Back to Running...Take 2

So it's almost a third of the way through 2010 and I have yet to run a single step, aside from dodging snow plows during the dual blizzards we got earlier in the month. I'm out of excuses and my guilt has finally hit critical mass: I've got to get back to running.

But this time, I need to also make an effort to go beyond just running three days a week. I want to get fit all around because I think only by developing some good cross training routines on my off days can I avoid injuries as I ramp back up in my mileage over the coming weeks and months.

So, I've joined the gym at work, which is good deal at just $25/month. I get a decently-equipped gym that has all I need for a runner's strength training program, as well as some treadmills for the occasional foul weather run and showers and a locker room. On days that I'm not running, I'll be doing core work and lifting some weights to develop some more strength in the muscles I use when I run.

I'm not going to push it though. I haven't registered for any races of any distance between now and the beginning of May, when I'll run in a 5K as part of my prep school's Alumni Weekend. After that, we'll see what I feel like doing over the summer. There are a few races during the hot months that I might run, but I'd like to really focus on putting together my fitness so I'm running regular 10 milers or more again by the fall. Maybe that's possible; maybe not. Ideally I'd like to run the Baltimore Running Festival again in October (5K more than likely, rather than the half, but we'll see). And I am nearly certain I'm going to "run" in the Warrior Dash Mid Atlantic in early October. It's basically a 5K over a crazy obstacle course where you're climbing hills, swimming through ponds, jumping over fire and crawling through mud. At the end though, you get unlimited (I'm hoping) free beer, a huge medal and a big warrior hat with horns. Sounds really fun and a good motivator over the next seven months.

With that, this week's schedule is to take tomorrow off but then start on Tuesday with a 2 mile easy run and going from there. Let's see if I can follow through this time!

Starting Anew in 2010

After a whirlwind holiday season where I just went ahead and abandoned my running, I thought I needed to get back to posting, in addition to actually getting back to running, in the New Year. Since my last post in early December, here's what has happened:

• Teddy, our recently-adopted rescue dog, is doing well and has adjusted terrifically to life in Baltimore. In turn, we are getting used to having him around all the time.
• Christmas and New Year was fast-paced. We took Teddy up to my parents' place for the Christmas holiday and spent two days with them before dropping him off at the Baltimore Dog Spa for a week and flying out to Annie's parents in Cincinnati. We were there for four days before boarding a plane for Los Angeles to go on the Ohio State Alumni Tour (her family is a die-hard OSU clan), for the Rose Bowl.
• We spent four days in LA and Pasadena, going to the Buckeye Bash on Santa Monica Pier, the Rose Parade and of course the actual Rose Bowl, which was incredible. We also toured LA a little bit when we could and had lunch with some family out there before coming back.
• We caught a red-eye direct to BWI and got in at 6AM this morning. After picking up Teddy, we're all just about dead. Even Teddy is curled up in his bed zonked out as I type. Early bed time for everyone tonight since we go back to work tomorrow.

Needless to say, it was a whirlwind week and a half, but I needed some time outside Baltimore and away from the office...I was burnt out by Christmas Eve. And I didn't run at all, of course.

So, this week I'll start back on the roads and start studying for the CFA...yes, it's that time of year as well, when I spend 6 months studying for a single exam in June. The sooner I can get all of it done, the happier I will be. But I want to really also focus on my running, and with no bog trips or holidays scheduled right now, I think that will be a possibility. We may take a long weekend in Cincinnati or something in April, but that's far from certain. Right now, I'm happy to be able to spend the next few weeks focusing on work, studying, and running.

Once I get the 289 pictures I took organized, I'll post them on Picassa.

Am I Going to Make It Next Saturday?

