A Good Effort

I was able to put in 4 days of running last week, I had only been able to put in 3 the week before and my numbers were a bit down as a result. I will say this I was not as fresh for my long run this week as I was last week. There is something to be said for less running. But for my 4 runs I managed:

Tuesday: 3.0 miles - just a slow and easy nothing to write home about but it got the lead out of the legs

Thursday: 3.5 miles - a tempo run and I was very pleased with my speed portion and I have been doing much better on the hills.

Saturday: 3.0 miles - A steady but quick run; however, with my martial arts class later in the morning I was tired on Sunday.

Sunday: 7 miles - I started slow but found a nice pace at mile 4 that carried me the rest of the way. I was dead when I was done and didn't feel better until Monday morning.

Over all it was a 16.5 mile effort. I have been experimenting with some new shoes. I picked up a pair of END shoes that I have been mixing in on shorter runs for the past few weeks. I think I will write a shoe review later this week.

Week in Review

Work: 73 hours
Martial Arts: 3 hours
Running: 15.51 miles

I did not get up to the 16 miles I wanted to. My long run on Sunday only made it up to 4.25 miles. I was just worn out by the time Sunday rolled around. This 70+ hours a week is taking its toll. The good news/ bad news is that this job will be over in a few weeks. The bad news being that I have nothing else on the horizon. These are lean times to be sure.

The running and martial arts are keeping me sane and I hope that I can manage 16 miles this week. There is a good deal of chaos in my life right now. All we can do is keep at it and hope things turn around.

Long Time No Post

Well the week that was seemed pretty decent sitting from where I am. End Results:

Running: 14.75 hours
Martial Arts: 5 hours
Work (including commute time): 72 hours

The last number shocks me a bit and makes me wonder how it was that I got 4 runs in. They weren't great runs and 3 out of 4 were on the treadmill but given the amount of time I dedicated to work, not bad.

The nice thing was that I finally was able to get a long run in. Not a real long run but longer than normal: 5.6 miles. That was nice. On top of all this now I have to think about getting ready for a Kenpo test. I try to stay on top of material so that I don't have to rush like a madman at the last minute trying to hone my craft. But I still like to be ready. Given all this and the job market which is non-existent right now. My stress levels are pretty high. My temp job ends in about three weeks and then who knows what will happen. So I do need to keep the exercise up to keep my worry factor down. These are trying times to say the least.

This next week I will try to top 16 miles and put in 6 to 10 hours of martial arts practice. The unfortunate part is that I will have to put in an equal number of hours at work (and try to find a permanent job while I am at it.) Well there is a fat guy chasing me and I have to stay vigilant. It would be dreadful if he caught me.

The Week That Was

I managed 3 times at the gym and did treadmill time each day. It was not the way I prefer to run but while nursing a bit of a leg injury and the bitter cold it seems to be the order of the day. Today I managed to run almost five and a half miles. This was 60 minutes straight running, not too fast but steady throughout. After almost no running in December it was nice to know that my endurance was still decent. 13+ miles for the week, I will take it.

I also managed to make it to my martial arts class 3 times and log about 10 hours of practice time at home. It was a good week on the fitness front. If I was a man of leisure I would do this every week. I hope to get to 15 miles for the coming week.

Keep running.

Bruised and Battered

Today, I went out for my long run. I would say this ... sometimes bad runs happen to good people. It started out fine for the first 2.5 miles when I felt the urge for a pit stop back at home. Upon taking care of business, I went out to finish the run but I could never get back into a groove. I did run 9.5 miles but the pace was a bit slower than I am used to running. I think that this had much to do with the amount of hills on this course. I will take the small victory of having put in some good miles. When it was done I was more tired than I usually am after a long run and really needed a rest. So there is good and bad, much like the rest of life.

