June 28, 4 Miles, 2 Tired Legs

today was the third day in a row that i ran because i pushed my monday run to tuesday and i have a long run on saturday that i can't miss so i didn't want to run on friday. i could tell my legs were a little tired. i climbed up the hill to 2.5 miles and made it 5 seconds faster than yesterday. once again after coming back down the hill is when my legs felt most tired. today i ran 4 miles in 39:45, a 9:56 pace. not to mention it was about 96 degrees when i started and 94 when i finished. i thought it would have been cooler since i waited until 7:40pm to begin the run. but i could tell something was going on because i was having a hard time breathing. once again i finished just as it was getting dark. thought of the day: i am not sure why cars do not slow down or get over further when they see a runnner running on the road. i try to stay really close to the white line when i see a car coming and sometimes run on the shoulder if it looks ok. some cars do slow down and get over a good way, but most cars just barely get to the yellow line and don't slow down. i don't think it would slow them down very much to decrease their speed a little for a very short distance. i guess people are just in a hurry and are a little selfish. guess it is something we as runners have to deal with if we want the benefits of running on a road.

June 27, 2012

this was my first week-day run over 4 miles. i decided i would try to make it interesting and add some hills since the real reason i run is to get in shape to climb mountains and running on a treadmill and on flat ground isn't the best thing for that. so i ran my usual 4 mile route on which the top of a hill is the half-way point. but on this run i kept going, made a right and ran another .5 miles uphill. so basically 1 mile up a pretty good hill. i could definitely feel that i ran pretty hard yesterday. at the half-way mark, my legs were definitely tired and i was pretty sure i couldn't go uphill anymore. the funny thing is when turning around and running downhill for a mile it did not seem nearly as easy as i thought it would. also, the last mile and a half was much tougher than the first mile and a half. i was a little behind a 10min per mile pace when i came to the last mile and a half and finished in 52:22 a 10:28min per mile pace. but today was about the mileage, not the time. thought of the day: so far, over the last 5 weeks i have missed 1 scheduled run. some have been a day late and more than i wanted have been on a treadmill, but i think this is the most consistent i have been, ever. that means i have done 17 of my last 18 scheduled runs. funny, i don't really feel that much stronger in my legs or about running than i had before at this point. maybe it will all come out during the marathon and the ultra. i'll keep you posted.

June 26, 2012

i missed yesterday's run due to some unforseen circumstances. probably for the best though since i had to do my long run on sunday. since i am on call tonight i had to run on the treadmill so i had to do my speedwork tonight and i felt it. i ran the first 1/2 mile at 6mph. i was tight but loosened up pretty quick. at .5 miles, like usual i started increasing by .1 mph faster every .1 of a mile. i did that until i got to 7.0 mph then i slowed to 6mph for .2 of a mile and started back at 7.0 mph increasing every tenth of a mile until i got to 7.8mph. then i slowed to 6mph for .3 of a mile. then i stared back at 7.8 mph then 7.9 mph (the fastest i had ever been on the treadmill), then 8.0 mph for .2 of a mile and finished the last .6 of a mile at 6mph. i did get a call at 2.1 miles (about 19:35 into the run) and had to call back so i got a few minutes of a needed break because my abs were burning. the run felt really good, but i barely made the .2 of a mile at 8mph. i could tell i was getting close to the edge of the treadmill. funny, i am enjoying speedwork more than i thought. when i used to try it on the road it was hard to make myself maintain speed, especially on the hills. tomorrow i have 5 miles, hopefully back on the road, not that i prefer the road so much, just that i need it. thought of the day: there is a family oriented (Hutchens-Barnes) race this weekend. it is a 5k that i have talked one cousin into continuing after the race for my scheduled 13 miles. if there are any family members reading this, you know about the race and you better be there.