Short answer is: I Don't Know! My well-laid plans to stop being lazy and "too busy" to run have come to naught thanks to Mother Nature and poor schedules. I had initially wanted to get out and run on Monday morning, however, it was pouring, literally pouring, down rain at 5:45 AM, which killed my motivation. I want to run, but there's no sense in running in rain at 38 degrees. Then I thought maybe Tuesday morning would work. However, getting to bed too late the night before killed me. Wednesday was another rainy morning so here we are, about 9 days from the Celtic Solstice 5 Miler and I haven't run since before Thanksgiving.

Am I going to make it next Saturday? I don't know but the weather looks to be good and cold so I'm going to go and get my $15 worth. It's a great race and I'm not going to let the craziness of the last two weeks sabotage my enjoyment of the race. I've got about 5 running opportunities between now and the 19th (tomorrow, Saturday, Monday, Wednesday and next Friday) so maybe if I can hit those targets, I'll be able to slowly meander along the 5 mile course and not flame out.

Or, I could run those five days and still limp across the finish line on the 19th heaving from embarrassment, not to mention exhaustion. We'll see how it goes, but as the end of the year approaches, a year where I seriously fell off the running wagon, I know I need to set some 2010 goals and map out how I'm going to get there. I think spending the first 6-8 months getting my mileage back above 10 miles, followed by a fall half marathon target and then late fall-winter races culminating in the 2010 Celtic Solstice is a good starting point. Finding new ways to stay motivated, however, is the big challenge and will probably be a determining factor next year.

For now, I just want to be able to run that 5 miler next weekend and then head to my grandmother's house in the afternoon for our pre-holiday feast!

Too Busy for Running Means Messed Up Priorities

This last two weeks have been incredibly hectic to say the least and my running has suffered as a result. The Thanksgiving holiday was much-needed but went by quickly and was itself busy. e picked out our wedding pictures and created our album...only 13 months after we got married! We just kept putting it off so finally made the appointment at the photographer for when we knew we'd be back in Cincinnati.

We had to get up at 4AM to make it to the airport for our 7AM flight to Chicago (connecting to Dayton) so we were pretty wiped out the next day, causing us to sleep in and ignore the $50 registration fee we had paid for the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day race. Oh well. There'll be other races and it felt good to get the 11 hours of sleep instead. I think I would have felt tired all day had we dragged ourselves to the race.

Then after wwe got back, wwe picked up our newest addition to our pack, Teddy, a Shih Tzu/Lhasa Apso mix that we adopted from a rescue organization in Virginia, although he was being fostered by a woman in Reading, PA. We think he's between 2 and 5 years old, although we don't really know. We'll probably call him 4 years old because he's pretty calm and well-mannered, so he can't be too close puppy age. We brought him home a little earlier than e had planned because e wanted to take him for a test drive to make sure that Annie wasn't allergic to him. She's totally fine around him, which is great news.

So, since Tuesday we've been getting into a new routine with him for taking him out, at least two walks per day (one of those being a "long" walk of about a mile in the evening that zonks him out) and the like. He's adjusting very ell to living in an apartment in the city and we know we got lucky with his gentle temperament and independence. He's already housebroken. We tried putting him in the kitchen when we left for work a few days but he'd always find a way to knock the baby gate over or, when we put heavy boxes in front of it, he used his paws to scoot it to one side so he could squeeze out. But each time he escaped, he didn't chew anything or have an accident in the apartment, so e think he just doesn't like the kitchen because it's drafty.

Anyway, now that we're settling into a routine, it's time to add running back into the mix. Tomorrow I want to get back to running regularly so I can at least slowly complete the Celtic Solstice 5 miler in two weeks.

And with that short update, I'll sign off and update the rest of this blog since I've neglected it for a few weeks now.

Bad Weather Pushing Back Training

Maybe it's my imagination but it seems like the weather this October has been worse than in previous years. Certainly we've had more rain than normal, and this has interfered with my training as of late. Now, I'm not opposed to running through bad weather and actually kind of enjoy it. But I'm also committed to getting through this winter without catching a cold or the flu. Going out in the pouring rain at 6 AM is a good way to get sick. So, I was supposed to run on Sunday and yesterday but it started raining here on Saturday night and stopped last night.

