Lowering the boom - 2013

So, here I am....still.  Need to update my blog as it's been about 6 weeks since I've been in here.

First week of August I ran The Double in Indy. Past olympian and Boston winners there so that was cool. It's a 10k, rest, 5k all on a hot summer morning.  Same sort of street routes that all of the Indy downtown races take so nothing new there.  It was a loop course so the 10k was two loops followed by the 5k that looped the same thing.  I was using it more for training than anything but didn't want to be a total slug.  The humidity was about 90% and that always kills me.  I didn't stick around for the awards as I didn't see my name......got home and found out that I was listed as a 52 year old MALE and had actually gotten the 3rd place award in my age group.  Ha!  Oh well....they had run out of tshirts so I wrote to the director and she told me she'd send me a tshirt from The Double in another state which was fine by me.  I asked that my medal for age group be sent as well but so far I haven't received anything.  Low expectations at this point.

Went out to California mid August and hung out with my dad.  Got quite a few decent runs in as well as bike riding which is something that I haven't done in a long time.  Fun.

My training has been inconsistent but my wellness plan (weight loss and eating well) is spot on!  Need to fix the training part.  The following races are looming:

Sept 28: Mill Race Half- Columbus, IN  (training)
Oct 19:   4 bridge half- Chattanooga, TN (not firmed up yet) (training)
Nov 2:  Monumental Half, Indy  Probably a B goal
Dec 15:  Santa Hustle Half-Indy   A goal
Feb last weekend:  Last chance for Boston, Dublin Ohio  A goal (if Santa is a bust)

Picked up a juicer and doing juicing Breakfast, snacks and lunch with my regular vegan dinner.  It's all good!

A good weekend of running, 4.5 miles Saturday and 8.5 miles today.  No where near ready for a half but I'm just pushing along.  I've been so concerned with my weight and health that my running has sucked.  Now that I'm picking up the running I'll be ready this winter.  It's all good.

Watching Ironman Wisconsin for a very good friend of mine, Judy Weller.  Her 4th Ironman and I'm so excited for her.  Watching the finish line really inspires me.  Randy Egge is also running this one and he's in the first third of the marathon right now.

dot520 wrote:A good weekend of running, 4.5 miles Saturday and 8.5 miles today.  No where near ready for a half but I'm just pushing along.  I've been so concerned with my weight and health that my running has sucked.  Now that I'm picking up the running I'll be ready this winter.  It's all good.

Watching Ironman Wisconsin for a very good friend of mine, Judy Weller.  Her 4th Ironman and I'm so excited for her.  Watching the finish line really inspires me.  Randy Egge is also running this one and he's in the first third of the marathon right now.

Randy seems to be running well too.  Julio (Dave Russ) is also competing this year and it has been fun to track them and a few others that I know from here (Cleveland) as well.

Found a new online running group.."Ladies Running Indy'.  About 160 members and it looks very casual and supportive with many options for meeting up and running.  The very best part is that I found some folks that run my pace!!  Or so they say.  We're meeting up Saturday morning for small group run of about 5 gals so far.  Hope this works out but as Gene usually says to me, "Be careful what you wish for."  They're younger than me but that doesn't matter...as Michele has told me, 50's are the new 30's! 

Still juicing, still surviving!

Oh, interestingly enough I had my DNA tested through 23andme for a variety of reasons.  One interesting factoid was that my muscle make up was listing me as "likely a sprinter' and endurance.  Dead on...I'm a sprinter and always have been but I can trudge for miles and miles.  Just can't seem to find that happy marathon medium.  Good stuff.

Good run today.  Met up with two folks from Ladies Running Indy group and got my 10 miles in today.  A new experience for me running with folks.  It rarely happens.  Also, I forgot my Garmin and no one else had theirs so luckily we were on the Monon trail which can be figured out  by street crossings as to how many miles you've done.  Not sure of pace either, but I'm thinking overall it was around an 11:30-11:45 pace since we did the first 3 miles slower with one of the gals and then did the remainder 7 at my pace which was at perceived effort and I don't have a clue.
I do prefer to have the watch and would rather just not  look at it.  Yeah, right!

Oh...another insight.  All this juicing and losing weight has NOT had a toll on my running.  My energy was perfectly fine thoughout the race even though I had one cliff shot block.

Ran the Mill Race half marathon in Columbus, IN yesterday as a training run.  Since I'm such a clock watcher, I decided that there was no need to see the time and just to run as perceived effort.  This wasn't going to be a race, that comes later this fall.  Just get in a nice supported training run with decent weather and a new course to make it interesting.  Managed to behave and didn't look at my watch until mile 10.  At that point I realized that if I just held the speed I was doing, I would be able to come in under 2:30 and get a preferred corral seeding for the Mini for 2014.  Awesome.
Splits below: 
12:01
11:22
11:02
11:30
11:04
10:58
11:20
11:09
11:00
10:50
11:19
11:26
11:16
1:03

5k:      35:17
10k: 1:10:18

2:27:27

The course wasn't entirely flat, I'd call it visibly graded but not much by flatlander standards.  You went up and down in an undulating manner but really only one small hilly upgrade through the park in the beginning miles.  Water was plentiful and I believe they had gatorade occasionally but it wasn't well marked.  I'd say there are a few improvements that could be made to this inaugural race, but a good experience none the less.  Now I'm all set for the Indy Mini and the next 3-4 halfs can be done any way I choose with less pressure.  Fun!

