Four more miles at the Y

Just a fairly easy run today, keeping warm for a longer run sometime soon, probably at about the same pace.

I forgot my watch (again), so I used the clock on the wall instead.  That does a good enough job.  I ran one lap in each of the 13-lap miles, finishing in about 50:35, for a pace of 12:39.

Four Miles Faster

Sunday, December 27, 2015

Not a lot faster, but this time I ran three laps of each 13-lap mile at the YMCA, walking the other 10 laps as fast as I could.

A week ago I tried this, but running two laps per 13, and achieved a pace of 12:08.  Today the pace was 11:41 - no surprise.  Every lap that I run instead of walk saves about 20 seconds.  Evidently my running pace on that track is about 9 minutes/mile.

I felt great throughout, no complaints.

We're now thinking about a marathon at the end on January, and the longest run I've done since the Seattle marathon a month ago has been a modest 8 miles.  Time to ramp up!  Maybe 12 miles later this week, after some medical stuff at Mayo Clinic.

Splits: 11:53, 11:39, 11:38, 11:34, total 46:43, average pace 11:41.

Eight miles at the YMCA

This is the longest walk/run since the Seattle marathon and since the start of my new myeloma treatment regimen a little over two weeks ago.

Whining: None!  This run went perfectly.  I walked (fast) 12 laps of each mile, then ran the 13th.  My pace slowed just a little (despite my efforts) in mile 7 and especially mile 8, but I ran the last lap of mile 8 pretty fast, so that one doesn't show as much.

I enjoyed this run, especially that last high-energy lap - a great lead-in to Christmas eve and Christmas day.

Splits: 12:41, 12:34, 12:27, 12:29, 12:30, 12:34, 12:40, 12:36, total 1:40:29, average pace 12:34.

May you have a wonderful Christmas season and a great 2016.

Monday, December 21:

Three miles in the soccer dome.  This seemed like a fairly easy run, though the average pace was 11:58, close enough to 12 miles per minute exactly. 

I walked three sides of the soccer field, and ran the fourth.  I must have run a little more than that in the third mile, though, because I saved almost 30 seconds on the mile.  I do like to finish hot when I can.

11:59, 12:20, 11:35, total 35:54, average pace 11:58.

Four Miles Slightly Faster

Back at the YMCA again, walking/running on their nice track.  Last time I walked most of the 13 laps per mile and ran one, but this time I ran two.  The idea is to increase the amount of running, but quite gradually, because in recent years my muscles and ligaments have tended to break down when I pushed even a little too hard.

No problem today, no pains, no whining, and a little faster pace than last week.  I have been on the new myeloma therapy for almost two weeks now, and so far I haven't detected any side effects.  I feel great!  Time to start planning more marathons pretty soon I think.  Maybe next week we'll take another look at marathonguide.com and marathonmaniacs.com.

Splits: 12:16, 13:08, 11:03, 12:03, total 48:30, average pace 12:08.

Six Miles at the YMCA

Thursday, December 17, 2015:

This is the longest run I've done since starting the new myeloma treatment regimen, and it went very well.  No pains, no whining.

I walked 12 laps and ran the thirteenth lap of each mile.   The pace per mile was surprisingly consistent until the sixth mile, when it dropped off slightly during the walking.  The split times don't show that because I ran the last lap of that mile a bit faster than I had run the last laps of the previous miles.

The overall pace was 12:42, and I am certainly happy with that pace, though I am a bit suspicious that 13 laps might not be quite a full mile.  If there were 14 laps per mile, that would make the pace 13:41, which wouldn't be quite good enough, considering that I ran some of the time.  I think that the true distance is probably about 13.5 laps per mile, but I'll use 13 because it's more convenient and makes me feel faster :-)

Splits: 12:42, 12:44, 12:40, 12:43, 12:43, 12:42, total 1:16:14, pace 12:42.

Sunday, December 13:

Four miles at the YMCA   I forgot to bring my watch again, so used the ole clock on the wall.  At 13 laps per mile I pass that clock a lot.

Time about 51:00, distance 4 miles, pace about 12:45

New Cancer Regimen

Friday, Dec 11, 2015:

Tuesday, after giving up 30 vials of blood (along with other fluids) for lots and lots of tests, I received an infusion of one medicine and capsules of another, to start the regimen.  So far I have taken six of those capsules.  I am quite anxious to find out what impact the combination of infusion and oral drugs has on my running.

So far the news is good.  My run two days ago was great, and this morning I ran in the local inflated soccer dome, finishing three miles in about 34 minutes (forgot to bring my watch) for a pace of about 11:20.  That's pretty good for me these days, much better than usual.

