Today, however, was different.  I embarked on my weekly long run.  I set out with Jennie on the bike for 12 miles; my longest run since Steelhead.  It was only 80*F, but the humidity was 82% which meant I was dripping with sweat after the first mile.  I started out nice and easy.  The first 8 miles were between 8:30-8:40 min/mile.   After that, I picked it up a bit and finished the last 4 miles between 8:00-8:15.  So, not only did I get in my long run for the week, but I also was able to pick up the pace at the end without falling apart.  Redemption!

I think the biggest difference was having Jennie on the bike carrying water.  I went through about 32oz of water on the run stopping at every 1 or 2 mile mark along the way.  Even so, I was down a couple pounds when I got home so I chugged some more water and chocolate milk to refuel.

But that isn’t even the biggest news of the day.  The biggest news of the day is that Jennie did her first brick workout! After biking along with me for 12 miles, we went on a 1.5 mile run immediately afterwards.  So, now Jennie has felt the feeling in her legs that is a brick workout.  And not only that, but she is looking at getting her own RoadID.  She has a birthday coming up, so well have to see what happens.

In my opinion, she looks too good for having just done a brick workout.  At least I’ve never looked this good after a brick workout.  Come to think of it, I don’t look this good on a normal basis.

I generally look like a sweaty mess after my workouts.  In this case, I left a nice swass mark on the deck after I got up.  Yep, these clothes aren’t allowed inside until they have air dried.

Now, we are spending the day vegging out on couch and watching TV.  Jennie is currently engrossed in some Gilmore Girls reruns during which she has seen ice cream sundaes, fresh strawberries, hamburgers/fries, donuts, and baskets of fresh bread; all of which are leaving her with insane cravings.  It is only a matter of time before she starts baking…

Friday’s game plan consisted of a long run, long swim, and some wood work.  I ended up doing 10.5 miles in 1:32 (8:44 pace).  It was hot and humid which really slowed me down.  I am still adjusting to the warmer weather and learning what my hydration needs are, so I weighed myself before and after the run.  Despite drinking 2 full water bottles on the run, I was still 3 pounds lighter when I got home.  Yikes!  I spent the rest of the day with a water bottle at my side to rehydrate.

After the run, I did a 2500 yard swim at the pool.  It was a single set of 2500 yards so no resting.  I did give my legs a break by doing 10 lengths on/off with a pull buoy.  Still, my legs were very tired and started to cramp up around 2000 yards.  I think I am going to try and tweak my schedule so that my long swim and long run aren’t on the same day.  The pool is open every day at lunch for the summer rather than just M, W, F, so I might move my Friday swim to Thursdays instead.

After the swim, it was back to the project from two weeks ago.  I built the second cabinet for our bar area as well as built face frames for both the wine rack and cabinet.  I even got to use my new-ish pocket hole jig for the first time.  It was a huge help and really made the face frames come together nicely.  All that is left now is building the door, drawer, countertop, shelves, painting… Ok, so there is still a lot to go, but it is progressing nicely.

Bike Ride

This morning, I embarked on a long bike ride.  My destination was the Johan Trifest in Hopkins, MI to cheer on a co-worker.  Armed with Google Maps Biking Directions, I headed out shortly after 7:00.  A good portion of the ride was on the Kent Trails.  It was nice to avoid the traffic, but the path was littered with leaves and twigs as a result of a rain storm last night.  There wasn’t too much traffic on the trail – unless you count the wildlife.  In fact, there was one stretch that had so many squirrels and rabbits crossing the road, I thought I was stuck in a game of Oregon Trail*.  The Google Biking Directions were very helpful, although one portion would have had me taking a dirt road.  Instead, I jumped over a half mile and took a paved road instead.

I thought that this was going to be a nice and flat ride.  I was wrong.  Not only did a I have a strong wind to deal with, but I also had a few good climbs.

Finally a downhill.  Unfortunately, there were two downsides to this downhill.  First, there was a stop sign at the bottom which really killed my momentum.  And second, I was going to have to climb back up it on the way home.

I got to the triathlon as the last swimmers were getting out of the water.  The last female out of the water really struggled to finish, but managed to make it back to shore on her own.  As she ran up to the transition area, she proclaimed, “I’m alive! I’m alive!”  She sure received a lot of cheering.

I biked out on part of the bike course and saw David at about the 23 mile mark.  I followed him back to the transition area and watched him head out on the run.

