Down the ladder

I got up this morning at 0430 again to run a track workout. Being this close to the PPR I decided to not do anything too hard but I also wanted to do some longer repeats. I decided to do a ladder workout starting with a 1000 at 3:48, a 600 at 2:08, a 400 at 85 and 2x200 at 42.

I left the house and had some nice temps in the mid sixties with low humidity and a barely noticeable breeze. I ran a mile warm-up and then did 800 worth of strides on the track before starting my workout.

I hit my 1000 in 3:46.09, jogged 600 in 3:30, hit my 600 a little slow in 2:09.20, jogged a 400 in 2:30, hit my 400 spot on in 1:25.36, jogged 200 in 1:19, hit my first 200 in 41.21, jogged another 200 in 1:18 and ran my last 200 in 41.15.

I'M PRETTY HAPPY WITH MY WORKOUT, and I have no idea why I'm yelling but I don't feel like re-typing it. I'm getting excited for the PPR and I can't wait to crank one out as I am feeling VERY strong right now.

Tomorrow's run is going to be an easy four miles. A week ago I was running my four mile loop and took a spiderweb full on the face. I freaked out and was running down the bike trail in the dark whipping myself with my t-shirt just in case there was a spider on me.

Eclipsed

I got up this morning after having a semi-rough night with my son, he was up-and-down from about zero-dark-thirty until 0400. I was afraid I was going to wake him up as I got ready for my run at 0430. I stepped outside with my dog and since my house faces west I was able to watch the eclipse enter the totality phase as my dog relieved himself. After he had done his business I started a five miler and kept my eye on the moon until I had to put it at my back to finish my run.

I'm glad we got a clear morning so I could see the eclipse because the last time one was visible, back in 2003 when we lived in St. Louis, Kim and I were out watching it in our apartment complex parking lot with two of our neighbors. We had beer, snacks and binoculars and just as the earth's shadow started creeping across the moon a fricking cloud blew across and obscured the show. It stayed cloudy the rest of the night and we took our beer, snacks and binoculars inside and watched tv instead.

I like astronomy and I know most of the constellations and I can usually locate Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. Unfortunately, my telescope was damaged in our exodus to the Springfield area four years ago and I have never replaced it and it puts a damper on the viewing of Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

I like the late fall and winter constellations most of all and I purposely go on runs later in the evening in October and November so that I can look at Orion, Canis Major, Taurus and the Pleiades. Orion is one of the first constellations I knew when I was a kid. It was hard to miss the three stars that made up his belt. From left to right they are named Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka. The names of the stars that make up the hourglass shape of Orion's body, starting from the upper left and going clockwise, are Betelgeuse, Bellatrix, Rigel and Saiph. If you follow the sword down from his belt you can make out the Orion Nebula as a hazy patch.

If you follow the line of Orion's belt to your left until you see a very bright star that star is Sirius, the Dogstar, and the brightest star in the sky. It is often mistaken for a UFO. Probably by drunk rednecks. . . or people who never look up.

Taurus is slightly north and west of Orion and is distinct because of the V-shape it takes. Aldebaran is the alpha star in Taurus and is the eye of the bull. I love to look at Aldebaran through binocs because it is a very pretty orange color. If you go slightly west of Aldebaran until you see a star formation that looks like the Little Dipper you have actually discovered the Pleiades. The Pleiades are called the Seven Sisters or sometimes the jewelbox. They are an open cluster and look magnificent in binoculars.

Next time you are out in the dark at 0430 look up and see if you can't find these constellations. They won't be in the early night sky until October.

IronTim Final

Tim finished his Ironman and he did a darn good job. He just wanted to finish and thought that he could do it in about 13:00. I think he over-achieved.

SWIM: 1:11:15
BIKE: 6:14:14
RUN: 4:14:16
OVERALL: 11:58:24!!!
POSITION: 335

Good job Tim.

