A lazy 10K to close out the month

It felt really good to be back out on the roads for a run with some distance to it. I felt almost back to normal running up and down the many hills I traversed over the 6.2 mile out and back course. I was able to run at a comfortable 7:30's pace and feel confident that I will be near 100% on Saturday. My only concern is some lingering congestion, but I don't think it slowed me down today. Still keeping my fingers crossed!

Today's Run 6.2 miles (0:46:56)

So, March closes out with much better weather than when it came in, and I logged 156 miles. I quickly checked back through some previous years and that is the best one month total since at least 2004. I'd guess the last time I ran over 150 miles in a month was when I was training for the 2001 Richmond Marathon. If nothing else, I should have a solid base for the 10 miler this weekend.

Running Streak Totals Through March 2009

Days Run - 90
Total Miles - 372
Total Time - 47hours 54 min, 35 sec

Back on my feet

Day 89 - March 30, 2009

My energy returned today and I felt 100x better than yesterday. I went out for an easy three and a half miles and it felt pretty good after the first mile and a half. I think it just took that long to clear my lungs.

I've got 5 days left until the race and I think I should be back near 100% by then. Tomorrow I will test my endurance a bit and try to get 6 miles in, then taper back until the weekend. Keeping my fingers crossed.

March has been one of my best months of running in quite a few years. As of today, I'm at 150 miles for the month! If I can continue to string together months of that high mileage, I may consider running another marathon this fall - but I'll wait and see how the 10 miler goes first!

Today's Run 3.6 miles (YTD - 366)
Today's Time 0:26:52 (YTD - 47:07:39)

I jinxed myself

Day 88

I never should have mentioned on Thursday that all I had to do was stay healthy between now and Saturday. In retrospect, 10 miles in the rain may not have been the best idea. The last two days have been a viral misery. I managed to still get out and run today, but it was very short. Hopefully by Tuesday I'll have some strength back and I can get myself ready for Saturday.

Today's run - 1.1 miles (YTD 362)
Today's time - 0:7:53 (YTD 46:40:47)

Two Mile recovery run

Just enough miles to call it a run and get it done before the rain came back.

10 miles in the rain

Day 85 - March 26, 2009

With the Charlottesville 10 Miler just 10 days away, I wanted to run the course once to get reacquainted. I lined up a couple of friends to run with me and it was poised to be a great day. Unfortunately, I guess I should have extended an invitation to Mother Nature.

The rain chased one of my running partners away, and I'm pretty sure the other would have canceled if I had left for Charlottesville five minutes later (the wife told me he called as soon as I backed out of the driveway).

We met at the track, stretched for a few seconds and then started out. The rains kept coming, but never very hard. It really just kept the puddles full and enough water in the eyes to miserable. My running partner wears glasses and he hates days like today because he has to choose between not being able to see through the water drops on his lenses or not being able to see without his glasses on.

We pressed on, through the muddied road around the stadium where they are doing construction, back through grounds and past the fraternities and sororities, and then down Preston to the Downtown Mall. Here's where it gets interesting. Teh brick replacement on the mall is going to force the runners to weave through and around construction gates. I can see that being quite crowded for runners in the middle of the pack.

The second five miles were just as I remembered and I didn't notice anything that might affect the course next Saturday. Traffic was the only trouble, but hey, it was 5:30. That shouldn't be an issue during the race.

So, while not a perfect day for running, it was still good to get out and see the course. I'll take it easier the next few days to rest up and start to taper a bit. I'm feeling pretty good about my preparation. I just need to avoid getting sick or injured over the next week or so.

Today's run - 10 miles (YTD 356)
Today's time - 1:15:56 (YTD 45:50:42)

Day 84 of Running Streak

It was a rather blah day today. It never really got warm and there was a hint of mist in the air. I really couldn't get excited about running, but I put in the 5 miles and marked another day down.

Tomorrow is going to be different. I'm scheduled to run 10 miles with two friends in Charlottesville. It should be fun.

Day 83 - I was tired today

I'm not sure what it was today, but I was in no mood to run. I initially got myself ready to run early afternoon - even had my shoes on and tied - but I put it off for another couple of hours. I was fine once I got out on the road, just like every other time, and the run was actually enjoyable.

