30 mile results from yesterday

yesterday i ran about 32 miles, and i felt great for the first 25 of them. but the last hour was pretty tough. my right hammy was tight (as always) and my ankles were beginning to hurt a little bit as well. i don't think i drank enough water, but i was consistent with my nutrition otherwise. here is the result:

32 miles
5 hours, 50 minutes

3Q water consumed - i ran out with about 30 minutes to go
6 clif gels
1 pack of sharkies
2 clif bars
7 succeed caps

i at a gel and a cap every 45 mins. i didn't do enough walking on the 2nd lap - i was impatient.

i'm supposed to run 15 more today and hope to get that done later this afternoon.

on a sidenote - we went to the original el taco last night for dinner. it's becoming my favorite mexican eatery around here. my food was so good and i would recommend you give it a try if you haven't already.

finally able to post again

today i finally find myself able to post to the blog again. apparently the blogger algorithms identified my blog as a possible "spam blog" and i was locked out until someone could review it. i'm not sure what a spam blog really is, but i have finally been unlocked and am glad i don't have to start a new blog elsewhere.

so in the past 10 days i have run the whole KeMo loop and done a few runs with Christina. last night we did the Big Peach Poker Night run. You go out for a 4 mile run through Brookhaven and get a card from each of the dealers positioned along the course. My best 5 card hand was Ace Queen - not that money. i'm sure i didn't win anything so we didn't stick around for the results after we ate our pizza at elwood's. we did like elwood's and will probably head back there sometime.

i had always thought the whole KeMo loop was about 16 miles. i guess this was based on measurements from a few different maps i had found over the years. well, last weekend i took the iphone and used trail guru and came up with 15.8. here is the course as i ran it:



yesterday i found a new tracking program called everytrail. i'll try it out this weekend and see how it works. review will follow.

christina ran 12 miles

her longest run ever. she actually ran faster than normal at about 9:30/mile. we're usually in the 10 minute range. nice job! now the taper begins. she asked me tonight if it would be ok to run more than the 8 miles scheduled for next weekend. who is this woman?

and the weather was so nice today and i scheduled a rendezvous near kennesaw mountain just so i could get in an extra few miles.

thursday night run with christina

tonight we were both exhausted after work but still managed to get out the door for the six miles on christina's half marathon training plan. i'm still not used to it getting so dark so early.
i had an altercation with a driver tonight. ever wonder why the crosswalks are painted in massive white stripes across an intersection? how about it's because that's where pedestrians are supposed to cross the road. it still never ceases to amaze me how people blow through stop signs and roll through the crosswalk before they put down their phone to look both ways. for those of you out there reading this, please take the extra half-a-second to stop before the crosswalk and make sure there is nobody crossing the road. traffic is bad enough as it is and you're not saving any time on your commute.
we were both so hungry towards the end of the run that we started discussing what to have for dinner. then, i was listening to the junks on my ipod and they were talking about steaks at the palm restaurant. really made my stomach start to rumble. i hate being hungry when i run because it's all i can think about. then i tend to get home and start stuffing myself with snacks that i either spoil my appetite for dinner or i overeat. this problem can be avoided by either running in the morning or running immediately after work. coming home from work and then running is my least favorite time of day to get it done.

impromptu wednesday at the mountain

the weather's been so nice the past few days that i decided to go off the schedule and work in an extra run. i went to kennesaw mountain and put in some hill work. and i could really tell it's been a while since i was there. i walked up most of the mountain - well, i walked a whole lot more than i usually do. but the air is cool and dry, the sky is clear, and i just didn't feel like wasting the opportunity. i'm glad i went. i figure i need to drop about 10 pounds and i'll be at a good fighting weight for western states. i was down to about 160 after the vermont 100 in july but i've put about 5 pounds back on. 155 would be a good place to be come race day. i guess i should start publishing my weight periodically - maybe it will help me get to my goal.

election night jaunt

a quick stroll through butthead tonight. wow it gets dark early these days. thanks to nathan for the vests - i much prefer these to the orange construction worker type. i wear the yellow one, and christina the pink (of course.)
looking forward to having a glass of wine tonight and watching the election results roll in.

