New links up on Run4youlife

Just a few new links up on the sidebar. Please check them out.

Road Runners Club of America
2006 RRCA National Convention
HEB Bayou City Classic 10K

Fellow Houston running blogger:
Barbara's blog

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"Although the time and date of the first American thanksgiving observance may be uncertain, there is no question but that this treasured custom derives from our Judeo-Christian heritage. "Unto Thee, O God, do we give thanks," the Psalmist sang, praising God not only for the "wondrous works" of His creation, but for loving guidance and deliverance from dangers.

A band of settlers arriving in Maine in 1607 held a service of thanks for their safe journey, and twelve years later settlers in Virginia set aside a day of thanksgiving for their survival. In 1621 Governor William Bradford created the most famous of all such observances at Plymouth Colony when a bounteous harvest prompted him to proclaim a special day "to render thanksgiving to the Almighty God for all His blessings." The Spaniards in California and the Dutch in New Amsterdam also held services to give public thanks to God.

In 1777, during our War of Independence, the Continental Congress set aside a day for thanksgiving and praise for our victory at the battle of Saratoga. It was the first time all the colonies took part in such an event on the same day. The following year, upon news that France was coming to our aid, George Washington at Valley Forge prescribed a special day of thanksgiving. Later, as our first President, he responded to a Congressional petition by declaring Thursday, November 26, 1789, the first Thanksgiving Day of the United States of America.

Although there were many state and national thanksgiving days proclaimed in the ensuing years, it was the tireless crusade of one woman, Sarah Josepha Hale, that finally led to the establishment of this beautiful feast as an annual nationwide observance. Her editorials so touched the heart of Abraham Lincoln that in 1863 - even in the midst of the civil War - he enjoined his countrymen to be mindful of their many blessings, cautioning them not to forget "the source from which they come," that they are "the gracious gifts of the Most High God…" Who ought to be thanked "with one heart and one voice by the whole American People."

It is in that spirit that I now invite all Americans to take part again in this beautiful tradition with its roots deep in our history and deeper still in our hearts. We manifest our gratitude to God for the many blessings he has showered upon our land and upon its people.

In this season of Thanksgiving we are grateful for our abundant harvests and the productivity of our industries; for the discoveries of our laboratories; for the researches of our scientists and scholars; for the achievements of our artists, musicians, writers, clergy, teachers, physicians, businessmen, engineers, public servants, farmers, mechanics, artisans, and workers of every sort whose honest toil of mind and body in a free land rewards them and their families and enriches our entire Nation.

Let us thank God for our families, friends, and neighbors, and for the joy of this very festival we celebrate in His name. Let every house of worship in the land and every home and every heart be filled with the spirit of gratitude and praise and love on this Thanksgiving Day."

-Ronald Reagan, Proclamation, 1985

New Article in Stridelines

Please check out this month's [PDF] Starting Line article in Stridelines, the newsletter of the Houston Striders. This is the first installment of a series of articles (by me, humbly) for new runners. Of course, I also highly recommend you scroll to the top and read the entirety of the award-winning Stridelines newletter.

Nutrition, 11/8 - 11/10

Having lost (much to my surprise) about 17 lbs. in the last month and a half, I think I'm going to start recording my meals/snacks again, just to have a record of what I'm doing to lose the weight. As I stated in an earlier post I'm not following any particular diet, per se. I'm just confining my nutrition to Weight Watcher's list of core foods which include lean meats, eggs, lowfat dairy, fruits and vegetables, whole grains. As I mentioned, this is no magic thing. No pills or magic formulas. I'm just trying to choose healthy foods and limit my intake to what satiates me.

Tuesday 11/8

4:00pm (meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
1 egg
3 slices of canadian bacon
small bowl of Whole Oat O's (from Whole Foods)
skim milk
Comfort Zone (after): 4

8:00pm(meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 3
small ribeye steak
salad
tomato
fat free Ranch
Comfort Zone (after): 4
Ribeye's not the best cut of steak for me but that's what I had in the freezer. No harm done

Tuesday 11/8

1:30am(meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 1
chicken parmesan
spinach pasta
broccoli
Comfort Zone (after): 4

7:45am(meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
blueberry parfait with:
blueberries
granola
yogurt
Not the best meal but it was the best they served at UHD cafeteria. I'm sure the yogurt was not lowfat and there was probably a lot of sugar in the granola. Still, I'll be ok. It was better than eating nothing at all and gorging when I finally got home.

