Pottruck

Mondays are easy days: 3.5mi on the 'mill, lifted legs.

Pretty pretty.... shoes?

I have some serious brand loyalty to Asics (going back to volleyball; bought a pair of Mizunos once and they sucked!). My current ones have about 350 miles on them and with REI's Member sale, a sweet dividend, and three gift cards burning a hole in my pocket... it seemed like time to order some new shoes. The 2100s were great, 2110s were not--all squishy and soft, and 2120s have been wonderful. Hoping 2130s are even better.

Loop

The ICFP deadline is getting close, but I managed to get away from the paper long enough to run.

I did the East Falls Loop today, ending at TJ's. The all-important numbers: 10.75mi in 1h22m = 7:38 pace. I didn't push it at all today, and just tried to enjoy a long run. It was a nice way to cap off a 54 mile week.

Saw a few friends: Darren and Jen rode by on their new bikes (and gave me a high-five as they zoomed by) around Walnut St, and I stopped briefly just before Sweetbriar to chat to Katie, who was running Strawberry Mansion CCW (I almost always go CW).

Kelly Drive was closed due to a crew race early, so there was the most amazing quiet on the return leg. You forgot how noisy the city is sometimes. I was glad my iPod ran out of juice so I got to (not) hear everything.

[Long Boring Race Report] A PR of sorts...

It was a good race ...except for that whole following the course part.

This morning was the modestly named "Race for Humanity" at USP. I don't really feel in 5k shape yet, but I really wanted to race. So my goals were to run hard, and finish under 20.

The race started at 9, so I woke up around 7, ate some breakfast, and hit the road for a warmup run around 8. Ran around the hood, then over the South St Bridge, around the hospital, and finished with a few strides, pulling in to the registration table right around 8.30. Got my bib, found my friend Jen milling around the start, and went with her for some more light jogging. Came back with about 5 to go, checked the course map (but did not check close enough!)--it looked like two loops around a Woodland / 46th / Larchmont / 43rd, with spurs to/from the starting line. Jen and I and walked over and got ready near the start.

The starting gun went off sooner than I expected, and although I was in the third or fourth row of people, I got caught behind a row of three slow college kids and felt the main pack of runners rush by. It was windy, so I wanted to tuck in and draft someone doing sub-7 pace for the first 3-4 minutes, so after we turned the corner onto Woodland, I closed the gap back to the pack with all the action, and got in behind a guy about my age. Most of the next half mile was up a hill, but we started passing people (who all started faster than they could sustain). Then the crest, and I fell into what feels like a fast pace, and it's easy. I noticed the first mile marker go by in 6:39, and given the slow start and hill, I start to feel pretty good about my chances.

We zoom down the hill and I scoot across another gap and make contact with the group ahead. People are really fading now, but I feel better and better. Ahead of us there's a guy with some HS XC shirt on, and I move through the group and try to make a move up to him. The course loops around to Woodland and back up the same hill, and I catch up on the hill and tuck on in behind him for the windy climb. I missed mile 2, but as we crest the hill the second time, I make a move and try to open up a little gap. Then I hear him behind me and he makes a surge as we come down the hill on 43rd the second time. I stay with him, and as we approach Woodside and the USP gym, we're running side by side.

Now, the course was two loops, and there were race marshalls near the bottom of the hill pointing people we'd just lapped around to the second loop. I should have been thinking about figuring out which way to turn, but I was so focused on XC dude, I make a little surge and hang a right. I'm ahead all of a sudden (in hindsight, he was probably trying to figure out which way to turn and slowed), but he stays behind me and starts following me back up the hill. We go another few hundred feet before I catch my breath just enough to say "where's the finish?!". He goes "Oh shit!" and we look behind us to see the pack that was behind us turning towards the driveway. Oh shit, indeed.

We turn around and backtrack towards the finish. When I see the chute I kick hard, but with our detour, we cross in 20:4x. Shit!! I pat him on the back as we exit the chute and say sorry for leading him off the course. So, I have no idea what my 5k time was. But I now have a 5.2k PR! Woohoo! Uh, yeah. Not actually so exciting.

Even so, while I'm pretty pissed that I don't get to know what my finish time would have been, I am pleased that I ran a strong race, and am confident it would have been in the 19s (= sub 6:30 pace.) Those were the two goals I was shooting for... so, on the whole, a good day. And looking forward to another in a few weeks.

Call it 3 mile warmup + 3.2mi race for 6.2?

