Rainy.

RAIN! Rainy day.

I was scheduled for a 4 miler and was going to do 5 miles, but the light drizzle turned to rain, which turned to soaking wet clothing which led to me tapping out at a little under two-and-a-half miles.

It was fun to run in light rain—certainly kept me nice and cool. And I wasn't the only one out there. Aside from the folks trotting on the streets, Kezar Stadium track had 5 other people running when I got there. They eventually all petered out when the rain picked up.

I was soaking wet when I got in my car and headed home. Fun. Not dying to do it again in the near future, but fun.

Road Test: Song #1

Before Thanksgiving I finished arrangement of the first Hella Sound running song. Today was the day I took it out for a final test run.

Friends, it felt mighty good.

I'll probably elaborate more on it more when I release it on the web site, but there are really four main sections; it begins pretty wound up and charged, cruises into a dark segment, releases into a melodic, airier section, then resolves in something I can only describe as fun.

I was juiced by the time I got to the last segment. It was the last piece I recorded, and it was the first time I ran to it. You're never really sure until you take a song out for a road test, and man it felt really good.

Can't. Wait. To share.

I'll be re-recording some of the guitar and bass, performances, finessing the percussion and drums, then it's mixing, mastering and getting it up for the world to hear. Very exciting times these is.

As you can tell by my lack of recent posts, I've been slacking on the running front. No valid reason—just excuses (which I won't bother you with). Since I had over a whole week of laziness, my pace was a little slower today than it's been.

I'm also going to have to adjust the calendar a bit—nix the days I didn't workout, maybe move everything back a few weeks (again). I may just jump into the plan where I left off. We'll see.

Hey, seriously: thanks for reading! Y'all are the bestest.

Must Be Doin' Something Right

After spending all day with my ears in Hella Sound music, I mixed things up a bit this evening and ran to the fine album pictured at the left: Cake's Pressure Chief. It's good sometimes to step away and freshen up the ears, and Cake is one of my favorites. In addition, it reminds me a lot of running on cool winter evenings in San Diego. Fond memories.

I must be doing something right, because (according to my Nike+ data) I was sub-10 minute miles for all three I ran tonight. It feels really good.

All I got to say is: yay!

Tomorrow is 2 miles and weights. I'm psyched for both. Seize ya later.

Ahh Yes, The All-Weather Track

Went over to Kezar today for my run.

What does my run at Kezar have to do with a Tusken Raider (pictured at the left)? Does it represent my obstinate tenacity with which I hit the track? Symbolize my unrelenting rage against being stationary? Did I hide behind a rock and shoot at jogging jawas?

The answer, in a word, is "no". I just think they're cool. (Thanks, Wikipedia, for the pic.)

So, I scheduled myself for 3 miles. I only ran 2. Wah wah. Honestly—and maybe I'm just rationalizing—I think it's okay that I only did 2 miles. I mucked up my ramp-up week, and it'd probably be a bad idea to bounce right into doing 19+ miles a week.

I pretty much quit. But really, I think the treadmill has gotten me into the mindset of "faster faster faster", which (if I was to further speculate) is probably due to the relative boredom of a treadmill, and the fact that I feel like I have an audience on the treadmill at the gym. All those people around... Just makes me want to run faster.

Oddly, my legs felt great, but my cardio sucked. I gassed out pretty quick. Could be going too fast. Could be the extra weight I've hefted on. Regardless, that'll be resolved soon enough.

In Other News

On the purely personal, non-fitness front, @LosBee and I have adopted a new furry son. We've named him Jeff. He's pretty awesome.

Beautiful Day, Great Run

Man oh man what a great run. The schedule said today was my second recovery run—a 3 miler. My shins were a little tweaky after yesterday's short trot on concrete, so I hit Kezar Stadium's all-weather track.

What a beautiful day. It's about 73 degrees, sunny, light breezes. No clouds. The Blue Angels are practicing flying formations over the city (I guess there's some air show coming up), and the periodic roar of jets flying over head has been a long-time favorite sound of mine.

After my dynamic stretch warm-up, I hit the track running. Felt great, and I was cruising pretty fast. I'm not sure if it was the healthy dose of caffeine I had this morning (Peet's Major Dickason's Blend coffee), or my new-found determination, or a combo platter of all the above.

Great run. Paula Radcliffe was nice enough to tell me I ran a personal best for the mile (on my Nike+) when I finished. Thanks Paula! I bet you say that to all the guys.

Afterward I did my normal static stretches, as well as some of the dorsiflex/shin strengthening exercises I found on YouTube (below). Then it was back home to a banana, blueberry and OJ protein shake.

