Monday, November 02, 2009

 

Shoes, tattoos, and races…oh my.

This last week was an interesting one in that I ran in a shoe other than an Asics shoe for the first time in twelve years, I got my fifth tattoo which coincidentally matches the tattoo my wife got at the same time in the same place on our legs, and I signed up for not one, not two, but three 2010 races! Oh, and during all of that I managed to get in a couple workout sessions so let’s start with the recap of those.

Tuesday at 4:45am while my wife headed to the club to get her cardio-burn on I climbed on the bike trainer for an hour of steady-tempo pedaling. Nice and steady was the call that day. Then at midday I was out the door for a run in something other than Asics for the first time in a very long time. And I loved the new kicks! More on that later.
Stats for Tuesday’s bike: 14.3-miles in 1-hour.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:49 @ 8:11/m pace.

Wednesday I was again out the door at midday for a run but this picked up the pace just a bit since the new shoes seemed to work fine the day before. The weather was a picture-perfect fall day here in Oregon.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 45:38 @ 7:21/m pace.

Thursday I was at the pool for my last swim for a couple of weeks since the new tat would dictate I stay out of the pool for at least that long. I alternated fast sets with drill sets and it felt like a great workout. Each of my faster sets was faster than the previous one. The midday run that day was in the rain and soggy conditions so I kept the pace very easy and it was all good.
Stats for Thursday’s swim: 1,800-yards in 36:46 (40:46 w/rest) 9x200 w/30-sec. rests.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:52 @ 8:12/m pace.

Friday I ran a bit longer at lunchtime and for the first time in several months decided to tack on the BIG HILLS of Botticelli and Touchstone. I remembered quickly why I don’t run them during the training season too often. Ouch. But other than those ascents and descents I felt great and it was a nice day for a run!
Stats for Friday’s run: 8.5-miles in 1:04:51 @ 7:37/m pace.

And that brings me to today which started with another 4:45AM session on the bike and then a midday run. The weather for today’s run was amazing and I felt the same way.
Stats for Monday’s bike: 14.7-miles in 1-hour.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.2-miles in 47:23 @ 7:38/m pace.

So the new shoes are Adidas Supernovas and so far I really like them. I have a long-time friend that is also a long-time Adidas employee that would love to get me out of Asics and into Adidas. So much so that she sent me not one but two pairs to try out…for free! One pair was the 2009 model and the other the 2010 model. The 2010 is an intimidating black color that I may save for upcoming races! I can tell the difference in the Adidas from my Asics GT-2140’s. The way the Adidas guides your foot from strike to push-off can actually be felt and at first I was concerned it would cause me some aches and pains but changing my stride but so far that has not been the case at all. I really like them and I’ve given my friend that feedback too.

Now the tattoos…my wife and I have wanted to get matching tattoos for some time but could never quite find a design that we both loved. And our names were NOT an option as that is the kiss of death in relationships. Finally I found a design for the words “Me & You” that is funky cool and looks the same seen upside-down or right-side up. So Friday night we met with our tattoo artist, Mary Jane Haake (Google her!) and she fixed us both up very nicely and now we have our matching tats. Once they heal I’ll post a pic or two.

And lastly…the 2010 races I’ve gotten signed up for to go along with the Boston Marathon in April and the Hood-To-Coast Relay in August. The first one is the Oregon Road Runners 20.10K Annual Run on 1/3/10 that takes place 20-minutes from my home. This will be 12th straight year running that one. The next one is the Vancouver Lake Half-Marathon that takes place on 1/24/10 and is where I set my half-mary PR at seven years ago. And yes, I’m going for new PR seven years older so a sub-1:24 is the goal! And lastly, I signed up for the Lake Stevens Ironman 70.3 that is on 8/15/10 and will be capper on my tri season next year and hopefully with a sub-5 hour finish! 2010 is going to be busy, busy on the race front. Check back to how the training and then the racing goes!

Thanks for stopping by…

# posted by Steven @ 4:36 PM 0 comments

Monday, October 26, 2009

 

A Creature of Habit

I don’t know about you but I am a creature of habit and I like to have routines. That applies to many things in my life, but I would venture a guess that the only one that concerns anyone visiting a triathlon-focused blog would be how that applies to the sport. In a nutshell, the off-season tweaks my brain just a bit because of the lack of focused training. I love training. Basically, I race so that I can train. Training for a race is my outlet and my way of coping with the stresses of the world. Sure, I enjoy the off-season in that I can pick and choose my workouts based on how I feel on any given day, but I do miss the structure of a well thought out training plan.

