Art - Some good weekend running in there! Especially like your 13 miler.
Rich - We all would love to see progress as fast as possible, but sometimes the tortoise wins. Good to see you getting good use of all the bikes.
Chantilly - Pretty cool that you had the chance to spend some time with AZ! Sorry, the race didn't go as well as you'd hoped.
Sunday's long run was fun, got to work on my downhill running for some extended (about 1/2 mile and 3/4 of a mile) between miles 8-10, with that 3/4 at a sub 7 minute pace. Both sections were followed by some significant uphills and also preceded. Just over 15 total miles in just under 2:15.
Monday was a just do it day and could barely muster 2.3 miles. Right foot was a bit sore through most of the run and then it was pretty clear I needed to eat something, so stopped.
Tuesday was worried foot would be a problem, but had to do some stairs and fast walking and it loosened up and wasn't problem after about 15 floors and by the time 25 rolled around felt fine. 7.8 TM miles at 9 mpm.
Coastal/Zoom Halloween 10K this Saturday, DW will be doing 1/2.
Ray
Monday did 5 miles in the morning.
Tuesday was a rest day.
8.4 miles along the canal route again.
Rich - I'm sure you are hoping the unseasonably weather will hang around for a while. Considering the alternate.
Chantilly - Sorry you couldn't finish your race. It is a different view looking into the ball park from above. We have flirted with record highs the past couple of days. Suppose to get back to 'normal' temps soon.
Ray - Looks like your getting ready for the Mt. Lemmon Half. Good luck Saturday.
Art in AZ
Mesa, AZ
well, hello everyone! Didn't have access to computer for awhile, and when I did, just didn't have the time. Did read up some posts, sounds like everyone is getting in some nice mileage before the cold ......"winter is coming."
Ray: another amazing finish, the 10k!! Congrats to the rest of the family too. Glad you are not in the path of the wildfires. But the smoke must be a nuisance though.
Art: nice you got in a 13 miler there. Since returning to AZ, I have yet to go to 'the valley.' Waiting for 'cooler' temps to set in, LOL!! Hope my granddaughters come up for a visit, they want to experience some 'real' snow.
Rich: those bike rides keep you in shape, I'm sure. Glad you're taking it easy, and spring will be upon us soon enough and you'll be revving up for some races.
Dan: hope DW enjoys her visit. Do you get in extra work hours when she's away? Hope you get in longer runs, how's the weather there?
Altair: hope all is going well.
It was wonderful to meet up/visit Chantilly in Albq for the Duke City marathon. Bummer she had to drop out but you couldn't ask for a more perfect sunny cool day. I saw her off at the start, hung around to see my two nieces take off as well, and a few runners I knew. Then drove to the mile11 which is also the mile15 aid station. The parking was ridiculous but I managed to get a spot as the relay runners finished their leg distances and heading back to the finish to cheer on their team runners. I chatted w/ the volunteers who offered me a chair until I saw Chantilly. She was optimistic and smiling but could tell she was hurting but she kept going after mile 11. She's a tough cookie!! Later on, I heard her bib number on the walkie talkie that she may drop when she returns to to the aid station at mile 15. I didn't mind waiting, it's always fun to cheer on the runners. After dropping off Chantilly at her car, I drove to mountain and ran an hour on the trails. Should have gone further but DS/DIL had dinner waiting. That sounded more tempting, LOL!!
I returned to the 'AZ work house' on Monday. DH still does not have full security clearance or his background checked done yet, ugh!!! So he has no access to computer or his work account, and can not see any patients. He's literally just twiddling his thumbs, too frustrated to even take a nap, HAHA!!
Yesterday, I finally went for a run outside, in the morning. Mostly around the facility and housing along the outside fence perimeter. Found that it's about 2.5 miles one loop!! So I ran one way, then the other way till I finished 11 miles. It was sunny and cool, NO WIND!! All dirt trail, YAY but all flat though . Felt great the whole way, decided against adding another mile b/c I hope to get in a longer run tomorrow.
