Friday night was a little crazy and resulted in me leaving my car downtown. I employed this strategy a few times in college, which forced me to get up and run in the morning, when I might be hurting a little bit. I was definitely having flashbacks to LSU as I tooled along at 7 min/mile pace. I was in kind of a hurry because I wanted to pick up my car before they started issuing tickets at 10AM. I also wanted some food in preparation for the certain stress that was sure to make up a huge chunk of the LSU - 'Bama game. I ran from my house, north to the Hawthorne Bridge, past Mill Ends Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_Ends_Park), then up Taylor to 1st to get my car. The run was shorter than I anticipated, just shy of 3.5 miles.
Speaking of the game, who can believe that LSU is really 8-1. For all of Les Miles's supposed faults the man wins quite a few games. I have stopped doubting his coaching ability as of this game. For him to beat some quality teams and play Auburn pretty close without much of an offense is pretty amazing. I used to think that LSU was winning despite the coaching. Now I'm thinking that the coaching is what is keeping the offense afloat with two mediocre quarterbacks who have a penchant for throwing as many TDs for the opponents as they do for LSU. The level the offense performed at late in the game was pretty amazing as well. I've come to expect the defense to take care of business, but this time the offense actually picked up their end of the bargain as well. Hopefully Georgia and 'Bama can cap their seasons by winning out, putting LSU in the SEC title game. Though a very small part of me wants Auburn to win out and take on (hopefully) Oregon for the BCS title. Should that happen LSU will probably get a BCS berth as well (assuming they take care of business). However the rest of the CFB season plays out, it will certainly be exciting.
The only bummer surrounding the finish of this year's season is that school is only increasing in intensity. At least I know I can budget about 3 hours every Saturday to pay attention in some small way.
Day/Week: 3.4/31.9
Site of Adventures/Miles
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Friday, November 5, 2010
Oops
I didn't mean to, but today was an off day. I figured I'd be able to run in the afternoon with some people, but then my car battery died and I found out I was working at 5:45PM. So I ended up taking the day off. Oh well, it happens you know.
Day/Week: 0/28.5
Day/Week: 0/28.5
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Dawn Patrol
At the end of the school day yesterday one of my clubmates asked me if I was interested in running 6 or 7 easy miles at 5AM with him. Sure, I replied. I mean, why wouldn't I want to wake up 4:30AM to run around Portland in the dark. Well, when you need your fix, you need your fix. Plus, Thursdays are my full day at school, going from 7:30AM to 5:40PM with just an hour for lunch. Generally, I stick around for some time in the open anatomy lab as well. I think it's vital that a chiropractor have a good handle on anatomy and I'm betting most of my future patients will also think that.
The run itself was pretty glorious all things considered. We settled into a nice 7:30 min/mile pace and cruised around the Willamette waterfront. The most exciting part of the run was when we had to race the Steel Bridge before it started to go up. The route took us from NW Portland, down the westside of the waterfront, across the 100 year old Hawthorne Bridge, up the eastbank esplanade, across the Steel Bridge, and back to NW Portland. It's a pretty solid loop all thing considered. Considering the early hour and not too much on the horizon I'll take it. All things considered, it was a pretty refreshing run. The weather was nice, the company was nearly as nice, and the running was nearly effortless. This run was actually the slowest I've run in quite some time. Probably because I was tired. For some reason I couldn't sleep last night. I was like a kid before Christmas in that I was tossing and turning and really exicted about something. You'd think with upcoming tests I'd have plenty to keep my mind occupied, but NOOOOOOOO. Silly subconscious, always acting up.
Later in the day I sat (technically stood) through 6 hours of lecture, including Biochemistry, Gross Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Cell Biology, then managed to put in 4 hours in the Gross Anatomy lab - wrists deep in my cadaver's forearm. I scored a minor victory by tracing the Radial N from the wrist all the way back up the armpit where it deviates from the Posterior cord of the Brachial Plexus. I also ripped off an amazing amount of fascia. Take a minute to look at your forearm, there is a metric buttload of connective tissue in there and fat in places that most people wouldn't believer there's fat. It's amazing and wonderous all at the same time.
Day/Week: 6.5/28.5
The run itself was pretty glorious all things considered. We settled into a nice 7:30 min/mile pace and cruised around the Willamette waterfront. The most exciting part of the run was when we had to race the Steel Bridge before it started to go up. The route took us from NW Portland, down the westside of the waterfront, across the 100 year old Hawthorne Bridge, up the eastbank esplanade, across the Steel Bridge, and back to NW Portland. It's a pretty solid loop all thing considered. Considering the early hour and not too much on the horizon I'll take it. All things considered, it was a pretty refreshing run. The weather was nice, the company was nearly as nice, and the running was nearly effortless. This run was actually the slowest I've run in quite some time. Probably because I was tired. For some reason I couldn't sleep last night. I was like a kid before Christmas in that I was tossing and turning and really exicted about something. You'd think with upcoming tests I'd have plenty to keep my mind occupied, but NOOOOOOOO. Silly subconscious, always acting up.
