Last Run, First Run

Last run of the year; first run of my new schedule.  For the next 12 weeks, Monday shall be known as (cue music) "Speed Work Mondays."  You should have read that in the Lost in Space voice or alternately, you could read it in a Darth Vader voice.  Both work.

As you can see, my warmup/cooldown was faster than the schedule, and while I would owe the Hanson brothers 56 pushups (1 pushup for each second faster than the goal) for such an infraction, I'm going to let myself off easy with a warning.  Besides, the pace chart for easy runs is 10:41 to 11:27, so...I'm good to go!

Tomorrow is 4 easy miles.  I should post my pace chart so you all can see what my targets are.  That might be helpful.  Of course, being helpful is the last thing this blog is supposed to be, so there's that...

A little taste of what's to come

One of the concepts that the Hanson Marathon Method (or HMM from here on out) uses is the idea of cumulative fatigue.  The long run is supposed to simulate the last x number of miles in the marathon, so the longest long run in the schedule is 16 miles, but it's the last 16 miles.

Well, I certainly felt like this run was the last 8 miles in a half marathon, and I was very glad when I was done.  I have been adapting the marathon schedule to a half marathon schedule and think I might want to cut back on some of the runs I thought I could do.  I can't cut them out altogether if I want to follow the schedule, but I can lop a mile or two off them.  Yeah, that's the ticket!

Easy 5

Yesterday, I was still feeling the effects of those intervals, so I took it off.  Today, I was feeling much better with only a little dull achyness in my hamstring.  I'm still not sure what I'm running tomorrow, and I need to throw together the half marathon schedule that starts next week.  It'll get done; trust me...

Wherein everything changes

Change, change, change, I just can't get away from it!  First, my training program is going to undergo significant changes (6 days/week running...!), second, as soon as I get used to my mother and brother being here, they up and go to my other brother's house in Louisville, KY, and THIRD, it snowed so I had to treadmill it! 

See???  All these changes!  Different here!  Not the same there!  *throws up arms in disgust*

So, got a new book from my coach for Christmas - Hansons Marathon Method.  It is definitely a good read with actual science (Not sure if it's Science!, but it is science) behind the madness in training for marathons the Hanson way.  Anyways, I am going to try to adapt the marathon schedule from week 7 to 18 for my upcoming half marathon (that I still need to sign up for...<.<...>.>...)

Oh, and yes, I did fall short on the mileage for today; it turns out that I ran those quarters way too fast for my level, and my hamstring started complaining around mile 2.  I stopped and stretched at mile 3.5, and then decided to call it at mile 6.  No use injuring myself before I get started on my
Fancy new training schedule!  You may now return to your lives, citizens...

Merry Christmas!!

I wore this outfit for the last two miles.  I thought it best if I didn't wear it while doing those intervals; you know, suck that beard down my windpipe and choke to death out in the cold.  Not a good image for the kids at Christmas.

So, I barely made the first and last intervals, but I did, so..there.  I still had a hard time slowing down to my intended pace.  I might have to adjust my pace alarms to help with that, or adjust my pace goal down to what I'm running.  But that all will have to wait...Christmas is HERE!!!

Back to the beginning

And here we are again at the beginning of the training cycle with a new base pace - 10:27.  Once again, I'll reserve the right to change this pace if I find that I can't keep it up.  But for now, so far so good!  As you can see, I had a bit of a difficult time holding it down, in fact.  I'm sure that will change as I get the stuffings run out of me this week.

On another note, I have two guests in my house from Fairbanks, AK - my mother JoAnn and brother Brian.  Today is my mom's 70th birthday, and yesterday, my little brother David from Louisville, KY came up so that we could all be together for the first time in about 26 years.  Yeah, it was a pretty big deal.  We even got a photographer to document the occasion.

So the temp here has been in the thirties and forties, which is absolutely balmy when compared to -40 that mom and Brian have come from.  It's still a little cool for short sleeve runs, so I ran with a long sleeve shirt, gloves, and ear warmer.  I wore my underarmor shirt (by which I mean a spandex-like tight fitting undershirt.) and should have come back in for a second long sleeve shirt, but instead, I sucked it up and dealt with the cold.  Made me feel like a man...

Tomorrow, a very Merry Christmas to me with 4X1/4's.  yay...

