It rained a bit this morning, which in the grand scheme of things was a really good thing, but not all that great for my long run. I like running in the rain as much as the next guy, but when I am going for double-digits…well it does tend to get old for the feet and you also risk those pesky things called blisters a lot more.

It was still raining pretty good when I did Bennie’s long walk, down-back was rather slimey and I didn’t feel like having to wear trail shoes to run there. Although the Pegasus 33S did a pretty good job while walking, I would have wanted more grip to run.

So instead of running on a course close to home or outside in Waterville, I figured that I would head to the gym, hop on the treadmill and run until I couldn’t deal with it anymore.

However, something happened on the ride over though that changed my mind about the treadmill.

The sun came out.

Which didn’t turn down the humidity levels, but sure as hell made it so I was going to run outside. However, I also had made a lunch date for 12:30 with Mary, so I wasn’t going to do double-digits for my long run, plus I wanted to calibrate the Milestone Footpod to the treadmill, since that is more where I will be using it going forward.

That and the fact that I had brought my Nike Rival 6’s to run on the treadmill. I had traded out the regular laces for LockLaces, which I prefer on my race day shoes (I hate it when shoes come untied during a race) and needed to see if they needed tweaking (they didn’t).

So I got on the treadmill, started it at 7.5 mph for .5 and then increased to 7.7 mph for the rest of the mile. The pod was only off by .1, but was fairly close to the mileage that the Garmin registered, so I am wondering if I should just go with the Garmin, especially since after I calibrated it, the mileage for the longer run was off by .51 too far.

Well enough of that stuff, let’s get to the run.

I was going to get to see how the Rival 6’s did on a longer run, which is something that I wanted to do at some point, so I might as well find out how they feel sooner than later.

Starting out I had to hold myself back from running too fast – not used to that and I thought that I was moving at about a 8:30 or so pace, err 8:04 first mile and 8:06 for the second one. The Rivals didn’t like to go slower at the start of this run, even though I did not push the pace.

After I passed the Waterville High School, I felt that crappy feeling in my stomach or lower getting in knots and had to endure that feeling until I got to the Colby Track, where there just happened to be a Porta Potty waiting there for me to use. After that I felt a lot better.

Unfortunately, that was also when I had to keep running to the top of Mayflower Hill. Stopping had made things better, but I had lost my mojo and pulling up my Lycra tights (I wear them under my shorts to prevent chaffing), which were sweat soaked was not easy and then getting them readjusted so they were comfortable again wasn’t all that much fun. One of those things that takes the focus away from running.

I plodded along in front of the new construction and then running up the hill just about did me in. The 73*F wasn’t bad, but the 100% humidity was tough and I struggled to just keep going. When I got to the Washington St. turn-off, I was running out of time, so I decided to go straight down to JFK, which while shorter, also exposes me to a LOT more traffic.

When I turned onto JFK, the traffic was pretty tough and adding that into heading up that small hill, made it even more difficult. Once I got past Dunkin Donuts, the amount of space on my side of the white line decreased dramatically and I had to get up on the lawn to stay safe. Even though the grass was wet and rather slippery (the shoes did great), it was safer than being on the side of the road.

After I got to the top of the hill I just wanted to finish and get it done. It was a good run, but one that I was glad was over.

When I stopped I was quite tired. The humidity was tough, but my legs and feet felt fine.

During the run I didn’t think about my shoes and when I hit some stretches where it was still really wet or on that grass, the Rival 6’s were fantastic. I wouldn’t hesitate to race with them on – for any distance that I might do. However, I wouldn’t want to use them as my daily trainers – they do not promote running slower, even though I did run quite nicely at a slower pace, it is too easy to pick up the pace without realizing how much you have until after you have done it.

Yeah, once I was in the locker room I had to wring my shirt out, to get rid of the sweat.

Lunch was pretty good and I do enjoy Big G’s every so often, though I wouldn’t want to make a habit of eating there.

Although Mary did comment that my arms and legs are starting to look scrawny and that I don’t need to loose anymore weight. Errr only one problem my weight is staying the same 159-161, so I probably need to start weight training a little more consistently ;-).

Yes, I ran yesterday, an easy 10K up to the cornfields on Tiffany Road and with 100% humidity it felt and looked like I had gone swimming instead of running when I got done. In other words a pretty typical summer run, but thankfully up heah in Maine we don’t get too many days like this.

Today, was more 100% humidity – almost misting and I had a planned track workout that I knew was going to feel a bit like swimming. I had to go up to Winslow, so I scooted over to the Lawrence H.S. Track.

Having been a Special Education Teacher at the Junior High for a couple of years, I have more than a few memories on that track, walked around it countless times and good/bad memories of what went on inside the buildings. It brought back a lot of emotions and memories of people I worked with and students I was there for, but it also reinforced why I left teaching when I did. Continue reading →

Yesterday’s run was close to tempo pace for me and it felt pretty darn good. When I put on the Nike Speed Rival 6’s, I knew that I would probably run faster than usual, but I was not expected it to feel as good as it did.

I started out pretty quickly and then picked up speed as I went down the hill. When I got down on Shepard, I didn’t pickup the pace, but just seemed to keep slowing down a little more – kind of like air escaping from a balloon- you don’t notice how much you are loosing until you find yourself kind of flat. It wasn’t that I was feeling bad or anything it was more that I just didn’t have the focus to run that hard/fast yesterday.

Although I was still running well, I never got out of the comfortably hard zone, which is probably about right for what I wanted to accomplish.

When I got down to the end of Pepin, I saw that they have extended the road about another 1/4 mile and that it goes up a little bump to get to the end now. Which is a pain to go up and kind of nice to come back down.

So of course I had to go see what things looked like and see how I could add it to my test course. I am not a fan of the bump and while the road is still dirt, even when it is tar I think that I will keep the old test course in place. Continue reading →