Training for 5/31/17

This morning, I ran the 5.5-mile loop after Clark got home from a training swim, while he was getting ready for work. It was a pretty easy, uneventful run on another gray, misty morning.

This afternoon, the sun came out for the first time since freaking Sunday morning, so I took the bike out. I rode the 29.2-mile loop, which crosses the Sharptown bridge twice. Going up that thing isn’t much fun, but coming down the other side sure is.

And that finished off May for me, so it’s time to sum up the month.

Mileage:

• Week 1 (May 1-6): 20.9 miles
• Week 2 (May 7-13): 27.1
• Week 3 (May 14-20): 38.1
• Week 4 (May 21-27): 24.3
• Week 5 (May 28-31): 20

Total: 130.4 miles

My lowest month of running mileage this year, but not bad. I ran two races, the St. Michaels half, which was OK, and the Masser 5-Miler, which went about like it always does, to my surprise.

I put in a pretty sizable increase in mileage on my bike this month. In April, I rode it 60 miles. This month, I did more than four times that – 245.6 miles.

I rode the Eagleman course twice, and the second time, I finished it faster than I’d planned to aim for in the actual race, now less than two weeks away.

The bike and I got off to kind of a rough start, but I think we’re friends now.

Before I left today.

Looking ahead to June, I just have a couple of 5Ks on the schedule – the 3^rd Wave Brewing race this coming weekend, and the first of five summer series 5Ks I’m running, on Father’s Day – and, of course, the bike leg of the Eagleman relay.

As far as training goes, I won’t be back on a marathon training plan until almost the middle of July, so I guess I’ll be making it up as I go along this month.

Masser 5-Miler recap

Saturday morning, Clark and I were up early enough to load up the truck and be in Cambridge at 7 to meet Bart for a training swim, bike and run.

It was a perfect day for it too, calm winds for once and not too hot.

I hung out at the truck while they swam about a mile in the Choptank, and then we got the bikes ready to head out for 30-ish miles.

When we were about to leave, Clark was standing there in his tri suit, basically a Spandex onesie with padding sewn into the butt, and said he swore he’d never wear goofy-looking clothes like that, but look at him now. I didn’t have a tri suit, but I did have bike shorts with padding in the butt and the jersey that had just come in the mail the day before, with 90 pockets sewn on the back for carrying gels, keys, etc. It costs a lot of money to look that ridiculous haha.

Anyway, Bart led us through a different route that went out to another point along the Choptank, one I’d never seen before. I’ve seen a lot of rural Dorchester County since I got this bike a couple months ago, and a lot of it is really very scenic.

Clark and Bart rode 33.7 miles, but they left me in the dust to sprint back the final five miles, and wound up tacking on another short out-and-back that I did not. Since I just rely on Clark’s Garmin’s measurements, I don’t know how far I personally rode, but I think it was about 32.

Then we went out to run 7 miles. The last time I tried to run about that same distance immediately after biking with Clark, almost a year ago, I felt like crap. My legs were jelly and they never got better. We had to walk a lot of it.

This time, my legs still felt like jelly at the beginning, but they pulled it together pretty quickly, and I was fine. It wasn’t a particularly fast pace, but it was definitely faster than last time, even with the handful of short walk breaks we took because Bart’s one foot was going numb.

So, overall, a successful morning of training. Clark and I got lunch and a couple beers at RAR, and that afternoon, I went to my friend’s house for her kid’s birthday party, where there was a ton of food. By the time I left, I felt more than refueled for the 5-mile race the next morning.

Clark went out with Mike when I got home from the party, but I was not in the mood. Plus, I had to be up again early the next day for the race.

I fell asleep early Saturday night, but I didn’t sleep particularly well. I kept getting woken up. Mostly by Pepper boofing at another imagined noise he thought was Clark coming home, but also by stupid drunk Mike randomly calling me to yell at me for being a loser and not coming out with them. Great!

I got up with my alarm at 5:30 Sunday morning. TK was at my house at 6 on the dot for the drive to Lewes.