In other news, I was back at my martial arts class again. I had been out for a good amount of time, due to some personal conflict. I am taking private lessons until things calm down in my personal life. I do like that better to be truthful. It is nice to have the one on one time. I was happy to get back into the swing of things. Additionally, I was pleased that I still had abot 90% of my speed and power, so that was nice.

In news more related to paragraph 1, I ran more than 20 miles this week. Huzzah.

Update

Here it is the end of the month and I have to admit that I have not been as diligent as I could have been at keeping content up on my blog. It has been a here and there endeavor this month. I hope to do better for October. I will have to increase my output to get ready for the half marathon in November so it will be better for all concerned (read me) if I keep up with it.

Running for the Week
I was only able to run for 3 days over the last week. There was a major rain storm on Sunday and I wasn't able to run. I suppose I could have run at about 10:00 pm or so but I was a bit tired from a day of cleaning. Over all not too bad it was over 12 miles for 3 days. Saturday I was great run. I did a two and half mile warm up with two miles of intervals. I felt quite fast averaging 9:00 miles for the half mile up ticks. It was a good feeling.

Martial Arts
I have been out of martial arts for a couple of months due to some home life stress related issues. I spoke to my instructor this last weekend and I will be taking private lessons starting next Saturday. I think that this will fit into my schedule nicely. The good thing about this is that I have been practicing again so that adds a few workouts a week and that makes me feel better. It is remarkable how things stick with you, I went through about 60 distinct techniques and only had to refer to video on two occasions to refresh my recollection. That is not a bad place to be. My form and speed need some ... special attention, nurturing really.

Upcoming Races
I registered for the Philadelphia Marathon, well not the whole thing but the half marathon. I was able to save 15% on the price from a coupon I received at the expo of the Philadelphia Distance Run, so that was nice. I am looking forward to this one and I know I could run the thing now but 6 more weeks of training should make it a good race for me. As of now I am at 8 miles for my long and my endurance is good. This coming weekend I have a 9.5 mile run scheduled so I should be just fine to set a PR. So far for me every race has been a PR but that is the joy of being a beginner.

One foot in front of the other

Ahh, the week that almost was

The week started out so well. I managed early in the week to get in three really good runs a couple of 3's and a 5 sandwiched in between. I had such high hopes for the weekend. Well being an outdoor sport the weather can be a factor. I went out for my Sunday run expecting to put in 8.5 miles. Well long story short, not so much. The humidity was insane. I should have expected trouble as I was sweating while folding clothes at 7 am. But being long on determination and short on sense I went out for a run at about 8:3o. I don't know how hot it was but that was not the issue the humidity really took it out of me. Within a mile my clothes were soaked. My pace was fine but I was laboring under it and was forced to back off a bit just to get to the 5 mile mark. It was not a good performance. Sometimes these things happen. The good news, there is always next weekend.

The really good news is that I was able to get up to 17.1 miles for the week even with a bad long run day. So I am quite pleased with that aspect. I will shoot for 20 for this week. I don't think it will be a problem. Also, as I only did 5 miles on Sunday, I don't really need my Monday recovery, so I can get out tonight and put in some miles. I am now looking forward to the half marathon at the end of November. I think the timing is right on.

A Tough Week

I started off the week battling a throat cold. I am happy to say it is now gone but it made my running a bit ... well abbreviated. I ran about 2.5 miles for my first three runs of the week and then broke out with a 7.2 mile performance today. This salvaged the week.

Sometimes I have to admit, I forget some of the lessons I have learned only to have to relearn them again. I have such an experience happening now. I learned from my previous training that for me I have to run a distance twice in order to have a handle on it. The first time I struggle with the extra distance and then when I do it again it is not a problem. I am not sure if this is particular to me or not. So I have been struggling with the lower miles because I have not been pushing forward on the mileage. Additionally, my faster 5k made me think that every run should be faster. I think I have learned to back off a bit. Longer runs will be slower, of course. I will just have to be a bit more patient.

