Friday

Plan for Friday:

Gym at 5am for weights & circuit training. Run at lunch. I can't decide whether I'll run near work (5x1.1 mile loop) or go to the Riverwalk and run from Bibb Mill to Phenix City Amphitheatre and back (5.6 miles). It's supposed to be 68° today and sunny... so a lunch run will be really nice. Just need to figure out how much time I have and where to go.

One of the ladies at work did the Couch to 5K program last January and February. She got up to 70 minutes of running over the summer... she still runs 3 or 4 times a week but now she's added some core work with a fitness ball. She has been really excited about the results.

Thursday

I guess falling down in public is funny- at least it seemed like that to the people who were there to witness my faceplant yesterday at lunch. I had to get up on the sidewalk during my run and I guess I wasn't paying attention...

So I ended with 5.7 miles and a skinned-up shoulder.

Sun-Weds

Swam a couple of times but no running. I did do abs 3x.

Monday

It's raining like crazy right now (5am), which is good, but I hope it stops by noon so I can run.

My neighbors must think I'm nuts. I come home on Saturdays after my long runs and after parking the car, I gingerly and painstakingly inch my way up the driveway. I probably look like the people in this video:

Columbus Riverwalk Alligators

I talked to some folks yesterday who claim that an alligator has been seen between on the Riverwalk between Rigdon Park & the Columbus Water Works.

Saturday

39° this morning... ran for a couple of hours... 18.1 miles... from Rotary Park on the Columbus Riverwalk to Fort Benning and back, then up to Broadway in Uptown Columbus and back. Clear, cool & breezy. My pace was all over the charts today.

Thanksgiving

10 miles on the Riverwalk this morning. First time i've noticed the "CAUTION ALLIGATOR HABITAT" signs... You might want to read Tim Chitwood's column in the local paper for further clarification :-)

Ok, so a little 10 miler this morning, then Thanksgiving dinner & football all day.

Friday a shorter run and then a 16-18 mile run on Saturday. I'm thinking about doing the '2nd Annual Red Nose Marathon on January 5th.

Tuesday

Core workout in the morning, 5.7 miles at lunch.

I'm using SportTracks in addition to the excel log that I've used for years. I haven't used SportTracks in a long time but decided to download and install the newest version. Very nice software that works with my Garmin 201. I'll probably use it exclusively starting in January.

Monday

Made it to the gym at 5am for my weight routine.

Ran 5.5 miles at lunch, the work loop next to my office building. It's warm Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday this week. 69° during my run...

I was very tempted to take my shirt off, but didn't. I would have if I'd been on a different route not so close to work. There's an interesting thread in the Runner's World forums about running shirtless... I guess the only place I don't run shirtless (in warm weather) is that one route near my office. Everywhere else, the shirt comes off.

Review: AirDrive Earphones

AirDrive earphones:

I am very particular about my running gear, whether it's shoes, shorts, shirt, cap, Camelbak, gloves, whatever. I'll spend a little more to get quality merchandise that lasts longer or performs better. This includes my mp3 player & my headphones. Up till now, the weakest link has always been earphones. Well, not any longer. I finally got some AirDrive earphones.

Three things separate AirDrive earphones from others:

• The ability to hear ambient sounds
• The ability to adjust the ear piece so it stays in place, even on long runs
• The built-in volume adjustment slider.

The ability to hear ambient sounds: The AirDrive earphones do not cover your auditory canal. When you put the earphones on, the speaker is located just to the front of your ear, so you can hear the music but also hear everything that's going on around you. You can carry on a conversation, hear approaching cars, listen to the sounds of nature...in short, you're no longer unaware of your environment while running. I can hear footsteps in the grass 10 meters in front of me while I'm listening to Led Zeppelin, in other words. I can hear a dog barking across the Chattahoochee River while I'm running on the Riverwalk listening to Korn. And when I'm running on the street I can hear all the traffic sounds. I'm not locked inside my own isolated music cocoon.

The ear grips stay put during runs: Usually I'm constantly fiddling around with the earphones. Forget earbud earphones, they don't work at all. The earbuds fall out once I get sweaty. And with all the other ear grip type earphones, the ear grips get sweaty and rotate around, because they aren't moldable enough... but the AirDrive ear grips are a little bit thicker and easier to shape, so that I can shape them to fit my ear exactly. I can totally mold them to fit my ears. I put them over my ear, adjust them, and they stay put. Even on a 3-hour run, I never once have to touch them- they stay in place.

