a mighty long name for a little ole 6 miles. 

While today's weather was definetely nicer than the oven like weather we've been experiencing here in Houston the past couple of months, I still wouldn't call it NICE.  My definition of nice involves temps another 30 degrees cooler, with cloud cover, and just the right amount of mist.  Oh well I'll take what I can get. 

Coach Les Miles and LSU Sports are tweeting to wear gold for this coming Saturday's game up in Washington.  I guess with 10-20 thousand tiger fans expected to make the trip we may be looking at home field advantage.....

7 Days to College Colors Day

Parkersburg News & Sentinel Half Marathon

I ran the News & Sentinel Half Marathon in Parkersburg, West Virginia this past Saturday for my 36th state. I flew to Columbus, Ohio Friday morning and drove to Parkersburg to pick up my race packet and attend the Friday evening pasta dinner. The Parkersburg race is held annually in conjunction with Homecoming weekend. It's a festival type atmosphere; the Saturday race courses are either a 2 mile course or a 1/2 marathon course. The race participants consist of mostly locals and a handful of Kenyans that compete for the race prize money.

I added my times per mile as well as my average heart rate and comments to the Parkersburg course description of the race:

Mile 1 – the first mile is fast and furious; the crowd is excited and many runners will get caught up in this excitement. Mile two will fix that. There is a slight upgrade but finishes with a steep downhill to the end of mile one.


8:22 146 AHR My 1st mile time per the Garmin was 7:31. I didn’t realize that there wasn’t a timing mat at the start line until 12 hours later lying in bed in another state. Mile 1 was spent dodging walkers that were ahead of me; it would have been nice if there were markers with estimated pace per mile for people to line up (not that that stops people from lining up in the wrong place but it’s at least an attempt to get people sorted out properly.)

Mile 2 – begins on a flat stretch of road and winds around to the bridge and Rt. 68. Construction a few years ago changed this mile. There is a moderate upgrade on the bridge that changes to a significant upgrade to the exit ramp. This is a HILL by any name. This is a tough little section of the course. Your legs will know you have been on a hill.

8:08 157 AHR As advertised, there is a hill at mile 2; I just don’t see how they couldn’t have mentioned all those other HILLS that were to come…..

Mile 3 – is different too because of the past construction. This is good news - good news. You are past the "hill" and now you will meander downhill to Marrtown Road. Once on Marrtown, the downhill grade continues. ENJOY!


8:19 161 AHR I thought I read that I was past the hill and mile 3 was downhill. Didn’t happen. Could I have been on the wrong course???

Mile 4 – you are now traveling on Route 95 close to Ryanwood Village. You have entered the realm of rolling hills. Gihon/Rt. 95 is not a tough section of the race but there are a series of small to moderate "rolls." This is a nice section to find your pace. The excitement of the start has died down and the big hill is behind you so this is a good time to get comfortable, considering you are racing.

7:46 155 AHR At this point I was thinking that there was no end to hills in sight. We are running through rural residential sections at this point; lots of folks were outside watching us running.

Mile 5 – Ditto from mile four. You will be close to the golf course, but no time to stop for a quick nine. You are still on Gihon Rd. and it is still rolling. Good time to work on your pacing skills, too early to get excited though. Good news is there is a great water stop at mile six and you are almost there.

8:09 160 AHR The golf course was probably the most scenic part of the course. Prior to this section, I was thinking to myself that this wasn’t a top 25 half marathon course.

Mile 6 - is just before the Evangelical Methodist Church and this is a great water stop. These people are just happy. You are beyond the rolling Gihon and you will find some nice flat land for a while, but it does not last forever.

8:19 162 AHR Once again, no mention of the monster climb to the mile 6 marker. This makes Flintridge look flat. I didn’t realize that rollers could be so mountain like!

HEY YOU ARE HALF WAY!!!!!!

The unofficial plan that I had for the race was to run the first half at or below 150 HR. The plan worked for mile 1; by mile 6 the HR plan was beyond recovery. I was just going to monitor the HR and see how I did.

