MCM or Bust (seriously, dude, it may bust!)

Nice easy x-training bike ride this morning. Covered just under 9 miles of hilly road on my hybrid in just under 45 minutes. Got going as fast as 30 mph, and went as slow as about 6 mph. I enjoyed the 30 mph more.

Bugs are terrible. It's ok once I get going, but standing next to the bike in the driveway to put on my helmet and gloves was just about unbearable. It's been so damp and humid, it's warm, and they are just awful.  Supposed to dry out a little in a couple of days (but then the temps are going to spike back up into the 90s).

So, week 2 is under way, and the knee hasn't fallen off yet. Good deal.

Another easy 3 this morning. Another muggy morning, but not so hot. Anyway, I'm getting acclimated.

Started out up the hill. It's uphill or a little flat in between uphill stretches for almost the whole first mile. The course rises 170+ feet from start to just prior to 1.0, and I always feel it, especially early in the a.m., when my legs aren't very awake yet! This mile also serves as my warm up, so I'm never surprised when the first split time is slow. Brought the first mile in at 10:00 even. Well, OK. Then it's mostly downhill for half a mile, turn around and come back up. 9:09 for that one; not bad. Then its the same stretch as mile one, though now it's almost all a nice downhill. 8:24. I like that part!

My garmin has fixed itself (or the soft reset I did Sunday afternoon fixed it). I got some really crazy data on the 8 miler on Sunday. Good thing I know where the mile marks are, because the watch had it way off. I didn't notice until I approached mile 1, and saw that it read .8. I thought maybe it just got a "late start" somehow, but the time was right. Subsequent miles were just as crazy, and when I finished, though I know from running this particular 8 miles like a zillion times that it's 8 miles, the watch said about 7.3. When I uploaded the data, it showed the course about right (but with a much larger than usual error for lateral movement - looked like I ran through a good bit of heavily wooded terrain off to each side, particularly near the turn on the out-and-back), but the splits were crazy and the elevation was also quite strange.  I'm not sure what that was all about, but I was pleased that it happened when I was running in very familiar territory, and I'm happy it fixed itself for this morning.

My daughter started her summer job at Dunkin yesterday, and reported that the folks behind the counter would eat whatever they wanted for free at this location (I think that is in fact contrary to official policy, however). If I had that job, I'd weigh 400 lbs and be completely jacked up on caffeine all day.

Nice work on the run this morning! Looks like you're making progress, and with more than just getting used to the heat and humidity.

Dunkin. *Sigh* They used to have them out here, but the chain pulled up stakes at about the time the abomination known as Krispy Kreme took over the world. Dunkin is so much better, there's no real comparison.

Oh well, at least Portland has Voodoo Doughnuts.

Mark B wrote:Nice work on the run this morning! Looks like you're making progress, and with more than just getting used to the heat and humidity.

Dunkin. *Sigh* They used to have them out here, but the chain pulled up stakes at about the time the abomination known as Krispy Kreme took over the world. Dunkin is so much better, there's no real comparison.

Oh well, at least Portland has Voodoo Doughnuts.

 We have three of them out here in the "other other other Portland" - in a town of less than 10,000 people. Of course, one of them is in a gas station, so that one may not count.

Voodoo Doughnuts sounds interesting - is there a large Zombie community there, as well?

Stopped in to see what's up with you Mike. That's great when a doc tells you to basically suck it up & get back to "normal" activities. I hope MCM goes good for you - that was one of my best marathons (& 1st BQ.)

Thanks Dave, and good to hear from you!

So far, so good, so I'm just gonna keep at it. Maybe I'll see you at a race here sometime soon...

Another easy 5 this morning. Did my usual hilly route. Nothing exciting to report about it. It was nice that I felt strong (for a change) during that first uphill mile. Slow. But strong. Muggy day again, and I was certainly tired at the end, despite taking it easy (averaged 9:22). Like I keep saying, it is a good thing I am focusing on taking it easy at the start of this cycle. I can just feel that it is the right thing to do.

Should be a short day at the office, pre-holiday. Who knows, maybe I'll squeeze in a bike ride with my daughter later in the day?

Recharged the AC in the '96 Accord my (almost 21 years old!) son drives last night. Hopefully, that will work. He's been pretty miserable delivering pizzas in that thing a couple nights a week. Weather is supposed to get a bit less humid and rainy, but get hotter (90s) next few days. Ahhhh, summer.

