Thoughts from the Road - #3311

I have been logging the miles lately and thinking profound thoughts and all but they seem to disappear before I get to blog them.

I have a month until my race in Harrisburg and I suppose I will do fine. There are a lot less unknowns about what I can accomplish this year. The added security and sense of running self comes with a little less excitement. I am not foolish enough to think I would enjoy running 10 miles without doing the work to prepare. I am just a little less focused on the formula on how to get there. Less stress, less anticipation but an awareness.

Running in cold rain is my least favorite kind of run. It sent me indoors last Friday to the Ashenfelter track. I was able to run a nicely paced 10k while it was pouring icy cold rain out. My walk and wait for the bus confirmed how much I dislike that kind of weather.

The snow has dissipated in many places and opened up some routes I haven't been able to run for a while. Because of that I was able to calibrate my new iPod Touch. It took me three tries. The first was to a spot I know is where I usually turn over my first mile. I was able to have my smaller iPod and sensor verify when I hit a mile since the new iPod has an internal sensor. Both were recording my run off the same chip on my shoe. I stopped when my old calibrated sensor turned to a mile and ended both workouts. The new iPod said I had run 1.45 miles. I chose to recalibrate it and selected the corrected distance of 1 mile. I poked a button and it seemed to save the workout but did not recalibrate.

I was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, at the top of a hill, so my run was not done. Another woman ran past me as I was poking all of my buttons. I stood idle for so long I was getting cold and she was totally out of sight. I decided I needed to get moving and chose to just run an open ended distance. I would just note the distance that was on the correctly calibrated iPod and apply it to the new one afterward.

My second try at calibration included one of my favorite routes to Spring Valley Rd and back to Commercial Blvd. The day was very pretty, all of the horses were out and I saw some raptors in the morning sun. By the time I got to the culdesac of Commercial Blvd I had been out over an hour. The second distance to calibrate was 5.31 miles. The new iPod told me I had run over 7 miles so I chose the recalibrate touch spot on the screen, swiped to scroll to the correct distance (5.31) and poked the button. Damn! I did the same thing. I realized I should have touch a spot on the screen that said, "Done" before exiting the whole calibration page.

I was so frustrated that I didn't even set up my smaller calibrated iPod (I call it Uplifting Voice) to take a loop on Commercial Blvd. My third go at calibrating the new iPod was done on what I new was a .8 mile loop I had run time and time again last winter. I was tired but so angry to get it over with that it was my fastest paces of the day. I ended up running a total of 7 miles after all. You better believe I was careful in setting the calibration that last time. I saw that "Done" and made sure to touch the screen to finally calibrate the new iPod Touch (I call it tru).

Yesterday was another really pretty morning and I decided to take tru out for a run to check my calibration. I don't know why I always have doubts that I have made a mistake in measuring the Commercial Blvd. lap. I was so panicked that I had fooled myself into just thinking I was running a 5k or 8k last year that I was thrilled and relieved @ my first race when I made it to the end in the rough time I had estimated. I still have moments where it's hard to believe that I actually run certain distances but yesterday was more about making sure I had calibrated tru properly.

I planned on stopping at my typical mile point to check the calibration and reset it if it was off. To get to the point of unlocking it to do that, I press a button to wake up the screen but that also gives me an audible announcement of how far I have run. At my mile point, tru told me I had run 1.02 miles. I am fine with that and kept running for a similar run to the day before, sans extra Commercial lap. The overall distnace seemed just fine and I kept a pretty good pace the whole way.

Here comes another pretty morning, third in a row. It's hard to pass it up with the threat of cold rain this weekend. I am logging the regular 6 or so miles a few times a week, I am just going to have to take a day off and get a longer run in sometime. It'll happen.

Thoughts from the "Road" - #12811

An Unsatisfactory Start

The huge drifts of snow in January 2010 caused my running schedule less problems than the much smaller ones this year. Last year, darting out for a few laps on a local street easily ate up 20 minutes. Even when it was bitterly cold I got out, started to sweat and was back in and stretching in no time at all. This year has been harder to rally knowing I will be out in the cutting breeze, stepping through icy hummocks and looking for safe places to run for an hour or two at a go.

My right knee is a little swollen from the uneven running-on-beach-sand type workouts I have lately in the deep snow on the bike path. This morning I had a plan to mix it up a little by utilizing Penn State's indoor track at the Ashenfelter Multi-Sport Facility.

I have been scoping the location out for about a month. Firstly, it was locked because it was the day before classes resumed. I had wrongly assumed that because PSU staff had been back to work for well over a week that the facility might be open.

Next, I went on a weekend when the track had an event going on. I could at least read the track rules and building hours, 8AM until Midnight. Over this period of time, I had unsuccessfully scanned all of the web pages associated with the facility to try to determine when classes or events were being held and if the general public were limited to specific hours.

The day of the track meet there was no one on hand to ask so I spent the next week trying to call for information. No one ever answered the phone so I planned on trying a run there the following week just after lunch. I entered the building for my third time during lunch so it was pretty much abandoned. There were a couple of people using part of the sprinting course within the track so I knew it was open. With no one at the reception desk, I went to change my clothes. When I came out, the desk was manned and I asked about public use. I was told Monday - Friday 8 AM until NOON. I was a little exasperated and shared that I had been trying to glean that information but no one had been answering their phone all week. I asked if I could, for just that day, use the track since it was being under utilized at that moment. I was given the ok with the understanding that I would have to leave if students, a class or a coach needed to use the area. My use of the facility was 20 minutes, not even 2 miles of running, before students began trickling in. At least I got to try out a pair of new shoes before I bundled up and walked across campus to my bus on one of the most bitter cold days this winter. What a lot of trouble.

It wasn't the bitterly cold but the piles of snow and slush that had been a challenge this week so this morning I was ready. I had planned last night to have my gear ready to go when Jimmy-the-Eye started out for work. When he dropped me at the facility @ 7:45 AM, I wasn't concerned if I couldn't get in for 15 minutes. Sure enough the doors were locked but I had warm up clothes over my shorts and t-shirt. I was dressed to run indoors but not yet sweaty so the wait would be fine. I only had to wait about 5 minutes until someone unlocked the door. I asked if I could wait in the warm lobby until the building was open and I was told that the building would be closed all day because of an event. I wanted to scream but thanked the fellow for cluing me in as I hustled off. Even if I changed into my new sneakers and dealt with my back pack banging around, I wasn't dressed to run outside. I chose the closest bus stop to try to get home and missed the bus by 2 minutes. I was forced to call Jimmy-the-Eye for a ride home.

I am trying to get over sulking about it. It seems I have put a lot of effort into this morning for nothing. I am trying to turn it around and make something good out of a bad start. I am like that on runs and races too; if things start off badly I have a difficult time turning it around. I let my head get in the way and it can dictate the mood for a while.

I am having a second cup of tea, finally writing in this blog for a bit, planning Jimmy-the-Eye's birthday weekend as well as my my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. I have a couple of art projects to get into and can revel in completing my taxes. I may not be out in the drifts of snow working out but I will plow my way through the day and strive to have a smile or two along the way.
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addendum
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I did get a shorter more intense run in this morning. I took a round-about route in my studded shoes. Starting with a lap on my unplowed street, a quick down & up our hill then off to return a Redbox dvd to Walmart made it almost feel like I got a run in.