Sunday, December 5, 2010

IMTX Run Course

Today was my first run on the Ironman Texas run course. I ran one loop of the main part of the course (right at 8 miles today). I ran based on my heart rate, staying at the top of Zone 2 (approx. 75% of max heart rate) for most of the run. It wasn't my best performing running day, but it was fine for a training day.

The course is about half through residential areas near (and sometimes in view of) Lake Woodlands and about half through the shopping corridor along the Woodlands Waterway (with nearly all of this part being run along the path alongside the Waterway. I think it is a good run course for the coming race, with the potential for outstanding race support along the way. The map image below that shows the course is from the race website.



I am sure I will spend a lot of time running this course over the next 5+ months!

In other events, my youngest daughter moved out of the house this past weekend. She's only about 10 miles away but it's a big step for her (and us as well). Seeing some items getting pulled out into the open (old artwork, toys, etc...) seemed to carry bittersweet feelings along with them. For what it's worth, she's about 3 months older than I was when I left home, which seems somehow appropriate. However, she did make it back here tonight for dinner to celebrate my birthday (a day early due to the weekend and our schedules)!

167 days until Ironman Texas...

3 comments:

Amanda said...

Glad you had a good training run on the course. I'm sure it will help a lot with the race knowing just what to expect from the course!

I'm sure it's tough having your daughter move out, but I'm sure you'll both do fine :)!

Rae! said...

SO I am not so sure about the heart rate training. I haven't had time to look it up.
I think it is cool that the course is so close to you and you can use it for a training run, bike maybe a swim too. Well it's cold today here.

Leaving the nest.. It's odd at first..

Richard said...

I wasn't so sure about heart-rate based training either when I started it. However, I think it helped make the difference in my HIM PR last month versus the previous efforts.

I know I'll be fine with the younger daughter out of the house. She has all the tools to be an outstanding woman in her own right, she just needs to take those steps on her own. The older one is only here for a few more months as she nails down her job situation--I think it gets real interesting after that!