The lil' racer

I turned down Lanier and saw some dude in his 20s who appeared to want to run -- and run faster -- where I was headed. As he turned down the road I wanted, I turned north and went down Lanier.

I hadn't planned on running up the double hill to Briarcliff but I figured that since this dude turned me to the road, I'd go ahead and get that kind of run in.

Unfortunately, it was the road this ass nugget was living on.
As soon as he saw me, he sprinted up the hill, not something hard to do when you're in your 20s.

I went at my pace -- but I noticed something that would be crucial in a race. I actually closed my distance to him as he seemed to really slow up the hill.

He trotted slowly down the slope and then tried to bolt his way up to Briarcliff.

But he never got there, turning into some apartment complex. I clapped loudly twice as I passed, as I would get moral victory of cresting Briarcliff first.

These kinds of people are like maniacs in poker. You never try to match their pace, you only keep yours and if you detect some kind of weakness -- such as an inability to keep pace on a hill -- you test them there.

If this were a test of L1-L3, I likely would catch -- and maybe pass -- him there. I believe I'd also catch him in the 10K. If you give even the semblance of being able to be caught, you're doomed in a race. Powell Doctrine totally applies here.

Still I was happy for my effort. I wasn't really too far behind the dude and I know I could be training harder right now.

Plus, it took my mind off of having to do a run in the 47.6 degree weather. CFLST, SST, AP/A4s.

Sets in the West

Today I started out headed west down Virginia Ave. when some chick crossed over right in front of me by Murphy's.

If it was some dude, I would have said it's on and then pounded it out until I was ahead of him.

Instead, I cut south into the neighborhood and was going to take a parallel route down by the high school.

But the setting sun was blinding! So I doubled back, continued south and then crossed N. Highland toward Briarcliff. I stopped, looking at a few house listings. $1.2M. $770K. Wow.

I made my way back up Virginia Ave. -- that hill is huge. But my speed was good and it was doable.

Kind of a short, brisk run for 32 degree weather. CFLST, SST, running pants and AP/A4s.

Clear, by bike

Rode to work today, knowing that it was to get up to 67 degrees today.

This morning, at 7 a.m., it was 41 degrees. I wore a SST, CFLST, a North Face thermal shirt (looks like a mock turtleneck) and my neon yellow Pearl Izumi windbreaker.

Forgot the gloves. Sorta wished I'd had them.

On the way home, just the SST with the windbreaker and shorts for a 66 degree ride home. Maybe didn't need the windbreaker.

Good weather

...but uncooperative legs.

Went out on the Middlebear H-Loop today, trying to capitalize on perfect 56 degree weather (SST, shorts, AP/A4s) but my shin muscles were tight the entire time so I cut it short. Nice day to be out, tho.

Rain: An experiment

The other evening when I ran over to Sham's to drink it was raining and I had on what I thought was a waterproof windbreaker. It turned out I had no such thing and on the very brief run (six minutes or so) I was pretty soaked.

So today, during the constant rain (43 degree weather) I decided I would try to double up on windbreakers that I thought were semi-decent. I wore my Pearl Izumi bike windbreaker underneath and then put on my Insport windbreaker, wearing my pretty much waterproof Nike running pants.

Well the pants came through in flying colors. But even in the short run of a mile or so, water began to seep through the second windbreaker.

So I'm at a loss right now. I have five windbreakers and none of them can repel water for a significant amount of time.

I'll have to be on the search for the perfect one that does. It helps to be all-weather.

Kennesaw Mountain

Still semi-sore from Monday, Susanne took me yesterday with one of her dogs to Kennesaw Mountain.

Climbing up the hill really burned my calves, but I wasn't winded and could do it easily.

I enjoyed walking through the woods in a pretty nice day. I even tried bouldering, to little success. Later on that evening, I was wondering why my right wrist was sore (oh, I only had my entire weight on it!).

