5k easy

65, night, light grey shoes

Fell asleep after dinner today, didn't get up till 8. That is what happens when you have early duty and a full schedule all day at school. I still wanted to run. It just doesn't feel right not to anymore. As I headed out I realized that my knee was no longer hurting, no pain today at all at school. I started off the first mile by losing my key. I normally tie it through my laces and luckily I felt them come undone and stopped to look for it. It was dark so at first I wasn't sure If I'd find it, but there were some streetlights and I soon saw the shiny little glimmer coming from the key.


I started off at a medium pace, then a little faster, and I guess it was the combo cool breezy air and non-hurting of the knee that I just decided to pick it up the last mile. It was a good run, and I wasn't struggling or pushing too hard. Just strong. I read that you can get into "cruise" mode if you run too easy. This takes much less effort, but utilizes the wrong muscles in the leg, hindering improvement and building of the muscles that make you go faster. So I've been keep a good pace and making sure I feel light and bouncy along the road. Now I'm up blogging when I should be asleep. Oh well I'll be back at it again tommorow.

long run

75 degrees, silver shoes

Today was my long run. I took it relatively easy. The first mile I had a side stitch, but at about 2 it went away. My knee didn't cause any problems. It was severely hot out and I kinda made sure to go out in the heat today since I usually opt for a dusk run to avoid it. I think the heat made it feel slower than I was actually going. It sorta felt like I was fighting my body the first four miles.

At 6 I was back to the apartment to get some water. At this point the knee felt stiff, so I kept jogging around to keep it warmed up. Soon it felt normal again and I decided to finish the long run. If the knee hadn't I would have just stopped it short. I'm glad I didn't the next five miles were really nice, a good turnover and what seemed like a pretty fast pace. The last two miles were the hardest, my lips were dry and foaming, and I was so thirsty. I worked through it by keeping the arms moving and running to shaded places I saw. It was a nice day for a medium-effort run.

easy day

65 night run, shorts/t grey shoes

Today was an easy day. My knee wasn't hurting at all today so I decided to go for a 5k run and take it easy. It was an easy pace for me, just near 8 minutes a mile. I just worked on turnover and putting pressure to the front of my foot instead of my heel and knee. This seemed to help. My knee still had a twingy feeling, but it wasn't hurting like before. Tommorow is a long day. I will sacrifice speed for miles if the knee acts up, I need to do that to avoid making my knee angry again.


saturday: 3.1 miles 7:16 pace 22:39

lol- i just checked my pace and it wasn't even close to 8, more like 7. my sensor may have been shaking around and made in inaccurate. Either way it felt slower, so that's good enough for me. i also think it could be due to better turnover from my form - (more steps per minute may decrease the sensors distance reading, even though you are running the same speed as usual?) :) or i could be getting faster.

friday

60 degrees, windy, shorts t-shirt silver shoes

Knee Pain. My left knee is saying NO to me every time i take a step with my left leg. Since I ran 8 miles I was saying, you will be fine. Pain is a funny thing. You don't want it, but it's there. I suppose there's a good reason, pronation, supination, running on pavement, increase in miles, increase in speed, old age. Couldn't be all those things. Nah.

So I will need some rest. I am going to take my long run easy this weekend. I am so competitive it is hilarious. I'm racing no one, yet I keep trying to run faster. I was very consistent today, when i uploaded the run I almost laughed.


okay well I know what I'll be doing the next few days, icing my knee and having relaxing runs that aren't timed. I'll just put my ipod in my pocket so I don't know how fast I'm going and take it easy.

friday- 8 miles 7:27 pace 1hr

wednesday

treadmill

back to the treadmill today for an easy 5k. My left knee was hurting yesterday during my 8 mile run. It has to have been from the 14 mile i put in on sunday. Doesn't feel to great, so I've been icing it for two nights now. I may need to take a week of cut miles to recover, and hold off on hills for another week since I was planning on starting that next week. I also have a couple of blisters that formed during the run along the sides of my big toes. They didn't hurt sunday, but yesterday they killed the last 2 miles.

I'm going to try and take it easy this week, maybe even cut the times down some if the knee pain doesn't go away by the weekend.

mon-rest
tues- 8 miles 7:33/mile
wed- 3.2 miles 7:17/mile

sat. sun.

this weekend was nice.Saturday I got in a 3 mile easy day. Today was my long day. Not much else to say, I'm not feeling to good right now, probably just exhaustion from the run. I just feel uneasy. I hope I'm not getting what April had.

sat-3 miles 8:00/mile
sunday 14.16 7:58/mile 1:52

friday

treadmill- night run

Today was a good day because it was Friday. Last day of classes for the week, and a relatively easy day. My hamstrings were quadruple tight today, I could feel the tendons stretch with each step I took. Obviously this week has been more stressful on my legs. Tonight I took it somewhat easy on the treadmill, but tried to keep an 8 minute pace. My knees were hurting for the first two miles, but finally warmed up and the pain left. Tommorow will be a full recovery day, only 2 miles at most at an easy pace. Sunday will be another long run, maybe 12, but after what happened on the last one it may end up being a little longer. I'll run across that bridge when I come to it.

I also realized that cooldown time is important not only for the heart, but for the legs. If I were to stop my cooldown walks, I'd be a million times more sore and probably not even be able to run a mile.

friday- 3.3 miles 8:08/mile, cooldown

wed/thurs

cloudy/rain wednesday
Decided to run on the treadmill to get a good time. Settings were on km/minute, thought it was miles/min :( Realized this at 2 miels and ended up running last 3 miles way too fast to compensate, and didnt matter anyway.
5.1 miles

Thursday
70 degrees, shorts/tshirt silver shoes

A nice even paced 8 miles. Ran the usual route. Hamstrings pretty tight from the sprinting wednesday.
8 miles 1:03, 7:40 pace

Tuesday

67 light wind, shorts/tank silver shoes

An average recovery day today. Nothing real special about it. My ankles and knees had a little jolt at the first mile, but again, once I hit the track it's nice and smooth. I think it's partially due to the legs getting warmed up.

Today was pretty good at school, I sent four kids to the office for fighting, but on the positive side I have all my lessons mapped out for the rest of the year. In teaching I have learned knowing ahead of time what you are probably going to teach is half the battle. So that battle is won, it's simply a matter of writing up the plans. I think the release of that stress helped my run. It was supposed to be recovery, but still I just don't feel right "jogging". I suppose that is a good thing, probably means I'm getting in a little better shape.

3.4 miles 7:24 pace 25:27

nice monday

60 degrees windy, shorts/t, silver shoes

After a terrible weekend, it was back to the grind at school. Normally this is a bad thing, but not today. It was already nice by 3 and I was itching for a run. I got home, had some leftovers and then watched a movie before heading out. Yesterday was supposed to be a long run, so I thought I'd make up for it today and go 11. The first mile was pretty rough, my knees and calves were tight and nothing seemed to be flowing. Even the second mile wasn't all that great. It was mostly from walking all the kids to the office today. I had hall duty during testing and walked at least 3 kids to and from the office, which is a good quarter mile walk. Stupid stuff, just refusing to take the test or singing out loud or running their mouths. I also walk the kids down the "hill" afterschool. Many teachers think this is just the little 20ft ramp that goes up to the school, but it's actually past that all the way down to the main road to the crossing guard- again another quarter mile or more on a steep incline. Needless to say my calves were already feeling tired at the beginning of the run.

So I finally got into my pace once I hit the track, it's paved but always seems to get me in the zone for some reason. I ran my usual out and backs- into a strong headwind from the west which drug me down, but I have been powering through wind with my arms lately, so it wasn't a problem. At 8 miles I turned back to go home and get some water. There I got a quick drink and was just going to put in a few more miles....but once I got to 11 I thought heck I'm just going to run 12, I'm not tired. So I did, then I thought a half mile back home, might as well run that. 12.5, why not just run a half-marathon today. So I ran extra around the parking lot, which winds around so there are many routes and finished up at 13.3 miles today. My knees paid the price and I walked a good mile afterward just to warm down.

There weren't as many hills as my first half-m, and it wasn't raining, but i clocked a 1:45:53. I wasn't really pushing, my lowest mile was 7:39, and the first lap was actually the slowest 8:45. The thing that sucks is on the display there is a time at each mile point, like 8:45, 7:39, etc- which I'm pretty sure are averages. If they are it's harder to tell how fast you've run individual miles.

mon-13.3 miles 7:56 avg pace

rain again

35 degrees, thunderstorms

rain all day today. Not much to do. It cleared up a few times, but it was pretty cold so I could have tried to go out, but that was risky. I'll just make it up tommorow. I was planning on running at least 2 hours, and that just didn't seem like it was going to work. Tommorow it is supposed to be cleared out and 60 by five, so that will work out great. It still hurts the routine, it will be two sundays now without runs, and that throws of my schedule for the week. Now I have to fit in 6 days what i wanted in 7.

I am now considering not running the 5k. My conditioning is there, but the strength hasn't been built yet. I definitely want to do the 10k in may. I will ask Betsy to see if she is going to run the 5k, if she does I'll reconsider.