The built-in volume slider: I've got gigs worth of mp3 files, and the recording level is different on all of them. Or it sure seems like it! I'll set the volume just perfectly, and 3 songs later I can barely hear the words. Or it will be too loud. And I'm too lazy to normalize the volume, so it's just been an embuggerance I've learned to live with. Well, on the AirDrive earphones, there's a built-in volume adjustment slider that's easy to find and use. I can adjust the volume as I'm running, from loud as hell to totally silent or someplace in between. It's a great feature and one that I've used many times already.

Obviously, I like these earphones a lot. I've used them for running, and I've used them while sitting at my desk at work. My co-workers have tried them and have been astonished that they can listen to music and still hear what's going on in the office. My wife now wants a pair, since they mold to her smaller ears (that's a first- she's gone through more workout earphones than I have).

The earphones are $99 and they're available by going to the AirDrive site and following the link to an online retailer. The price is well worth it.

Saturday

I decided to run the God Bless Fort Benning 5K this morning. About 200 runners showed up. It was pretty cold, 35°, and this race was competing with another local 5K that was the last race in a 3-part series. I needed to decide whether to do a long run, do the 5K at Smiths Station, or do the Fort Benning 5K. I decided to do the Fort Benning race, and I'm glad that I did. I only wish that I could have stayed to enjoy more of the whole God Bless Fort Benning event, but I had to leave after the race.

This race course was a little different than the other one I've run in Uptown Columbus. This course took us down a hill toward the river, then after a long block it turned back and we had to go up a hill... this sort of took the wind out of my sails and I began cursing silently to myself... but got through it and through the first mile @ 6:45, which was my target. I was behind a group of 4 or 5 soldiers and ran with them pretty much until the 3rd mile, when 2 of them shot forward, 2 fell back, and I was left in the middle. I ended up with a 22:38 which was disappointing, but good enough for 1st in my age group. I think this route found all the hills in an area known for being flat as a pancake!

There were lots of soldiers at the event and as I watched the Rangers In Action demonstration, I looked to my right and there was radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger standing next to me.

God Bless Fort Benning 5K

Just saw that radio host Dr Laura Schlessinger will be running in the God Bless Fort Benning 5K this weekend. Her son is deployed in Afghanistan. link

The God Bless Fort Benning 5K starts at 8:30 am at the 1000 block of Broadway on Saturday. Pre-Registration starts at 7am. This run benefits the God Bless Fort Benning benevolent fund, which supports soldiers who need a helping hand. Good cause!

Couch to 5K Program Podcasts

I've known several people who've used the Couch to 5K Running Program. It's a 9-week program to get back into running or to start running as a beginner. Really good method to get in shape. I printed this program out and gave it to a co-worker a year ago and she is still running, and she's running about an hour a day. She followed the C25K program all the way through and then kept adding distance and time until she hit 45 minutes. After that, she added 5 minutes a week. This past summer she was running 80 minutes a day, 5 days a week. She's totally into running now and it will definitely be a lifetime thing for her.

The C25K program uses walking and running. Here's the first day's workout in Week 1:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

I just found a site this morning for people who are going through the Couch to 5K program and have an iPod or mp3 player. Robert Ullrey has created podcasts (mp3's) that you can download and listen to as you're going through the C25K program. The podcasts are located on Robert Ullrey's site. The podcasts are separated out by Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and so on, so they match the C25K program's workouts. You listen to the podcast and it will tell you when to walk, when to run, how long you've been running, etc... along with some catchy 'beats per minute' music. Just seems like a great way to stay motivated and not have to set & check your watch all the time.

Thursday

One more time doing the lunch 1.1 mile loop 5 times. I did use the Garmin "virtual training partner" today just to make it interesting. That little monochrome bastard was beating me until I warmed up and shot past his sorry butt around mile 2.

I may do that loop regularly now. It's sort of hilly but my knees aren't acting up, so I'll continue it. It's convenient to work so it saves both time and gas money. I can change, run, shower, and change again in just about an hour.

I did use my AirDrive headphones today again. I'll do the review on them this weekend, but I'm still very impressed. It's great to finally have something that I don't have to constantly re-adjust every 1/4 mile. And I can hear what's going on around me, which is nice on this loop since there's quite a bit of traffic. I could hear every car and still listen to the iPod.