Thankfully, we've got a stretch of non-rainy (notice I didn't say sunny, because many of these days are forecast to be cloudy) days that I can use to actually get some runs in. I'll run tomorrow and Friday and then do a 5 miler on Sunday morning, unless the weekend is rained out for the third week in a row.

Ed. Note: I saved this post earlier last week and then forgot to finish it. So, the post from here on out was written on November 1. Everything before this was written October 27

I pretty much chalked up last week to an off week because I just couldn't get motivated in the morning and kept hitting snooze. So, by Friday I decided to get back on the horse this weekend, since I'd be able to get out the door later in the morning, increasing the chances I'd actually go. Saturday I got out for a 3.5 mile easy run and then today I did a 5 mile "long" run down into Federal Hill and then back to the apartment. Both runs went well because I made a conscious effort to slow down the pace. I tried to go slower than my mind thought was appropriate and that helped me avoid unconsciously speeding up and trying to maintain an untenable pace.

For the third weekend in a row, it rained at least part of the two days and today was no different. It was cool and already overcast when I headed out today, maybe around 50. I got halfway through my run and literally almost as soon as I turned around to start the "back" portion of the "out and back" route I had mapped out the sprinkles started. Thankfully, the rain was light, but steady, throughout the final part of the run and the skies didn't really open up until I got back indoors. But still, it'll be nice to get through this wet part of the season. Running in 50 degrees is perfect weather for a run, except when it's also rainy and windy.

Brooks, I Heart You and Your Shoes

Before I get into the new shoe issue, a quick link to an interesting blog posting. If you don't read the Well blog on the NYT website, I heartily encourage you to check it out. It's generally interesting, but it will routinely have a posting about running that is even more interesting. A few days ago, there was a posting about the age-old question of whether running will actually increase the probability of you getting sick. The post talks about several studies that were done on both mice and men (men in the species sense, not gender sense.) It's well worth reading and makes sense that a workout that tears you up will make you more vulnerable to sickness while a moderate workout will boost immunity somewhat.

Check out the post and Well blog here: Does Exercise Boost Immunity?

Now, on to the topic at hand.

My new running shoes arrived in the mail on Monday, which allowed me to take them out for a 3 mile spin on Tuesday morning. I tried them on Monday night and they fit OK...a little snug around the upper and the toe box wasn't as roomy as I'm used to with the Brooks, but otherwise just fine. So, Tuesday morning I woke up and laced up the Air Pegasae (more than one Pegasus?) and headed out. Almost immediately I felt that these shoes weren't going to work, but I wanted to give them the full 3 miles to make me think otherwise. It just didn't happen. I wanted to like them, but I just couldn't.

The Runner's World shoe review had said that runners had liked the Nike's cushioned ride, however they didn't feel markedly more comfortable in terms of cushioning than my Brooks. But, let me do a pros and cons analysis here to keep it simple.

PRO:

• Snug fit around the upper kept my foot from moving around too much (see cons for the exception to this.)
• Lightweight and had enough cushioning for me.
• Already equipped with a Nike+ chip in the shoe for my iPod, if I wanted to use it.

CONS:

• Toe box was not roomy and my toes felt cramped in the front, although the shoes were the right length. More that they felt scrunched the whole time.
• Upper was really cushy, but that made tightening the laces tough. You'd have to really pull on them to get them tight and even then, the upper is so overstuffed that you've got short laces with which to tie the shoes. This then inevitably leads to a loosening of the laces during running and so by about halfway through my run, my right foot was slipping and I could feel a hot spot forming into a blister on my heel. Luckily, the run was short enough that I avoided the blister.
• Speaking of hot spots, for some reason, Nike shoes always give me a hot spot on the side of my foot where the ball is. This happened years ago when I first bought a pair of Nike's and gave myself blisters that way. For some reason, where the insole meets the shoe hits my foot at a vulnerable spot and the motion of pronating eventually leads to a hot spot and then a blister. After just 3 miles yesterday, I was well on my way to a blister on both feet.
• Not sure what the reason is, but about halfway into the run, the outside of my right foot began to ache and got worse throughout the run. When I stopped running, the ache went away completely.

