Kayaking?

Talking with my date last night, I mentioned that I’d like to get more upper-body exercise, but I’m only interested in activities where you move somewhere and get to see something. I joked about getting a bike that you crank with your arms, and she sensibly pointed out that some sort of paddling activity* would be more realistic. The idea is growing on me. I plan to take a three-hour kayak lesson on the Willamette later in July and see how I like it.

*Get your mind out of the gutter.

Tapered run

Since I’m racing on Wednesday, I cut the scheduled long run in half and did six miles this morning, very slowly. I ran from the house and made it out to Multnomah Village and back, mostly on Garden Home Road there and Capitol Highway back. It was a nice run, on a beautiful crisp morning, and it was a pleasure making it on foot from my house to a real Portland neighborhood, if you know what I mean. Those blisters hurt a little, but didn’t interfere. Mile splits: 11:02, 10:44, 11:02, 11:19, 11:07, 10:00.

And I go out on a date

I took the day off yesterday to spend time with my old friend A, who was flying into Portland on her way to visit her father down south, west of Corvallis. Her plane was late, but we still spent a great afternoon in NW Portland, first deciding to grab a yummy lunch at the always-busy Saint Honoré Boulangerie, then a mocha at the Dragonfly coffeehouse up the block from there, and finishing up with a nice hike along the Lower Macleay trail.

Later that night I had my first match.com date. She showed up a little late to the bar we were meeting at, but not unreasonably so. We had a drink (or two, in my case), then went for a long walk throughout much of downtown and NW Portland. She was an entirely beautiful woman, but our personalities didn’t really mesh. Still, I had a fun time, and we finished the night grabbing some after-midnight eats at the Portland City Grill, up on the 30th floor of whatever building that is.

So that went really well. The old Scott would have been trembling uncontrollably just waiting in a bar to meet someone for the first time. He’d be a real mess after that. He’d assume, probably rightly, that he’d never work up the courage to try another date and meet someone else, so he’d put all his hopes into the one woman he was meeting that night, piling the pressure ever higher. That guy? He wasn’t a lot of fun to be.

If I were in fifth grade, I would find both “fartleks” and “Butte to Butte” hilarious

I had to run 40 minutes and make Buffalo wings yesterday, all before 6:30, so I took the afternoon off. I did my running up on Terwilliger, parking near the north end and running to the intersection with Capitol Highway and back. That’s mostly uphill on the way out, and downhill back. The idea was to warm up on the way up the hill, then do some fartleks on the way back. (The schedule actually had us doing 14 60-second intervals, but it was too hot and by legs were too sore for me to try it. Plus, I’m trying to ease up a little in preparation for July 4th’s Butte to Butte 10K in Eugene.) Still, I ended up putting quite a bit of effort into the run. My legs didn’t quite fall off, but it was close. I ended up running 5.0 miles in 45:01, which is a pretty good clip for me, considering the hill and the heat.

Then I made the wings, yum, and headed off for the evening’s activities. First a pot-luck dinner party, then karaoke. I didn’t sing, and left pretty early to try to grab a little more sleep. When I got home, I checked my email, and it looks like I’ll be going on my first Match.com date soon.

Curses, tired again

I didn’t have time to make it to my usual Monday-night running group, so I ran my 40 minutes on the streets near my house. Are they getting hillier? Pant, pant, pant. I did 4.2 miles.

After that, a 10-person MiPL dinner at the Queen of Sheba, an Ethiopian restaurant. It was really good, and a great group of people showed up for it. I was going to make it home early and get to sleep at a really good time… when the dinner host turned out to have locked her keys in her car. A couple of us hung around until AAA showed up, which meant I got home around 10:45.

