Gainesville
Swim: 6 x 400 RPE 2-3
2 Lipodrene
I liked the idea of this swim because it didn't have a warmup. Each 400, I guess was one. I also enjoy GHFC on a Friday night, because it's empty. Especially on game weekends. At any rate, the swim was pretty nondescript, other than my losing count a lot. Like I'm pretty sure on the first three sets I had no idea if I did the right number of laps. But I wasn't overly concerned. I kept up my stronke and made good time on all of them. I was, however, insanely hungry the last 4 sets or so, so much so that I just thought about the delicious chocolate bread they sell to get me through the swim. I'm not sure how to stave off this hunger in the future, since I had breakfast AND Cracker Barrel for lunch. You don't get much more filling than that. Especially when you don't wanna eat right before you swim.
Anyway, sadly no chocolate bread was available at the snack bar, and I had to settle for a smoothie. And liquid calories not a bad thing when you have along run ahead of you.
Run: 130 minutes
2 Lipodrene
If you're counting, that's 4 lipodrene. Almost 100 mg of ephedra. I'd had some shitty runs lately, and I needed to do whatever I had to do to have a good one. It was almost dark when I got started about 7:45, so the weather was perfect. About 80 degrees. I took a ton of ephedra. And I put on the iPod. I figured if this couldn't help my run, I was in trouble.
Well, I could tell it was gonna be good from the getgo. I just felt myself striding out the run well, pushing my muscles a little. The ephedra gave me a lot of confidence on the run, just looking at my shawdon on the ground thinking "Damn, my body looks good." Which helped me run even more. I hit the hills coming back on 34th and run up them, same with the hill on 2nd. Everything just felt right, especially considering that I had yet another hangover and was running better than I had in a while.
I took 2 gels on the run, one at the stadium on the way up, and another at the car aid station after my first stadium-and-back after the loop. Finishing the second stadium trip from my apartment, I really felt like I could do more. I may not have even been out there 130 minutes, as that was about how long I thought it would take. But I did just about 13 miles and did it well.
I felt really weird after the run, probably coming down off all the ephedra. But whatver. I'm not sure what this means for the big race, probably that I'll need to take as much of that stuff as I can without killing myself. If I can feel like I did on this run for even part of the marathon, I'll consider it a success.
Showing posts with label great run. Show all posts
Showing posts with label great run. Show all posts
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
T51 - Reason #847 why UM is Nicer than UF- Swim/Run Brick
Miami
If I didn't already know it, UM is a lot nicer than UF. The gyms alone tell the story, but I went for today's swim at the UM outdoor pool at the UC, and it was freaking beautiful. Sun overhead, palm trees all around the pool, and nobody else in the water. Nobody. Go to UF's outdoor pool and you're lucky if you only have to share your lane with five other swimmers. I had to run the campus loop today too, since it was a short run, and that run is a more reasonable distance, has no hills, and is a lot more scenic. So UM, definitely a better training ground than UF. Once again, though, you get what you pay for. The UM outdoor pool, which I get to use free as Alumni, is also dedicated to a guy named Matt Gribble. I thought this was pretty funny.
Swim: 1 x 1750
2 Lipodrene
I was a bit rushed Friday with a haircut scheduled at 3 and meeting my friend Bob for the Marlins game at 5, so I decided to skip the 800 meter warmup that featured 200 meters of kick. Again, in the long run, I think a small loss. The swim felt great, I really powered through a lot of it, and kept count of the laps almost perfectly. But because it was a relatively short swim, and maybe because the UM pool just has more to inspire interesting thoughts than the indoor pool at GHFC, I had some random ass shit going through my head during the swim. A sampling:
"Hey, look at that, I can see Lake Osceola from here. Maybe if Chad Meredith had spent a little more time up here he would have made it across."
"I should Start a Chad Meredith Memorial triathlon that involves a Lake Osceola Swim. 'Swim the Lake Because Chad Couldn't.' All proceeds go to some anti-hazing charity or something."
"I remember doing lifeguard training in here when I thought 500 meters was a really tough swim. That guy was a fucking pussy."