The good in this is that I can take this going forward to the half marathon in November. Today was seven and next week I will try for 8.5 miles and just build on that. Well here is to finding your way.

Supplements

I was feeling a bit sluggish this summer. I am sure there are lots of reason and I won't get all worked up over it. That said I have recently started to take whey protein 30 to 45 minutes before my runs over the past week. I will have to say that it has helped quite a bit. I had been getting sluggish in the later miles and I couldn't find anything to tie my cart to as to why. That his beyond calling myself a lazy boy. I seemed to have found something that has corrected that problem. Today, I started a bit off my normal pace, I had slowed down a couple of weeks ago just to get the miles in. However, after the first two miles I was able to find a true grove for the first time since May and pulled negative splits 30 seconds faster than my first two miles. The first two miles were about 10:45 and the last three were all consistently 10:15. I don't know how much the protein helped but it seems to have done so. I am pretty pleased at how things have been righted.

I am pretty happy with the week being able to turn in a +15 mile week for the second week in a row. My miles turned out well with about 3.4 miles, 3.5 miles, 4.2 miles and 5.1 miles for the week. 4 runs seems the right mix for me.

Week in Review

Well I managed a 15.42 mile week, a little short of my goal but quite a bit more than I had done in months. My long run only turned into 4.32 miles rather than 6 miles. As the saying goes, bad runs happen to good people. I just had a heck of a time getting into a grove. In the end I did 4.32 and I am happy with that. I will build on this for the coming week.

What did I learn this week? The summer is hot, no no its true. The Summer is humid ... also true. Both of these things make me slower and more fatigued than without. So I will take my small victories of a good week.

Another double digit effort

Since running my marathon back in May I have been in a running funk. That said this is the third week of double digit totals, which is a step in the right direction. Actually I think it is great as it has been humid as of late. This weekend I was supposed to do a tempo run on Friday but that was just a nice idea. I was struggling just to get the miles in (humidity was killing me). I managed 3.8 miles. I took Saturday off from running and then put in 4 on Sunday.

I feel like I am getting better. I totally blew week 2 of my speed plan. But it doesn't matter as I am not on a time crunch so I will just do it again. It is nice how things work out.

Week in Review

Things have been slow coming on the running front. I am still getting over being a bit burned out from the marathon training. It is slow but I am getting better. This weekend I managed a little over 4 miles on a single run, which is the most I have done in a single stretch since the marathon.

I remember not so long ago that the 11:00 mile seemed such a huge barrier. Today it seems funny to think so. I have made big gains in time since the marathon. I have not been running very long but I have been running faster. My last 3 runs have all been at a sub 10:00 pace. Now this is not going to break any records but it is a nice feeling to be in the single digits.

This Thursday will be my first race since my marathon last month. It will also be my first 5k of the year. Wish me luck.

Week in Review

I am still fighting this creeping crud that my daughter thoughtfully brought home to share. The good news is that it is much less of a problem today than it was earlier last week. I still have to hack now and then but nothing too serious. I had intended to run on Friday night but I was too exhausted after work. The illness just sapped my strength. Saturday was the first day I ran of the week, I suck. I managed 3.25 miles at an average pace of 11:10. I stared out at 10:25 and got slower and slower and slower. The illness just wasn't letting go and I had to stop every so often to spit up. Yuck, I know, but it is true.

Sunday, I decided that I needed to go and do the run again as it was such a great experience, not really, the day before. I managed 5.25 miles and was more consistent with less hacking and wheezing. This was a nice bonus. I was pretty steady and managed an average pace of 10:41 for the entire run. I was plus minus 10 seconds of this time for each mile. I term this a success. I have liberal standards on this sort of thing.

So in the end two whole runs for 8.5 whole miles. I am setting the world on fire this week. The good news is that I did not have one shred of evidence that my hip will be any issue at all going forward. The bad news, I feel beat down today. I think this is because I started to do more on my cross training this weekend as well, so my back, shoulders, triceps and lats are all equally sore. I guess that means I am pretty even, not a bad thing.