3 miler, easy, out on the road this morning. Happy Independence Day! Boy, it sure felt like it - it was very still, warm and humid when I headed out at about 7:30 today. I was thinking about that hot summer in Philadelphia in 1776 and how unbearable that must have been.

Roads were pretty empty due to the holiday, and I didn't feel like running up the big hill, so I headed west out the driveway instead, and ran out to the highway and down another mile or so, turned around and came back. Not very hilly, and nice to have the chance to have some coffee, read the paper and have a little breakfast before a weekday run.

I averaged about 9:20 per. The garmin marked this route a little longer than it did the first time I ran it this cycle, which was a week ago. So, I'll keep an eye on that until I think I know right where the turn or finish should be. Close enough for my purposes in any event.

I notice some people (Nick!) seem fine with running odd distances (like 6.33), but I'm always anxious to hit a mile and stop on the button. Why is that??

Not sure we're doing anything all that interesting today. Need to gather up junk and toss it in the big dumpster, which we have for another week. I think there is not that much left to do on that score. And I think I'll do some yard work - need to cut back overgrown vines and brush along the perimeter. Hot work for a hot day. I might wade into the weeds between the house and the pond with the hedge trimmer and cut back some of that stuff. You think there might be some bugs in there??

I told my wife about 9 am that I was going out for a five mile run, and she reminded me that I am crazy. It's been stifling here - highs in the low to mid 90s with dew points in the low 70s. I told her I was going to run slow and would even walk if necessary, and besides, I already know I'm crazy.

I started about 9:30. I went up to the trail to do this run, so it would be shady, which really helped (I could tell by the brief stretches of sunshine - ugh, that's much worse!).

This is scheduled as a pace run, but given conditions, there was no way I was doing that.

At 9:30, when I started, it was 85 degrees with a dew point of 73. The temp rose another couple of degrees during the run. I just started slow (just over 10:00) and kept it there. Drank water before I started, and had it ready at the end. No hurry, just git 'er done, and that worked out fine.

Got home and dunked in the pool to further the cool off process.

I spent most of the day Thursday and Friday doing yardwork and other outdoor chores in the midday heat. Took a real toll on me. I don't do well in the heat. I'm always amazed by people like Randy, who seem to thrive in it. Not me. I can tell when I'm nearing my limit, and then go inside, sit in the shade, take a break and drink a lot of fluids. Then I can head back out and do some more. I did get an incredible amount done. Also, managed to break the string trimmer, so today I get to fix it. I have more to do, but will take it in smaller bites today, and do some other things (thanks goodness!) that aren't out in the heat.

We could sure use a break from this, but one is not yet in sight. I have 9 miles tomorrow. I may do it super early on the treadmill. No AC, but it should be ok early...

Zombies in Portland? Well, the folks here on this side of the river in Vancouver may think so, but I'd say the whole voodoo aspect of Voodoo Doughnuts is Portland's unabashed embrace of weirdness for its own sake. I can relate.

Read the story of Voodoo Doughnuts here!

Smart choice putting off the pace run today - a dewpoint of 73 is just crazy - but all those chores afterward? Yipes! There's a reason they invented verandas, hammocks and lemonade, you know. Enjoy the summer! And you can tell your wife it's necessary for recovery.

Finally: Nick isn't the only one recording .219s at the end of his runs, BTW! I think I do it just to tweak the OCD side of my personality.

Mark B wrote:Zombies in Portland? Well, the folks here on this side of the river in Vancouver may think so, but I'd say the whole voodoo aspect of Voodoo Doughnuts is Portland's unabashed embrace of weirdness for its own sake. I can relate.

Read the story of Voodoo Doughnuts here!

Smart choice putting off the pace run today - a dewpoint of 73 is just crazy - but all those chores afterward? Yipes! There's a reason they invented verandas, hammocks and lemonade, you know. Enjoy the summer! And you can tell your wife it's necessary for recovery.

Finally: Nick isn't the only one recording .219s at the end of his runs, BTW! I think I do it just to tweak the OCD side of my personality.

