Flamed Out...Like a Boss!

This weekend, I'll admit, I fell off the wagon. I suspect many runners go through this sort of post-race drift. Where your body is no longer as exhausted and tender as it was the 24 hours after your race, but your mind remains in a stupor.

I ran a few times last week, but nowhere near to the schedule I had set for myself. I kept saying, "Well, another day won't hurt. I need tor est. I'll get my long run in on Saturday/Sunday and it'll be fine." The same could be said about yoga, which I skipped on Thursday. Thursday was also my wedding anniversary, so it was a convenient screen to cover up my own laziness. In the end, I went through this weekend having logged 5 measly miles, versus the 15 I had aimed for, plus the Sunday morning yoga class.

But, like I said, I think that's to be expected somewhat and I'm past the point of beating myself up over it. Instead, I chose to re-focus on this week of training. This morning I got out for my usual 4 miler, but made the rookie mistake of trying to run it hard, which was dumb. What's worse, I KNEW it was dumb as I was doing it. Yet I continued on anyway. Needless to say, I flamed out in fine fashion on the return trip up to Mt. Vernon, although my overall time was still completely fine. So, I probably won't do that again for a few months...I hope. But it felt great to get back out, and the unseasonably warm weather (it's nearly 80 here today) made the dark pre-dawn run less painful. January's runs won't be so enjoyable, I think.

Training for what, you might ask? Well, nothing quite as singular as a half marathon, although I'm going to keep my eyes out for a half sometime after the first of the year...maybe in DC, we'll see.

No, between now and December 31, I'm focusing on some shorter races interspersed throughout the holiday season. The next likely candidate is a 5K in Charleston, SC, where my family is meeting for Thanksgiving. My uncle as rented a house on the beach near Charleston, and the $30 entry fee, coupled with the proximity and flat course, should make for a good race. That's about a month away.

After that, there's a 5K up in Towson called the Man Cave 5K, that looks fun. It's partially sponsored by the Big Screen Store (sells ungodly large TVs, recliners, and obesity), so some of the door prizes include a huge TV, recliners, beer, wings, etc. I have no hope of winning an age group prize, of course...but I'd take a free new TV that would be way too big for our apartment. I've not signed up for this race yet, though. Still tentative.

I did register for the 2012 Celtic Solstice 5 Miler on December 15. It's a great local race, and the typically bitter cold weather keeps a lot of unserious runners away. Not that I'm some hard core runner, but you get fewer walkers out there when it's 8:30 AM and below freezing. You got to REALLY like to run to do that to yourself! The way the registration works is they open it up to runners who want the race premium, which is usually a really nice shirt or, in recent years, a jacket. It's nice, but they also charge $65 for the race for those folks. To each their own...those entries help keep the non-premium entry fee low for the rest of us, so who am I to complain?

However, historically you've been able to register for this race without the premium, which makes it really affordable. As in, it used to be $20 for a well-organized race with a nice post-race spread. Now, it's $30, but that's still a nice bargain for this race. As it got more popular, they instituted a waiting list for this option. Usually by mid-November, they'd open it up to the waiting list and you could register for the lower price (sans premium, obviously). I've always done this, as I just want to run the race. This year was no different; I registered for the  wait list way back in August. Last Friday, they sent the first 100 people on the list an e-mail with a password to use on Active.com to register early before they opened the race up. So I went ahead and registered on Friday to secure my spot. A. has no desire to run this race due to the cold weather, so she didn't register.

Beyond that, who knows? We're spending the final week of the year in Cincinnati, so we'll probably seek out a race while we're out there as well, but that's well down the road. For now, I need to make sure I get up tomorrow and get to the gym to re-start my dormant interval training routine!

End of Crazy Two Weeks

Ed.: I totally forgot about the Blue Moon Run back on the 31st. Mainly because we left town the next morning for a wedding in DC. I'll make my next post a race report. Promise.

By today, the craziness of the last two weeks or so will, with any luck, abate somewhat, and allow me to breathe a bit. I've essentially been doing three jobs (mine, and two other guys who have been on vacation or who have left our group) since last week, which doesn't sound all that hard. But I was in the office only two days last week, which meant I was doing five days' worth of work in two. Multiply that by three jobs and you see why the posting has been sporadic. Truth be told, I spend a little time at the office taking a break and writing posts, so that spare time was the first to go when things picked up. It was hectic, to say the least, and I was thrilled when the weekend arrived and we got out of town for a few days.

But, that hasn't really impacted my training, for the most part. We were in DC for a wedding for Labor Day weekend and I was able to get my 7 miler in before the ceremony. It was really humid that weekend, which made the run very tough going, much less the outdoor wedding ceremony later that afternoon. But it was a scenic run down the Rock Creek Park Trail, to the Lincoln Memorial and back again.



