off the reservation
i opted for a few extra winks this morning and brought gear to run outside. the sun was shining and temps were in the upper 30’s. another co-worker was headed out to run as well so we ended up running together. honestly, it was good to converse a bit rather than being plugged into my ipod. we ended up running 5 miles, mainly in the 7:30-7:45 pace range. (i had stopped my watch at an intersection and didn’t restart it so i don’t have a precise time…grumble.)
out and back
i rolled out of bed and got geared up for a morning constitutional. temps were in the mid-30’s and the wind was from the north. after my GPS found itself, i headed down the hill on comanche then turned onto university. after crossing madison, i saw a guy walking with a loaded backpack and his dog. i’ve seen him before in the wee hours of the morning. perhaps he’s training for a hiking effort.
i kept pushing north and made my turn at uw-w. heading back was doubly nice as i had a tailwind plus some nice downhill stretches. as i made it back onto comanche i turned to run up the hill to my house. i wasn’t paying much attention as i was on the sidewalk but all of the sudden there was an unleashed dog standing toe to toe with me. thankfully it was a friendly dog and the owners who were out walking retrieved it. i guess it was too early for them to remember its leash…
regardless, i mustered 6 miles in a few ticks south of 50 minutes and hit the shower.
hamster miles
i ended up taking monday off from running. honestly, i was sore…especially in my quads.
i got up this morning with the intent of running outside but found it was drizzling and temps were only in the mid-thirties. i ended up packing both indoor and outdoor gear but opted to run indoors to avoid the rain during the noon hour. i ended up with 5 miles in 41 minutes. it was a bit difficult to get started for that first mile but as time went on it got easier to run.
sunny sunday
i got rolling in the early afternoon with the sun shining and a breeze from the northeast. i pointed myself down the hill on comanche then rolled up university avenue. approaching uw-w, off in the distance two ladies were running up the hill ahead of me. i slowly reeled them in and just before cresting the hill i caught up to them. i made a lighthearted comment about it being easier to run down the hill which got a quick laugh.
i kept heading north on university then turned east once i hit I-94. i followed the sidewalk up to the local McDonalds whereupon i made a brief pit stop. as i started to backtrack on my route, i had already covered a little over 5 miles in around 41:30. admittedly, it was much easier on the way back as i had the benefit of a tailwind. i rolled down university then back up the hill on comanche to pass my house with a little over 10 miles covered in 1:20:37.
i kept heading north on comanche then angled east again on michigan. this stretch reintroduced me to the NE wind but it didn’t seem to bother my pace much. i turned south then west to head back to my subdivision. with about 2 miles to go, a guy passed me in a SUV and was emphatically shaking his head "no" at me. maybe he didn’t like sharing the road with a lowly runner. oh well, free country…right?
at about a mile to go i ran into my buddy craig who took over webmaster duties on badgerlandstriders.org from me about 18 months ago. we chatted for a minute and each headed on our own routes. (you can only stand around all sweated up with temps in the mid-thirties for so long.) i hosed up starting/stopping my GPS watch so i grumbled to myself and soldiered on.
i made it up one last significant hill then turned on comanche for home. i rolled in somewhere around 2:00 for 15 miles, which translates to about 8:00 pace. the good thing is that i felt like i could have kept running, but i’ll save that for tomorrow morning.
(that’s a 35 mile "sandwich" this weekend!!)
MTD – 127 miles
YTD – 448 miles
Odometer – 26,786
potato power?!?
![]("http://www.emaxhealth.com/cms/uploads/16756_normal.jpg")
i don’t normally blog about what i eat but today for lunch i had a can of Campbell’s Chunky Baked Potato with Cheddar & Bacon Bits. those commercials were right…it filled me up.
by mid-afternoon (about 90 minutes later) i headed out the door and headed down comanche to the glacial drumlin trail. i turned east toward town and was able to dodge doggie leftovers much more gracefully with the benefit of the sun. i then followed college avenue through town, past carroll college then headed north then west to pick up the new berlin recreation trail.
a year or two ago the trail was paved. part of me was disappointed they did that because it was one of the few dirt trails around, which was much more forgiving than pavement. regardless, i was thankful it was paved today otherwise it would have been awful sloppy. i kept heading east and turned around once my GPS watch read 8.5 miles. heading back, i had the benefit of a slight tailwind and sunny skies which made the mid-thirties much more comfortable. i backtracked down college and picked up the glacial drumlin. i improvised an extra mile out and back on the drumlin trail rather than turning back up into my subdivision. doing so would put me at 18 miles as i passed my house.
as i crested the big hill on comanche, i kept running past my house and again improvised 2 more miles. i rolled home with 20 miles completed in a few ticks short of 2:39, which translates to just a little faster than 8 minute per mile pace. the fun part was that no "bonk" was encountered. usually, my blood sugar starts to dip after about 2 hours of running. today i ran fine through nearly 160 minutes and could likely have kept going if i wasn’t planning to run more tomorrow.
overall, todays run was a very solid effort. now the big question is how will my legs respond when i set out tomorrow afternoon for another constitutional.