Last night on the way home from the office a lady ran into the back of my truck.
My bumper needs replacing and my neck is pretty stiff. Training is going to take a backseat for a little while.
Luckily, my bumper is higher up than the front of her vehicle's front end.
Her damage is much worse than mine.
I followed my course through Emory this morning at a slow pace, probably close what my marathon pace will need to be. Sixty seven degrees and very humid.
Some times its hard to hold back and maintain a slower pace, but it made tackling the big hills much easier. At the top of each of the two ginormous hills I still had plenty of gas to increase my kick.
When I returned to the house I was a little winded, but not bad. In fact I felt pretty darn good and ready to take on all of my work responsibilities. About that, posting regularly has become somewhat of a difficulty because work is pretty hectic at the moment. Unfortunately, it looks like the craziness will continue for at least another two weeks.
I'm looking forward to being away this weekend and having the opportunity to explore an area that is somewhat new to me.
Since Saturday I have logged some more miles and made a change in my dietary regimen.
Sunday - Kate and I logged 5.8mi around Midtown, Ansley Park, and Piedmont Park
Monday - 3mi on the dreadmill
Tuesday - 6mi, very sluggish
Protein shakes for breakfast, especially post run will improve my performance. At least, that is the plan. I think I've been burning muscles during the morning runs and not consuming enough protein afterwards. I started this yesterday morning and I'm interested to see how Thursday's run goes.
I'm still procrastinating on adopting a formal training plan, but I know I have to get that clarified soon. I'm going to try to get a long run in this weekend if possible -- 13mi or so.
ScienceDaily
"...And the dire injury predictions other scientists made for runners have fallen completely flat. Fries and his colleagues published a companion paper in the August issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine showing running was not associated with greater rates of osteoarthritis in their elderly runners. Runners also do not require more total knee replacements than nonrunners, Fries said..."
I set out to repeat Tuesday's course running in the opposite direction, without including the black hole street. I knew it would be around 8 miles. The goal -- to maintain a pace as close to 8:30/mi as possible. The weather was noticeably cooler than it has been recently. When I left the house it was 63 degrees, a welcome deviation from the 73 degree mornings to which I've become accustomed.
Keeping a constant pace proved to be harder than I thought even with my watch displaying my pace throughout the entire journey. I did okay, I think. On mile 6 I slacked off somewhat, but the others look pretty good. There's always room for improvement.
I haven't decided what tomorrow's workout will entail yet. A good run in preferred, but I may go cycling instead.
BBC
[..."The Pakistani commando division, trained by the United States, is an elite special operations force similar to the [U.S.] Army's Special Forces, or Green Berets," an Aug. 2 report in the Los Angeles Times said...]
I'm thinking about getting two of these before I go to Memphis.
I'll use one on a long training run just to test it out.
I did 4 miles yesterday during lunch. In the process I avoided a bite from a wee schnauzer.
Bite me Wolfgang!
It was a good run, but pretty honking hot.
Today was different.
This morning's 6 miler was not pretty.
1:03 something.
No time for stats.
Resting until Saturday, then a 6 or 8 miler.
It's supposed to cool down a bit with reduced humidity over the next few days.
Looking forward to it.
So I go out for a 6 miler before sunrise this morning and everything is fantastic. It's a beautiful morning. All is still quiet outside, it's nice and dark, and the occasional car passes by to light up the sidewalk and street. My intended course was supposed to take me through the Emory campus, up a badass hill, and then through some wooded streets and back to the house. This course was a new one that I had never run before.
The first mile goes by quickly and I'm feeling very good and quite speedy. At about mile 1.5 I make a left turn and head down a road that was okay until I approached my second turn. The road became extremely windy and there were no street lights so it was absolutely pitch black. I'm thinking to myself. This is not a good place to be. A car could easily come whipping around one of the curves without having time to see me. Oh yeah, and there is no sidewalk here either. I do my best to stay close to the side of the road so I can step aside if a car does appear. That leg turned out to be uneventful, but then I started to think about the rest of the course.
There was another street further along the plotted course that was very similar -- very dark and windy without sidewalks. I wanted to avoid that situation so I decided to alter my course a bit which added another two miles. What the heck its a nice morning and I'm feeling good. Keep on truckin'.
I move on through the Emory campus and then make another turn which will bring me just about back to the edge of my neighborhood. Then as I near my final turn I notice a shadow being cast from someone behind. I turn my head to see another runner waiting to pass me on the narrow sidewalk. She's obviously faster than I am so I yield. We exchange "Good Mornings". Then I get a idea in my head that I should try to keep up with her. She's cooking at about a 7:45/mi pace, I can do that -- at least for a while. In order to extend some courtesy I cross the street and shadow her from the other side. It would have seemed creepy if I kept right on her tail after she passed me. I kept up for maybe a mile or so until we reached a monster hill then she completely smoked me motoring up the hill and out of sight. I slowed down a bit to catch my breath and slowly made my way back home.
I'm getting faster, but apparently I'm not that fast, yet.
The run went okay on Saturday. It's been a good 8 weeks or so since since my last long run so this one was a good reminder of how much training I have ahead of me before I'm ready for Memphis.
The course was a great one, although running down Ponce on a Saturday morning seemed very much like being in one of those zombie movies. I had to have passed at least 15 people who were still partying from the night before or regretting the party from the night before.
One interesting part of the morning came when I passed the Fox Theatre. There were about 50 or so people camped out in front of the box office wearing wicked witch costumes -- weird. I mentioned this to my wife upon returning home and she told me about some musical show (Wicked) that is in high demand.
My overall time for Saturday's route (02:22:18,9) was slower than my ING half marathon time in March (02:09:##). Saturday's route was a little longer though. Below I have posted my lap times and other data collected during the run if you're interested.
Sunday was good. I expected to be very sore from the day before, but it wasn't that bad. I was sure to jump into a cold tub after the 13 miler and really believe it helped to keep inflammation down. In fact I was able to pump out a decent 3.8mi before having to do some work. Stats are posted below.
Next workout is tomorrow morning - 6 miles.
Inspiration for the day - Karno trains with SEAL recruits
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