Mile 7 – Gihon Rd. has turned into Rayon Dr. (it is the same street) and there is a hill to climb. Personally, this is my least favorite hill. You are getting tired and this is a real hill. Tough it out because there is a nice flat stretch just ahead of it. Be ready for it though. Get a good drink at that great water stop at mile six.

8:39 162 AHR Maybe this was the mile 6 hill; I really have a hard time distinguishing what hills they try to emphasize as hills compared to the general terrain in these hilly places.

Mile 8 and Mile 9 - You have crossed a large intersection and found a nice downhill to Camden Ave. This section is flat and can be very fast. If you have held your pace okay, this may be a place to test your legs; Camden is a nice lengthy stretch where you may be able to pick up a little time and stretch out your stride. You are getting close to the crowds and the finish. It is almost time to get excited.

8:32 162 AHR I finally found flatness at the 8.5 mile mark and it was gone before I reached mile 9.

9:01 160 AHR Mile 9 wasn’t a tough part of the course but I was just tired. Plus there is no shade on the course and with an 8 am start the sun had things pretty warm by this point.

Mile 10 – You have turned right onto Division St. It is flat, but if the temperature is up, you will feel it here, not much shade and sometimes little air is moving. There is traffic again and you should notice a few more people on the course to cheer you on. You will cross the bridge headed back into downtown Parkersburg. The best thing about this mile is it leads you to mile 11 and almost home.

9:16 157 AHR The bridge headed back to Parkersburg is a definite incline. So much of an incline that it had me wondering if this was the mile 11 hill that I heard so much about.

Mile 11- finds you on Avery St.; this area is flat for the most part, with slight upgrades. Return runners and locals will be passing this spot knowing he/she is only one block from the finish line, but it will take him/her over two miles to get there! Good news is there are some shaded spots on this road.

Bad news is - OH NO!!! 13th St. HILL!!! "Good Grief super runners/walkers, what are we to do?" Even though this hill has a reputation, it is what it is, short and sweet. It is tough because your legs are tired, but there is a very nice downhill just beyond this demon that feels wonderful. You are less than two miles to finish, don’t give up hope now.

9:25 161 AHR The 13th street hill really was a short but very steep incline. I walked the entire steepness of it and still was under a 9:30 mile so it was very short.

Mile 12 – Construction moved the race onto 17th St. several years ago. Mile 12 is located at St. Mary’s Ave and 17th St. After a little zig and zag, you have a straight shot to Market St. and home. I thought the road looked like it had a slight upgrade, but it didn’t feel like it when I ran it. You decide. You will turn left onto Market St. and a perpetual downhill grade to finish. You are probably getting excited by now; you deserve it, you are almost here.

10:12 157 AHR Lots of walking going on here. Just wanting this puppy to end at this point.

Mile 13 – is located at 6th St. and Market. You can see, you can hear it, you can feel it, so go get it; the finish is downhill and fast. Leave nothing on the course and go for the gusto. I will leave the light on for you.

9:36 [8:32 pace for last 1.1 miles] 160 AHR I picked up the pace in the last half mile and ended up hitting my max HR of 173 for the race right near the end. The finish was downhill as advertised.

Total gun time (no net chip time) 1:53:47 max HR 173 AHR 158

Things That Make You Go Ahhhh

Parkersburg, WV forecast for this weekend calls for a high of 77 and lows around 60. Both of those are running about 20 degrees cooler than what we've been experiencing in the Houston area this summer. Woot!

Unfortunately, I have a feeling their hills will look somewhat like this to me:

I always say heat, hills, and humidity are best battled one on one. Its that combination that makes them a killer.

I plan on running an easy 4 miles this evening after work or tomorrow morning. My next run after that will be the half marathon in Parkersburg. I need to go home and see if I remember how to pack as its been over 6 months since my last running trip. Should be a great weekend!

Marathoning the Hansons' Way

It's been over 7 months now since I signed up for the Goofy challenge at Walt DisneyWorld this coming January. Reality is starting to set in that I'll actually have to start marathon training at some point. I really have no desire to run a 20 mile training run so I think I'll look into the Hansons' Way training program. Gotta love a 16 mile max distance long run.

