Unfortunately the first 20 miler of this marathon training was preceded by a night which fell outside of my routine. A college roommate (which seems weird to say, because I don't really identify college as "unit" of time in my life) turned super-DJ was making a rare Washington, DC, appearance, and agreed to meet me for dinner beforehand.
We met downtown on K Street NW across from the Lotus Lounge, where he was set to spin later that evening. I arrived at Lima, the restaurant the promoters responsible for bringing him to DC, recommended after finding out I was a vegetarian. I arrived a tad late for our 9:45pm reservation, but still managed to beat these guys by half an hour.
I grabbed a drink while waiting and felt completely out of place in this Miami/Peruvian inspired club and restaurant. We caught up over food and I had a glass of the wine the table ordered. It was good to see him, and though I'm in the music industry too, our worlds seemed so far apart. Here he was, about to start his night (after having slept on the plane), and I was feeling restless about being out past 11pm.
I was convinced by him and the promoters to at least come and check out the club across the way. It was what I expected - very loud and packed with well dressed people dancing to the 80's inspired house music the DJ was blaring. We were led to the DJ booth, which happened to be about 15 feet away from the dance floor and bar. As the first DJ wound down her set I asked my friend if this was "normal." He told me it was completely out of the norm, and that a lot of his sets are more like the "shows" we used to put on in our house in college - he even confessed that he'd taken to stage-diving on more than one occasion while DJing.
I was offered a few more drinks but opted for a Gatorade knowing that 20 miles loomed at some point in the morning. He started his set at midnight and I stayed for a bit. It was pretty fascinating to see him spin, and it would have been a fun place to have a few drinks. However, in the end, I had to keep my training goals in mind.
I got home around 1am and had no trouble falling asleep. I awoke at 8am and realized that I didn't have any coffee in the house. I went over to the local coffee shop and realized what a beautiful morning it was. Though I was tired, I was excited about the prospects of running on a spring-like day. In fact, today was the first day of the year I ran without my running tights on. In fact, I ran in shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a fleece, my reflective vest, a hat and my lightest pair of gloves. Within a minute of stepping out of the house, however, I realized that the weather had changed.
I pay quite a bit of attention to the weather since all of my runs are done outside. All this week they said that Saturday would probably be breezy with highs in the 40s. However, things have been known to change, and the short jaunt to the coffee shop made me think today was one of those days. I was wrong.
The strong breeze had me wondering if I should head back after only 5 minutes and put on some warmer clothes. However, I rarely ever want to go back after getting out the door. It took me an hour and a half to get out of the door after returning from my coffee trip (downloading podcasts and lollygagging in the bed). I was tired and the late night was already working against me. So, I pushed on.
I kept the pace quite slow because of the number of miles I'd already logged this week. As I noticed earlier in the week, my calf was being finicky and my quads were feeling a tad strained. I ran down to the Capital and figured I would run a route similar to my 17 mile run a few weekends ago. I added a mile by going up behind the Capital and on the way down noticed that the breeze was quite strong at this point.
However, the worst was yet to come. I ran the "out" part of Hains Point and could feel the wind pushing me from behind. Once I rounded the tip and headed back towards Georgetown, though, I was rudely confronted with the strongest winds I've had to run in. I remember hearing stories from last year's Boston Marathon about windy and unfriendly running conditions. I kept thinking of how miserable I would be if these were what is waiting for me come April 21, 2008.
Halfway down the backside of the Hains Point loop I noticed a Coast Guard boat rushing along the water, breaking the large white caps as it sped over to two other boats. From what I could gather, while not wanting to stop, a row boat of some sort was having trouble in the very windy, cold conditions, and people were climbing over the railing which separates the water from land. It didn't appear as if anyone was injured, but as I continued on fire truck upon ambulance upon park police vehicle sped towards the scene. Unfortunately for me, the wind that these rushing vehicles carried with them added insult to the already injury-inducing winds.
I don't mean to sound completely over-dramatic, but the winds were utterly punishing. And, there really wasn't any relief in sight over the next two to three miles between coming out of Hains Point and along the trail to Georgetown. But, eventually, I surpassed that stretch of the run! That was about an hour and 40 minutes into the run, leaving me with just about an hour, or 8 miles, left.
Though i was moving slower than usual, i was still hovering between 7:30 and 7:45 minutes/mile. This pace against the wind was doing a number on my form, and therefore my legs. With an hour left to go I began to feel my calf strain and my quads ache. Nevertheless, I was able to persist, no thanks given to the 1.5 mile stretch from coming out of the park and running up Massachusetts Avenue. Upon reaching the top, I did contemplate stopping, but as has happened so many times in my training runs over the years I thought "if I stop here it's a really long way to walk back. And on top of that I'm really cold as is." Plus, I really knew the hardest part, aside from the last hill on Harvard Street, was behind me.
I cruised down through the picturesque neighborhoods of upper Northwest DC back towards Rock Creek Park. The podcasts - The Competitors Radio show interviews with Dan Brown and Ryan Hall and a few various NPR shows - ended and I changed over to the shuffle feature on my iPod. Conveniently enough, a few of the songs really hit at the exact right time, powering me through the remainder of the run.
I was wiped when I got home and now, two hours after having returned, still feel a tad out of my element. Though sometimes I do have to make a change to my training schedule to accommodate my personal life, I want to attempt to keep with my efforts to go to bed early and get a healthy 8 hours of sleep. I'm really looking forward to a day off tomorrow, with an hour and a half of yoga in there to aide with recovery.