To this end, even in the off-season I try to maintain some level of consistency with my “training.” For sure I back way off the volume, distances, and frequency of the miles and yards I rack up during the spring and summer, but I still try to keep things even-keel which helps me stay even-keel. And getting in some consistent workouts over the next couple of months allows me partake freely in the once/twice-per-year foods that are going to put in front of me over those next couple of holiday months! Typically, my off-season routine looks something like this:

• 2-3 swims, usually Monday AM and Thursday AM and sometimes Friday AM
• 2-3 bikes, usually Tuesday AM and Friday AM and sometimes Sunday
• 4-5 runs, usually Monday/Tuesday noon, Thursday/Friday noon, and Saturday AM
• 2-3 strength sessions, usually Tuesday PM, Thursday PM and Sunday
I have found that this type of schedule gives me both the consistency and structure I want but also allows me the flexibility to skip or miss a workout and not stress over it. So, with all of this being said here is how my last few workouts shaped up:

Thursday I was in the pool at 5:00am for an endurance session. It was nice to go long in the pool for a change. The midday run was on a prefect fall day that was tailor-made for some speedwork. I kept it sensible with fartleks but still got the feel of a hard workout that I was after.
Stats for Thursday’s swim: 2,000-yards in 39:31 (40:31 w/rest) 2x1,000 w/1-min. rest.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 6.2-miles in 48:44 @ 7:51/m pace.

Friday I was on the bike at 5:00am and was able to work-up a good sweat with some big-gear standing-up pedaling intervals. It felt good to work a little harder on the bike. And the midday run was nothing like the day before in that it was horribly windy and very, very wet. So I kept the pace easy and just slogged it out.
Stats for Friday’s bike: 14.3-miles in 1-hour.
Stats for Friday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:30 @ 8:08/m pace.

Saturday’s long run was one of those runs that don’t happen very often! The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, the route was new and fun, and the company was great. Jamie picked me up at 6:15am and we made our way to Sawtooth Bakery in downtown PDX where we met Ed, Cormac, and Fran. The five of us then ran the mile-mile-and-a-half to Alber’s Mill where we met up with Brad, George, Troy, and Linda. We all took off and our route took us on Front Street to the Broadway bridge where we crossed the foggy Willamette River to the Eastside Vera Katz Esplanade. We ran on that to the Springwater Corridor which is about when Troy and Linda turned around and the rest of us continued all the way to the Sellwood Bridge.
After a quick water/bio break we crossed the bridge and headed North back towards downtown. We passed through Willamette Park and the South Waterfront area before getting to the Tom McCall Waterfront Park and the seawall with the gorgeous views of the river and the city. It was right about here that half of us picked up the pace a bit and half stayed behind and even paced. I decided to go with the breakaway and just hang with them as long as I could. I haven’t run that fast and hard for a long time and I could tell. The four of us would trade off the lead with none of us wanting to be dropped off the back. It was tough but it was awesome! When we all gathered back up at Alber’s Mill Ed’s Garmin told us that miles 11 through 13 were busted out at a 6:05/m pace. No wonder they sucked so bad! At that point the group split up with three of us running the additional mile-to mile-and-a-half back to Sawtooth Bakery where once again the whole group met up for our usual post-run food and beverages!
Stats for Saturday’s run: 14.3-miles in 1:47:28 @ 7:30/m pace.
Lastly, this morning I was back in the pool at 5:00am for a bit shorter swim but done with some drills so it felt harder! Always a good way to kick off the workweek!
Stats for Monday’s swim: 1,800-yards in 37:34 (40:04 w/rest) 6x300 w/30-sec. rests.

Oh, and one more thing…tomorrow the 2009-2010 NBA Season starts! BooYah! I love the NBA and I love my Portland Trail Blazers!!! Expectations for my team are very high this year with anything less than a trip to the Western Conference Finals next spring being seen as a disappointment. But I’m not worried – this team will ROCK this year.
Together. Rise with Us. And thanks for stopping by…

# posted by Steven @ 11:34 AM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

 

The Road Trip

My wonderful wife and I enjoyed a fabulous road-trip long weekend that was so much fun. We put 1,100 miles on the Outback and saw some amazing sights, wonderful places, and beautiful country. For this particular post I’m not going to give any workout updates. Just suffice it to say that since my last post I’ve gotten in three runs, one swim, and one bike session. This is the off-season, after all.

