See BamaDave Run (and Lift)

[BamaDave]

SUN. 3.12.06
LONG RUN

DISTANCE: 14.2 miles
TIME: 1:49:51
AVE. PACE: 7:44/mile

My planned distance was ~17.5, but I cut it short. I almost postponed this run - we went out with friends last night, and I drank a lot more alcohol than I have in a long time. I felt like I had a lead anvil in my stomach this morning. This was also the first time I have tried to do a bona fide long run the day after a race. It was very warm and muggy - 76 when I started, and probably in the low 80's when I finished. Very humid. Not bad when the clouds would cover the sun and the wind was blowing, but I had hydration problems -- even after drinking the Accelerade I brought with me. My shoes were soaked by mile 4 or 5. This is late May/early June kinda stuff. Weird! Actually, the first 12.5 of this run went reasonably well -- around 7:30 ave. pace at that point, and I had a good workout on big inclines and a long stretch of roller hills. But coming back up the mountain in mile 13, my body decided it had experienced enough this weekend, and I had to walk/run to the top. I think my last 8 oz. of Accelerade kicked in, and I was able to run home from there without stopping and at a decent clip. At any rate, I think this was enough running for the weekend! I'll probably try to run another one around this distance on Wed. if I can get a really early start - like 5:45AM. Next weekend we'll be in New Orleans, so I need to try to map out an interesting course for a Sunday FLAT long run!

[cappuccino]

Awesome job on the race BamaDave!

My favorite runs in New Orleans were along the levee (lake side is prettier)...can go for miles and miles. Where are you starting from? I'm not sure however, what condition the levees are in these days. Another fun straight route is up St. Charles and then you could get a loop or few in Audobon Park. How long of a run?

PS you have some serious quads! Don't usually see such ripped runners.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Cappy!

I'm staying at my brother-in-law's on the Northshore in Mandeville. I've never run there, but will need to get my long run in next Sunday. I suppose I can meander through the subdivisions but was hoping for something more interesting. I'm wondering whether they have a levee path on that side of the Lake?? A run in the city would be really cool, but too far to drive... I haven't even seen N.O. post-Katrina but am supposed to get the grand tour from my bro-in-law.

[kmwest]

Hehe, in the pictures you seem progressively unhappy as times wears on .

Nice race! How soon are you going to start tapering for Boston?

[Buk]

Nice work Dave! Bringing home a 1st place is a great accomplishment. Your weightlifting does make itself quite apparent in your running pictures. Keep up the awesome work Dave, you make the rest of us at JPFitness proud.

KM, you should have seen him at the end of the Mercedes marathon :p He should be proud of that result as well as this one, within a training week.

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Man, that's great, Dave. Congrats! And then 14 the next day!!

[BamaDave]

Thanks, everyone!

Cappy, I'm starting to change my mind about Sunday. I may get up really early and drive across the Lake so I can make my long Sun. run a tour of the city. I've always wanted to do that. I'll probably park somewhere around Audobon Park and run St. Charles and adjacent streets. I may also go up on the levee and run back to Harahan where I used to live and check out my old neighborhood. That would be pretty fun.

kmwest, I have two more weeks of max training for Boston, then I start my three week taper. It's hard to believe that it's coming up this quickly!

Yeah, somehow I forgot to post my Mercedes photos! :p In most of them, I have this "oh shit, I'm gonna die" expression. I think that may be my standard running face! Hey, I thought I looked great at the end with my face covered in dried salt!! :p

[kmwest]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Hey, I thought I looked great at the end with my face covered in dried salt!! :p

After my long run yesterday, I was standing on the sidewalk catching my breath when a mother and her child pulled up, asking for directions to the university. As I was telling them, the mother told her daughter to give me a baby wipe for my face. Apparently, she didn't like the look of big gobs of dried spit over my face.

[BamaDave]

Hey, I like your signature line. I'm reading that book now. The comments he made about his track coach and his "just suck it up and run as fast as you can" approach to coaching were very interesting.

Some of his stuff I find hard to believe. Like the night when he suddenly decided to start running again and covered 30 miles without having run in 15 years. Is that even humanly possible?? I realize that he is an exceptional endurance athlete, but I dunno....

[kmwest]

I read the book in less than 12 hours... I bought it at 930pm Friday and had it finished by 11am Saturday .

I think there's something to be said about the just-give-it-your-all approach to athletics. Did you read the new 'prison' article over at t-mag? Similar ideas. While I definitely stay within a training parameter, I've found that my running performance has increased when I don't care so much about staying within a certain ideal pace, and just run as hard as possible for any given distance.

And regarding his 30-mile run, just remember, he covered the first 15 miles in 3 hours... that's hardly a fast pace :p. A lot of his 'runs' seem to be slow jogs although he can clearly turn on the pace when he wants to, like when he piggybacked a 3:15 marathon onto a 100-mile run.