He ended up with a great finish for his first Olympic tri.  It looked like a great race and I’m going to add it to my “future” list.  The swim was calm and clean.  The bike was challenging with rolling hills and even more challenging today with a headwind for half of the course.  And the run was flat with lots of spectators out.

The ride back home was much more pleasant because I now had the wind at my back.  Despite bringing 3 full water bottles, I was running really low at the end.  Had the ride been any further, I would have had to find a place for a refill.  As it was, I cruised in on empty and proceeded to pass out in the driveway.

Relaxing

After the bike ride and lunch, we headed up to the Reeds Lake Art Festival.  Lots of cool photographs, paintings, and sculptures.  My favorites were paintings of the original Tigers Stadium and Wrigley field.  Fun to look at, but all very expensive.

After the art festival, it was finally time to relax.  Jennie and I spent the next few hours laying in the hammock, reading, and napping.  With a bright blue sky above us and a nice breeze blowing, it was the perfect day for lounging.

I even prepared drinks and snacks for the occasion.  A bottle of the finest bubbly (Coke) and a sampling of aged cheeses, both the puffed and cracker varieties (Cheese Puffs and Cheez-Its).

In no time, we were both deeply engrossed in our books.

I seem to have a shocked look on my face.  Perhaps this was during the chase and murder scene.

CSA Update

Why am I holding a fresh turnip over my head?  Two reason.  #1 We got a bunch of fresh turnips in this week’s CSA basket.  #2 There were errant Shyguys and Ninji roaming in our kitchen (ala Super Mario Brothers 2) and as any NES geek knows, the only way to dispatch them is a well placed turnip to the face.  We actually cooked up the turnips for dinner tonight and they were very good.  We grilled a veggie packet with chopped potatoes, turnips, onions and carrots along with a grilled chicken breast for chicken sandwiches – delicious.

On a semi-related note, this is the first picture of my Racing for Recovery T-shirt.  I realized I didn’t mention it in my race report despite it being one of my favorite race shirts ever.  It has a classic rock album** cover-esq design on a “broken in” red shirt; reminds me of the Aerosmith Greatest Hits album.  I’m usually not big on red shirts, but the faded look of this one works.

Bird Watching

While relaxing in the hammock, a baby robin wandered right up to us.  It was fluffy with a spotted red breast and still hadn’t learned to fly so it resorted to hopping around.

We spent the better part of an hour watching it hop around the yard under the watchful eye of Mama (or Papa) from a nearby roof. 

For the most part, the adult robin kept its distance letting the fledging fend for himself only occasionally hopping down to feed him fresh berries.

I even got a chance to use the telephoto lens for our camera to snap a few good pictures from long range.  The little guy managed to hop up a log, but never did figure out the whole flapping its wings to fly.

Overall, it has been a great start to the weekend.  Tomorrow looks to be just as nice.  Hopefully we can get some exercise in and possibly even take the kayaks up to the lake.

I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as well!

*I found an awesome Apple IIe emulator along with a copy of Oregon Trail.  I wasted far too much time playing it.  Unfortunately, I tried to ford the second river and lost 4 oxen and Brad (sorry Brad!)

** An album is like an old school CD***

*** A CD is like an old school MP3

I went to bed last night semi very frustrated that my bike was going to be out of commission until the new parts arrive.  I couldn’t even put back on the old parts because I didn’t have the correct pin for the original chain.  This morning was supposed to be a 1:15/20 minute brick workout too.  Being dedicated stubborn, I decided that I was going to try and ride my bike any ways.  It is technically rideable and shouldn’t do any damage to the bike to ride it as is.  However, I found that it was nearly impossible to ride comfortably.  Every time I would get into a groove, the bike would auto shift up or down a gear.  The auto shifting made it nearly impossible to climb because the harder I pushed, the more it wanted to slip gears.  So, after a single lap (6 miles) around the lake, I head back home frustrated and disappointed.  I could have still gone out for the run portion of the workout, but I was too pissed to even think about at the time.

Flash forward to the afternoon.  I just finished up a day long work meeting and needed to get out.  I was really itching to run.  So, I headed out in hopes of doing a long-ish run.  I ended up with a great 10 mile run at an 8:00 min/mile pace.  I felt great the entire way and didn’t feel like I was pushing hard at all.  In hindsight, this long of a run probably wasn’t a great idea with a the River Bank Run 25k looming on Saturday, but mentally, I needed to get a solid workout in.  Besides the River Bank Run is a C race at best for me this year.  I’m treating like a long training run rather than a race and am not looking to set any land speed records or anything.