It's a tough life, I tells ya.

Behold! The Power of Pizza (Or "White Whale Slain")

If you read my previous post (and bless your filthy heart if you did), you know that I'd never done a run greater than 8 miles.

Babies, all that has changed.

Today I clocked my longest run to date: 12 glorious miles. And it was powered by last night's pizza binge. (Pizza, by the way, appears to be my running food. I don't know what it is, but I just have good runs the day after eating pizza.)

I'm pleased as punch about this. I had to run the first 4 miles on the asphalt outer ring surrounding Kezar Stadium's all-weather track due to a soccer game, but was able to do the rest on the track after the game ended.

It was a beautifully cool, crisp evening, and I LOVED it.

My Nike+ results are pretty damn different than what I recall. That big dip at around 9 miles (to the best of my knowledge) did not happen; my pace was even and consistent around that time. Also, there's no dip around mile 5 when I stopped to take a leak and left the clock running.

But whatever. 12 miles down, babies. I feel awesome about it.

I'm iced, wrapped, Adviled, and elevated, enjoying a nice post-run carnitas burrito.
Today was a good day.

Aye, Breach Your Last to the Sun, Double Digit Run!

My longest run so far has been 8 miles. I did that several months back, when training for the San Francisco Half Marathon. As mentioned before, my half marathon goal was derailed, and I had to settle for the 5k. Since I'm running the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon in 13 days, I've been trying to stick to a schedule.

Ahab Did at Times Give Careful Heed to the Condition of That Dead Bone Upon Which He Partly Stood

My nursing of the shin splints I've incurred have taken me a bit off track, and I've missed some long runs.

As a result, a 10+ mile run—the Double Digit—has become my White Whale.

Yesterday I went to the track to harpoon and kill this Leviathan, only to be turned away by peewee football. I've made a pact with my shins to only run on the friendly, forgiving all-weather track surface until race day. It makes it a bit of a pain in the ass to get runs in, but it sure feels good.

Today, I got back in the whaleboat and set out for the track.

'Tis Hot As Satan's Hoof

Unfortunately, it was pretty warm and very sunny out today—hardly typical San Francisco weather. It'd been a beautiful day to go the beach, but unfortunately I do not do well with heat. But I had to try. Like Lyle Lovett says, "What would you be if you didn't even try? You have to try."

I felt great on the run. Zero problems with the pegs, lungs felt great, everything felt great. But out there on the shadeless track, sun bearing down, it was just too damn hot for me. The sprinklers that were watering the infield occasionally sprayed onto the track, and I ran out of my way to get in the lanes that were being doused. God knows how clean the water was that they're using, but I didn't really care. It felt good and kept me cool-ish.

Sprinklers shut off on the first mile. By mile 3 I was stopping to sip water and pour it over my head. By mile 5 I knew my goose was cooked, and I crapped out.

Weaksauce.

On the bright side, I think I've been treating my shin splints right, so that's a plus. I feel much better.

Wednesday I shall set out again to harpoon the beast.

Damn! That Felt Good!

It was seriously, seriously gorgeous out today. Picture postcard beautiful weather. Clear blue skies, very low humidity, nice and cool temps—really, all you could ask for.

Since I'm Johnny Seasonal Affective Disorder, today was all sunshine and lollipops for me. Good times.

I haven't run in 6—count 'em one two three four five SIX days—my last run was a painful slog through the Presidio last Friday. Having decided what I was going to do about my splintiness, I've been all about the Ace bandage, the ice pack, the elevation and the not-running.

I felt like today was the day to get back out and see how recovery was going. I'm not even sure where I should be with my training plan, but I arbitrarily decided that running 5 miles would be a good test for my shins and a decent workout as the San Jose Rock & Roll Half Marathon draws ever nearer.

My shins have been feeling like they're coming along, but the first 2 miles of the run had me doubting my recovery efforts. As typical with mild shin splints, the pain went away once I got warmed up. By mile 3 I felt pretty damn good, and mile 5 was easier than all of them.

Crazily enough, I clocked an average 10:15 pace, which is actually pretty fast for a slow mofo like myself.

I drove home riding high and feeling really good. Ice packs on, Ace bandages wrapped, 600 mg of Ibuprofen per @LosBee, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter (sugar and protein), a little box of raisins, and I'm set for the evening.

Hopefully (HOPEFULLY) we're on the right track here and things progressively get better. I'd love to be ready for the half marathon, and really love to not injure myself trying to prepare for it. Here's to tomorrow being good, and hopefully getting a good long run in very soon.