training: week 4 complete

A bit of a rough week for running, but got in all but one run this week...

Monday's 3.5 mile run was not too bad, felt pretty good actually. Even my 35 minute tempo run on Wednesday ended up being a good run.

Thursday came and I was too tired to get out of bed and run, so took the day off, but after dinner on Thursday we headed to the state park to play. It was such a beautiful evening. Lilli played on all the slides - she's found them to be a blast. Her favorite one is the biggest one there that is built into the side of a hill. She giggled all the way down. She looked like a little luge athlete from the olympics - so cute.

Yesterday was just 3 miles. It was a very slow run for me - close to a 10:00/mile pace and it felt awful. My right shin was tightening up, my gait felt all off, just not a good run, but I finished it, stretched and was fine.

Today's run was a 7 miler. Started out a 7am and ran the regular route through Fort Ben. Can't say I felt great on the run, not so much due to any pain, but because I was so congested. I haven't figured out if it is allergies or sinuses, but it is not fun. It took the entire hour of running to clear it all out... yuck.

After the run, I came home and got cleaned up to head over to Lawrence Safety Day. It was right down the road from home and we had taken our nephews a few years back and they enjoyed it, so we took Lilli for the first time. She loved seeing all the fire trucks and police motorcycles and she went crazy when the black hawk helicopter landed - she was so amazed by it (as was I). It hovered above the trees and then came in for a landing - just amazing the amount of wind it pushed down.

Next week is another bump up in the schedule. Stayed tuned for updates...

oh so tired...

I got home a little early yesterday from being on a job site all day, so I was able to finish priming the toy chest and even got a first coat of accent paint on the drawers and lid. I did notice some remedial patching and sanding that needs to be done, but nothing too labor intensive, just delays starting the final coat of paint. It felt great to get another step ahead on that project.

This morning, I was supposed to do a 35 minute tempo run, but due to lack of sleep last night (a certain someone got up crying at 1:30 am and didn't go back to sleep until 4:30 - poor little tired girl) I did not run this morning and I don't think I'll even try this evening. I guess I'll get to it tomorrow morning...

A friend of mine just got back into the office today. He just turned 40 on Saturday. To celebrate he ran the Pikes Peak Ascent. I am quite envious and it sounded like it was an amazing time. Even though I still have a few year yet, I looked into when my 40th birthday fell to see if there is a race that I might participate in to celebrate. Unfortunately it falls on a Monday, so I could either run the Sunday or Saturday before as my "last hurrah" before turning 40, or figure something else out. I'll be on the lookout for races and seeing what I can find. Until then, I am enjoying my 30's while I can.

I may have to grow old, but I don't have to grow up...

training: week 3 complete

It was a good week for training, even though the humidity is high. It was a slight step back week with only a 5k race scheduled for the long run, but the mid week runs kept me honest. This week the daily maintenance runs increased slightly to 3.5 miles from 3. Tuesday had me back at 400m repeats. Luckily, I fared a little better this time and kept my pace a little more even and started out at a more appropriate pace.

I opted out of doing a 5k race, instead hitting the trails for a more strenuous workout. Ended up slightly over 4 miles at an easy pace. Hills felt good surprisingly.

On a personal note, I actually made some progress this weekend on a project that I've put off for quite some time. We have a linen chest that we got with the armoire I finished last summer and it's been sitting in my garage all this time. The plan was to strip it of the layers of paint and refinish it for a toy chest for Lilli. We've been doing okay without it up to this point, but Lilli's toys are getting bigger as she does. So much of her little toys she played with as a baby are now boxed up, she's moved onto Tinker Toys and dollies. So over a few weekends this summer I've slowly gotten all the paint stripped off the chest. Yesterday I completed the stripping and sanded it and put a primer coat on the main chest. Still need to prime the top and the drawers, but if time allows, I might finish it up before she heads out to college...

training: week 2 complete

A decent week overall. Got in 3 days during the week (missed one day). Not great runs, but got through them. Today's 6 miler wasn't bad, but I felt tired before it even started. On top of that I ran with no breakfast.

More building of mileage next week and capping it with a 7 miler.

back on tempo

After a little bit better night's sleep (and a little inspiration from reading some of the new Runner's World that came in the mail) I was anxious to get out for a run. To make it more interesting, there was fog everywhere. I always liked running in fog, it's so eerie - reminds me of some Stephen King novel...