So, what started off as a day with a failed workout, turned into a mental victory with a long run.  All in all, a great day in the end.  Tomorrow is an easy day with just a swim followed by race day on Saturday.  Time to rest.

I changed things up a bit for my run today and did one big loop rather than lots of smaller loops.  I generally do smaller loops without going too far from home.  It gets boring seeing the same things over and over again, so I decided to do a route I have never done.  It ended up being a great run.  Nearly half of it was on a paved trail or on country roads with little to no traffic.  Very peaceful.  I ran for as long as I could without looking at my watch because I didn’t want to know how far I had gone.  I had a general idea of my distance though because the main roads are all a mile apart and I could count them off in my head as I passed them (44th street, 52nd street, 60th, street… 84th street).

I didn’t look at my watch until well after the turn around point.  I was running low on Gatorade so I stopped at the grocery store to fill up at the drinking fountain using a single serving Gatorade powder package. As I left the store, I broke down and looked at my watch.  17 miles.  YAY!!!! I thought I was only going to be at 15 or so.  17 was a blessing.  I picked up the pace a bit for the next mile.  And then I hit a hill which kicked me in the face a bit and slowed me right back down.

As I hit the driveway, my watched beeped over for 21 miles.  I was very happy to be done.  The run turned out to be hillier than I expected, but I felt strong throughout.

After the run, I took a snow bath and downed a box of Mac and Cheese to refuel before starting my work day at noon.  I made sure to get up and walk around the house every half hour or so to make sure my legs didn’t tighten up too much.

After dinner, I headed up to the pool for open swim.  I figured that the swim would be good recovery for my legs as long as I didn’t push it too hard.  When I got to the pool, it was a ghost town.  I thought that I had the time wrong or something.  Turns out, I was the only person who showed up.  I had the pool to myself for almost a half hour before two other guys showed up.

For my workout, I did:

1 x 500
1 x 400 Pull
1 x 300
1 x 200 Pull
2 x 100 Kick w/ fins
1 x 200
1 x 300 Pull
1 x 400
(1 x 500 Pull Skipped)
2500 yards total

I really wanted to do the last 500 yards to get to a full 3000 yards, but my calves were starting to cramp up and I didn’t want to push it.  It was a very casual swim and I didn’t even time myself.  I just wanted to get the distance in and stay comfortable, so no sense cramping up.

Not sure what the rest of the weekend will bring, but I’m hoping to get in at least one outdoor bike ride if the weather cooperates and another run.

Now, it is time to relax and enjoy a beer (or two).

The fast 3 miles allowed me to negative split the run with a 31:45 (7:54 pace) on the out and a 30:35 (7:37 pace) on the back.

On top of my great run, I took a step this week to keep myself safe on my long runs and bike rides – I bought a RoadID.  Steve in a Speedo recently posted a 20% coupon code (good until March 15th).  Head on over there if you are interested and give him some love.  The code saved me $6 off the final price.

I ended up going with the WristID Sport model in black.  The website was very easy to use and had a nice customization area to see exactly how your choices would print.  It should arrive on Monday or Tuesday.  I am excited to get it, but I am hoping that I never actually have to use it!

As for my run today, I am happy to announce that I completed all 21 miles pain free.  Well, at least I was free of any pain that was out of the ordinary for a 21 mile run.  Yes, my legs were killing me for the finale 5 miles or so, but they were just tired, not hurt.  My calf didn’t bother me at all the entire way.  Even now that I am done, it hasn’t even tightened up.  My hamstring is a bit tight, but I guess I’ll just have another appointment with the foam roller tonight and work it out.

Overall the run went fairly well.  I got a later start than I wanted (this seems to be becoming the norm) and headed out at 10:00.  My original plan was to do loops around Reeds Lake.  This way, I would be able to stay relatively close to home in case my calf acted up.  On my first lap, I ditched my water bottle in some bushes so that I didn’t have to carry it on the first loop.  I wouldn’t need it right away any ways. 

After finishing the first loop and picking up my water bottle, I decided to change up my planned route because I didn’t have any pain.  And, I realized that laps around the lake were going to get boring really quickly.  So, I ventured out and headed towards downtown, did a loop around Aquinas College and a loop through Calvin College before finishing with a second loop around the lake.

 
I definitely got slower as I progressed, but I’ll take it.  I am a little disappointed in the two miles that came in at over a 9 minute pace though.

