I started this post yesterday afternoon while I was bored at work but then I actually got a lot of work that had to be done before the end of the day so the post got put on the back burner and eventually was deleted because I wanted to go home.
So, this is a new and improved post, which will also talk about the crappy run I had this morning. But first, to the topic of the original post.
Some months back (maybe March or April) I started this blog as a tribute to my favorite baseball team, the Washington Nationals. As some of you might know, the Nats are pretty bad this year. Not as bad as we’d all feared going into the season, but bad nonetheless. There’s no way a team can sit at the bottom of their division from the beginning of the season to the end and not be considered bad. Nonetheless, I love them and always will.
I started the blog to talk about the Nats on a daily basis and to share my limited baseball insight with the Internet. But, blogging about baseball is almost as demanding as blogging about politics. There’s so much going on on a daily basis that it’s nearly impossible to miss a day and stay current. And with the team playing 165 games, it can be overwhelming. IN early June I took up running (on a regular basis) and wanted to create a running/training diary of sorts. Rather than create a new blog and waste a few more megabytes on some server in California, I decided to kill two birds with one stone: transform my neglected Nationals blog into a less neglected baseball/running blog. And so this is how “All Nats, All the Time” transformed into “Me, the Road and Baseball”, if only for a few short weeks.
As the summer has gone on, and the Nats have remained pretty bad and not showing any signs of improving, I stopped watching as many games as I could. I occasionally check SI.com for the scores or see the scores on ESPN. And all of my posts have been about running. Eventually, there was little reason for having a baseball/running blog when baseball is never spoken about in the posts. So, I have decided to transform my blog one more time. I’ve moved it from “Me, the Road and Baseball” to the mysterious, yet important-sounding “Baltimore Running Project”.
So, here it is: the revamped website that’s all about my running and training. I’m going to try and make this better, but my HTML and web skills are fairly limited and I’m not about to pay a fee to have my site hosted and to get a few more bells and whistles. Because really, I want this site to chronicle my trials and tribulations rather than to be the electronic essence of myself.
But I hope whoever stumbles across this site enjoys it and gets some limited insight into what a beginning runner goes through.
Now, on to the second portion of this post, which is less happy. So ever since the Run to Cooperstown two weeks ago, I’ve been struggling to find a balanced training regimen that fits well with my weekly schedule. I’d like to run 5 days a week and take one day for cross training and then one day of pure rest away from the gym. It’s harder than I thought to find this magic combination. Let me quickly explain:
Running in the morning is great because I can get the miles in before work and then I have my evenings free to cook dinner and relax. I also feel better when I get to work. The cons of this are of course getting up much earlier than I’d want to, and the limited amount of time I have to dedicate to running. It’s this second reason that is becoming a real sticking point. By the time I get up, get dressed, arrive at the gym, warm up, actually run and then cool down and stretch, I’ve spent more time than I planned. When I run for 30 minutes, for example, the entire ordeal takes closer to an hour when all is said and done. And if anything delays me (i.e. oversleeping or, like this morning, my headphones breaking) I’m screwed. What’s more, I have to be at work at 8 AM so I can get several tasks done before the trading day begins. As a result, I have to be up at 6 AM so I have an hour to run, get back and get ready for work. If I didn’t have to be to work until 9, it’d be fine, as I’d have two hours to run. So, I’m crunched for time in the mornings.
Running in the evenings is nice because it’s a great stress reliever after work and I can take all the time I want to get as much distance or time as I’m aiming for that day. It’s only marginally busier than in the morning. And sometimes Annie and I can go together in the evenings. The cons are mostly time-oriented. Sometimes I get out of work later. So, if I’m out of work by 5:45 PM, I can maybe make it to the gym by 6:15, which means I probably won’t get home until 7:30. Then I have to cook dinner, clean up, shower, get ready for the next work day, and get ready for bed, all before having any time for relaxing on the couch. The advantage is that since I can sleep later in the morning, I don’t have to go to bed until later at night, so I get more time on the end of my day rather than the beginning.
In both cases, time can become a problem. I haven’t been totally satisfied with either running time, but I think there’s no real solution except to pick one time and make the best of it. Even though I like running in the morning, I think looking at it objectively, running after work might be better, especially as my mileage increases. Eventually (hopefully), I’ll be running long enough distances that simply having 40 minutes in the morning won’t be enough. At that point, being able to go to the gym or out on the road for more than 60 minutes and not have to worry too much about time will be nice.
