So after a short run last night (2.25 miles; I was starting to feel it in my lower legs for some reason) I am oh so close to 3 things. Those are as follows:
1. I am 1.8 miles away from hitting my Nike+ goal of running 30 miles in 4 weeks. Right now I am 10.3 miles ahead of my goal pace.
2. I am 5.37 miles away from hitting the 40 miles in my Beginners Only 2 challenge.
3. Last, but certainly not least, I am a mere 1.72 miles away from hitting 100 miles in Nike+.
I plan on accomplishing all 3 on Sunday with my long run.
The Goal for Sunday: 6 miles.
Wish me luck!
Friday, January 18, 2008
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Nearly a First
Well, there was NEARLY a new first tonight. As in my "Virtual Training Partner" NEARLY beat me. Let me elaborate.
I intended to go out and run tonight since, although cold, no rain or snow was in the forecast, and I much prefer running outside to trouncing around on the old treadmill whenever I can. After my decent run on Sunday, I decided that I would up my milage just a tad (from 3.25 miles to 3.5 miles) and I would set the trusty old training partner's pace at a seemingly doable 10:20/mile.
Right from the start I wasn't feeling it. After about the first .2 of a mile I checked in with the training partner and saw that he was ahead but what I thought to be 10.o feet. Not bad, right on pace. On closer inspection, however, I soon realized that I was .1 of a mile behind. Ouch. That makes things a bit tougher.
I decided that I would simply run my run and wherever I ended up, that was fine. I realize that everyone has off days/nights and maybe this was one of mine. Then I started to think about it a bit more and got a little pissed at myself. Just who the hell did this little guy think he was, trying to show me up like that?? And was I just going to sit there (ok, run there) and let him embarrass me?? Not a chance.
I realized that I had a lot of ground to make up, and I don't normally run at a pace where that would be easy to do. So I picked up the pace a little. Soon I was 500 feet behind, and the Garmin was beeping at me "Speed Up" it said. Then I was 400 feet behind. About 2 mile in I had cut the lead to about 200 feet behind. Slowly but surely I was making up the distance.
It finally came down to the last .10 of a mile: I was 85 feet behind, and I thought "This is crap. You didn't work this hard to lose by such a little bit." And like Forrest Gump "I was RUNNING...." I ran until I thought my lungs were going to burst. My breath came in gasps, and my heart hammered in my chest. I looked down to the Garmin as I crossed the "finish line." I had beat that miserable old partner by a whopping 17 feet. YES!!
And I remain undefeated! ;-)
I intended to go out and run tonight since, although cold, no rain or snow was in the forecast, and I much prefer running outside to trouncing around on the old treadmill whenever I can. After my decent run on Sunday, I decided that I would up my milage just a tad (from 3.25 miles to 3.5 miles) and I would set the trusty old training partner's pace at a seemingly doable 10:20/mile.
Right from the start I wasn't feeling it. After about the first .2 of a mile I checked in with the training partner and saw that he was ahead but what I thought to be 10.o feet. Not bad, right on pace. On closer inspection, however, I soon realized that I was .1 of a mile behind. Ouch. That makes things a bit tougher.
I decided that I would simply run my run and wherever I ended up, that was fine. I realize that everyone has off days/nights and maybe this was one of mine. Then I started to think about it a bit more and got a little pissed at myself. Just who the hell did this little guy think he was, trying to show me up like that?? And was I just going to sit there (ok, run there) and let him embarrass me?? Not a chance.
I realized that I had a lot of ground to make up, and I don't normally run at a pace where that would be easy to do. So I picked up the pace a little. Soon I was 500 feet behind, and the Garmin was beeping at me "Speed Up" it said. Then I was 400 feet behind. About 2 mile in I had cut the lead to about 200 feet behind. Slowly but surely I was making up the distance.
