Sunday, 6/2/2019 to Saturday, 6/8/2019 - McMullen Mile

I ran 4 times this week, 15.08 miles.
I took 59,451 steps this week according to my Pebble 2 HR (up to Monday) and Garmin Vivoactive HR (after Tuesday) smartwatch.

Sunday, 6/2/2019: 14762 steps during the day, 8.05 miles, 1:07:51, 8:26 pace, 131 avg HR, 162 avg cadence, 62F, 86% RH, 7 mph W wind, rain.

I was up a bit late at 6:27 AM. I puttered around a bit as I ate a pre-run bowl of cereal and banana. Well ... by the time I got around to heading out to run it had started to rain. Well ... I went running  anyways. I didn't run with my usual earbud in my left ear since it was raining. I wore shorts, an orange Moore Than A Race long sleeve tech shirt and orange Fleet Feet hat. I was a bit perturbed when I dropped my Pebble 2 HR smartwatch on the kitchen floor and cracked the screen but ... eBay says that my "new to me" Garmin Vivoactive HR smartwatch will arrive on Monday.

I set up a nice and steady pace and proceeded to get wet. It was a steady rain for about 2 miles and then tapered to sprinkles. I had wanted to run my 15K route but my left calf proceed to act up at mile 5 so I modified the route to 8 miles. I basically sucked it up and kept running ... whenever. My splits were: 8:48, 8:28, 8:27, 8:28, 8:25, 8:24, 8:12 and 8:17. I was drenched when I got home. I had programmed the coffee before I went out so I brought up a mug for Christine before I stripped and took a warm shower. I was a bit chilled.

I limped the rest of the day. A couple of older runners on Facebook saw my post about today's run and suggested that I should go to the doctor. Both have had knots in their calves before ... one was due a herniated disc and the other due to intermittent blood clots. Maybe I should go to the doctor's ... but do I have the time or motivation? Maybe I will and maybe I will just keep running on it. Who knows?

I got a call from my ex-wife about my daughter, Karen. She had a pain in her right side that radiated to her bad. So ... Christine and I were soon on the road to Palmyra to take her to the Rochester General Hospital ER. She had a blood test, urine test, chest X-Ray and CT scan. He was diagnosed with a kidney and UTI infection. Christine and I headed to Wendy's and then home while she was getting an IV since I needed to get to bed for work on Monday. Then Christine went back to take her home when she was discharged. She got back around 1 AM ... then I went to sleep.

Monday, 6/3/2019: 6128 steps during the day, rest day.

I got my "new-to-me" Garmin Vivoactive HR (VAHR) in the mail today. I bought it off of eBay for $70.

Back into the Garmin ecosystem ... Pebble 2 HR on the left (I dropped it the day before) and Garmin Vivoactive HR on the right

Its battery was almost dead so I charged it up before I did anything. I paired it up via Garmin Connect with my personal cell and ... was initially unimpressed. I couldn't accept, reject, nor see contact info on any phone calls. I didn't get Yahoo! mail notifications. Steps and heart info info were OK.

Tuesday, 6/4/2019: 8300 steps during the day, 44 bpm resting HR, 7.06 hr sleep, 4 stairs climbed, rest day.

I monkeyed around with my VAHR during the day. I took a 1.1 mile walk using the VAHR in walk mode after I got out of work, link here. I had wanted to do a track workout since I do have the McMullen Mile on Friday but I wanted to rest my left calf. It still has a knot in it that bothers my walking and running.

Wednesday, 6/5/2019:

5205 steps during the day, 45 bpm resting HR, 6.30 sleep, 3 stairs climbed

My VAHR didn't record any sleep data last night even though I wore it all night ... weird. It knew that I slept. Just not the amount of light and deep sleep.

I figured out that needed to install the Yahoo! app on my personal cell to get mail notifications. I get a lot of personal email so ... I don't know if that's a good or bad thing! I found out that you can look at all the Garmin Connect IQ apps at https://apps.garmin.com/en-US. I am trying to see if there any apps or widgets that handle phone calls.

No running tonight. I continued to rest my left calf. It sucks though ... I would have gotten nice and drenched if I had run after work.

Thursday, 6/6/2019

7030 steps during the day, 45 bpm resting HR, 7.31 hr sleep, 4 stairs climbed.

Friday, 6/7/2019

10090 steps during the day, 45 bpm resting HR, 147 bpm peak HR, 7:31 hr sleep, 4 stairs climbed.
1 run of 1.0 mile, 124 avg HR, 156 avg cadence, 78F, 28% RH, 6 mph N wind, sunny.
1 run of 1.03 mile, 141 avg HR, 167 avg cadence, 78F, 28% RH, 6 mph N wind, sunny.

