First off, this morning's run was 5.1 miles easy, an O&B up to 1960 along Atascocita Shores Drive. I missed Thursday as William needed a fair amount of homework help and I took the opportunity last night to go vote early. I hate to miss two consecutive days, but that's just what happened.
Today was mainly about heading up to Huntsville State Park to help in the afternoon at the Little Rocky Raccoon 25k/50k. Houston Trail Runners Extreme (HTrex) had the last aid station on the loop, sending runners on to the start of another loop or the finish with 2.8 miles remaining. A decent day out, if not a bit warm, as temps once again headed into the 80s. Warm for early November and many of the runners were showing the effects. Nonetheless it was fun hanging out with other ultra folks and helping out at the race. I definitely want to get back into ultras at some point, but not until I have built back in a bit more speed. My first ultra back may very well be next November's version of this 50k. A lot of work to do before then.
Anyhow, the race was largely uneventful, especially when compared to the return drive. I managed to come upon a line of thunderstorms that had visibility down to just a few dozen feet in front of me. Steak and salad finished off the night with some good college football on the tube.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Halloween 2012
Just a quick post as there is no running tonight. Our house is decorated out front in zombie graveyard decor as we finally will have a year with a decent number of trick-or-treaters. Desiree is holding down the homefront while I take Mel (aka, vampire schoolgirl) out with one of her friends from the swim team, Zach, and another friend. Should be a fun night for them; pleasant out with no jackets required. Hope to get back to the run tomorrow evening.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Back to It
Well, after a ten day or so break from track workouts, it was time to start a new session of training. I think I am going to focus a bit less on the mile and more towards the improvement of my 5k and 10k times. The mile will still improve along the way, and I can put in another focused session late next summer as the Fajita Mile rolls around again. I'm still pretty confident that I can be under 5:30 without working the mile specifically. That said I am probably going to roughly follow the Jack Daniels' plan for 5k to 15k running.
Tonight was back to the track for two sets of 2x(200 @ :44, 200 rest + 400 @ :90, 400 rest). Overall the workout went well, though it's still pretty warm for late October. I guess that's south Texas.
Starting to look at some 5k and 10k races late in the year and next spring to target as sub-goal and goal races. I think this will help to get through the current training schedule and get some racing in before the heat of summer next year. Will post those later as I start firming up those decisions.
Tonight was back to the track for two sets of 2x(200 @ :44, 200 rest + 400 @ :90, 400 rest). Overall the workout went well, though it's still pretty warm for late October. I guess that's south Texas.
Starting to look at some 5k and 10k races late in the year and next spring to target as sub-goal and goal races. I think this will help to get through the current training schedule and get some racing in before the heat of summer next year. Will post those later as I start firming up those decisions.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Happy 46th!
Today marks the beginning of my 47th year of existence. I haven't written much lately but felt compelled to jot something down on my birthday. I'm doing about a week to ten days of just easy running, with occasional strides, as a break from the last eight weeks of quality workouts leading up to the Fajita mile. I am looking to embark on a longer stretch of training trying to lead up to getting my mile down around 5:30, under 20 for the 5k, and under 40 for the 10k.
But I digress, today is my birthday and I actually didn't run today, for the first time in many years of birthdays since I started running. I tried to fight off a headache most of the day, plus just wanting to spend some time with Desiree while William was with his robotics team and Mel was at swim practice this evening. It was a nice evening overall and sometimes, squeezing in a run where one is not really necessary is less desirable. I'll be ready to head back out tomorrow for sure. I had some sushi for dinner and got a Calvin and Hobbes mug from Mel and Desiree that they made at the ceramics studio. I love C&H and this is a great gift, especially since they made it and you can not buy "official" C&H things as Bill Watterson did not license his cartoon out for merchandising.