For now, I’m going to go to a spinning class with Annie tomorrow morning and then do a long run out to Fort McHenry on Sunday morning. Next week I’ll run in the afternoons and see how that feels.
Friday, August 3, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Killing Time at Work
As I sit here at my desk, trying to find ways to avoid work, I remember that I haven’t posted to my blog in a few days. What better time to update the site than when I’m at work?
This weekend was the weekend when Annie returned to the U.S. after spending a month sinigng in Italy. I actually didn’t see her until Saturday night because I spent the day in Northern Virginia with my family for our semi-annual gettogether. Anyway, I took the weekend off and didn’t run at all, which was OK. By Sunday I was itching to get back to the routine, though. I ran yesterday afternoon, partly because I was too lazy to get up early and go to the gym, but also to continue to work to find the best time of day to run for my personal taste. While I like running in the morning, it’s so hard for me to get up and get dressed and get out of the door! However, I think that it might end up having to be m running time because it affords me so much more free time in the evenings.
Anyway, yesterday’s run was OK. Not the best but certainly not the worst. Since I don’t have a race to train for in the next month, I needed some other kind of goal to train towards. So, I’ve undertaken a Mileage Expansion Project for the next few months. Basically, I want to push my mileage up so I’m getting more distance in each week. The basic tenets are:
1. Increase my daily mileage (4 runs per week) by 10%
2.Run at that distance for two weeks before increasing another 10%
3. This should push my normal mileage up from 3.5 miles per run now to 6 miles per normal run by the beginning of November.
4. Increase the long runs by about one mile each two week segment. This should basically put my long distance at 10 miles by the beginning of November.
5. Freeze any improvements during racing periods so as to minimize the chances for injuries and sub-par performance.
The idea of this program will be to use the final two months of summer and first weeks of fall to pick up some mileage outside and to prepare for those winter months of running exclusively (or very nearly so) indoors and perpetually in darkness. Moreover, it will give me a good starting point for when I begin training for the 2008 spring and summer. I’ll pretty much use this program to get miles, and then use the winter to get some more speed and maintain my fitness, and then start piling on more mileage come February as I prepare for the Flying Pig Half Marathon in May. My objective is to be doing 15 mile + long runs by the time the race rolls around and just crush it (crush it meaning I run it in a decent time, not setting any records).
Anyway, the next step in this long progression is the Mileage Expansion Project, also to be known as the Baltimore Running Project, Phase II. I’m still developing the other phases, which will be the topic of a future post.
This weekend was the weekend when Annie returned to the U.S. after spending a month sinigng in Italy. I actually didn’t see her until Saturday night because I spent the day in Northern Virginia with my family for our semi-annual gettogether. Anyway, I took the weekend off and didn’t run at all, which was OK. By Sunday I was itching to get back to the routine, though. I ran yesterday afternoon, partly because I was too lazy to get up early and go to the gym, but also to continue to work to find the best time of day to run for my personal taste. While I like running in the morning, it’s so hard for me to get up and get dressed and get out of the door! However, I think that it might end up having to be m running time because it affords me so much more free time in the evenings.
Anyway, yesterday’s run was OK. Not the best but certainly not the worst. Since I don’t have a race to train for in the next month, I needed some other kind of goal to train towards. So, I’ve undertaken a Mileage Expansion Project for the next few months. Basically, I want to push my mileage up so I’m getting more distance in each week. The basic tenets are:
1. Increase my daily mileage (4 runs per week) by 10%
2.Run at that distance for two weeks before increasing another 10%
3. This should push my normal mileage up from 3.5 miles per run now to 6 miles per normal run by the beginning of November.
4. Increase the long runs by about one mile each two week segment. This should basically put my long distance at 10 miles by the beginning of November.
5. Freeze any improvements during racing periods so as to minimize the chances for injuries and sub-par performance.
The idea of this program will be to use the final two months of summer and first weeks of fall to pick up some mileage outside and to prepare for those winter months of running exclusively (or very nearly so) indoors and perpetually in darkness. Moreover, it will give me a good starting point for when I begin training for the 2008 spring and summer. I’ll pretty much use this program to get miles, and then use the winter to get some more speed and maintain my fitness, and then start piling on more mileage come February as I prepare for the Flying Pig Half Marathon in May. My objective is to be doing 15 mile + long runs by the time the race rolls around and just crush it (crush it meaning I run it in a decent time, not setting any records).
