I haven’t posted workout information

I haven’t posted workout information in a while, but here’s a summary of what I can remember off the top of my head. I’ve done the elliptical machine three times since my last post: Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday. Both Saturday and Sunday were “long” workouts, 50 minutes in all, with Sunday at a slower stride rate. Tuesday I had to use a different machine that was not calibrated the same way, I think, because the resistance/incline levels did not feel as tough as they do on my usual machine. Ah well.

I’ve had the itch lately to do a triathlon. It’s been more than a year since my last one, the Danskin in 2004. Of course I was registered for the Danskin this year a month ago and didn’t end up going, which made me a little sad, but it was nice not to have to travel up to Austin by myself. I missed the Speedo Women’s Tri this year because I was in Atlanta for Katie’s graduation, and I will miss Try Andy’s Tri next month because I’ll be in San Francisco for the AIAA conference. However, in looking around some local race calendars I did come across something that might be a lot of fun: the Silverlake Aquathon in Pearland in a couple weeks.

I’ve never done an aquathon before; this one is a 2.5-mile run, 1-km swim, 2.5-mile run. Sounds totally doable, and fun. I should be able to finish it in about 1.5 hours — 55-60 minutes for the two run portions, and 20-25 minutes for the swim. Anyone want to do it with me? No bike riding involved for those of you who hate bikes…

I also recently have seen a little survey on some other running blogs so I figured I’d answer it myself:

What is your favorite long run pace?

Whatever pace gets me to the end! If you read all the training advice, I know that I actually do my long runs too fast. Based on my 5K time of 30:00, my long run pace should be something like 12:40, but when I do long runs they are usually at a pace closer to 11:30.

What is your favorite — or typical — pre-run meal?

I don’t pay nearly enough attention to what I eat before running. Since I often run in the evening, a lot of the time the only food I have to go on is whatever I had for lunch which, I know, is not the ideal way to do things. If I was thinking ahead that day, I’ll eat a granola bar or something similar about an hour before I head out to run.

What was the distance of your first official race?

A 5K held in conjunction with a half marathon in and around Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in January 2002. I finished in 34:something. I haven’t gotten all that much faster over the 3+ years since, but my PR has dropped to 29:18 (which I ran in late 2003). Well, I guess that’s 5:00, a fairly big improvement.

Do you typically run in groups or run alone?

Alone. Partly by design, partly not. In order to run with someone, I have to be very confident that I’m not slowing them down, otherwise I feel guilty the whole time and that’s no fun. I don’t mind being slowed down too much, so it’s easier to run with people who are slower…except it’s hard to find people that are slower than me! 🙂 So I usually prefer to just go alone so I can listen to my music and do my own thing. Every so often when I do run with people though, I enjoy being able to chat. My favorite person to run with is my sister, though I can probably count on two hands the number of times we’ve been able to run together.

Name the one or two new running experiences (occurring within the past year) that you have grown the most from.

The marathon, no question. It was such a huge commitment, both in terms of the time necessary for training and the mental motivation needed to stick with the long, slow runs.

What is your least favorite structure to run on/over?

Structure? Hmm. I’ve run the Kemah Bridge once in a 5-mile race, and it sucked because it’s so steep and because I never run on hills since there are none here. Oh — does a treadmill count? I really hate running on treadmills. They’re boring, and they seem to aggravate my shin splints.