Penguin Run 5K

Brrrr...it's cold out! Mixed results today. I was thrilled to get out today for some race action. My goal was to break 23:00, and I just missed it with a 23:06. I'm sure I could have done this if I didn't have to wear 3 layers. But then I looked back at my last race, Lindsey's Legacy in November, the race actually measured 3.09 and today's was 3.11. My pace today was 7:25, November 7:26. Is this a PR? I think I'll count it as one as the pace is lower and for me this is ultimately what I look at. What do you think?

Mileage: 3.11
Time/Pace: 23:06/7:25
Avg HR: 168
T/W: 14 (WC 5), light snow
Splits: 7:31, 7:22, 7:32, :40

4th out of 28 in my age group
90 out of 596 overall

Excited About Racing

Tomorrow I am running in the Penguin Run, my first race since the Turkey Trot. I'm pretty excited to get back out there with other runners. I'm hoping to get under 23:00, but am feeling a bit unsure about this. Weight loss isn't happening as fast as I'd like. For the most part, my eating habits have been more focused. I guess, I'll just need to work harder, run faster, and stay focused. Today was an easy 4 mile run on the treadmill. It is nice to say that, "easy", as I can remember beginning in April and barely sustaining a 3 mile run.

Mileage: 4.00
Time/Pace: 37:10/9:18
Avg HR: 143
Incline: 1.0

16 Miles at 4am?!?

That's right! 4am! With renewed dedication, I set out this morning, determined to complete my long run for the week prior to sunrise. Success! I usually save my long run for the weekend, but I am running a 5K this weekend, so I didn't want to put a race and long run back-to-back. It went fairly well. Here's the low down.

Mileage: 16.00
Time/Pace: 2:35:59/9:41
Avg HR: 160
T/W:25 (15 WC), dusting of snow
Best Split (mile)/Worst Split (mile): 9:23 (5)/10:08 (15)

Still missing my goal of a 9:23 pace, but only 2 miles over the 10 minute mark.

Hey Slacker

Yeah, so I bailed on my Tuesday speed work. Ever justify why you miss a workout? Yeah, it sounds good at the time, but then for the rest of the day I kick myself and have an itch to drop what I'm doing and run. This is good right? Anyway, tomorrow I will get up and I will run 16 miles or so. Gulp...

January Thaw and Intense Flooding

I woke up this morning at 5am to get in a run before work. Today's work schedule looked to be a fun one. The plan was to walk a creek bed, doing some visual recon for a project at work. What I experienced was a bit different than what I had in mind, monsoon-like rains, flash flooding, washed out roads,etc. The picture shown here, is of a truck driving through a flooded road, my Toyota would never had made it. Schools closed early, roads closed, what a fun day!

Other than that, a great day to run. I've written about how much I enjoy a bit of rain for my run and this morning didn't disappoint. I was able to get rid of one of my 3 winter layer and probably could have gone with just one layer. No hood, no hat, just some good running!

Mileage: 6.00
Time/Pace: 55:40/9:16
Avg HR: 158
T/W: 42, rain

Finishing Up My "Rest Week"

Last day of my "rest week" although I still logged 27 miles. No long runs or speed work, a bit of time for the body to heal a little. With my marathon training at the half way point, I am looking ahead at some of my upcoming workouts. I am going to tweak my schedule a bit this week and try to get my long run in on Thursday. This is mostly because I have a 5K race scheduled and don't want to run 16 miles the day before this race. 6 more miles today, on the treadmill.

Mileage: 6.00
Time/Pace: 56:30/9:25
Avg HR: 142
Incline: 1.00

Couple of Days Off

After my last run on Wednesday, I took a couple days off. I've been feeling a bit worn out, long work hours, not much sleep. After a decent night's sleep last night, I was back at it today. I ran on a treadmill today, I should have ran outside, it was a nice day. Right around mile 6, my left knee stiffened up, don't know why. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

Mileage: 7.00
Time/Pace: 1:05:52/9:24
Avg HR: 143

Remembering Why I Run

Boy, it was tough dragging myself out to run today. My body fought it every step of the way. My legs were tired from last night's bike workout, but I was determined to get out anyway. Every step was more difficult than usual, it wasn't terribly cold, but still a struggle. To take my mind off of this I made a mental note of why I'm doing this:

1) I feel good when I'm done. There's nothing like saying to yourself, hey, I ran 7 miles today!
2) I want to look better. I've dropped over 30lbs since April and want to continue the loss, washboard abs here I come!
3) I want to feel better. All this running is forcing me to make better eating choices. I still struggle mightily with this but it is getting better. Most I feel better, I don't have such a weight in my stomach from all the crappy eating.
4) I'm accomplishing something worthwhile. I have run a half-marathon, and am working towards a full. I will be part of a small community of people that have done this.

