Right as rain

Posted on October 26, 2007 by threlkeld

I’m recovered from my annoying little bug and back to running:

3 pathetic little miles on Monday (in a sickly state)
6 miles on Tuesday
14 miles on Wednesday (at a good clip, I might add: 8:30)
9 miles yesterday (two sessions)
I’ll do 10 today, followed by 7 tomorrow and 16 on Sunday.

Grand total: 65!

Next week is a recovery week, followed by three weeks at 70 miles each. Then I go into my 18 week training plan, which will average 79 miles per week.

I have a feeling I’ll be doing a lot of running inside. The days are getting shorter very quickly. Sun isn’t up until well after 7:00AM and it’s pitch black by about 6:00PM. I’m looking into a headlamp and some reflective gear so I can still do some (most?) of my longer runs outside. But I may do a lot of my shorter recovery runs inside anyway, to save my legs, since the treadmill is easier on them.

If I didn’t have some piece of running gear to covet, I’d know something is very wrong with me. The latest object of my affection is the Sugoi Hydrolite Running Jacket.

I really don’t like my Gore-Tex Paclite jacket for running, as it’s quite heavy and a little large for just a base layer (great for hiking, though — and for cold weather runs). My other jacket is “water resistant” which means I’m eventually soaked in anything more than a drizzle.

But the Sugoi is $100 and really weird looking. I guess I’ll see how rainy November turns out to be and then decide. Soon enough it will be freezing outside and I’ll have another six months to make up my mind.

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Recovery week brings chubby feet

Posted on June 2, 2007 by threlkeld

I haven’t run a step this week. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck until sometime on Wednesday, in fact. And I’ve got some minor problem with my left achilles tendon. After the first marathon, it was a problem with my left foot.

I’m waiting for that pain to go away completely, since you don’t want to screw around with your achilles tendon, oh no. I will probably do some time on the stationary bike this weekend, and look into some short, easy treadmill runs next week, depending on the tendon situation.

The odd thing about this post-marathon period is how swollen my legs and feet have been. I’ve been carrying around about four extra pounds of water, and it’s all in my legs. My ankle bones disappeared and I’ve had chubby little feet. Don’t know what that’s about. But the extra weight’s almost all gone. And I’m back on the rabbit food diet, so still pursuing a weight loss of an additional 10-12 pounds.

I ran the race with a new gadget: the Garmin 305 wrist computer. It has a GPS (and is about the size of a toaster oven). The data is so accurate that I can see in humiliating detail exactly how badly I ran on Sunday. But it’s a great little tool, and I’m hoping it will bear better news in the training months to come.

Summer has arrived in NY and it’s (say it together) “hazy, hot and humid”. I have freelance work again this weekend, but it’s what pays for the running shoes and expensive toaster oven watches, so I don’t mind.

I will take some time to do some planning for the base building period that starts sometime this month, once I’m fully recovered. It should be pretty easy to plan: “Run a lot. Then run some more.” My goal is to get up to 55-60 miles per week, injury free, by mid-October, at which point I’ll go into a five month marathon training cycle. The best laid plans…

Filed under: clothes and gear, everyday life, racing | 1 Comment »

For the "Solution in search of a problem" file

Posted on May 10, 2007 by threlkeld

It’s what every runner has been clamoring for: the Jogging Buddy.

Work is still insane. Plus there’s the nice weather beckoning me to get away from the computer. Will catch up with some more posts soon…

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So far so good

Posted on March 24, 2007 by threlkeld

I managed to get a decent night’s sleep last night, thanks to Rozerem. Have you seen the Rozerem ad? The one with the guy sitting at his kitchen table in the middle of the night, chatting with Abe Lincoln and a chess-playing rodent? I think whoever came up with those ads has taken Rozerem, because those are the sorts of dreams you have on it.

Anyway, I’m happy that I got 8+ hours, as apparently it’s the quality of sleep you get two nights before a race that’s most important. Which is good, since I’m sure I’ll have trouble sleeping tonight despite Honest Abe’s attempts to calm me.

Now I’m checking the hour-by-hour weather every five minutes. Runners turn into Fashion Week hysterics in the 24 hours before a race…”What will I wear?! I’ll be too hot in this! Or not warm enough! I’ve never worn this in a race, so can’t take the risk of chafing! What. Will. I. Wear?!!!”

It looks like it’s going to be fairly chilly. So I’m settled on wearing tights and probably a short sleeve tee under a long sleeve tee (both wicking, of course). Footwear will consist of Balega socks and my Brooks Adrenaline 6’s. Perhaps a fashionable Costco garbage bag to keep warm at the start. No hat or gloves.

Jonathan will dutifully be there two hours into the race to cheer me on as I circle the park repeatedly like a semi-rabid greyhound. So I can always treat him as a human clothing rack if I get too hot or cold. He loves that.