Anyway, after lunch, DS calls and says he got leave so we packed up again and drove back to our northern AZ home last night.
My bike is ready for the "Day of the Tread" bike event in Albq this Sunday. I will be picking up my older brother who lives near the AZ/NM stateline, our truck has a 3 bike carrier so it makes more sense to 'car pool' to Albq. We will be riding with my other brother, his DW and two daughters (Chantilly, the ones you met on race day) for the 26 mile distance. This will be FUN!!
Hope to get in a short run later today. All is good otherwise. You all stay safe. Will post when I can.
Runs in the rain
Hi everybody! I'm in North Carolina visiting my brother in Greensboro. We will be leaving within the hour to travel to Boone, where my sister lives in the Blue Ridge mountains. After the marathon I rested a few days and then did several runs. My last run was a long run of 13 1/2 miles about two weeks ago. Since then I've have been busy with autumn chores. Took out the air conditioners, cut down dead flowers, harvested from the garden, and taking care of fallen leaves. I go over them with the lawnmower and then empty the clip bag onto a pile, I then will use the chopped leaves as a mulch come spring. I also had to work some overtime and get ready for my vacation. I spent time looking at used cars, the Ford Taurus was not worth fixing. So last week I got a 2009 Chevy Cobalt and drove that down here from NY. Tomorrow I will run a race with my sister in Boone, not sure of the distance, maybe 5k. Cold rain is expected! I'll see how I do after not training for two weeks!
Az and Chantilly - great that you went to the race together! Too bad, Chantilly, that you had to drop out after already finishing over half the marathon, but you showed how tough you are to run in pain.
I'll have to catch up with other posts later, just about to leave!
Long distance runner, what you standin' there for?Get up, get out, get out of the door!
Friday, 10/27... 8 mile run today, the first 4 on the railtrail, then onto pavement for the last 4. We've had rain the last 3 days, I managed to ride the tryke early on Tuesday and post that workout, but Wednesday and yesterday were a complete wash-out. We needed the rain, so no complaints. Legs were a little sore today even after the days off and I think it's due to the foam rolling I've been doing, there's a good chance I got carried away...lol Oh yeah, I sold the cap off my truck the other day on Craigslist after removing it and liking the better visibility with it off. I was a little worried about holding up my end to load it on the guy's truck who bought it, but was pleasantly surprised to see someone 20 years my junior struggling to hold up his end while the old guy (me) was doing just fine...lol Love my tryke! lol
Chantilly... that's a shame having to DNF the marathon, but you knew going in your training wasn't what it should have been. Hats off to you for giving it a shot anyway, even when we're trained up and feeling great, a marathon's still a crap shoot. Better to drop out rather than continue on and make matters even worse. Anyway, running 15 ain't no picnic, you still did great. How 'bout that az, eh? I figured you two would hit it off, a couple of tough hombres for sure...
Ray...that's quite a long run, especially the downhill stuff. Between the stairs and the miles, you've been busy! Good luck with tomorrow's 10K!
Art... you're another 'Steady Eddy', nice mileage Monday and Wednesday. And yeah, Fall's a nice time of year with the cooler temps and Autumn leaves, but it's just a harbinger of things to come. I love Thanksgiving and Christmas in the Winter, but then it's, "Ok, when's April gonna get here"...
az... yeah, I've got one, possibly two more 5K's to run in the next month or so, then it's settle in and try to maintain fitness thru the Winter. I'll run, break out the skis and snowshoes and make the best of it... Glad you decided to support Chantilly in New Mexico, it takes guts to toe the line the way she did knowing she wasn't ready. Must have been fun getting to meet another member here. Lots of time with family and some good runs while you were there as well, nice!
Altair5... enjoy your time with family this week and good luck with whichever race you decide to run. Two weeks is a long time to go without a run, but it's also a nice break after you've just trained for and run 26.2.
