500!

It happened on Sunday afternoon.  Somewhere out on the old railroad bed near Paradise Lake.  It might have been right after I passed the horse and rider.  It was about the same time that I took my GU gel.  I still had 5 more miles to go in my run that day.

Somewhere along the line, I passed an invisible line of great importance and also of no importance.  The line was the 500th mile that I've run this year.

Now I know there are many of you that say "big woop, I passed 500 two months ago."  I fully understand and that is why for for just about everyone else on the planet, Sunday's landmark was a non-event. 

However, there is one guy on the planet that thought it was a pretty big deal--me!  It's a big deal because I don't think I've ever ran 500 in a year (well, maybe in high school when I was on the long distance team).  And I certainly have never hit 500 in under 5 months' time.  So I'm pretty excited.

I think I'll ice my knee to celebrate!

The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Tempo run today.  The "Dreaded Eight Mile Tempo" or DEMT to be exact.  This is the nickname for this workout given by the followers of the F.I.R.S.T. training plan.  The DEMT is meant to be run at a pace that is slightly slower than your 10K pace.  For me, the goal tempo was about 8:30 min/mile.

Normally, you want to run a warm up mile before hitting your tempo pace, but today was an exception for me.  Even though the calendar says mid-May, we are having a little reoccurence of winter.  It was pouring rain and cold!  So I thought I might warm up faster by running faster.  I had chosen the dirt trail around part of Paradise Lake as my route today.  For the first couple of miles I managed to dodge the worst of the puddles, but by the time I hit mid-way it was a lost cause.  My shoes and socks were soaked, and I was spraying myself with mud with every step.

By the time I was done, I looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. 

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

2.4 easy miles this morning.  I was running with my friend Ryan.  His training plan has him alternating between running and walking (run 5 minutes, walk 3, run 8, walk 3, run 5).  There were two great things about this workout this morning.

First of all, on the running portions we pretty much ran what I hope my starting pace will be in the race on Saturday.  Nothing fancy, slow and steady wins the race.  I'm going to purposefully start slow and reserve some energy for later in the race.

The other great thing was that my slow and steady starting pace felt comfortably easy.  A nice little confidence booster two days before the race.

212.1 miles down--13.1 to go!

I Feel The Need, The Need For Speed

This past weekend I was supposed to do my last long run before the Half Marathon.  I had scheduled a 17 mile run (thanks to Jeff Galloway's Half Marathon Training Plan).  I have been doing my long runs on Sunday mornings.  Howver, we were digging out of a snowstorm at the end of the week, which meant that all of the local running routes were iced over.  On top of that, our church was having it's annual business meeting after the Sunday morning service, which meant that my list of things to prepare was quite long.  Needless to say, there was no running in store fo me over the weekend.

Not getting in my long run on Sunday was an interesting experiment in my endorphin addiction.  I felt worse not having run than I would have had I logged a long run.  Grumpy, frustrated runner.

Thankfully, Monday was the President's Day holiday which meant a day day off.  The kids wanted to go see their cousins in Chico and I knew this was my golden opportunity to sneak in a long run.  "Honey, would you mind if I go for a run while you and the kids are at your sister's house?" 

My wife's sister lives very close to the beginning of Upper Bidwell Park.  I mapped out a 16 mile out and back route (basically run until the dirt road ends).  What a great run! 

I had my handheld GPS ready to go and I was going to track my splits and aim for a 10:30 min/mile.  Ooops, forgot to change the batteries in the GPS and it died a mile and half in.  I guess I will just run by feel.  The whole run took 2:32:45.  That works out to a 9:34 pace.  And it felt good too! 

Here's a few shots of the route.  This is the little dirt trail that runs along the paved portion of the road--why run on asphalt when you can run on dirt?



This is the dirt/gravel portion of the road.  The road less traveled (except for a few friendly mountain bikers).

Regarding the unpowered GPS--I feel a little like Darth Vader..."You've failed me for the last time!"

While I was out on my run, those nice folks at UPS delivered my new Garmin Forerunner 305.  So, now I can record my splits and other workout data without having to write it down with a pen and paper.  Woohoo!  This thing has a lot of features, I can't wait to try it out. 

Not today though.  Today I get to let my legs rest after their hard work yesterday. 

Into the taper I go--the race is a week and a half away!

The 15 Miler

I shook the magic eight ball and asked it what my long run was supposed to be for this weekend.  The little dice thingy floated to the window and said, "Run 15 miles." 

I've been saving a run out to Paradise Lake for just his distance.  I checked it on MapMyRun and it's just right.  The run is mostly an out and back, but I managed to put a loop in the middle 5 miles for variety's sake.  Two miles of the route are on the dirt trail around a portion of the lake.  Added bonus:  port-a-john's at the lake. 

Down side:  Bears, but then that might just improve my time for the run.