Sunday Long Run in the Sun

Today's plan calls for a Long Run. 

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Long Run. Dist: (15.49)mi. Pace-avg: (17:48). Speed-avg: (3.4)mph. Speed-max: (6.0)mph. Burned: (1661) Calories. 

Plan: Run (12.0)mi. @ a (17:46) pace for a total time of (3:33:19)hrs.
Actual: Run/walk (12.0)mi. @ a (17:17) avg. pace, for a total time of (3:27:27.12)hrs., bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up jog/walk, and a (2.49)mi. cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: 2x slices wheat toast w/ margarine and honey, 1x cup coffee; Mid-run: Honey Stinger Organic Energy Chews (Orange Blossom), GU Energy Gel (Mandarin Orange w/ Caffeine); Post-run: Chocolate milk, followed by fish sticks and steamed zucchini.

I slathered on the sunscreen, put on my mid-length running shorts, my orange Nike running short-sleeve running shirt and my Adidas running hat, then hit the road into the park for my weekly Long Run. There were plenty of people in the park today since it was bright and clear out, and (72+) deg.F.
(time passes)
I survived my Long Run, but just barely. I will post this now and maybe try and discuss it more tomorrow. I need some serious rest now, and maybe a mainline of coffee, and some ibuprofin. I did not expect to get this sore today.

Other News: I signed up for a new race in San Jose, The San Jose 408K, which is a week from today! It is an 8k, (4.97)mi., race in downtown San Jose that starts at the HP Pavilion arena, and ends at Santana Row, right across the street from Valley Faire Shopping Center. I am looking forward to it for a couple of reasons: I haven't run in San Jose (except once at the dirt track near Spartan Stadium at the SJSU South Campus, and that was literally only one occasion); I haven't been to San Jose in at least a year; and because it is a new race, which means I get to be one of the many first-time runners in this new race, which should be pretty cool all by itself. 

-Lancer!!

Second Slack-tastic Easy Run of 2012

Today's plan calls for an Easy Run. 

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Easy Run. Dist: (5.17)mi. Pace-avg: (15:15). Speed-avg: (3.9)mph. Speed-max: (5.8)mph. Burned: (533) Calories. Headlight.

Plan: Run (3.0)mi. @ a (17:45) pace for a total time of (53:16)min. [Actually, this was Tuesday's plan; I'm just doing it now.]
Actual: Run (3.0)mi. @ a (13:55) avg. pace for a total time of (41:45.87)min., bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up walk, and a (1.17)mi. cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: GU Energy Gel (Mandarin Orange), Honey Stinger Waffle (Honey); Mid-run: (water); Post-run: Dinner! Some leftover's from Tuesday night: Turkey patty, cranberry sauce, baked potato w/ margarine & black pepper.

Great run tonight! I left the house after 0200 hrs., the sky was clear with a bright, gibbous moon, and no fog on the streets. I walked my usual warm up mile after I dig (30) squats in the driveway to warm-up my legs a little, then ran a very comfortable (3.0)mi. in the park. I kept up a good pace and ended up with negative splits for the second time in my half-marathon training:


Splits: Mile (1): (14:09); Mile (2): (14:08); Mile (3): (13:36).

On the return leg, during my cool-down walk, I came across a small skunk. I smelled a skunk on the outbound leg of my run, and this time I saw it. It was smaller than the one I saw back in July during one my first midnight training runs. This little skunk seemed to be scared of my headlight so it kept running away, almost like I was herding it along the path with my light. It actually seemed like it might be injured because the way the little skunk kept bumbling appeared to be a sort of limping run.


Time to get cleaned up and eat something.


Start Temp: (42)deg.F.
End Temp: (38)deg.F.


-Lancer!!

Winter Running Jackets and a Pre-Xmas Friday Easy Run

Today's plan calls for an Easy Run. 

