That's More Like It

Two very nice runs, including a long one.

Thursday, Aug 7:

Friend Tom joined me for the first 8.7 miles of a 20-mile run on the Gateway Trail. I like to start near the middle, run about five miles in one direction and back, then about five in the other direction and back. Doing it that way I can get water and gels from the car at the halfway point, and I can fairly easily cut the run short if need be. That’s what we did today, running between mileposts 8 and 18, eventually covering all that ground twice.

What a great summer morning to run! Average temp about 66 degrees with a dew point of about 55, it felt cool in the shade and warm in the sun. Happily, that part of the Gateway offers more shade than sun. At one point a full-grown doe walked out on the adjacent horse trail and watched me run by not ten feet from her. She looked to be in better shape than me, though maybe a little more nervous.

After about ten miles I did feel some pain in the right hip flexors, and I considered shortening the run, but it actually went away in a mile or two. After about fifteen the left calf tensed up a little, as if if might cramp up, but it didn’t, and I stretched out that tenseness when the run was over. In all, I felt wonderful after finishing the 20 miles. Tired is a good feeling.

Splits: 9:50, 8:49, 9:46, 8:19, 8:34, 8:58, 9:49, 9:34, 9:59, 9:12, 10:40, 8:29, 9:13, 9:36, 10:56, 10:26, 9:43, 10:11, 9:23, 9:31, total 3:10:56, overall pace 9:33. Tom and I ran the first 8.7 miles at a pace of 9:11, but I slowed a bit in the second half of the run. I did stop the watch a couple of times at bathrooms. I walked to take water every two miles and gel every four, and several times on short hills, but kept the watch running for those of course. This was a 40-mile week, and hopefully there will be more.

Tuesday, Aug 5:

The schedule said to run four miles today and five tomorrow, but I felt good and decided to run nine today and do resistance training tomorrow.

The northeast 10 miles of the Gateway trail are SUCH a great place to run in the summer, if you don’t need to do hill training. It’s not perfectly flat, there are some long, gentle slopes and even a few short hills. Much of it is shaded and protected from wind, there are few roads to cross, and of course there is NO motor-vehicle traffic on the trail.

Today there were plenty of other people, on foot, bikes, and skates, but not enough to be a traffic problem. Kind of nice, actually, to think that if something happened on this otherwise-secluded trail someone might soon be along to help. I started at Pine Point Park, ran down to the Highway 96 "horse bridge" and back, about 8.7 miles.

I did pretty well, considering it’s just the 2nd day after dexamethasone. Dex interferes with glucose uptake by the muscles. According to what I think I know about dex and me, the effect is maximum on Monday, the day after I take the dex (I take it Sunday nights), about half that on Tuesday, 1/4 on Wednesday, 1/8 on Thursday, etc. Very approximately. So by the time of the weekend races the effect should be negligible. But I don’t think it really bothered me much even today, which is great. My pace was 9:05 overall, not so much slower than the 8:45 pace of the 10k race two days ago. Perhaps I should have pushed harder in that 10k!

The run was uneventful, except I twice met my sweeties going the other direction. That’s nice. 70 degrees, dew point 62, some cross-breeze, it almost felt cool in the shade. But not in the sun. Breathing four footfalls per full breath outgoing, mix of four and three returning, brief walks occasionally to restore a rate of four, then pretty soon breathing harder again.

Splits: 8:53, 8:38, 9:03, 9:52, 9:07, 8:46, 9:33, 8:06, 6:44 (2/3 mile), total 1:18:45 for 8.7 miles, pace 9:05, even with the short walks. Hoo ha. It’s a masterpiece.

	Standard breakfast: Irish oatmeal, blueberries, organic strawberries, organic walnuts, organic nectarine, organic nonfat milk.
Potpourri lunch, otherwise known as leftovers in a ball gown: Low-fat bison sausage, lamb, organic chard, organic peas, organic sweet potatoes, organic squash, organic tomatoes, organic strawberries, organic cherries. Sorry the picture is not focused - I must have had the wrong setting on the camera - all five shots were bad. But the meal was great.
	Salmon dinner: Wild-caught Alaskan sockeye salmon (canned), organic baby peas, organic nectarine.