Running Partners

Some days it just doesn’t come together. This was a recovery week, so I had a 6 mile run planned. It was a bit chilly so I bundled up, got Tracker outfitted in his Halti collar (so he doesn’t drag me down the trail) and left the house. Tracker is great on the trail when he’s not on leash – he obeys voice commands, is well behaved and a great running partner. But lash that leash on him and he makes me a believer in animal euthanasia. As I stepped of the curb on to Wahsach he performed one of his most annoying habits: he goes from a run to a dead stop right in front of me. I run over him, trip and fall flat on my face in the middle of the street. I made every attempt to make a graceful recovery and get up in front of oncoming traffic, but I suspect that I made a great story for someone that morning. The run didn’t get any better, and after a mile I turned around, headed home, took a hot shower and went back to bed.

What happens when technology fails

My training schedule says today is a 10 mile run day; let it be so! I haven’t run one of my favorite trails in a while, so headed up to Woodmen road park and ride and ran north on Sante Fe Trail through the Air Force Academy. It was a day of one minor problem after another. I started off with a missing Garmin watch. For those of us that run and/or bike, doing a workout without your GPS device is like eating Oreos without milk – it just can’t happen. In desperation, I snuck into Steve’s gym bag and borrowed his Garmin. For those who don’t understand what a major sin this is, let me explain. Steve tracks every single workout. The miles, the minutes, the pace, the power output, the heart rate…. Over time he accumulates average pace per week/month/year. Now, by wearing his Garmin watch, I have totally destroyed his average pace once I upload the Garmin data because my average running pace is equal to Steve running with his shoes tied together. I opted to log my own data in my tool and delete my workout from his Garmin to save him the disgrace of having my workout show up in his data. Now that I think about it though, wouldn’t it have been fun to let it be and he would be looking at that particular workout and try to figure out what happened! Knowing Steve, he would have figured something was wrong with the software and deleted it because it messed up his average pace. So, with the technical difficulties addressed with the Garmin, I set off on my run. Shortly into the run, my ipod on my iphone started messing with me. It would play about 30 seconds of a song and go to the next song. Now, the ipod on my runs is as critical as the Garmin. If either the Garmin or ipod is close to dead battery, that is sufficient reason to delay the run. With only a mile down and 9 to go, I had a serious dilemma. Fortunately the genius’ at Apple and Pandora have given me an alternative and I can listen to Pandora while I’m running. Not as good as my customized running list, but enough to get me through the next 9 miles. Once I had my Garmin on, my tunes going, I motored along and it turned out to be a beautiful day and had a great run.

Tucson

March 27 – April 4th, 2010

Tucson! Spring! Sun and warmth, oh how I love thee. My fondness for Colorado Springs wanes this time of year and I yearn for time outside. We weren’t able to go to Tucson for Spring Break this year and after spending several days whining and complaining about it, Steve all but packed my bags for me and kicked me out the door. Road trip! Alone! I packed the van with my bike, sunscreen and a swimsuit and headed South. Had a great week with mom and my own personal triathlon camp.

I rode several times with the Cactus Cycling Club and had a great time. Really friendly people and some great rides. My favorite was from Amado to Arivaca. 50 miles total. Met some really great people and the return ride was a blast.

Totals for the week:

130 miles cycling; 6500 ft ascent

20 miles running; 1400 ft ascent

3000 yards swimming

Here is what training in Colorado in March looks like:

And a week later in Tucson: