Alas, no Mai Tais on the Lake

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Originally uploaded by bexdc

At least not tonight. E. and I wanted to take a short cruise this evening on Lake Tahoe - much like our Tahoe Relay team, the Band of Outsiders, did a few weeks ago (that's me and Br. relaxing on the boat). But because of the 4th of July holiday weekend, all the cruises are full. Alas.

In other news: I used my heart-rate monitor for the first time today. I ran between 4.5 and 5 miles at 7,000 ft. altitude at noon, in about 80 degree heat. I should have started earlier, but what the hey.

And despite taking it easy on the hilly course, my average heart rate was 167 beats/minute. Hmmm. Kind of high. According to conventional wisdom, that's between 85 percent and 90 percent of effort. It didn't feel like it, though.

My Garmin 50 uses a foot pod to calibrate distance and mile-pace. And I see that I need to re-calibrate it to my stride length. Because it says I ran 6.3 miles in 42:39. Which is something crazy -- like 6:47/mile.

I wish.

Hey! Over Here!

Yoo-hoo! I'm back. Didja miss me?!

Don't answer that.

I've been crazy busy with my new job, but I wanted to post a few photos from Thanksgiving, when Jeanne and NOD flew all the way from Washington, D.C., to have turkey dinner with us and E.'s family in northern California, then spend a lovely weekend at our new house in Tahoe.

So here are several choice pix. The first is of the drive from Tahoe on I-80 back to the Bay Area, where E. and I dropped off Jeanne and D. What a beautiful sunset! I believe we just passed Donner Pass. Yes, that Donner.

(Jeanne, you'll get lots of sunset and other photos from me when I download them on Flickr tomorrow.)

The second is of Jeanne, I, and assorted family members at the dinner table on Thanksgiving. The remaining photos are of us the day after Thanksgiving, on me and E.'s favorite short Tahoe hike. It's a 3-mile hike (1.5 mile incline, 1.5 mile decline) to Eagle Lake.

Oh, and in the spirit of the recent NaBloPoMo, I've decided to do my own version, albeit a month later. Given my schedule and travel plans (I'm going to Hawaii on Friday to run the Honolulu Marathon!), I won't have time to post daily on this blogeroo. But I can post every other day.

Gives me a goal.

And, you know, I'm all about goals.

15 Miles ... Check!

Whew. At the crack of noon today (OK, 12:45 pm), I finally set off for my long run. The first 10 miles went swimmingly, although a lot of cars and trucks tended to slow down and watch me run.

Which was annoying. E. says I should carry a sign that says, "What are YOU looking at?" or "Take a photo ... it lasts longer."

But I digress. I ran south from Tahoe City, up and down the rolling trails. The lake was a gorgeous, cerulean blue. The late October sun was high in the sky. The air was a crisp 58 degrees.

Overall, I felt great. At the 10-mile mark, I stopped by my house to down a triberry Gu and some vitamin water. Then I set off for the last six miles.

And it was the last six that killed me. That last 1/3-mile long steep hill didn't help. My hamstrings cried "Uncle" at Mile 12. The soles of my feet felt as if I'd been running on sharp rocks. And, boy, did my butt hurt soldiering up all the small hills.

At Mile 15, I must admit, I walked twice for a minute. Since my Garmin GPS was next to worthless - there is so much tree cover here that the satellites can't find my little, wristbound contraption - I wasn't sure exactly what my pace was, though it felt around 9:15/mile.

I tried to gmap my route to get my exact mileage. But again, too much tree cover. I ran 2 hours and 20 minutes. Probably between 15-16 miles. Let's say 15.5.

I was supposed to do 16. But I was lucky to do what I did.

Tomorrow, I'm going to treat myself to a massage. I can barely bend over, my hammies hurt so much.

Another day ...

of getting my ass kicked. I'm still not used to the high altitude, and today's 5-mile run on Tahoe's west shore humbled me yet again. My legs felt heavy, and my heart pounded in my throat as I navigated the hills and valleys around here.

Tahoe is experiencing a cold snap, and I ran with my dog on a chilly (mid-40's), overcast and windy afternoon. I was going to run 8 miles, but my chocolate Lab-mix pooped out on me (the thin air got to him, too!). So I dropped him off at our house, and when I did, the neighbor across the street came over and started chatting.

Diversion! After about 15 minutes, my legs felt stiff. And I got lazy. So I wimped out on the remaining 3 miles.

Help me decide: And, anyway, I don't know what fall/winter marathon I'm doing any more. I was going to run the Santa Clarita Marathon (just north of Los Angeles) on Nov. 4. But the packing, moving, driving x-country, etc., has done serious damage to my marathon training.

