Comparatively Speaking

Like last Saturday, met up with the Philly Runners at the PMA, this time at 8:00 instead of 9:30. This is a welcome change if you ask me, as temps will continue to rise. There's also something nice about finishing at 9:30 as opposed to 11:00. Seebo showed up and we split off from the rest of the group, opting for some shade and a brief hill along MLK. Even though I thought we were moving faster, the rest of the group mirrored us on the path for the first 20 minutes or so, owing to some creakiness in both of our legs. Mine has to do with yesterday's activities, Seebo's in transition mode between training cycles, having recently returned from a tropical getaway.

Probably the best part of the run was the conversation. Some prerun tea had me spouting out all kinds of stories about the Ontonagon Boulder (the name slipped my tongue), the collapse of Easter Island civilization, and wildlife population control. Pretty random assortment of topics, and they continued to come as the pace of the run increased. A few interesting comparisons were made, including winter running vs. summer running, beer vs. water, and Furness vs. Sullivan. Perhaps the most daring was to contrast the psychotropic effects of running and cigarette smoking. Ron joined us for a stretch, breaking up the dorkiness with talk of urban triathlon, an obstacle course race through a large city.

Apparently I hit the 'stop' button instead of the 'split' button at Fall's Bridge so I lost any useful data my watch might have given me. At the PMA I continued solo-style onto the river trail, though I might as well be honest and publish that I had an overwhelming desire to stop. I wanted to get in 1:30 on my feet and the last half hour felt like a chore. Looping around through Rittenhouse Square and back up the Parkway, ending at the water fountain at Lloyd Hall, I tacked on 3.5 miles to the 8.5 mile loop, making it a 12 mile day. Piecing together the split to the bridge (~34:xx) and the time it took for the extension, I'll call it 1:35. Walked it back to my bike and took a leisurely, and very refreshing, ride home through cool breezes. Wasn't till I got home that I realized how parched I'd become (I downed a couple glasses of water and some tea before running and never had to empty the bladder, where usually I'm stopping at least twice to do so), and I'm blaming this for the sluggishness in the final miles. Comparatively speaking, a very good morning.

Nachos and Trails

I felt crappy when the alarm went off, and I blame it on a late dinner last night that included some pretty greasy nachos and a few beers. Regardless, I biked to the Wissahickon with a goal of 60 minutes on the trails. This is quickly becoming one of my favorite exercises, and sadly I think the only thing that will keep it from becoming a fixture in my weekday mornings is the amount of time it takes. Unless I get twice as fast, I don't see that changing much. The ride to the park was reserved, I'd rather ride easy than risk cutting into the quality of the upcoming run, and I just didn't feel entirely on anyway.

On the trails, I trusted myself a little more than last week, and I made some pretty decent charges where I could. I found the Thumb Bridge, which eluded me last time I was here, as well as some other vistas that were pretty stellar. There were only two close calls, once when I slipped off the face of a large rock after tramping through some mud and the second when I narrowly avoided launching off a ledge at the bottom of a hill (I thought the trail continued, Wile E. Coyote style...) by grabbing onto a tree trunk. Lots of out and backs as I had to turn around multiple times after discovering I had strayed from the trail. Again, difficult to turn around and I was out for 70 minutes running. BF cooldown at the end.

On the ride back my body must've finally found those nachos hidden somewhere and I felt really great for the ride home. Granted it's not a very long ride but I thought I'd be tired after already almost 2 hours of activity. Didn't stop my watch, so door to door it was 2:40. I'll conservatively call it 7 miles run.

Popular Pastime

Easy run around Penn's Landing. Saw two of what can only be described as military speedboats docked at the Seaport Museum. Strange looking. There were at least 15 other runners out, I wonder how many of these are locals and how many are guests at the nearby Hyatt hotel. Took a barefoot cooldown in the park, for a total of 5 miles in 43:39. There was a really nice quality to today's run, probably has to do with the relaxed pace and the amazing weather, sunny and mid-50s.

