Hot to Trot 5K

The Hot to Trot 5K was a week and a half ago, and was the last race of the series. That Saturday was miserable, similar to the Round-Up 10K: humid. I expected as much and the only goal I set was just not to walk. I was able to do so, but i had my doubts during the race. Since I'd been sick, I hadn't ran much the week before the race, though I did run pretty hard at the full moon hash the night before. I ran the Hot to Trot a few years ago when it started at the Hula Hut, but this one was held at the Chuy's near William Cannon (one I didn't even know existed). I liked the course which is partly why I was able to run the whole way. It didn't have much change in elevation, but I could handle the gradual uphill the first mile and needed the gradual downhill the second mile. I maintained an astonishingly steady pace at 7:49/M +/- 4 sec, with a little kick the last 0.1 mile, finishing in 24:29.

I'm happy with how I did. Like I said, I just didn't want to stop, and I can't handle that kind of weather. It was good to finish at a faster than training run pace and I wasn't shocked or disappointed that I couldn't match my previous 5Ks. Unfortunately I haven't been running or back to the gym since, though it will happen soon.

The finisher party is in another week or two and it should be fun talking to others about the various races in this series. I'll be getting a finisher t-shirt, but no word yet if beer will be available!

Texas Round-Up 10K

I've been doing a lot of blog composing in my head but nothing ever makes it online. It appears one person is curious with how I did at the Texas Round-Up 10K. Well, it sucked. It really sucked. It was the weather. It wasn't too hot, but it was plenty humid which just kills my running ability. I kept things at a good pace the first two miles, somewhere in the 7-8 min/mile pace I imagine, but then I had to stop and walked a bit. After that, it was walk/run/water stop the rest of the race. My 5K time was at 26:20, so about what I'd been doing for my training runs. The second 5K was a lot slower and I ended up finishing in 58:05. To add insult to injury, the Governor beat me by just 22 seconds! I liked the course. Some of it was very familiar (the drag, Dean Keaton, Capitol/DT area), but it was nice change of pace to run through the east side.

My Garmin was dead, which seems to happen sometimes when I leave it on the charger too long. This might be a blessing in disguise because at least now I can't go back and review how much walking I did. The two guys right behind me in the ARC sprint series rankings moved ahead of me. Now I am over two minutes behind the next guy, and the guy after me is 20+ minutes behind me. So, while I don't have to worry about falling down in the rankings again, with only one 5K left to go I don't think I'll be improving my ranking either.

Overall the sprint series has been good for me. I mean, I wouldn't have run any of these races except the Capitol 10K otherwise. I'm glad the first three races went so well, and I'm not going to beat myself up too bad over this last 10K or the next race. Running in the humidity is just something I can't do very fast. I doubt I'll do well at the next 5K this Saturday, not just because the weather, but I was sick for most of last week and haven't recovered any exercise routine yet. Hopefully I will run a little bit today and tomorrow in preparation. After that comes the sprint series party, where I'll get a free gift and hopefully some free beer too (wishful thinking)!

Texas Round-Up 10K Goal

The ARC Sprint Series continues tomorrow morning with the Texas Round-Up 10K. I'm really not looking forward to it since my days of easily beating my previous time are over. Now that I have a decent 10K time, it's not automatic. My runs lately haven't been great. I've only been running 5K every other day or so, and while it feels like I'm running at a decent pace I've only been doing it in 25 or 26 minutes. So, my only chance of beating my previous 10K of 48:45 is if that race-factor that somehow makes me run a few minutes faster is in effect.

The course is at least more interesting for a downtown course. This one starts and ends just north of the Capitol and actually dares to travel east of I-35 for a bit.

I guess I'll be happy with (and therefore my goal is) 50 minutes tomorrow. Eh... I'll be happy with 51.

Dream Mile 5K

I've been running consistently for almost two months now, and I've been getting anxious to try some races. Last week I signed up for the Vibha Dreammile 5K, which was this morning on campus. The course was a tight loop, so tight in fact that it never even touched what would be considered to be the borders of campus, and part of the course was repeated twice.