Easy

Just something to stretch the legs: 2.25mi in 15;20.

I'm excited for tomorrow. I don't know what will happen, but I'm excited.

Loop

A smidge under 12 miles in a 1h27m = 7:19 pace. Tomorrow is going to be super easy cause I'm racing on Saturday!!

Racing...

I'm not really in shape for it yet, but I think I'm gonna do a few in the next few weeks: USP 5k, Clean Air 5k, then BSR 10 miler.

A good run...

...is one that's done! Ugh. Low energy today, and I'm not sure why. Last week I did some kinda-sorta-tempo-ish runs, but not really anything that counts as genuine speedwork, so I knew today had to be the day. Warmed up with an AM / Spring Garden / 34th St loop, then did 6x800 @ 6:15ish pace (start at 6:27, then down the ladder to 6:08) and 90s recovery between on the treadmill. Overall, I felt meh about this workout. On the one hand, I felt shitty going in but better towards the end; on the other hand, I feel like I should have been ready to really attack it. Meh. Next week I'll do hills, and the week after, it should be bright enough to do my intervals at Franklin Field.

Numbers: 6.75mi in 26:30 + 19:45 running time.

Grace Kelly's Daddy

Ran up to the John B. Kelly statue near the Columbia Bridge, then stopped at TJ's for groceries on the way home. The Schulykill
wind nipped at my tail on the out leg, then blew in my face on the return. The numbers: 6.75mi, had a watch but didn't time it (crude estimate is 50min ~ 7:25 pace.)

A Goal

Broad Street Run didn't happen for me last year. I was all revved up for the race--had had a great last Loop the Sunday before, and a nice mini-taper. I biked down to the Linc to pick up my bib, and was on my way to Reading Terminal to pick up some supplies for a big pasta dinner party I was hosting when... the last thing I remember is "oh shit! pothole!"

My next memory is coming to and trying to stand up, and then a very nice stranger telling me to sit down and wait for the ambulance. In the end, modulo some nasty bruises, a busted helmet, and a cracked molar, I was fine. But Tita Mary convinced me that I was insane to try to race.

This year I am determined to race and I want to reach one of my long-standing time goals: 10 miles in 65 minutes. That's probably a bit of a stretch, but one has to aim high, right?

Strawberry Mansion

Got home late after a long day on campus preparing the PODS camera-ready version. Had a big snack, then hit Strawberry the Mansion loop. I felt GREAT today and very nearly just Loop'd it, but decided to stick to the original plan. I had a nice kick on the way home for once. It's amazing how cycling will loosen your legs up. The numbers: 9.75mi in 1h11m42s = 7:22 pace.

I've switched my workout log to Running Ahead at the beginning of the month. I really like being able to save routes, track miles on each pair of shoes I have, and graph my miles. Here are the last two weeks. Notice how much of a step-back last week was from two weeks ago.

Easter Ride

If I had two Sundays, I would have done a long ride and a long run. But, alas, I only get one Sunday a week. So given how creaky my legs have been feeling, I picked the ride, carrying on a sort-of tradition of cycling on Easter ('07 I ran the loop around Dru Hill with C2, then down to Inner Harbor, it appears). Today was a just under 40mi in just over 2hrs loop out in the west burbs (Merion, Narbeth, Villanova, Radnor, Haverford, etc.) Hooray for biking.

Objects on the map...

...may be shorter than they appear. Ran a new loop. I figured it'd be safely over 6mi, but it's only 5.8! Sheesh. Probably better anyways: I was feeling sluggish today.

Montgomery

Got my legs back! I'm finally feeling normal again. Didn't want to go too hard and blow the weekend, but did the Montgomery / Belmont / Concourse / Lemon Hill loop, ending at TJ's. 8.2mi, no clock (but around 1hr.)

Windy!

Sweetbriar / Lemon Hill / AM loop = just over 6mi in 45 min. I'm kind of proud of that time, given the conditions. It was wicked windy and, in typical Schyulkill fashion, felt like it swirled around so that it was a headwind for 90% of the run.

Botched.

Damn. If I was a little tight yesterday, I was damn sore today. Anyone know why the hurt from a hard workout doesn't kick in until the second day? I've never understood it.

