Saturday

5K Race in Columbus Historic District

I decided that I would go ahead and run the Historic District 5K this morning instead of running on the Riverwalk. Glad I did. The race was very well organized and I did OK.

24:39 3.24 miles avg pace= 7:37

Here are the mile splits:
1 8:03
2 7:51
3 7:09
.24 6:45

I think I could have run faster, I was a little concerned about running too fast in the beginning. I probably can do 7:20 or so for a 5k maybe a little faster. There's a trail 10K coming up in November that I really want to do, so that's the next race that I"ll definitely commit to.

At any rate, I placed in my age group and here's the new Jeep accessory:

Wednesday

I keep on tripping
6 miles after work, again at Lake Heath. For the 3rd time in 5 runs I stumbled over something. Luckily I didn't fall but I almost fell and that's even worse, since I probably looked ridiculous and it was in front of people. My legs are still scratched up from the last time I fell.

I know, who cares. At least I'm out there running.

I'm still not sure about this weekend. I ran 12 miles last Saturday, I should do 8 this Saturday but there's a 5K I sort of want to do. I just can't make up my mind. If I do the 5K my weekly mileage will be around 30, that's if I run 3 miles on Friday. If I don't run on Friday, then it will only be 27. If I run 6 on Friday and then 10 on Saturday, then it would be 40 miles.

Tuesday

Lake Heath

6.15 miles again around Lake Heath. Burned 700 calories according to my Garmin. Average pace was 9:40. I'm a little slower going around the trail and I think the Garmin gets messed up by all the trees. Great weather again.

Will have to come up with a plan for the winter, since once it gets dark earlier I won't be able to run after work. I guess I'll be back to the early morning run. For now though, it's nice to run in some warm (not hot) weather.

Monday

Lake Heath

6.1 miles at Lake Heath. Cooler temps. Ran in the Shox 2:40's. Saw a lot of folks walking around the lake trail and a few other runners.

Sunday

Chi Running

Of course I have my signed copy of Jeff Galloway's Marathon (which I got him to sign when he was at Below The Knee), but I was talking to a customer last weekend who recommended Chi Running by Danny Dreyer, so I picked up a copy at the local bookstore and have been reading it. I tried it on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and then again tried to incorporate it into my run on Saturday.

So my running style has changed maybe a little? The remarkable thing is that I was not sore at all yesterday after the run, nor today- which is unusual for me. I've had hip trouble off and on for a month or so, and trouble with my left leg (probably related), but I haven't had any of those symptoms today. Looking at all of the variables, maybe I did change my style a little for the better as a result of Chi Running.

I would not do the book justice by trying to condense down into a few sentences what he takes 4 chapters to arrive at, but I do recommend the book.

Long Run Day

Saturday, Long Run Day

I ran at lunch Thursday and Friday, fast and with a 1/2 mile uphill at the end. So my legs were a little beat when I started today. This morning I checked the temperature online before I started out and was surprised to see that it was 72 degrees with 90% humidity. On my way to the Riverwalk I passed a bank and it read 76 degrees. So it was a little warm but very humid. It was foggy on the Riverwalk and still a little dark when I got there at 7am

Based on the McMillan Running Calculator, I thought I'd run 10 miles at between 9:30 and 10:30.... so this is what happened:

Mile Split Time
1 10:06
2 9:46
3 10:11
4 9:57
5 9:44
6 9:45
7 10:24
8 9:54
9 10:11
10 9:51
11 10:01
12 10:05

Grand total: 12.03 miles, avg pace = 10:00, calories burned: 1771

I've seen a lot of information about how often to use energy gels, and for me it usually works out to every 30 minutes. It was warm and very humid this morning, and I really had to force myself to wait until each 3-mile point to eat the gel. I had my waist pack water bottle and refilled it 3 times during the run, so about 60 ounces. I've done this same run in similar weather but used the camelbak filled with half water, half gatorade, and that worked better for me. I was really beat today at the end of the run.

Tuesday

Lake Run
Ran 6 miles around the lake. I might be able to run at lunch on Wednesday and get a couple of miles in, if the weather is good.

Monday

Bad Weather
Didn't run. The weather was bad- rain, lightning, high winds... had a branch fall off one of our trees and hit my car. Dented the hood. Not a great time to run around the lake.

Sunday - Weekly Plan

I haven't followed my plan yet... so I'm just going to try to do 6 miles a day and then a long Saturday run. We'll see. I want to get my mileage average to about 40 per week.