So back to the road trip…Day One we left home and traveled through King’s Valley then over the Coast Range to Waldport, Oregon. Then it was a scenic jaunt down to Bandon, Oregon, where we spent our first night in a cheesy little motel that was perfect. Here are some pics from Day One:





On Day Two we completed the US101 route of the Southern Oregon Coast and into Northern California where had lunch in Crescent City and got some information on the Redwoods National Park and what to see/do. We LOVED the Newtown Drury Scenic Parkway, the hike at Big Tree, the Lady Bird Johnson Grove hike, and the night we spent in beautiful Victorian Ferndale, California. Here are some pics from Day Two:








On Day Three we headed back north on US101 and after a quick stop in quaint Trinidad, California we took US199 and hiked the Simpson-Reed Grove and Peterson Memorial Trail and just gasped at the size of the Redwoods which are truly amazing. We continued on 199 through some absolutely beautiful and rugged country along the Smith River eventually into Southern Oregon via Cave Junction and Selma. We then drove through the stunning Applegate Valley before stopping for the night in rustic and old Jacksonville, Oregon. Our gorgeous room in the Jacksonville Inn had a steam shower that was way too hot for me but my wife loved and the pizza/beer at Bella Union hit the spot! Here are some pics from Day Three:
We left Jacksonville and drove to Gold Hill, Oregon, where we visited the Oregon Vortex. It was strange and weird and our tour guide was funny, too, so we both enjoyed it and tried to figure out why balls and bottles rolled up hill and people grew or shrank in space of five feet of walking. Eerie. We then made our way up, up, up to Crater Lake which was stunning! The wind was howling up at 8,000’ and it was very cold, but what an amazing sight. I’ve never seen water so blue and beautiful. There was snow sprinkled around which added to the beauty and the whole area was breath-taking. After leaving Crater Lake National Park we made our way to US97 then onto US58 which was ablaze in fall colors almost the entire way to Oakridge and then in to Eugene. A quick dinner break and then we made the final pull back to home. Here are some pics from Day Four:










We had a wonderful time with beautiful blue skies, temps in the upper-60’s or lower-70’s, low traffic, no crowds anywhere, and time for just the two of us. We plan to do another trip like this next year at this same time but to a different place and we’re already looking forward to it.

Thanks for stopping by…

PS – OK, I couldn’t not post my workout updates! So here they are in abbreviate format:
Wednesday: 10K run in 47:30 @ 7:39/m pace. Early, dark, and wet on the home loop.
Sunday: 8.2-mile run in 1:03:58 @ 7:48/m pace. Very easy on a beautiful fall morning.
Monday: 2,000-yard swim in 39:47, 41:47 w/rest, 5x400 w/30-sec. rests.
Tuesday: 14.1-mile bike trainer ride at 4:45AM for one hour.
Tuesday: 10K run in 48:33 @ 7:49/m pace. Midday on the hilly office loop.

# posted by Steven @ 3:33 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

 

Bikes, Trees, and Lakes

Saturday I rode the Harvest Century which started and finished less than a mile from my house. And it wasn’t pretty. My pals Jay and Steve met me at my house at 7AM when it was a balmy 39* and together we rode up to the start area where we were greeted by many, many, many more cyclists than I thought there’d be. It took us nearly 45-minutes to get our packets and actually get on the road to ride. And dang! It was COLD. OMG. I had all of my cold weather gear on and within 20-minutes my fingers, hands, and toes were either numb or painfully cold. And I’d stay cold for the next two hours.

The weather other than being so cold was beautiful with bright sunshine and clear blue skies. The three of us met up with fellow Ironhead Tri Team member Kaytee Petross (70.3 AG World Champion!) along the way and made our way out of Forest Grove and towards Hagg Lake. And here is where a route mistake was made that cost us an additional four miles which at the time wasn’t a big deal but towards the end of the day I was wishing I didn’t have those additional miles on the odometer. We had a lunch stop ~45-miles in to the ride and we were very well fed and the warm school cafeteria was a nice shelter to warm up in finally.