Early Bird

Got out of the house at 5:20 this morning. There was no practical reason for doing this other than to meet Mike, a runner-neighbor I met over last weekend, for a spin around town. He had to be at work by 8. We kept a steady pace for most of the run, just enough to make me a little winded during conversation. The sun came up just as we began, though temperatures were very comfortable. Traffic was still mellow at that hour. Funny that when I mapped the route it came to exactly 8 miles. Including warmup and cooldown, about 9 miles in 1:11:47.

One Day Late

This Tuesday feels like Monday. Not that it's a bad thing, just thrown out of sync from the day off. I ascended the Ben Franklin Bridge into a raincloud this morning, the drizzle felt nice. 6 and some change in 53:05.

Holiday Jaunting

Today was yoga in the AM followed by a late-morning run up to the track. Easy running, just out to enjoy the day, with plans to shed the shoes for a few laps. The sun had already warmed the track surface considerably and in retrospect I feel stupid for not thinking of this. I only made it twice around before blisters forced me onto the grass for a third lap. This made the jog home quite unpleasant. Last Sunday I did a mile BF without much discomfort so the temperature factor is apparently quite large. Somewhere around 6 miles in 53 or so minutes, including stops.

Around 4:15 I headed out to repeat last week's westward adventure. This time I was solo, had a few more pounds of luggage, and it was about 15 degrees warmer. Thought I might cover the 40 or so miles in 3 hours. Kelly Dr was markedly frustrating and I think I've decided that it's not a place I should be riding. I was content to draft a guy on his mountain bike until he started spitting into the wind numerous times, spraying me with saliva. Not sure if he knew it or not, but it was enough to make me surge around him and another in front of him, only to be forced to slow because of children playing on the path. Children playing on paths are wonderful, they should continue to play in the middle of paths, and the solution for today's dilemma is that in order to avoid saliva and playing children, I'll take a different route out of the city.

It seems like it often happens when I'm on my way out of town on a bike that because I know what lies beyond is green and beautiful, I get wound up like a rubber band and explode once I finally break free. So it went today as I launched over the Schuylkill on the beginnings of a route known to a few local runners as the Bloody Nipple, for reasons undisclosed. Actually, I've never heard the story behind it, but I'm sure it has everything to do with what the name implies. Instead of turning left on Conshohocken Ave I kept going straight, uphill towards City Line, where I was once again reminded of the effects of sun-baked asphalt.

I really kind of killed it on these first hills and not much longer than 10 or so miles in I was already getting hungry. Conveniently I came across a portable restroom so I obliged, ate a banana, and topped off my water bottle from my reserve supply. Two carbon-shod riders in full get up whiz by me now and I see if I can't catch them. I don't but they don't gap me by much and we go separate ways when it comes to the creek crossing on Old Gulph Rd. A couple of minutes later I was still hungry, and this lasted more or less for the rest of the ride, even though I continued to nibble here and there on some other stuff.

My favorite part of the ride comes between Sawmill and Whitehorse Rds, there are some hills here that make Belmont Ave seem insignificant, but the scenery is superb, lots of wildlife including more woodchucks than I've ever seen before in a single day, and some welcome shade from the trees. By now I've lost a lot of umph in my legs and I let my granny gear flag fly with no shame. On the ups I just sit back and spin. On the downs I'm able to pick up some speed, up to 35 mph or so.

A telltale sign that I'm tired is when I get irritable, and I notice that I'm cursing cars as they zip past along Paoli Pike headed into West Chester. I figure my last chance to really let loose is fast approaching so I crank it on a downhill out of town and reach up to 38 mph. That's damn fast for not being in a car, and quite frankly kind of frightening. I put a lot of trust in those bolts and bearings...

The best part of the ride comes when I'm crawling up a hill 4 miles out from my destination along a refreshingly shady back road and it's really taking all of my concentration just to push grannies, all of the sudden there's about 6 or 7 deer looking right at me from about 10 yards off. Not much longer and I'm parking my bike, looking forward to a cool bath and subsequent soaking in a hot tub. Great ride. About 3:05 door to door, 2:50 riding time.