My weekend, and welcome to it

This weekend was one long, complicated, confusing blur, with too much staying out late and too many naps breaking up the days into weird shaped chunks I was having trouble following. Friday night, M and I went to the MiPL Laser Tag event in Beaverton. It was not my thing. Maybe that was simply because I was terrible at it, but I feel like there was more than that. This was only the second MiPL event M had been to, and the first large one. People seemed pretty amused by the squabbling-siblings way we interact with one another. There was also at least one lady disappointed to later learn that he was married. They have these cordless signaling devices for that, I’ve heard…

Saturday morning I got up at 5:30 to have plenty of time before the Portland Fit 7:15 run. It was an 11-miler; as posted earlier, all the stats can be seen here. Three and a half miles up Leif, three and a half miles back, two miles across the Steel Bridge, and two miles back. Hard to believe this was only the third time I’ve run that far. My right calf was still a little tweaked, so I was extra-careful not to push myself. I finished feeling well and with plenty of energy. Two days later, my thighs feel a little sore, which is always a nice change from the calves.

After the run Saturday, I got some coffee and lunch with my new-but-adored friend E. She’s become an important source of advice for me, especially on the kind of matters that I won’t discuss in this blog. The upshot of the advice was that, as much as I’d like to, it seems impossible for me not to get involved with women… but I need more practice dating. So I’m starting the online dating site thing now. Maybe it will be fun.

Then I took a nap, because there was a party Saturday night that was probably going to run late. It did; it was a great time, but I didn’t get home until 2:30. Then, aaaaaargh, I wasn’t able to sleep past 5:30. Two-and-a-half hours of sleep. <Whimper>.

I don’t want to talk about Sunday morning. Sunday morning was bad. Rupert was bad. Let’s leave it at that. I ran some errands after that, got a library card and did a little shopping. And a haircut. Not much else; after a nap, G came over, back from a camping trip on the coast. We talked for a few hours, then she left and I got to bed around 10:30. I’m really tired and groggy today, though.

11 miler

Here’s the data for the 11-mile run this morning. Now I’m sleepy… must nap! ZZZzzzzzz.

If you break the chain letter, you will get 17 weeks of bad luck and maybe an ingrown hair too

So Zee has “tagged” me to “complete” a “meme”. This is something the cool blogging kids do, right?

—

INSTRUCTIONS: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot, like so:

1) Classy
2) Meaning of Loaf/Cherry Ride (I got tagged twice-I feel SO popular!!!)
3) I’m Not Carrie Bradshaw
4) Behind Blue Eyes
5) I’d Rather Be Running

Select five people to tag:

Nah. I’m not popular enough.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

Somewhere around that time, I was moving from Richardson, Texas to Lake Oswego, Oregon. My headcase of a father moved with me. After the move, once I got back online, I found out that someone on the Boggle site I played on a lot had, to my surprise, desperately missed me; I’d eventually marry her.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Suffering through another year of that same wife’s shopping addiction, wondering how we were going to avoid bankruptcy or worse.

Five snacks you enjoy:

1) Edamame
2) Pretzels
3) Washed-rind cheeses
4) Bananas
5) Beef jerky

Five songs that you know all the lyrics to:

1) “Her Majesty” by The Beatles
2) Various instrumentals
3) See #2
4) This is hard. Do children’s songs count?
5) How about poems? I know “Jabberwocky” pretty well

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:

1) Pay off all my debt.
2) Move to a modern small house, in NW or SE Portland
3) Hire a personal assistant slash housekeeper slash pet-sitter
4) Buy a Mini Cooper
5) Find a genuinely rewarding and therefore of course low-paying job

Five bad habits:

1) Over-competitiveness
2) Putting off yardwork
3) Putting off dog washing and grooming
4) Not taking care of the car
5) Fearing other people’s judgment of me

Five things you like doing:

1) Running in the woods (ok, that’s a freebie)
2) The weekend NYT crossword puzzles
3) Playing chess
4) Laughing
5) Making others laugh

Five things you would never wear again:

I’m stumped.

Five favorite toys:

1) The Garmin Forerunner
2) A simple Sony FM-only Walkman
3) My ice cream maker (even if rarely used)
4) The Nintendo Wii
5) Teh Intrawebs

Plodding in the Afternoon

The twinges in my right calf were telling me I should do only a slow run today, so I did. Three point one miles around the hilly neighborhood, in 35:50.  I certainly didn’t get winded, but my legs do feel tired from it, and the heat wore me down a bit.