"That is a big-ass diving tower over there. Looks like a giant cock. No wonder so many divers are homos."
"Speaking of homos, this is the same water that Greg Louganis trained in. That's pretty cool."
then
"Hey, didn't Greg Louganis have AIDS? Maybe I should be concerned."
then
"Dude, with the way you live your life, you're worried about catching an STD from a swimming pool? COME. ON."
All said, I couldn't have been happier with the swim. The pool even has a locker room upstairs, which I used to change over into my run attire, then shower after. Again, UM has some solid facilities.
Run - 30 Minutes
This was the shortest run I'd had in a while, and following a not-particularly-draining swim, I thought this might be a good time to just go all out for one lap around the campus loop. Never mind that it was black flag conditions (over 90 degrees and sunny and brutally humid), I had no legit reason to leave anything today. So I ran out to my car, had a gel, left my shirt and the remainer of my keys there, and hit the loop running. NOt jogging, running.
I couldn't help but remember doing a black flag run with Klueber and Johnson about 10 years ago, where I dropped both of them because they'd been out all night, I think at the outdoor pool, actually. I wasn't even a strong runner then (not that I am now, but a far cry from me in 1999) but I remember feeling like that run kicked my ass. As I did subsequent times running that loop on summer days, even up to last year when I used it as my course for training for the Miami Man Half Iron. But today? Another one of those sun giving you energy days. I used the iPod just to maximize the adrenaline, and let me tell you that shit worked wonders. That new Summer Run mix was some good shit.
This song "Big Sky" came on, which is hands down the best running song I've found in 5 years, and I more or less dead sprinted the entire back stretch from Doctors Hospital to my car by Gusman. I think that's about 3/4 of a mile, give or take. Anyway, this was hands down my best run of this loop ever, and the best short run of the cycle. I'd been waiting for another great workout, and Friday was definitely it. Always nice to crush a run that once upon a time gave you problems.
If I didn't already know it, UM is a lot nicer than UF. The gyms alone tell the story, but I went for today's swim at the UM outdoor pool at the UC, and it was freaking beautiful. Sun overhead, palm trees all around the pool, and nobody else in the water. Nobody. Go to UF's outdoor pool and you're lucky if you only have to share your lane with five other swimmers. I had to run the campus loop today too, since it was a short run, and that run is a more reasonable distance, has no hills, and is a lot more scenic. So UM, definitely a better training ground than UF. Once again, though, you get what you pay for. The UM outdoor pool, which I get to use free as Alumni, is also dedicated to a guy named Matt Gribble. I thought this was pretty funny.
Swim: 1 x 1750
2 Lipodrene
I was a bit rushed Friday with a haircut scheduled at 3 and meeting my friend Bob for the Marlins game at 5, so I decided to skip the 800 meter warmup that featured 200 meters of kick. Again, in the long run, I think a small loss. The swim felt great, I really powered through a lot of it, and kept count of the laps almost perfectly. But because it was a relatively short swim, and maybe because the UM pool just has more to inspire interesting thoughts than the indoor pool at GHFC, I had some random ass shit going through my head during the swim. A sampling:
"Hey, look at that, I can see Lake Osceola from here. Maybe if Chad Meredith had spent a little more time up here he would have made it across."
"I should Start a Chad Meredith Memorial triathlon that involves a Lake Osceola Swim. 'Swim the Lake Because Chad Couldn't.' All proceeds go to some anti-hazing charity or something."
"I remember doing lifeguard training in here when I thought 500 meters was a really tough swim. That guy was a fucking pussy."
"That is a big-ass diving tower over there. Looks like a giant cock. No wonder so many divers are homos."
"Speaking of homos, this is the same water that Greg Louganis trained in. That's pretty cool."
then
"Hey, didn't Greg Louganis have AIDS? Maybe I should be concerned."
then
"Dude, with the way you live your life, you're worried about catching an STD from a swimming pool? COME. ON."
All said, I couldn't have been happier with the swim. The pool even has a locker room upstairs, which I used to change over into my run attire, then shower after. Again, UM has some solid facilities.
