Wet & Wonderful Weekend

Actually it wasn't all that wonderful, but it was wet.  The forecast for Saturday was two to three inches of rain and winds that could exceed 50 MPH; Sunday was supposes to be very similar.  What was on tap for me?  5 miles plus 6 x 100M on Saturday and 11 miles on Sunday (actually found out afterwards that it was supposed to be 10 miles).  I didn't even have to look out the windows to know that it wasn't going to be whole lot of fun running in the elements.  I should state here that I do have a treadmill in my basement; however, I am banned from using it because back in 2007 I cracked the platform on it when training for the NYC Marathon.  It actually isn't a bad thing that I am not allowed on it, it forces me outside to run, which ultimately I enjoy anyway.

So on Saturday morning, after eating my bagel with jelly and downing some Gatorade G2, I go dressed and headed out the door, into the monsoon.  The first quarter mile or so always sucks when running in the rain and wind.  I assume this is so because you are warm and dry and you are suddenly thrust into a completely different enviroment.  After that period of acclimation I tend to forget about the rain and wind and just run.  Of course on this day whenever I came upon a puddle (and there were plenty of "puddles" or rather spontaneous lakes) I did everything possible to avoid soaking my running shoes.  This proved to be an impossible task, by the end of the first mile my feet were sopping wet.

The run itself went pretty well, a bit slower than I expected but good not the less.  The first two miles I ran around a 7:40/mile pace, if not a little faster.  The wind was at my back and I was just cruising, not really feeling the ill affects of the weather all that much.  Then it came time to head back home....HOLY CRAP!  My nice jaunt in what not seemed like mildly wet weather turned bad.  I was now running straight into the wind and pounding rain.  My 7:40 pace turned to 8:30 and I was getting soaked.  I trudged on and despite the head wind on the way back I still managed to finish the five miles in 40:05 (8:01/mile).  Then it was time for my 6 x 100s, of course all back into the wind.  I pushed myself pretty hard and my times were between :16 (with the wind) and :19 (against the wind).  I was happy to have it over and done with....time for a hot shower

I hoped that the rest of my day would be spent lounging around the house, just vegging out.  No such luck.  My four year old daughter had a birthday party at "Let's Bounce Around", the local hot spot for birthday parties.  Off we went around 3:15PM, into the hurricane like conditions.  The party was....well, it was a bunch of four and five year olds running around crazy, followed by pizza, juice and cake.  I think it should be done in the opposite order....pump them full of sugar, then let them run around and be crazy.  Of course that would probably lead to a whole lot of vomitting on all of the equipment.  My daughter had a blast.  The drive home was nuts, the four or five mile drive took us over 25 minutes, there were lakes and rivers where I have never seen a lake or river.  There were trees where I had never seen trees.  The road were a mess....just crazy weather!

Sunday wasn't any better, actually it was a bit better, the wind had died down significantly.  The rain did not.  I had to go through the same hemming and hawing that I did on Saturday before finally man-ing up and geting out there for my "long" run.  Overall, it was good, a little slower than I wanted to go.  11 miles in 1:30:45 (8:15/mile), with my splits all over the place.  It was a relatively hilly run so my mile splits are all over the place (mile 1 - 8:07 vs. mile 4 - 9:15 vs. mile 11 - 7:43).  Again, I was estatic just to have it over and done with and get get a nice hot shower.

So that was my weekend.  What does this week hold?  Ironman training is suppose to start today but I am rethinking my training program.  I was going to follow a 36 week plan but now I am thinking about a 30 week plan.  The reason is that I am training for a half marathon now and the Ironman plan would be a bit of a step back for where my run is right now.  The other option is to modify the plan a bit until after my race in April.  I am going to review my plan options again tonight.  Oh, I did get in the pool this morning, a little late, but I did get in a quick 1,000M (21:11).

Work time has arrived, must earn the money.  Cheers!