Month: June 2010

Hotlanta Run #1

Today’s run was in the morning heat of Alpharetta, Georgia, just outside of Atlanta. I ran with my younger brother and my dad. It was great to get them out to go on a run, especially since my dad had a toe problem come up a couple days ago that was trying to stop him. We all got out in what was around 80-degree heat with close to 80% humidity. Pace was not the interest here since I resolved to run with them.

Before the run, my dad and brother responded to my question of at what pace should we run, with “a 10-minute mile.” So I set Garmin’s Virtual Partner to that but I couldn’t really imagine going that slowly.

We started off with a very steep hill, and since I ate cookies for breakfast, well, I thought I was going to “toss my cookies.” My stomach survived the initial assault. We stayed together for a while with my dad lingering a bit. With the aid of Garmin, I called out the 1st mile, then the 1.5-mile mark. At the 1.5-mile mark, my dad decided to jog back. My brother and I jogged out to the 2-mile mark and jogged back. Coming back, I had not realized how long of a hill we had descended! We hovered close to a 10-minute pace climbing back up that hill. For me, I was just trying to stay with my brother but I wanted to go faster. I had the energy for it!

Once we hit my brother’s subdivision, I decided I’d lose him and go my own pace home. I picked it up a bit. Of course, I hit that steep initial hill again, but this time going down. WHOA! What added to the “WHOA!” was that there was an open manhole cover in the middle of the downhill. Um……

I ran today in new shoes. Because my Mizuno Wave Precision 10 pair was feeling small on my feet at size 10, I asked my brother to see if he could get me a pair of Precisions in size 10.5 to compare. Immediately they felt better. But he didn’t give me the Wave Precision 10; instead he gave me the Wave Precision 11, which isn’t even out yet!! They come out in maybe a month. This feels cool! I have a race next weekend and I’ll hopefully get to wear these shoes as I’m in the first corral. I wonder if anyone will wonder …

As for pain, my thematic medial lower right leg issue is still there a little bit. I didn’t stretch much before or after this run (my brother and dad were eager to just start), and I could tell that despite feeling really normal the rest of yesterday after my 12.31-miler, I lacked strength today when I woke. Weird how things change around like that!

Peeling Back the Temperature Rind

Wow. What a difference temperature (and humidity) makes. This morning I busted out a long run after a hiatus this week. I did 12.31 miles in 1:32:20, which means I averaged 7:29s. The weather started out a cool 64 and heated to a 66 with slight humidity.

Compare this morning’s performance to a couple other performances. Last Saturday in 87-degree weather I did 8:26s. A couple weeks earlier I did this distance in 7:51s in comparable weather to today. Between the two weeks I did 14.02 miles in 8:07s in humid 72ish-degree weather.

I also wonder what the introduction of fish oil into my supplementation means. I heard that it was good for endurance athletes. I wonder if it made my heart pump better in this run. I doubt that fish oil is the main reason I did so well today, but I wonder how much of a reason it may have been.

Whatever contributed to today, there’s little doubt that the cooler weather played a factor. After last week’s heat, it was nice to find out that I wasn’t going down in performance but instead going down in the weather, which meant I was conditioning for better conditions. What’s even better about today’s results is that I was pretty steady throughout the run. Don’t look at the laps for miles because I inadvertently hit a button on my Garmin and triggered an early lap. My first mile was fast (7:05) yet comfortable, and while my speed decreased a bit from there, I didn’t lose too much speed. For most of the run I was running sub-7:30s. Of course, that’s not all that impressive, but for now, I think that’s making me feel a little better about myself.

For this run, I had just a PowerGel before the run. I carbo-loaded with Oglio & Aglio with Chicken last night. And a Ben & Jerry’s. Damn the Cinnamon Buns flavor!

As for injuries, my right lower leg medially again felt sensitive, but consistent with other runs, it was fine after I got into my run. For about the first couple miles, though, it felt a little unstable, the kind of unstable that made me wonder if my leg was going to “fail” on me. But it didn’t. While there weren’t a lot of people in the park this morning, no one passed me. That’s great.

I feel a bit better about my fitness right now. 🙂

P.S. After the run, I hit the gym for abs, arms, shoulders, pecs, quads, and calves. Also of note: New photos from my Japan Day race are on the Photos page.

Not That Bad

This morning I participated in the Japan Day “Japan Run” 4-Miler in Central Park. It was a humid morning, a little more than a half-day after completing my long run, and while I didn’t beat last year’s time of 27:47 or the time I got in a 4-mile race earlier this year (27:50), I got pretty darn close. Take a look at my unofficial results per Garmin:

Actually, these results almost identically match the official results. Officially, I ran this race in 27:56, meaning I was doing 6:59s. That’s a second slower of a pace from the R Baby 4-Miler I did about a month ago, but considering that that was in 44-degree weather and today’s run was in humid, 75-degree weather, I think I performed a bit better in today’s race. I even got a final sprint in, which sounded as if it wowed the crowd at the finish line. My time is not all that impressive, though, and I can’t wait until I start posting better times.

Before the run I had a green tea to see if it would have an impact on my run. (I didn’t notice anything.) Going into the run, the medial side of my right lower leg was sensitive again! However, it did not bother me throughout the run. I wondered if adrenaline made it go away.

We started on the 102nd St. Transverse, and I got pretty good speed in that first mile (6:36). For the mile featuring Cat Hill (this race’s biggest hill), I posted a 7:35, but it seemed a bit slower than that. When I hit the 3 Miles marker, I did a quick calculation and realized I had to hustle to beat my time: I had to run the final mile in about 7 minutes or less. Fortunately it was mostly downhill, but given some of my recent history on that portion of Central Park, I didn’t let that fact let me get lazy. I tried to keep my pace up and it was hard, but that final sprint as I rounded onto the Transverse again was wonderful. I hit my Garmin button a few seconds after finishing but it seemed to be the perfect time to do so because it was apparently at the moment of my official time.

I hope to have some photographs up soon!