Run - 30 Minutes
This was the shortest run I'd had in a while, and following a not-particularly-draining swim, I thought this might be a good time to just go all out for one lap around the campus loop. Never mind that it was black flag conditions (over 90 degrees and sunny and brutally humid), I had no legit reason to leave anything today. So I ran out to my car, had a gel, left my shirt and the remainer of my keys there, and hit the loop running. NOt jogging, running.
I couldn't help but remember doing a black flag run with Klueber and Johnson about 10 years ago, where I dropped both of them because they'd been out all night, I think at the outdoor pool, actually. I wasn't even a strong runner then (not that I am now, but a far cry from me in 1999) but I remember feeling like that run kicked my ass. As I did subsequent times running that loop on summer days, even up to last year when I used it as my course for training for the Miami Man Half Iron. But today? Another one of those sun giving you energy days. I used the iPod just to maximize the adrenaline, and let me tell you that shit worked wonders. That new Summer Run mix was some good shit.
This song "Big Sky" came on, which is hands down the best running song I've found in 5 years, and I more or less dead sprinted the entire back stretch from Doctors Hospital to my car by Gusman. I think that's about 3/4 of a mile, give or take. Anyway, this was hands down my best run of this loop ever, and the best short run of the cycle. I'd been waiting for another great workout, and Friday was definitely it. Always nice to crush a run that once upon a time gave you problems.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
T46 - Percocet is Fun - Run
Gainesville
Today is he one year anniversary of my bike crash at the Pirates Cove Triathlon in Tampa, an accident that gave me a massive black eye, fractured my cheekbone, and caused me to lose a good deal of memory of about a week of my life due to a mild concussion. But it was also the incident that turned my grad school experience around, for a lot of reasons. Kinda like when Jimmy Thompson got hit with a baseball during a little league game in 6th grade and he went from nerd to stoner/player, such was my grad school black eye experience. No idea why, but black eyes are powerful things I guess. At any rate, I had a Percocet prescription left from the accident, that I often use when my knee is hurting on long runs. And I've never had a bad run on it. And today was no different.
I was a bit concerned that the run might not go so well, since I drank for 10 hours yesterday between the Ed Hardy Pool Party and the Figure 8 Bus Races in Bronson. Then stayed up until 5 a.m. at the pool at Jefferson (great story, but sadly not training-related). But I figured I had a relatively short run today, so I should be ok.
Run - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
1 Percocet (Last one, and not an easy refill)
I did a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical at the gym today, something I'm thinking I may start doing before every long run that isn't part of a brick. The weather was perfectly warm around 4:45 today as I set out with my brand new "Summer Run 2009 Playlist" on the iPod, consisting of a bunch of Trance from my new 4-CD set and 5 songs from Silversun Pickups. Basically, all my songs from this summer. Motivation was high, and the heat didn't bother me much at all, save for on the back stretch of 34th St, where there was no shade for about a mile. There are some days where the sun just beats you down, and others where it gives you energy. Today was an energy day, and it felt great. The prescription painkillers, probably part of why. All the fun of warm weather without the dehydration headache or overheating.
My knee felt fine for the most part, and again my motivation was high. Coming off that last, awful run and then 5 days of rest, my legs felt great and the last half hour I may have run harder than I did the first hour. The cloud cover may have contributed to this, and, as I said, the Percocet. Where can I find more of that shit to train with, seriously? Probably my second best run of the cycle so far. Anyway, getting into swim-intensive week on Monday. Base 2 begins. So far, so good.
Today is he one year anniversary of my bike crash at the Pirates Cove Triathlon in Tampa, an accident that gave me a massive black eye, fractured my cheekbone, and caused me to lose a good deal of memory of about a week of my life due to a mild concussion. But it was also the incident that turned my grad school experience around, for a lot of reasons. Kinda like when Jimmy Thompson got hit with a baseball during a little league game in 6th grade and he went from nerd to stoner/player, such was my grad school black eye experience. No idea why, but black eyes are powerful things I guess. At any rate, I had a Percocet prescription left from the accident, that I often use when my knee is hurting on long runs. And I've never had a bad run on it. And today was no different.