Later in the day I sat (technically stood) through 6 hours of lecture, including Biochemistry, Gross Anatomy, Biomechanics, and Cell Biology, then managed to put in 4 hours in the Gross Anatomy lab - wrists deep in my cadaver's forearm. I scored a minor victory by tracing the Radial N from the wrist all the way back up the armpit where it deviates from the Posterior cord of the Brachial Plexus. I also ripped off an amazing amount of fascia. Take a minute to look at your forearm, there is a metric buttload of connective tissue in there and fat in places that most people wouldn't believer there's fat. It's amazing and wonderous all at the same time.
Day/Week: 6.5/28.5
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Volcano Ratings
Back when I first started running for the BAC, one of the more intrepid members introduced me to a system for rating the quality of the sunny day, which signaled the birth of the Volcano Rating System. See, Portland is in an area that was pretty volcanically active until, say, 1980 or so. Thusly, all the mountains you see from Portland are really volcanoes in disguise, hiding underneath snow, waiting to blow. (Feel free to use that line in any poetry you may be inspired to write). Most sunny days during the summer you can easily see Mt. Hood (OR's high point) and Mt. St. Helens. On a good day, you can see down the gorge to Mt. Adams. And on a really good day you can see Mt. Rainier peeking out near Mt. St. Helens. Well, today ranked as a good day on the VRS. From campus at UWS I was able to watch the sun rise from behind Mt. Hood and as the day brightened was eventually able to see St. Helens and Rainier in addition to Hood. I'm willing to bet if I try hard I can find Adams as well. So I'll have to give this one a 3-Volcano rating (out of 4).
The run was equally as good. I ducked out of my Palpation lab early in order to squeeze my 7 miles + strides in while the weather was still good and I wasn't in a hurry. I was joined by a classmate for a bit of the run, but he was feeling the hurt and dropped off. It was probably for the best because I was really cruising, running the two Gledoveer loops in 13:00, then 12:45, which was a bit faster than what I was expecting. I'm blaming the coffee and the excess of Vitamin D experienced in November in the Pacific Northwest.
I ended up running a loop around John Luby Park near school and found a great wood chip segment that is nice for strides, especially in preparation for cross country racing. I think I scalded a couple dogs on my 4 strides, which felt great as well. Overall, a fantastic day running.
Day/Week: 7/22
The run was equally as good. I ducked out of my Palpation lab early in order to squeeze my 7 miles + strides in while the weather was still good and I wasn't in a hurry. I was joined by a classmate for a bit of the run, but he was feeling the hurt and dropped off. It was probably for the best because I was really cruising, running the two Gledoveer loops in 13:00, then 12:45, which was a bit faster than what I was expecting. I'm blaming the coffee and the excess of Vitamin D experienced in November in the Pacific Northwest.
I ended up running a loop around John Luby Park near school and found a great wood chip segment that is nice for strides, especially in preparation for cross country racing. I think I scalded a couple dogs on my 4 strides, which felt great as well. Overall, a fantastic day running.
Day/Week: 7/22
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Dodgy
It's a good thing that my ACL and MCL are in good shape because I definitely used my lateral cutting ability whilst running quickly around Glendoveer Golf Course (http://www.metro-region.org/index.cfm/go/by.web/id/158). It's a pretty popular spot in deep NE Portland with a two mile wood chip running path. I love it because it's a great soft surface with some texture (Wolf-speak for hills) and some nice flats where you can really crank. But above all, it's S-O-F-T, which makes it perfect for cross country training. It also happens to be located about a mile from school, making running an even number of miles pretty easy.
Speaking of cross country, today was my first workout geared toward club nats and the first sustained "hard" running I've done since Chicago (10/10/10). The master plan called for a 4 mile tempo run and, technically, another easy week. But I was feeling itchy and armed with the knowledge that I could get away with not "counting" the workout decided to run hard anyway. I decided I'd do one loop, then maintain that pace for the next loop or try to pick it up, depending on how I felt. The first loop was 11:37, which I maintained for the second loop in 11:39. A two second difference over the course of two miles is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Also, considering the surface, I'd say this run is worth 30 - 60s faster had I run on the roads or the track (On a side note, last year I ran a 4 mile tempo on the track for my first workout back and ran 34s faster, I know my body!). I warmed up and cooled down going to and from the course, plus a little on the course as well. All told the mileage for the day was 8 miles at 6:16 pace. 4 miles of tempo effort in 23:16 and 4 miles of warming up and cooling down (which is pretty standard for me) in about 27 min.