4:30pm(meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
Whole Oat O's
Skim milk
3 slices of canadian bacon
Comfort Zone (after): 4

Thursday 11/10

12:30am (meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
breadless turkey sandwich
little bit of cole slaw
Comfort Zone (after): 4

7:00am (meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
apple
Comfort Zone (after): 3

4:30pm (meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
Whole Oat O's cereal
skim milk
Comfort Zone (after): 3

7:00pm (meal)
Comfort Zone (before): 2
salad:
   lettuce
   tomato
   chicken breast
   low-carb ranch (just a little)
2 pieces of fried chicken
OOPS!!! J brought fried chicken home for everyone. That's my weakness. It's so hard to eat right when the rest of your family eats wrong! little bit of cole slaw
Comfort Zone (after): 4

Sprint

I just sprinted to my bus stop. First time in many months that i've been able to do that. Had to text the blog right away.

Cross-training day

For really the first time since I got my new bike, I went for an actual training ride today. No kids. No recreation. Just a straght-up cross-training workout. Very nice ride. I did 5.5 miles. That may not seem like a lot but it is not a road bike. Mine is a mountain bike with those knobby tires. Very slow. Not sure how long the ride took. I forgot to time it. Riding this morning frees me up this evening to study for my test tomorrow. Wish me luck!!!

I hate to mention it but my ankle feels great!!! Also, I've lost about 17 lbs. in the last 5 or 7 weeks. I think I deserve a massage. Maybe Friday.

Out of touch for a few!!!

Thanks to my wonderful wife, I've been out of the rat-race for the last few days as we took a weekend away to ourselves, just us, no kids!!! We stayed in a lovely B&B in Fredericksburg and had an awesome time

I've got a lot of catching up to do, not the least of which is all the weekend running activities. New York City Marathon snuck up on me and I'm anxious to read all about how the bloggers did. Also, I'm looking forwart to reading all theRun with the Saints reports.

For now, I'll just post the stats from my workout today. All is well with the ankle and I've been able to follow my training plan so far without a hitch.

Monday 11/7:
Format: 5x(3R/1W)
Distance: 1.3 miles
Time: 20 minutes

Tomorrow is a rest day but I think I'll try to get a bike ride in. Wednesday I 'graduate' to 3x(6R/1W). Looking ahead (maybe not the best thing to do) to 2 weeks from now, I'll be doing my first 2 mile continuous run in 'I-dunno-how-long'. I'm actually right on perfect track for the Houston Running Bloggers/Run the Woodlands 5K. I will have two 3-mile runs under my belt by then. Hope everyone's still there when I finish. LOL!!!

Weekend get-away

So sorry to just throw a photo up with no explanation. J and I got away BY OURSELVES!!! for the weekend. This is an early morning photo from the porch of the B&B that we stayed at in Fredericksburg. The B&B was actually on a little animal farm/game preserve. These little donkeys came by Saturday and Sunday morning to get some bread. We had a wonderful weekend to ourselves but missed the kids a lot. I did a lot of walking and even some bike riding on Saturday morning before J got stirring. It was a fantastic time.

Cassie, J and I were cracking up at your comment. You were the only one brave enough to ask what in the world that was!!! LOL

Nice Run Today

Memorial park tonight was like the Marine Corps Marathon as described by lisaleese and Doug Spence. Tons of people. No parking. Lotsa weaving. I got lucky and snagged a place right in front of the tennis center.

Not much remarkable on the run tonight. I felt strong and the ankle did fine. I woke up today with this excruciating cramp in the front of my left ankle/foot (the good one). It still hurts tonight. It was like a backwards charlie horse. Wierd. I couldn't get it to stop. I can usually stretch a calf cram out but I just sat there unable to do a thing. I wanted to walk to the kitchen to get some fluids but couldn't. I just laid there in bed till it ran it's course. I hope that doesn't happen again. More fluids at work tonight are in order.

Stats:
Distance: 1.36 miles, 10x(1R/1W)
Time: 20 min (14:42 pace. Could that be right?)
Temp: ~60 F

Coming soon: www.vickaiser.com or www.kaiserinformatics.com

This week's workouts

2 great weeks in a row. I ran 3 days this week with Wednesday being the highlight for me. Since getting over this recent post-ankle surgery hump, I have relegated myself to a very light comeback routine that spends several weeks with easy walk/run workouts. I'm following the PIM (Power in Motion) plan for the Aerobics group which is the A group of the ABCDEFGB groups (Never did know why the group above Gu is Backup. Shouldn't it be Hills or something?).

