Saturday Long Run Redemption

15 miles.
2:37:26 (10:29 mile pace.)

It was miserably humid and my calves hurt like crap (what does that even mean?). In short, it wasn't fun at all, but this was the comeback run I needed to feel like I'm back on track.

From here on out, I'm going to be like the Mike Vick of running. My days as a loose-cannon, devil-may-care distance runner are over. I'm going to have a positive attitude and stick to the Novice 2 plan as much as my work schedule allows me from here on out. What Hal Higdon says, goes. If I may continue this analogy, Hal Higdon is probably Roger Goodell, my wife would be Tony Dungy, and I'll say that Pooka the Cat is Andy Reid.

In making this comparison please don't think that I'm claiming that I'm fast.I also think I'll skip the whole going to prison part of learning my lesson, though.

(Yes, my arms are a different color than my head. What's it to you?)

The most interesting thing about this run was that it overlapped with a local 5K. I ran in this particular 5K last year, but with a 15-mile run scheduled for today I didn't think I could make it work out. I learned midway through my run that the 5K route had been altered due to flooding from only intersecting with my roughly-planned route at two spots to overlapping with it quite a lot. It was an interesting brain teaser to plan my route on the fly, trying to think of how many loops through the neighborhoods I had time for to make sure that I would avoid the 5K runners. But anyway, if the local fire department could put on a 5K every long run weekend for me to have to run around, it will make my long runs a lot more interesting. Thanks guys!

I ended up with perfect 15-mile route. Sadly, my comfort zone today was really only 12 or 13 miles, those last two were excruciating. If I'm the Mike Vick of running, maybe I can find the Vince Young of running to run the last third of my marathon for me. No? Crap.

(And of course, Go Eagles!)

Friday Haiku, Volume XV

The water rises
And my confidence declines
Time for a comeback

This is has been a tough week for running. I crashed at 10 on my alleged 14-miler last Saturday. This week, I got my Higdon-proscribed 4 in on the treadmill. I tried for 8, which my plan called for, on Wednesday between rainstorms, and just didn't feel well at all (stopped at 6.3). I skipped yesterday's 4-miler because I figured I should shovel as much of my driveway back into place as I could.

This week's long run is 15 miles. I'm not sure I can do that right now, between they way I've felt this week and the rainy humid morning we're supposed to have, and my sort of sub-par training over the past two weeks. I can't get hung up on that, though. I just need to focus on doing the best I can to get back on program as much as possible. 13 miles -- I'll take it! 14 or 15, I'll be thrilled.

I also need to STOP WHINING! I've been very negative lately. About the weather, about running, about work, and probably other things that I can't think of right now. Some are in my control, and some are not. Running is one that is -- to a point. I've been at or above mileage and long run mileage every week all summer until the last two weeks. I can't let myself get too frustrated when there's still plenty of time to recover.

Waterskiing, Anyone?

Because I don't think I'll be getting a run in anytime soon.


Lake Driveway isn't the only new water feature we have in our yard.


Here's the Side-yard River, a popular destination for white water rafters from all over the country.

I would love to send all this rain to another part of the country where it's actually, you know, wanted.

I'll probably just skip my run today, and do another four on the treadmill or, if I'm lucky (I'm not lucky), eight outside tomorrow, weather permitting.

Update:
The flooding here is really, really bad. York County made the national news. Harrisburg's City Island and the city up to 2nd street are going to be flooded when the river crests on Friday, and the waterfront in Wormleysburg is also going to flood, among other places.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/44432466#44432466

I'm hoping the Conewago has receded since I drove by at around 5:00, some of the homes along the creek were in the creek, and more were about to be. This is usually a pretty calm part of the country...we could sure use some slow news days right about now.

Going Nowhere

I'm not a fan of the treadmill at all, to put it mildly. But with the remnant of Hurricane Lee parked over Pennsylvania for the foreseeable future, it becomes my best option for getting as many of midweek miles in this week.

I especially dislike our treadmill. It's rough on the calves and ankles and the speedometer and odometer seem to very inaccurate. (More on this in a minute). I'm probably being too harsh on a $350 treadmill from Bocov's, especially because it has been an extremely valuable part of my training during my first two years of running, when I was quickly driven indoors by the cold temperatures that I now crave.

Since it was pouring at 7:00am, when the always-reliable weather.com said there was "only" a 40% chance of rain, I decided to wait to see if I could catch a break in the weather in the afternoon, when it seemed there was another possible break at around 1pm, where the chance of precipitation dropped back down to 40% again. Again, pouring.

