The subject line pretty much says it all.
I did an easy 5.5 miles last night. I'm a bit sore from legwork in the gym yesterday, so today will be a rest day. I'm going to try to sneak out of work early to see my son's soccer game.
Tomorrow morning, I leave the house at 5:30 a.m. to meet my team for the Reach the Beach relay.
Sunday will be a rest day after four relay legs.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Work, work, work, and work out when I can
When I left work yesterday, I went home and spent the evening working for my other job. I managed to find some time to have dinner with my family, but otherwise, I was working until 10:00. Tonight, I'll go for a quick run after work, and then I'll probably work again. This just seems to be the way the economy is these days.
I can either have a long commute so I can make more money, I can leave Vermont to make more money, or I can work multiple jobs to make enough money. It's not like I'm poor, at least based on our household income compared to the state median. I had enough money to take a great family vacation to CA for Western States this year. But, I don't know if I can do it again next year, even though I have free plane tickets and guaranteed acceptance into the race.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned politics on this blog, and I'll only do it obliquely here. The last 7+ years have been tough for me. I was laid off for the first time in my life. I managed to find a new job before my severance pay ran out - a job with a long commute and a big pay cut. After 4.5 years of spending 2.5 hours/day in my car, I deliberately took a big pay cut to work closer to home, to get some of my life back. I was spending 6% of my life in a car just for my job at the time I left my previous job. Plus, I was spending a fortune on gas and car maintenance. But, the big pay cut was too much, and eventually, I was lucky enough to find some extra work to help out with the bills. But now, I work a minimum of 48 hours per week and I make less money than I did when commuting everyday. I'm saving some time vs. commuting every day, and time is incredibly precious to an athlete with a family, but things remain a struggle at times.
Food and fuel prices are out of control. I think that gas cost about $1.45/gallon when I first started that long commute. Firewood cost me $145/cord for dry wood just 5 or 6 years ago. This year, green firewood is $205/cord and dry is $225. Many people are paying more than that, but I'm a long-term customer of the guy we buy our wood from, and he kept our costs down a bit. Propane was way less than half of what it costs now just 5 years ago. We are lucky that we use propane and wood rather than fuel oil, which has gone up even more. Compared to 7 or 8 years ago, I work a lot more hours and I have less to show for it. My medical costs have gone up tremendously in the past 7 years as well. For people who complain about medical costs, please know that I'm not the reason your costs are going up (I work in health care). Last year, my annual "raise" was well below the inflation level, way below the average increase in health costs, and it was 100% eaten up by an increase in my own medical insurance costs. I know I'm not the only person in this category. But,something's got to change, and hopefully not for the worse.
Anyway, enough of that complaining. This morning was my first leg day in my new lifting routine. The lifts were snatch-grip deadlifts, dynamic lunges, and step-ups, all 5 sets of 6 with a deliberate tempo. Then, 3 sets of 12 incline reverse crunches.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that upper body lifting days rarely make me sore. On Monday, I started a new routine and did an upper body and core day. I've been sore for the past few days. Hopefully, today won't leave me sore at all for racing on Friday and Saturday.
Tonight, I'll run an easy 5 or 6 miles. After that, I won't run until my first leg in the relay on Friday afternoon.
I can either have a long commute so I can make more money, I can leave Vermont to make more money, or I can work multiple jobs to make enough money. It's not like I'm poor, at least based on our household income compared to the state median. I had enough money to take a great family vacation to CA for Western States this year. But, I don't know if I can do it again next year, even though I have free plane tickets and guaranteed acceptance into the race.
I don't know if I've ever mentioned politics on this blog, and I'll only do it obliquely here. The last 7+ years have been tough for me. I was laid off for the first time in my life. I managed to find a new job before my severance pay ran out - a job with a long commute and a big pay cut. After 4.5 years of spending 2.5 hours/day in my car, I deliberately took a big pay cut to work closer to home, to get some of my life back. I was spending 6% of my life in a car just for my job at the time I left my previous job. Plus, I was spending a fortune on gas and car maintenance. But, the big pay cut was too much, and eventually, I was lucky enough to find some extra work to help out with the bills. But now, I work a minimum of 48 hours per week and I make less money than I did when commuting everyday. I'm saving some time vs. commuting every day, and time is incredibly precious to an athlete with a family, but things remain a struggle at times.
