NFL Lockout

The NFL Players union has decertified.  The NFL owners will likely lockout the players at midnight.  I'd say there is probably now at least a 30% chance of no SuperBowl next year.

Richmond Half Marathon Recap

On Saturday I completed the McDonald's Half Marathon (now there's an appropriate sponsor) in Richmond, VA.  The main charity involved was Donate Life.  If you are not signed up to be an organ donor, I strongly encourage you to learn how to here: http://www.donatelife.net/

This was my first half marathon and was also the furthest I've ever run in one outing; a half marathon is 13.1 miles.  At the beginning of this year, when I signed up for my first 5k, I set a goal to complete a few 5ks and 10ks this year, and if possible a half marathon.  In June I figured that signing up for Richmond would be a good idea, since it is late in the season and would give me ample opportunity to prepare.  For the last few weeks, I upped my goal and challenged myself to finish in under 2 hours (more on that later).

We arrived in Richmond yesterday.  The race expo was nothing like the larger races, like the Marine Corps, but was still decent if a bit cramped.  We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn, which was surprisingly nice, in downtown Richmond.  The pasta dinner was less expensive across the street at the Marriott though, so that's where we had dinner.  We hoped to see the Poe Museum, but didn't have time.  I spent last night reading about 100 pages of Dean Karnazes's book 50/50 for extra motivation.

I awoke at 5am with multiple alarms ate a banana, got dressed and headed out.  The temperature was about 35 but felt surprisingly warm, maybe due to the thousands of people in the streets.  I decided to cast aside fashion, and forego the tights today since this was still shorts weather.  Since I had indicated I expected to finish in about 2 hours, I was assigned Wave 2, which means I could not start until 3 minutes after Wave 1 started.  There were a lot of people in Wave 2.  I drank my Gatorade Prime 1 beverage and bummed a piece of gum from a man named Bart, who said he hoped to break his 2 hour record from last year (unfortunately, he was not able to do this, falling short by less than 60 seconds).

You can follow along with my GPS route here if you want: http://connect.garmin.com/player/56561979

The first 2 miles down Broad Street were pretty uneventful.  I was able to stay above target pace (probably not a good idea) without any problems.  

Between miles 2-3 there was a rather steep hill to go over train tracks.  We then moved into a small loop down Brookland Parkway, which seemed to be a nice neighborhood.  There was a good turnout of residents here.

At around mile 5, I noticed a cramp in my left big toe, which continued until the end of the race.  Every step hurt, but it did not worsen, otherwise I may not have made it.

Next up came Bryan Park, which was by far the worst part of the whole course.  Thankfully, if I choose to run the full marathon here, this part is left off.  The roads were paved but strewn with gravel; I almost tripped several times.  There were also a lot of hills, and the roads were rather narrow.  They also decided to put the a water stop at a curve in the narrow road, which is not good planning.  Did I mention there were a lot of hills?

After the park, the rest was just mentally tough.  At this point my pace had moved from the low 8:00-8:10 of earlier miles to 8:30.  My GPS unit was set to warn me everytime I dropped above 8:45 miles.  It started beeping here.  It took everything I had to keep moving, and to make it even worse I managed to drop my Clif Shot Bloks.  I had a choice: stop running to pick up my fuel or keep going.  I kept going.  There were a lot of crowds here, mostly residents.  Some passed out beer.  I didn't take it, but I did manage to spill powerade over some poor volunteer and myself.

Once I got back into downtown, I picked up speed again.  The crowd was really good at this part and there was music playing.  The last bit is down hill, which makes getting to the finish that much easier.  I was able to muster up a sprint across the finish line.  I was given a very nice finisher's medal and got my picture taken.  

My legs felt really spent.  They cramped up considerably and I had to keep moving else I would have to lay down.  Unfortunately, the entire walk back to our hotel was up hill, but I made it.  

Here are some things I learned today:

• Signs can be motivational.  A few that I saw today: "Run like snot."  "Don't poop your pants."  "Pain is temporarily, pride is forever."  This last one is definitely true; the pain in my toe is now gone, so it is a good thing I ran through it today.
• It is easy to go from couch to 13.1 in 1 year.  I started running on November 2, 2009.  I ran about 1.5 miles and thought I was going to die.  I had to walk the rest of the route.  The pace I ran that 1.5 miles at was nothing close to what I ran 13.1 at today. 
• Setting goals is powerful.  At the beginning of this year, my goal was to simply run a 5k.  It morphed into running a 10k and possibly a half marathon.  Yesterday, it was to run the half marathon in under 2 hours.  My finish time was 1:48:58 so I was able to meet all of my goals.
• Cold water is a good pain reliever.  I felt like complete trash until I took a shower that included putting my legs under freezing water for about 2 minutes.  
• It is all about making small steps, and not making excuses.  