It was raining decently hard, and though I like running in the rain, running in the dark and rain is less pleasant. So I hopped on the mill and did a 3mi warmup (22min). Then was going to do mile repeats at around [what I think my] 5k pace [should be], but after the first one (6:2x) I could tell my legs were shot. So I changed plans and did the AM / Spring Garden 3mi loop. Around 7.75mi in 54 non-contiguous minutes.

Tuesday 8

My legs were very sore today (must not neglect lifting!) I got stuck on campus until late, and was not looking forward to running: it was either going to be a cold one outside, or a boring one indoors. Finally got to Pottruck around 7.30, and realized I didn't have a lock so I had to bike home and run outside. The upside was, I got to dress properly: winter hat, tights, ziptop.

Things started out slow and stiff, but up around the AM I started to loosen up. The hill up Montgomery really loosened me up and I felt great coming down the Concourse and down to Sweetbriar. Barely noticed the heavy rain falling on the last four miles. Ended at TJ's. Verdict: a nice recovery run.

Totals: 8.2 in 1h0m20s = 7:21 pace (which agrees exactly with the one measured mile on W River Dr I noticed the splits for.)

Nothing to see here...

Took it easy today with a Pottruck workout.

3mi treadmill run. Easy warmup for first 10 minutes, then up the ladder to finish at 9.2mph. 21:20 total.

Then full leg lifting circuit: press, quad + hamstring dodads, lunges, calf raises. 3 sets each, 12-20 reps depending on the exercise.

Then lots of stretching.

SuperLoop®

This afternoon I ran the Ridge Ave extension of the Loop, just a hair under 13mi, in 1h34m19s for 7:18 pace. Started slow, and into a headwind on the W River Drive. Was chasing a guy running at almost the same pace from the turnoff near the AM all the way up to the Falls Bridge. Finally caught him right as he turned right onto Kelly Drive and I turned left up to Ridge. Hit the turnaround and the headwind turned into a tailwind. I felt good, so I decided to rev it up. Ran at just under 7:00 pace back for the four measured miles down to Lloyd Hall (then took it easier for the stop-start-stop-start couple of miles down the Parkway and 22nd). A nice capstone to a 58 mile week!

Princeton, Philly

Am in Princeton for spring break 2008!!

Friday: rest day.

Saturday AM: woke up and did a 6mi jaunt with Johanna down the towpath off the back of Lake Carnegie. We ran at a nice but conversational (=7:47) pace for 46:5x.

Saturday PM: came back to a beautiful afternoon and felt like getting a short run in. Did the AM loop, so 3.5ish?

The Loop

Ran the East Falls Loop. 11.5mi, time unknown (took off watch to wear my HRM but then forgot to put it on!)

Repeats

I am sick again, and have been having trouble sleeping (woke up at 6am the last two days, hungry). My body wanted to hit the gym, but my head wanted to sleep. I dragged myself to Pottruck and... as soon I got on the 'mill, everything was good. The numbers: 3mi warmup in 22min, then 3x1600 in 6:41, 6:32, 6:23. That's not really a proper speedworkout, but given how I felt, I'll take it.

Strawberry Mansion

Ran to my favorite bridge. Pretty bridge, but not a pretty run. I ate too much food about an hour before setting out, and I ran the first bit too fast (mile one = ~7:00). The stomach cramps started around mile 3 and continued in waves through mile 7, when I ducked in to Lloyd Hall to use the loo. I stopped the clock for that break, so unlike most of my times, this is not wall-clock time. 9.6mi in 1h13m = 7:40ish pace while running.

Megh. My running has no specificity right now. No real long runs, no real hard runs. Just 6-10 miles most days at middle-7 pace. I guess that's OK for building a training base, but it's about time to mix things up again.

Back on it

Joy of Sets crashed out of playoffs tonight, sadly. I'm not too upset--we lost to the best remaining team (mixture of USP club teams, I guess?)--but we were better than them! The two things that killed me were (1) a horrible whistle for two touches when there was clearly a block between the first and second hit, and getting stuck in a rotation for 4 or 5 points in the second game, finally siding out and DECIDING NOT TO ROTATE!?! Ok, ok, it's what we always do, but given how much trouble we were having in that rotation, I would have tried to move along as quickly as possible. Instead, we ended up 8-2 down when we finally sided out again. (Take away that deficit and we actually won the remainder of the game.) Oh well. I was actually quite impressed with how our beginners played. We have a "full spectrum" of talent, and played some pretty damn scrappy defense at times.

