Training for 5/29/20

Yesterday, I did one of our gym’s virtual strength training classes, and then I went for a run. It was an overcast, kinda cool evening, which was nice. I did 6.4 miles at an 8:49/mile average along the river trail.

This morning, I wanted to get up in time to run before the last virtual class of the day, but Pepper was up to his tricks again last night and I couldn’t pull myself out of bed that early. I did do the class though. I might run later when Clark gets back.

As far as the weekend goes, we don’t have any big plans. We might take Pepper somewhere that’s got beer on tap and outdoor seating. Other than that, we’ll just do our gym’s strength training class tomorrow morning and I’ll get in a couple runs.

Training for 5/28/20

Today is the 25th anniversary of Bobby Labonte’s first win in NASCAR’s Cup Series, the 1995 Coca-Cola 600!

The week after this race was the spring Dover race. I didn’t get to go to that race, but I washed my parents’ Aerostar in exchange for a souvenir from the track. My mom was surprised when I said I wanted something from the souvenir hauler for my new favorite driver, Bobby Labonte — a Chevy driver. I came from a dedicated Ford family and I’d not owned up to secretly rooting for Bobby since Daytona precisely because I knew I’d catch a ton of flak for it, and I was right.

It’s weird to remember how important Ford vs. GM was back then, because no one really cares about it anymore since the cars are all pretty much exactly the same now. But that was practically turning my back on my family in those days haha.

Back to the current day.

Yesterday, after Clark and I did a virtual strength training class, we took Pepper to Vista to meet our run club for the first Wednesday night group run in weeks.

It wasn’t a huge turnout, but it was nice to see some other people for once! Here we are, socially distancing before the run:

When we started running, Clark and I had no trouble remaining socially distanced from the rest of the pack, because Pepper was moving soooo slowly. We were supposed to do about 3.3 miles, but it was taking us so long to drag him along, we took a shortcut back to the meeting spot. In the end, we did 2.3 miles at a 13:25/mile average.

The best part was the restaurant we met at recently reopened for dine-in service, and dogs are allowed on the patio, so we got to sit down and have a couple draft beers right after. We had to wear a face mask whenever we weren’t sitting at the table, but other than that, it felt almost normal again for a few minutes!

We went home, made some dinner, watched a little TV and went to bed. I really thought we’d worn Pepper out enough he’d sleep through the night.

I could not have been more wrong. He made it to about 12:30 a.m. and then he just would not lie still. He kept wanting to go out on our balcony for no reason — it wasn’t like he was sick and throwing up or going to the bathroom. And if he wasn’t out there, he just paced around the apartment, his nails clicking on the flooring.

Eventually Clark shut the doors to the bedroom and stayed in the living room/kitchen area with Pepper so I could sleep, which was very nice of him.

Around 5:30 a.m., Pepper finally went to sleep. Other than moving from the bed to the couch after Clark left for his office, he has been dead asleep all morning. He has completely switched his sleep schedule and I don’t know how to switch it back, but it needs to happen soon because he is driving us both insane!

Training for 5/27/20

More than two months ago, the Shamrock Marathon organizers said they’d have everyone’s race packets mailed to them within four to six weeks. Then they said it’d be May 15 at the latest. When that date rolled around and Clark and I still hadn’t gotten ours, I filled out an online form, at their request, letting them know.

As of yesterday, May 26, we STILL hadn’t gotten anything in the mail, so I emailed them about it. While I did that, Clark took Pepper for a walk.

He came back with two packages. Yes, our race packets arrived in the mail while I was finally emailing the race directors about it. Of course!

Later, I opened the door and found a third package — the second one they sent me May 15 when I submitted that online form.

So I got more swag from a race I didn’t even get to run than any I actually did.

My bibs, medals, marathon finisher’s hat and 8K finisher’s koozie.

Clark’s medals and bibs for the Dolphin Challenge. He also got the same hat and koozie.

Marathon and half marathon finisher’s fleece blanket.

8K shirt (short-sleeved, unisex cut) and marathon shirt (long-sleeved, women’s cut.)

These are REALLY nice shirts, probably the best ones I’ve gotten from this race. The material is a very soft polyester/rayon blend.

But since I got mailed this stuff twice, I have two extra shirts, an extra blanket, an extra hat and THREE extra medals — although that kinda worked out for me, because they accidentally put a half marathon medal instead of an 8K medal in my original packet, but the second one had the 8K medal.

Speaking of Shamrock, our friend Mike got engaged last month and they just set the date — March 20, 2021. Shamrock weekend, which I’d already deferred to after they canceled this year. I even already have the hotel room reserved. Not sure what I’m going to do there.

Anyway, I did do some training yesterday. Clark and I did a strength training class in the afternoon and then I ran 3.7 miles along the river trail at an 8:40/mile pace.