No matter what amount of training I do from this point out I will be better trained than the last time I ran the marathon at WDW. This January marks the 10th anniversary of my first marathon that was also run at WDW. Back then I had one dri fit shirt, didn't log my runs, didn't track shoe mileage and was totally in awe of the marathon distance. This time around will be only my 5th marathon but I no longer fear the distance. I do respect the distance but know that it can be conquered.

This morning's 12 mile run turned into 12.75. My average HR was right under 75% max so mission accomplished. This week will be easy low mileage stuff resting up for my 1/2 next Saturday morning in Parkersburg, WV. Hoping for cool weather!!!

New New Balances

I've been running my training runs either in New Balance 1062s or 1063s these days. They've been fine for my training runs but I haven't decided what I'll be running my races in going forward. New Balance discontinued their 826 shoe model late last year without designating a replacement model. I've heard from various review that the 757 now 758 shoe is comparable to the 826. I ordered a pair of the 758s today to see if they will become my race day shoe of choice. Price at Online Shoes was around $90 with free shipping before a trip to coupon cabin got me an additional 20% off so can't really complain about the cost.

Natural Pain Relief

Yesterday was the final day of my steroid treatment for my tennis elbow. I also began using a natural gel called Sore No More to apply to my right elbow. I believe I received a sample of this stuff at the Canyonlands 1/2 in Moab, UT. I know it was somewhere out west..... after a while all these races and states start blending together. Anyways, I liked the sample so ordered a jar awhile back; the stuff really feels good on my elbow. Evidently it keeps on working too; as I sweat running on the treamill at lunch I could feel it warming up again. More so in the shower post run.
I checked out the Runner's World forums for the first time in awhile today. I discovered yet another online 1/2 support group, Half Fanatics. Um yeah..... I qualify as a 1/2 fanatic!!!!

Saved by the 10 Percent Rule

This weekend's running came out looking nothing like what I had planned. Well at least Saturdays no running. I was planning on running the Run the Woodlands 5k series but slept in until almost 9.... very late indeed for me.
I was up before 6 this morning and headed up to Huntsville State Park for my long run. I had just finished my coffee when I saw flashing lights up ahead. There is construction in the area but it looked to me like the lights were right in the middle of the interstate. Turns out they were. I had to exit for a hundred yards or so and got right back on the interstate. They had cops at both the exit and entrance.... I wasn't sure what they were doing. A few miles later, a message board on the interstate was displaying an "Elderly missing" notice along with a license plate number and a while olds cutlas vehicle description. I guess they were rerouting traffic at the particular construction point to get a look at vehicles. Early Sunday morning didn't have much traffic. The message was still on the boards on my return to the Houston area.
I had originally planned on running 13 miles this weekend to get to my race mileage 2 weeks before my race. Next weekend will be a 12 mile week and then taper to race day. I carry 36 ounces of hydration wearing a fuel belt on my long run; that usually last me the 9 something miles that I've been running. Before hitting the trails this morning, I ran 2 miles on the roads at Huntsville State Park so that I could drink and then stop and pick up my fuel belt for the run. Running on the road was nice and I did notice that my speed is much faster on the road compared to the trails. It will be interesting to see how that translates in Parkersburg in less than 2 weeks.
Running the 2 miles before the trails and my normal 9.25 trail route got me 11.25 miles this morning. I decided to call it quits at 11 as I looked like I had fallen in the lake plus I had already exceeded a 10% increase in last weeks mileage. Next time I'll need to run any extra mileage before I hit the trails.
I won't be back to Huntsville for 5 or 6 weeks now as I've got next week running from home, Parkersburg 1/2 the next week, next week at home and the next week in Seattle. That will be my longest break from the trails in quite some time.

Tennis Elbow

If you're going to have an injury and you're a runner, tennis elbow is one of the better injuries that you could have if you got to pick and choose your injury. I was diagnosed with tennis elbow Monday and started taking a corticosteroid used to treat arthritis pain and inflammation. My Achilles tendons are in heaven right now. I'll have to keep this in mind if I get an acute case of tendonitis again. I'm on a 6 day 21 tablet load up and back off dosage. Hopefully the elbow pain will subside and the achilles will stay happy.

