Looking toward the fall

Sorry to read about the spill Jon. It looks like you're taking it cautiously (with some help from the heat and humidity). I hope you're back to 100% soon.

Seth Harrison wrote:Sorry to read about the spill Jon. It looks like you're taking it cautiously (with some help from the heat and humidity). I hope you're back to 100% soon.

Thanks Seth, I think that I have dodged a bullet here as things went fairly normally with the knee the rest of this week.



Went out with my running friend for nine late this afternoon. It is getting a bit warmer and I see the forecast is calling for 90s early in the coming week. I imagine the humidity will be hanging with us yet for awhile too.



Overall the week went OK considering my fall and some of the obstacles that life threw in the way. I did lose out on at least two runs and cut another one short a couple miles due to the heat and humidity. This was the first week this has happened this training cycle so I should not be too disappointed. Still ended up with a 60 mile week which is good for me anyway. Progression of weeks has been 34/41/54/61/70/56/60.



I hope to peak my mileage in the next two weeks. That's the plan anyway. We'll see if it works out or if life gets in the way.

Glad to hear that the knee is feeling better since the fall. I'm so happy that we haven't had a relapse with the high humidity and heat here in Chicago. I don't know if I could take another bout of it.


"Ed Stewart was quite the fast linebacker. He would have fit in well in Pelini's defensive scheme even today."

Yes Ed would fit in great with Pelini's defensive scheme. Ed used to play running back with us in H.S. until a good friend of ours blew out his knee our Senior year. They asked Ed to play defensive back. He didn't hesitate to come over and play defense and as you know at Nebraska they moved him to being an outside linebacker. One hell of a ballplayer better yet he is still one hell of a guy!

Good week of running! We do have humidity still. I guess we'll have good fall races after all the summer training, or I am trying stay positive and thing that.

Best wishes on building up the mileage these next few weeks, stay injury free!!

Jon, catching up a bit, glad to see you are OK after that fall. Last year I was running in a strange city and also must have tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. I remember vividly falling down and extending my arms to break the fall, and then getting up and running again. I had some scrapes on my hands and the whole thing sounds like what you did, it's a bit unnerving. I attribute it to not really paying attention. Also, did anyone ever answer the question about a radio? I am pretty sure the iPod Nano has a radio in it.

Great news about your knee! I read about your run in the humidity - it is amazing to me what the humidity does to me in terms of the effort I have to put into a run to get an average result. Hopefully it will cool down for you soon.

Jon nice to hear the knee is coming back. The mileage build up looks really good.

Schuey wrote:Glad to hear that the knee is feeling better since the fall. I'm so happy that we haven't had a relapse with the high humidity and heat here in Chicago. I don't know if I could take another bout of it.


"Ed Stewart was quite the fast linebacker. He would have fit in well in Pelini's defensive scheme even today."

Yes Ed would fit in great with Pelini's defensive scheme. Ed used to play running back with us in H.S. until a good friend of ours blew out his knee our Senior year. They asked Ed to play defensive back. He didn't hesitate to come over and play defense and as you know at Nebraska they moved him to being an outside linebacker. One hell of a ballplayer better yet he is still one hell of a guy!

Thanks Schuey! Appreciate your encouragement!



I remember it being a bit controversial since Ed Stewart was considered undersized, but he more than made up for it with his speed. And of course, that philosophy carried over the next several years and with the option offense and solid defense, the rest is history.
I think Lavonte David as a fast linebacker running to the ball is similar in nature but he is not an outside backer. Now if NU can field a more consistent offense, who knows? It should be a fun year.

Julie wrote:Good week of running! We do have humidity still. I guess we'll have good fall races after all the summer training, or I am trying stay positive and thing that.

Best wishes on building up the mileage these next few weeks, stay injury free!!

Thanks Julie! I'm encouraged to see that you are getting closer to your goal as well! This week is supposed to be warmer unfortunately, but we'll try to make the best of it.

JohnP wrote:Jon, catching up a bit, glad to see you are OK after that fall. Last year I was running in a strange city and also must have tripped on a crack in the sidewalk. I remember vividly falling down and extending my arms to break the fall, and then getting up and running again. I had some scrapes on my hands and the whole thing sounds like what you did, it's a bit unnerving. I attribute it to not really paying attention. Also, did anyone ever answer the question about a radio? I am pretty sure the iPod Nano has a radio in it.

John, I ended up buying an old walkman style radio that you wrap around your upper arm. It works fine, although I don't like too much pressure on the arm. But yes, I did find one that should work OK. Thanks for asking.

John Kilpatrick wrote:Great news about your knee! I read about your run in the humidity - it is amazing to me what the humidity does to me in terms of the effort I have to put into a run to get an average result. Hopefully it will cool down for you soon.

Thanks John, it's not as much an issue to do an easy run, but any stressful pace simply flattens me with a high heat index. I'm sure it will cool down here before it does for you.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Jon nice to hear the knee is coming back. The mileage build up looks really good.

Thanks Alex, appreciate your encouragement! We'll see how the next two weeks unfold.

Hopefully it will be cooling down there soon, Jon.

This is my first post on your blog so I had to kind of catch up. First off, best wishes on the fall marathon. Second, love the adoption story, looks like a great kid who's thriving under you and your wife's care, hope you continue to be blessed. We have a couple in our church family that adopted two babes born with similar circumstances, they also have two of their own. Last, it looks like you are enduring a crazy hot summer with some consistent training, good job. I'm really clumsy and do that falling thing a lot, surprised not more. The wife is always laughing about my Klutziness and says that my daughter inherited those genes. Anyhoo, good runing to ya!

Jim Lentz wrote:Hopefully it will be cooling down there soon, Jon.