Anyhow, as I posted on Facebook, I'm a long way from where I would like to be geographically. That pales fairly minor in comparison to the things that are going well in my life. Health, family, and friends. Birthdays sometimes bring about a reflection of the year past, and for me, this time last year was very troubling with the loss of my job at Amgen. Many things I looked forward to doing both personally and with my family were shoved aside as the search for work and the eventual move here took precedence. It's been hard, not just for me but for all of us. It is going to take time, probably a year or more, to really settle in - if at all. There's a lot I miss about the Pacific NW, not the least of which being the outdoor lifestyle I enjoyed there, but the day-to-day interactions, the culture, and the climate. But we're humans; we adapt and overcome and, truth-be-known, it's not like this is a serious hardship. I'm gainfully employed and we are able to afford a nice house, as well as maintaining the activities that are important to the kids. The nice thing about running too - you can do it anywhere really. If we just strip down to those things that are really important to us, it makes the adaptation all the easier.
Today will blend into tomorrow, leaving just the memory of another birthday, and the thoughts of those yet to be come. Until then, happy birthday to all celebrating on this day!
But I digress, today is my birthday and I actually didn't run today, for the first time in many years of birthdays since I started running. I tried to fight off a headache most of the day, plus just wanting to spend some time with Desiree while William was with his robotics team and Mel was at swim practice this evening. It was a nice evening overall and sometimes, squeezing in a run where one is not really necessary is less desirable. I'll be ready to head back out tomorrow for sure. I had some sushi for dinner and got a Calvin and Hobbes mug from Mel and Desiree that they made at the ceramics studio. I love C&H and this is a great gift, especially since they made it and you can not buy "official" C&H things as Bill Watterson did not license his cartoon out for merchandising.
Anyhow, as I posted on Facebook, I'm a long way from where I would like to be geographically. That pales fairly minor in comparison to the things that are going well in my life. Health, family, and friends. Birthdays sometimes bring about a reflection of the year past, and for me, this time last year was very troubling with the loss of my job at Amgen. Many things I looked forward to doing both personally and with my family were shoved aside as the search for work and the eventual move here took precedence. It's been hard, not just for me but for all of us. It is going to take time, probably a year or more, to really settle in - if at all. There's a lot I miss about the Pacific NW, not the least of which being the outdoor lifestyle I enjoyed there, but the day-to-day interactions, the culture, and the climate. But we're humans; we adapt and overcome and, truth-be-known, it's not like this is a serious hardship. I'm gainfully employed and we are able to afford a nice house, as well as maintaining the activities that are important to the kids. The nice thing about running too - you can do it anywhere really. If we just strip down to those things that are really important to us, it makes the adaptation all the easier.
Today will blend into tomorrow, leaving just the memory of another birthday, and the thoughts of those yet to be come. Until then, happy birthday to all celebrating on this day!
Sunday, October 21, 2012
A lighter weekend
Yesterday was an early morning easy run at East End Park for about an hour - good enough for three plus loops and a break for the legs by running some trails. It was nice, though a bit warm for what I'm used to in late October. Summer-lite continues here.
Anyhow, the plan for now is a week or so away from the track. I'll probably run Tuesday evening with the hill group, but nothing hard for the next ten days or so, then I'll start in on a solid 12-16 week program including a bit more volume and two-three quality days per week of speed work. With daylight hours closing in in the evenings, I'll have to find a track that has a decent amount of ambient lighting, since the HS tracks aren't open to the public, or start using a headlamp.
Given how busy we've been lately, and William's 16th birthday was last weekend, I took the kids to Houston Grand Prix for some go-cart racing and game playing afterwards. The kids enjoyed getting away from things for an afternoon, and we followed up with a family dinner out at Texas Roadhouse, which also doubled as the birthday dinner for William and I. Dessert later was a delicious, but quite filling, slice of ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. It was a good, low stress Saturday for a change.
Today I decided to take a day off from running as I had run the past six days and there was no reason to really get out today. The legs could use a day from the past few weeks of training and the Fajita Mile Friday evening. An easy morning around the house and doing a bit of work on the computer, then William and I spent a bit of time at the Kingwood Classic Cruisers car show at the Kingwood town center. It sure would be nice to have the space and money to get an old Chevelle and rework it into something like these cars.
Anyhow, the plan for now is a week or so away from the track. I'll probably run Tuesday evening with the hill group, but nothing hard for the next ten days or so, then I'll start in on a solid 12-16 week program including a bit more volume and two-three quality days per week of speed work. With daylight hours closing in in the evenings, I'll have to find a track that has a decent amount of ambient lighting, since the HS tracks aren't open to the public, or start using a headlamp.