We left the lunch stop and turned east and immediately we ran into the East Winds head winds that I knew we’d have since the forecast spoke of them the night before. And the wind was awful and remained the rest of the day. On the other side of Newberg and heading towards Champoeg Park I began to run out of gas. I knew this ride was maybe not going to be easy, but it quickly got pretty tough. Looking back on this now, maybe riding this ride 6-weeks after Ironman Canada and 6-days after the Portland Marathon and without being on the bike since Ironman Canada wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made.

After leaving Champoeg Park we made our way to Canby and I made my first ever ride across the Willamette River aboard the Canby Ferry which was pretty cool. Until we got to the other side and were immediately hit with the very steepest climb of the day from the river to the top of the hill ½-mile long. It was nasty. Most folks walked their bikes up but for those of us strong (stupid?) enough to grind it out we were going fast enough to stay up right but only barely so. Then it was onto Wilsonville and Sherwood before working our way back towards the finish area via many of the same roads I ride weekly during triathlon training season.
Eventually I made it through the flatlands and winds to get back to Hillsboro and then soon enough the Washington County Fairgrounds where this fun day started. I sat down at a picnic table, in the sun, with Steve & Kaytee, a double-cheese burger, Rouge Brewery Dead Guy Ale, and enjoyed the best part of the day.
Stats for Saturday’s ride: 108.4-miles in 6:46 @ 16-mph.

Monday morning at 5:00am I found myself in a place I hadn’t been since late August – the edge of the pool looking into the cold water and ready to plunge in for some laps. Yes, it’s time to get in some swimming again so there I was. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be, but towards the end of the session I could tell I hadn’t been swimming in two months. At lunchtime I was out the door for my first run since the Portland Marathon and it too didn’t suck as much as I thought it might. It was a beautiful day with cool fall temps and lots of sunshine. I ran a very easy pace and did not push it at all. It was awesome to be out running again.
Stats for Monday’s swim: 2,000-yards in 39:09 (41:39 w/rest) 4x500 w/30-sec. rests.
Stats for Monday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:57 @ 8:13/m.

And today I was again at the pool for another easy session. I swam the same distance but tossed in some drill work along the way. Then late in the workday afternoon I was able to get out for run that I couldn’t do at noon due to a meeting. The weather was drastically different then it was yesterday with blustery winds, blowing leaves, cold temps, and just general nastiness. But it felt better than yesterday’s run, it felt easier than yesterday’s run, and the pace was faster than yesterday’s run.
Stats for Tuesday’s swim: 2,000-yards in 39:45 (41:45 w/rest) 5x400 w/30-sec. rests.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 49:31 @ 7:59/m.

And also today is my Friday! My beautiful wife and I are loading up the Outback and taking a road trip down the Coast Highway 101 to the Redwoods National Park in Northern California and then looping back up to Crater Lake. We have no reservations anywhere and no timelines on having to be at a certain place at a certain time. We have just the two of us hanging out together for a few days, the open road, some beautiful scenery, and a great time ahead of us. I’ll try to post some pics next week.



Thanks for stopping by…

# posted by Steven @ 3:13 PM 1 comments

Friday, October 09, 2009

 

Recovering, Riding, and Reading

Recovery from the Portland Marathon is going well. It no longer hurts to walk down the stairs or get up out of a chair. I haven’t started running again because I always give myself an entire week of non-running after a marathon, but I do expect to get back out there next week and I do expect the first couple of outings to suck. The first couple of runs always do post-marathon.

However, I have gotten on the bike trainer a couple of times this week to 1) spin the legs out a bit and 2) get some saddle time before the 100-mile ride tomorrow. Yep. I haven’t been on a bike since I handed off to the volunteer at the end of the ride at Ironman Canada on August 30th and tomorrow at 7:00am I am headed out for 100 mile Harvest Century ride with Jay, Rick, and Steve, and Mike for some of it. When I signed up several weeks ago I thought it was a fine idea to ride a Century only six days after IMC. But right now? Not so much. But I will do it, the weather will be a bit cold but sunny and beautiful, and I’ll enjoy the time with the guys. In prep for the ride, here are my very small-volume training recaps…

Thursday morning I had a meeting to attend at the office at 7:30am, but I had already planned to get in a trainer ride that day so I was on the bike at 4:40am. Ouch. And double-ouch that it was my first time on a bike since IMC and I could sure tell. The seat hurt, my legs felt dead, my pace felt too hard…and all of this two days before a 100-miler. Ouch.
Stats for Thursday’s bike: 13.6-miles in 1-hour.