Day/Week: 8/15
I can't complain so far.
Speaking of cross country, today was my first workout geared toward club nats and the first sustained "hard" running I've done since Chicago (10/10/10). The master plan called for a 4 mile tempo run and, technically, another easy week. But I was feeling itchy and armed with the knowledge that I could get away with not "counting" the workout decided to run hard anyway. I decided I'd do one loop, then maintain that pace for the next loop or try to pick it up, depending on how I felt. The first loop was 11:37, which I maintained for the second loop in 11:39. A two second difference over the course of two miles is pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Also, considering the surface, I'd say this run is worth 30 - 60s faster had I run on the roads or the track (On a side note, last year I ran a 4 mile tempo on the track for my first workout back and ran 34s faster, I know my body!). I warmed up and cooled down going to and from the course, plus a little on the course as well. All told the mileage for the day was 8 miles at 6:16 pace. 4 miles of tempo effort in 23:16 and 4 miles of warming up and cooling down (which is pretty standard for me) in about 27 min.
Day/Week: 8/15
I can't complain so far.
The Inspiration
I was told once that it was a good idea to record your runs. Distance, time, route, feel, height, weight, number of birds you saw, etc. These were all variables to be analyzed which would have an effect on future performances or, at the very least, comparing yourself to yourself last year.
This seemed like a great idea and several times I really tried very hard to log my runs. I'd keep it up for a season, maybe two, but then take a break from running and my natural and ebullient free-spiritedness would get in the way and I'd just run for running's sake and not log the runs. The end result is that I have absolutely no way to compare my times across the years (that was sarcasm by the way, get used to it, I love it).
Recently, the month changed from October to November, which was fortuitous for a few reasons: 1) I am just starting to build up for Club Cross Country Nationals, 2) I just ran the Chicago marathon, and 3) I just started chiropractic school and need a way to procrastinate.
Plus, my friend at this blog: http://ondirtandrock.blogspot.com/ told me I should do this and I'm a sucker for peer pressure.
This seemed like a great idea and several times I really tried very hard to log my runs. I'd keep it up for a season, maybe two, but then take a break from running and my natural and ebullient free-spiritedness would get in the way and I'd just run for running's sake and not log the runs. The end result is that I have absolutely no way to compare my times across the years (that was sarcasm by the way, get used to it, I love it).
Recently, the month changed from October to November, which was fortuitous for a few reasons: 1) I am just starting to build up for Club Cross Country Nationals, 2) I just ran the Chicago marathon, and 3) I just started chiropractic school and need a way to procrastinate.
Plus, my friend at this blog: http://ondirtandrock.blogspot.com/ told me I should do this and I'm a sucker for peer pressure.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Eleventy-One
Today is an infamous date - it is one year to Eleventy-One (11/1/11), which I just made up as significant. It's all ones and 11/11/11 will be taken up with a much more important holiday, Veteran's Day.
Today marked the first day of training for the USATF Club XC Nationals, which I may or may not go to, depending on who from the BAC (http://www.bowermanac.com/, my club team) decides to run. Whether I go or not really isn't that important to me. I've always enjoyed being part of team more than running cross country and my motivation for training is because I'd get to run as part of a team. Which, when you run for a Nike-sponsored team usually means you get some swag to go with the event. Being a poor grad student with a penchant for plowing through running shoes, this is a good thing.
My first day of training was relatively inauspicious and went the way of many a first day of training. 7 miles in 46:00 even, with 4 strides added on. Average pace was 6:34/mi, it was drizzly and not too cold. The amateur meteorologist in me thinks it was in the 50s. The strides felt awesome, just a release of speed itching to get out. I did them on camps at UWS (http://www.uws.edu/), where I'm in school. I may have startled some classmates.
Day/Week: 7/7
Today marked the first day of training for the USATF Club XC Nationals, which I may or may not go to, depending on who from the BAC (http://www.bowermanac.com/, my club team) decides to run. Whether I go or not really isn't that important to me. I've always enjoyed being part of team more than running cross country and my motivation for training is because I'd get to run as part of a team. Which, when you run for a Nike-sponsored team usually means you get some swag to go with the event. Being a poor grad student with a penchant for plowing through running shoes, this is a good thing.
My first day of training was relatively inauspicious and went the way of many a first day of training. 7 miles in 46:00 even, with 4 strides added on. Average pace was 6:34/mi, it was drizzly and not too cold. The amateur meteorologist in me thinks it was in the 50s. The strides felt awesome, just a release of speed itching to get out. I did them on camps at UWS (http://www.uws.edu/), where I'm in school. I may have startled some classmates.
Day/Week: 7/7
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