Just Another Day in Paradise

I woke up early and headed to Huntsville State Park for another hilly long run. I experienced a first in that the park gates were locked when I arrived around 6:30. I had to mix my sport drink so just pulled into the lot near the gate and by the time I had my last FuelBelt bottle filled a park ranger had opened the gates.

Last week I saw a couple of deer for the first time in the park; today I saw 3 that were all together. They spotted me and watched for a second to see where I was headed before they took off.

The mileage plan today was a repeat of last week.... close to 11 by adding loops in near the end of the run. It was pretty humid out there... at least by the amount of sweat that I was producing it seemed to be. My HR stayed pretty low for me and I felt good early on so I pushed a little harder than I had in the past. When I got to the loop turnoff, I passed on the extra mileage and finished just a little over 9 miles. I think I'll try to get 13 or so in next weekend and then run the weekend before the race in flatter land near the house. There you have it.... training on the fly.

I haven't seen anything printed yet about the Houston marathon and half but am still confused about the seperate caps that were placed on the races this year along with the ability to transfer into a sold out event. Why place seperate caps if you're going to allow transfers even after one of the caps has been met. It makes it look like its all about the money. In this case, 1/2'ers paying the full marathon fee plus a $10 transfer fee. Amazingly, that is still cheaper than the Disney 1/2 fee. Anyways, if there are more 1/2 than full participants, maybe there should be a change to the 1/2 course to make it more scenic. I think removing the viaduct and adding Memorial Park would be a welcome change. Just an innocent bystander here as I'm not running Houston this year but those thoughts dominated my run this morning.

Mainieri Sings 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' at Wrigley Field - LSUsports.net—The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics

Mainieri Sings 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' at Wrigley Field - LSUsports.net—The Official Web Site of LSU Tigers Athletics

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Do or do not.There is no try.

Mixed results this weekend. Saturday was a Do Not day. I ran virtual miles at best while watching live coverage of the Tour de France in the morning. Sunday was a Do day; I ran between 10-11 miles up in Huntsville State Park. My post run dirt tan line is in the pic above. HSP was not as comfortable this morning as it has been the past month. The air was heavy and there was no breeze to be found. Even with me getting out an hour earlier than I have been. I did see a couple of deer and a racoon that climbed a tree right in front of me. Gotta love the park wildlife!

Got home mid morning and watched the final stage of the Tour de France that I DVR'd while running. I've been lazy since that.... may have to watch Star Wars to get more wisdom from Master Yoda.....

Sneaking one in in 2010

My 2010 race calendar is shaping up to be a year of the repeats. I've got the Goofy Challenge up first in January. This will be the 10th anniversary of my first marathon that was also run at WDW. I'm also planning on doing the Disneyland 1/2 next September to complete the Disney Coast to Coast Race Challenge. This will be another repeat as I've already run the San Francisco 1/2 marathon.
I'll be heading to Boulder, CO Memorial Day weekend to run the Bolder Boulder 10k. Even if it was a 1/2 distance, I already ran Georgetown to Idaho Springs in Colorado. However, this morning I noticed that Wyoming's Medicine Bow 1/2 Marathon (5k, marathon and double marathon distances are also available) is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. The race is within 2 hours of Boulder so it looks like I will actually pick up another state while experiencing one of the larger 10k races out there. This will be my first out of state trail run.

Putting some flexibility into my training plan

After running on the treadmill Monday and Tuesday at work and seeing how much easier it is to maintain HR without battling heat and hills, I ran the golf course from Rico's Thursday evening. I gave myself an extra 5 beats to try and have a nice recovery run at 142 beats instead of the 137 I should've been running. Well 142 turned into 145 and then up a little but I managed to keep it around 142 for the most part. I ran right at 6 miles; AHR 135 MHR 148

For my long run this morning, I headed to Huntsville State Park once again to tackle more hills. My target rate for this long run was 70-75% effort. I gave myself extra beats again but didn't define them before I started my run. First incline my HR got up to 152 so I tried to keep it at 150 max. That worked for awhile until I got to the steep incline on the outer loop. I ran it moderately and my rate got a little over 160. 160 became my new target after that. My reasoning behind the increases was to allow me to get in some consistent running on inclines; I find I have to walk at least a portion of every major incline if I stay at a 75% max HR. That sorta negates the reason for running hills if I can't run up the inclines. A month ago I would've run as hard as I could up the inclines to try and get a higher max HR; I think I'm running smarter these days.