It was another beautiful morning for a run, not too hot or humid. There was a little more of a breeze than the day before, but it wasn’t bad either.

We got to Cape Henlopen High School more than a half-hour before the race start. We got our race bibs and event T-shirts, and then I went out for a little warm-up.

It was awful! My legs were heavy and my breathing felt out of control after about 10 steps. I glanced down at the pace on the Garmin, hovering around 8:50/mile. And I was supposedly about to race five miles?

I felt a little better by the end of the warm-up mile, which is the point of doing a warm-up, but still, I was not looking forward to the race.

We all gathered behind the starting line on the bright blue rubberized track in the stadium to get instructions from the race director. The course was a little different again this year. They’ve been extending the paved biking and walking trail through Lewes the last couple of years. Last year, the race course was changed to incorporate the latest completed section, and this year, it was changed again for the same reason. I like not having to deal with traffic, so the more we run on that paved trail instead of along open roads, the better, I think.

We got the commands and we were off.

I spy my green hat.

We did a little more than half a lap around the track, left the stadium, ran behind the school, through the parking lot, out the campus’s front entrance and crossed the highway. We stayed on the road there a bit until we got to the beginning of the trail.

I passed mile 1 in 7:19, which surprised me, but I didn’t have much hope of holding onto that pace for four more miles.

The trail was running alongside the road for about the next half mile. Then it crossed over the road and led us through an open area.

Right about there, this little kid running near me asked me if my watch measured mileage. I said it did, and we were at mile 1.66. The kid looked pretty disappointed, and just said “oh” haha. I felt the same way! It definitely felt like we should have been at least at mile 3.75.

Then he said he didn’t think he’d hydrated well – he’d only had a sip of water before we started running. I thought they’d said there was a water stop right after the mile 2 marker, so I told him he was close to getting a drink.

Well, mile 2 came (7:25 – slowing, but not as bad as I thought) and went, and no water stop. Sorry for lying to you, kid!

Finally, near the end of the second mile, the water stop appeared. I grabbed a cup and walked a couple steps to make sure it actually went in my mouth.

I think, last year, the trail ended about here, and we rejoined the old race course through town streets. This year, this was where the newest section of the trail continued. It went through town, but there was no traffic on it, obviously.

I knew I was slowing. I haven’t tried to run that fast consistently since that 5K I ran the weekend after Thanksgiving last year, and I was dying.

There was another water stop before mile 4. I again slowed to walk a couple steps to drink some.

The trail ended and we were back on the same stretch of road that has always ended this race. It’s one long straightaway back to the front entrance of the school. You can see the traffic light at the intersection in front of the school for what feels like forever, but it never seems to get closer.

I finished mile 4 in 7:37. I was kinda surprised it’d taken four miles to run one slower than 7:30, but here it was. I really wanted to pick it back up for the final mile.

I made it to the intersection and turned right into the parking lot. On the way back, we didn’t have to run behind the school, we just ran straight back to the stadium. I glanced at my watch – quarter-mile to go, and the elapsed time was at 35:something. I could still manage a 37:something finish time, which sounded good.

We had to run the partial lap around the track back to where we’d started, now the finish line. I gave it all I had left, ran mile 5 in 7:23 and finished in 37:21, a 7:27/mile pace.

This was my eighth time running this race. Except for one exceptionally fast year (2013, when I ran 34:11) and one exceptionally slow year (2010, when I ran 44:34), I have always landed in the 37- to 38-minute range. So I was right about on time. I was happy with it.

I did another slow mile to cool down. On the way back, I found three pennies in a row, all heads up. Seemed like a good sign! I picked them all up.

I got back in time to see TK finish. She was also pleased with her time.

When they announced the awards, I was second in my age group, of seven. Guess I won’t be scoring the lowest possible score in the summer series this year. Oh well!

I was also the sixth female finisher of 112, and 38^th of 234 total finishers.

