Weight (today's reading): 185.4
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.5
Today's blood pressure: 136/91
Today's food: rice krispies with strawberries, pear, apple, 20 oz dr. pepper, halloween party (3 sugar cookies, 1/4 slice cake, chips, handful of candy corn, glass of punch)
Today's exercise: none
Friday, October 31, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Week 52, Day 4
Weight (today's reading): 182.8
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3
Today's blood pressure: 140/91
Today's food: rice krispies with strawberries, 2 rice krispie treats, hot dog, arby-q, 6 jawbreakers, pear, 1 1/2 pulled pork sandwiches, doritos, handful of marshmallows, 1 dozen little iced oatmeal cookies
Today's exercise: none
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3
Today's blood pressure: 140/91
Today's food: rice krispies with strawberries, 2 rice krispie treats, hot dog, arby-q, 6 jawbreakers, pear, 1 1/2 pulled pork sandwiches, doritos, handful of marshmallows, 1 dozen little iced oatmeal cookies
Today's exercise: none
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Week 52, Day 3
Weight (today's reading): 182.8
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3*
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: rice krispies with strawberries, 2 rice krispie treats, 4 jawbreakers, pear, seafood risotto, rice krispie treat, 1/4 cup chili, 2 pieces fried chicken, rice krispie treat
Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:30, 1 mile cooldown; 60 pushups
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.3*
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: rice krispies with strawberries, 2 rice krispie treats, 4 jawbreakers, pear, seafood risotto, rice krispie treat, 1/4 cup chili, 2 pieces fried chicken, rice krispie treat
Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:30, 1 mile cooldown; 60 pushups
* new low
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Week 52, Day 2
Weight (today's reading): 180.2
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.4*
Today's blood pressure: 124/75
Today's food: 2 donuts, yogurt, pastrami sandwich, 4 jawbreakers, 2 bratwurst, asparagus, 2 1/2 donuts
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.4*
Today's blood pressure: 124/75
Today's food: 2 donuts, yogurt, pastrami sandwich, 4 jawbreakers, 2 bratwurst, asparagus, 2 1/2 donuts
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Monday, October 27, 2008
Week 52, Day 1
Weight (today's reading): 181.0
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.7*
Today's blood pressure: 137/82
Today's food: yogurt, apple, 7 jawbreakers, leftover chicken pasta, 2 handfuls caramel corn, 1 piece fried chicken, 1 piece garlic bread, potato wedges, 1.5 donuts
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800 @ 7:45 pace, 1x800 2x400 & 2x200 @ 7:15 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 6.67 miles); 60 pushups
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 183.7*
Today's blood pressure: 137/82
Today's food: yogurt, apple, 7 jawbreakers, leftover chicken pasta, 2 handfuls caramel corn, 1 piece fried chicken, 1 piece garlic bread, potato wedges, 1.5 donuts
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800 @ 7:45 pace, 1x800 2x400 & 2x200 @ 7:15 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 6.67 miles); 60 pushups
* new low
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Week 51 Wrapup
Fairly uneventful week. The intervals and the tempo run went fine.
I didn't get a chance to do a separate hill run, so I combined the hills and the long run on Saturday. First, I ran from home up to the top of Tumamoc Hill and back. Tumamoc is the hill behind our house, and the road up it rises about 730 feet in about 1.5 miles. It's a very slight grade for the first half, then some steep switchbacks until the top.
The thing about Tumamoc Hill is that it's a haven for "hikers". At any given time that the road is open, there will be dozens of people going up and down. I'm really puzzled, because it's not a good hike. It's paved road the whole way up, so it's not like being on a trail. The desert flora isn't any different than what you see in your backyard. There's way too many people to get anything like the solitude that I would normally enjoy while walking. There's a great view of all of Tucson from the top, so that's nice, and you do get some exercise from the steep part, so that helps. But otherwise, I don't see what the appeal is. I'll run it because it's steep and close, but that's all.
What surprised me is that so many of the people I saw on Saturday were carrying water. Yeah, it's a desert, but it's three miles round trip on a paved road, and it's only 65 degrees out. Someone carrying one jug of water wasn't a big deal, but I saw a few people carrying two. I guess they thought that being loaded up like camels might get someone to mistake them for a serious hiker or something.
After the hill run, I kept going on the Santa Cruz River trail, going north past the trail end on Grant, just on the bank for a couple of more miles. Between the hill and the long run, I got 14 miles for the day, which gets me back over 25 for the week. That's a welcome improvement over the last few weeks where I always had some injury or illness setting me back.
