What a week! Each time I had the time/energy/willpower to sit down and update my blog, something else came along to distract me and it just didn’t get done until today. A quick recap:
Wednesday afternoon I found out that the proposal that I thought was due in electronic form on Friday afternoon was in fact due in hard copy form by 3:00 on Friday. This basically moved up the timeline by 24 hours because we had to FedEx everything to both the client and their consultant. Doh! So Wednesday was spent getting the document done and off to the final editing process, which took me until almost 8 PM. That pretty much shot any chance of running that night because by the time I got home and got some dinner, etc, it was 9:00. Thursday was spent getting the proposal ready to go, which didn’t happen until after 5 PM. I had to take Annie to Bel Air that night, so my co-worker had to make the final edits and then drop the packages off at FedEx when everything was finally done at 7:30. Because Annie and I didn’t get back until after 8, running again was pushed off. Also, it was the WVU-Maryland game Thursday night so I had to watch my Mountaineers handle the Terps. It’s too bad that they don’t play again until 2010 because it’s always great to see Maryland lose at the hands of WVU.
So, Friday was really the first day I had that was conducive to running. I left work about 6 PM and got my 3.85 miles in just fine. My legs felt sluggish from the several days off. I ran the first mile at 6.0 mph (10:00 min/mile) and then ran the next 2.10 miles at 6.2 mph (9:40 min/mile) before ramping it up to 6.5 mph by the end. I want to start pushing the speed a little each week to try to get some more speed out of my body before the winter hits. I also want to get my 5K time down to something respectable for my age group (something under 25 minutes would be ideal but that’s several months off, I think).
This weekend we had to go to a wedding for one of her friend’s from graduate school, and Friday night was the rehearsal dinner. Since she had a rehearsal herself from 6-9 PM, I was able to run and shower, etc without being hurried. Saturday was the wedding, but it wasn’t until the afternoon and we weren’t going to the ceremony anyway because Annie had her performance at the same time. Anyway, some of her friends were in town and she met them for lunch before getting ready for the performance. That meant I had the afternoon to myself, which I used to get my long run. I did my prescribed 6.6 miles at a leisurely pace of about 10:30 min/mile. I listened to the latest episode of “This American Life,” which helped the time pass. No real problems since I kept the speed down. Because of the time off, though, my legs were very tired by the time we went to the reception that night. I should have run earlier in the morning so I had more time in the afternoon to rest my legs because I only was able to sit down for about 90 minutes after my run before having to get a shower and then do the 15 minute walk to the performance. Then I walked back, changed into my suit and we went to the reception, which involved sitting for dinner but then dancing, etc. Needless to say, by the time we left last night, my legs were ready to rest for about a day!
Today is a prescribed rest day since it’s after my long run, so I spent my morning watching “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,” one of my favourite Westerns. After getting some work done at the office, I’ve been watching the Ravens dismantle the Jets defense.
Hopefully this week will be much less chaotic and I will be able to refocus on my running and spend less time at the office. Perhaps that will allow me to do more than just update my training schedule here and actually write about some running topics. That will be a goal of mine for tomorrow. I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Marginal Improvement
OK, so it’s been almost three days since my last post, which is about a day longer than I would have liked. I was aiming to post sometime yesterday morning, but that plan fell by the wayside once I got to work. I was at the office until about 7 last night getting caught up on stuff, and that left little time to update the blog. But today is a little better. I think this afternoon I might actually have some time to relax and not feel like I have 1 million things that must be done by 5 PM.
Monday was a typically crazy day at work and I was really looking forward to getting some QT in on the treadmill. I got home about 6 PM, changed and was out the door and to the gym by roughly 6:15. I was all set to get running when I got to the gym only to discover that every treadmill was occupied. Mondays are always bad at the gym because all the fat people feel bad for sitting on their butts all weekend/their lives and decide to go to the gym on Monday at 6 PM. So they go and walk at 1.3 mph on the treadmill for an hour and then go back home and eat a half-gallon of ice cream. Awesome. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. (As a side note, I know that that’s just how it is at a gym, etc etc, but this is my blog so I can complain as I see fit) So I got on the stationary bike to go for a nice ride when my iPod decided to freeze and then not reset like it’s supposed to. At that point, I was fit to be tied so I just went home and spent several hours trying to figure out what was wrong with my iPod. Eventually I just let the battery run down and then recharged it at work yesterday. Worked like a charm. This is just one reason why the Mac will never compare with PC’s. I know Macs are great, but when you can’t keep an iPod from freezing, how are you going to keep servers up and running?
Anyway, this has once again opened up the debate over running in the morning or the afternoon and running indoors versus outdoors. Schedule-wise, I like running in the evening because otherwise I have to get up ass early so I can show and be at work by 8-8:15. However, in the morning, no one’s awake and the gym is emptier and my run can be accomplished with minimal interference.
Running indoors is great because it’s a controlled environment that is always available regardless of weather. The downside is that there is a limited quantity of treadmills and treadmill running is still markedly different from running on asphalt or dirt, etc. Running outdoors simulates race conditions and offers lots of variety in running routes. The downsides are unpredictable weather, crowded sidewalks (if running in a city), dodging cars, and not being able to get into a real groove due to pedestrians and cars/intersections. In Baltimore I would add the relative safety of running indoors, although it’s not as if runners are being mugged at will.
So, I am back where I was back in July: To run in the morning or afternoon? Indoors or outside? I won’t go running outside in the afternoon because of the traffic, pedestrians, etc. It’s a waste of time because you’re starting and stopping and dodging and it’s just not running. So that leaves me with running outside in the mornings. We’ll see if I find the motivation to get up and do it, though. Not likely this week since I’ve been pulling long hours at the office each day. Next week promises to be much better so maybe then.
