Book Review: Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World

After some hesitation, I finally decided to start listening to Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time Series.  I hesitated because it is a 14 book series (including a prequel) and each of the audio books range from 20 to over 40 hours long.  Its going to take a long time for me to get through the series!

I completed the first book, The Eye of the World.  The publisher's summary is:

When their village is attacked by trollocs, monsters thought to be only legends, three young men, Rand, Matt, and Perrin, flee in the company of the Lady Moiraine, a sinister visitor of unsuspected powers. Thus begins an epic adventure set in a world of wonders and horror, where what was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

The book is packed with adventure and intrigue, although sometimes a bit confusing as I listened while running.  There are many characters and keeping who was a member of which group was a bit difficult.  Luckily though, I was able to come back after runs and look at Encyclopedia WOT for chapter summaries.  

I would recommend this one for running. As you can tell from the summary, there were many scenes where the main characters were fleeing, making it easy to picture myself in their shoes while running. The whole book was a grand adventure that was able to keep me wanting to get out for the next run so that I could find out what would happen next!

Eating for Night Races

So far, I've run three night time half marathons.  The 2011 Disney Wine & Dine Half started at 10 PM, The Davis MOOnlight Half started at 7PM, and most recently the Vegas Rock 'N' Roll Half started at 4:30 PM (yes that is nighttime in the winter)!

The day of the Disney Wine & Dine Half, I had pasta with a cream sauce at 3:00PM and nothing until race time.  At about mile 8 I started to have quite a bit of stomach pain and it lasted through the evening (even after the race).  I regretted the pasta and decided that night races are harder than morning races.

The day of the Davis MOOnlight Half, I had a veggie burger and fries for lunch around noon.  After driving to Davis from San Francisco, I had a short stack of pancakes from IHOP at 5:30 PM.  I hoped to PR at this race, as the course was flat and I'd been working on speed leading up to it.  Instead, at mile 6 I got an upset stomach and ended walking a good bit.  I finished within 30 seconds of my PR and if it weren't for the pancakes so close to the race things may have gone better.

The morning of the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half, I had 1 egg and three pancakes at about 8 AM for breakfast.  At 12:30, I had pasta with marinara sauce and a few pieces of garlic bread.  After Alek read in the Running Doc's Guide to Healthy Running that taking antacids before a race will help relieve nausea, I decided to give it a try for this race.  I also had a Gu immediately before starting.  I didn't feel any stomach problems at all until the 12th mile.  Even at that point it wasn't enough to slow me down!

After three tries, I've figured out how to eat for a nighttime race:

• No large meals within 3 hours of start
• No high fat, high protein, or high fiber meals day of
• Have an antacid before the race

I suspect if I were to run a nighttime race closer to home, eating would be less of an issue.  But when running a destination race, I'm left eating restaurant food that is almost always much heaver than my normal meals.

Race Recap: Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon

Pre Race
Sunday's Rock N Roll Las Vegas schedule of events had a pre race concert featuring The Journey Experience starting at 2:00 PM.  The full marathon started at 3:00 PM and the half marathon (my main event) started at 4:30.  Alek and I were well placed in our hotel room on the north side of Excalibur to actually see the starting area and crack our window to listen to the Journey Experience while we made our race preparations.

Our window also gave us a view near the second mile of the marathon course.  We watched as the leaders ran by before heading down to the pre-race festival ourselves.

Leaders gonna lead (see the three yellow shirts in the middle of the strip)

We finally headed down to the pre race festival around 3:30.  It was already slightly windy by that point but nothing too bad.  The temperature was perfect for running and I was pumped hoping to break a 2:00 half marathon!

Pre race (yes, its the wind making my hair crazy)

Concert stage behind me with the Journey Experience

The Journey Experience was a Journey cover band - and they did a great job at revving up the crowd.  They sounded great.  Who doesn't want to hear "Don't Stop Believing" just before trying to set a PR at a race?

The Main Event

The half marathon had 22,000 people organized into 36 corrals.  I was to start with corral 11 while Alek would be back in corral 15.  Each corral was supposed to have its own start countdown.  This mostly worked but just like at Rock N Roll St Pete, my corral fell apart.  I probably started with corral 9 or 10, I'm not sure.  Alek's corral did hold together - so I guess there are just sometimes glitches in the Rock N Roll starts and I always happen to be in the glitchy corral!

Shortly before the race start, the wind picked up tremendously.  We first ran north on the Strip and then after about a mile turned back toward all of the casinos.  It felt nice having the strong wind occasionally gust and push at our backs as we ran south.  Around the halfway point we turned off to the most boring part of the race through a neighborhood.  There were no shiny lights or spectators here.  We then ran back to Fremont Street before again heading north on the Strip toward the finish line in front of the Mirage.  As I headed north, I was now running into the strong winds.  Even though I felt like I was pushing hard, my pace was slower than expected.  I crossed the finish line at 2:02:09.  A personal record for me but not the sub 2 hour goal I was hoping for.  Alek finished in 2:09:10 but I had to wait nearly 20 minutes for him at the finish line because of the corralled starts.  Full results are here.  The finish area had lots of food and drink but the bagels were just no good.  Maybe I'm spoiled by being from New York?

Anyone who has visited Las Vegas knows that the pedestrian path down the strip takes you up and down elevators and sometimes through buildings.  It takes a bit longer than expected to get anywhere.  Running down the middle of the Strip was awesome!