I was a bit concerned that the run might not go so well, since I drank for 10 hours yesterday between the Ed Hardy Pool Party and the Figure 8 Bus Races in Bronson. Then stayed up until 5 a.m. at the pool at Jefferson (great story, but sadly not training-related). But I figured I had a relatively short run today, so I should be ok.
Run - 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
1 Percocet (Last one, and not an easy refill)
I did a 10 minute warmup on the elliptical at the gym today, something I'm thinking I may start doing before every long run that isn't part of a brick. The weather was perfectly warm around 4:45 today as I set out with my brand new "Summer Run 2009 Playlist" on the iPod, consisting of a bunch of Trance from my new 4-CD set and 5 songs from Silversun Pickups. Basically, all my songs from this summer. Motivation was high, and the heat didn't bother me much at all, save for on the back stretch of 34th St, where there was no shade for about a mile. There are some days where the sun just beats you down, and others where it gives you energy. Today was an energy day, and it felt great. The prescription painkillers, probably part of why. All the fun of warm weather without the dehydration headache or overheating.
My knee felt fine for the most part, and again my motivation was high. Coming off that last, awful run and then 5 days of rest, my legs felt great and the last half hour I may have run harder than I did the first hour. The cloud cover may have contributed to this, and, as I said, the Percocet. Where can I find more of that shit to train with, seriously? Probably my second best run of the cycle so far. Anyway, getting into swim-intensive week on Monday. Base 2 begins. So far, so good.
Friday, July 10, 2009
T31 - Country Club Training Day - Swim/Run Brick (Treadmill)
Sacramento
I decided that doing another long bike would not be a good idea, given the short amount of time I had Tuesday as well as how my back had been feeling to that point. And since Wednesday was a rest day (and by "rest" I mean waking up before 4 a.m. and flying across the country)I thought this would give my body a nice respite. So I took Sunday's training day and moved it to Tuesday. This day looked to be the easiest of the week, so it made sense for a day where my time was limited.
Swim: 30 Minutes Continuous
2 Lipodrene
Again, my swim schedule was dictated by my nieces' swimming lessons, so I ended up going to Rio Del Oro with them as they did their lessons in the kiddie pool. I swam laps in the lap pool, and felt good the whole way through. I really am going to miss the outdoor swimming, especially because my tan is looking phenominal right about now. At any rate, I did 27 laps in 30 minutes, and that included the beginning where I had to stop at the end of my first 4 lengths to fix my goggles. They are definitely starting to leak, and I'm thinking it may be time for a new pair. We'll see how long it is from this revelation to any actual purchase.
Run: 45 Minutes (treadmill)
Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easier way to run than with an iPod on an indoor, air conditioned treadmill. Seriously, I just kept turning the speed up I felt so good, so this is obviously a form of cheating. This whole workout was very fancy-boy, swimming in the nice outdoor pool with nobody there then doing the run on the treadmill. It times out perfectly and there were only 5 extra minutes to the scheduled training time. But they are rarely going to be this easy. My headphones are still broken (I borrowed some of dads) so the next few runs will have to be sin musica.
I decided that doing another long bike would not be a good idea, given the short amount of time I had Tuesday as well as how my back had been feeling to that point. And since Wednesday was a rest day (and by "rest" I mean waking up before 4 a.m. and flying across the country)I thought this would give my body a nice respite. So I took Sunday's training day and moved it to Tuesday. This day looked to be the easiest of the week, so it made sense for a day where my time was limited.
Swim: 30 Minutes Continuous
2 Lipodrene
Again, my swim schedule was dictated by my nieces' swimming lessons, so I ended up going to Rio Del Oro with them as they did their lessons in the kiddie pool. I swam laps in the lap pool, and felt good the whole way through. I really am going to miss the outdoor swimming, especially because my tan is looking phenominal right about now. At any rate, I did 27 laps in 30 minutes, and that included the beginning where I had to stop at the end of my first 4 lengths to fix my goggles. They are definitely starting to leak, and I'm thinking it may be time for a new pair. We'll see how long it is from this revelation to any actual purchase.