5 with Jeff

Here's a run I did with my friend Jeff; he averages around 9-9:30 minute miles, so he was gracious enough to slow down a bit for me.  It was 24 degrees and sunny, so a great day for running!

I wore three layers up top and my leggings and shorts on bottom as well as gloves and ear warmer.

S-s-s-smokin'

With just a little more effort, this run would have placed me in the top ten of my age group for the Santa Hustle 5K; not bad, eh?  Now I'm curious what I could pull off in a race...

I'll probably run 5 on Friday or Saturday.  I'm working on a schedule to push my half marathon time down to 2 hours, as well as work in some shorter races for next year.  The next mini I'm thinking about doing is Mar 23rd.  I'm also thinking about doing the training series for the Festival 500 Mini Marathon.

Santa Hustle Half Marathon - Indy Version

A.  Yes, I did wear the Santa shirt and hat provided in the packet.
B.  No, I did not wear the beard that was provided.
C.  Yes, this is a PR. (!!!SoEXCITED!!!)

That's enough of the alphabet stuff.  I was a bit worried about the weather; it was supposed to be in the low fifties, which is right around the break point for ear protection and possibly gloves, not to mention underarmor stuff.

I brought all that gear to the race as I knew I wouldn't park that far from the Start line and could adjust right up to the beginning of the race.  I decided to try going with the long sleeve Santa shirt, the aforementioned hat, no gloves, and no ear protection (the Santa hat didn't come down over my ears - fat head...).

My warmup run was pretty good, so I decided to go with what I had on.  That was a good choice as I ended up rolling the sleeves up for a couple of miles during the race.

As you can see, the first half of my race was faster than the second by 20 seconds (not counting the last .12 miles), which, now that I think about it, isn't that bad.  The cool thing is that all my miles are within 19 seconds of each other; there might be something to this pace alarm thing!  This is the first race that I think I've run consistent times for my miles; all the other races, my times have varied by minutes, not seconds.

The interval work really paid off as I spotted the mile 13 sign about .1 miles away, so I kicked it into gear and carried it all the way to the end. 

I just checked the results:
Age Group (45-49): 32/45. At least I wasn't last...
Overall: 465/938.  TOP HALF!!!

Next half marathon goal? 2 hours, baby!!

Last 4 Miles

I was supposed to do 6 miles yesterday, but the work monster ate it up.  This was also scheduled, and I got off work in time to do it.  Yay.  This is also my last run before Sunday's Santa Hustle Half Marathon.

I reset my pace alarms for a particular window and then forgot to switch to that window for my run.  Consequently, I ran with the pace alarms for my last run, which was 10:36 minute miles.  Whoops.  I knew what I was supposed to run, so I was somewhat confused when the pace alarm went off below 11:00 min miles.  I figured it out on the last mile.  That's right, given a half an hour of a watch screaming at me at the wrong times, I'll finally realize what's going on.

Sharpest knife in the drawer here...

Cool Eight Kinda Faster

I know you're thinking that the title is my DJ name.  It isn't (that would be Def Jiggy Blowfish.)  No, rather, the title describes my run; weird, eh?

It was at the freezing point outside, so I bundled up with two layers of shorts, two layers of shirts, gloves, and ear/head band.  After two miles, I came back in the house and threw on another tech shirt, which turned out to be just perfect.

I'm starting to think about my mini this Sunday; I'm supposed to wear the provided beard, shirt, and hat.  I don't have a problem wearing the shirt, but the other two...I'll have to see them to make that determination.  I might have to pull the beard down into an Amish beard so that I'm not choking on it for 13.1 miles.

As for the hat, I'll have to see if it will come down over my ears just in case it's cold.  Or maybe see if it fits over my headband.  Or my elbow.  I'll let you know more after packet pickup on Saturday.

5-5-2 plan

I was feeling pretty good at the beginning of this run and even thought about keeping up the 9:54 pace the last two miles.  That was at the beginning...by mile 10 I was more than happy to slow down to the 11:00 pace.  Then, I had to keep pushing myself that last mile just to keep that pace up!

Whew!  That's the end of the hard training for the race on the 16th.  Next week is three runs - all of them somewhat easy.  Monday will be the hardest with 8 miles at a 10:36 pace.

I Eight Faster

I would have liked to do this run without stopping, but I put on the beef stew before I headed out and felt compelled to stop at 3 miles to check on it and 5 miles to add the potatoes and carrots.