Anyway, the next step in this long progression is the Mileage Expansion Project, also to be known as the Baltimore Running Project, Phase II. I’m still developing the other phases, which will be the topic of a future post.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Hard Lesson Learned
Well that will be the first and last time that I fail to properly warm up before and after a race! While my hamstring has recovered just fine from Saturday, the same cannot be said of my left calf muscle.
After taking Sunday off, I gave serious thought to running Monday morning. However, upon waking up, my hamstring was still not feeling 100% and my left calf muscle felt tight. Rather than run and risk making both minor injuries into moderate injuries, I took Monday off. Two days off was great because by the end of the day on Monday, my hamstring felt much better and my calf felt good. By Monday night, only my calf hurt a little. When I awoke on Tuesday morning, everything felt good so I went out.
The run was great and I felt energized. As I approached the end of my run, I wanted to hit that 3.4 mile mark I had set for myself this week. So I accelerated and was feeling great until I slowed. My left calf muscle was already tightening up and much sorer than it had been after Saturday’s race. I knew I had aggravated it with the hard running. I finished my cool down, and made the painful walk back to my apartment. I stretched gingerly to keep it from totally freezing up. By mid-day at work, however, it hurt. I had already taken 1,000 mg of ibuprofen at home, but popped an Aleve at work. That gave me some relief until I got home. I rubbed some Icy Hot on my leg, which made it feel better (although as a sidenote, that stuff smells like old person and is too greasy). By last night, it felt OK (maybe 65%). However, putting any real weight on it beyond simple walking or the like produced that familiar warning pain. As in, “OK, I’m well enough to let you walk without pain, but if you try to run on me, I’m going to explode right through your leg.”
So I went to bed hoping it would be better this morning. Good news: it feels much better…about 90% I’d say. Not so good news: I felt this way on Tuesday morning and look how that turned out. So I skipped today as well in the hope that the extra 24 hours will give my leg the time it needs to completely heal so I don’t have to worry about a nagging injury. While I don’t have a race deadline to meet anytime soon, I’ve always been of the opinion that once you’re injured, you should try to heal 100% before getting back to whatever sport or activity got your injured. By “playing hurt” you’re only guaranteeing that you’re aggravating the injury, weakening that injured part of your body over the long term, and ensuring a high probability of future injury to that area at some point down the road. This could be illustrated by a graph with two lines. One would chart your ability or effectiveness over time (A) while the other would chart the severity of the injury over time (B). As line B goes up over time, line A will go down until the two intersect. At that point, not only is it no longer advantageous to play hurt, it’s detrimental to your individual effort and the overall outcome of your team, if it’s a team activity.
In other words, if I get injured, I wait until I’m 100% and then get back into it full steam. As I sit here now in my office, my calf feels really close to 100%. I’ll be fine to run tomorrow morning and not have to worry about re-injuring myself…provided I run at a comfortable pace, which I should have done on Tuesday.
Anyway, for the majority of the run on Tuesday I ran at a great pace that felt fine. I was very happy to get my cruising speed up to 6.0 mph without too much trouble. My basic plan is to continue at 6.0 mph until I build my distance up to 4 miles per day with a long run of 6.5 miles or greater. At that point I’ll probably stop using the treadmill until the winter sets in and run exclusively outdoors.
After taking Sunday off, I gave serious thought to running Monday morning. However, upon waking up, my hamstring was still not feeling 100% and my left calf muscle felt tight. Rather than run and risk making both minor injuries into moderate injuries, I took Monday off. Two days off was great because by the end of the day on Monday, my hamstring felt much better and my calf felt good. By Monday night, only my calf hurt a little. When I awoke on Tuesday morning, everything felt good so I went out.
The run was great and I felt energized. As I approached the end of my run, I wanted to hit that 3.4 mile mark I had set for myself this week. So I accelerated and was feeling great until I slowed. My left calf muscle was already tightening up and much sorer than it had been after Saturday’s race. I knew I had aggravated it with the hard running. I finished my cool down, and made the painful walk back to my apartment. I stretched gingerly to keep it from totally freezing up. By mid-day at work, however, it hurt. I had already taken 1,000 mg of ibuprofen at home, but popped an Aleve at work. That gave me some relief until I got home. I rubbed some Icy Hot on my leg, which made it feel better (although as a sidenote, that stuff smells like old person and is too greasy). By last night, it felt OK (maybe 65%). However, putting any real weight on it beyond simple walking or the like produced that familiar warning pain. As in, “OK, I’m well enough to let you walk without pain, but if you try to run on me, I’m going to explode right through your leg.”