It finally came down to the last .10 of a mile: I was 85 feet behind, and I thought "This is crap. You didn't work this hard to lose by such a little bit." And like Forrest Gump "I was RUNNING...." I ran until I thought my lungs were going to burst. My breath came in gasps, and my heart hammered in my chest. I looked down to the Garmin as I crossed the "finish line." I had beat that miserable old partner by a whopping 17 feet. YES!!
And I remain undefeated! ;-)
Monday, January 14, 2008
Longest Run Yet....
Well, yesterday I embarked on my longest run yet: 5 miles. There's a bit of discrepancy between what Garmin thought I ran (5 miles) and what Nike+ thought I ran(5.24), but since I know my gait can be a bit all over the place, we'll go with the 5 miles. Initially my goal was to run at about an 11 min/mile pace. Starting out I felt pretty good (after I got warmed up, that is), and it was cold outside (20 degrees). I've found that when it's cold out, I run a bit faster than normal. I think that Garmin figured I ended at a 10:47 pace or something like that, completely outpacing my competition, who I set to pace me at 11:10 per mile. I finished fully .17 miles ahead, thus securing my place in, well, mediocrity.
Seriously, though, it was a decent run.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on around here. My wife and myself are getting good use out of the treadmill, so it seems like a good investment so far.
Also, I'm set to hit the 100 mile mark on Nike+ this week. Right now I'm sitting at 92.07 miles, so it shouldn't be a problem to kick it over 100 this week. I've also discovered the motivational use of "challenges" and "goals" on Nike+. Sometimes knowing that I'm working towards a goal, or to help the USA beat Europe is the only thing that gets me up on the treadmill.
What I'm Reading Now: Persuader by Lee Child. The 6th (I think) Reacher novel. The following sentence says it all: Reacher is a badass.
What I Just Finished Reading: Star Wars Legacy of the Force : Fury by Aaron Allston. Simply a great Star Wars book.
What I'm Playing: Assassin's Creed on the Xbox 360. Yeah, it's repetitive, but the graphics are awesome, and the following sentence says it all: My character in the game is a badass.
That's it for now.
Later.
Seriously, though, it was a decent run.
Other than that, not a whole lot going on around here. My wife and myself are getting good use out of the treadmill, so it seems like a good investment so far.
Also, I'm set to hit the 100 mile mark on Nike+ this week. Right now I'm sitting at 92.07 miles, so it shouldn't be a problem to kick it over 100 this week. I've also discovered the motivational use of "challenges" and "goals" on Nike+. Sometimes knowing that I'm working towards a goal, or to help the USA beat Europe is the only thing that gets me up on the treadmill.
What I'm Reading Now: Persuader by Lee Child. The 6th (I think) Reacher novel. The following sentence says it all: Reacher is a badass.
What I Just Finished Reading: Star Wars Legacy of the Force : Fury by Aaron Allston. Simply a great Star Wars book.
What I'm Playing: Assassin's Creed on the Xbox 360. Yeah, it's repetitive, but the graphics are awesome, and the following sentence says it all: My character in the game is a badass.
That's it for now.
Later.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
It's Been A Long Time...and Going Whole Hog
Well, hello there loyal readers. Aw, c'mon, I know there are a couple of you out there that have just been dying to see what would happen next.
It's been a LONG while since I've posted, and now that the holidays are over, hopefully things will fall back to a more normal rhythm and I'll be posting more.
Speaking of the holidays, I'm glad they're over, but I did have a great time with my sister visiting for the better part of a week. It's always nice to hang out with her, and we get to do it all too infrequently. She's my little sister, but she's a big inspiration. As I think I've said before (it's been so long since I posted that I can't even remember what I've written. Never mind that I can't be bothered to actually go back and read my old posts) she's basically the main reason I started running. Yeah, yeah, it was to get in shape (I've stalled a bit at the 35 pounds lost point), but it was also because I'm so proud of her, and I've seen and heard about all the hard work she's done, and in some way I wanted to be a little bit a part of it. Believe me, it's not for the glory of slogging through 10 minute miles sometimes (ok, ONE time) in the rain and slightly above freezing temperature during which I experienced my first chafing (OUCH). But I have gotten in a bit better shape, so that's a plus. One of my resolutions this year is to actually lose 15 more pounds to get down to the 2 bill mark.
