Monday, September 20, 2010
Run, run, read and then run some more
Marathon training continues to go well and I’ve had some great training runs of late. I’ve also racked up some pretty big miles with back-to-back weeks of nearly 65-miles per week. Due to my full calendar at work I’ve been doing a lot of very early morning running which is kind of nice, but I do miss the daylight at times. Let’s get to the updates…
Thursday the 9th I was able to run at midday and also able to run a new route that had me climb up and over Rocky Butte for the first time. It is very cool. It is just over 3-miles from the office so I can only run it on longer run days which don’t happen very often from the office unfortunately. The road up/down is narrow and twisty, but the visibility is decent enough that I wasn’t worried about the few cars I encountered. And the views are wonderful! On one side it looks out on Mt. Hood, and then there is the Columbia River and PDX, then going down the other side are views of downtown Portland and the tallest of the bridges off in the distance. Very cool. And even with those significant hills ran I was able to come in 3-secs/m under my target pace.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 10.3-miles in 1:15:26 @ 7:22/m pace.
On Friday I had to be out the door and running at 4:30AM and that is never easy, but one gets use to it. There was a bit of drizzle that morning but the temps were good, I felt good and so I pushed the pace just a bit.
Stats for Friday’s run: 10.03-miles in 1:11:48 @ 7:10/m pace.
Saturday the 11th I ventured into downtown Portland to run my long-run along the Willamette River. And it was a spectacular run! The morning was beautiful and the temps were perfect. Even though that run came at the end of a lot of miles for the week I felt really good, ran strong, and came in under my goal pace without straining. All good!
Stats for Saturday’s run: 18-miles in 2:13:44 @ 7:26/m pace. Click here to see the Garmin data.
On Monday I was up and out by 4:30AM because my run was a bit too long to due at midday. It was a perfectly clear pre-dawn morning, I was able to hold the pace very steady and I came in at 1-sec/m off my goal pace.
Stats for Monday’s run: 12-miles in 1:30:43 @ 7:34/m pace.
Tuesday the 14th was yet another pre-dawn run and this time there was some speedwork tossed in, too. I ran the first 2-miles easy and then cranked the pace down under 7/m for the next 7-miles before finishing with an easy mile to get home. I love Tempo runs.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 10.02-miles in 1:12:42 @ 7:13/m pace.
Wednesday morning I was out early for a steady-pace effort on another beautiful pre-dawn morning. But even at that time it was very warm and within a mile I was wishing I had worn short sleeves! But the run was good and I was just under goal pace.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 12-miles in 1:30:35 @ 7:33/m pace.
Thursday the 16th it was warm, muggy and drizzly when I headed out into the darkness. I think all the miles of the week caught up to me a bit on this day as I was hoping to push the pace a bit then hold it steady to finish at ~6:50/m or so and I just couldn’t quite get there. I held it where I could and pushed as I could.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 11.3-miles in 1:19:26 @ 7:01/m pace.
My long run on Saturday was again along the Willamette River downtown. I ran the first mile with my daughter, Jennifer, and her friend, Brent, to get them to the “real” route then took off. It was a very warm and very muggy morning and it wasn’t long before the sweat was running and I was glad to have one short sleeves! Just before the turn-around I saw my running friends, George, Fran and Cormac, headed back and the chase was on. They had a lead on me and I wanted to keep the pace somewhat tame, but I did pick it up enough to negative split the run. Eventually I caught the guys with ~2-miles left to go and was able to finish strong.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 20-miles in 2:28:25 @ 7:25/m pace. Click here to see the Garmin data.
Lastly, this morning I was back out the door at 4:30am to get my run on. My legs were tired and I never quite got to the pace I wanted to hold. So I just steady and even as best I could.
Stats for Monday’s run: 10.06-miles in 1:17:16 @ 7:41/m pace.
This weekend I was able to finish reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures.” It is a compilation of some of his best work while he was writing for the New Yorker. And it was, as usual for him, fascinating. Each “story” gave an insight or view on something very common, yet in a way that most people would never think to research. I particularly loved the work on “choking versus panicking” and why we see one in sports but not the other. And he also tells how
and why JFK, Jr. crashed his plane because of one or the other…I won’t give it away. I also enjoyed his expose on The Dog Whisperer as well as his take on why great college quarterbacks fail in the NFL nearly 75% of the time. He used Joey Harrington as an example and that hit close to home since my daughter went to the University of Oregon while Joey was there winning all those games. Taken #3 in the NFL draft and after short NFL career with the Lions and Dolphins he is now out of the league and Gladwell explains why. His books are thought-provoking and fascinating every time. This one was no exception and I’d highly recommend reading it.
Now I’m going to read “The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ” by Lee Strobel. I’ve read a couple of his books and they always make you re-think what you think you already know. I’ll let you know what I think of it upon completion.
