Wow, it's Wednesday already...

Well, my plan was to run outside Monday and Tuesday and then cross train Wednesday and run a short, hard run on Thursday. Then run Cooper River on Saturday.

Work got in the way again, but that is OK. I'm glad to have it and won't complain. Word is that the rain is out of here at lunch time, so I may try to get a run in today.

I am taking next week off and looking forward to a lot of running and biking. I need to get a couple of long runs in for the Greer Half and I hope to get two in during spring break.

This is a big week with our 16th wedding anniversary on Friday and Lee's birthday next Wednesday. She showed me a picture from when we got engaged the other day. I never thought I would be thinner 16 years later, but I am. Marriage is good for your health!

Glad to see the sun, but....

Wow, the wind sure was strong today. As bad as I wanted to run outside, I just couldn't do it. I went to the gym and got a quick three miles in on the treadmill and called it a day.

I think I'll fall short of my 100 mile goal for the month, but I will still be on schedule for my 12o0 miles for the year. In fact, I am less than a mile away from hitting 3oo miles in the first three months.

I had a horrifying thought today while I was on the treadmill. The Greer Earth Day Half Marathon is 4 weeks from yesterday! I definitely have to get some long runs in during the next few weeks. I plan on running Monday and Tuesday of this week and then probably a short easy run on Thursday. After the race on Saturday, I'll try to get some good long runs in during spring break. It looks like good running weather for that week with highs in the low 60's most of the time.

I got really ticked at the gym today. Lee went before me and when she came back she told me to take a towel because they were out. Of course, I forgot to grab one and that is one reason I quit at three miles. I got tired of the sweat running down into my eyes. I don't expect our gym to have someone there all the time, it is a 24 hour access kind of place but it is only staffed for about eight hours a day monday-friday. I do expect them to keep towels stocked and the bathrooms halfway clean. Of course, I am just as mad at my fellow members that can't seem to use common courtesy and keep the bathrooms clean too. I think that the overload of trainers that use the gym causes a lot of the towel problems as they seem to think handing their client a fresh towel about every 10 minutes is some kind sign they are a good trainer.

Enough rants, but I am glad that my membership is up for renewal. I am now fired up enough to shop around....

Running in place....

It has been an indoor week. I hit the treadmill a few times, going 5 miles today. I could have gone longer, but I just didn't have time. Earlier in the week I did a circuit with the treadmill, elliptical and tread climber.

There are a few things I like about the gym....

1) There is almost always someone there that is suffering more than me. I like that! (is that bad?)

2) I get new ideas. Seeing people do different workouts gives me ideas of new things to try.

3) I realize both how far I have come and how far I still have to go. That is a positive and inspiring thing!

Hmmm... Already off schedule...

Yesterday I was scheduled to get 7 miles in. Fortunately (because I am glad to have the work), work got in the way and my lunchtime run didn't happen. Lee got me to run 4.5 with her in the evening so that the day was not a total bust. I had hoped to have a run today as well and actually get ahead of the curve, but that didn't happen.

No chance for a run tonight, so maybe I'll catch up tomorrow.

8 days and 40 miles....

One of my goals this year was to get at least 100 miles in each month. I never thought February would be easier than March!

Obviously, if I run 5 miles a day I will be fine. I don't plan on doing that though, so I am going to try and come up with a schedule that keeps my rest/cross training days in play. I have a busy week on tap, so this may or may not be an easy thing to do.

Day	Miles
Monday	7 Miles
Wednesday	8 Miles
Friday	8 Miles
Sunday	10 Miles
Monday	7 Miles
Total	40 Miles

7 miles today...

Yoga didn't work out so Lee and I ran 7 miles together. Her longest run to date! It was a great morning for running but the weather was kind of cool. Lee went with warm clothes while went with shorts and short sleeves. I think we were both happy with our choices!

It is amazing how much faster a run goes when you are with someone else. I guess that is one reason I like races. Even though you are not running 'with' the others you are not alone. There is always someone to encourage you and always someone for you to encourage. In general, I have found runners to be some of the most supportive athletes I have ever been around. They are always there to offer you a pat on the back when you need it. I haven't ever finished a race where there weren't a bunch of the folks that already finished standing at the finish line yelling for you. That is when you realize the race is really against yourself and the goal is finish and do your best. It is a competition against yourself wrapped up in a competition against others.