June 24, 2012 12 Hot, Hilly Miles

today i was trying to plan a new route since i felt like last weeks was a little too hilly in one spot. the route wasn't really that hilly, there was jut 1 extremely steep hill between miles 7 and 7.5. i was trying to avoid that hill. i traced out a loop on google earth that was 5.8 miles, pretty close to 1/2 of the 12 miles i was supposed to run. from what i remembered about driving this route there wasn't much uphill, and to be honest, from what i remembered it was mostly downhill. WRONG. on this run, from mile 1.5 to mile 3.0 was just about all uphill. then there was .5 miles of nice shaded downhill. then another mile of mainly uphill. at mile 4 i had to stop and walk to finish the hill, it was very hot and the hills were getting to my legs. miles 4.5 to 5 were pretty level and 5 to 5.8 were mostly downhill and back at my driveway. instead of making the loop again i decided to run 1.6 miles away from the driveway back to the driveway then 1.5 miles away from the driveway then back to the driveway to end. the main reason i was doing this was to avoid any really big hills. i felt pretty good and my splits were ok but i didn't feel like my heart or legs could take any more of the steep long hills. so i finished, feeling pretty good, in 2:16.37 which is a pace of 11:23. that isn't great but in this heat i am pretty pleased. it was 97 degrees when i left the house, it was a bit cooler when i finished. i planned to finish about 20 minutes after sunset, where you can still barely see outside. as i finished i just had to turn on my headlamp. it was also much cooler when i finished than when i started. thought of the day: you should always drive a new route before running it. i hadn't driven this route in a month or so and probably have only driven it 4-5 times in my life. i still probably would have attempted it, or maybe not, the hills from today were not quite as steep as the one from last week but today's hills were much much longer. i guess the main idea is just run, somewhere. if you run the hills you will be stronger, if you don't, you are still running the miles and you may not kill yourself :).

June 21, 2012; 4 miles

one day per week i am dedicating to speedwork. since i don't have a track i am going to be doing this on a treadmill. tonight i ran 4 miles. i started at 6mph and after a half of a mile i started increasing the speed by .1 of a mph per tenth of a mile until i got to 7mph. then i backed down to 6mph for .2 of a mile. then i went back to 7mph and up .1mph every tenth of a mile until i got to 7.5mph. then back to 6mph for half a mile and then to 7.5mph increasing as before. i could only make it to 7.9mph before i had to back down to 6mph for the last .4 of a mile. i finished the 4 miles in 37:07, a 9:17 pace. this week i really haven't felt like running and my neck had really been hurting. i had to make myself climb on to the treadmill, but after this run i really felt good (neck isn't much better though). my weight has plateaued right now at 185 or so. thought of the day: sometimes, it feels like no matter how hard i try to do the best i can, things just go wrong. i know everything is a work of God. the goods things i do and my successes are all Him acting through me. when tough things happen i know that is Him working through me. it is all to glorify Him, i guess sometimes i have to be extremely humbled to glorify Him. even though i know this, my selfish pride gets in the way and it is hard for me to handle. all i know is that one day i will be in heaven and i will not be worried about the small things in this life that humbled me.

June 20, A Humid Road Run

today was the first short run on pavement in a couple of weeks. that along with the humidity and heat made it a tough one. my pace was about average but the perceived effort felt more than normal. i ran 4 miles in 40:47, a pace of 10:12. i was sweating like crazy by the time i got back. my legs felt a little tired too. i din't like that since i didn't run monday and last night i got more rest than i have in a long time. today i reached 130 miles for the year. last year at this time i was at 118. i think i will blow out last year's total of 474. this may i ran 43 miles, this month i have ran 55 miles with 10 days to go. i hope to get 41 more miles this month. if i can average 80 miles for the next 6 months that will give me 651 miles for the year. maybe i can get to 700, we'll see. thought of the day:my neck and shoulder on my left side, my biannual injury, started hurting last friday. it makes it really tough to run with my shoulders relaxed. the pain is nearly gone but in can still feel the stiffness in my left shoulder blade. the pain didn't hit me as early in the year as normal but it did hit, i was hoping to get through this year without it. guess not. because of the neck pain i have stopped p90x for the week but hopefully i will be able to get back on that next week. i was down to 183 pounds last week, had one great binge day on father's day and gained 5 pounds. i have lost 2 of those pounds and maybe more now. i do like the diet pretty good, but we'll see how it works when i have to add the carbs for the long runs. i think i can still lose 2-3 pounds a week and at least that will help some. if i lose 2 pounds per week until my ultra marathon i will be at 166, that is 1 pound above my goal weight.

6/15 Run posted 6/17

just realized 2 things: my post do not show the date, that i can find and i never blogged about my run on friday. i was at the clinic until 10pm thursday night so i din't run that night. i had a meeting friday after work so i knew i needed to run friday at lunch. i headed to the gym and did 4 miles in 40:03, a 10:01 pace. i took it easy since i was going to be running 10 on saturday.