Nice work, Dot.  I plan to do the same kind of run next week in Cleveland.  See you in a few weeks at Monumental.

Michele \"1L" Keane wrote:Nice work, Dot.  I plan to do the same kind of run next week in Cleveland.  See you in a few weeks at Monumental.

After watching the video of you that Charles made, I feel like I know you already.  Yes, we'll have to figure out either a pre-race dinner or something depending upon who's coming and where folks are staying and if anyone wants a PR or not. 

Signed up for a once in a lifetime race today.  It's called the Highway Half up in Kokomo.  The US 31 road has been expanded and they're doing a half marathon on it before they open it up to vehicles.  Might be rolling terrain but there won't be any potholes!  Might just do an all out on this one to see where I'm really at since this past weekend took me by surprise.  We'll see.  Oct 12th.

dot520 wrote:Signed up for a once in a lifetime race today.  It's called the Highway Half up in Kokomo.  The US 31 road has been expanded and they're doing a half marathon on it before they open it up to vehicles.  Might be rolling terrain but there won't be any potholes!  Might just do an all out on this one to see where I'm really at since this past weekend took me by surprise.  We'll see.  Oct 12th.

Good luck on that, it's coming up! Maybe they'll do it every year if it's a success.  Congrats on getting the preferred corral for the Indy mini

Hey, Penelope, thanks for stopping by!  Oh, I rather doubt that the highway will ever have another race on it once it opens.  That's a major thoroughfare.  Even if the lanes were partially opened, the cars zooming by at top speed might be scary! 

This was an easy weekend, just 8 miles planned.   The rain got in the way of my meeting up with the Ladies Run Indy group but that just turned my easy 8 into a sweet Tempo run on the TM at  home.  It was worth it to get a quality run in versus driving 30 minutes each way for a sufferfest.  I'm not fond of wet socks and shoes....ahem..(wimp).  Yep.

The Colts/SeaHawks game was awesome and not just because we had a win.  The game itself was so good unlike the pre-season Pacers/Bulls game last night where I thought the two teams were playing volleyball instead of basketball.  Sheesh.  Glad it was pre-season because that was an embarrassment for both teams.  Although I'm a die hard Pacers fan, it was good to see Derrick Rose return and make 13 points.  He's a good guy.

Onward to the rest of the night.  Watching Broncos....my ole Peyton Manning.

Nice job on the Half Dot.  That highway race looks cool.  Have fun.

Thanks for stopping in, Alex.

The Highway Half in Kokomo is fini and my quads and ankles took a beating on the crowned concrete roads.  Go over to the Virtual coffeehouse and catch Charles' video race report for all the scoop.  I was almost 10 minutes slower than the prior half in Columbus a couple of weeks ago.  Totally different race and it showed.  I did manage to snag a 3rd place award because a lot of people were feeling the heat, not just me.  2:37:xx.

Last night I met up with the Ladies Running Indy group again and we were here on the southside and ran Craig's Park.  Just 4 miles for me as my legs still were feeling a bit fatigued from the weekend.  The others went on and finished the 6 miler that was planned.

Onward!

Congrats on the age group award!
That's great that you found a running group that's working out well.  Sounds fun!

Hey there, Penelope!  Yep, it's been a long time coming and now there are several groups available.  It always is iffy if there are folks at my speed but I'm hopeful for a decent training season this wintertime with a few groups lined up.

Monumental Half marathon is looming ahead for next Saturday.  Weather looks chilly.  I haven't tried on any of my winter running clothes yet and having lost 15 lbs from last winter not sure if they fit or not.  I think I recall my running pants starting to fall off me last March for one of my last runs.  sigh.  Just another reason to buy new ones.

If anyone stops by here and knows anything about Adidas Clima-warm shoes, let me know what you think of them.  I was talking to one of our contractors and he wears them all the time for running and regular.  Loves them.  He said that they breath well but not sure by the description.

Can't provide any input on the shoes but wanted to say congrats on the weight loss and new winter running clothes sound well deserved.

Good luck at the half.

Don't know anything about the shoes either, but I do hope to meet you at least after the race.  Of course, it will probably be too cold for you to wait around although I'd love to get everyone together for lunch.  At least I'll have food to look forward too.

I'm a little late on this one, but congrats on the AG award in Kokomo!

Thanks, Mark...I take whatever I can get.

Let's see now...how have I messed myself up?  Sunday morning I managed to strain/pull a muscle in my back.  Left of the spine, below the wing.  It wasn't too bad on Sunday and did whatever yard work needed to be done.  It was awful on Monday and almost hurt to breath.  Took Ibuprofen that night and slept wonderfully, woke up yesterday with just an awareness.  No more Ibuprofen.  Slept good last night and today the pain is back but down about 2 notches in strength from Monday.  I may take some Ibuprofen later today and tonight and see what tomorrow brings.  I may try to run a little tonight and see if it hurts any differently when running.  I'm thinking not.  Either way, I'll be at the Monumental Marathon.  Need to keep my 6 year streak alive.  The worst part of all of this is that I was doing some stretching exercises and THATS how I pulled it.  grrrrrrr. I think it was the twist that nailed me.  Dang!!

Sorry to hear about the back pain.

Take it easy...hope it improves before race day.

Sometimes we're our own worst enemy when it comes to stretching.  Hopefully you'll be fine by the time you toe the line.  Have a great race.

How are things now? Did the race go okay?