Date: Saturday 11/1/2008
Distance Ran : 6.24 miles
Total Time : 01:01:49 (1 hours 1 minutes 49 seconds)
Pace: 9:53/mi
Run Time : 8:00 am
Weather : Cold Start, Warmer Finish. Clear. 50° at run
BLOG:
The Vulcan 10k! This was my first "big" race and it was a blast. It took a while for me to get in the groove and the first 1/2 of the race was much harder than the 2nd half for me both mentally and physically. My overall pace was much quicker than my usual races and I'm bordering on being below a 10:00/mi pace which is a goal I set for myself a while ago but didn't think I'd see so soon.
The Run was alot of Fun. Jeremie was in town to do some packing and moving so he, myself, and Will got downtown pretty early. Much earlier than we needed to in hindsight. We could have very easily showed up an hour after we got downtown and still had time to warm-up and be ready. But I had never been to a race this big and figured that if you had a few thousand people showing up to a race it'd be jam packed really early.
My legs actually held up. There were a few twinges early that had me going "here we go" but it never got worse or consistent. I did alot pre-stretching and maybe that was the trick, hard to tell.
I mentally had to really struggle to take every step that first 4 miles. Actually the first mile went pretty well because it was very much the "Wow, look at all the runners, this is a big race, hey look we just finished a mile" race blur. After that wore off and we turned the corner on to 6th Avenue (?) we had almost a 1 mile straight away laid out before us and that was really when I hit my first mini-wall. I really had to struggle through the run until we got into Highlands and then it was difficult but I knew I was getting closer. Between Mile 3 and Mile 4 was my slowest time and that was by far the hilliest and most difficult portion. When I hit the 4 mile mark I was off my pace, but after that I got back into southside and knew I was getting closer to the end. I really hit my second wind between mile 4 and the end of the race and was having a great time running.
I didn't have any real after-race soreness or issues other than one toe on my right foot felt like I dropped something on the nail. I kept waiting for it to bruise up and be "black nail" or whatever they call that alilment. But it never did and was better on Sunday.
Overall, this was a great race and I'm very happy with my progress and finish. It's races like this that make me think that maybe, just maybe, I can actually train for a marathon successfully.
I'm still going to continue with my pre-training for the Shamrock in March. I'm hoping I can get all the weekday runs in this next week unlike last week. We'll see how daylight savings affects my running.
Monday, November 3, 2008
Another Bad Run
Date: Thursday 10/30/2008
Distance Ran : 1.45 miles
Total Time : 00:14:39 (0 hours 14 minutes 39 seconds)
Pace: 10:04/mi
Run Time : 4:45 pm
Weather : Cool and Clear. 55° at run
BLOG:
Another terrible run. My legs were killing me from the start. I decided to cut the run even shorter than the day before's run because I was worried that it would carry over to Saturday's race. Still no idea why my legs hurt so much.
Might try more stretching.
Distance Ran : 1.45 miles
Total Time : 00:14:39 (0 hours 14 minutes 39 seconds)
Pace: 10:04/mi
Run Time : 4:45 pm
Weather : Cool and Clear. 55° at run
BLOG:
Another terrible run. My legs were killing me from the start. I decided to cut the run even shorter than the day before's run because I was worried that it would carry over to Saturday's race. Still no idea why my legs hurt so much.
Might try more stretching.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Take the bad with the good.
Date: Tuesday 10/29/2008
Distance Ran : 2.2 miles
Total Time : 00:22:58 (0 hours 22 minutes 58 seconds)
Pace: 10:25/mi
Run Time : 3:50 pm
Weather : Cool and Clear. 55° at run
BLOG:
This was not a good run. From the first few steps my legs were killing me. It wasn't all of my legs it was just the area between my calves and my ankles. I tried to gut it out and if it had been a race I probably would have finished without walking but I decided to stop early. I spent from 1.5 miles to 2.0 miles telling myself "make it to 2 and you can quit". When I made it to 2 though I told myself "quit being weak and do what you put on the calendar". I make it all the way down the street and to the turn around any my legs were really hurting so I stopped and am hoping that the next run goes better.
If the Vulcan starts off like today started off it's going to be a VERY long run. I felt so good on Tuesday's run, it's frustrating to follow up such a good run with such a bad one. I'm going to try more stretching before Thursday's run and we'll see how that goes.
Jeremie will be in town Thursday for some things. That's going to be fun to get to run with him then and on Saturday. I miss having a running buddy.
Here's to hoping the next run is better.