Monday was a typically crazy day at work and I was really looking forward to getting some QT in on the treadmill. I got home about 6 PM, changed and was out the door and to the gym by roughly 6:15. I was all set to get running when I got to the gym only to discover that every treadmill was occupied. Mondays are always bad at the gym because all the fat people feel bad for sitting on their butts all weekend/their lives and decide to go to the gym on Monday at 6 PM. So they go and walk at 1.3 mph on the treadmill for an hour and then go back home and eat a half-gallon of ice cream. Awesome. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. (As a side note, I know that that’s just how it is at a gym, etc etc, but this is my blog so I can complain as I see fit) So I got on the stationary bike to go for a nice ride when my iPod decided to freeze and then not reset like it’s supposed to. At that point, I was fit to be tied so I just went home and spent several hours trying to figure out what was wrong with my iPod. Eventually I just let the battery run down and then recharged it at work yesterday. Worked like a charm. This is just one reason why the Mac will never compare with PC’s. I know Macs are great, but when you can’t keep an iPod from freezing, how are you going to keep servers up and running?
Anyway, this has once again opened up the debate over running in the morning or the afternoon and running indoors versus outdoors. Schedule-wise, I like running in the evening because otherwise I have to get up ass early so I can show and be at work by 8-8:15. However, in the morning, no one’s awake and the gym is emptier and my run can be accomplished with minimal interference.
Running indoors is great because it’s a controlled environment that is always available regardless of weather. The downside is that there is a limited quantity of treadmills and treadmill running is still markedly different from running on asphalt or dirt, etc. Running outdoors simulates race conditions and offers lots of variety in running routes. The downsides are unpredictable weather, crowded sidewalks (if running in a city), dodging cars, and not being able to get into a real groove due to pedestrians and cars/intersections. In Baltimore I would add the relative safety of running indoors, although it’s not as if runners are being mugged at will.
So, I am back where I was back in July: To run in the morning or afternoon? Indoors or outside? I won’t go running outside in the afternoon because of the traffic, pedestrians, etc. It’s a waste of time because you’re starting and stopping and dodging and it’s just not running. So that leaves me with running outside in the mornings. We’ll see if I find the motivation to get up and do it, though. Not likely this week since I’ve been pulling long hours at the office each day. Next week promises to be much better so maybe then.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
My Half-Half Marathon
Not too much to report from this weekend. Today is my second off day of the week (or first off day of the new week, depending on how you count your weeks) and I have spent much of the day sitting on the couch watching football and catching up on some reading. I have maybe 4 books I’m reading right now and I’ve been very neglectful of them the past few months. I’m going to try to be better about sitting down and getting through them before Christmas, since the holidays always bring me 5-6 new books for the winter hibernation period. This is in addition to the daily reading I have to do for work.
Anyway, Friday I did not run because I’d run everyday that week save for Tuesday. I was tired and needed to refresh my legs before Saturday’s long run.
Saturday I got up and dropped Annie off at the bus station for her trip to New York for the day. I came back and eventually willed myself to get my long run in before the WVU game at 11. I did 6.6 miles at an easy pace and felt good the entire time. I took hydration breaks at 2, 4 and 6 miles. So, I ended up running half the distance of a half marathon (the illustrious “half-half”) in about 1:12:00. I’m happy with that, as I’m mostly concerned with distance at this point and have yet to even start any sort of speed workouts into my week. That will come at some point in the coming months, I imagine. For now, I’m happy using my easy runs to ramp up my speed ever so slightly and will continue with that for a while.
I’m really happy that I’ve been able to get to the point where I can run almost 7 miles at an easy pace. It’s only been three months since I started really running seriously, so I think that progress is pretty positive. If I can stay focused going into this racing season, I should be in good shape. I’d like to end the season with a 10K (there’s one in Washington in November I may sign up for).
So, this week coming up is going to be busy at work but I should be able to stay on task and get my normal 4 days of 3.85 miles and long run in. Annie has a performance on Saturday afternoon, followed by a wedding in the evening, so I’m going to have to get my long run done in the morning, more than likely. I may keep it at 6.6 miles again, and then ramp up to 4 mile easy runs and 7 mile long runs next week. We’ll see.
Anyway, Friday I did not run because I’d run everyday that week save for Tuesday. I was tired and needed to refresh my legs before Saturday’s long run.
Saturday I got up and dropped Annie off at the bus station for her trip to New York for the day. I came back and eventually willed myself to get my long run in before the WVU game at 11. I did 6.6 miles at an easy pace and felt good the entire time. I took hydration breaks at 2, 4 and 6 miles. So, I ended up running half the distance of a half marathon (the illustrious “half-half”) in about 1:12:00. I’m happy with that, as I’m mostly concerned with distance at this point and have yet to even start any sort of speed workouts into my week. That will come at some point in the coming months, I imagine. For now, I’m happy using my easy runs to ramp up my speed ever so slightly and will continue with that for a while.
I’m really happy that I’ve been able to get to the point where I can run almost 7 miles at an easy pace. It’s only been three months since I started really running seriously, so I think that progress is pretty positive. If I can stay focused going into this racing season, I should be in good shape. I’d like to end the season with a 10K (there’s one in Washington in November I may sign up for).
So, this week coming up is going to be busy at work but I should be able to stay on task and get my normal 4 days of 3.85 miles and long run in. Annie has a performance on Saturday afternoon, followed by a wedding in the evening, so I’m going to have to get my long run done in the morning, more than likely. I may keep it at 6.6 miles again, and then ramp up to 4 mile easy runs and 7 mile long runs next week. We’ll see.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Gatorade vs. Gatorade?
