Back to Burlington (I hope)

Good job Michael. Another week down.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Good job Michael. Another week down.

Thanks Alex - and a good week, at that!

8 miles (approx.) on the mill last night at the Y, at about 9:00 per. Numbers are approximate due to treadmill logistics/operational issues. Long story short, I got to the Y just before 7 pm, and there was an unusual level of activity on the mills. Normally, I have my pick of quite a few, but this time there were a bunch of people on them, and only three to choose from, all of a different brand/model than the ones I normally pick there. I think there is some kind of "fitness challenge" going on at a local company or something, and it is all of them. They seemed to know each other (when they got off the mills about the same time) and to be getting some kind of encouragement and coaching. Well, more power to them, but get off my mills!

The first one I got on just powered down on me by surprise after a short while. Based on time elapsed, I was certainly over a half mile into it when that happened. So I tried one of the three others that were available, and because I am unfamiliar with the controls on these, just did a "quick start" and set the pace and proceeded to run about 1.5 miles more. From fooling with the controls, it became apparent to me that it had automatically set either 2 miles or some amount of time (couldn't tell what) as my "goal time," and I grew concerned that it was going to shut itself down when it reached that goal, so I stopped it at 1.5 manually, figured I had at least 2.0 under my belt at that point, and reprogrammed it so I could run another 5 or 6 without fear of interruption. I wanted to do at least 7, and was hoping for 8, depending on how I felt.

Had some ITB soreness at the outset, on the right side, and my glute/hammy was tight on my left, so I wondered if I'd have to call it quits at 6 or 7, but that loosened up nicely, and I got the 8 in, no problem.

OK, now I want to see if I can get in another 8 tonight, then head into the weekend looking for an 18 and maybe another 8. That's pretty aggressive based on my schedule, so I may scale any or all of that back, but it would be nice to get it in, and then go into a nice stepback week - especially because my travel schedule at the end of next week definitely will impact training, and likley reduce mileage below normal stepback levels.

Onward!

8 more miles on the mill at the Y tonight, averaged 9:09 pace. Tired at the end, but felt good.
The treadmills at the Y have little tv screens, and they are hooked to cable tv. It's kind of a pain, because the only way to change the channel is to check out a remote control to work the individual cable boxes, which are positioned in front of and at the base of the treadmills.
I just found a treadmill that had an ncaa tournament game on it, and started running. That was fine for about 6 miles, but at that point a young woman got on the treadmill right next to mine, and she had a remote control. She clearly pressed the "up" channel button, because my tv (reacting to her remote) went to Disney channel for a while (I got to watch Wizards of Waverly Place!) and then Cartoon Network. She only ran for about 10 minutes, completely screwed up my tv viewing, and then went off to do something else, leaving me no way to change the channel back. I guess I could have asked her before she left, but I was almost done, and it was too amusing.

That's funny Michael. How did the ITB hold up?

Ah yes, the joys of running on mills with ghosts in them! I guess it shouldn't be such a big deal, but I HATE it when they switch off on me in the middle of a run. I also hate the stupid settings on many of them that power down after an hour of running. That is just wrong with the TV remote thing - you can't mess up a fella watching the
tourney - that is just un-American!!! At least it wasn't HGTV or something - well wait, yeah, the
Wizards of Waverly might actually be worse... Hope the ITB issue is manageable for you.

Alex Kubacki wrote:That's funny Michael. How did the ITB hold up?

Not bad. I started the run a little slow, to let my legs stretch out (tired a bit from the ramp up and two days in a row of 8 miles, I guess), and that helped. Didn't feel it after that until this morning, and it's not too bad.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Ah yes, the joys of running on mills with ghosts in them! I guess it shouldn't be such a big deal, but I HATE it when they switch off on me in the middle of a run. I also hate the stupid settings on many of them that power down after an hour of running. That is just wrong with the TV remote thing - you can't mess up a fella watching the
tourney - that is just un-American!!! At least it wasn't HGTV or something - well wait, yeah, the
Wizards of Waverly might actually be worse... Hope the ITB issue is manageable for you.

Too funny John!

It did feel like a cruel blow to take me away from the tourney during the first day (I love the first couple of days), but the good news is that it was not a close game (it was W. Va and Gonzaga, Gonzaga was clearly running away with it, and I had picked W. Va in the pool!), so didn't matter much. Wizards of Waverly is pretty bad, but at least I'm familiar with it, given that my kids used to watch it.