Food and fuel prices are out of control. I think that gas cost about $1.45/gallon when I first started that long commute. Firewood cost me $145/cord for dry wood just 5 or 6 years ago. This year, green firewood is $205/cord and dry is $225. Many people are paying more than that, but I'm a long-term customer of the guy we buy our wood from, and he kept our costs down a bit. Propane was way less than half of what it costs now just 5 years ago. We are lucky that we use propane and wood rather than fuel oil, which has gone up even more. Compared to 7 or 8 years ago, I work a lot more hours and I have less to show for it. My medical costs have gone up tremendously in the past 7 years as well. For people who complain about medical costs, please know that I'm not the reason your costs are going up (I work in health care). Last year, my annual "raise" was well below the inflation level, way below the average increase in health costs, and it was 100% eaten up by an increase in my own medical insurance costs. I know I'm not the only person in this category. But,something's got to change, and hopefully not for the worse.
Anyway, enough of that complaining. This morning was my first leg day in my new lifting routine. The lifts were snatch-grip deadlifts, dynamic lunges, and step-ups, all 5 sets of 6 with a deliberate tempo. Then, 3 sets of 12 incline reverse crunches.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that upper body lifting days rarely make me sore. On Monday, I started a new routine and did an upper body and core day. I've been sore for the past few days. Hopefully, today won't leave me sore at all for racing on Friday and Saturday.
Tonight, I'll run an easy 5 or 6 miles. After that, I won't run until my first leg in the relay on Friday afternoon.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Marathon Pace Miles
This morning's plan was 3 easy, 6 MP, and a cooldown. It was a pleasant morning outside when I left for work, where I was going to start and finish my run. I was listening to the weather forecast on the way to the office and they said the first band of thunderstorms for today would hit about 8:00 a.m. in central Vermont. I had thought the weather front was going to go through this afternoon, but it had apparently sped up overnight.
I started running just before 6:30 and it was cool (50F) and foggy, but nice. I did my 3 warm-up miles and the third mile inconveniently ended at the start of a tough hill. My goal was 7:50 pace for 6 miles, but I wanted to do it without looking at my Forerunner every few minutes (or seconds). I knew I had some downhills coming later, so I didn't worry about pace on that first hill.
Overall, the miles felt good and I was enjoying the run, just cruising along. The first mile was a bit slower than 8, and the next 2 were a bit faster than 8 minutes. I was about halfway through the fourth mile when I noticed it was looking kind of dark. I started to wonder why the fog was getting thicker rather than clearing, and then I heard thunder. I had forgotten all about the weather forecast.
I still had about 2.5 miles to go and it was just one crack of thunder. I kept running. Then, I heard another crack. And another. And then a flash of lightning. At this point in time, I had two options - turn around and run about 3/4 of a mile to my office, or continue straight ahead on a loop that I run a lot, and be out there for about 2.5 more miles.
I turned around quickly and headed back to my office. Before I could cover that 3/4 of a mile, the storm really closed in, with thunder and lightning ever few seconds, and it started to rain just as I got to the hospital. So, I only did 7.25 miles, with 4.25 at MP. But, the last 0.75 was some very high quality running. I may go out tonight for a couple more miles, or with Reach the Beach on Friday, I may just call it a day.
I started running just before 6:30 and it was cool (50F) and foggy, but nice. I did my 3 warm-up miles and the third mile inconveniently ended at the start of a tough hill. My goal was 7:50 pace for 6 miles, but I wanted to do it without looking at my Forerunner every few minutes (or seconds). I knew I had some downhills coming later, so I didn't worry about pace on that first hill.
Overall, the miles felt good and I was enjoying the run, just cruising along. The first mile was a bit slower than 8, and the next 2 were a bit faster than 8 minutes. I was about halfway through the fourth mile when I noticed it was looking kind of dark. I started to wonder why the fog was getting thicker rather than clearing, and then I heard thunder. I had forgotten all about the weather forecast.
