Help me, Clarence! Get me back!

Cooler this morning. Felt great. I turned on my 205 as I headed up the driveway to do my brief stretches while the watch synchs up, and immediately got a "low battery" warning. I put it on the charger immediately after Sunday's bike ride, and left it there all day, I think, so this surprised me. Hopefully, I inadvertently hit the "on" button when I took it off the charger, and didn't realize it, and that drained it, and it's not a battery problem. I've had it almost 5 years, so it doesn't owe me anything, but I'm not in the mood to spend any dough to replace it right now. It lasted about 1.5 miles into my 5 mile run, and died. It's on the charger - hopefully it will work just fine tomorrow. If not, I'll try resetting it, and we'll see how it goes from there.

The 5 mile run felt pretty good. My left foot is still a bit sore from the spill on Saturday. It hurts most if I walk around the house with no shoes on, and inevitably end up flexing my big toe more than it wants. My bruised thigh didn't give me any pain after the first couple of minutes. The ITBS was pretty mild today after a day off. So, for a 55+ year old body, I'm doing OK!

Not sure of the pace, but it felt just like the last few 5 milers, so likely about 9:10 average.

Well, the good news is that the ol' garmin is just fine, no battery issue, I must have just left it turned on somehow the other day.

I didn't run yesterday - my life is too complicated - but I got out this morning, and the watch was good to go as soon as I hit "on."

It was really foggy this morning, but warm, so really humid. Like 100% humidity. Might have had something to do with how I felt, which was slow. I averaged 9:19, which is slower than usual for this hilly route. I was a little surprised. After taking yesterday off, I thought I'd have a little spring in my step, but it seemed to have worked the other way around. After the first mile or so, I felt pretty tired. Whatever. Another 5 miles in the books mid-week.

Trying to decide what I will do on Saturday. I was planning to do a shorter stepback long run. But a week from Saturday I start my vacation, and I don't want to do a 17+ mile run on the first weekend of my vacation (or at all during it, I think), so I might go long this Saturday and save the shorter run for next weekend. We'll see how I feel about that Saturday morning.

On my run this morning, I was surprised how many rabbits I saw. In past weeks, I've seen from zero to maybe two, probably averaging one or fewer. Today, I didn't count, but I bet I saw at least a dozen along the way. It was weird. Gotta stop smoking dope the night before, maybe.

Run long Saturday, earn extra beers in vacation.

Jerry wrote:Run long Saturday, earn extra beers in vacation.

Well, only problem is I don't drink.
Maybe extra Diet Cokes?!

I feel old and slow this morning!

5 miles at about 9:25 average, and tired.

Maybe tomorrow needs to be stepback mileage only...

Michael, I would just go by feel on the long run. If it's there go the extra, if not call it a day.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Michael, I would just go by feel on the long run. If it's there go the extra, if not call it a day.

Good advice Alex - and that's just what I did.
I started the run at 9:30. Probably 80 degrees at the start, with a high dew point. Although the temps rose throughout the run, so it was just about 90 (maybe 89) at the end, the dew point seemed to drop, which was a welcome relief. A breeze kicked up about half way through, and seemed to clear out the really humid stuff, so that was good.

Still, it was hot, and I just decided right from the start to take it easy, especially after feeling tired and slow for my Thurs. and Fri. runs. The run felt good. I had to deal with flying insects buzzing my head way more than I like, but in the end was no worse for wear.

I headed out to the east, carrying a half liter bottle of water, and thinking I wanted to get out 4 miles and turn back. Kind of a long leg, but I felt pretty well hydrated to start, and would turn around if I felt like I was stretching it too far. No problem, that worked out fine. I started working on the water about half way through and had plenty of hydration to get back to the car early in mile 9. I stopped there, chugged about 16 oz of gatorade, grabbed a gu and another half liter bottle of water, and headed out in the other direction. I kept the pace nice and reasonable. I stopped early in mile 10 for a quick leak, which slowed me down for that mile, too. As I got within about half a mile of the turnaround for this leg (so, in mile 12), I walked long enough to eat a gu and drink enough water to wash it down nicely. Next delay was at the start of mile 16, when I was back at the car, finished the next 16 oz of gatorade, and grabbed one more half liter bottle of water to carry in the last 1.9 miles. I was tired on the way back from that last little loop, but pleased that I'd persevered, done a good job on pacing, and got it done.

