Saturday, June 30, 2007

Running - 2007-06-30

Yesterday I did 4 EXTREMELY tired miles on the mill. Wasn't pretty at all.

Today I did a quick 3 and then headed over to the towpath to run with Dave, Amy and Dena. We tackled the Old Carriage Trail and went up to Brandywine falls, but of course most was on the towpath. The hills were slow - especially according to my Forerunner, but the towpath was decent. Altogether 17 (may have been way more) in 2:38. That makes 70 for the week.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Today's Run - 2007-06-28

12 miles on the towpath today with Dave and Amy. It was pretty slow, but the weather was pretty oppressive. The humility was high!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

today's run and other stuff

Monday we had Mom over for a visit. I also took stuff to Ed and Beth for their charity garage sale. Not a whole lot else going on - this lack of work is still driving me crazy.

Yesterday's run on the mill was on extremely tired legs. I did 7, but had to hold on a whole lot. It wasn't pretty.

Today I drove to station rd., did some hills, and then met up with Amy to run on the towpath. It was a nice run even though the hot weather makes it tough. When Amy was done I did a few more, some at a faster pace. I managed one at sub-7 pace. Altogether I did 14 in 1:58.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Michigan, Paint Creek and Today's Run

It was really nice to visit Greg and Dot. Went to a nice Mexican place Friday and had a good hearty breakfast Saturday.

It was fantastic to see my old EDS friends at the wedding. Nice wedding too.

Saturday morning I met Carl Shubitowski for a run - here's the drs post:

Paint Creek Trail Mini-Encounter

Carl Shubitowski mentioned that he'd never met another Dead Runner in person and wondered if they really even existed outside of cyber space. Since I would be visiting his Michigan neck of the woods over the weekend, we arranged to meet for a run on the Paint Creek Trail.

We did, and I believe we had a nice run together. Saturday morning was very nice and cool, and the deerflies stayed home - I didn't see any, but I'm sure they were there, shivering on the side of the trail.

Carl and I ran from Lake Orion to Adams Rd. and back - probably a short 6 miles. Conversation ranged from our personal running histories to kids and jobs. I couldn't linger much because I had to get back to visiting the friends we were staying with.

Nice meeting you, Carl.

ORN: A really tough 8 x 1600 @ 6:36. A year ago this would've been an extremely easy workout at this pace, but today I'm considering it a major accomplishment that I got through it at all. I had to keep reminding myself that I love this stuff. I just haven't been doing as much speedwork as in previous years. Need to correct that.

Altogether this amounted to 13 miles in 99 minutes.

Thursday, June 21, 2007

anniversary and today's run

It's 32 today. We went to Mapleside and then to Cold Stone. Maybe fireworks tonight. Really. Tomorrow we go to Michigan to visit Worleys and then to go to Jenny Watry's wedding in K-zoo.

I ran with Dave on his old loop today for the first time in a long time. I was extremely tired, so we did about a 9-minute pace. Slow but enjoyable.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

eaten alive

This may be good or bad, depending on the context. It occurs to me, however, that it’s almost always better to be eaten alive than to be eaten dead. Even so, the context in the case I’m thinking of is still a bad thing, with deerflies being the eaters, and me being the eatee.

Prior to a run on the towpath while back, friend Amy offered her repellant to me, explaining that it wouldn’t harm synthetics. And of course synthetics are all we run in these days. That’s funny, I said, I didn’t know that regular repellant did harm synthetics. Her stuff worked; the bugs stayed away.

Prior to a run on the Lester Rail Trail a week or so ago, I sprayed myself with my regular repellant. The stuff worked; the bugs stayed away. And as far as I could tell, it didn’t harm the synthetic clothes I was wearing. But it did harm my almost new Garmin Forerunner 305 wrist-piece and HRM strap. I noticed after my run that both had a kind of shiny film. I tried to wipe them off, tried harder to wipe them off, tried with several chemicals to wipe them off. The HRM strap now has a permanent sheen to it, with some areas where it looks like the plastic is melted. The wrist-piece also looks like it has areas where the plastic has melted (and this was from the deet, not the other chemicals). And some of the indicator lettering has been almost entirely cleaned off. At least it still functions.

So now I’ve got to watch it with that repellant stuff. Deerflies, however, can drive me completely insane. They did so the other day. I got out early, sans repellant, with the thought that I could get my run completed before they awoke. Since it’s nearly solstice, the sky was beginning to get light as early as 5 to 5:30 am, and I was only a few miles into my 11-mile run at that point in time. And that’s when they hit. I was on my usual semi-rural country roads and they were all over me.

Picture this: a country road, a peaceful summer morning. Off in the distance, a long-distance runner approaches. He seems to fit in just right with the environment; he’s just part of the scene. As he comes closer, however, we notice that this runner is making some wild-looking gestures. As he comes closer still, we can see him waving his arms like a crazy man. He’s even hitting himself on the head.