Tonight is a dinner of pasta with chicken and French (or is it “Freedom”?) bread. I think I’ll skip all alcohol.

Have a mentioned how incredibly nervous I am?

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Black panties

Posted on January 9, 2007 by threlkeld

My sister kindly gave me a gift certificate to one of my favorite money pits, Title 9 Sports, for Christmas. After recently running 18 miles in cotton underwear, I decided to cross the final frontier of running gear: running underwear.

Now I am the proud owner of six pairs of wicking, seamless running panties.

On the seven mile test drive this morning they (well, I was just wearing one pair, but you know what I mean) were great! No chafing, bunching or general misbehaving.

Tomorrow is my first 20 miler, so that should be an even better test.

In other news, the training continues to go well. I’m still bugged by stupid shin pain, but it’s getting slowly better. More after tomorrow’s 20 miler, which I’m trying not to think too much about.

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Road tested: The biggest running bra in the universe

Posted on November 11, 2006 by threlkeld

This one’s for the ladies.

(Or guys. If you’re really into reading about bras.)

I am always in search of the perfect running bra. What would the perfect bra feature?

Well, that’s easy:

  • The straps wouldn’t fall down during speedwork and races
  • The straps would be nice and wide over the shoulder (preferably padded)
  • It should be designed to prevent “under the boob chafing” — this is a real problem, and I have the scars to prove it.

I’ve found a bra that is close, but not perfect. But it is the biggest f***ing bra you’ve seen in your life. My boobs could probably survive nuclear or chemical attack in this thing. And it seats five comfortably.

It’s sold by one of my favorite women’s clothing retailers, Title 9 Sports, to whom I willingly give a significant portion of my income every year.

This bra is a solid B. Not the cup. The grade I give it. The design helps ensure that the straps stay on the shoulders where they belong. It does have nice wide (and padded) straps, and it fastens in front (which is handy). It also solves the dreaded chafing problem. Although using a heart rate monitor strap is challenging; you need to position it in place, then fasten the bra over the monitor. At least the HRM won’t slip down anymore and end up being a useless belt, ha ha.

My biggest complaint is what this bra does to my boobs in terms of appearance. Because of the design, which has a bit of padding shaped sort of like a quarter moon lying on its back and positioned under each boob, said boob is squashed upward. This has the effect of giving the wearer 1957-style boobs.

I don’t know. Maybe this retro look will take the women’s running community by storm, but I’m not entirely thrilled by it. I’m hoping the cups will relax a bit after a few wearings and washings. If they don’t, I’ll just have to go out there looking like Eve Arden.

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Nice pants

Posted on September 12, 2006 by threlkeld

Another shopping entry. Non-shopping runners, skip this.

Oh, my god. I’ve found the perfect casual pants. They’re sold by Title 9 Sports and they are called the Jane Bond Pants.

First of all, they fit perfectly. The waist sits right at my bellybutton (I’m very low waisted, so finding pants that don’t make me look like an 80-year-man in Sans-a-Belts is a challenge), and the pants have a side zip. The fit is very slimming and flattering.

Plus they have cool zipper pockets in neat places: Two in front at the hip, one near the left knee and one near the right ankle. The two weird pockets are about big enough to hold some credit cards. The pants are cut fairly wide (straightleg), but you can narrow them at the ankle thanks to a button. And they’re made of nylon, so I’m hoping they’re water resistant.

I hate shilling for retailers, but I know how hard it is to find a great pair of pants. I just wish they cost ten bucks rather than seventy.

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Create your own tech tees

Posted on August 27, 2006 by threlkeld

Oooh, this is tempting. At Running Banana, you can create your own technical shirts. For only (cough cough) $31-37.

I may need to put out my own line of Runs Like a Girl tees. You’d pay $50 for one, um, right? Especially since the designs they have up there are, well, kind of lame. Okay, really lame.

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"I’ve been slimed."

Posted on June 22, 2006 by threlkeld

I went out for a run yesterday in the very late afternoon. Although it was around 5PM, I decided to put on sunscreen since much of my run is not shaded. Well, what a mistake that was!

It was in the low 80s and after about five minutes of running, I was covered in melting, slimy sunscreen. Rather than actually soaking into my skin, the sweat seemed to have an “oil and water” effect…causing the sunscreen to float on the surface of my skin, mingling with sweat, creating a solid, shifting coating of slime on every exposed surface. Trying to wipe it off was useless; I could only spread it around, transferring it from one beslimed part of myself to a lesser beslimed area.

If it sounds horrible, believe me, it was.

After I slid home, I trawled the Web for information about runner-friendly sunscreens. Today I picked up one recommended brand, Bullfrog. It’s only SPF 35 (I’d wear SPF 10,000 if they made it), but that’s still pretty high. I’ll road test it (what better place to test something purporting to be sweat-proof than in New York in the summer?) and post a review here.

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