I didn't get a chance to do a separate hill run, so I combined the hills and the long run on Saturday. First, I ran from home up to the top of Tumamoc Hill and back. Tumamoc is the hill behind our house, and the road up it rises about 730 feet in about 1.5 miles. It's a very slight grade for the first half, then some steep switchbacks until the top.
The thing about Tumamoc Hill is that it's a haven for "hikers". At any given time that the road is open, there will be dozens of people going up and down. I'm really puzzled, because it's not a good hike. It's paved road the whole way up, so it's not like being on a trail. The desert flora isn't any different than what you see in your backyard. There's way too many people to get anything like the solitude that I would normally enjoy while walking. There's a great view of all of Tucson from the top, so that's nice, and you do get some exercise from the steep part, so that helps. But otherwise, I don't see what the appeal is. I'll run it because it's steep and close, but that's all.
What surprised me is that so many of the people I saw on Saturday were carrying water. Yeah, it's a desert, but it's three miles round trip on a paved road, and it's only 65 degrees out. Someone carrying one jug of water wasn't a big deal, but I saw a few people carrying two. I guess they thought that being loaded up like camels might get someone to mistake them for a serious hiker or something.
After the hill run, I kept going on the Santa Cruz River trail, going north past the trail end on Grant, just on the bank for a couple of more miles. Between the hill and the long run, I got 14 miles for the day, which gets me back over 25 for the week. That's a welcome improvement over the last few weeks where I always had some injury or illness setting me back.
Week 51, Day 7
Weight (today's reading): 182.6
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.0*
Today's blood pressure: 128/85
Today's food: banana, 6 dinosaur chicken nuggets, bowl of leftover chicken pasta, 3 of Viddy's blueberry cheesecake squares
Today's exercise: day of rest
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.0*
Today's blood pressure: 128/85
Today's food: banana, 6 dinosaur chicken nuggets, bowl of leftover chicken pasta, 3 of Viddy's blueberry cheesecake squares
Today's exercise: day of rest
* new low
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Week 51, Day 6
Weight (today's reading): 182.8*
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.2**
Today's blood pressure: 106/73***
Today's food: pop tart, 52 oz of gatorade, grilled cheese sandwich with pastrami slice, popcorn, curry pineapple mahi mahi with rice, 10 little iced oatmeal cookies
Today's exercise: run to top of tumamoc hill and back (3.5 miles); run 10.5 more miles @ 9:56/mile
* before running. after eating a pop tart, running, and drinking 40 oz of gatorade: 179.4
** new low
*** This 106 systolic is by far the lowest reading since I've started keeping track. I've had occasional diastolic readings higher than this. The big difference, I think, is that today's blood pressure was taken right after running.
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.2**
Today's blood pressure: 106/73***
Today's food: pop tart, 52 oz of gatorade, grilled cheese sandwich with pastrami slice, popcorn, curry pineapple mahi mahi with rice, 10 little iced oatmeal cookies
Today's exercise: run to top of tumamoc hill and back (3.5 miles); run 10.5 more miles @ 9:56/mile
* before running. after eating a pop tart, running, and drinking 40 oz of gatorade: 179.4
** new low
*** This 106 systolic is by far the lowest reading since I've started keeping track. I've had occasional diastolic readings higher than this. The big difference, I think, is that today's blood pressure was taken right after running.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Week 51, Day 5
Weight (today's reading): 183.2
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.4*
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: yogurt, banana, 2 tacos, pastrami sandwich, halloween party (burrito casserole, potato wedges, spaghetti, 2 cupcakes, pumpkin cake, fun size almond joy, 4 whoppers (the candy, not the burger), caramel apple)
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.4*
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: yogurt, banana, 2 tacos, pastrami sandwich, halloween party (burrito casserole, potato wedges, spaghetti, 2 cupcakes, pumpkin cake, fun size almond joy, 4 whoppers (the candy, not the burger), caramel apple)
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Week 51, Day 4
Weight (today's reading): 182.0
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.5*
Today's blood pressure: 124/84
Today's food: yogurt, banana, apple, 7 handfuls of caramel corn, seafood risotto, green beans
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.5*
Today's blood pressure: 124/84
Today's food: yogurt, banana, apple, 7 handfuls of caramel corn, seafood risotto, green beans
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Week 51, Day 3
Weight (today's reading): 184.2
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.8
Today's blood pressure: 130/86
Today's food: yogurt, banana, 2 slices stuffed grilled pork loin, 6 fistfuls of caramel corn, one half of chicken pizza, other half of chicken pizza
Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:30, 1 mile cooldown; 60 pushups