Saturday, 10/28... 4 mile easy trail run today...
Yesterday's race was a 5k and it was a breast cancer benefit, everything was colored pink! One guy had a pink colored beard and a woman came dressed as a giant breast! The first year for this race, no timing chips, no place awards, I don't think there will be official times. It took place in Blowing Rock NC in the Blue Ridge mountain area. Cool temperatures, and foggy, could not see any views of the mountains. I wore a jacket and sweatpants until close to starting time and then had shorts and my lucky tee shirt. I was with my Sister with my brother and my brother-in-law around as spectators. I estimate about 150 people at most in the race, mostly all females. Start and finish were a arch of pink balloons. Gun goes off and I can only walk for the first several yards. Many walkers had lined up near the front of the pack and I had to find space to run around them. Adding to the congestion they had a barrier set up right in the center of the road. My sister has more clearing and she has pulled ahead. I catch up with her by the first turn, perhaps like a 1/4 mile into the race. I had some thought of just keeping with her for the race, but I'm cold and decide I need some warming speed. My garmin momentarily shows like an 8:20 pace before I soon reach the first hill, at which point my pace drops to around 10. The course is winding roads in a residential neighborhood, one side of the road is for the runners and the other open to traffic (just a car or two). The highest point is like 260 feet above the low point, but the course goes up and down, going back near the starting point before making another upward loop. Not having seen an elevation map I was not sure what to expect and how hard to push the hills. I keep up the effort, but my pace slows to around 12 minute miles in some steep parts. Still foggy and a bit of drizzle starts, but I am now warmed from my running and feel comfortable. For most of the mid race two little girls were running together in front of me. They were wearing pink tutus and one ran with an untied shoe. I passed them on a downhill near the end. Ran through the balloon arch and the timing clock showed I was finishing below a 30 minute time. My garmin said I ran 3.05 miles in 29:38, a 9:43 pace! Better than expected given the two inactive weeks and the hills in the race. My sister came in like 2 1/2 minutes after me. She does not do well in hill climbing and took some brief walks, however she is very fast on level or downhill parts. Later, she posed for a group breast cancer survivor picture. After race snacks were disappointing. I wanted my morning coffee, which I did not drink prior to race because it makes me need to use the bathroom, Starbucks was there and they said all coffee was gone and they only had hot chocolate. Wanted a bagel, but they had doughnuts instead, I ate some rolled things like a sweet fruit filling with a pastry wrapped around them, had a banana and some granola bars and kind of felt it was too much sweets. They even had gummi bear candies. You would think cancer survivors would demand better food choices. In a building they had a big room all decorated in pink. They had a live band and a cake. I passed on the cake. Came back to my sister's and rested for a while. Got a lot of pink things in the pink swag bag, but the race shirt was black with a small pink ribbon picture on it. I may run with my sister in a training run on some trails around a lake tomorrow, but some snow is expected.
Ray- hope you and DW had fun at the Halloween race! I'll catch up with other posts later.
Sunday, 10/29... wet weather is in the forecast for today and tomorrow, there's a storm over us now that's supposed to merge with the remnants of a tropical storm coming up the East coast that'll be here later today. When that happens, it'll crank up into a Nor' Easter with wind gusts to 50 mph and drop as much as 3 inches of rain. So.... when the rain let up earlier, radar looked like I had a short window of opportunity for a quick run and I jumped at the chance. Only had time for 3 miles as the rain started back up just as I finished, but it was enough. Now for a question, do you eat more food than members of your family who are non-runners? I'm a guy with a bottomless pit lately...lol
Altair5... congrats on the 5K! You're right, after a 2 week lay-off, that's a great time. My older sister is also a breast cancer survivor and it ended my mother's life, you ran for a great cause...
Friday got in 5 miles.
Saturday was a quick 3 as I wanted to get an early start with things around the house.