Saturday

55, rainy, windpants/longsleeve, grey shoes

It rained all day today. There were a few breaks, but most of the day was pretty boring and drab because of the weather. Later it cleared off for a little bit, so I went out to run. I got the the track and worked in some sprints into my 3 miles, then jogged the mile back home. I shouldn't be doing sprints at all, but there are these challenges on nike so I was trying to get a better time. I'm not going to do that anymore, it is silly to risk an injury for something that doesn't matter. So for now on I'll keep taking it easy and only do challenges for fun.

I also think i need to calibrate my shoes. I was sprinting pretty fast and it was reading a 6:00 mile pace. That seems pretty far off to me. If i were to sprint at that rate the entire time it would have to be around 5: something. Hopefully it will clear up so I can get that done.

4.1 miles 7:09 average pace. 29:25 total

fastest mile...sorta

50 degrees, sprinkling earlier. jacket, shorts, grey shoes.

Okay today was an "easy" day, 2-4 miles on my schedule. Buuut, i felt so good I decided to go sorta fast. I kept the repetition high, that is faster steps instead of long strides. I had planned on running at the treadmill since it was late because I took a nap when i got home... They changed the code on the gym, and nobody was there, so i just decided heck, I'm gonna run this in the dark. I zipped up my jacket because it was a little chilly, turned on some tunes and took off toward the track.

I was going at a decent pace, when i got to the track, which is normally 1 mile, it was at .89. Oh well I thought, I'll just run more around the track and see how accurate it is. They don't keep the lights on at night, but there are houses and some other school lights that gave enough to see the lanes. I had started off at a good pace, but I picked it up a half step and kept my cadence high. After 2 miles I was still feeling great, but I slowed down a little, this was afterall an easy day. Another mile and then back home. I reached 4 just as i went up the steep hill to the parking lot.

I wore my nike free's today, I think that helped the pace. They are light and it barely feels like they are on. I really felt today like I was getting somewhere. I mean a good pace for 4 miles is no easy task, but I was still feeling good. I am probably in better shape cardio wise than I was in high school at this point. All that says is that I didn't know, or my coaches didn't know, how to train properly, because I would have done any workout they threw at me. I think my leg strength was far greater than it is now, but that will come back with time. I want to start the strength now, but If I keep going nice and easy I know it will pay off later.

so a nice 7:20 mile, the fastest recorded...Although on my chart is says 7:11, my guess is I was running that pace, but it didn't "line up" with when the mile actually started or ended?
7:40, 7:11?, 7:40, 7:46
note: 23:58 5k

Nice Day

60 degrees party cloudy, windy

Today was a beautiful day, a nice day compared to the rain yesterday. I wore my new shoes again today, very sweet. I got a few new blisters now, but I think every time I switch shoes that is going to happen. Either way they don't hurt, so it's not a big deal.

Let's see, today I went down to the track, ran 2 there as I watched the soccer players and tee-ballers, then out to the hill, but not up it, only halfway. At that point I was at 4.5, so I turned back to the school, ran a half mile again at the track, and then home. I had to run around the parking lot a little bit to make it an even 8 though. It was a sweet run. Breathing so easy, and the only bad parts were slowing down when the gale headwind would hit running west. I worked in some excelerations, picking up the pace for about 100 meters, that kept me going. I felt great today, was looking forward to it.

8 miles 8:03/mile, 7:53 fastest mile, 1hr 4min
note: 25 minute 5k, 50 minute 10k

treadmill shmedmill

Rainy day today. Had to run on the treadmill. It's amazing how I shifted from mostly tread to mostly pavement in just a few months. I don't like the treadmill anymore, it just feels wrong. there's something about moving but not going anywhere that seems counterproductive. All the same I couldn't run in the downpour. today I tested the specs on my ipod. At 4 miles on the tread, I was at 4.5 on my pod. It's not designed for the treadmill, so who knows which is correct.

I was hoping to test it at the track today but y'know. tommorow looks to be okay, so that will be a good time. A regular pace run tommorow, hopefully a little faster than my 9 minute mile average today. I suppose you could add a half mile since the sprint from the weight room to the apartment was about 90% top speed. I really felt the blisters forming near the door. After two months of running you'd think that shouldn't happen. Oh well. I haven't done any hard workouts yet, so I'm sure the calices will form when the time comes. In the meantime I'm looking for something to hold the pod while I run. Shorts and shirts have no pockets normally, so I'm looking to stitch a custom pocket on a couple. They sell special shirts with a custom stitched open-face ipod compartment for $65, but that just seems ludicrous to me. I'll make my own.

