The End of the Week Recap 1/31/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  I did 21.28 miles at an average of 8:31/mile.  I did 50 minutes of cross-training, which were mostly kettleball, dumbell and body weight exercises.  My weight has dropped to 160.8!  I attribute the weight loss to my long run at the end of last week and 2 hard tempo runs this week.  This week saw the temperatures drop into the 40's and by the weekend we were in the 20's and 30's with 6 inches of snow.  I'm learning to handle the 40 degree weather fairly well, but the 30's and the ice are still gamebreakers for me. So no long run past 8 miles.  I was planning another run around PWP, but the ice dashed those thoughts.  As far as my weight loss, I'd say that my diet/food journal was helping, but I gave up on that 2 days after starting it.  Instead, I've decided to count servings of the major food groups.  I'm trying to stick to 2 servings of each major food group per day, but I can do more than 2 servings for fruit and vegetables.  This hasn't been too bad so far, but I've noticed that once the weekend hits, I tend to fall behind on my fruit and veggie servings and go over on my protein/lean meat servings. On a final note, today is supposed to be a rest day, but I may add in 20 minutes of light stretching and body weight exercises.  I hate that I've made up so much ground since the fall, just to see it all fall to the wayside due to the inclement weather.  One final training note:  I'm toying around with the idea of keeping my long runs down to 11-13 miles for now.  Instead of upping my mileage, I'll up my speed for that mileage each week.  This should accommodate my already crammed schedule, and help me work on my pacing and endurance.  I already know that I can do 26.2 miles, but I need really work on my speed.  I'll have to get in at least a couple 18 milers before the marathon in April, but 2 should be plenty as long as I'm getting faster on the 13 milers.  Okay, I'm off to stretch in front of the boob tube.  Have fun and run hard!

The Snow Ninja Experience

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Earlier today, I thought about posting how I hated the snow and how it was interfering with my training schedule, and for the record, I do and it did.  Let me repeat:  A little brown man from a little island in the Pacific does not like snow and ice.  I had planned to get in another 11 miles at PWP, but thanks to the snow and ice, I can't even leave my driveway.  To be fair, I'm dumb enough to make a trip out to PWP, but even if I somehow managed not to slip and slide down any of the numerous hills in PWP, I doubt that I would survive the beating from my wife when I came back.  Instead I got in an easy 3 miles.  Of course it was only easy in terms that I ran slow, slow, slowly.  Running in the snow and ice was like running in mud.  My steps felt heavy and plodding.  This experience wasn't helped by the fact that I had to bundle up so heavily that I could barely move my arms or legs.  No lie, it felt like that I had added another 5 lbs to my body with my trail shoes and 3 layers of clothes.  I did get pretty warm around mile 1.5 so I had to take off my red pullover.  The upside to this move was that I was rocking the running ninja look.  Awesome.  Now for the hard numbers:  3.15 mile easy run at 9:53/mile.  Geek Tip:  In honor of ninja day, I give you this review.  As manga goes, Naruto is a great read for runners.  Naruto has gained a lot of mainstream attention thanks to Cartoonnetwork.  Basically it's the story of a kid who's trying very hard to be the best ninja that he can be.  He's not the best or most skilled, but he does have a secret power.  He also has lots of guts and determination.  If Pre were a ninja, he would have been Naruto.  Naruto doesn't give up and isn't afraid to put it on the line to accomplish his goals.  He locks onto his goal, digs deep into his secret power, and usually manages to come out on top.  If that isn't a metaphor for runners, I don't know what is.  Okay kids, I need to go warm up my toes.  Have fun and run hard!

