Monthly and YTD stats

So here they are September stats and Year to Date stats.

September: 131.8 miles in 18:58:28
Year to date: 805.2 miles in 125:14:23- that's 5 days and 5 hours

Going, going... but I'm back

I had planned on doing my long run this morning when I woke up. It was supposed to be 65 but with 97% humidity. I woke up and six and was tired but was ready to run. By the time I made it down stairs I realized it would be more wise to put off my run till thursday and get lots of office work done this morning. So I started working and enjoyed the quietness of the house before everyone gets up. Then Nathan got up so I put on his shows and let Heather sleep. It worked out good for all of us.

I got so much done at 10 I decided to go ahead and get my long run in. I packed 4 fig newtons and my phone on my water belt and I was off. My training plan called for 12 @ 9:05 m/mile so I wanted to do 4 warm up, snack, and then 5 miles at half marathon pace (or as close as I could get 8:00 m/mile) and the the remaining 3 at 9:05 (or limping home). I would have drinks of gatorade at even miles and 2 fig newtons at 4 and 8.

At mile 4 it was newton time and I imagined how funny I would look pulling a ziploc bag full of cookies and shoving them whole in my mouth while running. "Look at this big guy out here running Rose. He can't even run without needing a snack."

Splits:
1-8:56
2-9:01
3-8:56
4-8:54
5-8:07
6-8:17
7-8:01
8-9:12 (Bathroom break)
9-8:09
10-8:43
11-8:53
12-8:38

I forgot to turn the auto pause back on after my race on Saturday so I lost some time doing that.

1:44:46, 8:44 m/mile

Neptune 8k

Race report time. Race reports like this are fun to right because I hit my goal time of 38 minutes. I didn't quite hit it with the splits I was planning (8,8,7:30, 7:30,7) but I did hit my goal time and in the end that's what matters. I also hit my goal time in a day of very bad weather and rain.

I arrived at the race at 7am for an 8am start. Before I got out of the car I noticed it was raining so I grabbed my jacket. I knew it wasn't waterproof but it would keep me from getting chilled and wet all the way down to my skin. I went and grabbed my timing chip and starting walking the boardwalk that's right on the beach. The rain was steady but not really hard. No big deal.

I realized I needed to go to the bathroom and I spotted a mcdonald's that wouldn't mind if I used their facility. It was in doors that I realized how wet I was and I realized that regardless if it was raining at the start of the race I was going to be wet for the race. I got back outside and started my warm up, I felt fresh and the air wasn't stifling, it was going to be a good race.

Warmed up and the rain just kept coming. It seemed like the rain was getting harder. It was. I ducked under and awning with 50 of my closest runner friends and tried to just relax for a few minutes. Then it was time to get to the start line. No sooner did we get to the start line did the rain just start coming. Hard, steady rain. I started to hear people complain to their friends that their time was going to be bad today because of the rain and the wind. I was grinning hear to ear. I love running in the rain. It's one of my favorite times to run and because I've love it it's something I do on a regular basis. I've always read practice what you'll be racing in and it just so happens I've run in rain.

The gun went off and I swear the rain started coming harder. Several things amazed me at this point. The first was the incredibly slow people that were in front of me. It's pretty common sense to line up according to your speed. If you are a slow runner then line up towards the back, fast line up towards the front. Me, I'm a medium speed runner so I line up in the middle. My only excuse I can think of for people is that they think they are faster than they are. They must think a 9:00 m/mile is fast so they line up towards the front. Really I just don't know.

The other thing that amazed me was the ipods and mp3 players that people were listening to in the pouring rain. Water and electronics don't go to well together. The next thing I noticed was the rain coming down still harder and the wind blowing in my face. I didn't care, I was grinning and just loving the fact that we were all running in the rain.

At about mile one there was a water stop which I thought was hilarious because it was raining so hard all one had to do was look up and open you mouth. So that's what I did, the volunteers laughed.

At mile one I started to find someone that was doing miles at about 8:00. I decided to keep my first two miles at 8 to avoid going out too fast. There was a lady that was just ahead of me and at a good clip. Turns out she was doing the pace I wanted and so I just decided to stick with her till mile 2. This let my mind rest a little about pacing and kept me from getting too excited.

Mile two hit and it was time to increase my pace. It hurt a little. My shoes were wet and really heavy and I was more than soaked through. I started thinking about my favorite scene from Remember the titans. The two linebackers are huddle up with their team and one asks the other "how strong are you?" and the reply is "I'm too strong". I also thought about a scene from facing the giants. The scene where Brock has to do the death crawl and the coach as him to do his best. So blindfolded and with a 160lb guy on his back Brock starts death crawling. During the drill the coach demands Brock give his best. He demands more power, he tells Brock to negotiate with his body for more strength. So with those thoughts I finished mile 3.

Two to go. I tried to relax and I started setting small goals for myself. Mile 4 down and at the turn around with about .9 miles to go I started to increase my pace yet again. People were tired and were slow. I was having no problem picking off people and the more I picked off the more mental fuel my body got. I started counting down the blocks and knew I was almost at the finish. With .2 miles to go I started kicking, full speed as much as I could muster. My stomach hurt, my legs were heavy and I was sucking wind. But I wanted to leave it all out there and that's what I did.

