9/3/2008
Over the weekend, weather forecasts were calling for lots and lots of rain over north Texas this week, as a result of the former Hurricane Gustav. Parts of northeast Texas have received lots of rain, but a little further west, in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, we’ve seen a few sprinkles at best. We have, however, been the beneficiary of cooler weather, due in part to increased cloud cover, and some pretty heavy winds.
Yesterday and today, my scheduled 4 mile easy runs (@ 10:08/mile pace) have turned into very easy runs, at a pace between 9:25/mile and 9:44/mile. While I did keep an eye on the Garmin, I really tried to run on feel, and it seemed to work. My average HR was 148 bpm for the 9:44/mile run, and 152 bpm for the 9:25/mile run. I think I have Gustav to thank for this, at least in part.
Certainly, a strong wind at my back helps, but it also hurts just as much, if not more, when I am running into it. The cooler temperatures help, though they’re only marginally cooler. Perhaps it is the combination of the cooler temperatures and the wind, acting as an air conditioner, and keeping me fresh? Or…maybe…I’m finally seeing some improvement in my running…
Whatever the reason, I’ll certainly take it. It wasn’t all that long ago that it took nearly everything I had to do 2 miles at a 10:00/mile pace, and now I’m cruising around 9:30/mile on easy days? Nice. I think it is about time to schedule another race. Any suggestions?
by Bryan at 11:57:00 AM | 
Health and Fitness | Permalink
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8/31/2008
You’re probably wondering what happened to weeks 3 and 4 of the half marathon training, right? No? Well, I’ll tell you anyway—both weeks were just fine, but week 3 ended while we were on vacation in Colorado, and week 4 ended the day we got back from vacation, and I guess posting my training just sort of slipped my mind.
This morning, I completed day 7 of week 5—a 10 mile long run. With today’s run, I also have new all-time high mileage for one month with 111 miles. All in all, week 5 was pretty good. I threw in an extra day of running (Monday—4 miles), because I hadn’t run in the previous 3 days, including missing a long run. Other than that run, I was back on schedule with training. Week 5 also marked the first scheduled decrease in my easy pace—down from 10:14/mile to 10:08/mile. Here’s the daily rundown:
- Day 1
- Not on schedule: 4 miles @ 9:51/mile – this was a tough run. It was mid-morning, warm, and humid. This was also my first run back from the cool mountain air of Colorado, and my first run during the day in 4 weeks (early morning runs are my bread and butter now).
- Full body strength training.
- Day 2
- Scheduled: 5 miles easy @ 10:08 – this run was much better than the previous day’s. Ended up running the 5 miles in 49:56, for a 10:00/mile pace.
- Day 3
- Scheduled: 4 miles easy @ 10:08 – another easy run, and again, the pace was actually 10:00/mile.
- Day 4
- Scheduled: 6 miles, 1 mile warm up, 4 miles tempo @ 8:40/mile, 1 mile warm down. Easy 1 mile warm up, the 4 miles in 34:38, for a 8:42/mile pace. I think this is the first time I’ve actually completed for miles at tempo pace, even if I didn’t hit my pace. I was good until the 4th mile, which came in at 8:49, but at least I didn’t stop.
- Day 5
- Scheduled: 4 miles easy @ 10:08 – this was another run a little later in the morning, and again, I paid for it. My HR averaged 170 for this run, and it was a very pedestrian 10:07/mile pace. Warm and humid, and I was potentially not recovered fully from my tempo run the day before.
- Upper body strength training.
- Day 6
- My birthday, and a rest day.
- Day 7
- Scheduled: 10 miles easy @ 10:08 – I’d missed my previous two long runs, so I was a bit apprehensive about this run. As it turns out, I had nothing to fear. The total time was 1:40:06, for a 10:01/mile pace.
Well, that’s it for week 5. The tempo run was hard, as were the runs done mid-morning. When I was running in the cooler, early morning weather, I could really feel the high-altitude training kicking in, and would often find myself running easy at 9:45/mile.
Just over two-and-a-half months until the half marathon. On to week 6.
by Bryan at 11:59:00 AM | Health and Fitness | Permalink
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8/30/2008
On this day, 36 years ago, I was born. That’s right, today is my birthday! 36 is a pretty insignificant birthday in the grand scheme of things, though I do find it amusing that I’ve now lived my second 18 years. Whereas it seemed like the first 18 years took absolutely forever, the last 18 years have flown by.
Here are some of my more memorable “on this date in history” items:
August 30, 1985: I became a man, according to Jewish tradition.
