Training Week 10

Last spring when training for Nashville's Country Music 1/2 Marathon with Team in Training, we had a training run in some nasty weather. It was spitting rain and the wind was blowing something fierce. Running north felt like I was pushing against a wall. Running south felt like I was flying. My run this past Wednesday was a bit like this, but not quite as bad. There was a crosswind out of the east that was pretty relentless. The 7-miler was the longest mid-week run to date. It went well even though I was confused because the mile marker were all shifted about 1/8 mile further south than they have been for as long as I can remember. I ran without a watch again so who knows how fast I was going. Got a slight scare when I heard a number of sirens heading towards Foster beach. When I got to the pier, there were 4 fire engines, a search helicopter and a number of police cars. With the waves as bad as they were, I feared someone had been swept into the water. By the time I arrived, onlookers informed me it was just a false alarm.

Thursday's run was supposed to be a 4-miler. I took Forest out with me. Like he has the past couple times I've taken him out, as soon as I make my turnaround, he decides he's done running. He'd rather sniff the grass, pee on trees, anything else but run. I'll coax him to start running again, and 50 feet later he stops in the middle of the path and then sits down. So stubborn. I finally got him to run for an extended period of time for the last 1/2 mile. He's such a punk some time.

The 15-miler on Saturday turned into a 14-miler. Liz wanted to cut it short so we decided to shave a mile off. We stopped to talk so many times that it became laughable. Combined with the water stops and stretching caused our ellapsed time to be 30 minutes longer than our watch time. I felt pretty strong until the last 2 miles or so when I started noticing my knees. Nothing too aweful and no lingering pains on Sunday either. Quick list of people we "ran into" - Erin Tobin, my Mom, Jeanine, Dorothea, Chris Vas, Kristin, and the Penguin, who may be referring to me as the "young man" he came across at the end of his run in this post.

Since the stap on my old watch broke, I'm debating whether or not to spend the $70 on a nice new heart rate monitor. Keith had a fancy one that he bought some software for to track all of his workouts on his computer. I was impressed by the charts he had of each of his workouts from the past months. With property taxes due at the end of the month, a new watch band may have to be the solution for now.

Training Week 9

I ran with Kristin over lunch on Tuesday afternoon. 30 minutes of trail running near Harms Woods. I skipped the long run on Wednesday, as I spent the day working, then traveling to Denver where I met up with Keith. Thursday morning we travelled to Rocky Mountain National Park and got in a 6 mile hike up and down Deer Mountain that evening. It has an elevation gain of over 1000 feet and provided some great views of the surrounding peaks. Friday morning I put in about 3 miles, with some full-out sprints at the end. We also did some hiking that afternoon and saw 6 elk just across the Alberta Falls fed Glacier Creek. For my long run on Saturday, I ran two laps along this route for a total of about 6.5 miles. I saw 4 white tailed deer just above the road around the second bend and a number of elk on my second lap. The entire park was gorgeous but running it is when I noticed so much more detail. The curves of the streams, the different greens in the grass, the various rocks scattered through the terrain. It was a treat and I hope I can make it out there again some time soon for some more hiking and running.

I didn't quite put in all the running miles required of this week's training, but I feel my legs got plenty of work. There isn't much flat land anywhere near the park and the air is much thinner up high, so my lungs also had to work harder than normal to keep up which is also beneficial.

Chicago Distance Classic Half Marathon

The Chicago Distance Class half marathon on August 12 went well. I stayed with Liz until she experienced some knee pain around mile 11 or so. The weather was perfect for running and the newly redesigned course was a welcome change. I ran the same race two years ago. The course started/finished near UIC and the last 2 miles or so were in the dark, asphalty, oily, exhausty, albeit cool depths of Lower Wacker Drive. This year, the course mimicked the marathon course for the first couple miles then west for about a mile, east back to downtown, south on Lake Shore drive to past 39th, then north on the running path. When you make that southernmost turnaround, you're treated to a fabulous view of Chicago with lake in the foreground, and the skyline providing a dramatic backdrop.

Since I treated it like a training run, I was happy to keep just over 9 minute miles and a time of 2:03. Liz finished just behing me at 2:05-ish. Mom, Jeanine and Dorothea bettered their best half time by about 10 minutes, despite an incident where my Mom slammed her finger in a port-o-potty door and had to wait to get a bandaid on it to slow the bleeding.

At the finish line, we were presented with our medals and ice-cold golf-towel sized towels. They were so refreshing! I hope other races in the future provide the same thing.

Training Weeks 7 - 8

My prediction about getting a run in over Justin's bachelor party weekend was correct. It didn't happen. I did get some "cross-training" in if playing paintball for 3.5 hours in 90 degree heat on 3 hours sleep qualifies.
Week 7 was hot, with temps in the upper 90's/low 100's most of the week. My car read 103 on consecutive commutes. Because of the heat, I limited the running to a short 3 mile loop on Tuesday, and played volleyball and softball. Not sure I was ready for the 12 miler on Saturday, but it went off well. I felt pretty strong throughout. Liz struggled a bit but finished. The inside of her knee was giving he problems. We stayed together until the last 2+ miles, although I was pulling her for the later half of the run. Some minor but expected aches and pains on Sunday. This week so far I've done one run, a 3 miler sans Forest late Tuesday night. I'll put in 3-4 today and then run the Chicago Distance Classic on Sunday. Liz has not decided yet if she wants me to run with her. If not, I may treat it more like a race than a training run, although at this stage, no need to push anything too hard. I've been happy that my knees have held up with no noticeable pain yet.