Tonight's run was my seventh McMullen Mile. I never met Charlie McMullen but I shook the hand of his brother, Tim McMullen, tonight. Charlie was the 56th American runner to run a sub 4 minute mile according to a 2003 obituary in Track and Field News and West Side News article. It was also a fundraiser for Gary Radford who is in the midst of bicycling from Key West, Florida to the Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, link here. Tonight's venue was the St John Fisher College track. The race switches between this track and the nearby Nazerth College track every year.

My previous times: 2012 - 5:52, 2013 - 6:25, 2014 - 6:12, 2015 - 6:21, 2017 - 6:36 and 2018 - 6:34. It's a Genesee Valley Harrier's (GVH) event. You don't get too many chances to race a mile plus it's a Rochester Runner of the Year race so I signed up ... of course.

I got down to the SJFC track just before the first heat started at 6:15 PM. My heat, male runner between 5 and 8 minute mile pace was number six so I had a while to hang out. I talked with Bill Beyerbach and Prem Kumar. Bill hadn't done any speed work either like I hadn't so I didn't feel as bad. Prem Kumar had just come back from running across Haiti on Sunday and told me about it. He ran 8 out of 9 days starting at 4 AM except for the last day with a 12 AM start. He said that in the last 36 hours he ran 30 and 53 miles. Wow! But ... he didn't rest. He was on his third race in 4 days: the Corporate Challenge on Tuesday, the 585 Big Run on Wednesday and tonight's McMullen Mile. Oh ... he ran a mile PR tonight of 5:50.39. He's running in the 40-44 age group so he is a bit younger but still ... double WOW!

I got out for a really nice and easy 1 mile run at 8:58 pace, link here. I didn't know how my left calf would react. I had rested it since Sunday. It felt a bit weird but ... I came to race so I toed the line with about 21 other runners.

I started out easy and was a bit dismayed when everyone was ahead of me at the end of lap 1. Yes, I was dead last. Well ... my left calf felt OK so I picked up the pace. I picked off four runners before I got done with a 7:08.76. Bill ran a 6:16.35. I was 18th out of 22 runners in my heat, link here. I was 3rd out of 4 in my M 60-64 age group, link here.

Post race, before coughing

I was fine for a while after the race. Then I started coughing like last year (not as much though). I sucked in a lot of air during the race. I drank a lot of water but it didn't seem to help so I just coughed for a long while. I don't couch much after any other race that I can remember.

I left before the races were over. I should have stayed for the elite men's heat. The first two finishers, Omar Boulama and Robert Hurlbut, were separated by 0.65 seconds at 4:19.09 and 4:19:74. I had a bit of trouble getting home. Lake Shore Blvd was blocked at Culver Rd due to the Pine Wood Derby. So I took a detour down Culver Rd, onto Titus Ave, Hudson Ave, Cooper Ave and Thomas Ave to the O'Rorke Bridge. But ... the O'Rorke Bridge was stuck open. I waited for a while until I bugged out down St Paul Blvd to the Route 104 bridge and then up Lake Ave. There was a lot of traffic when I get down to the other side of the O'Rorke Bridge but all I had to do was to make a left onto the Lake Shore Parkway. Boom ... Greenleaf Rd and home.

Saturday, 6/8/2019

7936 steps during the day, 5 stairs climbed, 46 bpm avg HR, 143 bpm peak HR, 8:03 hr sleep.
1 run of 5.05 miles, 43:30, 8:36 pace, 138 avg HR, 159 avg cadence, 77F, 10 mph N wind, mostly sunny.

I was up around 7:30 AM which is late for me. I puttered around a LOT before I finally realized that I would feel like a slug if I didn't get out. It was after noon when I got out so I put some ice cubes in my water bottle before I headed out. I set up a really easy pace. I chose my Out to the Pier route. There were a lot of people out out on the beach. Some were in bikinis (I'm not dead yet). The water was a bit choppy and washed over the pier so I got my feet a bit wet. I could feel my left calf starting to act up so I cut my route short by cutting through the fence on the LOSP trail and into the Greenleaf Meadow complex.

Other athletes chose other ways to get out there. There was the Albion Strawberry Festival 5K/8K Race out in Albion, the Ontario Summit Trail Half and Full Marathon and the Tour de Cure Bicycle Ride. So there was something for everyone: road, trail and bicycle.