TK and I got brunch afterwards at this little cafe in downtown Lewes called Nectar. I order eggs Benedict just about every time I see them on a menu, because I love them but I’m too lazy to poach eggs or make hollandaise sauce myself, and these were possibly the best I’ve ever had. I think the biscuit made the difference. Most places use English muffins, but this biscuit was more like a dense pancake, just a little sweet. It was perfect.

Not so perfect, however, were the couple at the table next to us. First, they sat next to each other instead of across from each other, which wouldn’t have been a big deal, except the tables were lined up along a wall, with a shared bench, so for both of them to fit on that bench, they had to wedge themselves between TK and the stranger sitting at the table on the other side. Then they had to take 25 selfies. Then the kissing started. I’m just glad we got out of there before their food arrived – I don’t think I’d have been able to handle them inevitably feeding each other. We get it, you’re in love! Gross.

It wasn’t beach weather, so after brunch, TK and I headed home. I spent the rest of Sunday watching racing, first the Indy 500 and then the Coca-Cola 600. I went to bed near the end of the 600, because it looked like Jimmie stupid Johnson was going to win, but I should’ve stayed up. He ran out of gas a lap and a half from the end and got in a little snit with his crew about the miscalculation haha.

Yesterday morning was gray and on the chilly side for late May. I ran an easy untimed lap around the 4.5-mile loop that felt pretty smooth, surprisingly. When I got back, Clark went to Cambridge to swim and run with Bart.

When he got back from Cambridge, we took Pepper first to 3^rd Wave, where we had a couple of beers, and then to Abbott’s for dinner. They had a pork chop special named for Kenny Powers, so we had to put on the first season of “Eastbound and Down” when we got home.

The best scene is in the first episode, when a middle school principal is telling Kenny, a former pro baseball player, about all the training he’s doing for a triathlon, and says Kenny knows all about that, and Kenny says, “No actually I don’t. I play real sports. Not trying to be the best at exercising.”

It’s funny because I found out when I joined the field hockey team in high school I fully lacked all eye-hand coordination needed to play “real” sports, so yeah, that’s probably why I just like exercising so much haha.

Anyway, that was my weekend. Today, I did strength training upstairs, and then I went outside in between rain showers and ran an easy 3-miler.

Training for 5/26/17

Yesterday, I didn’t run, but when Clark got home from work, we went out for a ride around the 18.6-mile loop.

There had been evening thunderstorms forecasted, but when we left the house, it looked like we’d have enough time to get in the loop before one arrived.

Almost, but not quite haha. I had just turned on to a road, a couple miles from home, when the bottom fell out of the sky. It went from no rain to a downpour.

Worse, the wind also went from 0 to what felt like 40 mph in about three seconds. I’ve ridden in some wind since I got this bike, but I’ve never had a moment where I felt like the bike was actually going to be blown sideways out from under me.

I made it to the last intersection before home and turned right. Just one more mile to go.

Just down that road, I spotted Clark, standing off the road under a little grove of trees. He said he was waiting for the wind to die to finish the ride. I said I thought we’d be waiting a while. Plus, there was lightning.

So we decided to take a chance and head home. The main thing I was worried about was a driver in a car with crappy wipers not seeing us, riding in that downpour like idiots on a road with no shoulders. But we were almost there.

Naturally, there was a moment right before we got back to the house that a giant SUV came up behind us as two cars were coming at us. The SUV driver gave Clark an annoyed honk as he swerved around him, but nobody got hit. Phew!

That was the first time I’ve gotten caught in a storm like that on the bike. It’s way worse than while running.

Today, I ran a lap around the 7.3-mile loop. The rain and lightning had cleared out and it was a beautiful day, but still pretty windy.

Tomorrow, Clark wants to go to Cambridge early and do a little practice triathlon, a 1-mile swim, 30-mile bike and 6- to 7-mile run. I’m going along for the bike and run, even though I’m signed up for the Masser 5-Miler again Sunday morning. I’ve not done any speed work or anything to actually train for a fast race, so I might as well put in some miles the day before it. Monday, I’ll probably do another short run.

