It's been a while

I haven't blogged about running since Thursday but I have ran twice since then; just this week.

This past weekend saw me heading down to Dayton, OH. I was going to bring my running clothes with me but decided against it. Good thing too. The time change did me in. I went to be at 1am EST (which is midnight my time) and got woken up at 6am EST and finally got up dragging my feet at 8am. Ugh. I don't think I could have woken up any earlier and ran. And it was really icky out that morning.

The next time I ran was Monday night. I signed up for 45 minutes at the YMCA (which you're not supposed to do), 15 minutes after I got on (at 4:30p) and was set to leave the treadmill at 5:30p (so yes I cheated). I ran a little bit of a speed work unexpecdtly the first time but then I kept it up.
0.0-0.75mi - 6.5mph - 9:14min/mi
0.75-1.0mi - 7.0mph - 8:34min/mi
1.0-1.75mi - 6.5mph - 9:14min/mi
1.75-2.0mi - 7.1mph - 8:27min/mi
2.0-2.75mi - 6.5mph - 9:14min/mi
2.75-3.0mi - 7.2mph - 8:20min/mi
3.0-3.75mi - 6.5mph - 9:14min/mi
3.75-4.0mi - 7.3mph - 8:13min/mi
4.0-4.75mi - 6.5mph - 9:14min/mi
4.75-5.0mi - 7.4mph - 8:06min/mi

Now by the end, I was getting ti-red! But I held out and decided that I could squeeze in another mile in my allotted time. Then this lady comes over at 5:15p saying that she has my treadmill at 5:15p. I didn't object, I figured that they caught on and erased my last time slot initials and she got in there. So I speed up just a little to hurry up and get in my 5 miles. 45 minutes almost exactly! Average of 9 minute miles! So I get off and walk over to the sheet. Nope, there's my three initials, saying that I have it until 5:30p. So I walk back over to her, she's already on the treadmill and I tap her on the shoulder and get her attention and then tell her. She scoffs at me and I explain that the first time slot is when you start. You don't start at the time in the row before you sign up. She offers to get off and I tell her it's too late. I've already stopped, and you've started. I just wanted to let you know how it works. And I was all excited to run 6 miles. I got in the zone again on the treadmill. Doesn't happen often you know.

This morning, I packed my bag for another run at the Y. Then I got to work and realised that my socks were still at home. So I decided that since today was a nice enough day I'd run outside. Came home, changed and out I went.

My Nike+ is really irritating lately. So I re-calibrated it to match my Garmin. 1 mile exactly. Then I started it again and kept on running. Unfortunately, at the end it was a full .1 mile over my real distance. Usually it was .1 under my real distance. I think this was because I was cold when I started running and I was shuffling so my feet weren't picking up a whole lot. Then at the end, I was warmed up and feeling good so then my stride was longer and it just messed it up somehow.

I was thinking of bringing my camera on the run but decided against it. Especially since I will have my iPod in my hand to calibrate it. But of course, wouldn't you know, I saw a lot of deer today. I was running in the road, around half mile into it, I came around a small turn and there were 3 deer crossing the road and cars were stopped coming from the other direction. 2 does & 1 buck. I jog closer and I see that they are joining another deer already in the woods. Then I look at where they came from and I see another doe & buck. The buck looked funny because he was missing half his antlers! They were staring at me and as soon as I passed them, they ran behind me and to their waiting friends. Later on the trail itself, about 2 miles into the run, I saw more deer in the woods. I counted 4 but they blended into the trees very well. Digging through the snow and one was scratching it's head.

All together it was a good run. I also remembered a few things on my run to pack for this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend. I will out of town again in St. Louis probably until Saturday or Sunday. So all running will be by ear. No running Wednesday as I'd be driving down. I might be able to squeeze in a 3 mile run on Thursday morning before 9am. Then on Friday afternoon I could run, if I needed to. Saturday morning I definitely want to get in a long run. I want to run 10 miles. I don't think I could run on Grant's Trail since it runs through a couple big roads and that's a lot of stopping. But I could go up to the Creve Coeur Lake again and run there. I really dig that place! I will have to remember to bring stuff with me; gels & Gatorade and water bottles.

Like I said all playing it by ear. I will bring plenty of variety of clothes with me because there is also the option of running at the YMCA as well. It never seems that busy and I could hit that up on Friday if I needed it. Then Monday & Tuesday will be in southern Illinois so that will be outside somewhere, either in Dix or Bluford.

It's gonna totally mess up my marathon training. After this weekend, I have all of March to get up to 20 miles run. I have no idea how since I haven't even done double digits yet! This marathon is soooo gonna suck. Hardc0re.

