Yoga today...

Yoga today was a good workout. It felt great to stretch my muscles out. I am seeing more and more flexibility every class. I still have trouble with balance, but I am getting less self conscious about falling over. It helps when I can get in the back of the room so I don’t feel like I am distracting those behind me. Here is a picture of the studio from my normal spot in the back....



One area that I have seen great improvement in is my feet. I never really thought about stretching and strengthening my feet, but they feel great. I rarely have cramps in my feet while running since I started yoga.

I am feeling a little odd today since I haven’t run. Six straight days was good in some ways, but I know my body needed the break today. My quads were really tight and it felt good to stretch them out. Tomorrow I hope to get in another 10+ miles. I can’t believe that the Spinx half is only three weeks from this Saturday. I am going to push through some mileage these next few weeks and then taper off for a few days before the half. The 10 day forecast looks great for running with lows in 50’s.

One other note... The Garmin is great. I have really enjoyed being able to explore new areas and not worrying about how far I have run. It also allows me to take off across a field if I want to get out of traffic.

Good luck to my friend Mark Harris who is running the Army 10 Miler this Saturday in Washington, DC.

10.5 nice and easy...

I wanted to run a faster pace this morning, but after the speed intervals last night I didn’t have it in me.  Instead of the 9:15 pace I wanted for my long run, I had about a 9:37.  I felt good though, so that was a positive.  I have been running without my iPod for the last month and I am thinking about taking it with me for my next long run to see if it helps or hurts my pace.  

I have a busy 6 weeks coming up with 3 races (possibly 4 if we do the 1 miler in Clemson this weekend).  I have a 5K on 10/11 that I will probably be leg tired going into because I will be in a heavy week of training for the Spinx half on 10/25.  Then on 11/8 I have a 5K that I hope to really be able to sprint through and shoot for a new PR.

After that, things seem to slow down until the first of the year.  I am going to keep my eyes open though because I seem to find races that aren’t heavily publicized if I look hard enough.

After 6 straight days of running, I am looking forward to Yoga tomorrow.

Need for Speed..

We took the dogs and my son up to the track at the local school this afternoon and I ended up running speed intervals.  I had never really done them before, so it was a new experience.  I was kind of surprised that the later ones were easier than the first few.  I think I am going to try to some each week.  It was a nice change of pace from my normal running.  Now I wonder what I will feel like running in the morning...  I’ll just go out and see how it feels...

Rest day?

So far I have been resting today. I think we are going to at least get a walk in this afternoon, but that will be about it. I want to run 11 miles tomorrow, so I don’t want to do much today.

I have eaten too much in the last 24 hours and I can feel it. I need the break from the four straight home games so that I can get back into a normal eating routine.

So, hopefully we will get a little exercise, a salad for supper and an early bedtime. Then I can get in an early run and start the week off right.

Got in my 30 for the week...

I got out for a quick 3.25 this morning to get to my total of 30.8 for the week. I felt pretty good, but my legs were a little tired. I was going to get it in last night, but the rain stayed around and I went to the gym with Lee instead. I think the tread climber is what made me leg-weary this morning. Even though I didn’t exactly hit race pace, I did run negative splits on each mile. I was happy with that.

Now it’s off to Clemson to undo all the exercise I did this week!

5 in the rain..

Wow, what a refreshing run in the rain. We need the rain and I had forgotten how much I enjoy running in a cool, light rain. I looked for lots of big hills today and had no trouble finding them. The uphills were challenging, but I had two significant downhill portions that really demolished my quads. They felt like jell-o when I got done, but in a good way. I got in 5.47 at a decent pace. I have run about 27.5 miles this week and feel great. I hope to get up and get 4 EASY (read that slow) miles in tomorrow to get me over the 30 mile mark.

My biggest issue right now is fear. Things are going so well with my running that I am getting nervous! How weird is that? Hopefully the yoga is going to continue to help me stay healthy.

Another 5+ Day...