Other than that, I’ve got my friend’s kid’s (10^th!) birthday party to go to tomorrow, and I don’t know what else is going on the rest of the long weekend.

Training for 5/24/17

Today, I did strength training upstairs first — ab exercises, push-ups, invisible chair-sitting and I lifted the free weights. That’s twice this week and it’s only Wednesday! I’m on a roll!

Then I went out and ran an easy, uneventful lap around the 4.5-mile loop.

Today, they posted the pictures from the half marathon this past weekend. Apparently they’re not free to download this year, but that’s what screenshots are for. Ignore the watermarks.

In the first mile. I mostly liked this one because I’m 1212 and the guy next to me is 1221.

Somewhere in the final stretch.

Probably around the same point.

Clark got some good ones too. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Training for 5/23/17

Exactly 10 years ago today, I bought my first brand new car! Today it’s a rattle-bucket with almost 192,000 miles on the odometer and a thick layer of dog hair covering every inch of the interior, but it runs fine and, most importantly, it’s paid off.

Anyway, yesterday I did strength training upstairs — ab exercises, push-ups, invisible chair-sitting and a lifting routine with the adjustable dumbbells. This morning, I got up early and ran a lap around the 5.5-mile loop.

I’ve been looking over the athlete guide for this year’s Eagleman, particularly the rules for the bike leg, for obvious reasons.

Running races are pretty simple. You show up, with shoes on if that’s what you prefer, you take off when everyone else does and you keep running until you’re done. Other than that, you just try to stay out of everyone else’s way — don’t start right on the line if you don’t run 6:00 miles, move to the side if you’re going to take a walk break, etc.

Holy crap there is a lot more that goes into this bike leg. The biggest thing is drafting. It’s not allowed. If you get within six bike lengths of someone else, you have to pass them, and you have 25 seconds to do that and get your ass in front of them. Once you pass them, it’s their responsibility to back up six lengths so they’re not drafting off of you.

Messing up any of that in view of an official gets you a blue card, and you have to stop at the next penalty tent. The first two cards get you five minutes added to your bike time; a third one gets you disqualified.

So that all makes sense. Then there’s this:

Clearly, it is VERY IMPORTANT that no one sees your torso below the point of the end of the breastbone (sternum) since this is the only rule on the page highlighted in its own little yellow box. Noted!

Training for 5/22/17

I had a successful weekend of training. The St. Michaels Half Marathon was nothing impressive but a decent run, and then during Sunday’s practice ride of the Eagleman course, I surprised myself and rode it faster than my goal time for the actual race, so it looks like that’s going to have to be adjusted.

Friday afternoon, Pepper and I went over to St. Michaels and picked up Clark’s and my race bibs and T-shirts.

Some of my ugliest race shirts ever have come from this race, but this year’s really outdid itself.

“The town that fooled the British” refers to an incident during the War of 1812, when the people in St. Michaels hung lanterns in trees, so the British ships firing at the town from the water at night would think the town was farther back and overshoot, or something. For whatever reason, this was referenced on the race shirts, bibs and medals.

Pepper looks embarrassed.

Anyway, Saturday morning, Clark and I were up pretty early to get back to St. Michaels in time for the 7:10 start. Of course we were a little late leaving the house, and then we had to stop by Clark’s parents’ house to drop off Pepper, so we were later getting into town than I’d wanted.

It turned out not to matter. Traffic was moving well and we got parked with enough time to make it through the massive port-o-potty lines and get into the starting corral before they sent the first wave of runners on their way.

Neither of us had really trained with a goal time in mind. I did zero speed work in preparation for this race, so I knew I wasn’t going to be pulling some magical performance out of my butt. Clark just wanted another training run for Eagleman. We both started a little behind the 1:50 pacer.

Oh, and the weather was fine. It was a little warm for a half marathon, but nothing like the previous three days of summer heat, thankfully. It was windy too, but it seems like it’s been windy every single day this year, so what else was new?

The race started pretty much on time, which is always nice.