Run: 45 Minutes (treadmill)
Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no easier way to run than with an iPod on an indoor, air conditioned treadmill. Seriously, I just kept turning the speed up I felt so good, so this is obviously a form of cheating. This whole workout was very fancy-boy, swimming in the nice outdoor pool with nobody there then doing the run on the treadmill. It times out perfectly and there were only 5 extra minutes to the scheduled training time. But they are rarely going to be this easy. My headphones are still broken (I borrowed some of dads) so the next few runs will have to be sin musica.
Friday, July 3, 2009
T27 - Jetlag Pays Off - Bike/Run Brick
Sacramento
Despite barely sleeping Tuesday night, I only logged 10 hours after going to bed at 10:30 Wednesday night and was up at 8:30. Fucking time change, I couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd get my training day in before I headed up to Reno. Had myself a Cliff bar on the ride to the trail and felt that was enough to keep me going.
Bike: 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
I basically did the same path as the day before, but obviously cut it a little shorter. I like biking here, the change of scenery and biking by the river are both welcomed differences. Plus the breeze is good and there's more than one water fountain (that THAT Hawthorne) so the fact that my dad only has one bottle holder isn't a big deal. The ride was nice, and the hills were a lot easier this time. Still harder than on my bike, but I'm going to go ahead and chalk that up to training on little sleep. Although I seemed to do that better here than in Gainesville, too.
Run: 60 miuntes
I took a gel between the two and headed out to run the same path I just biked. The AR trail has mile markers on it, so I didn't even need to map it out, I just ran to the trailhead (about a half mile) then ran to the 2.5 mile marker, and ran back. My speed, that's about an hour. I used the iPod, and this was just one of those runs where the music hits at the right time and your adreneline gets going and you just look out at a perfectly sunny day and a river and go "Man, life is good." I just started thinking about all the great things going on in my life, and how sometimes decisions you make that may seem hard at the time ultimately lead to much greater success. It's like being on ecstasy for about 20 minutes, excpet you don't get horny. Really, one of my favorite runs so far. That Best of Trance 2004 CD probably didn't hurt either. I can't even tell you much about the run, because it was just that positive of an experience.
I also think training in the daytime humidity has really paid off. It was probably 80during this run and not humid, and it seemed really easy. So I plan to continue daytime runs when I get back to Florida. Maybe I can do a few here on some 100-plus days. Friday's run will have to be later, though.
Despite barely sleeping Tuesday night, I only logged 10 hours after going to bed at 10:30 Wednesday night and was up at 8:30. Fucking time change, I couldn't get back to sleep. So I figured I'd get my training day in before I headed up to Reno. Had myself a Cliff bar on the ride to the trail and felt that was enough to keep me going.
Bike: 90 Minutes
2 Lipodrene
I basically did the same path as the day before, but obviously cut it a little shorter. I like biking here, the change of scenery and biking by the river are both welcomed differences. Plus the breeze is good and there's more than one water fountain (that THAT Hawthorne) so the fact that my dad only has one bottle holder isn't a big deal. The ride was nice, and the hills were a lot easier this time. Still harder than on my bike, but I'm going to go ahead and chalk that up to training on little sleep. Although I seemed to do that better here than in Gainesville, too.
Run: 60 miuntes
I took a gel between the two and headed out to run the same path I just biked. The AR trail has mile markers on it, so I didn't even need to map it out, I just ran to the trailhead (about a half mile) then ran to the 2.5 mile marker, and ran back. My speed, that's about an hour. I used the iPod, and this was just one of those runs where the music hits at the right time and your adreneline gets going and you just look out at a perfectly sunny day and a river and go "Man, life is good." I just started thinking about all the great things going on in my life, and how sometimes decisions you make that may seem hard at the time ultimately lead to much greater success. It's like being on ecstasy for about 20 minutes, excpet you don't get horny. Really, one of my favorite runs so far. That Best of Trance 2004 CD probably didn't hurt either. I can't even tell you much about the run, because it was just that positive of an experience.
I also think training in the daytime humidity has really paid off. It was probably 80during this run and not humid, and it seemed really easy. So I plan to continue daytime runs when I get back to Florida. Maybe I can do a few here on some 100-plus days. Friday's run will have to be later, though.
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