37:52
7:38 m/mile average
Splits:
1- 7:52
2-7:29
3-7:26
4-7:40
.97-7:22

6 miles

Due to a noreaster blowing into the area I thought it would be more fun to do my 6 miles at the gym today. The treadmills have tv's so I can channel surf while plugging away at my miles. I also find the treadmill is a mental battle to keep myself focused and slightly distracted to make it tolerable. I know that sounds confusing but essentially it makes running on the road much easier both physically and mentally.

Running on the treadmill is no big deal... that is unless I have to run on a treadmill beside "Slappy the lead foot wonder." There is a guy at the gym that runs. He runs so hard that his feet hit the treadmill at considerable velocity. I can hear his footfalls over the tv and turning the tv up doesn't help much. Just the rhythmic stomping of his lead feet. I refuse to run beside the guy. If he's on a treadmill I never get on the one beside him. Today I get on and start running and sure enough of all the free treadmills he wants the one beside me. Something distracted him for about 10 minutes so I had ten minutes in peace. He then returned and me and Slappy ran a few miles together. Like hamsters only one of the hamsters was vibrating the ground.

So 6 miles in 55:30- 9:15 m/mile

Yesterday I did 6 miles in 50:02, 8:21 m/mile. I'm not supposed to be running them so fast but I couldn't hold back, so I didn't.

I smell

rain. I got out for my run today, 6 miles at easy pace. I was tired from Sunday, like I normally am but was looking forward to the time. I decided not to have a mental agenda. I normally leave the house with things I want to think about, ideas I want to process or "work" I need to get done. Today was not one of those days. I put on some worship songs and just enjoyed the run. My new favorite running song has been I will wait by Jason Upton. Our fill in worship leader introduced it to me a few weeks back and I realized I actually owned the cd and had it in my itunes. It's now on my ipod and getting lots of plays.

I wasn't far from home when I noticed something fresh in the air. I'm used to humid heavy air. I realized it was the smell of rain and I realized how incredible that smell is. I just filled my lungs with that moist fresh air and I ran.

6 miles in 53:20, 8:54 m/mile

Running an Errand

Yesterday I ran an errand. Literally. Heather asked me to go rent a movie from redbox so I decided to run up to the store. I had to run on our busiest road to get there but I just stuck to the shoulder and it really wasn't the bad. It was hilarious as I came up to the box where a few people were waiting in line and one of the ladies just turned and looked at me like I was crazy. I had to add a few loops to make my run the 5 miles I was looking for but it was a lot of fun.

average pace: 8:15 m/mile, total run time 41:12

I've got my cut back week this week, so 4 or so runs at 5 miles and then a race on Saturday (8k).

Go long.

It was about 65 degrees today and while the humidity was pretty high, as it will always be here by the ocean it was still a real nice morning for a run. I decided to pack some food today for my run. I have a water belt that holds a 20 oz bottle on the small of my back and also has a little pouch for my phone and... some fig newtons. They make gels that are essentially carbs in a little pouch but I don't want to fork over $1.50 per pouch nor do I want to have to make my own gel. So fig newtons it is. I packed two and ate them at about mile 7 when I stopped for a bathroom break and a longer drink of gatorade.

I wanted to see how my stomach handled it and I'm happy to say I didn't have any problems with digestion. I did feel like I didn't quite die out like I do at the end of my runs. Before when I run 9-11 miles the last two miles are really just a haze of me keeping upright and getting one foot in front of the other. The cookies seemed to help with this. I felt pretty good when I finished. I also beat my old 11 mile time by four and a half minutes so the fig newtons must be magical.

11 miles in 1:34:30, 8:36 m/mile.

I think my garmin was messing up because my splits were all over the place this morning.

1-8:24
2-8:34
3-9:02
4-8:50
5-9:44
6-8:04
7-8:33
8-7:57
9-8:09
10-8:54
11-8:14

Mile 5 is where it really doesn't make sense. I'm normally good at keeping my pace steady or at least know when I'm dropping off. I felt fresh for mile 5 and I was picking up the pace pretty good by that point. I think the trees were blocking the signal or something. Oh well. I still improved my time and had a great 5 miles (6-9 and 11) where I was able to push the pace into my goal half marathon pace.



Wednesday: 4 miles on the treadmill at the gym.
9:13
8:57
8:27
9:13

Tempo, shall we?

I checked the weather, 70 degrees chance of light rain. I noticed it was raining but figured it wouldn't be a big deal. I grabbed the garmin but left the ipod at home and started out. The rain was light for about 2 minutes of my run, the first two. Then the downpour started. I felt like a little kid outside playing in the rain. The people driving past me thought I looked like a moron. The only problem with rain running is I kept inhaling rain in my nose and that doesn't feel good. The added water weight in my shoes really bogged me down and made hitting my pace a little extra work. The 11 mph wind didn't help much either.