It has been a very long time since I've ran a 5K, so I was pretty nervous and didn't sleep well last night. I did the Keep Austin Weird 5K this year, but wearing all the trinkets I could find around the house and stopping for melodica solos with the bands meant I wasn't running that one for time. Perhaps the last one I did was Hot to Trot a few years ago where I finished at 28 minutes. I've been doing practically all of my running on the treadmill since I started running again, and based on my 20 minute interval workout I estimated my achievable 5K time to be somewhere around the 26 minute time frame, though I also knew I would probably run faster in a non-treadmill/racing situation.

I forgot how different a 5K is. Oh yeah, I need to do a warm-up run before the race! I need to start at a running pace, not a slow jog! How must faster can I run to last 3 miles instead of 6? Water stops are for waving at the volunteers, not stopping for water!

I ran a slow half mile before the race, and started the race too fast. I expected I'd do that. It took no time at all for my breathing rate to go to one breath every three steps, which was worrisome because on the treadmill I've been breathing one breath every eight steps mostly, increasing only to one every four when I'm running fast. So that got me wondering if I was going to have to stop and walk for awhile. I didn't, but I slowed to what felt like a slow jog a few times. I also experienced side cramps and damn near threw up at the end of the race. After the race, my muscles felt tighter than they have in a long, long time.

I finished in 24:25, which is great, but it was the award ceremony that surprised me. I didn't win anything, but if I were one month and a day older I would have won second place for my age group and received a medal! I realize this has more to do with the small field rather than my running ability, and that this kind of thing may not happen that often, but it's enough to make me consider getting an award at a race a goal--especially since I think I can still improve my time a bit.


Forerunner confusion: Hmm--it has my time about a minute longer than the clock time. Maybe they didn't start the clock until after everyone crossed the start line? Still, a minute seems a bit long for everyone to get across. Or maybe I remembered my clock time wrong. Was it 25:24, not 24:25? Also, the Forerunner has the course at 3.4 miles, which would make it at least two minutes longer than a 5K. So I guess I have to accept that my result time may be a minute fast or a minute slow. In any case, it was still my fastest 5K in Austin!

BPM Update

I know you're all wondering if I could stick to my beer per mile rule during ACL. Obviously it was a challenge, because what is better than drinking cold beer while sitting in the sun listening to music outside all day? I responsibly saved up 25 by Thursday, which should've been enough for the whole weekend. However, since I took Friday off, I started partying Thursday night. And, going to the Carousel on Saturday cost me a few extra that I didn't plan for. I realized I'd need a few more for Sunday, so that's why I ran 4 miles that morning. That was a good idea anyway, because taking four days off from running is too long. See my updated graph below.

B.P.M.

I've known for awhile now that when my beer vs. exercise ratio got out of whack (i.e. too much beer, not any exercise) I end up feeling horrible physically and mentally, and also look bad and act (too) grumpy. This rut had been going on too long, so over a month ago I imposed a beer per mile rule on myself, and it has been working well so far. I went from running zero miles per day to 2-3 miles per day immediately, and my beer consumption fell off accordingly. I need to start lifting again and am in danger of settling into too slow a running speed, so I need to figure out how many beers to earn for a weight lifting workout and should probably modify the formula to account for speed. I've been saving up beer for ACL fest this weekend. See below for my progress.

Captiol 10K

The Capitol 10K was this morning. My expectations may have been even lower than last year, as I haven't been able to get back into a good routine since the holidays, and SXSW really did some damage. I did manage to run and lift weights twice early last week, but my legs stayed sore all week. I can remember after the Turkey Trot last year when I was in good shape (and ran an amazingly fast 8:25/M pace) that it would be no problem beating last year's time. Last week I knew it wasn't going to be that easy.

Conditions this morning were a lot like last year with horrible humidity. It was a little better in that it was overcast and lightly rained on and off throughout the race. I had to walk a little, starting at the 15th & Lamar hill, as I expected. At the halfway point, my Forerunner said 32 minutes, so I knew my chances of breaking last year's time were slim. But a mile or so later I redid the math and it looked possible. So, I pushed myself a little harder. I don't think I would've if I didn't think there was a chance. I ran all of the last mile and a half, and ended up at 59:58, 1:19 better than last year. I can't complain about that, but I still need to get in better shape! I felt great afterwards, had an IPA, and napped the entire afternoon away.