So it’s been a few days since I posted. Usually I utilize a portion of my workday to write my posts but this week, with the holiday on Monday, has been crazy busy. Off the chain busy, even. And I still am going into the office tomorrow (Saturday! I know!) to get caught up. I hate working into the night and would much rather just spend a couple hiurs tomorrow afternoon in the office when it’s quiet and I can supercharge my productivity rather than work until 7 PM each night during the week. Anyway, Annie has an audition in New York tomorrow so she’ll be gone all day anyway. Once I drop her at the bus station, I’ll watch the WVU vs. Marshall game at 11 (WVU is going to give those hicks from Huntington a good ol’ fashioned whoopin’) then go for my long run of the week. Or maybe I’ll get up and run before taking her to the station. We’ll see.
Anyway, the crazy work schedule has meant that my posting has been put on the back burner, unfortunately. Hopefully I’ll be better about that next week. Now I’m home for the weekend with lots of time on my hands.
So, Tuesday I didn’t run because I was picking up the new futon from my friend’s place. It’s awesome and I like being able to lay down while watching TV. Killer.
Wednesday I was back in the saddle and did my usual 3.85 miles. However, Wednesday was a crazy day. I was running late the entire day it seemed. I left home late for work, which meant I didn’t grab my breakfast. I had 45 things to do before lunch, which helped me forget to eat breakfast at work at all. Then I had to leave to go to my annual cardiologist appointment at Hopkins around 12:30 and didn’t get back to the office until 3:30, which made me have a healthy lunch of a Vanilla Crisp Power Bar and some store bought Gatorade. While that tided me over until 5 PM, it was not the best thing to eat as an actual meal. So I finally left the office and got home to go to the gym. I was starving so I ate a rice cake with peanut butter to make sure I didn’t pass out while running. I also took the store bought Gatorade to the gym with me.
Overall, it was not a satisfying run. I felt sluggish the entire time and out of sorts, despite running at my usual pace, etc. Moreover, the store bought Gatorade made me feel kinda gross. As a result, I thought this would make for a good topic of this post. But first the rest of my training.
So Wednesday was OK and Thursday was much better. I ran almost the entire distance at 6.1 mph (9:50 min/mile pace) or better, which is great. I was tired by the end, but hey, I’m taking my sweet-ass time getting faster and it’s helped keep the injuries at bay so whatever. I ran at 6.1 mph until I hit 2.75 miles, then I hydrated and ramped it up to 6.2 mph for a quarter mile, increasing 0.1 mph each quarter mile until I got to 6.5 mph for the final stretch. Not bad. Tonight I decided to take off because I’ve run everyday this week save for Tuesday.
OK, so to the main topic of this post. As many of you know, there are myriad options available for hydration in addition to the traditional water. For many of us, water is great, but can be boring or not enough to replenish all the fluids and such that we lose while running. Personally, I am somewhere in between. If I had my druthers, I’d take both water and a sports drink with me on my runs. Once I get to the distance point where I think owning a hydration belt is warranted, I will do this. As a side note, one of my greatest fears is to be running with a hydration belt and have someone ask me what it is. I need to be able to say something awesome like, “It’s a hydration belt I use for my long runs. Today I’m doing 12 miles so it’s really useful,” or something else that would elicit admiration and awe in my interlocutor.
OK, back on track here. For my runs now, I just have Gatorade. Yet here we are presented with another choice: store-bought or self-mixed. Many sports drinks come in these two varieties (still many others are available in only one medium). Gatorade is one of these companies that offers the store-bought (pre-mixed) and powder. Several months ago, when I was just starting to seriously run, I read an article that suggested using a sports drink over water since it replenished more than just simple water in your body. I liked that idea, but didn’t want to blow a ton of money on buying the store-bought Gatorade, so I went to the Wal-Mart and got myself a big can of the lemon lime flavor Gatorade. That’s right, the original stuff. One scoop makes 32 ounces, which is enough for most run distances. This works out to one can of powder making approximately 100 or so 32 ounce servings. And the can was about $8.00. That means that you could drink 32 ounces of Gatorade a day for a year and spend roughly $30, allowing for variations of price. Not bad considering one store-bought 32 ounce bottle costs like $1.50 or something.
Anyway, I have been very pleased with this simple solution. It quenches my thirst, puts valuable electrolytes back into my system, and tastes really good. Since then I hadn’t really had store-bought Gatorade until Wednesday. I decided to compare the two tastes, so I bought a bottle of the regular lemon lime flavor for consistency. The store-bought stuff tasted so sweet and sugary, I only drank a few sips before putting it down for fear of going into diabetic shock. I decided to see how it tasted/helped during a run, so I took it with me to the gym later that evening. It did not help and tasted like sugar water with extra Splenda thrown in. Not only did it not really make me feel quenched, but the stickiness of the drink made me feel worse! It made my lips all sticky and I got some on my hands, which was gross. I only took a few drinks out of necessity and then waited until I got home to get a big glass of water. After I cooled down later that night I finished the drink (no use in wasting good money spent on the thing.)
So, my scientific analysis has lead me to conclude that the powder is a better solution for me. For one, the store-bought stuff’s first ingredients are fructose (sugar) and high fructose corn syrup (sugary sugar syrup), whereas the first ingredients in the powder are potassium something or other, which is basically an electrolyte. No wonder I like the powder better. I’m sure there’s a reason for this disparity between Gatorades (maybe the fructose allows for longer storage in liquid form? I don’t know) other than the fact that mostly athletes or wannabe athletes such as myself are buying the powder and thus don’t want sugary drinks for fear of going into a deep coma 6 miles into a run.
