This Running Life

The dog days are here. Heat and hiumidity make it hard to run. New job and moving stuff makes it hard to get up at 5:30. Slept in yesterday on the coolest day of summer that was perfect for a Sunday long run. But slug that I am, hit snooze and slept in. So, last night, I went out for a 45 minute run–just to say I ran– and punished myself by running up every huge hill that I found. And there are lots of them in my new town. By the end fo rthe run I had put Creed’s “Higher” on the iPod and was sprinting across a golf course to the finish. Felt good.

I should have my Polar RS200 watch back this week. I have no idea how far I am running and iut bugs me. Got an email from Polar service last Friday that it was shipping. Hopefully it won’t be long.

It has been a pretty hectic two weeks. We moved into our new house, went straight to the beach, and then returned to our new home and town to unpack. It has been 4 days since we returned. I’ve also had no Internet access save for the local coffee shop where I get about an hour each morning checking email and doing some online banking. Things I have realized about moving to a new home for the first time in 9 years: a) Moving ain’t easy; b) I miss my smaller old house with its powerful a/c. I’ve moved into a two-story house, which doesn’t cool well upstairs where the bedrooms are. Gotta get used to that; c) I never appreciated how much paper we produce and how many phone calls to change addresses and registrations and all that it takes to move from one state to another; d) I sure have a lot of junk.

I read two books while on vacation: the Shack and The Last Lecture. I recommend both books highly.
Running in my new town is a new adventure. Louisiana was flat, quite flat. Here, I run into hills in every direction. On Sunday, I struggled to get 4.5 miles in running around my neighborhood. I think I will appreciate the hills after a while. But right now, my body is rebelling. For a year and a half, I have run with e Polar RS200 watch with a footpod. Polar makes a big deal about having them change your battery. On Sunday, I got a low battery signal from the watch, so I have sent it back for a new battery. I feel naked without the watch. For a year now, I’ve known exactly how far I have run and how fast I was running it. Today’s run, some speed intervals at the local high school track was weird. I had no clue how fast I was running. This will be especially strange this weekend. I am running in the Woodstock 5K, the signature running event around here, which benefits Cerebral Palsy research. I also joined the local running club, Anniston Running Club (http://www.annistonrunners.com), which is quite active and organized. Last night they were stuffing packets for the race and I joined them to meet the members, pick up my race packet, and get a slice or two of free pizza. I was impressed with the race shirts. They are technical shirts instead of cotton. For a 5K, I think that is impressive. I’ll post some photos later.

With the move to a new state and all the stress of selling a house, I underestimated how tired I have been lately. I had a nice 6.5 miles run on Sunday morning, but couldn’t get out of bed from Mon thru Wed to run before the hot beach sun rose. Mind you, I have been spendig a lot of time at the beach n the sun, but still have ben abe to get 8 hours sleep. It is just that my mind says yes, while the body says no.

Today, I had a great 4 miles after probably the most restful night of sleep I ‘ve had in a month. You know this type of sleep. You go to bed early, then maybe roll over and look at the clock. You feel as though you’ve slept all night, but it has only been an hour or two. Every time I rolled over and peeked at the clock, it was much earlier than I expected. So before my alarm went off this morning, I was up and running. I did 4 miles in 46 minutes, with negative splits: mile 1–12:23; Mile 2–11:45; Mile 3–10:19; Mile 4–10:27. I felt very strong at the end.

I’ll run a 3 mile tempo run tomorrow and then we travel back home from the beach on Saturday. Sunday will be my first run in our new home town.

Here is a pic of the view from my front door. I see some nice golf cart paths on the course that will make for fine running.

Enjoying the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches at Panama City, FL. Here is a pic of my view from my beach chair.

Good run today, 6.5 miles, then the sun came up and it got HOT.

The move to Alabama went as well as I could have hoped. We got everything in the house on Tuesday and did little else. No beds were set up, no boxes unpacked. We secured the house and then left for the beach. I am looking out my window at the white sands of the Florida Gulf Coast and am finally relaxing some. Did three easy miles today and will run 4 tomorrow with 5 or 6 on Sunday.