Days like today are why I have to hold myself accountable to running every day. Without the running streak, there is no way I would have run today and I probably would have come up with an excuse for tomorrow. Instead, I have 83 days in the bag and I am ready for day 84.

Today's run - 3.3 miles (YTD - 341 miles)
Today's time - 0:24:53 (YTD - 43:55:18)

Day 82 - Short and easy

Just a couple of loops around the neighborhood today to keep the streak going and let my legs recover a bit. It almost felt like cheating.

Day 81 - Another long run

Just two weeks to go until the 10 miler! Today was a beautiful day for a run and I really enjoyed all 12 miles. It was the same run as last week, minus the rain and about two full minutes. I felt really good and wasn't even that sore from yesterday's 5K. I'm feeling good about my training and preparation.

Today's Run - Mount Vernon UMC - 12.2 miles (YTD 335)
Today's Time 1:34:03 (YTD 43:11:19)

Camp Holiday Trails 5K

I woke up plenty early for the 5K this morning only to be greeted by 22F on the thermometer. Brrr. But, I put on plenty of layers and drove into Charlottesville ready for my second 5K of the year. Other than the chilly temps, it was a perfect morning for running - sunny skies and no wind.

When I got to the race, I found out that there would be a minor last minute course change - apparently UVA was doing some construction on the main road through grounds and there was a huge crane parked right in the middle of the road. Not a big deal really, but it did mean that we would now have to run several sets of steps as we maneuvered around the crane. The other problem this presented was that now the course was not measured and there would be no mile splits. That meant I would be running the entire race on feel and hoping I was on pace. Not ideal, but hey, it could be worse.

I intentionally held back a little bit the first half mile. I've found that it is much more encouraging to be passing people through the race than to be getting passed when you go out too fast. The plan worked pretty good as I steadily picked up places for the first two to two and half miles. After that, things had pretty much settled out and I remained in 9th place for the rest of the race, a good 30 seconds out of 8th and probably even more than that ahead of 10th. The finish of the race was pretty tough as you have to climb 20-30 feet of elevation in the last 100 yards and it didn't help that a car pulled right out in front of me and stopped on the path as I was trying to make it up the hill. But what's a couple of seconds anyway right?

When I initially crossed the line, I was disappointed to see that I had failed to break 21 minutes (21:18). I figured it must have been all the twist and turns and stairs that we had to run to get around the crane. But a few minutes later, a friend with a Garmin let me know that the course was actually 3.33 miles. Now, my time makes more sense. At 3.3 miles, 21:18 puts me at 6:27 pace, which would have been a solid 20:00 5K - cool. Way better than the 22:10 I ran on January 1.

When they announced the age group awards, I was happy to hear that I had finished first in the 30-39 age group - I will enjoy my free burrito and water bottle from Ragged Mountain Running Shop.

Why we run

Laura's Story



Created by Chase Jarvis

Day 79 of Running Streak

Just another easy 3 miles this morning as I get myself ready for tomorrow's 5K.

Day 78 - 3.3 miles

I've decided to run a 5K this weekend - the Camp Holiday Trails 5K. Camp Holiday Trails is a camp for children with special medical needs. The camp itself is in a great little location, practically right in Charlottesville that you'd never know was there if you didn't stumble upon it. There are some great running trails in that area and Reservoir Road is a wonderfully quiet gravel road for anyone at UVA looking for a long run.

The race will be run on the UVA neighborhood course, a hilly, but familiar route. I've never run a particularly fast time on this course, but it will be good to get out and see how much I've improved since the beginning of the year. I'm really just hoping to average 6:40 or 6:45/mile.

I decided to take it easier today and will do the same tomorrow. I want my legs to be as fresh as possible. Even with a couple of easy days I should still log 35 miles this week. I'm hoping this will also give me some clue about where I am in my preparation for the Charlottesville 10 miler. I finally signed up for that race as well today, so I'm all in. It should be a fun two and half weeks.

Why I run everyday

From What the Duck #670

Day 77 - 11 weeks complete

The sun was out and it made for a beautiful spring day. By 4:00pm the temperature was 77 degrees - a perfect coincidence for my 77 day running streak.

