Monthly Archives: August 2013

Strong Start

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I twisted me right knee during a lazy flip-turn while swimming on Friday, so I rested it all weekend. It wasn’t hurting much today, so I seized the opportunity to go for a run. I started off strong for the first 3 miles, but I started walking before I even hit the turn-around spot at 3.2 miles.

My first three miles:
9:27
9:17
9:58

And yet I didn’t hit the 5k mark until 30:13, which means that last 0.1 mile took more than a full minute. That’s some slow walking. I splashed some water in my face and over my head and started jogging again.

I jogged most the way home, but I took it easy on the big hill and walked up most of it. I started jogging again just before I hit the top and then jogged the rest of the way back, except for the red light to cross Carmel Country Road. I don’t think it’s possible to hit that light green.

My knee wasn’t feeling great by the time I made it back, so I may have to take it easy tomorrow.

Meltdown

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It’s not particularly hot outside, but that didn’t stop me from melting down on my run today. I work with the window next to my desk wide open most days. There is usually no wind, but we’ve had a nice cool breeze coming in off the ocean the past couple days. In fact, I’ve gone so far as to wish it was a little warmer outside. I had no such wish today.

As soon as I stepped out onto the parking lot I felt it. The sun was beating down on me much harder than I had anticipated. I almost decided to scrap the run and go swimming instead. But I was already suited up, etc. so I just went for it. I thought about all sorts of alternative routes to keep things short, but then I decided the distance is more important than the speed. So I was going to do my normal 10k route. And that’s what I did.

Well, I may have gone that route, but almost all of it was walking. I ran for about 1 3/4 miles, but then I just broke down and walked the rest of the way. I think I wound up getting my worst 10k time ever, but at least I went the distance.

Fall Colors

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It isn’t quite fall, but I noticed a lot of colors have changed as I rode my bike today. All the colorful beach towels were missing from the beaches, and the colorful cars were missing from the parking lots along the beaches. It can only mean one thing… the kids are back in school. That’s about as much color change as we get around here for fall.

I’m still upset about not having my running shorts (and my new pair hasn’t arrived yet), but I still wanted to get outside and enjoy this great weather. That meant either swimming or biking. I decided to jump on my bike (it seemed a little too cold for swimming).

I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go. I haven’t ridden a lot since STP and I wasn’t sure how I would feel out there. I decided to start down El Camino and then head up through Rancho Santa Fe and either do the Three Witches loop (for a shorter option) or go down to Encinitas and come back along the coast. I was feeling pretty good, so I took the longer route. It was really windy today, but I still managed to make pretty good time. My bike was acting up a little, but I didn’t have to curse at it too many times. It may be time to clean and lube the chain again.

Guadalajara

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I spent most of the waking hours inside a factory at the Sanmina-SCI Campus in Guadalajara last week. I’ve been working on a new project for EchoStar and we finally went down to the factory to do the Limited Pre-Production (LPP) / Prototype run. This means we build a few boards, run them through some tests, see what went wrong, make a few changes to the build and/or test processes and start over. By the end of the week we had ironed out a lot of things, but there is still more work to be done before we can go back for the Main Production (MP) run.

I knew it was going to a be a lot of work, but I really wanted to do some running. I think you get a better feel for a place when you spend some time walking/jogging/running through its streets. The trouble was that we left for the factory right as the sun came up each day and didn’t get back to the hotel until long after dark. I kept hoping I could drag my butt out of bed in the pre-dawn hours for a quick run, but it just didn’t happen. Finally, on Friday, we got home before the sun went down. I took the opportunity to walk around the area near the hotel, take a few pictures, and scope out the possibility of running. The driving isn’t all that extreme in Guadalajara, but it can get a little crazy from time to time. I didn’t want to compete with cars for the pavement. Luckily I found several routes with sidewalks, so I planned to run Saturday morning before heading to the factory.

I got up early enough to run a 5k or maybe even a 10k if I was really fast. I ran out to the main road, turned right, and ran till I got to the Arcos del Milenio. I turned around there and headed back down the main road. As I tried to hurry across an intersection as the light was changing, I misjudged a curb and rolled my left ankle a little. It made a snapping sound and hurt immediately. I thought my run was done, but then the pain went away and I started running again.

I was surprised how quickly my energy drained. I blame the altitude (5,000 feet higher than where I live), but I’m guessing lack of sleep probably played a nice role as well. By the time I got to the Starbucks, I was pretty beat. I turned around again and headed back to the Hotel. I wound up with just over 2 miles, which isn’t too bad for running at 6:45 in the morning (4:45 San Diego time) when it was still pitch black outside.

Now the bad news. I left my BRAND NEW running shorts in the hotel! That was only my second run with them. They were pretty sweaty when I got back and I didn’t want to pack them that way, so I hung them up in the closet. But when it came time to pack up the next day, I completely forgot about them. Doh! But don’t worry, there is another pair on its way right now, thanks to Amazon Prime. Hopefully I’ll be running in them by Wednesday or Thursday.

