Holy Crap, I Did It

Well, as you can see (or is it "as I can see" since I am the only person dumb enough to ever have read this running log) I haven't posted anything here in months. It may appear that I stopped running, stopped posting, and became a total failure. Well, I am here to set the record straight!

This summer has turned out to be one of the least predictable periods of my life. All was fine in June, but during July and August all hell broke loose and I barely spent any time at home. That can really put a wrench in a training regimen(sp?) if you are not t0tally serious (yes, i am not always totally serious about my training, hard to believe). Lucky for me, my half-marathon was in June and I was ready to tear it up.

On the morning of June 27 I found myself up in the mountains at about 10,600 feet. Not too worry as the course had some downhill, but also some brutal uphills as well. Basically, it was a great race, not quite as fast as I would have hoped, but I crossed the finish line in a respectable 1:39:11 or about a 7:35 pace. I had to make one slight detour on the course (half way up the side of a hill into some trees, don't ask!) that cost me about 2 minutes, but overall I was pleased with my first ever race. I was ecstatic with the day and felt great after the race. So much so that I failed to do much of anything in the way of recovery and paid for it dearly for next week. Oh well, no pain no gain, right?

On to the next challenge, (drum roll please) the marathon! At this point, I wasn't sure if this was going to work out. I aimed for the St. George marathon which takes place in the middle of October, but I failed to get selected in the lottery. There was, however, a marathon in Colorado Springs on Labor Day. This was much sooner, but I thought I might be able to make it. Well, shortly thereafter I was on a plance to Anchorage, Alaska for a week and I didn't run a bit. I came back thinking there was no way I could get trained up for a marathon less than 2 months away. A friend of mine and my wife convinced me I could do it(NOTE: this friend would later leave me high and dry, bailing out on the race less than 2 weeks before we were to run).

Unfortunately my training became worse than ever. You see on July 27, I set out on a nearly 3 week trip to Munich, Germany where I logged approximately 30 miles (14 of which came in one day, a run that ended quite badly). I came home from that trip in the middle of August, with less than a month to train and still having not exceeded a 15 mile distance. I also had a trip to London less than 10 days away. I convinced myself to attempt an 18 mile run on the 21st to give myself enough confidence. I ended up pushing 20 that day and felt great. After that, I never questioned whether I could finish the marathon or not. I ran once in London (all of 4 miles) but I had confidence, and I was sure that would carry me 26.2 miles.

Labor Day morning came and I was freezing my butt off in the dark near some lake at 5:30 am. The 6:30 start time could not come soon enough. I buddied up with the 4 hour pace team and soon enough the gun sounded. A 9:10 pace was easy enough and the first 10 miles went by in a breeze. I found myself running alongside a 60 year old man knocking out his 100 and something-th marathon and also a dude who was runnning his third marathon.... of the freaking weekend. He was thrilled with the idea of completing a rare "triple" as he put it.

Anyway, about 10 miles in I settled alongside what would be come a good friend for most of the remainder. We separated from the 4 hour pace team and found ourselvers going slightly quicker than a 9 minute pace. I felt great and as the miles got into the high teens I knew I was going to make it. We hit mile 20 and my buddy started to cramp up, he kept pushing but around mile 21 he dropped off. I took this as my cue and picked up the pace. The last 5 miles became a mental game as I no longer had a partner to keep my mind busy. I ran faster and felt great. In fact the last mile or two I even started passing people, quite a few of them! I quickly realized that I had a shot at a sub 3:55:00 time. I pushed and pushed and as I broke the finish line the clock read 3:54:55. I had done it, I had run a freaking MARATHON!

I must admit, I was very proud of myself. My wife and I embraced and we shed a few tears. It was emotional for me. I had accomplished a lifelong goal!

I hope to continue to run. I want to tackle a triathlon as well. Hopefully I will share my training here as well.