Given how busy we've been lately, and William's 16th birthday was last weekend, I took the kids to Houston Grand Prix for some go-cart racing and game playing afterwards. The kids enjoyed getting away from things for an afternoon, and we followed up with a family dinner out at Texas Roadhouse, which also doubled as the birthday dinner for William and I. Dessert later was a delicious, but quite filling, slice of ice cream cake from Cold Stone Creamery. It was a good, low stress Saturday for a change.
Today I decided to take a day off from running as I had run the past six days and there was no reason to really get out today. The legs could use a day from the past few weeks of training and the Fajita Mile Friday evening. An easy morning around the house and doing a bit of work on the computer, then William and I spent a bit of time at the Kingwood Classic Cruisers car show at the Kingwood town center. It sure would be nice to have the space and money to get an old Chevelle and rework it into something like these cars.
Friday, October 19, 2012
The Fajita Mile
Tonight was Fajita Mile night - a celebration of the cross country season for Kingwood High School. There are mile races of various divisions for the XC kids, parents, siblings, and alums, as well as a couple of 800 m races for some of the track kids. The races are capped by the varsity boys racing a 3200. The evening culminates with a large fajita feed and socializing.
Myself, I managed to run a 6:02 mile; good enough for second in the dad's division with first place going to a 5:40 miler. So it looks like I have some work to do for next year. I came into this with about eight weeks of focused training, so I'm not too disappointed given the short amount of work leading up to tonight. I thought I may be at a 5:58-6:00 finishing time based on training, and having gone through 400 in 1:28 and 800 in 2:59, felt I was in a good position to meet that goal. That third 400 is a b--ch though, and with 200 left to go I was at 5:25. So I needed a fairly quick 35 second 200 to finish in 6-flat - not tonight though.
Overall I'm pretty happy but know there is still much work to do. It was a nice change of pace from mostly LSD stuff that I had been doing for much of the past year. It was a beautiful night out and running the track under the lights was fantastic, as was watching the kids do their thing. William also ran a PR mile by about a minute under his time at the start of the season, so a very good night for him as well.
I'm pretty focused on starting another cycle of training, after a week to ten days away from the track, that will include a bit more mileage overall, and some weeks with three quality workouts. I will mostly be following a Jack Daniels program for 1500-3000 m racing, but will also be racing some 5k events as a secondary goal to break 20 minutes. One thing I need to get more on top of is more sleep. These last couple of weeks saw me getting about five to six hours per night - can't last long like that. Dropping about ten pounds along the way is going to help as well. I sit at about 170 pounds currently, so getting down under 165 will make a pretty big difference.
Anyhow, a fun night and all that is left for William of XC season is the district meet next Thursday. Time for some fajita leftovers!
Myself, I managed to run a 6:02 mile; good enough for second in the dad's division with first place going to a 5:40 miler. So it looks like I have some work to do for next year. I came into this with about eight weeks of focused training, so I'm not too disappointed given the short amount of work leading up to tonight. I thought I may be at a 5:58-6:00 finishing time based on training, and having gone through 400 in 1:28 and 800 in 2:59, felt I was in a good position to meet that goal. That third 400 is a b--ch though, and with 200 left to go I was at 5:25. So I needed a fairly quick 35 second 200 to finish in 6-flat - not tonight though.
Overall I'm pretty happy but know there is still much work to do. It was a nice change of pace from mostly LSD stuff that I had been doing for much of the past year. It was a beautiful night out and running the track under the lights was fantastic, as was watching the kids do their thing. William also ran a PR mile by about a minute under his time at the start of the season, so a very good night for him as well.
I'm pretty focused on starting another cycle of training, after a week to ten days away from the track, that will include a bit more mileage overall, and some weeks with three quality workouts. I will mostly be following a Jack Daniels program for 1500-3000 m racing, but will also be racing some 5k events as a secondary goal to break 20 minutes. One thing I need to get more on top of is more sleep. These last couple of weeks saw me getting about five to six hours per night - can't last long like that. Dropping about ten pounds along the way is going to help as well. I sit at about 170 pounds currently, so getting down under 165 will make a pretty big difference.
Anyhow, a fun night and all that is left for William of XC season is the district meet next Thursday. Time for some fajita leftovers!
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