Anyway, I won’t be buying store-bought Gatorade again, for sure. However, by no means does this mean store-bought stuff is not worth using. If you don’t like the bitter taste of the powder (personally I really like it when I’m running), then the store-bought stuff is for you. However, if you don’t like the stomach cramps that sugar can bring on while running, or the stickiness of sugar while running, try the powder.
Or you could just use water.
Anyway, the crazy work schedule has meant that my posting has been put on the back burner, unfortunately. Hopefully I’ll be better about that next week. Now I’m home for the weekend with lots of time on my hands.
So, Tuesday I didn’t run because I was picking up the new futon from my friend’s place. It’s awesome and I like being able to lay down while watching TV. Killer.
Wednesday I was back in the saddle and did my usual 3.85 miles. However, Wednesday was a crazy day. I was running late the entire day it seemed. I left home late for work, which meant I didn’t grab my breakfast. I had 45 things to do before lunch, which helped me forget to eat breakfast at work at all. Then I had to leave to go to my annual cardiologist appointment at Hopkins around 12:30 and didn’t get back to the office until 3:30, which made me have a healthy lunch of a Vanilla Crisp Power Bar and some store bought Gatorade. While that tided me over until 5 PM, it was not the best thing to eat as an actual meal. So I finally left the office and got home to go to the gym. I was starving so I ate a rice cake with peanut butter to make sure I didn’t pass out while running. I also took the store bought Gatorade to the gym with me.
Overall, it was not a satisfying run. I felt sluggish the entire time and out of sorts, despite running at my usual pace, etc. Moreover, the store bought Gatorade made me feel kinda gross. As a result, I thought this would make for a good topic of this post. But first the rest of my training.
So Wednesday was OK and Thursday was much better. I ran almost the entire distance at 6.1 mph (9:50 min/mile pace) or better, which is great. I was tired by the end, but hey, I’m taking my sweet-ass time getting faster and it’s helped keep the injuries at bay so whatever. I ran at 6.1 mph until I hit 2.75 miles, then I hydrated and ramped it up to 6.2 mph for a quarter mile, increasing 0.1 mph each quarter mile until I got to 6.5 mph for the final stretch. Not bad. Tonight I decided to take off because I’ve run everyday this week save for Tuesday.
OK, so to the main topic of this post. As many of you know, there are myriad options available for hydration in addition to the traditional water. For many of us, water is great, but can be boring or not enough to replenish all the fluids and such that we lose while running. Personally, I am somewhere in between. If I had my druthers, I’d take both water and a sports drink with me on my runs. Once I get to the distance point where I think owning a hydration belt is warranted, I will do this. As a side note, one of my greatest fears is to be running with a hydration belt and have someone ask me what it is. I need to be able to say something awesome like, “It’s a hydration belt I use for my long runs. Today I’m doing 12 miles so it’s really useful,” or something else that would elicit admiration and awe in my interlocutor.
OK, back on track here. For my runs now, I just have Gatorade. Yet here we are presented with another choice: store-bought or self-mixed. Many sports drinks come in these two varieties (still many others are available in only one medium). Gatorade is one of these companies that offers the store-bought (pre-mixed) and powder. Several months ago, when I was just starting to seriously run, I read an article that suggested using a sports drink over water since it replenished more than just simple water in your body. I liked that idea, but didn’t want to blow a ton of money on buying the store-bought Gatorade, so I went to the Wal-Mart and got myself a big can of the lemon lime flavor Gatorade. That’s right, the original stuff. One scoop makes 32 ounces, which is enough for most run distances. This works out to one can of powder making approximately 100 or so 32 ounce servings. And the can was about $8.00. That means that you could drink 32 ounces of Gatorade a day for a year and spend roughly $30, allowing for variations of price. Not bad considering one store-bought 32 ounce bottle costs like $1.50 or something.
Anyway, I have been very pleased with this simple solution. It quenches my thirst, puts valuable electrolytes back into my system, and tastes really good. Since then I hadn’t really had store-bought Gatorade until Wednesday. I decided to compare the two tastes, so I bought a bottle of the regular lemon lime flavor for consistency. The store-bought stuff tasted so sweet and sugary, I only drank a few sips before putting it down for fear of going into diabetic shock. I decided to see how it tasted/helped during a run, so I took it with me to the gym later that evening. It did not help and tasted like sugar water with extra Splenda thrown in. Not only did it not really make me feel quenched, but the stickiness of the drink made me feel worse! It made my lips all sticky and I got some on my hands, which was gross. I only took a few drinks out of necessity and then waited until I got home to get a big glass of water. After I cooled down later that night I finished the drink (no use in wasting good money spent on the thing.)
So, my scientific analysis has lead me to conclude that the powder is a better solution for me. For one, the store-bought stuff’s first ingredients are fructose (sugar) and high fructose corn syrup (sugary sugar syrup), whereas the first ingredients in the powder are potassium something or other, which is basically an electrolyte. No wonder I like the powder better. I’m sure there’s a reason for this disparity between Gatorades (maybe the fructose allows for longer storage in liquid form? I don’t know) other than the fact that mostly athletes or wannabe athletes such as myself are buying the powder and thus don’t want sugary drinks for fear of going into a deep coma 6 miles into a run.
Anyway, I won’t be buying store-bought Gatorade again, for sure. However, by no means does this mean store-bought stuff is not worth using. If you don’t like the bitter taste of the powder (personally I really like it when I’m running), then the store-bought stuff is for you. However, if you don’t like the stomach cramps that sugar can bring on while running, or the stickiness of sugar while running, try the powder.
