Hogmanay

Hogmanay! Morning started with an Arctic Cat drive on 4 tracks powering up Midas Creek in beautiful sunshine. Snowdrifts got best of us near top of switchbacks so skied to summit. After enjoying the expansive view or Nevada. Skied back to Midas half in and half out the Arctic Cat tracks.

Rest of the day was celebrating New Years.

Midas Hill Run

4.5 mile hill run up and down to mining vents. Ground almost frozen underfoot. Returned in dark. Great sunset views over mountains going up.

Earlier in the day a little ski mountaineering. Late in day was a great visit to Midas pub.

Travel Day to Midas from Reno

Christmas Day

Long Run

9 miles. Long run in Memorial Park Before Kenyan Way Christmas Party at Luke's locker. Tried the outer trails before it got too dark. One of the tunnels I aborted because it was too wet. Cool evening after yesterday's snow. Almost full moon but too dark for most of the start of run. Little lost so on side of the railway track for a bit. Something fun for a change. Again not many runners on track. This was a substitute for yesterday's missed KW session.

No Kenyan Way

Snowing and was a family night after working late.

Recovery Run

3.3 miles Quick loop of MP before rushing out to dinner with friends. Not many around. Quiet.

No Kenyan Way

8.2 miles. Long run along the Buffalo Bayou as no KW with them being in Barbados. Explored the area downtown. Great running weather.

LTF Climbing Wall

Some fun at the climbing wall.

Trail Run

6 miles. Managed to skip off work and enjoy remaining daylight and hit the Memorial park Trails for complete loop for the first time since hurricane. Lots of devastation off the paths.

Turkey Trot

10 km. Houston Uptown Park. Race could have been better. But it was a morning run that is tough to wake up for and do like an afternoon/evening run. Less than 6 hours sleep overnight (not my fault :-) ). Also training really suffering from being sick over weekend. Body felt tired after first mile instead of ready to race. But after slow start with traffic (all the non-timed 5kers started with timed 10k and no-one respected the start pens), skipped water stops as felt hydrated OK despite heat, got some solid kms together. And geared up for a faster finish. Have to keep telling myself with so many runners this is not my specialty. Good to try and recognize local runners at the turnaround. Results: 669/2208.

Results by RunFAR; www.run-far.com

Div

Age

Sex

ChipTime

ClockTime

Overall

SexPl

DivPl

Total Pace

M 40-44

42

M

52:54

54:33

669

490

67

669

Iain Wallace

Houston TX

2047

42

67 M 40-44

52:53.6

54:32.7

1:39.1

8:31/M

Kenyan Way

9 miles. Memorial Park, progressive run. Slow start. Huring abit on second lap. Tried 3rd and got beter. Got better after hydrating after first lap. About 68F. Enjoyed last lap as not as busy. Good to get a descent run under belt.

Note: Garmin have just added a Player mode which has enhanced maps and graphs. Well done!

Coldplay

Coldplay were in town and I really enjoyed their show. Had seats close to the stage. Sound and stageshow were great. A class act.

Kenyan Way

7.4 miles. Including 10 x 2 hill loops to top path in 20 min session. No break btwn warm-up and hill session. Legs got tired.

Terry Hershey Trail

8.3 miles. Terry Hershey Trail from LFT. Solid run. Cool fall afternoon. All issues with Rocky Raccoon race resolved. Used iPod.

Recovery Run

6.2 Miles. Memorial Park. Nice and slow recovery run. Left knee slight overuse pain and should be OK. Back pain diminishing alot. Listening to iPod. Coolish. 66F.

No Kenyan Way

No training as raining and recovering from race. Weirdly after OK recovery day Sunday hurt back first thing this morning. Had a vacation day at home.

Rocky Raccoon Trail Race

15.5 miles. 2:19:58, 49th out of 256. Huntsville, SP. Schedule worked out to dedicate weekend to running in this and recover. Kinda behind on distance training to do this effectively. Turned out OK. 75th at first turn. Interesting to see where ended. Managed to keep pace going and pass some folks who started too hard or were hurt on numerous tree roots and was fairly strong through to end. Beautiful sunny fall weather and scenery. Cold at start - but no problems 1/2 mile in.

Run to the pub!

2.5 miles. Run to Shakespeare Pub for some great post election beers. Friendly bar.

Election Day

In tune with Obama's policies I'm expecting those hard working elite fast runners with many training miles per week to be redistributed to me. I find it interesting that 3.5% of electorate that voted made the difference and less than 1% more voted between 2004 and 2008 - especially when consider the 1 million new voters minted this year alone.

Kenyan Way

6.7 miles. First run in dark with DST change. Sean lights up hills with truck. They started early and I'd no idea what was going on. Some random rep session every 3 minutes instead of usual 2x10 minute session.