With the 10 miler just two and half weeks away, I'm starting to think about a reasonable time for finishing. I of course want to finish faster than the 117th place time of 68:25 I ran last year. I'm way ahead on mileage for the year, but my average pace has been significantly slower. But last year, the longest run I had done was only 6 miles and I've already completed runs of 10.5 and 12.2 this spring. So I don't expect the endurance to be a problem, just leg turnover.

I know it is too late to really make much of a difference for the race, but I am now trying to run faster on my normal runs. Today, I did another fartlek interval workout. Instead of short bursts, today I focused on running fast for 7:00 minutes at a time. I started with a 5 minute warm-up, and then sped up to what felt like race pace for 7 minutes. When my watched beeped again, I slowed to a recovery pace, probably around 8 minute miles, and slowly built back up to normal pace over the next 7 minutes. When the watch beeped again, I went right back to race pace for another 7 minute interval. Today I only ran two fast 7 minute stretches, then cooled down for another 6-7 minutes. As I get stronger, I'll increase the number of intervals and hopefully get faster.

Great afternoon for a run

The rain finally cleared out and there was even a little sunshine today for my 76th run of the year. I felt pretty strong today and pushed a little harder than I have recently and it felt good to run at that faster pace.

Today's Run: 5.1 miles (YTD 307.3 miles)
Todays time: 0:36:55 (YTD 39:45:19)

Day 75 - 300 miles logged

The streak almost ended today because I almost forgot to run. After working all day and then waiting out two dance classes I came home and had to call all the parents of the kids on the soccer team for practice tomorrow. When I finally finished, I was ready to sit down and relax in front of the TV when it dawned on me that I hadn't run yet. UGH!!!!

To top it off, when I went out, it was still pouring rain and a nice thick fog had settled in. Great conditions for a late evening run! But I grabbed my flashlight and blinking taillight and headed out the door. The run itself was uneventful and I slowly cruised through my 3.3 miles. But it was enough to crack 300 miles for the year tonight, just three weeks after breaking 200. That is definitely one of my best three week stretches. Hopefully I'll be to 400 miles in another 3 weeks.

Day 74 - Long Run After the Rain

A well timed phone call delayed my run just long enough for the rain to stop. That was a real blessing because I was not looking forward to 12 miles in the rain. The run was pretty uneventful. I took it slow the first 6 miles and reached the turnaround point in 49 minutes, stopped and stretched out for a few minutes, then finished the second 6 in 47 minutes.

I love that I can map out the run ahead of time with www.gmap-pedometer.com and know exactly how far the route will be. I've run with people who have the fancy Garmin GPS systems and I've found gmap-pedometer to be just as accurate and I don't have to worry about losing the satellites half way through the run. Of course, that means I have to remember the course exactly, but usually that isn't a problem for me.

So, I'm off to a good start this week and hoping to get in another 35 mile week before running a long run of 14 or 15 miles next Sunday. That should put me in good shape endurance-wise for the Charlottesville 10 miler. I know I won't have the speed to run as fast as I'd like, but I shouldn't hit the wall either.

Today's run - Mt Vernon UMC run
Today's mileage - 12.2 miles (YTD 298.8)
Today's time - 1:36:06 (YTD 38:41:47)

After dinner, in the dark, in the rain

Tonight I just feel fortunate that I got out to run. A couple hour trip into C-ville turned into a 7.5 hour trip that involved dinner at Chili's (happy B-day Molly) and 3 hours trying to find just the right combination of toys, movies, books, and games to maximize the spending power of birthday gift cards. We were at Target long enough for the manager to offer me a red shirt and name tag.

After all of that, I had no idea how the run would go, and with the rain, I didn't want to end up walking home from too far away. So I stuck to a 1.3 mile loop and just ran it a few times and then ran a half lap to finish. That was enough to get me to 35 miles for the week and I should still be fresh enough for a long run tomorrow afternoon.