Anyway, head out for a tempo run this morning to pick up where I left off. The last time I ran a tempo run was around the same time I ran my last 400m repeat, so it's all new to me. Fortunately, it was only a 30 minute tempo run, so it wasn't going to be painful. I started out easy then peaked around 7:45 - 8:00/mile pace. Felt pretty good actually.

Tomorrow, another 3 miles - nothing fancy.

training: week 1 complete

The first week actually went okay. I made my planned runs and topped out at 14.5 miles for the week. Today's 5 miler felt easy - especially compared to my last two weekend runs where I felt awful.

Tomorrow I rest and then begin my next week of training, more mid-week 3 milers (one a tempo run) and then a 6 miler for the long run.

it is done

I am now officially signed up. Now it's time to train...

a day behind schedule already

Since I determined that I will run a half in October and pulled together a schedule at the last possible minute, I realized that I was already a day behind. So today I ran my 5 x 400's...

Oh, crap! It has been way too long since I have run intervals and in true Dave form - I ran them way too fast. My first few were in the range of 6:30 pace and my last one I crashed and burned and didn't run all 400 meters... needless to say, they were meant to be at 5k pace, and I guess I need to determine my 5k pace first. Oops.

Tomorrow is an "easy" 3 miles (relatively anyway).

Race Report: DINO Trail Run #6

Just a mere 5 days to go... I am not feeling prepared for this half. I can run it, sure, but I doubt that I'll be setting any PR's (which I really need). At least that is how I am feeling after my run on Saturday. It was the DINO Series Race #6 at SouthWestway Park.

It all began great. I met up with Brooke, whom I haven't been able to run with all summer. Our last run together was the Geist Half Marathon in May, so we had a lot to catch up on. I am pretty sure we did not have enough time during the drive there and back and all throughout the race. So, we'll need to try to get runs scheduled more often than every 5 months...

We began at what I considered a very easy pace of 9:00/miles, but around mile 2 or so, it seemed to get much harder... sure there was a huge hill, but even that shouldn't have been that big of a deal, but it definitely was work to get up it and left me feeling tired. The course itself was beautiful. Nice paths to run along and with just the one big hill, a somewhat challenging course, but not the toughest I've run on. In all fairness, I have only run trails once since the Dances With Dirt Race back in May, so I wasn't necessarily prepared for the race in terms of dealing with the terrain, but the distance wasn't a big deal.

Brooke and I kept up a conversation most of the time. John had started out with us, but he maintained the 9:00/mile pace and we didn't see him after mile 2 or so until the end of the race. We touched on quite a few topics, but it still seemed like we ran out of time to talk. It was a beautiful day out - sunny, blue skies and cool in the morning. A great day for a trail run.

We finished in a respectable 1:31 (John finished in 1:24) - so it wasn't a bad run, just not the pace I thought I'd be running - especially this close the the half marathon. I keep trying to tell myself that it is a different kind of running than a road race, so I guess we'll have to see in 5 days if I am right...

Scheduling Snafu(s)

The name of the game is flexibility. Stuff happens - it's all part of Life. So as I have been trying to pull together a training schedule and stick to it the last 4 or 5 weeks, I have shifted days around and, unfortunately, have missed a day or two.

Am I worried? No.

Do I wish I didn't have to keep shuffling my time around? Sure, but I'm thankful I at least have that as an option.

So, the plan this weekend was to run 10k. The schedule actually had me in a 10k race - and there even was one, but I opted out of doing that race and decided just running 10k would be a good thing. As I was checking my upcoming planned races, I realized that the D.IN.O fall trail race series is beginning next weekend. What a great idea it would be to run my 10k on trails!

Honestly, I was happy to run anything as long as I got my mileage in at a good pace. I had it all planned to run on Saturday, but Life threw another curve ball at us.

Steph woke up horribly dizzy - more so than she had a previous mornings (we thought it was just sinus drainage or something connected to fluid in the inner ear). It was going away, so an appointment was scheduled with an ENT for Monday, but here it was Saturday and it was bad. So it was off to the Medcheck where she was diagnosed with "positional vertigo". So, with some medication, it was relieved slightly, but with a wonderful drowsy affect. The rest of Saturday was a wash, but not a waste. Unfortunately, I am still not getting ANYTHING done around the house that is on my list! I am threatening to take vacation to have actual free time to get stuff done... time is running out...