The Western States 100

The Western States Endurance Run starts early this Saturday morning. It finishes one hundred miles later, sometime after sunrise on Sunday for most. Western States is one of the oldest, toughest, and most famous 100-milers in the world. Starting in Squaw Valley, the first four and a half miles consist of a 2,550-foot vertical climb to the often-snowy elevation of 8,700 feet. Over the next 95 ½ miles and 38,500 feet of elevation change, runners will cross mountains, canyons, and at least one river, all in temperatures that were up to 117° last year. The course was originally a cross-country horseback race, until back in 1974, when a madman named Gordy Ainsleigh, stuck with a lame horse, did it on foot instead. Now 60, Ainsleigh will be running to complete his 22nd Western States this year. Despite, or because of, the notorious difficulty of the course, the race has become popular enough to need a lottery each year to choose entrants.

I have an eight-year goal to run this thing.

Tuesday Intervals

After work last night I changed into running clothes, put some water mixed with a little grapefruit juice into my handheld bottle, and took my digital cable box to the Comcast office. Driving there, I picked my water bottle up of the car seat to have a sip and it felt… really light. Aaaah! I had left it open and most of it had spilled out onto the seat! Great. Lucky for me, it didn’t soak the cable box. I threw the towel I always keep in my car over the spill and carried on. The Comcast office was busy. I took a number and waited. And waited. Then there was the waiting. Sigh.

After that was done, I went running on the Fanno Creek trial, conveniently close to the Comcast office. Intervals, 60 seconds hard and 60 seconds rest, lather, rinse, repeat 10 times. It was hot. I ran pretty hard, and mostly walked the rests. With my warm-up and cool-down, it came to three miles. I probably ran harder than I should, but I don’t seem to have hurt myself. This time, at least.

If you see only one incredibly creepy video advertising an all-you-can-eat seafood buffet this year, see this one

Update: Rats. They removed the video.

Hart’s Seafood Restaurant, in Conway, Arkansas, has it going on.

(via)

Unbuyers’ Remorse

I just did something I’ve been meaning to do for a while, something that would have been unthinkable for the person I used to be: I downgraded my cable TV to the most basic package available. No digital box, no VH1, no Food Network, no nothing. I hardly watch TV at all lately, and this both simplifies my home and saves me a startling amount of money, but I still feel this wrench in my stomach having done it. It’s weird. I’m feeling a little numb. Am I grieving for HBO On Demand? Am I that pathetic? Maybe so.

Cheating

So for some reason, the Portland Fit training schedule had us taking yesterday off. Maybe it’s because they are upping the interval times from 30 seconds to a minute today. Oh, well: I ran anyway. Six miles, with the Portland Running Company group. The pace varied from 8:36 to 9:40 or so.

FAQ about my wife

I keep meaning to answer questions about how my wife died on this blog, and I’ve finally gotten around to it.

Busy Day

I was looking forward to having breakfast with fellow blogger Zee this morning, and wasn’t disappointed. Because it’s always a good time when people on antidepressants get together, right? They must work: even though we talked about a lot of not-so-much-fun stuff, it wasn’t depressing. And the food was yummy, with the possible exception of the chicken sausage patty Zee got when she was expecting normal sausage links.

After that, I headed downtown, intending to kill some time before a 2:00 trip to the Art Museum. I killed more time than intended in my car, when I found myself trapped by the Gay Pride Parade. Traffic was at a near standstill and there seemed to be no way to get past Broadway. Eventually I found a parking spot on First. I did the crossword puzzle and went over to the library to read a magazine. Finally, 1:45 rolled around, and I headed to the museum, where I joined a MiPL group going to the traveling exhibit of Rembrandt and other 17th century Dutch artists. Some nice stuff. But the audio tour was a bit banal.

After that, to late late lunch / early early dinner at DragonFish with some of the MiPL folks from the museum. That was pretty good; they have a Saturday and Sunday “brunch dim sum” menu where you get your choice of three small plates, miso soup, and edamame, all for $12. Well worth it. And it was a funny, sociable group of people too.

