Category Archives: Travels

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 7, Day 1

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29 December 2014

Today was a little warm to be running in a long sleeve tee shirt; but, I wore one anyway. The weather was clear, sunny, and very little breeze; the temperature and relative humidity were 63F and 42%.

The run was scheduled for four miles; and, I planned an easy pace, but I didn’t expect that I would have to concentrate to keep up my running cadence! Today’s run was back among those steep hills, just south of Sattler, TX; however, the only wildlife that I saw during today’s run was one, lone doe standing in a small clearing behind a line of trees along the roadway.

Endurance Running – Week 7 of 13 Weeks, Day 1 of 4 Days

Repeating what I just indicated: I was really surprised that, in today’s run, I couldn’t just run (and focus upon the joy of running), but had to focus upon maintaining my running cadence. Even my cadence during the WU was slower than usual–I’m not as concerned that my cadence running up the steep hill of the first training mile was lower than normal (those steep hills are always an effort: both cadence and pace).

Happy Running!

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 6, Day 4

26 December 2014

After a day of feasting at the Triple R [the River Retreat of my BIL (brother-in-law) and SIL (sister-in-law), located on the banks of the Colorado River just a few miles from Matagorda, TX], I woke up late (~08:30), was still stuffed from Christmas night’s supper, and didn’t feel like going for a run. But, two hours later, my wife and her SIL shamed me into running as they laced up and headed out the door, even though they were dodging light, misting, rain showers passing through the area.

So, I, too, put on my running clothes and headed out for my week’s Long Run, a scheduled training run, of 11 miles plus a one mile WU. The weather was not ideal, but not too bad, either; the morning was overcast, misting intermittent rains, 64F, but 100% relative humidity.

Endurance Running – Week 6 of 13 Weeks, Day 4 of 4 Days

During the first several miles, I was occupied with observing neighborhood scenery. But, the neighborhood environment was left behind and was replaced with rural, ranch and farm land; so, I was occupied with watching cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and tilled soil. Soon, eight miles had clicked by and I was at a turn around point to begin retracing most of my route…nine miles, and I, now, became more occupied with keeping my cadence up and my pace slow…and, soon, my Garmin indicated I had completed the 12 miles for my Long Run; but, I was still more than a mile from my starting point. So, of course, I continued running.

I don’t know whether I was bored with the repeated scenery, with the weather, or with the run itself or was just tired; but, after those 12 training miles, I felt like quitting–I’m sure it was mental, rather than physical because I did not seem to have any trouble maintaining the easy (slow) pace.

I ran a total of nearly 35 miles, this week–about 3.5 miles farther than last week’s total mileage (~10% increase). With next week being another holiday week, we’ll have to see whether or not I can get all four runs completed.

Happy Running!

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 6, Day 3

24 December 2014

Today was cool, but not as cool as yesterday and not nearly as breezy. It was a good day for a run; however, it was my third consecutive day of training. I don’t like training on more than two consecutive days, primarily because it doesn’t allow enough recovery time–especially, for a very senior adult. But, all three runs this week have been easy pace training runs and tomorrow is Christmas Day (no running on Christmas Day–that’s a day to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ).

Endurance Running – Week 6 of 13 Weeks, Day 3 of 4 Days

Running three consecutive training days did produce slower pacing each mile than the same run two days ago. That’s just as I might have predicted.  Now, however, I plan a few consecutive days without training, I should be fully recovered and my muscles should be filled with glycogen; so, after Christmas, my Long Training Run for the week should be a good run.

Merry Christmas! And, Happy running.

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 6, Day 2

23 December 2014

Today was a cool and breezy day, a good day for running. The ambient temperature was about 55F for the entire run; I don’t really know what the wind speed might have been but, I’m guessing, it was in excess of 12 mph. The wind caused me to feel cool (chilly) until near the end of Mile-3 of the training run, when I started sweating and feeling warm; and, that’s about when I really started to enjoy the run; i.e., just running.

