Category Archives:

You’re soaking in it!

0, 05mi, pacers alexandria

Start time: 08/24/06, 7:00pm
Location: Old Town Alexandria and the Mount Vernon Trail
Distance: 5.1 miles
Average pace: 8:42min/mile

No, that’s not a typo. It was back to the “old” course (which I’d only done once before) with the Pacers Alexandria group, and Sonia was leading the “9-to-9:30-group.” Well, it was her birthday and she was definitely proving that aging does not make you slower! I’m not complaining, I really enjoyed the workout despite the fact that it made me even sweatier than normal. On the way out we kept feeling hot winds blowing off the Potomac River and we kept thinking a storm was en route. By the end, I certainly looked like I’d been hit by a rainstorm, but no… it was just my body being disgusting as always. (The subject line being the answer to the rhetorical question I wanted to ask as to where the storm went.)

It was a great run, though. We got hit by one or two lights on the way back and I thought I was losing my momentum each time, but it was all good. (9:02, 8:38, 8:36, 8:45, 8:36, and (not even sure why I’m recording this) a 7:25avg for the .1 miles at the end. Too silly!) I feel really good for this Sunday’s 14-miler, hopefully I’ll have someone to run it with. Chris S said he’s going to probably come out and run 4 miles of it with me before turning around, so that’s better than nothing. I’m going to see if I can get Chris McC (provided he’s all healed up) to see how he feels about slumming at my pace and distance for Sunday. Since he’s been sidelined for a bit, I’m thinking it may have a bit of allure to it…

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=389088

Oh yeah, and afterwards a bunch of us went to Tiffany Tavern down King Street and got a beer. Woohoo! Carb up!

Hillmania

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 08/22/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:25min/mile

Once more into the breach… and by breach, I mean HILLMANIA. Why do I keep running this route on Tuesday? Must be the stellar company. (Ok, that and since my long run route is pretty much hill-free, it’s my only chance to get some good hill work in.) Today seemed tougher than normal; it was only around 90 degrees so I’m not sure what the big deal was, but I pushed through as best as I could. Another 9:25min/mile average when it was all said and done. Somehow those hills always make it feel like I was trying to run it a minute or two per mile faster… phew. Still, not bad progress since I first hit this course, especially when I look at my average times:

May 23rd: 9:57
June 13th: 10:17
July 11th: 10:36
July 25th: 9:24
Aug 8th: 9:27
Aug 22nd: 9:25

Now I just need to start shaving off some time…

A brisk 6-miler

0, 06mi, aidsmarathon

Start time: 08/20/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 6 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:18min/mile

It was another recovery run this weekend, which was fine by me; I’d had a long day yesterday between our MCM participants’s 20-miler and the margaritas-and-Snakes on a Plane expedition. No Stephanie again (I think she may have dropped out at this point, but am hoping not!) but Chris S. had mentioned on Thursday that he wanted a 6-miler this weekend so I talked him into showing up. It was a good run; a little warm and humid, but we kept to a good pace and knocked the miles out pretty quickly (9:30, 9:20, 9:15, 9:43, 9:05, 8:59). Then it was time for a banana, an orange slice… and going back home where I took a shower and climbed back into bed. Ahhhhhh.

No Food, No Stitch, No Fuel

0, 03mi

Start time: 08/15/06, 7:30am
Location: Arlington Boulevard Trail
Distance: 3.75 miles
Average pace: 9:03min/mile

I won’t be able to run with the Pacers group today (Mom’s birthday!) so instead I decided to pick up a few miles this morning. It went pretty well, aside from having no “pre-run breakfast” food available, so I stupidly went without. I could feel the lack of fuel by the end, so I was glad I’d decided to go a short distance this morning. On the bright side, no stitch in the side at all, so clearly less food before running is now the secret, even though last year it was the other way around. Oh well, if it works, it works. And I picked up some oatmeal on the way into the office this morning as to be better prepared for this weekend.

There and back again.

0, 12mi, aidsmarathon

Start time: 08/13/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 12 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:30min/mile

What a beautiful, beautiful day to run. Nice cool temperatures (in August? In DC???) and the hint of a breeze. Ahhhhhhh. There was no Stephanie again today, but I ran with our AIDS Marathon site rep Emma, which was a lot of fun. We kept each other very much on pace, and a lot of our miles were actually in the 9-to-9:15 range. Once you add in three water stops and stopping to talk to poufsouffle (and her two adorable dogs!), our average was a 9:30 for the day, but we were actually moving at quite a clip. It was great to get to just talk with Emma and get to know her.