First Long, Hot Run 6/16

i was a little worried about this run since i have been doing most of my runs on a treadmill lately inside with the help of a fan. this run was gonna be 10 miles on the roan in the sun. when i started i was trying to keep a slower pace since i knew it would be a long and hot run. for the majority of the run i was in the shade and for the first 2 miles there was at least a slight breeze. my splits were exactly where i wanted up until mile 2 which is the first really big hill. i got over it and still felt pretty good. at miles 3 and 4 i was still feeling pretty good. mile 5 was a very long hill and i could tell i was weakening. but i knew from mile 5 to 6 would be back downhill. my pace was getting very slow at this point. at finally made it to the top of the hill for mile 5 turned around and at mile 5.5 i slowed to walk to get some water and a few chews. then back to my slow running. just before mile 7 is the biggest steepest hill and i had to walk about 1/2 way up it. after that the run was basically downhill but i was drained. just before i reached mile 9 i ran out of water. i tried carrying water instead of gatorade this time since i am on a new diet that gatorade doesn't fit in. won't do that again, i just don't like the water as much and several times i would end up swishing the water in my mouth and spitting it out. i finished much slower than i had hoped, but i did finish. my time was 1:57.21 a pace of 11:44. i ended up losing 5 pounds during the run even after drinking 2 pounds of water. my last long run of 8 miles i think was about a 10:30 pace, but it was on a treadmill and definitely no hills like on the road. i think 3 things could have made this run better, 1) a little more carb loading a couple of days before (more on this in a minute) 2) taking gatorade to drink 3) doing more of my runs during the week on the road. eventhough i have been setting the treadmill to .5% incline on all my runs and have even been doing a hill workout on the treadmill, it isn't the same. thought of the day: i saw that jeff posted about the adkins diet not being good for running, well i started a diet last week that is very similiar to the adkins diet with a few more twists i think. i have lost 5 pounds during the week, and i am sure being in a negative enrgey balance before the run didn't help. i did have a coke about an hour before the run to get some quick carbs and ate 5 chews during the run to get some more, i think form now on i will diet monday through thursday and on fridays start getting a few carbs to help out on my long saturday runs. i will see how it works and keep you updated.

Another Treadmill Run, Again

once again i procrastinated until i had to run on the treadmill. i was up this morning at 3:45am to see an emergency and worked until 1pm then came home to try and rest. when i got home i felt dead, like a zombie, when i woke up i felt worse. finally i ate, then cut my hair, snapped some green beens, then ran 4 miles. i started out with an incline at .5 and left it there the entire time. however, i started out at 6mph and after the first 1/2 mile i increased the speed by .1 miles per hour at every tenth of a mile until i got to 7.7 miles per hour. then i had to back down to 6.5mph until i got to 3 miles and then i slowed to 6mph. i finished the 4 miles in 36:39, a pace of 9:10, pretty fast for me. it felt like a really good workout. thought of the day: meant to bring this up earlier, but forgot. the gym that i joined has tvs to watch right in front of the treadmill i like to use. however, they have about 4 channels, at least one always has cartoons. they do have ion channel, which i can tolerate, but when i am watching the tv it will have periods where it just freezes, very often. beginning to think i shouldn't have joined the gym. i have ran a couple of times there, but i can't even enjoy the tv, the one little extra bonus of going to this gym. i know that i have the minimum tv package, but i still get 20 channels and can usually find something on to watch. and i know that what i paid for a yearly membership could easily pay for my minimum package. to think of it, i could have not joined the gym and upgraded my tv package and probably been happier, probably wouldn't have run near as much lately though. oh well, i guess thats just the way it is.

Been A While Ay?

i didn't realize it had been so long since i had blogged. friday i did a p90x chest and back workout, saturday i did not get my long run in. i was off work but very tired and unmotivated all day long. that evening i had to go to my mother's birthday dinner and thought i would get home in time to run. didn't happen, and people came over to the house for a while so i called it a night and ran 8 on sunday on the treadmill. my time was 1:23.34, a pace of 10:27, not too bad, but i really wanted to do my long runs on pavement. monday i ran 4 miles in 39:40, a 9:55 pace, my legs still felt tired from the 8 mile run the day before and it was very hot in the garage, but i got through it. i skipped the p90x workout last night since i felt so tired. i did it tonight (chest/shoulders/tris/abs) and pushed tonights scheduled workout (yoga) off until another day. thought of the day: i have been trying a new diet for the last 2 days. i am not sure how it is going to affect my running but i thought it would be good to do while i am still running shorter runs to lose a little weight for the longer runs when i really need to be fueled properly. it is mainly meats and vegetables, no fruits and no dairy and no sugary drinks (even though once a week i get to eat whatever i want). we will see how it works, you would think running greater than 20 miles per week and doing p90x 5-6 days a week would help me lose a little weight, not sure that is has yet. we'll see.