After that, I called up my friend G, and we spent some time up at Pittock Mansion, just taking in the view and talking. We’re becoming pretty close friends, which is great. Even if she can’t ever win a game of Killer Bunnies against me :-P

Sleepy Run

The Portland Fit group run this morning was eight miles, with a choice between a flat waterfront route and a hilly Macleay Trail route. I was feeling tired and sleepy and didn’t want to have to focus much (or stop and walk every 10 minutes to wait for the group to catch up, like coach JR makes us do on the trail) so I did the flat route. Right away, my Forerunner told me it’s battery was low, and after a few minutes it conked out. I kind of forgot to recharge it the last few days. So, I don’t know how fast I ran, but I imagine it was nine-minute miles or maybe less, since I ran near the front of the yellow pack. Really, I only was running fast because I wanted to get it done with, go home, and go back to sleep ASAP. I skipped the after-race seminar — it was going to be on “recovery and sports massage,” and sounded like another advertisement for the Clearwater Clinic — and headed home.

Mediocre Run

I ran tonight in Tryon Creek State Park, which I’d hiked in a bit long ago when I lived in Lake Oswego, but had never ran in before. I don’t know if it was the hills, the temperature (not that it was really all that warm), or me, but it was a tough half hour. I made it 2.6 miles in 30 minutes and was glad to be done. OK. Now I have to mow the lawn. Waaaah…!

More late-night coffee

Ava Roasteria, in downtown Beaverton, continues to astound me. Not so much the coffee (meh) or the food (double meh) but the liveliness of its social space. Last night, a Wednesday, I left there around 10:20 at night and the place was still almost full, inside and out. Ours wasn’t even the only group playing card games. It makes me so happy to see something other than a bar or nightclub thrive like that.

Optimism

I am excited to see how rapid and painless my recovery from the half-marathon has been. I’m a new runner in the middle of his first marathon training program; I was supposed to treat the half as more of a training run than a race. Which I didn’t. They went so far as to specifically tell us “don’t sprint at the end, your muscles will pay you back.” Which I ignored.

But I’m feeling great this week anyway. I wish today weren’t a rest day. My legs are itchy to get out there and move!

I’m sure I’ll have more rough weeks coming up. I’m not superstitious, I don’t think I’m jinxing myself by enjoying the moment, but I know I need to be careful not to get overconfident and do anything stupid. Er, anything more stupid. Maybe I should quit while I’m ahead ;-)

Heh

My blog is currently the top Google hit for “Helvetia Half Marathon 2007 Results“. Which in the grand scheme of things isn’t a very common search I’m sure, but compared to the usual traffic this blog gets, it’s quite a spike. Hi everyone! Hope you enjoyed the race as much as I did!

The Hill

A 30-minute run was scheduled for today, and timing-wise, the morning was going to work best. Right after I woke up, I thought I was going to have to skip it, but some careful stretching loosened up the calves that had stiffened up overnight and I felt good to go. It was clear this was going to be a nice, slow recovery run though.

And so it was. I jogged 2.93 miles in 34:10. But my route took me up The Hill at the end of the run. This is the monster hill near my house that I’ve mentioned before. Today, I made it the whole way up the hill without slowing to a walk! It felt great.

How steep is this hill? According to gmap pedometer’s elevation data, it climbs 180 vertical feet over a quarter mile. Boston’s infamous Heartbreak Hill, by comparison, climbs just 80 feet over a half mile. Of course, Heartbreak Hill comes at around mile 21 of the Boston Marathon and is the last of a whole series of hills, so its reputation is still deserved. I suppose.

My body surprises me again

Right in time for my Monday-night run, my calves loosened up a bit. I went running with the usual group, and my legs felt good! I ended up doing five miles — the first few pretty quickly — and my legs gave me less problems than my lungs. My cardio is definitely still in recovery from Helvetia, though.

I like the way sometimes it’s my legs that hold me back and sometimes it’s my lungs. It must mean that the two systems are improving at the same rate. Which seems like a good thing.

No doubt I will get a compound fracture shortly

Well, I’ve officially registered for the 2007 Portland marathon. $90 + a $6.85 anal rape processing fee. My bib number is 1873. Start rooting!

Helvetia Half Marathon Official Results

Official results can be looked up here; you can see mine here.

Chip time: 1:58:10. (Chip time is the time from the start line to the finish line. It doesn’t include the time you spend getting up to the start line after the race starts. My gun time, which does include that time, was 1:59:14.)

