TEXAS Paul - Out to Pasture - Healing

A beautiful morning in central Texas, temps in the low 60's, no breeze, blue skies.  Since I was going to run alone today, my wife, Lynn, drove the car as I ran the country roads out here.  She would stop each mile and hand me a sports drink at the end of each mle. 

I ran in the 60% HR zone (108 - 125) for the first 3 miles, then moved it up to the 70% HR zone (126 - 143) for the next 3 miles, and then mixed the 70% and 80% (144 - 161) HR zone for the rest of the way.  This was interesting to watch the HR monitor instead of the mileage pace.  I had initially figured I may go 15 miles today but there were enough hills in the 13 miles I did that by the time 13 miles were done that was enough, 13 days since doing Boston. 

The most excitement for the run was being challenged by a few barking dogs.  Only two of them came out on the road so I yelled at them and threw rocks, no big deal, as I could tell they were only trying to make noise.  I did think of putting on my pistol belt next time and carry the .38 special with the bird shot loads next time, just to put a good scare in some of the dogs.  I doubt I will actually do that, but I may put it in the car just in case.  The 2nd most excitement was seeing a Roadrunner bird on the way home, as we usually don't see a lot of them.

As I ran I thought about some of the guys from the FastRunning blog that are injured.  It sure is a blessing to be running healthy with no issues at all as far as basic running goes.  My polymyalsia rheumatica slows me down from running marathons as fast as I want to, but nothing is holding me back from having a great experience either on the trails or out on the road like today.  Feeling pretty good today. 

A beautiful evening in Austin, TX after rain storms over night and during the day.  A cool breeze with temps in the high 70's and cloudy, just nice.  We had about 40 of us at McNeil HS.  I got in 2.25 miles warmup, then we did drills.  Then Donnie had us do 1 mile strong, then 700 M stronger, then 300 M pushing very hard with 100M recovery jog between each. 

I ran with Andy, Joe and Veronica for the first mile which we ran at 6:56 pace, then the 700M at 6:28 pace, then 300M at a 5:41 pace.  Then I did my cool down with Veronica.  Then Donnie had us do the stretch exercises.  A nice workout.

Strength workout tonight.  Leg curls, leg extensions, leg press, 20 reps each increasing the weight each set for a total of 4 sets.  Also 3 sets of crunches and 1 set of pushups.  Workout took about 35 minutes.  A nice workout. 

A hot evening in central TX.  Met Tom H at Lake Georgetown Outlook Park.  We ran the route that I did last Friday down to the bottom of the dam, across the trail to the end of the dam, up to the top of the dam and into Cedar Breaks Park.  Then on down the trail with some great footing challenges.  Then we returned back tracking.  A great run.  Tom is excited about running Pikes Peak in August.

Thursday some good stiffness again with abductors but more specific at the top inside of the legs.  Feel great by Friday when I'm writing this entry. 

Wow, this one was fun.  I met Tom H down in Austin, TX at the Barton Springs Pool parking lot at 6:30 AM.  We ran the Barton Springs greenbelt up to the Hill of Life and back including a couple of stray runs on side trails.

We saw Reni and Charlene from my old Pikes Peak training group on our way up and on our way back.  At the top of the HOL we saw Jeff and 4 or 5 guys who will be running a 100 miler late this summer.  Tom had never run the HOL so it was really fun pacing him up this one today.  HOL is 1/2 mile long, steep, rugged.  A great run.

A few near pitfalls on this run as I tripped 9 times on rocks and roots but did not go down, whew!  However, with about 1 mile to go I was wearing my running hat with the brim low on my forehead as I focused on the trail so I didn't trip again.  All of a sudden SMACK to my forehead as I smashed into a tree limb that was hanging across the trail.  My head snapped back and I could hear the sound of cartledge being forced unexpectedly in the reverse direction as I stumbled trying not to go down.  For just a moment I wondered if I had broken my neck, duh.  Good news all was okay with only my pride suffering.

Heart rates during the run were mostly in the 70% zone (126-143) or 80% zone (144-161).  Pushing it up the HOL the HR was pumping in the 90% zone at 165 BPM and it really felt good pushing hard up the HOL.  I reminded Tom that the 3 miles at Pikes Peak up the "W's" is relentless much like the effort up the HOL today, but for 3 miles instead of 1/2 mile.  Then after getting to the top of the W's the Pkes Peak trail gives some relief as it continues up the mountain, but you are measurably drained by the time you finish the W's.  He is looking forward to it.   

Back to Barton Springs Pool, hot and sweaty, we went to the far end of the springs pool and walked out in the spring with all our running clothes on including trail running shoes and we cooled down in the springs in water deep enough that we went swimming. Cold water felt awesome.