Thursday, June 29, 2006

To beer or not to beer – 10 miles Gen Aerobic

Let me preface this post by saying that yes, I enjoy running, but I also enjoy beer and frequenting taverns. Unfortunately, the latter has been in a lull due to my running commitment.

Last night, I was invited out with some guys from work to a pub here in my new hometown to send a guy off into retirement. I wanted to go because: (a) I wanted to be social (b) I love dive bars and (c) I needed to get out.

I was leery about the fact that I had a 10-miler planned this morning. Ryan in his twenties would have known that it would foolish to even show up at the pub if I was serious about running in the AM. BUT, I am 30 now and more focused and disciplined. I figured I could go, beer+hydrate+beer and have a few laughs. Two beers wouldn’t kill me on my run, right?

I did exactly what I told myself I would do before hand. I showed up at 8:15. I hung with the fellas, had only 2 pints of Guinness – with plenty of agua in between – and headed out by 9:30 PM. I was in bed just after 10. No problem.

Surprisingly, I woke up even earlier than expected today. I was slightly tired but I was ready to run. The alarm was set for 5:30 – and I was up at 5:15. After some fueling, I began my run at 5:52 AM.

Weather was PERFECT. Cool, sunny and clear. Steady pace the whole way (ranging 7:40-7:50) with a little bit of a pick up toward the end. In short, I have no regrets about going to the pub. Run was great. I am so proud of my ability to knock out double-digit mileage mid-week and be at work by 8.

Type: Gen aerobic
Distance: approx 10 miles (Polar read 9.81 - but I know of at least two signal interruptions)
Time: 1:17:58
Est Pace: 7:40 - 7:48 range (not sure of exact distance)
Avg HR: 155
Sleep: just under 7 hrs

Distance monitor issues

I’m a bit frustrated with my distance monitor, the Polar RS200sd.

I’ve heard from Bob on his Garmin 350 and how much he loves it. I read about Leah’s Garmin experience as well. Ive decided that I am not ready to drop another $350 on a running gadget.
My Polar is less than 8 months old. I paid $200 for it. It would be fine for me if the pod signal didn’t keep cutting out during the run.

I’m thinking about exploring the 1-year warranty. I am guessing that I running btw 0.1-0.4 miles further than what is reported at the end of a 10-mile run. This makes it difficult to track my pace. What did runners do before these things?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is so funny. I totally congratulated MYSELF after I went out last Thursday knowing I had a long run the next morning. I felt like a super star keeping it all in check :) Nice work!

Junie B said...

i love beer too, but i havent had the guts to try and drink even 2 beers the night before and then run the next morning...but you give me a bit of courage to maybe try... :O)

Triseverance said...

Good job with the Ten miles, my ten went well this week two. Almost to the point where it seemed almost two easy.....waiting for the other shoe to drop.

I agree if you are smart a few beers won't hurt you. As long as you are smart about it.

mouse said...

isn't the double digit milage on weekdays thing bizarre? I know I was freaking out about it before I started the plan, but last week's 9 was just fine in the morning (I can't say much about this week's because I just finished it in the middle of the day since i'm on vacation).

awesome job on the keeping the drinking in check. I too love me some beer. I'm going to have a seriously hard time with this once football season starts!

Arcane said...

I use the polar pod too, but have the 625x. I notice that the pod only cuts out when the battery gets weak. I would recommend using only alkaline batteries as opposed to rechargables. I'm also jealous over the garmin 305 and the nifty things you can do with mapping and such.