I did feel a bit sluggish, and thigh muscles were a little uncomfortable at first, but I was traveling faster than usual and the thigh muscles settled down after the first mile or so.  I ran along the short sides of the rectangular soccer field, and walked along the long sides, probably resulting in about a 40/60 ratio of running/walking.

It's good.  So far I'm doing just fine.  Soon I would like to go six or eight miles at a somewhat slower pace and see how that goes.  Within a couple of weeks, if all goes well, I will start training for the next marathon.  I have some ideas for improving my training, with the goal of better overall fitness and a faster race as well.

Wednesday, Dec 9, 2015:

This was my first run after starting the new treatment regimen, and it went very well indeed.  I ran/walked 3.96 miles from home to Kwik Trip and back, in 47:59, for a pace of 12:07.

I ran when I felt like running, and otherwise walked as fast as I could.  The weather was cool and nice, and I certainly did enjoy the run.  Yesterday I had an infusion of one new medicine, and since that time I have taken two capsules of another, separate medicine.  I don't know if the drugs are working yet, of course, but so far they aren't preventing me from running.

Two-mile splits:  24:30, 23:28, total 47:59

Earlier in December:

I ran two different post-marathon recovery runs, one by myself and another with a group of friends.  I didn't write anything down, though, so now I've forgotten the distances or times.  No matter - anything is good.

Seattle Marathon Review

November 29, 2015:

My Race:

Whew - My 91st marathon is finished, and I did OK, finishing in 6:40:47.  That time compares well enough to the most-recent three marathons, all of which were mostly walking, as was this one.  Also, I notice that the second 13 miles took only 4 minutes longer than the first 13, and the second 13 were by far the hilliest.  Cool.

Before the race at the TNT booth

This is a fun marathon, especially if you like a challenging course.  ("Challenging" is runner talk for hilly.)  Soon after the start, we ran out on the center lanes of the I-90 floating bridge across Lake Washington, then turned around.  Then we headed south along the shore of Lake Washington to do a loop around a lovely park, continuing north under I-90, still along the shore.  Here comes the challenging part - zig-zagging up to Ravenna Park, another beautiful and natural area, where the course undulated up and down until we began final the downhill trek.

The finish was inside the football field in Seattle Center, only a few hundred yards from the Space Needle.  Very nice, and the after-race party was indoors in the warmth.

Today that warmth mattered.  This marathon is often rainy, but today the weatherman promised a cold start with bright sun and light winds.  What happened, though, was a cold start with fog and surprisingly brisk winds.  Neither of those let up for the entire race, with the temperature starting at 30 and topping out at 38.  I wore my Minnesota Distance Running Association (MDRA) wind jacket over three thin technical shirts, running pants under running shorts (for the pockets), ear cover and visor, mittens, and thin Wrightsocks in my Brooks Launch shoes.  I opened and closed the wind jacket as necessary, but never felt tempted to remove the jacket or a shirt.

Finished!

After the race I have nothing to whine about.  I expected to feel very tired leg muscles, and probably some ache in back muscles, and sure enough - no surprise!  But nothing else hurts - not knees, hips, hip flexors, or feet (much).  It's all good!  Now relaxing with jambalaya, chocolate ice cream, homemade pizza, and eventually a sip or three of beer.

My girls had a good race too, finishing their half marathon a few minutes sooner than expected.  Yay!

The Seattle Marathon:

We ran this same race in 2011, and it hasn't changed much. It's a great race. Here is the link: Seattle Marathon Review 2011 .

Signs Along the Way:

Life is short - a marathon makes it seem longer
Obi-Wan Kenobe says "May the course be with you"

My Thanks:

I'm always amazed at the spectators (and volunteers) who will come out in the rain, cold, or fog and cheer for those of us who are silly enough to run 26 miles in a big circle, eventually ending up where we started.  Thanks Seattle!

Splits: 14:22, 29:03 (2 mi), 29:24 (2 mi), 18:11, 14:04, 15:27, 16:40, 14:24, 14:09, 17:28, 14:02 (3:17:06 at 13 mi), 14:36, 14:32, 14:51, 16:00, 49:37 (3 mi), 15:14, 14:32, 15:26, 15:08, 15:15, 15:48 (6:38:05 at 26 mi), 2:46 (0.22 mi), total 6:40:52 by my Timex.  The results web site says 6:40:47. Average pace 15:17.

Next:

We three don't currently have our next marathon scheduled, because I'd like to settle on my next myeloma treatment first, as I am not currently on treatment and the myeloma is growing.  I still intend to finish 100 marathons, though, and we already have a list of 17 possibilities for the first half of 2016.  If I'm lucky, I'll run 4 or 5 of those, and a similar number in the second half of the year.