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Easy Run. Dist: (4.08)mi. Pace-avg: (15:26). Speed-avg: (3.9)mph. Speed-max: (4.9)mph. Burned: (422) Calories. 

Plan: Run (2.0)mi. @ a (17:51) pace for a total of (35:42)min.

Actual: Run (2.0)mi @ a (13:58) avg. pace, bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up walk, and a (1.08)mi. cool-down walk.

Fuel: Pre-run: GU Energy Gel w/ caffeine (Mandarin Orange), and a packet of GU Chomps (Mandarin Orange); Mid-run: (water); Post-run: dinner of some kind.

Tonight's run was nice and simple. I wore my new Mizuno Thermo beanie again, and it was mighty nice. There were a couple other runners out in the park this evening, and a few cyclists, but the cyclists were mainly BMX'ers just out in the park with their friends. I kept a pretty decent pace up using my updated running stride: Kicking up my heels a little more, picking my knees a good bit. Using this newer-to-me stride definitely feels like it is working more of the muscles in my legs, especially my calves. I look forward to using this running style more and seeing where it takes me. I am interested to see how well I can maintain this running stride during my long runs. I may have to switch back to my short stride glide for endurance, but we'll see how it goes Sunday. Running on Xmas Day? Totally crazy, but I feel the need to give it a whirl.

Splits: Mile (1): (13:36), Mile (2): (14:23).

Other News: I am trying to decide on a winter running jacket, and so I will do a little "thinking out loud" here to help myself. I believe I have narrowed it down to at least three: Gore Running Wear Essential Jacket; the Brooks Nightlife Silver Bullet Jacket; the Adidas Supernova adiVIZ Highbeam Jacket. All three seem to have a wind-stopper lining of some variety.

The Brooks jacket has an aluminum membrane lining for added warmth, kind of like wearing a space blanket while you run. I first saw similar technology on some Columbia winter jackets at the local Sports Authority store. It certainly has the Gee-Whiz(tm) factor going for it, but I'm not sure how durable it will be over repeated machine washings. Some other nice-to-haves for this jacket are thumb-hole cuffs that flip out, as well as flip out mitten covers, which would certainly be appreciated whether I am wearing running gloves, or not. I like multifunctional equipment and gear, like Swiss Army knives, et al.; I'm not sure where I get this, maybe it is a natural geek trait.

The Gore Running Wear jacket has a Gore-Tex(tm) lining, as expected. It has Velcro(R) cuffs and two large zip pockets on the sides. I tried on the XL in black at Fleet Feet, and that fit comfortably. I also tried on the blue in Large, but it was a little snug. The color selection is limited to black, blue and red, period. It has some nice reflective stripes on the sleeves. I like the black one because it fits and is in stock. The employee I spoke said these jackets are on back-order, with no estimated time of arrival. Even though black is clearly a bad idea for night-time running, I can throw on a reflector vest that I already have, or get a Brooks reflector vest that has some nice large reflective patches front and back.

The Adidas Highbeam jackets appears to have all the reflectivity one needs without additional reflector vests, et al.: The reflective strips are nice and large, front and back. It even looks like it would be bright enough to wear and be seen walking alongside the highway after your car breaks down, or if you have to change a tire in the middle of the night on the side of the road. The Stockton store says they don't stock Adidas, but the Sacramento store does. 

So far, the Brooks sounds like the best all-around bet for the winter here in the valley. It gets cold late in the year, but the early months can get even colder. I have a bad habit of running after dark, mainly to avoid putting on sunscreen, so cold winter months will definitely need some warm running gear. The Brooks jacket has good reviews on the Brooks Running website, including reviews by runners in the Sacramento area, and Oregon, places I know to be pretty cold at this time of year.

-Lancer!!

Thursday Speedwork Day

Today's plan calls for a Speedwork Run.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Speedwork. Dist: (7.58)mi. Pace-avg: (15:37). Speed-avg: (3.8)mph. Speed-max: (5.2)mph. Burned: (822) Calories. Running lights.