Week 11 Run 4

Yesterday was a tempo run. I will admit, I wanted to do 5 miles at my tempo speed of 6:58 miles but I only did 4 at that pace. I probably could have even done it without any problems but for some reason I talked myself into thinking 4 was enough. Anyway, I did a warmup and cooldown mile so I ran a total of 6 miles.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 46 minutes 31 seconds

Week 11 Run 3

So I finally did it, I completed a double digit run. Last night I logged 10 miles and I don't think I had anything left in the tank. It felt good, like a runner's rite of passage. However, yesterday I also registered for the St. George Marathon and after my 10 mile run I started to question that move.

Anyway, the run was really pretty good. I was having some self doubts about whether I could actually complete such a distance. I started at an 8:00 pace and increased my speed every mile, with the final mile being right around 7:10. I am a little sore this morning, but I don't really care, it was totally worth it. Besides, I am not as sore as I thought I would be so that is a definite bonus.

Distance: 10 miles
Time: 75 minutes 35 seconds

Week 11 Run 2

This run was much better than Monday's. I did my speed intervals and ended up running about 5.5 miles total. This was a .5 mile warmup followed by alternating between a 7 minute mile and a 2 minute rest interval. So I did 4 7 minute miles in all and the warmup cool down and resting intervals made up for the other 1.5 miles. Next week I would like to add another speed mile and reduce my resting interval to 1:30.

Anyway, that was a better run and it gave me some much needed confidence.

Distance: 5.5 miles
Time: 42 minutes 43 seconds

Week 11 Run 1

This week, since I don't have anything on Wednesday or Thursday night I am going to switch up my schedule. My long runs on Saturday are taking up too much time, so I need to move that to a weekday. This week it will be on Thursday.

So for my run on Monday I just did a 4 mile run and it sucked. I just wasn't really feeling it. Thats basically it. I guess those are referred to as junk miles.

Distance: 4 miles

Week 10

So this week was pretty disappointing. I was all set to give a good run, but things fell apart rather quickly. I changed up my schedule and did my long run on Monday. It was less than spectacular. I ended up running like 8 miles and I was miserable.

The next day I did like 4 miles and I was in pain. My knee started aching pretty badly. I decided to just shut it down for the week. Am I pushing too hard too quickly? Probably, but I hate going slow and steady. Anyhow, hopefully next week will be better. I guess I needed to have a rest week anyway.

Weekly Total

12 miles

Week 9 Run 4

So this morning my groin was pretty sore, so I decided to fore go my long run of about 9-10 miles and instead just do a easy 5 mile run. I thought I should show some running maturity and not overdo it.

Anyway, I ran my miles at these paces: 8:36, then 8:00, then 7:30, then 8:00, and finished back with 8:36. This proved to be a nice and easy run and was a time of 40:40. Its amazing that a couple months ago I would have had to give it all I could to post a time like that over 5 miles, but now its pretty simple. Hopefully over the weekend my groin will loosen up and the pain will subside.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 40 minutes 40 seconds

Weekly Total: 21 miles

Week 9 Run 3

With March Madness beginning, I was not able to do my run on Thursday as I normally do. But I showed some discipline and ran on Friday right after work. This was my speed interval run. I ran a warm-up half mile at a 10 minute pace, really slow, but just to get going. Then I started out with a 7:13 pace for a mile, then to a 10:00 pace for a minute and 30 seconds. I did this 3 times and then I got a little over ambitious. On the last mile I really went for it to try and push my total to 5 miles and get it under 38 minutes. I had to run about a 6:30 closing mile and I felt great at the time, but shortly thereafter my groin tightened up and has been really sore. Just another case of my immaturity when it comes to running. I need to just stick with my plans and not deviate from it, otherwise I'll probably end up hurting myself. Anyway, the run overall was good.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 37 minutes 58 seconds

Week 9 Run 2

Today was my easy run. I like the easy runs because they are just so easy. I love that. I originally was planning to do 5 miles, but ended up only running 4 because of time constraints. I ran them at an easy pace of about 8 minutes per mile. Thats about it.