I set my pace alarms for +/- 20 seconds off my pace goal, and I think I'm going to keep it there for future runs.  As you can see for yourself, my mile times are pretty tightly grouped within 4 seconds of each other!

Slighly Faster than Training Pace

Not sure what the 10 sec/mile change is all about, but it's on the schedule, so I ran it.

I made two adjustments to my routine.  One is I set my pace alarms for +/- 20 seconds from my pace goal instead of +/- 30 seconds.  I'll need more empirical data to determine if it's better for keeping on pace without having wild swings.

And two, I finally changed my Min/mile average to reflect hours:minutes:seconds instead of minutes.hundredths of minutes.  Not really sure why I didn't do that in the first place; probably Denali's fault.

World Record (Rusty version) Mile

There you go: Mile PR in 8:15.  /flex!  And, then to boot, some fast quarters!  I was a little worried that I would fail to meet my goal for a mile, then I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to pump out the quarters.  And then I was a little worried that all that worrying would cause a wart.

But all that ado about worrying was for naught.  Yay!  Tomorrow is an easy six miles. Double yay!

So, a tempo run, huh?

This is the pace that I am planning on running for 13.1 miles on Dec 16th.  Right now, that seems a bit out of reach, but I also have to factor in doing this on one days rest from a 12 mile run on Sat as well as the last week of intense training.  Next week will not be nearly as challenging before my race, and I'll get at least two days rest before Sunday.

This week is a bit of a taper as I only do 38 miles, but the intensity is definitely stepped up.  Tomorrow is a mile interval and two quarters with warm up/cool down miles.  Wed is an easy day with 6 miles at a slightly faster than training pace (10:50).  Thu is 8 miles at a 10:22 pace.  And Sat is 12 miles (5 miles at 11:00, 5 miles at 9:54, and two miles at 11:00.)

Today and Saturday's runs are the ones that worried me the most, so now that this one is in the books, I have a lot more confidence that I can complete Saturday's run at the prescribed paces.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and 70's today!!!  Another temptation to run nekkid, but wisdom won again and I wore short sleeves with my shorts.

Short Sleeve 12 In December!

It was in the 60's here in Indiana!  I thought I had run my last run this year in short sleeves, but once again, I was wrong.  And it's looking like I might get some more short sleeve runs in next week.  Yay!

Full disclosure: I made stops at 1 (talked with neighbors about fence), 3 (pit stop), and 7 (bloody nose).  I thought about making stops at 1, 2, 4, 7, and 12 but didn't know if you all would get the fibonacci reference, so I didn't.

That run wraps up 39 miles for the week.  So the last three weeks are 35+40+39=114 miles!  I think that's the most I've ever run over a three week span.  I got in 123 miles for November, and I feel great.  No body parts are injured or strained.  Yay!

Ate...Eight

That's pretty consistent; all miles are within 5 seconds of each other.  Now for a rest day tomorrow and 12 on Saturday.

This IS the Half of it

Or the half mile intervals of it, anyways.  That third interval, I had a watch malfunction that added a couple of seconds onto the time, otherwise, it would have been 4:10 or 4:09 (ok, I thought I hit lap then stop, but for some reason the watch didn't register them.)

At any rate, except for the slow half, all of these were faster than my last go-around of half intervals.  Yay.  Oh, and how about that consistency for my warmup/cooldown miles?  Rockin' it like a hurricane...

Somewhere during that third interval, I hit a pace that felt effortless.  I mean, I was running around an 8 min pace, but my breathing smoothed out, my legs kept churning, and I felt like I was motoring along with very little strain.

It was pretty weird in an awesome way.  It only lasted maybe 10 or 20 seconds, but while it did last, I was in bliss.  Maybe that's what's known as the runner's high?  I don't know, but it certainly was refreshing.

Another New Pace

...with about the same results as yesterday's new pace: failure!  That 10.27 average turns out to be 10:16, which is 6 seconds faster than I was shooting for.  Now, that said, I did clock my miles pretty consistently within 10 seconds of each other, so there's that.

Tomorrow is 5 miles with 2 of them being half mile intervals; I'm shooting for around 4:30 for a half mile.

A New Pace

So, I suppose I should be happy that I was faster than my intended pace, but I'm not really.  I did have somewhat of a difficult time nailing down this new pace as you can see.  Tomorrow isn't going to be any help as I'll be running another new pace: 10:22 for 6 miles.

