Thursday, May 18, 2006

Did you ride your bike to work?

So today is Bike to Work Day, and since I don't have a bike (someday, someday) I didn't ride a bike to work. Ever notice that some bicyclist can be a different breed of athlete. If you wonder what I mean...go for a run on a trail where people also bike...they seem to have this attitude that they are far superior than runners. Of course that's not true (especially since I'm a runner!) We never coast...every forward motion is done with effort!

Anyways, last night was a pretty hard workout. 1 mile warm-up, 4 miles @ 7:42 pace, 1 mile cool-down. My first 3 miles of my tempo run ranged from 7:10 to 7:17...the last mile register 8:07. I know this is totally a Garmin Forerunner 201 problem. I was watching my current pace during mile 4 and I was running around 6:50 for some it and a good portion around 7:20. Damn Garmin Gremlins! Plus it was hot, ok it was only like 65 degrees, but it felt really hot! (Boy am I in trouble..Chicago, July??)

Anyone else have this problem...being a slave to the watch/gps unit? I remember when I could just go out for a 30 minute run and measured my improvement by how far I could go before I hit the 15 minute turnaround. Hmmm, if I'm going to start trail running again, I'm going to have to "let go" of needing to know exactly how far I ran and at what speed. Boy, that's a totally different mindset!

Tonight: 4 miles @ 9:05
Big run on Saturday, 20 miles!!

New blog of the day: RUN CHACHO RUN! He will be running the San Francisco 1/2 marathon (which maybe, just maybe I'll be running). He just started his blog about running. Go check it out!

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

But I want to now!

I keep hearing, "But Daddy, I want an Oompa Loompa! I wanna Oompa Loompa NOW!"

So, I'm starting to get the ultra marathon bug. I've been reading some great blogs and websites (which I'll post soon!) about ultras and I'm really ready to get out there and try one!! I keep reminding myself to not over do it until I finish my marathon in July. We'll see if it holds.

So far this week:
Monday: 4 miles (seemed like I barely got warmed-up before I was done!)
Tuesday: rest (going to the gym to do some lifting)

Happy running everyone!

Friday, May 12, 2006

10 weeks to go!!

Only 10 more weeks until the Gay Games! This week it was WARM!! It hasn't been warm and sunny forever!!

This past week: (I think week 8 of 18?)
Monday: 5 miles
Wed: 7 miles (with 3x mile repeats)
Thur: 3 miles (almost didn't seem worth getting dressed for!)

Tomorrow: 18 miles! I'll be running 12 miles then meeting up with the East Bay Frontrunners to finish up the last 6 miles. I've found that it's a great way to finish my long runs. Last Saturday I had 16 miles to do. I ran from Johan's place (near Hwy 13) down to Harbor Bay (Alameda). Around the island and while everyone waiting for everyone else to finish, I ran 3 more miles to the restaurant. Since that was only 14 miles, that afternoon I ran to volleyball (3 miles) played volleyball for 2 hours and then ran 3 miles back home. It was a slow 3 miles...my legs were pretty much spent! My 16 miles turned into 20...but with a 3 hour rest and two hour volleyball playing breaks!

With my long runs becoming longer, my weekday mileage has been going down a little (as I continue to build miles, the weekday runs will become longer)

Next week:
Monday: 4 miles
Wed: 6 mi (4 mi tempo)
Thur: 4 mi
Sat: 20 miles!! My first 20 miler since the Napa marathon!

Check out this great blog: www.trailgirl.blogspot.com
She lives in the neighborhood and seems like a great person that I could learn a lot about running ultras from. I love the fact she ran a 100k race and then a difficult 50k race the next day. One day, you just wait...one day.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Fast foward.....now Week 7

Amazing how fast time flies when you are busy! I am in the middle of Week 7 of my training for the Gay Games VII marathon. Right now, my long run is at 16 miles. On May 20th will be my first 20-mile run of this training.
I have already logged 166 miles in almost 22 hours! If you are wondering where I have been...I've been running!

This week's schedule:
Monday: 5 mi @ 9:05/mi (actual: 5.54 mi @ 7:37/mi)
Wednesday: 6mi w/ 4mi @ 7:42/mi
Thursday: 4 mi @ 9:05/mi
Saturday: 16 mi @ 9:05/mi

As you can see by Monday's actuals, I don't follow directions very well. This past Saturday I was scheduled to only do 6 miles, but it was such a nice day out...I ended up doing 16 miles instead.

I recently retired another pair of shoes...Brooks Dyad 2. They had 444.6 (or so) miles on them. They are my second pair of shoes to be officially retired. My new pair of Brooks Dyad 3 now have 34.9 (or so) miles on them. I'll need to buy a new pair before the end of this month so I can have a pair to run the marathon in. If I only use these shoes, they will be ready to be retired right before the marathon.