Activity Route: -- Elev. Avg: 860 ft Location: DeKalb, IL Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 02/24/09 Up/Downhill: [+209/-209] Time: 04:38 PM Difficulty: 3.0 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 36 F temp; 69% humidity 36 F heat index; winds S 15 Performance Distance: 4.40 miles Time: 0:39:43 Speed: 6.6 mph Pace: 9' 02 /mi Heart Rate: 171 bpm (Avg) Calories: 468 180 bpm (Peak) Map Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 50 -0' 12 6.8 +0.1 164 +23 ft 2 9' 11 +0' 09 6.5 -0.1 168 -7 ft 3 9' 24 +0' 22 6.4 -0.3 172 +13 ft 4 8' 55 -0' 07 6.7 +0.1 175 -3 ft end 8' 13 -0' 49 7.3 +0.7 176 -26 ft Versus average of 9' 02 min/mile

Posted from bimactive.com

Categories: Ballwin, deer, DeKalb Nature Trail, nike+, speed work, travel, treadmill runs

It's been too long since I talked about running

Tomorrow evening I finish my Old Chicago World Beer Tour #2. Only took me 2 years to finish 110 beers with driving 40 miles one way for it. HAHA. It'll be good.

I've been swimming this week for cross-training purposes. I got in the pool on Tuesday, did some laps and spent a total of 30 minutes in the pool. I was expecting to be more sore on Wednesday but nada. Was in the pool again tonight. Only spent 20 minutes this time but that was because Zach in the next lane swam 22 laps in a row and totally showed me up. I can only swim 3 laps in a row. I blame the fact that I have no goggles. So I'm buying goggles this weekend or next week.

Next week cross-training will be biking. My legs will be more sore after that. I like the recumbent bike better. I can read or watch tv better and it's easier on my ass. I go for like 7 or 8 miles on that in 30 minutes. It's a pretty good sweat workout.

I'm hoping to lose 10 pounds. It'll help with the running, if I'm more svelt. I don't want to lose it for the body image but to help me run. So maybe it's not the weight I want to lose but instead the bulk around my hips, thighs and stomach. We'll see if it happens. I highly doubt it. Three years ago I was 15 pounds less than what I am now but I was also younger too. I don't know what I did to lose it but I did. I think it was the working nights and driving an hour to work.

I'm also doing a few sets of weights after running on the treadmill. Nothing too big and fancy. Just working the tricep (a problem area), the hamstring lift (I need to make that stronger for running) and free weights curls for the biceps (my skinny arms need to get stronger).

I saw an orthopedic last week. He told me that I'm incredibly flexible which is why I'm having problems with my wrists. But he said what will help me with that is strengthening up the forearm. So I have to look into getting a squeezy thingy for those muscles. I can work those at home. This guy I know just does it while he's watching tv and his forearms are HUGE. So I'm hoping that will keep my wrists good as I have a cyst back in my bad one and my one good wrist is painful as of late.

I'm also training for the St. Jude Children's Hospital Half Marathon for later on this year. It'll be in December. Someone from work motivated me enough to get excited about the stupid thing. It's in Memphis. Here's a map of the route. I have a regimen to follow for 16 weeks. I started it this past Monday and I only run 3 times a week. That seems way less that what I should run to me but I up my long run mileage by a mile each week. It has tempo runs (which is slightly faster than your estimated HM pace) and speed work (in which you run like a mile fast - mines is at 8:06) and easy/long runs done at a pace slower than your HM pace (mine is 10 minutes). I've never really done those before. I always just ran a straight steady pace which might be why I only run at that pace.

I got this schedule from Runner's World. I subscribed to it 2 months ago and it's been really helpful. I totally look forward to it every month. It has good articles about running, shoes, strides, food, etc.

For the past two Friday's, I've been running at lunch because I usually end up staying until 7pm to get our weekend classified sections out. I can't explain why but it sucks. Luckily, because tomorrow is my WBT finish, I'm leaving at 5pm, I don't care and I'm not running. It's a rest day for me! With a 6 mile run on Saturday. :-)

I've been planning my camping weekends for this summer. I'm totally looking forward to Alton/Grafton and then sometime to Wisconsin. I also plan an overnight trip to Springfield. It's been way too long since I've been to our state capital. I like Abraham Lincoln a lot. My dad is also going to come up here for a week of camping in August. I'm excited about that. He's actually staying in Sycamore too so he'll be close to me! Unfortunately, since all my vacation time is all ready locked in, I can't take any of those days off but I'll find stuff to do with him during the week. May lose out on a few training days. We'll see.

I swear, if I see one more story or hear of another newscast or commercial about the iPhone (which is all I'm seeing on NBC tonight), I'm going to scream. I can't even go to some of my favourite geek sites because all they have are links and articles about this iPhone. How not to be jealous of the iPhone, how to make your phone look like the iPhone, how the iPhone stands up to other phones, finding Wi-Fi spots with your iPhone, how the lines are building for the iPhone launch, the fact that the iPhones are arriving and being unpacked. I want to stage a sit-in in protest over this hype that they are having over this new device. I'm sick of it. SICK. OF. IT. People were complaining about the overexposure of Paris Hilton. Well, how about this iPhone?!?! I'll end on that note.

Categories: camping, iPhone, orthopedic, Runner's World, speed work, St. Jude Half Marathon, swimming, travel, weight, work