Weekly summary

I still did not do as well as I would like, I only made it out twice this week. Here is the data:

Sunday's Easy/Long Run

I went for a long run this morning. It was about 8 miles, I had planned to meet up with the Sunday Morning Austin Runners Club group, but I was an hour late. So I ran most of the course myself. I started from home and ran 2 miles to the starting location, then ran the 5.5 mile course, except the last time it crosses Gaudalope, I headed home rather than continuing to the Austin Athletic Wellness Center. This probably cut a mile off the run.

In total I did about 8 miles, the pace was slower than I would have liked. I walked the last mile. Next time I need to get there at 8 AM rather than 9 AM, take some water, and some gu. Of course if the run is with the Austin Running Club I will be going faster and probably not be able to cover as long a distance. But than again I will probably have lost some of the holidays fat I have been collecting over the last month or so.

Here is motionbased analysis of the run.

Todays bird watching adventures

Today Elizabeth, Marilyn, Tom and I traveled to three locations looking for birds. The sites were Mount Bonnell, Emma Long Park, and the Wild Basin Preserve. All three areas are part of the Balcones Canyonlands.

The birds that we saw were as follows:

1. Kite (Emma Long Park)
   
2. Sandpiper (Emma Long Park)
3. Turkey Vultures (Emma Long Park)
4. Several unidentified vultures (Emma Long Park)
   
5. Rock Doves (everywhere!)
   
6. Unidentified little brown bird (Wild Basin)

The weather was not particularly suitable for bird watching, as the temperature was in the low 50's with winds gusting up to 25 MPH.

Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory

A visit to the Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory with Elizabeth, Tom and Marilyn. A chilly day, but sunny. We saw a number of ducks and some grebes: Eared Grebes, Northern Pintails, Northern Shovelers, Green-winged Teal, Cinnamon Teal, Buffleheads, Ruddy Ducks, Coots. We also saw some turkey vultures and several sparrows we couldn't identify.

Christmas Bike Ride Around Austin

Today I took a long ride through downtown Austin. I have always wanted to take such a ride on a holiday when all the stores are closed and the streets are empty. I explored some of the streets that I dared not ride on at normal times, like Guadalupe from the University to where Lamar and Guadalupe join, 5th street from Mopac to Lamar or Barton Springs Road through Zilker Park.

It was a good ride, although I chickened out on several other sections I want to ride some time: ie. 360 from Barton Creek Mall to the Arboretum or a path from home to work. It was just too cold and that would have added too much time to the ride.

The temperate was 45 when I left and I'm sure it didn't change a whole lot. The sky was heavily overcast and the wind was out of the south probably about 5 MPH. Here is the official record according to Motionbased.

I sure need to do some stretching, the cold weather has my muscles real tight.

Global Warming

A very good analysis on global warming.

Weekly Summary

I have not managed to exercise as much as I would like this week. Hopefully, next week I will manage a lot more miles both on the bike and running. I will have a lot of time free next week and the weather looks nice. Hope the cold I had last week does not come back.


(365x200)

2 Mile Run With The AAWC Sunday Runners

Since I hadn't heard from Daniel about our Sunday run, and since I am recovering from a bad cold, I thought I would try a new (and hopefully easier) run that's about a mile from home. So I met up with the AAWC (Austin Athletic Wellness Center) runners, a running group associated with the ARC (Austin Running Club).

I ran 2 miles. I was hoping to go further but I was feeling pretty wiped out and I got to a good spot to head back, so I did. There were 5 other people with Matthew as the leader.

The temperature was right at freezing when I left the house but I was sure once the sun got up the temperature would climb fast. (Perhaps getting up to 35 by the time the run ended.) It was a very clear morning with no wind.

The pace was good and the streets were perfect for running, with very little traffic at that time of the morning. Also, on the path I took, there were very few hills. Well, you might say no hills. You can find the motionbased account of the run here. I was looking forward to the section that parallels Duval. I know that is a long climb, at least on the bicycle. But I did not make it that far. Next time, maybe...

One of the things that was mentioned during the run was that one of the participants leads a group that runs around Town Lake every Tuesday and Thursday at 5:30 AM. Sounds like a good run, except for getting up in time to make it to Town Lake at 5:30! They meet at the rock under Mopac.

I Have A Cold. Arrrrg

For the last two days I have had a common cold. I stayed home yesterday, Wed December 19, but I went to work today. I was feeling pretty good until this evening.

I was thinking it was allergies but last night I woke up drenched with sweat. I must have had a temperate and didn't realize it, the night before I did feel a little chilled.

Today, when I got in to work I found that Mike, my office mate, was sick yesterday and today.

This evening we went out to diner and I had a bloody nose while we were waiting for the main course. It was a slow leak so I was able to hold it off until I finished the main course. Then I went out to the car and waited for my wife to finish her meal and pay.

On the allergy forecast today they said that mold spores was real high.

Weekly Summary

This was a poor week in terms of exercise. Only managed about 6 miles of running or a little over 1 hour. Next week I hope to do better, my goal is to run about 20 miles a week or about 4 hours off heart thumping exercise.

Sunday's Easy Run

Had a very good run this morning with Daniel, his wife Andrea, his mother-in-law Marilla and Chloe, their 10-year-old dog. We started at 9 AM and ran a little over 5 miles at about an 11 minute pace. The temperature was a little above freezing with no wind. In other words a perfect day to be out running, the sky was so clear and blue.