It was actually pretty a good route.  The sidewalks were still covered in sloppy snow, but the roads were clear so I stuck to running on them.  Not too bad considering we just got 10 inches of snow on Wednesday.

After I got home, I immediately took a snow bath for my legs.  I didn’t have any ice again, but had plenty of snow.

I followed that by gorging myself with left over pasta and a gigantic chocolate milkshake.  It really hit the spot.

I get to take a rest day tomorrow, which I desperately need.  I may still head up to the pool though because I missed my Wednesday swim.  That may sound like breaking the rules of a rest day, but sometimes swimming is almost more therapeutic than doing nothing.

Again, thank you to everyone for your well wishes and advice!

I prepped for my run with a great pre run dinner last night prepared by the lovely Jennifer.  Pasta, breadsticks, broccoli, salad, and chocolate milk.  It was delicious. 

This morning, I got up around 8:00 and ate an energy packed breakfast.  While I digested a bit, I got some work done before heading out around 9:30.  I wanted to get started earlier than I have for my past couple of long runs so that I wasn’t running into the lunch hour and getting ravenously hungry. 

I started out headed west because it felt like that was the direction the wind was coming from and I wanted to get that out of the way so I wasn’t running into the wind at the end.  However, it seemed no matter which way I turned, I was running into the wind.  Not sure how that is possible – must be global warming or something.  I stopped by my dad’s house along the way to say hello and refill my water bottle.  That was 9 miles in and I was still feeling pretty good.  After that, I headed back east. 

The next time I looked at my watch, I was at 14 miles.  I was ecstatic.  I still felt great.  And only 6 miles to go.  That meant less than an hour of running left.  I had one more stop at the library to refill my water bottle again.  I brought a single serving of Gatorade powder along with me and used that for the refill.  After that, it was just a lap around Reeds Lake and I would be done.  I’ve done that a million times.  No big deal.

Then I got 16 miles in.  That is when I really started to hurt.  I think part of it was mental because up until the 14 mile mark, I was really running blind on what my distance was.  I avoided looking at my watch because I didn’t want to look down and only see 11 miles when I thought it should have been more.  But now that I was at the 16 mile mark, I knew exactly where mile 17, 18, and 19 were going to be.  Nevertheless, I pushed through it and only stopped when getting a drink at each mile mark.

I made it home in 2:51 for an 8:35 pace.  I am very pleased with my time.  It is right where I wanted to be.  My last three marathons had final paces of (8:32, 8:38, and 8:52).  So, I am hoping that by already being in that range with my first 20 miler, I’ll be able to bring that down before race day.

After my run, I took my ice bath.  I had to use ice this time because most of the snow has melted.  I followed that up with my favorite post long run meal of a Red Baron supreme pizza and Coke.  Dessert was a tall glass of chocolate milk.

Unfortunately, I must have been a bit dehydrated because a couple hours after the run, I got a splitting headache.  I took some Advil and laid down in a dark room for a bit and it seemed to clear up thankfully.

And before I go, I’d like you to meet the newest member of my training team – a set of Bowflex dumbbells!!  I have been scouring Craigslist for months since deciding I needed to add more strength training to my weekly workouts back in August.  I have had a couple of hits, but they were gone by the time I called. I got lucky yesterday though.  I met the seller at a parking lot nearby and bought them (over half off the price of a new set!!!).  The only thing wrong with them is that one of the dumbbells doesn’t work if you set it to 20 pounds.  Not a big deal though as there are settings for 17.5 and 22.5 and they work fine.

I actually broke them in last night with a quick session to try them out.  I didn’t want to do too much because of my run today though.  I am going to try and at least do two workouts a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays and possibly Thursdays on light running weeks.  I’m super excited!  Tickets to the gun show will be available soon.

I got up early to shovel the driveway before Jennie left for work, so I was all geared up to get the run done early and out of the way.  Unfortunately, I got caught up with work stuff and didn’t get to leave until after 10:00.

The first few miles of the run were very slow going.  The plows had been down most of the roads, but they were still covered with a slushy, snowy mixture that is like running in sand.  I did a lap around Reeds Lake, which was occasionally clear, but more snow than pavement.  6 miles in, I got to Calvin College’s campus.  The sidewalks and paths through campus were in great condition compared to the roads.  I ended up basically doing laps around the campus for 6 miles to take advantage of the sidewalks.  I was even able to duck into the gym and refill my water bottle at one point.