I've been a good boy and have followed my plan patiently but on Wednesday, my PIM group was running 3 miles for the first time. WTG Aerobics!!! I felt really good and wanted to do some continuous running so I set out to do 1 mile running out and walk back that same mile. I was joined along the way by ISS Doub Spence. He graciously listened to the whole ankle story and we talked shop a little. It was a lot of fun and it kept me converstional. I completed the 1 mile run in 15 minutes. That's not bad for me, just starting over and all. I was pleased. The run and the walk back were pain-free, at least where the ankle was concerned. It was nice to feel some fatigue and to feel my body loosen up in other areas instead of all my attention being on that stupid ankle. And it was a great feeling to be a little sore the next day.

Thursday, I did some weights at the gym. I did some leg work which I haven't really been able to do for a long time. I was very sore going into Friday but did a 10x(1R/1W) workout anyway. Saturday was very sore. It was sooooooo nice!!! to finally feel like I've done some exercise.

I ended my week tonight with another 10x(1R/1W) which felt absolutely awesome!!! I'm hesitant to really get excited because every step of improvement along the way has been met with some kind of setback but I'm very optimistic about this one. I really feel like I've topped the hill and provided I don't overdo it, can finally get back on the road.

Humility

For those of you that may believe that bloggers are really self-absorbed braggers that just like to see their name in print, let me take this opportunity to totally humilate myself with a situation I'm going through.

Back in September I took interest in a volunteering opportunity providing CPR/AED support for HARRA sponsored races. I attended (and passed) the course and have signed up for a couple of races this fall. Now, here's the humiliating part. After the class was over and each of us were crowned with our certification cards, very nice, bright yellow t-shirts were issued. Well, the largest size available was XL which I pretended at the time would surely fit me. Well, I definitely need a 2X as the XL is way too tight. It's really embarrassing as I sure many would look at me as suggest that I may be the one who would need CPR.

If this story seems like a real downer, it's not at all. Actually, that XL t-shirt has been a real inspiration to me. It's currently sitting on my dresser and every few days I try it on to see how it's going. I can tell a little bit of difference from last month but I still have a long way to go. As extra incentive I went ahead and signed up for a couple of races coming up in November and December and I'm determined to get into that shirt. I'm gonna do it.

Shoe haiku

September's issue of Runner's World announced a haiku contest where contestants were to write a shoe haiku. The winner would win a year's supply of running shoes. Of the 2,000 responses, here's the winner:

I love running shoes
Husband does not understand
Must get new husband
-Janis McDowell, Edmonton, AB

LOL!!! I love it! I must say though that of the other great submissions appearing in the December isssue, none are of the quality of those submitted for the Houston Striders' haiku contest back in December '04. I'll try to find the link to that newsletter where all the Strider's haiku were printed.

New stuff and old stuff

As I've mentioned before, I'm really behind on my blogging. I'm so far behind that I don't think I will be able to catch up. It's often the case that I go to my blog with the intention of writing and end up just going to everyone else's blogs and reading all the great stuff going on like Holden's new 5K PR, Cassie's new Half marathon training program, Lisa carbo loading for the Marine Corps Marathon, Jen, like me, just trying to catch up with her bloggin', Sarah running and working on her portfolio, Jessica running strong at HARRA's Practice for the Tour cross country race and getting FAST!!!, Edwin bloggin' the astros game and getting our awesome forum up and running, Steve logging some serious weekly miles (btw, I'd pay much more than $0.00 for runsteve.blogspot.com), Sam (Day Dreamer), striving to 'hang with those top guys' (we're all trying to hang with you, Sam), Keith battling his subluxed cuboid, getting ready for the New York City Marathon, Joe getting in an awesome 13+ mile training run last week and planning on smoking the RTW 5K course with the rest of the bloggers on 12/10, and of course Jon, keeping us abreast of everything running from race reports to HARRA board meeting minutes to houston bloggers's news and much more. So, you see, by the time I catch up with all my buds, I'm either out of time to post to my own blog or its time to make the rounds again 'cause everyone's so diligent to post even more stuff. I can't keep up with all this. lol!!!

