11 in the books

Long run for this week = done.  Bam!  11 miles, and I have no complaints.

Weird thing was, I ran in shoes that I have never been that comfortable in with my long runs, but I did use two pairs of socks, a new one for me.  In the end, I'm thinking these may be my half marathon shoes.. I felt great.

Not much to report about the run.. A good drizzle started about halfway through, so I was pretty wet by the end of the day.

At one point when I was running in town a car pulled into the 'exit' part of a driveway and proceeded to block the sidewalk.  The guy inside rolled down his window and waited... 

Sigh.  I'm terrible with street names.  I know how to get around, I know how to get to places even if I've only been there once or twice, but I couldn't tell you street names.  I've lived in this town for 12 years now, I still don't know them.   

I get to his window... "Can you tell me where to find a liquor store", he says slowly...  Well, damn.  That I can do.  I know a couple within easy driving distance and directions.   Sweet.  Tough question avoided.

I had no clear path set out in my mind ahead of time, so I just ran around.. I wound up doing a couple of serious hills, but no complaints there either.   Total mileage was 11, total time was 1:55.  Hopefully I can do some sort of time like that in my half.

All in all, I'd say I'm as ready as I will be for my adventure in 3 weeks.  Next week, I have no game plan for my long run day.  I'll probably just see how I feel..The week after is going to be ~6 at race pace.

I wanted to squeeze in a 5K either today or one of the next two weekends, but I couldn't find one that really meshed with my training plan.  I tried to rationalize it (over and over), but they were all trail runs, hill runs, or too close to the half.  No sense blowing the plan because I'm getting ancy.

Keep on rockin!

Fartlek

I went out last night for a 4-5 mile run, with no clear goal.. It turned into a fartlek, and it was a heck of a workout.  Sure made it more interesting.

Training is going well... 3 weeks, 2 days until the half marathon.. I'm hoping to do a long run on Sunday- it's supposed to be 70 here.

That little bit of arch pain is still hanging on, but it's not terrible.. I felt it last night after the faster run.. speed definitely seems to kick it off.  I'll keep stretching it and my calf, and see how that goes.

No fire department visits or plumbing work this week.  I have a pair of shutoff valves I can't turn, but they're staying on right now.  Consequently, the other drippy sink will continue to drip. I don't like working on plumbing, at all.

Keep on rockin!

Busy week

Wow, another busy week went in the books.. No blog posts for a week?  Meh, I need to be better about this.

On the exercise front, I did two easy 4-4.5 mile runs mid week, and I capped the week off with a 9.5 mile run. I did manage to get in one other cross training workout, a P90X core synergistics session (man, that one is a good one!).

Outside of the exercise front, all kinds of stuff happened.

Mrs. Raul notice much of the cabinet under the kitchen sink was wet one night.. The culprit was this guy:

He's been replaced.  Of course, that didn't actually fix all of the issues, as it turns out the faucet itself was leaking from a couple of places.   I replaced the faucet next:

That's our spiffy new one!  The only casualty was when I dropped the wrench on my forehead while working under the sink.  Sigh..

I still hate doing plumbing work.

We also got a visit from the fire department one night, as Mrs. Raul left the toaster oven unattended at the wrong temperature.  No harm done, except to the pan for the toaster over.  It was pretty impressive, seeing flames inside that puppy.   Long story short, the smoke alarm went off, which signaled the fire department, which caused a visit.   Amazingly, mini-Raul slept through the entire thing.  I can't get that boy to sleep worth a damn, and when something interesting happens, what does he do?   Go figure.

Other excitement in the week?  Hmm.. I got to use my jumper cables and jumpstart Mrs. Raul's ride.  I also changed my lawn mower oil and started that whole mowing thing again.

Mini  Raul had a good Easter.. made out like a bandit.  That's what Easter is about, isn't it?  Oh, wait.  Hrms..  He had a good time, regardless.

I'm hoping for a quieter week this week. lol.

Keep on rockin!

Done with recovery

This weekend, I did my last run during "recovery" from my 15K race.. I did an easy 7 miler, with nothing terribly exciting to write about.   The legs feel much better, and there's just a tiny amount of muscle fatigue.  The 7 miles were strong, even though the pace was fairly relaxed.

I've been having a little bit of arch pain in one foot, and it started after the race.. It's significantly better than a week ago, so I'm not too concerned about it.  I've been reading about plantar fasciitis, and I don't think that's it.. I think it's just tight and bruised.  I really need to get to a real running store and find some new shoes, though.

So, I have 4 training weeks until a taper.  This is it, the final push..  Stay healthy.. stay healthy..

I'd like to get two longer runs of 10+ miles in before the half, possibly 3.  If I can run 10 miles now, I figure I can eek out another 5K on race day, so I'm in decent shape as is.  A little more training could yield some benefits, though.

More importantly, I'm trying to be better about doing leg exercises to strengthen some of the weaker muscles and prevent crazy imbalances.   Leg raises and squats have been on the menu a lot lately.  (Speaking of, have you seen the 200 squat challenge?  That's an idea for the coming months..)

That's about all for now.. And no, CJ, I'm not that crazy about Tebow time here in NY.  That smells like a QB controversy every. single. week.  Sigh.  As if the locker room didn't have enough problems already..

Keep on rockin'!

Recovery run

Well, the time since my race on Sunday has gone by without much ado.  I was reasonably sore on Monday, and much better on Tuesday.  I went for my lunchtime walk on Tuesday (~3 miles) just to get stretched out a bit.

Today I went for the same walk, and when I got home, I did a 3.5 miler, at a really easy pace.  All in all, not too bad off.  There's still some stiffness and tightness, but things went well.  The last bit of the run, though, my legs were dragging a bit.

