Just Think Warm Thoughts

That's what I was trying to do this morning as we were getting in a 16 mile run in temperatures that averaged in the upper teens to lower 20s (if we were lucky) with a gusty north wind creating single digit wind chills. All around Medina we went. Sometimes it felt warmer. Sometimes not. Sometimes our pace picked up a bit. And then other times it bogged down. But that's OK because speed wasn't of the essence today, distance was.

After a week of backing off the increasingly long runs, it was time to start adding distance again. There was a time when 16 would make me worry if I could make it all the way. Fortunately, not anymore. We averaged 8:47 per mile to finish in 2:20:35. A very respectable time considering the weather conditions and the elevation changes. Yes, elevation changes. You see, we ran through the hilly part of Medina, not around my house. It's flat in my neighborhood, but not to the south. The hills are quite noticeable down there. And there was just enough icy spots to make things interesting.

I ran with Ladd  and Chuck, and since we have a very similar pace, the run went great. The past two group runs I've held back to stay with some people running a slower pace. So it was nice today to be able to push things a bit and challenge myself. I felt pretty good the entire time, except for the numb fingers, burning nose and cheeks, and watering eyes. My legs did start to feel tired with about two miles to go, but what's two miles? Especially after running 14!

A good run today, and I'm looking ahead to 17 next weekend. I need to keep remembering that the higher the training runs get, the closer race day is. And speaking of approaching race days, a big KUDOS to Heather as she pounded out a 9 mile run Friday evening at the Rec. That's the longest she's ever gone! Her half marathon debut is going to arrive just as soon for her.

Some Tempo Miles

Just a quick update today. Tuesday night I was the only one at the track for speed work. But that's alright because it was spotty snow and ice patches so "speed" was kinda out of the question. So I decided to just run some miles. 5 miles to be more exact. Each progressively faster than the previous one with no recovery between. The splits were: 7:59 / 7:37 / 7:08 / 6:59 / and a mile cool-down at 9:29. I felt pretty good throughout. My traction slipped only a couple times and I had to watch one corner in particular, but a decent workout. The best part was that I had daylight for the entire workout except for the cool-down. Excellent!

Last night I hit the neighborhood for 4.5 miles. It was so nice to wear shorts again. Of course I was also wearing two long sleeve tech shirts, gloves, and an ear band, but it was nice none the less. Once again I worked on running each mile faster than the previous one, with splits of 7:46 / 7:39 / 7:25 / and 6:42 with a half mile cool down back to the house. Thank you Garmin for giving me mile splits when I'm on the road. I don't know how I could run without you again! Well, I know how I would run without you, but I don't think I'd enjoy it as much. As the Queen lyric goes: You're my best friend...

The First Voyage of Garmin

I don't know what it is about running in the cold that makes me so much more tired than running in decent temperatures, but whatever it is, I'm exhausted. We had a group run this morning/afternoon for 10 miles. We started at Ladd and Marsha's house and hit some trails that I never new existed. They're perfect for riding! Straight and paved. I'll definitely be hitting those on my bike as soon as spring arrives.

The run went very well, considering that we had snow being blown at us by a very persistent wind. With very little in the way of cover I might add as well. I'm definitely thankful for being able to run with the group, because I would have had a VERY hard time getting my butt out the door by myself today. 24 degrees, snow, and wind. Not what I look forward to on a long run. We eventually turned around down in Chippewa Lake. It was nice and quiet down there with very few cars on the road.

But the big story today is that I took my new Garmin Forerunner out on it's maiden voyage. "Just what is a Garmin Forerunner?", you might ask. It's essentially a GPS receiver in the shape of a watch, as seen in the photo at the top. I went with the 101, which is the most basic model, but has all the features I consider to be essential. I love it! It not only shows how far you've gone, but what pace you're running at. And I can read it without squinting! A major plus. So according to the Garmin, we did 9.62 miles at an 8:21/minute pace. We started off a little slow and finished hard. Our last miles were around 7:50 or so and we hit 7:30 at one point. Maybe that's why I'm so tired.