Maybe if I run the whole thing gangnam style I'll hit my target.  Then again, I'd probably just hurt myself trying that newfangled stuff.

That's 40 Miles!

There you go: 40 miles in one week.  It was a brisk 29 degrees F when I started, but thankfully, it warmed up to 31 degrees F by the time I ended.

Once again, I'm happy with the consistency.  Starting next week, my pace starts getting faster for some runs; I think I'm ready!

Oyster....BURP!....dressing

Yes this run was about 1.5 hours after Thanksgiving dinner, and yes, I did make oyster (burp) dressing.  I stopped at (burp...oysters...) miles 4, 7, and 9 for various reasons (said goodbye to Jurell at mile 4, changed shoes at mile 7, and said goodbye to Brandy's grandpa (coach's father) at mile 9.)  burp.

The toughest part of this run (burp) was getting my food to settle in the first three miles.  Even after it had settled, the (burp) burps would still be my constant companion.  burp.  I mean, I really like oyster...BURP...dressing, but during a run, not all that much.

6

For some reason, I thought that I really struggled with keeping a consistent pace; the watch set me straight (and kept me on pace!)  Tomorrow, since I want to eat, I get to do 10.  Coach say, "NO TURKEY TROT FOR YOU!"

Oh, and I guess I wrote the schedule down wrong for yesterday.  I was supposed to run two warm up, one at 8:30, one easy, 2 X 1/4 in 2 mins, 1/2 easy.  Noted for next time.

How about those intervals?

I had a bit of a time slowing down to an 11 min pace those first two miles.  Not sure why, I guess I was anticipating the intervals.

Now, that fast mile is only 2 or 3 seconds off my fastest mile, so there's that.  I was also surprised by that first quarter.  I knew that I was bookin' it 'cause I was really winded when I stopped to recover, but I didn't think I was going that fast!  (If you didn't notice, I put my min/mile pace down there at the bottom for the two quarters.)

Full disclosure, I rested/recovered before each of the intervals including the mile.  I also took the time to change my pace settings for the different speeds that I was trying to attain, which worked out pretty good - especially for the mile.

A New Day One: 8 Miles

This run was almost tougher than Saturday's.  I'm not sure why, but it may have something to do with being up since 4:20 am (my normal workday rising time.)  I know I need to get more sleep, so I'm planning on hitting the hay around 9 tonight.

I'm liking the consistency that I'm seeing in the pacing; of course, I'm checking my watch every couple of seconds to make sure I'm on pace, so there's that...

Tomorrow I have two miles @ 11 min/mile, one mile in 8:45, 2 X 1/4 @ 2 mins, 1.5 miles @ 11 min/mile.

Day 5: Just 10 Miles...

And that's 35 miles in one week.  I was wrong on the 7 or 8 mile gut check...it was at 2.5 miles.  I felt various parts of my body complain for periods of time.  Just about the time my right leg stopped complaining about being sore, the left one would start up.  Whine whine whine.

I am going to keep the pace at the faster one.  So I'll just have one schedule note for the remainder of the schedule.  Don't freak out!!!  Be prepared to not see the darker green schedule.  I'm warning you so that you can steel yourself for the shock.  To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

And now, since that run was worth 1500 calories...it's time to eat!!!

Day 4: GUT CHECK!

And here is where my father in law is trying to kill me.  My fourth day in a row of running - the second workout this week of intervals.  As you can see, I maintained the pace in light green, so I take some responsibility in the killing of myself.

I knew that this particular run would be the most difficult as I would be running on sore, tired legs, and I was right.  The intervals weren't all that bad, but the 2.5 miles after were gut check time.  Did I have it in me to run through the aches and complete the training run?  Yes...yes I did.

More and more, I'm finding a discipline in my training.  At the beginning, I have to hold myself back to run the pace set before me; at the end of a run, I have to do the same thing as I want to finish strong and fast.

But finishing strong and fast in a training run doesn't accomplish the purpose of these runs!  I am shooting for consistency, for a steady pace at a set mile/min.  This has been especially important as I could have easily burned myself out at the beginning of the week and been unable to complete this run at the prescribed paces.

Now for a day off!  I'm thinking that I will have another gut check around mile 7 or 8 on Saturday, but I also think that the training, both physical and mental, will get me through to 10 miles.  Then a day off and start all over again!  Whoop!