Of course, it was a total sweat fest.

Happy Bastille Day!

Nice easy hour long bike ride today. Just took one of my usual spins around town, but did take a couple of short detours just to keep it interesting. Hot and muggy here, with thunderstorms coming, and still tired from yesterday's 17 miler, so took it easy and also didn't wander too far. Nice ride. I do love the bike. Splits and elevation changes below.

My standard easy 5 miler this morning, which came in at a pretty typical 9:12 avg pace. Hot and humid, even early.

I've been better about foam rolling for the ITBS, and it seems to help.

Also still have an issue with my left foot, from when I took a tumble last week. Biggest issue with it seems to be that I adjust my stride to avoid any pain from it (which really is quite slight, and between the ball of my foot and my big toe) and the stride change makes me sore in tendons in the ankle area. I think it'll be fine, but it bears watching.

I notice I've been eating too much, and in particular too much junk. My weight's not an issue, but instead of creeping down, like it typically does at this time of year, it is edging slightly up. I gotta lay off the evening ice cream or cheez-its! Still, I'm talking about like 2 lbs, and it comes and goes. Can't be good for my cholesterol, however. Plus, there is a kitchen full of good things to eat instead, so it's just a matter of intentionally making lousy choices.

Wow, another hot muggy morning. I started the run just before 6:00 and ran a slow five miles on the hills. Averaged 9:21. At the finish it was 79 with a dew point of 70. Yeck.

The bugs have been crazy. Buzzing all around my head as I run. If I could change one thing, that would be it. I can take the heat and the humidity and the hills. But the bugs??? C'mon!

Supposed to get a break after this afternoon, with a front coming through (t-storms - we sure need more rain).

Weather is better this morning - big t-storms came through late yesterday afternoon, and it is getting much less muggy, slowly but surely.
Garmin is much worse this morning. After last week's problem, it's been fine. But today it would not stay powered up. It is all charged up and just keeps shutting down.
Going on vacation Saturday, and really want a functioning gps watch to measure my routes while out of town, so decided not to dilly dally. After reading a (very timely, thank you!) discussion on these boards, I ended up buying a 405. I think I can deal with the bezel. It was a good deal (and with my second kid starting college in a few weeks, I could use a good deal on something), and it will get here tomorrow, so I can take it with me.
Yipee.

Don't know how old your Garmin is, but my 610 screen completely blanked out after Sunday's race and wouldn't power up. I called Garmin tech support and they had me do a few things which didn't work, and then subsequently had me send it back to them. since it is under warranty, I will either receive that one back repaired or another one (which I assume is a refurbished, not new unit), but the cost to me is only the postage there which was pretty minimal.

Anyway, tech support was pretty helpful.

Michael Enright wrote:I feel old and slow this morning!

5 miles at about 9:25 average, and tired.

Don't Michael. Jerry's 5 miles on Monday was at 10:02.

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Don't know how old your Garmin is, but my 610 screen completely blanked out after Sunday's race and wouldn't power up. I called Garmin tech support and they had me do a few things which didn't work, and then subsequently had me send it back to them. since it is under warranty, I will either receive that one back repaired or another one (which I assume is a refurbished, not new unit), but the cost to me is only the postage there which was pretty minimal.

Anyway, tech support was pretty helpful.

Mine is 5 years old, so way out of warranty. I've heard that their tech support is great, and has helped people who aren't under warranty. But it is probably time to update the technology a little and go with a smaller gps watch, so I bit the bullet rather than try to finagle.

Jerry wrote:

Michael Enright wrote:I feel old and slow this morning!

5 miles at about 9:25 average, and tired.

Don't Michael. Jerry's 5 miles on Monday was at 10:02.

I feel better Jerry!

Enjoy your vacation Michael.

Alex Kubacki wrote:Enjoy your vacation Michael.

Thanks Alex, that's the plan!

Another slow-ish 5 miles this morning. I think I should stop complaining about it and just consider it the new (or at least current) normal, for whatever reason. As far as perceived effort goes, it's about right, whether it's slow or not.

