- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week
- Today’s session: Rest
- Comments: Rest
I took this today during a break in the rain…sometimes ya just have to look up!
Training Journal – 12/21/12:
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week 1
- Today’s session: 5 mile easy run @ 8:37-9:37 pace
- Comments: I did 5.51 @ 8:12
Today’s post offers a glimpse into the mind of Dennis…
At lunch today, a woman in the salad bar queue next to me leaned toward me and quietly said, “There’s a spider in the spinach.” We chatted about it, laughed, and agreed that, in some countries, that wouldn’t necessarily be seen as a problem. I work at a pretty diverse place but, culinarily, it’s pretty conventional…no intentional placing of bugs in the food.
On my way back to my office, I started cracking up…the wheels were turning. That line sounded like something one might hear in a Pink Panther, Austin Powers, or James Bond movie. Oooo, maybe a line that would activate a spy or even invoke some action that was embedded in the mind of an unsuspecting, sleeper agent. yeah, the wheels were turning…
[boom camera lowers and pans to salad bar]
- MAN [to WOMAN who is behind him in salad bar queue]: Hello, isn’t this a wonderful salad bar?
- WOMAN [with straight face, no emotion]: Zere es a spider en ze spinach.
- MAN[pauses, puzzled look on face]: Excuse me?
- WOMAN [with straight face, no emotion]: Zeeeere es a spider en ze spinach.
- MAN [pauses, puzzled look on face]: Pardon?
- WOMAN [frustrated, but still with straight face, no emotion]: Zeeeere es a spiiiiderrrr en ze spiiiinaaaach.
- MAN [nods, raises an eyebrow, and, with “knowing” expression, points at man in corner with accordion]: I hear he is the musician and the monkey is a businessman.
- WOMAN [puzzled look]: Excuse me?
I know, active imagination…
BTW, I didn’t have any spinach, so it was all good.
Training Journal – 12/20/12:
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week 1
- Today’s session: 4 mile easy run @ 8:37-9:37 pace
- Comments: I did 4.79 @ 8:11
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week 1
- Today’s session: 3 mile easy run @ 8:37-9:37 pace
- Comments: I did 3.66 @ 8:13. Legs were sluggish, even though my pace seems to indicate otherwise.
This past Saturday, I ran the marathon distance of the ZombieRunner Bay Trail Run – MY FIRST FULL MARATHON!!! This was the third edition of this event, put on by Zoom Running Events. The run had three distances: a full marathon, a half, and a five mile and drew a field of 82, 365, and 116 finishers respectively. This was my second Zoom event and simply stated: they know how to put on a fantastic run! (Zoom is a sister org to Coastal Trail Runs, which also does an awesome job on their events – I’ve run one of their events.)
The weather was perfect for a run: cool and partly cloudy. Rain was forecast for about 1200, but I planned to be done by then. I still wore shorts though, but sported my long sleeve tech shirt from the San Francisco Half Marathon and my lite Lululemon running gloves for warmth. There were quite a few runners in long pants and layers. I thought about donning layers, but knew that I’d shed them pretty quickly after the start.
The course was flat and a mix of paved and dirt trails (27 and 73% respectively) that traveled around the Bayland park areas in Palo Alto. Okay, one could say that there was one “hill”, but nothing really to speak of in the scheme of things – it was more of an incline. Those running the marathon simply ran the half route twice. I had never been to this park area before, but do drive by a one mile stretch of the course that parallels Highway 101 every day on the way to work (more on that later.) I tend to zone out while I run, but it did seem like a nice place to go for a run or hike and see the waterfowl and baylands.
This was my “Plan B” race, as I was supposed to have run the Honolulu Marathon for my first full on December 9th. If you’re a regular visitor here, you know that we had to cancel the trip. As I looked for options, this race worked best with my schedule and 2013 training plans (read: gotta get ready for Big Sur in April.) After 18 weeks of training, I was anxious to Giddy Up! At first, I was bummed to be running my first marathon on a small event; but, in the long run, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’m a low-key person and this was just right – it would have been interesting to run my first with ~30,000 people; but, in the end, 82 was better.
My Race
Results:
- Garmin time: 4:05:05 at an 9:19/mile pace
- Official time: 4:05:05 at an 9:21/mile pace
New “Personal Records” on the Garmin Dash!!!
Since my Garmin measured 26.3, does that make me an ultra-marathoner? HA!
Recap:
Fair warning: This is my first marathon so this is a verbose post. You only get one “first” and I want to capture everything!
[Recap Soundtrack] Part of my pre-race routine is to listen to my Unbreakable playlist as I drive to the race. This is track one (Outro, by M83), a favorite, and is one of the few songs I hear in my head while I run… I just imagine myself running in slow motion to this music…on the road or on a trail! Click play and read on…
Maybe it’s just me, but every time I look at my bike training route, I see a well-known, comic strip character who has a pointy-haired boss.
(one of these days I’ll have to detour a bit at the North-end to make the image complete)
Training Journal – 12/17/12:
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week 1
- Today’s session:
RestCross Train: 60 minute bike ride - Comments: Legs are feeling good, so I rode 15.39 miles @ 15.1 mph avg. Light rain during parts and a fair headwind on the back half!
My wife and mother-in-law have a new game they play with our pup. Their voices are similar and, with the pup sitting in front of them, one of them talks and the other moves her mouth. Our pup tilts her head, looks back and forth between the two of them, trying to figure out who is talking!
She wags her tail, so it’s all good!
Training Journal – 12/16/12:
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Recovery Week 1
- Today’s session: Rest
- Comments: Rrrrrrrest…and installed fenders on my road bike!
Weekly mileage: 12/10-16/12:
- Running: 37.12
- Bicycling: 0.0
- Total: 37.12
Marathon #1 is in the books – WooHoo!
I ended up with a time of 4:05:05 @ 9:21 pace. Since this was my first full marathon, this is a PR(!); though it was slower than my race plan goal, due to calf cramps in both legs on miles 17.2 to 20 and again at 24.5 to the finish. That said, I did take 3rd in my age bracket (smaller races rock!)
I’ll post a full race report later this week with all the adventurous details! Giddy up!
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan
- Today’s session: Race day!
- Comments: See above…full report to follow.
ZombieRunner Bay Trail Marathon, here I come!
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Week 3 of Taper (1 day to go!)
- Today’s session: 2 mile, shake out run & carb load day 2
- Comments: Shake out run: 2.45 miles @ 8:32. Planned carb intake: 90%
Here’s my planned “intake” levels for the next two days!
- Current plan: Bay Trail Marathon Training Plan – Week 3 of Taper (2 days to go!)
- Today’s session: Pre-race rest & carb load day 1
- Comments: Nada … pero los hidratos de carbono!
DENNARR(dot)COM 