After doing about 6 miles on the campus, I headed back home via the same 6 miles I started with.  It was amazing how much the roads had improved in the hour I spent at Calvin.  They still weren’t perfect, but it was much easier going than when I started.  I ended up finishing in 2:36:28 for a pace of 8:42.  I was actually surprised to be under a 9 minute pace considering the road conditions, so I’ll take it.

Not leaving until 10:00 led to an all too familiar problem.  I got halfway into my run and I was starving.  I ate breakfast when I got up, but by 11:00, my body was ready for lunch.  So, as I ran, all I could think about was food.  That didn’t help; it just made me hungrier.  I really need to work on better nutrition and eating habits before my long runs.

When I got home, despite being hungry, my first priority was to take an ice bath for my legs and to shower.  During my run, I had a great idea for my ice bath.  Why pay for ice when Mother Nature had provided a yard full of snow?  And thus, the Midwest-Style Ice Bath was invented (patent pending).  Armed with a plastic container, I filled it up with snow and readied the tub with water.

Previously, for my ice baths, I would add the ice to the water before getting in. However, taking a cue from Chic Runner, I got into the tub first and then added the snow.  This helped minimize the shock of getting into a freezing tub.  I started by just taking handfuls of snow and adding it to the tub, but that was slow going and freezing my fingers.  So I dumped the entire container in at once.  YIKES!  It was instantly freezing.  Colder than ice.  I basically had a mound of snow on my legs.  I suffered through it though and it was definitely worth it.  I am pretty much pain free now.

I was sort of worried that the snow would melt too fast and wouldn’t be as effective as ice.  I was wrong.  Here is a picture of the snow that was still left in the tub AFTER I sat in it for 10 minutes.

There was even snow left in the tub after I took a hot shower while the water drained.  Next time, I don’t think I need as much snow.  Lesson learned.

So, there you have it, a Midwest-Style Ice Bath; something that all you warm weather dwellers are missing out on.  Or not.

Next week is another light week; only 20 miles total.  After 41 last week and 43 this week, I am very much looking forward to it.  Hopefully the lighter running schedule will give me more time on the trainer, which has been lacking.

Stay tuned!

The first two times I tried Twitter, I really didn’t have a reason to use it; there was no goal.  However, now with such a large running and tri-ing community online, it finally has a purpose for me.  It is my guilt trip and occasional motivator.  Today for instance, I really, really, really did not want to run.  It was cold out.  I was tired.  And I could make up excuse after excuse in my head on why I could skip this long run.  Then, this tweet comes through from @kwizbee:

are you going to be running in the snow or are you going to make excuses? it may be cold, but bad weather just makes you tougher, SO GO RUN!”

It was like it was meant for just me.  I thanked @kwizbee for the motivation and told him it was enough to kick me out the door.

This was quickly followed up by a:

@kevinneumann kick ass man!!! have fun!

from @triblogcarol

It is like a personal cheering section.  How cool is that?!

In the end, I did my 14 mile run and I felt good about it.  I am glad I did it and even more glad that it is over.  I have 6 miles scheduled on Saturday, and then I have an easy week before it picks back up.  I am looking forward to the lighter mileage.  This week has been very crazy and I could use some time to rest and relax.

At mile 11, this changed for the worse. That is when the chafing began.  Ugh, I thought.  I knew I forgot something.  I forgot to Sportwax my legs.  (Full Disclosure: I know the owner of Sportwax).  However, I have never had a chafing issue when I remember to use Sportwax.  According to their website: “Sportwax is a natural, beeswax-based formula that guards against rashing, chafing and skin irritation that come from physical activity and athletic competition. Sportwax is hypo-allergenic, waterproof, and long lasting. Unlike petroleum jelly, Sportwax isn’t messy or heavy, and it won’t damage clothing or equipment.”  I highly recommend Sportwax for anyone that has chafing or skin irritation problem.  I might even try and get some free product from them to use in a give-a-way.

So, there I was,  11 miles in, no Sportwax, with plenty of miles to go.  Time to HTFU and push on.  Step. Ow. Step. Ow. Step Step. Ow Ow.  It was another 6 (painful) miles until I was back home.  Looking at my splits, it doesn’t look like I let the pain slow me down too much.

 
My slowest mile (9:21) was on the Calvin Cross Country course. 
It is amazing how much running on the grass slowed me down.

After I got home, I took a quick sit in a cold water bath tub to hopefully help my legs recover quickly.  Now that I am clean and swass-free, it is time to get some stuff done around the house.  We’ll have to see how this goes as I hobble around like a cowboy.