And this morning I was back on the bike super early to get in another hour before work. It didn’t feel quite as bad as Thursday’s effort, but it was still nothing like it was pre-IMC. I pushed a little harder and felt a little better.
Stats for Friday’s bike: 14.2-miles in 1-hour.

With the non-running going on I have had some time to sit and read while recovering and I just finished an amazing book. I read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and I truly loved it. In fact, I haven’t read a book this good in a long time and I have read a lot of books. It was one of those rare reads where I didn’t want it to end it was so good. The author was one of the most clever writers I’ve ever read and his choice/manner of narrator was astounding. He wrote the story from the perspective of having it told to the reader by a narrator and that narrator was Death. Yes, Death was the story-teller and an amazing one at that. The story takes place in Nazi Germany during the rise of Hitler and WWII. The main characters are Liesl who is the Book Thief, her foster parents the accordion player papa and hard-to-like mama, her best friend Rudy, Max the Jew they hide from the Nazi’s for a long time, and other colorful characters. When Liesl is very young she innocently happens across a book (The Guide To Digging Graves) and that turns her into a lifelong book lover and reader. But being a young girl in wartime Nazi Germany did not allow her easy access to books or money so she begins stealing them from the Mayor’s wife whom she is delivering laundry to. The author’s use of the narrator (Death, remember?) allows some liberties to be taken on timelines and takes us forwards and backwards to fill in blanks and build the characters. He also cleverly uses paragraph breaks and bolded highlights to make a point, give a definition, or drop a bombshell on the reader. I’ll stop there otherwise I’ll just too much away, but I absolutely loved this book and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

Now I’m on to reading Audition: A Memoir by Barbara Walters. I’ve had it for quite awhile but just never picked it up to read it but will do so now. I’ll let you know what I think of it upon completion.

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend…

# posted by Steven @ 1:55 PM 1 comments

Monday, October 05, 2009

 

2009 Portland Marathon Race Report

Stats:
26.2-miles in 3:12:20 @ 7:20/m pace
15/451 M45-49 Age Group
273/3,825 Males
296/8,091 Finishers Overall

Story:
I signed up to run the Portland Marathon early in the year. However, this occurred prior to my gaining entry into Ironman Canada which took place only 5-weeks before Portland. Since my race season plans changed to include another Ironman I had thought about not racing Portland but when a couple of my friends asked me about pacing them in Portland to get them Boston qualifying times I figured what the heck. I wasn’t sure what to expect on race day as far as Ironman race fatigue would play into the marathon but at 5:15am on Sunday I found myself meeting up with Mike and Jay and heading to downtown PDX.

Our plan was to run a 3:10 marathon pace for as long as we could hold it and hope we didn’t blow up somewhere out on the course. We got ourselves lined up near the 3:10 Red Lizard pace group and before too long we were on our way to see what the morning brought. Both Mike & Jay wore Garmins and I wore a 3:10 pace bracelet so we could constantly monitor our progress and pace strategy. The first few miles were of course crowded but we did a good job of running single file and threading our way through the throng. At Mile 4 after already climbing up Harrison and Barbur we were about 30-seconds ahead of pace and running well. For me, this is usually the point in a marathon that lasts a couple of miles and has me wondering if I can really maintain the current pace for 20-22 more miles. Yesterday was no exception and while we were running strong down Front through the crowds lining the street I was beginning to wonder if maybe I’d bitten off more than I could chew.

Luckily, we got onto Front Avenue and the start of several flat miles and soon enough I was feeling good and having fun again. At Mile 7 we saw our first of several Ironheads teammates when Leanne yelled out to us while wearing her Orange Crush shirt, too! The flat miles clicked off out to the turn-around and all the way back towards town. This section is always fun because you can lots of other runners headed the opposite direction. I was able to give a shout my buddy Billy and also a high five to my buddy Jamie who were both looking strong at that point in their respective races. By now we had gained a few more seconds on the pace and were now about 1-minute of ahead of schedule. Winding our way around NW Portland through the crowds was fun and we were running well and before we knew it we were out of the small rolling hills and onto the flatness of HWY 30 with the St. John’s Bridge looming on the horizon. Last year this is where it started raining and stayed raining most of the rest of the race, but this year there was no rain. There was slight wind, but the temps were in the 50’s and it was dry so we had ideal conditions. At Mile 15 we saw fellow Ironhead, Ken, who tried to snap of pic or two of us flying by him. During the long straight miles out to the bridge Jay pulled ahead of Mike and I a bit but we were all on pace with a little time in the bank still. At Mile 16.5 to 17 is when we had a little trouble. That is when the course goes up the long and steep climb to the top of the St. John’s Bridge. All three of us geared down and climbed with Mike opening a slight gap at the turn near the top. I stayed with Jay while we made our way to the bridge apex, but pretty soon Mike was further ahead and we’d lost a few seconds of time. So I told Jay we needed to catch Mike and started to pick it up a bit but either he didn’t hear me or couldn’t pick it up at that point in his day and that was the last I saw of Jay until the finish.

