Lou, (aka Mr. predawnrunner), MD, USA | Lou's Brews | lking@pobox.com
Happy Camper
Nice 17 TY!
3,000 yds in the pool this morning. Feel'n pretty good. Time to clean some house.
Determination: The feeling you get right before you try something incredibly stupid.
GREAT JOB Ty!!!
I managed to survive last night. They had a movie after we got the tents set up which had me up until around 2 am (dd was horsing around with a bunch of other girlscouts). Finally when they turned the massive lights off we all turned in (well most of us). There were a couple of tent full of girls I would have happily tossed out of the stadium however I managed to just keep shushing them not that it helped. I probably got 2 hours if that of sleep. Oh nothing like waking up at like 4:30 am to cross all the way from right field to left field then up lots of stairs to use the restroom.
I am exhausted. I won't be running until early evening I think. No way I could do my long run today.
BTW MY BUTT IS STILL FREAKEN SORE!!! I know you all wanted to know that lol
Your toughness is made up of equal parts persistence and experience. You don't so much outrun your opponents as outlast and outsmart them, and the toughest opponent of all is the one inside your head." - Joe Henderson
On the road again...
This run was special because most of my long runs have been run 2 miles, take a walking water break, then repeat the cycle until I've finished the mileage. It's not that I'm tired after 2 miles, just that I'm pretty sure I'll walk through the water stations at the marathon, so I'm trying to prepare myself for what that'll be like. I've also started taking gels with me, and this morning I left the house with a plan to do the water walks and then take the time at miles 5, 10, and 15 to wolf down some gel.
I felt so good during the run that I scrapped that plan and ran until mile 14 before I got my gel (which turned out to be the only one I took). That is definitely the longest I've run without a walk break (I did drink water every 2 miles, just did it on the run) and I know that at Richmond the first gel the offer is available at mile 14, and now I know I can make it that far before taking one. My HR also stayed very manageable throughout the run and I ended with an AHR of 151 for the run.
It was a run that made me feel like I won't die at Richmond, and I'm thankful for that. I've had plenty that made me think the opposite, so this one was refreshing. The fact that it came the day after an amazing 8 mile pace run made me even happier.
I write. I read. I run. One time, I ran a lot on my 50th birthday.
Paul
Dave
You are going to do absolutely great at your marathon, Paul. And plenty of time to add fitness between now and then.
It's been great to witness your progress this summer.
3 easy miles with my wife this morning. Could not have been a more beautiful morning.
Sorry to hear about your dog, Erika.
I ran a mile and I liked it, liked it, liked it. dgb2n@yahoo.com
Have fun with the new family, Lou! And sounds like you're getting some good runs in. Sure would be fun to spend some time in the Boston area and check out some of those routes. Whenever I'm there I can only do the one thing...
You should get some sort of medal for that, Pam. That's all I'm sayin'. And yeah, after I do a full lower body workout with squats and all, I have sore glutes for days. That's why I don't do any of that in active marathon training. I just do hills instead!
Thanks for the condolences on our dog. She was very special, and a very ingrained part of our family. My boys grew up with her and the oldest misses her terribly.
Ok, got my haircut this morning, long overdue. Hope it makes me faster! Off to go run up a small mountain and down the other side.
Erika,
So sorry to hear about your dog. Our 18 year old pom died on Memorial day, and we went to the Humane society and got a new dog a few weeks later.
This one can actually run with us and is pretty cool. Her name is Mara ( short for marathon) . Should change her name to 5k. She can do 10 miles at g/f pace, but when she runs with me, she needs a break after a mile and a half and is ready for a nap on the side of the road by mile 3.
I actually kinda sorta ran today. Just 4 hilly miles after a 25 mile bike ride with friends.
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Erika, my condolences on the dog passing too.
=== Mara (who should be 5K)
Her name is Mara ( short for marathon) . Should change her name to 5k.
Heh , that was funny. But Mara is a prettier name than 5K
======= re: climbing
Lou, my brother (an avid climber) took me climbing once (in El Dorado canyon), and I remember he told me that my arms were getting really tired because I was inexperienced, and using my arm strength up, when the experienced climber takes much more advantage of the legs, because the human legs are much stronger than the human arms.
======= Today's long run crash story:
Wife has been doing well on long runs up til this weekend -- a 16 and a 17 were last two, I think. This afternoon we went out for her first 18. I was hoping to finish it fast myself, and she was contemplating going longer. I decided that I'd try to speed up at mile 12 if I felt good, 14 if not. It was warmer than we expected -- mid-80s surprised us. I went ahead and took off at mile 12 and ran a couple miles around the mara pace I'm considering, while DW kept trucking along.
Well, I got tired, and she crashed. I saw her stopped on the road when I was abt 1.5mi into my fast, and she said she needed a bathroom break, so I said I'd go around a long way and meet her at the port-a-potty. I finished my 2nd fast mile and caught up to her walking -- I was tired, and ready to throw in the towel on running fast, and just jog with her - but she was hitting the wall or something -- she was beat, her legs hurt, and it was bad from there to the end for her, with several walk breaks, and no enjoyment at all. Forced galloway -- is that "walloway" ?
