alas

Last Saturday I attempted to run the 1st Cap'n Karl's race of the season.   It was at Pedernales S.P. and I was entered in the 30k.  What makes the Cap'n Karl's races different is the mid evening start times.  The 30k started at 7:15pm.  The first part of the course was a bush hogged swath of field that was grown over what felt like deep horse hoof prints.  It felt really strange and uneven to run on.  Just a few minutes into the race I rolled my right (good) ankle just a little.  That was supposed to be the wake up call to be extra careful until we got to actual trail.  Apparently my right ankle didn't get the message over to my left to be careful because at the 13 minute mark I rolled my left (bad) ankle pretty severely.  I couldn't believe it!!  There I was just over a mile into a 4+ hour 18.6 mile race and my ankle was already on shaky ground!!  And, over half the race would be in the dark!!

Oh well, I had to keep moving along.  I don't think I even stopped running although I was definitely limping for a little while.  After a little while it started feeling better.  It's a strange thing starting a run within a few hours of what is your normal bedtime.  It takes a while longer to get in a groove.  I hit the 1st aid station (4.7 miles) in 52 minutes, not too shabby considering everything.  I left the aid station feeling pretty good about things and was rolling along nicely, until exactly one hour into the race.  I rolled my left ankle really badly.....again.  That was it.  That was the end of the race for me.  There was nothing to do but walk/ hobble to the next aid station, which was 2-3 miles away and was listed as unmanned with only water.  Lovely situation to be in.  I walked along gingerly surrendering the trail numerous times for people actually running.  The sun went down, I got my hand light out and continued on.  Not sure what the actual distance was but it took me 1:15 to get to the water station.  I had really been hoping they might have at least a single aid station worker there but alas.  I walked on over to the road and sat down at the edge and waited.  The first car to come by slowed, rolled their window down and asked if I needed help but the car following them was really close to them so they continued on.  A bunch of other cars drove by and slowed but none stopped until a suburban drove past, slowed and backed up.  They asked if I needed help.  I asked if they were associated with the race and they said yes, and I said yes, that I rolled my ankle and needed a ride back to the start/ finish.  Man 'o man, I had been sitting there on the side of the road about 40 minutes!!  I was so relieved for this mini nightmare to be almost over.  Now, to get this ankle rehabbed so I can start training for a the Rocky Raccoon 50k in November!!

anal

7 hard miles followed by 3 super easy miles this morning at Townlake.  It was just me and Shan this morning, Mark slept in.  I was really pissed at myself for not having my watch set on chrono because we really did have a fast run.  Judging by Shan's time (she starts her watch at the end of the parking lot.  I start mine as we run under the Pfluger Bridge (Lamar Blvd)) we ran pretty close to 1:12 or so.  We're all anal about something I suppose and my deal is our Thursday morning run time.  It's how I judge my effort and fitness.

neighbors

4 easy junk miles this morning in the 'hood.  Saw Shan along the way.  She was going to opposite direction on the same loop!!  Damn cool, us being neighbors!!

faster

Good, hard 5+ miles at Ken's trail yesterday after work.  I was feeling pretty good at the start and thought that since I wasn't going to get in a speed day this week I may as well get in a good hard run.  I usually take it pretty easy on Ken's but it sure felt good to actually be "running" instead of the usual easy shuffle.   I mixed in plenty of walking like usual but focused on running faster when I was did run.  I was super happy with my time of 1:09.30.  My usual "good" time for that route on a spring Saturday morning is around 1:15-1:20.  The temp was 85 and humidity 69%!!  I'm really enjoying this new concept of running harder a couple of days a week!!

Torin 2.0

6 easy recovery miles in the 'hood yesterday morning.

