team b3noitTraining for endurance events, naturally

10 miles.

Yes, 10 miles.

Finished with a great pace, 9:30. I was looking at my run last weekend, I finished 8 miles in 1 hour and 20 minutes, exactly a 10 min / mile. Today’s finish was 1 hour and 35 minutes. For. Ten. Miles.

Several observations:

1. My running “cockpit” setup is perfect. My cockpit is anything from the waist up that I can fiddle with on my runs: GPS, CamelBak hose, headphones, sunglasses, hat, etc.
2. Sharpie + my sweat = invisible ink. I don’t know why but sharpie doesn’t really stay on my skin.
3. The water stations at the Rock and Roll Half, while well planned (meaning they don’t have a lot in the first 3 miles, to allow the packs to thin out), are spaced a little to far for me. Today I tried to run taking on water/gatorade/goo at the approximately the distances that the water, Cytomax and Gu stations would be on the course and I found myself wanting to chug some water towards the end.
4. Google Maps lies about distance. I knew that there was a chance it would be off, but off by 1.5 miles… Grr.
5. Aggregate road surface is not a pleasant surface to run “barefoot” on. It combines the worst of running on gravel / rocks with the consistency of miles of roadway.

Overall, I am very happy with today’s run. I think that is was just what I needed after reading all of the ins and outs of the Race on Sept 6. Last night, while I was reading, I felt a little anxiety creep up. I could feel my stomach start to churn at the thought of running it. After suck a good result today, I am going to rest a little easier. But that is probably just from exhaustion.

Um, yeah… so I’ve missed a couple of posts. Work has been killing me lately. I have been running on schedule, but the posting afterwards has been difficult. I have been getting up to run, before I finish getting cleaned up for the day, I am checking email, the day just continues from there, with me rushing to put out fires and get things done. My day officially ends at 5 pm, but sometimes later, and after rushing home to put Hazel to bed and eat, I generally spend the rest of the evening continuing to work. Sigh.

Back to the running.

I had to send the Vibrams back for repair. One of the seams along the toes started coming apart. They said it would be a couple of week, as the black on black in my size was. I was a little bummed. i let the customer service rep know that I was planning on running a half and full marathon in them, hoping it would get me some progress. Boy did it work! Ben at Vibram sent me a email and told me that I could expect a new pair any day, and after I pasted the tracking number into UPS, I saw they had been delivered. To the place I work, due to an input error in my initial order, but still, delivered. Ben, you are the man.

So today was my first run in Vibrams in a while.

Today was a 4 mile run, the weather was nice, not super hot, but a little humid. I had a great run today. Firstly I found a new route, or a better addition to an old route. I found a new loop back that let’s me run a complete loop instead of having to double back.

My pace today was awesome. I ran a 9:13 mile. Again, over a shorter distance, but if that can be maintained over a longer distance, I will be very pleased.

Tomorrow is my longest run to date. 10 miles. I have run 10 miles before, but it was my break point. The last time I ran 10 miles, I ran out of steam. This time, I know I won’t but it will still be interesting.

I plan on running point-to-point, so I had to map and coordinate my route with Esther, so she can pick me up. My run will be from our home to the York River, passing through Historic Yorktown.

It also looks like I might be headed to Alabama starting on Thursday of up coming week. We’ll most likely be staying for the entire weekend, which means that I will have 3 runs (Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) to get done in the Deep South. That Sunday’s run is 11 miles, so it will interesting to try and run such a long distance in a place that I have no familiarity with.

This morning, I let Esther sleep in a little more, I knew I had to run. But, I forgot how far.

8 miles.

8 miles. Once I realized how far I had to run, I got myself in gear and got out in the road. Today was not nearly has hot or humid, which made it much more enjoyable.

My route was a longer version of the 6 mile run, so I eventually doubled back, but if I went point to point, I would have probably ended up at the York River. I think I am going to do that next week. Have Esther meet me at Historic Yorktown to pick me up, that could be a lot of fun.

The worst thing about today’s run was the rubbing on my heel. It would be a blister, but I think it went by that stage really quickly. I applied a Band-Aid Blister Treatment, which was garbage. I have tried these on multiple occasions and every time they failed. The Dr. Scholl’s equivalent is much better. The adhesive actually sticks, surprising, I know.

While out, I had to refuel a little. More DIY Goo (Preparation A) and it did me good. I took a small slurp at 3.5 miles, another at 5 miles and a last one at 6 miles. It was a good fueling schedule. I was pleased with the results. I also drank 10 ounces of orange gatorade and 1.5 liters of water while on the road. I was actually a little shocked when the CamelBak ran dry. That is not something I am used to.

I spent a lot of my run thinking about RAAM. I am loving running now, but I want to continue finding new “ultra” adventures. “Run a Marathon” has been on my list for 5 years. I know I am going to finish. Thinking about RAAM doesn’t mean that I am done with running after November 8. What it does mean is that I want to push the length of my endurance. Who knows: RAAM 2012?

Oh holy crud. Today was hot, not just hot, but hot and humid. It was raining on and off for the since sometime late last night. After I woke up there were a few points where it stopped raining, but I didn’t get out and run during the dry spells. Esther was sleeping in, so I spent some time with Hazel.

Right as I was ready to run, a massive downpour, so I held off. Starting a run in the rain is “the suck” so I tried to wait it out.

When I finally got out and ran it was later in the morning, much later than I normally run. And… well, it was hellacious. The sun had started to heat up the asphalt and I could feel the heat drifting up to me waist. The sun was heating up the pools of water left after 2 days of rain, starting to evaporate them, and the air was thicker when I ran past them.

It was the hardest 4 miles I have ever run. I probably didn’t eat well the day before. I didn’t drink enough water before the run. My breakfast before my run probably didn’t fuel me the best. Sigh. It is a process.