I took yesterday off to let my hot spots go away (they did) and ran this morning in my old Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8's. Shockingly, I had no problems at all. No aches, hot spots, slipping, scrunching, etc. Nothing. My new Adrenaline GTS 9's arrived today, and I've learned my lesson.

Brooks, I'm sorry I ever doubted your fit for my foot. I will be a Brooks man for the rest of my running days. I heart you. You had me at "Motion Control." I should never have doubted you and your ability to make an outstanding shoe for an affordable price (while the Nike's were $50 with a filched discount code, the Brooks were only $16 more expensive, which is roughly what I'd spend in Neosporin and Band-Aids to nurse my blisters, I estimate.)

2009 Baltimore Running Festival Race Report

Another Baltimore Running Festival wweekend is coming to an end and this one was just as enjoyable as the past three in which I've participated, although my attempt at setting a new 5K PR fell short again.

Annie picked me up at the office on Friday evening (I went in early so I could leave a little early) and we headed over to M&T Bank Stadium to pick up our race packets and check out the expo. The race organizers have improved the registration process every year and this year I think it went very smoothly...at least for us, of course. We got our shirts (pro: made from 100% recycled plastic, yet looks and feels like normal cloth...very cool; con: logo was minimal and it's the same color as the 2007 shirts) and wandered around the expo a little. We didn't buy anything, but the expo had grown in size and I would imagine that either next year or 2011 will have to be held in a bigger space (convention center would be a good space given that 20,000 runners ran a race this year.)

The next morning, e got up and hopped on the light rail, which runs right to Camden Yards and about 250 yards from the starting line of the 5K/marathon. Got warmed up and e were off right on time at 8:30 AM. There were nearly 2700 people running this race, so that added time to everybody's race, I think. The course was much the same as wwhen I ran it in 2007, although we made a few more turns up around Dolphin Street before turning onto Eutaw Street to head south back to the stadiums and finish line. About 1.75 miles of the course was heading uphill at some degree, with the steepest inclines coming in the first mile I would say.

I made a conscious effort to head out slowly, with the idea being that once we turned for home, I'd drop my pace and try to make up that time coming home. Good news is that I was able to do that. Unfortunately, there were so many runners that even the three lane streets of downtown Baltimore were clogged. So, I spent almost the entire race dodoging people and wweaving through traffic to pass people. I didn't even bother with the water stop, but had to again dodge people suddenly veering from the left side all the way to the right to grab water or Gatorade.

As we came down Eutaw Street, I picked up the pace and was pretty tired coming into Camden Yards, but kept going. I pushed hard over the final tenths of a mile and was practically sprinting when I crossed the finish line, which was good. I was totally spent and saw little purple blobs in my vision, so I take that as a good sign that I didn't leave too much out on the course.

I still didn't beat my 5K PR, but I think some of that was the slow start going uphill as wwell as the bobbing and weaving that I had to do throughout the 3.1 miles. I finished in the 33rd percentile overall and the 52nd percentile in my age group, which I take as a moral victory of sorts, considering that the winners of races tend to come from my age group.

Annie did well too, and cut another minute off her time, averaging 10 minutes per mile, which is great considering she just started running and it was pretty humid and warm outside for the race.

So, another great running weekend in the books and now it's training until the Cincinnati Thanksgiving Day Race in late November. I've mapped out my plan for increasing my mileage and long runs up to 6 miles by the time the race rolls around, so I'm confident I'll make it the full 10K. But in terms of beating that 5K PR, I think I'm going to have to find a small 5K sometime in the new year or even next spring so I don't have to worry about crowding on the course and can really focus on beating the time. We'll see; it's a work in progress.