Slow week....

Well, no running for me since Wednesday. I'll hit yoga tomorrow and then hopefully get a long run in on Sunday.

Good luck to anyone racing this weekend. My legs are so rested, I wish I was!

Spring has sprung?

So is it safe to pack away the cold weather gear now? The 15 day forecast shows pretty warm weather so I am hoping that the long sleeves and tights are a thing of the past. I ran 7 miles on Tuesday and again on Wednesday. As much as I wanted to run again today because of the good weather, I went to the gym and hit the elliptical due to time constraints and a desire to keep from 'over-training'. I have slowly learned that at five miles or less a day, I can run without many breaks but if I extend it beyond then I need to avoid the pavement every two or three days.

I still haven't managed to do any weight training. I read an article in Runners World about how weight training is a great way to lose weight because of the metabolism boost from having more muscle. I read where it can really help your form when running. I spent a few minutes looking at the nautilus machines and the free weights at the gym too. So far all that reading hasn't translated into action, but I still have hope that it will!

1 out of 2 ain't bad...

I got my run in, but no lifting. The run was great. Just warm enough to break a good sweat.

I forgot to wear my green shirt for the run, fortunately no one was interested or brave enough to pinch me! The chihuahua on Mimosa got closest to pinching me, but I somehow managed to intimidate him enough to prevent it.

It felt good to stretch my legs today, but I really feel behind on my training. With the potential of 60-70 degree weather for the half marathon at the end of April, I need to get on with some long runs.

Gatorade sales should begin increasing as I am now carrying 8 oz on my 7 mile runs and if we cross over to 70 degree+ temps I'll go to 16 oz. I don't always need it, but after getting dehydrated once, I don't want to take any chances.

I used to be a runner?

It feels like it has been a month since I ran. I know it has only been 5 days, but this rain makes me feel like it has been forever since I ran. I am glad that it is moving out and that it will be sunny tomorrow.

The rain has not only caused me to miss runs, it has also caused me to eat more. That is a bad combination and I want to reverse both starting today. I can't do much about the running today, but I am making a concerted effort to get my eating back on track!

The most recent Runners World had a lot of information about runners and weight loss. It is evident that I have been taking advantage of my high calorie burn to keep my weight in check without actually eating the best foods to support my running. So, I am making an effort to get back to 100% whole grain breads and to eat more fish and other lean protein. I am also going to (once again) try to incorporate more strength training, OK - you can strike the 'more' :) , into my week.

An ideal week will look like this for me:

Run: M, W, F, Sun

Weights: T, Th

X-Train: T, Th

Yoga: Saturday

Now, the odds of me having a week like that are slim, but I hope to get one in and then go from there. This week I am already off since I didn't run today. Perhaps I can get weights and a run in tomorrow. I can always dream.....

Fat and Lazy.......

That's how I feel! I haven't been able to do any cardio since Wednesday and I have eaten way too much to make up for it! I did make it to Yoga on Saturday and that was a great workout. I followed it up by eating way too much at lunch and an oyster roast last night.

I saw where one of my fellow Greenville Track Club members has a long run scheduled today. As much as I tell myself I would be fine as soon as I got moving outside, I still don't see it happening. I think I'll shoot for the dreadmill at the gym, or maybe the elliptical.

I did see that Tuesday should be nice and warm. Hopefully I can sweat off all this damage I have done on a long run on Tuesday!

Warm weather don't go away!

While I must admit that I don't like how my pace tends to slow down in the heat, at least until I am used to it again, I am really going to be sad to see the temperatures drop starting tomorrow.

Top 10 things I like about running in the heat:

10. Dogs are too hot to chase me, except for the Chihuahua on Mimosa Drive.

9. People don't think I am as much of a wimp for wearing my fuel belt.

8. Much easier to get ready for a run when tights are not involved.

7. Easier pit stops if necessary... See #8

6. The joy of sweat burning your eyes.

5. 'Stuff' doesn't freeze to your face.

