Exercise

Mr. Blue Sky (the cramp-free run)

Tonight’s run was a bit warmer than the last few — 23ºC, with a light breeze and the sun low in the sky. When I got to the park I decided it wasn’t quite low enough so I walked a lap, looking for any holes on the path that I could fill in (holes made by energetic dogs or perhaps the coyotes the sign on the fence warns about but are never seen). Finding the path hole-free, I set out, keenly aware of the cramptastic time I had on my last run. My start was a bit more cautious than usual as a result but I suffered no cramps or other body discomforts and turned in a solid run, matching my pre-cramp pace of 5:27* and coming in under 55 minutes.

The park was pretty quiet, with no games being played and less than half a dozen people out with their dogs. The guy with the cute puppy that refused to play fetch was back and this time the puppy seemed willing to go along with his owner’s plan, aggressively hunting down the thrown balls. For awhile, anyway.

Chart:

Distance July 25st July 21st July 17th July 13th July 11th July 5th
1 km 5:10 5:05 5:06 5:10 5:15 5:10
2 km 5:13 5:08 5:09 5:14 5:20 5:13
3 km 5:15 5:14 5:12 5:18 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:18 5:19 5:14 5:21 5:27 5:18
5 km 5:20 5:24 5:17 5:23 5:29 5:21
6 km 5:22 5:28 5:20 5:25 5:31 5:24
7 km 5:24 5:32 5:22 5:26 5:33 5:27
8 km 5:26 5:36 5:24 5:29 5:35 5:30
9 km 5:28 5:39 5:26 5:30 5:36 5:33
10 km 5:28 5:40 5:27 5:30 5:37 5:34

* The Nike site reported my pace at 5:28 and I’m recording that here but the actual Nike+ sensor says it was 5:27. I believe the Nike site rounds up, so I’m sticking with 5:27 as the ‘official’ pace, darn it.

Cramps! Bees! Baseball! A run!

21ºC and high cloud for tonight’s run. For a change of pace, there was virtually no wind.

A baseball game was in progress at the eastern diamond and I was reminded yet again at what a great motivator baseball is for running. This particular set of teams were applying what you call serious wood to the ball, cracking them out regularly at high velocity and with an alarming tendency to head straight toward the northern stretch of the path I run on. I tried to pick up the pace each time I neared so I’d clear the line of fire before the next pitch was released. One ball went into a tree, which is as you might guess is not part of the playing field. Another ball got knocked into the street. I consider myself lucky to have escaped without a goose egg on the noggin.

I had a good start but tragedy struck between the 2 and 3 km mark. Okay, not really tragedy, more like a cramp in my abdomen. I ate a little more than an hour before running and it’s the only thing I can think of to explain it. Whatever the cause, the cramp was enough to put a serious dent in my pace. I almost packed it in but usually a cramp eases up after a few km, so I continued on. This particular cramp made itself comfy, though, and persisted through the remainder of the run. Stupid cramp.

As a result, my pace was a very sluggish 5:39, a whopping 12 seconds off my last run, but I at least got the full 10 km in. And Tiger Woods didn’t congratulate me for the 100th time for completing another 5,000 miles, so there’s that, too.

The final insult came at the end when two bees stubbornly kept flying around the fountain. I was parched but they would not leave. I ran the fountain spigot and splashed water. They buzzed about a bit then settled back, one of them perching on top of the actual spigot itself. A nearby pail was half-full of water for thirsty dogs. I proceeded to take the bucket and dump it directly on top of the fountain. This persuaded the bees to leave long enough for me to get a few sting-free gulps of water.

The chart nicely illustrates where the cramp struck. Note how the pace in the 3rd and 4th km shoots up by a ridiculous 6 and 5 seconds. That pretty much sealed the run right there. By the end my pace had moved closer to what it would normally be, meaning the cramp had either lessened or enough endorphins kicked in for me to mostly ignore it.

