Off the Shnide, the Sequal

Last Wednesday I welcomed my second daughter, Elena, to the world at 1:30 PM. Since the kido was breach, we had to do a C-section, which requires lots of help for the wife. As a result, today was my first run since last Wednesday. My GPS didn't click on until we were about 1.5 miles out, so I'm not certain about the exactness - but I'd guess we did 3.75 in 29:53 (the stopwatch part still works), so a shade under 8 minutes/mile. Needless to say, the layoff and the sun were pretty tough. I'll probably go out again tomorrow.

Since I don't have much running news, I'll make some College baseball predictions: based on computer ratings and central mean averaging the number 1 seeds most likely to move on are: Clemson, Georgia, UNC and UVA, while the least likely are: Pepperdine, Oklahoma, Oregon State and Texas. Once again the selection comittee does an astounding poor job of keeping the regions even, and once again favors the south (3 ACC teams with cake regions?). If you don't agree, just wait and see how many of the 4 cake-region hosts move-on compared to the 4 war-zone regions. Having said that, I'm not at all upset that so-many ACC and SEC teams are hosting - they have great fans and should be rewarded - I just would have flipped Maine and Missou - and made a few other simple tweaks to even things out. Ok, back to running.

Twilight Trail Run

My last run of the spring running season has come and gone. The Bluff Point Twilight Trail run was last Friday - I finished the 7.5 miles in 57:02, for a 7:34 min/mile pace. The mile splits were very uneven: 7:07, 6:55 (for 1.41 miles), 8:14, 7:54, 7:05, 8:02 and 7:56. This probably reflects the difficulty of the trail - although I should have done a little better the last 2 miles. It is worth noting that my legs hurt for the next two days - gotta love trail running.

Now I wait for the new baby. I went out today with Dave and Larry, we did 5 miles at a 7:37 pace. I'll probably go out again tomorrow, if possible - and I'm considering starting the speed intervals published in RW last month - or, head for the hills one last time with the team.

Off The Shnide

The week that felt like a month finally ended with back-to-back runs yesterday and today. Neither of these workouts felt particularly great, but after the flood of rain and allergies, I'm not complaining. Yesterday I went out by myself and did 3.57 miles at a 7:28 pace, and today I went out with Larry and did 5.12 miles at a 7:48 pace, although included in that was a faster tempo mile at a 6:40 pace, as well as a hill that local runners refer to as 'the bitch'.

I'll take off tomorrow and then do the Twilight Trail run at Bluff Point state park this Friday night. Since I'm not in the best of shape, I'll probably do the double loop at a slower pace (~7:45) and consider it my long training run for the week.

Miserable Week. No Running

Rain and some sort of sickness/allergies have completely halted my running for the week. Shown here is the current weather system which is dumping buckets of rain in South-Eastern Connecticut. Although, I don't really care that it's raining, since I still have this post-nasal drip induced cough. Wonderful. I always thought May was a great time of year, but the last two years I've been sick at about the same time with this cold - which is why I'm thinking I need to see an allergist or something. Anyway, I'll give the cold and rain the weekend, and start again next week as though nothing happened.

L & M Spring Stride

I have mixed feelings about Saturday's L&M Spring Stride. On one hand, I'm pretty happy with my time considering how ill i've felt. I finished the 3.5 mile course in 25 min and 44 seconds - good for a 7:14 pace (or a 7:21 pace here). On the other hand, I really think I could have broke into the sub-seven club had I been feeling better. The day itself was superb - beutiful weather and the course took us down to the river, and around near the old lighthouse (shown to the left). I'll just have to keep at it.

Spring Showers

Well, my garden looks pretty good, but getting these runs in is difficult. Our hill running club was washed-out Tuesday and Wednesday, so I ran up and down Fishtown Road near my house last night. Although a tough hill, the grade is a little easier than the hill near work - which probably explains the faster average pace. I read in this months Runner's World about a mile race plan, and was thinking about doing the Nick Bottone track mile later this summer, so I also did a non-hill 200 meter sprint at a 5:49 pace. I was happy I could get this fast, since the Running Time's pace time equivalent calculator told me that I should be able to run a mile in 6:20.

Since my last post I did two other workouts, both felt difficult. The first was last Thursday, I did 6 miles at a pockey 7:43 average pace. Then, fearing that I was never going to be able to crack a 7:00 pace in a shorter race, sprinted out Monday and did the first 3.5 miles at a 7:18 pace, before crawling the last .6 miles back to the front gate. Not the best feeling workout ever. I'm hoping that some race adrenaline will carry me a little faster Saturday and that I won't bonk before the end.