She decided to walk in from 17mi, and had to stop at a bench near our cars. Then she started having upper leg cramps, with screaming. She finally painfully climbed into the back seat of my car, and we went to a nearby Rita's Italian water ice place -- I figured getting sugar into her would probably be good.
We'd driven separately, and her car is stick, so I decided we'd switch cars, but there is a bridge to drive over from where we were, so I had her test drive my car on the way from Rita's back to pick up her car, to make sure she could drive without her leg cramping up -- and that went ok. Except she was cold -- the outside temp was dropping from mid 80s to mid 70s -- so we ran the heat in the car high. It felt good to me at first, then I started feeling a bit sick to my stomach from the heat -- I think that was partly that I needed to get more food into my stomach. Happily I switched cars, and then didn't run the heat driving hers back.
Anyway, we need to google cramps and see what can cause them....
It's a 5k. It hurt like hell...then I tried to pick it up. The end.
PS: We helped with a local kids triathlon this morning, and that was fun -- it's so entertaining and inspiring to see all those young scrawny kids -- I mean, I guess cause they are mostly swim team kids that get lots of exercise, so they're almost all muscle, skin, and bones -- anyway, to see them all excited, and competing, and cheering each other on. I don't know what happened to one kid in the middle group who came in at least 10min after everyone else in his age group, but when he came in, about 5 other kids ran out and ran in through the finish together with him--it was really neat to see.
I might even go swimming tomorrow, this sure makes me think fondly of swimming
Whew! Just finished reading the thread and you all have a lot going on!
I'm sorry about the loss of your dog, Erika. We don't have one yet (the kids are definitely asking!), but dogs are like members of a family to us and I understand what that loss must still feel like to you.
Congratulations on the new baby, Murphy. Ava is a fantastic, classic name. I ended up with a c-section after a long labor, also induced, and I recovered quickly and well--I was off pain-killers by the time I came home and feeling gloriously well, angry at my husband only when he made me laugh because that was when everything still hurt. I'll pray for the same kind of easy recovery for your wife; here's to good health and good sleep for all!
Paul, congratulations on your first 17. Reading your post, I could relate so well to your feeling of amazement at your own insanity. I was smiling imagining your conversation with your wife--it wasn't that long ago that I came home from my first of those long runs and stood in the kitchen telling my better half, "I just ran ____ miles! Me!" Wait til you stand in the corral at your first marathon--no other feeling like it.
I ran my first 16-miler today, and was surprised at how well it went, considering (1) the conditions--75 degrees and about 90% humidity when I set out in the predawn and (2) the fact that I hadn't run anything longer than 12 in a month. But I took it really easy, and fueled conservatively, taking water at the even miles and gels at miles 4, 8, and 12--I took them that often during my first marathon and it seemed to work. It's not unusual for us to be running our races in the 70s here, so it's pretty darn warm. Having started slowly worked, and I had enough in the tank to pick up the pace slightly in the last 6 miles.
Sorry about your wife's cramps, Amores. Ouch! She's a true runner for going that far in such awful conditions, though! Mid-80s? Who even goes out in that? Some people apparently are more prone to cramps than others--I never get them, but some of my running friends do, and we run in the same sweaty environment--in fact I sweat more than they do. Some use ecaps, which Lou suggested; one of my friends is very fussy about her nutrition and uses Hammer Nutrition's Endurolytes, so you can check them out also.
Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Heb. 12:1b) Mile by Mile
I used to get cramps, mostly at night not on runs, and eating lots of bananas (potasium) cured that. I still get cramps at the end of a marathon -- at least I did the last three before Boston 2009. I think electrolytes will help with that during the run -- in Boston 2008 I was cramping up at mile 20 and the friend who was nice enough to run me in from 20 kept feeding me ecaps and they seemed to help -- do you have/use ecaps?
We don't know what ecaps are, but Crystal reports that she had jellybeans with electrolytes (mi 8) and also a gu pack (mi 12).
(Crystal found a pack of "LifeFitness Instant Energy Beans" or something like that, looking in our pile of stuff, when I asked her if she knows what ecaps are.)
...But I took it really easy, and fueled conservatively, taking water at the even miles and gels at miles 4, 8, and 12...
Aside from the gels -- I don't take anything like that on a run (partly cause I'm too lazy to remember, and partly cause it's too tough to open those, and partly cause I seem to do ok without them) -- I generally take my long runs easy, and I also like to drink at the even miles. My first marathon had water stations about every 2 miles, so I just adopted that interval for my habitual drinking interval on long runs; I haven't even experimented with varying it -- well, not deliberately. Sometimes I forget about drinking.
Here's the link to the S-caps (Succeed caps) http://www.succeedscaps.com/main_scaps.html
Nice to see Vixi posting in the weekly! Check back in often, we've got lots going on here. Most of it's about running, but as you've seen, we cover everything...
My run was supposed to be 8-10 today and I wanted hills, so headed up the big Equinox hill (Ester Dome). Long story short, it was a lot of hills, a lot of run/walk stuff and overall a good time (2:08:55, for a 9:55 avg pace), but longer than I'd planned for today. So now I'm not sure what to do tomorrow. I had 14-15 planned, but now don't want to do quite that much. I'm sure I'll figure something out. Here's the elevation profile for today: