Tapering is the way to live

This past Saturday's scheduled 12 has to have been one of the most pleasurable runs I've had yet. It was sufficiently long to get all systems up and running and all the juices flowing but much shorter than the current limitations of my body. The weather was just about perfect too - cool, crisp winter day with bright sunlight and crunchy fallen leaves. I ran around my favorite lake park where they were holding a historical re-enactment/historical festival to mark the Louis & Clark Bicentenial. There were lots of kids running around, eating fry bread and lots of adults dressed in buckskin and blanket coats to add to the scenery. My average for the whole thing was an 8.30, which is about a minute less than my average. I probably ran closer to 9 for most of it, but when I got to mile 9 I started a sprint that took me down to about a 7.30 for the last three miles. Like I said, this taper stuff is fun.

Vegas Freaky Thoughts

As I cruised around the blogosphere this morning, checking on all my Vegas runners, it became apparent that we are all (or mostly), starting to get the pre-race jitters.

Last night I got to the lake to run my scheduled eight. As I started down the trail I was weighed down with unhappy thoughts about not getting everything done at work that I had wanted to... how the heck am I going to run 26.2..... when am I going to find the time to get the pile of leaves I raked up off the lawn before the grass dies.... 26 point freaking 2..... I need to get some firewood split... A MARATHON? ARE YOU CRAZY!?!

I ran faster and faster, and it felt pretty good, so I ran a little faster. By the time I had completed one circuit of the lake (3.8 miles), I was running a 6.47 which is unbelievably smoking for me. Walking back to my car, I felt better. Like Partyrunner said in her last post - thank you running for being a stabilizing force in my life.

Shirt News; All but one payment has been received. Shirts to be mailed have been so sent off. The rest have little sticky notes with their owners names to be handed over in Vegas. We're off to see the wizard.

Vegas Shirt Back

DSCF0523
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Running, running... I did my planned 5 miler in the dark last night. It was fairly enjoyable even though I was breaking in some new running gear that was a little uncomfortable. As I was getting done, I thought, "Hmm, that was easy, wasn't it? ....YAH, BECAUSE IN VEGAS YOU'LL STILL HAVE 21 MILES AT THIS POINT!!!"

eek.

In other news, I took my new RBF shirt out for its maiden voyage. I don't think I'll be leaving the reflective vest tucked away in its pocket. The weight bouncing on my back was just a little too irritating.

RBF Logo, Front

DSCF0521
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

1

Wherein Scott Solicits Advice from the Blogosphere

Reading Drew's latest post, got me wondering about my own training program. I ran the 20 miler my plan called for this past Friday. The plan has me doing a 12 miler this weekend, an 8 miler the next weekend, three short runs the week of the race, a few days rest and then BAM, Vegas Baby!

I wasn't all that satisfied with my performance this past week and I'm not feeling as confident as I'd like to be at this point. I finished the run without undue pain and without injury but I walked a lot and came in almost a full minute per mile slower that I usually run my distance runs at. I'm considering running the short runs per the plan this week and then doing one more long run before I start my candle. What, dear readers, do you think of this idea?

Main Entry: ¹ta·per
Pronunciation: 'tA-p&r
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tapor candle, wick, perhaps modification of Latin papyrus papyrus
1 a : a slender candle b : a long waxed wick used especially for lighting candles, lamps, pipes, or fires c : a feeble light

Taper is Here, Yes!

Tu Oh, Two Zero, 20. I can’t say I ran it well, but I ran it. According to the forerunner my average pace was 10:14, which is just about a minute per mile slower that I usually run. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I hit that wall big time somewhere around mile 17. By the time I got home I had devolved to the point where I would have to pick a landmark ahead and force myself to keep running to it and then walking for a minute or 45 seconds before picking a new landmark. It didn’t help that at about mile 16 the driving cooolllldddd rain started pounding down. On the positive side. My darling wife drove out twice to check on me and give me water and gel. I’m a lucky man.

But, I made it and without any pain or injury. While in the shower after, I kept hearing this sweet seductive voice faintly calling my name. Moving into the bedroom I found that it was my bed calling to me. Like a zombie I crawled in and almost cried from shear happiness.

I was supposed to leave work yesterday to drive down to Vancouver for my night class at 4:30. At 4:15 I decided to cut out a little early and stop by the store for a few things. Last night when I got home I found that the following email from the printing place had come into my inbox at 4:28:

“Hello! Your shirts are in! They look GREAT!! I think you will be very
pleased. Feel free to stop by anytime and pick them up. Our hours are
Monday-Friday 8:30am-5:30pm, see you soon.”

Drat. I can’t say I didn’t deserve it, though. I guessing if you call my work line at about 8:45, Monday, you won't get an answer.

I’ve got a cuppa tea and a new video game to help my stay stationary this afternoon. Tomorrow early, we’ll drive over to Keith and Natalia’s for quilting and beers. Yahoo!

Confessions of a Bad Blogger

Long time, no blogging...

I'm still alive and I have a pulse. I just haven't been blogging much lately.

I'm excited about running, though. This is last big week before the taper starts. I've got 40 miles to go this week, with my long 20 on Saturday. I'm still injury free and looking forward to a pretty good chance of having a good marathon. Sub-Four? maybe, possibly... We'll see how the 20 goes this weekend.

And in Shirt News; They came! They are really light and clingy feeling. I can't wait to give my XL a test run. I took them in to the printer's this morning. Unfortunately, they sent us one too many larges and one too few mediums. The invoice has the correct number of shirts in the right sizes but what they stuffed in the bag doesn't match up. I'm not sure how we'll sort that out.

Scott Out

You Know You Want Me

RBF Vegas, the actual shirt
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

RBF Vegas, the actual shirt...

Due to poor communication on my part, one of our more petite female runners inadvertently ordered a men's size L shirt that she really doesn't have a use for. If the are any size L guys out there who wanted a shirt (women too I guess) but didn't get one, you now have a second chance, plus you get to be the good guy in this deal.

Ehhh? Come on now, don't be shy...

Week's end, Months End

Well, I completed my last run of October today - 18 miles out around my loop and back with a little side trip to bump up the mileage. The next time I put my Adrenilene Fives on it will be November, the same month in which we'll go to Vegas. I don't have much to say about today's run. It was uneventful, even boring at times. At this point, uneventful is good - no pain, no injuries, breathing is good. Now I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I don't think it will.

WEEK TOTALS	Running: 36.5 miles Time: 5h 03m 10s Avg. Pace: 9:19/mile
MONTH TOTALS	Running: 105.1 miles Time: 14h 52m 48s Avg. Pace: 9:06/mile
YEAR TOTALS	Running: 390.9 miles Time: 1 day, 23h 02m 33s Avg. Pace: 9:18/mile

Looks like I should shoot for starting with the 4:15 group - not a qualifier for Boston, but not a bad start for my first formal distance race.

Shirt news: They've shipped from overstock.com as of Thursday afternoon. Next stop the printers here in town. Woo Hoo!

My Daily Post about the Shirts

OK people, I got the quote back from the printer today 156 to buy the shirts plus 87.45 for the printing, divided by eight comes to 30.45 per shirt. Plus, if you want add four and a quarter so I can priority mail the shirt to you ahead of when we go to LV.

If you want to send a check:
PO Box 44
Longview, WA 98632

Or if you want to do Paypal, email me and I'll send you a payment request.

Thanks,
SD

Shirts, Part Duh!

I can't believe I posted about the shirts today and forgot to put the link in to the ones I ordered.

Go HERE for a peek. I hope they'll be as cool as they look online. I'm going to try to get the printing done in time to priority mail them to folks that might want to test run them before the marathon.

Shrtz!

OK, I placed an order for eight shirts today. They should be here by November 4th and I can take them to the printers then. I should have totals to everyone the end of tomorrow. You can send me a check or Paypal, whichever.

Vegas, baby!

Go Girl

I can't think of a better comment or a better example of how we all motivate each other towards the goal and better living in general. Go check out what Drew said on A.maria's blog, and hold her in your thoughts too!

Lets change that to "scotts(not)running.blogspot.com

Thats right, today I broke the cardinal rule, the big one, the one you can never recover from fully, if only deep down inside... I skipped the weekend long run.

Did I fall down the stairs and have a compound fracture? No
Was there an earthquake causing a big peice of masonry to fall on me? No

I just don't feel like getting out of the jammies today. Granted, my butt stayed in the captain's chair all weekend while I wrote a 3800 word paper for grad school, but claiming that was what kept me from going would be the definition of weakness. I just wanted to make a big pot of sauce out of the last of this season's tomatoes and be naughty.

I'll do my scheduled 12 miler tomorrow. I promise.

Riona tapped me for the 23rd post/5 line thing. Here goes:
"Normally I make no effort what so ever to run any faster than my feet want to." This was more or less running at the mouth/running babble. I was talking about how I went out too hard and got shin splints. This taught me to warm up on the days I'm going to try sprinting (rocket science).

Now, I'm going to hurry and tag five people before Brit gets them first!
Keith, LJ (she'll just have to make something up), Partyrunner, Drew, and Danny (to be obvious about it), You're it!

What is your favorite color?

I ended up deciding to call a printshop here in town before trying to place an order online. We have dealt with the folks here several times with good results, and besides, I like like to keep things local when I can.

She asked me what color I wanted the shirts to be. She couldn't give me a definitive list of options on the spot but said she'll probably get back to me in the mean time. In general, what color would you-all who are placing orders prefer?

Thanks,
SD

Order Time

OK Folks, were getting down to the wire. I'd like to shoot for placing the order this coming Friday. I played with the cart app. on the printer's website and found that I think the shirts will be 18.90 a piece plus an additional 4.25 for shipping if you want me to mail you your shirt ahead of Vegas.

Order totals:
Me - two shirts, one L, one XL
Jeff - two shirts, both M, to be handed over in Vegas
Drew - one shirt, M, to be handed over in Vegas?
P-runner - at least two shirts, size unknown. I checked, sorry but there doesn't appear to be any preemie shirt options! Shirts to be handed over in Vegas
LJ - one shirt, size unknown, to be handed over in Vegas

Who did I miss? What sizes do you-all want?

Thanks,
SD

End of the Week Posting

Well, it was a mixed bag this week:

Oct 12, 2005	3.78
Oct 13, 2005	3.78
Oct 16, 2005	16.93

In some ways, the fact that I had a pretty good week, while having a bad one at the same time was a good sign to me, a sign that this training stuff is actually doing the trick. This week the same crud that had already done in the rest of my family caught up with me - chills, sore throat, coughing, blah, blah, you know the drill. My first scheduled run of the felt pretty good. The breathing and sweating was good for me I think. Wednesday I headed out for an eight miler and just couldn't get the steam built up. After one trip around the lake, I got in my car and drove home. The next day I stayed home from work, ill, something I do maybe once every three years.

Today's weekend long run was 16 on the schedule. I decided to go out the same route as the Turtledash half marathon but instead of being bussed out a ways, I decided to run from the house, out all the way and back. I was apprehensive about this plan for two reason; first, I still felt like hell, and secondly, this is the same route I took on Mr Toad's Wild Ride (when I got a wild hair a month or so after starting to run and decided to go out and hurt myself).

Today went a lot better. I went out really slow and had good support from my darling wife and dad, who both drove by and gave me fluids. At about mile eight I started to feel pretty good. I could breathe, the chills were burned out of me, and my energy levels were really good.

I'm not a medical doctor (OK, I'm not even a PHD), but I think my new theory is that exercise, when coupled with good diet and a lot of rest may be one way to kick a cold.

Vegas Shirt Design Number Six

RBF Vegas Shirt Design 6
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

OK everybody, here is our shirt, now with more Viva in the Vegas. I spent about an hour trying to incorporate some dice or a hand of cards in with the text somehow but couldn't get anything to look right. Drew set me a design sketch idea that I tried to incorporate but couldn't. Thanks anyway for that. If anyone else wants to take a crack at the design project, please let me know so I can send you my working files. If not, thats fine too. I'm personally satisfied with what we have.

So, unless anyone else whats to take a stab at the graphics, should we go with this look or the plain text back?

RBG Shirt Design 5
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Word of the Day is "Celerity"

Local sports reporter, Ben Zimmerman, has written an excellent article on the Portland Marathon (held this past weekend). He talks about the individual flavor of that race as well as giving a great race report from the perspective of a first time marathoner. One can almost imagine the debrief conversation of Ben and his fellow racers all heading back up to the Longview/Kelso area togethter.

http://www.tdn.com/articles/2005/10/12/sports/news01.txt

Land Fill Starter Kit

Landfill Starter Kit
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Landfill Starter Kit

You know how when you have a problem, you’re the last one to admit or realize that you have a problem? By the time you are willing to say, “I have a problem” everyone in your life is ready to give a huge sigh of relief? Well, I’m wondering if I have a problem, or if We have a problem.

Human beings are essentially big bags of water. Our largest organ, the dermis, holds in the squishy rest of us that is ninety-some percent water. We cannot live without continuously replenishing our supply. Becoming a distance runner has reacquainted me with that reality. I drink a lot of water throughout my day, and may drink 64 or even 96 ounces of fluid on a long run in the heat. I’m like a sieve in that respect.

So it strikes me as being particularly wasteful to vote with my dollars to have someone pipe up petroleum, combine it with acetates (or whatever they do to get long strand polymers – I got a D in chemistry so who knows) to make plastic, so that my 8 ounces of water can be encased in a plastic bottle. I drink water at approximately 2 ounces a swallow, so the water sits in the bottle long enough for me to get around to making four glugs – all while my home, office, and favorite running spot are all less than five miles from a river that is over one half mile wide. Then the bottle goes to the landfill, the war on terror goes on, and I go on to drink another eight ounces in another hour or so, and the cycle repeats itself.

My personal response to this conundrum has been to avoid buying my fluids in personal serving containers where possibly convenient and when someone gives me fluid in a small bottle to reuse the container as many times as I can before I lose the lid. This has worked pretty well up until now, even though we give each other fluids all the time without thinking about it - the water guy who refills the office cooler nonchalantly leaves a 36 pack of bottles as a no-cost treat. I bet the last time someone came to your house or office, you offered them liquid refreshment of some sort.

This past weekend we had 17 runners and many more spectators and general potluck attendees at our house for the second annual Turtle Dash Half Marathon and four mile walk. It kicked ass. We ran. We drank Guinness, and ate a lot of really good food. Mike barbecued three salmon at one time… After it was all over, I washed out all the empty eight ounce bottles and added them to my collection. Now, if I filled them all up, I would have enough water to supply several families of Katrina victims for a week or drink as I hiked the Pacific Crest Trail end to end.

Should I just give up on the bottle washing? Just take them all to the recycling center? Should I not even bother?

Wow, I wish I could right this much with so little effort for one of my night school papers.

She is just that fast, really
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

She is just that fast, really

Mothership must be near
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Mothership must be near

Freakishly Large Tack in her shoe is what I heard...
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Freakishly Large Tack in her shoe is what I heard...

Its a dead heat...

As I tally it, we have two votes so far for cards, dice, or something to go with the Las Vegas lettering on the back, and two votes abstaining. My take is that the plain lettering on the back of the shirt just doesn't capture the Elvis/HunterS.Thompson Viva Las Vegas spirit for Partyrunner and LJ. What about a compromise of no cards or dice, but we change the "Las Vegas 2005" to the official Las Vegas Logo?

Also, I forgot to ask people to specify what shirt sizes they want. If you want to go to the printer's website, I think I made the original post with the link Jeff found on August 17th, or there abouts.

Sorry for the fly by posting, hectic life continues (I'm getting my runs in though, heh, heh).

SD

RBG Shirt Design 5

RBG Shirt Design 5
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

OK, I think its time to order shirts. This was the last design concept we came u p with. The front logo moved to the left breast. Things we talked about that I didn't get to included registering a shorter web address and getting it pointed to the rbf blog list and adding a hand of cards to the writing on the back of the shirt. I would like to finalize our order at the end of this week that is just starting and get an amount figured out for what each person needs to pay.

What I need to know from each of you is:
1. How many shirts do you want?
2. Do you want your shirt(s) mailed to you ahead of time or handed to you by me when we get there (I will mail them to you at shipping cost to me).
3. Will you have any trouble sending me a check?
4. What is your vote on whether the front logo should stay on the left breast or move back to covering the chest?
5. What is your vote on adding a hand of cards to the back?
6. I don't think we should do the web address this first time. Do you vehemently disagree?

Thanks,
SD

Salmon of Capistrano

"Some place warm, a place where the beer flows like wine, where beautifulwomen instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrano.."

Last night we barbecued 1200 servings of salmon at an open house for the public. I was on the barbecue crew and spent 3.5 hours slinging fish. I inhaled a lot of smoke, got physically tired from the fast work, ate about a pound or two of delicious fish, and can neither confirm or deny that I may have had a couple of Coronas as well. After that I went for my second longest run of the week, which is currently seven miles. I thought I'd be paying the piper but aside from me being a little extra thirsty the run was quite pleasant and my times were good.

Like a lot of people, I tend to obsess about my diet and hydration leading up to a run. I usually make myself eat a big serving of oatmeal about an hour before my long runs and spend a lot of mental energy to those ends. Its nice to know that its possible to also have a good run after less than optimal preparation.

Is a salmon hangover possible?

Hat Trick Quick

Tonight had three easy miles on the schedule. I went to run my favorite run which is about 3.7 but who's counting, right? At about the first mile I looked down to see why Garmin wasn't beeping at me. I had forgotten to turn it on, gah! At the 1.5 mile marker I decided to stop and turn it on and stretch until it connected up with the mothership. Then I thought, "What the hell. I'm loose and limber fromt the first half. Why not pour it on?" I did the second 1.58 in 10.20, or about a 6.39 mile pace. For a mile and a half I could have kept up with Jeff or Keith. Now I just have to work on being able to do that for longer... then a little longer...

Another Week Come and Gone

..and we're one week closer to boogie time in Vegas. I'm meeting my weekly training goals, am injury free, reasonably pain free, my gear is holding up, no sickness to speak of, know that millions of people have followed roughly the same path that I am headed down, one culminating in running a marathon, and yet I get really freaked out sometimes. I haven't had any running anxiety dreams that I can remember, but I'll be running along on a training run, listening to a podcast, listening to my breathing and the thud, thud, thud of my body moving along and suddenly I'll think something like, "If this were Vegas, I'd still have eighteen miles left! Holy crap! I've only run eight miles here and I'd have 18 left. What am I thinking!" Then I go back to telling myself how many millions of people have already done it, most not requiring hospitalization afterwards...

Another first on yesterday's long run - peeing in someone's yard. We are semi-rural out here, so finding a clump of concealing landscaping to duck into wasn't much of a challenge. Lucky for me, they waited until after I was done and back up on the road and had been running along innocently for at least three seconds before coming around the corner in their SUV, waiving at me sunnily and pulling into their driveway. "Hi! Never mind the pee on your bushes!"

Thoughts on Running

Did the seven on the plan today at an 8.21 avg. pace, which is good for me.

Seen for the first time:
A woman jogging in a warm up top, track pants, and wooden clogs with two inch heels and open toes. Now I've seen it all.

Pain Free!!

Yesterday was my long run for the week. A few minutes ago I walked up two flights of stairs with no twinges or complaints from the ITB. Yesss!

TSD; Future Century Runner

headband
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Pretty sad week for me as far as running went. Some of the running bloggers I read don't follow any sort of formal schedule in preparation for a marathon, just making sure they get a goodly number of long runs in, in the months leading up. Others, like Flatman, have yet to miss a single Hidgon specified workout in their entire program. Up until now, I've missed only two training runs leading up to Vegas. This week I doubled that, missing to of my weekly short runs. I did my specified 13 miles today and you know what? I feel fine. I was a bit slow out there today, but it was an easy day and I feel more than up to a to the little walk around the neighborhood my wife just proposed we take with the dogs and the kid.

Hope you are all feeling good too.

Weekend Long Run

WEEK TOTALS	Running: 21.7 miles Time: 3h 20m 38s Avg. Pace: 9:15/mile
MONTH TOTALS	Running: 54.8 miles Time: 8h 29m 47s Avg. Pace: 9:18/mile
YEAR TOTALS	Running: 258.1 miles Time: 1 day, 4h 24m 16s Avg. Pace: 9:25/mile

Twelve miles today in one hour and 52 minutes. I went out to Willow Grove, which is surrounded by a six mile long looped levi with the Columbia River on one side and a dike on the backside. In the middle is mostly sleepy grazing land and little farm houses. Its quiet. People in pickups and SUVs wave at you and get completely in the other lane as they pass. Old men are particularly prone to the two or three finger wave from where their had is resting atop the steering wheel. In other words its a pleasant place for run.

Ever since Mr Toad's Wild Ride, I've had this reocurring, lancing pain that shoots up the left side of my knee with I push things. It started out behind my knee and has migrated to the outside. If I take shorter runs and rest up for a week, its mostly gone by my weekend long run. I've sort been deal making with this pain. "If you let me have my weekend run, I won't push it during the week." This seems to be working.

Anyway, the pain went running with me today and seemed to be enjoying itself immensly. It doesn't really hurt much when I'm running, just later when I want to go up and down the stairs, etc. I wasn't getting the most out of my run and was worrying about The Pain until about mile eight when I passed some sort of mental hurdle and relaxed. It seemed that my breathing came easier, the fatigue melted away and I felt obscenely happy. Maybe I got a good squirt of brain chemicals. Who knows? Feeling pretty good now after my ice bath and some rehydration.

One more week of slackertude and then I start back up on the Vegas shirts. I promise.

If you run with an mp3 player and haven't checked out Steve Runner's podcast yet do so right now by going to steverunner.com to get his rss feed. I've found his episodes to be uniformly entertaining and informative. If you don't know what I'm talking about with this podcast/rss stuff, email me.

As he says at the end of his casts, Run Long and Taper.

Quote of the Day

Seeing as other people are quoting their favorite presidents, I will too:

It is not the critic who counts, nor the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows great enthusiasms, great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Back and Forth, Oh My

I haven't been blogging much the past couple of weeks. First I was on vacation/home renno time for a week and then I came back to the two busiest weeks of the year for someone in my profession. For any of you contemplating doing something similar, I'd say it is about as bright an idea as violating the golden 10% rule we are all beholden to.

Anyway, tonight the plan called for six miles. Lately, I've been letting go and just following my plan - no broad strokes or romantic dashes, just putting the old head down and following the plan. I decided to drive about a mile to a little section of graveled dike access road that covers about 1.8 miles if you start at one end and run it as an out and back circuit. I took Jonah and was looking forward to a quiet and peaceful time of easy rhythms, repetitive motion, and maybe some interesting podcasts.

What I forgot was that this little ribbon of gravel is the most noticeable landscape feature in a fairly densely populated residential area. The dike hugs the line where the floodplain meets the hills. By curtaining the floodplain in the 2.5 miles or so between two adjoining rivers our city planners created a pleasantly flat and dry area for suburbia to flourish. Now all the houses on the lower parts of the hill look down on the dike road and it towers gently above all the houses in the floodplain. Anyone standing in the kitchens of any of those houses probably looks at that .9 miles worth of trail and thinks to themselves, “Man, I really need to start getting some exercise.” Before I started training for a marathon (k-k-k-crazy!), I fit in here, slowing chugging through a leisurely almost two miles and then going home.

Tonight I arrived, right after dinner time, in my technical gear, with my hydration plan, ear buds, two-layer Wright socks, and a slight sense of unworthiness if my average mile pace were to creep above about 9 minutes. I did a quick out and back on another side road and then commenced running back and forth on the dike. I passed about 9 groups of walkers multiple times. At first I felt energized and flattered by their encouraging calls of “Hey, you’re a really good runner!” or “I’m going to be running like that in a week, right! Ha ha!”

I ran faster and faster, holding my head up and feeling good about myself. I was even pleased because my dog was better behaved than any of their dogs. Then I started to feel like a bit of a putz. I started to feel like that college sophmore who shows up at the high school party and flexes his muscles. Not like I’m Mr. Hotstuff or anything but I’ve graduated past the level where women feel uncomfortable about setting out to exercise and change themselves for the better without wearing a lot of makeup and hairspray and you see old men wearing jeans and work shoes who meet your eye aggressively as if daring you to question the proposition that they’re not actually there to exercise but are maybe instead simply walking to work… along the dike… at six thirty at night…

Tonight I went back to my old stomping ground and found out I’d outgrown it. As Ljisaak says, “2 months, 20 days.” Let’s roll.

Pints to Pasta 10k, Portland, OR, 09/11/05

IMAG0010
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

A more complete race report to follow when life gets less crazy.

Run Time:52.26
Run Dist: 6.31
Avg Pace: 08:18 per mile
Best Pace: 6.44 per mile (last .3 I sprinted)
Mile One: 8:01 (8.01)
Mile Two: 16:24 (8.23)
Mile Three: 25.03 (8.38)
Mile Four: 33.12 (8.10)
Mile Five: 41.50 (8.37)
Mile Six: 50.20 (8.30)
That Last Bit: 2.26 (6.44)

End of the Week Tomorrow

Sep 7, 2005	3
Sep 8, 2005	3.51

Remember alll those people who tell you to never ever violate the 10% rule? THEY'RE RIGHT! I didn't do any permanent damage, I don't think, with my indulgences last week but I came pretty close. I now know what ITB pain feels like. Yay!

I didn't run hardly at all this week. Partly to let myself recover and partly because I spent a good part of the week sanding a hardwood floor and just wasn't feeling up to running after a day on my knees.

Tomorrow will be my first formal running event since I started training for Vegas. Keith, Natalia, Brit, Lauren and the Moo are headed down to Portland for the Pints to Pasta 10k. I'm feeling 95% recovered and looking forward to it.

Belt Pic for Jeff

Belt Pic for Jeff
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Jeff asked for a pic of the hydration belt I got off Ebay and then asked my wife to modify for me. It can carry 16 oz. of fluid, my iPod, up to 4 goo packs, and my car key. There is also probably room for ammonia squirt bottle or a dog-be-gone sonicator, which I don't have but wish I did.

What the numbers signify:
1. The original velcro patch, which sewn behing the key pocket.

2.new velcro

3. old velcro

4. new velcro

This makes the belt about twice as tight as it used to be. It doesn't squish me or chafe but I wish the hip mounted fluid bottles were a bit further back. The belt also now overlaps one of the front goo or mace holsters. This is actually a good thing as you could now put something in there and have it stay more securely.

End of the week post

Weekly Total:31.08

Aug 30, 2005	3.60
Aug 31, 2005	7.17
Sep 1, 2005	4.56
Sep 3, 2005	15.75

This past week, at least as far as running goes, was a good one. The week before I took it easy and recuperated. This was necessary, and relaxing but boring. This week the batteries were charged up and I decided to fire off all the guns at once, as it were.

I've pretty much settled into a routine I like to call the Modified Beginner's Higdon. I think I do this mostly in an attempt to fool non-runners into thinking I know what I'm talking about when it comes to repeatedly putting one foot in front of the othere, but what it involves is waiting around for the Hal Higdon beginning marathoner's training plan to catch up to where I am now as I train for Vegas. While I'm waiting for Hal to catch up I feel free to improvise a little. Riona is in the homeland currently so she can't send me the warnings she has the full moral authority to send about exceeding my weekly mileage and getting ahead of myself, and besides, like they used to say, if it feels good, do it - right?

Anyway, what I do is run fast once around the lake on Tuesday. Its 3.6 or 3.7 miles around (depending on what mood the forerunner is in). I’ve taken to doing a lot of stretching and a little pre-run jog to warm up before I do my official once around. This past Tuesday I ran around the lake in 28 minutes and 47 seconds - faster than I ever have – faster than when I was in high school cross-country track. Yay thirty-two year old me! (moment of self love there). Wednesday I do my second highest mileage for the week, or two lakes. Thursday is the last work day of the week for me as we do four 10s in the summer. I usually do five slow miles in the heat of the day and then go home for a shower before going back to work for a few hours. Why its important to run during the work day on Thursday I’m not entirely sure but I think it is related to why frat and sorority student now hold drinking parties on Thursday nights – starting the weekend early. Friday is generally a day for getting the stuff done I can’t do when I’m working 10 to 16 hour days (depending on whether or not I have night school). There is usually some lazy time in there too. Then comes Saturday. This is the day I pour it on. I try to push myself to a new height each Saturday. I realize this will become a unobtainable goal as time goes one but for now, in the beginning, it is a heady pleasure. Sunday and Mondays are days of rest for me (I get two). By Tuesday I'm usually itching for my fast run.

Today I ran from my house out to where we used to live at the beach and back home again. I logged 15.75 miles on the forerunner, drank 32 oz of sugar water, and did two goo packets while preambulating. The hydration belt I got off the Internet (after flatman bought one) worked just fine after Brit sewed a few new Velcro patches into it (slipped over my non-gadonkadonk before the tightening up). I ran at the pace of a snail (and not the one from Never Ending Story) but I still ran about a mile and a half farther than I ever have in my life.

I can now run places. Running is a viable means of locomotion for me. I feel like I did at ten when I got a ten speed and could suddenly ride my bike to friend’s houses and again as a teenager when I could drive places. Now I can run to real places like work and back or to the beach. Soon I’ll be capable of running to neighboring communities. I probably won’t do that often but I’ll know I can do it. I’ll be walking around in my normal street cloths but I’ll be thinking, “Yah, if I wanted to right now, I could run to Kalama.”

Also exceeded 30 miles for the first time this week. Now I'm really thirty something!

Thanks to all of you who have participated in the shirt design project so far. One Internet friend told me that working on the shirt and thinking about Vegas in general helped lift her out of a week-long blue funk (Yay Part II!). I'm thinking we should keep soliciting input and then order the darned things in about the middle of October/early December.

If you’ve made it this far in this way too long posting, you qualify for Dear Reader status.

Thanks Dear Readers and good night.

And So to Beat a Dead Horse....

It sounds like people uniformly (get it?) prefer the left breast vs. the full chest logo. What do y'all think about resurecting the URL and putting it across the back below the Las Vegas Marathon text?

RBG Shirt Design 4

RBG Shirt Design 4
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

OK, Partyrunner's little sister spurred me on to further action, or further procrastination depending on your point of view.

Things I changed since version 3:
1. Took off the support staff designation. Nobody seemed to care whether we designate the wearer as runner or support. I sure didn't.
2. Decreased the size of the front and back printing so as to stay out of the seems.
3. Added "Las" to "Las Vegas" on back
4. Lost the url
5. Cut the river and the mountain edge on the left back some and made the mountain edge swoop down by 13 degrees more to clockwise.
6. Cut some out of the bottom edge of the mountain as I thought it looked too thick compared to the river and complete runner guy.

I can always change things back or change them further, depending on the consensus. Whaddiya all think?

Also, I'm not married to the design we have. If any of you want to put forth alternates for consideration, I'd be all for it.

Also, also, I added designs 4 and 5 to the design photo set.

SD

RBG Shirt Design 5

RBG Shirt Design 5
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Here is the shirt with the logo moved up to the left breast. Everything else is the same as design 4.

Socks to be Me

Socks to be Me
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Thanks Baby! Thanks Sis! I know that I'm loved.

Fly by Running Blog Post

We were gone for a three day weekend. I got my running in but not my blogging!

Week in recap:
The week before last, I really pushed it, piling on the miles during the week and then making a major jump forward on my long run. I've been tracking my training now for nine weeks now and running faster and longer with every week. I was also developing a collection of little twinges and aches so I decided to take a rest week. I still ran on all my assigned days but kept the distance and pushing to a minimum.

Aug 23, 2005	3.57
Aug 24, 2005	1
Aug 25, 2005	3.77
Aug 27, 2005	8

It seems to have worked. I'm happy to report a total lack of twinges, aches, pains, soreness or any other training related unpleasantness. Woo hoo! I feel tanned, rested, and ready for my first run of the week. I want to duplicate my week from before the rest week:

Aug 16, 2005	3.57
Aug 17, 2005	6.20
Aug 18, 2005	4.92
Aug 20, 2005	14.28

Forerunner update:
I took it with me to the weekend family reunion (which was with a group I see maybe once per decade and am not actually technically related to). I did eight slow miles in some very powdery sand, while listening to Steve Runner's recount of running the Falmoth (sp?) 10k road race - great stuff! The Garmin performed very well.

As recommended I set it to show my pace per lap and my lap distance to be one mile. I set it to beep at each mile but I’m probably going to cancel that as I have the ear buds in at the same time. After the run it was difficult to resist being antisocial and just sitting in the corner, playing with my new toy. I could see a simple little map, showing me leaving the beach house, crossing the dunes, and then running up and down the beach. The contour of the shore matched that of a map to be found in the house. I can’t wait to try out the recommended mapping software when I get all caught up (it could happen!). Thanks guys!

Calling on Garmin 201 Owners Everywhere

OK, tonight was marked by the maiden voyage of my new Forerunner 201. I didn't have any trouble getting it to synch with the satellites and didn't mess with laps or anything - just put it on and ran once around the lake like I did on Tuesday. Being able to see the miles tick off was great. I now know where the first mile mark is, the second, when I have reached the halfway point, etc.