As a side note, when I got up about 6 AM it was still dark so I went out to watch for meteors. It is the first clear morning we have had since the Geminids meteor shower (mid-December usually around the 12-14). I didn't see any meteors, but I didn't spend much time, it was cold.

The Motionbased report is here.

Rained out!

One quarter of the way through my Interval run it started raining. I had adjusted the distances on my two intense legs and I was just getting them dialed in. The new interval session is as follows:

1. Run until lap is pressed.
2. Repeat the following 4 times.
1. Run .33 miles keeping pace below 8:45 minutes per mile.
2. Walk until heart rate goes below 105.
3. Jog until lap is pressed
4. Run .25 miles keeping pace below 8:45 minutes per mile.
5. Walk until heart rate goes below 105.
6. Jog until lap is pressed.
3. Jog one mile.

The first leg I went too far and on the second leg I cut it short by about 500 feet. It's hard to see my watch at night.

Here is what Motionbased had to say about tonight's session.

Here are the lap rates:


Perhaps tomorrow will be better, but then it is supposed to get cold and nasty tonight. Today was our last day this week of nice weather; we actually had blue sky for about an hour today.

Sunday it is supposed to be right at freezing for the Jingle Bells 5K. I need to decide if I want to run it. It is put on by MADD, so John must be involved, which means it would be a good race.

5 Mile Easy Run

This morning I went for an easy run. I was planning to do 12 miles, my last long run was 10 miles, but that was under ideal conditions: I was running about 20 miles per week, I was 5 lbs lighter, had not given blood during the previous week and I had not been to Switzerland for my daughters wedding. Anyway I did about 5 miles.

Here is the motionbased view of the run.

Ran the Trail Of Lights 5K

I ran the Trail Of Lights 5K this evening, but I just about didn't make it.

I left a more than an hour before the race, but I should have known something was wrong when I hit the heavy traffic at about 45th street on Mopac. I was moving only about 35 mph on the freeway, so it took about an hour to get to Zilker Park, a ride that should have taken 10 minutes. I finally found a parking spot on a steep hill in Rollingwood, grabbed my things and started running for the start line.

I finally made it to the start area just as they finished the Star Spangled Banner. (I found a port-a-potty first, then went over to start the race.) Several minutes after the official start I managed to get moving with my part of the crowd. The going was slow, as I was in the walking section rather than the running section, but I made as good time as I could, without running over someone or falling on my face in a dark stretch of the course.

When I finished the run, I knew I'd felt strong during the whole run; unlike in previous years where I have had to walk for brief stretches to catch my breath. I finished in about 39 minutes according to the official clock. (My GPS later told me that this was one of my slowest races ever--no wonder I felt good!)

After I finished there was a huge line of people waiting for water. I went to another line and picked up some tiny sandwiches, but that made me really thirsty, so I just had to join the water line!

In conclusion I feel I did pretty good, but next year I will have to leave earlier so I can get a better start location. Perhaps 1 and a half hours early.

Finally motionbased has finished processing the GPS data, it is here. (It took forever, finally I had to download the data again.) My times were not as good as I would have liked. No wonder I was running so strong. I guess when you get behind someone who is walking it slows you down a lot. Oh well, I still enjoyed the outing--my first after the trip to Switzerland, where I gained 5 lbs.

Had My Left Upper Eye Lid Checked Today.

Last summer I had a stye on my left upper eye lid. This is not an uncommon occurrence for me, Over the last 3 or 4 years I have had perhaps a half dozen styes on my eye lid. In the past I could get over them by placing a moist warm compress over my eye. I would do this for numerous hours until the stye went away.

This time it was a little different. I could feel it coming but could never see it so I did not start putting on the compresses. Finally, after several weeks I stopped feeling the stye so I thought it was gone. Then a couple of weeks later I started noticing it on my eye, but I did not feel it. So I started applying the compresses. After about a month I went to see my primary physician. He told me to apply warm compresses and if it did not get better in several weeks to phone and get a referral doctor that specializes in this type of thing.

At about two weeks after my appointment we were getting ready to go to Switzerland so I put it off until after the trip. So when I got back I call Dr Hahn and he gave me a referral to Dr Gary Rylander. I called Dr Rylander's office and they gave me an appointment with Dr Todd Smith for today at 2 PM.

I went in for a exam today at 2 PM with Dr Smith. He is a very pleasant young man and he told me I had Chalazion (a blocked meibomian gland) and he gave me an intralesional steroid injection. In the majority of the cases this will take care of the problem. However, in some of the cases, if there is too much scare tissue, they may need to surgically remove it.

In two weeks I need to return and he will check my eye lid and if necessary remove the scar tissue. He will decide at my next appointment and preform the surgical operation then.

Tuesday Night's Intervals on Wednesday

I really needed to get out and run tonight, for the last several weeks I have been sloughing off. First was the two weeks in Europe then giving blood on Monday and they said not to exercise for 24 hours. Then to top it all off, my usual Wednesday group had other things to do; ie. going to a UT basketball for one. Finally about 8:30 I got ready and ran. I was stiff for the first quarter mile or so but soon that went away and I think I did real good.

I did 8 intervals with each interval being a quarter of a mile. The recovery was the time it took for my heart rate to fall below 105 while walking. In the previous runs I had the rate set to 115.



The motionbased view is here.