4. Wind feels good when you are hot.

3. More likely to swallow a bug while gasping for air in warm weather.

2. I don't have to guess if a shirt is clean or not, I can just sniff it and tell.

1. When nobody is looking I get to relive my childhood and run through sprinklers when my neighbors are watering their yards.

A humbling experience...

I felt pretty good after the race on Saturday. I took Sunday off except for a little bike riding with my son. Yesterday I went out for an 'easy' seven miles. Well, it wasn't as easy as I had hoped!

I had some soreness creep up and my legs felt so heavy that I thought I was running through wet concrete. It didn't help that I had not hydrated very well, ie no morning coffee :)

The warm air was nice and I enjoyed breaking a sweat and the last 2 miles were a lot easier than the first two miles.

Now for my daily pet peeve... My normal route has me on two fairly busy roads: E. North Street and Edwards Road. It amazes me how many cigarette butts and how much fast food trash is on the shoulder of the road. I'm not going to preach about how bad smoking is for your health, but I am going to slam you if you throw your butts out onto the street. If you are mature enough to make the decision to smoke, then you dang sure are mature enough to clean up after yourself. On that note, keep your Big Mac trash in your car until you get to a trash can. And runners are not immune to this either. I see GU packets on the side of the road frequently, usually within site of a dumpster. The solution to overflowing landfills is not to throw your trash on the side of the road....

There. I feel better now.

The 'M' Word....

The 'M' word crept back up into my vocabulary on Saturday. With Lee standing next to me, my coach asked me to run the Marine Corps Marathon with a group he has put together. Well, Lee's sister lives up near D.C. and that would mean a trip to see her. Training would be mostly during the summer when our activity level is at its lowest, so it would be a good time as far as the family schedule goes. I am far enough removed from my crash and burn on the 18 mile run I last tried that I actually think I could possibly get through it now.

So, with great trepidation, I am going to say that I am going to tentatively accept his invitation and start working on a marathon training plan.

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Further thoughts on the Reedy River Run......

1) Just a heads up to those of you that this may apply to: When you finish drinking, taking in a GU or whatever you are doing that generates trash, please look behind you before you throw your stuff down. I got nailed with an almost full cup of gatorade running through one of the water stops on Saturday.

2) If you are a Jeff Galloway disciple and have your watch set to beep when it is time to walk, stay to the edge of the crowd, check behind you and then slow down. It is really annoying to be in a crowd and have someone stop and walk right in front of you. Remember, not all runners are petite, a big guy like me may have a linebacker flashback and take you out!

3) Thanks to all those out on the course with cowbells, posters and cheers. It is always great to have folks cheering you on.

4) Thanks to all the GTC members that gave me a thumbs up or shout out when they saw my singlet. I think we were well represented.

This race is really turning into a great event for Greenville. I could see it growing to 7,500-10,000 runners and multiple heats of the 10K and 5K.

Happy Anniversary!

Today was the one year anniversary of my racing career. Not to the date, but to the race. Last year I ran the Reedy River Run 5K as my first ever race. Today, I ran the 10K. It was a great day on a lot of levels...

First, it was great to feel improvement and consistency. I have managed to keep my running up for a full year and I have consistently improved my times. The race was almost twice as large as last year, so I didn't know what to expect as far as speed. I knew the 10K had a lot of time on trails and that the narrow paths would slow the crowd. Even with that, I managed to beat my 10K personal best by about 8 seconds. I was hoping for more, but the slow start and the crowded trails caused me to miss a few seconds I could have taken off the time.

Lee had an outstanding race considering the 5K had over 2000 entries and has a notoriously slow start due to the crowd and early hills. She took third place in her age group. And her age group had 134 finishers! My neighbor's granddaughter won her age group and another neighbor had a son win his age group. Our street was well represented except for my 'slacker' performance!

This is a perfect race from a social standpoint as the West End area is great for the post race party and awards. The Greenville Track Club did a tremendous job putting on the race and we really had no complaints this year. The finish was improved to allow a little more room and having a disposable chip was great.

Other than the fact that I am getting jealous of Lee's growing trophy collection, I must say I am really enjoying racing and hope to see my times continue to drop over the next few years.