Even though it was a good 20 degrees warmer today I was able to push it and run about as quickly. In fact, when I finished I was surprised to find that I was only 14 seconds slower for the entire run. The biggest surprise was that were the Parks Dept. website lists the trail length as being 3.57, Garmin measured 3.77. I don't know how the Parks people did their measurements. Did they follow the trail as it cuts in and under the various street bridges or did they simply circle the lake, cutting across the streets? I also don't how accurate the Forerunners are. What should I do - trust the government or my own electronics?

Happy Thursday To You

Rookie Runner Questions:
1. What is the difference between and ironman and a triathalon? Does triathalon refer to any number of events that involve the three activities but with swims, bikes, and runs of differing lenghts. Is there such thing as a half triathalon - a quinthalon?

2. How do you run down hill? Do you basically keep the same stride but try to go easy? Do you come down on your toes instead of the heel? Do you come down even more on the heel?

Ever get a few hours into your day and realize its really Friday when you thought it was Thursday? That is sort of what happened to me today. I work four tens in summer and just realized today isn't Wednesday. Woo Hoo! My butt and my office chair will not know each other tomorrow!

I've been taking it easy with the runs this week (as directed). Tuesday I did once around the lake. Plenty of hydration and stretching and unlike the Tuesday before I took it easy out of the starting gate. I had some shin soreness and this funny ache I have developed on the left side that starts below the inside of my ankle as my stride comes down that shoots up and around the front. After about the first mile or mile and a half I loosened up and both pains went away. I poured a little more on, a little more, and by the time I got to the last section I was flying along, passing people left and right. Who knows, I might have even have been able to keep up with Jeff or Keith for that last mile. I got a bit of a sideache which I welcomed because I'm trying to learn to push my lungs and breathing to the max and then learn how to combat or overcome sideaches. I ended up with an overall 8.27 with the first mile probably being closer to a ten. My overall average since I've started running (according to coolrunning) is a 9.27, so I was making pretty good time.

Yesterday turned out to be a 13 hour work day but I still put in a little run before going home to my darling sweet bed. I'll do another short easy run tonight and then this weekend I'm going to run on the beach. Woo hoo!

Running Toys:
I got a Forerunner 201 for my birthday. Set phasers to stun! Yay!
My third iPod Shuffle in a month and a half crapped out on me. Apple - Boo!
Hydration belt off Ebay and on its way. Look out long runs in rural places!

----------------------------------------------------------
Addendum to this post, Added 08/25/05 12:43 PST
I called the Apple support number (on my ten minute break of course), was on hold for less than a minute, and they were on their way to sending me a new one within another 4-5 minutes. The technician said, and I quote, "Sounds like your audio jack is totally bonk."

If this time goes like last time, the courier will have the new one in my hand in a little over 24 hours. I guess Apple is striving hard to maintain that whole cool/customer service thing. Maybe I'll fill this next one with cool music, hook a solar panel power supply into the USB port and encase the whole thing, cord and all, in a solid cube of lucite.

Going for my run in T-minus 3 hours, ten minutes.

Elvis Says "No."

From :
Sent : Wednesday, August 24, 2005 1:36 AM
To : "Clark Creek"
Subject : Re: New Las Vegas Marathon Question


No

>-----Original Message-----
>From: Clark Creek [mailto:cchome@hotmail.com]
>Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 11:01 AM
>To: elvis@newlasvegasmarathon.com
>Subject: New Las Vegas Marathon Question
>
>Hi,
>
>Will there be any other distances run on December 4th, 2005 besides 26.2.
>The website talks about the marathon and lists results for last year's half
>marathon but makes no mention of a half this year. Will there be one?
>
>Thanks,
>Scott

Mileposts

Warning; long rambling description of one day’s run follows. If you don’t have a few minutes, hit your Back Button now.

OK Internet, I have confession to make. I was bad. It was fun and exciting but I know it was wrong and could ultimately lead to me getting hurt so I promise I won’t do it again. I’d like to especially apologize to Riona, to whom I particularly promised that I wouldn’t over do the training.

All that being said, I think that yesterday I may just have had my best run ever to date – both as a distance accomplishment and as an experience. For the past several Saturdays my long run has been three times around Lake Sacajawea which is 3.57 miles around and a long narrow former slough. Yesterday I did four lakes, or 14.28 miles. Ten years ago, once or twice, I ran around the perimeter of the base in Japan, which was 14.2 miles. Yesterday I ran the perimeter of Misawa Airbase, plus about the average of one trip to the bathroom. I was 21 or 22 back then and could to stupid things like running 14 miles with little preparation. Today is my 32^nd birthday and the training I’ve done over the past several months is paying off.

I did my warm up, stretching, hydration, took my hammer gel after the second circuit and by the end of the third was feeling really good. I took a second gel, stretched for about a minute and then set off for a fourth loop. Running down to the other end of the lake and then starting around the other side, I continued to feel good and like a ship chugging along with all my diesels firing in a line. Then I got this funny sensation of warmth in my quads and calves like someone had poured warm butter down my shorts. I was passing the family picnic park area where I usually have to run through a drifting fog of baked beans and roasting hot dogs smell, but the sensation had nothing to do with greasy oil. My muscles had actually reached fatigue. I was feeling the burn. That hasn’t happened to me since the first week or so of training. Losing my breath, or getting a sore tendon or knee or something, sure, that happens all the time, but my muscles actually tiring before something else starts to quit? Nosir.

As I got to the steel foot bridge that means that my car is only about one quarter of the lake ahead, I got the strangest chill. The temperature was in the upper seventies but suddenly I felt so cold that I almost shivered. Was I bonking? Would a leg soon fall off? I don’t know what caused the chill but it went away almost as quickly as it came on. Somewhere around this time a podcast came on. It was one I’d never listened to before by an English audio enthusiast who was describing and then demonstrating different rates of echo and reverb added to an audio track of himself speaking. He had a really heavy accent that I could barely understand and he kept replacing words with nonsense words that sounded almost like the word replaced so that you could still make out the meaning of the sentence. I think the English call it rhyming slang. All the echoes and reverberation were making me feel sick and dizzy and I felt like this guy was an unwelcome guest in my skull. Suddenly my iPod, which is usually a trusted ally against the physical discomfort and mental boredom of a long run, had turned against me. I punched the next track button several times in succession and ended up with an Iron Maiden track which wasn’t great but was still an improvement. (Note to self; add The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Maiden to iPod). The areas of directly sunlit trail and areas of under tree shadow are also particularly vivid in my memory from this stretch of the run. I assume I must have been starting to suffer from low blood sugar by this point.

