Lets see if I can get through the week

This'll be a short post. I'm interested if I can get through the week, not only in getting my runs in, but also posting a little bit.

I ran an 'easy 4' today. I started off a little stiff, as we (the family) went to DC yesterday and walked through the American History Museum. My first mile was a little slow, but I quickly got up to speed. I did a little research on the 'easy' runs on this program. At first, I thought I was to keep a slow pace, and as it turns out, I just need to keep an easy pace. If I can run faster, I should do so. So today I ran a sub 9 (barely, an 8:59 pace). We'll see how my 'hill' run goes tomorrow. It's supposed to be an 7 mile hill run. Historically, the 6 mile hill run has really wiped me out -- so we'll see.

Very Irregular

Okay, so I'm posting on a very irregular basis (read: very seldomly). I have been running, but just not posting.

Today I bought new shoes to replace my Saucony shoes. I have thought about getting new shoes for some time now, but noticed that both of my shoes have around 500 miles on them. My Adidas have 520 miles and my Saucony has 470. However, my Saucony shoes have broken down faster than my Adidas. My Adidas are still going strong, but I need to make a mental note that at around 200 miles of my new shoes (New Balance 758), I should replace my Adidas.

Overall, my running has been pretty good. In August, I ran 104 miles. I'm running fairly consistently, as I have been following a modified Yasso Marathon training plan for the upcoming Richmond Marathon on November 14 (yikes). Actually, my running has been pretty good. Today, instead of long mileage, my plan had me to a 5k. Not able to find a local 5k, I ran a 2 mile warmup along the W&OD trail, a hard 3 miles (8:07 pace), and then a 2 mile cooldown. I was surprised I was able to keep that pace for 3 miles. Beforehand, I was thinking that I was going to try for a 8:30 pace for the 5k portion, but as I was warming up, I was noticing that I was running a sub 9 in spots, without much fatigue. Anyway, I felt good with my run.

I'm trying to keep to the training plan, although this week I ran only 3 times versus 5 times as per the plan. Previous weeks have been pretty good though. Anyway, we'll see.

I'll try to post more often as I get closer to the Richmond Marathon. It should be fun as my family will be joining me to the race, and we are staying an extra night in Richmond (after the race) to enjoy the town.

I forgot how to tie my shoelaces!

Last week was a good week. I ran 25.99 miles (had I known I was 1/100th of a mile short of 26...), including a long run at Burke Lake (9.2 miles) with my Montrail trail shoes. These shoes are huge. I got these shoes just before they totally remodeled their line. Montrail's trail running shoes now look a lot like regular running shoes. Mines, uh.. don't. Mine almost look like low cut hiking boots. They are pretty heavy to boot (get it?). Anyway, like all of my running shoes, the first thing I did was to replace the shoelaces with the Yankz shoelace replacement system (long words for replacing the shoelaces with elastic, to avoid tying your shoes). I like the Yankz because you can adjust the tension (tightness) very easily. In the past, my shoes would always be too loose or too tight, and of course, they would untie occasionally.

However, given the sheer bulk of the Montrail shoe, plus the uneven terrain, the Yankz didn't work too well. So, Friday night, I replaced the Yankz with the original shoe laces.

Wow, just re-reading this blog, and I noticed that I have spent a long time explaining shoe laces. What an exciting post!

This week? Hopefully, a good week. I just started the Yasso Intermediate Marathon training program for the Richmond Marathon. The official training time isn't until the week of July 26, but I'll be on a Cub Scout camping trip that entire week, so I figured I would start early. I'm adjusting the training plan a bit as I would like to do 10 miles on my long run this week. We'll see!

Is this thing on?

Okay, this is a short post -- just to let you know I'm alive. My running over the past several months has been spotty at best. While on business travel, I was able to run consistently (weird), but at home, not so much. I've run a couple of times this week, but only in the evening. For some reason, I can't wake up early anymore. We'll see what happens... as I just signed up for the Richmond Marathon (yikes!).

Stay tuned.

Running is fun sometimes!

I ran yesterday, a good end to the week, and a great end to a slump over the past several weeks.

I ran 7.5 miles (9:20-ish? pace). It was quite enjoyable. I took a short detour to go down this path next to a creek and ended up at a pumping station. I don't know what a pumping station is though but it was surrounded by a tall fence. Anyway, it was a good run.

I think my knee problem is actually a hamstring problem (which is better I guess). If I strained my hamstring, I think the healing would be faster than a knee problem. I'm going to try to stretch it more before my runs though. However, after 6 miles, my knee/hamstring didn't hurt -- until I stopped :) It's still stiff when I sit for any longer than a few minutes.

Slogging Along

I managed to get up at 4:30 am again today (okay, 4:39...) and was out the door around 5:15 am for a nice 4.4 mile run. It was nice because it was above freezing! It was around 40 degrees, which felt very nice -- compared to some of the cold weather runs over the winter!

My knee continues to bother me, but oddly enough, it didn't hurt the same way it did yesterday. It hurt going downhill (probably due to extra stress on legs), but didn't feel it at all on flats. I felt it a little going uphill though. 5 hours later, it doesn't hurt too much, only when I stand up from a sitting position.

Just a short blog today...

Long Road Ahead

Okay, I ran two times this week, which is the most I've run since the week of Feb 8. Oy.

I continue to feel my left knee, but at this point, it's the chicken and the egg thing. Is my knee preventing me from running well, or does my lack of consistent running making my knee feel worse when I do run? I did take a couple weeks off (mostly). From Feb 15 - 28, I ran exactly one time. And that was an easy 4-miler. I'm hoping that my knee thing is not serious. Maybe I should see a doctor, but on the other hand, I'm worried that they'll have the ol' 'if it hurts, don't do it' attitude. My knee works as it is supposed to; I can walk on it, although I'm a little slow getting out of a chair, and it hurts to bend it 90 degrees. We'll see.

I ran 4 miles at a nice and easy 10:06 pace. Easy pace due to ice on the road (not much now, but a little) and the fact that I've run so little lately, I don't want to re-injure myself. Plus, I'm out of shape :)