Bike trainer and long run fun.

Having ran a pretty good tempo run on Friday morning I just did some easy reading on the exerbike at the gym for lunch. I needed to finish up a Lance Armstrong book – Lance: The Making of the World’s Greatest Champion. I did not really care for the book. As with all of the Lance books they are completely one sided. You have books like this one by John Wilcockson, who has been following and interviewing Lance for almost his entire career who really thinks that Lance can do no wrong. In the other camp is David Walsh, L. A. Confidentiel and From Lance to Landis, who presents circumstantial evidence and then draws conclusions. I actually like the latter books a bit better but, to be fair, I am not the biggest Lance Armstrong fan. Anyway, I had an easy spin on Friday afternoon – I was planning a long run on Saturday morning.

That Saturday run just did not happen – no fault of my own mind you. The temperature was in the low forties and the rain was pounding. It was miserable conditions here in Southern Mississippi. With it raining outside I jumped on my bike trainer and put on a DVD. Forty five minutes later I was drenched. With school being officially out the gym has restricted hours. I arrived just after 2PM. I hopped on the treadmill with no real workout in mind – I just knew that this was not going to be the 12 – 15 mile run that I wanted – I can’t do that on the treadmill. I warmed up slow for about ¾ of a mile and then I decided to run mile repeats followed by ¼ mile recovery runs – not sure why but I guess to make the best use of the available time. I ended up with 5 miles at just less than 40 minutes. Three of those miles were at 6:30 pace.

The holiday / December running club meeting was at my house on Saturday night. Most of the usuals showed up and we did our officer elections. I scored big with the Dirty Santa by procuring a set of Yanks, running gloves, sunglasses and a couple of gels – not too shabby. However, there was way too much food and drink (actually I drank very little and I did not over indulge too badly on the food). But, the next day my weight was up by over 5 pounds. It tends to do that! – I know that it is water weight from salty food – but still.

The weather had changed by Sunday. Still some rain but much warmer. I got up and did the bike trainer again. I have been enjoying the trainer more than I ever have. I have been doing pretty easy base work but the computer will record all of my stats. I like to compare workout to workout and see my heart rate average, cadence and power averages for the sessions. The computer then spits put a ‘performance’ number. It is average watts compared to average heart rate. The number is not perfect but comparing the same workouts session is fun.

I met up with Charles on the trace on Sunday afternoon. We would try to put together a good long run. I ran 3 miles to meet him just past Clyde station. I ran those miles between 8:15 – 8:30 pace. Charles was running fast also – about his half marathon race pace – 9 minute miles. I slowed to his pace and he never let up. He stung together between 13 – 15 miles at right at 9 minutes per mile. He killed it.

I got about 13 miles at just over 2 hours – there were a couple of long breaks – I got to chew the fat and congratulate Steve (the postman) on his Ironman Arizona. I finished the last two miles of my run at a 7:30 minute pace. It was tough but not race tough. My legs were a little sore after the run – not race sore but…– so I took it easy the rest of the day. I actually skipped the December Beer Club meeting. I really was not in the mood for winter warmers with the outside being 68 degrees – in addition, I did not want to hamper my recovery.

The coming weekend is another half marathon in New Orleans – The Old Man River. The race is on Sunday with the Saints playing the Cowboys on Saturday night. New Orleans will be on fire.