17 Miles on the W&OD... and a vacation report.

Handan and I returned last night from a week's vacation at the wonderful Iberostar Grand Hotel Paraiso in Cancun, Mexico.  If you ever want to get away from it all and be pampered 24x7 this is the place.  We loved it there and despite the great food and drink, we came back pretty much the same weight as when we left.  Of course we exercised nearly every day we were there!

While in Cancun I tried two outdoor runs.  On Sunday, July 24th I ran 3 miles with Handan and then another 3 by myself.  The next day (Monday) I ran 6 miles outside by myself.  Both runs were hard because of the very high humidity (it is tropical after all) and after the run on Monday I decided to do the remainder of my running indoors on the treadmill.  I think I ran three times indoors... runs of 5 or 6 miles.

Today (my first full day back) I headed out to the W&OD trail at 5:45am for a nice long welcome-back-to-training run.  I wanted to do at least 16 miles, but was hoping for 18.  I ended up splitting the difference and running a pretty steady 17 miles.  I had two GUs during the run and drank two bottles of low-cal Gatorade during the run.  Before the run I had a ClifBar and a Mango Juice (from Costco).

Now I feel like I'm back in the training groove and will have my next run on Tuesday.

 

Sunday in Cancun

Monday in Cancun

 

Working out on vacation...

3.5 Miles on the Mall in DC

It was a miserable, hot and humid morning with lousy air quality. At 5:45am I set out to run 4 miles but after 3.5 I had to give it up. I just felt crummy.

7 Miles - Hains Point and the Mall

I started my run at 6:00am.  Today was even more humid than yesterday which is hard to imagine.  It was tough running my 7 miles, not because I was tired but I was absolutely drenched with sweat by the half-way point. I've never been so wet by the end of a run! But I felt good and strong in my legs and lungs and it was a good run.

4 Miles on the Mall

This morning was very humid and already pretty warm by 5:30am when I headed out to the Mall. After my birthday dinner excess last night I was anxious to get out and burn some calories. But remembering last week and how I ran too many mid-week miles I forced myself to only run 4 miles. But I ran them quickly and burned a few calories in the process. It felt good.

10K on Local Trails with my Lovely Wife Handan

After yesterday's long run I was ready to have a nice easy run (jog really) today.  So Handan and I went out together on the local W&OD, Runnymead and Folly Lick trail loop.  It's about 7 miles total but we only did 10K (6.1 miles) of it running.  We walked the rest.  The chart for our running...

As always, it's a joy running with my wife.  I'm impressed how good her form is and how she can keep a steady pace.  We started too fast because the first part of the run was under the sun.  We paid for that early fast start later in the run.  But overall it was a very good pace for Handan.  I'm proud of her!

16 Miles on the W&OD (Rt. 28 to Leesburg and Back... again)

I set out this morning hoping to run 18 miles. The last two weekends I've run 15 and 16 miles, so why not? So at 6:00am I ran west on the W&OD trail for 9 miles (just past Rt. 7) and then turned around to come back.

Unfortunately right after I finished the 16th mile I started to feel a little nauseous. I'm not sure if it was from dehydration or from having eaten 4 GU gels along the run, but it made me decide to stop. And it was just as well... I was pretty tired!

I think that my runs during the week were too long.  I'd run 7, 5 and 8 miles on Tues, Wed, and Thurs. I really need to not get carried away with my weekday runs and remember that I want to improve my distance on the weekends.  The Hal Higdon plan calls for runs of 4, 7 and 4 miles (eventually 4, 8 and 4) on T, W, Th, but as always I get ambitious and want to do more.  I'm going to tone it back from now on and save my mojo for the weekend long run.

Still, all in all, I'm happy with my run. I averaged out to the exact same pace as I ran last week's 16 miles. And I never once thought about stopping before the 16 mile mark (although I needed a pee break in mile 13).  I think I can say that I'm now comfortable at that distance. (knock wood)

Oh, and I wanted to share with you my latest thrift shop treasure...  a brand new tec shirt by Brooks. :-)

8 Miles - Hains Point, Tidal Basin, Lincoln Memorial and the Mall

Yesterday afternoon there was a tremendous storm front which passed through the DC area in the afternoon.  Afterward the humidity and the temperature fell to a nice comfortable level.  This morning it was crisp and cool and there was a slight breeze.  Perfect weather for running.

I left home extra early this morning so I could get downtown early and run a few extra miles.  I'm glad I did; the running seemed so effortless this morning.  Low humidity after days of horrible humidity made my lungs feel twice their normal size.  I flew through eight miles and might have done more if I didn't have to get to my desk eventually and earn my paycheck!

This weekend the weather is supposed to hold at this nice level, so I have high hopes for my long run on Saturday.

5 Miles Hains Point

Humid, but not as bad as the past few days.  A quick blog about a quick 5 mile run. 

7 Miles - Hains Point

It was another incredibly humid morning, but I got an early start and was out running by 5:45am.  The first mile was faster than I wanted because I seemed to always be sprinting to catch a green light as I got out of the DC roadways and into the park.  I slowed down once I was in the park and then tried to increase my speed a bit each mile.  I ended up running 7 miles, 5ish in the park and the rest on the streets and on the Mall.

7 Miles on the Mt. Vernon Trail (Roosevelt Island to National Airport and Back)

Another early morning run before the heat got too bad.  It was still quite humid at 6:00am and felt hotter than it actually was. I ran with an old high school acquaintance who was in town... Mark Sedwick. He'd found me on Facebook and saw that I was running and since he runs too he contacted me. I'm glad he did. It was a new experience for me running with someone at my goal pace (we ran an average of  9:08/mile) and talking the whole time. I'm not sure I'd like to do that all the time, but as a change of pace it was very welcome.