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.8
Today's blood pressure: 130/86
Today's food: yogurt, banana, 2 slices stuffed grilled pork loin, 6 fistfuls of caramel corn, one half of chicken pizza, other half of chicken pizza
Today's exercise: 1 mile warmup, 3 miles @ 8:30, 1 mile cooldown; 60 pushups
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Week 51, Day 2
Weight (today's reading): 182.6
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.8*
Today's blood pressure: 120/74
Today's food: yogurt, hot dog estilo sonora, apple, large handful halloween candy, bowl of chili with chips and cheese, 3 corn muffins, 1/4 cup almonds mixed with a few chocolate chips
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 184.8*
Today's blood pressure: 120/74
Today's food: yogurt, hot dog estilo sonora, apple, large handful halloween candy, bowl of chili with chips and cheese, 3 corn muffins, 1/4 cup almonds mixed with a few chocolate chips
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Monday, October 20, 2008
Week 51, Day 1
Weight (today's reading): 184.2
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.1*
Today's blood pressure: 120/80
Today's food: yogurt, apple, leftover chicken pasta, 4 pieces halloween candy, banana, quesadilla, cinammon tortilla
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800 @ 7:45 pace, 2x400 & 4x200 @ 7:15 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 6.2 miles); 60 pushups
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.1*
Today's blood pressure: 120/80
Today's food: yogurt, apple, leftover chicken pasta, 4 pieces halloween candy, banana, quesadilla, cinammon tortilla
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800 @ 7:45 pace, 2x400 & 4x200 @ 7:15 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 6.2 miles); 60 pushups
* new low
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Week 50 Wrapup
I got sick on Monday, and didn't really feel any better until Thursday, so this was another low mileage week. I ran intervals on Thursday, then rested on Friday preparatory to the Bisbee 1000.
Bisbee is an old mining town in southeastern Arizona. It's up at 5400 feet in a little valley with a lot of hills, and people built the town up into the hills, with staircases connecting the various little roads that wind up into the hills. The Bisbee 1000 is a race that runs up 9 of these staircases (for a total of over 1000 steps), then winds through the roads in between them.
I went out on Saturday morning with my sister Elizabeth and her friend Chuck. I was running seriously, but Chuck stayed behind to walk it with Elizabeth. My strategy was to run as fast as I could on the road parts, then take the stairs as slow as I needed to recover. The stairs become bottlenecks and you can't go too fast on them anyway, so I figured I could recover a little on the slow climb.
This year, they tried to do a wave start to eliminate the bottlenecks, since otherwise you've got 1200 people all hitting the first set of stairs at the same time. They announced several times about the waves, but didn't have any clear organization at the starting line, like separate corrals or anything. Based on the times that they announced, I figured I'd start in wave 2, so after the first wave left, I crowded into the starting area as close as I could get, although I was still 8 or 9 rows of people back.
When the second wave started, the first few rows left, and everyone else just stood there. I realized that these chumps weren't planning on going anywhere in this wave, so I elbowed my way to the front just in time for them to pull a rope up across the people and yell at me, "you have to stay behind the line". I tried to explain to the guy doing the yelling that, no, this was the wave I wanted to start in, and these jackholes just standing around prevented me from doing that, but he wasn't listening. Just then, two other guys just went under the rope and took off, so of course I did that too. The yelling guy wheeled around and shouted "Where are you guys going?", which I thought was just a supremely dumb question. I mean, we've got shorts and running shoes on, we've got bibs pinned to our shirts, we're running in the direction of all the other runners...
I didn't get DQed, so my final time was 49:59, which was good enough to place 258 out of 1109 overall. It also got me 18th out of 43 in my age division. The total distance of the course is hard to measure via GPS because of difficulty taking in the vertical ascent in the stairs, but it seems to be around 4.5 miles, and the road stretches between stairs are all anywhere from 1/4 mile to a mile. I ran all the road stretches in under 9 minute/mile pace, and most of them were under 8 minute/mile. My slowest stretch was at an 8:52 pace and that was for a stretch that was mostly uphill.
I'd definitely run the race again, but I'd like them to fix the wave start, either with separate start corrals, or, since everyone's official time is the chip time anyway, just doing it waterslide style (where everyone lines up single file, and one bored looking high school guy just keeps saying "Okay, you can go. Now you can go. Okay, now you can go." over and over.) I would also request some better post race food. They had fruit and water, and people were giving samples of a gross energy drink and espresso, but there were no bagels or anything like that.
