Vacation 2010 Recap Part 3

DC here we come!

Again, utilizing the Bolt Bus to make the trip to DC was key. No major problems besides the bus being delayed (most likely due to traffic) about 30 minutes. If nothing else it gave us more of an opportunity to people watch in NYC.

In order to cut costs some we decided to stay outside of DC proper in Bethesda. The hotel was a short (10 minute?) walk from the metro station and made it easy to get back and forth from DC. I know that the cost of the metro fares in now way came close to the $$ we saved on the hotel, plus we got to utilize mass transit again.

In all we had two full days in DC, plenty of time right? Maybe...

Day #1:

Made out way to the National Mall right around the time the Smithsonian Institute opened. We spent a little bit of time in the Castle orientating ourselves before heading over the Museum of National History.

Magically, 3 hours or so vanished. Okay, we're nerds and we spent time in the hall of mammals, Human Origins, Sant Ocean Hall, Bones, Written In Bone, and a brief few minutes in the Dinosaurs. That was the morning.

After lunch we walked over to National Air & Space Museum. Again, we're nerds (however I enjoyed this one waaaaaay more than T) and spent about 4 hours taking in as many exhibits as we could.

Finishing up there we ventured to the east end of the mall to see the capitol building. I know, I know we see it on TV all the time...nope, doesn't compare. WAY more impressive. We then made our way down Pennsylvania Ave just taking in the buildings, eventually stopping at the US Navy Memorial (it was about here that we started to run low on camera battery so we started being more conservative in the number of pictures we took the rest of the day). It's located directly across the street from the National Archives, also an impressive building.

Having been on our feet most of the day, we found a place to grab some dinner, made our way back to the metro and Bethesda - side note: The station at Bethesda is DEEP underground. As in it took us over 2:30 to make it up the escalator and a pretty damn steep angle I might add! I snapped a photo, it's in the gallery.

Day #2:

Back to the Mall on the Metro. We only had a couple of hours in the morning because we were going out by the Zoo in order to have lunch with another kickrunner friend and her daughters - just enough time to spend some time in the National Museum of American History. Made it about 1/2 through before leaving to meet R. After lunch though we came back and finished it up.

So, in about a day and a half we checked off three museums in the complex...in other words? Barely scratched the surface.

After finishing up at American History it was time to head to the west end of the mall to see the monuments. Side note: we were there 6/29, 6/30, 7/1, 7/2, so as you can imagine they were setting up the for the big Independence Day celebration, which made navigating that part of the mall challenging.

Washington Monument - Check

Korean War Veterans National Memorial - Check (very impressive)

Lincoln Memorial - Check (yes, we took the time to read his Gettysburg Address and Second Inaugural Address, and the view back towards the Washington Monument? Hard to put into words)

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial - Check (every bit as impressive, emotional, and moving as I thought it would be)

The Vietnam Women's Memorial - Check

We then headed up Constitution Ave, turned north up 17th and made our way over to Pennsylvania Ave. You know, where the White House is?

White House - Check.

Again, after being on our feet most of the day we made our way back to Bethesda to get ourselves organized for the bus ride back to Philly the next day.

Very impressed with our nation's capital. Remember how I said two days should be enough? Wrong. We needed at least one more day. We missed out on the Marine Corps War Memorial (you know, the Iwo Jima flag raising) and Arlington National Cemetery, plus the rest of the Smithsonian Museums (least of all the National Air & Space Museum's Steven F. Udvair-Hazy Center!). Needless to say this won't be our last visit.

Not much left to tell about this expedition...well a few things that tie it all together, but that will have to wait a few days.

Pictures and more pictures.

Vacation 2010 Recap Part 2

The original purpose of going to Philly was for continuing education. While there spent some time with some friends from Oregon, one of whom evidently had the same idea we did: spend some time in NYC. However our paths there couldn't have been more different.

We're sharing some stories over drinks in Philly when she told us she was taking the train to NYC. I was flabbergasted she paid over $80 for a round trip ticket. She was shocked that we paid $62.50 TOTAL for our travel to NYC to DC and DC back to Philly. How did we manage to be so frugal you ask?

Bolt Bus and Megabus. Phenomenal ideas.

We took the Bolt Bus from Philly to NYC and from NYC to DC. Cost a grand total of $40.50 for both of us. It's operated by Greyhound - wait, stop right there. We're talking new buses and Wi-Fi here! Couldn't have been a better trip.