9

Me and Shan did the 4 mile 'hood loop twice this morning in 1:20.  It was an ass kicker that included 2 pretty short walk breaks.  I added an easy 1 mile warm down mile with a walk up Scribe to Amherst and back for a total of 9 miles.  Aiming for 8 miles tomorrow morning before we hop in the car for Houston!!

rest

Had planned on running at Townlake this morning but had another not so good night sleep so I turned off the alarm and fell back out.  After I got up and got started with a solid morning workout I reflected that another rest day from running was probably a good thing.  I ran 5 days last week for a 32 mile total.  Not crazy impressive on the face of it but it's much more than I've done in quite a while AND I'm healthy and want to stay that way!!

My morning workout consisted of 5 sets each 50 jumping jacks, 30 crunches and alternating bicep curls with 10lb and 25lb dumbbells!!!

rain

Saturday mornings plan was to get in easy 11 miles on 2 Ken's loops but when I got up I decided I wanted to get in something different so I went over to River Place and did the 5 mile Stairway to Hell trail.  It was really cool.  A lot of the trail meandered along a pretty creek with an awesome canopy of trees overhead and then stairs made of 8-9" thick timbers.  Seemingly unending stairs!  When I got to the end there were signs posted that a person of "average fitness" should take 90 minutes for the one way 2.5 miles.  My watch read 48 minutes so the challenge was on to see if I could turn around and get back in under 90 minutes!!  I didn't want to really push extra hard due to my planned 5k for Sunday morning but I was able to finish in 90 minutes without overdoing it terribly.

Sunday morning I woke up to rain but headed to Willco Park in Leander anyway hoping we'd get a clear window but it was not to be.  As I turned onto the county road that lead to the park off 1431 a lightning bolt came crashing down.  That was all I needed to see as I turned my car around and headed back home.  Neither me or Misty had a good nights sleep so after some breakfast we both laid down for a nap and when I got up it seemed like the weather had mostly cleared so I drove downtown for a run.  My plan was to stick to the 2 mile Pfluger/ Congress loop.  If it started raining I wouldn't be stuck a long way from my car. It's always a weird thing to start a run any other time besides first thing in the morning and sure enough it took a while to get in a groove.  Toward the end of the 1st loop I was still feeling sluggish and considered bailing out but continued on a for a 2nd loop.  Towards the end of the 2nd loop I felt the same way but decided to reverse course and get in my minimum goal of 6 miles.  When I was about done with that loop I started feeling better and made the bold decision to continue down to the Mopac footbridge and that would give me 10 miles.  I'm very happy it worked out like this.  Very seldom do I ever add onto the mileage I planned to run.  I finished in exactly 2hrs.  Not too shabby for the crazy post rain humidity and I got in a 32 mile running week to boot!!

life

Great 7 miler with great friends this morning and then it all goes to shit when I get to work and the life starts getting sucked right back out of me.  Run time was 1:13 this morning with a 2 minute walk break.

5k

Another easy 5 miler this morning at Townlake.  I felt like going a little faster but held back since tomorrow will definitely be a hard day.  During my run this morning I had an idea to sign up for a Sunday 5k.  I googled Austin area 5k's and found a trail race in Leander and pulled the trigger.  I'm pretty sure this is the first 5k I've signed up for since I first started running in summer of '98!!!  I'm pretty excited about getting in a good hard short run!!

fucked

5 miles this morning at Townlake.  My running pace was pretty good and I mixed in plenty of walking.  My original plan was to get in 7 this morning but ended up taking care of more chores than expected around the house this morning and didn't get out the door as planned.  I could have done the 7 still but I'm enjoying these mornings where I give myself plenty of time to get in a post run stretch at work and by getting to work early it gives me time to get organized for another long fucked up day.

speed

4 mile hungover hike Sunday at Kens.  4 miles yesterday morning at Townlake.  This morning I did a speed workout.  Pretty simple stuff.  We have a loop starting and ending at our cul de sac that is 4/10ths of mile with a decent little hill on it.  I did one slow warmup lap and then did 3 laps ranging from 2:53 to 2:57.  I did an easy recovery run/walk lap in between the running laps.  My goal was 4 but I decided to stop it at 3.  No need to get too crazy right out of the gate.  After I was done with the 3 fast loops I continued doing loops until I hit 5 miles.  Total time was 1hr......not too shabby!!