The race was a lot of fun but there were a few factors I didn't plan for.  The wind was definitely one of those.  By the halfway point I was on track to finish in 1:58.  Running into the wind slowed me down a lot.  My water consumption plan didn't work out either.  The temperature was perfect but I'm used to running in more humid air.  The dry desert air left me much thirstier than expected, forcing me to stop at water stops and drink all of the water from my fuel belt.

The finish medals and race T-shirts were quite nice.  Since this is my second Rock N Roll event of 2012, I should get one of their heavy medals for completing two events!  I'll share a photo when I get it.

Race shirt and medal

How'd that playlist work out?

Alek mentioned to me that I never talk about how my playlists worked for races, so I decided on a new section for my race recaps to let everyone know what went well and what didn't.

This playlist for this race was quite good.  Listening to Dave Matthew's "Don't Drink the Water" as I was avoiding water stops early on was amusing, as was listening to Florence & the Machine's "Seven Devils" as I ran past people holding up signs encouraging runners to turn to Jesus.  The instrumental pieces between sections of the playlist smoothed the transitions between themes and the tempo of the songs was also fast enough to keep me going.

Playlist Las Vegas Rock N' Roll Half

Sunday's Rock N' Roll Las Vegas Half marathon will be my final race of 2012.  Since this is my final playlist of 2012, it has multiple themes: 1) Vegas; 2) Doomsday (you know, because the world will end on 12/21); and 3) Christmas because I gotta get those in for at least one race!  After all of the gloom and doom songs, I'll need some Christmas cheer to finish the race!

Viva Las Vegas Elvis Presley
Waking Up In Vegas Katy Perry
Little Bribes Death Cab for Cutie
Chaos City Tom Salta
Seven Devils Florence & The Machine
The Man Who Sold the World  Nirvana
Don't Drink the Water Dave Matthews Band
Sell, Sell, Sell Barenaked Ladies
The Horizon Has Been Defeated Jack Johnson
Black Parade My Chemical Romance
This Devil's Workday Modest Mouse
Time Is Running Out Muse
1999 Prince
How Far We've Come Matchbox Twenty
It's a Disaster O.K. Go
In the End Linkin Park
We Will Become Silhouettes The Postal Service
It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) R.E.M.
The Battle Tom Salta
No Signs of Life O.K. Go
Lake Pontchartrain Ludo
99 Red Baloons Nena
Blitzkrieg Bop Ramones
Plague (We need no Victims) lola ray
Waiting for the End Linkin Park
This Fire Franz Ferdinand
No Way Back Foo Fighters
It All Ends Here Tom Salta
Little Drummer Boy The Dandy Warhols
The Christmas Song The Raveonettes
To Heck With Ole Santa Claus Loretta Lynn
Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree Brenda Lee
Jingle Bell Rock The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) Death Cab for Cutie
Christmas / Sarajevo 12/24 (Instrumental) Trans-Siberian Orchestra
Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer Various Artists
We Wish You a Merry Christmas Weezer
Christmas Wrapping The Waitresses
The First Noel Weezer
Feliz Navidad José Feliciano
Christmas All Over Again Tom Petty
Run Rudolph Run Chuck Berry
Christmas Lights Coldplay

Compression Tights

I have several pairs of compression running pants but I haven't worn them consistently since they're a pain to put on and take off.  After reading more about how compression tights are supposed to give additional support to your abs and hips, I decided to start wearing mine (and even bought a few new pairs).

Recently I've worn the following compression tights and haven't noticed much difference between them.  However, I have noticed that my hip and hamstring are much less sore during and after runs.

2XU Women's Compression Tights
CW-X Women's Revolution Tights
CW-X Women's Insulator Stabilyx Tights
CW-X Women's Stabilyx Running Tights
110% Play Harder Women's Juggler Compression Knicker

I've also been doing a lot strengthening work recently. This has mostly been squats, single leg raises, and core work.  These workouts helped improve issues with my hip but I had been doing them for a while with small gains.  Switching to compression pants during my runs has made even more of a difference, helping me hold on to the gains made during the strength workouts.  While the compression tights are on the expensive side, my most recent injury leads me to believe they are worth the money.

On cold days, these tights layer well with an outer shell of running pants. In some cases you can save money by just getting compression shorts or 3/4 length pants and layer in the winter, especially if you're mostly concerned with helping your hips and hamstrings rather than your calves!

Winter is Coming...

Unlike the Starks in George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, I'm looking forward to winter.  After December 21, the days will start to get longer.  Sunset at 4:30 PM has really got me down, especially when the park where I usually run is closed from dusk to dawn.

The cold temperatures haven't bothered me too much so far this year since I've just been layering up.  At least part of my runs happen when its dark out though so I have to be careful to wear bright or reflective clothing.

Only 25 days until the days start getting longer.  I can't wait!

Longing for a Turkey Trot

Last Thanksgiving I registered for a 5 mile Turkey Trot in Prospect Park.  I ended up being too sore from the Philadelphia Marathon to actually run.

This year as I get email notifications about various Turkey Trots, I keep wanting to run one.  I just won't have the time with our Thanksgiving family visit plans.  I do plan to run five miles tomorrow, just on my parents' treadmill so I can hang out with everyone while running.

Thanksgiving is a big race day because of Turkey Trots. Who doesn't want to get in some exercise before gorging?  What are your Thanksgiving running plans?