Got up this morning for the planned long run and then decided I needed to go for a bike ride instead. Did the 28 mile course with the hills in the middle for an extra workout. Took my phone with to try out the new external battery to keep the phone powered during the long bike rides. Worked good. According to the GPS app it took 2:18 for the trip. So I guess I can go a little longer next time based on the power level left.
AZ - Hope your enjoying your "Day of the Tread" event.
Altair - Nice trip to visit family and get in a race.
Rich - You shouldn't be surprised at your strength with all the cross-training you get. It is nice though to show up the younger ones sometimes.
justrundan
Chantilly- sorry to hear about having to drop the race. Was it mostly the rib issue, or general fatigue? You are tough to get that far with the injury you had! Nice job.
AZ- Day of the Tread- by bike you mean your Harley? Cold enough here I may be done riding for the year. Never get as many miles on the R1200 as I would like!
Rich- nice job beating the storm to get in 3 miles!
Ray- hope the 10 K went well today.
Art- 28 mi on the bike, very good! What made you switch from the long run to the bike?
Altair- nice 5K, good time.
4+ mi Th & F, then 6.2 on trails at a local park. More up/down than I remember, I did a lot of walking in the second half of the run. calves very sore today. Need to hit the trails more often to get in shape for that.
Dan
Got in another run with my sister, not a race this time, just a trail run. Good views today, cold but sunny. Got some photos of frosty mountains on the way there. The trail was a carriage path that went in a loop starting at a small lake then going uphill to a manor house and back. Startled a large murder of crows in trees at start. Some deep gullies across the trail that rains washed out, one we had to climb in and out of. Swans were on the lake. Took more photos. Shady areas still had a touch of snow. Cold at first, but warmed with the run, a slow, easy four miles. Nice to run with my sister and great to get in a second run during my vacation!
Halloween 10K Run:
Coastal/Zoom usually does their Halloween run along the Los Gatos Creek Trail starting in Campbell heading up to Los Gatos and for the Half into St Joseph's Open Space Preserve. This year something was going on (construction?) so the run was moved to Helleyer Park. DW has a streak of 7 or 8 years of at least a half marathon race per month, so this was her October Half. Since I have a goal race half in two weeks, I felt it was best to do the 10K.
DW's race started promptly at 9AM and got some pictures of her at the start of the race and as she came around the lake and headed off to do 12 mile out and back. Stowed my gear (phone and long sleeve shirt in car) and headed to the start line. Coastal races are all gun time and so I got near the starting line, but a few steps back. No one wanted to head out first except for a 9 or 10 year old and his Mom. I turned around and said, "I can't be the fastest one here, someone else should be up here", but no one would. Oh, well. RD yells go and I start out hard, trying to set a good pace - maybe a little too good. About a 1/4 mile in first runner passes me (eventual winner) and at 1/2 mile 2nd place runner goes by. I'm checking my watch and trying to maintain pace close to 7 mpm, but my legs are flat. As we head out to the out and back we hit the first of our mini-hills. Hit mile 1 at 7:10 and then mile 2 at 7:40 (?!) guess those hills were more then I thought. I can hear some runners coming and they pass me around this point, first woman and older white haired guy. Older guy is sitting on her shoulder and now I'm chasing them. Mile 3 clicks by in 7:30 and then we get a few more hills. As we approach the turn around I see runners 1 & 2 coming back and low five them as they go by. Old guy caught and passed woman and see him heading back first and her next. I hit the turn around and there is a good gap between me and the next runner (2nd woman). I figure realistically I'm not going to catch anyone and don't think the woman behind me will catch me and I'm going to miss my time goal. Which is a long winded way to say I'm resigned to where I am and was just hoping to maintain pace and position. Mile 4 is 7:45 and mile 5 a bit faster at 7:35. We catch a bunch of 5k runners now and I know we're getting close, but woman seems to be pulling away just ever so slightly. I hit final little uphill around mile 6 (7:24) and try to accelerate and according to my watch the last .1 was at 6:43 pace (watch only has 6.1 miles) and I cross line at 45:49.
