Sunday, February 04, 2007

2/04/2007 Long Run & 30 Seconds of Blog Fame

It was frackin' freezing outside this morning. I mean that in every sense of the word. The thermometer outside the house said 10 F at 8:30 am, but I know on the windier parts of my run it was below zero. My face was just hurting on those windy stretch. I was going to put this run off until tomorrow after yesterday's spill off the bike and the resulting achiness. When I woke up this morning I felt good though with no more than the normal amount of soreness in my lower back and I had full range of movement. Between that and the sight of the actual sun coming up over the horizon there was no way I was missing this run. Any sunny day during an Ohio winter is a good day regardless of temperature.

I did a variation on the usual long run route that I've used since December, so there was not much to report there. As I was running and listening to Phedippidations, which has become my standard to kick off Sunday long runs, my mind was wandering from one subject to the next. Steve was talking about the impact of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs on sports and the human body, and I my mind wandered from the topic at hand to thinking about whether there are any amateur age group athletes taking performance enhancers, to what if I took performance enhancers? Wouldn't that freak my friends out?, to I should write the show and let him know how much I appreciate it, for giving me a laugh, some things to think about, and some much needed inspiration, especially on days like these when I wonder why the hell I'm out on the road instead of back in the nice warm comfortable bed. On and on my mind goes flipping from one subject to the next when I'm snapped back into the moment by these words: "This week's Phedippidations blog of the week is titled abiker..." What? oh crap someone else is using my blog's name..."It's hosted by Adam Iker from..." Hey wait? What? That's me!

I was caught by total surprise by this, and it brought a big smile to my face. I didn't feel much cold for the rest of the run...well until I got out of the valley that Batavia sits in and back on the highland roads where the winds never ceases. No amount of appreciation for blog recognition was going to keep me from feeling that kind of cold. Anyway, I have no idea how he chooses the blog of the week, but if I was recommended by someone out there in blogland I appreciate it very much. It really made my day.

Here are the stats for my run:

Avg HR: 153
Peak HR: 173
Min HR: 109
Total Cal: 1454
Rcl 1: 1:00.00
Rcl 2: 32.54 (I had a reason for splitting at one hour, but I just don't remember what it is right now. Maybe it will come back to me.)
Total: 1:32.54 (8:27 pace)

The pace was a little quicker than I would have liked. I am making an effort to keep my long runs at a slower pace, but like I said at the beginning, it was so cold! On those windy flats I really pushed the pace up a little to get out of the face burning coldness as soon as possible.

P.S. I am now one week away from my first race of 2007, and my first race since Thanksgiving Day! I'm very excited about the race, and in preparation for the season I posted all my pr's over on the side bar. I want to see how many of those I can update with a 2007 date.

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