Maybe I'll tinker with the HR monitor next week with the new garmin to see where I'm at as far as that goes.

Cooler, cloudy, breezy and just a little rainy for this morning's run, which was a real nice change. But I'm hoping it changes back a little for my vacation!

Nice 8 miler at about 9:15 per. Ran from the cottage to the town beach, then down a packed sand road that runs between the beach and the salt pond behind it and back. The sandy mile was slower!
No bugs, tiny hills, beautiful morning, so nice vacation kickoff. As usual, got back and no one else is even close to getting up yet!
Hmmmm, no newspaper, and no breakfast for a while. Juice and coffee will do for now, and I'll have to get the news on the internet...

Another nice 8 miler at about 9:15 per. Took a different route. Nice stretch of road with some slight rolling hills and little traffic. I chose well - the route seemed popular with early morning cyclists and runners! Still nice, though humidity building in advance of a short rain storm supposed to move through in an hour or so, but end quickly. Then, it should be another real nice vacation day.
I need the running - the amount of junk I eat while on vacation is extreme sometimes.
It is my oldest child's 20th birthday! I no longer am the father of four teenagers. Doesn't seem that much different, though!

Vacation continues with a gorgeous day on the RI coast. Headed to Newport for the afternoon, after the girls get back (whenever!) from a quirky side trip to shop at the "Umbrella Factory" here in Charlestown. Supposed to be funky/eclectic. I'm sure they'll have fun. I always like a jaunt to Newport, and the weather is perfect for it.
Did not run yesterday. After the two 8 milers, my feet were feeling kind of sore. My new Ghost 4's have probably arrived at home, and I'm going to want them right away when I get back - I think the pair I brought with me, approaching 400 miles, have had it. My feet don't normally get sore like this. And I figured I could use a day of rest. It felt great.
We went out for a whale watch yesterday. And like last year at this time, we saw zero whales. Just a nice 4 hour boat ride. At least the weather was good! But the seas were a bit rough. I wisely took dramamine and was fine, but my youngest did not, and ended up hanging over the railing. Yech.
Started out today at 6:30 a.m. with a 40+ mile bike ride. Headed up to Kingston (where URI is) to pick up the South County bike trail, then over to Narragansett, and took a short spin up and down Scenic 1A. Beautiful. And then back. My new garmin 405 started telling me the battery was low at about mile 20. That surprised me. It continued to function until about mile 39, when it finally shut down. I intentionally did not charge it after the first couple runs, and have not tried to shut off the time feature in between, trying to get an idea of how long it would last that way. Now I know!
The ride felt good, and was a nice change, as usual, from the run.
I'll be back to the run tomorrow and Friday, at least that's the plan, then probably skip Saturday and go long Sunday.
Now, I just have to avoid too many work emails for the rest of the day...

Nice vacation. Just stop blogging. Make me jealous.

Your vacation description makes me wish a little bit that we had chosen Providence over Cleveland, but alas, maybe not. My sister went to URI, so the talk of Kingston brought back a memory or too. Glad it was fun.

Jerry wrote:Nice vacation. Just stop blogging. Make me jealous.

Thanks Jerry, it's been a really nice week so far. If it makes you feel better, it is cloudy right now, with a chance for severe t-storms late today!

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:Your vacation description makes me wish a little bit that we had chosen Providence over Cleveland, but alas, maybe not. My sister went to URI, so the talk of Kingston brought back a memory or too. Glad it was fun.

Providence is nice, but I love the Great Lakes!
The kids at URI certainly have a lot of nice things within easy reach. If I'd gone there, I think I'd have spent half my time at the beach.

Cloudy, 70 degrees and humid this morning. Nice breeze. Ran 10 miles at 9:10 and felt great. I thought maybe the bike ride yesterday would have whipped me, but when I looked at the watch for the first time at the 5 mile turnaround, was pleasantly surprised by my pace. Another really nice run - I did the same route that I did on Monday, but stretched it another mile. Really pretty, not much traffic, and very easy gentle hills.
There is some kind of race here on Sunday - I'll have to look it up (we'll be gone). I think I heard something on the local radio yesterday about a tri. Maybe it's part of that.