Day Three: 7 Miles

Here's where the rubber meets the road.  Could I maintain 11 minute miles after the last two days runs.  As you can see, the answer is yes.  Tomorrow should be easier as I can rest after each of my 4:30 half mile intervals. 

Full disclosure: I stopped at 1 and 3 miles to make clothing adjustments which entailed more than a couple minutes rest.

So, three days in a row; that's my highest number of consecutive days running, I believe.  And I run tomorrow, so that should be a new record for consecutive days.  Yeah, I know, big whoop.

Day Two: Five miles with Intervals

I really need to figure out my watch.  I set up this workout and forgot that unless I separate out each mile into a different step, the watch doesn't mark the time for each mile.  So I need to edit my interval workout to add a step right after mile one to...run another mile at the same pace. 

What you get is a total of the two miles at the beginning and the end of the run.  I was pretty surprised that they were within a second of each other.  I've really been trying to maintain a steady pace and not speed up as I get to the end of the run.

And how about those intervals?  The schedule calls for an 8 minute pace; I ended up with anywhere from a 7:12 to a 7:28 pace.  I rested until my heart rate had dropped below 100 after each interval instead of what I've been doing (walking for the next quarter mile.)  I sure like the results better doing them this way.

A New Beginning

This is the beginning of a new training schedule that targets a 2:17 finish time for a half marathon on Dec 16.  The darker green is the pace that Michael set up for me; the lighter green is the pace that I will try out for this week instead of the slower pace. 

I plan on reworking the pacing on the rest of the schedule to provide alternate, faster, pacing for as long as I can keep it up.  If I'm struggling to get in the miles at the faster pace, then I'll fall back on the slower pace.  By my calculations, if I'm able to train at the faster paces, I should be able to get down to a 10 min pace for my mini.  We'll see.

Ludicrous Speed

That five miles was faster than my single five mile race.  Of course, I was pretty winded at the end, so I think I'm approaching the limit of my endurance as far as this pace is concerned. 

My father in law/coach has sent me an aggressive running schedule to prep me for a PR in my next half marathon on Dec 16th.  I haven't looked at it yet, but I'm sure it's gonna be a butt kicker.

Recovery Run? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Recovery Run!

I think I've been sandbagging.  Maybe I've just been being careful not to strain myself or maybe I was worried about not being able to finish a run at a faster pace.  Or maybe, I was just being lazy.  If I were a betting man...I would bet the latter.

Of course, this run comes on three days rest and not an insignificant amount of unintentional carb loading, still, I think that I can safely lower the pace alarms on my runs.

To Do:
1. Sign up for the Santa Hustle Half Marathon on Dec 16.
2. Put together a schedule that includes lots of speed work.
3. Turn in a PR time on Dec 16.
4. Brag about PR on Dec 16 (must occur after Dec 16)
5. Break arm patting self on back about #4
6. Spend time being pampered by favorite nurse.
7. Repeat 1-6.

Sounds like a plan!

Monumental Redemption

Ah.  That feels good.  After two demoralizing half marathons, this result is exactly what the doctor ordered.  Of course, the weather was just about perfect (high 30's to low 40's, cloudy), and I was determined to make a better showing than I did in May.

I set my pace alarms at 12 and 11 minutes/mile and made sure that I responded to them with no exceptions...for the first 6.5 miles.  At the half way point, I let loose the legs and ran what was comfortable, which happened to be right around 11 minute miles.

At the 10 mile point, a young lady by the name of Audrey came up behind me and asked me what my planned finish time was.  I responded with 2:30, to which she said, "I'd better pick it up."

So I asked her what time she was shooting for and she said 2:25.  Well, since it was only three miles to go, I decided to pick up the pace with her and told her so.  You can see that mile 11 was the fastest to that point, and by the time we hit the mile marker, Audrey mentioned that we had already sped up quite a bit.

So, for the last two miles, we did sub 10 minute miles with me shouting encouragement to her, which in turn spurred me on.  It really was great to help someone achieve their goal and in so doing, do better than I expected.  At mile 13, I did what I normally do: sprint.  I turned my legs over as quickly as I could and crossed the finish line at a 7 minute/mile pace.