I caught Mike just we were making the steep descents and turns and then climb up onto the Bluff near the University of Portland. The next few miles from ~18 to ~23 are the normally the hardest miles in this marathon, at least for me. The course through here is mostly flat and there is descent crowd support but these are the miles that hurt the most in my opinion. After having run 18-20 miles already and knowing there are still 8-6 to go is just hard mentally, but it was a welcome change to be running with someone and it helped me push through it a bit faster than I might have had I been running solo. We clicked through the miles along the Bluff and at one point saw another Ironhead helping out at an aid station and when Darrin saw me he gave a nice shout. Soon enough we were running through the Adidas Campus and running the long downhill of Greeley. You would think that running downhill would be a welcomed occurrence but you’d be wrong. At this point we’d run 23 miles and the downhill is very long and not very gradual which all culminates in very sore quads. But then it was up and up and up to the Broadway Bridge and the steep descent down to the final mile. And then the train stopped us. Yes, we got stopped by an Amtrak passenger train at mile 25.5 or so. It wasn’t very long and only cost us 30-40 seconds, but just having to stop completely and then get going again was just not a good thing. We took off once the train passed by with a group of 15-20 runners and it was here that Mike had a bit more in the tank than I did. I fell off the pace just a bit and the gap widened as we both motored to our respective finishes. The last ½ mile is always a mix of feelings because I’m so happy to almost be done but it hurts so badly to try to muster a bit more speed and run a bit stronger in front of the large and loud crowd! But finally it was around the final corner and across the finish line and marathon #16 was officially in the books. Mike ended up finishing 40-seconds ahead of me at 3:11:40 and Jay finished 5:28 behind me at 3:17:48.

It was a blast running a marathon with my two training partners and good friends. We accomplished what we set out to do by getting those Boston Marathon qualifying times they were after and having a good race. A good time was had by all.

Thanks for stopping by...

# posted by Steven @ 1:46 PM 0 comments

Friday, October 02, 2009

 

26.2 for the 16th time…

As you know, Sunday is Portland Marathon day and I’m running it for the fifth time and hope to complete my 16th marathon overall. Portland on Sunday also marks the 10 Year Anniversary of my very first marathon which was Portland in 1999. I can’t believe that tens years have passed since that very first one where at miles 22 to 26.2 I SWORE I would NEVER do this again and this was a STUPID idea and I should step in front of a car to end the pain. Yea, that first one didn’t feel too good. But I’ve learned so much in ten years and now I cope with the pain of the marathon much better…but they still hurt like hell. Of course this week has been very, very light on the training front with only a couple of easy runs and nothing else. Here are the recaps…

Tuesday was my last trip to the track for possibly many weeks if not months. It was short run day with a couple of 800’s after a mile warm-up up the hill and ending with a mile cool-down down the hill. It was cold, wet, and windy and hopefully that is not the case on Sunday.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 3.5-miles in 26:36 @ 7:36/m pace.
1mWU = 8:14
2x800 w/800 recovery = 3:13 & 3:18
1mCD = 7:42

Wednesday was the last pre-PDX run and it was an easy paced one on a nicer day. There was some sun, some rain, some warm, some cold, and some wind which is pretty much a typical fall day in Oregon it seems. I kept the pace easy, slowed myself down a couple of times and just thanked God for getting me through another training season injury-free.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:42 @ 8:10/m pace.