So I went to bed hoping it would be better this morning. Good news: it feels much better…about 90% I’d say. Not so good news: I felt this way on Tuesday morning and look how that turned out. So I skipped today as well in the hope that the extra 24 hours will give my leg the time it needs to completely heal so I don’t have to worry about a nagging injury. While I don’t have a race deadline to meet anytime soon, I’ve always been of the opinion that once you’re injured, you should try to heal 100% before getting back to whatever sport or activity got your injured. By “playing hurt” you’re only guaranteeing that you’re aggravating the injury, weakening that injured part of your body over the long term, and ensuring a high probability of future injury to that area at some point down the road. This could be illustrated by a graph with two lines. One would chart your ability or effectiveness over time (A) while the other would chart the severity of the injury over time (B). As line B goes up over time, line A will go down until the two intersect. At that point, not only is it no longer advantageous to play hurt, it’s detrimental to your individual effort and the overall outcome of your team, if it’s a team activity.
In other words, if I get injured, I wait until I’m 100% and then get back into it full steam. As I sit here now in my office, my calf feels really close to 100%. I’ll be fine to run tomorrow morning and not have to worry about re-injuring myself…provided I run at a comfortable pace, which I should have done on Tuesday.
Anyway, for the majority of the run on Tuesday I ran at a great pace that felt fine. I was very happy to get my cruising speed up to 6.0 mph without too much trouble. My basic plan is to continue at 6.0 mph until I build my distance up to 4 miles per day with a long run of 6.5 miles or greater. At that point I’ll probably stop using the treadmill until the winter sets in and run exclusively outdoors.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Run to Cooperstown 5K Race Report
Well I’ve slacked off the last couple weeks with respect to posting my progress, but I will get back in the saddle. What better way to do that then to file my first race report?
As the 3 people who read this blog can see, my first race was the Run to Cooperstown 5K in Aberdeen, MD this past Saturday morning. It was an ambitious goal for me because I just started running seriously only about 5 weeks ago. I know that most training programs are geared around that timeframe, but they don’t really say what sort of results you can expect from such a short training program. That was just one of my concerns going into this race. I was also worried that I would finish last in my age group because 20-29 is really tough as many runners are fresh out of college and thus, college cross country or track teams. Basically, I have no chance at actually placing near the front of the pack for another decade, in my estimation. By then, more of those guys will have stopped running or gotten fat or found joy in kids or something else that will allow me to at least have a chance in hell of placing in my age group. Maybe. Anyway, I was also worried about running on a road for the first time since I started running. Up to that point, I had only been on the treadmill, as it was the easiest and safest form of running for me. I’d never really handled hills or the asphalt surface before. So, basically, I was hoping to run the race without embarrassing myself.
I arrived at the race about 7:30 AM with the race scheduled to begin at 8 sharp. Since I had pre-registered, I was supposedly guaranteed a cool technical t-shirt. However, I guess this is one aspect of racing that you only learn by doing because by the time I got there, they were all gone thanks to lots of people registering day of. However, I should be receiving my short in the mail. I’ll give them until next Monday and then I start e-mailing and being a pain in the ass. I want that shirt! To me, it’s patently unfair to give some asshole who didn’t have the forethought to sign up two weeks ago my shirt, which I was GUARANTEED. Instead I was the one who got screwed. Bunch of B.S. Like I said, if I don’t get my shirt I will either hassle them until I do get one, get my money back, or otherwise be a pain in the ass.
Anyway, it was a perfect day for running: Sunny and warm but not humid at all. About 70 degrees at race time and not cloud in the sky. There were 570 runners, which I take to be a decent sized race for something local like this. Most of that was because this was to celebrate Cal Ripken’s induction into the Hall of Fame and I think only Jesus Christ could beat Cal Ripken in a popularity contest in Maryland. Even then, there’d be a recount.