group run at Sweetwater

we had a good run today.  it was pretty cool when we started.   gloves were necessary but i shed mine after about 30 minutes.  christina had a bit of a rought start but fought off the frozen toes and sideache and finished strong.  the first 5 mile loop is pretty technical and rocky along the creek, but the hills are not too bad.  the 3 mile Yellow trail at the end is where the terrain really gets you.  there is a pretty massive hill over there that will gas you.  the legs and lungs were burning but i did manage to run to the top. 
today i used trailguru for the first time and it looks like it preformed pretty well as you can see here. Use the slider at the bottom and go to the right, then press the play button to see how we ran the course. Pretty cool.



i didn't listen to music today so i could not "lock" the iphone. trailguru doesn't have a locking feature, but maybe it will be added in an update. all these run tracking apps should have a screen lock feature like RunKeeper does.

it really put a drain on my battery as well. i guess that's because the screen stays on the whole time. but as you can see from the map it tracked us pretty well through the trees. i registered 7.99 miles. i was told it was 8 miles. and a guy with a forerunner clocked 7.7 but he started a little bit late. based on these i think the program performed pretty accurately.

running with christina

since christina is running the thanksgiving half-marathon here in atlanta i've been training with her. she's gotten remarkable better over the past couple of months and i've no doubt she will not only finish the race but finish strong and feeling great.
since i broke my original iPhone (don't get me started) and had to get the new 3G version with GPS i have been toying around a little bit with the running tracker programs. there are three free ones that i have downloaded:
iMapMyRun
Runkeeper
Trailguru
there is a 4th called "Runner" (i think) that costs $5 that provides audio feedback while you're running. i'm not too interested in that one right now. first i'll finish testing the free ones. i think the main features that i would like each program to perform are:
1- quickly lock in the GPS signal
2- accurately track where i have been
3- easy online analysis

i have used RunKeeper about 3 times now. i like how the program has a locking feature so that you don't accidentally stop recording while running. (this happened with iMMR) also, the UI on the website is very cool. the only problem is that i can't put them on the blog like with iMMR. it seems to be pretty accurate when running the streets of buckhead. i've yet to try it at kennesaw mountain.

iMapMyRun (iMMR) is the other one i've used a couple of times. the first time i used it something happened and the data was messed up. it stopped and started recorded randomly - i guess the screen was touched or something. i've since learned that as long as you have the iPod feature going on your iPhone you can go ahead and hit the top button and lock the phone. the tracking feature will still work so long as the ipod is going. if you don't have the ipod going and you lock the phone with the top button, then the GPS shuts off. it's a quirk, but since i know how it works now it's not a problem.

iMMR will also let you embed your runs to your blog or another website. i'll try to do that below for a run earlier this week.



well, what do you know, it actually worked! cool. so you can see where we ran on thursday morning.

24 Days to Vermont

with just a little over 3 weeks to go i am actually ready to run this race NOW. i've done the training. i've spent entire weekends away from my wife and friends and fun. now that i'm in the tapering portion of my training the anticipation is growing. i know the old body probably needs a few weeks to heal all the minor aches and pains before the actual start of the race. but the head is telling me something else. the head is telling me it's time to get this party started.

the past couple of weeks i've been meeting hank randall one or two days a week and we hike/run to the top of kennesaw mountain. my training in the past has primarily taken place on the southern end of the park between burnt hickory road and kolb farm. it's got some moderate hills, but i almost wish i had taken advantage of the mountain a little bit more.

since this is my first official post i wanted to mention an incident that happened a couple of weeks ago. i was attacked on the trail! literally. attacked not by a dog or a bear or something ferocious. i was actually attacked by a mama turkey. those weren't cute little baby ducks i saw crossing the trail just ahead of me with water nowhere in sight. they were turkeys and their mother was none too happy to see my dumb ass checking them out. she chased. i ran. i'm sure it would have been funny to see.