2/17/09

Today's photograph is from a garden at Colonial Williamsburg where we visited in June of 2008. If I remember correctly, the temperature that day was near 100 degrees (or more) with a heat index of 106 degrees or something thereabouts. I wanted to post something that reminded me of being warm. We ran at the track last night and I was freezing. And I'm tired of it being so dark too. It was bright and hot on that trip last year when we visited numerous places we had never been before like Williamsburg, VA, Washington D.C., Baltimore, MD, Gettysburg, PA, and Hershey, PA. I know Colonial Williamsburg isn't for everyone, but I would recommend visiting it at least once. I was fascinated by the fact that EVERYTHING was being done as it would have in the 1700s. It was incredibly interesting and I look forward to returning there again in the future.

Now for the speed work. After a long 2.5 mile warm-up we were in for 3 X 1 mile repeats with 800 meters rest between. Our splits were 6:47 (slow) / 6:34 (about right) / and 6:23 (that was a hard one!). The temperature was about 38 degrees but there was a very stiff wind out of the south again. It wasn't too bad while running, but we walked the half mile cool-down and that's when the chills really set in. I sure liked the weather we had last Tuesday much better.

Valentine's Day

I hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day yesterday. We most certainly did. Mickey and Minnie are here for a couple reasons. Reason 1: Valentine's Day is our wedding anniversary. 11 years this year. We celebrated with a magnificent dinner at Fleming's Prime Steakhouse (more on that in a little bit). Reason 2: We have finalized and booked our trip back to Disney World (where we honeymooned 11 years ago), and we can't wait to go. Unfortunately we do have to wait. Till August! As it turns out, we're getting a deal of a trip down there with a discount on the room and tickets and a free round trip flight by cashing in frequent flier miles. If we're going to be in a down economy, why not take advantage of it, right?

Now, this post is going to be as much a restaurant review as anything, so I might as well get started. We had dinner reservations at Fleming's Prime (part of the same chain as Outback, but MUCH more higher end) for 8:00. Later for dinner, but not too late. After dropping Bailey off at the sitter's, where we enjoyed a glass of wine, we were off, arriving right on time. We decided to not use the complimentary valet parking, because we just don't need stuff like that. Our table was ready for us right when we checked in, which was nice. And that's when our evening really took off.

We had a booth that would get traffic past it, but it wasn't too noticeable. Our waiter George was prompt and extremely courteous. He was also very knowledgeable about the wine selection, which came in handy as we both ordered a three wine flight of red blends. But first, we were brought out a complimentary appetizer for our anniversary, which we were not expecting. There were some toasted bread of some sort, with a goat cheese spread, and some other spread made from olives, sun ripened tomatoes, and some other stuff. Sorry for the lack of specifics as I'm not detail oriented when it comes to food. I just know what I like!

Like I mentioned, we both ordered a three wine flight of 2 oz tastings. We've really been into red blends. They seem to have a much more complex flavor than just a Cabernet or Merlot would have. The first wine we tried was from Chateau Lacombe from Bordeaux, France and was magnificent. I really can't begin to describe it except that I knew it was going to be good based simply on the bouquet. I've had enough wine to tell when one's going to be a winner. The second wine was from Ruthorford Ranch in Napa Valley and turned out to be a Cabernet and not a red blend. Coincidentally, even though this was a very good wine, it was our least favorite of the three. Go figure! Us winos know our wine. The third selection was from Valley of the Moon in Sonoma County and was probably my favorite of the three. It was flavorful, complex, and very full bodied.

The food was as amazing as the wine. Heather ordered the Double Breast of Chicken and I had the Bone-In Ribeye. This steak was HUGE! I managed to get just over half of it down before I gave up. We also had a side of Fleming's Potatoes which were scalloped potatoes with cream, jalapenos, and cheddar cheese. We both agreed that we could have just ordered the potatoes and been happy. Keep in mind that we were enjoying the wine selection all the way through the meal and didn't just hammer them before the food came out. The food and wine complemented each other tremendously.