Birthday Run

8.5 miles. Terry Hershey Trail from LFT. Felt OK at beginning. Some great tunes on iPod to keep things going. A bit tired on way back. Little dehydrated and recovering from weekend lack of sleep. Great to be out. Sunny. Cool.

Amsterdam Morning Run

8 miles. With weird sleep patterns this trip, stayed up most of night and felt OK to do a morning run. 37F. Able to navigate the canals much better this time. Mist on water. No Kenyan Way even though flight arrived 5:30pm in time for end of the session at memorial park.

No Tour De Bayou (Practice)

Missed the last of 4 races for Practice for the Tour de Bayou with being in Amsterdam. So all the other times are defaulted. Enjoying some beers instead.

Amsterdam

7.5 miles. Long slow Sunday run. Running in the rain around the canals and looking for the parks. Really relying on Garmin to find way back using "Return to start" option and used the compass to navigate South and a few street maps helped. Kinda slow with jet lag. Legs sore and ended up walking quite a few times.

London To Amsterdam

BA flight London To Amsterdam. Met friends in Schipol airport who were connecting to Kiev. This was the original destination on this trip where ended up in Toulouse due to late departure.

Last Flight to London Gatwick

Travel Day. On last flight to London Gatwick airport as Continental Airlines move operation fully to London Heathrow. End of an era for me as Gatwick has been main transatlantic option since November 1996. Took all day to prepare for trip and 4pm departure - no time for a run despite great cool and sunny weather.

Easy Run

6 miles. Memorial Park Runners Loop. No trails due to storms Wed and this morning. 1st real cold front of fall. 73F.

October Storms

4" rain in 24 hours. No running today due to race yesterday. Meant to do yard work but had to cancel due to weather. Gym: UB wo and swimming.

Practise for the Tour - Race 2

5.8 miles. Practice for the Tour - Race 2. Spotts Park. 2.85 miles, 25:49. splits, Out 1, 6:40; Back 1, 6:12; Out 2, 6:38; Back 2, 6:04

Warm up on the short side. This is the one with plenty of hills as traverse around the bowl of the park. A few more trips to the top for variety this time. So plan was to try and not blow up on first loop. Hills under control and work on flat and downhill. Started moving through field abit. Many were taking me on the up-hill - but finally got them. Since short race knew to keep it going at end. Fortunately again had some energy to do this. Of course limited alot by breathing. Having done this course so many times, and with weather fairly cool - a great result. Wow - eben negative splits! A bit fast at end with downhill finish - feeling lightheaded and sick for a minute or so. Warm down OK.

Kenyan Way

7 miles. Including 2x 10 minutes of Hills. Tried to keep it mellow with Practice for the Tour cross country race tomorrow. Also went swimming after dinner.

Long Run

9 miles, Terry Hershey Trail. Evening run after catching up on sleep between 9am and 5pm (!). Felt not too bad once got going. Had to avoid inhaling bugs at sunset. Plenty moonlight to see on way back.

Day Off

Did volunteer work straight after work last night and first thing this morning. Then worked 4 hours fixing a fence. More hurricane clean-up. No time or energy for run or gym. Time for some beers though.

Climbing Wall

Some swimming followed by frying arms on climbing wall.

Kenyan Way

6 miles, Memorial Park tempo run. Into mile 6 legs feeling it after race yesterday so shortened the run. Turned out to be a pretty descent training run. Weather cooler - but needed to stop for drinks.

Practise for the Tour

5.5 miles. 2.8 mile race. 20:45. Wow. Felt great. Warm-up was a bit tough. Cool weather after front passed through. Soft underfoot. Tried to keep it under control at start. Started moving through field. Interestingly breathing OK and feeling strong. Passed a guy who always beats me and decided to keep pushing until breathing became an issue. Easy on uphill and pushing on flat. Made an effort to stick to the flags and running with others quite a bit and then able to pass. Such a short distance knew had to keep going for it. So breathing a little bad towards end - but legs held up fine. Training, rest, eating and drinking right and who knows what else allowed 8 min mile pace for majority of race on hills and soft ground and bad footing. Wow. Very happy. Got 28th place. See how rest of race series goes. This was after training normally yesterday.

Went swimming after the presidential debates - whole body now wrecked.

Kenyan Way

6 miles. Hills. Ouch. First run in October. Well rested. But kept active over weekend. Some gym time with weights, climbing wall and swimming. Felt OK on run.

Birthday Party

Friends birthday. No Kenyan Way. Margaritas and Fajitas on the patio at the great original Ninfas on Navigation.

Memorial Park Trails

6 Miles. First Memorial Park trail run since Hurricane. Lots of trees down and paths cleared over the weeks. Had to abandon near end as the connector trails not cleared. Lots of work to clear out the devastation. Felt fine on this run despite late night. Finally recovering from illness.

