Wed Jul 31

I spent about 45 minutes today mostly going up and down the same hill. Run up it, jog down it at a resting pace, turn around, repeat. Took about 1:15 to go up, and I let myself go down in just under 2:00. Warm and very humid this morning.

I was wondering if anyone saw me going up and down? I was near a major intersection. Any of the drivers could have seen me going up and maybe also down, but the light changes in a couple minutes so I don't think any of them would have seen me repeat. Interesting to contemplate.

I thought about my daughter Elaine while I was running. She meets with her doctor today to find out the results of her knee MRI (suspected torn left ACL) and what her next-step options are.

Mon 28 Jul

Just two miles capping at an 8 minute mile pace. Pushing, pushing. Nice little run to start the day.

W&OD Trail 10K

So after this morning's disappointing run, I figured I would take it really easy this evening and just relax.

About 566 people registered for the W&OD 10K race (that's the highest bib number on the race results web site) but only 260 finished the race - no information about DNFs or total attendance.

Saturday had been a hot day all along - 90s, lots of humidity, just nasty - and the starting temp at 6:30 pm was over 90F with +55% humidity - not killer humidity but still feels like a hot towel on your face.

The course is out-n-back on the Trail, starting from 500 feet west of the Vienna caboose going west on the W&OD Trail, slight detour for a mile or so, then back on the trail to Hunters Mill Road turnaround, and then straight back to the starting line. The trail is longer rolling hills at that point - nothing hard, just a wearing slow, steady hill.

I planned on running a 10 minute mile pace because of the weather and my rehabilitation. Slow at first, faster on the way back. The way out is uphill on average. I was feeling well-hydrated.

At the beginning, though, I couldn't run any slower than 9:30-9:45. I did the best I could to slow myself down and run with a slower pack, but people kept on slowing down in front of me. I was making good time when I reached the turn-around.

On the trip back, which is allegedly downhill, there were parts of it that sure looked like uphill to me. But I kept on plugging along.

I passed a younger girl and her dad - Dad was a big guy, muscular, and he was running along fine. Daughter was maybe 12 or 14, and breathing so fast she couldn't catch a breath, at least it seemed to me. Dad talked to her and Daughter just made noises when she exhaled. So I said to Dad, "Is she okay?" "It's really hot and she looks like she's breathing really hard." Well, Dad let me know that they were from Texas and that this isn't anything, and besides his daughter was an animal (his words) and could run forever like this. O-K, so I wished them luck and continued on. But daughter was not looking too happy about it if you ask my opinion.

I hit the 6 mile mark - glance at the watch - 57:50! I can beat 60 minutes. A quick prayer and then I started sprinting! The onlookers at that point clapped, which felt neat.

Glance at the watch - 58:55! I'm feeling nauseated and out of breath but I can see the finish line and the official clock.

Glance at the watch - 59:10! The race director is in the middle of the trail directing runners down the chutes. I considered running over her just because she was out there in the way, but decided to run around her instead.

Glance at the watch as I cross the finish line timing mat - 59:29! Woo hoo! (for perspective, the winner finished in 32:04, less than half my time.) I finished at a 9:35 pace in hot, humid weather, which is usually my nemisis. Running a much shorter race made it very doable.

I snagged some Oranges and sports drink after the finish line, found a space of clean sidewalk to stretch and drip, and just chilled.

RR 5 miles Sat 26 Jul

I did a 5 mile run with the Reston Runners this morning, from Hunter's Woods community center out and back. I started out way too fast - youthful exuberance! - 7:40-something for a mile or more - and paid for it at the end. I had a good time, though, it was worth it. About 5 miles in about 45 minutes net.

Wed 23 July - Interval Training

I went to Interval Training tonight, did the 15 minute warm-up run, and then  - just didn't do much else.
The training routine this week was to run 1 mile:rest 1 mile with equal times. Love to do it, except that I'm not feeling the lung capacity.

Coach Cindy kindly told me to run fast:slow quarters instead. I ran a 1:50 quarter, which is good for me, and then a couple of slow quarters, and then...I just decided I had had enough. I was having trouble getting a full breath of air, my head felt a little funy, whine, whine, whine. So I stretched and went home with my tail between my legs.

Tuesday 22 Jul

Another beautiful morning.  I ran about 2 miles in about 20 minutes, a nice steady pace. I felt a little winded afterwards but it was relaxing.  Still not back at full lung capacity yet.

first run & getting into my new shoes

I ran around the block for 10 minutes, just to check that everything is in working order.  The first run after a long rest always feels great!  Lots of energy, all the muscles are happy to be used again.  It felt great!