I ended up buying an annual pass to HSP as it seems I'm there every weekend these days. With the Boston 1/2 in mid October, I'll probably continue visiting HSP after I complete Parkersburg next month.

Productive Day

I signed up for 2 races, booked a flight, booked a rental car, and booked hotels in both Hartford and Boston for my now upcoming back 2 back state weekend in October. Must be something about back 2 backs and October; my previous 2 backs at least straddled October as well. And yeah there were 4 days of awesome Northeastern weather. Here's hoping for 2 more similiar days Columbus Day weekend. This week's spur of the moment trip booking wiped out the next 4 potential races from my board; I hadn't signed up for anything in what seems like forever as my August and September trips have been set in stone since way early this year.
No running today as I had a massage tonight with Ute. The back of my heel/lower achilles was really swollen and sensitive tonight for some reason. May be my new shoes without my custom orthotics causing this?

Have you seen my motivation?

After what's been a way too hot and already seems like forever long summer, I only ran one day last week. Trying to get motivated again, I think I may have found a temporary fix by taking it from the street onto the treadmill the past couple of days. Treadmill running seems to be my best friend these days.....especially now that I'm attempting to start training using a heart monitor. Yesterday at lunch I ran with my Polar monitor for the first time in quite awhile. After running 10 minutes or so on the treadmill, I noticed that the Cybex treadmill picked up my monitor frequency and displayed my HR on the scrolling stats screen. It stayed within a beat of my watch monitor and was usually dead on. I found it much easier to stay below my recovery ceiling both days. I did creep up a little each day and backed off my pace to keep my rate steady. I think the treadmill over the next couple of months will help keep me cool plus establish consistency for my monitor training. I still plan on running my long runs on trails at HSP; we'll see how that goes.

More State Chasing

It all started innocently enough as is often the case. I went to the Boston Athletic Association website to figure out which Monday in April is Patriots Day. The thought/plan in its early stages was to try and locate a 1/2 Boston weekend in nearby Rhode Island and/or Connecticut in order to check off a state while experiencing the Boston Marathon. No such luck. However, while at the Boston site, I noticed that the Boston 1/2 is the BAA's next event; cool thoughts of Boston in October entered my mind. The Boston event lines up perfectly with the ING Hartford marathon/1/2; more coolness in October up north. I was sold reading Hartford FAQ's about possibly needing gloves race day morning. So unless I come to my senses before Boston registration opens Wednesday morning, I will most likely be doing my 3rd back to back Northeast states this fall. It's gotta be good training for the Goofy Challenge right?

Stimulating the Economy

It all started out innocently enough.... I went online to check out the new Garmin 310 watch that's coming out later this month. BTW, I'm very interested but will wait til price comes down a bit, anyways, my search took me to Road Runner Sports that was advertising free shipping. So I looked for my New Balance 1063s and they had a pair in my size on sale for $99. Before pulling the trigger, I backed up and checked out the net for cheaper prices. I ended up finding a pair for $10 cheaper/right under 70% of retail at Kelly's Running Warehouse. Kelly's review seemed ok so I bought from there; they are in transit by UPS with an eta of Monday. My old 1063s have around 330 miles; I usually get 350 miles max out of my shoes given my near Clydesdale Division status.