Kenyan Way

6.5 miles. Including 20 minutes of hills. Some nice fall weather. Good workout. Very slow at start of hill reps - but got into it towards end. Overcoming illness which has turned into a head cold or allergies. After, worked late at home so not able to get to gym as planned.

Terry Hershey Trail

8.5 mile long run. The now infamous morning long run. Great weather. Cool. Shaded. Slow. Painful. Walking at end. So beat up after being sick for so long. Even though a long run - didn't push it so can train all week. Swimming in evening. Yeah! Now training twice a day.

Sick day

Trying to get well enough so can go run in the morning before gets hot. Total day off. Sleep in after late night last night.

Sick day

No work, No running. Gym in evening for something simple - upper body weights. Out late though.

Sick day

No work. No running. Went to gym though - tried the rock climbing wall. First time doing that in 7 or 8 years. It was awesome.

No Kenyan Nights

Didn't go after work. Feeling ill.

Memorial Park

3 miles, running loop at MP. Feeling ill. Running helped the energy levels a little. Went to gym after. Upper body weights.

Kenyan Nights

5 miles including 2x10min hills. First Kenyan Nights in a while after vacation and hurricane clean-up. Fall weather started. Brilliant to experience after the summer heat. Starting to not feel too good. Coughing quite a bit.

Treadmill

3 miles on a treadmill with heart rate monitor.

CityCentre Liftime Athletic

So I finally joined a gym. Mainly for pool workouts and recovery. Probably work on some of the weights for strength training and basic cardio can't get from running like StairMaster. Yoga and core classes may be an option too. Finally they built a decent gym in the neighborhood. Yeah!

Terry Hershy Trail

7.2 mile recovery run. THP trail dodging trees after hurricane. Sore from hurricane clean-up. Had to run in heat of day.

Hurricane Clean-up - Day 3

Deep cleaning of carpet seemed to work. Wood flooring is drying out. Will save insurance claim for next flood and/or after 16 million dollar neighborhood drainage improvement project completed so fixes are permanent.

Hurricane Clean-up - Day 2

Concentrated on cleaning up inside of house. Trying to get a room emptied to deep clean the wet carpet. Recovering from yesterdays efforts. Started the day with Advil.

Hurricane Clean-up - Day 1

Took out soaking hallway carpet. Cleaned up all the debris in gutters and backyard first to minimise flooding possibilities in-case rains again. Put up a temporary fence so the dogs could come home from kennel. Then took care of front yard which I'd alot of help from neighbors. Luckily I'd electricity yesterday. Weird that so many do not - but understandable. Recovering from minor illness. Coughing alot. A few beers tonight and I was out like a light.

Travel Day

Barcelona, Spain to Newark to Houston. Long travel day and first chance to inspect hurricane damage. Minor flooding in home and plenty of tree debris.

Hill Run

7.5 mile hill run on way to airport. Not too hot, plenty of shade and of course no humidity. Luckily found a scenic valley ridge to run up. No time to complete run to nearby summit (see Google map). Said goodbye to Neil at Girona airport and took bus to north Barcelona bus station. Free WiFi signal was great there, checked flights and hotels and stayed near central Barcelona at Universal Hotel and ending up forgoing Tapas for an Irish bar.

Hill Run from Neil's place

8.2 miles. Excellent hill run right from Neil's place. After enjoying whole weeks hospitality - leisurely day spent, then finally went out for a run. First real rainy day. On Neil's old stomping ground for training with H.B.T. Nice views of the valley. Could not ask for a better vacation.

Bayou Run

5.4 mile. Bayou run. Easy run. Couple of training groups seting up on the hills.

Labor Day

Stayed at home this holiday weekend. Pool party. Recovering from weekend 10k. No Kenyan Way.

The Nike+ Human Race 10K

6.2 miles. Nike+ 10k race. 56:00. Early morning run. Still waking-up. Clearly dehydrated prior to start. Trying to get it done before temperature rises. Laps of Bendwood Park. Unfortunately Nike+ device needed calibrated. No obvious way to do that. Came in 1.5km short on Nike measurement. Garmin 405 measured it accurately. Had to pause for water 1.5 km to go. Tried to push to end. Really tough - and took all day to recover. Had sore side throughout run.

Kenyan Way

6 miles. 3 weeks in, new personalized Kenyan Way training schedule called for 3x1 mile, 2:00 rest btwn. Had to start session at 4:30pm - but OK as Wednesdays speed sessions are no longer group workouts. 2 mile w/u. 0.7 mile w/d. Today was basically pain. This morning was first dentist drilling experience in 8 years as a filling needed replaced. Like quite a few sessions recently - legs fatigued and in pain after first few miles. Then new shoes started a blister. Again Garmin stop button quit working - so second mile rep recorded incorrectly. With lots of rain much cooler. About 83F. On the plus side seem to have permanently lost 8lbs. Combination of training and eating better.