We ran 7 miles along the Mt. Vernon trail which goes from Key Bridge in Rosslyn all the way to Mt. Vernon, all along the Potomac River.  We ran from the parking lot at Roosevelt Island (a great and little-visited memorial to Teddy Roosevelt) to National Airport and back.  This is a great level trail which gives you scenic views of the sun rising over DC. This was definitely worth the extra drive from Herndon.

16 Miles on the W&OD (Rt. 28 to Leesburg and Back)

I've decided that I'm going to do my long runs on Saturday from now on.  I had good luck with a Saturday long run last week and again today.

The Run
 
I parked at the Rt. 28 parking lot by the W&OD (near the BMW dealer) at 5:45.  I was the second car to arrive and it was cool and a little humid.  I stretched for a bit and adjusted my equipment and then started out at a little before 6:00am.  For the first 2 miles I was totally alone with the deer, rabbits and birds. It was lovely. Slowly the bikers and a few other runners showed up. By the half-way point (about half a mile into Leesburg) there were people every few minutes.By the end of my run the trail was crowded with packs of bikers going both ways swerving around packs of runners, joggers and couples talking morning walks. It was chaotic and a bit scary. I was glad to be off the trail.

I ran the entire distance and felt pretty good. I focused on pacing, trying to keep my pace at 9:30 in the first half and then focused on running reverse splits in the second half.  The last few miles were tough (especially the last mile and a half) but I pushed through the fatigue and finished strong.


Nutrition

For dinner last night I had a little of Handan's tilapia in carrot sauce and two slices of my home made pizza.  Then I had a bowl of cereal with non-fat yogurt and dried cranberries, two squares of dark chocolate and finally a bowl of non-fat frozen yogurt.  It was a lot, but I figured I needed the fuel.

I woke up at 4:00am (eek!) and had a ClifBar and a cup of decaf coffee.

During the run I had three Gu gels (one every half hour for the first 90 minutes) and I drank most of 2 bottles of lo-cal Gatorade.

I experienced no digestive issues on the trail.  And I felt like I had enough energy for the entire run, although at the last mile I was starting to run down.  Maybe I could have squeezed one more Gu gel into the run...

5.5 Miles Hains Point

It was yet another hot and humid day in DC.  I ran once around Hains Point and tried to keep my speed around marathon goal pace.  I ended up running a bit faster and really felt it in the last mile (which is why it ended up a half-mile instead of a full one!).

4 Miles at Hains Point

Today was very humid.  So humid that it was hard to draw a good breath while I was running.  I wanted to run more than 4 miles when I first went out, but after the first slow mile I realized I'd be better off running faster and a shorter distance.  So I did.

7 Miles - Hains Point

Hey, I finally looked up how to spell Hains Point.  Turns out I was spelling it wrong all along.  Sorry about that.

Today I ran 7 miles around Hains Point in DC.  Normally my Tuesday run would be my short run of the week, but since I didn't run much on Sunday (6 slow miles with my wife) and since I might not run tomorrow because of a doctor's appointment, I decided to do my mid-week longer run today.

I'm sure glad I started the run early in the morning (6:00am) since it got really hot really quickly today.  It was still tolerable at 6:00 and I enjoyed the early morning peace and quiet.  It was a good run with lovely reverse splits on each mile.

6 Miles with my Wife on the W&OD Trail

I ran with my lovely wife this morning. She's become a 10K runner and is in training for the Marine Corps Marathon 10K race. So we ran 6 miles today at a pace slightly faster than 5 mph. She started out too fast and I had to remind her to save energy for the end.  She did, and we ran each mile faster than the previous one (the second mile shows where we stopped for stretching and I didn't turn off the Forerunner right away).

Of course it was a pleasant run for me... being with my wife for an hour on a beautiful Sunday morning. :D  And after my 15 mile run yesterday this was a nice break.

15 Miles on the W&OD Trail

I woke up early today and drove a few miles to a parking lot by Rt 28 and the W&OD Trail.  I wanted to avoid starting and stopping my run in Herndon.  My town sits on top of a hill and I really dislike starting my runs downhill and finishing them uphill.  That, and I wanted some new scenery to make my run fresh.

I made a point of trying to run the first half slower than the second, just as they recommend doing at the marathon.  "Don't be a hero in the first half, don't be a wimp in the second" is what they say.

This was supposed to be a LSD run... Long, Slow, Distance (I recognize that Long and Distance is a bit repetitive, but I've read this term on runnersworld.com so it must be official).  I wasn't good about the "Slow" part.  I ran too fast in the second half and pooped out on the last mile.  I ended up walking a bit in the final half-mile.  And my average pace was almost my goal pace for the marathon and that certainly isn't "Slow".

I think what happened was that I got excited about seeing a good half-marathon time and forgot I still would have 2 more miles after that.  Stupid arrogance.

FYI, my stretch goal (as stated in my first blog entry) is to run the marathon in under 4 hours.  In order to do that I need to run approx. a 9:08 minute mile.  Today's run averaged 9:12.  My half-marathon (13.1 miles) time was 2 hours, 20 seconds.  While I'm happy that I can do that, I shouldn't have been doing that today.

Nutrition... I made a pizza last night and Handan made a chicken/tofu/veggie stir fry.  That gave me a good load of carbs and protein.  Before the run I had a banana and a Clif bar, and during the run I had two Gu gels at 45 minutes and 75 minutes.  I went through about 35oz of Gatorade during the run, but I think I could have (should have) stopped at the available water sources for more hydration.  This is something for me to focus on in the future.