I know I'll have a "Perfect" Training Cycle - Chicago, 2011

Tonight's run was really fun! Martin and I headed out and the weather was really nice, humidity pretty much non-existent and just overall, nice. We started out slow and that was fine. I told Martin that I was planning on running my run tonight slow because I've been running all of my runs fast (for me). We got to Michigan Avenue and I didn't want to hold him up because I think I was running slower than he was anticipating. We decided that it was cool for him to do his run and I would do mine. I ended up running north on Michigan Avenue (I wasn't in the mood to get jumped tonight running south on Michigan Avenue over to Indiana and Prairie). I ran over the weird, twisty bridge, over to Lakeshore, onto the path, over to the Riverwalk and then south on the path home. I enjoyed the run because there was a neat energy in the air and....my legs felt really good! Actually, my whole body felt good - no pains, no tiredness, etc. I'm definitely on a mission to train accordingly to really rock Chicago and I'm excited about it!

We headed out with the intention that I would be running 5 miles. I ended up running 6.25 miles and here are my splits:

1 00:09:38
2 00:09:35
3 00:09:38
4 00:09:21
5 00:09:06
6 00:09:13
.25 00:09:27

Sounds like the run tonight was an enjoyable one on many levels. Love to see that you feel you are in a good spot with your conditioning and training such that you will rock Chicago!

Thanks Tom! It does feel good to feel the runs coming a bit easier. All I have to do is stay consistent...looking forward to seeing you in Chicago!

My run this morning was nice. I woke up and Martin was gone so I figured I'd better get my butt out of bed (7:15) and get my run in before it gets too hot. Plus, this lended me the perfect opportunity to stop and pick up his birthday cake at Jewel.

I had a 4 miler on tap today and I ran it on the slower side for me. The sun coming up over the lake was really pretty and temps were still on the cooler side, even though the mugginess was staring to kick in. I wrapped up my run and ran over to Jewel to get the cake. I got it and walked home. While walking home I saw a shirt that read: 'Dream Big'. How cool!

For some reason, I have a tendency of seeing shirts that inspire me. Most of the time, they come during a hard run or a workout. In fact, just the other day I saw a kid ride by on a bike and the back of his shirt read: 'Victory is the prize, pain is the price'. That night on my run, I repeated that to myself; my mantra of sorts. Yesterday on my run, while going up and over the twisty bridge, I ran past a guy walking whose shirt read: 'If you think you can or think you can't, you're right'. AWESOME! I thanked God and the universe for putting these people in my path of life. I have these mantras to repeat during my runs and it's pretty cool! How true is that statement from Henry Ford? Just awesome!

Ok, time to walk the dog.....

Sounds like a great run this morning. ANd who would have thought that Martin would be up and gone so early. One quote that I always find inspiring is from Prefontaine - "A lot of people run a race to see who is fastest. I run to see who has the most guts".

Enjoy the rest of your day...and don't have too much birthday cake

Thanks Nick! It was a nice run. It's overcast right now, which I think is helping with the heat. We're supposed to be under some serious heat wave this whole week, starting today.

Oh, no worries on too much cake for a couple of reasons: 1) I'm not a big dessert eater, 2) I have weight to lose and 3) I need to keep my diet in check so I can lose weight to become faster, ultimately helping team KOA out! Haha! TEAM KOA!!!

I just downloaded my run and I ended up running faster than I thought I did. I thought I was in the mid 10's and an average pace in the mid 10's to high 10's.

Here are my splits:
1 00:09:21
2 00:09:46
3 00:09:49
4 00:09:55

KOA all the way!!!

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

I

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

I

Am!

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

I

Am!

Between 11:45 and noon, see you two there. We will miss Martin's birthday by one day.

Jim Lentz wrote:Between 11:45 and noon, see you two there. We will miss Martin's birthday by one day.

Cool sounds great. Hey by the way good to see you this morning on the path even though it was only in passing. I ended up seeing Peggy a little after that. See you tomorrow at the Yolk!

Schuey wrote:

Jim Lentz wrote:Between 11:45 and noon, see you two there. We will miss Martin's birthday by one day.

Cool sounds great. Hey by the way good to see you this morning on the path even though it was only in passing. I ended up seeing Peggy a little after that. See you tomorrow at the Yolk!

I think that is the first time I have seen you on the path. See you tomorrow and Happy Birthday again.

Good run today and have a good one tomorrow too. I thought about you
guys when I read an article about Chicago in Triathlete magazine - they
ranked Chicago as one of the top places to live for cycling and
running. I also laughed - at the end of the article they state
"cyclists and runners tend to do battle with meandering tourists on the
public pathways."

Your pictures were awesome - thanks for sharing them. You and Martin
fit together like a foot and an old pair of shoes - you just go together
and look comfortable!

Just popping in. Glad things seem to be getting back into the swing again.

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

I

Am!

Figures!!!

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:

Mrs. Schuey wrote:

Nick Morris wrote:KOA all the way!!!

Hells yeah!!! BTW, you're catching up to my post count quickly...me thinks I need to post more!

HAHA!!! So I take it you are going to start posting one word posts...

Or emoticon posts

Yes

I

Am!

Figures!!!

Hey you! Be AFRAID, VERY AFRAID!!