Chuck runs with the Hash House Harriers, and after the race, he took us over to where a bunch of hashers were gathering for a feast of boiled shrimp, sausage, corn, onions, potatoes, et cetera. The food alone was worth the trip, and it more than made up for the lack of bagels at the finish.
My next race is probably the stake 5k on November 15th, then something somewhere on Thanksgiving, and at least one in December. Then, I could still possibly do the marathon in Boulder City on January 3rd, or the Phoenix Rock & Roll on January 18th. I also talked extensively with my cousins David, Jimmy, and Tom to work up the idea of us all doing a marathon next summer somewhere. They seemed receptive, but we'll see.
These next few weeks, I'm still going to focus on short distance speed to improve my 5k time. I'm hoping to get to 24:00 (or at least sub-25) at the stake 5k, then to 23:15 by the end of the year, then to my goal of 22:30 by the end of February. To that end, I'm currently working with the following paces:
Race goal pace 7:45
800 - 3:52
400 - 1:56
200 - :58
Speed pace 7:15
800 - 3:37
400 - 1:48
200 - :54
Tempo run pace 8:30
Long run pace 10:00
Once I hit 24:00, I'll bump everything down by 0:15/mile. Once I hit 23:15, I'll bump everything down another 0:15.
Bisbee is an old mining town in southeastern Arizona. It's up at 5400 feet in a little valley with a lot of hills, and people built the town up into the hills, with staircases connecting the various little roads that wind up into the hills. The Bisbee 1000 is a race that runs up 9 of these staircases (for a total of over 1000 steps), then winds through the roads in between them.
I went out on Saturday morning with my sister Elizabeth and her friend Chuck. I was running seriously, but Chuck stayed behind to walk it with Elizabeth. My strategy was to run as fast as I could on the road parts, then take the stairs as slow as I needed to recover. The stairs become bottlenecks and you can't go too fast on them anyway, so I figured I could recover a little on the slow climb.
This year, they tried to do a wave start to eliminate the bottlenecks, since otherwise you've got 1200 people all hitting the first set of stairs at the same time. They announced several times about the waves, but didn't have any clear organization at the starting line, like separate corrals or anything. Based on the times that they announced, I figured I'd start in wave 2, so after the first wave left, I crowded into the starting area as close as I could get, although I was still 8 or 9 rows of people back.
When the second wave started, the first few rows left, and everyone else just stood there. I realized that these chumps weren't planning on going anywhere in this wave, so I elbowed my way to the front just in time for them to pull a rope up across the people and yell at me, "you have to stay behind the line". I tried to explain to the guy doing the yelling that, no, this was the wave I wanted to start in, and these jackholes just standing around prevented me from doing that, but he wasn't listening. Just then, two other guys just went under the rope and took off, so of course I did that too. The yelling guy wheeled around and shouted "Where are you guys going?", which I thought was just a supremely dumb question. I mean, we've got shorts and running shoes on, we've got bibs pinned to our shirts, we're running in the direction of all the other runners...
I didn't get DQed, so my final time was 49:59, which was good enough to place 258 out of 1109 overall. It also got me 18th out of 43 in my age division. The total distance of the course is hard to measure via GPS because of difficulty taking in the vertical ascent in the stairs, but it seems to be around 4.5 miles, and the road stretches between stairs are all anywhere from 1/4 mile to a mile. I ran all the road stretches in under 9 minute/mile pace, and most of them were under 8 minute/mile. My slowest stretch was at an 8:52 pace and that was for a stretch that was mostly uphill.
I'd definitely run the race again, but I'd like them to fix the wave start, either with separate start corrals, or, since everyone's official time is the chip time anyway, just doing it waterslide style (where everyone lines up single file, and one bored looking high school guy just keeps saying "Okay, you can go. Now you can go. Okay, now you can go." over and over.) I would also request some better post race food. They had fruit and water, and people were giving samples of a gross energy drink and espresso, but there were no bagels or anything like that.
Chuck runs with the Hash House Harriers, and after the race, he took us over to where a bunch of hashers were gathering for a feast of boiled shrimp, sausage, corn, onions, potatoes, et cetera. The food alone was worth the trip, and it more than made up for the lack of bagels at the finish.
My next race is probably the stake 5k on November 15th, then something somewhere on Thanksgiving, and at least one in December. Then, I could still possibly do the marathon in Boulder City on January 3rd, or the Phoenix Rock & Roll on January 18th. I also talked extensively with my cousins David, Jimmy, and Tom to work up the idea of us all doing a marathon next summer somewhere. They seemed receptive, but we'll see.