Pics of the home and of beach coming soon.

Well. It is now official. We are moving back to Alabama–my home state. I just accepted a job as an academic department head at Jacksonville State University. Jacksonville is about an hour from my parents and three-to-four hours closer to my wife’s parents in the Florida panhandle. This is a great family and professional opportunity for me. I have already registered for a 5K in Anniston (right next door to J-Ville) and the Anniston Runners Club looks amazingly active–so much so that I’ve already joined their club and registered for their signature event–the Woodstock 5K, which benefits Cerebral Palsy, run on August 2.

There are some nice hills in that area, which sits at the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. So lots of opportunity for Hill repeats!

This explains my blog inactivity of late. We’ve been feverishly packing our house for the move. We sold our house in three hours and will close on it on the 14th. Movers arrive same day and we head to ‘Bama.

Pictures of my new home and the J-Ville area coming soon.

Sunday long run today. Ten miles. I started much earlier than recent Sundays. I was up at 5 and on the rod by 5:40. The temp was in the high 60s and in the mid-70s by the end of the ten. I had a much better run. I’ve been wearing my Camelbak filled with Gatorade G2 and some electrolyte tablets dissolved within. Clif shots every three miles helped. I had a good run. In the first three miles I ran one minute slower than marathon pace. Since I am a slow runner, this was somewhere in the 13:00 to 13:20 range. In the middle miles I ran pace of between 12 and 13 minutes per mile. In the final 3 miles I ran under
11:30 per mile pace. I also took a couple of walk breaks to eat my shots, and later in the run to slow my HR, but I feel good about today. No injuries or issues. I still have a hard time imagining running 20 miles.

Sorry to be so long in between posts. But there are some major changes about to take place in my life. First, we are planning to sell our house, which means (thanks to those clutter-obsessed HGTV jerks) I have ben cleaning the &^%$#(*&^% out of my house. We rented storage space to “stage” the house and make it look bigger than its 1599 sq. feet. I am tired.

The house is almost ready to list on the market. And I am about done with the many home improvements. What makes me sad and embarrassed is that we should have been doing stuff like this while we lived here and not just when we want to sell.

On the running front, I ran 9 on Sunday in the horrible heat and humidity. Really must start long Sunday runs before dawn.
No ITBS issues, no Achilles issues. All is well on the injury front. To quote Costanza: “I’m back baby!”

Because of all this home-focused work, I found myself sleeping in for the last 2 Tuesdays. The clock went of and I turned it off and rolled over.

That’s okay. I am learning that rest is just as good as a nice run, especially after we old guys turn 40!

I want to make sure that those of you who read this humble blog are linked on my favorites lists. It is my small way of thanking you for taking the time to read my posts.

Let me know if you don’t see your link.

Have a great day.

My friend, Lisa, who is writing my training plan, also is a kiniesiologist and in the past ran a testing lab. So she hooked me up for an ECG and a VO2 test. We determined my max HR and more important, my Vo2 number. I only lasted on the machine from hell for about 11 or 12 minutes before succumbing. The worst part of it was that neoprene mask I am wearing, which measures oxygen intake and CO2 output, was horrible. It got really hot and felt like I couldn’t get enought air–borderline claustrophobic.

As soon as I cried no mas, I felt I should have tried for longer. Anyway, my VO2 number is 40.2. Lisa tells me that for a 41 year old male, the predicted rate is 35. So I am in good shape in that regard. My ECG was clear, no extra beats, etc. So all is well. My body fat is 24%, most of that around the belly, which Lisa tells me is the last place for men to LOSE the weight. For men my age, the body fat should be between 15 and 19%. If my belly looks a bit larger than usual in the above image, I am wearing 12 ECG leads and a belt to keep them all attached to me as I ran. So under the shirt was a bunch of wires, etc. In short, I am pretty fit for a still-overweight 41 year old runner.