Distance: 4 miles

Week 9 Run 1

I have fallen behind in my posting. The week is over, I had 4 runs and I am just now entering them all. Monday I did my first tempo run. I had 2 warm-up miles and then ran 4 miles at a 7 minute 13 pace. It felt good just running at a nice pace for the 4 miles. I mean, if I could just run that pace for 26.2 miles I could qualify for Boston!

Anyway, I can't even remember what my time was. I think it was in the neighborhood of about 54-55 minutes. Good run anyway, I basically feel like at this point the overall time isn't that important as I am running warm-up and cool-down miles.

Distance: 7 miles
Time: about 55 minutes

My "Program"

The more I run the more I keep asking myself if I really know what I am doing. There seems to be so many different types of training methods with intervals, tempo runs, distance runs, etc. Seems like I just run hard one day and then run a little easier the next. I try and try to read and figure out what I should be doing, but it seems confusing. I'm starting to think this (this will SURELY change at some point), that I should run 1 tempo run, 1 easy run, 1 speed interval run, and one distance run each week.

The tempo run is something I am trying to still figure out. But as far as mileage goes I am estimating that a tempo run will entail a 1-2 mile warm-up, then a 4 mile "tempo" run, and then a 1 mile cool down. Thats going to be like 7 miles. Then I have an easy run of like 4-5 miles. Follow that up with a 4.5 mile speed interval run(based on last weeks speed run). Top that off with a minimum of a 9 mile run on Saturday. So basically, going forward, on this schedule, I am looking at at least 25-26 miles a week. That is probably a good thing. I hope its the right course of action. To be honest, I have no clue if it is.

Week 8 Run 4

Great run to finish off the week. I started my run with a goal of 8 miles, maybe 8.5(since I had run 4.5 on Thursday). Well, I ended up just going 9 miles instead, I couldn't stop at 8.5 with 9 so close. The run was good and I felt like I could have kept going. My energy level was really good and the pace did not feel tough. Granted, I am not trying to go blazing fast, but the fact that I felt like I could have kept going and finished the 13 miles was encouraging.

Anyway, as I was running I decided that I really wanted to get under 72 minutes(8 minute miles). So the last mile, I pushed a little extra hard and actually turned in a time of about 7:10. I thought that was good just considering that it was the 9th mile and I had enough in the tank to easily do a 7:10 and probably could have gone much faster.

On the other hand, I am not delusional. I am realizing that I still have a lot of time to cut if I want to get anywhere close to running a sub 1:30 half marathon. At least I am making progress and that is always encouraging.

Distance: 9 miles
Time: 71 minutes 52 seconds

Weekly Total: 22.5 miles

Week 8 Run 3

Last night I did a "speed" session. I guess its supposed to help you, I can't remember why, but I trust other people who have run marathons so I did it. It was actually pretty enjoyable and hard at the same time. I ran my speed intervals at a pace 20 seconds faster than my target run pace of 7 minutes per mile. This equates to exactly 9 miles per hour. Basically I ran 1200 meters at 9mph pace and then I ran 800 meters at a 6mph pace for my rest pace. Each of these intervals was exactly 5 minutes, how convenient.

All in all I did 4 fast intervals and 3 reset intervals totaling 35 minutes. This came out to be exactly 4.5 miles. Each speed interval got progressively more difficult which i think is the idea. Hopefully this translates to a better overall pace in the end.

Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 35 minutes 0 seconds

Week 8 Run 2

Last night was a nice and easy 4 mile run at about an 8:10 pace. My new "program", until I figure out something different, is to do a hard run of 5 or more miles on Monday, Tuesday is a 4-5 mile run at an easier pace, Thursday is a speed session running fast and slow intervals, and then Saturday will be my long run of 8 or more miles.

So I ran my 4 miles and I felt great, it was pretty easy and I came in just under 33 minutes.

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 32 minutes 51 seconds

Week 8 Run 1

Got the week off to a good start with a solid 5 mile run tonight. My previous best at this distance was a little under 38 minutes I believe, but that was 3-4 weeks ago and I knew I could push that time a little lower. I set out with my game plan(as always) with hopes of a time in the 36-37 minute range.

