Hash/North Little Rock High

This wasn't the weather's fault. Today was lovely. I think it got up to 92. It was 87 with a heat index of, 87 when I drove to the track at about 7:45 p.m. Central. It was 79 a minute ago after I walked in. No, my legs were dead for this perfect southern summer evening because I suck. I ran 3X6X200 meters and probably should have slowed halfway through the first one to walk with the fat people. I got them in 55.0, 58.2, 52.9, 55.3, 52.2, and 54.7; 56.0, 54.9, 55.3, 57.3, 49.9, and 56.1; and 56.3, 56.9, 55.1, 57.6, 58.4, and 57.0. I jogged and walked 500 meters through the dry cool air to complete four miles in 41:25. I wasn't breathing particularly hard, not bent over double or anything like that, my legs just felt like old and wet discarded wood.

Yesterday John Kelley set a course for walkers. It went from his house to mine, almost directly. Earlier he put a cooler full of Coors Light and water on my front porch. Ron Gimblett, Corky Zoloudek, and I walked 17 minutes to the porch, sat there with Jo for 20 minutes while I drank a beer and Ron and Corky bottles of water, buzzing the whole while about how nice it was relative to the shock of humidity the day before, and walked back. We were out for 55 minutes and did not shed a drop of sweat.

Park Hill Loop

I have been a weather nerd most of my life but can't recall hearing tell of the meteorological circumstance I experienced tonight. Right before I started my run of the Park Hill Loop, at about a quarter 'til nine, weather.com reported it was 89 degrees with heat index of, no shit, 106. Has anyone other than tonight's inhabitants of Levy witnessed a 17-degree difference between the temperature and the "feels like" figure? How many people can say they've seen the moon and a heat index of 106 at the same time? Jiminy Cricket, make room Chris (just for the hell of it, I checked and it was 59 degrees in Port Fucking Hawkesbury).

On top of running in a city-size bowl of very salty asphalt soup, my blood sugar went haywire. It's a good thing I planned to go 10 miles and thus had enough Gu to remember where I was and who I am. I walked two minutes during each of the first three miles, three minutes through the fourth, and I'm not sure how many on the fifth, to finish in 56:40, with splits of 10:56, 11:55, 11:15, 11:36, and 10:58.

I walked jogged the Maple Street Loop in 24:35 this morning, and walked the Levy Loop at about noon yesterday.

North Little Rock High

My legs felt springy and light tonight, but I responded by running these too fast. I did 3X6X200, with intervals of 54-59 between the 200s, and 3:40 and 3:43 between sets, in 55.2, 54.4, 52.8, 52.8, 52.6, and 50.6; 53.0, 54.6, 53.2, 52.4, 51.2, and 49.4; and 52.3, 53.3, 52.2, 49.8, 51.8, and 49.4. I then walked for 100 meters and jogged 400 to complete four miles in 40:31.

These kind of hurt, not the idea according to Coach Elias, not for 50-year-old men who aren't on track scholarships or trying to make money on the European circuit. I ran them in a average of 52.3.

Park Hill Loop

Man, I struggled through this. I was a little disappointed to see it was only 82 degrees 10 minutes after I finished my run of the Park Hill Loop. Seventy-seven percent humidity made it "feel like" 88 according to weather.com. It felt like a zillion to me. Plus, fuck, why is it that when it's 45 and dry as a turkey breast the wind blows 50 miles an hour and on nights like tonight the air's as dead as my grandparents?

The loop took me 51:47, with splits of 10:31, 10:44, 10:14, 10:22, and 9:57, and I felt awful every step of the way, like there was a wet electric blanket wrapped around me.

Early yesterday evening I walked two miles with mother around Nashville City Park. What delighted me was that mom, on her first walk of the year after nearly six months of three-times-a-week working on a bunch of aerobic machines at the old-folks fitness center sponsored by the Howard County Medical Center, walked like an Olympian. I'm not kidding; I almost asked her to slow down. "Jiminy Cricket, Mother, why. ...you're walking great."