The 1:50 pacer should have been running an 8:23/mile pace, which sounded doable, so I followed him for the first two miles, through town and then into Harbourtowne, a golf course community. I thought it felt a little faster than that, and I was right – the first two splits were 8:07 and 8:14.

At the second mile marker, I guess he realized he was already ahead of schedule, so he slowed up. I kept up that pace and ran the third mile in 8:03.

The course followed some roads through Harbourtowne and made two U-turns, one just before the third mile marker and another before the fourth. I looked for Clark behind me after both turns but never saw him.

Mile 4 was 8:16. A little ways into the next mile, the course finally split off from those out-and-backs and we no longer had two-way running traffic. All the extra space felt nice. I ran mile 5 in 8:08.

The next mile was still running through Harbourtowne. I passed the mile 6 marker in 8:17.

Just past that marker was an aid station, so I ate my one GU just before it, then stopped to get water to wash it down. Past the aid station was the halfway timing mat. I crossed it in 53:41, on track for a 1:47-ish finish, which sounded good.

We left Harbourtowne and headed back toward St. Michaels. I ran mile 7 in 8:40.

This was when my butt decided to show up. Great. I was honestly surprised – I’d been able clear out my guts before the race started for once, and I really thought I had a shot at another pit stop-free half marathon, but it was not to be.

Around mile 7.3, I made a 90-degree turn off the course, jumped a ditch and darted into the woods. I don’t know if I was a little dehydrated or what, but my digestive tract was not in a good mood. It took me a while in there.

I finally felt like I could start running again and rejoined the race. We made it back to town, ran some side streets and headed out toward another little waterfront neighborhood. Mile 8 was 10:35 with the bathroom break.

Oh well, nothing that could be done about that. I did feel much better for the next mile or so. I ran mile 9 in 8:18.

I was still running pretty well as I came up on another aid station just before mile 10, but then I got a terrible side stitch. It went from nothing to feeling like I was being stabbed in the ribs in about three steps. What the hell!

I took some Gatorade and two cups of water there, hoping a little extra fluid would stave it off, but I still had to take a short walk break to try to stretch it out. I passed mile 10 in 8:28.

The side stitch was still there, but had dropped off in intensity, so I started running again. I ran past a little girl sitting in a firetruck Power Wheels at the end of her lane, telling everyone to “move it along, you’ve got a race to win” haha.

I finished the loop through the neighborhood and headed back toward town. There was still one more out-and-back down a road though. The mile 11 marker was at the beginning of the out-and-back, which I passed in 8:22.

I was almost to the U-turn when I finally spotted Clark for the first time since the race began – coming back from the turn, because he was ahead of me! D’oh! I guess he got around me when I was in the woods after mile 7.

The mile 12 marker was right at the end of the out-and-back. I passed it in 8:16. Just a little over a mile to go!

The roads were not closed to traffic, and there was some guy in a big ol’ F-250 Super Duty creeping along the course amongst the runners in the last mile. I caught up with the truck just as I was getting to one of the final turns. It was moving slower than I was trying to run, but I couldn’t go around it. There are a lot of things I expect might slow me down in a race, but a freaking vehicle isn’t one of them! I was getting pretty annoyed.

That stupid truck finally went straight at an intersection where the runners were turning, so I didn’t wind up having to follow it across the finish line at least.

I ran mile 13 in 8:14, and, according to my Garmin, another 0.2 miles in 1:31.

Officially, I finished 13.1 miles in 1:51:34.

Not anywhere close to my best half marathon, but almost 15 minutes faster than my last one in Ocean City a few weeks ago! Like I said, not impressive but still a decent run.

In the finisher’s chute, I found Clark, who’d finished less than a minute before me, in 1:50:45.

My time placed me 14th of 152 finishers in the F 30-34 age group, and 173rd of 1,515 total finishers. Clark’s time also placed him 14th in the M 30-34 age group, of 55 finishers, and 153rd overall.

I also spotted my friend Melissa, and TK and her mom, who’d run the 5K that started after the half.

