A year in review

My five mile run tonight was uneventful. It was a scheduled tempo run where I was supposed to run slow for one mile, then around 11:00 for three miles, then slow for the last mile.

I totally blew that and just ran. Oh well, I had the best of intentions.

My feet have sufficiently developed enough callouses that I can run without tape. That's good because taping was a pain.

The last .75 mile of my run was down the left side M-26. I had a sharp pain on the inside of my left knee the entire way down. The sidewalk is apparently too cambered for my knee. I thought about switching sides, but there was too much traffic so I just kept on going. As soon as I got on a level surface, the pain went away.

Oh yeah..the title of my post. I was running some reports on my running and found some validation for all the hard work I've been doing on my running over the past year.

One year ago I ran 5 miles in 1:06 and my pace was 13:09 (ha, so slow!). Tonight I ran 5 in 53:20 and my pace was 10:39.

When I first started running around five or six years ago, my goal was to run five miles. I didn't care how long it took me, I just wanted to run that distance. It took me a while to get there, but I finally did it. But I was pretty slow. 12 minute miles were the norm, if I hit some 11's, I was feeling pretty zippy. I figured 10 minute miles were never going to happen.

Now, I'm churning them out regularly and sometimes, like on Monday, I hit the 9's. I think I may be a runner now, rather than a shuffler. And that is very cool.

Here's the entire report for 5 mile distances over the last year. Sweet validation, it is.

Fast Five

I did a zippy five miles tonight followed by 20 minutes of strength training. My first two miles were totally uphill, and were my slowest. The remaining three were downhill/flat and I was able to crank out times in the 10-minute range for those. In all, I was able to average 10:40 miles overall. Not too shabby.

My strength training routine varies from session to session. Tonight I worked on my abs (100 sit-ups on the stability ball), arms (50 push-ups, then bicep, tricep & shoulder work with the 10 lb. weights), back (reverse sit-ups) and legs. Since that was my first strength session since probably April, I'll probably be sore tomorrow. No pain, no gain.

Foot report:

socks - yellow Smartwool micros
tape - big toes, one piece underneath

No blisters, no tender spots.

That's the third day of running with no foot issues. I think I finally found the recipe.

Next up, Six on Saturday. I'm starting to get bored running the same old routes. I think I'll head toward Atlantic Mine and Old Mill Hill. I figure if I go early enough, M-26 will be traffic-free. I was thinking around 6:00 AM ?

Not.

Holy hot

What is the deal with this weather? A few days last week, the thermometer barely made it into the 50s. Today, it was over 80 and I ran a very 5 hot miles tonight.

I took water with me, but I felt really drained by the end of the run. 45 minutes after I got home, a thunderstorm rolled through. Good thing I went running right after work!

Ho hum

Two runs this week, Monday and tonight.

My Monday run was uneventful. Windy, if I remember correctly.

Tonight's run was pretty decent, except for the part when it started to rain and I had a mile left to go. I was completely drenched when I got home.

I ran an old favorite route of mine, the Dodgeville loop. There are some seriously scary looking people living in Dodgeville. I had neither my pepper spray nor my phone with me, so I felt a bit uneasy until I got to Green Acres Road. I need to find that pepper spray.

And cut my grass before I get a ticket from the grass police.

Training, Josh style

Josh has been diligently following his training program for walking 6.2 miles in June.

I've been walking with him, in addition to running.

My post-run routine usually consists of 30 minutes of stretching, water, and a light dinner. When I go with Josh, my routine consists of ... the bar.

KBC on Tuesday and Thursday (their new Santiago lager is so good). Yesterday, Carmelita's. Mmmm, mango margarita.

Post-recovery fuel?

Training incentive?

Anyway, a little over five miles for me yesterday (10:34 pace!), then three miles walking with Josh.

I wonder where we'll go tonight? :-)

Back in the saddle, or whatever

I planned on taking two weeks off from the half marathon before I started running again but after about four days of doing nothing, I started to get a little antsy. I stretched that out another three days of being really antsy before finally caving and going for a nice 5-mile run after work tonight. My legs were cranky and they didn't seem to settle down until around mile 3. It was 58 degrees when I took off, which meant that I was able to wear the new shorts I picked up in San Francisco. They're really comfortable, and best of all, did not ride up. At $28 they're a bit pricey, but I think I'm going to invest in a few more pairs anyway. Shorts that don't up are really hard to find. I know because it's been my quest for the past four years to find them and I have 20 or so pairs of shorts that are too annoying to run in collecting dust in my closet to prove it, too. I don't even want to think about how much money I have invested in that pile. Oy.

Next up on the race calendar is the 10k (6.2 mile) Hodag Run on June 28th. It's a small race in downtown Rhinelander sponsored by the local YMCA. Rhinelander's a fun place, especially Lurv's Kozy Korner Bar, so it should make for a really enjoyable weekend.

I'm going to try to improve on my fastest 6-mile time, which was 1:06. This means I get to start doing speed work, which basically means run really, really fast for a short period time, then rest a bit, then do it over. And try not to injure myself in the process. Sometimes I really wish I had a coach because I really don't know what I'm doing when it comes to training. Until now, I've just found some plan on the intarwebz that didn't require anything but running and followed it. That plan has worked, but now that I know that I can run HM distances, I want to start improving my times. I'd really like to be able to run a 2:15 HM some day. That would require that I shave a minute off of my pace, which I think I can do, but I'm just not sure how to go about doing it.

Speaking of training, Josh is going to walk the 10k while I run and he's going to officially train! Using a plan and everything! I'm not sure he'll be as nuts about analyzing his data as I am, but he's already asked to borrow my old Forerunner 201, so there's hope yet!