Another Treadmill Run

as i said yesterday, i had a meeting tonight after work so i made myself go to the gym during lunch and run 4 miles. i tried something new today. instead of doing a manual tradmill run i decided to do the hill workout. it was 1 minute no incline, 1 minute incline back and forth. there were 4 different hill inclines that got progressively steeper then after the fouth incline it started over at the original steepness. i think that made the run a little tougher and so did the p90x workout i have been doing all week so this run was a little slower than the last few, and because i was trying to take it kind of easy so because i don't want to keep pushing too hard and get injured, it is so tough not to run as hard as i can though, especially on a treadmill, i just want to get the run over with. the gym tv doesn't help, they actually have fewer channels than i do and they aren't good channels. also, during a show, every few minutes the screen will freeze. annoying. i know i pay enough alone each month to get the basic package i have for dishnetwork. it is frustrating i can't even enjoy the one thing i joined the gym for. and that was the thought of the day.

Behind Again, but not on Running

i know you are worried but i am only behind on blogging. i have added a gym membership and a treadmill to my training and i will say i think 3 of my last 4 runs i would not have done if i had not had them. i have also added a partial p90x workout to my running, for now. that is taking up a little extra blogging time. so monday i was lazy for most of the day, more tired than lazy i say but didn't do much in the morning and i got up and started doing some stuff around the house and then realized i did not have much time before my 6pm Bible study here at the house (which everyone is welcome to attend). so i hopped on the treadmill and ran 4 miles in 37:24, took a shower, studied The Bible, then did my p90x, which was an hour and 43 minutes of back, legs and abs. not so smart after running 4 miles a little earlier. tuesday i was on call. i got to the house ate supper, changed clothes and got a call to go in to the clinic to see a patient. when i got home it was midnight and i thought to myself, "self, if i am going to 'bring it' i have to bring it tonight as well." so i did 58 minutes of shoulders and arms. tonight i got home late because i had to help someone haul some equipment to my house and then i ate. i watched a little tv to let the food settle and a couple of weeks ago that would have been it. but since i have a treadmill i hopped on, did 4 miles in 38:19 and went right into p90x for 47 minutes of a core workout. tomorrow night i have a meeting right after work so i will try to run at the gym during lunch, which also helps me not to eat as much. but if i don't do that i still can go to the gym after the meeting or come home to the treadmill. thought of the day: i do like having the option of the gyn treadmill or my own treamill to get runs in that i might not otherwise, but i am worried that it is making it too easy not to hit the road. eventhough i do like running on the road better, it seems to go by fater when i know which objects are at certain mile markers and i know where i am, it just seems to go by faster than watchin dvds and constantly looking at how many hundredths of a mile i have gone since i last looked. i do like my treadmill, it seems pretty nice so far. if nothing else i at least want to do my long runs on the road and would like to do 3 out of 4 runs per week on the road, but at least i am getting the runs in. i have done 6 of my last 6 scheduled runs. hope to keep that streak going. PS Jeff, Jeff, where are you? haven't seen any blogs lately.

A new PR I say

today was the Dash to Ditch LYmphoma 5k starting at beachhaven. i got there early and when i realized the race was going to be chip timed i decided to go with my usual plan of starting all the way in the back so st the end i only have to catch up to someone to beat them, i don't actually have to pass them. the gun sounded and i hung around and let everyone go by, even all the walkers. then i hit my watch to start timing and started running. then i started looking around for the chip reader at the start adn realized this was going to be one of those races that only has a chip timed finish. so i messed myself up a little. however, i was not worried beacause i wasn't there to win, i was just running and knew my gps would have my time anyway. when i finished the 3.1 miles the official clock read 27:34, however, my gps read 27:25, which is my fastest 5k by 2 seconds (which i was not expecting at all). when i told jeff and sherri i had a new pr by my gps they said only the official time counted. i say my gps has the official time. after i finished the race i turned around and ran the course again to get my mileage in. i really should have done 8 today to get where i need to be on my schedule, but i will get caught up, i hope, ezpecially now that i have a gym membership and a treadmill. thought of the day: my pr is what i say it is.

Uh Oh

not sure if what i did was the smartest thing i ever did. 2 days ago i joined a gym that is on my way home from work because i have not been able to find a good treadmill at a reasonable price. then emily told me she wanted a treadmill so i started looking again and found one, so tonight i bought a treadmill. i did not get to run yesterday, i was out of work very late and then it was raining. so today i went to the gym and ran 3 miles on a treadmill. couldn't quite figure out the pace at first but finally did and then got it to speed up a little. i finished in 31:59, a pace of 10:40. my left calf was a little tight and my left knee hurt for about 1/2 a minute. my right foot and ankles are a little sore this afternoon. thought of the day: ET is a classic movie that you don't hear much about anymore, but the acting wasn't all that good, watching it on tv right now.