Category: Running

Meeting PlaneT3rry

Today I got to physically meet a virtual friend. PlanT3rry and I got a chance to run together today. I was supposed to be in Knoxville all this week, but a meeting was canceled. I really could have gone home yesterday from North Carolina, but we stuck with the plan to come over to Knoxville and meet with Terry.

We met downtown near the river and started our run. I recorded the run and will work on editing it into a podcast episode for your enjoyment.

I have been telling people the last couple of weeks that I was going to be running with my friend in Knoxville, but we have never really met. I guess this is the change that the Internet makes in relationships. Terry and I have been “friends” for 2 years. But it just seems odd to have a friend you have never met in person.

I look forward to doing the same with several other runners over this next year of traveling.

Week 11

Week 10

This week was all messed up, but here is the break down such as it was.

Monday
2 miles easy. I ended up running this on Thursday since my last long run was Tuesday. I ran 2.55 miles easy.

Wednesday
I ran this 8 mile speed run on Saturday. It was not really a speed workout. I just ran. I had even forgotten that I was supposed to run 8 miles, but ran 7.85 miles anyway.

Saturday
20 mile long run. I ran this on Monday (today) and had a great run. Since I bailed on my 18 miler last week, I was a little nervous about pushing up to 20. The longest run previously had been 16 miles. I just took it slow and made sure that I took my walk breaks as needed. I was almost 2 minutes per mile too slow on this run. I don’t care. I am not shooting for any time goal on the marathon. I will push myself next time to stay within the plan.

Week 11
Monday: 2 miles at 10:19 pace.

Wednesday: 7 mile tempo.

Saturday: 16 miles at 10:19.

August Goals Report

Running
I ran 76.6 miles in August. I only ran 12 days this month. This is caused by my training plan only having me run 3 days a week. That means I did not run 19 days during the month. I did not run at all during the last 6 days of the month. We were moving and fighting a hurricane. That slowed down my running for the week. I am about 40 miles behind for the year.

I did some really good long bike rides. 100 miles for the month.

Reading
I am not sure what happened this month, but it is a testament to why I need a goal to keep me on track. I only read 263 pages (goal is 800 pages). I read mostly from the book One Candle to Burn by Kay Washer. I wanted to do a full write up on this book, but will just sum it up here.

The book was about a missionary family in Africa. They were in Niger and Togo. I know one of their sons and therefore was very interested in reading the book.

I love biographies. I often do not like autobiographies because they tend to ramble with too many needless details. This book did a great job of staying on track and giving a good outline of the story without too much rabbit chasing. That was true for most of the book. But the last 3 to 5 chapters were everything I dislike about autobiographies. In general it was a good book, but the last few chapters could have really been shortened and tightened up.

I read from a few other works, but that was the only one I finished.

Week 10

This report is late, but it will be short and to the point.

Week 9
Monday
Supposed to be a 2 mile easy run. I did 3.1 easy.

Wednesday
7 miles with 5 miles of tempo. I did not run at all.

Saturday
18 mile long run. That was run, finally, on Tuesday of the next week (today). It was a 14.4 mile run in the rain following hurricane Gustav. Winds were constant at 15 MPH with higher gusts. Rain was off and on. I started cramping pretty badly in my right leg. I decided it was better to call off the run and live to run another day than to sacrifice my training just to get this in.

After I walked around a bit waiting for my ride to pick me up I started feeling better. I probably could have finished the run if I had given myself more time. I am disappointed now that I cut the run short. The post hurricane weather did not help any.

Biking
None

Week 10
Monday: 2 miles easy.

Wednesday: 8 miles of 4X1600 meter intervals at 8:17 pace. Yikes! That is fast. With 800 meter recovery jogs.

Saturday: 20 miles at 10:19 pace.

Week 9

Week 8
Monday
I ran my Monday run on Tuesday since I ran my previous long run on Sunday. I did not do well this week on getting my mileage done. Was supposed to run 6 miles and only ran 5.78 in 10:40 per mile.

Wednesday
The Wednesday 6 mile run was done on Thursday and was only 4.46 miles at 10:36 pace.

Saturday
This was a fun run. I knew it would not meet my mileage goal for the week, but I wanted to do this run anyway. It is a run I have been wanting to do for a long time and figured that today needed to be the day if I was ever going to do it.

Today I became a Dump Runner. There is a story behind the Dump Runners Club which I won’t go into here, but to be a part of the club you have to run to your local dump or public works facility.

I rode my bike 7.5 miles to a gas station that was a little over a mile from the dump. I asked the gas station attendants if they would please watch my bike for me while I went out for a bit of a run. This was funny to them because we were on the edge of town to begin with. They laughed and made jokes about taking my bike or selling it. I just laughed and took off towards the dump.

When I got to the dump I had trouble convincing the guard at the front door that I just wanted to take a picture. I was able to win him over when I told him it was a joke for a friend. I am not sure what he had in there to have to guard from cameras.

Total run was 3.18 at 10:23 pace.

I made it back to my bike and bought a drink at the convenience store at the gas station. I gave the change to the gas station attendants (about 75 cents) for watching my bike. When I jumped on my bike the chain seized up. The front derailer was bent. I ended up having to completely bend the derailer completely out of the way. When I get back in a year to my bike I will have to replace that.

I rode the bike on a return route that was a bit longer at 7.9 miles.

Goal mileage for the week was 17 and I didn’t quite make 14 miles.

Biking: I only rode 2 days this week but rode 31.4 miles. This is a weekly high for me.

Week 9
Monday: 2 miles at 10:26 pace.

Wednesday: 7 miles. That includes 5 miles at a tempo pace of 8:56. That will be run either in the state of Tabasco or Veracruz on our way to the border.

Saturday:18 mile long run at 10:19 pace. This one will be tough to get in on Saturday. We will be traveling that day. It will be the 5th straight travel day of a 5 day trip. I may have to push the long run to Sunday night if I feel comfortable with a route to run in the evening.