Today I finally got out for my run around 11am. I headed right for Fort Harrision State Park and ran the trails. I hadn't run the trails there since April, so it was great to get back to them. I didn't set any records on this run, but felt good when I was finished.

Later on today I was mentioning to Steph that next weekend was a trail run race that I was planning on doing. Unfortunately for me, she has an appointment that morning that has been scheduled for a month and a half... oops, guess I lose on this one. Looks like I'll have to miss this race... oh well, there be plenty more. Life goes on and so do I. I'll be back at it tomorrow morning if all goes well.

Happy Running...

Happy Labor Day Weekend

Okay, so it's been a little while since I have posted and in all honesty I have lost track as to what week of training this is... 4, I think - but the training is going pretty well. I just finished a 9 mile run that went better than planned. Yesterday's run though - not so well. It was meant to be a 3 mile at pace. Well, the pace I have been aiming for is an 8:00/mile - not impossible, but certainly it has been awhile since I have run that pace. As it worked out, I didn't get out until 11:00 (mainly because I was supposed to run this on Friday, but put it off and then I put it off almost all morning). Lilli joined me since it was supposed to be a quick run through the neighborhood. I started out right on pace and felt great. I hit the end of the first mile and then I started slowing down. I tried to fight it, but I couldn't maintain the pace. I think the quickly rising temp's had everything to do with it, but the run was still a decent run - about an 8:30/mile average. So that is training... work is slowed down to an almost manageable pace - I had really hoped to take some time off before Labor Day to work on stuff around the house - I've still yet to finish anything I've started this summer... and Wow! where did the summer go?! Two weeks ago we went back to the zoo - twice - just us and Lilli. We had a great time. The weather was perfect once again and the crowds weren't bad at all. The second time we went back was for "Animals and all that Jazz" which basically was the zoo open after hours (free to get in for members like us) and we could walk around, or sit at a table and listen to a live jazz band. It was a nice thing to do on a Thursday evening. That is all for now. Have a safe and happy Labor Day weekend.

Week 1 - Weekend Edition

I was able to get my run in on Friday, but I was not able to settle in to my pace. Instead I settled on staring a minute off and working my way up to pace - which wasn't bad,but not what was scheduled.

Saturday's run went well - 6 mile run on some hills (actually part of the half marathon course). I think what was scheduled was a 90 minute run, but at this phase in the training 6 miles was appropriate. I am just a little behind in my base miles to have started with the training plan I have, but I'll be caught up by the third week I think.

If all goes well, I'll be able to hit all of my runs this week - weather looks to be phenomenal! So un-Indiana-like... it been great....

Week 1 Training Update

My first full week of training did not go as I had planned. I got in my 3 mile run on Monday, then Tuesday I had leave work early to take Lilli to the doctor and before I knew it the day was over, but I thought I would slide it to Wednesday since it was supposed to be a rest day. Unfortunately, Lilli was still under the weather so I kept her home form daycare and played Mr. Mom for the day and tried to get some work done at the same time...

Needless to say, I did not get my run in. And when Thursday came around, I was not able to get a lunch time run in (I had a meeting at lunch I had forgotten about) and then was meeting up with friends after work. Now I probably could have squeezed a run in somewhere, but I was too tired in the morning to make it out of bed early enough and too tired after work to give it a try. Sounds like excuses to me...

So today is my redemption (hopefully). I'm going up north to a job site to check out the progress, but then am planning to leave work early to get a run in. Keep your fingers crossed...

It's On...

So Thursday I signed up for the Indianapolis Half Marathon. Last year I did the full marathon, but this year with the way my running has been going, I thought it best to keep it to the half. It will still be tough to train for, but I think I can handle it - and I had better as my training had to start this weekend. I got 5.25 mile in for my first "long run" - though my training schedule had me running for 90 minutes... yeah, wasn't going to happen. I know I could have run longer, but since last week was my first week back after three weeks off, I felt it was in my best interest to ease into it.

Next weekend is another 90 minute run, so maybe then, but we'll have to see how the rest of the week goes. Monday is 3 miles, Tuesday is some track work (7 x 400 at 5k pace), Wednesday will be a rest day, Thursday is tempo run , Friday is 3 mile at pace - a fun week for sure.

That's all for now. Happy running to all...