Distance Ran : 2.2 miles
Total Time : 00:22:58 (0 hours 22 minutes 58 seconds)
Pace: 10:25/mi
Run Time : 3:50 pm
Weather : Cool and Clear. 55° at run
BLOG:
This was not a good run. From the first few steps my legs were killing me. It wasn't all of my legs it was just the area between my calves and my ankles. I tried to gut it out and if it had been a race I probably would have finished without walking but I decided to stop early. I spent from 1.5 miles to 2.0 miles telling myself "make it to 2 and you can quit". When I made it to 2 though I told myself "quit being weak and do what you put on the calendar". I make it all the way down the street and to the turn around any my legs were really hurting so I stopped and am hoping that the next run goes better.
If the Vulcan starts off like today started off it's going to be a VERY long run. I felt so good on Tuesday's run, it's frustrating to follow up such a good run with such a bad one. I'm going to try more stretching before Thursday's run and we'll see how that goes.
Jeremie will be in town Thursday for some things. That's going to be fun to get to run with him then and on Saturday. I miss having a running buddy.
Here's to hoping the next run is better.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Training for the Training. Or "Pre-Training-Training"
Date: Tuesday 10/28/2008
Distance Ran : 3.01 miles
Total Time : 00:29:50 (0 hours 29 minutes 50 seconds)
Pace: 9:53/mi
Run Time : 5:30 pm
Weather : Cold and Clear. 45° at run
BLOG:
Today was the first day of official "pre-training" for the Shamrock marathon in March. The official training program doesn't start until November 17th but because of some of the weekend races coming up and the fact that this weekend is the Vulcan 10k run I've decided to just do the first week of the training for a few more weeks.
I've been running more and more since I decided to start running again back in August. I'll admit that it's still not easy, but I do seem to have a "sweet spot" somewhere around 10:30/mi that if settle into I can run that for longer distances without hitting the wall. The farthest I've ever run so far is just over 6 miles, but as November goes on that is going to fall away and I'll be neck deep in marathon training before I know it.
The weather has changed in the last few days and it's officially becoming winter. Last week was still somewhat warm, but over the weekend we got some rain and by the time I got off work yesterday it was dipping below 50°. I'm trying to adapt to colder running, but if it's unbearable next week when the clocks roll back I might have to start running in the morning instead of at night. It won't be much warmer, but it won't dark so who knows.
Running in cold weather is much different from the warmer weather that I've pretty much become used to in the last few months. I don't really have much cold weather running gear yet and might need to get some. Last night I ran in a long sleeved shirt, a knit hat, and shorts. It wasn't unbearable but when the wind blew it got pretty chilly, even after I was warmed up with a mile or two. It's different to not be pouring sweat and my breathing is having to adjust. Normally if I get a side cramp I fall back into my "Breath In for 3 counts, out for 3 counts" pattern. But since breathing in through your nose in cold weather makes my eyes water it's difficult to do. I think after a few days of this my body will adjust and I won't have the breathing issues, or at least I hope.
One day down. More to come!
Distance Ran : 3.01 miles
Total Time : 00:29:50 (0 hours 29 minutes 50 seconds)
Pace: 9:53/mi
Run Time : 5:30 pm
Weather : Cold and Clear. 45° at run
BLOG:
Today was the first day of official "pre-training" for the Shamrock marathon in March. The official training program doesn't start until November 17th but because of some of the weekend races coming up and the fact that this weekend is the Vulcan 10k run I've decided to just do the first week of the training for a few more weeks.
I've been running more and more since I decided to start running again back in August. I'll admit that it's still not easy, but I do seem to have a "sweet spot" somewhere around 10:30/mi that if settle into I can run that for longer distances without hitting the wall. The farthest I've ever run so far is just over 6 miles, but as November goes on that is going to fall away and I'll be neck deep in marathon training before I know it.
The weather has changed in the last few days and it's officially becoming winter. Last week was still somewhat warm, but over the weekend we got some rain and by the time I got off work yesterday it was dipping below 50°. I'm trying to adapt to colder running, but if it's unbearable next week when the clocks roll back I might have to start running in the morning instead of at night. It won't be much warmer, but it won't dark so who knows.
Running in cold weather is much different from the warmer weather that I've pretty much become used to in the last few months. I don't really have much cold weather running gear yet and might need to get some. Last night I ran in a long sleeved shirt, a knit hat, and shorts. It wasn't unbearable but when the wind blew it got pretty chilly, even after I was warmed up with a mile or two. It's different to not be pouring sweat and my breathing is having to adjust. Normally if I get a side cramp I fall back into my "Breath In for 3 counts, out for 3 counts" pattern. But since breathing in through your nose in cold weather makes my eyes water it's difficult to do. I think after a few days of this my body will adjust and I won't have the breathing issues, or at least I hope.
One day down. More to come!
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