Addicted to Exercise

This was my first “bad” run in quite a long time.  I just didn’t feel right at all.  I hope it was just because of the extreme cold.

The plan was to run most of the Austin Marathon course.  I was going kind of easy to save my strength for the race next weekend, which was a bit difficult because the other big training group plus the marathon pacers were out practicing on this route today.  I had planned to start at about 5:45, but there were so many people that I didn’t find parking and get ready to run until a little after 6:00.  I started off with some other people leaving around that time, but I knew I would not stay with them for long.  They were planning on marathon pace for most of the run, and I wasn’t going to go that fast.  We followed another group on a little detour near the start, but once we got back to the trail we were on track.

The route was basically the marathon course but with the first five or so miles cut off.  I stayed with the group for the first four miles or so, until we reached the water stop on Lake Austin Blvd.  They picked up the pace there, and I was on my own plan from then on.  I guess I ran pretty consistently.  Most people had started earlier than I did, and I spent the next couple hours just moving up through the groups.

The cold really got to me.  Every time I stopped to eat one of my gels, I ran into trouble.  I had pre-cut the edges like usual, but even with that, I had trouble getting them open.  I would use my teeth and still just rip off the very top.  Then, once I had an opening, I could not get enough force in my hands to squeeze the stuff out.  I know I lost a lot of time and energy on those.

After about eight miles or so I just didn’t feel much like continuing.  My legs felt fine and all, but something just felt off.  I just pressed on, though, and continued to move through the ranks.  After about 15 or 16 miles, I remember thinking about how the differences between the best and worst runs are mostly mental.  That was near where mile 21 in the marathon is, and that was where I had trouble last year.  It’s so easy to let those demons come out and take over.  So maybe this was good practice.  I was going through what kinds of things I must know and remind myself of to stay on track when it gets like this.

I mostly snapped out of it when the 3:20 pacers caught me with a few miles to go, and I latched on and ran with them the rest of the way, picking it up pretty well in the last mile or so.   I finished at RunTex and just didn’t feel that great.  According to the stats, I was fine.  Including leaving my watch running through all the water stops (and there were tons of them), I still averaged about 8 minutes per mile for well over 22 miles, and my heart rate was nice and low.  Something just didn’t feel right, and I’m hoping it was just the cold.  I stuck around and stretched in the cold, and that was not a lot of fun, but I’m sure it helped me.

This morning I met the group for a tour of the 3M half course.  Last year, this was the run where it was cold and raining really hard and we were basically swimming.  Today, it was nice, though.  We carpooled from downtown up to the Gateway shopping center, and soon we were off.  I started off with a group that was a little faster than I could comfortably go, so at the first water stop I waited a bit and fell in with a more reasonable crew.  We still moved pretty quickly, but I felt all right.  It was a lot of fun.  We just cruised through the course, and it went by a lot faster than I expected.  Once we passed the end of the half-marathon course, we cut over to Congress to get back home.  That last little bit there was super-fast.  It was probably one my fastest fast finishes ever on one of these runs.  I knocked out some strides and joined everyone else for balance drills and stretching.  My heart rate numbers were surprisingly low considering it was a pretty strong run overall.  I’ll take it!

This weekend we were due for another tour of the Austin Marathon course.  I was a little off this time, though.   The weather changed a lot over the last couple days, and I woke up feeling pretty congested.  Then, when I started running, my legs felt pretty stiff, too, but I don’t know what that was from.  In any case, I ran with my usual group for the first several miles of the course.  It gets easier after the first couple miles, and that helped my legs loosen up.  I could tell I was working too hard to make it to twenty like that, though, so when the others picked up the pace on Lake Austin Blvd I just let them go.

I felt a lot like cutting the route short, but I knew I needed to turn this into a mental toughness run.  I ran by myself the rest of the way.  The route we did cut across the middle of the marathon course.  From 35th Street, we veered on to 38th and took that over to Avenue H before heading north to pick up the course again.  I hadn’t run through that section of town before.  Somewhere on 38th I had to stop for a brief coughing fit, but I felt much better after that.
Once I finished the loop up to 49th and got back to Duval I started to see people from the group again who had run shorter distances and were taking the same route home.  I picked up the pace over the last few miles and had a pretty strong finish.  I was actually catching the group I had lost earlier in the day.  I attempted to do some strides at Auditorium Shores, but I was pretty tight and they weren’t very good.  I stuck around for the stretching routine, and that was that.  I’m glad I got the distance in.  It was just about 20 miles.  My heart rate was a little higher than I wanted, but it’ll do.