Today, we’re doing another virtual strength training class, and then we’re meeting our run club for a Wednesday night group run for the first time since March. We’re making Pepper run it with us because he’s been being a little jerk lately, sleeping all day and then wanting to get up multiple times at night when we’re trying to sleep, and we’re hoping some extended exercise will wear him out.

Training for 5/26/20

Saturday morning, we did our gym’s virtual Weekend Warriors workout. Our coach led it from where he was on vacation for the weekend, and accidentally wrote one that was quite a bit shorter than the usual Saturday morning workouts. When he realized how early it was when we were done, he offered to lead us through a third set of the exercises we’d just done twice, but no one took him up on it haha. Go be on vacation!

Clark went for a run after that. The whole time he was gone, Pepper was either staring at me or at the door, worrying about Clark.

When Clark got back, I went out for my own run, and Clark said Pepper just lied on the couch the whole time, totally unconcerned!

Anyway, my run was fine. I did 7.5 miles along the river trail at an 8:56/mile average. All but the last mile were faster than that, but once again, the ol’ digestive system was making things uncomfortable near the end.

Later that afternoon, we walked to the beach so Clark could try to surf. Pepper and I walked along the Strand a bit and then up on the small section of the pier that’s still open.

The beach is technically still only open for active exercising, but that wasn’t stopping people from hanging out.

Surfing didn’t last very long. Clark said there were a lot of people out there who didn’t seem to have any idea how anything worked. He had to bail out on the first wave he caught because he was heading straight for another guy who just stood there and watched Clark’s board coming at his face.

So we went back to the building and sat on our patio for a bit instead.

Later, we got ready for the sequel to the virtual beer festival they held a month ago. Once again, we each got 10 local beers and hard ciders, and then they hosted a YouTube video featuring interviews with the brewers and other entertainment.

Beer Fest Part 2 lineup.

The YouTube thing didn’t work as well this time. It was an hour late starting, and then it got cut off for violating some kind of YouTube rule when they were showing a local musician covering a song. They got it restarted about a half-hour later, but it ended before they even mentioned three of the beers in the box. Oh well. The beers were still good.

Sunday, I did another long run to Carlsbad and back. I decided to reach the half marathon distance. When I got to where I should have turned around, I really had to use the bathroom, so I took a chance and kept going to the next state beach, where there’s a permanent facility.

Unfortunately, when I got there, it was locked up, as that beach is still closed per the state’s order. That was a gamble that did not pay off! Dammit.

I had to cover about two more miles before I got back to the first public port-o-potty. Those were a couple slow miles, but I made it, and I felt a lot better after that stop. The last five miles or so were back on track.

Again, I ran down to the Strand so I could finish my run by the ocean, strip off my shoes and run out into the water. It was a warm, sunny morning and that cold water was beyond refreshing after what turned out to be 13.6 miles at a 9:18/mile average.

When I got back, Clark took out his bike. He had a near run-in with a car when some idiot made an abrupt right turn on to a side street as Clark was riding alongside. He managed to keep from running into the car, but he couldn’t unclip in time and fell over. He just scraped up a knee and his shoe and handlebar on that side, so it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could’ve been, but he was obviously in a pretty pissy mood about it.

We spent most of the rest of Sunday watching the Coke 600. It started at 3 p.m. our time, but it’s the longest race of the season to start with, and then there was an hour-plus rain delay about 50 laps into it. I was happy when Brad Keselowski held off Jimmie stupid Johnson for the win, but it turned out it wouldn’t have counted for Jimmie anyway, because his car failed post-race inspection and he got credited with a last-place finish.

Monday was an extra day off for both Clark and me. I was going to go for a short run, but I never did. There also weren’t any virtual classes offered through the gym, so it turned into a complete rest day.

Instead, we went to the beach in the afternoon. The police were driving up and down the Strand and on the beach, halfheartedly announcing through their PA systems the beaches were still only open to active exercising — no sunbathing, umbrellas, chairs or towels allowed — but they just rolled right by all the people laying out with umbrellas, chairs and towels.

Police SUV patrolling down by the water.

I mean, as you can see in this picture, there were few enough people out there we really weren’t that close to each other.

It was really a perfect afternoon to sit out there too. Everyone other than Pepper seemed to be enjoying it. But he hates everything that’s not the couch or the bed, so his opinion doesn’t count.

Today, it’s back to the usual. I’m still working from home. We’ll do a strength training class later and I’ll go for another run.

Training for 5/22/20

Yesterday afternoon, I did one of our gym’s strength training classes. Then Clark and I looked at two houses, one in Carlsbad and one in Oceanside, not far from where we’re renting now. The house in Carlsbad was pretty close to what we’re looking for, but it was at the top end of our price range and was missing a couple must-haves. The one in Oceanside was a hard no. But the search has officially begun, so that’s cool.