I still had about 2.5 miles to go and it was just one crack of thunder. I kept running. Then, I heard another crack. And another. And then a flash of lightning. At this point in time, I had two options - turn around and run about 3/4 of a mile to my office, or continue straight ahead on a loop that I run a lot, and be out there for about 2.5 more miles.
I turned around quickly and headed back to my office. Before I could cover that 3/4 of a mile, the storm really closed in, with thunder and lightning ever few seconds, and it started to rain just as I got to the hospital. So, I only did 7.25 miles, with 4.25 at MP. But, the last 0.75 was some very high quality running. I may go out tonight for a couple more miles, or with Reach the Beach on Friday, I may just call it a day.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Thursday, Friday runs, and weekend goofing off
It's been a few days since I posted anything here. I almost always post at least some sort of drivel on weekdays. But, my second job has me up against a tight software deadline, and I was out of town for the weekend. Not touching a computer for 3 entire days was kind of nice, although I was worrying a bit about that looming deadline. Recently, I've been putting every spare second into that second job, it seems.
Anyway, on Thursday morning, I ran a slow 4 miler. The day after I wrote a post about improved recovery, I had a short run where I felt like crap. Oh well. That wasn't an important run anyway.
Friday, I took the day off work and started the day with a planned 22 miler. I ran relatively well for 18 miles, had two rough miles (hilly) and then felt better for the last 2 miles. My per-mile pace was slow, but it was about 25 seconds per mile faster than the 20 miler I did 4 weeks ago. By the time I get to my 24 miler three weeks from my marathon, I hope to be consistently running 9:00 pace for my 20+ milers.
Right after my run, I hopped in my car and headed to State College, PA, to hang out with my brother for the weekend and go to the Penn State-Oregon State football game. Oregon State lost a lot of people to graduation, and they simply aren't a good team at all right now. Penn State completely dominated them, and Penn State was playing without some starters who were suspended for their involvement/connection to a call to the police that resulted in some marijuana being found. One of the missing starters was a pre-season first team All American defensive end, according to Sports Illustrated.
My brother and I talked about this a bit over the weekend. To me, as an athlete, the idea of using weed two days before a major athletic event seems really stupid. I'm sure that some people find the concept of ever using it stupid, but my perspective there is more "relaxed" than that of many people. But, my brother and I also talked about being college students, and how our thought processes were at best pretty immature, and at worst, downright stupid, in those days. I don't know if it's just a "guy" thing or just all younger people. I wonder if it's just the sheer quantity of testosterone that younger guys deal with - they feel invincible and risk taking doesn't seem as dumb then as it will seem when they look back on it with a few decades of growth.
Overall, Penn State's football program has looked very poor off the field for the past few seasons. Whether people root for them or not, there was always at least a grudging respect of JoePa for running a clean program that forced athletes to be students as well. Lately, there have simply been too many arrests of these athletes and this past week was another black eye.
This morning, I arrived back at work to find some more details about our Reach the Beach team for this coming weekend. Based on the times we submitted on the race web site in our runner profiles, I'm one of the faster runners on the team. I thought this was a much faster team that was focused on a sub-24 (7:12 pace for 200 miles), but we don't seem to be capable of that, which is fine.
I did volunteer for a 4th leg, so I've got 23.8 total miles. The team captain ranked the relative difficulty of each runner's legs, and I came out with the most difficult. But, it will be perfect marathon training. That relay starts on Friday morning, so I'll be out of the office for another long weekend in just a few days. We should probably finish about noon on Saturday.
My toughest leg is leg #3 - 9.3 miles - the longest leg on the course, but not the toughest leg overall. My friend Dick has a slightly shorter leg that is much tougher.
Anyway, on Thursday morning, I ran a slow 4 miler. The day after I wrote a post about improved recovery, I had a short run where I felt like crap. Oh well. That wasn't an important run anyway.