Wednesday

Weight & circuit training this morning at 5am:
1. Decline Bench (4 sets 8 reps)
2. Dumbell Flies (4 sets 8 reps)
3. Bench Press (4 sets 8 reps)
4. Circuit: 5 iterations of:
Crossfit ham-glute situps (20 reps)
Heavy bag work, left jab & straight right
Curls
Dips

Lunch run, 5.6 miles, around the 1.1 mile loop near where I work. Uphill 1/2 mile, downhill 1/2 mile, repeat etc. Monotonous save for my new AirDrive headphones which I am truly loving. I showed them off at work today and can verify that they fit large and small ears, since about half a dozen people tried them on. It's just great not to have to constantly adjust the earpiece during a run, and to be able to hear music and the noises that go along with running outdoors. I'll put together a review of them on Saturday or Sunday.

Got home and walked/ran my dog around the lake, 2.5 miles start to finish.

Tuesday

God Bless Fort Benning 5K - this Saturday


Did some situps in the morning, then ran in the afternoon yesterday. I had my first opportunity to run using my new AirDrive headphones. These are the headphones I've wanted since I first heard about them- they allow you to hear all the ambient noises while still listening to your favorite music. There are a lot of features. I was very, very impressed and will do a complete review on them this weekend.

I don't know what's going on but my normal training runs are sure getting faster. It could just be the weather...it is getting cooler...or it could be something else.

A normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday for me:
5am - 35 minute circuit training / weights
noon- 6 mile run
evening - 2.5 mile fast walk

Tues - Thurs:
am: situps, back exercises
noon: 6 mile run
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Saturday:
am: 15-20 mile run
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Sunday:
no running or weights
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Monday

Supposed to be in the 70's Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm running at lunch to take advantage of the nice weather.


Weights in the morning consisted of these exercises:
1. Decline Bench (4 sets 8 reps)
2. Dumbell Flies (4 sets 8 reps)
3. Bench Press (4 sets 8 reps)
4. Circuit: 5 iterations of:
Crossfit ham-glute situps (20 reps)
Heavy bag work, left jab & straight right
Curls
Dips

Ran 6 miles at lunch @ 8:00 pace

Saturday Pt II

I took a few photos with my Treo this morning and posted them using the "mobile blogging" feature that's available in Blogger. I take a photo & send it to an email address, and it shows up here. So just a couple in reverse order.

Got to Rotary Park a few minutes before 6 and met up with Jack, who ran 6 with me before turning around. I kept going to the turnaround point (for me) at Fort Benning. Then back to Rotary Park, but I went past it for another mile before going back. Ended up with 17.2 miles this morning.

Oxbow Meadows

Rotary Park 6am

Saturday

46° wind chill this morning. I'm planning to do 15-18 miles, depending. I'll bring the Treo and try to send some photos straight from the run... should see the sunrise around 7am.

Friday

Made it to the gym at 5 for my weight workout. I'm up to 5 sets of 20 of the crossfit glute-ham situp, which I do in between sets of decline bench and bench. I go through everything pretty quickly and am finished with the entire workout in about 30 minutes. I'll probably just add reps to that situp, not sets. I'd like to get to 5 sets of 50.

I've been able to get out for a run at lunch this week pretty easily, so I'll do the same thing today and update the distance tonight.

One thing I've noticed is that drinking the carb/protein shakes after both the weight workout and the run workout has really made a huge difference in my energy level and my ability to keep doing 2 workouts a day most days. I usually mix CeraSport & protein powder. For runs, I mix it up ahead of time in a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle and just keep it in the car for when I finish. After weights, I mix it in a blender when I get home. After 15-20 mile or longer runs, I follow that up with some additional drinks, usually by buying a gatorade or similar and then mixing some protein powder into it. I'm not gaining any weight from it... just feeling better. More energy, stronger...

On last Saturday's run, I ran the last 7.5 miles with a tall 27-yr old, 210-lb ex-college quarterback, lean and in great shape, who was doing 8-minute miles until he was saddled with me as a running partner and had to slow down to 8:40. Talking to him, he was saying that he's stopped the lower body weight workouts except for lunges, which he said really helped him, but he was still doing the upper body. He ended up running 21 miles Saturday. He said that he follows up both his weight workout and running workouts with the protein mix, so it sort of confirmed what I had been thinking myself about it.

Thursday

I went back to the Bibb City Mill - Phenix City amphitheatre route today. Probably around 55 degrees and sunny when I started at 1pm... Nice run. I used my Garmin and came up with 5.6 miles for the route, starting at the Gazebo and running to the Dillingham Street Bridge and back.

Wednesday

Weight room this morning at 5am. Same as usual, except that I did 5 sets of 20 ham-glute situps instead of 4. And I did 14 reps of 160 on the bench at the end of my 8 decline bench / bench sets.