Or you could just use water.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Bay cafe 5K Race Report
OK, so I know I said I would post my race report on Monday afternoon, but I wanted to have the pictures I took ready to go along with the report and that just didn’t work out until last night. By the time I got the pictures downloaded to Annie’s computer (I was using her camera because my old Kodak died last year and I have yet to buy a new one…but Christmas and my birthday are just around the corner!), put them on my USB key and got back to my apartment and looked at them, it was 11 o’clock and I just didn’t want to start a race report at that point. So here I am, freshly back from lunch and at work once again wasting time.
OK, so let us begin. For my own completely biased back-story on the Bay Café, please see the previous posts. If you are a big fan of the Bay Café, please try to get out of Baltimore and go to a real bar soon. Better yet, go to Aruba and go to a real beachside bar. You’ll thank me later when you realize Bay Café sucks.
ANYWAY, the race was scheduled to begin at 8:30, so I woke up about 7:00 and got my stuff on and double-checked that I had everything I could possibly need. I decided to leave my mutli-tool and sleeping bag at home since I was only going 3.1 miles and there was little chance of getting lost in the wilderness of Fells Point. However I did take my axe to cut firewood, just in case. It was absolutely perfect outside. I’d say it was about 70 degrees and sunny without much humidity. Perfect.
Even though Annie had to work for the day on Monday, she agreed to get up and take my picture and send me off, which I appreciated. I got over to the course by about 8 AM and was surprised that it wasn’t more crowded. I really thought that there’d be more people running in this race since it’s, more or less, the beginning of race season. Anyway, I parked really close to the starting line and was able to walk about.25 mile and then run a little bit to warm up my legs. I know many experts say you should run about a mile to properly warm up before a race, but I don’t think that applies to a 3-mile race. And yes, I am totally as knowledgeable as Boston marathon winners after having run two 5K’s. But seriously, why would you bother running 30% of the actual race distance before the race? The only circumstance I could see where that would be efficient would be if you had a real chance to win. Then you’ll need your legs in peak form as soon as the race begins. I think it’s safe to say that I was under no illusions about my chances in this race.
So I was relatively warmed up as 8:25 rolled around. I was just hanging out in the Bay Café parking lot and started following people as they moved towards some random spot on Boston Street. I got in the back because, again, I’m not delusional, and waited…and waited. 8:30 comes and no horn. Then the crowd starts moving backwards and it’s obvious that the people in the front had no idea where the starting line was. Nice job. So we move back about 100 feet and wait…and wait. Finally about 8:35 the horn sounds and we’re off. It’s crowded at the beginning, of course, but not too bad. It thinned out as we continued south on Boston Street. At Clinton St, I hit the turnaround and headed back towards the Bay Café, going north on Boston. This was the main length of the race, as we passed the café and headed up towards Harbor South, close to where the new Legg Mason building is being built, along with the Four Seasons. At this point I was somewhat in a good rhythm.
By starting at the back, I was able to start out slow and assess how my body felt without feeling the pressure to speed up beyond my comfort zone. By the time I hit the turnaround, I was feeling good, but was conscious of speeding up too much. I wanted to have something left for the last quarter mile sprint to the finish. As I approached the turnaround I was slowly passing people. Some were huffing and puffing while others had probably just been further towards the front of the pack to begin with. Anyway, I was happy that I passed a fair number of people while only being passed myself a few times.
We made a wide turn as we hit Fleet St, running on Fleet, then Ann, then Aliceanna before coming back to Boston to head south towards the finish line. About .30 of a mile from the finish, I noticed a guy running on front of me who was wearing a Terps hat. Well, as you can see from my picture, my killer WVU hat that I bought for $7 at the Martinsburg, WV Wal-Mart is my racing hat. I couldn’t’ let the guy in the Terps hat beat me so I sped up and passed him as I ran hard to the finish line. My final time was 27:17 according to my watch. The “official” time was 27:29 but that’s BS because I didn’t cross the start line for those extra 12 seconds at the beginning of the race. So I beat my previous time by about 2 minutes! I was pretty pleased with that improvement in just a little over a month.
So, out of the total field of 377 runners, I came in at…243rd. Awesome, I know. That means 64% of the field finished before me and only 34% finished after me. However, while I attribute the majority of this stellar performance to my still improving fitness level, I have several other explanations as well, to wit:
- The course was flat and fast, which helped me, but also helped the more experienced runners more. As a result, better runners ran much better times and I’d be willing to bet there were a good number of PR’s made yesterday as a result.
- The race was also the Maryland Road Runners Club of America Championship so while there were plenty of slow pokes like myself, there were many more runners there with some serious kicks. Moreover, they were really actually racing, whereas I was racing my imaginary Kenyan competitor (I won, of course).
- Because this race was the MRRCA championship, it kept lots of more casual runners away than normally would have run in the race. So there weren’t as many people of my own skill level running. Quite the opposite, I would say.
- My unusually large and dense brain that has been referred to as “the organic supercomputer” slowed me down.
- The barometric pressure from Hurricane Felix played havoc with my lactate levels.
OK, so two of those reasons are false. But seriously, I have unusually dense brain matter.
Seriously, even though I got seriously burned on Monday (only 3 other men in my age group finished behind me out of a total 49!), I did improve my race time by 2 minutes (let’s say about 1:10 taking the fast course into account?), which was my goal all along. If I can shave another minute off that time by the end of the month, I’ll be very pleased. Constant improvement, that’s the key to this whole thing, I feel.
So, overall a good experience. I’m glad I did it and am really looking forward to the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K at the end of the month. In the meantime, enjoy my super awesome pictures.