At long last, the chores are pretty much over! That was brutal. At least I'm as acclimated now as I ever could be to these conditions. 9 miles planned for later today - I'd run it early, but I have a bunch of stuff I have to do in church, and I couldn't drag my butt out of the sack at 5:00 a.m. today - too tired from all this yard work...

You're right, of course, that you have those precise, odd mileage amounts. I guess I was distracted by your heart rate data, MAF test results, crazy altitude changes and the alpacas! 

So, I went to church a little early, because I had to set some stuff up, open up, etc., and I was sweated through my short sleeved, lightweight shirt before I had to get up to read stuff. Real classy look! Anyway, it was clear to me that our miserable conditions were continuing.

Due to the commitments at church, and my lazy refusal to get up at 5:00 a.m. today, I was stuck running my 9 miler at a little after 10:30 this morning. By then, it was 88 degrees with a dew point of 74. Ugh. Fortunately, it's at least mostly in the shade. I hate the sun if temps are at all warm, and I could certainly feel the difference in the mercifully short stretches of sunny trail. I don't think I could have done this in the sun.

I promised myself I would go really slow, drink a ton of water, and take walk breaks if I needed them. I chugged some water before heading out, and also took a half liter with me for the first leg. Normally, I don't carry water on the first out and back (6 or 7 miles) and find that I don't need it. But today wasn't normal, and I know better, so took it with me, and was glad I did! The first six were uneventful. I got back to the car, and walked around drinking a bunch of water, then grabbed another bottle and headed out in the other direction, so a 1.5 mile out and back. At the turn (7.5), I walked a short distance and drank more water. As I started up running back, I decided I'd try to take a short drink/walk break every half mile. It was hot and getting hotter, and I was tired out. This worked out just fine, and I brought it in at an average pace ("all in") of 10:09. Given the conditions today, I will declare victory at that pace. At the end, it was 92 degrees, and the dew point was still 74. Holy cow.

I felt decent afterwards, went home, took a dunk in the pool (with all this hot weather, the water is getting too warm to be all that refreshing) and cleaned up and we went out to lunch. My only condition was that she pick a place with good AC, and she did, so that was good. Now I'm back home, where the only AC is in the bedrooms, and I am slowly melting.

I hate this weather. At least I don't have any more yard work chores for this weekend!

I was wiped out by the heat, yard work, other chores and running over the weekend, plus it's a cutback week, so i decided to skip the bike ride yesterday morning and get a little more sleep. Good choice.

Felt fresh this morning for the short run. 3 miles out the door. It was nice. Slightly cooler, still buggy, but nice. I scared both a deer and a couple of bunnies, so it was like watching Bambi out there. Ran this at just under 9:00 average pace. All good.

My 405 is acting a little wonky. It gave me some problems a week or so ago up on the trail, when it never seemed to recognize the distances correctly. I did a soft reset, and it's been fine. I noticed as I was finishing today that it seemed to be marking the course a little long, but I just ran a little bit farther (inconsequential distance) until it said I'd gone the whole 3.0. When I looked at the mapping on the computer, I can see that it thinks I started in the middle of our yard and ran through the woods quite a ways, over hill and dale for the first half mile or so. Then it seemed to recognize me on the road after that point. Kind of strange. Not sure what is going on there. I did move it slightly when it was synching up, and that may have caused this - I also moved it slightly when it had the problem previously. Both times, it was taking an unusually long time to synch up, and I looked to see if it was finished, and I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that it was taking so long to synch up. Not sure.

Just after I finished, I wished my 17 year old daughter a good day as she headed over to her morning shift at DD. She called me a few minutes later, to report that some goofball had backed into her beater in the parking lot after she parked it, and tried to blame her for it! She was really upset by the whole thing, so i calmed her down, told her to just get the guy's phone number (he's a local) and not to worry about it (I bought the car with enough touch up paint and dings already on it that anything short of major damage is a non-issue). I stopped by on my way to work and viewed the damage and stopped in to make sure she was ok. Glad I did, but all minor stuff. It's her first accident (and she was in park, well within the lines of the parking spot, and shutting off the car when it happened!). Hope she has a better rest of the day!

5 on the mill this morning at about 9:00 per. No AC down there, so it sure was a sweatfest, but it was raining outside, so I needed to avoid that.

Another sweaty tm run due to rain. Just three miles today. Boring.

