Running: Get out and run...

[nyys]

Vacation is over but I kept up with the running .

The aforementioned family Triathalon was on the 8th, and the day before we were trying to figure out the running route and how far we were going to swim. Fortunately for me, by the time race day came around, the original buoy we were going to swim too (farthest one out), changed to get us non-swimmers a bit closer (closest one in).

I still have no idea how far the swim was (it could have been 50 yards, could have been 100), but it felt like miles to me. I knew going in I couldn't swim for anything, and wow did I prove myself wrong, I can't swim for nothing (anything was giving me too much credit ), which made the 'real' triathalon my wife did last month (1/2 mile swim) that much more impressive.

Anyway, I made it through, but I was about 10 seconds from screaming for help because I was dead tired and was barely struggling to stay afloat, but I did it. Not too many of the guys fared much better, but they all got out of the water before me (oh, and all the ladies were out an well onto the run). I need to start using the pool at the gym and hire a swim coach.

Having made it out of the water it was now time to get to my strength in this thing... here I come.

The guys may have all made it out of the water before me, but not by much. I passed all but one within the 1st half mile, then caught the last one within a mile, and never looked back as far as the men were concerned.

The women, well I knew my competition was going to be my 37yr old sister-in-law and my 24yr old niece, though I knew there was no way I was going to beat the sister-in-law from the get go, she's training for a marathon and is a very strong swimmer. If I could swim a lick, maybe I could have caught her, but that's a HUGE maybe.

As for the niece, she was in sight. After passing the last of the men, she was about a 1/2 mile ahead of me, I turned on the jets (as much as one can at that point) and tried to catch her... and did!

I was steadily catching up as soon as I caught sight of her and with about a 1/4 mile left I was pretty much there, and then she turned and saw me. She turn it up a little, but not too much, and I turned on what I had left. With about 50 yards left, I caught her, gave everything I had left, but being 11 years younger, she had more in reserve and pulled ahead and beat me by two steps.

At this point we were supposed to chug a beverage, so I could have still beat her (not that I can chug by any means), but I wasn't really concerned with that, it was the 1st two stages that had my attention. So I cracked my beverage, and drank it at my leisure (I was over a mile ahead of the next guy), and my niece took 2nd over all.

It was fun, and there were trophies (yes, we take this stuff too seriously), great start to what turned out to be a fantastic vaca.

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Going to finish the log in another post, this one got far too long with 'the story.'

[nyys]

OK, to the actual running log.

Normally I wait three days between runs due the knee issue I mentioned earlier, but it would have really got me off schedule and the trithalon was only 2.5 miles, so I figured I could still do my 8 mile run on the 9th.

The run went great, though those roads up in Maine are really hilly, and the grade (the convex way roads are built for drainage purposes, were very pronounced out there) made for a very uneven run.

At the end I felt like I had more in me, which was a great sign, but I don't want to over do it at the wrong time, so 8 was all I did.

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Fast forward to the 13th (3 days off) for the short run (4 miles). The run was awful, right from the 1st step I wanted to stop. I got a very good look into how you really need to have a healthy diet to do this stuff. The previous couple days before the short run I ate nothing but junk (it is vacation after all) and wow did it ever catch-up to me. I had no energy what-so-ever. Lesson learned.

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Maine vaca ended so it was off to The Cape (Cape Cod, MA) and a 9 mile run on the 17th. Normally I jump a 1/2 mile at a time, but I went from 8 to 9 since this week is going to be a scale back week for me (more on that later), and I wanted to stay on track as far as the number of miles by the time race week comes along.

Perfect conditions for running, about 70 degrees and a nice mist falling from the sky. The run went very well (made sure I ate my fruits and veggies ), did the 9 miles in 79 minutes for bascially a 9 minute mile, no complaints here.

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Short run yesterday (the 22nd) and did the 4 miles in 31:18, about a 7:50 mile, very pleased with that result. Things are going well.

--

Normally now I would add a half mile to the long run for the 26th, but I was told that in the middle of training I should really scale back for a week to help avoid injury, so the long run this week will be only 6 miles, then another short run on the 30th, with the next milestone (9.5 miles) to be attempted on September 3rd.

The goal is within sight, and race day is just around the corner.

[arp12]

Nice progress, nyys. I'm a bit behind you in terms of distance... I was going to do 8 before Gencon, but then I got sick, and then after Gencon I fell behind in the training...

9 miles in 79 minutes for bascially a 9 minute mile, no complaints here.

On Saturday I finally ran 7.5 miles, and it took me that long to do it (~10.2 minute mile). You're pretty fast. I'm planning on running at least 8 sometime this week.

The summer road race series ended, but on the second-to-last race I got a personal best time. 27:50 for 3.6 miles (and it's a hilly course, too).

[nyys]

Originally Posted by arp12

You're pretty fast.

Lol, last time someone said that to me when referring to a race was probably 25 years ago, or when tracking fly balls during baseball season in High School. Of course that was always in reference to springing short distances, distance running though I've always seemed to have the stamina for it.

Originally Posted by arp12

The summer road race series ended, but on the second-to-last race I got a personal best time. 27:50 for 3.6 miles (and it's a hilly course, too).

