Saturday, April 10, 2010

Might as well hold myself accountable

So I registered yesterday for the Blue Ridge half marathon in 2 weeks.  I figure if I tell the world via internet, I'll be accountable  to actually run it.  Actually, it wouldn't be a big deal and I wouldn't be sweating it so much, if it weren't that my training hasn't been very adequate.  Oh, and there's also the small detail of elevation.  A total climb of 1359 feet, with total elevation change of 2713 feet.  For better or worse, though, I'm in.  I paid a whopping $90 for the race (why a half marathon is so expensive is beyond me - even if I did register late).  I have a lot of "Iwishes".  I wish I'd run more long runs.  I wish I'd run more medium runs.  I wish I'd run more hills.  I wish I weighed less.  I wish I'd visited the track at least once in the past 6 months.  But I'm doing what I can to maximize the last bit of training for the race.  So today I got out early for an eleven mile run.  I started with a mile warmup and then tackled the hills.  If you notice from the elevation profile, the hilly parts are within the first 5 miles.  So I did 5 long hill repeats.  Up half a mile, down half a mile.  Up half a mile, down half a mile.  And so on.  This effectively tired.me.out.  Just what I needed though.  It's opening day of turkey hunting season, and although I'm pretty sure I strongly resembled a big clumsy turkey doing these hill repeats, no one took a shot at me.  Then I finished the last 5 miles on mostly flat, with a few small rolling hills tossing in.  During the 9th mile my legs were so tired that I got attacked by a branch on the inside/back of my right knee.

I think this was probably a very good workout to do 2 weeks out from the race.  It definitely wore me out.  But I feel a lot more prepared than I did this time yesterday :-)  My muscles were crying for protein, so as soon as I walked in the door I whipped up my favorite shake (1 scoop chocolate whey protein powder, 6 ice cubes, 1/2 frozen banana, big spoonful of peanut butter, 1/2 cup milk).  Our blender stinks.  I would give my right pinky finger for a Vitamix, but I don't think pinkies are bringing several hundred bucks on the black market these days.
Reid confiscated his own beverage from big brother.
Busted.

I guess a little water won't hurt him.
My current running shoes have about 450 miles on them.
While I will run in them until they retire at 500, I don't want to go into such a rigorous half marathon with old shoes.  They are losing their cushion, and it would be asking for an injury.
So I picked these up yesterday.
Behold the beauty of a pair of new Asics Gel Nimbus:

Too bad you can't scratch n sniff.
Because new running shoes smell so good.
The smell of promise.
Of miles to come.

8 comments:

  1. That looks- and sounds- painful!

    Good luck :) New shoes, of any kind, are always a good thing!

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  2. Ooooh the smell of new running shoes...

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  3. I really admire you for running and being motivated! Good luck with everything.

    That shake sounds really good by the way!

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  4. My current shoes are Asics. My first pair. I'll probably never buy another brand again.

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  5. Good work! Ouch, that branch got you a good one. Hum, reminds me of that Jellyfish nastiness you had a few years back. That was icky.

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  6. Steve, the jellyfish fiasco was waaaaay worse! I still have a pic onmy cell phone of that mess!

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  7. I think this is sooooo cool!! I have always admired RUNNERS. You are inspiring . . .

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  8. Yup, you're crazy! 450 miles on a pair of shoes? And most of it running...crazy!

    Well, just kidding...sort of...I am no runner

    Wow...random here today...sorry!

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