Hope so too Jim. It was not cool today!

fostever wrote:This is my first post on your blog so I had to kind of catch up. First off, best wishes on the fall marathon. Second, love the adoption story, looks like a great kid who's thriving under you and your wife's care, hope you continue to be blessed. We have a couple in our church family that adopted two babes born with similar circumstances, they also have two of their own. Last, it looks like you are enduring a crazy hot summer with some consistent training, good job. I'm really clumsy and do that falling thing a lot, surprised not more. The wife is always laughing about my Klutziness and says that my daughter inherited those genes. Anyhoo, good runing to ya!

Thanks for your kind comments. I will always have respect for those who raise more than one child. It certainly has to be a bit more challenging than only one. As for klutziness, I think that was my middle name growing up. Not quite as bad now, but still have those tendencies.



Well the week got off to a smashing start with 91/79 which yielded a 107 heat index. Carried a water bottle and did a 6.3 over lunchtime. Totally soaked afterward as you might imagine. Did another 5.8 tonight. Temps were cooler but the dewpoint was 81. It's supposed to be a bit cooler tomorrow but not significantly. This week is going to be tough heat and humidity wise it looks like. Sigh. But we press on.

It's always embarassing to trip over a crack! It just catches you off guard, doesn't it?

Man, good running yesterday! I couldn't believe how hot I got on my run--my head felt like I was in a sauna or steam bath.

Go Huskers!

Yeah another hot/humid week. I guess it makes us tougher, right? I was soaking this morning and I started out at 4:45 so I can't imagine a lunch hour run. I'll be doing well to walk my toddler to the store later. Hang in there and I bet this doesn't last long, maybe another week.

I am excited for that nice crisp air we'll get around Oct.

Peg Coover wrote:It's always embarassing to trip over a crack! It just catches you off guard, doesn't it?

Man, good running yesterday! I couldn't believe how hot I got on my run--my head felt like I was in a sauna or steam bath.

Go Huskers!

Glad to report that I've gone over a week now without falling flat. haha! Weather was much more manageable the last two days, but I don't think the humidity has had it's last stand yet.

Julie wrote:Yeah another hot/humid week. I guess it makes us tougher, right? I was soaking this morning and I started out at 4:45 so I can't imagine a lunch hour run. I'll be doing well to walk my toddler to the store later. Hang in there and I bet this doesn't last long, maybe another week.

I am excited for that nice crisp air we'll get around Oct.

Have fun walking with your daughter. I cherish memories of doing things with Hannah when she was smaller. And I'm still enjoying our times together, but life goes on.



On Wed. did eight at lunchtime and four in the evening. I was surprised at how comfortable a 60 degree dewpoint felt although it was still pretty warm during the day. Yesterday had a meeting in Omaha in the evening so I was able to get eight in over lunch. Again, much improved humidity although it is scheduled to make a bit of a comeback in the next days.

Jon that's funny how a 60 dew point feels now after what you've experienced so far. It's amazing how some things feel at certain times of the year. If you had that 60 dew point in April it may not have been as comfortable.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Jon that's funny how a 60 dew point feels now after what you've experienced so far. It's amazing how some things feel at certain times of the year. If you had that 60 dew point in April it may not have been as comfortable.

Agreed Alex! It's all relative. It's been a little cooler this weekend except for yesterday.



Friday I had to be out of town after work so I only got in 5 right after work. Then when I returned we celebrated my Mom's birthday.



Saturday went out in the late AM and ran 12. Went pretty well with some of the humidity (72 dewpoint) coming up again. Then today ran with my friend for 15 with a few rain showers in the area. We delayed about a half hour to let some cloud to ground lightning pass. So got most, but not all of the mileage in I had intended. The next two weeks are planned to be the peak of it. Am planning on a midnight run next weekend.



And in other news:



Found someone owling by the sink one night this week. We slept soundly and safely as a result.

Good running Jon - 27 miles in two days is a heck of a weekend. Your owl has pretty good balance!

Cute owl!

Nice miles!

Good running! Cute pic of your little girl.

How does she balance like that?

Jim Lentz wrote:How does she balance like that?

Wondering the same thing! What a cutie!

Peg Coover wrote:Cute owl!

Nice miles!

Julie wrote:Good running! Cute pic of your little girl.

Thanks Peg and Julie! She drew my attention to the fact that she was owling. Thought it was hilarious since she's seen a few pictures of planking and owling.

Seth Harrison wrote:

Jim Lentz wrote:How does she balance like that?

Wondering the same thing! What a cutie!

I think part of it is youth and the other part is the end of her wings (ie hands) are balancing by hanging on below where the picture ends. Imagine having smaller feet helps too.

Kind of like when they're really little and so flexible....my daughter makes stretching look so easy.

Nice picture Jon. I would have fallen over and broken something. Of course I have no coordination.

Catching up, the week has been pretty much the same as others, mostly hot and humid although that is going to change here in the next day or two.



Tuesday, ran eight over lunch with another 100 heat index day. Then four in the evening. Wednesday ran 5.5 over lunch with 104 heat index and another 5 in the evening. Thursday did eight over lunch and 4.5 in the evening. The runs are sluggish the first mile and then things smooth out. Definitely have been accumulating leg fatigue if nothing else. The extreme heat has taken it's toll but by evening I've usually recovered enough to slug out a double.



Am still planning a midnight run this weekend. It will be a first for me so I'm looking forward to it and dreading it to some degree.



On another front, I had blogged some time ago about my neighbors son who was in the motorcycle accident. He is slowly recovering and has gotten to the point now where he is beginning to learn to speak again. Right now it's simple words but it is progress. I cannot imagine having to do all of that again. He does seem to recognize his family members. It is going to be a long road back for him. The rehab progesses but it is a slow process.