These next few weeks, I'm still going to focus on short distance speed to improve my 5k time. I'm hoping to get to 24:00 (or at least sub-25) at the stake 5k, then to 23:15 by the end of the year, then to my goal of 22:30 by the end of February. To that end, I'm currently working with the following paces:
Race goal pace 7:45
800 - 3:52
400 - 1:56
200 - :58
Speed pace 7:15
800 - 3:37
400 - 1:48
200 - :54
Tempo run pace 8:30
Long run pace 10:00
Once I hit 24:00, I'll bump everything down by 0:15/mile. Once I hit 23:15, I'll bump everything down another 0:15.
Week 50, Day 7
Weight (today's reading): 185.4
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.2
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: apple, small pork burrito, 4 short sticks of celery with peanut butter, 4 pieces asparagus, 3 slices grilled stuffed pork loin, handful of almonds
Today's exercise: day of rest
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.2
Today's blood pressure: forgot
Today's food: apple, small pork burrito, 4 short sticks of celery with peanut butter, 4 pieces asparagus, 3 slices grilled stuffed pork loin, handful of almonds
Today's exercise: day of rest
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Week 50, Day 6
Weight (today's reading): 184.2
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.2*
Today's blood pressure: 121/76
Today's food: yogurt, clif bar, banana, 1/2 orange, post-race hasher function (shrimp, 2 potatoes, onion, corn on cob, 2 sausages), 32 oz gatorade, 16 oz chocolate raspberry malt, wedding (hors d'ouvres, stuffed chicken breast, big beef thing, asparagus, lemonade, 2 slices wedding cake)
Today's exercise: Bisbee 1000
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.2*
Today's blood pressure: 121/76
Today's food: yogurt, clif bar, banana, 1/2 orange, post-race hasher function (shrimp, 2 potatoes, onion, corn on cob, 2 sausages), 32 oz gatorade, 16 oz chocolate raspberry malt, wedding (hors d'ouvres, stuffed chicken breast, big beef thing, asparagus, lemonade, 2 slices wedding cake)
Today's exercise: Bisbee 1000
* new low
Friday, October 17, 2008
Week 50, Day 5
Weight (today's reading): 183.0
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.3*
Today's blood pressure: 137/86
Today's food: yogurt, apple, chicken sandwich, small handful of runts, 1 fish stick, 1 chicken strip, 4 potato wedges, roll, green beans, roll
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.3*
Today's blood pressure: 137/86
Today's food: yogurt, apple, chicken sandwich, small handful of runts, 1 fish stick, 1 chicken strip, 4 potato wedges, roll, green beans, roll
Today's exercise: none
* new low
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Week 50, Day 4
Weight (today's reading): 185.8
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 147/90
Today's food: jello, yogurt, buffet at China Vic, large handful halloween candy, chicken pasta, green beans, 1 slice garlic bread
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800, 2x400, 2x200 @ 7:45 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 5.11 miles); 60 pushups
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 147/90
Today's food: jello, yogurt, buffet at China Vic, large handful halloween candy, chicken pasta, green beans, 1 slice garlic bread
Today's exercise: 1.5 mile warmup, intervals (2x800, 2x400, 2x200 @ 7:45 pace), 1 mile cooldown (total 5.11 miles); 60 pushups
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Week 50, Day 3
Weight (today's reading): 185.0
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 139/83
Today's food: yogurt, apple, leftover grilled chicken with stuffing, handful of halloween candy, 2 bowls café rio style pork salad, tortilla with cinnamon and sugar
Today's exercise: none (still sick)
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 139/83
Today's food: yogurt, apple, leftover grilled chicken with stuffing, handful of halloween candy, 2 bowls café rio style pork salad, tortilla with cinnamon and sugar
Today's exercise: none (still sick)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Week 50, Day 2
Weight (today's reading): 185.6
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 139/92
Today's food: yogurt, costco samples, apple, leftover grilled chicken and stuffing, handful of pringles, skillet chicken and rigatoni, one slice garlic bread, 2 helpings jello, popcorn
Today's exercise: none (sick)
Weight (weighted moving average): 185.5
Today's blood pressure: 139/92
Today's food: yogurt, costco samples, apple, leftover grilled chicken and stuffing, handful of pringles, skillet chicken and rigatoni, one slice garlic bread, 2 helpings jello, popcorn
Today's exercise: none (sick)
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