Raleigh Durham North Carolina on a Warm Summer Day

I got in around midnight last night and before heading to my room at the Hilton in Raleigh Durham I asked if there were any good running paths near by. This sheet below was handed to me, pre-highlighted and easy to explain. The X on the bottom of the page is the hotel and the dimensions make for a 3 mile run and change if you take the blue highlighter route the entire way around. I was looking for a 10 mile run today and so the plan was to wake up without an alarm, eat a small breakfast of a Lara Bar and a Powerbar gel before heading out for 3 loops on this thing. I get lost so often on these foreign runs the first time, I knew I could add a mile without blinking an eye.

The morning went just as planned and below is the beautiful setting I was met with. I knew right off the bat this would be a nice run. Temperatures in the mid 60's, a nice breeze and though the sun was high in the sky, it sure beet the Arizona heat.

Just to give a good impression of how different things are out here on the east coast, check out the porch and the rocking chairs. When I returned after the run, every rocking chair was occupied with people just relaxing on a Saturday.

The first couple steps on the map were very short. I was told that the path would be obvious and as you can see below it kind of stood out. I did my usual slow first mile to get the hang of things and warm up gradually. The trees were incredible, making me jealous to have such scenic options around every corner. Things were not as easy to follow after the initially getting on the trail and I wish I had taken a picture of the map, or brought it before leaving. I just knew that I would be making a circle with a pond near the half way mark, and some stores around the last mile. Not much to go on for a mental picture.

For the first loops I did not see anyone else outside, but on loops two and three I saw a few people as crazy as me exercising instead of just enjoying a great Saturday morning. I guess this is how I do enjoy a Saturday morning honestly. The way to know you are on the right path is the asphalt trail. There are short gaps with standard sidewalks, but they only last for a matter of feet before the asphalt continues. There are arrows on the trail, but they go both directions at some points making it kind of confusing.

There are no mile markers, maps along the way, just the asphalt trail to follow like Dorothy and the yellow brick road. Just follow, follow, follow, follow, follow the black asphalt road. Near the halfway point in the loops is the pond that helps reassure you that you're on the path still. The first time I came to it, I saw a goose with baby geese around it. I thought this was darling, until the mama goose spread her wings, hissed at me and charged. I can honestly say I was scared of being thrashed by a goose protecting her young and sprinted around her as fast as I could. I narrowly escaped and wondered if this was going to be a routine on each loop.

There are two bridges over the pond and I liked how there were metal guards at foot level on them. I've had phones drop out of their case and I wouldn't want to have it slide into a pond with a vengeful goose. Both bridges were well made, and sturdy. This is the scenic highlight of the run. There were no excessive bugs, or pedestrians fishing around.

Here is the part of the run where I kept up my streak of almost following the path perfectly. It gets really confusing and I accidentally took NC 54 to Page Rd. as pictured on the map. Remember I told you that the paths have no signage, or maps to help you out. I was running along sidewalk and it kind of gave me a clue that it wasn't anything like the rest of the loop. Oh well, first loop done and I picked up the path right right where I started it for loop number two.

This time I tried to follow the path and was doing better, when I goofed it again. I ended up on an area highlighted in purple on the map, then back tracking on the blue parts that I had already ran once. Upon going to the start of the course the wrong way I turned around and just called that a loop. The third loop, to make up for lost distance I took the long way with NC 54 and Page Rd again. Pictured below is NC 54. I hit the 10 mile mark with roughly a block to cool down on the way back to the hotel.

The run felt awesome. The best of 2012 so far averaging 9:19 miles and having gas left in the tank. I loved this run and would recommend it to anyone looking for an adventure, or likes scavenger hunts. Every time you find the path again it gives a feeling of gratification. I also tried the Hilton Precor Fitness Center. The room was small, but well stocked with good ventilation. I pumped iron while watching the lunch crowd eat out on a patio. 40 minutes on the bike and an upper body weight routine and I was done. I showered up and just to stay consistent, rewarded myself with food.

It might not look appetizing, but that is a North Carolina, pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw on it. I loved it. I have just enough time to finish this post, take a nap and fly back to Phoenix via Chicago tonight. It was a great morning, and a great run with an even better end. Now all I have to worry about is how sore I'll feel on those long flights crossing the country.

 

Happy Mothers Day from Sacramento

Happy Mothers day to all the ladies out there. A big thank you to all the women for the role you play in helping us all grow to be who we are, couldn't do it without you. A big thank you to my beautiful bride for being 7 1/2 months into incubating my little boy to be on this mothers day.

As pictured below, out in Sacramento this is a good occasion to come out to the river and sit along the beach partying it up. I particularly like the circa 1970's house boat siting along the beach in the bottom left o the picture. Nothing says thanks like some cold ones and a cool dip in the water. This particular picture was taken in the middle of my great run this morning. This was the kind of run that makes you feel like you are actually progressing. I got 7 hours of sleep last night, woke up ate 2 lara bars and had a cup of coffee before heading outside with intentions of a 10 mile run.

Lately whenever I run with anyone else they shoot out of the gate like a rabbit in the greyhound races and it kills me. Knowing myself I am a slow starter, strong finisher. I don't like 3 mile run's because I am just warming up as they are finishing. That being said, I started out the gate and as in other Sacramento runs moseyed through a tunnel, towards old town and crossed the train station. I then turned right and followed the path for 4.5 more miles before turning around. At the 2 miles mark the run turns into a serene path similar to the canals in Phoenix. There were bikers and runners every few minutes. Tree's surrounded both sides and overhang the road providing great shade. There were several forks in the road and I just kept picking whatever path continued straight. I would love to try some of the turns next time, but I didn't want to get lost and only had enough water to do the exact distance I planned.

Above is pictured a good view of what the road looked like when the tree's only overhung half the road. If you look closely you can see the there is a two foot dirt path on either side of the road for those that want to save their knee's, or just get out of the cyclists way. Pictured above is actually the turn around point, where my Garmin just told me I had gone 5 miles. I ran the previous half mile with a rock in my shoe and chose to stop here and get it out before the equal 5 mile trek back. I started with just under a ten minute mile and each mile got stronger finishing at about 9:05 the last one. This included my walking every two miles for the water breaks. I couldn't be happier with that after barely finishing two weeks ago and having to walk the last 2 miles of a six mile run at home this week.

All in all I loved this run and can't wait for my next overnight here to try it again. It was peaceful, there was lots of traffic and everyone was friendly. After the run I came up to my room, ironed my things for the day and put in another 30 minutes on the stationary bike. Don't I look happy in my Wheaties Fuel shirt enjoying my mothers day on the road. I loved this run and didn't want to miss out on all the festivities of Mothers day with my wife doing church and the Cheesecake factory with her family, so I enjoyed a brunch at the Holiday in I stayed at. If you have been reading this and noticed that for the third time in a row I countered a workout with a huge meal, then yes I am eating well these days. The buffet lunch was fantastic with cutting stations, coffee, banana french toast, carrot cake and lemon bars. I had a made to order omelet and enjoyed every bit of it.

This was an awesome Mother's day 2012 for having to be on the road. Thank you to all the mothers in my life one more time, and thank you to Holiday Inn in Sacramento for a great brunch.

 

Buzz Kill in Austin Texas

I looked at my schedule ahead of time and had a long run, maybe ten or twelve miles planned for Austin, Texas. I arrived in Austin on time and the weather was stormy meaning that the next morning it should make for a great run. As I pulled up to the Double Tree hotel I realized that I was no where near the historic downtown, or the much talked up waterfront. There is a stretch of water that is considered among the top in the country for running along and I was at least 10 miles away from it. Being second year pay, I opted for the back up plan. I hung out and read about bicycles in a magazine on the stationary bike.

It was a nice stationary bike, with a television and resistance settings that were gradual. I put in a hour and twenty minutes along with some pull ups before coming back up to my room. This was a good workout with me now saving the long run for Sacramento tomorrow morning. I learned something about myself though. I sat down wanting to put in two hours on the stationary bike, but even with how easy it is I found myself struggling after three quarters of that. Just like anything else in endurance sports, even the easy stuff takes time to develop. Hopefully next time I can comfortably put in 10 more minutes and by the time the baby arrives I'll be rocking my 2 hour workouts on the stationary bike. I also didn't bring anything to help me on it, but in the past I didn't have to drink a gatorade mid workout.

After this OK workout I was off to Papasito's Mexican restaurant. I love this place and we don't have them in Phoenix, so I ran next door to grab lunch there. I had their signature burrito, some sweet ice tea (they actually hand it to you pre sweetened) and a bowl of chips and salsa. I probably over did the food, but I will need the sustenance before tomorrows run. That's what I'm going to tell myself at least. I am still hoping for the Austin overnight where I stay at the Hilton and can run on the overnight, for now a great burrito will suffice. A little bit of a buzz kill, but I'll live.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Buffalo New York at the Adams

Last night I went down to the bar after a long 3 leg day of flying and had a cold one. I just thought it was worth showing it, because it had a bike gear and was called Rusty Chain. This was a good amber and a nice way to cap the night before a good a run in the morning.