Unlike yesterday’s run, today’s run felt good, right from the beginning of my WU. I didn’t look at my Garmin 620 during the run, except to acknowledge each mile ticking by. As usual, though, running up the steep hill, at the beginning of my training run, required a lot of effort and was very difficult to maintain my cadence and training pace up that hill; but, today, I did maintain close to the cadence that I try to run, 180 spm; I only dropped to 176 spm on the way up–never mind my pace!

Endurance Running – Week 6 of 13 Weeks, Day 2 of 4 Days

Today’s training run was scheduled for 5 miles; so, with my one mile WU, my KD was two miles: 8 miles, total. I could have shortened the KD by taking only two laps around the loop of Wild Turkey Run [the name of the street], rather than three; but, I just felt so good running and was really enjoying the time outdoors.

While I cannot say that I like the steep hills at the beginning of my training runs, I believe that they have added strength to my running, especially to my glutes [gluteus maximus/medius/minimus, aka fanny muscles] and have improved my running form.

Merry Christmas and Happy running!

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 6, Day 1

22 December 2014

Today’s training run was scheduled for 4 miles; but, my route was 6.49 mi, including the 1 mi (mile) WU and a 1.49 mi KD (kool down) to return to the starting place (home). What really surprised me is that, from the very beginning of today’s run (WU through KD), I felt tired, without energy to complete the run. Boy, that steep hill nearly brought my training run to a training walk; but, I persevered and maintained my cadence (sort of maintained it), even though my pace was a walking speed.

Endurance Running – Base Building, Week 6 of 13 Weeks, Day 1 of 4 Days

Let me define two terms, as I use them.

Pace is running (or walking) speed, stated in “minutes/mile” (min/mi or min:sec/mile); so, today’s average pace would be indicated as “10:25/mi.”
Cadence is the number of steps per unit of time, usually stated in “steps/minute” (steps/min or spm). Some runners and coaches define the “number of steps” by counting each time the left foot or the right foot strikes the ground; e.g., 92 spm; but, I define “number of steps” by counting each time the left foot strikes the ground and the right foot strikes the ground;” e.g., 184 spm. [Both examples represent the same cadence.]

 Merry Christmas!!! and Happy running!

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 5, Day 4

20 December 2014

Today was the day scheduled for this week’s Long Run. Recall that I’m repeating training Week 5 of base training; the schedule calls for a 10 mile run; so, I added the 1 mile WU and ran ten, easy paced miles…but, at the end of my training run, since I was about 1 mile from home, I continued to run until I returned to my starting point (aka, home).

Endurance Running – Base Building, Week 5 of 13 Weeks, Day 4 of 4 Days

The day was cool and windy (~55ºF) and the sky was overcast–a good day for a Long Run! I planned to run about 11:00/mile pace and believed that should be no problem, since I had planned to run both steep hills; in fact, I actually walked from base to crest of the second steep hill!

Today, I took my camera with me and there were a few deer and a roadrunner, which crossed in front of me; but, it took so long getting the camera out of my pocket that the deer had long disappeared into the dense foliage and, well, the roadrunner had run into someone’s yard and disappeared as well…maybe next week I can snap a few photos of wildlife.

Trying to get fit and to keep fit! Who would think that running can be fun!!!

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Running – Base Training Week 5, Day 3

18 December 2014

Today’s run started out to be an easy pace run–1 mile WU + 3 mile Easy Pace–but, it turned into a Medium Pace Run.

Endurance Running – Base Building, Week 5 of 13 Weeks, Day 3 of 4 Days

Actually, during the today’s training, I wasn’t paying attention to my pace at all; I was, simply, enjoying the run. Yes, I did notice Continue reading Running – Base Training Week 5, Day 3 →

Endurance Running, RV Travels

Resuming Endurance Running Training

15 December 2014

On 07 December 2014, I ran the San Antonio Half Marathon; and, I performed pretty well for an old guy [Official time: 2:02:08]. But, during this past week–between the foot race and today–I simply ran two short recovery workouts and one 10-miler recovery workout.