These thoughts got me through today's run, even though I wanted to quit and curl back up in bed.

Mileage: 7.00
Time/Pace: 1:05:54/9:25
Avg HR: 150
T/W: 33 (27 WC), sunny

Recovery Week

The marathon prep program I'm using throws in a "recovery week" every 4 weeks. This consists of 4 easy run, no speed work or long runs and reduced mileage. This week will consist of 3-7 milers and a 6 miler.

Mileage: 7.00
Time/Pace: 1:05:36/9:22
Avg HR: 150
T/W: 29 (19WC), cloudy, wind

20 Miles = DNF

Yep, DNF as in DID NOT FINISH. Why? Poor planning. Weather was looking good today, except for the 20+MPH winds. I knew this BEFORE running, and yet ignored it. DUH! UGH!! STUPID!!! The winds were out of the west, so logic would suggest to run more of a north/south route, but SILLY ME, I ran 10 miles east and then tried, TRIED to run back 10 miles directly into the wind, again, DUH!!

The first 10 rolled off very well, Splits: 9:28, 9:28, 9:34, 9:22, 9:27, 9:33, 9:33, 9:31, 9:36, 9:36.
The turn into the wind, DUH(!!). I was able to hold it together somewhat for the first mile: 10:06, but then, UGH (!!!) 10:30, 10:46, 11:01, 12:01, 11:58....and then FORGET IT!!

Mileage: 16.52
Time/Pace: 2:47:46/10:09
AVG HR: 157
W/T: 33 (22 WC), windy (!!)

Quite disappointed with myself today, because of my poor planning. I should have been able to complete this distance. Next time...

Week Update

I've been off the grid, busy with work, but I still have put in all of my mileage scheduled so far. I tweaked my schedule a bit to do my long runs on Saturday instead of Sunday.

This week, Monday's 4 miler, no issues as well as today's. The most interesting run of the week was my tempo run. I ran inside at the Y. They have an indoor track above a basketball court. It wasn't like anything I had run on before, it was almost like a roller derby rink or a NASCAR track with banked corners. Oh yeah, and 17.5 laps per mile, so for my 4 mile tempo run, with a warm up and cool down, I did something like 105 laps.

Anyway....20 miler tomorrow...can't wait....should be decent weather

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Big 18 miler today. I debated back and forth about indoors or outdoors and finally decided on out. Not a bad day weather-wise, decently sunny, cold, but bearable.

The run started off well, and the first 8 flew by at my goal pace (9:27, 9:27, 9:30, 9:28, 9:30, 9:31, 9:33, 9:32) . 9-11 a little slower (9:45, 10:21, 10:22), but still reasonable, hit some bad road maintenance here and was annoyed. 12-14, whew, tougher and slower (10:41, 10:44, 10:36), 15-17 ugh (!), just finish (11:08, 11:15, 11:14) and 18 pulled it together a little bit to finish with a 10:36.

Totals
Mileage: 18.00
Time/Pace: 3:02:49/10:09
AVG HR: 155
T/W: 13 (WC3)/sun

Now on to the Good, Bad and Ugly

GOOD: Town of Tonawanda road maintenance. Bravo, boys! Clear roads very little snow and ice, even shoulders clear. Excellent!

BAD: Buffalo road maintenance. WTF. Horrible. As though they didn't even plow. My original intention was to run to Delaware Park via Buffalo side streets, but bailed on that shortly after entering city limits. I feel bad for the residents of Buffalo who can't get decent road work done. I understand it is a tough job, but if Tonawanda can do it, Buffalo can certainly do it too.

UGLY: MY splits! I am a very competitive person, which is weird, because I not really that good at anything. However, when I set a goal and miss it, I'm hard on myself. Like today, I was well of my goal pace of 9:29. However, I really need to focus on the fact that I finished this workout of 18 miles, something I've never done before. I've only run a handful of times over 10 miles, so I guess I shouldn't be too hard on myself. I keep trying to tell myself, I'm still new at this, but regardless I find myself pushing hard to get to my goals.

I also ran 3.04 miles yesterday and I'm looking forward to a day off tomorrow!

3x1600

For today's speed workout, I debated whether our not to do it outside. The temperature was a bit milder (relative to the rest of the week.) So I, hit the track, but with mixed feelings. It was nice to be outside after the past couple of indoor runs, but the track was slick. They do plow it (asphalt track), but still had a bit of snow (with some ice). My traction wasn't the best and I could feel my legs adjusting to this. I know I lost some of my power from the little bit of slipping I was doing, but that was to be expected I guess.