Clark and I walked back to my car to change into dry clothes, and then back to the post-race party. We all got one free beer with a ticket on our race bibs, a choice of a Blue Point lager, Shock Top or Bud Light.

Clark bought a $10 beer bracelet in advance, which got him as many beers as he wanted before the party ended at noon. We stayed almost until the end.

From St. Michaels, we went to Annapolis, where Clark’s family was meeting at his brother and sister-in-law’s house to celebrate his brother’s birthday.

They’ve finished the remodel and have the house on the market. It turned out really well. I don’t think I’d been there in almost two years, so I hadn’t seen most of the finished product in person. It’s gorgeous.

Clark and I took Pepper back and headed home after the party broke up. Somehow I managed to stay awake long enough to see the end of the All-Star race in Charlotte, but I went right to bed after it ended. We had another early morning planned for Sunday.

Clark’s original, very ambitious plan for Sunday was to get to Cambridge in time to go for a swim in the Choptank before the ride started at 7. We were also supposed to pick up one of his coworkers on the way, who isn’t doing Eagleman but has done some shorter triathlons, and wanted to try the 56-mile course.

As is often the case, plans changed as alarms started going off in the wee hours haha. I think it was almost 5:30 when we finally got out of bed.

As we were loading up the truck, Clark’s coworker texted he’d changed his mind and didn’t want to attempt 56 miles, so we could just go straight to Cambridge.

During the drive to Cambridge, Bart, who was supposed to be meeting Clark for the swim, decided he didn’t want to swim. He still met us at the park when we got there, 10 minutes before the ride was supposed to start, but he left before we went off on the ride. In the end, no one swam.

There was a good turnout for the practice ride. The weather was windy, again, and cool.

The on-course support consisted solely of two water coolers, one around mile 32 and the other around mile 47, for bottle refills. I wasn’t expecting rest stops like they’d had during the Six Pillars ride, but I thought maybe there’d be some food for us. I was glad I’d stashed two GUs in my flat tire kit.

The lead car, provided by a Lexus dealer in Annapolis that’s sponsoring Eagleman, left a little after 7.

I took off after most of the other riders. Clark was still getting his stuff together. I expected he’d catch me and blow by me in the first few miles.

Last time I rode this course, I let the wind scare me away from using the aero bars for the entire first 14-mile stretch to the first aid station. This time, I got right down on them from the get-go.

When I passed the parking lot in Church Creek where the first aid station had been located, I checked my watch – 47 minutes. I remembered it’d taken me more than an hour to get that far last time. I was already making good progress!

I decided to try drinking from my bottle while still moving. I was able to get the bottle out of its cage and take a drink, but when I was trying to put it back, I dropped it. Dammit! I stopped, dropped the bike in the grass and had to run back to pick up the bottle.

A group of riders came up behind me. I heard one of them yell “Biker up!” and realized she was talking about me. They were very concerned and thought I’d wiped out or something. I assured them I was fine, I was just an idiot who couldn’t ride a bike and do anything else at the same time haha. Lesson learned. Stop to drink.

I got moving again. The next section headed toward and then through the Blackwater Wildlife Refuge. I love that part. It’s really pretty.

Around mile 20ish, I heard “on your left” and then saw Clark go scooting by. He said he was trying to finish in under three hours, and then he was gone.

At mile 30, I reached the point where I’d made the wrong turn during the Six Pillars ride. I made sure not to make the same mistake this time. Just past there, I stopped to take another drink and eat a GU. Once again, several concerned passing riders thought I was having a problem. I really need to learn how to eat a GU and take a drink without having to stop!

The next several miles went fine. Probably around mile 43 though, I started feeling like I was hitting empty. I know I slowed quite a bit. When I made it to where the last rest stop had been for Six Pillars, I stopped to eat the other GU and take a drink.

That seemed to perk me up, and the final nine miles or so felt good again.

I got back to the park and pulled up to the truck, where Clark looked surprised to see me already. “That was fast,” he said.

I looked at my watch and hit ‘stop’ on the timer – 3:14:51! Huh!