I am flying with a captain that has been running half marathons, but never used a heart rate monitor so for this run I went out without my cherished Garmin 310XT. We went out together from the Adams hotel in Buffalo with James the captain taking his first shot at the benefits of a running watch. It was a little weird not having the information on my wrist, but I think it's healthy to go without now again.

We took an immediate right outside the hotel and another one a couple blocks later on Erie St. to work our way down to the water. This is a beautiful setting for a run in May. It was 52 degrees outside with a sea breeze coming off lake Erie and it was about a mile run to a point where the path ended. There were sidewalks along this portion of the run and very little car traffic. I wish I had been able to stop for more of these scenic pictures, there were plenty of them along this stretch.

After leaving 95 degree weather in Phoenix this kind of a run is a God send. Pictured above was a little finger off the land where the path came to an end, but you what a beautiful setting. Running along the water line was a joy. After a mile to this point and another mile back we had come to a cross roads. We could search for a path that leads 17 miles over to Niagra Falls, or we could just explore. We didn't see the path to Niagra, so we just opted for the path we knew we could find, which was random exploring.

The city of Buffalo is great. The buildings are older and it's very obvious there is a lot of history. I love my home field, but history and unique are not ways to describe Phoenix's suburbia. The people were nice and the drivers liked to speed up if I crossed the road instead of slow down. Some highlights were an old Catholic church, down town restaurants and the architecture as a whole.

We made a 4 mile circle from the hotel throughout the city and back to the hotel again. Rather then quite there we chose to take one more trip out to that point running along lake Erie again. The whole thing was a little over 7 miles. The negatives to this run were poor road conditions from the frigid winters. Lots of construction was under way and many pot holes. If you ran along the edge of the road instead of the side walk the asphalt was uneven at best. This can all be forgotten quickly by a sunny day with cool temperatures and a nice breeze.

After a nice run, what better way to reward ourselves then to go to the Anchor Bar, home of the original buffalo wing. A warm shower and 45 minutes later we were in the lobby headed to the inception site of one of my favorite foods. We split a plate of 20 medium wings, had great service and I can say the Anchor bar did itself justice. I am finishing up this write up and then after letting those wonderful wings settle, going to the hotel fitness center to put in a weight workout.

As for captain James, he is now looking at the DC Rainmaker blog to check reviews and decide what heart rate monitor watch is right for him. I am partial to the Garmin 310 XT, but for a pure runner I had to recommend that he look at the Garmin Forerunner because of it's affordable price. It is a classic.

Salt Lakes City Exploring

On a morning when you don't have to be anywhere tell 4 pm and it's 52 degrees outside there is no choice, but to go exploring at least a little. I have never gone running in Salt Lake City, so I looked at google maps, asked the lady at the front desk of the Red Lion I'm staying at to come up with a plan. I even ran into a fellow Ironman ( who looked a lot more Iron then I currently look) that confirmed I had a good idea for a 10 mile run.

10 miles is not that far and under similar conditions I had just done this a week earlier, but there are a few differences that I was not aware of at the time. Salt Lake City is at close to 5000 feet. I live at 1100 feet and did my 10 mile run at sea level. The second thing I had not considered was that it is very mountainous in Utah. With that said I headed out feeling ready to go exploring, 3 gels, two water flasks and my audio book ready to face the day. I initially went east to a road called state and north towards the capital with the intention to pick up a trail on 2nd street and run along it for roughly 3 miles. If I had just looked outside my window I would have seen that this was a downtown area and the trail I was headed towards lead at a steady incline up into mountains.