OK, so let us begin. For my own completely biased back-story on the Bay Café, please see the previous posts. If you are a big fan of the Bay Café, please try to get out of Baltimore and go to a real bar soon. Better yet, go to Aruba and go to a real beachside bar. You’ll thank me later when you realize Bay Café sucks.
ANYWAY, the race was scheduled to begin at 8:30, so I woke up about 7:00 and got my stuff on and double-checked that I had everything I could possibly need. I decided to leave my mutli-tool and sleeping bag at home since I was only going 3.1 miles and there was little chance of getting lost in the wilderness of Fells Point. However I did take my axe to cut firewood, just in case. It was absolutely perfect outside. I’d say it was about 70 degrees and sunny without much humidity. Perfect.
Even though Annie had to work for the day on Monday, she agreed to get up and take my picture and send me off, which I appreciated. I got over to the course by about 8 AM and was surprised that it wasn’t more crowded. I really thought that there’d be more people running in this race since it’s, more or less, the beginning of race season. Anyway, I parked really close to the starting line and was able to walk about.25 mile and then run a little bit to warm up my legs. I know many experts say you should run about a mile to properly warm up before a race, but I don’t think that applies to a 3-mile race. And yes, I am totally as knowledgeable as Boston marathon winners after having run two 5K’s. But seriously, why would you bother running 30% of the actual race distance before the race? The only circumstance I could see where that would be efficient would be if you had a real chance to win. Then you’ll need your legs in peak form as soon as the race begins. I think it’s safe to say that I was under no illusions about my chances in this race.
So I was relatively warmed up as 8:25 rolled around. I was just hanging out in the Bay Café parking lot and started following people as they moved towards some random spot on Boston Street. I got in the back because, again, I’m not delusional, and waited…and waited. 8:30 comes and no horn. Then the crowd starts moving backwards and it’s obvious that the people in the front had no idea where the starting line was. Nice job. So we move back about 100 feet and wait…and wait. Finally about 8:35 the horn sounds and we’re off. It’s crowded at the beginning, of course, but not too bad. It thinned out as we continued south on Boston Street. At Clinton St, I hit the turnaround and headed back towards the Bay Café, going north on Boston. This was the main length of the race, as we passed the café and headed up towards Harbor South, close to where the new Legg Mason building is being built, along with the Four Seasons. At this point I was somewhat in a good rhythm.
By starting at the back, I was able to start out slow and assess how my body felt without feeling the pressure to speed up beyond my comfort zone. By the time I hit the turnaround, I was feeling good, but was conscious of speeding up too much. I wanted to have something left for the last quarter mile sprint to the finish. As I approached the turnaround I was slowly passing people. Some were huffing and puffing while others had probably just been further towards the front of the pack to begin with. Anyway, I was happy that I passed a fair number of people while only being passed myself a few times.
We made a wide turn as we hit Fleet St, running on Fleet, then Ann, then Aliceanna before coming back to Boston to head south towards the finish line. About .30 of a mile from the finish, I noticed a guy running on front of me who was wearing a Terps hat. Well, as you can see from my picture, my killer WVU hat that I bought for $7 at the Martinsburg, WV Wal-Mart is my racing hat. I couldn’t’ let the guy in the Terps hat beat me so I sped up and passed him as I ran hard to the finish line. My final time was 27:17 according to my watch. The “official” time was 27:29 but that’s BS because I didn’t cross the start line for those extra 12 seconds at the beginning of the race. So I beat my previous time by about 2 minutes! I was pretty pleased with that improvement in just a little over a month.
So, out of the total field of 377 runners, I came in at…243rd. Awesome, I know. That means 64% of the field finished before me and only 34% finished after me. However, while I attribute the majority of this stellar performance to my still improving fitness level, I have several other explanations as well, to wit:
- The course was flat and fast, which helped me, but also helped the more experienced runners more. As a result, better runners ran much better times and I’d be willing to bet there were a good number of PR’s made yesterday as a result.
- The race was also the Maryland Road Runners Club of America Championship so while there were plenty of slow pokes like myself, there were many more runners there with some serious kicks. Moreover, they were really actually racing, whereas I was racing my imaginary Kenyan competitor (I won, of course).
- Because this race was the MRRCA championship, it kept lots of more casual runners away than normally would have run in the race. So there weren’t as many people of my own skill level running. Quite the opposite, I would say.
- My unusually large and dense brain that has been referred to as “the organic supercomputer” slowed me down.
- The barometric pressure from Hurricane Felix played havoc with my lactate levels.
OK, so two of those reasons are false. But seriously, I have unusually dense brain matter.
Seriously, even though I got seriously burned on Monday (only 3 other men in my age group finished behind me out of a total 49!), I did improve my race time by 2 minutes (let’s say about 1:10 taking the fast course into account?), which was my goal all along. If I can shave another minute off that time by the end of the month, I’ll be very pleased. Constant improvement, that’s the key to this whole thing, I feel.
So, overall a good experience. I’m glad I did it and am really looking forward to the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K at the end of the month. In the meantime, enjoy my super awesome pictures.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Super Awesome Running Movies & Then Some
In October's Runner's World, there is an article that describes three upcoming running movies. Two of them look really super awesome. One is called The Spirit of the Marathon, and is a documentary that follows four amateurs and two elites as they prepare to run the 2005 Chicago Marathon.
Go to marathonmovie.com and check out the really cool trailer. Seriously, this movie looks great. I like that they're profiling runners from all walks of life, including the elites. A lot of times when you see the professionals on TV, they're like robots because they're running a freakin' marathon for a gold medal or a big cash prize. This movie looks like it'll really humanize these athletes. And then seeing the amateurs prepare and slowly come to the realization that they're going to have to run 26.2 miles will be great inspiration for me as I slowly step up my mileage over the coming months. The four amateurs are a variety too: a 70 year old guy who#s run 4 marathons before, but not any recently and will run the race with his daughter; a recently-divorced woman who is trying to regain control of her life and fitness; a PhD student in psychology who's a first time marathoner (she looks so freaked out in the trailer! That'll definitely be me someday...freaked out at the starting line!); and a guy who's run a few marathons and is training for a PR.