Afraid of what?? The emoticons? The boogey man??

Wow, today's run was intense!

This morning Martin headed out for a 7.25 mile run while I stayed home before we met up with Jim and Peggy at The Yolk. It was so nice to see them and we really, really enjoy our time with the both of them! The Yolk is such a great place, too, and it's perfect for a post/pre run meal and good friends! Jim told us about the Caldwell Woods trails, so Martin and I thought it would be perfect for a run today. It's more shaded than the Lakefront Path and neither he nor I have ever been there.

After breakfast/lunch, we headed home and got changed into our running clothes. We headed out to Caldwell Woods and It. Was. FREAKING. HOT! At 3:45pm, the temp was a real feel of 97 degrees, 41% humidity, 66 degree dew point and clear skies.

We parked the car and headed to the trail. This place is AWESOME! The main bike path goes on forever and there a million dirt trails that go through the woods. There's a public pool and picnic areas too. Jim warned us about the lack of fountains, so me and Martin brought our hand held bottles (1 each) of Gatorade. The first mile...fine...hot, but fine. The second mile...it was really hot.....the third mile I started getting dizzy and we slowed down a bit. Martin kept saying, "just slow it down, there's no need for you to be running a 10 minute mile in this heat! It's really faster than that because of the heat." We had slowed down a little bit and right when I thought I was going to pass out from the heat, we entered a tree covered area on the path and it felt good. The smells in the woods were great! It was neat to only be 14 miles outside of Downtown, but feel so far away.

After the 3rd mile, we lost the path because you have to cross a street and turn right to get to the path (which we learned on the way back). So...we ran down the street along the train tracks for a little over a mile. Our Gatorade was hot and I am not sweating - not good. I've had heat exhaustion before and I knew that the feeling I was getting was not a good one. We got to 6 miles and we kept looking for a bathroom or somewhere we could fill up with water and cool off - nada. There were a million picnic areas, but no bathrooms on the section we ran. We were standing at the stop light at the 6th mile and I told Martin that I wasn't going to be able to make it back without water. I just kept saying, "this is not good, this is not good" and walking in circles waiting for the light to change. The people in the cars had to think we were high for being out there. I saw a group of people that were having a picnic and I walked over to them and asked if they had ANY water and the man reached into his cooler and pulled out a nice, ice cold water. He was a sweetheart and gave Martin a bottle as well and a bag of ice. I was squatting down and he walked over to us with the bag of ice. I put some ice in my sports bra, down my shorts and on my head. Martin and I were eating some of it, too. I instantly felt better.

We headed back onto the path to finish our runs and now I was sweating a copious amount! I went from no sweating to sweat soaked shorts and arms and legs. My arms started blistering (I think it was sweat getting trapped between the sunburned skin and my new skin underneath). Martin and I realized that was probably why I wasn't sweating all that much originally. Either way, with 97 degree weather and not sweating, that's not too good. As weird as this will sound, I don't sweat when I drink Gatorade. I sweat a lot when I drink water.

About mile 10 I got a raging headache and started freezing! I told Martin that I was freezing. I was so cold. I got scared because I didn't know what was going on. We walked at this point for 4 minutes. Actually, there 2 times we walked for 4 minutes or so just to regroup. I got so mad at myself and my body for having to walk. I got so frustrated that I wasn't running fast, but Martin hung in there with me, the trooper he is. I couldn't have done it today out there if it weren't for him. I am truly thankful for him, and I love him dearly.

We saw deer and even saw some baby deer feeding. The mom deer just stood there and looked at us..almost as if to say, "may I help you? What are you staring at?" Haha!

Anyway, we followed the path all the way back and saw where we screwed up originally. We stopped at the bathroom area and pumped water into our bottles and cooled off as well.

13 miles done. In the books.

We drove to Whole Foods and got some sushi and olives and sat in the parking lot and ate it. I love that memory we created! Seriously, what a fun day and time I had with Martin out on the trails and then sitting in the parking lot at Whole Foods eating.

We got home and downloaded our runs. I thought I ran like a 12 - 13 minute mile average. Afterall, we walked for 8, almost 9 minutes total and we just hit the lap button and didn't stop the watches.

Here are the splits from the run.

1 00:09:41
2 00:09:53
3 00:10:02
4 00:10:36
5 00:10:31
6 00:10:38
7 00:10:30
8 00:10:28
9 00:10:05
10 00:10:19
.21 00:18:52 (4 minute walk)
.64 00:10:32
.27 00:17:41 (4:51 minute walk)
1 00:10:27
.82 00:09:40

Average pace was 10:33. Not too shabby for what the weather was.

Martin - thank you so much for being my backbone out there today. I absolutely, 100% love you and thank you for keeping me going.

Nice runs until that long run...you guys are NUTS for getting out in that heat. I am glad nothing bad happened. Keep up the good work.

And that's why I got up at the butt crack of dawn on Saturday to run. The crash and burn I had the previous Sunday was not something I want to repeat!

Hey, glad you made it back to your car without taking an ambulance. Yikes, those temps were dangerous yesterday. Good day to run indoors or crosstrain/swim. Hope you recover well. Surprised you all haven't been to Caldwell woods before. Toni and I bike up to the Botanic Gardens once in a while and she has her family's picnic out there sometimes.