We met downtown on K Street NW across from the Lotus Lounge, where he was set to spin later that evening. I arrived at Lima, the restaurant the promoters responsible for bringing him to DC, recommended after finding out I was a vegetarian. I arrived a tad late for our 9:45pm reservation, but still managed to beat these guys by half an hour.
I grabbed a drink while waiting and felt completely out of place in this Miami/Peruvian inspired club and restaurant. We caught up over food and I had a glass of the wine the table ordered. It was good to see him, and though I'm in the music industry too, our worlds seemed so far apart. Here he was, about to start his night (after having slept on the plane), and I was feeling restless about being out past 11pm.
I was convinced by him and the promoters to at least come and check out the club across the way. It was what I expected - very loud and packed with well dressed people dancing to the 80's inspired house music the DJ was blaring. We were led to the DJ booth, which happened to be about 15 feet away from the dance floor and bar. As the first DJ wound down her set I asked my friend if this was "normal." He told me it was completely out of the norm, and that a lot of his sets are more like the "shows" we used to put on in our house in college - he even confessed that he'd taken to stage-diving on more than one occasion while DJing.
I was offered a few more drinks but opted for a Gatorade knowing that 20 miles loomed at some point in the morning. He started his set at midnight and I stayed for a bit. It was pretty fascinating to see him spin, and it would have been a fun place to have a few drinks. However, in the end, I had to keep my training goals in mind.
I got home around 1am and had no trouble falling asleep. I awoke at 8am and realized that I didn't have any coffee in the house. I went over to the local coffee shop and realized what a beautiful morning it was. Though I was tired, I was excited about the prospects of running on a spring-like day. In fact, today was the first day of the year I ran without my running tights on. In fact, I ran in shorts, a short-sleeved shirt, a fleece, my reflective vest, a hat and my lightest pair of gloves. Within a minute of stepping out of the house, however, I realized that the weather had changed.
I pay quite a bit of attention to the weather since all of my runs are done outside. All this week they said that Saturday would probably be breezy with highs in the 40s. However, things have been known to change, and the short jaunt to the coffee shop made me think today was one of those days. I was wrong.
The strong breeze had me wondering if I should head back after only 5 minutes and put on some warmer clothes. However, I rarely ever want to go back after getting out the door. It took me an hour and a half to get out of the door after returning from my coffee trip (downloading podcasts and lollygagging in the bed). I was tired and the late night was already working against me. So, I pushed on.
I kept the pace quite slow because of the number of miles I'd already logged this week. As I noticed earlier in the week, my calf was being finicky and my quads were feeling a tad strained. I ran down to the Capital and figured I would run a route similar to my 17 mile run a few weekends ago. I added a mile by going up behind the Capital and on the way down noticed that the breeze was quite strong at this point.
However, the worst was yet to come. I ran the "out" part of Hains Point and could feel the wind pushing me from behind. Once I rounded the tip and headed back towards Georgetown, though, I was rudely confronted with the strongest winds I've had to run in. I remember hearing stories from last year's Boston Marathon about windy and unfriendly running conditions. I kept thinking of how miserable I would be if these were what is waiting for me come April 21, 2008.
Halfway down the backside of the Hains Point loop I noticed a Coast Guard boat rushing along the water, breaking the large white caps as it sped over to two other boats. From what I could gather, while not wanting to stop, a row boat of some sort was having trouble in the very windy, cold conditions, and people were climbing over the railing which separates the water from land. It didn't appear as if anyone was injured, but as I continued on fire truck upon ambulance upon park police vehicle sped towards the scene. Unfortunately for me, the wind that these rushing vehicles carried with them added insult to the already injury-inducing winds.
I don't mean to sound completely over-dramatic, but the winds were utterly punishing. And, there really wasn't any relief in sight over the next two to three miles between coming out of Hains Point and along the trail to Georgetown. But, eventually, I surpassed that stretch of the run! That was about an hour and 40 minutes into the run, leaving me with just about an hour, or 8 miles, left.
Though i was moving slower than usual, i was still hovering between 7:30 and 7:45 minutes/mile. This pace against the wind was doing a number on my form, and therefore my legs. With an hour left to go I began to feel my calf strain and my quads ache. Nevertheless, I was able to persist, no thanks given to the 1.5 mile stretch from coming out of the park and running up Massachusetts Avenue. Upon reaching the top, I did contemplate stopping, but as has happened so many times in my training runs over the years I thought "if I stop here it's a really long way to walk back. And on top of that I'm really cold as is." Plus, I really knew the hardest part, aside from the last hill on Harvard Street, was behind me.
I cruised down through the picturesque neighborhoods of upper Northwest DC back towards Rock Creek Park. The podcasts - The Competitors Radio show interviews with Dan Brown and Ryan Hall and a few various NPR shows - ended and I changed over to the shuffle feature on my iPod. Conveniently enough, a few of the songs really hit at the exact right time, powering me through the remainder of the run.
I was wiped when I got home and now, two hours after having returned, still feel a tad out of my element. Though sometimes I do have to make a change to my training schedule to accommodate my personal life, I want to attempt to keep with my efforts to go to bed early and get a healthy 8 hours of sleep. I'm really looking forward to a day off tomorrow, with an hour and a half of yoga in there to aide with recovery.
posted by Mike Mowery at 2:01 PM
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