Three years ago today, I changed the way I eat/think about food…
BOOYAH!
Training Journal – 1/11/13:
Good one on Urban Dictionary yesterday:
Training Journal – 1/9/13:
Palmer House, Chicago
Training Journal – 1/8/13:
A wee brisk on this morning’s run! I saw “shorts dude” again, though he had long sleeves on today…
Training Journal – 1/7/13:
I’m on a short trip to Chicago and braved the 0430, “29 degrees (feels like 19) with 13 mph winds” weather for my pre-meeting, long run today. I planned my gear pretty well and was actually pretty comfortable. From the few fellow runners I saw at that early hour, I didn’t look out of place (read: “He must be from California!”)…though I did see one guy running in shorts AND short sleeves!
Training Journal – 1/6/13:
It’s been a month since my father-in-law passed away. This morning, my wife and I were taking about his passing and the hurt, sadness, and gap we feel. She asked when the hurting stops and how I got through things when my parents died.
I shared that I still hurt – probably always will – but that this new phase is kind of the “new normal” in our lives. Things are different, we hurt terribly, but we press on – cherishing the great memories. We are so thankful for that wonderful, final night we had with him and need to realize that we really won’t get any answers to the questions that linger in our minds.
Still, this new normal sucks.
Training Journal – 1/5/13:
December…where didst thou go?
This was a pretty tough month on the home front, but still a solid month of training and the milestone of my first FULL MARATHON! Training consisted of a mix of road running (36%), trail running (28%), and cycling sessions (36%.) My job shut down for the holidays, so I took advantage of that to squeeze in some additional trail runs and cycling.
As far as new equipment, I bought some winter-weather running tights, some fenders for my bike, and added SaltStick to my pre/mid-race routine (after learning the hard way during the marathon.) I went back & forth on buying a trainer for winter cycle training, but opted for the fenders – I may still splurge, but the fenders do work pretty good…
Anyway, here are the stats for the month that was December 2012:
Yesterday, I ran the half marathon distance of the Brazen New Year’s Day runs – the companion event to Saturday’s Brazen New Year’s Eve Run. The run had three distances: a 5K, a 10K, and a half marathon and drew a field of 389, 318, and 297 finishers respectively.
The weather was even better than it was for Saturday’s New Year’s Eve run: cool, clear, with a light wind. I still wore shorts (one fellow runner called me “hard core”), but sported a long sleeve tech shirt, my running rain jacket (as a windbreaker), and my lite Lululemon running gloves for warmth. As on Saturday, I stayed toasty throughout the run.
The course was the same as Saturday’s, just in the clockwise direction. Same description: hilly and a mix of paved and dirt trails (30 and 70% respectively) that circled Lake Chabot and Chabot Regional Park. I will say that this direction was not as steep as the counterclockwise direction – mainly on the final third of the course. The downhill took it’s toll on my legs though! Since we had two days of clear weather, the muddy conditions from Saturday had dried in most areas. There were still some soggy areas though, just to make the run “interesting.”
As I mentioned in my New Year’s Eve run race report, Brazen Racing is a class act and put on a wonderful event. This one was no different – it’s always fun to run their events.
My Race
Results:
Recap:
As with Saturday’s run, my race plan for the New Year’s Day run was to have FUN and just enjoy the morning. I did want to beat my time from Saturday – and I’d be lying if I said that a sub 2-hour wasn’t on my mind. I ended up with a cold/sore throat on Monday, so I didn’t want to push it too much…
That said, I got to thinking about my “new PR” goal for this or other hilly, trail half marathons. I think I’m setting unrealistic goals – at least at my current training level. I am basing my PR goal on a flat and fast course…not a comparable hilly course. DUH…HELLO!! My half PR will always stand and be chased whenever I run, but I probably should revise my goals for hilly trail half marathons (or other distances.) I think i will be less frustrated at the finish line.
I followed my normal pre-race carb loading plan (36 hours of >80% carbs and +500 calories above my normal day) and my usual race fueling plan (bagel at -3 hours, GU at -45 min, GU at -15 minutes, and 21oz of GU Brew along the way.) I also did my new SaltStick course, taking one at -15 min and another at the +1 hour mark, which seemed to work again.
Wrap-Up
Bottom line: Another great event and a fun way to kick off the 2013 running season!
Post-race meal: Light lunch with a full-blown, turkey-with-all-the-fixin’s, FEAST at Harry’s Hofbrau…followed by a bunch of See’s Bridge Mix later that night!
Oh, and the bling from today was pretty cool. If you ran this event and the one on Saturday, you got a middle medal which created a cool MEGA-MEDAL:
GIDDY-UP!
Training Journal – 1/2/13:
DENNARR(dot)COM 