August 30, 1988: I got my drivers license.
August 30, 1990: I turned 18, and it was my second day of class at the University of Texas at Austin.
August 30, 1993: I turned 21, hitting the bars at 12:00 AM on August 30, until closing time. I hit the bars again right after work, as well as each night for the next week.
August 30, 2000: My first birthday as a father.
August 30, 2002: The big 3-0, which really wasn’t a big deal at all.
August 30, 2005: The one and only time I’ve had dinner with my two sons, and my Mom and Dad. It was a little awkward. (My parents have been divorced since 1995.)
So there you have it, my own personal “on this date in history.” Not very exciting, I know. If I could remember the year, then I would’ve included the birthday spent in a dive of a restaurant in Santa Fe, NM. The owner of the place gave my a plaque from the bar for White Horse Whiskey. I thought it was the greatest gift ever, but then again, I was probably somewhere between 8 and 11 years old.
One last interesting fact: on this date, 18 years ago, I weighed 180 lbs. Today I weigh 180 lbs.
by Bryan at 4:58:00 PM | In General | Permalink
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8/25/2008
We made it back from our vacation at about 1:45 AM this morning, after driving straight through from Denver. It was a fun trip, and a great introduction to the mountains for the boys.
I was able to get some running in while we were gone—24 miles total, and all but 4 of which were at 9,000 feet in elevation or higher. I wonder how quickly the effect of high altitude training wears off? Anyway, I am definitely looking forward to getting my first run in back closer to sea level (should have been today…total slacker).
While in Colorado, we saw family, we saw friends, we saw deer, snakes, foxes, and snow. We relaxed, we hiked, we shopped for souvenirs, and we simply enjoyed some time decompressing.
As long as I don’t live there, I think I need to get back into the habit of an annual trip to Colorado—summer or winter, I don’t care, as long as I get back up there more often!
by Bryan at 12:55:00 AM | Travel | Permalink
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8/16/2008
Well, the good news is that we’ve made it to Colorado. The bad news is that on our way down Raton Pass, into Trinidad, we encountered a rock slide in progress.
Coming over the pass, we encountered a very severe thunderstorm, with hail, and so much rain that there was basically standing water on a road that slopes down from a mountain pass. Somewhere between mile marker 6 and 7, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye, and turned to look as the slide was hitting the ground in front of us and to our right. Most of the debris stopped right there, and remained on the side of the road—all except one small boulder (we’re guessing it was about the size of a basketball).
This one boulder had decided that it would be nice to see what was on the other side of the road, and came rolling out into the road right in front of us. There was pretty much nothing I could do—I slowed as much as I could, as quick as I could given the conditions, and I moved to the right, as it was moving quickly to the left. We came so close to missing it. Instead, the left front tire went right over it, blowing out the tire.
More good news: we were able to slow down safely and pull off to the side of the road with little trouble.
Not so good news: we pulled off right next to a nice steep rock face, with water pouring down the side, along with a little bit of rock debris—not a good place to be stopped in the car.
Some more good news: we were less than a quarter of a mile from exit 6, which had a wide shoulder. Best of all, it was away from the rocks.
Even more good news: coming down from the top of the pass, we noticed a snow plow truck sitting on the southbound side of I-25. We wondered what it was doing out—of course we found out the hard way—he was going up and down the road moving rocks out of the road. It wasn’t long after we stopped that he pulled up behind us. Not only did he use his huge truck to help keep traffic away from us as we changed the tire, he also helped change the tire, which was a huge help since we were in the rain, and my nerves were pretty frayed. We didn’t even get his name: thank you, whoever you are!
After slowly making our way the last 5 miles down the pass on the undersized and under-inflated spare, were able to exit and get some air in the spare, before finding a place to stay for the night.
Believe it or not, there’s more good news: About 2 hours out from Trinidad, we’d called around to a few hotels, one of which was a brand new La Quinta, but we decided not to book anything until we got into town. It turns out that the La Quinta is right next to the tire store. It looked nice, they still had rooms, so we headed in. As we were waiting, I jokingly asked the manager if they had a “rock slide” discount, and told her what we had just gone through. She said “oh, we have a great ‘rock slide’ discount,” and proceeded to give us a 20% discount off of the rate we had been quoted when we called from the road. How nice is that?
So I’ll be up bright and early to see about getting a new wheel and tire. Hopefully that is all we’ll need.
by Bryan at 12:15:00 AM | Travel | Permalink
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