It had been a while since I had done a long run to Mt Bonnell and back, so I was really looking forward to tackling it again today.  We did the route a little differently today.  Instead of going up Scenic and back down Exposition, we did it basically in reverse, but with an extra little bit on Lake Austin Blvd to Enfield before heading back to Exposition to match the marathon course.

We had a brief water stop there at Enfield and Lake Austin Blvd, and then we were off to tackle the hills.  We had a little bit later start than usual, so it was starting to get light as we ran up Exposition.  Those hills are a lot more intimidating when you can see them!  Heading up Mt Bonnell was no problem, and I checked my heart rate just to be sure.  Thankfully, I found a few takers for a trip down the other side to the bar and back up.  I like adding the second climb when I’m already there anyway.

We took Scenic to get back to Lake Austin Blvd, and there were absolutely a ton of people coming the opposite direction.  Obviously that group had a much later start.  Gilbert was playing dance music at the final water stop on Lake Austin Blvd, and that got me in the mood to run fast for a little bit.  I pushed hard all the way down Lake Austin Blvd and then just did a cool-down for the last couple miles on the trail.  I ended up with a little more than 16 miles.  I was a little slower than last week, but this was a much harder course.  My heart rate numbers were fine.

I knocked out a handful of strides at Auditorium Shores, and that all felt pretty good.  It was pretty cold outside, and I thought stretching at home, but I stayed because they were inside the building.  That’s definitely warmer, but it gets really loud in there.  That was it for the day.  I’ll call it a success.

It was absolutely beautiful outside this morning.  The temperature was perfectly cool, and there wasn’t any humidity in the air.  I’m still not committed to running the Marathon in February since I’ll be racing hard a few weeks before it, but I like to leave my options open.  So today I joined the group for the 21-miler just for fun.  Actually, I was only really with the group for the first three miles.  Then I got out ahead where people were a lot more spaced out.

I was a little stiff when I first started out, but after a mile or two that had gone away.  I just focused on being smooth and was amazed at how quickly the miles clicked by.   Before I knew it I had reached the top of the route and was on the way back.  Looking back at my splits I see that I was remarkably consistent the whole way.  A few of the others from the group kept catching up to me as I was leaving each water stop, and they kept telling me I looked good.  That kept me motivated to keep focusing on my form.

Gilbert was out driving around the course checking on us, and I saw him several times.  He seemed pleased, so that was good, too.  The route today was basically the last 20 miles of the marathon course, and I liked the minor adjustments they have made since last year.  It’s still pretty much the same hilly course, but a couple of the meaner spots late in the game have been made a little easier.

Once I got back to Auditorium Shores, I did a handful of strides with some pull-ups mixed in before leading the group in an hour or so of stretching.  That was all a lot of fun.  My pace on the run was good, and my heart rate was nice and low.  It was so awesome outside this morning.  I’m really glad I got to enjoy it, and I feel sorry for anyone that wasn’t out there.

This morning I met the group for our long run, and the route was a little different than anything I had done before.  It was mostly familiar territory, but it was all jumbled about in a strange order.

We started out heading south on Congress to run the first section of the 2008 Austin Marathon course.  It goes a little farther south than it did last year in order to avoid a downtown section where apparently they couldn’t get all the streets closed.  There was an early water stop while we were still on Congress, and shortly after that we turned to start making our way back up.

It got a little strange after that.  Gilbert was at RunTex manning a water stop, and my group stopped there.  The original map said to cross the bridge over the river and head west on the street, and as we were leaving to head that way Gilbert yelled at us to come back.  He said we should go under the bridge and take the south side of the trail instead, stopping at MoPac since there would not be water for a long way after that.  While we were chatting, another group went by on the opposite side of the street and didn’t stop at the water stop.  They went over the bridge, and we didn’t see them for a while.

So we took to the trail.  It was peaceful except for a brief encounter with the stick lady.  She yelled at us because we were passing to the left of a 3-or-4-wide group of slower folks and we crossed right in front of her.  At least she didn’t smack anyone.   It was nice to have light at the big dip by the 1.5 mile marker.  That was when we realized just how much later than normal the start of this run was.  We got water at MoPac and continued.

Late on Lake Austin Blvd, we caught the group that had passed us at the water stop.  The way we had gone was a bit longer, and when we caught them they were all complaining about not having any water.  (They were apparently expecting it there, even though the directions said it wasn’t going to be until the middle school.)  There were a lot of runners coming the other direction on Enfield, so that was kind of fun.

