Darn those allergies

This week my training got a bit harder. There were a couple of days in there were I slept like crap and I knew there would be no way I could get up at 5:30 to run. Then allergy season hit me like a ton of bricks. I don't know how you are doing, but about midweek it's like spring suddenly appeared and my throat hurt so bad on Thursday that I could barely speak. Running when it kind of hurts to swallow probably not such a good idea, so I gave it a rest until today. I have a nice little three-day weekend so I thought it would be a good day to make up a run. Boy was it! My throat feels better today (although I still sound a bit hoarse) and it looks absolutely beautiful out there. I got a good night's sleep and went out there and ran a bit later in the morning -- it was a bit warm for the long sleeves I wore, even, so I really enjoyed it.

On Monday I made up a "long run" and did a 6-mile run because I kind of felt like Portland Fit was keeping me at pretty low mileage right now. Lower than I am ready for. So I did that on Monday and today I decided to get a night little hill workout in. I did about a mile and half of a warmup and then did five passes up a hill by the house that is probably about a 5-10 percent incline. Not too hard of a hill so I decided to make it kind of a long one -- maybe a 90 second pass. By the fifth one I was feeling a little hard to get myself up the hill and, although time-wise it was short, the extent of the workout made it tougher. I think it's great to sometimes mix in a tougher workout on the body that is shorter in time so as to create some variety. I'm pretty happy with the workout today and so tomorrow morning I'll do Portland Fit and I'm hoping that Sunday I will feel up to doing a nice long run again. Maybe even take a little MAX ride down to the waterfront and do a loop around the trails. Sounds like fun to me.

Enjoy the sunshine this weekend and get out on the roads!

Race for the Roses

Haven't done the Race for the Roses before and I thought it was worth trying. It's a half-marathon and 5K and being not quite in race form yet, I elected to go with the 5K and let me tell you, it was a stretch. I've worked 6 days straight and been running mornings a couple of times and this was my one day off. So had I not already paid, I might have bagged it. I had to force myself to go this morning and didn't do a whole lot of prep. My performance, I thought, was pretty weak. Although I finished a minute faster than at the Shamrock Run, with my time today just over 21 minutes. Not what I was hoping for, but I was surprised because I felt pretty weak. Let me feel pretty good that when I actually feel up to running I could easily trim a minute or two off. Plus I'll get in better shape. But how about the race itself. Well, here's what I thought:

• Let's say first of all that the beneficiary, the Albertina Kerr Center seems like a great organization and I am happy to see my money go toward this worthy cause.
• The race starts on the east side -- a rarity. The center of it all is at the Oregon Convention Center and I'll have to say, it is nice when the weather is questionable to have somewhere dry to do your bag check and get water afterward and all. Plus -- real toilets! Seriously had the nicest registration and such area because of the fact that there was some shelter, possibly because...
• It was small! There didn't seem to be hardly any people running the 5K and I was definitely a bit confused that the local media seemed to be out in full force. Saw more for this event than I have for any previous runs that I can think of.
• The course for the 5K was OK, with the obligatory run down Naito Parkway that crossed the Broadway and Steel bridges. It seemed a little generic to me and the two bridges caused two rather significant climbs and drops for such a short race. I might have gotten a slightly better time if I didn't have that climb up the Steel Bridge near the end.
• Worst finish setup to a race that I can remember. The final stretch involves a few turns and you can of turn a corner and, wham, it's over. Kind of eliminates the ability to see the end coming that gives you that drive to try a little harder at the end.
• No people giving pace times and not even mile markers. I think they had them for the half-marathon, but come one. I paid as well and a 5K only really requires two mile markers. It definitely felt like the 5K was treated as an afterthought.
• Pretty big post-race set-up with a lot of freebies being handed out and a bigger supply of food. Probably because of the half-marathoners. But it was possibly better in the food (if not freebies) than the marathon I ran, where I could hardly find anything good to eat.
• NO BEER AT THE END. That was a big no-no.
  
• In April 7 AM and 7:30 AM are too early to start a race. Those times should be reserved for when the weather is going to be too hot.
  

So that's what I thought of the race and if I do it next year it will definitely be the half-marathon. And even then the time, course, and lack of beer at the end (seriously!) is a detraction. In the end, it likely will end up resulting in wanting to contribute to the benefactor and I will end up doing it. But I'm not working the day before next year.

I'm gonna try and take some pictures sometime to make the site more interesting. And I'll do a training update sometime this week.

The training begins...with snow

First week of training today with Portland Fit and let me tell you -- I was not so excited when I went outside this morning and found snow. How lame is that? I mean I just wrote the other day about how I was getting inspired by the new weather and here I am freezing my butt off while this guy cracks jokes and I wait to run. That's why I try to do my warm-up inside when it is cold -- and I admit, why I have a hard time getting my butt out to go running during the winter months.

So anyway, what did today start, you ask? I decided that after training on my own last year and getting pretty good results, it might be even better to join a training group. My friend Katie did this last year and liked it, so I figured why not give it a shot? I would like to bring my time down a bit this year and I'm hoping this could be the key. What I need is to focus this year on doing more than just getting myself prepared to last that long but also figure out how to get my legs stronger and optimize my workouts so the marathon gets easier and I finish with a better time.

This morning Annie and I were the only members of my group able to go. Annie is a friend of mine from way back to grade school and getting into running for the first time. We got there and got our sign-up going for Portland Fit and then after listening to a pep talk went out on a 3 mile run. I did pretty well and finished among the faster new recruits to the program. They separate the big mass of people by color groups based on ability for the coming weeks. I finished in the green group, the second highest group. When I finished she told me I was on the cusp of the faster group and I could trade up if I wanted, but I decided to stick with my green group. I don't want to have any illusions about my abilities and set my self up out of my league. And Annie? Hey -- she ran the whole thing and didn't resort to walking once! For someone who hasn't been running at all, 3 miles can be a little daunting and by keeping going she showed she's already got the determination that she's gonna need when the training gets more intense.

So now it's on to the first week of training -- I have my schedule that will force me to get out there. I'm not a big fan of only running 4 days per week (this is my stress release and relaxation!) but perhaps I'll do some weights or something a couple of days. Happy training!

Spring is coming!

I think that March is like my New Year. When January 1 comes around, I have a hard time getting myself motivated to go out and do something. I don't think I'm at the point where I feel competitive enough in my running to hit the road at 6 AM when it's freezing cold and dark...and more often than not raining. But there's something about when my allergies start to get bad and the sun starts to come out earlier and it's not crazy to go running in the morning or after work that I finally feel like I'm ready to make some changes.

So a couple of weeks ago I finally started getting out on the road regularly and although I'm being lazy this week in anticipation of not being able to once I start Portland Fit this weekend, I really feel like this is the time of year I'm ready to go out and do something.