The Endorphin Recurrence

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  For those of you who keep up with  this blog (all three of you), you may notice that today's post is somewhat similar to the one that I did last week.  There is a good reason for that.  I'm an unimaginative hack.  I would apologize for this trait, but let's face it, I doubt anyone will notice.  Today I had one of those runs that went so well and felt so good that I almost regretted finishing my run.  Still, I did pull a Forrest Gump and ran another 2 miles more than I needed to run.  Afterwards, I was tired and cold (the weather guys are calling for another Tennessee Blizzard.  ;p), but I was energized.  The runner's high felt great and had me feeling like Superman.  Usually after a run, I'm ready to pass out from exhaustion, but today, I was jumping off the walls.  When I got home, I was still riding endorphins, so I decided to "step" for the Girl.  My 5 year old thought it was so funny that she was giggling uncontrollably.  Did I mention that I can't actually step?  I imagine that I looked somewhat like an uncoordinated, blind clown...without rhythm.  Very sad. What was even worse was that I may have strained a muscle that I'm very fond of.  Sad, but funny.  Now for the hard numbers:  8 mile tempo run at 7:53/mile.  Geek tip:  The Star Wars franchise is making another foray into the MMO market with Star Wars the Old Republic.  This time it looks like they're doing it right by using Bioware to develop the game.  Bioware has made some of the best computer role-playing games around, and they have had plenty of experience with the Star Wars Universe.  There's no release date yet, but they are taking applications to beta test the game.  I haven't gotten the call yet to try out my lightsaber in the game, but if they call, I'll be ready!  Okay kids, I need to go ice my groin.  Have fun and run hard!

The Cold-Recovery Run Confluence

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  One would think that after a hard 11.2 mile run through Percy Warner Park yesterday that I might decide to rest today.  Well that just goes to show what you know!  After all, that run was last week, and this being Monday is the start of a whole brand-spanking new and shiny week.  But to show that I'm not a complete idiot (despite what my lovely wife thinks at times, particularly when the Boy's science fair proposal is due), I decided to make today a recovery run.  Just a nice and easy run around downtown...in the snow!  Yes, dear readers...in the snow!  Let's recap very quickly.  Old, little guy from a small island in the Pacific near the equator.  Me no like-y cold!  Dammit!  But to be fair, it didn't really snow...it just flurried and didn't stick.  And it was around 40 degrees, and in my cold gear, I got warm very quickly.  But dammit, it was just 60 degrees yesterday!  Sigh.  I can't wait for spring and summer to get here, so that I can really amp up my training.  Still, I will admit that there is something very cool and romantic about running as the snow falls down around you.  Now for the hard numbers:  4.75 miles at 9:16/mile.   I would have preferred an easy run at under 9:00/mile, but I was feeling some slight pain in my right shin.  With that kind of pain, it just made sense to take it easy, work on my base mileage for the week, and let my body recover from yesterday.  Local Geek Tip:  If you need a comic book store (and let's face it, who doesn't), then I would suggest Rick's Comic City on Old Lebanon Road.  I've been going there for years now.  Rick is a good guy and he runs a family store.  I used to shop at Great Escape, but honestly I always felt that the comics were second banana to the music and videos there.  Rick's is a true comic store with a great variety of new titles and good amount of backstock.  Plus you can get graphic novels, manga, collecting supplies, toys, shirts, and statutes there also.  Rick runs a decent discount for his subscription customers, and he knows his comics as well as his customers.  Good comic book stores are hard to find (trust me, I know), and honestly Rick's is one of the best.  So say we all.  Okay kids, I need to do some Iron Gym before I crash.  Have fun and run hard.

End of the Week Recap 1/24/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  This week I logged 31.28 miles at an average of 9:01/mile.  I did 55 minutes of cross-training.  My weight looks to be in the 163 range still.  The most noteworthy accomplishment for the week was that I got in a real long run.  I did one 11.2 mile loop around the Main Drive at Percy Warner Park at 9:02/mile.  The last time that I did just the Main Drive was back on 9/26/09 and I ran it at 9:04/mile.  Overall, it appears that my run today was a very modest improvement, but I think that it was actually a huge improvement considering that I haven't run over 8 miles since the Clarksville Half-Marathon back in November. Honestly it was all I could do to get out of bed and slug out that run in the cool drizzle today, but I made myself do it.  I'm very glad that I did it too even though I was cursing myself for my stupidity as I dragged myself through PWP.