So in review
-- sickness - getting better
-- hip - much better
-- running - a bit low for the week
-- cross training - up for the week

Speed comes to those that wait

I still remember last year when I was trotting along at 14:00 miles. I knew I wasn't going fast but it was hard work at 280+ pounds to get my freight train of a body going at any kind of speed. I guess that is why we don't see many bulldozer races. These days I am flirting with a kind of respectable speed.

I did not post a week in review over the weekend. But I will do an abbreviated version, NOW:

Thursday: 3.65 miles, 10:09 pace
Friday: 4.10 miles, 10:25 pace
Saturday: 3.65 miles, 10:19 pace
Monday: 7.00 miles, 10:34 pace

I can see over the last month that I have gotten steadily faster. My miles over 11:00 are the rare occurrence on these shorter runs, this is a nice feeling. On my quicker days I seem to get a mile or two below the 10:00 mark. It is strange to see single digits on my Garmin at the mile mark. I am not going so fast as sometimes I try the talking drill to see if I am going too fast. I will sing a little to check how hard I am working. If I can belt out a few bars I know I am not pushing too much. I make sure I am alone before I do this. I have respect for my fellow man and wouldn't want to expose anyone to my dreadful renditions of what could loosely be classified as music. So I am not pushing too hard and I have been slowed down a bit due to the stiffness I have been experiencing in my left hip. I hope it can be worked out today during the massage.

Week in Review

4/2/08 ..... 38:31 time ..... 3.65 miles ..... 10:33 pace

4/3/08 ..... 39:07 time ..... 3.65 miles ..... 10:43 pace

4/4/08 ..... 1:19:00 time ..... 7.50 miles ..... 10:32 pace

4/6/08 ..... 3:06:39 time ..... 17.00 miles ..... 10:58 pace

This was a good week. I will give a more detailed summary on the long run later on. That said I will note that at the half marathon mark today, I was at a 10:46 pace. Which is my best to date.

Week in Review

This was the most miles I have ever run in a single week, also Saturday marked the longest distance and longest time I have ever run at one time. Here are the results.



3/24/08 ..... 46.53 time ..... 4.35 miles ..... 10:47 pace .....759 calories



3/26/08 ..... 1:20:11 ..... 7.48 miles ..... 10:44 pace ..... 1357 calories



3/28/08 ..... 34:04 time ..... 3.25 miles ..... 10:29 pace ..... 696 calories



3/29/08 ..... 3:04:14 time ..... 16:00 miles ..... 11:31 pace ..... 2833 calories



31.08 miles



Some notes on the week:



1. My Friday run was interval training, this was the first time I put this into my program. It was a great time pushing the limits of my abilities. It was a good time.



2. I was only able to complete 16 of the 17 I had scheduled for the long run. This had everything to do with some family obligations. I just ran out of time. I was able to keep a decent pace over some serious hills and I was happy about that. My ankles took a pounding but after a couple of hours I was right as rain. I am surprised that after this type of pounding for hours that it only takes me 90 minutes to feel fine. It is amazing what the human body can handle when it is given the time to properly adapt. One year ago I was running at a 15:00 mile and huffing and puffing while doing it. In one year's time I have really made a substantial amount of progress.

3. Weight Check: Even though it is the 29th, I thought I would go on record. Today's pre run weight was 223. That is 8 pounds less than the beginning of the month. That is not bad, pretty good actually. That makes 25 for the year.

That's all I have

Week in Review

This was sort of a throw away week in terms of performance. I was fast but I didn't get in all the miles. I had an extra week built into the schedule so no big deal here are the results.

3/18/08 ..... 35.11 time ..... 3.15 miles ..... 11:12 pace

3/21/08 ..... 36.57 time ..... 3.45 miles ..... 10:43 pace

3/22/08 ..... 2:21:57 time ..... 13.1 miles ..... 10:50 pace

Week: 19.70 miles

Not terrible. I remember a time when a half marathon seemed like too long a distance to consider, not it is becoming comfortable.

