Running the crabtree creek rapids

After the rain for the past 2 - 3 days, the ground was saturated, so when the downpour of 2+ inches happened last night, there was no where for the water to go. Needless to say it was wet this morning. Not sure what I was expecting, but since I was going to do 10 miles today, I was told not to do anything hard, so the only not hard running around here is Black Creek or Shelley lake. I figured Black creek would be flooded for sure and I would have a slight chance of Shelley being ok. so off to Shelley.
Arrived about 7:30, on the way I saw many joggers so my hopes were high. Started the normal around the lake then out to the mall route but after 1/2 mile I was stopped by an ankle deep lake going right over the trail and no way around, so back to the start to go the other way. The trail out to the mall was great, not nearly as much water as I expected. I enjoyed watching the water from the lake flowing towards crabtree creek. Passed Viv running with her group, she looked like she was with the easy group, since they were on the way back and she looked fresh. I guess they are tapering for the race next week.
I was going slow and feeling kinda sore from my awesome thursday run so my idea to do 10 was hitting some disapproval from my body, but I just kept going. Then Joe Satriani started on the MP3 player and that was it, got lost in the guitar and the next thing I knew I was at 5.5 miles and the turn around spot. Got some fluid and a carbboom and decided to do a negative split on the way back. Picked up the pace and actually it felt better. The soreness went away, I concentrated on keeping a good running style and my breathing was not labored. My heart rate was around 150 every time I looked so right on target. 150 is the cutoff between zone 3 and 4 and where I want to run the second half of the race next week. I was running with the current and it was going pretty fast but I managed to stay ahead of it. I would find a piece of wood and race it from spot to spot to entertain myself. At McDonald's, The Guns and roses part of my play list started and Paradise City helped my maintain my under 10 pace until I got to Leadmine. I slowed a little in the last 2 miles, but still overall felt good about the second half of the run.
first 5.5 miles 11:13 / mile, after the mess of the first mile I was more around 10:30 - 10:45 but the first mile lowered the ave alot.
last 4.5 miles 10:16 / mile. Felt good here, This is a good thing for my mental state for next week.
If I can do a 2:10 half marathon next week I'll be freakin ecstatic, but just getting a PR would be good enough. I think my official HM PR is 2:16, but the first half of my marathon the beginning of the year was 2:13 something.

Running in the Rain

It's been a long time since I've got to run in the rain. It was great. We really need the rain here and it was warm enough so that getting wet wasn't miserable.
On tap for today was a 10k loop that includes a couple really mean hills. I was supposed to run the last 2 miles at a faster pace than the first 4. So I wasn't sure which way to go. If I go clockwise, I get a one really long steady climb just before the pickup time, but then there are a couple nice downhills before the hilly finish. Or counter clockwise which means I start the faster pace at the top of 1/2 mile hill. But after a quarter mile it's fairly flat with a gradual downhill finish.

I opt for the counter clockwise route and take off. The weather combined with my reduced training load has made my legs fell really strong lately, so the climb to the back gate feels not so bad and I have to constantly check myself to keep from running too fast. I figured I would try around 10:30, then finish off around 10 min pace. When I get to the park I got a surprise as my buddy Nancy drove by just as I was turning into the park with some woohoo's of encouragement :-). The next part is the best a gradual slope down to the lowest point of the run and just before 1/2 mile hill. It's a 1/2 mile long and it goes up 200 feet in elevation. There is one point about 3/4 of the way up that levels off a bit to give you a break, but then it just keeps going. Slowed down on half mile hill, it took me 6:21 to get up it but my heart rate never went over 160. At the top I felt good since I was going slow and usually I walk at the top, but today I just kept going. I speed up and tried to maintain a descent pace. I was not planning on any walk breaks, but the traffic on Harrison did not cooperate so I had to wait for the cars getting onto I40, but not for too long. The next part I had the reverse problem from the start, I kept having to check myself from going too slow. But eventually I made it to the turn back into work and the down fill finish. I picked up the pace and finished strong.

stats
to bottom of half mile hill
pace 10:30, 3.5 miles, 36:45, ave hr 140 - nice and easy
up half mile hill
pace 11:43, .54 miles, 6:21, ave hr 155 - max 160 not so bad when going slow
Back to work
pace 9:53, 2.17 miles, 21:28, ave hr 158 - faster pace felt not so bad, but legs were getting tired.

Yasso 800's

On tap for today at the track
6 x 800 on 4:05 with 200 walk recovery
I managed to get all 6 between 4:00 and 4:05 not sure if it was the humidity or if I just lost some speed, but I don't remember it being so hard. Of course the last time I did this type of workout my numbers were 4:20 instead of 4:05 so that could be part of it. My legs felt great it was more lack of oxygen that was making me feel not so good, so my vote is for the humidity and 80 degree temps that should not be here in freakin October...