I was shooting for 7:32/pace and fell a bit short, again because of the track condition, I wasn't to concerned about this. Splits: 7:33, 7:41, 7:53. I started out feeling strong, but the slippery traction took its toll on me at the end. Still, a satisfying run.

Totals (w/wu&cd):

Mileage: 6.25
Time/Pace: 56:21/9:01
Avg HR: 155
T/W: 27 (WC19)

Yesterday I did my bike cross training workout.

Watching Myself Run

Have you ever had the fortunate (or unfortunate) opportunity to watch yourself run? During the week I get to use the Y where I work, and the treadmills are against the window. At night, all you can see is your own reflection, how exciting. I noticed that my right foot flares out a little bit as it lifts off the ground. I don't know if this is a problem, but just something I noticed. Also, I tend to weave quite a bit. Hmmm....

Mileage: 4.00
Time/Pace: 37:48/9:27
Avg HR: 143
Elevation: 1.0

New Long: 16 Miles

Hmmm....16 miles on the schedule today....yikes!! In the back of my mind I still have the memories of my struggles at 14 miles in December. Yesterday, I spent most of the day on my knees putting in a hardwood floor. Pretty tough on my knees and back, even my butt was sore! When I woke this morning, all my joints were creaking and legs were moaning. Add today's weather and it was setting up to be a perfect day to bail. However, I sucked it up, filled my water bottles with Accelerade, grabbed a couple packs of Clif Shot Blocks and headed out to the gym.

Treadmill running is not my favorite, it is quite dull, but necessary today. The one thing I do like is that it sets a pace nicely. The miles rolled off with relative ease. At the 10.5 mark, I knew I'd be able to complete the run. I felt pretty good throughout the run, with the exception of some stiffness in my left knee and ankle.

Mileage: 16.00
Time/Pace: 2:31:04/9:26
Avg HR: 144

Splits: 9:20, 9:29, 9:30, 9:28, 9:22, 9:26, 9:28, 9:27, 9:27, 9:26, 9:27, 9:23, 9:27, 9:24, 9:27, 9:26

Looking Back, Looking Ahead...

With every new year we look back at what we've done and look ahead to what we want to accomplish. I made a huge change and commitment in my life in 2009, running. I had always enjoyed it, I ran a bit in grade school and on and off in my adult life, but never anything like this, until April.

I remember how difficult it was at the beginning to put in 3 miles and now I am routinely peeling off 6 mile runs with relative ease. My body craves getting out for it's daily run. I take great pride in what I've done so far and yet have so many more goals in mind. Before I get to those, let recap my top five runs of the year.

5) 14 Mile Run (12/20/09): After struggling with a 12 mile and 14 mile run in consecutive weeks I had a minor breakthrough by running this 14 mile training run in a 9:31 pace.

4) Chestnut Ridge Challenge (10/31/09): Definitely a tough test of my training to this point. It was a pretty miserable day, but I felt as though I had a great run and really tested my endurance.

3) Muddy Trail Run at Chestnut Ridge (10/23/09): This 6 mile run was anything but ordinary. I bought a pair of trail shoes and immediately tested them at Chestnut Ridge. Ankle deep mud, some rain and hills, a truly enjoyable run, and maybe a future inspiration for some trail races?!?

2) Lindsey's Legacy 5K (11/14/09): This was a year of PR's, mostly because I haven't run much prior to 2009. Each race was a new goal and I was most pleased with this one, 23:00. I'm looking ahead to next year to set this even lower!

1) Rochester Half Marathon (9/13/09): A year ago I would have thought you were crazy if you told me that I'd run in a half marathon. This was definitely the highlight of my running year; racing in my hometown and seeing family members at the finish as excited as me.

Onto 2010 goals:

1) Run a marathon. I have my first in my sights on 3/21 in Virginia Beach. Hopefully this will only be the first of many.

2) Run an ultra. If the marathon goes well, I intend on running at the ultra distance. A logical start to this would be the BPAC 6-Hour Ultra in April. 3.5 mile loop may get boring, but I am very familiar with the area and won't get in too much trouble physically.

3) Get a bike! I'm looking to get a bike this spring and add it to my cross training regiment. If all goes well I may be able to.....

4) Compete in a duathlon (maybe even a tri?!?)

5) Run 1500 miles. Shouldn't be a problem if I stay healthy.

6) Get weight down to 180. Diet will probably be the most helpful here.

7) Run a sub 7 minute mile in 5K. That's a 21:42 5K.

Whew...seems like a lot, but I get more committed and motivated everyday.

Today's run.

Mileage: 4.00
Time/Pace: 37:44/9:26
Avg HR: 151
T/W: 26 (13WC)/ Cloudy

Thanks to all of you out there that read my ramblings and I look forward to chatting with you more and following your successes.