In other news, I took the family to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore yesterday. I had never been before. It was a good time, my daughter loved the dolphin show they have at the aquarium and we were able to score some very good seafood as well. It was a nice day. I will have to make a weekend of it sometime this summer.

Week in Review

As I mentioned earlier in the week, work was a bit of a bear and I was not able to get any runs in until Friday. Which means that one run was axed from the schedule. But I did manage the following.

3/14/08 (am) .....3.25 miles .....10:54 pace .....651 calories

3/14/08 (pm) ..... 8.2 miles .....11:07 pace ..... 1504 calories

3/16/08 ..... 15.25 miles ..... 11:10 pace ..... 2828 calories

I did manage a decent recovery for the week. Two a days are not really the way to go but as I did a short one in the am I was not overly concerned. In other observations, 15 miles is a heck of a lot more taxing that 13.1. I suppose this might be self evident but not so much for me. After thirteen I was really right as rain, but after my 15 yesterday, my ankles and feet were quite sore. It is the longest run I can ever remember doing so that is probably part of it. I do feel fine today but I went to bed at 9 pm last night, very early for me. I was just exhausted at the end of the day. I am sure that I will have a similar report next week after I do 17 miles.

On the plus side, I did manage an 11:10 pace over 15.25 miles. For me that is smoking and I did shave 2 minutes off my half marathon time from last weekend, a little good weather goes a long way. This week should be closer to schedule.

Week in Review

This was a good week marked by increased speed and topped off with a good half marathon. Well by my standards at least. I do think the training is going well and I was glad that at the end of the half marathon I could have run another 4 to 6 miles. Good feeling.

Here are the results of the week.

3/3/08..... 37:46 time.....3.46 miles.....10:55 pace.....667 calories

3/4/08..... 1:20:21 time ..... 7.10 miles..... 11:19 pace .....1363 calories

3/6/08..... 33:58 time ..... 3.25 miles ..... 10:27 pace .....595 calories

3/9/08 ..... 2:28:20 time ..... 13.10 miles ..... 11:19 pace ..... 2445 calories

Week: 26.91 miles

Week in Review

This was a scale back week so that means just a bit off the top in terms of the run distances. I still got out there but I wasn't really trying to keep up with the standard distances. Well here is how it turned out for the week.

2/26/08.....39.91 minutes.....3.43 miles.....11:23 pace.....657 calories
2/28/08 (am run).....22:39 minutes.....2.10 miles.....10:56 pace.....390 calories
2/28/08 (pm run).....54:38 minutes.....5.1 miles.....10:43 pace.....970 calories
3/1/08 .....1:42:49 minutes.....9.00 miles.....11:26 pace.....1713 calories

Total Miles: 19.63 miles

It was a good scale back week. I picked up some speed on my increased speed runs. This really isn't speed work as much as it is just picking up the pace a bit on the shorter runs. I can easily kick it up a notch from what I was doing before. At most I am just setting up a bit of a tempo, so in short I don't worry about the increased speed, it is in reality only 30 seconds per mile above what I was doing, which was not that fast to begin with. Two runs with a sub 11:00 pace, not too bad really.

In other fitness news, the I dropped a couple of more pounds this week and the diet is really working well. My martial arts training is going well as well. I now have all my old techniques back to their former level with only two weeks back. That is not too bad on my progress. I am tireless when it comes to practice so that is probably why. I am sporting a bit of an elbow hyper extension. This makes my boxing work a bit troubled but I am sure I will recover within a couple of weeks. Being involved in these types of things do increase the chance of injury, just a fact.

Well that's the week: 4 runs, 2 martial arts classes, and 3 hours of martial arts practice this was the effort, the result 2 pounds down. I'll take it.