Friday was my rest day, and it was good to have - I had to go to the funeral for one of the partners at our firm, who died earlier in the week at 54 after a bout with cancer. Very sad.

Saturday, I had a 5 mile pace run on the schedule. We've decide that pace is 9:00. I decided to run this up at the track (haven't been there in ages!) because it was overcast (so I wasn't subject to relentless sunshine up there) and not blazing hot. It was cooler than it has been otherwise lately, and sprinkling/misting at the start. So even though the humidity was lower than it has been, it sure felt swampy in the misty rain.

I turned off autolap, and just hit the split every 400 meters, so I could closely monitor my pace. Usually, I run these too fast by a good bit, and I was determined not to. So, I kept it at 2:12 - 2:15 per lap, with most coming in at 2:14, and was pleased with that. That run felt pretty good after a day's rest.

A couple of hours later, my 17 year old daughter asked if I wanted to go for a bike ride. It was warmer at this point, but still not unbearable. Although we did an easy-ish 8 miles, I ended up sprinting the first three or so, because I let her go ahead near the start, and stopped to talk to a guy who I see up on the trail a lot, who I haven't seen since he and his wife were training for Goofy last fall, and I wanted to get a race report. She got way ahead of me, so I just turned on the gas to catch up. By the time I caught her, I was gassed. Still, it was a nice ride, and enjoyable. But I was tired late in the afternoon!

This morning, I was again too lazy to get up at 5:30 to get the run in before I had to go to church. So, I was stuck starting my run at 10:45. By then it was very sunny, about 83 and the dew point was 72. Fortunately, I only had 6 on the schedule, as this is the first cutback week "long" run in the cycle. I took water with me, and just headed out nice and easy. This was a good, though very sweaty, run, and I averaged 9:32, even after stopping to take a rock out of my shoe ("all in"). Very buggy, even though I applied repellant. The bugs are just crazy in this prolonged stretch of hot, humid and damp weather. It was about 85 when I finished, and super-muggy.

Then I was off with my wife to go see a high school friend of hers who still plays bass in a country/pop band, who was playing at a fair about an hour away (almost in Rhode Island). It was too hot to sit in the sun and listen, but we did anyway, and got something to eat there, and chatted with him a bit. The best part was the air conditioned car ride both ways! And the band was good, too.

The weather is going to be terrible this week, mid 90s and way too humid. Good thing the mid-week runs are easier to do in the early a.m. when it's not so hot yet...

Nice 9+ mile bike ride this morning to x-train. This starts relatively flat (for New England), heads into a big downhill at about 1.5 miles, then goes relatively flat or gently rolling until the big uphill just prior to the turnaround. Steeper than an 8% grade for about a quarter mile near the end. I was breathing hard at the end of that. The good news is I get to go back down the hill on the bike, and it's nice to go fast.

It was all good, and though I had my doubts about the whole thing at 5:30 a.m. in the first half mile, I felt great at the end. I'd been off the bike all year until a few weeks ago, and it has been good to get back on it, and I feel a little bit that I'm getting my cycling legs back, which is nice.

Week 4 of Int I starts to pick up the miles at least a little (though the T, Th runs are still only 3 miles), so it starts to feel a bit more like marathon training. I'll just take it easy mid-week, as it is going to be really hot and muggy. Hopefully the weekend will bring a little relief weather-wise. And the long run finally breaks into double digits on Sunday. Woo hoo!  
 
My knee felt a little sore yesterday afternoon, which concerned me, but it seems just fine today.

Another easy 3 miler this morning. Cooler this morning. 73 and a dew point of 69. Felt great. All things are relative, I guess!

This run was terrific. I stopped to chat with a neighbor at about .3, but even that couldn't slow me down! 

Supposed to be awfully hot and humid later on...

I had 6 on the schedule this morning. Warm and humid, but I started at 5:45, and it was still only in the mid-70s, so not at all bad. I headed out in the uphill direction. I just took it easy on the hill. And as I was doing that, I thought why not change things up a bit today, and not run my "normal" 6 mile course, but just keep going out in the same direction until I got to 3 and head back? I've done this before, and know that it entails another substantial climb, but figured "why not?"

It went just fine. I climbed a net of about 275 feet on the 3 mile "out" leg, but the "back" leg was nice and easy. Well, actually, there are some substantial intermediate climbs, but they were all ok.