Audrey did make her goal as she was a minute behind me when she crossed the starting line. And, yes, I do take credit for her time as we left her running partner in the dust.  She deserves just as much credit for my time also as I don't think I would have picked it up that much if she hadn't unwittingly laid down the gauntlet.

Some side notes:  I didn't stop to hit the potty while on the course.  This is a first, so my official time and my unofficial time are within two seconds of each other.  I GU'd before the race and at the 6.5 mile point.  My newish underwear was perfect, and I experienced no chaffing.  I took water at three or four stations and Gatorade at one, with none of them coming after mile 8.  Thinking about running the Santa Hustle Half on Dec 16.

Three miles and rest

Here's the last run before Saturday's mini-marathon.  I tried to practice keeping it at my race pace and was pretty successful.

So, today starts the carbing up.  Yay!  I get to eat! I'm still counting calories, but I'm going to relax the limit.  I'm thinking 2500, but I might go higher.  I just have to remember to get back on the wagon on Sunday.

For those of you who are playing the home version of "The Nutjob  Loses", I have lost 8.6 lbs in three weeks.  Weighed in at 195 this morning.

Windy 5 Miler

23 mph wind from the NNW.  Sure, it was 49 degrees, but I'm glad I wore my underarmor shirt, ear warmers and gloves.  I reckon it something called "wind chill."  It's the outskirts of hurricane Sandy.  Yay!  Do I get a participant ribbon?

Almost Forgot

to post this.  That's like doing your homework and not turning it in (something both of my boys were guilty of growing up.)

It was rainy, windy, and chilly.  In short, perfect weather!

Easing back into it

It's 77 degrees out and sunny; couple that with the grueling 12 on Monday, and you get an easy three miles.

Well, mix in the cutest little puppy in the world, some dump trucks, a good deal of sweat running down my face, and a wave to the Army helicopter guy as he drove down the road (in his truck, not his Blackhawk that he regularly buzz-bombs the neighborhood with), then you get an easy three miles, or at least my version of it.

Now that THAT's done...

Twelve miles with stops at 2, 4, and 9 for stretching.  Finally, I got it in.  Then as a reward, my ungrateful calf muscle decided to make me scream like a little girl when it cramped up while I was sitting on the floor recuperating.  You know, you take these muscles on a nice run, drink G2 Perform 02 on the run to replace electrolytes, and this is how they repay you.

I ought to bench it for the half marathon; that's what I ought to do.  Don't think that option is off the table...I can grab a pot roast off the shelf at Target to replace you, Mr. Triceps Surae.  Think on that while you're causing me pain!

5 in southern Indiana

Two years ago, I ran five miles at this same location.  Well, I ran and walked five miles last time (here's the post); this time was a bit faster, and I ran the whole thing.  Yay on me.

I didn't have any cramping in my left leg, so that's good.  I also think I'll be running 12 miles on Monday after work so that I get it in before my mini-marathon on Nov 3rd.  I'm confident that I can make the distance running, I'm not so crazy about how much time I gave myself to prepare for it.  I should have started earlier and built more time into the schedule.  Note for next time, I suppose.

I'm thinking of doing another mini before the end of the year; it's the Santa Hustle 5K and Half Marathon.It looks like it would be fun (free beard!!) (ok, not free, 'cause the race costs) (but...BEARD!!!)  Of course, I'd try to ruin the fun by racing, so there's that...

Ouch

I think I strained my left quad last night.  I tried stretching throughout the day and stopped after two miles to give it a good stretch, but I still felt I should stop after three miles.  I soaked for a bit in the tub and will apply heat on it this evening.

I'm supposed to run 6 tomorrow or Thursday or Saturday and 12 on Friday.  I'll see if it feels better tomorrow, but if it doesn't I don't have any problem doing the 12 on Friday and skipping the 6 altogether.

Sigh, suppose I shouldn't have tried dancing gangnam style...

Sunset into Night run

So, since I'm counting calories, I figured I'd run this after dinner; any food that I left on the road due to regurgitation I get to add back to the total for the day!  So not only do I get calorie credits for the mileage, but also I get them for any technicolor yawns that may come with the run.  Score!

Unfortunately, I only got to count the 1200 or so calorie credits; I didn't have to talk to Ralph on the big white telephone.  Not that I carry a commode around with me for such purposes.  I'm just sayin'.

Anyways, I'm off to eat some Crisco.  Just because I can!