Distance July 21st July 17th July 13th July 11th July 5th
1 km 5:05 5:06 5:10 5:15 5:10
2 km 5:08 5:09 5:14 5:20 5:13
3 km 5:14 5:12 5:18 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:19 5:14 5:21 5:27 5:18
5 km 5:24 5:17 5:23 5:29 5:21
6 km 5:28 5:20 5:25 5:31 5:24
7 km 5:32 5:22 5:26 5:33 5:27
8 km 5:36 5:24 5:29 5:35 5:30
9 km 5:39 5:26 5:30 5:36 5:33
10 km 5:40 5:27 5:30 5:37 5:34

Breathe in the (bug-filled) air

Tonight’s run was baseball and soccer-free, so the risk of getting whacked by sporting equipment was down to zero. Yay! It was 21ºC, sunny and with only a very slight breeze blowing.

A few other joggers were out, along with the usual contingent of people with their dogs, including a guy with a puppy that refused, utterly, to chase after a thrown ball. I think the owner got more exercise than the puppy.

I started faster tonight, coming in at 5:06 and had no dramatic slowdowns during the run. Only a second separated the last two km, with my average pace being 5:27, three seconds better than my previous pace. I also decided to run farther since I knew I wouldn’t be breaking any speed records and actually went on even more than I had intended because my sweaty fingers could not get the scroll wheel on the iPod to turn so I could select End Workout from the menu. An unconventional way to push yourself, I suppose. The total distance was 10.64 km. Curiously the pace for the final .64 km shows as 5:04, which is blazingly fast for me after already running 10 km. I wonder if it was bugged or if I really did boogie once I was off the clock.

The title of this post refers to the clouds of gnats or gnat-like bugs that hang around the path near the trees. I’m pretty sure I inhaled about 50,000 of them along the way. At one point I could feel a bunch of them softly bouncing off my face as I ran through one of the clouds (which are very difficult to see until you’re right on them). I’ve eaten worse.

The chart:

Distance July 17th July 13th July 11th July 5th
1 km 5:06 5:10 5:15 5:10
2 km 5:09 5:14 5:20 5:13
3 km 5:12 5:18 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:14 5:21 5:27 5:18
5 km 5:17 5:23 5:29 5:21
6 km 5:20 5:25 5:31 5:24
7 km 5:22 5:26 5:33 5:27
8 km 5:24 5:29 5:35 5:30
9 km 5:26 5:30 5:36 5:33
10 km 5:27 5:30 5:37 5:34

The “beat the fountain” run

I had a couple of goals for tonight’s run. I wanted to improve the time on my first km and tighten up the overall pace a bit. When I got into the final km, I created a third goal: beat the fountain. In my previous run I had finished a little ways past it but this time it seemed possible to finish before reaching it.

And I did. Woo. Plus there was only one bee again and this time it was down low so I didn’t have to shush it away when I went to get a post-run drink.

However, there were four soccer balls kicked into my path during the run. You’ll never get to the World Cup with that kind of ball control, guys! The guy on the scooter with the dog in tow also made a re-appearance. For awhile it felt like the jogging version of Groundhog Day.

There were two baseball games underway when I arrived but both wrapped up in the first 15 minutes or so. At one diamond they later resumed with some ad hoc baseball-ish game using a large plastic ball (the kind you kick around). It was a bit weird but everyone was very excited about playing. Almost too excited, if you know what I mean.

Speaking of which, for three laps a couple of guys were parked near the path smoking those funny cigarettes. It was a bit distracting.

For the run itself, it was 18ºC, with a mild breeze and the sun low enough to not be an issue. Yesterday we had winds gusting up to 70 km/h so there were a few branches on the path but nothing that couldn’t be easily navigated around.

My first lap time was a much better 5:10 and I had another strong, consistent finish. In fact, my 9th and 10th km times were identical. My overall pace was 5:30, a seven second improvement over the previous 10K. Overall I’m pleased with the progress.

Chart:

Distance July 13th July 11th July 5th
1 km 5:10 5:15 5:10
2 km 5:14 5:20 5:13
3 km 5:18 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:21 5:27 5:18
5 km 5:23 5:29 5:21
6 km 5:25 5:31 5:24
7 km 5:26 5:33 5:27
8 km 5:29 5:35 5:30
9 km 5:30 5:36 5:33
10 km 5:30 5:37 5:34

An evening run full of numbers

What a difference nine degrees makes! Not to mention there was no waterslide getting in the way of tonight’s run.