This morning, I got up and ran early again. I did 4.5 miles at an unspecified pace, because I hit ‘pause’ on my Garmin at some point and screwed up the data. It wouldn’t have been an impressive pace anyway, because the spicy burrito I had for dinner last night was making things uncomfortable in the last mile or so, which slowed me down a lot.

While I was walking off one of those gut pangs, I got this picture of a VW van coming at me on Pacific. These vans are everywhere out here. My uncle in Virginia has one, but other than that, I think they’re all in Southern California. Anyway, I just liked how it looked with the palm trees lining the street behind it.

I made it back in time for the last strength training class of the day, which on Fridays is 8:30 a.m. It was a tough one!

I almost forgot this weekend is Memorial Day weekend. Some of the restaurants started reopening for dine-in service yesterday, but other than that, everything’s about the same here. We don’t really have any big plans.

I’m sure we’ll do the Weekend Warriors workout tomorrow morning and I’ll go for a couple runs.

Training for 5/21/20

I have nothing to report from yesterday. Work got crazy and I was still at it when our gym’s last two workouts of the day were held, and then when I was finally done, I didn’t feel like running. So it became my first total rest day in more than two weeks.

This morning, I realized if I didn’t get in a run first thing, it wasn’t going to happen today, so I went out and ran 3.7 at a 9:10/mile average along the Strand and the river trail. It’s a lot cooler at 6:45 a.m. than it is at 5:30 p.m. Imagine that.

Clark and I are going to do our usual late afternoon strength training, and then we’ve got an appointment to look at a couple houses. I don’t think we’re expecting either to be “the one;” this is more about seeing what’s out there and our Realtor getting an idea of what exactly we’re looking for. We’ve got plenty of time.

Training for 5/19/20

One of my employer’s freelance writers is also a cartoonist, and when the shutdown started, he filled some of his new free time by drawing little cartoons of people’s pets. So I emailed him a picture of Pepper. I got the cartoon in the mail yesterday.

Pepper was not impressed haha. But I love it!

If you’d like to see more of Ed’s work, here’s his project’s Facebook page. He might still be taking requests, but I’m not sure. He said he’s already done 200-plus since this started! All he asked in exchange for his work was a donation to his favorite local shelter.

Anyway, other than that, it’s just been business as usual here. Yesterday afternoon, we did a strength training class and then I ran 3.7 on the Strand and the river trail at an 8:53/mile average.

Today, Clark came home on his lunch break so I could run in the middle of the afternoon. I did another 5 miles along the river trail. The first 3.5 were good; the last 1.5 were slow because something I ate was causing trouble in the ol’ GI tract and running made it worse. That slowed down the overall average pace to 9:26/mile. And then we did another strength training class this afternoon after work.

Training for 5/18/20

Saturday morning started with the usual Weekend Warriors workout livestreamed from our gym. Halfway through the first exercise — a minute of mountain climbers — Clark decided he wasn’t feeling it and went out to run instead.

I finished the workout, and later I went out to run too. I stretched out the 6-miler I’ve been doing on Saturdays to 7.5. It went pretty well, other than my GI tract. I had to run off the river trail to find a spot to go to the bathroom around mile 4, and then I had to walk a lot of the seventh mile when I had to go again but there was nowhere available. That slowed down the overall average pace to just over 9:00/mile.

That afternoon, we went to Encinitas for lunch at The Crack Shack, on the recommendation of one of Clark’s coworkers, who apparently picks up dinner there on his way home from work three nights a week. They specialize in fried chicken. We each got a sandwich; mine was a fried thigh covered in firebird sauce, with ranch, fried onions and thinly sliced pickles. It was delicious!

We went to Cardiff-by-the-Sea to pick up some beers from Lost Abbey Brewing, and then we went back home.

It was a really pretty afternoon, so we took some of those beers out to the patio to sit in the sun.

There were some other dogs out there. Pepper is such an anti-social jerk haha. He actually growled under his breath at another Weimaraner, and then when a smaller dog came over, Pepper barely acknowledged him.

We put Clark’s Goodrs on Pepper. They looked OK on the front end:

But we preferred them on the back end haha:

We got some more takeout for dinner. I was still kinda full from that chicken sandwich though, so I saved most of mine for after my long run the next day.

Sunday morning, after breakfast, I went out to run 12 miles. Clark asked me why I wanted to run that far and I didn’t really have a specific reason. Just sounded like a good number.

It was overcast at least, but still on the warm side and pretty humid. The humidity here is nothing like what we had on Delmarva, but it’s not dry here either. I’m kinda surprised, but it’s probably a good thing I don’t get used to dry air, because I’d definitely die the first time I try to run again back east.