I decided to try and run the first and last miles at about a 7 minute/mile pace and fill in the middle 3 miles at about a 7:30 pace. This would get me right around 36:30 total. The first mile was good, just a few ticks under 7 minutes and mile 2 was fine as well. Mile 3 rolled around and I was wondering if my strategy was too aggressive up front. Maybe I should have gone out in about 7:30 and then progressively gotten faster. Anyway, I pushed on a little harder than planned in the third mile with the idea of pulling it back a little in the 4th mile. What a relief to get that third mile done and I went to a steady 7:30 pace for mile 4. I started mile 5 and wasn't sure what I had left in the tank. I pressed on and really gave it everything I had hitting the line at 35:50 on the nose! When I finished I didn't have much, if anything, left in the tank. This was a good feeling, because I knew I had given it my all. At the same time I wonder how I can ever break 35 minutes. But I know I can do it.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 35 minutes 50 seconds

Week 7 Run 4

Great run to finish off a great week. I hit the 20 mile mark for the first time in my training and hitting a milestone like that is always very encouraging. I was reading last night about long runs and the pace that they should be run at. It was basically saying to run at a speed 20% slower than you anticipate running in your race. I hope to run at a 7 minute/mile pace come race day(not sure how realistic that is yet) so I calculated that I should run about at about an 8:24 pace on my long runs.

With that knowledge in mind I set out to run 8 miles this morning. Its amazing how difficult my runs seem to be when I actually pull the pace back, I seem to feel the burn a little more when I would expect the opposite. Anyway, I went out on the first mile and ran it in about 7 and a half minutes to get warmed. Then I pulled back to an 8:20 pace and ran at this speed for the next 6 and a half miles or so. The last half mile was quicker, but not blazing and when the dust cleared I had run 8 miles in 1 hour 5 minutes and 19 seconds. I am very pleased with this right now and am excited to build on it. At the 8 mile mark I could have kept going, but I knew I would pay for it as my body has never run that distance before.

This was a great run and even though my legs were pretty dead about a half hour after I finished the run I felt really good about everything. I guess I ended up running at about an 8:10 pace and had I continued this would translate into a 1 hour 47 minute half marathon. If I can run that right now, then I hope I can easily shave more time off between today and June 20th.

Distance: 8 miles
Time: 65 minutes 19 seconds

Weekly Total: 20 miles

Week 7 Run 3

My goal today was to break 29 minutes on a 4 mile run. So far in my running the best time I have posted was 29:13. I knew I could get under 29 minutes, but I wanted to map out my plan of attack to make sure I got it done.

So basically I set out to get a quick first mile, somewhere around 7 minutes or less. Next two miles would be about 7:30 each and then I would push it home in 7 minutes or less to get below 29. Its all about strategy, see....

So for the actual results. I went out pretty hard but ended up right on 7 minutes when secretly I was hoping for about 6:45 or something. Luckily for me I was able to shave off a few seconds here and there and run the middle two miles in just over 14 and a half minutes. Heading into the final mile I was at around 21:40 or so(I should pay more attention to the splits) and pretty much knew I had it in the bag. I ran at about a 7 minute/mile pace for the first half of the mile and then pushed as hard as I could the rest. When it was all said and done I posted a time of 28 minutes 23 seconds. I was stoked!

Its amazing how much my running has improved, going from 35 minute runs down to under 29. But there is still a long way to go if I want to achieve my goals(whether realistic or not).

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 28 minutes 23 seconds

Week 7 Run 2

Last night I decided that I would run at a more leisurely pace and allow my body to recover a bit. I guess the theory is to run so that your body still continues to get used to putting miles on the legs, but don't push yourself to exhaustion.

I decided to run at an 8 minute mile pace. Amazingly, it didn't really feel that much easier than when I run at like a 7:30 or 7:20 mile pace. Oh well. I ran 4 miles and I guess the important thing is to keep running and running and running.

Another run on Thursday and then I will go for at least 6 miles on Saturday.