I grab some Gatorade and a couple potato chips and then join the older guy and woman, they thank me for setting the early pace and then RD announces winners and a few of the age group winners. Older guy is my age and I'm 2nd in the age group. I grab my age group award and then head back to the car to get my shirt. I do 3 slower laps around the lake for 3 more miles, change out my shoes and grab sweatshirt and sweats and phone to wait for DW. While I'm waiting the kid and Mom from the start line are finishing up. I says something to the kid and it elicits a smile from him and laugh from his Mom. The DW appears and she's smiling and I snap a picture and run to the finish line hoping to get another, but switched camera mode to viewing mode somehow and it's too late.
Another race done and after some food and drink, we head home.
Art - Nice runs and a good distance on the bike. Yeah, getting ready for Mt Lemmon, just need to figure out the tape thing.
Altair - Sounds like the race and run with your sister was fun! Congrats!
Az - Day of the tread! Guess it is better in English, Dia de los Muertos....dia de los neumaticos? Some good runs there. Did some "real" trail running this Sunday. It was fun, but very tiring - you're the ruler of the trails!
Dan - Good to see you're getting some runs in! When you're sore, at least you know you got some work in!
Rich - Some good runs in before the weather turned? Progress is good to see.
Had an 18 day streak going that included a trail run on Sunday, 9.4 miles. First 3 miles were pretty much up Black Mountain from Montebello parking lot then 5 miles downhill and then 1.4 miles of gentle rise. Worked pretty hard on the initial uphill and tried to maintain a good effort going downhill. Seemed like all the steep sections were really rocky (was so glad I wore my minimus shoes!). Was happy to hit the road when I got to the bottom, but man that last 1.4 was tough even tho it was relatively flat. Could feel my hammies twinging. I could definitely feel previous 10K. Didn't feel that bad until yesterday. Decided probably should take the day off and walked 3 miles on TM instead. Feeling it in the calves and quads. Hoping to get close to 5 miles today at a nice recovery pace.
Halloween, 10/31... Yesterday was the day after the remnants of a tropical storm that rolled through here and generated 50 mph winds and up to 3 inches of rain. So, not knowing what the railtrail looked like in terms of downed trees, I passed on a tryke ride and rode the bike 6 miles instead. There were a fair number of branches and trees down, but nothing I couldn't navigate around. Today I decided to run the trail and hadn't gone far when I heard chainsaws as the state crew went about the business cleaning up the mess, 5 miles at an easy pace.
Art... you're right about the cross training, I just don't have many opportunities to gage how I'm doing strength wise. When I'm running, the gage for how I'm doing is the watch on my wrists...lol Nice workouts, especially that 28 miler!
Dan... it'd be nice to know what causes sore calf muscles, mine were acting up along with my quads, so I rolled away with a foam roller and made matters worse...lol I've since started doing a better job of stretching and that seems to have helped. Nice mileage the end of last week...
Altair5... what a treat to be able to run with your sister, those carriage trails sound nice...
Ray... you must have intimidated everyone at the start of the 10K, nobody wanted to get up front. Nice job and splits, congrats on a solid race. Awesome streak DW's got going, good for her!!
Quick 3 miles before a 7:00 web session started. Wish they would start these things around 8:00 instead.
Dan - Nice way to close out the week. Trail runs give us that extra workout with the up and downs. Which is partly why I decided to ride the bike. Haven't rode it a long distance in a while and thought I would get a slightly better workout with the hills in the middle of the course.
Altair - Sounds like your second run was really enjoyable what with running with your sister and the scenery.
Ray - You still ran a good race considering you felt your legs were flat. I feel the same way about trying to get motivated when there is a good distance between the runners in front and behind me. For me it takes the edge off a little until the finish line is close by. Then it's hurry up! Nice that your wife has that streak going.
Rich - Thought of you when the weather was talking about your conditions there. Thankfully it didn't cause too much trouble in your area.