North Little Rock High

I walked the Levy Loop last night and the Maple Street Loop this morning.

This evening I ran 3X1000 meters in 5:00.7, 4:49.8, and 4:39.9 at the North Little Rock High track, with one mile up and another down. I felt pretty good; somewhat confident I could have maintained the 23:20 5K pace of the last 1000 for a while. It was 92 degrees when I left my house at about 7:45 Central.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It feels like a sauna bath out here."

— large woman in knicker-length black tights walking around the North Little Rock High track

Levy Loop/Rebsamen Park Golf Course/Maple Street Loop

I was disappointed tonight; it felt like I was wearing a thousand-pound backpack. I started with an intent to run 10 miles, but about 50 yards past the first mile of the Park Hill and Maple Street Loops, turned east up Hillside Drive off Maple to abort my Park Hill-Gimblett Loop attempt. I finished the Maple Street Loop in 19:32, with splits of 9:57 and 9:35.

I sat on my couch for about five minutes at 4:30 this morning and debated whether or not to drive to Smackover for the Oil Run 5K. Sleepiness insisted I return to bed and I capitulated, which also disappoints me.

Yesterday I walked the Levy Loop and played Rebsamen Park with Rob Wistrand in 120, my highest score since the summer of 1995.

The White Sox are probably beating the cow shit out of Cincimotherfuckingnnati.

Pinnacle Loop

I started the Pinnacle Loop at 7:11 a.m Central today, or about three and a half hours earlier than last Saturday. It was cooler. I got it in 1:47:20, with splits of 16:57, 31:00 (20:48 up the rock wall), 18:55, 22:16, and 18:12. I ran the loop 7:39 faster than last time, most of that gained on the final two stages, around the base trail and on the Ouachita Trail back, which I did 6:54 faster. Also, I cut the rock-wall split from 23:42 to 20:48. I cannot imagine that I once did it in 15 minutes.

I feel much better sitting on my couch now than I did at about 1 p.m. Saturday, and am confident I will recover in time for a race in two days (though this will qualify as "training through").

North Little Rock High

I did these on Wednesday instead of Thursday because I plan to run the Oil Run 5K in Smackover on Saturday. We'll see.

These felt easier than last week, though I believe I went a little faster.* I ran 3X6X200 meters, with 60-second, 100-meter intervals between the 200s and four-minute 400s between the sets (I cheated a bit on the intervals, ranging between 54 and 58 seconds between the 200s and 3:38-3:41 between the sets). I got the first set in 56.5, 57.3, 53.7, 55.4, 52.5, and 54.6; the second in 56.0, 57.2, 52.8, 54.1, 52.5, and 51.0; and the third in 54.0, 55.0, 53.0, 53.0, 51.9, and 46.9. I continued jogging after the final 200 for 500 meters to complete four miles (actually 6400 meters, or about 35 yards short of four miles) in 40:27.

I walked and jogged a mile down in 12:25 to complete five miles in 52:52 and felt great.

When I showed up, there were three 30-something guys in the crowd of walkers doing fast intervals (three laps, or 1200s, at about a 5:10 mile pace). They were there when I finished, helped clear a path throughout, and made me less of an oddball.

*about two hours later, I went to the four-and-a-half minute bother of adding the times from tonight and last Thursday and dividing by 18 to determine that indeed I did go faster. Last week I averaged 53.79 seconds; tonight, 53.74. At this rate of improvement, I will reach the speed of light approximately 15 minutes before the Universe is declared void.

Levy Loop

I ran the Levy Loop in 19:25, with splits of 10:10 and 9:15. According to my watch, purchased today at a Timex outlet store located close to the softball fields you can see from the Fort Roots' river bluff when they're lighted, my "best" split was 9:14.73 and I averaged 9:42.47. The watch cost $15 and keeps 100 splits, for when I'm up to 50X1000 meters.

North Little Rock High

Man, these were nice, and easy. I am about ready to subscribe to the Comfortably-Tired Interval Technique.