Splits:
1-8:47
2-7:53
3-7:42
4-7:37
5-7:22
6-9:04

Yesterday: an easy 5 on the treadmill, 9:13 m/mile

Long

Went long this morning. I got in my new shoes yesterday, 2 pair to be exact and today pair "A" got a proper break in. The temp was only 75 degrees but the humidity was 97% and I could tell. It's not a shocker for my shirt to be soaked through by about mile 3 and by the time I'm done running I'm pretty much soaked in sweat from head to toe; no matter the time of year. But today by about mile 5 I was soaked from head to toe. By mile eight my shorts were so wet they were getting heavy and I was having to cinch the drawstring as tight as I could just to keep them up.

The humidity was draining on me but I hit my splits and properly broke in a pair of new running shoes. It's amazing how new shoes just make those little aches go away and amazing how bad shoes can make my knees hurt just a few miles into a run. Perfect timing on the shoes and with 2 pair of the exact shoe I should be able to make them last 6 or so months.

Splits:
1-9:24
2-8:54
3-8:58
4-9:10
5-8:37
6-9:11
7-8:28
8-8:38
9-8:31
10-8:47
11-8:43

Easy...sort of

I get the idea behind the easy run but I'm not sure the name easy is real accurate. Sometimes easy runs aren't so easy especially when they follow a tempo run. My hip hurts, my leg hurts, my chest hurts, my ankle hurts, my hip hurts again, is today the day I don't make it. Maybe I should cut the run short to just 3 miles. And so the conversation continues in my mind until I finally I decide to stop being a cream puff and just finish the run.

Splits:
1-9:11 (ironic)
2-8:39
3-8:45
4-8:32
5-8:22
.5-4:01

Due to being tired and other time constraints my long run still hasn't happened for the week. I'm thinking probably Saturday.

Somethings weak

But I'm not sure if it's my mind or my body. On monday I woke up just exhausted. My entire body was just tired from the busy weekend. So instead of going out for my long run of 11 miles I decided to just do a lap to the park and settled for 5.5 miles. Tuesday came and my right knee was bothering me. I'm pretty sure it's from my oldest pair of shoes and decided that they need to be retired. I've ordered two new pair but they haven't gotten here yet. If they don't hurry up I'm going to have some problems.

So I didn't run on Tuesday and figured today would be a good day for speedwork. So I did intervals. 7 miles in 57:31.

Splits:
1- 9:40
1- 7:13
.5- 4:37
1- 7:13
.5- 4:37
1- 7:13
.5- 4:37
.5- 4:00
.25- 2:18
.75- 6:00

Very enjoyable run on the treadmill at the gym.

I've got a race on September 27. The Neptune festival 8k, that's not quite 5 miles for my non canadian friends. My goal will be somewhere between 36-38 minutes.

Tempo

Speed work day I have to psych myself up for. I can go out for a few miles and push the pace, even hit my tempo pace but speed work days I have to get mentally prepared to get there. Today on the schedule was 6 miles, 4 @ 7:49 between a warm up and a cool down.

I decided to run at the gym, out of the rain and on the treadmill I can control my pace a little bit better. I knew from the start it was going to be a good run. I felt comfortable after my warm up mile and even comfortable after the first mile at 7:49, my heart rate confirmed that I wasn't really working that hard. I decided that after the second mile at 7:49 I would increase the pace. Finished the run at 7:30 for the next mile and then 7:00ish for the final mile.

I WORKED hard and that's probably why I like tempo runs so much. I love seeing the progress, the burn in the legs but the knowledge that this pace is faster than I've ever run before.

Runner's Paradise

I had a meeting in Frederick, MD yesterday. I lived there before moving here to Suffolk so I figured downtown in the park would be a nice place to run. It was a great place to run and even better than I remembered. The new Carroll Creek Park the riverside walk is beautiful. There are just a few street crossings that are well marked. I've never run somewhere like that. I'm not sure what I liked so much about it. Perhaps the change of scenery, being beside the water, running on a place meant for runners and walkers. Probably all of the above.

4.16 miles in 35:53

Splits:
1-8:56
2-8:22
3-8:16
4-8:51
.16-1:26

Lonely Road

I was thinking yesterday on my run that it can get quite lonely while out running. For some reason the normally busy roads of Suburbia where I run were quiet yesterday. I guess everyone was sleeping in or already out for Labor Day. I saw houses, I saw cars, I saw signs of life often on my run but I didn't see any people. I was thinking about how lonely that could be but I wasn't lonely at all. Then today on my long run I felt it again. I run down one particular road that pretty much goes to nowhere and ends at the water, a little creek that is a off shoot of the James River. By the time it meets the pier I run to it's little more than a trickle and more swamp than creek. I enjoy long run days for the loneliness, because being alone isn't a bad thing.

Monday 5.1 miles in 42:32, 8:33 m/mile
1-8:48
2-8:42
3-8:30
4-8:32
5-8:03
.1- .55

Tuesday 10 miles in 1:26:00, 8:36 m/mile
1-9:07
2-8:58
3-8:50
4-8:35
5-9:01
6-8:13
7-7:49
8-8:12
9-8:40
10-8:22