Gear West 20 Miler
While my friend Brian and I both do triathlon, the training that we do together is generally limited to biking - he's a much stronger swimmer than I am, while I'm a stronger runner. Our running paces are different - he's trains at a 9-10 min/mile pace for long runs, while I prefer to be in 8 min/mile territory. The one thing we have in common is that we're both way behind in training for our upcoming events ... he's signed up for Ironman Coeur d'Alene in June, while I'm gearing up for Grandma's marathon.
Gear West was hosting a 20 mile training run Sat morning, complete with stops every few miles with gatorade, so I called Brian on Thursday and convinced him to run with me. This was going to be a stretch for both of us, as both my and his longest runs this year have been in the 15 mile range, and we figured we could both use the company. We agreed that we'd try to run most of it together, as long as we were OK with running at the same pace, and do our own thing as needed.
It's a good thing Brian agreed to the run - the weather was threatening rain when I woke up at 6:30am, and if it had been up to just me, I would have stayed warm in bed. But as it was, I dragged my ass outta bed, debated what clothes would be best suited for a cold, rainy morning, and headed out.
So how was the run? Not bad. It sprinkled lightly at random times throughout, but not enough to really worry about. I'm still not happy about having to wear a stocking cap in the middle of May, but what are you gonna do? The run was mostly an out-and-back along the Luce Line Trail, so it was pretty flat. Ran the first half at probably a 10 min/mile pace (including breaks for gatorade). On the way back, we met up with another group of 3 runners at a gatorade break, and we all ran together for a mile or two and picked up the pace a bit. Around mile 15, I found my body trying to get into it's natural groove and leading away from the group - I told Brian I was going to pick up the pace, but I'd wait for him at the next water stop.
As I was breaking away from the group, I heard a LOUD woodpecker on a telephone pole just up ahead. Now this was interesting, because earlier in the run I was telling Brian about the recent discovery of the (believed to be extinct) Ivory Billed woodpecker a few weeks ago. I slowed down as I approached the pole, and I was amazed when a Pileated woodpecker flew from the pole and disappeared into the woods! This is both crazy cool and crazy coincidental. The Pileated is a close relative of the Ivory and I have vivid memories looking through my birding field guide as a kid wondering if I'd every see one, since the Pileated was on the endangered species list back then. It's no longer on the endangered list, but still pretty rare!
OK, back to the run. I waited for Brian at the water stop, then kicked it up a notch for the last 3 miles. I think I ran the last 3 at a sub-8 min/mile pace, which is what I need to do if I want to have any chance of breaking 3:30 at Grandma's. I'm actually still not certain that I'll do the race - I need to get at least one more 20 miler in, hopefully at race pace, before I decide to do the race for sure.
Saturday afternoon consisted of a big lunch and a much deserved nap.
Gear West was hosting a 20 mile training run Sat morning, complete with stops every few miles with gatorade, so I called Brian on Thursday and convinced him to run with me. This was going to be a stretch for both of us, as both my and his longest runs this year have been in the 15 mile range, and we figured we could both use the company. We agreed that we'd try to run most of it together, as long as we were OK with running at the same pace, and do our own thing as needed.
It's a good thing Brian agreed to the run - the weather was threatening rain when I woke up at 6:30am, and if it had been up to just me, I would have stayed warm in bed. But as it was, I dragged my ass outta bed, debated what clothes would be best suited for a cold, rainy morning, and headed out.
So how was the run? Not bad. It sprinkled lightly at random times throughout, but not enough to really worry about. I'm still not happy about having to wear a stocking cap in the middle of May, but what are you gonna do? The run was mostly an out-and-back along the Luce Line Trail, so it was pretty flat. Ran the first half at probably a 10 min/mile pace (including breaks for gatorade). On the way back, we met up with another group of 3 runners at a gatorade break, and we all ran together for a mile or two and picked up the pace a bit. Around mile 15, I found my body trying to get into it's natural groove and leading away from the group - I told Brian I was going to pick up the pace, but I'd wait for him at the next water stop.
As I was breaking away from the group, I heard a LOUD woodpecker on a telephone pole just up ahead. Now this was interesting, because earlier in the run I was telling Brian about the recent discovery of the (believed to be extinct) Ivory Billed woodpecker a few weeks ago. I slowed down as I approached the pole, and I was amazed when a Pileated woodpecker flew from the pole and disappeared into the woods! This is both crazy cool and crazy coincidental. The Pileated is a close relative of the Ivory and I have vivid memories looking through my birding field guide as a kid wondering if I'd every see one, since the Pileated was on the endangered species list back then. It's no longer on the endangered list, but still pretty rare!
OK, back to the run. I waited for Brian at the water stop, then kicked it up a notch for the last 3 miles. I think I ran the last 3 at a sub-8 min/mile pace, which is what I need to do if I want to have any chance of breaking 3:30 at Grandma's. I'm actually still not certain that I'll do the race - I need to get at least one more 20 miler in, hopefully at race pace, before I decide to do the race for sure.
Saturday afternoon consisted of a big lunch and a much deserved nap.
posted by equipoise at 8:50 PM
2 Comments:
Wow, we're all getting amazingly active. I got together with another guy interested in adventure racing this weekend. We did a 12 mile trail run across a single track trail, lots of climbs, got back to the parking lot, unpacked the mt bikes, and biked the trail. If you think that's crazy, you're in complete agreement with my calves, which were utterly unthrilled with the days events. Follow that up with the Bay to Breakers run the next morning in San Francisco, speaking of which, womens slips are really comfortable to run in, although the polyester doesn't breath well at all.
BTW, I'm close to getting my blog updated, so I can start posting on regular basis, instead of whoring off the message posts of others.
Speak for yourself Frick ... some of us have been active for a while now :-)
Jojo - funny, one of my first thoughts upon seeing the woodpecker was that I need to tell Gma, too.
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