I didn’t time Six Pillars, but I figured it’d taken me 3:40 to 3:45 to finish the same distance that day (hard to say for sure, since I made that wrong turn and tacked on nine more miles.) So based on that, I’d hoped to finish the bike leg for Eagleman in 3:20 to 3:25.

I finished even faster than that yesterday, so my new goal for Eagleman in less than three weeks is 3:05 to 3:10. I assume it’s going to be hot that day, which it has not been either time I’ve ridden the course, so we’ll see what kind of effect that has.

Clark, by the way, made his sub-3 goal yesterday, finishing in 2:58.

We were both starving after that ride, so we went to the High Spot for lunch. I had fried soft shell crabs over risotto. That really hit the spot.

We then had a few beers at RAR, went home and took a much-needed shower and a nap. Last night, we went to Clark’s coworker’s house, who was putting his grill to good use again. I think we were there until almost midnight.

Today, I might go for a short run. I’m no longer on an actual training plan right now, but my next race is the Masser 5-Miler this coming Sunday, the first event of the summer series.

Training for 5/19/17

Since I have the St. Michaels half marathon tomorrow morning, I’ve just done a couple of short easy runs the past couple of days, both very early in the day because it’s been pretty hot. Yesterday I ran 4.5 miles — actually, 4.6, because I kept running when I’d normally slow to a walk for a cool down, because I really had to use the bathroom — and today I ran 3 miles.

Yesterday, since it was so warm, I took the day off and went to the beach with my sisters. It was a perfect day, made even better because it was early enough in the season we just about had the place to ourselves.

Private beach.

The chair on the far right is the one I broke as soon as I sat in it. I think it was already busted (I got it from the shed at my in-laws’ place), because it wouldn’t adjust after I set it up, but when I sat back in it, that was the end. I wound up in the sand haha.

Here are my sisters:

Kara and Julie.

And here is me, forgetting how to stand like a normal person, and Kara:

I don’t know why I look I’m trying to suck my belly button back to my spine haha. This is also a good example of why I take a few pictures in a row of people — one of them might turn out this awkward.

Anyway, I’m about to head to St. Michaels to get Clark’s and my race packets. I’m really glad it’s supposed to storm tonight and break the heat we’ve had the past few days! Tomorrow’s high is barely supposed to hit 70.

It’s not going to be any cooler than that in the morning though, so it’s still going to be kinda on the warm side for a half marathon. I don’t really have a time goal for this one. After how sick I felt the entire afternoon following this race a couple years ago, when it was hot, I think my main goal is just to finish not feeling like total crap.

In the afternoon, we’re heading up to Chad and Samira’s place to celebrate Chad’s birthday. Sunday, there’s a supported ride of the Eagleman course we’re planning to do.

Training for 5/17/17

Last night, Clark and I were in Rehoboth yet again, this time for a sneak peek at the new Dogfish Head brewpub, for Mug Club members.

For two hours, we got to check out the new building while drinking all the free beer and eating all the free food we wanted.

This place is quite a bit fancier than the old place.

Sam, the founder and president, on the new stage for live music acts.

Open kitchen with a wood-fired pizza oven off the dining area.

The bar, underneath the upstairs dining area.

Clark thought the new place lacked the character of the old one.

I think he’ll be OK.

Today, it got hot again. Like, in the low 90s. I was smart for once and went out to run in the morning.

I did a lap around the 4.5-mile loop. It was already pretty warm — felt like 85 when I got back, according to the weather app on my phone — but it was still a decent run. Tomorrow and Friday are supposed to be just as hot, but reportedly, it’s going to cool down a little in time for Saturday’s race. We’ll see.

Training for 5/16/17

I never ran or did any strength training yesterday. Monday seems to have become my favorite day for a rest day.

This morning, the insane wind that’s been hanging around here for days finally calmed down, so Clark got up really early to go swim in the Choptank sans white caps.

The sun comes up before 6 a.m. now, so I got up pretty early too and went out to knock out a run first thing.