Wednesday (easy)-4.5 miles 9:07 pace

Tuesday

Pretty good day today at school. TCAPs are tommorow so not real sure how that is going to work out. Went out with April today, she puked. Haha, that makes it sound bad. It really wasn't. She just wasn't feeling good, so running may have not been the best thing to do. We jogged and walked 2.49 miles. yes, my new system tracks it right down to the meter. Pretty nice, and surprising. According to my updated estimations, I actually ran somewhere between 11-12 miles yesterday. It was a mile to the beginning of the track from the apt, and I thought it was 3/4. I guess that's what car mileage estimation does for you.

Feeling pretty good, another rest day tommorow and back to normal.

Tuesday- 2.5 mile jog, tried out some new shoes.

Monday

today was an inservice day at school. Pretty boring, but it went by fast. I got to eat lunch at a normal time, so running was a possiblity today! Yesterday I didn't get to run at all. It was easter and we went to watch April's grandpa sing in his church choir, then spent the rest of the day at her other grandparents. Needless to say no running occured.

today was much better. Since I didn't get my run in yesterday I got ready at home and took off. Today was nice outside, warm enough for shorts and a long sleeve. I got in at least 10 miles, probably more. I'm not real sure. I know I put in 6 miles on the track alone, plus I ran up and down and back again. I stopped by the house at 6 and got some water, then went out for the rest of my run. I didn't really stop, I just jogged in place at home while I got some water, then kept on going. It was a steady pace, I left at 4.30 and got back at 6.15, so I'm sure it was pretty far. I'll have my ipod thing ready soon, so hopefully I'll get some accurate readings with that.

My foot was hurting near the end, I wouldn't really call it a blister, but the calice on the ball of my right foot was sliding and causing a small blister to form along the inside. I'm not sure if it was from the way I was running or what, but it didn't feel too great. Hopefully the layers underneath will calice too so I don't have that problem anymore. The good news is it was there and not a toe or something new. I ran pretty far, so you gotta expect something like that i guess.

I'm glad I went so far, but now my schedule is jacked. I'll have to just put in whatever tommorow and take a rest day wednesday.

Friday

I am working on my running schedule. I have some 10k and marathon guides, but no half-marathon. That is really what I want to train for right now. It is a good distance to build with for now. I am going to use a marathon schedule, and blend it with a 10k, so it is kind of wierd, but I think the results will be good.

around 3 miles tonight, very medium consistent pace/stride. Did a few hills at the end.

Thursday- oh yeah

Feeling pretty good today. Tommorow is Friday and a day off! I am excited, but also want to relax because this will be the last day off for two months straight- got to enjoy it.

Tonight April and I ran about the same distance as yesterday, with walking breaks every now and then. I would say at least 2 miles. I am currently working on mapping out my new running schedule. I am planning a 5k race in a month, and a 10k in two months.

The data for the half-marathon I ran April 1st is also located here. Just click 2007, knoxville half, and look for my finish time.

easy wednesday

Went running with april today. We walked and jogged about two miles. It was nice because my legs weren't sore, but I could still tell they had taken a pounding. It was more of an inner feeling of tiredness, but also felt like pain shooting through my quads- kind of hard to explain. Either way, it was obvious I shouldn't run very hard or long.

yesterday we walked. April said she would go with me on easy days (every other day or so) So I may end up having a new running partner. I am trying to be positive with her, and not push anything. I am excited, she said she enjoyed the run and wanted to go again.

Anxious

I wish I could run today. My legs are almost recovered and are hardly sore anymore. I am ready to keep training. It's all I could think about at school today. I am trying to decide if that is a good idea. My mind is saying go for it, but I'm not sure what my body said yet. I am going to ask April what she wants to do tonight, and if she doesn't end up wanting to go, I think I'll jog a mile. Yes, one mile. No more or less. I have learned how important recovery time is, and I don't want to end up wearing out and getting hurt for no good reason.

In the meantime I am reading up on nutrition and what not, trying to formulate some kind of meal plan. I already eat healthy, but as far as maximizing performance, I really haven't bothered with it until now.

Pretty soon there are some 10k and 5k races. I'd like to keep doing one every month or two so I can track my progress. It would be nice to a marathon, which could be a year or two, but until I'm ready I'd like to fit in two or three half's a year. October is looking good for my next one, 6 months should be enough time to fit in some proper training.