A quick shoot out and congratulations to Phoebe Wright for her 1st place finish in the 800m with a time of 2:04:00 at the Virginia Tech Hokie Invitational.  Phoebe is the daughter of a fellow law school student, and I can say that I remember her when.  You can read more about her win here.

Okay, now it's late and I'm really, really tired.  So I'm out.  Have fun and run hard!

The Health Convert Equation

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  This week I spent helping a compadre start his running program, I got in a few miles, and I taunted several of my co-workers for being wimps.  My buddy, Kevin, has decided to get back into shape.  Kev is doing it for health reasons, to shed some pounds and get back into fightin' trim.  So to help him along, I guilted and harassed him till he agreed that it really wasn't too cold to go outside and run.  It may have helped that he had nothing else to do on his lunch hour (other than eat), so he gave in.  I took him out and we did an easy mile and a half.  I wanted to make sure that he enjoyed the run and didn't overdo it like other people (like myself).  I must have worked because he grabbed another run the next day.  While I'm glad that he enjoyed it, I was concerned that he might push himself too hard and either hurt himself or ignore the rest/recovery part of working out.  But he despite some soreness, he did okay and rested the next day.  Today we did close to 2 miles up some tough hills.  He was winded, but afterwards he told me that he felt energized.  I know what he means.  Even after a hard workout or a ridiculous amount of miles, I still get that feeling of power and energy that pumps me up and makes me think that I can go do more.  You know that feeling of adrenaline that rushes to your head and makes you want to go farther, run faster, keep pushing to see if you can ride that high just a little bit longer.  I love that feeling.  Sadly I'm at that point in my training that I really have to push myself, otherwise I might cheat and coast through a workout without getting much benefit at all.  To prove my point, I went to the Y this week with some friends from work.  We did this ridiculous abs class that had me falling off a bosu ball through half the class and grunting as I tried to lift my legs higher into the air the other half.  My butt was sore, my abs were tight, and my legs felt like jelly (I know because jam don't shake like that), but after all that, I still put in a fast 5 miles.  It reminded me a lot of a long race.  That point in the race where you know that you're over the hump and you think that if you can tough it out you can finish strong.  It's that point in the race when your adrenaline is pushing you forward and all conscious thought has left your brain except that lone desire to finish fast.  Man, I love that feeling, and I just hope that I can get more people to share that feeling.  But maybe unlike me they won't have to go down the road that I've chosen.  As I told Beth, my friend Tiffany's sister, that pain is my friend and running buddy.  It teaches me what I can take and rewards me with those natural endorphins that flood my brain to mask whatever terrible thing that I'm doing to my body at the time.  Mmmm.  Good times, good times.  All right, enough of the crazy talk.  The hard numbers:  2 runs today.  1 with my friend 1.84 miles at 12:23/mile and then another 1.4 miles at 8:14/mile by myself.  Okay kids, run hard and have fun!

The Weight Loss Control

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  We're three full weeks into the New Year, and I've determined that my plan of more exercise and less eating is going less than stellar.  It's not terrible either.  As a matter of fact, my weight has firmly stayed exactly where I started.  All right, technically I've dropped .6 of a pound, but that's not statistically relevant enough, at least for me.  So the next step is the one that I'd been hoping to avoid, but now I have to admit the unavoidable.  I have to keep a food journal.  Ugh.  I hate writing that stuff down and keeping up with calories.  Double ugh.  But if I want to really make this whole weight loss goal work, I need to take some responsibility for the things that I put into my body.  What a pain.  But you gotta do what you gotta do.  After all, winners win.  Losers make excuses.  Besides if it was easy, everyone would do it.  Time to give 110%.  Whew.  I think that's all the trite cliches that I have left.  Now for the hard numbers:  4.02 miles at 8:08/mile.  It was a speed day, so I did a fartlek down to Church Street.  Of course, I was wearing new shoes and now I have a ridiculous blister on my foot.  Oh well.  Geek tip: The Green Lantern family of books and the Blackest Night mini-series is one of the best series I've read in a long time.  The whole zombie chic is a bit played out, but Geoff Johns has managed to make this zombie story viable.  Okay kids, have fun and run hard!