I had an atypically slow start (tentative, I suppose) and that actually affected my overall time, a rather unusual occurrence. The good news is I steadied out into a comfortable pace and maintained it for the remaining 8 km, ending with an average pace of 5:37. Stamina was not an issue at all, to my surprise. My legs are feeling a bit sore, but I don’t consider this odd given that it is only my second 10K in the last 80+ days. I plan on doing some strength exercises on the off days to reduce the chance of injury.

And now the stats:

  • Cap Tug Number (CTN): 3 (slick forehead played a factor here)
  • Temperature: 21ºC
  • Number of bees at the fountain: 1 (it had been plugged up again and was once more a mini-reservoir. I dumped a handful of water on the bee twice before it was convinced to leave)
  • Number of smarty pants joggers who ran past me: 1 (he stopped running after getting about half a lap ahead)
  • Number of guys wearing climbing gear in a nearby tree: 1
  • Number of waterslides: 0 (yay!)
  • Number of scrimmage soccer games in progress: 1
  • Number of soccer balls kicked in front of me due to the above: 2
  • Number of kids who didn’t seem to realize than standing in the middle of the path does in fact create an obstacle: 3
  • Number of guys sans shirt: 1
  • Number of women sans shirt: 0
  • Number of old men on electric scooters racing along the path with a dog in tow: 1
  • Number of people out with their dogs: many
  • Number of people out with their cats: 0
  • Number of coyotes spotted: 0
  • Number of drinks I took from the fountain at the end of the run: 3

And the comparison chart where you can see how the times get closer the longer the distance:

Distance July 11th July 5th
1 km 5:15 5:10
2 km 5:20 5:13
3 km 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:27 5:18
5 km 5:29 5:21
6 km 5:31 5:24
7 km 5:33 5:27
8 km 5:35 5:30
9 km 5:36 5:33
10 km 5:37 5:34

Bees, water and no run

I had planned things perfectly for today’s run. With the sun setting at 9:16 p.m. and temperatures slightly cooler today, I headed out just before 8 p.m. This would give me enough time to finish a 10K just as the sun was beginning to set, insuring that most of the run would be done in the shade.

I got to the park and notice something over on the large hill that runs along the western side. It is a makeshift waterslide. It extends down the hill and well across the path. It is not something I could easily jink around. I contemplate what to do as kids go sliding down, hollering with delight. (The photo is a low light capture from my iPod’s video camera, so the quality of the image is not exactly high.)

I figure they might pack it in soon so I stick around and head to the fountain for a drink while I wait. The fountain is full of bees, like a bad Nicolas Cage movie. Of late the ‘bowl’ of the fountain has been brimming with water, like a mini-reservoir, but apparently someone unplugged whatever was in there keeping the water from draining. The now dry fountain has apparently become the hot new bee gathering spot. This makes getting a drink of water rather more hazardous than I’d like so I passed.

In the meantime I noticed that a section of the waterslide had become unattached. I also noticed someone laying at the bottom of the hill spread eagle and not really moving much. It looks like this unlucky girl had managed to snag and pull away one of the plastic sections of the slide then tumbled the rest of the way to the bottom. I did see a little movement as people gathered around her so perhaps she was just winded. Amazingly, someone began stitching the wayward bit of the slide back together. Injury or death would not stop the fun tonight!

I went home.

Here’s hoping they all decide to go to the beach tomorrow.

Hot doubles run

Hot = temperature (30ºC)
Doubles = two baseball games in progress
Run = what I tried to do today!

It seems the weather decided to skip the usual intro to summer with seasonal temperatures and jumped straight into the heat wave part. With the thermometer reporting 30ºC I headed down to China Creek Park at 7 p.m., hoping the sun would be low enough to take the edge off the heat. For the first km I was okay but after that I got really hot and not in the sexy way, more in the ‘sweating like crazy and feeling like you’re going to melt’ way. The trail was only about one-quarter in the shade at this point and I had to make a couple of stops at the water fountain by the 3K mark. The second time I did a dog stood patiently beside me, waiting his turn.