Shattered Expectations

Met up with the PhillyRunners today at the PMA. Blue skies, a little breezy, but the kind of sunshine that makes you want to spread out in the grass and take a nap. I was expecting to run 8.5 miles around the "loop." Surprisingly, a few folks decided to take a different route through Fairmount Park that would cover roughly the same distance but be much more scenic. We went counterclockwise to start, through Lemon Hill and over to N Concourse via the Girard St Bridge. Along the fire roads in Belmont Shanley mixed things up a bit when she led us up a fairly steep hill. The portion of the run along these fire roads was extremely enjoyable, the dampness and shade of the trees feeling pretty comfortable after being in the sun over asphalt for a while. Then it was back to Kelly Drive, and I always get really disoriented when I come down the steps after Strawberry Mansion Bridge. Instead of ending at the PMA, I continued on to Locust St along the river with a new acquaintance, Mike, really just for kicks. He's a fellow Fishtowner and hopefully we'll get some morning runs in. I mapped the route, but the portion in Belmont gets fuzzy because you can't see the trails from the sky. In total it was somewhere between 10 and 11 miles in 1:30 including stops. Everything felt really great today, only some very minor stiffness in my calves. I'm glad I got out to the PMA, and I'm glad that we changed things up a little.

Wonderful Morning

Ever since I did this bike-to-run a about a month back I've been itching to return to the trails in Wissahickon Park. I learned then that my fear of arriving at the trailhead tired from the bikeride over was unfounded. It's about 8 miles one way, not very far on a bike. The westerly winds have been pretty diligent all week, and today it was more of the same as I rode west along Kelly Drive. Instead of trying to battle through it, I settled into an easier gear and spun my way up to Manayunk.

Once at Forbidden Dr, I pulled a change of shoes from my pannier and ditched my windbreaker. The shoes I chose to wear today are very minimal for trail shoes. This is supplemental to my experimentation with the whole barefoot idea. Not much to them really, though the soles hold up really well on the rocks and gravel. Once I stashed my saddlebag I went looking for some trails.

I'm not very familiar with this area so I just picked one and went. I wanted to stay out for 40 min or so, but after 20 min it was very hard to turn around because I was enjoying myself so much. Time seemed to fly by as I kind of zoned out for a little while, focusing on my footfalls and hoping I wouldn't twist an ankle. I kept a pretty easy pace but at times it was hard not to push a little. It lasted 45 min. I'm not sure how far it was, but I'll conservatively call it 4.5 miles. I grabbed my bike and made it home by 9:30, so about 2.5 hours door to door.

Slowly but Surely

At the pace of a tortoise I'm inching closer to consistent running. At the rate I'm going I'll hopefully reach 45-50 mpw by about 3 weeks from now. I'm trying to avoid jumping right back to where I was a month ago, with the idea that when I eventually get there I'll feel pretty well rested. A shortcoming of mine is losing perspective and biting off more than I can chew. I'm trying to work on that.

This AM, wonderful trip around Penn's Landing and Olde City, along one of my favorite short routes. I didn't time it but I'll guess that I was doing about 7:30 - 8:00 miles. Felt really good, lighter on my feet than I've been in a while. The commute to W Philly afterwards was strangely labored today, but I'll blame it on the wind.

Ride of Silence

Around 6:15 I headed down to the PMA to meet 500 or so other cyclists for the 3rd annual (I think it's the third...) Philadelphia Ride of Silence. We gathered at the steps in honor of the eight local cyclists who have been killed while cycling on public roadways within the past year. After a few speeches and a poetry reading we were escorted by police around an 8-mile loop of center city, all the while in complete silence, like a funeral procession. We picked up many other riders along the way and it was simply amazing to have all walks of life together for the sake of advocating cyclists' rights. I simply can't express the surreal beauty of many hundreds of self-powered, two-wheeled humans parting the awe stricken urban cacophony of cars and passerbys. Overwhelming really.

Afterwards I tried to convince a few friends to join me on a 20 miler along the Wissahickon and through Roxborough, but we ended up at the bar instead. Go figure. Did a core routine this morning, but otherwise it was a fairly easy day. The second most exciting thing I did today was purchase some swim goggles. Now I just have to build up the courage to jump in...

Sleep Sandwich

With two workouts as the bread. There wasn't enough meat and now I'm trying to fill the void with coffee. This'll probably work until early evening when I cave and switch to hooch.

Last night amidst some schoolwork and airport drama (MM's flight to Seattle overbooked, returned home for the night) I forced myself out the door after 9 PM to clear my mind. It worked. The first half of the Penn's Landing route I frequent was entirely satisfying. I did things I never really do like jumping up onto and running across the stone walls along the walkway and trying to hit every grass patch within view. Very fun. Then some heaviness set in that was probably due to a combination of fatigue from all the recent biking, some barefoot running on Saturday, and the fact that I haven't really run that much in the past two weeks. Regardless, I felt better for having gotten out. Untimed, unmeasured, I'll call it 5.5 miles.

The flight cancellation last night meant that I was awoken four hours after falling asleep when MM got up for flight attempt #2. I couldn't fall back asleep, so I rallied with the goal of getting on the same westbound train as her. She hopped off for the R1, I ended up at the gym where I kept things fairly easy. Biked 30 min, ran about 4 miles (33 min or so) on the TM with 3x2:00 "hills." Some stretch/strength stuff afterwards. I hated the TM today. I hoped to last a little longer but I couldn't find any real reason to do so, especially knowing that I hadn't really rested since last night's run. The past 24 hours haven't been ideal but I keep reminding myself that it's only gonna get tougher (schedule-wise) as my training picks up over the next month. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

Tri County Ramble

Over last week plans developed that would have me at my folks' abode today for some BBQ. I decided to bike the 40 or so miles out to the West Chester area. A couple of cycling/camping/tomfoolery-ing (!) friends decided to join me for a portion of it. Turned into our first great, albeit somewhat short, trip of the year.

Departed the downtown proper at approximately 9:30 and promptly found ourselves jammed in a gridlock of runners, joggers, skaters, jumpers, shakers, you name it, they were on East River Drive. Once we got to Fall's Bridge it dawned on us that MLK would've been a wiser choice since they close it to combustion engines on Sundays.


We worked our way west along a route that was light on traffic but heavy on hills. After a certain point there's no longer a net upward gain, just rolling up and down. Felt nice to pick up speed on the downs. Highlights included a "river fording" along Old Gulph Rd, various wildlife sightings, getting lost less than 5 times, and perfect temperatures.

We took a very leisurely pace, stopping here and there for various reasons, mostly just enjoying the scenery. At Warren Ave and Providence Rd I continued westward while the other two cut north to pick up the R5 train in Malvern. By now the skies had darkened and I knew I risked getting caught in a torrent if I continued. Also right around this point I took a gel. Between this and the desire to avoid death by lightning I found a reserve of energy and booked it into overdrive. Then it started raining, and hard. So I rode harder. Somehow I made it to my destination feeling like I could have continued on for at least another couple hours. Stark contrast to the 50 miler I did on Wednesday, when I felt like I was sleep-biking for the last 10 minutes. There are a number of reasons that didn't happen today, including a pretty laid back pace for most of the ride, but the main thing is that I brought along a bit of solid food which I ate around 1.5 hours in. Amazing that such a detail made all the difference in the end. Total about 41 miles untimed.

The coming week should hopefully see more running. Not that I have any regrets about not really running for the past two weeks, or about biking 100+ miles last week alone. But I'm eager to get back on my feet, and that's a good sign I think.

2 Weeks Later

Yesterday I bagged my plans due to the rain. Going back to sleep after waking up at 10 t0 6 was more fun.

Today was the first real run in a couple weeks. And what a joy it was. Beautiful blue morning, slight breeze. Warmed up in Penn Treaty and headed west to the Temple track where I took my shoes off for a mile. No problems other than some blisters that I expected. Otherwise, I can't wait to do this more. All in all, somewhere between 6 and 7 miles, untimed. Later in the afternoon, after waltzing and biking all over town on a guided architectural tour of city (school related), I did my core routine.

Big River

The city that turns, turns protracted and slow
and I find myself toeing th'embarcadero
and I find myself knowing the things that I knew
which is all that you can know on this side of the blue
-Joanna Newson

Can't get enough of this lately. I wish I could implant the melody in your minds as you read the lyrics...

Not much running going on lately. Last week I kept pretty still. My calves were shot after racing and it took a while to recover. Not sure why, maybe it's because I didn't wear my orthotics for the race. Put on my shoes for the first time after Broad St on Saturday when I joined MM for a light jog. This happened one other time since then, and although it's pretty insignificant in terms of training, it is some of the most enjoyable running I've done in a while. Care free, no watches or other gadgetry.

This week I've returned to some resemblance of exercise, but still not running really. Just looking to maintain an aerobic base and slowly ramp up to marathon training which will start at the beginning of June. Monday a few hours at the gym, Tuesday some yoga and stretches.

Yesterday was a quick morning jaunt around the 'hood with MM (about 2 miles) followed by some core exercises. After fueling up I hopped on my bike and headed out for a long ride. At the start of the journey I intended to ride out 1.5 hours along the Schuylkill River Trail to see how far I could get, then turn around (I had to be back at noon). I took the hills through Manayunk kind of hard and eventually settled into a steady pace on the flat river trail. It was such a gorgeous morning, and I was absolutely ecstatic to be out there. I realized after a while that I could probably make it all the way to Valley Forge, so that became my focus. Spinning, not pumping really, moving along at a decent clip for me. Made it to the Visitor's Center in 1:29.

There's not much to do here, especially in the morning on a weekday, unless you're with your grandfather (more specifically, my grandfather). I filled my bottle, hit the loo, and swallowed the single gel I'd brought along. After maybe 6 or 7 minutes I was back on the saddle retracing my route. It was 10 degrees warmer at this point and the sun felt really nice. I was trying a little harder now to see if I couldn't make it back quicker than the way there.

Right around the 2:30 mark I started to feel a little funny. The gel that I'd taken gave me a lot of pep, but I started struggling on the hills coming back into Manayunk. By the time I got back on Kelly Dr I was really hurting. Not in the pain sense. Just out of juice. Fried. I've never felt like that even after running a marathon. For the last 20 minutes I pondered what would happen if I was in the last 5k of a possible BQ as opposed to the backstretch of a bike ride. Even though I slowed considerably during this part I surprisingly made it home after 2:57 riding time. I mapped it, but lost the link. It was about 49 miles.

Today was another couple hours at the gym and some evening yoga.

One thing about a break from running is that I can find time to try some new stuff. For example, tomorrow morning if the weather's not too bad, I'll be riding to the track to put in some barefoot laps. This could go into a whole other discussion about why I'm doing that, but it's time for sleep.

Broken Promises

For the sake of bookkeeping...

4/28 - PM yoga
4/29 - 6 mi/46:40 (2 miles tempo)
4/30 - PM yoga
5/1 - 5 mi/41:14 (8xstrides), PM yoga
5/2 - 4 mi/33:36
5/3 - rest
5/4 - 11 mi (Broad St 10-mile race inc. w/u)

An easy 26 mile week topped off with my last race of the season.

***

I ran for the ice cream truck twice already since Sunday. Hoping I can hit 4 by week's end.

Broad Street Run

5:30 wake up. Light breakfast, catch the el by 6:45. It's nice that I can ride for free today by flashing my bib. 45 min later I'm checking a bag and in 5 more I get in the restroom line. Relieved that it's early, and after a quick warmup I decide that today should be a good day. Stretch out for awhile and at the last minute my bladder cues me back to the restroom line which has grown into a mob. Make it out alive with 5 min to spare. Took a spot behind the 6 min/mile sign.

The weather seems to have worked out in our favor. No thunderstorms as they predicted all week. Temperature right around 55, overcast.

I think about a strategy. I'm not sure what to expect but I'd heard over and over how "fast" this race is. I decide 6:30 splits are a reasonable goal. That would put me across the finish in 65 flat. I'm thinking I'll shoot for 6:30s for the first 7, then if I have anything left (or, if I'm not limping along at 9:00 pace by then) just run a 5k like my life depends on it. Mentally this is a convenient approach, it's easy to digest. We'll see how it plays out physically.