About 7:50 they asked people to start making their way to the starting line. Cal himself was there and thanked everyone for coming to the race (all the proceeds went to the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation) before starting the race. As we passed, Cal high-fived some people so I went ahead and high fived him, even though I’m no O’s fan. Cal Ripken is a different kind of ball player from a better time in baseball and I wish he were still playing, even if he did end up playing for Baltimore. I still remember seeing him hit the homerun in his final All-Star game at bat. It’s hard to call yourself a baseball fan and not wax poetic about moments like that.
So, I was off on my first race. Per the instructions from several articles, I lined up near the back of the pack, which was good because the guys in front took off like a shot! The first portion of the course went down a hill and then around a turn onto a long road. By the time I got to that run and could see down the road, the frontrunners were all the way down at the end! Anyway, I couldn’t worry about that, as I was trying to get to a comfortable and sustainable pace. I ran without my iPod, and have made the decision to always race without it and to usually run outdoors without it. The winding road was fine and there was a small hill towards the end of it. We passed by a golf course and then into a small neighborhood where the turnaround was. After that, the course backtracked.
My goal was to simply finish the race in a respectable time: under 35 minutes. As we passed the one-mile mark, the timekeeper yelled out “9:18” as I passed. Holy crap! I was running faster than I had thought I would. And I felt OK. Not great, but not too bad. However, I wanted to save my energy for that last mile. So I tried to slow down just a little, which must have worked because I got to the 2-mile mark around 19 minutes. As the course came back towards the stadium, the hills I had run down going out I now had to go up! We hit a medium hill around 2.75 miles out, although at the time I thought we were almost done. This is why I need a Forerunner! Instead of digging in and taking my time, I pushed it and accelerated up the hill. Big mistake because as soon as I got to the top, I turned and found myself at the bottom of that big hill I ran down at the beginning! And with no finish line in sight, I had to stop and walk. I hated doing it and only took 30 seconds before forcing myself to run again. I pushed it hard this time and ran the final portion of the race around the parking lot and through the finish line in front of the stadium.
After grabbing a water, bag of pretzels and free raspberry Italian ice, I roamed back to the finish line to watch some other people finish. One guy did the race in a wheelchair, which was awesome. And he wasn’t last, either. Pretty amazing. After the awards ceremony, I checked out my official time because I had no idea how I did. I thought that I had done well and roughly assumed that I had maybe even broken the 30-minute mark. I looked for my name and found it…in 315th place. 315 out of 570 isn’t half bad for a first race. OK, so statistically it’s more than half bad, as 55% of the racers finished ahead of me. BUT, my time was 29:09, which was awesome! I was very satisfied with that result.
The only bad thing to come out of the race was that I was so caught up in the excitement that I neglected to properly warm up and cool down. I didn’t do my usual stretching afterwards that helps keep injuries away and as a result, after taking a two hour nap Saturday afternoon, I was left with a twinged hamstring on my left leg and tight calves. Live and learn, I guess.
But what a fun experience! I can’t wait for the next race. I’ve already picked it out. August is a pretty paltry month for races around here, and I’d like several more weeks of training before racing again to get some real improvement in. So, I’m going to run in the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K in Towson, MD on September 30. I’m hoping I can talk Annie into doing it with me, but we’ll see how that works out. I can’t wait!
As the 3 people who read this blog can see, my first race was the Run to Cooperstown 5K in Aberdeen, MD this past Saturday morning. It was an ambitious goal for me because I just started running seriously only about 5 weeks ago. I know that most training programs are geared around that timeframe, but they don’t really say what sort of results you can expect from such a short training program. That was just one of my concerns going into this race. I was also worried that I would finish last in my age group because 20-29 is really tough as many runners are fresh out of college and thus, college cross country or track teams. Basically, I have no chance at actually placing near the front of the pack for another decade, in my estimation. By then, more of those guys will have stopped running or gotten fat or found joy in kids or something else that will allow me to at least have a chance in hell of placing in my age group. Maybe. Anyway, I was also worried about running on a road for the first time since I started running. Up to that point, I had only been on the treadmill, as it was the easiest and safest form of running for me. I’d never really handled hills or the asphalt surface before. So, basically, I was hoping to run the race without embarrassing myself.
