Me vs. Chuck... 15 Miles on the Charles River

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I loved spending time there in college and miss it now, so I decided to execute my 15-miler along the Charles River. I parked my car on Mass Ave just before the bridge. Since the meter had a 2 hour limit and my run took about 2.5, including stretching, I got my first parking ticket in a long time. Compared to the toll my body paid, the $25 was in the noise.

Well I was particularly nervous about this run. I guess that's because I've had some rough runs lately. And 15 miles is nothing for me to shrug at. I've attached a little clip I took before I left the condo. And here's a pic I took of all my gear strewn out on the bed before I packed up and left.



So how'd the run go you ask? I'd say pretty well. Aside from some mild-to-severe blisters on my right foot (its always the right because its smaller) and some mild-to-severe chafing (I should've put body glide on my legs even though I had spandex on) the run went extremely well. As a matter of fact, I shaved about 10 seconds off my pace as compared to my 14-miler 2 weeks ago. So that's an average of an 8:20 mile! That puts me 11 miles away from the marathon but 10 seconds UNDER my goal pace. So I'm feeling pretty darn happy about it with almost 3 months of training still ahead.

My legs started getting very heavy around mile 11. But thanks to my miserable 12-miler last weekend, I was used to heavy legs and was able to shake it off. I expected a sense of nostalgia running along the Charles since I really haven't done so since college. But it felt somewhat foreign. I think the reason here is that I never spent much time there in the dead of winter. There's a bit of snow still in Boston and parts of the river were even frozen over.

Please checkout the run data, I worked hard for it:

Splits
Graph

Good, Bad, and Ugly

Well a few things have happened since my last post. Mostly, the last week and a half has been very tough for me. I think the most difficult thing for me has been recovering from some of these longer weekend runs. Following the 14-miler a couple weeks ago my legs were pretty sore. This contributed to a very difficult 12-miler a week later. From the start of the group run last Saturday, my quads felt pretty heavy and tight. To add insult to injury, the pathway along the Minuteman trail was mostly iced over. Especially on the return trip, which is slightly uphill the whole way back, my legs were really starting to burn as I lost traction. So anyway, the bad news is that the runs have been getting a little tougher as my body adjusts to the recovery period for the longer runs.

The good news is that I logged a 5-miler at a respectable clip, averaging a 7:48/mi before my 100m strides. This is a bit of a milestone for me as I've been dying to log a medium distance run at a sub-8 pace.

The Ugly is the running conditions outside. I already alluded to the icy path on my Group Run last weekend. Well, I was restricted to a treadmill run on Monday. And yesterday, I completed a 7-miler outside in the slush, snow, and rain. My feet were completely drenched by mile 1. The sidewalks were half covered by slush which made running especially challenging too. So I'm starting to get a bit worn out between juggling the time and finding decent conditions. But this is exactly what i expected when signed up for this race to begin with. So there's nothing wrong with par for the course.

Some of you have been asking for more data, on a summary level. Below is some stats from my runs. Note: this doesn't include any workouts on the stationary bike, pool, or Cybex Arc Trainer/Elliptical.

Since training started on December 14:

17 Runs
Distance Run - 114.36 Miles
Avg Run Distance (6.7 Miles)
Time Spent Running - 17:46:43 (h:m:s)
Avg Speed - 6.5mph (9:14 min/mile which includes walking between 100m strides at end of workouts)
Calories Burned: 12,733

Longest Yet

For those reading, my apologies for waiting so long in between posts. My work schedule has been insane since Christmas break. I've been in Columbus, GA working at Ft Benning. I managed to get time off from work this weekend which allowed for me to pick up the pieces of the lost training opportunities during the week. The only workout I logged this past week was a slow 5-miler on the hotel treadmill on Tuesday. With yesterday off, I spent an hour on the stationary bike. My intent was just to get a decent workout in without wearing myself out. Because I knew today would be the longest run of my life.

In addition to my longest run, this was also one of my favorite runs in a long time. This is because I got to run completely along a river for the first time since I ran the Mississippi in Iowa for my first half marathon. This time, the river separated Alabama and Georgia. I ran a 14 mile out-and-back route of 7 miles. And whats more is that I exceded my expectations for speed. I beat my goal of an 8:30 pace and squeezed out an 8:29 average. And per Jack Fultz's instructions, I ran the second half a good clip faster than my first.

I drank only 2 fuel-belt bottles and ate one Gu pack along the way. The temperature was about 32 deg (better than Massachusetts' 5 deg today). But I faced a pretty good head wind on the return path. Cardiovascularly, I felt spectacular. My legs felt a bit heavy into the wind from 8 or 9 miles on. But all and all I was quite pleasantly surprised. I believe the next long wind is actually a shorter distance, at 12 miles.

I know this next week will be another very long one on base. My hopes are to just get 2 decent medium runs in.

I have no data to share this week because I don't have my Garmin dock to upload the run. When I get home, I'll try to compile some more intersting stats, including total milage to date etc. Reef, that's for you.

Thanks for reading!