Revenge of the Airlines

Maybe I didn't praise the airlines enough in getting me to where I was going back in 2006 and 2007 when I was traveling at least once a month mainly to run races. Back then I just booked flights, usually under $200 roundtrip, and was good to go. I never had to speak to any individuals regarding any flights; it was all done on the internet without a problem.
My upcoming trip to run the 1/2 in Parkersburg, WV was initially booked last November. I was able to use miles through Continental to book Delta flights to Columbus, Ohio connecting through Cincinnati. Finding a Continental reward flight for 25,000 miles is pretty rare these days (they seem to pimpin Delta and Northwest out for their mileage rewards) so I figured I'd take a shot at it.
With the Delta/NW merger, my flight numbers 6654, 6124, 6119, and 6423 became numbers 4951, 6039, and 4990 sometime this spring. After waiting a couple of weeks with just the 3 flights showing up, I contacted Continental (as that's where the flights were booked) and got put on 6032 for the 3rd leg. Delta just bumped me from me Columbus to Cincinnati leg on the return home..... I guess I got lost with all the flight numbers changing. This morning I happened to check my flight status and discovered that Delta added Atlanta legs to both segments of my trip. Upon further investigation, on my flight to Columbus, I was scheduled to leave Cincinnati for Columbus before my Atlanta flight even departed for Cincinnati. This time when I called Continental, I got some initial pushback and a suggestion that I contact Delta as they were the ones that changed the schedule. Continental eventually came around and rebooked my flights to where I'm now flying Delta through Atlanta to Columbus going up and coming back on a Delta flight to Atlanta then Continental back to Houston. I'm holding off making any rental car changes until it get closer to trip time.
Two weeks after running WV, I 'll be headed to Seattle to run a 1/2 on Labor Day. I booked my nonstop flight to Seattle mid April. At the time my departure time on the flight home was at 5:47 PM....giving me plenty of time to get cleaned up post race, eat, check out yada yada. By the end of April my departure time was changed to 3:50 PM still not a problem. By mid June the departure time was moved up yet again to 1:15 PM.... actually my flight was merged into an earlier flight and deleted. As my 1/2 doesn't start until 9 AM Labor Day, my options are to get faster and finish early enough to get showered/checked out and to the airport (after returning the rental car) on time or find a later flight. So I'm now on an 11:45 PM flight getting back to Houston Tuesday morning. Once again, rental car times are screwed up again but I'm going to hold off changing until I'm convinced flights won't change again.
I used to think training was the toughest part running the 50 states but the real challenge is appearing more and more to be flying.

Second Recovery Ceiling Run

I ran my 2nd recovery run using my heart monitor tonight. Following the hard/easy principle I just read about last week, my 2nd recovery run should've happened last Friday. Oh well, that's what 7 consecutive 100+ temperature days and absolutely no rain will get ya. The 2nd recovery run was well worth the wait though as I found it much easier to run at the slower pace tonight. The number confirmed it when I got home; I stayed at or below my recovery floor for 95% of tonight's run compared to 72% last week. Not only did I stay below the floor much longer, my average pace was 20 seconds faster. I didn't have to stop and walk to allow my heart rate to drop below zone nearly as often this time.
Not far from home I actually thought I felt a few drops of rain. I think it was just me sweating on myself though. The threat of rain at least dropped temperatures before I went out to run. I never thought I'd be thrilled to see that the temperature was below 95 at 6:30 in the evening. Now if it would only rain.....

What the Heck Was That

Today was a hard day as yesterday was a recovery day. I didn't really have anything defined other than the fact that I didn't have to pay attention to the HR monitor. I kinda felt like Phoebe at the start and then quickly burnt out. I need to work on getting a game plan for my hard days.

I did have the usual Thursday night post run margarita and chicken quesadillas at Ricos with the Chupacabras.

Recovery Ceiling Run

Last night was my first run at my newly recomputed 70% recovery floor of 136. Good news is that my average heart rate for the run was 134; bad news is that at some point I spiked to 143 and 28% of my run was above the recovery zone in the aerobic zone. Supposedly this is the toughest part of monitor training.... getting used to running slower to stay in recovery zone. I ended up having to walk inclines to stay at or near my 136 pace; I do believe that much of the 28% above zone was around 137 and that this will improve greatly with time and practice. My pace ended up being 10:40..... ouch!!! That number should decrease with time as well.
The good thing about easy days is that hard days follow. Depending on how I feel tonight, I may push my run tonight to see if I can get a new max HR in order to push all my zones up. Hopefully we'll be one of the lucky ones and catch a stray shower to cool temps dare I dream in the 80s. Stay cool out there.