That was me. That was I. That was the author of this post. I wound up with big welts all over my neck and upper back. The thing is, this was a miserable excuse for a run anyway. It was hot and muggy already, and for whatever reason, the ‘ole legs were not moving as they should’ve.

Today’s long run was much better. I felt better, ran better, and I got out even earlier to beat those doggone flies to the punch. By the time it was getting light, I was done on the country roads and well into the subdivision part of the run.

Altogether today: 20 in 2:37.5.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Wedding, Tired Run and Dirt

Lily's wedding was really memorable. It was a unique event in rural western Virginia. The Bluegrass band, the barbeque, the scenery was all wonderful. We drove home Sunday via the scenic route through almost-heaven West Virginia.

I had done 4 on the hotel dreadmill before that trip. Yesterday I was going to run long, but got a slightly later than planned start, and wound up only doing 11. And that 11 was extremely poor. I was just plain tired from the 15 hours of driving the previous 2 days.

To make me more tired and sore, we got 10 yeards of sweet peat mulch yesterday. That's a lot of dirt. I'm taking a class, but after that I joined Debbie in distributing the dirt around the yard. This, on the hottest day of the year so far - mid-90s and humid.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Today's Tempo

The ole legs were tired and sore, and I sure started out slow, heading out to the track. Once I got there, however, the 4-mile tempo run went very well. Altogether 11 in 89.5 minutes. Legs *really* tired now.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Improvement

Today I weighed in at 160. That's relatively good - I think it's a tie for my lowest point this year. Still 9 pounds more than my lowest point last year though. Realistically, I'd like to get down below 155 and stay there.

Good speedwork today: 7 x 1200 in (4:49, 4:48, 4:47, 4:47, 4:47, 4:45, 4:42) for an average of 4:46+. That's a definite improvement. Like the weight, however, I still have a long way to go. At least it's in the right direction.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Today's Run 2007-06-13

I did 2 on the mill, then 7 with Amy on the towpath, then 2 up and down the big hill. All this was a bit discouraging because it seemed like I was moving much faster than I actually was.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Yesterday and Today

This lack of work is driving me crazy.

As always, it was nice to see the family at Char's wedding. It wasn't too very lively however. Not as many young people and most left early. Now we're worried that this may happen at Valerie's wedding too.

Went to dinner with Dave and Jill yesterday. Nice time, but worries about some of our mutual friends.

I did 10 very slow miles up to north park yesterday.

Today I did the rail trail 24 in 3:17. It was MUCH better than last week. It helped that the temperature was 10 degrees lower and that I ran fewer miles Saturday and Sunday. But this was a good one nonetheless. Decent strong finish - last 3 were sub-8. 6-mi splits: 51:56, 49:28, 49, 47:18.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Orrville 10k

It was a nice day and I ran a good steady pace. Not fast, but steady. About 2 minutes slower than last year: 42:01. I'll take it though. Maybe I'm improving just a slight bit. Maybe..

I met up with Dave, Amy and Dena for coffee. Wedding tonight.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Today's Run - 2007-06-07

I was so happy when my weight got down to 160 the other day. That's probably the lowest this year. But then yesterday and today it crept back up again. So I'm not going anywhere. But I gotta keep trying.

Did the 11-mile new subs route today at an 8:30 pace. Pretty steady going, with a decent finish. I wish I could do these things faster, but see the weight issue above.

Yesterday we took Mom to lunch and to get her new hearing aids.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Running Yesterday and Today

Yesterday I just managed 5 on the mill. Lucky to get that much in.

Today I felt pretty good, considering Monday's long one. Even so, I started very slow - 38 minutes for the 4 miles over to the track. The speedwork itself went fairly well: 7 x 1200, averaging 4:53. Slow compared to other times in my life. But it was tough, although at least consistent. Decent cooldown back home - <8's. Altogether 14 in 1:53.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Still More Recent Running and Funeral

Last Friday I did 3 on the mill in 22.5 minutes. Down to 161 pounds - the ww is working.

Saturday Dave and I skipped the possible WVa marathon and just ran long on the towpath, along with Amy. I did 4 on the mill ahead of time and then 16 on the old carriage trail and towpath @ a slow 9mpm pace. Afterwards we attended the funeral of Aunt Sue's mother. After that we (me and the ladies) went shopping for dresses.

Sunday I did a few around the hood at 9mpm pace, and then 2 on the mill after some weights.

Today I awoke early so I did my long run - the 24-mile Lester Rail Trail run. I had hoped to have each 6-mile segment get faster as I've done in the past. Not today. The 6-mile splits were: 52:03, 49:53, 48:40, 50:56 for a total of 3:21:30. Not that bad, and at least it was steady, but I don't know when I'm going to improve. And lose weight - I was back to 164 today.