I think the ITB will remain manageable. I've lived through it before and know what to do about it (and the only issue is actually doing what I know I need to do!).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!
18 miles on the Airline Trail today. Nice run.
Weather was perfect. 50s, cloudy, light breeze. Felt great to run a long run wearing just shorts and a short sleeved tech t.
Only goal here was to get the miles in and not go too fast. I upped the miles this week, and don't want to get too aggressive. Worked out fine, though I finished stronger than I'd planned at the start.
The first leg was 4 miles eastward and back. It starts slightly downhill, which is a nice warmup. Tried not to go too fast and did ok. I must have been super-hydrated this morning from coffee and juice pre-run. I took a precautionary leak just before I started, yet still had to water a tree at just after 2 miles. Then again just two or three miles later, and it went on like that. I ran the last mile plus of this leg behind a couple of other runners, who I came up upon, and I just decided I'd let them pace me for awhile and slow me down some. That was a nice easy stretch. Despite the lack of dehydration concern, I figured I'd take no chances, and chugged about 18 oz. of gatorade when I got back to the car, which took a minute, then grabbed a bottle of water and a gu to carry and headed out west, out 3.5 and back. This leg is uphill on the "out" and I slowed down some for it. Stashed the water about 2 miles into it (so I'd have it on the way back, at about 13 miles). After the turn, I sped up, for the downhill. I also felt quite suddenly like I had to take a major crap. I hate it when that happens - there is no where to go off the trail other than in the woods, and that is distasteful, to say the least. Wanted to avoid that, so just exercised the utmost amount of willpower and after about a mile of near-panic, it went away. Thought I was going to have a really ugly moment there! When I got to 13, I ate the gu and gradually drank the water until I was back to the car. I could have called it a day at 15 and driven off to find a toilet, but what adventure is there in that?! So I ditched the empty water bottle at the car, and headed back out the other way, for the final 3 miles. Really cranked it up quite a bit for the end, and I was motivated to, as that feeling came over me again! Worked out ok, and it had passed again before the last half mile or so. Nice finish. Stretched, drove home and hit the toilet. Ahhhhhhhhh!
Splits below. You can tell some of the ones where I pulled up to a tree or stopped to get fluid at the car.

8 miles this morning, again on the Airline Trail, again in identical conditions - cloudy, 50s, bit of a breeze. Felt surprisingly good after the 18 yesterday. I did some ITB stretches last night, and those seemed to really help. Gotta keep those up. Averaged right at 9:09, without trying too hard. Now the sun is out and it is going to warm up to the low 70s. Nice day! What a weird early Spring - I'll take it!
So ends week 9 of the Burlington training, and I'm in a good spot - a few niggles, but nothing serious, and I'm up over 40 mpw and ready to roll, and feeling good. Now for a step back week. It'll get challenged by my schedule this week - flying to Vegas Wednesday afternoon, back on the red eye Friday night, and a lot to do this weekend. We'll see. Whatever! I think that's my new mantra - "Whatever!"

Hmmmm. Yesterday I said "so ends week 9" of Burlington training. Uhhhh, it was week 8! Having so much fun, I've lost track. Good thing I have a calendar I follow! Like I said, Whatever!

Travel schedule this week had me thinking about heading straight into this week with a run tonight. But my legs tell me this morning that a bit of a rest would be a good thing. So, I'll take it easy - hey I have another week to get ready! If the week is "short" of the planned mileage, that's A-Ok.

Rest is always a good thing, unless we decide to do it permanently 20 miler looks good!

The body usually rewards you when you rest it.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Rest is always a good thing, unless we decide to do it permanently 20 miler looks good!

It's like Faber College's motto ("Knowledge is good") - Rest is Good!
Thanks Michele!

Alex Kubacki wrote:The body usually rewards you when you rest it.

It's a good night to take it easy, Alex. I made the right choice!

6 miles easy at the track tonight. No moon, bright planets. There was a walker who joined me for a while, and I think I startled him taking a turn in the dark, but he didn't complain. He didn't last long, either.
Averaged 9:13. Never felt quite right, but nothing specific.
Travel to Vegas tomorrow, back on the red eye Friday night. Hoping to get a couple of runs in, but it'll be tight.

Vegas is wasted on me. I don't drink, I don't gamble (well, I did drop $10 into a video poker machine, just so I could say I gambled!) and I'm not interested in STDs! Frankly, I just don't get the whole scene on the Strip, or what is attractive about it. But then, I don't like Bourbon Street, either. Just not my thing. Glad I'm back home. Took the red eye last night - that's always such a fun experience, especially when it's necessary to change planes halfway. Nothing like O'Hare for a layover at 4:45 a.m.!
I did manage to get in two nice runs in Vegas, very early Thursday and Friday mornings. I hit the road right at about 6:40 a.m., just at sunrise. It was nice and cool and dry both mornings, which was awesome. I went out the back of the hotel, so headed a little east of the Strip, then proceeded south down Koval, which although it's a big concrete busy road, is nowhere near as crazy as the Strip, then down to Harmon, which is one of the tamer east/west streets, and then straight east (into the rising sun), through the UNLV campus, out the other side until my watch said 4.0, and back. So a nice 8 miles. I had to stop for a long time at a couple of traffic lights, especially on the way back as traffic picked up, and I'm not really used to that. I just left the watch going, as is my custom, and so it slowed me down to about 9:50 a mile over all.
On Friday, I did a very similar run, except I did run down Flamingo and looped back and forth down to Harmon, and back through UNLV, etc. With all that, I ended up running 8.5 miles, and a little faster, despite the lights, right around 9:20 average. These runs felt great, though I was tired and dehydrated a bit at the end of the second one. Funny how much less I was sweating in that dry air!
Rest day today. Too tired from the red eye. Tomorrow I will run a short long run to cap off this step back week.
My new Triumph 9s came today, so I'm thinking I'll give those a whirl tomorrow and see what I think. I retired the Brooks Glycerin, which turned over 400 miles on that second run in Vegas.
Good to be home.