I ran south toward Carlsbad and back. The ocean there smells terrible right now! All that algae that produced the bioluminescence effect last month is dying and rotting. On top of that, it apparently causes “dead zones” in the water, where it sucks up all the oxygen, which is also killing fish, so they’re out there rotting too.

There was more algae in Carlsbad than Oceanside, so it’s stronger there. The breeze was blowing directly off the ocean yesterday, and there were a couple spots where it smelled like someone had opened a can of rancid tuna fish and held it up to my face. Barf.

However, other than one bathroom stop around mile 8.5, the run itself went great, and I finished 12.2 miles at a 9:12/mile average, my longest run in a couple of months.

I ended my run on the Strand in Oceanside, so I could tear off my shoes and iPod and run right out into the water. It felt amazing!

I got back just in time to shower and then watch the first NASCAR race in two months.

The highlight was when Jimmie stupid Johnson took the lead at lap 89 (of 293), the commentators immediately started talking about how he was going to end his 99-race winless streak and then one lap later he ran into a lapped car and wrecked himself haha.

Basically, the last thing I want to see is Jimmie win an eighth “championship” and break the tie for the all-time record with Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt Sr., who won seven apiece under what I will always consider the real format, where they accumulated one point total through the whole season and whoever had the most at the end won.

I mean, it’s not his fault — he didn’t come up with the “playoff” format and he didn’t make it to Cup until just before they switched it up — but it just bugs me when they go on about what a dynasty team his was, to win five championships in a row and seven total, when he’d only have one or two under the old format.

Which is good! Not many drivers win one. He’s a good driver and he’s on a good team, particularly when Chad Knaus was his crew chief. I just don’t think he belongs in the same tier as Petty and Earnhardt.

As long as he stays winless, he’ll have a harder time getting into the playoffs at the end of the year, getting lucky at the right time and winning No. 8. Which is why I cackled when he took himself out while leading.

Anyway.

The race was won by my favorite active driver, Kevin Harvick. The post-race interview looked a little different, with no fans in the background and the interviewer using a boom mic so he could maintain proper social distancing.

Harvick didn’t rename himself “Dr.” anything; all the drivers put a local health care worker’s name over their own above their windows.

But it was great to have NASCAR on again! The next Cup race is Wednesday night, again at Darlington.

After the race, we called my parents but mostly talked to my younger sister, and then watched the last two episodes of “The Last Dance.” I’ve never been a basketball fan, but that was a really interesting series and I’m kinda sad it’s over.

And now it’s Monday. Today will be more strength training and then a short run.

Training for 5/15/20

Wednesday afternoon, we did a virtual strength training class, and then I ran 3.6 miles along the river trail at an 8:49/mile average.

Yesterday afternoon, we did a virtual strength training class, and then I ran 4.5 miles along the river trail at an 8:51/mile average.

Today, I did my strength training in the morning, like last Friday, since they took all the afternoon classes off the Friday schedule. I might go for another run when Clark gets home. We’ll see.

The last couple days, I’ve been taking Pepper for a longish walk around lunchtime, down to the beach. Then I stick to the less-crowded river trail for my run. That way, I still get to see the beach every day but I don’t have to weave through all the people to try to get my run in. It’s been working out.

This weekend, we’ll do the Weekend Warriors workout tomorrow morning, and then I’d like to get in a couple more runs.

Sunday afternoon, NASCAR is back racing live for the first time since mid-March! I can’t wait! This break was almost as long as the off-season.

Also, Clark and his Eagleman relay team officially deferred to 2021, so that’s that for this year.

Training for 5/13/20

Not much exciting has happened around here the last couple of days. Just some training to record.

Monday afternoon, we did a virtual strength training class, and then I ran 3.7 miles along the Strand and the river trail at a 9:04/mile average.

Yesterday afternoon, we did another virtual strength training class and then I ran 5 miles along the river trail at an 8:49/mile average.

These days are starting to get repetitive!

Oh, I guess there was one piece of news since I last posted. They rescheduled Eagleman for Sept. 19 — the same day as the full Ironman they hold every fall in Cambridge.

If registered participants don’t want to do that, they can either defer to the June 2021 Eagleman or transfer to a different Ironman event.

One of the transfer options is the 70.3 here in Oceanside, originally scheduled for April 4, that obviously also had to be postponed. It’s supposed to be held Oct. 24 now.

Clark is registered for the relay at Eagleman, with his brother and a friend. He’s not sure yet if the team is still going to do that. Depends on if he can convince them both to come out here for the Oceanside 70.3.

Of course, there’s no guarantee any of these rescheduled events will even happen, as it all hinges on how well we’re doing keeping the spread of this virus down by the fall, but it’s still nice to have some possible dates to look forward to!