Plan: Run (6)mi. including (3x) repeats of (1600) meters @ a (14:08) pace, with (800) meter jogs in-between each repeat. Actual: Jogged (6)mi. with (3x) repeats of (1600) meters @ (13:13), (13:09) and (13:23) pace, with (3x) (800) meter recovery jogs, and bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up walk, and a (1.14)mi. cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: GU Energy Gel (Strawberry-Banana); Mid-run: water; Post-run: Banana-Chocolate-Honey smoothie.

I really wish I had done this run before sundown. It was (56) deg.F. when I started out tonight, and it's only down to (53) deg.F. now. The ambient humidity, and some intermittent cloud cover tonight, seemed to keep the temps up enough to be just right. One blog buddy suggested that mid-50 degree temps are tank top and shorts weather, but I have to disagree: I appear to have poor circulation and my hands and feet are always cold, so I like to bundle up more to stay warm.

Tonight's run went much better than expected: I exceeded the planned pace for each repeat, and that makes me very happy. I am not too sore from running, although I hot spot on my left instep from Sunday seems to continue to ache for some reason. During Sunday's long run I had to stop and tighten my shoe-laces a couple of times. I may have left the laces too loose when I first headed out the door that night and I ended up with chaffing on both insteps; that made me very unhappy. Once I had stopped running and switched to a fast-walk for the remainder of Sunday's long run, my legs began to tighten up and continued to ache for the remainder of the workout. I was practically limping by the end.

Tonight, despite the achy spot on my left foot, I was able to keep up a pretty good pace during the repeats. If I can continue to improve on that over the coming months I hope to reduce my overall pace. I am definitely looking forward to that. I am hoping to improve quite a bit over my PR at the 2011 Bay to Breakers, perhaps even as much as getting my completion time down to (1:30) hrs.

I realize I skipped a couple of runs this week already, but my feet needed more recovery time from Sunday's long run than I expected. It was worth it.

Other News: I have decided not to run the Las Vegas Strip At Night this year. Based on my long run from this past Sunday I need more road time to condition my feet for the longer distance called for in running a half-marathon. My earlier set-back from the broken toe is one of the reasons, plus my continued unemployment, which needs to be remedied post-haste (still). I think I will register for the Modesto Marathon for next year, and run the half-marathon in that event. I may try for an earlier half-marathon if my continued training gets me to a point I can run (jog) for (13.1) consecutive miles. I will still try and run (13.1) miles on 4th December and just do it on my home training course, rather than Las Vegas. It'll still count towards my overall training. B-)

-Lancer!!

Sunday Long Run No.13

Today's plan calls for a Long Run.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Long Run. Dist: (14.88)mi. Pace-avg: (18:00). Speed-avg: (3.3)mph. Speed-max: (4.7)mph. Burned: (1595) Calories. Running lights.

Plan: Run (13)mi. @ a (16:44) pace for a total of (3:37:42)hrs.
Actual: Jogged/walked (13.0)mi. @ a (17:51) avg. pace for a total of (3:52:05.66)hrs., bracketed by a (1.0)mi. warm-up walk, and a (0.88)mi. cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: Glass of Gatorade (Fruit Punch); Mid-run: PowerBar Energy Gel (Banana-Strawberry), Honey Stinger Chews (Orange Blossom), Sport Beans (Grape); Post-run: GU Energy Gel (Mandarin Orange).

Ouch. Today's run was actually painful. It started out pretty good, but the last half was all pain. I jogged (7.0) consecutive miles, maintaining a pace between (14:59) and (16:31) for those seven miles, but then was overcome by pain in my left foot again, between my 2nd, 3rd and 4th toes at the ball of my foot. The last time this happened I had skipped all my runs during the week, then ran my long run (and did not finish). This week I again skipped all my training runs, then over-confidently went out for my long run. Clearly, I need the weekly build up to help maintain my running gains, so I will avoid ditching out on any training runs in the future.