Another nice day for a run - cloudy, maybe 50, just a bit of a breeze. Threatened to drizzle on me, but I managed to squeeze this one in between raindrops. This is the step back week, so this long run was going to be either 12 or 13.1. As I ran it, it seemed like a good idea to do the 13.1, so I did. Nice, solid run. Averaged 9:05 per mile.
Wore my new Triumph 9s. Saucony has lowered the heel-to-toe drop to about 8 mm. I was a big Triumph fan until the 7s, I think. Really liked the 5s the best. They also took some weight off of these. So I was interested to see how they felt. Felt pretty good. I will reserve judgment as I get some more miles on them, but nothing negative so far. As usual, with a lower profile shoe, I felt like I was running a bit flat-footed at first, but that feeling went away after a bit. So far, so good.
So, week 9 is in the books (I said that last weekend, but miscalculated!), and all seems well on my road to Burlington...

Nice running in Vegas! I'm not a gambler, either. Jack and I stayed in a casino resort in Niagara Falls and laughed at each other because we were not even sure how to play the slots! I'm afraid that going to Vegas would be wasted on us, too.

I was a fan of the Triumph 6s, then tried the 7s and didn't like them. I haven't tried anything after that.

KathyK wrote:Nice running in Vegas! I'm not a gambler, either. Jack and I stayed in a casino resort in Niagara Falls and laughed at each other because we were not even sure how to play the slots! I'm afraid that going to Vegas would be wasted on us, too.

I was a fan of the Triumph 6s, then tried the 7s and didn't like them. I haven't tried anything after that.

Thanks Kathy. Jury is still out on the 9s, but we'll see. So far, not bad.

Funny about not being sure how to play the slots. I feel the same way! When I was playing video poker (first time), I was wondering the same thing. Part of it is that I feel such a total lack of enthusiasm for it - I can't believe that people spend hours doing this, or travel hundreds of miles to spend all night doing it!

Michael, I'm the same way about the whole gambling thing. We've got the two casinos down in southern CT and I think I'm the only one I know who's never been to either.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Michael, I'm the same way about the whole gambling thing. We've got the two casinos down in southern CT and I think I'm the only one I know who's never been to either.

I've been there a couple of times, both work-related. One of the times, I decided to go play slots, gamble $10 and see how long it took me to lose it. I got 10 "coins" for $1 each (I don't think they use these any more - it's all mag card now), and sat at a $1 slot and very deliberately dropped one, pulled the lever, waited for the result, repeated. Although I won small amounts a couple of times, I just kept putting it back in. Took me probably 7 or 8 minutes at this slow pace to get down to zero. Then I went home, my experiment having concluded. Ugh.

8 miles on the mill at just under 9:00 per. Was watching the UConn women take out Kentucky on the way to the Final Four. Pretty good.
I was going to run this at the Y across from work, but got a call from my wife that my son at UConn was having a minor problem with a thing the orthodontist put in his mouth that was broken and causing him to bleed, so went out to pick him up and bring him home for an emergency appointment tomorrow (joys of parenting), so did this in the basement on the mill instead. Funny how small that treadmill seems compared to the ones at the Y! But all went well, and had a nice evening to boot - not a bad night for a drive, UConn is not too far, and my son was in good spirits.
Just another day in paradise...

Glad you could still get your workout in even though the it wasn't exactly where you planned and when you planned to do it!

Thanks Kathy!
Did 9 at the track tonight, nice and easy, averaged 9:23. That was about right - goal was just to get the miles in without any stress.
Wore my Kinvaras tonight. I got these about a year ago. They arrived right around the peak of my PF, and I wore them to the track for an easy run, and about 3 miles into the run the PF went absolutely over the edge, and I had to stop, and basically I was done for several weeks. So I wasn't sure if the shoes had something to do with it or not. In retrospect, it was probably the perfect storm of the wrong shoe at the wrong time for what I was experiencing. But I felt great the last few days, with all of my running soreness and niggles seemingly in remission, so figured if I was going to the track for an easy run, it was worth a try. I have run in them only a handful of times, and nothing very long.
Well, they felt quite good for the whole 9 miles, and I feel pretty good now. So that's cool.
Now a couple of days with no running (maybe some x-training on Friday, depending on how the schedule goes) and then back for a long run on Saturday.