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 32 minutes (exactly)

Week 7 Run 1

Sometimes I feel great during my runs and sometimes I feel like I have cement boots attached to my feet. Last nights run was definitely the latter. However, I pushed through it and still posted a great time for my 4 mile run. It probably did not help that I basically took almost a week off and I realize that I cannot do that going forward.

One thing that I can take away from the run is that I was able to keep pushing and still post a 29:13 4 mile run, which in my training so far is my best time in that distance. The question now is how will these times translate into a 6+ mile run? I guess I will have to find out this week. I desperately need to get in a 6 mile run to start gauging where I am really at. My hope is that I can post a sub-45 minute run. I think I can do it, but then again, the last time I ran that distance I think it was closer to 50 minutes, which is not great and actually pretty slow. I figure if I want to get close to breaking 1 hour and 30 minutes in a half marathon I am going to need to post a 6 mile run somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 minutes or even less. Yikes!

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 29 minutes 13 seconds

Time To Get Serious.... Seriously

So I kinda blew it last week. After a great start I failed to log my third run on Saturday, which was supposed to be at least 6 miles. Basically, I went camping and didn't exactly get the greatest night of sleep in my life. I ended up getting home around 3pm and my body was so tired I couldn't bring myself to run. I was out cold by 8pm.

Here's the thing, now its time to get serious! If I want to push myself and get close to a 1:30 half-marathon I am going to have to commit to at least 16 miles per week and more. It is now t-minus 16 weeks to the race and I need to top out at about 12-13 miles in a single run in about 13 weeks. So, here we go......

Week 6 Run 2

After a very successful run on Monday I again set out for a 4 mile run last night. In the back of my head I knew that I did not want to go back above 30 minutes for this run, but had a few wonders of whether I would do it or not. I set out to make sure that I ran at least as fast, maybe even shave a few seconds off.

The beginning of my run I felt really good actually. One mile in and I was doing fine and I brought my pace up every so slightly. After two miles I was still in the groove and increased my pace a tiny bit again. The third mile I hit a slight lull, but pushed on through and finished out with a strong 4th mile right around 7 minutes. This was a very good run for me and I once again was able to break 30 minutes and even shaved some 30 seconds off the previous night's 4 mile run.

I love progress so it feels good to continually post better times each run. I am not sure this can go on indefinitely, but as long as I continue to push and get better I will feel good about my training.

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 29 minutes 17 seconds

Week 6 Run 1

So I think now that I have my treadmill back and running and the weather getting better, there shouldn't be many hitches in my running plans. I have been working on getting a training schedule set in stone so that I know exactly what I am doing each day. Its not done yet, so yesterday I decided to do a 4 mile run.

This was probably one of my best treadmill runs. I was able to prove to myself that I can push through when I don't really feel like it. Even though I didn't hit that groove where I felt like the running was nothing, I just kept telling myself "a little more, a little more" all the way to the end.

The time ended up pretty good at just under 30 minutes. 4 miles at a 7:30 pace ain't rip roaring fast, but its progress for me and that is excellent. The question I keep asking myself is how much time can I continue to shed from my runs? Is is realistic to think that I could be anywhere close to running a 7 minute pace for the course of a half-marathon? Only time will tell.

Distance: 4 miles
Time 29 minutes 47 seconds

Week 5 Run 2

This was a pretty bad week as far running goes. With the treadmill out of commission and cold weather, I really didn't have the motivation to get out and run. Anyway, I played in a basketball game on Thursday and that is always good for some exercise, but its not quite the same thing. Then again, I do need to throw in some cross training so a game of ball isn't so bad.

Well, I ordered a part for my treadmill and it came this morning. The rear roller had broken completely so the part was about $90, but I think that it was worth it (assuming it lasts). So I got the part on and tried to get the treadmill calibrated correctly and then tonight did my run. I set out to do 6 miles, and while I was pretty gassed at the end, I pushed through and was able to get a decent time. However, I know I need to shave off a bunch of minutes, but I am hoping that will come with time. But overall it was a really good run.