The city part is important to realize, because I had to stop at many traffic lights and wait for the walk symbol to clear me to proceed. This makes the early warmup period of your run very difficult to accomplish. There is beautiful architecture though to keep you distracted. Along the path to the capital on State street you get a great view of the mormon temple. I don't know much about it, but it looked like the equivalent of the vatican of the mormon faith when I ran by it. As you can see in the picture above, once I go to the path there was wonderful park areas, ponds, and wonderful recreational locations. This was really exciting to see, it would be wonderful to run along that kind of scenery for 4 more miles. This unfortunately was not what the run looked like.;

The above picture is more of what it looked like. I love running along a good dirt path as much as the next guy, but this was high difficulty. I found myself actually power walking portions due to the grade of the path. I have the itch to workout and all, but not to conquer steep hills at 5000 feet for 10 miles. My first thought was that if I have to run up it, then I also will get to run down it and thus all things equal out. My knowledge of how it actually works told me that I was really over simplifying the situation. I did this for about three quarters of a mile and had to find the adjoining road to make it easier.

The path was called freedom trail and next to it was a road that I believe was not used by cars, but more by park workers and those tending the grounds. I had finally found my path to go what I hoped would be 9 miles since it had already been so difficult I was going to decrease it a little. I looked at my watch and at 3 miles from the hotel I had just ran over a miles at a continual uphill grade, with some parts being very steep. It was very nice being amongst trees, on a well kept road, and temperatures that were perfect, but I also need to go fly airplanes this afternoon. When my watch told me 3.5 miles I decided to turnaround and call it a day. At home I could come home exhausted and veg, but not here.

The freedom trail seemed like if I had been better mentally prepared for it, that I would have had a great time. I will have to bid for another overnight here to give it a second try. On the way back (which was much easier going down hill the entire time) I decided to take a closer peak at the mormon temple. I even took a little run through the square and it being a Saturday in spring saw probably 10 different weddings going on at the temple. I got weird looks from the families all dressed up in tuxes and even considered acting like a dumb tourist running right into the temple grounds, but opted to head back to the Red Lion.

The run was 7 miles, I had to stop way too often for lights and would only recommend this run if you are able to spend a lot of time on the freedom trail portion of the path. At the hotel I finished with sets of 20 lunges and squats with my body weight as well as some core work. I'm off to San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix now with some days off at home to hit my more familiar runs. All in all it was a great first outing exploring Salt Lakes City running on a spring morning.

 

Let it Begin

Last week I had an inspired run in Los Angeles. I set out to run six miles on an overcast day around 2 in the afternoon sixty three degree's outside. This turned into a beautiful ten mile run with sections along the beach with the waves crashing into the shore. Just a beautiful day to run and a sharp contrast to the blistering heat that is beginning to show it's ugly face in Phoenix.

This was just wonderful. I kept going and time was the last thing I thought about. My fuel belt has been picking up dust. My wonderful new bike has been sitting on the rack like a show peace. My timing couldn't be any worse, but I now have the itch. I yearn for the feeling an hour into a workout where you just are in the zone and the minutes fly by. I want to wake up and have the soreness in my legs be the first thing I feel. I want to fit better in my uniform, which has gotten pretty tight over the last few months. I worked out this morning doing weights, working my upper body with 3 sets of 20 reps and was short of breath. I can't believe something that simple winds me at this point. I finished my workout with 40 minutes on a stationary bike and a 2 miles jog at 6 mph. This was a slow start, but a start.

The thing about Ironman training is that if your heart isn't in it then it's overwhelming. If you can't buy into the hours spent swimming, biking and running then it doesn't work. There is no end to the excuses not to go run for 10 miles. I am brought a protein bar to help with recovery after my workout and even had creatine in my bag to help get the most out of my weight lifting. These are signs of not just going through the motions, but rather taking the extra steps to get the most out of my workouts.

Today is a new day, my wife is over seven months pregnant, but still gives me time to build a base before the little guy shows up and I have gotten most of the baby prep out of the way. The nursery is done, the swing and pack n play put together. We have talked through a lot of it and even taken a hospital tour. I am looking forward to my overnights and the chance to really settle into a workout. Tomorrow I'm in Salt Lake City and there is a long run with my name on it. On shorter overnights, I plan to do more speed work to fix one of my weaker areas up tell now. I have already proven that a plan is not easy to follow when I'm getting calls from my family to pick up my nephew, or trying to do home training online for my work at Southwest airlines. I've proven that I don't do well forcing my plan into a week where demands are ever changing, but I have also proven in the past that when I have the itch I will train.

I have the itch and can't wait for the next workout. I am half way through listening to The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and have 3 gel packs in my bag to bust out a long run tomorrow. After that I don't know what comes next, but I'm eager. I'm off to the airport, to fly from New Orleans to Los Angeles again, and then two more to Salt Lakes City now. Red beans and rice isn't the best post workout meal, but early in training it will have to do.