I am still coughing but I think I am "recovered" enough to begin running again on a regular basis.  Woo-hoo!
The W&OD 10K is this Saturday ... too late to do any more training per se, but enough time to get my body used to the idea of running again.

And it's time to begin transitioning into my two new pairs of shoes.  So for a fortnight or so, all my shorter runs will be in my new pairs; all my longer runs (~8 miles or more) will be in my old pairs.  Then the old pairs will turn into "around the house shoes" and I'll run with the new pair through the Disneyworld Goofy race-and-a-half in January.

recovering

Visited the good Dr. yesterday, third time for this thing, because of how it felt to breath and cough. He thought the infection was beat and that I had residual inflammation and gunk in the lungs. He prescribed a couple of things, and with luck I should be running again by Monday or Tuesday.

update

The medical folks have updated my diagnosis to "lung infection" from plain old pneumonia, which in my mind means that there is something bad in my lungs (like pneumonia) which they already knew, but now they are indicating they doesn't know exactly what the infection is (which is less good IMHO because then they are not exactly sure how to treat it).

The chest xray was nice and clear, but the medical folks heard expanded areas of crackles in one lobe. They gave me another 5 days of Levaquin and something for the cough. So I wait, try to rest a lot, and get well for next week - 10K on the 26 June.

time off

no running this week, using the neck rule: above the neck, run strong; below the neck, stay inside. pneumonia is below the neck. meds are working...

15 mile trail run

Ran 15 miles with the Reston Runners starting at the Lake Audubon pool and up towards Great Falls on the Cross County Trail. The course was out-and-back, with a water station at Route 7. I was familiar with the course after the last couple of weeks and that made it easier.

I started at about 6:30, a half-hour ahead of the rest of the group, with the idea of being able to finish with everyone else or thereabouts. That part of the plan worked out well. It was slightly cooler earlier also, but there was no change in the humidity. I drank lots of water and some sports drink along the way and didn't feel nearly as dehydrated as I have on some recent runs.

By the time I was near finishing, though, I new something was wrong. I was getting chills and feeling cold and clammy. I was slightly nauseated, and generally tired. My heart was going normally at about 180bpm (normally for me that is) so I ruled that out. I drank some water and sports drink. When I got home, I felt very hot as well. My ear thermometer clocked in at 102.7F, which is well out of the normal range even for a run in very hot weather. I spent the rest of the day drinking water and resting, took a nap, but my body was telling me the whole time "sick, sick, sick". My temp has been as high as 103.1F today. Think I'll go visit my Dr. tomorrow.

Fairfax County Cross County Trail

IMHO a good GPS-based map of the CCT overlaid onto Google maps.
http://www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=15227

This is the official Fairfax County website - includes an "interactive" map, but not nearly as usable as the Google one above.

a trail run plan in the making

I have a plan for the 15 mile trail run tomorrow. Wonder if it will work?

I'm going to get out there an hour earlier and start at 6am. That will give me an hour headstart on the gazelles, so perhaps I can finish near them instead of an hour after they have already left the parking lot and headed for breakfast. Given tomorrow's weather it won't buy me anything on this particular run in terms of temperature or humidity - 70F to 77F, 90% to 80% humidity, thunderstorms likely - but it will buy me some time. I need to get out my maps and figure out where the trail is.

July 2 & 3 - new driveway

I resurfaced my driveway on the second and third. So you might ask, how does this matter to a running blog? Well, it left me really dehydrated - the weather was perfect for the job, mid 80s, sunny, very dry for the summer time (say, 15% humidity). The first coat went on without a hitch, and the second coat did too. I started each around 7:30 am, and finished each around noon-ish. And my mouth was dry as dust after each one. I've spent the time inbetween drinking as much water as I can, along with the occasional Gatorade G2. I hope this doesn't end up impacting my Sunday 15 mile trail run.

(5 July note: it has rained off and on for a day now. When I started the driveway effort I was supposed to have three days of sun - where did this stuff come from? We'll see if the driveway cured enough on the 3rd or if it will wash down the drain.)

July 2 ITP

Interval Training Program with the Reston Runners at the Herndon Middle School track today. Coach Cindy had us do our warm-up run and stretching, and then run 400s (400 yards, 1 lap around the track) at pace, with a matching rest time, and do 8 to 14 of these. I was about 10 minutes late so I shortened the warm-up run a bit and simplified the stretching to close the gap.

I set my watch timer for 2:00 run/2:00 rest, but during the first 4 laps I kept coming in anywhere from 10 to 20 seconds under time (which increased my rest). I changed the time to 2:00 run/1:50 rest, and this kept me finishing at 10 seconds under almost all the time.

I did 14 laps, plus a cool-down half-mile. I think I was the next to the last one to finish, I'm pleased I completed the stretch goal and kept it at a good pace the whole way.