New Shorts

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I didn’t run yesterday. I knew my new running shorts were coming, but they didn’t show up till the end of the day. That’s not the only reason I didn’t run (or do anything else), but let’s pretend it is. The reality is that I wasn’t feeling well. My nose was running like crazy all day. It was getting really tender from all the wiping and blowing. I wasn’t a happy camper. But I went to bed early and felt great when I woke up this morning.

I didn’t know what size shorts to buy. This is my first pair of running shorts ever. I decided to get the ASICS Men’s 2-in-1 Shorts. I didn’t try them on till today. I should have known this before, but it’s pretty obvious to me now: I’m not built like the typical runner. I got the XL size, which has plenty of extra room at the waist (and a nice draw-string to take up the slack), but it’s pretty tight across my thighs. I guess my quads are bigger than the guy they built the shorts for. It’s not too tight, so I decided to cut the tag and keep them.

I really like them. I may have to get another pair.

I got a side ache a few times as I was getting going today. I was about to the top of the first hill and I had to stop and walk a bit, holding the right side of my abdomen with both hands. I hit the light green to cross Del Mar Heights Road at the top of the hill, but it wasn’t long till I had another side ache, so I walked some more. I ran down the steep hill on Lansdale Dr, but then walked up the other side.

I finally used my water bottle to spray water on my face. Suddenly I felt a lot better and got into a decent rhythm all the way to the turn-around at the 5k mark. I didn’t stop long, but I did splash my face again. I was jogging at what I consider my “forever pace” which is about 11:00/mile. I kept going until I was most the way up the big hill. I walked a bit then ran down the other side all the way home. I felt like I still had a lot of gas in the tank when I got back, but I have a lot of things going on today, so I couldn’t extend it. Maybe next time.

I did manage to get a new PR for my 10k.

French Invasion

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I finally got back in the pool today after several months away. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it might be. I was able to swim fairly quickly still, but I didn’t string together anything more than 200 yards at a time. I’ll get back into the swing of things eventually (if I’m still in San Diego).

It was really crowded at the pool today. Really crowded. Every lane had multiple people in it and there were hundreds of kids swarming the deck waiting for the waterslide to open. While trying to figure out which lane to squeeze into, a couple people got out of the same lane. I jumped in. They were speaking French to each other and to about 8 others in the pool. One of them got back in the lane with me and spoke perfect English with almost no accent. I didn’t expect her to swim very well, based on how she was built, but she turned out to be surprisingly fast. I was faster, of course, but she could swim for 10 minutes without slowing down. I can’t do that right now.

I think they must all be here for a swim meet somewhere, because there were far too many of them to just be traveling around together. And they were all swimmers. I’m guessing they are an age group team from Canada, but I resisted the urge to ask any questions. I just did my thing and then got out of there.

5 x 100 free
5 x 100 kick
3 x 200 pull with paddles
4 x 5 IM order with fins
6 x 50 free
—–
2100 yards

Chafe City

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I have learned the hard way which shirts I can wear running. I’ve worn too many cotton shirts that just shred me. I have a lot of sports shirts that are not cotton and dry rather quickly. So I have the top half covered, but I continue to run in my heavy all-cotton shorts that I bought at Costco many years ago. They rub me the wrong way. I don’t like that. I finally broke down and ordered some real (non-cotton) running shorts. They should be here sometime on Wednesday, so I probably won’t be able to use them till Thursday. Hopefully today was my last run in the old busted joints.

I had a rough time getting going today. I couldn’t find my rhythm for anything. I have a lot on my mind right now (job offers and possibly moving away from San Diego) and I really need a good run to help work through some of it. I wound up walking up most of the first hill, but found my footing after that. I ran pretty well almost all the way to the turn-around at the 5k mark. Like so many other times, I let myself walking a lot after that, but I did get back in step and jogged almost the whole way up the big hill on Del Mar Heights Road. I only broke down into a walk for a few seconds, then got right back to jogging. I brought it home strong and wound up getting my 2nd best 10k. Imagine what would have happened if I hadn’t walked that whole first mile.

50 The Easy Way

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When Charmaine asked if I wanted to ride bikes or go to the beach, I was a little hesitant to commit to riding. I was pretty frustrated with my bike on my last ride and I wasn’t sure how I would react if it started acting up again. But when I awoke to the smell of fresh Sausage McMuffins with Egg, how could I resist?

We took it really easy, because we decided to go surfing when we finished, so we needed to have some gas left in the tank. We headed up through Rancho Sante Fe and then turned back toward the coast and caught the 101 in Encinitas. From there we got separated a little as I pulled a group of riders north to Carlsbad. I stopped at Carlsbad Village and waited for Charmaine and then we rode back home through Del Mar. It was a beautiful day to ride and my bike never acted up the whole time. Maybe it fixed itself? I doubt it, but I have no better explanation at this point. No matter what the case may be, I enjoyed it.