My legs were sore, but I did a short run, mainly to pick up a Mega Millions ticky. My bronchitis didn't help me much- I think I've bruised a rib or the muscle underneath it coughing so much recently.

So I cut the run short, since every time I'd run, it would sting. Today I've taken a few Tylenol, so hopefully that'll help.

Back to the H Loop

I was feeling it today, so I decided I'd use the nice day (57 degrees) to crank out my first Middlebear H Loop in 8 months.

I'd mainly shied away from it because I'd been running lower mileage plus there are lots of hills to climb a lot closer to where I live.

I was happy though that maybe my hill training helped me climb the seven or so hills smoothly. The shorts and SST were sufficient, as were my high-mileage AP/A4s.

At about L2 there was a woman in her 20s that was steadily running up the course. At that point there was no way I could catch up with her and I was thinking hats off, since this is an extremely hard portion of the course to run.

But after L2 is L3 and I was more than a block ahead of her by the time I crested it.

At the 50-minute mark on Euclid I had to stop and stretch- I hadn't run that far in months, but resumed running (carefully) back on the PATH back home.

I was winded and sore, but it was worth it!

Liking the hills

Yesterday I ran one of my harder courses, up and down the huge hills in the Emory Village area.

I wasn't 100 percent because of my cold/bronchitis but I was very happy with the way I was able to accelerate up long or steep hills.

Hopefully I'll be able to do longer runs in the future...

Will run for haircut

Procrastinated but managed to get out and run to get a haircut tonight. 47 degrees. Wore shorts, SST and windbreaker. Actually a pretty nice night to be out.

Return of the Cold

After enjoying about a week of mid-60 degree weather, it was 32 this afternoon, and it looked like there were small snow flurries.

Brought out the running pants and the CFLST and even a hat. Near the end of the run, the winter cat was out and I was enjoying it. But it was pretty cold to start out with.

Back on the Bike

This morning I decided to ride to work. I hadn't done it since December but especially after going drinking with Sham last night, I decided it was time to burn some extra calories (above the daily runs).

That said, I had to look around my place for all the things I'd need to ride. Including my bike, which had become a clothes-drying rack in my bedroom. My bike cable was underneath the coffee table. My bike shoes were on a shelf in the coffee table.

I found everything and was glad. My legs were pretty good, especially climbing hills.

I ran into a middle-aged rider who was spinning and spinning his mountain bike in low gear. I was coasting down a hill while he was cranking the bike. It was funny.

I talked to him briefly at a light but let him go ahead.

A good sweat

It was 64 degrees when I was out running yesterday. I made a roundabout route and was just about to cross the street when I noticed some dude coming up the sidewalk behind me!

So I crossed the street and gunned it up the double hill to Ponce. Never saw the dude again. The hills are a cat's friend.

So I ended up with a faster-than-normal workout and a nice sweat, prolly the first time in a while since it's been much cooler.

Put on the running shoes today and ran to my election precinct -- the Ponce library -- for the Georgia primary. One friendly dude noticed my Peachtree (2007) shirt and commented on voting and getting exercise at the same time.

What a difference three degrees makes

Yesterday I went for a run after work, before the Super Bowl and was pleasantly surprised to find 61 degree temperatures.

It caused a minor puzzle because I wore arm warmers the day before when it was 58 degrees.

So I wore them on the run, only to ditch them about two minutes later.

Like Breakfast at Tiffany's

This afternoon it was 58 degrees -- warm enough for shorts but still a little cool for just a T-shirt, although in those times, my arms are a little cold for the first 8 minutes or so.

So I broke out my Sugoi arm warmers, that I bought years ago for the bike commute.

But I usually don't like wearing them, since they remind me of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

But today I put them on and made sure that they rode high enough on my arm that the end of the warmer was concealed by the sleeves of the shirt.

I ended up wearing them the entire run. It's amazing what having cool air off of your arms can do to your overall sense of warmth.