Tonight I did 3X1000 meters with circa three-minute, 200-meter walk intervals. Yes, three. Not five. The last time I did three, I ran two miles in 15:21 two days later and felt confident I could've maintained that pace through five kilometers. The last time I did five, it took me a month to recover. I got them in 5:10.4, 4:58.2, and 4:40.9. I am unsure how much energy I kept covered, but I'm guessing I could've run the last one at least 30 seconds faster.

A good sign was my three-quarter mile warmdown; I walked 200 meters and then planned when I started jogging to go half a lap and slow to a walk, but forgot and just kept jogging.

I never looked at my watch, except during the intervals, and with 200 meters left of the final 1000. That was the point at which I passed two miles, where I was pleased to see I went through in 19:46. That's a pretty good two-mile time, considering I walked 400 meters of it in a total of 5:53.8.

Now, back to the Angels-Giants on MLB.TV. My man, Giant Aaron Rowand, is 0-3 through five innings with three strikeouts. What could I do? There isn't a motherfucking South American on either roster.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector."
— Ernest Hemingway, from a 1958 interview by George Plimpton for the Paris Review

Hash

Tom Zaloukek and I spent 45 minutes on Reverend Bob's Hash run, set about halfway between the Wal-Mart Super Center and Pinnacle Mountain, talking about Beat the Streak. We probably covered a little over three miles.

Maple Street Loop/Pinnacle Loop

Last evening I jogged and walked the Maple Street Loop in 24:52.

This morning, starting at about 10:30 Central, I ran the Pinnacle Loop in 1:54:59.

The Pinnacle Loop starts at the Pinnacle Mountain Visitor's Center, follows the Ouachita Trail to the Pinnacle Mountain east parking lot, goes over Pinnacle to the west parking lot, along the base trail to the east lot, and on the Ouachita Trail back to the Visitor's Center. I believe it's about six miles.

I kept splits: It took 16:38 to the east lot, 33:49 to the top (23:42 from the base of the rocks to the top), 17:20 down, 27:03 on the base trail, and 20:09 back (of course, these splits are meaningless without the reference point established today, except for the base of the rocks to the top, which I did in 15:15 when I frequented the loop in 2003).

Best I can tell from my diary, I ran the Pinnacle Loop seven times from late April through mid-June of 2003. My times were 1:24:20, 1:31:18, 1:32:06, 1:32:43, 1:35:57, 1:38:40, and 1:42:34.

Next time (if there is one) I will try to start earlier, when it's cooler, or wait until evening, when it's drier, which I did exclusively in 2003.

NOTEWORTHY

WOULD YOU RATHER?

As I neared the top of Pinnacle Mountain from the east parking lot, a father approached with his c. 12- and 10-year-old daughters as they descended. I heard the father say, "Honey, don't worry so much about that bee that you fall."

"Would you rather be stung by a bee, or fall?" the 12-year-old said.

"I think I'd rather be stung," Dad said.

"That's a pretty good would-you-rather," I said.

The father laughed and said, "It is. Would you rather be stung by a bee or fall down Mount Pinnacle?"

"I'd have to go with the bee," I said.

"Me too."

"It's probably a little tougher for kids their age. They could fall and get right back up."

"That's right. They could roll all the way down the mountain and maybe skin their knees."

"We, on the other hand, would break every bone in our bodies."

NO SPRINT

I felt compelled to explain my time of 1:54:59 the instant I saw it. I did not rush to the finish to break 1:55. Granted, I would have had I looked at my watch the final minute, but did not.

I was however conscious of my time for the final 400 yards or so, a rocky, steep section from the Pinnacle Mountain Visitor's Center to Pinnacle Valley Road. It took me 2:30 for the descent going out, and 4:29 coming back.

BLOOD SUGAR

My blood glucose was at 176 when I awoke at 8 a.m. Central. I took one unit of short-term insulin (Novolog) and four of the long-term (Levemir). I drank a glass of iced coffee before I left my house, and ate two tubes of Gu during the run. It was at 142 when I returned home.

I did not suspect hypoglycemia at any point, but still planned to eat a tube of Gu at the top of Pinnacle Mountain. I forgot.

Shortly after I started the base trail on my return, I felt almost faint. Then I remembered the Gu. I ate a tube, felt better within minutes, and ate another at the east parking lot water fountain, and felt relatively fine the rest of the way, able to run all but the inclines.

OVERHEARD

"I wouldn't either, but I don't want to scare people."

— father to his 12-year-old daughter after she said, "I wouldn't wear a shirt if I was a boy."

North Little Rock High

I believe Kirk Elias said I should finish interval sessions feeling "comfortably tired." That's about how I felt tonight. I did a one-mile, jog-walk warmup, then 3X6X200 meters, with one-minute, 100-meter intervals between the 200s, and about a four-minute, 400-meter walk between sets. I ran the first set in 58.4, 57.5, 55.4, 53.4, 52.7, and 52.3; the second in 55.2, 55.6, 55.8, 54.4, 52.7, and 52.2; and the third in 56.0, 53.9, 53.8, 52.4, 50.8, and 45.7. Then I walked and jogged a mile down in about 12 minutes.

Ridge Road Loop

I did not struggle, but was never close to comfortable on the four-mile, hilly Ridge Road Loop. It has turned summer out of the hazy blue-white; 87 at noon. With 62-percent humidity, Weather.com says the it "feels like" 94.

I jogged for the final minute of each five, except went two minutes down the 47th Street hill near the finish, and otherwise walked slowly to cover the loop in 53:30, with splits of 14:04, 13:38, 13:09, and 12:39, and soon will drive to Wal-Mart to buy a handful of sweatbands.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"It's too hot, man."

— a bearded, 40-year-old man, wearing a St. Louis Cardinals hat, a sleeveless white T-shirt, and driving a white Chevy SUV, after he saw me slow to a walk near the former Pickle estate.

Gimblett Loop

I walked for a total of 20 minutes and ran the Gimblett Loop in 54:24, with splits of 11:16, 11:15, 10:33, 11:01, and 10:18.

North Little Rock High

I walked and jogged a one-mile warmup, stretched, but decided against intervals. I feel slightly feverish this evening. Instead, I jogged a mile around the track and fat black women in 10:41.

Hash

I ran and walked with Basil Julian and Rick Rainey for about 45 minutes through Boyle Park on Corky Zaloudek's Hash run this afternoon. We probably covered three and a half miles. It was nearly 90 and very humid. Afterward I drank two cans of Diet Dr. Pepper and ate nearly an entire bag of Cheetos.

Maple Street Loop/Levy Loop

I walked and jogged the Maple Street Loop in 25:10 late this morning, and tonight jogged the Levy Loop in 20:52.

Maple Street Loop/Fort Roots

I walked and jogged the Maple Street Loop in 24:01 this morning. Two hours later, Crutch Aikman called. He was in town for a meeting. We ate lunch. Afterward, my having two good sets of golf clubs paid off for the first time. We played nine holes at Fort Roots, my first game since March 24.

We didn't keep a scorecard. I went, I believe, 6, 7, 8, 5, 4, 5, 4, 6, and 6, for a 51, or from awful to well. Crutch scored somewhere in that neighborhood. It was 75, dry with a light breeze, and the course was as fit as it gets. We laughed hard.

The birdie on No. 7 consisted of a pulled, 240-yard drive to the southern edge of the eighth fairway (retrieved and returned as we searched by two guys in a cart on No. 8), a pitching wedge to the fringe, and a putt three feet past.

Levy Loop

I jogged the Levy Loop in 19:28, with splits of 10:06 and 9:22.

T Highway

VAN BUREN, Mo. — I ran or ran and walked two miles on T Highway from my father's farm on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings. I only ran non-stop once, when I went from the front porch to the first telephone pole after T Highway turns from pavement to gravel and back in 21:02.