So, the bottom line is, I challenge all of you to set some fitness goals and meet them this year or next.  I don't have any races scheduled at the moment, but as soon as I complete my next goal I'll let you know.

Thanks for your continued support.  Don't forget to register as an organ donor.

Half Marathon Training Completed

On August 24, 2010 I began my half marathon training program.  As of last night, I have completed nearly all of my training runs, and have no further training planned before the event on November 13.

In the past 12 weeks, I have run a total of 246.6 miles.

Assuming an average pace of 9:30 per mile, I estimate I spent about 39 hours training, or about 3 hours, 15 minutes per week.

The race begins at 7:30 EST on Saturday.  You can track my progress at www.richmondmarathon.com

Half Marathon Training end of week 8

I've finished week 8 of my half marathon training.  On Tuesday, I ran 6x .5 mile intervals.  These were pretty tough for some reason, maybe I was just tired but 6x .5 was worse than 3x mile.

On Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday I ran easy 5 milers.  Not much to them, over the same varied terrain as always.

Sunday was a long run, 10 miles to be exact.  This is my longest run to date and it went well.  I did use an energy gel halfway through, which I haven't used before.  It was a Clif Shot, which are quite messy, though it did seem to work.

Still running

I'm still moving forward with my half marathon prep.  I haven't had time to post, since I became a dad a few weeks ago.  But that hasn't slowed me down much, I'm still getting out 4-5 days a week to workout.  I've only truly missed one day and have managed to keep up with all of my long runs.  Yesterday was an easy 7 miler; the end of this week is a not so easy 10 mile.

Half Marathon Training end of week 5

Yesterday was a quick 3 mile run, not much to report there.

Today was the long run of the week, in this case 1 mile shorter than last week: 7 miles.  It was actually a very nice run.  There was a light drizzle, clouds, and only a minor breeze.  Probably about 60 degrees.  A little rain never bothers me and the break from the heat was nice.  Speaking of heat, DC tied the record for most days over 90 degrees: 67.  Doesn't look like we will have anymore, but it is insane that over 1/6 days in 2010 will have been over 90 degrees.  And people still doubt climate change...

Half Marathon Training end of week 4 and into week 5

Week 4 ended with a 3 miler on Saturday (easy) and an 8 miler on Sunday (not too hard either).  The weather was near perfect for both runs, which helped.

Week 5 started today with 6 hill intervals.  I ran up a hill that is about .1 miles 6 times at a relatively quick pace.  It was a bit cold this morning, about 48.  In shorts and t-shirt it took a good 15 min to feel warm.

Half Marathon Training: Week 4 and Glad I Got that Headlamp!

I'm already three days into Week 4 of training.  Here is a summary.

Tuesday - This was a "long hill interval" workout.  I found a hill that is about .3 miles.  I ran up and down it 4 times.  On the way up, I was at a 7:30 pace, while down was just a light jog.  This was a lot tougher than I thought, I'm still feeling this in my hamstrings.

Wednesday - An easy 3 mile workout, though after Tuesday it was a bit harder than normal, nothing interesting to report.

Thursday - Today wasn't too tough, except someone got a little too close to me in a car.  I was in a crosswalk, and since it wasn't 6AM yet the lights were blinking red.  Meaning that cars have to stop.  This person stopped, but as I was right in front of them with a blinking strobe light on my head, they started moving again!  She was only going about 5 mph, but did slam on her brakes and the tires screeched a bit.  She was still a good 10 feet away.  I think she was close to crying.  I just took off.  I'm just glad I had that strobe, but then again, I was pretty much out of the way.

Half Marathon Training Week 3 Days 4 and 5

Yesterday I had a quick 3 mile run.  Not much to report with it, it was not too tough and I took a route I hadn't taken in the past; all sidewalk.

Today was a 6 mile "long run."  I put it like that because I've run 8-10 miles in the past without problems.  The interesting part today was about 1 mile into the run.  I was running on a sidewalk when a late 90's Ford Escort passed me, with a lot of smoke coming from its tailpipe.  About 5 minutes later I saw the car make a u-turn and speed up quickly, leaving even more smoke in its wake.  So much smoke that I couldn't see the road in front of me.  It made me cough a lot.

About 15 minutes later I was on another road, and guess who came by me?  Just as I was thinking, "where's the cops when you need them?" I heard sirens and the guy was pulled over.  I waved to the cop and yelled "thank you", pointing at my chest.  I'm not sure if he understood but he waved back.