Even better, hitting the 12-mile part of the route meant that I finally got to bridge the gap in my knowledge of the course; I know it all the way up to Thompson’s Boathouse, and from Key Bridge on up the Capital Crescent Trail, but not in-between. Running along the Georgetown Waterfront was just beautiful, a real way to rouse one’s spirits. (Although running under the Whitehurst Freeway stinks a tiny bit only because it’s hard to get a GPS signal with all the concrete above us and all. At least it’s just a small stretch.) I’d had a long day on Saturday and then not gotten nearly enough sleep, so it felt great to not only really hit the course moving good, but our last four miles were 9:27, 9:47 (with a water stop), 9:12, and 9:10. Ahhhhhhhhhhh. Excellent.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=361201

EDITED TO ADD: I almost forgot… the last couple times I went running I ended up with a slight stitch in my side. When this cropped up back in 2005, I found that eating a little more oatmeal for breakfast (two packets instead of one) solved the problem. This morning, I only had one packet because I’d forgotten to add it to the grocery list and that was all that remained. And while running… no stitch! Hmmmm. Maybe now I need less food in the tummy instead of more? Or should I just stick with my original plan of starting back up crunches to strengthen those muscles? (Well, I should do that anyway.) Maybe it was the magical power of eating some Sports Beans (from Jelly Belly, they taste like crystalized Gatorade and are delicious) instead? Clearly this requires more research.

“Tut tut, it looks like rain.”

0, 04mi, pacers alexandria

Start time: 08/10/06, 7:00pm
Location: Old Town Alexandria and the Mount Vernon Trail
Distance: 4.75 miles
Average pace: 9:02min/mile

As I was driving home from work, I kept thinking, “If it starts pouring, I’m not going to the run tonight.” When I got home and changed, it still looked like rain… but none was forthcoming. Finally I grabbed a hat and decided that if I didn’t bring a hat (to shield my glasses from the rain) it would pour, but if I brought one and wore it, we’d all be spared. Sure enough… no rain, just me with a sopping wet hat (and it’s even made out of those tech fabrics) and a reminder why I hate wearing hats while running. Sweat city.

The course for the Thursday run in Old Town changed since the last I was here, due to part of the route being closed off while the old Wilson Bridge is torn down. The new route was a little shorter, and runs by a lot of businesses in the area (and more traffic lights, boo) but still nice and flat unlike my Tuesday runs. It was a nice run, too; even with one or two brief pauses to cross the road we got a 9:02 min/mile pace for the 4.75 miles (9:14, 9:07, 8:57, 9:15, 6:22). I also finally gave the heartrate monitor a try and it seems that my average heart rate was 160bpm (and splits of 149, 160, 160, 165, and 165). I have no idea what this means but with some research hopefully that’ll all get sorted. Still, a very good run!

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=356268

Return to weekday runs

0, 04mi, pacers arlington

Start time: 08/08/06, 7:00pm
Location: Clarendon and the Custis Trail
Distance: 4.25 miles
Average pace: 9:27min/mile

This run was a little more inconsistent in terms of splits than my last run through (9:02, 10:16, 9:35, 9:09, 2:10), but I do have to remind myself how much hillwork I have waiting for me in that second mile. Still, considering that the last .75 miles is straight uphill and that last .25 pace was an 8:28 average… well, I’m really quite happy. Chris was back, and Pacers Kate (not to be confused with AIDS Marathon Katie) was back from two weeks ago as well. We had a couple of others draft off of us the whole way through, and a little disconcertingly I actually ended up finishing ahead of Chris by a bit; I somehow got Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me” stuck in my head (?!?!?!?!) but by god did it work for motoring up those hills. It felt a little odd to not be drafting off of him or Darrell (who wasn’t there) for the end part, but it also felt good to push up without having to mentally latch onto others.

(Oh yeah. I meant to finally give the heartrate monitor a try this run. Guess what I forgot? Oops. I think I’m going to put the monitor inside one of my shoes to try and remember it for Thursday.)

One is the loneliest number?

0, 05mi, aidsmarathon

Start time: 08/06/06, 7:00am
Location: Downtown Washington DC
Distance: 5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 6:1
Average pace: 9:20min/mile

Easiest “recovery run” ever—it was just me today (no Stephanie! I hope she and/or Katie are back next week…) but it was such a short run I didn’t care. I’d like to say I thought a lot of deep thoughts and such but instead it was one of those runs where you just leave everything behind and go. And, I have to admit—it was a little fun to be the first one out there, all by myself, waving to each group as I came back. It was almost like being a signal for everyone else that the turn-around was just down the street and they were almost there, because I was already coming back through. It’s nice to spread the good word. 🙂

Unscheduled Run!

0, 03mi

Start time: 08/05/06, 6:30am
Location: Capital Crescent Trail
Distance: 3.4 miles
Average pace: 9:08min/mile

I actually wasn’t planning on running today, but it suddenly hit me this morning that one of us would need to run a little over 1.5 miles down the CapCrescent trail in order to mark the turn-around point. Soyini was in charge of “home base” and Chris was told he’s not allowed to run by his doctor, so I was very happy I always bring my running shoes to the site just in case. The actual distance down the trail from the water stop (where I could park my car) to the turn around was 1.7 miles, and once I woke up things went great. The first mile was a 9:25, the second a 9:13, and the last 1.4 miles were at an 8:51 pace. It’s nice to feel one’s self speeding up (without really trying to!) as the run continues rather than slowing down…

Since I hadn’t run all week because of the heat, it was nice to get back out there. I’ve got a teeny tiny run with AIDS Marathon tomorrow (5 miles) so this was a good way to get back into the saddle.