Arrived in NYC right by Madison Square Garden and Penn Station. Met up with M, a kickrunner friend, and immediately jumped on the subway and headed to her neighborhood (she lives in Hells Kitchen, VERY close to Central Park) to drop off our stuff and grab some eats. Then we hit the subway again and then walked all over the west side of Manhattan. Walked on the High Line, went by the Chelsea Piers, and walked along the Hudson River for a bit. Did I mention it was like 95F? Sweated through my clothes!

Made it back to M's and then chilled a bit before heading to The Stanton Social for dinner with Maria, her guy J, M#2 (another kickrunner friend), her husband and a former student of T's. Phenomenal food. Tapas. Check out the menu.

While we were enjoying our meal, M#2 offered us some water tour tickets that they were unable to use. Jumped at the chance. So that was on the agenda for Monday. But first I got to do something very cool.

I went for a run in Central Park. Granted it was hot, humid as hell, I was running with M (mucho faster) the first two miles and then we both met up with M#2 and her puppy for a few more...thank god M#2 is like 8 months pregnant! Her pace was much more comfortable. All in all ended up with about 6 miles.

That morning T, M, and I walked around a bit - hit the M&M's store in Times Square, T bought her an "I Love NYC" shirt, and then we got a great slice of pizza before T and I headed to the pier for the water tour.

The tour: very informative, learned a lot of history I had no idea about, got to see all the important landmarks of NYC, AND it got us out on the water and away from the inferno of the city. Plenty of pics were taken!

Afterwards T and I successfully navigated our way back to M's on the subway (felt very cosmopolitan!) to chill a bit before we headed to dinner with M and J. Again small plate style but fabulous. Ended up the night with a walk around a bit (unfortunately Magnolia wasn't open) before calling it a night.

Sort of a whirlwind tour of NYC, but with only a limited amount of time we did pretty good.

Pictures.

Next stop, DC.

Reading List Update

Just added the two most recently finished books to the list over there on the right.

Both were excellent books - eye opening and moving, they just took different approaches.

However, both need the following caution: not for the squeamish. One for the subject it depicts and the other for language. Read 'em both and see if you can figure out which caution belongs to which.

Vacation 2010 Recap

This year's vacation took on a theme.

2010 East Coast Tour.

See, when we learned the NATA Annual Meeting and Symposium was to be held in Philadelphia we decided to use that as an opportunity to see parts of the country never visited (at least for me) before.

So in addition to Philly, side trips to New York City and Washington, D.C. were scheduled in addition to some fun in and around the greater Philly area.

We'll approach the travelogue from a tour stop perspective:

Philadelphia - my god, what a dirty place. Sorry Philly Pholks, but it's true. Too many panhandlers. Too many aggressive panhandlers. Our first day there a guy tried his best spiel on us and when we told him "No" he began a profanity laced tirade on us. Then later that night we were with a friend (You were a godsend Solar!) who was kind enough to drive us to a grocery store. As we're getting back in her car a woman walked up and asked us for a ride. When told "No" she stormed off muttering something about "typical Americans".

We did have a good time. Stayed right downtown, literally across the street from city hall. Ate some good food - and before you even ask in the comments, no, I did not get a cheesesteak. I'm a loser. Deal. - and had a good time at the conference. AND got to do some touristy stuff: visited the Constitution Center, saw the Liberty Bell (okay, through the glass - we didn't feel like waiting in a 2 hour line) and Independence Hall. We didn't get to go in Independence Hall due to conflict in our schedule and the National Parks Service tour schedule.

I highly recommend the Constitution Center.

Jenkintown, PA - went to visit a kickrunner friend who lived north of the city. Got to participate in his hometown 5k. Brutally warm/humid and a hilly course, but had a great time.

There were some side trips in New Jersey that week, but that pretty much sums up the first week.

Pictures

The next two legs of the tour in the next few days...

Home....

Safe and sound.

We arrived back from the East Coast Tour Sunday. Details of the trip, and the excitement at home upon our arrival to follow in the next few days.

Leaving On A Jet Plane!

Departing for Philadelphia on Sunday to attend the NATA annual meeting and symposium which runs Wed-Fri.

Afterwards, T and I are embarking on a whirlwind tour of the east coast.

A couple of days in NYC, about 4 day in our nation's capital doing all of the touristy stuff.

So it will probably be quiet around these parts while we're gone, but look for a trip recap and pictures the first week of July.

Twin Cities Marathon - Week #2

June 7-13

This was the first really good week of training I've had in at least 2-3 months. Everything clicked this week. Well, most likely clicked because I took a realistic approach to scheduling things this week.

I knew going into the week that Saturday/Sunday (my weeks always go Mon-Sun) would present challenges to getting any kind of run in since we would be in Cincinnati visiting my family. So I scheduled my 31 total miles for the week Mon-Fri. Which meant that I would have to do my long run on Friday before we left. But I'll get to that in a minute.