A little chilly here, in the 30's this morning.

Provided I don't accidentally defibrillate myself in my CPR/Defibrillator class this morning, I'll run at lunch again, the same 5.5 mile route, only this time i'll remember to wear the Garmin in order to get an accurate distance. Lunch runs are the same for me: change in the bathroom closest to the exit door, get to my car, haul ass to the run site, run, then get back in the car, haul ass back to work, shower & change, then get back to my desk. I shoot for an hour total.

**UPDATE**
I didn't defibrillate myself, the machine was smarter than me. The class was good and our instructor was very good. However, it did include a lunch so I blew off my run until this evening. So I ran 5.6 miles in the neighborhood. 54° here, not so cold, but a far cry from what seems like yesterday when it was hot & humid all the time.

Tuesday

Ran at lunch. I got to the north marina and it was taped off for some reason, so I drove to the Riverwalk entry point near the Bibb City Mill and ran south to the Phenix City Amphitheatre, then back. About 5 miles? maybe a little further. Next time, I'll take my Garmin so I can figure out the distance. A very enjoyable run and it may be my default lunch route from now on. Flat, and interesting, since this route passes the projects, the TSYS campus, and then crosses over into Phenix City. And workers were putting Christmas decorations up on the Phenix City side of the Riverwalk.


This was in my Daily Runner's Quote:

"The greatest treadmill running song, of course, is 'Black Dog' from Led Zeppelin IV." -Pete Pfitzinger

Monday

Gym at 5am... the usual.

I got an email back from the God Bless Fort Benning 5K event coordinator, and they will be doing 5-year age groups for the run. That's good news, since races usually have more participants if they split the age groups like that. I'd love it if this race became a well-attended annual event.

I'll update after my run today.

God Bless Fort Benning 5K

I noticed that the God Bless Fort Benning 5K information is available. Does anyone know about the age groups? Are they 10-year or 5-year?

Not too sure if I can make that one, since I have to work that Saturday, but I'll be there if I can find a way.

Saturday

49° this morning when I got to the Riverwalk at 6am. Met Jack there, who I'd done some runs with before his Twin Cities marathon. Ran 5 miles with Jack, then continued to my turnaround point at Fort Benning, and met up with one of the Tennessee Tech football coaches who's in town (they play Auburn today in football). He is training for the St Jude Memphis Marathon. He had been clicking off 8:00 miles until he joined me for the 7.5 miles back to Rotary Park. He continued on, since he was running 20 this morning and I was only doing 15. I think he also sped up a little :-)

He slowed down for me, but we still averaged 8:40 miles for that 7.5 miles... so for me it was kind of hard. My half-marathon time today was 2:01:02, which is not too bad for a training run in my case. I've had faster, but normally it's a couple minutes slower than that.

But anyway, we were talking about the Olympic Marathon trials, which were this morning, and he knew Ryan Hall. Ryan Hall kicked it in the trials this morning, running a record qualifying time. Ryan Hall just seems like a great guy, as does Brian Sell, who came in 3rd. Brian works 20 hours a week in the Home Depot Garden Center when he's not running. It's a pretty cool outcome and I hope it gets people jazzed about the Olympic marathon.

So for me, a nice morning's run & good people to run with. Can't ask for much more than that!

Friday

Decided to lift weights this morning instead of run, so I went to the gym and it was CLOSED! I guess the guy who opens it overslept. So now my whole day is in turmoil...maybe I can get away at lunch, and then run tonight. Hmmmm.

Planning to do 16 miles on Saturday.

Thursday

I revamped my whole morning alarm routine: clock radio, blackberry, treo... all 3 were set, and it worked. The alarm on a Blackberry Curve is very loud, by the way. The effect of all 3 of them was like waking up in a clock factory. Left the house at 4:15 am, walked .2 miles (warming up),ran 7.7 miles, back home by 5:40am to feed dogs, wake everyone, iron my clothes etc. And take a shower :-)

I'll probably get to the gym at some point today to do the leg extensions & hamstring curls. They seem to be helping the vague knee pain I've been experiencing the past few weeks. I'll do some ab and lower back exercises while I'm there. I've been doing the Crossfit ham-glute situps (4 sets of 20+) M-W-F in between bench sets, then I do the bicycle crunches (3 sets of 100) T-Th-Sa.

Beginning bodyweight for November 2007: 178 lbs

Wednesday

How is it possible to sleep through 2 alarms????

Weights @ lunch; 2.5 mile run

Last post for October 2007. 153.6 miles total running, 37.5 miles walking