Red balloon marks the start and end points



We spent this past weekend at The Homestead resort in Hot Springs, VA. It's an old resort out in the mountains that's all about old-school Southern luxury and it was really nice. We had planned to go canoeing on Saturday, but it was rainy much of the day, which actually worked out better. A. and I both went to the fitness center and did our long runs instead. I generally hate doing long runs on a treadmill, but there really wasn't any other option. The resort is literally off a state road in the mountains of southern Virginia, so there are no sidewalks to speak of. And the trails, while beautiful, are steep and not ideal for a slow 8 mile run. For instance, we hiked to the top of a mountain hill overlooking the resort on Friday evening after we arrived. I'll post our pictures from the hike later, as they're on our desktop at home.

So, the treadmill it was. But I got it done without too much trouble, and am on track to hit a nine miler this weekend. And afterward, we changed and relaxed in the heated indoor pool while it rained and temps dropped into the high 50s outside. Then we hit afternoon tea (free hot or iced tea, sandwiches and sweets!) and then went back to the room and chilled until dinner. So, not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

The weather here in Baltimore has broken, at least for the time being, and temps are barely reaching 80 with reasonable humidity. A. wants to go up to the NCR Trail this weekend to do our long runs, so the weather should be ideal for that. We're done traveling for a bit, which is good because we've spent the past three weekends out of town and I'm ready for a weekend at home, frankly.

ArtScape Escape Weekend Review

We made it back yesterday without any trouble after our weekend away from the hipster insanity of ArtScape. We found a parking spot in the neighborhood without much trouble, although we took the first spot we found. It was 10 minutes from our apartment, but better than looking around for 30 minutes. Our street was still teeming with people and the streets were pretty gross, so we were glad we got out of town.

My intention was to do a three-mile run on Saturday and a 4 or 5 mile run on Sunday. Below is the route I had intended to run:

Unfortunately, I ran a hybrid of the three-mile route above and the longer route I had mapped out for Sunday. Instead of turning down Constitution Ave and back towards my sister-in-law's apartment, I ran around the Capitol, as I had planned for Sunday. Running back up Capitol Hill and past the Library of Congress, I thought I was on Independence Ave SE, but a moment later realized I was in fact running down Pennsylvania Ave SE. Not a huge deal, but as you can see from the map below, by the time I figured out where the hell I was going, I had added an entire extra mile on to my route.

Not a big deal, but then I ended up walking about another 4 miles that afternoon going to the Folger Library and then down to the Air & Space Museum. And that's not counting walking through the museum, which, as anyone who's been can attest, is enormous. So, call it 5 miles of walking total. By the time my wife picked me up (she had gone to two performances as part of the Capital Fringe Festival instead), my legs were cooked. And they were still tired when I woke up on Sunday, so I bagged my planned long run and took the dog for a leisurely walk instead.

So, it was not the most successful of training weekends, but I got a decent amount of exercise in for my legs, even if it wasn't all running. And I got to see some exhibits I hadn't seen in a long time at Air & Space and a very cool special exhibit at the Folger. But tomorrow, it's back to the schedule to be ready for the Blue Moon Run at the end of August.



Running Interrupted

Well, despite my lofty plans to go running during this weekend trip, nothing materialized. In fact, I had plans to run in the morning on Friday before we left for Charlottesville, however this too went by the wayside, although not for lack of desire.

Friday I got up early and decided to get my errands done before going to the gym. That way I would get things done and then not have to go running with that bothering me. My first stop was to get my car tested for vehicle emissions, per Maryland state law. It passed, but took longer than I anticipated. From there it was on to the Wal-Mart to return those too-large insoles and possible get some others. I was successful in finding arch supports that I think will work nicely. However, returning anything to Wal-Mart is a chore. The customer service counter is always understaffed and overwhelmed. This was no different and I eventually just decided to return them another day when I had more time. However, by the time I got home, it was after noon and I had to be ready to go by 1:30 or 2:00. I also had yet to pack and get things in order for the trip so by the time all that was done, it was way too late to go to the gym. Bummer.

The weekend was great, and as a result I lost all desire to get up early and go running. I took my running clothes and shoes, but they never made it out of my bag. We did go hiking in Shenandoah National Park, so I got some exercise. However, at some point along the way I aggravated my shin splints on my right leg, and was hobbling around most of the day yesterday. I think sitting in the car and driving back to Baltimore made it worse. I iced it pretty aggressively last night and rejected Annie’s attempts at making me go on a walk. By the time I went to bed, it was feeling much better and I could walk relatively comfortably. Today it feels fine, although I am going to have to wait until tomorrow to go back to the gym for safety’s sake. I’m not sure if it was the new inserts in my shoes, or if I aggravated it by taking a few bad steps on the steep trail. Regardless, it feels OK today so by tomorrow, it should be fine. I don’t think it was the inserts because I put them in both shoes and I would think that if one leg was hurting that both would at least be a little tender. But my left leg feels great.

Regardless, I hope my arch pain fades and the shin splints can be contained. I’ll start a post-run regime of icing and stretching in addition to the stretching I already do to try to limit future outbreaks. We’ll see. Tonight, however, unless I feel especially confident in my leg, I won’t be going to the gym, unfortunately.