The problem with stopping for a drink is while the water refreshes, resuming your pace takes a little more effort than maintaining it. You also heat up a lot while you are stopped at the fountain, which exacerbates the whole resumption part.

There were two baseball games underway and at one point someone in the southeast diamond hit a ball down the third base line which sent it flying over the trail about 15 feet ahead of me. The girl who ran across and threw it back either did not see me or did not care. All that existed to her was The Ball. If I hadn’t momentarily paused I would have caught it in the side of my head. That was the only near-hit, though.

By the time I got to 4K I knew I would not make it to 10. I had simply started too early and I am not yet back in good enough condition to battle through this kind of heat. I decided I would go to 5K and see how I felt. As I hit 5K I also exited a patch of shade and moved back into the blazing sun. I called it good and stopped there.

My pace was actually 1 second slower than my 10K run three days ago. Ouch. On the plus side, I officially passed the 500 km mark, according to my Nike+ sensor.

Here’s a comparison of how the two runs stack up to the 5K mark. You can see how I pooped out after 1 km.

Distance July 8th July 5th
1 km 5:11 5:10
2 km 5:18 5:13
3 km 5:24 5:14
4 km 5:30 5:18
5 km 5:36 5:21

Dust run

Today I had vowed to do my first post-injury 10K run.

And I did! Woo!

It was breezy but I must have tugged with an extra bit of manliness on my cap because the Cap Tug Number was only 1. It was about 19ºC and sunny, though I found the sun was not really an issue until the last km or so.

I had girded myself for the run by dividing it into chunks that could be managed more easily psychologically — the first few km as one, getting to that halfway mark as another and so on. As I passed 5 km I was reasonably confident I could make it. By the time I hit 8 km I knew I would and even thought about trying that little extra burst of speed in the final stretch. It was in the last km that my body began feeling like a furnace, so instead of turning on the boosters, I focused on just maintaining my pace. I added roughly three seconds every km and ended with an average pace of 5.34/km, which is pretty decent for 75 days between 10Ks, so I’m fairly pleased with how it went.

As expected on a sunny afternoon there were a decent number of people in the park but no remarkable incidents to report. Tiger Woods congratulated me for another 250 miles completed. Yet again.

Comparison chart of today’s 10K and the last one on April 21st:

Distance July 5th April 21st
1 km 5:10 5:04
2 km 5:13 5:10
3 km 5:14 5:14
4 km 5:18 5:18
5 km 5:21 5:21
6 km 5:24 5:24
7 km 5:27 5:26
8 km 5:30 5:28
9 km 5:33 5:29
10 km 5:34 5:30

First summer run 2010

Technically today was not my first summer run but weather-wise it felt like it. It was about 19ºC, sunny and with a light breeze (Cap Tug Number: 1). Unlike my previous run I had a faster start then slowed more in the second km, so a different means to the same end. My pace improved in the last km, which is encouraging and I broke the psychological barrier of 27 minutes (the iPod recorded a time of 26:59 but the Nike+ site seems to round up so it reports 27:00). It’s been six days since my last run due to various events taking up my usual running window so the continued plateau in performance is actually a relief.

Tiger Woods congratulated me for circumnavigating the globe yet again. Thanks, Tiger, I appreciate the support!

One minor incident of note during the run: a woman with a pair of large gray short hair dogs (they looked like some hound crossbreed) was sitting in the shade inside the path. As I ran by one of the dogs barked at me, once. It didn’t move or do anything else. Still, it’s the first time I’ve had a dog bark at me and it brought back memories of my childhood, which can be summarized as all the events between getting bitten by dogs. Still, I didn’t let it rattle me. I later noticed the dog barking at other people, so it seemed to just be one of those “Hey, I’m here, you will notice me” kind of things.

If all goes well, this should be my last 5K comparison chart for awhile, as I move on up to 10K.