I arrived at the race about 7:30 AM with the race scheduled to begin at 8 sharp. Since I had pre-registered, I was supposedly guaranteed a cool technical t-shirt. However, I guess this is one aspect of racing that you only learn by doing because by the time I got there, they were all gone thanks to lots of people registering day of. However, I should be receiving my short in the mail. I’ll give them until next Monday and then I start e-mailing and being a pain in the ass. I want that shirt! To me, it’s patently unfair to give some asshole who didn’t have the forethought to sign up two weeks ago my shirt, which I was GUARANTEED. Instead I was the one who got screwed. Bunch of B.S. Like I said, if I don’t get my shirt I will either hassle them until I do get one, get my money back, or otherwise be a pain in the ass.
Anyway, it was a perfect day for running: Sunny and warm but not humid at all. About 70 degrees at race time and not cloud in the sky. There were 570 runners, which I take to be a decent sized race for something local like this. Most of that was because this was to celebrate Cal Ripken’s induction into the Hall of Fame and I think only Jesus Christ could beat Cal Ripken in a popularity contest in Maryland. Even then, there’d be a recount.
About 7:50 they asked people to start making their way to the starting line. Cal himself was there and thanked everyone for coming to the race (all the proceeds went to the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation) before starting the race. As we passed, Cal high-fived some people so I went ahead and high fived him, even though I’m no O’s fan. Cal Ripken is a different kind of ball player from a better time in baseball and I wish he were still playing, even if he did end up playing for Baltimore. I still remember seeing him hit the homerun in his final All-Star game at bat. It’s hard to call yourself a baseball fan and not wax poetic about moments like that.
So, I was off on my first race. Per the instructions from several articles, I lined up near the back of the pack, which was good because the guys in front took off like a shot! The first portion of the course went down a hill and then around a turn onto a long road. By the time I got to that run and could see down the road, the frontrunners were all the way down at the end! Anyway, I couldn’t worry about that, as I was trying to get to a comfortable and sustainable pace. I ran without my iPod, and have made the decision to always race without it and to usually run outdoors without it. The winding road was fine and there was a small hill towards the end of it. We passed by a golf course and then into a small neighborhood where the turnaround was. After that, the course backtracked.
My goal was to simply finish the race in a respectable time: under 35 minutes. As we passed the one-mile mark, the timekeeper yelled out “9:18” as I passed. Holy crap! I was running faster than I had thought I would. And I felt OK. Not great, but not too bad. However, I wanted to save my energy for that last mile. So I tried to slow down just a little, which must have worked because I got to the 2-mile mark around 19 minutes. As the course came back towards the stadium, the hills I had run down going out I now had to go up! We hit a medium hill around 2.75 miles out, although at the time I thought we were almost done. This is why I need a Forerunner! Instead of digging in and taking my time, I pushed it and accelerated up the hill. Big mistake because as soon as I got to the top, I turned and found myself at the bottom of that big hill I ran down at the beginning! And with no finish line in sight, I had to stop and walk. I hated doing it and only took 30 seconds before forcing myself to run again. I pushed it hard this time and ran the final portion of the race around the parking lot and through the finish line in front of the stadium.
After grabbing a water, bag of pretzels and free raspberry Italian ice, I roamed back to the finish line to watch some other people finish. One guy did the race in a wheelchair, which was awesome. And he wasn’t last, either. Pretty amazing. After the awards ceremony, I checked out my official time because I had no idea how I did. I thought that I had done well and roughly assumed that I had maybe even broken the 30-minute mark. I looked for my name and found it…in 315th place. 315 out of 570 isn’t half bad for a first race. OK, so statistically it’s more than half bad, as 55% of the racers finished ahead of me. BUT, my time was 29:09, which was awesome! I was very satisfied with that result.
The only bad thing to come out of the race was that I was so caught up in the excitement that I neglected to properly warm up and cool down. I didn’t do my usual stretching afterwards that helps keep injuries away and as a result, after taking a two hour nap Saturday afternoon, I was left with a twinged hamstring on my left leg and tight calves. Live and learn, I guess.
But what a fun experience! I can’t wait for the next race. I’ve already picked it out. August is a pretty paltry month for races around here, and I’d like several more weeks of training before racing again to get some real improvement in. So, I’m going to run in the Great Strides Against Prostate Cancer 5K in Towson, MD on September 30. I’m hoping I can talk Annie into doing it with me, but we’ll see how that works out. I can’t wait!
Monday, July 9, 2007
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!
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!