Kenyan Way

6 miles, Solo run as couldn't make group session at 6pm. Terry Hershey Park. Felt good on hills. Finally a good run. Lots of rest over weekend and recovered from illness.

Memorial Park

6 miles. 1hr 12min. Memorial Park Trail and Loop. Not too bad. Cooler before imminent thunderstorm. Slick underfoot on trails.

Kenyan Nights

4 miles. Second Kenyan Way speed session of marathon training program. 1.5 m w/u. 2 miles, 0.5 m w/d. After 3 miles effort of last Wednesdays time trial - mentally better doing w/u and then trying only 2 miles - each half mile faster than last. Especially coming off yesterday's disaster recovery run and recovering from illness and weekend mountaineering. Choose session on recent low mileage. Was meant to get workout from new Kenyan Way workout schedules. This year training is individual - nothing with group. I think I would have preferred what been doing previous years where it is a variety of track distances and recovery on grass. But will look into the new schedule based on current weather and fitness.

Recovery Run

4 miles. Disaster run - blew up after 3 easy miles. Definitely feeling effects from weekend and illness. Walked last mile.

Travel Day

Returning from Denver. Pool party in evening.

Colorado 14er

Mt. Humboldt. Did GPS track of ascent. Within 23 hours have gone from sea level to 14,000'

Travel Day, Campout at 12,000'

Travel Day to Denver and after interesting 4 wheel drive journey walk few miles to campout at 12,000'. Plan is for Kit Carson. Different 14er than previously planned Snowmass to avoid area thunderstorms. Kinda feeling it at altitude! Missing Olympics staring - but have it on DVR.

Kenyan Nights

5 miles. 1.5 mile w/u., 3 mile Time Trial. 25:05. 0.5 mile w/d. First Kenyan Nights speed session of marathon training program. 5K time needed to populate training schedule for current fitness and weather conditions. TT was crazy tough. Hard to hang on and I followed someone at end who was jogging. This made a huge difference. Past TT have been 2 miles and had people to work with.

Kenyan Way

5.8 miles. Hills. 3.5 mile w/u. 0.5 mile w/d. Everyone taking it easy - hot.

Las Vegas

3 miles, 6am run. Managed to swing a work trip to see comedy show and check out new Palazzo Hotel next to Venitian.

Bayou Run

5 miles, Bayou Run. Kenyan Way on week break before marathon program starts.

Cornelio Garibay Benefit Run

Tornados Running Club hosted a benefit run for Cornelio Garibay:

"Cornelio suffered a broken ankle a couple of weeks ago and has no health insurance and will be out of work for about 3 months. Cornelio has lived and raced in Houston for over 20 years. He is still one of the top runners in Houston and runs for the Al Lawrence Running Club.This non-competitive, untimed run consists of two 2-mile loops through the HoChiMinh Trails.We will meet by the baseball fields at the Picnic Loop, south of Memorial Drive, across from Memorial Park. There is no cost for this run, but we will gladly accept donations"

5:30pm start - but shaded in trees. Fast on the jeep track to start. So I rolled over on left ankle. On second lap I saw there is concrete ridge across the path I'd missed seeing first time. Almost needed a second benefit :-) But able to run on it. Then went wrong way. Not continuing on Orange Trail. Instead went sharp right down the gully. They called me back. Paused for 2 drinks of water before second lap. Kept an eye on heart rate and tried to keep consistent effort. Had to walk up gully second time round and tough last mile. 34:00, 3.6 miles. Probably second last as many opted for 1 lap.

They were well prepared for plenty of folks since event widely advertised through Houston Marathon e-mail. So plenty of beer available after the run.

This was first outing for replacement Garmin. For some reason it was on for warm down and drive to next party! Hoping this one works better.

Kenyan Way Time Trial

2 mile time trial. 16:35. Soft underfoot - not flooded. Stayed downtown after informative Strength Training Seminar and made it to morning Time Trial. No e-mail cancellation by 5:30am (but with hindsight I wasn't in the morning group e-mail). But radar showed band of rain would pass by. No-one at base - but ran anyway. No rain or lightening. Garmin stopped working so 0.5 mile splits missing and it wouldn't stop at end. So have a replacement on order after a 40 minute wait with Garmin suport.

As usual - not my best in morning. 2.2 mile w/u. Minimal w/d. Tired all day. KW rescheduled it for Thu morning...

Kenyan Nights

5.5 miles. 15:00 hills. 3.5 w/u, 0.5 w/d. Gentle due to heat and the upcoming time trial.

Garmin lap button not working during hill session. Will be call Garmin for a replacement.

Atlanta

In Atlanta for a friend of a friend's house warming party. 6 mile slow, early morning run - looking for quiet roads and sidewalks to run on in a Northeast suburb. Also had arrived late Fri and Atlanta is an hour ahead. Followed some other runners in distance guessing they knew best places. Plenty of hills - especially for me. Tried to hydrate prior to run - but legs got tired. Interestingly heart rate stayed really low. No heat to contend with.