But, beginning today, I’ve resumed training at Week 5 of a 16 13 week schedule. BTW, I’m planning to follow (more or less) the training schedule from The Non-Runners’ Marathon Trainer, by David Whitsett et al. (It’s the same training plan that I used in 2011 to, successfully, prepare for the Marine Corps Marathon, Official time: 4:34:51). However, one modification that I’ve made to the plan is that I’ve added a one mile WU (warm up) at the beginning of the scheduled workout; also, I, usually, include three, 20 second strides in each WU, but not if there is a steep (8% or greater) grade within the WU mile. [Twenty second strides, as I use the term, are brief, running intervals during which I build my speed, within about 5 seconds, to a 5k race pace (currently, 8:18/mile – 8:26/mile pace) or faster; I hold that race pace for about 10 seconds; and then, I reduce my speed to the workout pace, within about 5 seconds. Other duration strides; e.g., 30 second strides, 60 second strides, etc., use the same buildup and slowdown timing but use the appropriate “hold” pace duration to make the total stride time to equal the duration required. Each stride is separated from the next stride by easy pace running (currently, 11:07/mile – 11:15/mile pace) for 20-to-120 seconds, depending upon my fitness at the time of the workout.]

Endurance Running – Base Building, Week 5 of 13 Weeks, Day 1 of 4 Days

I’m not yet training for a marathon; I’m just building my Continue reading Resuming Endurance Running Training →

Alaska Adventure, RV Travels, Travels

Alaska Trip Wrap-up…After My Absense of Many Months

Okay, I admit that I’ve been negligent in updating my Alaska Adventure posts…sorry.

A clear view of Mount McKinley (aka, Mount Denali)
A Clear View of Mount McKinley (aka, Mount Denali) — Only about 30% of the visitors get to see the mountain due to cloud cover. The mountain is so large and tall that it creates its own weather patterns.

With this posting, I’m adding three PDF files (…Pt 1.pdf, …Pt 2.pdf, and …Pt 3.pdf) of a presentation that I made to the 2014 National HDT Rally in Hutchinson, KS.

The first part contains a summary of the entire trip followed by the first few legs of our Adventure; the other two PDF files, follow, in sequence, the remaining legs of our journey. The photos are actual photos that we took along the way and are indicative of our Adventure.

 

[Note that these files are 18+ to 22+ MB, in size.]

ALASKA ADVENTURE – 2014_Pt 1
ALASKA ADVENTURE – 2014_Pt 2
ALASKA ADVENTURE – 2014_Pt 3

Hopefully, you’ll find the presentation informative, especially if you’re planning a journey to Alaska yourself. Don’t hesitate to post questions.

RV Travels

2014 East Coast Rally (ECR) – Crossville, Tennessee

The ECR kicked off with most of the attendees arriving on Saturday 05 April. It was exciting to watch a nearly continual stream of “Heavy Haulers,” toterhomes, and pickups pulling, mostly, 5ver (fifth-wheel trailers) and pull trailers arriving during the day. Actually, we had some attendees rent the cabins that are immediately adjacent to the camping area where Kim (owner of Deer Run RV Resort) had assigned to our group.

For some folks, those RV (recreational vehicle) terms may be unfamiliar; so, let’s just define what I mean by those terms:

  1. Heavy Hauler – A class 7 or 8 semi-tractor (like those used to pull semi-trailers, aka 18-wheeler), usually equipped with an RV, fifth-wheel, air hitch;
  2. Toterhome – A super Class C RV, that is the front end of a semi-tractor, but with livingroom/lounge, kitchen, bathroom, shower and living quarters built onto the same frame;
  3. 5ver – An RV trailer having a pin attachment for hitching to the tow vehicle’s fifth-wheel hitch; and,
  4. Pull Trailer – An RV trailer having a coupling attachment (usually an extension of the trailer frame) for hitching to the tow vehicle’s ball hitch).

The ECR is developed and coordinated by our friends Carl and Donna, who have Continue reading 2014 East Coast Rally (ECR) – Crossville, Tennessee →