Distance July 2nd June 26th June 15th June 11th June 7th June 4th June 1st
1 km 5:07 5:10 5:07 5:08 5:08 5:07 5:03
2 km 5:12 5:11 5:13 5:12 5:15 5:20 5:21
3 km 5:16 5:17 5:17 5:16 5:21 5:27 5:33
4 km 5:20 5:21 5:19 5:20 5:24 5:31 5:40
5 km 5:22 5:23 n/a 5:24 5:28 5:34 5:45

Trepidation (and a run)

After eight days off, I was a bit tentative about running, given the litany of problems I have suffered lately, but the weather was pleasant — hazy sunshine, 18ºC and a light breeze, so I decided to give it a go with another modest 5K run. After a warm-up and some stretching I began and ended up shaving one second off my best time for the month. My right calf felt perfectly fine and any creakiness in my left leg worked itself out fairly quickly. Although my first km was not especially fast, I like that I was able to maintain my pace over the 2nd km and picked the pace up slightly in the final stretch.

I am introducing the cap-tug number (CTN) with this update. When I am running and start to perspire my cap begins to ride up slightly on my head. This is not an issue unless it is breezy, which it has been all freaking spring (and now summer). When it gets windy, the cap threatens to lift and take flight, forcing me to tug it back down. Due to the perspiration, this is only a temporary measure, requiring further tugs to insure the cap stays on. Today I had to tug the cap four times to keep it in place, thus the CTN for today is rated 4. A guy actually had a kite out at the park but it wasn’t quite windy enough and he gave up after a short time. Still, that gives you an idea of what it was like (current winds are being reported as 11 km/h).

For a change I opted to do my post-run stretching in the park instead of waiting to do it at home. I almost overdid it while waiting for a fellow jogger to run by. I didn’t have to wait but he was…uh…not wearing a shirt.

I like summer. That is all.

Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):

Distance June 26th June 15th June 11th June 7th June 4th June 1st
1 km 5:10 5:07 5:08 5:08 5:07 5:03
2 km 5:11 5:13 5:12 5:15 5:20 5:21
3 km 5:17 5:17 5:16 5:21 5:27 5:33
4 km 5:21 5:19 5:20 5:24 5:31 5:40
5 km 5:23 n/a 5:24 5:28 5:34 5:45

The super-short run

Although conditions were near-perfect (warm, sunny, light breeze) I cut my run short just past the 1 km mark today because the right calf muscle I had pulled a few days back started feeling sore. I figure I need to give it a few more days to recover. On the good side, I managed a pace of 5:02 on the one km I completed, which is pretty good for my post-injury (the other one) since returning to the runs in June.

Tiger Woods once again congratulated me on completing yet another 250 miles. The grasp of distances he is displaying via my iPod may indicate why he has been having some problems since returning to golfing.

The surprise twist run

Although I set the iPod to a distance of 10K, I planned on running only half that, figuring that I was reaching a plateau with the 5K runs and this would be a good ‘send-off’ before tackling the 10Ks again. Little did I realize the surprise twist to come!

The weather was a mix of sun and cloud, around 17ºC, with a light breeze blowing. The trail was in much better shape than the previous run. I could feel my lower left leg but it didn’t hurt and did not affect my pace at all. As you can see in the chart below my time up to the 4K mark was nearly identical to the previous run. I believe had I done the full 5K I would have had a slightly improved pace due to the short 2-second gap between the 3 and 4K mark. However, just after hitting 4K my right calf (surprise twist!) suddenly started seizing up. I spent about 10 seconds running on it trying to decide what to do and opted to end the run early rather than aggravating it. I don’t believe it is actually hurt, as it seems like just a muscle spasm but it was certainly not the way I expected the run to end.

I am officially™ planning a full 10K run next time. Excelsior!

Chart (bolded numbers are overall average time/km):

Distance June 15th June 11th June 7th June 4th June 1st April 30th
1 km 5:07 5:08 5:08 5:07 5:03 5:03
2 km 5:13 5:12 5:15 5:20 5:21 5:06
3 km 5:17 5:16 5:21 5:27 5:33 5:09
4 km 5:19 5:20 5:24 5:31 5:40 5:12
5 km n/a 5:24 5:28 5:34 5:45 5:16