It takes 20 seconds to cross the starting mat. It's really crowded and I see why race organizers have decided on corrals for next year. Mile 1, 6:46 including the 20 seconds. I'm feeling good, and I'm surging around various groups now trying to find a rhythm. Lots of pep in my legs to my surprise.

There are slight undulations up here on Broad St. but they're barely noticeable. Still, I try to take what I can from the downs. Traffic starts to slow every now and then and I'm wondering if we're really slowing or if the faster folks are just breaking away. Turns out to be the latter, mile 2 is 6:23.

Mile 3 is the last of the "hills," goes by in 6:25. I realize if I keep this up for another mile I'll have made up that 20 seconds from the start. Then if I can hold 6:30s, which I'm pretty confident I can do, I'll finish in 65 clock time, 64:40 chip time.

Traffic is slowing again and I assume that more runners are surging. I stick with a group and it turns out that it's the other way around. We're slowing down a little, mile 4 6:31. This is fine by me at this point. Lingering in the back of my mind though is that voice that wants me to push more. I decide to take the risk and push past the 5 mile mark in 32:28. I'm still feeling in control.

Now I enter unknown territory. A 5 mile tempo split in 32 flat was tough in training. What happens now? Have I gained fitness since then? Here's hoping I have. Mile 6 is another 6:23. I get all cheesy now as the crowd support seems to give me an emotional lift. I really appreciate these folks taking time out of their day, seriously. Mile 7 passes in 6:26. This race is going by fairly quickly. I've got my fingers crossed that this trend continues.

My legs are starting to notice that I've been running so damn hard for 45 min. My feet feel hot, and I notice some blisters beneath my big toes. I try not to dwell on it and focus on maintaining. My 5k surge seems like a big joke now. Mile 8, 6:27.

There is so little distance between me and the finish now that I don't care whether or not I collapse trying to run progressively harder. I try to play with my competitive drive by pulling up next to others. They try to pull away, I respond. This happens 4 or 5 times until I've picked up another group. Mile 9 is 6:23.

The last mile is spent praying that the finish line appears soon. I overheard two guys talking at the start about how the entrance to the naval yard can be deceptive because the finish is actually a 1/2-mile in. I remember this as I pass through the gates. Just two more laps around the track now. It's in this last mile that I see MM, a good friend Matt, and my parents. I'm glad they're here. A few guys start sprinting to the finish and I kick it as well for a fastest final mile, 6:19. 1:04:24 official clock time, 1:04:04 chip.

So, I'm pretty psyched. Went out with what I thought was a challenging goal of 65 minutes and nailed it with almost a minute to spare. I guess this is why folks rave about this race. Afterwards I chatted briefly with a bunch of locals (John, Steve, Seebo, Dierdre) who seemed pretty happy as well. Couldn't stick around for food with Philly Runners as I had my folks with me. I joked with them that I'm putting my running shoes in the closet until June. Might not turn out to be a joke, especially with my blister feet. Seriously, the entire ball of my foot is full of puss. Next time I make an entry it might be about a ridiculously long bike trip.

Contemplation

Before dawn? Sometimes. To catch me running after dusk though is a rarity.

Biked around town for a while this afternoon, made my way to South Philly to register for Broad St. In the past I dash out of the expo as fast as I can, but today I hung around long enough to pick up a new pair of shoes. Some lighter weight flats that I actually purchased a couple weeks ago; those turned out to be the wrong size and I had to return them. Saw the same ones today so I grabbed them.

It was these that I wore on a quick spin around Penn's Landing. Didn't leave the house until after 8 pm, pretty late to be out there but I couldn't fight off the urge. Entertained the idea of wearing the new shoes on Sunday and even though they're all light and squishy and feel pretty nice, I don't want any disasters. Sticking with the plan. 4 miles in 33:36.

Calm River

I like the view of the Delaware from Penn Treaty Park even though it's sometimes littered with specks of refuse. The reflection of the rising sun makes up for this though. 5 miles, legs had some refuse of their own and I only did 8 of 10 strides as a result. Lungs feel great, but disappointing calf soreness. 41:14.