Return on Sunday was interesting. Thunderstorms rolled into ATL at departure time. 3 airport closures for westbound traffic resulted in a 4:50 delay trapped for entire time on a full plane in seat 10D which doesn't recline.

Progressive Run

8 miles. Alternate to Kenyan Nights with rain moving workout to Memorial park again. Decided to just come home and do scheduled progressive run at Terry Hershey Park. Missed Lap 6 - Garmin 405 froze-up. Would not respond to lap or stop buttons. Hilly course and slippery where wet. Stayed on cycle path. No trails today.

Memorial Park Runners Loop

3 miles. Squeezed in a run at Memorial Park after a work happy hour. Burning off the Guinness calories.

Kenyan Nights

Hills. 7 miles. Luis stood in for Sean. Session started little early so I saw them start as I came around Shepperd Bridge. Saw 2 hill circuits laid out. Session not obvious - a new course to me. Saw some people alternate between circuits - but nothing consistent. I settled on swapping circuits after 2 laps. Had a quick water break at 10 minutes. The next set swapping every 3 laps felt better. Form got progressively better throughout the workout. 42:00 w/u, 20:00 hills, 8:00 w/d. Missed core to make it back in time for Home Owners Association meeting.

So doing a longer warm-up despite 92F was to make up a little for weekend where active but unable to go running. It's the off season anyway so not going to worry family time or travel impacting training time. At the risk of not reaching full potential the off time is seriously reducing injury risk - especially when I compare to other runners blogged experiences. So I'm off to a work happy hour Tue night :-)

July 4th

Finally purchased new iPod Nano for longer workouts. iPod Classic practically died many months ago. Watched fireworks from park.

Kenyan Nights

6 miles. Workout moved to Memorial Park due to afternoon t-storms. 3 miles progressive run. Unfortunately Garmin lap button didn't work for 2nd split.

Kenyan Nights

Flight back Mon was delayed by a few hours so I missed the regular Kenyan Nights session. On way back home made up a hill session on own. 4miles, 15.00 w/u, 25:00 2 hill loop, 9:00 w/d. 3 reps of 50 steps backwards up hill. Feeling it after all the travel. But kept form and 10 reps under control. Managing to increase heart rate each set.

Hyde Park, London run with Neil

I was meant to be in Scotland to do a long slow coastal run, but after 6 hours of standby trying to leave London Heathrow, I gave up as I'd managed to sync up with a friend in London who was in town for the weekend. Ran with them twice round Hyde Park. 9 miles. Despite cool weather and an earlier English breakfast, the run for me was surprisingly tough. I'll blame it on jet lag. Neil effortlessly managed to double his normal distance. Park crazy busy with families enjoying Sunday afternoon (is 6 hours ahead in London). Some hills to contend with. Tried to put some effort in on last hill as heart rate graph shows. Great to see the famous London sights on way round. Plenty of other runners were running effortlessly around. Garmin worked great in UK as expected. The route we ran uploads easily to Google Earth and fun to check-out the extra detail there. To make up for unexpected travel changes, had bought some Scottish beer and Scotch Single Malt whisky - both were excellent after the run. Definitely worth the 5000 mile flight for the run and fantastic hospitality staying in heart of London.

The run was bookended by a mellow BBQ Sat night and excellent Polish food and drinks Sun night.

Kenyan Nights

Working on an emergency hot fix when training time came along. Slipped out for an hour. Minimal w/u and w/d. Fartlek session for 25:00. Used Garmin 405 for slow, medium and fast section timings. 10:00 w/u, 5 loops - nice and consistent. 5:00 w/d. Went straight back to work - cleaned up a little - but hid in my cube until done a few hours later.

Memorial Park Runners Loop

2 x 3 mile Memorial Park running loop. Idea was for 6 miles easy. Kinda a "grit your teeth" for second loop. Checking out the Garmin 405 on this run since 1/4 mile markers on the runners loop. Got some consistent laps on second loop despite the effort. 1/2 mile w/u and 1/2 mile w/d.

Kenyan Nights

Hills. 5 miles. Limited to 1 hill loop due to soft conditions after thunderstorm. 17:30 w/u, 2x10:00, 5:00 rest. 12:15 w/d. 5:00 core. 11 hills each set, 1st hill a warm-up to give time to separate out. Had a glitch starting Garmin on second set so warm-up lap missing. Felt not too bad after session. Cooler. Pace fairly OK and able to keep the session going. Used heart rate as a guide and spotted a few people training same pace and being consistent too. At end also jogged backwards on toes up hill for 50 steps - 3 times.

Memorial Park Trails

5.5 miles on Memorial Park Trails and last 2 miles on runners loop. Started raining 1 mile in. The trail ultra slick on the areas that erode - usually when no tree cover. Humidity brutal at end, completely negating cooling effect of rain. Everyone at end was walking or jogging ultra slow.