Another sweat fest, but I'm getting used to that.

 This morning's run.

That's a challenging little run there.  By my rough calculations, it looks like miles 1 and 3 both average nearly 4% grades from start to finish.  I'd say that would go a long way toward building some serious climbing power if you ran a hilly marathon.  I wish I had something like that near me because I'm sooooo weak on hills and just can't bring myself to jack up the incline on a mill for that amount of time.

mul21 wrote:That's a challenging little run there.  By my rough calculations, it looks like miles 1 and 3 both average nearly 4% grades from start to finish.  I'd say that would go a long way toward building some serious climbing power if you ran a hilly marathon.  I wish I had something like that near me because I'm sooooo weak on hills and just can't bring myself to jack up the incline on a mill for that amount of time.

I've looked at it on maymyrun a couple of times to check out the grades, and I know at least one of the quarter mile stretches is 4+%, with a lot of 3+% in the miles you identified. That first mile is my typical warmup for a midweek morning run, and it always seems daunting before I start. Once I get going, it usually seems ok (and I'm always happy when I crest the hill just before the 1.0 mark!).

The hills are fun, but I long for some flat stuff - no one is ever satisfied with whatever they have a natural abundance of!

And I can't jack the mill up to accomodate such an incline, or I would smash my head into the (very low) basement ceiling...

Easy 3 miler this morning, and stuck to the relatively flat route to the west. No problems. Hot this morning. I ran at 5:45, and it was well up in the 70s, and extremely humid, but not a big deal for me. My daughter went out to run a little after 7:00 and came back way too fast. I asked what was the matter, and she said it was too hot. I checked, and it was already 80 degrees, and the dew point was 72, so I couldn't argue! Besides, she has to work outside all day (camp counsellor for the summer), and it's supposed to get up into the upper 90s with bad humidity. Glad I work in the AC!

The schedule calls for a 6 mile pace run this morning. It's another hot and humid morning (at the finish, it was 85 with a dew point of 72), so there was no way I was going to run it at pace (a conservative 9:00 per), and I figured I'd take it easy and then do a fast finish on my long run tomorrow instead, because the weather should be much nicer for it.

My daughter came along to ride her bike, which was nice, but I didn't see her much during the run.  I started out heading slightly downhill, with the return being slightly uphill. As I was closing in on the first mile, I realized I was moving along pretty good and feeling pretty good, and the heat didn't seem too bad, and maybe I'd just see if I could bring the downhill "out" portion in at about pace. And so I went on like that, and it worked out just fine, and I was at just under 27:00 at the 3 mile turn. I'd carried water with me, and chugged some as I ran along starting at that point and then occasionally along the way back, which helped.

As I crossed 4.0, I felt like I was tiring on the slight uphill, but I was still on target pace-wise, so decided I'd try to get to 5.0 at 45:00, and then jog it in from there. And that worked fine, too. I hit 5.0 right on target, and walked a few yards to finish my water, and started running again. As I was jogging along, I felt better, so I picked up the speed again and decided to try and bring it in right around pace, which meant I was going to have to make up for my little walk break just a bit. Finished feeling good at 54:08, so it was all good.

My 405 did something that I've never had a problem with up on the trail - it suddenly announced mid-run that it had lost the satellite. It picked it back up again soon, but it did mess up the splits a little. Fortunately, on this course, I know where all the splits are anyway.

While I was writing up this post, the older of my two daughters walked in, having just returned from completing one of those races (a 5K) where the spectators throw paint at you. I'll post a picture in momentarily. Crazy. Way too hot for that today!!

What a difference a day (and a cold front) makes!

I set out on my 11 miler this morning right at 8:00 a.m., and the temp was a nice 69, with a dew point of 62. A lot better than any other day in recent memory. The temp rose to about 76 before it was over, but it was a pleasure compared to mid to upper 80s, or dew points in the 70s.

Goal was to take it easy. I started out nice and slow for the first mile, let the miles flow by, affected only by the slight uphill and downhill differences, and then picked it up for the last mile. All in, averaged 9:27, which is just right. Splits below.

Lots of runners out there, clearly training for fall races - good to see.

So, week 4 is in the books, and all is well with the knee.