Sunday Run at Atlantic beach

It was really tough running this morning. I woke up at 5:30 and went outside to see how the water was. It was still really dark, but I could see the ocean was flat as a pancake. Why oh why couldn't the race have been today instead of yesterday? no wind, calm ocean, 50 degrees. Perfect. Anyway, got dressed, ate half and oatmeal cookie, a banana and some water then headed out to run around 6:45. The sun was on it's way up so I ran East along hwy 58 to start so I could watch the sun rise. It was an awesome shade of orange as it rose over the horizon. I had to run down all the public beach accesses to see it over the ocean, so my first 3 miles out was very slow. I originally wanted to run on the beach, but the tide was in and I wasn't going to run on the sugar sand. The way back was all business, it was out and back so I saw all the houses and stuff on the way out so I didn't need to look around. I think I ran out in 12 min pace, and back in 9 min pace.
Surprisingly the locals weren't very pleasant. I said good morning to 10 people. I got two good mornings back and 1 smile, the rest just looked away and ignored me or looked right at me and scowled. At least it was the last 3 that were nice to end the run :-)

Emerald Isle Tri I mean duathlon

I had some worries about them cancelling the swim when I saw the weather forecast for the weekend and the storms being of the coast on Saturday morning, but when I woke up and looked at the waves, they weren't that bad. Not nearly as bad as Kure beach either year that I did it. So I had some hope. Showed up at the race site and looked from beach level and not from 7 stories up, and it still looked good. This swim was an out and back so you swim straight out into the ocean, then turn around and come back, where kure beach is a swim a long the shore. I guess that makes a difference because at 7:15 the announced that the Coast Guard could not set the buoys and the undertow was too strong so they were cancelling the swim and changing to a 5k run, 12 mile bike.
So all my planning and visualizations just went out the window. I have 30 minutes to the start and was not in a good mood. Anyway gotta take what they give me. So put away all my swimming stuff and started to warm up for the run.

5k run 27:58 ( unofficial )
I wasn't sure how to race this since I don't usually do a 5k run then an all out bike so I just decided to do a 9 minute pace and then hope for the best on the bike. The run was uneventful, an out and back on flat roads. It was nicely marked with 1/2 mile markers and I managed a steady 9 min pace the whole way. I probably could have done 26:30 if I went all out and didn't care about the bike, and my plan was to go all out after the bike.
T1 :58 ( unofficial )
The don't really time transitions here, it gets added to the bike, but since I hit the lap button on my watch...
Bike 12.5 miles 36:12 ( unofficial )
The bike was great. I pushed hard the whole way, it was into the wind on the way out and wind at your back on the way home. I was passed by one relay guy and that was it. I passed a whole bunch of people and it felt really good. I averaged 19 mph on the way into the wind and 23 on the way back. Legs burning the whole way. I saw a girl wearing a tee shirt that said "Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional". gotta get on of those...
Final time 1:05:09 ( unofficial )
I think that put me at 12 out of 20 for Clydesdales.
When I looked at last years results, I thought if I could beat 1:25 I had a chance for top 3 and with a 15 swim I would have been close to 1:20. Normally I am 25% in the swim, middle for the bike and bottom 25% for the run. Looks like I was 4 or 5 on the bike, so if we had the swim I think I could have made that top 3. I was 17 on the run but I think if the run was third, I might have been able to go faster.

Halloween

I can see halloween is in full force now. I went out for an easy 4 mile run this morning. I was supposed to be meeting someone, but she cancelled at the last minute. Something about a sore throat. Anyway legs were a little sore from the track Tuesday and the weston hills on my bike on Wednesday so started off nice and easy. I ran through the subdivision next to mine since their hills aren't nearly as drastic as mine are. There were several houses all decked out with crazy halloween stuff. I especially liked the one with the vampire tigger and dracula driving a ghost train. Being half way up the long hill helped as well as I could concenrate on something other than the stupid hill. Managed to run all the hills today, and the legs felt fairly good after 1 mile so with a day off Friday I might be ready for the race tomorrow.

Bike repeats

Last bike before the race on saturday. I was supposed to ride on the trainer easy, but since the weather has been so nice lately I decided to go outside and that way I could get used to my tri bike again. Luckily the race is flat since I have no power left on the hills, but on the flats I feel really good in the aero postion and was able to keep my knees in. I rode out to Morrisville, did an out and back repeat on Town hall drive, then put it in the small ring and did an easy spin back to work. Of course going back up weton is never easy, but I didn't push the big ring like I ususally do so it was easy.