Out of everybody: 655th place with 1872 finishers behind. About 26% of finishers ahead.

Out of all men: 429th place with 498 finishers behind. About 46% of finishers ahead.

Out of all men aged 35-39: 85th place with 93 finishers behind. About 47% of finishers ahead.

Of the 2527 who finished, 63% were female and 37% were male.

Race Report: The Helvetia Half Marathon

I had everything all laid out and ready this morning and had gotten to sleep around 10 last night, so getting up early to get out to Hillsboro Stadium well before the 8:00 am start was no big deal. M was running it too, and we were going to carpool from my house if he made it there in time, which he did. Traffic around the stadium was heavy, but all things considered, not too bad. I think we made it there by 7:20 or so.

The weather was cool and just beginning to sprinkle a little. The rain would pick up throughout the race, but it didn’t bother me at all during the run. I didn’t want to mess with the little paper cups of water or sports drink at the aid stations (and I like to drink when I like, not at set intervals) so I was carrying my own drinks. I went with a belt-and-suspenders approach, carrying my small Amphipod hand-held bottle and also wearing my CamelBak fanny pack. The bottle was to be my main supply, hopefully getting refilled along the course, and the CamelBak — not completely full, so it wouldn’t bounce as much — was the reserve supply in case something went wrong with the refill plan. The Camelbak had a “CamelBak Elixer” electrolyte tab dissolved in it; the bottle held plain water to start with, along with a couple Clif Shots in the handle.

M took the opposite approach, carrying nothing whatsoever. His other strategy was to take an Immodium before the race, which seemed to work out. We talked trash a little before the race, I think, but mostly (as far as possible with two hypercompetitive guys like us) were determined to run our own races and hoping to meet our own goals. We both wanted to break two hours. M had been having some trouble with his legs for a few week, which had him a bit nervous, I think.

We got into the enormous starting pack around the area marked for 9-minute milers. I saw a walker I knew from Portland Fit right by me — she didn’t know why her little group of walkers was lining up so far forward either — and talked to her a bit. She was wearing a two-liter hydration backpack, so we talked hydration equipment a bit. After some more standing around and trying to keep warm, we were off.

I wanted to go out slow and pick up steam only after the hills were done, which is around mile eight. M’s plan was to set his Garmin Forerunner to have him doing a 13.1-mile workout with a target time of two hours. This turned out to have a few flaws, we saw later, but it did mean that he was running consistent times — uphill, downhill, all about the same. I’m not sure that’s a good thing. (Maybe he did try to gain a little on the downhills and lose a little on the uphills — I’m not sure. But it seemed fairly consistent, from what I could see.)

The first few miles weren’t much fun; they never are for me. But at least they were pretty flat. Mile one was 9:10, about right or perhaps a little fast. Mile two, 8:56, again, too fast. Three, 9:11, about right. During this time I had M in front of me, pulling away a bit, but always in-sight in his distinctive green shirt.

The hills started at mile three and my times slowed down as they should. Miles four and five were 9:23 and 9:50. Mile six had an extended downhill section where I put on the afterburners (ok, where I ran faster than most people around me). I think this is where I caught M — he says he didn’t care for my “make way, coming through!” as I rolled past him on my way to an 8:43 mile. I slowed down a bit to recover and have a Clif Shot after that, and M managed to sneak past me again, without seeing me. I came up beside him and asked how his legs were doing. They were ok. He told me I should get a move on and not dawdle with him, so I could break two hours. I told him something about how the two hours would have to come naturally, not be forced, or somesuch, but shortly after I sped up a little and didn’t see him again until the finish line. (Oops, I gave away the ending of one sub-plot there: I did end up finishing before M. Here’s an extra-special “SMOKED YA” going out to my pal!)

One of these miles in here had considerable uphill, but I was feeling good and running well and it didn’t slow me much. I ran mile seven in 8:44, and that included a stop to refill my bottle with Gleukos sports drink. That was a little iffy. I show the guy my bottle, lid already off, and ask if I can get a refill. He tried to hand me a little cup. “No, can I refill this?” He points me to the big barrel of the stuff they’ve mixed up and tells me to help myself. There’s a pitcher floating in the barrel, for pouring. Well? I got my bottle refilled, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get some of my sweat into the remaining Gleukos too. Ick. Sorry.