I got in a little over 5 miles today at a moderate pace. It felt really good out, even with the wind. I am glad I remembered my Body Glide. If you aren’t familiar with it, this miracle product is great for preventing chaffing in sensitive areas...

I also started thinking back to when I first began running late last year. I started out in cotton t-shirts, under armor compression shorts and gym shorts. As the weather cooled and my intensity increased, the cotton t-shirts and shorts got more and more soaked and uncomfortable. The chaffing got serious then too. After a few runs with band-aids covering sensitive areas on my chest, I discovered Body Glide. I also understood why everyone likes the new wicking fabrics so much.

Since then, that is about all I run in. Even if it is cold and I need a sweatshirt or long sleeved shirt, I still wear the wicking shirts underneath. I have consistently found good deals at Target on the Champion C-9 line of athletic clothes. I’ll also pick up some great technical shirts at Fleet Feet when they have their sales.

Tomorrow, I wanted to go to Yoga, but I don’t think that will happen. I hope to get 5-6 miles in before work.

Long run in...

Well, I didn’t get up quite as early as I wanted but I was able to get 10.35 miles in. The cool weather was great. I ran in my Pearl Izumi’s today and I am pretty sure they are now my favorite shoe. I need to retire my oldest pair of Sauconys, so I think I will get another pair of the Pearls in the next few months.

The Garmin was great today. I actually had to break out the instruction book to find out how to get the backlight to work so I could see it in the dark. I also set up an ‘auto lap’ for 1 mile. It beeps every mile and records the split time. I was surprised that I ran a pretty consistent pace. I need to pick it up from miles 4-8 to get my time where I want it, but overall I feel good about where I am.

Between mile 7 and 8 I had a big downhill followed by a big uphill and my quads really let me know. We worked them hard in Yoga yesterday and I think that contributed to the feeling. Once I got off the big hill, they felt better and held up for the rest of the run.

I only saw a few people out today, but I did recognize two of them. Amy and Megan were working hard running up Shannon while I was doing a mile on the track at Lake Forest. I like seeing people I know. The only other person I recognized was the guy delivering papers on Sweetbriar and McCarter. He had to dodge me about 3 times. I keep waiting on a copy of The Greenville News to hit me on the head.

Women and rubber straps...

Well, you might think it would be a guy’s fantasy to be in a room full of women and rubber straps, but it isn’t! We used resistance bands in Yoga today and it took the workout to another level.

Aside from the core strength workout, I had a small victory today in the flexibility department. We got stretched out enough that I actually touched the top of my feet (yes I kept my legs straight!) for the first time. I may make it to the toes yet.

Hills and Yoga

What is a hill? That is an interesting question. When I started running, I realized just how many hills there are around my house. Cars tend to make you ignore hills unless they are really big. Around our house, there are very few truly flat sections of road. When I first started running on the track at Lake Forest, I thought it was hilly because of the incline the track is built on. Then when I started running on the road, I realized how flat that track really is relative to our neighborhood. When I ran at the beach the first time, I truly understood the difference between flat and hilly. Now, I actually like hills most of the time. With the Garmin, I found that my pace stays fairly constant over the course of an entire run, but you can definitely see slow downs on the big inclines. No surprise there, but I would like to work on being able to maintain speed up hills. I think that is where I can cut the most time off of my races. Based on my time at the BMW, which was a flat course, I would say that I could shave 30 seconds a mile off my times if I could maintain pace up the hills. We shall see. Right now my focus is really on increasing distance, not speed.

I am going to do a long run tomorrow morning. I want to go for at least 10 and would like to go for 11 or 12 if I have time. October 25 is coming up sooner than I like to think and I want to be ready to at least finish the Spinx Half Marathon. My goal would be under two hours, but I am not sure how realistic that is right now. I am starting to get a little antsy about this race since it is such a huge distance increase. If I can get that distance in a long run in the next three weeks it will make me feel much better. I hope having the Garmin will keep me from going out too fast.

I have decided to try and place my long runs the day after a Yoga class. I have noticed that any run the day after Yoga feels great, so I hope that carries over to a long run.