Distance: 6 miles
Time: 48 minutes 35 seconds

Weekly Total
11 miles

Week 5 Run 1

Well, today I took it to the streets for my run. I was a little bit nervous and still interested to see how my treadmill running would transfer to the actual pavement and hills of Roxborough. I mapped out a run on Google Earth that was 5 miles. There is a loop out here that is basically 3 miles and where I ended is right by a pond that is about 2/3 of a mile around. So I set out to run the 3 mile loop and then do a little over 3 laps around the lake for a total of 5 miles.

Basically, my run was great! I had pretty even splits for the most part. The first mile was just under 7 minutes, the second mile just over 7 minutes, and the third mile right around 7 and a half minutes. So after 3 miles I was fairly happy with a time of roughly 21:30. That is when I started on my first lap around the lake. Halfway through that lap I started to question this plan. I mean, running laps gets really boring and 3 laps around the lake seemed like a long ways. I persevered and when it was all said and done I posted a time of 37:50. This is by far my best 5 mile run so far and it felt good to have done it out on the road, up and down the hills.

I was lucky to have been able to run today, considering that it was a holiday and the weather was nice. Not sure how many days I will have like this in the next month or so, but as the weather warms up I am going to try and get my butt out there and do some morning runs.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 37:50

Major Setback

Treadmill broke. That has set me back a couple of days. Guess I will be taking it to the streets. Hope it warms up!

Week 4 Run 2

Tuesday I did P90X and last night I was back at the running. I tried out something a little different, I guess they are called "Yasso 800s" or at least the site I found out about them called them that. The idea is that you can basically train for a goal time by running sets of 800 meters, for a marathon anyway. I assume it should transfer to a half as well.

Anyway, I decided to set a goal of a 3 hour 30 minute marathon. This would translate to a 1 hour 45 minute half, or thereabouts. So if you want to do a 3:30:00 marathon, then you need to run 3:30 800 meters in sets starting with 4. So last night I did just that. I started with a 3 minute warmup and then went into my first 800 meter. 3 and a half minutes later I was back into a slower pace(for 3 and a half minutes). I did 4 sets of these and I felt pretty good. Maybe I need to keep my non-800 pace a little faster as I toned it down to a 10 minute mile pace. The 3:30 800m obviously is a 7 minute mile pace. If I am feeling good next week maybe I will try and keep my resting pace in between 800s at around 8:30 or something. We shall see. All told I did about 3.2 miles in roughly 26 minutes.

Distance: 3.2 miles
Time: 26 minutes

Week 4 Run 1

I can't believe its already week 4 of this running log. Considering my history of starting out with a bang and quickly tailing off with things like this, getting to the 4th week is pretty good.

Plus, the 4th week started off great. Well, mostly great. I have started to develop some real tightness in my lower calf on my right leg. I think I need to make sure I do a ton of stretching and start icing it as well. But other than that my knee feels great and my runs are getting better by the session. Last night I put in 5 miles and felt really good. It was my best 5 mile time so far(maybe ever?). I broke 40 minutes for the first time on a 5 mile run and that really felt good.

One thing that I am quickly learning is that it is really hard to get back those first slow minutes of the run, before I hit my stride. I generally start out my runs at about a 9 minute pace, but I think I need to rethink this strategy as by mile 2 I am pushing to get below 17 minutes. I know I can easily do the first 2 miles under 16, probably faster and I think I will start lowering the times of the first 2 miles to make it easier on the backend of the run.

Distance: 5 miles
Time: 39 minutes 46 seconds

Week 3 Run 4

Today felt great. I feel like I am getting past the knee issue(for now anyway) and that has me feeling good. As I said at the beginning of this week, my goal was to put up a 15 mile total. With my 4 mile run today I was able to do just that. From here on out I would like to try and add 1 mile each week, but some weeks I can see this not being the case.

Anyway, the run today was good and like always I started off at an easy pace and gradually went faster and faster. I ended up posting a time just under 33 minutes, which is not spectacular, but I feel like I have gotten in to a good zone and I hope to be able to continue to build on this.