So, I hopped on the treadmill at my lunch break. Like I said, the speedometer and odometer seem very inaccurate. I run about a 10-minute mile pace -- 6mph. But on our treadmill, I go flying off the back if I set it at 6mph and used to run at 5.5. I hadn't used it in a year, and today I found that I was most comfortable and my stride seemed to most closely match my usual stride at 4.3mph. Though my PRs are faster, I am probably a little slower on average than I was in 2006-2008, when I used the treadmill more often, but that seemed ridiculous! In the past, when I've used a treadmill at a gym or hotel, I've been able to set it at 5.5 or 6mph and run comfortably. To be fair, those treadmills also probably cost thousands of dollars.

At any rate, today (and any other days this week I'm forced to use the Hamster Wheel) I assumed a 10-minute mile and ran for 40 minutes, considering my four-mile obligation to Hal Higdon to be fulfilled, even though I really moved less than two feet for the whole 40 minutes.

The rest of the week's schedule is 8 tomorrow, 4 on Thursday, and 15 on Saturday. There appears to be no chance of the rain stopping anytime soon, but there is also no chance of me staying on our treadmill for 1:20. I'll keep an eye on the forecasts, and hope that I can switch the two and get the 8 in on Thursday.

Failure & Antonement

This weekend turned out to be a washout as far as running was concerned. 14 on Saturday turned into 10, and I got up to re-try this morning only to find it raining fairly hard at 6am, with a 75% chance of storms at 7am. Back to bed.

It's probably for the best. I'm humbled and ready to listen now, Hal Higdon.

I'll run four miles on Tuesday. I can find time for that, even though this is looking to be a very busy work week. Seven on Wednesday. Four on Thursday. Saturday calls for 15, and that will be a big challenge. Hopefully I'll get lucky with the weather -- both in terms of having a cool morning to run it and the rail trail not being a swamp.

I think my best bet is starting at Hanover Junction, running 4 miles north, turning around, and then running back to Hanover Junction, 3 miles south and then back will make it seem the least oppressive, give me a chance at the midpoint to refill bottles, and also not leave me 7.5 miles away from my car if I bonk again. Since the rail trail is boring, Shuffle will be a must. If it rains a lot this week -- and the forecast says it will, then I'll be trying to wring 15 garbage miles out of Manchester and York Haven.

I'm not trying to save the galaxy...just run 26.2 miles.

Note: This cartoon is not meant to imply that Hal Higdon is small and green or a stick figure.

Saturday Long Run: Four-Mile Failure

I was scheduled for 14 miles today. I stopped at 10. The big, black clouds and increasingly booming thunder that was being down on Manchester just gave me an excuse. There was no way I was going to be able to finish 14 miles today.

My confidence is kind of shaken right now. I'm not sure if I should try 14 again on Monday or just wait until next week's long run, which is 15 miles. I know that 'm probably over-reacting to one bad long run, but I'm not sure I could have gone 11 today, much less 14.

I don't want to panic. There are a few extenuating circumstances that I have to be sure not to repeat this coming week and beyond:

1. I ran 10 humid miles on Saturday, and then we were without power on Monday and Tuesday. Since we didn't have plumbing and I had to go and work from my parents' house, I didn't get out for a run either of those mornings. Of course, both days were cool and beautiful. I got out 10 in on Wednesday, but didn't have time on Thursday. I need to get more than one midweek run in or I'm setting myself up for failure.

2. I need to eat healthier on Friday nights. Pizza, beer, ice cream the night before long run isn't going to cut it. I know...pretty obvious, right?

3. I need a little bit of luck. One of these weeks I'll have a Saturday morning that's not oppressively humid, right?

4. PT Exercises. I do my IT band stretching and foam rolling before every run, but I need to get back to doing the step-ups, step-downs, balance exercises and core exercises. In October 2010, I bombed pretty badly on my 7-mile leg of the Baltimore Marathon Relay. That bad run was a wake-up call that I was a long way from ready for the Philly Half. I came back strong and ran the best race of my mediocre career. There's a lot of work to be done, but I have the benefit of time.

(Sometimes, you're just better off staying in -- or hiding under the -- bed.)

Friday Haiku, Volume XIV

In life and running
There's much that can be improved
By three-day weekends.



Schedule and the power outage (in my house, this time, not my legs. The inconvenience of having to offsite to shower) kept me off the roads this week. I got my step-back week 10 in on Saturday, 10 on Wednesday, and will go out for 14 tomorrow on what looks like it will be a pretty sweltering morning on the rail trail, with lows back in the 70s after cooler temperatures in the morning for much of this week. (66 degrees with 90 percent humidity -- ugh! -- is the current forecast.)

Monday has lows in the 50s, so I was tempted to go for my long run then, but it looks like that's the overnight low for Monday night into Tuesday.

So, I'll try the trail tomorrow, and it will be a pretty un-enjoyable 14 mile slog, just like last time I was there. I'll probably ignore Higdon one last (Ha!) time and run Monday, since it's a day off, Wednesday, and Thursday, rather than Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday-Rest-Long Run. I'm thinking 10, but we'll see what the weather is like and how beat-up I'm feeling from tomorrow.

Enjoy the long weekend!