Half Marathon Training: Week 3 days 2 and 3

Wednesday was an interesting day.  I went for a 5 miler at 5:30AM.  It was quite dark near the courthouse/jail and I somehow managed to trip on an uneven sidewalk.  No injuries other than a small bruise, but got me thinking that I better get a light.  I was able to complete the run, despite falling.   After much searching and going to REI in person, I settled on the Petzl Tikka Plus 2 (green one).  Buying from REI is always a no brainer, since they allow returns forever, for any reason.

I tried out my new headlamp on Thursday, for a 3 mile run.  It works well, no problems.

Today was an off day, but there will be 2 runs this weekend.

Half Marathon Training Week 3 Day 1

Today's workout involved hill repeats.  I ran about 1 mile to a hill near me, and then proceeded to run up and down the hill a total of 5 times (5 up and 5 down).  Each direction was about .1 miles, or 200 yards.  In summary, I ran a mile up and down the hill.  This was also done at my current 5k pace, which is about 7:45 so it was pretty tough.  I then ran at a slower speed back to my house to end the workout for a total of 3 miles.

Half Marathon Training Week 2 wrap up

Today was the long run for week 2, a total of 7 miles.  This distance is not too challenging for me, especially considering the weather.  It was about 72 with a light breeze.  The only thing that would have made it better would be clouds.  I finished the run in just under 70 minutes, so I was a bit faster than a 10 minute per mile pace.  On Saturday I had run 3 miles, so a total of 10 over the past two days, and a total of 21 for the week.

On Tuesday I will be starting week 3, which begins with hills.

Half Marathon Training Week 2, Days 1 and 2

Yesterday was a 4 mile fartlek, the second and last.  It is an unstructured interval workout.  I made it fairly tiring.

Today was a 5 mile easy run.  I took a new route today that led me past the courthouse, jail, and the surrounding neighborhoods.

Half Marathon Training First Long Run

Today was the first long run in my training program, 6 miles.  To me this wasn't too bad since I often run up to 9 miles.  But given the hot weather, the code orange air alert, it was plenty challenging.

Half Marathon Training Day 4

After a day of rest, today was a short run (3 mi) in preparation for a longer one (6 mi) tomorrow.  I just ran around some neighborhoods and ran around the Jermantown Cemetery, one of the few peaceful places around here.

Half marathon Training Day 3

Today I woke up at 5:15am and was out and running by 5:50.  I ran the same route as the fartlek on day 1, except in reverse.  A bit over 4 miles, at exactly a 10 minute mile pace.

Tomorrow is my first rest day of the program, followed by a short run on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.

Half marathon Training Day 2

Today was a simple training day, just an easy 4 mile run at 6:30am.  My pace ended up being about 9:40 which is good considering the hills.

Half Marathon Training: 13.1 Day 1

Introduction:

I've registered for the Richmond half-marathon, on November 12, 2010.  This will be my first half marathon event.  Up til now, I have run two 5k's, one 10k, and will run another 10k during my half marathon training.

For those of you unfamiliar with distance running, a half marathon is 13.1 miles.

Today was the first day of my 12 week program.  I hope to be able to stick to it, but things will probably come up.  Injuries may occur, babies will be born, but I will do my best to follow at least 90% of it.

I've combined two plans, the Cool Running Half Marathon beginner plan and the Hal Higdon intermediate plan.  The Cool Running plans are a bit tougher, but based on my schedule they won't work the whole time through.

My weekly mileage:
15, 21, 20, 19, 21, 25, 23, 26, 24, 18, 22, 30 (last week includes the 13.1 run).

So without further ado, onto

Day 1:

I ran at 5:30 this morning. Today was a 4 mile fartlek.   Basically what that is is an unstructured interval.  I ran for about .85 miles as a warmup and then alternated quick sprints, 5k paces, 10k paces, and slower jogging.  I ran the normal loop around my condo.  There are only 2 fartleks in the training program: today and next week.  The rest of this week I'll be running easy runs on W, R, S and a long run on Sunday.

Strasburg Amazing in Debut

Stephen Strasburg threw 14 strikeouts in the 5-2 Nats win over the Bucs.

This video shows the complete domination he brings to the game: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=8802881

Stride really does matter

Last November, I took up jogging.  Since then I've worked up from zero to being able to run a 5k in about 29-30 minutes.  I've been afraid to go beyond a sustained effort of 30 minutes, mostly because I've gotten really winded after about 3.5 miles.

But I read this book.  It discuses "barefoot" running.  No. I did not ditch my shoes, but I did try something mentioned in the book, which is to make sure you are landing on the balls of your feet, not your heels.  Also make sure your back is straight and your knees are bent.  I'm not a pro at this, but I tried these simple techniques and was able to go effortlessly for 5.9 miles today.  That is over a 60% increase.  And my legs don't really hurt, except I can tell some new muscles were used.

Now I am really wanting to get some Nike Free shoes...