About halfway between the steel bridge and my car I developed a mean stitch in my side. It was really low and in the front, right about where your tummy gets tired first when you do sit-ups. Suddenly I really had to work to keep breathing. My body was drumming along just fine but I couldn’t get any air. I’ll be damned if I was going to quit because of that. If a muscle or joint or something had started really complaining I’d have stopped and walked but as far as I know it is just about impossible to hurt yourself from pushing through a stitch in your side – your diaphragm isn’t going to tear or your lungs come spooning up through a nostril. I concentrated as hard as I could on taking in a full breath and then letting it out again. I could see the tail end of my car ahead of me but it was like traveling across the plains, looking at the mountains that never seem to get any closer even though you go and go. A couple of times I sort of snapped out of it as my stride broke from a run into a walk and stumbled back into a run. Some of you might know what its like to be so tired that you fall asleep while marching. It is like dreaming and being awake at the same time – a feeling I hadn’t felt in a long time, like my body kept trying to hold a quorum while I was away and vote to start walking. Then suddenly I was there. I tore off the ear buds, grabbed a bottle of Gatorade and did a little victory cool down walk. I had just done something I couldn’t even imagine doing three months ago.

Today I played golf and worked in the studio for several hours. I carried my son on my shoulders through the woods to my parent’s house without any aching or fatigue. When I roll my ankle I can feel a little tightness in my calves. My quads are a tad bit sore and my shins are a little warm but overall I feel pretty good. I’m going to take it easy, not running for the next two days and then keeping the mileage low for a few more. I think I got away with it. I ran four lakes and like the saying goes, they can’t take that away from me.

RBF Vegas Technical Shirt Design 3

RBF Vegas Technical Shirt Design 3
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

I don't care if you're headed to the Vegas Marathon or not or whether you're even a running or know any runners. What do you think of this proposed design? What works? What doesn't work? What should change, stay the same?

Email me if you'd like a higher res. image.

rbf2

rbf2
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

Jeff did a little research into online shirt printers, shocking me out of my lethargy and general slackerness in the process. He found one site that will print on technical shirts and that sounds good to me - I've got a drawer full of mostly unworn cotton tees already too.

If you want an RBF shirt to wear in or to the Vegas marathon, go to the site and review their options for logo location, size, etc. The next question is should we place one order or each place our own. I’m willing to be the one to place the order if we want to go that route. I could either mail you your shirt or just hand it to you in the land of sun and slots. If you place your own order, I can email you the image I created, but you’ll end up paying the shipping and have the hassle with the logo image. Another question we should address is what to say on the back. Any suggestions for something different than what I have on the example image?

Please make a comment on this post if you are interested in Vegas shirts, saying how many you want and which way you think we should go on the shipping/ordering issue.

Thanks,
SD

I've got nothing to complain about so I won't do it

I'm healthy, in my prime, and I get to run whenever I want to but I find myself strangely unsatisfied after last night's run. I ran around the lake once, which is what my training plan calls for. My time was a little lower than average. I had a little lingering pain but nothing amazing. The 40-something Hispanic guy who usually glowers at me as we pass even smiled at me for the first time so I’m not sure what my problem is. I think maybe I’ve gotten used to being able to report big gains and spoiled by that being the status quo. According to coolrunning, this is the 8^th week since I started seriously training. I guess I should own up to the fact that after two months the amazing gains are going to come to an end and its going to be slow, steady progress for a while. According to the Hidgon plan I’m supposed to be doing 3/4/3/5 this week and I’m doing 3.5/7/5/12 so I guess I should count my blessings and stop being such a gain-junkie.

Nope, not yet anyway

I haven't gotten my packet for the Vegas run yet. Has anyone else? Have you? Huh? Have you? huh? huh?

Week in Review and More about Vegas Tees

I had a pretty good week with my highest total mileage since I started keeping track and a successful long run.

Aug 9, 2005	3.57
Aug 10, 2005	6
Aug 11, 2005	4
Aug 13, 2005	10.71

I was thinking we could get cotton tees printed up for the non-runners that were all one color and logo (I was think orange too Riona!) and then make up a stencil that runners could apply to the shirt they will run in. I could just mail the stencils to people and hand over the teeshirts on the Saturday before the run at Jeff's shindig, which I assume we'll all be attending? Whadiya think?

Bath of Ice, Nipples of Fire

Quick post, here, about today's run. I'll post more later about the run shirts idea. I'm really pleased that so many people are interested. Party in Vegas!

Ran the same run today as last Saturday - three times around Lake Sacajawea, which is 10.7 miles (17.2 Kanadian Miles). Unlike last week, it was hot hot hot today, at least by local standards. I drank all of my liquids (two liters) and sweated it all out apparently as I weighed 3 pounds less when I got home than I did yesterday at about the same point in the day. I was a good half a minute per mile slower than usual but felt pretty good all the way through and had to restrain myself from increasing the mileage. I'll let myself do that next Saturday if all goes well.

Peace Out,
SD

RBFs

RBFs
Originally uploaded by gene_poole. Brit asked me to think about possible teeshirt designs for those who will be in Vegas with the idea being that the runners are more likely to recognize the cheering squad if they are all a mass of one color.

Any thoughts?

Long Training Babble

playlist
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

So far I'm on track this week for my training runs.

Tuesday I was feeling pretty good by the time I got to running, in spite of not eating right or stretching enough, and so I decided to pick up the pace on my short run. Normally I make no effort what so ever to run any faster than my feet want to. Out of curiousity I decided to try to run a little faster and see what happened. I don't know if that was what caused it, the not stretching, the new shoes or what but man, did I get the worst shin pain I've had in a long time. It seemed to echo or reverberate with every footfall. I tried stopping to stretch a couple of times. Running on the grass seemed to help somewhat and it receded to a dull thump by about mile 2 or 2.5. I ended up running an 8.27 pace, which is about a minute lower per mile than usual but it wasn't fun. Maybe I'll try a fast run again next Tuesday and see if I can manage it with the shin soreness this time.

Yesterday I was still a little apprehensive and almost didn't go running but in the end decided to take the dogs and run on the road at our house, which means running hills, or more specifically one moderately sized hill up at the end. I went really slowly and felt my legs relax and loosen up in the first couple of miles. I ended up doing six miles and quit not because I was tired but because it was getting late and I'd said I would cook dinner.

Tonight is a moderately long trip around the lake. Woo hoo! Can't wait.

SD

Long Training Babble

playlist
Originally uploaded by gene_poole.

So far I'm on track this week for my training runs.