Going Deeper Down the Heart Rate Monitor Training Path

Yesterday was day 4 of training with the heart rate monitor. Another day another target HR I was trying to maintain. Based on my 175 max HR and 64 resting HR, I was trying to stay in the 70-80% Aerobic zone as computed by Buckeye Outdoors. The 70-80% gave me rates between 142 and 153 that I was trying to stay within. Reviewing my results, it looks like I was in that zone for 68% of the run. I ran early in the morning before work and went for around 7 miles. I found that after 6 miles I started exceeding the 153 rate mainly because I would zone out and forget to focus on running at a slower pace. I also found that it takes longer to return back to the lower zones the longer the run. My average pace, which I didn't pay attention to while I was running, ended up being almost a minute slower than the pace I've been running my weekday runs.
Last night I got the first book that I ordered on HR training, Heart Monitor Training for the Compleat Idiot. I read the first few chapters last night and could already relate even with just 4 training runs with the monitor so far. The book contains training plans that I haven't gotten to yet but may end up using in the next couple of months leading up to my next half marathon. They are based on alternating hard/easy days.
I also learned that my resting heart rate is not 64 but more like 45. I was using 64 based on the latest pulse I had when checking my blood pressure a week or so ago. The correct way to determine resting heart rate is to check it first thing in the morning before getting out of bed. Based on a 45 resting HR, my aerobic zone of 142-153 that I was aiming for yesterday really should have been 136-149.
So I am still very much in the tweeking stages of this HR monitor training. I am now focusing on not exceeding my Recovery Ceiling of 136 on my easy days and targeting 155 as my Threshold Floor on hard days. Those 2 numbers constitute 95% of HR monitor training according to Mr. Parker.

Heart Monitor Training

I'm quickly learning that there's alot more to this heart rate training than I previously realized. Saturday morning was my maximum heart rate test where I was able to get to a track and get an estimate of my max HR. I headed to Huntsville State Park Sunday morning for my long run in what could've been day 1 of my HR training. I brought my watch but forgot the chest strap so day 1 of HR training was a no go. (I was in A zone the whole time while running....I just have no idea if it was the CORRECT zone.) Day 2 of HR training went better as I walked out the door with the chest strap on to make sure I didn't forget it. I was running late and had just enough time to enter my max HR into the Garmin before taking off on the run. Without really looking at zones I tried to keep my HR at 150-155 or below. I was really surprised at the additional effort required running uphill compared to downhill or flat surface running. I was able to keep my HR at the desired level for the most part. It was pretty cool to see the breakdown in the garmin training center of the amount of time and distance that I spent in the different training zones.

I researched zones somewhat last night post run and got somewhat to major overloaded with all the different calculators out there. I never realized that zones can be computed using either straight percentages or the Karhonen heart rate reserve method. For now I believe I'm going to use the straight percentage zones that are in my Garmin and see how that goes.

I also learned that Garmin will be introducing another Forerunner next month; the next model in the 3 series line. I may have to try this one out as the waterproofnesss of it may be just what my overly sweaty self needs. I also learned that moisture is what most likely killed the beeps on both my 205 and 305 models.

Maximum Heart Rate Test

I set out this morning hoping to debunk the "220 - your age" age adjusted formula (220 is for men; women use 226 - age) used to estimate your maximum heart rate.

I ran from my house about a mile to the track at The Woodlands High School 9th grade campus to do the following running test: "After warming up, run at even pace for three minutes, as fast as you can. Jog for two minutes; then run again for three minutes as fast as you can. Your maximum heart rate is the maximum level reached during the second 3 minute run." I don't recall the exact source of the test; I found it online months ago and finally got around to trying it this morning.

The few times I've run with a heart rate monitor, my heart rate has been really high/out of the zones that it should be in while training (using zones defined by the age adjusted formula) so I figured that my max HR was much higher than the age adjusted formula.

