Three Hours Running

I ran for three hours today. I needed to get a 3 hour run in to give me confidence that I could run for five hours next Saturday at the Towpath "Train"ing Run. It was split up in two sessions, however. This was a necessity because of my son's soccer schedule. So I set my countdown timer at three hours and began to hack away at the time remaining. Starting about 11 AM at his game - before the game started and whenever he was subbed out - I got in an hour of running time, barefoot, on grass. So that part of the two sessions was broken up a little also, but it was fairly fast. I probably averaged under 8 minute miles. This run went for about 20 minutes, then some game watching & rain delay, then another 20 minutes, then some game watching, then a final 20. More or less.

The second session started at about 4:00 PM. I went up to Watchung Reservation. I did the Wilderness Trail loop plus an extra muddy loop, mostly of unmarked trails. I ran this slower and carried a water bottle. It warmed up after the thunderstorms today, so it was fairly humid. I have to say this run felt easy and probably averaged about 8:45 pace. It was beautiful: saw a hawk, hundreds of chipmunks, some deep red cardinals and blue bluebirds, and chased a fox who ran in front of me near Watchung Stables.

I am feeling like I can run 5 hours, especially with all the support the "Train"ing Run offers. However, 34 miles is a lot farther than a marathon, so I will have no qualms about dropping out if I feel like I am injuring myself. I have fought too long against these Achilles tendon and PF problems to put myself into the position of needing another long recovery.

The Real Bike To Work Day

After I posted the previous entry, I found out that the real Bike To Work day is today, May 16. The graphic came from one city that decided to do it on Thursday instead. Well, not like it is a national holiday or anything. But it should be!

Bike to Work Day

I rode my bike to work today. I think it is the 16th bike commute I did this year. I had the fastest ride to work today at 25:30 for 7.21 miles, despite one foot-down stop for traffic. Zoom-zoom!

~ made my day ~

My 8th grader son has played soccer for about 5 years. My wife reported to me yesterday, that in a discussion with him about 9th grade plans, he said he did not want to go out for the high school soccer team next year, because he is going to run cross-country.

~!~ glow ~!~

I never said anything to make that happen. Now, that's cool. It's nice when life just goes right without your input.

How's Your Running Going

Paul F asked me how my running was going via email - this is what I wrote:

Hopefully, I will be returning to racing soon. I have had some Achilles problems and heel pain since the President's Cup 5K last June - but continued to damage them by continuing racing through the NYC marathon last year. After the marathon, I ran only about 1 - 2 times per week through February to get the problems to heal. I skied 30 days over the winter. I have increased mileage through March - and I have been wearing training shoes - and have been massively cross training on my bike and have been stretching my calves several times per day. I need to keep my running mileage around only 30 per week. Though I am close to 100% pain free, I still have pain the day or two after running anything faster than 8 minute miles. My return race will probably be President's Cup, a year after the point I really killed my Achilles, which I will run conservatively. Since I have been on my bike so much, I might do a short duathlon for fun in a couple of weeks. I am entered in other events already: Boilermaker 15K, River to Sea Relay. I plan to run the entire Towpath "Train"ing Run (34 miles) and the Escarpment Trail Run. I have no problem going long and slow. It is the faster running that hurts me. Post age-45 has been hell. I am turning 49 in June - so I am training to be 50. My goal in my 50th year is to run a 50-mile trail race and complete an Ironman tri....

Otherwise life is busy as hell with the family, all the sports activities of my kids and I, work and all. You know how it goes. No time to get in as much cycling mileage as I would actually like to.

Cycling to Work

Today was the 12th day I cycled to work this year.

My route has a lot of traffic. If I was not an experienced rider, I would probably take a lot longer to ride it. But I aggressively put myself out there, point my arms around a lot, sneak through traffic, use sidewalks and parking lots, go through red lights. It is crazy, but I get to work in only 6-9 minutes longer than it takes me to drive. It is ab out 7.5 miles. Hardly worth getting sweaty. I usually take a longer route home just to get in a decent workout.

Today there was about a half-mile of road on Washington Avenue that was ground in preparation for re-paving. Riding that rough stuff was a pain, and I was going faster than the cars that were backed up throughout the section.