Rain

It may be time to start working out as soon as I get up again. I got a 30 minute run in today and getting it started was more painful than the run itself. The whole day was full of should I or shouldn't I thoughts. I don't mind running in the rain, or the cold (love that!) but it doesn't seem right to start a run in a downpour. So, I didn't start when I got up, debated it for a few hours, then got a haircut. Then I drove down to Zilker cause it seemed to be clearing. As soon as I got there, downpour again. I drove back home and it stopped so around 5:00 I got out for a run. It started raining again while I was running, but not too bad. I saw the most awesome rainbow I've ever seen on the way back, a full-semicircle and hints of a second concentric rainbow at one of the ends on the horizon (never seen that before). It didn't last long or I might have taken a picture once I got back.

I didn't end up seeing any music last week which bothers me. Maybe playing a gig last Friday was enough? Tonight there is a benefit for KOOP at Beerland and one of the band's descriptions included the words "pop" and "60's" so that's where I'm headed.

Too Warm

This is supposed to be the good part of the year to run outside. While it's sunny and nice out, it was 70F when I ran Town Lake at 11 am today. Too warm for me, I overheat easily! Please get back down to the 50s so I can enjoy it like I did earlier this week!

You Missed It

OK, so no one wanted to go to the game with me, but that doesn't matter because I was surrounded by plenty of Badger fans. And with the winning 3 pointer with 2 seconds remaining, I had plenty of instant friends to celebrate with! Unranked Wisconsin over #9 Texas 67-66!

Beer Mile

I've been forgetting to look up the results and finally did today. 4 beers and 1 mile in less than 15 minutes. Not bad, eh?

Results

Turkey Trot

I improved on this five mile race this year, which I attribute to the fact that I've done a lot of treadmill running this summer (instead of not running at all), and the weather was a lot cooler. According to some reports we had a high of 89F yesterday and somehow managed to plummet to a cool 38F at race time. Great running weather! I walked a lot last year but didn't stop at all this time.

2006 results: 1794th place, 55:02.6 (11:00/M)
2007 results: 836th place, 42:07.2 (8:25/M)

Thanks to Brownie and SMB for the post-race refueling!

No Brain

My brain is not working today. That might have something to do with the Austin Duathletes Pub Run last night, which was five miles long and at least as many beers. I am out of shape as far as drinking goes, so I don't know how well I'll do at the Burnet Road challenge two weeks from today. It was nice to see Nicole, Dan, Grabber, Panther, and the rest. By the last bar I was annoying everyone by playing along to the jukebox on Angus' mini-guitar, which Panther said couldn't be tuned. So I had to prove him wrong!

Bun Run and Bowling

I stayed up to bar time last night and still managed to get up this morning for the 25th anniversary Scholtzky's Bun Run 5K. I did also manage to forget to pick up my timing chip (this morning and yesterday when I picked up the race packet), or even put on my GPS watch (which was in my car). So, no official time for me. Seeing as the last 5K I ran almost a year ago was at a 9 minute mile pace, I was happy with anything faster than that. I paid attention to the clock at least and had 9:30 at 1m, 17:30 at 2, and 26:35 at the end. Unfortunately I didn't see a clock at the start so I don't know exactly when I started, but I think 30 seconds is about right, so I did it in around 26 minutes.

After the run, I bowled 6 games at Dart Bowl. That's the most I've ever bowled at one time ever. I'm still trying to get my hook to work out but I am getting more consistent. Tomorrow night will probably be the last time I get to bowl this season on the work league. I'm not sure when it ends, but it is probably sometime within the next month and I'll be gone to California for a month starting next week.

After bowling I went home and slept all afternoon.

10K

I didn't set a goal for the 10K on Sunday, but I am still pleased with how I did. I'm more relieved that I didn't have any problems during or after the race. The week before I went to Santa Clara, I ran 10K around Town Lake a few times and experienced some of my old problems: strained calves, right foot falling asleep, shin splints. I had none of those problems on Sunday or since, so that's good. I ran it in 1:01:17 which is 1:17 slower than what would have been my goal had I set it, but considering the crowd, the horrible humidity, and the hills I wasn't used to, I have no problem with the time. And I beat my supervisor. Of course I ran the first half too quickly which caused me to have to walk a bit of the second half. But I ran the last mile strong. If I can keep myself training I should have no problem meeting 1 hour next time.

Half

Some crazy chick talked me into doing a half marathon with her next Sunday. Too bad I haven't been running lately. I did some training yesterday and managed to get get through 11 miles one way or another, and am not feeling bad this morning at all. So, I think I'll be able to finish it... slowly.