Friday, I took the day off work and started the day with a planned 22 miler. I ran relatively well for 18 miles, had two rough miles (hilly) and then felt better for the last 2 miles. My per-mile pace was slow, but it was about 25 seconds per mile faster than the 20 miler I did 4 weeks ago. By the time I get to my 24 miler three weeks from my marathon, I hope to be consistently running 9:00 pace for my 20+ milers.
Right after my run, I hopped in my car and headed to State College, PA, to hang out with my brother for the weekend and go to the Penn State-Oregon State football game. Oregon State lost a lot of people to graduation, and they simply aren't a good team at all right now. Penn State completely dominated them, and Penn State was playing without some starters who were suspended for their involvement/connection to a call to the police that resulted in some marijuana being found. One of the missing starters was a pre-season first team All American defensive end, according to Sports Illustrated.
My brother and I talked about this a bit over the weekend. To me, as an athlete, the idea of using weed two days before a major athletic event seems really stupid. I'm sure that some people find the concept of ever using it stupid, but my perspective there is more "relaxed" than that of many people. But, my brother and I also talked about being college students, and how our thought processes were at best pretty immature, and at worst, downright stupid, in those days. I don't know if it's just a "guy" thing or just all younger people. I wonder if it's just the sheer quantity of testosterone that younger guys deal with - they feel invincible and risk taking doesn't seem as dumb then as it will seem when they look back on it with a few decades of growth.
Overall, Penn State's football program has looked very poor off the field for the past few seasons. Whether people root for them or not, there was always at least a grudging respect of JoePa for running a clean program that forced athletes to be students as well. Lately, there have simply been too many arrests of these athletes and this past week was another black eye.
This morning, I arrived back at work to find some more details about our Reach the Beach team for this coming weekend. Based on the times we submitted on the race web site in our runner profiles, I'm one of the faster runners on the team. I thought this was a much faster team that was focused on a sub-24 (7:12 pace for 200 miles), but we don't seem to be capable of that, which is fine.
I did volunteer for a 4th leg, so I've got 23.8 total miles. The team captain ranked the relative difficulty of each runner's legs, and I came out with the most difficult. But, it will be perfect marathon training. That relay starts on Friday morning, so I'll be out of the office for another long weekend in just a few days. We should probably finish about noon on Saturday.
My toughest leg is leg #3 - 9.3 miles - the longest leg on the course, but not the toughest leg overall. My friend Dick has a slightly shorter leg that is much tougher.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Recovery
This morning's 5.5 miler was very pleasant. A few unexpected rain showers went through just before I ran, but it was dry for my run. Pollen levels have been high with our sudden lack of rain over the past two weeks, so the showers might have knocked down the pollen a bit.
Looking at my training log, I see a marked change in my recovery in the past few weeks. From mid-July to about mid-August, every time I ran hard or lifted hard, I really struggled the next day. On at least 3 occasions, I started a run and then quit well short of my planned mileage.
In the past few weeks, things have definitely changed around. I felt good this morning and also on Sunday, both runs coming after speedwork the day before. The only tough recovery day I've had recently was on a Sunday when I hadn't properly re-hydrated after speedwork the day before.
Improved recovery from tough workouts is a good sign that my body is adapting to the harder running. I still need to push up my mileage and get in my long runs, but I'm happy with my training progress right now.
Next Friday (9/12) is the start of the 200-mile Reach the Beach relay. Our team is still short one runner (we have 11 instead of 12), and I had volunteered to run 4 legs rather than 3. Apparently, only one other person has volunteered for an extra leg, so I'm in the first van, scheduled to run 4 legs of the race. Does anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog want to run the relay and save me from a 4th leg?
Looking at my training log, I see a marked change in my recovery in the past few weeks. From mid-July to about mid-August, every time I ran hard or lifted hard, I really struggled the next day. On at least 3 occasions, I started a run and then quit well short of my planned mileage.
In the past few weeks, things have definitely changed around. I felt good this morning and also on Sunday, both runs coming after speedwork the day before. The only tough recovery day I've had recently was on a Sunday when I hadn't properly re-hydrated after speedwork the day before.