Tomorrow I’ll head out for a flat and slow 2-mile run just to loosen the legs up a bit and then shut it completely down until Sunday at 7:00am when Mike, Jay, and I take off and try to come in around 3:10-3:15. We’ll see how that goes since all three of us are only five weeks removed from having done Ironman Canada. I’ll get a PDX RR posted on Monday or Tuesday of next week so make sure to stop by and read about the carnage. Oh, one more thing…my wife will be out of town the weekend of the 10th. So I figured instead of sitting around alone I’d go for a little bike ride instead. Nevermind that it will be first time on the bike since IMC on August 30th, and nevermind that I signed up for the 100-miler, and nevermind that will be only six days after having run a marathon, I just thought the Harvest Century, which starts and finishes less than a mile from my house, looked like fun. I’m sure it will be a memorable bike ride!

Thanks for stopping by and have a good weekend…

# posted by Steven @ 2:45 PM 0 comments

Monday, September 28, 2009

 

Race Week!

The Portland Marathon is on Sunday and that will be marathon #16 for me. I’m looking forward to it. My race strategy is still somewhat up in the air since I am pacing a couple of buddies who are after Boston qualifying times. I’m thinking we will go after a sub-3:10, but it may be in the 3:10>3:15 range but I won’t really know until mid-way through the race. All I know is they only need a sub-3:20 for Boston and that we will get. And with this being race week I’ve been in taper mode and have been loving that. I seem to have so much time on my hands with no swimming, no biking, and minimal running at this point. I was able to start and finish a book this week amongst the running I also got in…here’s the recaps for both.

Tuesday I hit the track for a short interval session of miles. I did the uphill WU mile then 3x1 with 800 recovery followed by a CD downhill mile. It was hot and very windy so that affected the pacing just a bit, but I still got it done.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 6-miles in 45:10 @ 7:31/m pace.
1m WU = 8:31
3x1m = 6:41, 6:55, & 6:56
1m CD = 7:52

Wednesday was easy run day and while it was still warm outside the wind from the previous day was nowhere to be found which was nice. I kept it easy and conversationally paced.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:03 @ 8:04/m pace.
Thursday was actually overcast and cooler which was perfect for a little more speedwork. I didn’t run the usual pace or tempo run but in keeping with the spirit of the Taper I just tossed in a few fartleks ran at 80-85% effort.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 6.2-miles in 49:10 @ 7:55/m pace.

And lastly, Saturday’s “long run” was whole 8.2-miles. Yep, that’s it. It was a spectacularly beautiful Fall day with bright sunshine, no wind, and temperatures in low 40’s for crying out loud. My hands were very cold for the first few miles but then it got warmer. I kept the run flat and easy and it was wonderful.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 8.2-miles in 1:01:23 @ 7:29/m pace.

So the book I was able to knock out last week was The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. It’s his first book since The Da Vinci Code took over the world a few years ago. It was good, but not spectacularly so. It was more or less The Da Vinci Code set in Washington, D.C. this time around. Robert Langdon was of course the star character and he had the usual mix of people with or against him. Some of the main players were the beautiful and smart female interest, the freaky monster man antagonizing them, secret societies (this time the Freemasons,) ancient secrets, symbols and maps to find something that can save, or destroy, the world. You know, usual cast of characters in a Dan Brown book. However, I did find it to be an exciting story that I didn’t want to put down. Every free minute I had last week found me turning pages and loving the story. And I’m already looking forward to the movie that I’m sure will be made soon. This book was a quick read, but it was very entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
Now I’m going to read The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. This one has started out very interestingly in that it is narrated by Death who comes across as having thoughts, and feelings, and plans, and so far is telling a very good story. I’ll let you know what I think about it upon completion.
The current forecast for Sunday is mid-60’s with showers. Hopefully the temps stay in the 50’s and the rain holds off until after the marathon. But either way we plan to give it hell come race day.

Thanks for stopping by…

# posted by Steven @ 9:48 AM 0 comments

Monday, September 21, 2009

 

Running, reviewing, and reading

My run in Forest Park on Saturday was one of those runs that remind me why I do this. It was fabulous. I met up with Tom, Ed, Jamie, Linda, and Cormac at 7:00am and in the rain. I ran the first 6 miles with the group before they took off to finish up on trails while I stuck to Leif Erickson and the better footing. The run with them was nice since I hadn’t seen several of them since before I started my Ironman Canada training and the Saturday rides commenced and we were able to get caught up. Once they turned off onto Saltzman I continued out to Mile 7 before turning around and heading back. And the run back was fantastic. It was still raining, but it was warm and beautiful. I didn’t have my iPod the only sounds were my feet hitting the wet Earth and the raindrops hitting the forest. The fall colors are starting to show and it was peaceful, serene, and beautiful in there. I felt great and the running felt effortless…and it showed on my return pace.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 14-miles in 1:46:35 @ 7:36/m pace.
First 7 = 56:36 @ 8:05/m pace.
Second 7 = 49:59 @ 7:08/m pace.