Garmin 405 issues:

It's official - watch doesn't work in the rain. The touch sensor bezel can't differentiate between drops of water and human touch. How did it get off the drawing board with such a flaw? But occasionally when it is locked out - now have beeps turned on - see/hear the odd raindrop cause screen to change. I guess the workaround is to have the screen scroll between them so when it is locked out I can still see the data I want. Just have no control over device and have to wait for screen to scroll - and if too fast - no time to read it.

Kenyan Nights

2nd Time Trial. 15:33. A 20 second improvement on last time. 95F. 10F warmer than last time. 1/2 mile splits: 3:58, 3:52, 3:57, 3:46. Warm-up was better than last time. Stronger going up the hill. Cloudy during warm-up, but sun burning down during run. Monitored speed on Garmin. Was able to do 8:00 pace to start and saw it drop to 7:40 on last 1/2 mile. Breathing was getting out of control towards end, but felt relatively strong. HR peaked at 171. Theory is that hill session interfered with this time trial. Legs really feeling the workout later that night.

Garmin issues:

1. Touch bezel which allows change screens doesn't work when wet. I don't understand how a product can be created that doesn't work when the runner sweats! I've not been able to find anyway to dry my finger so I can use the watch normally 30 minutes into a run. End up touching the bezel in vain to get a different display. Only the Lap and Start/Stop real buttons work. Buyer beware.

2. I couldn't quickly recall the split times to see time trial results. I e-mailed them in after downloading them. Some more user manual reading time is needed to figure out how to recall stored times on the device.

Kenyan Nights

Second 2 mile Time Trial. 5 weeks into training program since first time trial. This time will be able to measure progress on GPS/HRM watch. Have figured out how to display splits and heart rate zones.

Working Late

Day off. Missed planned 6 miles on Memorial Park Trails. Had a software release testing at work till 9:30 pm and monitoring it till 1:30 am at home and up early again Wednesday.

Kenyan Nights

Hills. 5 Miles. U shape loop for 25:00. Both hills reached Memorial. 19:19 w/u, 11x 0.22 miles, av 2:20. 10:30 w/d. 5:00 core. Walked down after each hill. Second hill jogged across flat. Medium effort on both hills. Concentrate on maintaining form. This time straight through at 25:00 to minimize chance of injury by greater speed of 2x10:00 5:00 rest. Have second time trial on Wednesday.

Watched rest of fantastic US Golf Open. Unfortunately my work colleague whose computer screen is in my view each time I leave my cube had a web page up with half screen photo of the winner kissing trophy. So much for trying to avoid knowing the result before watching it on HD DVR. But still worth watching in entirety.

Fathers Day

Day off. Watching USGA Open between family duties. Watched Fri, Sat and Sun. Tomorrow go into a news blackout as recording Mon playoff.

Long Run

12 miles. Ultra slow. Second outing at a morning long run to avoid heat. Last one not too successful. So Friday was a day off work. Resting watching US golf open on pacific time. Had a great evening meal. Early night. No beers. Even awake around 4am. Alarm 5am to allow time to wake up. So this time ready for stillness of morning as dawn breaks and 77F. But hooking up with trail legs were hurting. Then a bathroom break I though I'd taken care of at home couldn't be put off to the restroom at turnaround point. So worked on goal of making it to Eldridge with plenty of folks out training. Stopping to hydrate at water fountains. Ultimately feeling nauseous and legs hurting made whole experience quite ugly. Running for me has mostly been fun - although tiring. What is it I can't handle about morning runs? I read blogs of other runners always up at 5am to avoid heat and they report no issues. Sure the first 2 miles are a warm up/wake up and can be brutal. But it is meant to get better. Today it did not. On the way back I tried to hang with 4 guys running about 8:00 mile pace. But taking long water stop breaks. So a few miles were faster.

Kenyan Nights

Intervals at Dog Park. 6 miles. 31:26 w/u, 9 x 0.11 miles medium effort during 20:00, 9:25 w/d. 5:00 core. w/u was a little long for the heat and after yesterday's run. However, concentrated on form and got into the session on last 4 reps. Progressively faster and in control.

Figured out how to show more data on Garmin 405 - able to display lap time now and can better monitor training session. The Garmin arrives with all these screens switched off. Also have heart rate zones switched on now.

Terry Hershey Trail

7.3 mile run from home. Great run. Cooler than yesterday. Earlier thunderstorms in area resulted in below 90F and cooler breeze. Mostly shaded on run. One week with Garmin 405. Took mile splits. Pace worked out fine. Note the later miles have 30 second water stops so little faster.

