Cold and Miserable

I rode my bike to work this morning. It was dry and 51 degrees. Shorts and a long sleeve wind jacket proved to be too much and I had a good sweat going by the time I got to work (rarely a goal, given that I have no showers available in the morning). By lunchtime, it had dropped 10 degrees outside. It was windy and raining hard.

A few of us ignored the weather and went out for a quick run and a workout. All I could think was how happy I was that Hellgate weather was finally coming to town.

The workout?

1 mile jog to the park, then a prison workout (descending sets) starting at 10 of:
Burpees, push-ups, crunches
Run 50 yards,
repeat until done.

12 minutes later we were done with the workout, and continued for another couple miles back to downtown.

It was cold and miserable. I was in Heaven.

Run hard out there.

Fun with GPS

Last week I read an article in the NY Times about using GPS to create artwork. I discussed this with some friends a long time ago, and we never did it. I guess we missed out on an opportunity, so now if we do it, we are just being trendy.

(Michael Nagle of the New York Times)

There are two reasons why I sometimes wish I lived in a big city. 1) so I could ride my fixed-gear bike everywhere (also quite trendy I am told), and 2) so I could do neat art stuff like this.

Inspired by the article, I decided to make some artwork during my morning high intensity sprint/pushup workout.


The workout, in case you are interested was a "prison" workout with pushups.

• 25 pushups, sprint 100yards, walk 30 yards,
• 24 pushups, spring 100 yards, walk 30 yards,
• 23...
• 22...
• all the way down to 1.
  

Brutal. My arms are still a bit shaky as I type this.

Slightly disappointed by my first GPS art effort, I went out for a longer run and captured it for the sake of art. Here it is:



Ok, maybe not.

Run hard out there...

Blue Ridge Parkway Marathon

There's a buzz around Roanoke about a new marathon: The Blue Ridge Marathon. It's scheduled for April 24, 2010. I registered for it last week. It's going to be a doozie, climbing Mill Mountain twice, and running around the "4-mile loop" over Roanoke Mountain, which I've read is the steepest spur road off of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Then at 24 miles, it hits one of the steepest hills in Roanoke City. Someone had an evil grin on his face when he designed this course.

I ran the 4-mile loop the other evening, and my quads are still sore from the 2+ mile, 1000' downhill pounding. People who sign up for this one had better train on that loop, or else they will be in for a big surprise.


I'm not sure why they say this one is "on the Parkway," although it does benefit Friends of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Runners will be on the actual BRP for about a quarter of a mile. I guess relating it to one of the most famous drives in the southeast will bring in more runners.

This event is being put on by Ronny Angell of Odyssey Adventure Racing. Ronny knows how to put on races, so it is pretty much guaranteed to be a success.

Seriously, if you are thinking about running this one, make sure to test your legs on the 4-mile loop before race day.

Run hard out there.

Running Through The Wall

Amazon.com has lowered the price of my book to a bargain basement price of $10.98. It has been selling pretty good since it came out in 2003. In fact, sales have picked up in the last few years due to the increased popularity of our sport. Today it was ranked #16 in the "Exercise & Fitness: Marathons" category on Amazon. Note that they do not have an Ultramarathon category. Yet.

Post a comment or contact me via email if you want to order a personal autographed copy of Running Through the Wall for $11, shipping included.


When I started working on the book, I never thought I'd run more than 50 miles at one time. I thought those who ran hundreds were whacked. Ironically, a year and a half later, on the day I received the first shipment from the publisher, I was leaving to run my first hundred miler. Interviewing and writing about some of the best ultrarunners in the world motivated me to run like I never thought possible.

I hope Running Through the Wall will do the same for you.

Run hard out there.

Antioxidants, and heading to the beach

I wanted to pass this along from Dean's Newsletter:

Did you know?
ORAC is a measurement of a food’s antioxidant capacity. Oranges have a score of 2,000, Red Apples 4,000, and Blueberries over 9,000. The so-called “Superfruits” (e.g., Acai, Goji, Mangosteen) can have values exceeding 20,000! .

ORAC is the "oxygen radical absorbency capacity," and berries, which are in season right now, have tons of it. Apples, just coming into season are very high too. In fact, if you ate mostly in-season fruits and veggies, you would certainly not be lacking in the ORAC category.


It's been a while since I posted, and it will be a bit longer because I am heading to Hilton Head Island, SC next week for a well needed family vacation. If you've never been to Hilton Head before, I highly recommend you check it out. It is the best beach I've ever seen for running. It's flat, about 100 yards wide, and after a nice rain, you can run for miles without seeing anyone.

My back injury is much better now, and in the last two weeks I've been able to return to some running. I've kept up my biking, so I have not lost too much fitness.

Run hard out there, and eat your superfruits.

Matt and Lily

Matt and Lily are over halfway back home now. They ducked into our place for a couple days to get out of the rain. We shared some good meals and lots of laughs over legos and Wii Bowling. I hope I don't have Matt hooked on video games now. Somehow I doubt it.

Continue to check out Matt's blog for updated photos from their journey. They left here with 14 days and about 530 miles under their belts. We loaded them down with leftover food and drink, and wished them well as they were once again on their way.

Two beautiful people, living the dream...

Out of commission, but here's some interesting reading

I hurt my back a couple weeks ago playing Ultimate with a bunch of 20 year old kids. After a week I was back to about 90%, but then I did too much too soon, and now I'm hurt again. It's keeping me from running, which I don't appreciate at all. I'm going to try to get in to see a doctor today to rule out anything more than muscle strain.

When I'm not running or working out I don't feel much like writing about running and working out. So here are some links to blog entries that have caught my eyes lately.

• Interval Training improves endurance, better than endurance exercise
• Tabata is mainstream now
• Better running through walking
• Eat like a Gorilla

Run hard out there...