It was an absolutely perfect morning. Cool, no wind and plenty of sunshine. I did a very enjoyable lap around the 5.5-mile loop.

Later today, I have my first eye appointment in four years. I don’t think my prescription has changed much, but I need to get a new one so I can get prescription sunglasses for the bike.

I don’t wear sunglasses, prescription or otherwise, while running, and it’s never bothered me. I just wear a hat on a sunny day. But you kinda have to wear them on the bike, if not solely to prevent a bug from hitting you in the eyeball at speed.

I’ve been wearing a pair of Oakleys Clark got in middle school, but it’d really be nice to have prescription glasses, so I can actually see what’s coming up when I’m, No. 1, riding with traffic, and, No. 2, moving quite a bit faster than I do while running.

Speaking of the bike, I saw today the Eagleman race director and a couple of major race sponsors are hosting a supported ride of the bike course this coming Sunday morning. It’s free — just show up at 7 a.m. — and “supported” generally means there will be some aid stations along the course. So Clark and I will most likely do that. I already know where not to turn haha.

And speaking of Eagleman, they released the lineup of swim waves yesterday. I assumed all the relay team swimmers would be in the final wave, but they’re not. They’re in the fourth! Which means Kara will start swimming at 6:56 a.m., not 7:56, like the 19th and final wave to go.

Clark’s age group, M30-34, is so big they had to split it into two waves, by last initial. He starts swimming at 7:40. That means I’ll have a 44-minute head start on him on the bike, give or take a few minutes, depending on how Kara swims. I wonder if I’ll be able to keep him behind me?

Training for 5/15/17

Saturday morning, I went out for my third rainy run in a row. At least it was just a 3-miler.

When I asked for that waterproof iPod shuffle for Christmas, I was thinking about how much I sweat while running in the summer, but it has definitely already come in handy during all this rain we’ve been getting lately.

Later, I met my friends and we went to a Japanese restaurant in Annapolis to celebrate Meredith’s and my birthdays (March 6 and April 1) and TK’s surviving another tax season. It always takes the five of us forever to coordinate our schedules, but it’s always worth it when we finally find a block of time that works.

Clark and I stayed in that evening, and watched the NASCAR race in Kansas. I was losing the battle to stay awake on the couch until there was a pretty nasty wreck about 65 laps from the end. That woke me up, and I made it through the resulting red flag and then the rest of the race to see the finish.

As a result, I was a little late hauling myself out of bed Sunday. I simply did not have the time for a two-hour long run before we were supposed to take our moms to brunch for Mother’s Day.

So I just did a lap around the 7.3-mile loop, about half the distance I’d intended. The sun finally came out! It was a decent run.

We went to Chesapeake & Maine in Rehoboth for brunch, and had a very nice, relaxing time.

That afternoon, after Clark and I got home, we took the bikes out for a long ride. Unfortunately, the wind had really kicked up. Oh well. It’s probably going to be like that for Eagleman, so it’s good training.

We did 26.2 miles in 1:32, a 17.1-mph average. The parts into the wind were pretty tough. Of course, the parts riding with it were awesome. At one point, I went to upshift again, and there were no more gears. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten the bike to its top gear before.

We also tried out this GU energy drink mix Clark bought. You mix two scoops of it into a water bottle, and you can drink that instead of eating gels or chews. He bought an iced tea flavor that, once mixed into the water, tasted way better than it had smelled as a powder in the container. Some other runners have suggested I try liquid calories, like that or Tailwind, in place of solid food or gels to see if it helps with my digestive troubles while running. It seemed to work out pretty well on the bike yesterday, so I think I’ll give it a shot on a long run.

When we got home, Clark ran a lap around the 4.5-mile loop, but I’d had enough running that morning, so I stayed home with Pepper.

Today, I have a short easy run and strength training on the schedule.

The St. Michaels half marathon is in six days. The weather is warming up again just in time — it’s supposed to hit 90 degrees by Wednesday. Great! Sounds like we’re in for another miserable race experience. At least I know better than to try to hit a goal time from the beginning now.