I am still not signed up for the Las Vegas Strip At Night run in December, and after tonight's run I am thinking strongly of pushing back my half-marathon race till later in December, or maybe even January, so I can make up some of my lost training time from September/October; I also need to get in more strength training in the gym.

Friday afternoon I went shopping at On The Run again, and actually bought something: a Saucony Epic Run Vest. I wore it for the first time tonight, and it helped keep the chill off, though I did have to throw on my running shell, too, on the return leg of my run. The two (2) front pockets on the vest offered good storage space: I kept my running lights and my ninja hood in the pockets till after sundown, so I didn't have to carry them in my hands, or put them on my running belt; bonus. The vest also has a media pocket, and a hole for the earphone cord on the inside of the vest. The reflective surface on the Saucony vest appears to be pretty substantial, compared to the Brooks Essential Run Vest I had been looking at previously. Another bonus: the Saucony vest has a clip-on USB-LED light that can be recharged by plugging it into a USB port. It was much brighter than I expected.

Tonight's run started out at about (65) deg. F. with the sun nice and bright, then dropped down to (50) deg. F. by the time I got home four and a half hours later.

-Lancer!!

Moonlight Easy Run

Tonight was another Easy Run. Mostly by moonlight.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Easy Run [Fast walk]. Dist: (7.52)mi. Pace-avg: (17:12). Speed-avg: (3.5)mph. Speed-max: (5.4)mph. Burned: (836) Calories.

Plan: Run (4) mi. @ a (17:33) pace, for a total time of (1:10:14) hrs.
Actual: Fastwalk (4) mi. @ (16:35) pace, for a total time of (1:06:18.49) hrs.
Fuel: Pre-run: nada. [I had the Vito's Combo pizza at Vito's at about 1500 hrs., though.] Mid-run: GU Energy Gel, Lemon Sublime. Mmmm, tasty. Post-run: So far, salt-water taffy from Monterey...

Tonight's run started out pretty creaky and achy since I only had about a (45) minute nap between staying up for (22.75) hours, and getting out for my Thursday run. By the time I got to the (2) mi. mark in the "run" phase I was feeling much better.

Sadly, I did not see the fox tonight. After reading the Wikipedia entries, it may have actually been a Gray Fox, but I did not see a black stripe down the foxes back, or along the top of its tail. Now I know what to look for the next time I see it.

Other News: I am going to run a 10K in Riverbank this Saturday, 13.August.2011. This means I will have to skip my Friday run, but I will make up for it with the back-to-back Saturday 10K and the Sunday training run.

-Lancer!!

Wednesday Gym Day

Decided to get out and go to the gym today.

Cycling: Surface Streets, Rode to the gym and back. Dist. (7.84) mi. Speed-avg: (8.7)mph. Speed-max: (14.2)mph. Burned: (480) Calories.

MCR: Lap #1: Ab Crunch: 3x (30) reps @ (90) lbs. Back extensions: 3x (30) reps @ (60) lbs. Torso rotations: 1x (30) reps. right/left @ (70) lbs. 1x (30) reps. right/left @ (90) lbs. Calf raises: 3x (30) reps. @ (60) lbs. [1x ea.: Toe-straight, toe-in, toe-out.]. Ab/Oblique crunches: 1x (30) reps. @ (90) lbs., 1x (5) reps. @ (95) lbs., 1x (10) reps. @ (90) lbs. Duration: (37:51) mins.

Lap #2: Lateral raises: 3x (30) reps. @ (40) lbs., Pectoral flies: 3x (30) reps. @ (45) lbs. Rear deltoids: 1x (15) reps. @ (45) lbs., 1x (10) reps. @ (45) lbs. Duration: (19:01) mins.

Fuel: Pre-gym: Dinner! Chicken breast, homemade coleslaw salad with green apples and cran-raisins. Post-gym: GU Energy Gel, Lemon Sublime.