RIP Socks

No, not Bill and Hillary's cat. Though Socks the cat did die and I am sorry about that. That cat was 20 years old I think! No, this is about my first pair of 'running' socks. They finally bit the dust this week and I need to bite the bullet and toss them. I actually could bury them since they are wool and not synthetic, but I think the trash is where they are headed.

I never realized how awful it was to run in the old school cotton tube socks until I got my first pair of real running socks. They were a pair of SmartWool running socks and I love them. At first, I was not to sure that the idea of running in wool socks in South Carolina made a lot of sense. One run into the trial and I was sold. I will admit that I also own several pairs of synthetic running socks too. I still prefer the SmartWool, but both are a huge improvement over the old athletic socks I used to run in. I do kind of wish the smartwool socks were white as I still have a hard time thinking about the fact that I have on dark socks and shorts. Sometimes I think I might as well head to Florida, buy a condo and get in line for the 'Early Bird' at the local buffet since I am wearing dark socks and shorts.

These running socks are so smooth that your feet feel great and they wick away the moisture to help keep hot spots and blisters from forming. We runners tend to get a little high and mighty at times talking about the 'pure' sport that running is and how it doesn't require a lot of expensive equipment. While I still contend that is true over the long haul, paying $8-$15 for a pair of socks keeps me pretty humble when it comes to bragging about my minimalist sport!

The iPod experiment...

When I first started running, I carried an MP3 player and eventually upgraded to an iPod. I really was concerned that there was no way I could run without the music. At the time there was (and continues to be) a great debate over wearing headphones while running. Many of the elite runners and purists are adamantly opposed to the idea. Some claim an unfair performance boost while the purists just resist it because it takes away from the 'experience' of running. I thought they were nuts.

Last August we entered the 'Midnight Flight' race in Anderson and its literature was adamant that headphones would not be allowed. I was still a relatively new runner and obeyed the rule, even though I had my doubts about running 6 miles with no company except for my own warped mind. Guess what? I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I started running without my iPod and haven't used it on a run since August. Until Tuesday.

We had a little iTunes marathon the other day during all the snow and downloaded a bunch of new music. Well, most of it was old music but new to us. Anyway, I decided to dust off the iPod and wear it on Tuesday. I was amazed at how fast I ran. I did it again yesterday and got the same results. Maybe the folks claiming a performance boost are right. I also noticed that it appears at first glance that my heart rate was a little lower than it normally is at the pace I was running. I don't know what that means, but I hope it means that I still have an extra gear I can kick into at my race on Saturday.

I think I will still run in silent mode some, especially on long, slow runs since the music seems to pick my pace up. I am definitely going to go forward with the experiment and see if I can use it to get some tougher runs in, especially as the temps rise (hopefully soon!).

The great blizzard of '09....

Well, the blizzard has come and mostly gone and it is time to get my last few miles of training in before the Reedy River Run...

I didn't mind the break yesterday because of the blizzard, but I had already been running on a treadmill for three days so I am dying to get back outside. I'm not sure if I will make it today or not. My thought was to run 7-8 miles today and then get in a 5 mile tempo run tomorrow. I may have to reverse those and do the tempo run on the treadmill today. I'll probably do the elliptical on Thursday and an easy 3 miles on Friday.

I had originally hoped to PR in this race, but when I bailed on the marathon my training hasn't been as tough as it should have been and I don't see a PR in the cards for Saturday. I doubt I will get a PR at the Cooper River Bridge Run either because it is so crowded. Maybe I can find a 10K later in the spring or I may have to shoot for a PR at the Midnight Flight in August.

I have discovered that the treadmill can become a little more enjoyable if you can find a movie or basketball game to watch. Sitcoms have too many commercials and I don't like flipping channels too much while I am running. This past weekend, I was able to find some movies to watch and it made a big difference. It seems like most of the movies on during the day are chick flicks or real old movies. I don't mind old movies, but I like to get in at the beginning if I haven't seen it before. I had a real flash back to the 80's watching 'The Karate Kid" on Saturday while I was running. Seeing scenes of a high school where not every kid had a car, nobody had cell phones and the kids had a big boom box on the beach brought back memories. I rented it that night so my kids could see how people really survived without all that stuff. Of course, don't try to take away my Garmin.... Oh yeah, I am pretty sure I saw a pair of first generation Nike Pegasus shoes in the flick too...