For dessert (yes, dessert) we tried to order the Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich, but were told that due to the salmonella outbreak, it wasn't currently being offered. Those sons of b****es at the Peanut Corp. of America! So we had to settle for our second choice, the Chocolate Lava Cake. I enjoyed this with a glass of Quinta Noval 10 year Tawny Port. This was perhaps the most amazing dessert wine I've had yet. I could have sat there all night with a glass of that. The cake was pretty good too.

On top of all that, we were given a $25 gift card for spending our Valentine's Day with Fleming's and a box of chocolate dipped strawberries for our anniversary. Attention ALL other restaurants ANYwhere. If you want to see what customer service is supposed to be like, go to Fleming's and find out. We're already planning our return visit!

In other news: I had did my long run this afternoon. I was supposed to get in 14 so I planned to run for 2 hours. I must have been moving a bit faster than I was intending because I ended up running nearly 15 and a quarter miles, averaging 8:03 minute miles. This in 29 degree temps with gusty winds and light to heavy snow flurries. The Lester Rail Trail was actually very nice today. There was just one other guy out running at the same time as me.

One final note. Congratulations to Heather for beating her time from last year's Chili Bowl 5K by nearly 4 minutes. She was running yesterday in downtown Cleveland in the snow and slush and really surprised herself.

Wind

I hardly slept last night due to all the (insert choice expletive here) wind. I thought I could hear pieces of the house ripping off at times. And the creaking! It was driving me crazy! I did a walk around this morning before work and I couldn't see any damage (knock on wood), just some stuff in the yard that got knocked over and blown around. Our power went out for a few seconds this morning, but that was the worst of it. The way I knew the power went out is because I was up reading at the time. I know the lack of sleep is going to catch up with me sometime today, so I think I'll keep my chocolate covered espresso beans handy today!

Before the weather decided to change from the mid 60s to the 30s, I went up to the pool to burn off some energy. I swam 1.25 miles in about an hour and ten minutes. My mile split was about like last time, right around 54 or 55 minutes. I had some very painful calf cramping at around a mile and an eighth. It took a couple minutes for me to get rid of them. They came on as I was pushing off the wall pretty hard. Hopefully I won't have to worry about that in the open water.

Fast Recovery and the Return of Nice Weather

I've been getting my running miles in lately. Unfortunately, my swimming and biking miles have suffered a bit as a result, as well as finishing the house painting. Monday I brought my clothes to work and got my 3 mile "recovery" run in at lunch. I say "recovery" because I ended up running a bit faster than I should have. I was prepared for temps to be in the mid 40s to 50s and they weren't. It was a tiny bit chillier than expected and I was under dressed. That means RUN FASTER of course. A decent run, and now I have a dead-on 3 mile course through The Reserve.

Last night was a different story entirely. We've been having a warm up and I love it. I went up to the track with the car showing 55 degrees. NICE! Marsha and Lisa were just leaving after finishing 16 400s. Too many for me. Frank was there and I joined him for a decent mile and a half warm-up. Then we did a 200, 400, 4 X 800, 400, 200 and a 2 mile cool-down. My splits were: 40.98 (200m) / 1:32 (400m) / 3:10 / 3:12 / 3:10 / 3:04 / 1:26 (400m) / 40.58 (200m), all with recovery jogs from 200 to 400 meters in between for a total of 7.75 miles. It was so nice to be running in warm air, even if we had a stiff headwind heading down the home straight. Too bad winter is supposed to return for the weekend. Is there any way we can have nice weather on Tuesdays from now until spring?

2009 Tackle the Tower Stair Climb

This year's stair climb has come and gone. And as with last year's, I was needlessly worried about my preparedness and what my performance would be like. I get nervous about this event unlike any other race I do. It's so short and intense, the only thing I can equate it to would be a track event. One of the longer sprints, like a 400 or 800. Maybe even the mile for those who race at that distance. I like the longer races. The ones where I can settle into my pace and comfortably make it to the end. The stair climb has no pace. Absolutely no comfort. It's brutal. The stairs give no quarter. If you make a mistake, there is no time to correct it. They tell you to start, and you go. As hard as you can. For as long as you can. You try to hold on, pushing even when you don't think you can. Legs feeling like lead weights. Lungs burning. Throat scorched. Sweat dripping. This is probably the hardest race I do. The worst I feel. But also one of the most rewarding.