Nice! There's an annual 5K (3.2?) in September in my area that I want to get in on just to see how much I can improve the 28 minutes In that last one I ran a while back (more than a year ago I think... maybe more).

[rym]

Kudos, nyys.

It's 106 degrees here, and we just ran Cross Country workouts - 3 miles for the kiddos. It was brutal.

[Richard]

I prefer riding bikes over running. I really should get out and go riding again soon, I've got an Electra Townie with an orange water bottle cage, fenders, lights, and 8 ball valve stems I put on it. Rides great.


Basic version without the accessories I added.

[nyys]

Originally Posted by rym

Kudos, nyys.

It's 106 degrees here, and we just ran Cross Country workouts - 3 miles for the kiddos. It was brutal.

Yeah, a couple of my milestones were run in some brutal humidity out here, sucks the life out of you.

Originally Posted by Richard

I prefer riding bikes over running. I really should get out and go riding again soon, I've got an Electra Townie with an orange water bottle cage, fenders, lights, and 8 ball valve stems I put on it. Rides great.

I want to start biking a bit, but my problem is that I can't do something half-way, so I really can't afford the equipment I would like to get started... maybe the holidays.

[rym]

Originally Posted by nyys

I want to start biking a bit, but my problem is that I can't do something half-way, so I really can't afford the equipment I would like to get started... maybe the holidays.

I don't know if you're aware of this or not, but most, if not all, bike shops allow you to do a layaway. That way you can get the bike you really want, have it on hold, and just make some payments on it until you're all payed off.

Just thought I'd mention it. Maybe that way you can get a nice set of wheels a bit sooner than the holidays.

[nyys]

Not at all, thanks for the tip. I'm going in completely blind on this, so any info is helpful.

[Hahma]

Reading this thread has brought back a lot of memories, keep up the great work with the running/training NYYS

I never ran in high school other than for sports or gym class, but once I was in the Marine Corps after high school, I learned to run as I didn't have a choice. I really started to enjoy it and found that it fun and challenging. Some people think it's boring, and I guess if you run around the track many times then it can be boring, but I always ran on the road or trails. Changing up the route kept things fresher with both different things to see and different elevation challenges. I think part of running is the mental fortitude required that a lot of people don't have.

While in the Marines, I was stationed at a headquarters base in Hawaii that was two miles up a mountain from Pearl Harbor and Aloha Stadium. I ran down that mountain road and down around the Pearl Harbor area and back up the mountain several times a week. We also had some nice roads on base I'd hit for shorter runs and some nice horse trails with some great views on base as well.

I ran in a relay marathon, some 5 and 8ks, the Great Aloha run which is like 8.5 miles where I finished 242 out of over 20,000 runners and my biggest accomplishment was the '88 Honolulu Marathon, the full 26.2 miles. Believe it or not, I hadn't run more than 10 miles at one time before that race. I averaged 30-35 miles per week, but that was anywhere from 3 - 8 miles at a time. The marathon was fun and I think my mountain training helped me when it came to running up Diamondback Mountain during the race. I "hit the wall" as they say at around the 20 mile mark and alternated running and walking fast, but it actually hurt more to walk than it did to run, so I began running full time again. At mile 23, I stopped for a beer Actually, I didn't stop, but ran past a beer table and had a small cup of beer. They had water tables at intervals of the race and un-carbonated Pepsi tables, but when I saw that beer (I was quite the drinker in the Marines), I had to have one and felt that I'd end the race with a bang. Actually it was good and helped and it wasn't much, maybe half of a cup. I guess the carbs in it were helpful. I finished strong, got some fruit to eat and waited in line for my after race massage. It was one of the greatest experience I've had and I'm still proud to this day. I was sore for a couple days, but that went away.

I had started the marathon with a buddy of mine, but after only a mile or two, he disappeared into a port-a-john to take a dump and I didn't see him until the next day as he didn't run so fast.

I'm 43 now and haven't run for probably 10 years. My knees and ankles are a mess but most of that is from working construction for the past 20 years. I do like to ride my bike though. In 1994 I bought a '93 Diamondback Response Elite mountain bike for $800 and while my first wife hated me spending that kind of money on a bike, I told her that I had to because the $200 bike from Sears broke after I road it off road on some nasty trails. The one I got was much lighter and stronger and had Morzochi Sp? Elastomer front shocks. When I lived in Western NY, there was some great hills and some sick trails to ride it on (I particularly enjoyed riding it along the Erie Canal). But since 1996 I've been in Indiana and it's pretty freaking flat. So now I just go on some road rides once in a while out in the country, or ride with the my kids around the block. I went on a 13.5 mile ride a couple weeks ago that made me feel I was in prison for a while (I have to get a new seat). But I still have that same bike that I spent $800 on 16 years ago and feel I've gotten more than my money's worth, "Take that ex-wife!"

So keep up the good work NYYS as I look forward to seeing your progress. Also, if you get a bike, they can be well worth it for a long time and when you get old like me and the knees and ankles don't put up with running anymore, the bike will be a great time.

[nyys]

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Hahma again.

Argh.

Thanks for the tale Hahma, and the tip(s).

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by nyys

Argh.

Thanks for the tale Hahma, and the tip(s).

My pleasure Now go out and run like the wind.