Mon/Wed/Thurs were just easy runs of 5 miles each. Monday and Thursday I ran my normal downtown route which comes out right around 5.4 miles so I was a bit ahead of my weekly goal.

Tuesday - quality workout of 6x4 minutes HARD pace with 3 minutes recovery with about a 2 mile warm-up and cool-down. The plan was to go about 20-25 seconds per mile faster than my tempo pace since the 3 minutes would allow almost a full recovery between bouts. Executed this workout perfectly and ended up with 8.2 miles for the day.

Friday - long run, with a twist. 2 mile warm-up then 5x5 min tempo pace with 1 minute recovery followed by an hour easy. This run, while completed, was not a ringing success. I struggled to hold my tempo pace (8:45-8:50) for the first two and was nowhere near it on the last 3 - but my HR was in the 180s so I know I was working. Chalking it up to a less than ideal dinner the night before and the temp/humidity. But I got 10 miles done. Then sat in the car for 6 hours.

Total for the week: 34 miles.

Two weeks down, 16 to go.

Mantras

From The American Heritage Dictionary (courtesy of www.dictionary.com):

man·tra (mān'trə, mŭn'-), noun.

Hinduism A sacred verbal formula repeated in prayer, meditation, or incantation, such as an invocation of a god, a magic spell, or a syllable or portion of scripture containing mystical potentialities.

A commonly repeated word or phrase: "Today's edutainment software comes shrinkwrapped in the magic mantra: 'makes learning fun.'" (Clifford Stoll).

Now I don't believe that anything I come up with will be scripture or have mystical potentialities but I've landed on what will be my phrase to focus me over the next 17 weeks as I prepare for the Twin Cities Marathon. My theme, if you will.

Do the work.

It's as simple as that. I always have a good plan in place. I'll have the running planned out, with the appropriate workouts and paces I want/need to hit. I'll figure out what to modify/drop during the three weeks we'll be traveling this summer. I'll have the ancillary stuff penciled in - the strength stuff, the foam rolling, etc. I'll have a plan to try and shed the 8-10 pounds I need to lose. At times I might have too many plans.

This year it's not about the plan, it's about executing the plan.

Do the work.

No bitching or complaining. It's time to put aside the momentary gratification of just one more beer, or staying up late to finish the movie, or being lazy and not eating at home (which usually leads to the "just one more beer") and making sure I do the work.

The Only Way to Start A New Training Cycle

Is with new shoes.

They are the Nike LIVESTRONG Lunarfly. Wore 'em for the first time today. Remind me very much of the original Lunar Trainer from 2008. Very light but feel very cushiony.

Also added a countdown over there -------> for the Twin Cities Marathon in Oct., so everyone will know how little time I have left to get my ass ready for it.

2010 Bayshore Half Marathon

As previously mentioned here, I pulled the plug on a race effort during the Bayshore Half Marathon this past weekend and instead ran with T in hopes of helping her to a PR.

Weekend started off great with an easy drive up north. This was the first time either one of us had been to anywhere north of Muskegon so we were both a bit excited to see if the area would live up to all the hype. It did.

Checked into the hotel - Comfort Inn, HIGHLY recommended - and sought out a place for an early dinner. Travino's was recommended by the staff at the hotel. Great food, very decent prices. In/out just in time to head over to the expo. The expo may have been the most understated thing ever - would be better to call it a packet pickup and it was roughly the same size as some of the 5ks here in town. Super simple to pick up our stuff though. The race shirt was a great Brooks short sleeve tech shirt: they even had women's versions! and different colors for the different races. First of many high marks.

With the wake up coming early we set out our clothes and various things we would need in the morning and called it a night. 4:30 a.m. comes early!

By 5:30 a.m. we were at the hotel next door boarding the shuttle bus to the start/finish area so we could board a different bus and be shuttled out to the half marathon start line. The marathon is a true out/back course and the HM is a point-to-point starting at the turn around. Only drawback is that we made it to the start line with about 90 mins to kill and neglected to dress properly, but that was our fault, and if we ever do this race again won't be repeated.

7:30 a.m. race start - had the usual national anthem, etc, and we were on our way. There were no signs indicating where you should line up, so it was a bit congested at the start. About the middle of mile 2 I experienced the same problem as during the Riverbank Run: after standing out in the cool air, I had to pee. At least this time I stopped at the porta-potty. I managed to catch up to T just around the 2 mile mark.

Her goal for the day was to run 11:00 pace for the first 5 miles (hitting the 5 mile mark in 55 minutes) then drop to 10:30-10:45 pace for the next 5 miles (hitting the 10 mile mark at 1:47:30-1:48:45) and then pushing as hard as she could for the last 3.1 with the hopes of being around the 2:20:00 mark, which would be just over a 4 minute PR.