Yesterday I was able to take 29 seconds off my time from last year. I finished in 5:19 for the 37 stories. That put me in 8th place for my age group and 36th overall. I had no idea what my time was as I was climbing. I couldn't tell how fast I was going. All I was hoping for was to come in under last year's time of 5:48. Last year, I had no idea how I was going to beat THAT time. Now I don't know how I'm ever going to better this year's time. I have some training ideas, but I'm going to really have to make the effort to implement them next winter. That's the tough part.

Upon finishing and doing some cool down laps around the upper level of the Galleria, Bailey decided that he would like to give it a try. So we headed over and registered both him and I for the fun climb. There is no timing on that side and you can walk up at your leisure. We did it in 10:30 or 11:30. I hit the wrong button on my watch and didn't realize it until the 8th floor! He did a great job! Next year he's going to line up with us and race it. He'll be ready.

Big congratulations to Heather, Dee, and Joe for all bettering their times from last year. And for feeling better during the event. I think everyone was happy with their results this year. Also congratulations to Krista and her nieces for coming out and taking the challenge this year. I hope it was worth it for them. We had quite the group showing this year.

After the race, we all went to eat lunch at Great Lakes Brewery. I had a burger with a pint of Grassroots something or other followed by a Black Out Imperial Stout. Amazing! And the cheesecake for dessert, don't get me started! After that we headed over to see our "adopted" parents where I was able to savor a small tasting of Johnny Walker Blue Label. Now I'm not a whiskey drinker, but that is smooth!

Today I was supposed to run 13 miles for the marathon. I headed out the door in decent weather. The snow has really been melting, revealing pavement that has been covered for what seems like a very long time. But there were still some snowy patches. I ran a serpentine route around the immediate neighborhood, often repeating sections trying to get as much mileage as I could. I finished with 13.2 miles. Not bad for estimating solely on my time. I still think I'm going to pick up a Garmin though.

-12 Degrees

Yes, that's right. My car thermometer showed -12 degrees yesterday morning. Needless to say, I wasn't out running in it. But I will be Sunday when it's supposed to be in the 40s again! Nothing to report from last night. No run. No swim. Tried to bike, but I think I busted my tire valve while pumping my tire. As I was closing the valve, the air wouldn't stop hissing out. Stupid Presta valves! Actually, I like them much more than a Schrader valve on a bike. I guess I'm still getting used to them. So it looks like I'll be changing a flat this weekend. A flat from a training stand! And no more below 0 temperatures. Please?

2/4/09, or Four in a Row

Last night I did 3 miles on the indoor track. It's cold again. And snowing. So inside I stay. Especially during the week when I don't even have the luxury of daylight on my side. I ran at about my 10K to 10 mile pace with splits of 7:56 / 7:28 / and 7:04. The more important thing about last night's run is that it was the fourth day in a row that I have run. I NEVER run on consecutive days. EVER! My shins have always bothered me when I don't allow rest days between runs. Something has changed. I think it's the shoes. But I suppose it's possible I've gotten strong enough to handle daily mileage. I've put in 20 miles since Sunday.

I plan on taking tonight and tomorrow off from running though. I need to rest up a bit for the Tackle the Tower Stair Climb on Saturday. The starting times are out today and I climb at 16 minutes and 20 seconds after 9:00 AM.

I'm really not prepared at all for this.