So, going back a few weeks, I'm going to summarily catch up as quickly as possible:

• A few weeks a go, the new digital scale arrived at my doorstep that I ordered from Amazon.com. I'm not a big scale worshipper but I when I'm dieting, I like to weigh once or twice a week to see where I am. Well, I popped the batteries in the scale and hopped on for a ride. Much to my surprise and delight, I had lost about 13 of the 30 lbs that I gained after my surgery. I had not weighed in a long time and actually did not believe the scale. I was just about ready to return it but went over to my doctor's office to verify and sure enough, it was the same. So, that was very encouraging.
• I got one last steroid shot in my ankle, a little higher up this time. It really knocked out the last bit of pain that was keeping me from running and doing rehab effecvtively. Last week, if I remember correctly, I ran 5 days with a total mileage for the week of of 6.5 miles. On Wednesday of this week, I was brave and did 1 mile continuous running. I did one mile out running and walked back for a total of 2 miles. I did some weights on Thursday and am very sore. It's been a long time and it feels great.
• I need to post later about the great time S and I had at marathonkids last weekend. What a great program and I saw a bunch of Striders there volunteering. More on this later

There's so much more but I gotta go to bed now.
God Bless!!!

RRCA Convention in the Chronicle

Ha, Ha Jon. I beat you to it. And don't go fudging the time and date when you post this! hehe Actually, Steve beat us all, posting on Stride4Fun.

Striders put Bayou City on national running map
Club will host March convention alongside 10K race
By ROBERTA MACINNIS
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Houston's running community is on pace to gain some national exposure next year when the Road Runners Club of America holds its annual convention here.

The March 8-12 event is timed to coincide with the H-E-B Bayou City Classic on March 11, which has been designated the 2006 National 10K Championship.

The Houston Striders running club will host the convention, which will attract several hundred race directors and club administrators.

"We wanted to bring the convention here to show off Houston and Houston's running community and what goes on here," said Doug Spence, a Houston Strider who's helping organize the event.

Convention participants will have several chances to tour the city — on foot, as you'd expect from a group of runners.

In addition to the Bayou City Classic, they will run on the USA National Cross Country Championship course along Allen Parkway, ride Metrorail to run around Rice University and Hermann Park, and take a walk through downtown's tunnel system.

They will also share information on such topics as race management, course certification and how to write a club newsletter. While the workshops will address technical matters, anyone is welcome to register for the convention, and the public is invited to attend the running expo that will be held in conjunction with it.

Keynote speakers will include Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon, and Roger Robinson, the author of Heroes and Sparrows: a Celebration of Running and Running in Literature.

The nonprofit RRCA is the national umbrella organization of more than 700 running clubs with 175,000 members across the country.

For more details, check out www.rrcahouston06.org or e-mail Steve Shepard, the south Texas state representative for RRCA, at rrcahouston@aol.com

Negative Splits and Training???

Since I first started training last year with PIM (Power in Motion) I've heard over and over from PIM coaches and others to aim for a negative split on training runs and races. Of course, a negative split is defined as running the second half of a course faster than the first half. From the little I have read about training, in particular aerobic base building (what every beginner should be doing, IMHO exclusively), negative splits would not be in order for training runs.

If I am maintaining a consistent effort over the course of a run (e.g. 70% maxHR), then my pace would most certainly decrease over the last half of the run as I fatigue. At the very best, it stays the same. I believe it is best to keep a consistent effort through a training run, not a consistent or increasingly faster pace. That being the case, you should see your mile split slow as you get closer to finishing. Otherwise, if you are trying to maintain your pace or run a faster pace you effort is certainly increasing and may begin to go more anaerobic which builds up LA and brings on fatigue even faster.

To me, the purpose of negative splits in racing is not necessarily to ensure you go faster over the 2nd half of the race. Rather it is to ensure you do not go too fast over the 1st half of the race.

I'm really curious about this. Why do negative splits in a training run? This post may be better suited for the forum so that there can be some discussion on this. Feel free to comment here or go on over to the forum. I'll post the question there, too.

Sunday morning 10/23

Another 7x(1R/2W), pain-free run. An awesome thing was that my daughter joined me and had a great time. She's kind of getting interested in running for a few reasons. One, she was able to meet Jon's daughter, W, last week at the 20K and found out that she runs and is training for a half-marathon. S thinks that's cool. Also, S participated in a program put on by City of Houston through the HISA Physical Ed programs at the local schools called marathonkids. I'll report on this in anohter post but briefly, it's a program where kids run a marathon a little bit (.25 miles or a bit more) at a time until they've run an entire marathon. It was a cool celebration Saturday morning and I'm looking forward later today to reporting on it.