I guess I should mention (or at least I guess it is obvious) that I didn't run the 8k this morning. My challengers who tried to get me to run the race with them bailed when they saw the weather forecast and I wasn't disappointed. I can run in the rain here just fine and don't have to drive 45 minutes and pay $40 to do it. I'm not sure if I'll get a race in before the 10 miler in April or if I'll just wing it. I don't have any aspirations of a PR this year, so I'm not too worried about it.

Day 73 of running streak
Today's Run 4.6 miles (YTD 286.6 miles)
Today's Time 0:36:29 (YTD 37:05:41)

A commercial for the everyday runner

I thought this was cool, and since I always run in Asics, appropriate for 1000 Days of Running.



From Kathy Runs via Run Bulldog Run.

Winter tries to return

It's hard to believe that it was 80 degrees last week. This morning we awoke to a ground covering of snow. By the time I got out out run mid morning, most of the snow had melted and it was just a mix of rain and snow coming down. After being so tired yesterday, I decided to take it easy again today, just in case I decide to run the 8K tomorrow. Right now I'd say the probability is low since the forecast is for sleet in the morning - yuck.

I also completed the 2nd week of the push-up challenge this morning. I'm happy to say that I did 102 push-ups today, but it took me 7 sets. The program called for 5 sets of 16, 17, 14, 14, 20 with two minutes of rest between sets, and I did 16, 17, 14, 14, 21, 10, 10. Hopefully over the next 4 weeks I'll get that down to one set. This weekend I'll take the week 2 test to see how many I can crank out in a single set, then get ready for Week 3. I peeked ahead and noticed that it gets a lot tougher in week 3 - I hope I can keep pace.

Day 71 - Easy Day

Today was just a short recovery run to keep the running streak active. I felt really tired this afternoon, so I didn't push the pace at all. I also was challenged last night to run the Martha Jefferson 8K this weekend, so just in case I decide to do it, I want to let my legs rest up. I'm not sure I'm ready to race, but I can at least run it as a fast workout - we'll see.

Today's run - 2.6 miles (YTD - 278.4)
Today's Time - 0:20:23 (YTD - 36:01:29)

Day 70 - Windy 6 Miles

Fortunately the temperature today was back up in the 70's because if it had been in the 30's, the wind would have made it bitterly cold. It was very gusty tonight and the first three miles were straight into the teeth of it. I really struggled up the first few hills as the wind was constantly pushing me back. But as hard as it was, I was very thankful that I would have the tailwind on the way back. I wanted to break 44 minutes and despite an all out effort the last minute and a half, I still came up 5 seconds short. Oh well, something to work for next time.

I'm really pleased with my progress this year. My average run is approaching 4 miles (275 miles in 70 days) and I'm pretty easily hitting 30+ miles a week now. I've already run long runs of 8+ miles and even have completed a 10.5 mile run. I'm thinking I might actually run the Charlottesville 10 miler now. I still won't run as fast as I have in the past (64:09 in 2005), but it is a fun race and it is local. We'll see.

Today's run: 6 miles (YTD 275.8 miles)
Today's time: 0:44:05 (YTD 35:41:06)

Running Streak - Day 69

Running after dinner usually doesn't work so well for me. All that sloshing and eventual cramping don't make for a great experience. But tonight, it wasn't so bad. I waited about two hours after eating and started out slow. I figured I could tough out 3.5 miles no matter how bad I cramped up. But the cramps never came and I felt like the running was pretty effortless. When I was about a minute from finishing I made a quick course correction to add on another mile. Much better than cutting a run short!

Day 68 - Recovery Day

I didn't have a lot of spring in my legs today - in fact they were quite dead. It was a good day to take it easy and enjoy the summer-like weather. The good news is there was no hip pain today - hopefully that was a one time thing.

Day 67 - Frays Mill to Chris Greene Lake

The weather was great again today and I definitely wanted to take advantage of that for my long run. I also wanted to get away from my normal running routes, so I went over to the church for my run. That gave me the option of picking a run that was almost completely on gravel roads so the traffic would be pretty light and the surface softer than normal. The one thing I didn't expect was the length of some of the hills. Typically, in my normal runs, a long hill takes me three minutes to run. Today, one of the hills took me over 10 minutes to run. That was a bit of a shock to the system, but fortunately it was on the way out and I was able to run down it on the way back. A couple other hills were in the 3+ minute range, so I wasn't expecting that extra challenge on my long run.