Happy

I am sore today. Every step is painful, but at the same time I know why, so it's not that big of a deal. I talked to Betsy today. She ended up running 2:20 or so, finishing 17th in her age group. Way to go! She found the stats online and showed me. I also finished 17th in my age group! I could hardly believe that. My time was 1:50, the time i put on the registration form :) good guess.

the knoxville news sentinel had a few articles about the race. One about the winner of marathon was pretty hilarious in my opinion. here is a link To the right you can see the overall times of the marathon events (its in a little box)

On a side note a man passed me during the race, let me put it straight, he passed ALOT of people. He looked african and I remember a glimpse of him. It was hard to tell if it was a person or a cheetah, but the dude just flew by, zipping in and out of runners making us look like a slow motion scene from the matrix. The article mentions him, he got a late start and finished the marathon around 2:29. I remember he passed me around the 10-11 mile mark. The guys behind me said he must have been in the port-o-john, haha, you dudes were almost right.

well got a few more days to relax. takin' it easy was one of the songs by the live bands on the course, I'm feelin that song right now. later.

Half Marathoner

I did it! It's quite an accomplishment considering i only trained for a few months. I finished around 1:50, but I am not sure if that is correct. During the final mile my vision became blurred and my eyes were half shut. I am not sure if it was due to not enough sleep, or fatigue, or food, but probably all three.

April didn't get home til midnight, and I couldn't sleep well anyway, so this morning it was a pretty rough awakening. I also had to spend some time finding the info for her to park. We were going to go together, but she and her friend had got lost going to and from the wedding, so she was tired from driving around and didn't want to go with me.

I was excited when i got there, it was pretty warm out, and so I left all my gear in the car, extra shirts, and a few other things like that. I stretched out a little, but it felt weird being around so many runners, normally i'm just stretching in my apartment alone. Things moved pretty fast, about the time they were getting ready to sing the anthem and shoot the gun, a downpour occured. It was nice, but also made things seem more tense than they had to be. I was soaked by the time the gun shot, and people just shot out of the start. All the "elite" runners were ahead of me and about half a mile out over the first hill.

Splish splash, splash, splash along the course. I hadn't trained in the rain at all. My shirt was already stuck to my chest and my shoes felt they weighed ten pounds each. But I tried to maintain a pace and just keep going. At the 3 mile marker I lost hope. My legs were already burning, I started too fast, even though it seemed i was jogging. At this point I wondered if I was even going to make it to the finish.

I kept on, mile 4, mile5, mile6, splish splash, breath deep. I knew mile 7 had a huge hill, and there it was, man I slowed to a crawl on that thing. My base training included very little hill work (strength) or speed work so I wasn't expecting much, but figured my daily runs would pull me through. They did, but the strength just wasn't there and so many people were just passing me by.

I got a drink at every water stop, and my stomach was hurting for a while, finally quit around mile 9. At this point I began just keeping moving. A zombie like state of just following the pack. At mile 11 another huge hill came and i started walking. A man ran by and patted me on the shoulder, just what i needed to pick it up and make that hill.

At 12 all eye function began to shut down. My eyes were half shut and i could feel myself almost falling asleep. My body was telling me I needed to rest. But i just kept my arms moving and focused on someones feet. My stomach was empty, all energy and food was gone, I kept moving my overworked legs. Down a giant hill almost there, but wait that wasn't the finish! aah. I almost lost it for a second, a half mile more and I burnt a huge amount of energy on that hill. Oh well, trucked up another hill and saw the stadium, finally.

Running into the stadium onto the grass I felt my shoes sink into the turf and started lifting my knees higher to compensate. My eyes were blurry, from blood being diverted from my brain and head down into my jello legs. I remember the clock seconds, but couldn't read the rest, 30, 31, 32, 33. That was it, i have no idea what the finish time was. I raised my hands a little as i went through the line, and stumbled around to find water.

I drank about 2 liters of water in 5 minutes. I was hungry and began dreaming about the five pretzels i put into a baggy that were in my car. Oh how those would be tasty. I sat in the bleachers for a half-hour in the rain and just tried to regroup, my legs were shaky. I stumbled a half-mile to the afterparty in hopes of finding food. I did and ate almost everthying i put on the plate- i.e. too much.
I found a sofa and stared out the window for 20 minutes downing 2 bottles of powerade and trying to warm up from being wet. I stumbled and limped back to my car 1 mile and smiled as I looked down at the medal that said "half-marathon". It felt good to actually finish. It was hard and I earned it.


April didn't make it due to traffic being stopped for the race. But she tried, that's all that mattered to me. Next time maybe we can do one together. I'll try and convince her, but until then I'm going to keep working hard.