We met back up at Grand Central Bakery for our usual post-run snacks and coffee. George and Brad were already there from their run along the Waterfront so I chatted with them a bit before the others arrived to join us. It was a great way to spend the morning. After getting home and getting cleaned up the rainy weather allowed me to sit, relax, and do some reading. I finished reading Human: The Definitive Visual Guide and was very glad to! This one was a tough read. This book encyclopedia-styled book was full of tons of useful information and unbelievable photographs. It starts with the basic building blocks of life, atoms and cells, and from there explains why were are, how we are, and where we are going as a species. There is a bit of the controversial slant with the huge amount of the front section loaded with how we evolved out of Africa and spread out across the globe. For those that subscribe to Creation (such as I) then this section may not sit well with you, but the science behind it is still fascinating. The large section on the human body and how it works (absolutely every function of birth, living, reproducing, and death) is amazing and truly awe inspiring. Just the act of eating and breathing is such an amazing feat that we take for granted but what the body is doing during the act of living is just overwhelming. I also liked the sections on the religions of the world and the peoples/cultures. We are a fascinating species and we will face some challenges in the future to keep thriving, but a good use of your time would be reading this book and gaining a better understanding of what it means to be Human.

Now I’m reading The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown…like most of the rest of the world is doing right now. So far it is engaging and enjoyable. And a much easier read then my last book! I’ll let you know what I think upon completion.

Today’s run at noontime was an easy paced one that unfortunately didn’t feel too easy because of the gale-force winds blowing out there right now! It was howling. So when it was in my face I just geared down and ran easier and when it was at my back I flew along with it. The sun and blue sky was abundant but it wasn’t too hot so all in all not a bad run.
Stats for today’s run: 6.2-miles in 49:33 @ 7:59/m pace.

Thanks for stopping by…

# posted by Steven @ 3:08 PM 0 comments

Friday, September 18, 2009

 

Swim? No. Bike? No. Run? Yes.

I still haven’t been in the pool or on the bike since Ironman Canada. It’s hard to get motivated to do those things if I don’t have a triathlon race on the calendar. But, I do have the Portland Marathon race on the calendar so I have been getting out to run and I even hit the track this week for the first time since April. Here’s how that, and other runs, went this week…

Tuesday was bright and sunny and windy so it seemed like a good day to make my way to the track for the first time in months. And I could tell it had been awhile. I could also tell that I’m only a little over two weeks removed from the Ironman and the legs died out on me fairly quickly after a decent start which was pretty much what I had expected actually. I ran a WU all uphill mile then hit the track for a 400-800-1200-1600-1,200-800-400 ladder workout with each interval separated by an easy 400. Then it was an all downhill mile for a CD. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy a tough track workout…when it’s done…and I can look back on it!
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 7.5-miles in 55:59 @ 7:27/m pace.
1m WU = 8:20
400 = 1:34
800 = 3:19
1200 = 4:59
1600 = 6:57
1200 = 5:17
800 = 3:24
400 = 1:40
1m CD = 7:54

Wednesday I was out at midday for an easier run, but only easier since it wasn’t a speedwork day but the hilly route from my office kept it from feeling truly easy. But it was another nice day, I was outside to enjoy it with a run, and it was all good.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 6.2-miles in 50:21 @ 8:07/m pace.

Lastly, today was another hilly route day and I also pushed the pace just a bit to see how the legs would respond and all-in-all they did fine. I never felt very smooth or fluid today, but the pace was manageable even with the raised temperatures out there.
Stats for Friday’s run: 6.2-miles in 45:21 @ 7:18/m pace.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s run when I will join up my old Saturday running group, The Mango Project, for a conversationally paced 14 in beautiful Forest Park. I haven’t run there in months, or with the group, and I am very much looking forward to both!

Thanks for stopping by and have a nice weekend…

# posted by Steven @ 3:13 PM 0 comments

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