It looks awesome and is premiering at the Chicago Film Festival on October 5th. I'm not sure when it'll be out for the rest of us to see. I hope before the end of the year! If anyone out there knows for sure, drop me an e-mail and fill me in, please!
The second is an episode of NOVA on PBS (hey, PBS isn't just for snobs and your grandparents) that's specifically about 13 non-runners who are training for Boston. I guess they got special dispensation for them to run Boston despite not qualifying? Don't know how that works. Anyway, they train over a period of nine months to get ready for Boston 2007. According to the article, the group includes a divorced father of five, a 200 pound former NFL player, and 35 year old woman with diabetes. It's slated for October 30 at 8PM EST but PBS has been known to change programming around so check your local listings as the date gets closer. You can also buy a copy of the documentary, but why would you do that until you've seen it first?
The third movie is about 5 runners training for the US Cross Country Championships. It looks awesome too, but won't be out in theatres or on TV. You've got to buy this one straight out. If I can find it on Netflix I might see it.
So, yeah, these movies/documentaries looks to be really interesting explorations of regular people and elite runners as they train for marathons. As a beginning runner, I'm excited to see how other people do it and to see how they overcome their obstacles. I'll of course review these when I manage to see them.
Also, on a non-running note, I am a serious Western fan and am REALLY excited about 3:10 to Yuma, with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, Annie refuses to see it with me, so I will be seeing it by myself. Sad.
Go to marathonmovie.com and check out the really cool trailer. Seriously, this movie looks great. I like that they're profiling runners from all walks of life, including the elites. A lot of times when you see the professionals on TV, they're like robots because they're running a freakin' marathon for a gold medal or a big cash prize. This movie looks like it'll really humanize these athletes. And then seeing the amateurs prepare and slowly come to the realization that they're going to have to run 26.2 miles will be great inspiration for me as I slowly step up my mileage over the coming months. The four amateurs are a variety too: a 70 year old guy who#s run 4 marathons before, but not any recently and will run the race with his daughter; a recently-divorced woman who is trying to regain control of her life and fitness; a PhD student in psychology who's a first time marathoner (she looks so freaked out in the trailer! That'll definitely be me someday...freaked out at the starting line!); and a guy who's run a few marathons and is training for a PR.
It looks awesome and is premiering at the Chicago Film Festival on October 5th. I'm not sure when it'll be out for the rest of us to see. I hope before the end of the year! If anyone out there knows for sure, drop me an e-mail and fill me in, please!
The second is an episode of NOVA on PBS (hey, PBS isn't just for snobs and your grandparents) that's specifically about 13 non-runners who are training for Boston. I guess they got special dispensation for them to run Boston despite not qualifying? Don't know how that works. Anyway, they train over a period of nine months to get ready for Boston 2007. According to the article, the group includes a divorced father of five, a 200 pound former NFL player, and 35 year old woman with diabetes. It's slated for October 30 at 8PM EST but PBS has been known to change programming around so check your local listings as the date gets closer. You can also buy a copy of the documentary, but why would you do that until you've seen it first?
The third movie is about 5 runners training for the US Cross Country Championships. It looks awesome too, but won't be out in theatres or on TV. You've got to buy this one straight out. If I can find it on Netflix I might see it.
So, yeah, these movies/documentaries looks to be really interesting explorations of regular people and elite runners as they train for marathons. As a beginning runner, I'm excited to see how other people do it and to see how they overcome their obstacles. I'll of course review these when I manage to see them.
Also, on a non-running note, I am a serious Western fan and am REALLY excited about 3:10 to Yuma, with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. Unfortunately, Annie refuses to see it with me, so I will be seeing it by myself. Sad.
Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks
So, I have begun to make some super awesome upgrades to my blog, which I’m sure all of my loyal readers (thanks Mom!) have already noticed. Before I unveil all the awesomeness that has been going on in the last hour, let’s recap since our last episode.
Thursday was an off day, as I was exhausted, per usual, from the week. Running three days in a row and also actually going to work and doing one’s job takes it out of you. That and staying up too late most nights. Anyway, Thursday I did no activity at all, which was nice. Friday was supposed to be a regular running day, but because of chores (laundry, paying bills, etc) and crappy race organization, that went by the wayside. Let me explain.
So, as you may know from my previous post, I’m running in the Bay Café 5K tomorrow. I’m excited to get another race under my belt and I can’t wait to see how much I have improved on my time from back in July. However, as readers of the past post will know, the whole air of this race is the classic “too cool for school” idiocy I’ve come to expect from most things in Canton. If you don’t believe me, go to the previous post and click on the link to the Bay Café 5K website, peruse it and then come back to this post and continue reading. If you don’t find it mildly annoying and arrogant, and at least agree with my feelings on some abstract, yet tangible level of principle, than you probably live in Canton or go to Towson University.
Anyway, the website makes this race sound like the most awesome-est race in the Mid-Atlantic and that if you aren’t running on Monday, you might as well kill yourself because you’ll never be cool and will never get laid the rest of your miserable dweeb life. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the Bay Café as well. A crap-hole of a bar that serves overpriced swill to yuppies in training with usually sub-par music to accompany it. All wrapped in a veneer of coolness that barely hides the circle-jerk mentality that pervades the whole establishment.
