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