Improved recovery from tough workouts is a good sign that my body is adapting to the harder running. I still need to push up my mileage and get in my long runs, but I'm happy with my training progress right now.
Next Friday (9/12) is the start of the 200-mile Reach the Beach relay. Our team is still short one runner (we have 11 instead of 12), and I had volunteered to run 4 legs rather than 3. Apparently, only one other person has volunteered for an extra leg, so I'm in the first van, scheduled to run 4 legs of the race. Does anyone who happens to stumble upon this blog want to run the relay and save me from a 4th leg?
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Official Race Results from Saturday and 1/2 mile repeats
The official results from Saturday have been posted online. They gave me a 20:51 rather than the 20:50 I recorded. I was 68th overall of 280, and 10th of 24 in my division (40-49). If there had been a 45-49 division, I still would have only been 5th. If they used single-year age groups, I would have been second. If they used single year and month of birth age groups, there is about an 11 in 12 chance that I would have been first. (Thanks to Dr. Andy for pointing out my earlier error in that last sentence.)
This morning was 8 x 1/2 mile, done on the road, on a rolling loop. Because of the nature of the loop, I knew that I won't run consistent speeds. So, I pay more attention to my median split when I run repeats this way. My median this morning was 3:23. I was happy with this, given the fact that I was running on the road vs. the track. I was also doing 1/2 miles rather than 800s. The 1/2 mile is about 804.5 meters, or about a second slower at the speed I was running.
I'll run for about an hour, very easily, tomorrow morning.
My son's soccer season starts tomorrow night, and he seems to be coming around from the injury problems he's been fighting. So far, we've replaced his cleats and purchased Superfeet insoles for the new shoes. We have an appointment with a podiatrist at the end of the month if everything isn't settled down by then.
This morning was 8 x 1/2 mile, done on the road, on a rolling loop. Because of the nature of the loop, I knew that I won't run consistent speeds. So, I pay more attention to my median split when I run repeats this way. My median this morning was 3:23. I was happy with this, given the fact that I was running on the road vs. the track. I was also doing 1/2 miles rather than 800s. The 1/2 mile is about 804.5 meters, or about a second slower at the speed I was running.
I'll run for about an hour, very easily, tomorrow morning.
My son's soccer season starts tomorrow night, and he seems to be coming around from the injury problems he's been fighting. So far, we've replaced his cleats and purchased Superfeet insoles for the new shoes. We have an appointment with a podiatrist at the end of the month if everything isn't settled down by then.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Good workouts
Yesterday, I ran a hilly 7.8 miles, at a very easy effort. Unlike the Sunday before, when I felt really beat up after an intense Saturday workout, I felt pretty good yesterday. It was a beautiful day outside and I really enjoyed the run - just nice easy running on a great day, the first half of the run with my wife.
This morning, I wrapped up the lifting cycle that I've been doing with an upper body day. I did this same cycle last fall and wrapped it up in December. My final weights today were much higher in all six lifts. Some lifts went up only 10 pounds in the past year, but two went up by 30 pounds.
Next Monday, I'll start an entirely new cycle, so I'll probably have some days where I'm sore as I introduce the new lifts to my routine.
The next four days are all about running - 8x800m tomorrow, easier runs the next two days, and then 22 on Friday. After that, I'll take the weekend off, hanging out with my brother in PA for a Penn State football game. I haven't had a day off since 8/17, so I'm about due.
This morning, I wrapped up the lifting cycle that I've been doing with an upper body day. I did this same cycle last fall and wrapped it up in December. My final weights today were much higher in all six lifts. Some lifts went up only 10 pounds in the past year, but two went up by 30 pounds.
Next Monday, I'll start an entirely new cycle, so I'll probably have some days where I'm sore as I introduce the new lifts to my routine.
The next four days are all about running - 8x800m tomorrow, easier runs the next two days, and then 22 on Friday. After that, I'll take the weekend off, hanging out with my brother in PA for a Penn State football game. I haven't had a day off since 8/17, so I'm about due.
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