It was somewhere during mile seven that I started to feel good. The hills were done, my stride and pace were in the good place that I only seem to get to when my legs have been running for a long while, and my heart rate was going down. This was interesting. Running faster splits in the (flat) last five miles of the race than I had in the (also flat) first three, I also had a considerably lower heart rate. Apparently my feeling that it takes me an hour of running to warm up sometimes isn’t just an illusion!

Miles eight through eleven were an uneventful 8:33, 8:32, 8:59, and 8:58. Getting past mile 10 felt good – with just a 5K left, I felt like I could throw away any worries about not finishing, or having to walk the rest of the way. Getting past mile 11 was another story: as soon as I ran past the 11-mile marker, I found myself thinking “every step I take now is the farthest I’ve ever run! What am I doing trying to run it fast?” I didn’t slow down, but the mental side got a lot more difficult. I ran mile twelve in 8:51.

As with my two previous races, the last mile was the hardest part. Thinking back to how I felt I could have finished the Bridge to Bridge 10K with a lot more left, I pushed my speed past my comfort level. I was huffing and puffing, but — huh? — my heart rate was still around 84% of my max, not the 88% it had been at the start of the race. Checking the time at mile 12, I knew I had plenty of time to finish and still break two hours, so that was good, and kept me going strong. Mile 13 went by in a very long-feeling 8:34.

The extra tenth of a mile takes place inside Hillsboro Stadium, on a springy track that just begs to be sprinted on. Sprint I did. I remembered to stop my watch, which was displaying 1:58. The “gun time” hadn’t passed two hours yet either, which made me feel pretty good. All in all, I felt elated. I recovered my breath waiting in the line to have my timing chip removed, than passed through the gauntlet, getting my finisher’s medal, shirt, and hamburger. Mmmmmhmmm hamburger. The shirt and burger were outside the stadium and some steps had to be climbed to get there: ouch! My hip flexors were tender! My calves, not too bad.

After I got my burger I started retracing my steps looking for M. I found him, looking a little dazed, but he said he was ok, and we went and got his shirt and hamburger. He knew he didn’t break two hours, and thought he got 2:02-something. But talking to him, it turns out that was the time shown on the gun-time clock when he crossed the finish line, not the tape-to-tape time that will be official. I asked if he had forgotten to stop his watch and he explained that when his 13.1 mile workout was done the Forerunner said he was done and stopped timing — and that was maybe 0.1 miles short of the actual finish. (Why? (a) The GPS isn’t perfectly accurate. (b) 13.1 miles is with a perfect line.) Workout mode? Maybe not the best for races. For a while he fretted that if he’d sprinted the finish, maybe he would have broken two hours, but then he remembered that the Forerunner said he had been running almost exactly two hours when it stopped. Next time, if he keeps using the workout mode like this, I’m sure he’ll add in some padding distance.

It was cold and the rain was really starting to come down. We had some trouble finding the car, and got even colder and wetter. Getting out of the parking lot took forever, then I got lost in Hillsboro a bit. But that’s pretty dull. The take-home message is this: run a half-marathon! It’s fun!

Here’s a graph. The top line is heart rate, the middle elevation, and the bottom pace. As I said, the heart rate is very interesting.

Quick update – Broke Two Hours, w00t!

I survived my first half-marathon! Unofficial time: 1:58:12. That’s an average 9:01 mile, and, more importantly, shattered my goal time of 2:00:00. No injuries, though my left hip flexor is pretty sore. I’ll write more later.

Lunchtime jog / two days until the half-marathon

A 30-minute run was scheduled today and I took it easy, perhaps easier than any other run since Portland Fit started up. I didn’t track my speed, but I’d guess 14-minute miles. I just wanted to stretch out my legs and remind my body that I haven’t stopped wanting to move. So where do I stand for the Helvetia Half-Marathon, Saturday morning? My legs are still feeling sore here and there from Sunday night’s ultimate Frisbee. Nothing bad, but it would be nice if after tomorrow’s rest day, they were doing better. I should be able to get full nights of sleep tonight and Friday, which should help. Other than that, I’m feeling good, energetic, and healthy.