Thanks for stopping by…
Thursday the 9th I was able to run at midday and also able to run a new route that had me climb up and over Rocky Butte for the first time. It is very cool. It is just over 3-miles from the office so I can only run it on longer run days which don’t happen very often from the office unfortunately. The road up/down is narrow and twisty, but the visibility is decent enough that I wasn’t worried about the few cars I encountered. And the views are wonderful! On one side it looks out on Mt. Hood, and then there is the Columbia River and PDX, then going down the other side are views of downtown Portland and the tallest of the bridges off in the distance. Very cool. And even with those significant hills ran I was able to come in 3-secs/m under my target pace.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 10.3-miles in 1:15:26 @ 7:22/m pace.
On Friday I had to be out the door and running at 4:30AM and that is never easy, but one gets use to it. There was a bit of drizzle that morning but the temps were good, I felt good and so I pushed the pace just a bit.
Stats for Friday’s run: 10.03-miles in 1:11:48 @ 7:10/m pace.
Saturday the 11th I ventured into downtown Portland to run my long-run along the Willamette River. And it was a spectacular run! The morning was beautiful and the temps were perfect. Even though that run came at the end of a lot of miles for the week I felt really good, ran strong, and came in under my goal pace without straining. All good!
Stats for Saturday’s run: 18-miles in 2:13:44 @ 7:26/m pace. Click here to see the Garmin data.
On Monday I was up and out by 4:30AM because my run was a bit too long to due at midday. It was a perfectly clear pre-dawn morning, I was able to hold the pace very steady and I came in at 1-sec/m off my goal pace.
Stats for Monday’s run: 12-miles in 1:30:43 @ 7:34/m pace.
Tuesday the 14th was yet another pre-dawn run and this time there was some speedwork tossed in, too. I ran the first 2-miles easy and then cranked the pace down under 7/m for the next 7-miles before finishing with an easy mile to get home. I love Tempo runs.
Stats for Tuesday’s run: 10.02-miles in 1:12:42 @ 7:13/m pace.
Wednesday morning I was out early for a steady-pace effort on another beautiful pre-dawn morning. But even at that time it was very warm and within a mile I was wishing I had worn short sleeves! But the run was good and I was just under goal pace.
Stats for Wednesday’s run: 12-miles in 1:30:35 @ 7:33/m pace.
Thursday the 16th it was warm, muggy and drizzly when I headed out into the darkness. I think all the miles of the week caught up to me a bit on this day as I was hoping to push the pace a bit then hold it steady to finish at ~6:50/m or so and I just couldn’t quite get there. I held it where I could and pushed as I could.
Stats for Thursday’s run: 11.3-miles in 1:19:26 @ 7:01/m pace.
My long run on Saturday was again along the Willamette River downtown. I ran the first mile with my daughter, Jennifer, and her friend, Brent, to get them to the “real” route then took off. It was a very warm and very muggy morning and it wasn’t long before the sweat was running and I was glad to have one short sleeves! Just before the turn-around I saw my running friends, George, Fran and Cormac, headed back and the chase was on. They had a lead on me and I wanted to keep the pace somewhat tame, but I did pick it up enough to negative split the run. Eventually I caught the guys with ~2-miles left to go and was able to finish strong.
Stats for Saturday’s run: 20-miles in 2:28:25 @ 7:25/m pace. Click here to see the Garmin data.
Lastly, this morning I was back out the door at 4:30am to get my run on. My legs were tired and I never quite got to the pace I wanted to hold. So I just steady and even as best I could.
Stats for Monday’s run: 10.06-miles in 1:17:16 @ 7:41/m pace.
This weekend I was able to finish reading Malcolm Gladwell’s “What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures.” It is a compilation of some of his best work while he was writing for the New Yorker. And it was, as usual for him, fascinating. Each “story” gave an insight or view on something very common, yet in a way that most people would never think to research. I particularly loved the work on “choking versus panicking” and why we see one in sports but not the other. And he also tells how
and why JFK, Jr. crashed his plane because of one or the other…I won’t give it away. I also enjoyed his expose on The Dog Whisperer as well as his take on why great college quarterbacks fail in the NFL nearly 75% of the time. He used Joey Harrington as an example and that hit close to home since my daughter went to the University of Oregon while Joey was there winning all those games. Taken #3 in the NFL draft and after short NFL career with the Lions and Dolphins he is now out of the league and Gladwell explains why. His books are thought-provoking and fascinating every time. This one was no exception and I’d highly recommend reading it.Now I’m going to read “The Case for the Real Jesus: A Journalist Investigates Current Attacks on the Identity of Christ” by Lee Strobel. I’ve read a couple of his books and they always make you re-think what you think you already know. I’ll let you know what I think of it upon completion.
Thanks for stopping by…