Again, the ride to the gym was a good warm-up, and the ride home was also a good cool-down. The full moon out tonight was nice, especially while riding through the park on the way to and from the gym.

-Lancer!!

Easy Run Friday

Slept all day. Had to go run my (2) mile Easy Run, and not wuss out and skip it.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Easy Run [Walk/Jog/Walk]. Dist: (5.45) mi. Pace-avg: (16:47). Speed-avg: (4.3)mph. Speed-max: (5.5)mph. Burned: (613) Calories.

Plan: Run (2) mi. @ (17:39) pace, for a total time of (35:18).
Actual: Jog/walk (2) mi. @ (13:58) pace, for a total time of (27:55.64) mins., bracketed by a (1) mile warm-up and (1) mile cool-down walk.
Fuel: Pre-run: GU Energy Gel, Lemon-Lime. Post-run: GU Chomps, Orange.

I left the house about 1815 hrs., so the sun was still up and the temperature was about (90) deg. F., with a slight breeze. I did my warm-up walk into the park, where it was nice and shady at first, and then started my jog. Last night I was able to "jog" continuously for (2.02) miles, today I was only able to keep up the pace for (1) full mile. This may have been because I did not actually eat anything before I left the house. I had the one GU gel, and plenty of water, but I was anxious to get out and do my run early-ish so I did not end up running in the dark like last night. (Mission accomplished.) I slowed down and walked about (0.06) miles before I picked up the pace again. I managed to jog another (0.33) miles, then had to walk again for (0.14) miles. I was able to jog out the last (0.47) miles to complete the (2) miles of my Easy Run. After that, I turned around and walked home. So, it seems that if I am properly fed (and digested) before I head out the door, then I am better for it in the long run, so to speak.

People all over the neighborhood seemed to be BBQ'ing hamburgers in their backyards today, and in the park. There was quite a large group of people in the picnic area of the park this evening, and I really was craving a burger. I already took a shower, and I'm still sweating. I just finished dinner, and still need to stretch out. My legs are nice and sore in a good way. I can still feel some soreness from my Wednesday workout at the gym. I should make the effort and go to the gym tomorrow and repeat that same workout, at a minimum. I should definitely ride my bike there.

One thing I have noted over the last week is that my left sock feels soggy and squishy once I am jogging, but that did not happen on today's run. I wonder if I need to pull out the insoles and let them air dry in between run days. I will keep an eye on that.

Other News: It's the weekend, so I think I will go out and see some movies, finally.

Tomorrow: Gym day!

-Lancer!!

Tempo Run 2

Continuing on with my half-marathon training I "ran" my second Tempo Run today.

DC Bike Path: 1/2 Marathon Training, Tempo Run #2. Dist: (6.24) mi. Pace-avg: (16:39). Speed-avg: (3.6)mph. Speed-max: (5.9)mph. Burned: (692) Calories.

Today's tempo run was planned as: (3) mi. @ (16:02) pace for a time of (48:07), plus a (1) mi. warm-up and (1) mi. cooldown bracketing the tempo run. My (3) mi. pace was (15:41) avg. for a time of (47:01.88). Works for me.

I bailed on the Tuesday Easy Run because I went hiking in Yosemite, and I really didn't feel like I could manage it, especially after eating dinner so late. I would have to run after dark, and I was feeling just a little whipped (and a little sunburned). Though my mind wanted to drag my body out on the path, I had to resist.

My fuel on tonight's run was (1x) pack of Sport Beans by Jelly Belly, Berry flavor (awesome!), (100) Calories; and (1x) GU Energy Gel (Mandarin Orange, excellent!), (100) Calories.

I also had my hair cut today: Clipper cut down to the skin. My scalp needs some sun, so Lex Luthor, eat your heart out. B-)

Today's Weight: (202.2) lbs.

-Lancer!!