I am not smart

Last night I went to two MiPL events: Euchre for Dummies and Karaoke at the Buffalo Gap. When I walked out of the Alemeda Brewhouse, where the Euchre was played, I forgot to pay my check. I had walked almost back to my car when it hit me, and I rushed back, embarrassed. This wasn’t enough for my brain, though. Oh no. My brain wanted to see me really squirm. Maybe it’s still mad about the time I endangered it by putting crayons up my nose. So, when I left the Buffalo Gap later that night, I managed to get to my car and drive almost all the way home before I remembered I hadn’t payed.

I am out of clever titles for these training reports

Last night I did a fairly slow (9:45 miles or so) 3.2 mile run with my usual Monday-night running group. Actually, only two of us turned around at the 1.6 mile mark, and the other person who did had run a marathon just two days earlier, so she had a great excuse. I guess “I’m trying to rest a bit before my first half marathon” isn’t an entirely bad excuse, but it doesn’t have the same punch.

Even though my ankle was a little tweaked from ultimate frisbee on Sunday and my glutes and groin muscles were feeling it too, the run felt really good. This morning I’m feeling sore again though. I’m going to go ahead and count the ultimate as a full-fledged workout and skip tonight’s run.

I never know what to keep and what to throw away

 

Link

“Ultimate Frisbee” is the worst name for a sport ever

I went to a MiPL Ultimate Frisbee game this evening. It was in the mid to high eighties, and it was humid, whew! This was the first time I’ve played Ultimate since college. I forgot how much running around it involved. Plus, back then, I could probably make it for about three plays before I’d be too tired to move. It was really a treat having some endurance. It wasn’t that I wasn’t sucking air after sprinting for a little bit — I was, hard — but I recovered within what felt like a few seconds after stopping, and I was ready to go again. I’m also pretty good at throwing and catching a Frisbee, so I had a great time, even if it was completely exhausting. Only eight people showed up, but most of them were pretty good.

Portland Fit’s schedule has us running intervals Tuesday, but I’m going to count the Ultimate as my week’s intervals session and just make it a normal run Tuesday. Or maybe take it off entirely.

Dim Sum

After this morning’s run, I went to get dim sum with MiPLers. We met at Jin Wah, a place by the Fred Meyer’s in Beaverton that I’ve always heard good things about. Um. It was really mediocre. Fong Chong in Chinatown has tastier dim sum by a factor of four. Almost every item disappointed me in some way, and half of them were filled with the same shrimp cake mixture, hidden under one guise after another after another. “Hmm, what’s this? Oh! Shrimp cake wrapped in glutinous rice! And this? Shrimp cake wrapped in fried noodly things! This?” etc… It’s a “Vietnamese and Chinese restaurant”, that should tell you enough right there. Ever heard of the “hedgehog principle”? Do one thing and do it well.

In which I host my own trail running event

This was a recovery week on the Portland Fit schedule, in preparation for the Helvetia Half Marathon next week. So today’s long run was only eight miles. Ah, I can remember when that was my longest. Time flies. Portland Fit’s usual Saturday meeting was disrupted by Rose Festival preparations taking place in “our” parking lot. I could have run with the group in Vancouver on Sunday, but you know me and my Vancouverphobia. Instead, on Wednesday, I posted a Forest Park run as a MiPL event. Three others signed up, and to my surprise, all three showed up, even at the early hour of 8:00 am. There were two seasoned runners and one less experienced one; pretty quickly we let the experienced ones head off at a faster pace and I hung back with the slower one. She was a trooper and gamely made it up the big climb the Wildwood trail takes south of the Lower Macleay stone house. We did a 5.7 mile loop or so (I forgot to restart my watch for one stretch), coming back down the last third mile of Leif Erikson and then down Thurman to our starting point at Lower Macleay park. My running partner was done, so I headed back alone down the trail again, hoping to catch the other two on their return trip. Which I did, with almost perfect timing — returning with them, I finished with a total of around 7.7 miles.