Yaktrax

Well it snowed today, pretty good for a couple of hours. Total snow accumulation was about 3 inches. By the time I wanted to get my run in, none of the sidewalks had been plowed or shoveled. It sounded like the perfect opportunity for me to try out my Yaktrax. I got them for Christmas, courtesy of my sister, Jenn.

I gotta say, these things worked like a charm. I have zero-slippage to report on what would have otherwise been an impossible 6-mile run. I won't say that it was ideal running conditions, but it was certainly doable. A 9:30 pace in the snow was enough to get me VERY wiped out, as compared to a normal 6-mile run. But it was actually a good bit of fun. For the few bursts of cleared pavement, it was actually less pleasant than the snowy part, when wearing the Yaks. The way my feet land with them on was just the slightest bit different and caused some aggravation over time.

Also, I forgot to pop a few Advil before I left so my old Post-tib injury got a bit inflamed over the run. Anyway, here are a couple of pics of the yaks. And please checkout the Run Data too.

Yaktrax Splits
Yaktrax Chart

Mmmmm... More Data

Alas, I have added an exciting piece of technology to my running arsenal, the Garmin Forerunner 305. All of my previous running data has been courtesy of my Garmin Forerunner 50. The 305 adds more accuracy, no more need for calibration, elevation data, and a map for my runs. It still works with my old foot pod (for run cadence) and my heart rate monitor. The end result is a slightly bulkier watch but much more data, which I just love. So please check out the data from this morning's run and see for yourself.

In other news, I ran a nice 10-miler on Saturday up in New Hampshire while staying with Gill's parents. During this run, my old watch decided to crap-out and reboot twice, thus losing all my run data up to those points. I was able to manually add the run data (estimated) into my online training notebook (garmin connect).

So I did take off Christmas day from my training, but all I lost was a cross-training day at the gym, so all and all, that's not too bad.

Below, is a picture of the new watch, and for your viewing pleasure, a picture of me on my way out the door this morning. As always, thanks for checking in. And don't forget to checkout today's run.



My running chart (and map!)
My Splits

Running after a snow storm

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Well this journey is full of firsts for me. Monday's run was my first time running shortly after a snow storm. Finding clear paths on the sidewalks and the streets around my condo was very difficult. For the most part I had to make due with running in light powder that was strewn in my path. This was most comparable to running on the beach in loose sand. By the end of the 5 mile run I had sore muscles in places that aren't generally sore, like my hamstrings namely. As each day since then has passed, the sidewalks have become slightly more cleared, but slightly more icy. By this morning, Christmas Eve morning, the temperature was above freezing and most of the ice had turned to slush or water. I was able to more closely monitor my pace rather than focusing on staying on my feet.

This also marks the first week where I've put in so many miles in a long long time, perhaps ever. Yesterday was a cross-training day. Reef and I went to the gym and did the stationary bike for 25 minutes, followed by some light lifting, some abs, and then a half hour swim. By this morning's run, my leg's were feeling more heavy than normal. This was the first run where I accurately implemented the 100 meter strides as indicated in the training plan. Look at today's run chart to see the results.

Below is my week's summary and links to the run workouts:

Total mileage: 25 miles
Time on the bike: 30 minutes
Time in the pool: 30 minutes
Stretching: a lot
abs, pushups, pullups: Some

Monday's Run
The Graph
The Splits

Tuesday's Run
The Graph
The Splits

Today's Run:
The Graph
The Splits

My First Group Run

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My Fundraising Page

Yesterday morning the DFMC team met at The Greater Boston Running Company in Lexington at 8am; it was my first-ever group run. The temperature was about 15deg. It was the kind of day where I would have been hard-pressed to get myself outside for a long run. So I was very appreciative for the organized group run to get me out there. The run went from 8-10 miles (I ran about 9) and was an out-and-back run along a bike trail in Lexington towards Arlington. I ran mostly on my own, not quite finding somebody to run exactly my pace. I did join with a few different individuals I met along the way as I progressed through the trail, but eventually, I decided to push onward at my own pace. For those keeping track, this is my new longest run since the Oct 4th Half Marathon. Every week that passes, you should notice that I'll have logged a new longest.

After the run, I purchased a few things at the store because the owner offered all runners 20% off all merchandise. I got myself a fancy little device for stretching your calf/achilles. This is my problem area so thought it would be helpful and convenient. I also bought some nice running gloves and a nice orange Saucony long sleeve shirt with a built-in flashing LED in the sleeve for night runs (see photo). For free, I also picked up a nice Adidas running cap, courtesy of The Greater Boston Running Co.

All and all it was a very feel-good and important run. The week preceding, I spent at Ft Benning, GA for work, working 15 hour days which didn't leave any time at all for training. Luckily I squeaked in the Mon and Tues runs on the previous Sat and Mon so that my first training week wasn't a complete wash.

So anyway, here's my run data. I keep telling myself I'll wear the heart-strap for more data. But then I forget. I'm hoping for a Garmin 305 watch for Christmas that will also provide maps and elevation data (on top of more accurate distance and time data).

My Splits
My Chart