Garmin issues:
1. Elevation data all over the place.
2. Garmin Connect data presentation not as feature rich as Motionbased.
3. Total and Moving time not delineated.
4. Lap times not showing on watch. (I need to read manual how to fix).
5. No Heart rate zone info.
6. No temperature or wind speed info.
7. No GPS signal quality info.
8. No ascent time, descent time and flat time.

Kenyan Nights

Hill session. 6.25 miles. 25:20 w/u, 2x10:00 1 hill 0.16 mile loop, 5:00 rest btwn, 16:15 w/d. Crazy hot today. New hill location opposite Federal Reserve. Next to ideal hill to run backwards up at end. Not done this before and could barely keep going near top.

Also had to run out and get new running shoes at lunch time. Remembered on drive-in to work that forgot to put them in. Shoes are getting drenched with sweat so they can't live in car. Got some Asics 2130s. Felt good. No shoes on special - although these are Jan 08 model and $10 off MSRP at Academy. Put the gas money savings of not having to drive home into the fact bought shoes at not the optimal discount.

Memorial Park Trails

Memorial Park trails. 6 miles, 1:07:00. Rained at start - cooled down a little. Plenty of shade in forest and mostly cloudy on runners loop. Still figuring out Garmin - accidently got an extra data point when syncing data - so total time is way off.

Kenyan Nights

Progressive run. 5 miles. 18:00 w/u, 4 x 0.52 miles, 2:00 rest btwn, 8:00 w/d.

Splits: 4:24, 4.02, 3:52, 4:01. So going flat out on last didn't work out. Interesting heart rate graph showing progressive effort.

Heard on radio driving in that 2008 has had 3 times more days over 90F than this time last year. 19 versus 6. Currently a high pressure parked over us. Said similar to last time US climate came out La Nino phase

Virgin Garmin 405 run

About 4pm got the UPS Quantum delivery notification e-mail that Garmin was sitting by front door. Finished up at work and tried to beat the rush hour traffic. Luckily relatively light now school is out. A friend had joked earlier that wouldn't be able to use it right away as need batteries. Well - found out it uses lithium's that are shipped uncharged. So first order of business was to plug it in. Meanwhile spent some time familiarizing myself with quick start guide, signing into Garmin website and downloading sync software. At 28% charge did a quick test and was ready for a training run. Chose classic short run from home which I'd measured on Google maps was 3.8 miles to turnaround. Came in at 3.5. Route is here

Of course it was 90F with little shade and breeze. Spent a lot of time during run checking distance, pace and HR. So finally - the "non-brick" GPS has arrived! What gets measured gets done. Got the light green version since only one available, and due to size of receiver in band - a bit more camouflaged.

Kenyan Nights

Hills. 28:00 w/u. 20:00 double hill loop. 7:00 w/d. 5:00 core. This one Sean ran. Idea was to rest during one of his loops when lapped. So happened 4 times. Lots of people. Hot. Kinda chaotic. Something different though. Great to be back to running after 4 dedicated family days. Although they were active ones in home and yard with chores, playing and swimming.

Kenyan Nights

3 speed fartlek in Spotts Park. 26:00, 5:15 per lap. Fastest sections on 2 hills. 25:00 ultra slow w/u. 7:00 w/d. 5:00 core. Again stormy weather threatened - and cooled down a little. No rain. This lime last year plenty of t-storms. KW postponed to Thu.

TigerGPS shipped Garmin. Scheduled to arrive Tue Jun 3rd. Summary on device here:

Memorial Park

Memorial Park Trails. Highlight was nearing thunderstorm sent temperature plummeting from 93F to 79F. Some cool gusts near bayou. Avoid rain though. 42:42.

Also ordered another Garmin 405 GPS HRM. TigerGPS has the green version in stock. Called REI and said they expected a shipment to arrive Jun 27th. See how soon TigerGPS fulfills the order and I'll cancel REI backorder.

Memorial Day

Kenyan Way. 33:00 w/u. 6:00 x 3 hill reps. 5:00 rest btwn. 7:00 w/d. 5:00 core. Some breeze and shade to cool off. Session reasonably OK after excesses of weekend.

Terry Hershey Trail

Goal: long run. Result: 9 miles and wiped out after 45:00. Out for 2 hours. Jogging at walking pace on way back as a group of girls walking passed me only after they broke into short runs. Due to heat switched to a morning run. Had been too tired to travel this 4 day weekend. Meant to be climbing 14ers in Colorado. Terry Hershey park was super busy - everyone trying to avoid heat of the day. Cyclists, runners, walkers and backpackers. BTW - what's up with the guys riding mountain bikes that don't yield? On a 2 foot wide path with grass borders both sides on way back from park, a guy tries to mow me down and squeeze by staying on path. I didn't see him and he could easily have detoured onto the grass - especially since he had time to yell at me and that was the first I saw him. I always yield - never a big deal. That's 3 times recently nearly collided because apparently the bikers think they have right of way and have just held their ground. Am I missing something? Anyway - may try long run again tomorrow.