Another possibility is the California International Marathon in Sacramento on Dec. 2. I've heard great things about this race, such as it being a great Boston qualifier. But the marathon is only a week before the Honolulu Marathon (which I'm going to run just for fun), and I've already booked my travel plans for that.

Sigh. There's the Orange County Marathon on January 6, 2008. But it's muy expensive ($90 compared to CIM's $65) and much of the course is on knee-punishing concrete. There's also the Surf City Marathon in Huntington Beach. But it's not until Feb. 3. And it's also expensive.

Any suggestions on which marathon I should run? The rules: It has to be on the west coast, preferably in California. The race also has to be in November, December, or January.

I know. A head-scratcher.

Searching for pace group ...

Hello from Tahoe. We're up here for the week, buying some furnishings for our house, planting trees, and finding folks to help take care of our cottage while we're down in Los Angeles. We're getting nervous about all the $$ we're spending ...

I only have a few minutes, so here's a quick running update.

Long run: I ran 12 miles with a local running club in LA last Saturday. At 7 AM, on a beautiful, cool sunny morning, about a dozen of us started from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, then ran south, along the Arroyo Seco, through South Pasadena, San Marino, and back again. Most of the course was flat, except for a long, steep hill in the middle.

Unfortunately, I was the fastest runner in the group, which is training for the Long Beach Half-Marathon next month. I stuck with the group for the first mile (a rather painful 10:49). But my legs were itching to run, so I went ahead and ran alone for the remaining 11 miles. My pace ranged from 8:35/mile to 9:30/mile.

There were several water stops, and I stopped at a couple and chatted with a few runners, who were friendly. There was one woman, however, who seemed to think it was a race, and stopped only two seconds at each water stop to gulp down some agua and hit the road. I caught up with her after each stop.

Red-faced and breathing hard, she said hello in response to my greetings, but she didn't seem to want to run with me.

Well, okay. So I ran ahead.

At Mile 10, I caught up to the some of the 10-mile group runners, and I jogged for about a half-mile (10:52/mile pace) with one of them, then ran ahead again.

One of my fastest miles was Mile 12, about 8:40/mile. Overall pace, including the slow first mile and half-mile at the end, was 9:15/mile. So I guess I haven't lost all of my conditioning from moving to CA.

I hung out afterwards with a few other runners, eating a bagel smeared with strawberry cream cheese, and watching the others stream in. The red-faced woman jogged slowly over and started stretching off the side.

"Good run!" I said to her.

She looked at me, then said flatly, "You're a fast runner."

Then she turned away.

Tahoe runs: I ran both Monday and yesterday here in the high altitude. Each run kicked my butt. The first run was only about 5 miles, but my lungs strained for oxygen in the thin air. At twilight yesterday, I ran six miles. My lungs felt a little better, but the hilly terrain taxed my legs.

So perhaps I'm not as fit as I should be ....

I forgot to add ...

that we closed yesterday on our house in Tahoe!

Holy Cow.

Nothing like juggling three mortgages on two coasts. Without a job.

Gotta start making money again ....

Running Uphill at Tahoe

Hello from Lake Tahoe! We've been here since Thursday, and we head back to the Bay area this afternoon. As always, we've had a great time - lots of running, swimming in the lake, and hiking.

Thin air: Here I am last Saturday at High Camp at the Squaw Valley Ski Resort. It sure was windy. E. and I (and our Lab-mix, Nelson), drove 20 minutes from the lake's west shore to see the 27th annual Squaw Valley Mountain Run.

This race is tough - it's 3.6 miles of misery, starting at 6,200 ft. in elevation and ending at 8,200 ft. It's a good thing I ran 8 miles the previous day (wheezing at high altitude) and had a 16-miler scheduled the next day. Otherwise, I'd be sorely tempted to run the race.

Taking the tram: The second photo is of the start of the race. You can see the racers, all 517 of them, snaking up the first incline. E., Nelson (Squaw Valley is dog-friendly) and I took the easy way up - a tram that rises to High Camp, where the race ends.

From the tram, you can squint and see the runners wend their way up the mountain. (Look to the left in the third photo.) They looked like ants.

All the way up: The fourth photo is of the 3rd-place finisher (I think) coming in, at 3043. The overall winner crossed the finishing line in 29:33. The first woman finished at 35:37.

The pain of going uphill: One runner, who came in the top 20, ran so hard up the mountain that he fell to his knees, gasping, and crawled across the finish line. Then he couldn't get up, and two women had to haul him to his feet and drag him to the water table. He was fine after ingesting water, sports drinks, and a bagel. I did not see any medics there (!!)

Eagle Lake hike: Here's a photo of my sister-in-law, En. She hiked up into Desolation Wilderness with us to Eagle Lake, our favorite short (but steep) hike . I took our Tahoe relay race team up here the day before the race back in June. Everyone loved it except for one.