IronTim Update #3

Tim is still going strong but it looks like he was having trouble around the half marathon mark. He should be done here pretty soon.

TOTAL SWIM
2.4 mi. (1:11:15)
1:52/100m
500

FIRST BIKE SEGMENT
22 mi (1:16:51)
17.18 mph

SECOND BIKE SEGMENT
23 mi (1:16:35)
18.02 mph

THIRD BIKE SEGMENT
30 mi (1:42:28)
17.57 mph

FINAL BIKE SEGMENT
37 mi (1:58:20)
18.76 mph
TOTAL BIKE
112 mi. (6:14:14)
17.96 mph
644

FIRST RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (33:37)
8:24/mile

SECOND RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (38:34)
9:38/mile

THIRD RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (42:15)
10:33/mile

FOURTH RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (33:32)
8:23/mile

FIFTH RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (--:--)
--/mile

SIXTH RUN SEGMENT
4 mi. (--:--)
--/mile

FINAL RUN SEGMENT
0.6 mi. (--:--)
--/mile
TOTAL RUN
26.2 mi. (--:--)
--/mile
443


TRANSITION
TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE
9:47
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN
8:52


PENALTY
TIME
TOTAL PENALTIES
--:--

IronTim Update

Tim is going strong at Louisville completing the 112 mile bike portion in 6:14:14. Due to an "unexpected problem" the website is unable to display any results now and I'm lucky I got to see that he finished the bike. I imagine that everyone and their brother is trying to access the site to track people they know and have shut it down.

IronTim

My pal Tim is competing in the Louisville Ironman Triathlon today. At 0904, my time, he has completed his 2.4 mile swim in 1:11:15 which is 1:52/100m. He was in 500th place coming out of the water and took 9:47 for his transition to the bike. The race started at 0700 so he is only about an hour into his 112 mile bike and I expect that it will be well after noon when he transitions to his run. I will try to update this when I get more information. We are going to a hot air balloon festival in Lincoln and I probably wouldn't be too far off in thinking that he may be just starting the run portion by the time we return later this afternoon.

Good luck Tim! I can't wait to hear about it.

Lectures and coffee

I made it to my inservice this morning and actually learned or re-learned quite a bit about our computed radiography system. It only took my regular two cups of coffee at home PLUS a nice 12 oz. cup of Panama coffee from the Bean Counter at the hospital to make it through. Did you ever have a guy in college or high school who would fall asleep almost daily in class and still do reasonably well in the course? I'm that guy. I got so good at falling asleep when I was in the service that I could fall asleep standing at Parade Rest. I knew a girl who could sleep as we marched to class and I didn't believe it until I witnessed it myself. I never attained that level of proficiency.

I got up yesterday morning and ran an easy 5.25 miles in 43:36. Why 5.25 miles you ask? I ran my five mile course backward and the 5 mile mark is a quarter mile, or more, from my house so I just counted it all. I hit my splits in 2:23, 8:29, 8:22, 8:19, 7:57, and 8:06. The last few miles were faster because there was lightning moving in from the Northwest that was getting alarmingly close and I didn't want to become part of the small percentage of the population that gets hit by lightning.

This morning I got up at 0430 and ran an 8 miler. It was 72 with WSW 6 mph winds and 93% humidity. It actually felt pretty nice outside in spite of the humidity but I could have done without the cloudburst from the 3.5 to 4.5 mile marks. I started off easily and stiffly in 8:48, 8:23, 8:14, 8:15, 7:56, and since I have no idea where the 6 and 7 mile marks are at, 24:56 over the last three miles for a total time of 1:06:33.

I have 27.25 miles for the week which gives me 899.25 for the year. I am tempted to go and run another .75 just so I can have an even 900. Maybe tomorrow morning I'll do that as a warm-up for some yoga. I'll only need 500 miles in 18 weeks to hit 1400 for the year. I'll have to average about 27 miles a week the rest of the year though. 1400 is possible but I'll have to be careful.