2/3/09

Now that I have my marathon training schedule posted on the refrigerator I have no excuse for missing a scheduled run because "I didn't know". That's one reason I found myself at the Rec. last night running 800m intervals on the indoor track. The other reason was that it was Tuesday and I'm used to doing interval speed work on Tuesdays. I got up there late, about 8:00 or so, and was surprised to see the track was still fairly busy for the time of day. Nothing like my Monday night run at all. Fortunately it wasn't so crowded that running fast would upset anyone as I didn't need to weave in and out. I had a decent workout but I could tell it was the third day in a row I had run. I'm not used to running this often, but I'm trying to stick with the training plan in the hopes I'll be able to knock another significant chunk of time off my marathon time. My splits were: 1 mile warm-up - 8:18 / 800m - 3:05 / 800m - 3:17 / 800m - 3:11 / 800m - 3:00 / 1 mile cool-down - 8:15, with additional 800m rest periods between each interval for a total of 6 miles. I was going to take tonight off from running, but there are only 3 miles scheduled so I may just get the run in quickly and be done with it. We'll see.

The only down side to all this extra running is that it's hard to find time to fit in the other two sports, especially the biking. I'll need to make some extra effort to get on the bike if this late night thing keeps going because I'm not getting up early after running at 9:00 the night before. Oh, and we're getting more snow this morning. Medina isn't as bad as southern Cuyahoga County, which is getting a foot or more of lake effect, but it adds to the snow pack which is going to take long enough as it is to melt. We don't need any more.

2/2/09

Today's (or yesterday's, rather) photo is from "you-know-where" from 2007. "Why Cindy's Castle?" you may ask. Well, the answer is two-fold.

One: I just read a race report from a member of the running club who ran the Goofy Race and a Half at WDW in January, which consists of running the half marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday. It's always nice to hear about people's trips down there. Maybe someday? Probably.

Two: I've been itching to get away from Ohio because of the severity of this winter, and that's our favorite place to go.

Three: (Bonus) We've been waiting to find out when school starts in the fall so we can plan our trip there this year. Well, the schedule is out, we already have park tickets, we found great airfare through Airtran, we've agreed on which resort to stay at, and we're going to book our trip probably this week! Yahoo!!!

In training news, I got to the pool last night for a mile which I did in about 54 minutes. That might be my fastest split for the distance so far. I know it's still pretty slow, but at least I'm improving. It's funny, it takes me about a quarter mile for me to settle down and get into my sustainable rhythm. I go out WAY too fast and get out of breath very easily. I need to work on that.

After swimming, I changed into my running duds and did 3 miles on the indoor track in 25:23 at an 8:28 per mile pace. Just what I needed for a recovery run. I felt good but tired in the first mile due to the swimming. I had to consciously keep my pace slow. I guess that's a good thing. Right?

One more thing. I registered for the 2009 Wendy's International Triathlon yesterday. This is the one triathlon I've tried in the past (the distant past) and the sight of a truly spectacular DNF. I'm intentionally making this my first triathlon for that reason. It's time to make amends.

Oh, and for anyone who's interested, there's a nice photo of everyone from the group run on Superbowl Sunday here: http://cliffordruns.blogspot.com/2009/02/superbowl-sunday-group-run.html.

Super Bowl Run

I had the chance to join a group run with the running club yesterday before the Super Bowl, and with the wonderful weather, I wasn't going to pass this chance up. We had another 12 inches of snow on Wednesday, bringing our January monthly total to within a couple inches of the all-time record, but Sunday's weather rectified what Mother Nature has thrown at us so far this winter. It was beautiful with temperatures in the low to mid 40s and sun. SUN! It was great to get outside with other runners, put on the sunglasses, and wear SHORTS! We did an 8 mile course through the south side of Medina, which is much hillier than the north side where I run most of the time. I didn't mind at all. We had a fairly large group running at a decent pace for a long run. We went down so many side streets I couldn't tell you where we went exactly. I'm going to have to run down there more often.

It just kind of hit me this weekend that I'm just a week out from the Tackle the Tower Stair Climb. 37 stories that I'm not really prepared for (again). I was hoping to train more specifically for this event after last year. I've been so focused on swim, bike, run training, I've neglected the leg strength training and hill workouts. I'm just going to do what I can and leave it at that. I would love to better my time from last year, but if it doesn't happen, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it. I climbed in 5:48 last year and was 12th in my age group. I know I'm in better overall condition than this time last year, so maybe I can squeak out something a little faster. Something that would put me in the top ten of the age group would be nice...