A couple of us decided on the longer option and went left on Exposition to do a little out and back.  That was very different with the light.  Those hills seem much bigger when you can see them.  There was a lot of road construction along there as well, so that really didn’t turn out to be a very fun section of road to add.  The last water stop was at the middle school, about 5 km from the end.  I picked up the pace after that and had a pretty strong finish.

I knocked out a bunch of strides at Auditorium Shores.  My strategy is to do those until my legs feel natural again, and it worked out pretty well.  I was a couple stretches late to the stretching session, but fortunately I wasn’t in charge today.

I ended up with a little over 15 miles and a pretty good pace, and my heart rate was nice and low.  My legs feel good, so I’ll chalk this one up in the “W” column.

This morning I joined the group for a tour of most of the Austin Marathon course.  The plan was to cut off a few spots and end up with close to 19 miles.  I knew running for that long would do a good job of clearing my mind, and that’s what I wanted.  I took off ahead of the main group in the first few miles, and when I reached the first water stop Gilbert said I should slow down and run with them.  I took off again with the group from there, but a few of us split off the front, so it wasn’t much slower than before, if any.  I don’t even remember the hills on Exposition.  I obviously ran over them, but I was just talking to people and not paying attention to the terrain.

The second water stop was on Bull Creek, and Gilbert said that due to the humidity he was going to move the third one earlier on the route.  We had a pretty huge group there at the second one, and soon we were off again.  It was nice to run through that section without the heavy rain we had last time.  We made our way up Shoal Creek and zipped over to Great Northern.  Somewhere along there the group started to split up.  I was going to go in the back one, but some folks in there were trying to mess with my head.  So, I sped up and never saw them again.  There were then just a few of us for the next few miles as we cut over to the east side of the course.

I started to drift back somewhere around the UT IM fields, and that was fine with me.  I was doing everything I needed, and this would let me decompress for a bit.  I caught up to the others briefly at water stop number four on Duval, but they were leaving right after I arrived.  The third water stop was really early, and I thought that meant we might have five instead of four, but it was just a long way to number four, and I really needed it by then.
I ran the rest of the run by myself.  Somewhere along there a thought popped into my head.  It’s the same thing I always tell people at the start of these runs when they express doubts about finishing.  Don’t worry about what’s twenty miles down the road.  Just enjoy this part now.  I guess that probably applies to more than just my running.

I finished with a strong push down Congress and over to South First and down to  Auditorium Shores.  It feels really good to be able to do that.  I did some strides, and they sure weren’t very graceful.  That was a pretty big jump in my distance week over week, so my legs were a bit tired.  I did throw in a few sets of pull-ups, though, so that was good.   Then I got to lead the stretching session again today, too, so that was fun.  I left feeling good, so that’s the way to do it.

I had travel plans all weekend, so I opted to get my long run in a day early.  Fortunately, I found company for a lot of it by joining in with a group that was doing a seven-mile morning run.  I ran with them around Lake Austin Blvd, Exposition, and Enfield, and after we completed that loop I headed out around Town Lake.  I ran into Gilbert at Auditorium Shores, so I stopped for a while to talk to him.  Apparently it’s time to raise the bar again.  I’m ready.

My legs felt good, and the pace and heart rate were nice and relaxed.  I ended up with about 15 miles in all.  At this point in the game, that’s plenty.

Well that was fun.  This was one of those runs where all the normal people ask if you really went out running in that.  It was raining when I arrived at RunTex, and a good-sized crew of us gathered while we waited for everyone to show up who had told somebody they were coming.  We ended up leaving just after 6:00 for a tour of a lot of the Austin Marathon course.

A couple of us pulled out ahead after a couple miles, and we never saw the main group again.  The first water stop was on Lake Austin Blvd by the boat docs, and I was reminded there of how difficult it is to tie my shoes while wearing cold wet gloves.   The hilly section came next.  At only four miles in, it wasn’t too bad.  The next water stop was unexpectedly early, somewhere around 6.5 miles in.  I figured the next one would be properly placed, so I made sure to stop and fuel up.

The only part of the run that really hurt came right after that.  We were running straight into the wind and rain on Bull Creek, and it was hitting my face pretty hard.  Fortunately, that didn’t last long.  I did think about how we should all be wearing shirts that say “it’s what we do” or something like that, though, for anyone that happens to see all the crazy runners out and about.

The route cut across on North Loop to skip a few miles of the marathon course and picked it up again over by the UT IM fields.  I was cruising through that section feeling pretty good.  We chopped off another little bit by heading straight down Duval, and that’s where the last water stop was.  From there it was just a trip through the campus and a cut over to Congress to get home.  In all, I had just under 16 miles at a pretty nice speed, and my heart rate was right where I wanted it to be.