I am starting to try and set a time goal for the half marathon. I am not quite sure how realistic it will be to achieve, but I would like to have a pace in the 8 minute/mile neighborhood. That would project out to be about a 1 hour 45 minute race. I know I can sustain this pace for at least 5 miles, but there is a huge difference between 5 miles and 13 miles. As my training progresses I think I will have a better idea of what I should be aiming for.

Distance: 4 miles
Time: 32 minutes 50 seconds

Weekly Total: 15 miles

Week 3 Run 3

My run last night turned out to be okay. I spent Wednesday evening after my run icing my knees and applying icy hot. It definitely felt good, but I wasn't sure that it would relieve the knee discomfort in my next run. Well, at least for last night, it worked.

I certainly did not push myself to the limit, but that was probably the smartest thing I could do because I don't want to have any major setbacks. I decided I was going to run 3 miles again and do it nice and easy. The first mile was pretty slow(not that the subsequent 2 miles were blazing fast) in about 10 minutes. But the best part was that my knee felt good. I pressed on and picked up the speed and finished up my run in 26:53. It felt good to run and not feel discomfort and I hope that as I continue to ice my knee(s) after my runs I won't have to deal with the pain.

So far this week I am sitting at 11 miles total. As long as I feel good come Saturday and my knee doesn't give me any problems, I see no reason why I can't bust through the 15 mile mark, even though that doesn't really seem like any big mark anyway. Oh well, baby steps, right?

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 26 minutes 53 seconds

Week 3 Run 2

So tonight was a little frustrating. I think I may have suffered my first minor setback, but I am hoping it is just that, minor. As I started up my run I could feel that something was not right with my right knee. Lately when I have been stretching my quads I have felt a little bit of discomfort, but haven't thought much of it. However, it seemed to catch up to me last night.

I started off with my usual easy pace in the first mile, but the pain was evident and after the initial mile was complete I pulled back and walked for a few minutes and increased the incline. I then ran at a 10 minute/mile pace at an incline and then walk ran the last mile. All in all I did 3 miles, but I can't help but wonder if this is going to plague me or just turn out to be a temporary speed bump. Now I am not sure how my run is going to be tonight and how many miles I can put in. Just have to wait and see tonight how my knee reacts.

Distance: 3 miles
Time: 33 minutes

Something A Little Different

Usually Tuesday is my rest day, but last night I felt like doing something anyway and thought I would get some different kind of exercise in my routine.  Last year I started doing a workout program call P90X.  This program is rather intense, and sadly I only made it through about 50 days of the 90 day program.  Now that I am running consistently I don't have much time for P90X but decided to incorporate 1 or 2 of the workouts into my weekly routine.  I focused on the "Core Synergistics" workout video and feel like it will be a good supplementary exercise.

The core workout works.... you guessed it, your core.  So I got a good ab workout and upper leg workout.  I really felt it this morning, but thats a good thing, right?  Anyway, running is great, but adding a little core or plyo to my regimine should give me a broader range of activities and can only make things even better.

Week 3 Run 1

Ahh, the start of a new week. Renewed enthusiasm and too much junk food and soda from Super Bowl Sunday. Oh well, gotta get back on the program. I put in a good session last night and ran 5 miles. Certainly was not a blazing fast time, but as they say, slow and steady is just that, slow and steady...

I think this week I will break the 15 mile barrier, that will be great. I really am enjoying my runs and can't wait for the spring and some good running weather.

Distance 5 miles
Time 43:23

Week 2 Run 3

I didn't have a ton of time to run today, but it felt good to be back at home, in my zone haha. Anyway, I ran 4 miles and it felt pretty good. I took it pretty easy though and to be honest I can't even remember the time, but it seemed like it was somewhere in the 36 minute range, which is actually really freaking slow. But I think that it doesn't really matter at this juncture, just getting consistent runs in.

