Tough two weeks, these have been. The week before last was spent trying to get to the gym and the normal 4 runs in for the week plus the one long run. However, with Annie leaving for Rome that week, things had to get rearranged. Then this past week I was set to get back to running 5 days a week…with some limited success. I took July 4th off because a.) the gym was closed and b.) I had to be up at 5:45 to go to the tournament. I also took Friday off because I met up with some friends from work for happy hour and didn’t get home until 9 PM. So, I did my long run on Saturday (5.10 miles! Very close to the longest run yet) and then used my Sunday to do a “triathlon” training. It’s not that I was training for an actual triathlon as I would certainly die if I tried one. Rather, I did 10 minutes on the elliptical machine at about 60%, another ten minutes on the treadmill at about 90%, and another 10 or so on the bike at 75%.

It was the first time I had used an elliptical machine, so I probably looked like an idiot. Not my favorite piece of machinery, but passable. I did the entire ten minutes at 6.0 mph or better. Actually, most of it was at 6.5 mph or faster. I got tired by the end, but was happy that I wasn’t huffing and puffing and exhausted from it. However, I don’t think the treadmill accurately measures distance because it said I only ran 1.1 miles after ten minutes at a pace that was faster than 6 mph (a 9 mpm pace).

Anyway, I need to get my ass in gear. The Run to Cooperstown 5K is next Saturday and while I don’t plan on setting any land speed records, I also want to finish and not be dead last. I also want to start running a few times a week in the morning because I’m growing tired of the treadmill and am getting close to being able to run a fair distance at a half-decent pace. I also want to run outside for the fresh air. However, I am fairly neurotic about when I run outside, as evidenced by the fact that I have yet to do it! I don’t like the idea of running around a busy city dodging cars, pedestrians, crazy people (in Baltimore, they’re everywhere), etc. I don’t like having to stop for traffic unless it’s really necessary and I don’t want to run when it’s scalding hot outside. However, it’s also suicide to run in the evening after a certain time due to Baltimore’s high crime rate. So, all that being said, running early in the morning is my best option. It fulfills most of my neuroses: no pedestrians because it’s early; few crazies because they’re still asleep or hungover from the night before; little traffic because people haven’t started arriving downtown for work yet; coolest time of the day; less chance of being mugged because again, most criminals don’t wake up early.

That being said, the most difficult part of this whole operation is not what time to run or where to run or how far to run, but the actual act of getting up early to run. Normally I wake up about 7 AM for work each day. I’m out the door by 7:45 or so. I figure allotting an hour total for the wake-up, getting out the door, warming up, run and cool down is a good place to start. That means waking up around 5:45 AM to ensure I am on the road by 6. This morning I got up, walked over to my alarm and turned it off and then got back into bed. Not a good effort. Tomorrow I’m going to try again. Hopefully I’ll get up!