14 October 2006

Long Saturday Run

Oh, it was COLD this morning! I slept in a bit and didn't leave until 7:30 but it was 33º and about 85% humidity -- it was only 35º when I finished at 8:40. First time in the season to wear a sweatshirt and gloves. While I most definitely prefer 33º to 75º, my favourite running temperatures are 45-55º.

I decided to run a little longer today -- no particular reason, just to do it. And, then, I went even longer than planned. It turned out to be my longest run in a year -- almost 8.6 miles. It's satisfying but it wore me out. Even in cold weather, I learned today that I need to rehydrate well after that much running. I didn't and really felt it around midday.

I need new shoes. My Brooks Adrenaline ASR's still have a couple hundred miles left in them but they are for cold weather -- too warm for anything above about 45º. The Brooks Adrenaline GTS 6's have 410 miles on them and my knee is telling me the cushioning is compacted. Because I can only get about 400 miles out of the GTS 6's, I considered looking for a different brand/style. But, except for the wear, the Brooks have worked for me, so maybe I'll just be conservative and stick with them.

Run well and stay warm,
Bob

08 October 2006

Mud, Sore Muscles, and Clean Shoes

Saturday morning -- it's still raining. Since it's cooler than what I want to run in (yeah, I know, don't end a phrase with a preposition -- how would you say that otherwise?), I decided to wait and either hit the dreadmill again when the Y opens at 8 or wait 'til it quits raining. Well, at 8, I'm upgrading the operating system software on my wife's computer so I don't go anywhere and it kept raining for a long time.

Around 3:30, the rain lets up. It's still too close to lunch so I wait until 4:40 and head out. It's cool and very cloudy but no rain -- until I've walked .25 miles and then run .25 miles. It was just barely sprinkling so, do I leave my glasses on the porch or take a chance and run with them on? The problem with glasses is that when it rains, it's harder to see with them on that without them. But, I took the chance -- wrong decision because, within another .25 miles, the bottom drops out. I'm not going to run .5 miles out of my way to leave the glasses on the porch, so off I go. Fortunately, after a couple of miles, there was no more than just a sprinkle every now and then.

What a hard run but I was determined to run at least 6.2 miles. It's rained so much in the last 48 hours, though, that the grass verges are really soggy and traffic is a bit too heavy for me to feel completely comfortable running on the road itself. I really think the reason the run felt so hard was that my shoes were soaked and heavier than normal -- they made my legs feel like lead. At one point, I was in soil so soft that I sank -- now my shoes are covered with mud and the water actually poured over the top of my shoes. Now my legs are really heavy.

I did finish. It was a longer route than I remembered. In addition, because of traffic, I had to run a bit extra at some intersections to go behind the cars. So, rather than 6.2 miles, it was 6.7 miles (no wonder I was tired). A side "benefit" -- my shoes really needed washing anyway but running through the mud made that mandatory. Yesterday was a good day to do that since today is a rest day and they have time (hopefully) to dry.

Because, I guess, of the extra weight in my shoes and running against a fairly stiff breeze for at least half the run, I was dead tired when I finished. And, my quads were really sore. I was glad to get to bed last night -- got 8 hours of sleep which also tells me that the run was harder than normal.

I'm glad I ran yesterday (28 miles for the week) but even more glad for a day off today.

Run well,
Bob

Back to the Dreadmill

Friday morning -- wake up at 4:45 -- hear the rain -- hard rain. It's days like this when I'm glad we have a YMCA membership. So, I'm off to the Y to put in some miles on the dreadmill. I managed 4.5 miles of running (plus .2 miles of warmup walking and 8+/- minutes of cool-down.

I still don't know why the treadmill is so much harder than running outside. But, I found out about a kindred spirit. The current Runner's World cover story is Lance Armstrong's debut NY Marathon. In the interview he says more than 30 minutes on the treadmill is really hard. I ran 34:30 and it was hard!

Oh, well. I got my miles in.

Run well,
Bob

01 October 2006

Trails Are Interesting

We're in Chattanooga, TN, staying with some long-time friends. Because of where they live, running on the roads is not a great option -- the roads are fairly narrow and very curvy. But, our friends live near Harrison State Park and there is a 4.5 mile trail that goes through the woods and along the shoreline of the lake. It's a nice trail for running but, because Chattanooga is on the western edge of the Eastern Time Zone, it's too dark to run on the trail until about 7:10 am (I wasn't interested in tripping over the tree roots) -- even then, the first 10-15 minutes are a little tedious.

I could get used to running on trails. No worries about traffic, great scenery (once it was light enough), great variety of environment. A great big THANK YOU to the state of Tennessee for providing this trail and for measuring it for the runners/walkers.

Run well,
Bob