Saturday - Long Run Day

Columbus Riverwalk
Ran 10 miles on the riverwalk this morning. Great weather. Here are the splits and I'm pretty happy with the last one:
1 9:54
2 9:30
3 9:25
4 9:04
5 9:15
6 9:25
7 9:24
8 9:06
9 9:22
10 8:36

So the total is 10.03 miles; avg pace= 9:18. The best part of this run is that i am (knock on wood) not experiencing the really bad hip pain anymore. After doing the ITBS stretching everday, which has irritated my wife no end since it looks weird, I think maybe I've solved that problem.

Thursday

Lake Heath
Another run around Lake Heath. 6.2 miles. The highlight of this run was when I stumbled over a root and turned into a cartoon for 12 or 15 steps before I finally crashed to the ground. Luckily I don't think anyone saw it.

Tuesday

Another 3 laps around Lake Heath

6.4 miles, average pace = 9:34. This is a trail run, packed dirt. Sometimes you have to run through a flock of geese that really don't give way at all and just stand there with a questioning look in their eyes. "Where's my bread?"

Monday

9/11

Ran 6.4 miles.

Sunday

Weekly Plan

M 6 miles
T 5 miles + 3 miles
W 6 miles
Th 5 miles + 3 miles
Fr 6 miles
Sat 10, 12 or 14 depending

Saturday

6 miles - Lake Heath

Thursday

6 miles - Lake Heath

Friday

6 miles

Wednesday

Today's Run:

6 miles @ 10:00 average pace. It was raining a little when I ran at 6pm.

New MP3 Player

3rd MP3 player in 2 years... I've broken a Sandisk and an Ipod Shuffle. So the new one is a Creative Zen Nano 1GB. Just loaded it up with my current music:

001 - Grateful Dead: Ripple.mp3
002 - The Raconteurs: steady_as_she_goes.mp3
003 - Bob Marley - Get Up Stand Up.mp3
004 - Tommy Tutone: 867-5309 Jenny.mp3
005 - Bad Company: Bad Company.mp3
006 - Three Days Grace: Animal I Have Become.mp3
007 - Red Hot Chili Peppers: Dani California.mp3
008 - Gnarls Barkley - Crazy.mp3
009 - Black Sabbath: paranoid.mp3
010 - Rolling Stones: Under My Thumb.mp3
011 - Grateful Dead: Truckin'.mp3
012 - Rolling Stones: Shattered.mp3
013 - Bush -Machinehead.mp3
014 - Led Zeppelin - Going To California.mp3
015 - Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil.mp3
016 - Billy Idol - Rebel Yell.mp3
017 - Cake: the_distance-eos.mp3
018 - Bad Company: Shooting Star.mp3
019 - Steve Miller: Going to Mexico.mp3
020 - Led Zeppelin - Boogie With Stu.mp3
021 - Led Zepplin - Kashmir.mp3
022 - Rolling Stones: Brown Sugar.mp3
023 - Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne.mp3
024 - Neil Young - rockin_in_the_free_world-esc.mp3
025 - Lou Reed: Sweet Jane.mp3
026 - Lynyrd Skynryd: call_me_the_breeze.mp3
027 - Santana - She's not there.mp3
028 - Red Hot Chili Peppers: higher_ground-rns.mp3
031 - Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2).mp3

Tuesday

I went to Ranger Joe's yesterday and got a set of dog tags. I plan to wear one on some of my runs, since I don't usually carry any ID when I'm running and I run by myself very early in the morning sometimes. The dog tags include name, address, phone number, birthdate, blood type... They cost $4.50 a pair at Ranger Joe's including the chain.

Plan today is run at lunch and then again after work.

Monday

My plan this week is to run twice a day. Shorter morning runs and then add an evening run. I've gone through 2 MP3 players, a San Disk and an Ipod Shuffle... sweat ruined them, i think. i just bought a new Creative Zen Nano 1GB and loaded it up. Try that one this morning. I like it so far- good display, sounds fine, has an FM radio, easy to use and it allows playlists. Let's just see how long this one lasts :-)

Saturday

Long Riverwalk Run - 12 miles

Nice run on the riverwalk this morning. I tried to run slowly at about 10 minutes per mile average and came pretty close. I noticed another runner right behind me and before you know it, I was running faster. Total distance: 12.02 miles, average pace: 10:07

Here are my splits:

1 10:19
2 10:15
3 10:07
4 10:01
5 10:12
6 10:32
7 10:31
8 10:53
9 9:48
10 9:11
11 9:34
12 9:59

All in all, a good run. I ran in the Brooks Beasts just to see what they felt like on a longer run. They were fine and I'll probably run this same distance in them again next week.

Thursday

Lake Heath Run

Ran 6 miles at Lake Heath after work. Still pretty hot outside, in the 90s. Totals:

Distance: 6.03 miles
Time: 1:03:10
Average pace: 10:29

I sure am slow...