For Whom the Dogs Bark

Great running weather indoors today.  Ran .33 to the rec center then did 85 minutes of elliptical (counting 8.5, even though the meter read more than that).  Tonight I propped up the back of my wife's treadmill and did 3 more at some sort of a downhill slant, 10:54 per mile (5.5 mph).  Not exactly sure of the incline, I'll have to measure it, but I need to do this almost every day so I don't crater at the end of UVM.  I raised the TM about an inch, so probably something like a 1.5% slope, probably should raise it another inch, maybe experiment with higher speeds and get some blood flowing as long as I am on the machine.

Is it possible to get injured on the elliptical?  I was hurting bad enough when I was done this morning that I decided to walk home, almost made my daughter late for school.  I thought I could wear flats and it wouldn't make a difference, but my ankle felt better tonight in regular shoes.  In fact, it felt as good on the treadmill tonight as it did on the elliptical this morning.  Ditto with the groin, go figure.  Just have to see how it plays out this week.

Similar routine as yesterday, did 90 minutes on the elliptical and 2 on the treadmill tonight, plus ran to the rec center and back.  I set the treadmill at 4% negative slope.  If you can't stand the treadmill, I recommend trying the elliptical.  It makes the treadmill an absolute pleasure.  It looks to me like the average decline at UVM is 1% (1500 feet net elevation decrease over 26.2 miles), so getting used to running at 4% should be adequate if I get in enough distance.  Ankle feels OK today, not great but it should make it.

9 on elliptical, 3 on treadmill tonight at 4% decline, no running outside today, all regular shoes.  I wore a monitor for the elliptical and I mostly stayed at low heart rate, though it climbed in the last 20 minutes to about 140.  Interesting that it doesn't do that when I run until I get over two hours.

So tonight was the tale of two daughters.  We took our youngest daughter to her junior high school awards ceremony.  She got some good academic awards but we had to sit through a half-hour speech by the principal about excellence and everybody is a winner.  My middle daugher didn't go, she has never been to one, never had the need; but she knows about the speeches, she calls them words for nerds.  She is the food nazi so she was home cooking dinner while we were gone, and still cooking long after we got home.  Finally we got served about 9:30, some healthy little pasta thingy, bless her cholesterol-free heart.  Good thing my wife bought ding dongs today or I might have starved.

9 on elliptical, 0.66 running and 3 tonight on the treadmill.  Elliptical and running was in flats, but my ankle was still barking at me a little bit.  The treadmill was in regular shoes and felt better.  I also walked about 2 miles around downtown this afternoon going to a meeting, feels fine to walk, it's just the pounding from running that aggravates it.  Iced twiced today, which always feels good.  This concludes my regularly scheduled program for the week.  Actually, I'll do machines in the morning, then travel to SLC for a graduation and try to get in some runs over the weekend at altitude.  My wife says it will be raining, what kind of a deal is that?

Yesterday I went into the rec center a little later because I noticed the day before that everybody left for work by 7:30.  So I waited until I dropped my daughter off and had the rec center all to myself -- for about 20 minutes until the Stepford wives came in with full makeup and $500 workout suits.  Some of them must have been up since 4:30 getting ready.  They had obviously provided Christmas for a lot of plastic surgeons.  There was a cardio coach yelling somethng about "abs" and "reps", but I am pretty sure not one of them can run a mile under 10 minutes, if at all.  Not sure how I ended up in that situation, but at least they were done in about 15 minutes.  This morning I was back at it, fighting for time on the machines with the sweaty earlybirds and happy to do it.

60 minutes on the treadmill, then got on a plane and traveled to SLC for a graduation.  Planned to run tonight, but the schedule would not permit.  Trying to put a couple of runs together for tomorrow, in between graduation events, hoping to acclimate to the altitude a little.

Woke up early in SLC this morning and did 6.0 treadmill miles at about a 10 minute pace.  Then went to my son-in-law's graduation and broke away in the afternoon for a drive down to Provo to run.  I hooked up with my brother and we ran 7.1 in Provo Canyon at 8:53 per mile, slightly slower than marathon pace.  We started about a mile and a half above Vivian Park on the South Fork Road where we parked a car, ran down to the main road then down the paved trail to the parking lot at the mouth of the canyon, driving back up to retrieve the car. 

The object today was to get some familiarity with the course and get in some running at altitude, but more importantly to see how big of an impediment the altitude is going to be for me.  It is a big impediment.  I can write it off to a few factors that wouldn't be present on race day:  running in the afternoon, second run of the day, rusty legs from not running outside all week, not wearing racing flats, no taper, etc.  Some of that might mitigate, but the fact is I struggled to maintain pace at this altitude.  I could have run it harder, but it wasn't easy enough and I am skeptical about being able to do it for the whole distance.  I assumed that low temperatures and downhill would compensate for altitude, but that did not happen today.  At sea level, I ran better in the heat on flat terrain as recently as a week ago.  I realized the obvious, which is that altitude is a limiting factor rather than an adjustment factor.  You might get better at running in altitude, but you will always be faster at sea level.

So not sure whether to go ahead and do this race.  I have heard they are flexible about deferring entry fees and I haven't bought a plane ticket yet, so it wouldn't be that big of a deal financially.  But I hate to change plans.

Anyway, my wife and I had a wonderful time in Utah.  My son-in-law graduated from medical school at the U, wearing his red gown with unusual pride for a BYU grad.  He said he requested blue and was politely refused -- maybe not so politely.  Also got to see both brothers who live in the area, running with one, as well as visit my uncle and aunt, my son and his wife, and my wife's brother and his wife who are both running UVM.  We ate at a great restaurant on 13th East called Market Street Grill.  I look forward to more visits so I can work my way through their extensive seafood menu.  Today I started by ordering steak.