My plan was to help her with this...a plan which I executed miserably. We were cruising the first 5 miles. 10:30ish pace. Which means we had almost a 3 minute cushion. We went out way too fast.

The second 5 miles the pace slowed a bit and around mile 9 some physical issues started to rear their ugly head: some IT band problems and some foot pain.

BUT, we pushed on...in the last mile or so, the temperature started to climb and we were both feeling the effects - only major complaint on the day was that the aid stations were too spread out and the sports beverage, not sure if it was Gatorade, Gu Brew, Powerade, etc, wasn't mixed correctly. I nearly had to resort to draconian motivational techniques when T started walking in the last mile. She thought we were closer to the finish line, was overheating a bit, needed some water. About 100 feet ahead of us was a photographer on the course. I was on the verge of "motherf*cking" her and telling her there was no way we were walking by the photographer when a volunteer on the course beat me to the message. And she did it in a much more positive way. But we started running again.

Rounded the corner and finished on the track. With the exact same chiptimes: 2:21:31. Just about a 3 minute PR for her. And a PR is a PR. So while I didn't do a good job of helping her meet her goal, I did thoroughly enjoy being out there with her. Every step of the way.

My reward: This lovely Brooks jacket. That actually says Bayshore Half Marathon!

What Can We Do?

There's a link I'd like to post.

A link that will take you to a website where you can help someone important to me, and help a worthy cause in a long, not ending any time soon fight.

As those of you who regularly read this know the last 10-11 months have been a tough period. Friends lost unexpectedly. My father-in-law losing his battle with cancer, and most recently my mother losing her battle with breast cancer. Tough times are typically when people are called to action. We each do what we can.

T is doing what she can. She, along with her mother (because the fucking disease has touched her family as well), are participating in the Komen 3-Day for the Cure, in Seattle this September. What is that exactly? They will walk 60 miles over 3 days and raise money to help fight this disease that has touched each and every one of us.

They are doing what they can.

What I'd like to do is post that link now, so that if you've felt the cold touch of this disease and are able, you can do what you can.

T's 3 Day Fundraising Page.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

I made a tough one this morning.

The lungs aren't quite there yet...still working way too hard to move air when my effort increases. I ran a hilly route this morning and my HR shouldn't be in the high 160s at the pace I was at, even running uphill.

So, not wanting to totally crash and burn Saturday, I'll be running with T trying to help her finish in what could be a huge PR.

Time to shift my focus to the fall now.

Not Encouraging In The Least

The last entry I mentioned the run on Saturday that ended up being much harder than it should have due to me suffering from a cold. Remember that one?

Well, even though I'm feeling mucho better and am on my second day sudafed free the way I felt on my run today is not giving me a lot of encouragement for Saturday.

Now, granted it was hot/humid out - my own fault, I violated Summer Running Rule #1 today but it should not have felt like it did. My legs were okay, but my lungs were not up to it, plus my heart rate shouldn't be hitting 170. Nope, not encouraging.

I'm going to get out there much earlier tomorrow and see how it goes, and if that run ends up the same as today's then most likely Saturday's goal race becomes a long run that I get a t-shirt for finishing. Not ideal, but is looking more and more like the intelligent move.

Damn that person who passed on the cold to T.

The Thing I Dread The Most

Having a cold in the summer. It seems like that is the only time of year I get sick anymore. Okay, also having a cold 5 days before a goal race.

I don't advise doing hard effort running while on sudafed (and I don't be the PE shit) or on a day when there is a 98% humidity level. That was Saturday. Completely wore me out.

I think I've turned a corner though...just hope the progress continues.

As Promised: 5/3 Riverbank Run Race Report

The 5/3 Riverbank Run is a tradition here in Grand Rapids. 2010 was the 33rd running of the race, and the race serves as the US Track & Field 25k Road Race National Championship which means there's a good chance of catching a glimpse of recognizable elite athletes. Every year we've been in Michigan I've been asked: are you running Riverbank? by anyone that knows I'm a runner.

In the past I've run the 5k and the 10k they hold in conjunction with the 25k but until this year I'd shied away from the big boy.

With the half marathon at Bayshore being my goal race this spring (Memorial Day weekend) I thought the 25k (which by the way for the metric challenged equals 15.5 miles, 2.4 miles longer than a HM) would give me a great chance to run a bunch of goal pace miles to gauge my fitness level and do it with a bunch of people and support along the course. Plus registration was only $30. That's right, $30, and that was up until about a week before the race. Bargain.