Anyway, so I got a chance to run once with my sis while she was here, and it was great. She was a little rough on me (ok, she claims that she let me set the pace, but we're both a little competitive, and I wanted to show her I wasn't a total wuss) but it was good. I'm sure she could have left me in the dust had she wanted to, but she was gracious enough to stick with me.
And about the "Going Whole Hog" thing. It's more like half hog, really. I've decided that I'm going to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnatti in May. I know it may be a bit of a stretch going from running a 5k to a half marathon, but so what. As my sister likes to say, she went from not running to running a marathon, so it can be done. Initially I was going to run one of the legs on a relay team, but my said "You should just run the half marathon." so that's what I'm going to do. Official training starts at the beginning of February, so I'll be sure to blog all the wonderful training notes here. In the interest of training, and also because running in the cold rain and snow is somewhat of a pain, we've purchased a treadmill to aid the training/getting in shape efforts. I've gotta' say it's boring, but much better than chafing! I also picked up a Garmin 201 Forerunner to help out with pacing and training, and it's really cool. Kicked my virtual training partners ass on my long run the other day!
Oh, and did I mention that my sister is going to fly back so we can run the Pig together? And by together I mean that we'll be running the same race at the same time, but I'm sure she'll WAY kick my ass.
Later, my little Padawans.
Jedi Dad out.
It's been a LONG while since I've posted, and now that the holidays are over, hopefully things will fall back to a more normal rhythm and I'll be posting more.
Speaking of the holidays, I'm glad they're over, but I did have a great time with my sister visiting for the better part of a week. It's always nice to hang out with her, and we get to do it all too infrequently. She's my little sister, but she's a big inspiration. As I think I've said before (it's been so long since I posted that I can't even remember what I've written. Never mind that I can't be bothered to actually go back and read my old posts) she's basically the main reason I started running. Yeah, yeah, it was to get in shape (I've stalled a bit at the 35 pounds lost point), but it was also because I'm so proud of her, and I've seen and heard about all the hard work she's done, and in some way I wanted to be a little bit a part of it. Believe me, it's not for the glory of slogging through 10 minute miles sometimes (ok, ONE time) in the rain and slightly above freezing temperature during which I experienced my first chafing (OUCH). But I have gotten in a bit better shape, so that's a plus. One of my resolutions this year is to actually lose 15 more pounds to get down to the 2 bill mark.
Anyway, so I got a chance to run once with my sis while she was here, and it was great. She was a little rough on me (ok, she claims that she let me set the pace, but we're both a little competitive, and I wanted to show her I wasn't a total wuss) but it was good. I'm sure she could have left me in the dust had she wanted to, but she was gracious enough to stick with me.
And about the "Going Whole Hog" thing. It's more like half hog, really. I've decided that I'm going to run the Flying Pig Half Marathon in Cincinnatti in May. I know it may be a bit of a stretch going from running a 5k to a half marathon, but so what. As my sister likes to say, she went from not running to running a marathon, so it can be done. Initially I was going to run one of the legs on a relay team, but my said "You should just run the half marathon." so that's what I'm going to do. Official training starts at the beginning of February, so I'll be sure to blog all the wonderful training notes here. In the interest of training, and also because running in the cold rain and snow is somewhat of a pain, we've purchased a treadmill to aid the training/getting in shape efforts. I've gotta' say it's boring, but much better than chafing! I also picked up a Garmin 201 Forerunner to help out with pacing and training, and it's really cool. Kicked my virtual training partners ass on my long run the other day!
Oh, and did I mention that my sister is going to fly back so we can run the Pig together? And by together I mean that we'll be running the same race at the same time, but I'm sure she'll WAY kick my ass.
Later, my little Padawans.
Jedi Dad out.
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