Kenyan Nights

Goal 85% effort. Relay. Teams of 3, Grabbed the closest 2 people. 30:00 w/u. 25:00 session. Av. 30 sec per relay. 3 of us about the same pace. 1:03 av. rest. 7:00 w/d. 5:00 core. Relay held in the dog park. Whistle circuit abandoned due to competition for space with the big dogs. Concentrated on hydrating instead of finding time to stretch correctly between sets.

Memorial Park Trails

Absolutely need to increase the running days. Can't reach goals by just doing Kenyan Way and a long run! Today's 95F was 9F over average for today. However after work, instead of fighting rush hour, the well shaded quiet trails of MP were a joy as always. 37 minutes.

Kenyan Nights

Goal: Concentrate on running form. 1.3 mile w/u. 2x10:00, 1 hill loop. 5:00 rest btwn., 0.7 mile w/d. 5:00 core. Managed 4 loops per rep. Second hot day of summer, but Sean chose a mostly shaded course. Slight breeze. Weekend activity limited to yard work and swimming -so ready for this workout.

Houston Highland Games

This being my thirteenth year in Houston, after moving from Edinburgh, Scotland, I finally made it to the Houston Highland Games. I've been to other gatherings in the US in Colorado and Washington which I've really enjoyed. In Houston great to see the border collie sheep herding demonstration, highland dance competition and upbeat rock/bagpipe/fiddle bands. Although I missed seeing the marching pipe bands.

Bike to work Day

This is my second Bike to Work day with Mayor of Houston. Nice route from memorial park to city hall.

Ordered Garmin 405 GPS HRM

I ordered the Garmin 405 HRM. Unfortunately I missed the initial availability window and it is back-ordered now. It is great a normal watch size GPS Heart Rate Monitor has been produced. Has a touchscreen for operation - same as my camera. The ability to upload and map all runs and have accurate time and distance measurements is cool.

Kenyan Nights

Time Trial: 15:53. 1/2 mile splits: 4:04, 3:55, 4:03, 3:51. Warm 85F. 1.5m w/u. 1m w/d. 5 min core. Feeling it after warm-up. Tried to start steady. But still up with others. Many chose to do 1 lap so many picked it up at end of first. The few that chose 2 laps got away a bit - but I tried to keep with them - could see difference on out-and-back piece after bridge. Not too bad. Breathing manageable. Didn't hammer it at end so surprised on splits.

For comparison last years time trial 2 and 3 were held on similar course:

Posted on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 New course. 2 miles 15:52, 4 loops. 3:52, 3:55, 4.05, 4:00.
Posted on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 Accurately measured 2 miler. 15:44 3:58, 3:51, 3:56, 3:59

Kenyan Nights

Family commitments (and being sick) meant I missed the first week of Kenyan Way 12 week running "maintenance" training program. First hill session in 5 months. Good example of even if take easy, still get a workout on hills. 1.5 m w/u. 2 x 10 min loop with 2 hills. 5 min rest. 0.5 m w/d. 5 min core. Nice and cool: 75F

Montego Bay, Jamaica

Weekend trip to MBJ. Survived Heineken and Oban malt whisky from last nights party. Plan was to run on the beach and sail catamarans. Managed only to go swimming. Spent time traveling to island interior and hang out with travel companion visiting family and friends. Trip always worth it for the fresh food: coconuts, bananas, shrimp, Jerk chicken, festival and Red Stripe. Didn't sample awesome fresh fish this time. Came back with decent supply of 100% Blue Mountain coffee.

Terry Hershy Trail

1hr 25min. 8 miles from home. Slow run in afternoon heat. Housewarming party this evening in Heights.

Sick Day

Caught a cold between swimming at weekend and Mon run. Lasted 2 days.

Memorial Park

Running in the rain. 2 mile w/u. 3 miles. 1 mile w/d.

Memorial Park Trails

1hr 5 min. Revisited some of the trails from last 2 Spring Tour de Bayou races. The 5 race series completed last Tuesday. This is a recovery run from that and last Sunday's 3 hour hill run on Pikes Peak with the Incline club at Manitou Springs, Colorado.

Welcome

So here it is. I've finally made a commitment to blog about the important public aspects of my life: Running, Traveling and Living. Running in all forms has been the only constant in my life. The foundation of almost everything experienced in my life. Traveling has been the framework of everything I have done, and will do. Living (well) is the final result of me as a person. Running is tangible. Living less so - but parallels what is. I naturally lived well when younger: Ran faster, underweight and minimal stress. After 19 years of similar office jobs, it's tough to live well, even with accounting for being older. Now I run slow, am overweight and stressed often.

I believe in the premise that a life of activity is critical to high quality of living in the later years. The modern world I live in simply doesn't promote that.

This blog will record my steps to make changes for the goal of living a better life.