Distance 4 miles
Time about 36 minutes

Weekly Total
10 miles(which is pretty freaking weak)

Week 2 Run 2

I had my second run here in Anchorage last night.  I did another 3 mile run and the pace was slow once again.  In fact, I am not even sure what the final time was, but I know it was about 29 minutes or something, really slow.  I guess I am just viewing this week as running to run and stay in the routine and thats about it.  So at least I have accomplished that so far.

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 29 minutes

Week 2 Run 1

So this post is a little bit late as its already getting to be Wednesday evening and I ran on Monday.  Anyway, I am in Anchorage, Alaska on business, but still found time to get a 3 mile run in.  Man was it tough.  I think that I ate way too much food and it just weighed me down.  I ran a pretty slow 3 miles at about 27 minutes, plus it seemed really hard.  The run basically sucked.

Distance: 3 miles

Time: 27 minutes

Week 1 Run 3

This morning I was thinking about how long I wanted to run and decided to do a 5 mile run. I thought about my last 5 miler and decided I wanted to shave some time off and set a goal of around 40 minutes. I think the last 5 mile run I did was around 42 minutes so I knew I needed to get in a nice groove and devised a strategy in my head of how to make the time. In hindsight I am not sure how wise my strategy was.

In my mind I would start off easy and then each mile push more and more and, you know, make it in 40 minutes. When the dust cleared I had pretty much hit the goal with a time of 40:11, but I think I could have made it easier on myself had I planned better.

I started off slow, too slow. I went out in the first 2 miles in about 18 minutes. This left me with 22 minutes to do the last 3 miles. Certainly not super difficult, but I knew I had to push myself to make it. I don't think I pushed hard enough on miles 3 and 4 because coming into the last mile I was at around 33:35 and knew I would need to bust out a sub-6:30 mile to make it. I pushed pretty hard and cranked out the last quarter mile in about a minute and a half and came up just short at 40 minutes 11 seconds. I am happy with the time, but know I should be able to keep a more even pace of an 8 minute mile throughout to get the same time.

Plus, I realized today that I need to stop focusing so much on trying to cut a minute off my times every run. That can only go on for so long and then what? Its not like I am going to run 4 minute miles or something. Anyway, this week was pretty good.

Distance - 5 miles
Time - 40 min 11 sec

Weekly Total
14 miles(and a good game of b-ball)

Week 1 Basketball 1?

So tonight, instead of running I went and played church basketball. I figured that was a pretty good workout with all the running up and down the court. The game was about 40 minutes so there was probably 30 minutes of good aerobic exercise and since I was planning a low-impact run for today it seemed to be just about right.

Week 1 Run 2

So my current plan is to run Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday. Hence the missing update for Tuesday. But I picked up things last night and got a nice run in.

I don't know what it was, whether it was something I ate or something else, but I just didnt have much energy for the duration of the run and never really got in a good groove. I pushed on though and was happy to just get the exercise. I ended up running 5 miles and certainly didn't overdo it thats for sure. The pace was not too quick, but quick enough for a good sweat.

Distance - 5 miles
Time - 42 min10 sec

Week 1 Run 1

Well, here I am, with a new blog. I hope this one has some more staying power than the last. As a goal for this year I have decided to train for a half marathon and after conquering that obstacle running a full marathon. The half is quite a ways off. I am planning to run in the Steamworks Animas Valley Half Marathon in Durango, Colorado. Its scheduled for June 20 so I have plenty of time to get ready. Ultimately I want to run in the St. George marathon in October and if I can't get in, then maybe the Top of Utah marathon in Logan.

So here is my first entry in this running log. Presently I am doing my running on my treadmill since I don't want to run in the cold. It will work for now. I set the incline to a 1.0 as this is supposed to replicate the streets the best, even though I am pretty sure nothing is the same as getting out and running on the roads and trails. Anyway, here are the results for my first run:

Distance - 4 miles
Time - 33 min 30 sec

My ultimate goal is to run a sub 4 hour marathon. Not sure how lofty a goal that is. I'm guessing that the half marathon will give me a better idea of what I am capable of and I will adjust the goal accordingly. That's it.