Race day started out perfect. Weather was cool, some rain in the forecast - which held off, and the only thing not working in our favor was the wind. 20-30 mph predicted, not ideal for running in.

We did have a nice moment of hilarity on the walk to the start line. The race course starts and finishes in downtown Grand Rapids, so the city's finest were out directing traffic and closing off roads. We pass an intersection with two, that's right two police vehicles blocking the street and two police officers standing there...as we're walking across the street a young woman swerves and zooms past the officers, goes under a bridge and stops at a red light to make a left turn (her left turn would have put her right on the 5k course). One of the police officers throws his hands up, looks at all of us crossing the street with a "you've got to be kidding me" look and proceeds to walk up to her car and knock on the window. No idea what was said to her, but the fact the police officer was pissed and she was on her cell phone it probably wasn't causal pleasantries.

The goal for the race was to run the first 2.4 miles easy, around 10:30-10:45 pace as a warm-up and then hit the lap button on my garmin and "race" the last 13.1 miles in an attempt to see how long I could hold my goal pace of 9:30/mile.

First miles went by with out incident - except for a bathroom break due to cold diuresis - and as we hit the 2.4 mile mark I wished T good luck (she was also running the 25k and trying to execute the same type of plan I was), hit the lap button and took off.

It was a pretty good feeling passing folks, because that's pretty much what I did for the next two hours. I walked a few water stops, but for the most part I held a pace between 9:30 and 9:45 until I hit 3.1 miles to go when I tried to push a bit. I had to take a walk break right about 1 mile to go, hit the lap button as I crossed the sign telling us 1 mile to go and took off for the finish running a 8:45 pace for that mile.

Chip time: 2:34:29

Using my garmin (which auto paused when I stopped to pee and retie my shoe) times and taking out the first 2.4 miles it worked out that I ran a 2:06:21 HM. Not great but not shabby either.

I was very pleased how the day went. Loved the course - a significant portion of the course is also used for the GR Marathon in the fall, just in reverse - and can definitely say I'll be running this race again.

The End is Finally Here

Due to a craptastic weather forecast last Friday evening (the weather reality was not of the Minnow wreaking proportions predicted) the conference track meet was postponed until today.

Starting at 4 pm. That's right, 4 pm. Which means the meet will end approximately sometime around 10:00 pm.

BUT, it is the last home event to be covered. So that is a positive.

Also, there are only 11 work days left. That, is also a positive.

Long Weekend

We had a long weekend, not in the sense of an extra day or two included in the weekend, but a jam packed weekend of fun and frivolity.

Saturday was the first goal race of the spring for me - the 5/3 Riverbank Run 25k. More on that in an upcoming post.

T and I planned to see Iron Man 2 on Sunday, so that took up a good chunk of the late morning/early afternoon. Good movie by the way. Excellent sequel that avoided the usual traps that befall sequels to big budget blockbusters. Then we had tickets to see the Goo Goo Dolls Sunday night.

Great show - second time I've seen 'em - that capped off an exceptional weekend.

The weekend set the tone for the upcoming week, and really for the rest of May as things slowly wind down for me at work. God, it's nice to see the calendar turn to May.

Nature vs Nurture

It's an age old debate, nature vs. nurture, with some convincing arguments on both sides.

Read The Talent Code. It's not a lot of pages, easy to read, but there is a wealth of information there to be mined. If you're in any profession where you teach or coach you need to read this book.

Something To Think About

Mental Toughness

Yet another great post by Vern Gambetta that makes me think not only about the athletes I have worked with in the past but also the ones I see everyday, plus it makes me think about my own current fluctuations in training.

It certainly feels like I've lost a bit of the edge when it comes to training I had a few short years ago. Yes, I'm logging miles but I'll have a great week followed by a week that I take 2-3 days off. The uncertainty of my work schedule plays a role but I think a big portion of it is simply that I'm letting myself off the hook too much. I'm not bringing my "A" game.

I don't want to just go through the motions so as things wind down at work over the next 10 days or so my goal is to figure out exactly what my "A" game is and working on making my mental discipline a bit better.

Treading Water

I have a love/hate relationship with the spring.

Love: the weather, cool and crisp mornings that turn into beautiful days with the temps in the 60s, nights with no bugs, general rebirth of the frozen wasteland that this place becomes in the winter

Hate: the spring sport schedules. All of them are weather dependent, have no time limits, and take on average 5-6 hours to complete on a daily basis.

So that's why I've been scarce with the posting, I'm trying to tread water and not drown in the chaos that is my spring. Life will return to normal (for the most part) in two weeks. A fortnight. I can make it through that! Can't I?