I ran back home after the 2nd 3 minute test and walked Waldo around the neighborhood while I was already soaked with sweat. 220 - my age has my estimated maximum heart rate at 175; test results reveal that my maximum heart rate is 175. So much for my theory about being much higher than the estimate. The estimate was dead on for me.

I don't use splits very often on my Garmin and kept resetting instead of just lapping so I ended up with 6 workouts this morning totalling around 4 miles..... All the workouts look impressive for the day until you add up the mileage.

Now that I know that the zones I've used before are good, I need to start using them for smarter training.

Visited States Map

I came across another website today for highlighting states on the US map. They even have maps for Mexican states and Canadian provinces! Here's my updated coloring of states that I've run either half or full marathons to date:



Just counting white states, it looks like there are 13 remaining to be filled in. However, you can barely see Delaware to the right of Maryland and Connecticut and Rhode Island appear to be one state in the above image. That brings the total remaining to 15.

I'm now tracking my workouts only on Buckeye Outdoors as of the start of this month. I was running tandem with Runners World training log and Buckeye during May. A few of the features that I really like about Buckeye are:

• Workouts downloaded into Sport Tracks from my Garmin can be updated electronically (without any manual entry) into Buckeye
• Buckeye has script to list my workouts/races/PRs/future races on the sidebar of my blog
• Race websites and blog entries can be input along with race results
• Buckeye has script to record my workouts on my facebook wall
• GoWagon, a sister? site of Buckeye includes in your profile an option to tweet your workouts and races on twitter
• There is an equipment feature where you can track the mileage on shoes
• Training schedules can be overlayed onto your training log

You still have to get out there and do the workouts, but it makes it alot easier to keep everything tracked. Speaking of training, the plan this weekend is to do a max heart rate test on the track tomorrow morning followed by a long run on Huntsville hills Sunday morning. Huntsville should be good training for Parkersburg.

Goodbye LaLa Land; Hello Bonkville

Well I certainly slowed down to a more appropriate training pace on my lunchtime run today. I recently posted about running my training runs faster than my proper training pace ever since I completed the Houston Marathon in January. I realized 3 miles into my run today that I forgot to eat breakfast this morning. My energy level was noticeably different from just Mondays run. Lesson learned; I will make sure that I always eat before running ...especially in this heat and humidity.

Keep on Rocking

'n' Rolling. Yet another Rock 'n' Roll event has been announced. There was a time when I could name all the Elite Racing events and count them on one hand. They've expanded so much the past couple of years I have no idea how many events they now manage. Hopefully someone there knows and they don't experience massive growing pains. From what I've heard, the inaugaural San Antonio RnR event wasn't the smoothest thing around. I had transportation issues at the RnR Arizona event; I believe it was in its 3rd year and they still didn't have enough busses to get the 1/2 people to the start on time.
Wonder if the day will come when we will be saying "Remember back when marathons didn't have Rock 'n' Roll in their name?" Who's next? Boston?

A Tail of Two Dogs

Had you asked me Thursday if I was going to run this weekend, my answer would have been "yes". However, looking at my mileage for the week, I noticed that it was over my planned mileage for week 1 of my 1/2 training plan. So I ended up doing much needed work in my backyard mainly this weekend. Since the Garmin went unused, I fired it up this afternoon to see what kind of pace my 2 dogs walk. I've been thinking about doing this for the past month but finally remembered to do it today. I usually think about while walking my 15 year old lab/chow mix. Come to find out, I have alot of time to think while walking her as her average pace for the 1/2 mile that we walked was 41:45. As I suspected, she really picked up the pace on the back of the out & back; we were at a pace over 47 minutes when we turned around. Most of the sniffing takes place on the way out.

On the other end of the spectrum, Waldo walked an average pace per mile of 13:28 in a lap around Queenscliff Circle. Waldo is playing with one of the sprinklers Friday after I mowed. At the time I had no idea that he'd be the "before" pic of my weekend project.

Three trips to Home Depot later and a few hours pulling St Augustine grass, I actually have beds along the side of my house again.