The highlight of my run had to be finding the “your speed is” sign on and working on San Jacinto.  It only clocked me at 7 mph, and I know I was going more like 8.  Maybe my angle of approach was off.  Or maybe it’s trying to be a little generous to the cars.  Either way, it was good for a laugh.

I did a few strides in the parking lot when I got back, and then I skipped out on the stretching.  It was too wet and cold!  I did stretch at home, though, where it was much warmer.  It’s important to do that.

So, I was in Las Vegas for a conference for most of this week.  My last run in Austin before that was the tempo last week, and I knew I would miss the long run and more.  I did not know how much time I would have, but I was determined that Thursday morning I would toe the line at the Turkey Trot back in Austin ready to run a PR.  The challenge was that I expected to be in sessions about twelve hours a day and then to go hang out with one of my friends out there most of the rest of the time.

My first thought was to consider a long run Friday before I left, but I had an early meeting at work.  So my next idea was to wake up early on Saturday and run as long as I could before the sessions started.  That didn’t work out so well either.  My connecting flight was delayed by so much Friday evening that I got in really, really late.  For some reason (possibly my wandering around the airport for hours carrying all my stuff), I was really sore all over when I woke up Saturday morning.  I decided to just do some core exercises and commit to running the next day.

I had never been to Las Vegas before.  A couple people had recommended before I left that I should just go running up and down the strip (in the early morning, before it gets covered by a swarm of people).  I stayed out pretty late Saturday night and probably walked close to ten miles (no kidding).  At least I got my bearings straight.

After a brief rest, I got up at the crack of dawn Sunday and took off running.  The big tower of the Stratosphere had been catching my attention the previous day, so that’s where I went first.  I had purposely left my watch resting safely at home.  I wanted to just enjoy these runs every chance I got.  I turned south with the intention of just running until I felt like turning around.  It was pretty awesome to just take in all the outrageous architecture and watch the video screens all up and down the street.  It was cool outside, and my legs felt great.  There are several streets where you go up stairs to a walkway to cross the street instead of waiting for the traffic to clear.  I charged up those with authority, thinking about how that might come back to help me in my hilly race.  I ended up running all the way past the end of the hotels and casinos and found myself at the airport.  I figured that was pretty good, and then I was just blown away when I turned around to look back north.  With the sun coming up, I could see the skyline with the mountains in the background, and it just seemed perfect.  I took off again, having decided I’d run up to the tower again.  People were starting to appear by then, and I shared greetings and a high-five or two with some other runners.  I picked up some more details of the scenery on the way back up, enjoyed all the steps again, and generally felt really good.  Once back at the tower, I decided that was enough for one day and turned back towards my hotel.  I figure I did close to 15 miles in all.  The interesting thing is I didn’t have any gels or water out there, but I didn’t miss them either.  I stretched a bit and headed off to my sessions.

Something odd happened the next day.  I woke up and felt like doing the same thing again.  My legs felt perfect, and I had the energy, so I figured I’d go for it.  I don’t usually do back-to-back runs that long, but I had enjoyed the previous one so much I wanted to experience the whole thing again.  It was just as awesome as the first time.  I did learn a lesson in paying attention, though, as I nearly wiped out on a bump in the road while I was watching one of the video screens.  I also had to cut through one of the casinos this time because a work crew had decided to tear up a large section of the sidewalk outside it.  It’s funny how their buildings are designed there to get people to keep passing by all the games.  My legs felt really, really good.  I even picked up the pace a couple times to give them some variation.  I did some stretching and a little core afterwards, and that energized me for the day.

Now I was forming a habit.  I did it again the next day.  I figured if my legs were going to feel this good I should just keep treating them the same way.  This time, I ran into a guy wearing a Decker shirt.  I was wearing one of my Austin race shirts, too, and we stopped for a minute.  He was from Austin and there on a family vacation, and he was getting a run in while his family was still resting.  I told him to run down to the airport and turn around to enjoy the view if he hadn’t been down there yet.  My legs felt perfect, and I did some more stretching and core when I returned.   In fact, a nagging annoyance I had had for months in my left ankle had even disappeared.  Maybe all I really needed was to back off on the intensity for a few days and focus on being smooth and graceful.

I’m really glad I got to do all that.  I went from not even knowing if I would find time to run to having some of the best runs I’ve ever experienced.  Here’s to some more of that!