[Mahler]

Dave,
Those pics tell it all. Do you have one that I can print out for my "Wall of Fame" in my gym?

[BamaDave]

Thanks, John! That would be really cool to be on your Wall of Fame (are you being serious???). I haven't purchased any of the photos but probably will buy one or two. I'll have to scan them, unless I can get a digital copy from the photographer.

--------

TUES. 3.14.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 9.3 miles
TIME: 1:05:14
AVE. PACE: 7:01/mile

ELEVATION PROFILE:



Dangit! I almost got this one at a sub- 7:00 pace. This is a course I have never been able to finish with an ave. pace under 7:00/mile. I bested my time from 1.11.06 on this course by ~ 1:40, and I'm pretty sure that was a PR for this particular route. I didn't start out with a plan to run this one with a faster pace, but I noticed I was feeling strong as I started the big descent around 3.5 miles in and tried to keep the tempo up a little bit. Then I hauled ass for the last couple of miles, which are a net downhill. My Forerunner was smoking crack this morning, so I haven't had a chance to figure out my actual paces on particular miles, but I believe I ran a lot of the last two miles at sub-6:00 pace or very close to 6:00.

I'm trying to log at least 60 miles for my Sun-Sat week, which means I need to ave. a little over 9 miles/day between now and Sat. My AM running time is limited for the entire week, so the runs are going to have to be pretty uniform in distance between 9-11 miles. No opportunity to sneak a 13 or 14 in there to build up some mileage.

I'm feeling pretty good so will hopefully get a weight routine in tonight, including some heavier leg work, which I missed last week.

[Jimbo]

That's awesome Bama. Good work.

By the way...I read Ultra Marathon Man...It's one of the things that inspired me to start running faaaarrrrrther. Great Book!

[cappuccino]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

Thanks, everyone!

Cappy, I'm starting to change my mind about Sunday. I may get up really early and drive across the Lake so I can make my long Sun. run a tour of the city. I've always wanted to do that. I'll probably park somewhere around Audobon Park and run St. Charles and adjacent streets. I may also go up on the levee and run back to Harahan where I used to live and check out my old neighborhood. That would be pretty fun.

Yeah, you should do that! You could park at audobon park and take st. charles all the way down to the quarter and around and back up. Not sure how long it is, but once downtown, it's only a 1.5 -2 miles to the quarter. Used to run either that direction or up st. charles a bit during lunch(up st charles and then back down magazine for variety of scenery ). I think st charles is 6 miles one way end to end. Harahan levee isn't as nice since it's the river side...I used to run along the lake and liked it better, but it would be fun to tour your old home.

[BamaDave]

Thanks, Jimbo!

I've changed my mind about the long run in the city, Cappy. My mother-in-law was talking to her former preacher the other night, who is still down there. He said there's some kind of black soot in the air right now that coats a clean car within one day. Maybe it's from burning debris?? Anyway - I don't think I want to breathe that junk in while running. Plus I found out there is a 31 mile trail through St. Tammany Parish called the Tammany Trace, which is basically old rail beds that were paved over for bikers, runners, horseback riders, etc. It sounds perfect -- hopefully the downed trees have been cleared from it by now.

-------------

WED. 3.15.06
AM RUN

DISTANCE: 10.3 miles
TIME: 1:12:49
AVE. PACE: 7:04/mile

Essentially the same course as yesterday, except with an extra 0.5 on the front and back ends. Plus I ran it in the reverse direction. I was hoping to run an 11-miler this morning, but not enough time. This run felt really good, too. Incredible views this morning with the clear, cold air and fog settling into the valleys -- very beautiful. It was 35 degrees this morning - in contrast to Sunday's run in the 80's! Gotta love March! I came home with a tan after my Sunday run, and this morning I'm in a sweatshirt. LOL. I think my total workout this morning should be 1:45, since in 1:45 I did this run, showered, got dressed, acted like the Get-Ready-for-School Nazi and dropped off both my kids and our friends' daughter at school with a few minutes to spare. Talk about an adrenaline rush. And the Asst. Principal Bizatch at the Elementary School who lords over the dropoff area couldn't even justify a nasty look my way this morning with the extra time we had.

We were over at my in-laws' new house fairly late last night, and I was too zombiefied by the time we got the kids to bed to workout with weights. So that's on tap for tonight.

Speaking of views... Here's a photo that was taken Monday evening from the top of the mountain in my neighborhood and posted by a local TV station. That's a tornado in the distance, which passed a few miles North of my house ! This is the same view that was incredible this morning for entirely different reasons.

[BFG]

Originally Posted by BamaDave

This is the same view that was incredible this morning for entirely different reasons.

Woman opposite naked cleaning again?????

Looked like you had a good strong finish there in the photos Bama

[twinsavsvikingsfan]

Cool pics. Great runs.