Thursday, July 5, 2007
The Summer of the Tiger
It figures that I would choose a holiday week to rededicate myself to my training for the Run to Cooperstown Race. Of course I’ve already registered for it, so I’m running it no matter if I’m ready or not. However, I haven’t taken more days off than usual; they’ve just been closer together than my preferred Sunday-Thursday mix.
Monday I ran my usual 30 minutes, no real surprises. I think I have been tying my shoes too tightly and that’s what causes my leg muscles right above my ankles on the side to hurt. When I tied them looser on Tuesday, it was much less painful. Anyway, Tuesday was a frustrating day but I was committed to getting my run in. Let me summarize: Saturday night my cable and internet went out for no reason. I called Comcast, they sent a technician on Monday night and it was fixed. However, because my TiVo used a wireless connection to update itself each day, it lost the connection and got all screwed up. Tuesday I was supposed to get out of work early because the markets were closing early, but my boss made me stay until 4, which made me mad at first until I realized that everyone else was staying late, even though they didn’t have to. However, at 4:01 PM I ran out of the office and went home to fix my TiVo. After about 2 hours of screwing with it, the wireless adaptor just couldn’t find the router’s signal, and actually couldn’t find any wireless signal. Exasperated, I went to the Best Buy in the Inner Harbor, bought a 50’ Ethernet cable, and plugged the TiVo directly into the router. Not only did it work, but the download takes literally seconds instead of the 5-10 minutes the adaptor would spend downloading updates.
All this made it close to 8 before I went to the gym but I got my run in and everything was fine. Wednesday I had to be up at 5:45 because I was going with my stepfather, brother and cousin to the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club down in Bethesda. This si the new tournament hosted by Tiger Woods. It was lots of fun, but exhausting. By the time I got back home, I was tired so I took the day off. That means three straight days of running, including the weekly long run, but that’s cool. I can handle it.
On another note, because my company is a sponsor of the Baltimore Running Festival, I found out today that they have a limited number of registration forms that waive the registration fees for any of the races! Even though I plan on only running the 5K, it’ll save me $35, which is awesome. That’s 2 months of TiVo service! Anyway, they’re sending me the form today so hopefully I can get it mailed out by tomorrow or Saturday.
Monday I ran my usual 30 minutes, no real surprises. I think I have been tying my shoes too tightly and that’s what causes my leg muscles right above my ankles on the side to hurt. When I tied them looser on Tuesday, it was much less painful. Anyway, Tuesday was a frustrating day but I was committed to getting my run in. Let me summarize: Saturday night my cable and internet went out for no reason. I called Comcast, they sent a technician on Monday night and it was fixed. However, because my TiVo used a wireless connection to update itself each day, it lost the connection and got all screwed up. Tuesday I was supposed to get out of work early because the markets were closing early, but my boss made me stay until 4, which made me mad at first until I realized that everyone else was staying late, even though they didn’t have to. However, at 4:01 PM I ran out of the office and went home to fix my TiVo. After about 2 hours of screwing with it, the wireless adaptor just couldn’t find the router’s signal, and actually couldn’t find any wireless signal. Exasperated, I went to the Best Buy in the Inner Harbor, bought a 50’ Ethernet cable, and plugged the TiVo directly into the router. Not only did it work, but the download takes literally seconds instead of the 5-10 minutes the adaptor would spend downloading updates.
All this made it close to 8 before I went to the gym but I got my run in and everything was fine. Wednesday I had to be up at 5:45 because I was going with my stepfather, brother and cousin to the AT&T National golf tournament at Congressional Country Club down in Bethesda. This si the new tournament hosted by Tiger Woods. It was lots of fun, but exhausting. By the time I got back home, I was tired so I took the day off. That means three straight days of running, including the weekly long run, but that’s cool. I can handle it.
On another note, because my company is a sponsor of the Baltimore Running Festival, I found out today that they have a limited number of registration forms that waive the registration fees for any of the races! Even though I plan on only running the 5K, it’ll save me $35, which is awesome. That’s 2 months of TiVo service! Anyway, they’re sending me the form today so hopefully I can get it mailed out by tomorrow or Saturday.
Monday, July 2, 2007
I Want my MTV!
After a down week where my routine got interrupted by several errands and activities that really made getting time at the gym in very difficult, I’ve rededicated myself to a solid week of training this week.