Also, I'm adding 600m (1.5 laps at the Rice U track) to my weekly mileage. I ran this yesterday with S at marathonkids. I wouldn't mention this little more than a quarter mile but it's significant in that it was a continuous run and the longest continuous run for me in a long, long time. Sad but true.

So the unimpressive but encouraging (for me) and pain-free stats are:

Distance: 1.3 miles
Run: 7x(1R/2W)
Temp: 75 deg
Weekly distance so far: 6.5 miles

Saturday morning run

So sorry for the inactivity on the blog for the past week or two but I've been a bit contemplative/frustrated/hopeful/anxious lately about my weight/running/ankle/nutrition...yada, yada, yada. More on this later. For now I'm reporting that I had a wonderful time this morning doing one of my favorite things to do in the world. That would be an early Saturday morning run at Memorial Park.

I know 5:45am isn't 'early' for a lot of folks and in the past I, too, have been on the track much earlier. But I only had a 21 minute run/walk planned this morning so I didn't get too zealous about how early I got out there. It was a beautiful, cool morning at Memorial Park (about 55 deg by weather.com, Houston). After stretching and hitting the men's room, I had a GREAT!!, pain-free run. I did 7x(1R/2W) starting at the tennis center, heading clockwise toward the PIM meeting area for a little over a half mile, and back. I definitely could have gone faster/farther but I'm sticking with my philosophy that for a beginner like me, musculoskeletal strength/fitness lags behind aerobic ability/fitness. So, I believe that even though my legs, lungs, and heart may be ready for more, my bones, joints, and especially ankle are probably not. So, I'm sticking with the plan, which, now that I'm able to follow and probably will be able to see through to completion, I will try to post on the blog today or tomorrow.

It was really great to see fellow Strider, Joan O'Connor, out there. Joan was just finishing up her Team in Training 3-miler as I was beginning my run. She gave a fantastic word of encouragement, as any good PIM coach would. Thanks Joan.

So the unimpressive but encouraging (for me)and pain-free stats are:

Distance: 1.2 miles
Run: 7x(1R/2W)
Temp: 55 deg
Weekly distance so far: 4.8 miles

Could this be the day?

The sun rises on the day that the Astros go to the World Series!!! C'mon guys. Let's get 'em.

RW's Insider's Guide to the Marine Corps Marathon

For Lisa and Chris, Doug and anyone else who might be interested, I found these few tips for the Marine Corps Marathon in the November issue of Runner's World magazine. This may be old news to a lot of you marathon vets but I thought it was interesting and hopefully helpful.

• Get Support - The Marine Corps Marathon may be the most spectator-friendly course of any large marathon. It's very easy for your friends and family to see you five times with some brief walks across the Potomac and maybe a Metro stop or two. Check the spectator guide on the race web site for the best vantage points.
• Beware the two starts - For the 30th anniversary this year, registration was expanded to 30K. To accommodate the race's largest field ever, organizers have instituted a two-wave starting system. Teh first wave, denoted "scarlet," starts at 8:15 a.m. The second, "gold," starts at 8:45 a.m. Your wave will be indicated in your e-confirmation card as well as yon your race number.
• Go out easy - The opening two miles are hilly, so be extra careful not to go out too quickly. Back off on the uphills and you'll make up for it on the downhills. So don't worry if you're a little off-pace those first few miles.
• Prepare to take the bridge - The 14th Street Bridge at mile 20 is the toughest part of the course. There's no shade, no water, not many people. It's about a a mile and a half of dead space. Take a gel at the 19-mile water stop (you can pick one up at 12.5 miles). That burst of energy-and the knowledge that you've now got only six miles to go-should get you across.
• Say thank you - All the young men and women who shepherd you through the finish line are lieutenants from the Marine Corp's officer school at neaby Quantico, VA. They're all young and enthusiastic. When they drape the finisher's medal on you, say "Thank you, Lieutenant." They'll be happily surprised you know who they are.
• Find out more - Check out the Marine Corps Marathon's new virtual map, which enables you to zoom in on any part of the course.

Can't wait to hear all the great race reports.

Afternoon with da boyz