Thursday’s run was 5 miles. That has become the new average run. It is a good distance, enough time for me to hit a stride and attempt to ride it out the rest of the way. It has hot and humid, very thick, so I was drenched in sweat by the time I came home. That disgusting level of sweat, like you just got poured on by a massive rain storm, or got soaked by a well aimed volley of water balloons. Needless to say, showering was a priority.

I realized during my run that I have become a little addicted. I find myself thinking about my past run, and looking forward to my future runs. I am using them as ways to deal with stress from work, which has been growing in the past couple of weeks. I find them to be an escape, some very generous “me” time.

In the Marathon Method, from which my training plan has been created, the author, when talking about said plan, says that if a run is missed make it up the next day, but that Sunday runs are the most important, and you can’t really miss them. That was my attitude before, but now, I can’t afford to miss a single run.

In fact, I am looking forward to having the 1/2 and marathon over so I can start to run every day. I know I could, but I am trying to complete and I don’t want to futz anything up with adding extra miles in, sounds oxymoronic, I know, but I’m sticking with my plan.

Tuesday’s 4 miles was a sad 4 miles. I had to revert back to running shoes. It felt like I was running in boats. I had to eschew my vibram five fingers for the shoes as they are being sent off for repair or replacement.

At first, I thought it was a great run. “Ooh, so soft, so cushy!” I was really questioning why I was running barefoot in the first place. Then half way through my run, I realized: “Wait was that pain in my knee? Why is my shin so tender?” By the end of the 4 miles, which felt like it would never come, I was tired. The humidity played a factor, no doubt, but so did the weight of the shoes, how gangly they made my legs feel didn’t help either.

The biggest thing that was lacking in my run was the connection to the road that I have felt when running in the VFFs. When running barefoot, I can anticipate what the road will feel like, what the gravel will do to my stride, whether or not I will slip and I am continually vigilant of the road, scanning for rocks, glass and the like.

I was totally lost wearing shoes. It felt awkward, I felt distracted, and my mind kept drifting. To work, to home, to errands, but not what I was doing right then, running.

So, for the next week, I am without my new favorite shoes. I am really bummed. I am also kind of nervous. I don’t want to injure myself. I know have quite a bit of money resting on the fact that I am going to be able to run long distance, registration fees alone, not including the $100 that I will owe Esther if I don’t complete the OBX, from stickk.com.

Today was a 6 miler. I had a pretty easy time of it, though my feet would say otherwise. I blistered badly, including a blood blister, which made walking after my run not nearly as much fun as one would think. The weather was hot and humid, but there was a breeze so it was bearable.

I learned a few things yesterday about my stomach.

1. It takes about 10 minutes for any type of energy gel, DIY or otherwise, to hit my system. Once it does, I can feel it. Not in a bad way, but in a “Wow, running is actually fun” way.
2. Clif Balls, while great as a pre run / post run snack, don’t sit extremely well. Or actually they sit fine, but they expand to be quite a bit more filling than their deceptively small size would lend one to thinking.

Esther made me a new recipe of buttermilk pancakes after my run, which were really good, a cross between crepes and pancakes. A delicious way to end a run, needless to say.

So, besides feet and stomach, the run was good.

Other news: Found a link to the HydraPouch from TheMarathonMama. That is the kind of innovation that gets my nerd senses tingling. I think I will be picking one up.

I also discovered Strands.com, a social network for athletes. I am giving it a whirl. While clicking around on Strands, I found a link to…

The Virginia Beach Rock & Roll Half Marathon, on September 6. Coincidence would have that September 6 is the day I run 13 miles for training, so…

I signed up for the Half today. I’ll be running it more as intelligence gathering than a race. I want to see what a marathon atmosphere is like before November 8. It will also give me a chance to stretch my legs a little more, see what my pacing is like with all of the distraction and other runners on the road.

Gulp?!

Today’s run was much later than I normally run, like 12 hours later, there was some miscommunication this morning about when I would be running. So, I ended up running in the afternoon heat, better today than tomorrow. It was in the high 80s, but the humidity was not as high as it could have been, thank heavens. Tomorrow is supposed to be brutal, so I am going to be running early.

4 miles today.

I took a different route. I told Esther I ran to Starbuck’s, which is pretty much true. My route took me by our local branch of the coffee shop although I didn’t stop for a beverage.

I did however stop to remove two large sheets of chipboard from the road way. They had clearly fallen off the back of a truck and lay in the middle of an intersection, with no one attempting to remove them from the path of other drivers. During a favorable light cycle, I ran out and plucked each board from the road. Civic duty completed.

Besides the heat, today’s run was good. I had a great pace today, 9:20 / mile. That is much faster than my estimated pace time of 10:00 / mile. I am excited about this. If I can up my pace by 15 seconds, I will be able to run OBX in under 4 hours. Holy be-jesus, that is huge! It is the sustaining it over 26.2 miles that is huge as well, so I don’t want to hype myself up, but I know that I will have race day jitters. Race day jitters equals faster running, plus having more people around will make me run faster, I know it will.

Other than my fast pace, I ran in some sand which was a weird change in running surface. There will clearly be sand in the Outer Banks, so it was good to experience it. I actually want to experience it more, because there was a lot of additional friction. I’m sure I’ll have some blistering tomorrow. Oh dear.

I went to the movies after a quick shower. Esther, her mother and her friend went to see Julie & Julia. It was a good way to spend the evening, but weird to finish my run, jump in the shower and head right to the movies. I did do a good job of glycogen replenishment, a little gatorade, a little DIY clif bar and I was set. I am feeling pretty good, but I guess the proof will be in the running tomorrow. Now off to bed.