Running: before the game I ran home to campus (a little over a mile; not worth mentioning except that I was very late and ended up running it about as fast as I could). After I ran home from Manayunk. The route is shown, and turns out to be 8 miles on the nose. I ran it in 1hr2sec, = exactly 7:30 pace. I need to do some higher intensity stuff. I have been doing higher mileage than I had been doing this winter, "and that's cool..." but I want to run fast at Broad Street. While high mileage is what I feel like doing right now, I can't neglect speedwork like I did last year.

Sunday

It was not the day I expected. I woke up early and did another morning workout--a bike ride through West Fairmount Park. It was a difficult ride for two reasons: (1) the wind was very strong today, and I seemed to be riding into it for much of the ride and (2) I kept running into road closures due to the Philly Phlyer team time trial taking place in and around the Belmont Plateau. I went a little slower due to the first, and I discovered some new roads due to the second. A nice way to start the day. Picture is of my loop. I think it was around 15mi?

Hosted the Harmony team (BCP + Michael) for a research meeting chez moi, got our door knob fixed, and then headed out for a run as the sun was setting. I didn't have a plan: was ready to run anything from the Art Museum to Manayunk. The same wind was blowing into my face and although I haven't run long in a few days, my legs were kind of tired. I really could have pushed for 5 or 6 without a problem but I decided to convert it into recovery run instead. Cruised an easy 4mi in about 30 minutes.

Evening 5

Caught a break in the rain and did a bookend run. Easy pace, unknown time, 5.5mi.

Morning 4

Friday: I got all dressed to run last night and decided that I really didn't feel like being out in the rain.

Today: Woke up this morning to even heavier rain, so went straight to the gym. Did a fast (for me) 4.25mi on the 'mill at Pottruck: 8.2mph to start, up the ladder to 9.3mph. Hit 3mi in 21:1x or so, 3.5 in 24:3x and 4 in 27:4x. Then cruised a quarter-mile cooldown. Running in the morning is so great. I should do it more often.

The Loop

Ran the East Falls Loop: 11.5mi in something like 1.5h (didn't wear a watch, so that's a crude, conservative estimate.) The last 2-3 miles got a little hard, but just tried to keep my stride long and run steady. This has been a good running week: am on 42 miles and its only Thursday.

I've been asked to be on the PLAN-X '09 PC! My first (and probably a sign that its time to get my graduation on) The PC co-chairs wrote this in their invitation:

Your help would be instrumental in ensuring the PL-DB balance in the PC.

Um which way do I tip the balance? :-)

A definition

re·cov·er·y run (rĭ-kŭv'ə-rē rŭn)
n., An easy workout that leaves you feeling stronger at the finish than you felt at the start.

Woke up feeling a little creaky and by the end of along day on campus, was even creakier. Hopped on the mechanical trail for 3 treadmiles in 21:0x, then hit the real pavement for this loop out to the AM and back via Spring Garden (untimed; around 25min). Total was 6.4mi in 46-ish? Legs felt great at the end. Toying with the idea of Loop'ing it tomorrow.

Let's do ten.

Was planning a treadmill run, but two miles in I decided to head outside. There are only so many days in Philadelphia in the 50s-60s, and Pottruck was stuffy. I didn't have a distance goal in mind--figured I'd do 4-5--but then I felt good when I hit Girard, so I continued up to Belmont/Montgomery for an 8mi loop.

The numbers: 2 miles in 14:50, then 8 windy miles in 1h1m = 10mi in 1h15m50s = 7:36 pace. The analysis: it felt good to run longer than I've been doing mid-week, but I did not feel fast (as the time reflects). For comparison: I like to see how fast I cover the measured mile on MLK (this factors out the warmup and early hills on this loop). The past few times that mile has gone by in around 6:40; today it took 7:04.

Manayunk

Joy of Sets won our playoff game, 2-0. Then I went for beer, pizza, and fries at the Bayou, and then decided to run home. What a mistake: the combination of being tired from waking up at 5am, dehydrated from playing vb and drinking beer, and bloated from the junk food... it was not pretty. If I felt strong on Sunday, I felt as weak last night. I soldiered through to Lloyd Hall, and my head was aching/spinning so I just walked it home from there. Yikes.

Monkton

Saturday: was hosting/driving down with Ted and DNR.

Sunday: Trail run at the NCRT in Monkton. 8.44mi in 1h0m26s = 7:09 pace. Wasn't keeping splits throughout, but did for one of the last measured miles, and it came in at 6:29. I can do faster.