Monday, January 25, 2010

I hope my legs don't break walking on the Moon

Practice trail run Sunday. Ran the North Chagrin Reservation bridle trail with a group for the Run w/ Your Heart Trail Challange. Shout out to the runners from the Second Sole in Lyndhurst who allowed us to run with them. Conditions on the trail left a lot to be desired. It started off with a mix of chunky ice and slushy wet snow, making traction quite difficult. After about mile one the trail just turned wet. Mud and standing water everywhere. I found the best place to run was the drainage channel at the side of the path. All in all it was a fun run. There were many lessons along the way.
- Running with a partner is pointless in crappy conditions, it makes the run less fun for you it makes the run less fun for them. Just avoid it.
- You will get wet and dirty. Do not spend the energy trying to avoid mud puddles and horse manure for the first 3 miles only to hit a stream with no crossing blocks at 3.5 miles. You're going to get dirty. Suck it up.
- Keep your distance. When running through the mud/poop mix that is your trail, stay far enough behind the person in front of you so as not to be catching the crud off their shoes with your face. Or wear a chemical shield.
- Steep hills suck. Switchbacks suck. Combine the two and it's ok to walk up them.
- Nature is beautiful. There are many photographs of ice covered trees and half frozen waterfalls. Spend time looking at these photographs. If you look at these things on the trail, you will crash into beautiful ice covered branches.
- Water proof shoes are a good idea. They keep water from getting to your sock. Once water gets inside, it like running with your feet in buckets.
- Streams are just larger, deeper puddles. Sometimes with fish.
All in all a lot of fun. Thanks to the runners of Second Sole and to Beth from C4FC for putting on a fun run.
Distance: 5.01 / 11' 13" pace
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Friday, January 22, 2010

Your circuit's dead, is there something wrong?

Another morning, another run
After running 5 miles Wednesday, I was still a little sore. Both my calves and my shins have been aching the past few mornings. I can only attribute it to standing at work more than normal. We've been quite busy as of late and I haven't planted myself in my chair as often, so I think I may be feeling the effects of missing some of the recovery time that I was getting by sitting periodically throughout the day. No worry, I started using a towel to stretch deeper and longer before my runs and it seems to help too. The fact that the roads are clearer now due to some unusually warmer weather is a nice touch and has prompted me to break out the new Adidas Responses... then put them away again.(they are so white and new!!)
One thing has been pestering me though as of late, since I got the Forerunner and have been accuratley tracking my miles and pace. I have found my pace is way below what I thought it was. This has been a little discouraging. I know that the Nike+ pod is actually a pizoelectric accelerometer and not all that accurate. (Even though it had been calibrated repeatedly) I just am having a bit of difficulty not trying to push myself every run to get a faster avg pace.

"A man can never hope to be more than he is if he is not first honest about what he isn’t.” -- D. Williams Jr.

Did the Friday morning run for a shorter distance and at a quicker pace just to see how long I could maintain the pace for. Glad to say I was able to keep it up for almost 4 miles. Will definatley have to incorporate some speed work into training.
Distance 3.66 mi. / 8' 16" pace

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Telemetry Data Uploaded

Ran the path Sunday at Euclid Creek Reservation.  It's a nice path that follows the banks of the creek for the most part. It is 2.5 miles long and runs uphill. I don't think I was really ready for how steep some of the hills seemed. I decided to run from the lowest point up, thinking I would be fresh enough to handle the incline.  Not so much, I made it but there were portions that were excruciatingly tough.  I did get to try out the new Garmin 305. I like it alot, it located satallites very fast. It was extremley accurate. Now having a heart rate monitor is nice. However, I found myself wondering what my maximum heart rate should be and how can I tell if I'm having a heart attack. Seriously though, I did spend alot of time looking at it instead of concentrating on running.  Once the newness wears off I don't think it will be a problem.  Not only was I impressed by the ease of use during a run, but the amazing amount of data it collects.  When I plugged it into the computer it broke down each mile into individual laps (a setting that can be changed to longer or lesser distances.  It tracked avg. speed, min/max pace, charted heart rate to pace, heart rate to distance, calories burned, heart rate per lap. I also signed found that by using the Sportracks Advisor plugin for Buckeye Outdoors, I was able to seamlesly integrate my run data into the training planner. 
I also alteredt my marathon training program this weekend.  The program I was on seemed too flexible and didn't really fit into my schedule well.  I though I could make it work but it was becoming too difficult to keep to that schedule. So I scrapped it and went to a 16 week rookie plan.  Although, this plan does include and extra day of running I think I should be able to complete this one a little easier, plus all my long runs could be scheduled for Sundays.  This plan doesn't start until Jan 25th so I will just run to build a little more base milage before I start.
See you out there.
Distance: 5.03 miles / 8' 47" pace

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