Sunday, December 30, 2012

Sunday Run (Jog/Walk)

After lazing on the couch for a few hours after church/breakfast with the family, I decided it was a shame to waste a nice afternoon.  It was relatively sunny (for winter in MO that tends to be more gray than blue skies) and warmish (43° when I started).  Yoga pants, Prison Break tech tee, and new jacket with ear band and gloves (which were ditched by the end of the first mile) seemed to work pretty good.  Got a little warm in the jacket - long sleeve jersey might have been enough for all but the first mile.  When the wind picked up in the latter half, the jacket was nice.

I tried to start out strong.  I tried to find a "running" pace that I could sustain without any walking past the Moreau River bridge (first 1.3 miles).  I pretty much found it, but slowed to walk a little to stuff my gloves/headband into my pockets just after this (though pic from on the way back):

Moreau River looking upstream from Algoa Road bridge
(just upstream of confluence with Missouri River)

Made it to the National Guard (Ike Skelton training center just a shade under 2.5 miles from home) in 28:30 (11:26 min/mile).  I was pretty happy with this though I was starting to feel some strain from the camber of the road and being super careful of how I landed on my left ankle (still a tad sore from the fall a couple weeks ago - especially if I turn funny). 

The wind had picked up in the river bottom (or maybe just in general) and the first half of this out & back is mostly downhill or flat (making the return more uphill).  In fact, in the last 3/4 mile I get to go up this hill that I have sometimes referred to as "the Wavco hill" for which this blog was named.  It starts by the HQ for Wavco Construction with a long, though less steep, hill and then steepens to this:

How come pictures never convey steepness of hills worth a piss?
I would have liked to get back in the same amount of time, but I didn't have it in me.  It took me about 34 min to get back or 13:39 min/mile.  I did stop and take the two quick pics and did a fair bit more walking.  Overall, my pace is still so much better than a year ago so I'll stick with my summary of the year as "Progress".
 
Not going to hit most of my goals for the year, but I still thinking having the numbers was helpful and fun to see how close I could get.  I know there were a few times it got me out the door when I would have rather stayed on the couch (like today).
 
YTD
Swim: 15,700 yds / 25,000
Bike: 848.2 mi / 1000
Run: 339.0 mi / 350

HBBC Points: 5 points
 
Days until Tour De Cure: 153 (FYI - if you want an end of the year charitable contribution deduction, feel free to visit my donation page.  No worries if you aren't able to donate right now - I'll be hitting you up again in 2013!)
 

5 comments:

  1. I always like to take my total miles and stretch it out along the interstate to see how far in total I would have made it! I know it is kinda geeky, but kinda cool also!

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  2. The goals you defined for yourself were "reach" goals. Yes, it would have been great to exceed them but the benefits you gained attempting them were huge.

    Here's to 2013 and continued growth and improvement!

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  3. Being able to say you are farther ahead now than a year ago is a great accomplishment. Ride that wave right on into the new year!

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  4. Nice-looking run! Great job on progressing since last year - have a great year in 2013 and looking forward to even more progress!

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  5. Way to get out there and get it done! The wind sure is tricky. Tail wind and you're too hot, head wind too cold. I adjust the zipper up and down to try to control my temp. It helps a little.

    Happy New Year!

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