I plan to do another similar run on Friday, and then do my "long" one on Sunday, and just gauge how far to go based on how my body feels.

Oh, after the race, I bought myself a present:

I know it's not Alcohol Tuesday, but it's close, being Wednesday and all.

What we've got here is Maker's Mark 46.  It's regular Maker's Mark, but it's been aged in some barrels with oak added in.  I really enjoyed it.  Mrs. Raul, not so much.

I liked it because it gets it closer to a drink you can sip like scotch.  I find regular Maker's Mark to be a little too easy to go down (I know, that probably says something about me).  The extra aging process adds some oak and subtle flavors, and makes me slow down a bit with it.

It's not something I'd make a mint julep with though, I think that might be kind of weird.  I guess you don't know until you try, but that's not high on my list.

For those familiar with Maker's Mark, you may notice the blue wax...  Since this is Maker's 46, and the Superbowl was #46 this year, and the NY Giants won, they did a special dipping for the event.  I'm not a Giants fan, but I do root against the Patriots regularly (being a Jets fan).   Therefore, I was a Giants fan for the Superbowl, and it makes this beverage that much better. :)

Keep on rockin!

Forks XV - Race Report

So I went into Sunday's race with 5 days of zero exercise.  The calf was as rested as I could make it.  The weather was about 60 degrees with a breeze, so I could have gone either way with shorts or pants.. I chose the latter, just to keep my calf warmer.

The race field had about 275 people, of which, 270 or so seemed to take the race way more seriously than I was.  Whatevs.  Who knows what goes through the minds of others..?

To refresh, the plan was for an easy start, and if all was well, go for 9 minute miles.   I did a warmup jog of 100 meters, and felt great (if only I could always take 5 days off?).

The course profile looks like this:

Granted, I really didn't spec it out too much before running it.. It looks bad, but that's only a 120 foot swing in elevation..

When I got to the starting line, I actually saw two people I knew.. One was spectating, and the other was racing.  Well, he and I wound up starting next to each other, and off we went!  Our first mile was a 8:53 pace, with all of the early race excitement.. I felt good.  Really good.

Turns out my buddy hadn't prepped for this.. he was pushed into it due to some co-workers, and he had only done a 7 miler up to this point.. He usually rolls for 5 or less.   OK, no problem.  

We maintained an easy pace, and had a good conversation going.. I grabbed a drink every two miles, and walked the length of the aid stations.. a bit shorter of a walk than I had anticipated.  Well, the pace slowed to 9:20.. 9:30ish... 9:45.   The first half of the race is generally downhill..  Hmm.

My calf was feeling good, zero complaints.  I did feel a twinge on my left knee, about the spot for some ITBS, so that had me worried.  Plus, I felt like I was really slogging it.. I wanted to go faster.

Well, at the 10K mark, I sensed we were going to be rolling uphill for a ways.  I made sure he was OK with it, and I separated from my buddy.

Sidebar:  I felt bad about that, I really did.  But, we didn't have a pre-arranged deal that we'd run together, and this was my prep race for my half.. I had stuff to do, man!

So, the average pace was a little over 9:20 at the 10K.  I felt good, so I turned it on.

The result?:

8:15, 8:14, 7:38, 7:30 paces.  That's a negative split if I ever saw one!

Watch time was 1:23:17 with an 8:52 pace.  Gun time was 1:23:15. I'll take the gun time, please.  Plus, it was a guaranteed PR.

I also got a long sleeve tech shirt, plus a coffee mug for finishing.  That, with the food and water, made this race an absolute steal at $15.


Today, the knee feels a little off, but not bad, and my upper legs are all muscularly tired.  Overall, I am ecstatic with the results.  I wanted 10 minute miles, and really wanted 9.  I beat both.  Wow.


I took today off, and am going to see how tomorrow goes.. I think it will hinge on what the knee feels like.  If it's out of whack due to my leg muscles being beat up, no biggie.   I'd like to get an easy recovery run in on Tuesday or Wednesday.  That would set me up for another easy run on Friday, followed by a long one on Sunday.

I'm stoked.. The training has been working, and knock on wood, I'm on target for the half marathon in 6 weeks.

Keep on rockin!

15K race plan

Well, the calf seems pretty much OK today.  It's tender to touch deep in the calf muscle, but I massaged the hell out of it over the last few days.  I did some hopping on the injured leg and some very very brief running (ie: from one side of the house to the other), and felt no ill effects.

Provided I wake up feeling the same or better tomorrow, it's a go.

The forecast is for mid 50s, but some rain possibility.  Eh, the temperature is good at least.  According to MapMyRun, it's a fairly flat course.

Race plan is as follows:  Start out fairly easy, make sure the leg is kicking and holding out well.  If so, ratchet it up to race pace (9 min/mi).  The water stations are every 2 miles, and I'm looking to walk through them, taking a Gu at mile 4.

That's the plan.  Worst case, there's an ambulance on the course.

Goals are:

1) Stay healthy.  If things start going out of whack, I'll shut it down.  That's my only real goal.  This is merely a step on the way to my half in 6 weeks.  (Wow, really? 6 weeks?  Where does the time go?)

2) Next goal will be a 1:30 finish. Should be attainable, but you never know.

3) Next goal is 9 minute miles.  This also should be attainable, but will be about the upper end of it.

That's it.  I've never raced this distance, so I'm guaranteed a PR.  Winning!


Good thing I checked the map.. The race is in a town of similarly named towns, all close together.  I was destined to the wrong one before I looked tonight.  lol.  whoops.

That's all for now.. keep on rockin'...