Tuesday I was feeling pretty good by the time I got to running, in spite of not eating right or stretching enough, and so I decided to pick up the pace on my short run. Normally I make no effort what so ever to run any faster than my feet want to. Out of curiousity I decided to try to run a little faster and see what happened. I don't know if that was what caused it, the not stretching, the new shoes or what but man, did I get the worst shin pain I've had in a long time. It seemed to echo or reverberate with every footfall. I tried stopping to stretch a couple of times. Running on the grass seemed to help somewhat and it receded to a dull thump by about mile 2 or 2.5. I ended up running an 8.27 pace, which is about a minute lower per mile than usual but it wasn't fun. Maybe I'll try a fast run again next Tuesday and see if I can manage it with the shin soreness this time.

Yesterday I was still a little apprehensive and almost didn't go running but in the end decided to take the dogs and run on the road at our house, which means running hills, or more specifically one moderately sized hill up at the end. I went really slowly and felt my legs relax and loosen up in the first couple of miles. I ended up doing six miles and quit not because I was tired but because it was getting late and I'd said I would cook dinner.

Tonight is a moderately long trip around the lake. Woo hoo! Can't wait.

SD

Vegas or Bust:

I added a new sidebar item today:

These are folks that I know to be headed to the Vegas Marathon. Who have I missed?

• Brit


• Drew


• Front Range Runner


• Jeff


• Keith n Natalia


• Party Runner


• Riona

Week in Review

Miles/Times:
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: One Lake, 3.57 miles, 33:19 (9:19/mile)
Wednesday: Two Lakes, 7.14 miles, 1:06:03 (9:15/mile)
Thursday: Farked Off
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 10.71, 1:43:41 (9:40/mile)
Sunday: Rest

All in all I had a good week. Even though I skipped a training run for the first time since I started keeping track I had a really good long run. I ran farther and felt better than at anytime previously - a physical high that carried on until sometime Sunday when I managed to finally beat it back into submission by eating bratwurst and drinking beer all afternoon.

A Day of Firsts

I went down to the lake today for my long run and to test out my new gear. Thanks to Jeff, Keith, and everybody else who made recommendations.

This is like a party day for me - getting to run basically as far as I want without having to stop for fear of over training. I wore the new name brand technical gear I bought yesterday and also applied the new body glide I bought yesterday. Other firsts included two 32 ouncers of gatorade I mixed up and froze, a packet of vanilla flavored Hammer goo stuff, a ventilated hat, double layered Wright socks, socks and two sweat bands - basically my entire haul from yesterday minus the new shoes. The sales guy yesterday recommended that I put vasoline on the bottoms of my feet to help prevent blisters. Even though I forgot to try that, the blister on the ball of my left foot that I got last week while jackassing around with the jogging stroller and crummy socks didn't seem to get any worse.

The longest run I've done up to now was last Sunday when I ran 8 miles. Today I did three lakes, which is 10.71 miles. I hydrated and changed my head sweat sopper uppers every circuit and took the Hammer gel one hour and seven minutes into the run. That was a disconcerting new sensation. I didn't get cotton mouth, dry lips, general haziness or any of the other rad symptoms of depletion I have experienced in the past. I felt like I could run a fourth time around with no troubles by the time I finished the third circuit but even I'm not that stoopid..

On the way home I stopped and bought two blocks and a bag of ice and had my first ice bath. In honor of Jon in Michigan I also got some Oberto Beef Jerky (which I never once dropped in the bath). I tried Jeff's method of putting regular bath temp water in at first and then diluting that with colder water out of the tap. I don't know if ice baths really help with your tendons and stiffness or not but it sure was pleasurable. I stretched in the tub and rubbed the ice down my shins and muscles. I know what is going to be waiting for me in my hotel room freezer in Vegas.

Shopping Trip Success

Well, I finally made it down to Portland. I ended up getting everything I wanted at the first store I came to, which was Portland Running Co. The guy asked me about my running schedule, then poked around inside my shoe, scrutinized the outside and sole and then had me run down the block and back. Then he asked me if I've been experiencing the exact pains in the exact places I've had on days when I push it - thereby establishing major credability in my book. I tried on some Nikes, which as always, were too narrow and ended up with some Brooks Adrenaline GTS 5s with more support on the inside of the foot than my old New Balances had. I tried on a size 15 but ended up taking home the 14 2Es, which is one size bigger that my street shoes generally run.

Off for a long run today. Gotta have my first experience with the Hammer Gel I bought a whole box of yesterday.

Checkity Check It

Check out the new duds. Skin by Zoot. Today, I officially have the coolest running blog around!

Easy day yesterday - twice around the lake at a nice slow pace. Today is supposed to be freakishly hot so I'm going to wait until tonight to run. Am taking my son in the joggers. Should be fun.

Places to visit this weekend for the long awaited shoe buying binge:

• Portland Running Co.
• Fit Right Northwest
• Foot Traffic - this one actually got two recommends; one from Athena and one of coolrunning

Did I miss anything obvious?

All Systems Go, No Spacewalks Required

Every morning now, when I first get out of bed, I do a careful physical inventory. One of the first thoughts that goes through my head as I begin to sort the day ahead is what my running goals for the day are. As I walk around the house I begin to semiconsciously check those goals against what I'm feeling - knees OK? Check shins? Check Ankles?

Today I feel pretty good physically. I this is the second week of my newly modified workout regime and I'm still very curious as to whether it will be sustainable. I think, for me, the slow steady progression of 10% increase in overall mileage per week might not be such a good idea as making a small advance, holding and normalizing on it for a few weeks and then stabbing forward again.

What do you think? Its this marathon training heresy? Courting disaster? Pretty durned ordinary?

Week in Review

Monday: none
Tuesday: 3.57 on the flat
Wednesday: 7.14 on the flat
Thursday: 5.03 on the flat
Friday: none
Saturday: none
Sunday: 8.2 miles with hills

By and large I had a good running week. I'm incrementally increasing my mileage and adding in new challenges like hills and jogging strollers without any real hint of injury thus far. Yesterday I ran over a mile further than my longest run to date. Woo hoo! The trip to the running store got postponed until this coming Saturday - allowing me to hopefully benefit from the comments made by those of you who emailed me while my crapp-o comments were broken.

I am supposed to start the Hal Higdon training schedule for the Vegas marathon officially today. I’ve been sort of following it for the past month or so since I decided to do the run and now at the official starting of the schedule I’m ahead of where I should be, at least according to the plan. I decided to sort of modify the Higden three shorts and a long plan. I've been wanting to add more total mileage but not do it in a haphazard fashion. Instead of running three short maintenance runs all of the same length during the week I decided to try the following:

Monday: rest
Tuesday: shortest run of the week
Wednesday: second longest run of the week - about what Hal says I should be running
Thursday: don't push it. I won't make myself stay at the short run recommended by the training schedule but I won't go too much past it.
Friday: rest
Saturday: rest
Sunday: Long run - challenge myself to run further than I have. Don't make myself stop unless my body is seriously protesting, go for the runner's high!

I don't want to set myself up for a training injury. Does anyone think the proposed is too risky?