Long run: Yesterday, I ran about 16 miles. But I had to break it up into two runs, because we had to clean up and leave our cottage by mid-morning, and head to En.'s house (where we stayed last night). I know, not ideal, but better than skipping it.

So at 7:15 am, I headed out in shorts and a t-shirt in the cool, sunny, 55-degree weather and ran 8.6 miles in 1:24. The route was fairly hilly in some places, and the high altitude kept my pace at a conservative 9:45/mile. Then, at 6 pm, I ran another 7+ miles with E. and Nelson. Both were beat by the end of the run. I felt like I could go another mile, but thought it would be nice if we all stayed together.

Stay tuned: I may have some good news to share with you in a couple of days. Right now, we're still weighing it up. Oh ... and in other news, we're heading to Vegas (for a conference) on Tuesday!

Lake Tahoe Relay Race Pre-Report

Hey, y'all. Haven't posted in a few days as our schedule has been chock full ever since we arrived in Tahoe late Tuesday night after our cross-country road trip. The rest of the team arrived on Wednesday and Thursday, and we ran the race yesterday.

Only time for a quick post now. Here's a photo of us at the finish line, tired and happy. The 72.3 mile race at high altitude, on mountainous terrain and a narrow winding highway (many times with no shoulder), but with breathtaking views of Lake Tahoe and the snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountains, took us 11 hours and 33 minutes. At least half of the 8.2 - 12.3 mile legs had 1-2+ mile-long hills.

We placed 72nd out of 100 teams, and 21st in the open division (mixed men and women). A fine effort for our first attempt, especially since one of our team members just started running a month ago. Another had never run more than 10 miles before, and he ran a hilly 12.3 mile leg.

More later. It's beautiful here, and we're headed for a boat cruise on the lake, sip cocktails with little paper umbrellas, and rest our tired tootsies.

On the Road Again

I did something that I've never done willingly before: Get up before dawn and run. 7 miles before 7 am. Whoo-hoo! Peaceful and cool weather. I should do that more often.

Usually, I run in the evening, but it's crunch time for me - in less than 24 hours, I'll be on a jet plane to ArkanSAW to meet E., who started our annual road trip to California yesterday.

But before I go, I still have scads of work to finish, do laundry, pack, and take out the trash and recycling. Sigh.

And you know what's happening on Saturday, June 9. Be sure to cheer for us. We'll need the support in the high altitude!

Does This Skirt Make My Butt Look Fast?: Be sure to check out Complete Running next week. I wrote a review of two of the newest running skirts on the market. I'm wearing one here from Atalanta Athleticwear.

The CEO (and two-time Ironman finisher), Heather Langendorfer, sent me her Commitment Skirt to get my thoughts on it. As you can see from the photo - I give it a thumbs-up.

The Long Hot Summer ...

has begun. Queue The Style Council and someone hand me a Tom Collins, heavy on the Gilbey's. I ran 8 miles yesterday on the C & O Canal Towpath with Coach G. and a few others from the Tuesday night track workouts. We started at Fletcher's Boathouse near Georgetown, then ran west on the dirt trail. We saw two deer bound by and a huge tortoise slip into the water.

Talk about sultry. Talk about stifling. And I don't mean that sexy but needy sweet young thang you dated in grad school. At 8:45 a.m., it was already in the upper 80's, and the air so thick with humidity it felt like a physical force one had to push through. I ran with L., while our group's two guys bounded out front, and Coach stayed behind with two slower women. It was one of my first long runs in over a month.

Our splits:

M1: 9:39
M2: 9:10
M3: 8:57
M4: 8:15
M5: 8:59
M6: 8:45
M7: 8:58
M8: 8:47

Tahoe Race Relay: I told Coach that I organized a 7-person team to run the Decelle Memorial Lake Tahoe Relay, a 72-mile race around Lake Tahoe in northern California/Nevada on June 9. What, you haven't heard I'm doing this? Oh, you'll hear PLENTY in the next couple of weeks.

He said that he runs the Reach The Beach relay in New Hampshire every year with some Bucknell University cross-country buddies, and has run Hood to Coast in Oregon twice. He shook his head when I told him that I let my team members choose which relay leg to run, and that they rented a full-size car, not a minivan for our support vehicle. Which can't hold all 7 of us. So now we're taking two cars, not the one car the race director recommends.

I could just see the thought bubble above his head: "Rookie mistakes!"

So I'm a bit nervous how the relay will pan out. I'm hoping it will go smoothly and not devolve into a logistical nightmare (where's that damn Tom Collins?!). Hey team, ease my mind, will ya?!