FORE!

Part of this run was through a golf course.  About a half a mile in, I realized why people don't run through golf courses; thankfully, I didn't have any close calls with flying objects, but I did get plenty of strange looks from the golfers.

Yesterday, I committed $70 to run the Monumental Half Marathon, and since I'm a cheap skate, you know this will provide that extra bit of motivation to stick to the schedule and make sure I'm trained up.

On another note, I have successfully stuck to my 2000 calorie diet for the last three days; I get calorie credits for running, so Wed and Thu were fairly easy to stay within the budget.  Friday, however, was a different animal as I didn't do any running; that was a bit more difficult and took some real planning to meet the goal.

Today, though, I can eat pretty much as much as I want!  That little run there gave me a 1500 calorie credit, YEE HAW!!!  I've already had second breakfast and am looking forward to eating Thai tonight.  Thai iced tea, Mee-ga-tee, fried spring rolls, chicken satay.  Mmmm, Mmmm, good!

I might just go downstairs and eat a stick of butter just because I can!

5K practice

I set out to keep the pace at 10 min/mile or lower with the goal of finishing 3 miles under 30 minutes.  As you can see, I was successful in meeting this goal.  I added on the tenth at the end just to see where I'd end up at for a 5K.  Not even close to my fastest race 5K, but this is also after running 6 yesterday and 5 w/intervals on Monday.  I think I could do much better than this with 5 days rest as I would have before a race.

On another note, I have to sincerely thank Dave over at BigManRunning.  I kinda thanked him yesterday for the link to the calorie counter, but I didn't realize how much this tool can help me get control over my eating.  As you all can tell, I'm a numbers guy, so being able to put in the food I eat and get numbers back with a budget type balance sheet really appeals to me.  I'm already trying to figure out how to keep within my allotted 2K calorie limit when we go out for Thai tomorrow night.

Windy 6 Miles

Those first 5 miles were pretty consistent, eh?  I was trying to get below 1:03:00, but just missed it as you can see.  All in all, another good run with nice mid 50's temp and sunny.  The wind was a bit brisk coming from the WNW (just looked and it's about 20 mph), but thankfully, most of my route is North/South.

On another note, thanks to Dave over at Bigmanrunning, I counted my caloric intake for the very first time in my life.  I used everydayhealth.com's calorie counter and was somewhat surprised at what is a typical meal plan for me.  It added up to around 2770 calories.  That's fine for the days I run, but on those other days, I think I might have to cut back a bit.

More intervals

About 5 minutes faster than last week due to only walking 1/10th of a mile after my quarter race pace.  All in all, this was another good workout on another beautiful, sunny day.  I think I'm getting close to committing to that half marathon on Nov 3rd...

BOOYA!!!

Eight miles and I had enough in the tank for that sub 10 min mile at the end.  Yes!!  I love having runs like this one, where I feel like I have plenty of energy, I manage my pace to achieve a negative split from the first half to the second, and it's sunny and cool outside.

I set my pace alarms at 12 and 11 min/mile, and as you can see, I kept in that range the first 5 miles.  It was my goal to run the last three miles faster than 11 minute miles and the last one under 10 minutes.

The temp outside was a cool 45 degrees, but there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so it felt warmer than that.  I still wore long sleeves and an ear warmer.

I've been waffling on the Nov 3rd half marathon, but after this run, I think I'm on track to do better than my previous two halfs.  I shouldn't have to worry about the heat sapping my will to run...hopefully...

1000th published post and 10-4 good buddy

So, this is my 1000th post that the world has seen (I have three half baked posts that I should just delete.)  Anyways, it was a beautiful day here in Indy, so I took Denali out on that first mile.  Notice how I slid that in there - the explanation of why mile 1 was slow; yeah, I'm pretty slick that way.

Now for a day rest before hitting that eight miler that I should have done last week.  I need to check the weather forecast to see what's in store for that day.  I've got places to be at 7 am and 10 am, so I think the earliest I can get it in is around noon.  Of course, I don't want to run on a full stomach, so lunch would push the run back to two or so.  Or, I could snack on something around 10, run around noon, and push lunch to 2 or 3.  Or maybe make it another snack at 2 or 3.  I got options.

Intervals on a whim

The last time I did quarter mile intervals was April 18th; these times are a bit off from that run.  But, it was a good run, and I feel better for it!