02 April 2009

MidWeek RunDown

Mon: Zero miles. I was still basking in the glory of my race last weekend, but had planned on getting out for 5 miles. Then Ellie shared with me the fact that Top Gear's Season Finale episode was on. Open beer. Plant self on couch. Laugh.
Tue: Zero Miles. Again, I had my running gear at the office to take off after work and put in 5-10 miles. Then it rained and got really windy. I got really wimpy and rode home. My plans to get 50 miles in for the week took another hit.
Wed: 7 at 7:29 pace, AvgHR 156. Yes! I left work and ran 2 miles home, then picked up Parsenn and ran another 5. Finally! I'm really starting to like Garmin Connect, too (if only the pages would load faster! It's as if I have dial-up. Okay, it's not that slow. Does anyone still have dial up? If so, I can't even imagine the dedication it must take to write long but hilariously entertaining posts and comments. Yikes.) Anyway, back to Garmin Connect. As you can see here, there are 5 spikes in my pace over 10 minute miles. The first, very large spike is when I arrived home and pick up Parsenn. I actually entered the place in the front door, got Parsenn, and exited the back door, with the 405 picking it up the entire way. I never stopped the watch either after learning that if I do, then it automatically starts downloading the info from the run and screws up my continuation of the run. The second spike is Parsenn pooping. You'll see a pattern here. The third spike? Parsenn pretending to poop so as to gain a little rest to stare at the geese in the river. The 4th spike occurred waiting to cross a street. Yes, there are busy streets occasionally here. Finally, the 5th spike is me stopping, (Parsenn took this opportunity to pop a squat once again)then realizing I had only run 6.89 miles and then continuing on, running in a circle, to get up to 7 miles.
Thu: 11 Miles at 7:28 pace, 159 AvgHR. I was hoping to run 15 miles, but my hamstrings and calves are still sore from the speed work last weekend, and considering I'm running a marathon this weekend, I figured I'd cut it a bit shorter. I still want to get in 50 miles this week, so we'll see about some Parsenn Pace (although that pace isn't really that slow anymore) tomorrow or some real leisure running on Sunday. We shall see.

I really don't know how to approach this event. It's got relatively flat rails-to-trails pavement with a chunk of Ice Age Trail in the middle:

"The Marathon course covers approximately four miles of city streets and sidewalks, 15 miles of improved trails (including the Glacial Drumlin Trail), and 7 miles of the Ice Age Trail. Miles 10 through 16 are extremely rugged. Except for the Ice Age Trail, the trail is subject to only gentle grades. Marathon turn-around is the top of the 40' Lapham Peak tower, where you will run up the tower, Ring the Bell, You're half the way home, the highest point in Waukesha county, with spectacular views of the surrounding like country. The Marathon has a 5.5-hour cut-off. Net climb on the way out is 438 feet; the net drop on the way back is 438 feet. Aid stations will be located at intervals between 3 and 4 miles, with a bag drop at the third aid station (behind Saxe's Restaurant). An annual or daily Wisconsin State Park sticker is needed to park at the Lapham Peak Tower. Crew access availability at aid stations."
(Sidenote: WTF is with this gap in the post up there ^? I give up trying to fix it. And WTF is with "Compose?" I get "Edit HTML." But "Compose?") (Sidenote to sidenote...fixed?) When I ran this event in '07, I witnessed several runners skip the "run up the tower and ring the bell" portion of the course. They simply re-stocked at the aid station at the base of the tower and then took off back down the trail. I paid for that d@mn tower, and I will ring the bell in the middle. Also in '07, I rolled my ankle BAD coming back down from the tower and had a relatively MISERABLE second half of the run, finishing in 3:47. Regardless of how I decide to pace myself (I'm a big fan of the negative split), I'm hoping to be done in less than 3:30...perhaps even less than 3:20?

We shall see! Look for an update on Saturday!

9 comments:

Marcy said...

Ok first . . .was your banana comment intended to be something perverted?!? See, this is what happens when you roll with the pervs (G!!) I have no idea if you're being serious or what? LMAO!

Ok I say 3:25. Teh Marcy has spoken and that is what it will be (I have my people out on this. *That really reads: don't make a fool of me :P LOL JK!*)

joyRuN said...

You don't use the pause button on your Garmin when Parsenn poops?

Also, "Compose" works great for the HTML-illiterate like me - you don't see gaps in my posts, do you?

I'd skip that damn tower too!

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Here's what's up with that gap:

I checked you html and this is what you have there (but it is not visible because of some bad html, which I will include in these [] brackets so I don't eff up this comment):

"[br /][br /][blockquote]"The Marathon course covers approximately four miles of city streets and sidewalks, 15 miles of improved trails (including the Glacial Drumlin Trail), and 7 miles of the Ice Age Trail. Miles 10 through 16 are extremely rugged. Except for the Ice Age Trail, the trail is subject to only gentle grades. Marathon turn-around is the top of the 40' Lapham Peak tower, where you will run up the tower, Ring the Bell, You're half the way home, the highest point in Waukesha county, with spectacular views of the surrounding like country. The Marathon has a 5.5-hour cut-off. Net climb on the way out is 438 feet; the net drop on the way back is 438 feet. Aid stations will be located at intervals between 3 and 4 miles, with a bag drop at the third aid station (behind Saxe's Restaurant). An annual or daily Wisconsin State Park sticker is needed to park at the Lapham Peak Tower. Crew access availability at aid stations."[/blockquote][em][strong]"

Looks like you tried to do a blockquote but somehow royally effed it.

I think those "[br /][br /]"s are what's effin you up, brother. That ain't no valid code I've ever seen; the /s and the spaces shouldn't be there. "br" is valid (it indicates a line break); "br /" is not.

As for the content of your post: at least ONE of those spikes was YOU stopping to pop a squat! Admit it!

You assaulted Teh Marcy with a banana? SIR, I CHALLENGE YOU TO A DUEL for her honor!

KIDDING! What honor? Teh Marcy's perv-ier than I am!

I agree with joyRuB - You should switch to Compose before you hurt yourself.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Actually, if you click, drag and highlight the "gap", you can see the invisible text. It's there. Just not visible.

I have no idea how you do this sh*t , Nic. None.

But I am drinking a beer to you and laffing, I assure you!

Jess said...

An easy fix to those gaps, is to highlight the text, then click o th little eraser on the toolbar (to remove "formatting") and that corrects the issue. I have that happen any time I post pics + text.

nwgdc said...

fixed...maybe.
"I have no idea how you do this sh*t , Nic. None.

"But I am drinking a beer to you and laffing, I assure you!"


Now THAT'S funny.

I was going to put that in a block quote, but I think I'm allergic.

C said...

We both slacked off running on Monday and Tuesday but you've still managed to slaughter me in mileage so far. This is not shocking news, but I thought I'd point it out for no reason at all.

Good luck this weekend.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Maybe I am just stupid, but how long has this

7 people checked to see if Glaven has commented yet

been your comment counter blurb?

I just noticed today.

Where's my cut of the money it generates? Do comments on your site count as hits on mine?

SteveQ said...

What is this dial-up of which you speak? Can I use it to connect my Altair to the arpanet?