Knowing this as I do, I was sceptical when I saw that the first opportunity to pick up our race packets was on Friday from 5-7PM at the Bay Café Happy Hour. Not wanting to get screwed out of another T-Shirt (I still have yet to get my Run to Cooperstown shirt!), I wanted to get my packet ASAP. So, after work, I went back to my apartment, got my keys and drove over there through holiday weekend traffic. It took me 20 minutes to drive 3 miles. Then I got there and the bouncer (yeah, they have bouncers at this place, and the balls to have a cover charge!) says, “Oh, the packets were never dropped off here. We don’t know why,”
In the words of Bill Lumberg: “Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks.”
So I drove over there for nothing. I wasn’t really surprised or even angry. If anything, it only reinforces my opinion of the Bay Café as a place for the flotsam and jetsam of my age group to congregate. So, that shot my Friday night.
Yesterday I was going to do my long run, but had to cut it short because Annie and I had some errands to do in the afternoon. No big deal, really. I got 4 miles in instead of 6.5 and will go and run another 3 or so this afternoon to keep the wheels greased for tomorrow.
Anyway, the changes to my website! Where the countdown to the Great Strides 5K used to be, I have placed a countdown to the Bay Café 5K. Of course, after tomorrow, the Great Strides will be the next race and its countdown will be restarted. Don’t worry.
Secondly, I have started a list of some of the running blogs I read. This list is incomplete because I have some of them saved on my computer at the office and can’t remember their names right now. I have my fantasy draft for the No Talent Ass Clowns on Monday afternoon, which I will do from the office rather than here at home (my office is a 10 minute walk from my apartment so no worries). I’ll add the other blogs to the list then.
You can check out my training schedule and log at Running Ahead (www.runningahead.com). It’s a cool site where you can track your workouts, courses, races, records, even your shoes. Very cool and worth looking at.
And finally, I have added AdSense from Google to my page in a vain attempt to earn millions of dollars through the Internet. So, if you like, go ahead and click on the ads at the bottom of this page 30-40 times for me. I think I get 1/2000th of a cent for each click. I’ll be swimming in gold like Scrooge McDuck in no time.
Thursday was an off day, as I was exhausted, per usual, from the week. Running three days in a row and also actually going to work and doing one’s job takes it out of you. That and staying up too late most nights. Anyway, Thursday I did no activity at all, which was nice. Friday was supposed to be a regular running day, but because of chores (laundry, paying bills, etc) and crappy race organization, that went by the wayside. Let me explain.
So, as you may know from my previous post, I’m running in the Bay Café 5K tomorrow. I’m excited to get another race under my belt and I can’t wait to see how much I have improved on my time from back in July. However, as readers of the past post will know, the whole air of this race is the classic “too cool for school” idiocy I’ve come to expect from most things in Canton. If you don’t believe me, go to the previous post and click on the link to the Bay Café 5K website, peruse it and then come back to this post and continue reading. If you don’t find it mildly annoying and arrogant, and at least agree with my feelings on some abstract, yet tangible level of principle, than you probably live in Canton or go to Towson University.
Anyway, the website makes this race sound like the most awesome-est race in the Mid-Atlantic and that if you aren’t running on Monday, you might as well kill yourself because you’ll never be cool and will never get laid the rest of your miserable dweeb life. This, in a nutshell, is the essence of the Bay Café as well. A crap-hole of a bar that serves overpriced swill to yuppies in training with usually sub-par music to accompany it. All wrapped in a veneer of coolness that barely hides the circle-jerk mentality that pervades the whole establishment.
Knowing this as I do, I was sceptical when I saw that the first opportunity to pick up our race packets was on Friday from 5-7PM at the Bay Café Happy Hour. Not wanting to get screwed out of another T-Shirt (I still have yet to get my Run to Cooperstown shirt!), I wanted to get my packet ASAP. So, after work, I went back to my apartment, got my keys and drove over there through holiday weekend traffic. It took me 20 minutes to drive 3 miles. Then I got there and the bouncer (yeah, they have bouncers at this place, and the balls to have a cover charge!) says, “Oh, the packets were never dropped off here. We don’t know why,”
In the words of Bill Lumberg: “Thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks.”
So I drove over there for nothing. I wasn’t really surprised or even angry. If anything, it only reinforces my opinion of the Bay Café as a place for the flotsam and jetsam of my age group to congregate. So, that shot my Friday night.
Yesterday I was going to do my long run, but had to cut it short because Annie and I had some errands to do in the afternoon. No big deal, really. I got 4 miles in instead of 6.5 and will go and run another 3 or so this afternoon to keep the wheels greased for tomorrow.
Anyway, the changes to my website! Where the countdown to the Great Strides 5K used to be, I have placed a countdown to the Bay Café 5K. Of course, after tomorrow, the Great Strides will be the next race and its countdown will be restarted. Don’t worry.
Secondly, I have started a list of some of the running blogs I read. This list is incomplete because I have some of them saved on my computer at the office and can’t remember their names right now. I have my fantasy draft for the No Talent Ass Clowns on Monday afternoon, which I will do from the office rather than here at home (my office is a 10 minute walk from my apartment so no worries). I’ll add the other blogs to the list then.
You can check out my training schedule and log at Running Ahead (www.runningahead.com). It’s a cool site where you can track your workouts, courses, races, records, even your shoes. Very cool and worth looking at.
And finally, I have added AdSense from Google to my page in a vain attempt to earn millions of dollars through the Internet. So, if you like, go ahead and click on the ads at the bottom of this page 30-40 times for me. I think I get 1/2000th of a cent for each click. I’ll be swimming in gold like Scrooge McDuck in no time.
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