The weekend started off great. I slept in on Saturday and recharged my batteries before hitting the treadmill for my weekly “long” run. This past week, as I said, I’ve felt out of kilter and this run felt much the same way. While I still got to the 5 mile mark (woohoo! Two weeks in a row!), I only ran about 5.3 mph on a 0.5 incline. To fully simulate road running (as closely as possible), they say you shold run at a 1.0 incline. Bu I just didn’t have it in me on Saturday. Maybe I slept too much? Who knows? Anyway, I was still pleased with my run overall. I didn’t get really tired until about the 18 minute mark (18 minutes to go out of 60, that is). That last 13 minutes of running (I did 60 minutes, running for 13 minutes and walking for two, repeated four times) was tough but I ran the entire way, only taking an additional 30 seconds of walking beforehand.
I fully intended to use my off day of Sunday for a biking session, but my cable and internet both went out Saturday night and Comcast isn’t sending a tech until today between 4 and 6 PM. I know that there’s no direct connection between going to the gym and having cable, but for me, there is. I am a TV junkie (I prefer Discovery, History, PBS and Natioanl Geographic rather than the networks, though) and so not having my TV fix threw me off kilter, yet again! Luckily, I had about 8 hours of stuff recorded on TiVo (oh TiVo, how I love thee!) so I was able to ration out my entertainment. However, it kept me out of the gym, which was fine, really. I wasn’t supposed to run yesterday anyway.
All which leads me to my rededication. I’m hoping the Comcast guy fixes my cable/internet quickly (I’m leaving work shortly to be there when they arrive!) so I can set TiVo to record the season finale of last season’s Biggest Loser (an addictive show!) before heading to the gym. Thankfully, if worse comes to worse and they can’t fix my cable today, two things will happen: (a) I’ll call Comcast and get a credit for each day I’m without my internet and cable, and (b) I’ll go over to Annie’s apartment and watch the Biggest Loser and tape it on video for her when she comes back from Italy. I’m not sure I can put into words how much I hate the cable company. The hatred burns with the heat of ten thousand suns, though, to give you an idea. The level of incompetence is exceeded only by that of the airlines and parts of the government.
Anyway, here’s hoping that Comcast actually does something right for a change and I can rededicate myself with a clear mind.
The weekend started off great. I slept in on Saturday and recharged my batteries before hitting the treadmill for my weekly “long” run. This past week, as I said, I’ve felt out of kilter and this run felt much the same way. While I still got to the 5 mile mark (woohoo! Two weeks in a row!), I only ran about 5.3 mph on a 0.5 incline. To fully simulate road running (as closely as possible), they say you shold run at a 1.0 incline. Bu I just didn’t have it in me on Saturday. Maybe I slept too much? Who knows? Anyway, I was still pleased with my run overall. I didn’t get really tired until about the 18 minute mark (18 minutes to go out of 60, that is). That last 13 minutes of running (I did 60 minutes, running for 13 minutes and walking for two, repeated four times) was tough but I ran the entire way, only taking an additional 30 seconds of walking beforehand.
I fully intended to use my off day of Sunday for a biking session, but my cable and internet both went out Saturday night and Comcast isn’t sending a tech until today between 4 and 6 PM. I know that there’s no direct connection between going to the gym and having cable, but for me, there is. I am a TV junkie (I prefer Discovery, History, PBS and Natioanl Geographic rather than the networks, though) and so not having my TV fix threw me off kilter, yet again! Luckily, I had about 8 hours of stuff recorded on TiVo (oh TiVo, how I love thee!) so I was able to ration out my entertainment. However, it kept me out of the gym, which was fine, really. I wasn’t supposed to run yesterday anyway.
All which leads me to my rededication. I’m hoping the Comcast guy fixes my cable/internet quickly (I’m leaving work shortly to be there when they arrive!) so I can set TiVo to record the season finale of last season’s Biggest Loser (an addictive show!) before heading to the gym. Thankfully, if worse comes to worse and they can’t fix my cable today, two things will happen: (a) I’ll call Comcast and get a credit for each day I’m without my internet and cable, and (b) I’ll go over to Annie’s apartment and watch the Biggest Loser and tape it on video for her when she comes back from Italy. I’m not sure I can put into words how much I hate the cable company. The hatred burns with the heat of ten thousand suns, though, to give you an idea. The level of incompetence is exceeded only by that of the airlines and parts of the government.
Anyway, here’s hoping that Comcast actually does something right for a change and I can rededicate myself with a clear mind.
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