It was a very quiet run and the scenery around the lake was pretty cool. I think there are trails that go around the lake and I may give them ago sometime later this spring.

I did have a few minutes of hip pain that I'll need to watch out for. I ran through it and eventually it went away. I'm really not sure what caused it. I hate those unexpected pains. I tend to be gunshy about them for a few days afterward. Hopefully it was a fluke thing.

Today's Run 10.5 miles (YTD - 262 miles)
Today's time 1:20:28 (YTD - 33:53:26)

In addition to running...

...I've started working on my overall fitness. In the past, I've always just let the running keep me in shape, but I'm finding lately that isn't enough.

A little over a week ago, I came across Steve Speirs' blog - Run Bulldog Run. Steve has developed a six week training program to build enough strength to do 100 consecutive push-ups. I was pretty skeptical when I first read through the plan, but as I thought about it, I figured what the heck. He claims that even if you can only do 10 push-ups, you can get there. I took the initial test and surprised myself when I did 24 push-ups. That put me solidly in group three, but I did not take his advice and skip to week three of the plan. Yesterday I completed week 1 without too much difficulty. I'm not saying it was easy, but I did it. I'll post occasional updates as I work toward 100.

In addition to the push-ups, today I found a core strength routine that only takes a few minutes to complete. I was able to do it, but I was really shaky. I'm going to try and do this several times a week and see what happens. For more info on the core routine, check out the video.



From Power Centering

15s workout

Today I added some speed work to my running. I haven't done anything fast all year (including the race I ran on Jan 1) and my average workout pace shows it. I didn't feel like driving out to the track today so I decided I would do an interval run. I set my watch up to beep every 15 seconds and set out for a 5 minute warm-up. At exactly 5 minutes, I picked up the pace to run as fast as I could maintain for 15 seconds and when the watched beeped, I would return to normal pace for 45 seconds. I then repeated this routine every minute until I was about 3 minutes from the finish and could cool down. Today, that meant I ran 18 repeats. By the end, I was not fully recovering between intervals, but I wasn't completely dead either. The key was to make sure my recovery pace wasn't too slow or the workout will end up taking longer than a normal run. I think I did pretty good today - I finished in 25:51 compared to 25:45 on Thursday for the same run at normal pace.

As I get stronger, I'll switch to 20 seconds of speed and only 40 seconds of recovery and really concentrate on the keeping the recovery pace. Hopefully after a few weeks of this, my speed will start to improve.

Today's Run 3.6 miles (YTD 251 miles)
Today's time 0:25:51 (YTD 32:32:58)
Weekly mileage 35.6 miles

Two Run Friday

The only rule I have for my streak is that I run at least 1 mile at a pace faster than 10 min/mile each day. This morning, Meg asked me to run 3 miles with her and I gladly accepted the invitation. The only trouble was, I knew that we were likely to run slower than 10 minute miles and I wasn't sure how that fit in with that rule. I would definitely be doing more than a mile, but not at the pace I set. Hmmm...the solution - two runs. While she was getting ready, I went out and ran 2 miles at my normal pace and then ran the 3.3 miles with her.

This week has been really good for mileage. I'm already at 32 miles and I still have a day to go. The plan will be to go easy on Saturday and then get a long run in to start the week on Sunday.

Easy spring run

Finally. The sun was out this afternoon and temperatures rose above 60F today. That made it a perfect afternoon for a run, and what better way to celebrate than to run my very favorite easy day run - the 3.6 mile Davis run. As I was running today, it was hard to imagine that just 3 days ago it was snowing like mad and freezing cold. But my legs sure noticed. I couldn't believe when I clicked my watch at the end of the run and noticed that I had run 4 minutes faster than Monday. I guess I really was slipping and sliding on the snow.

It really felt good to be running back at a faster pace (7:10/mile). I hope the forecast is correct and it stays warm through the weekend.

Day 63 - Another 5 miles

Today was the tale of two runs for me. The first half was a struggle to maintain 8 min/mile pace and my legs felt like lead. When I finally reached the turn around point I stopped and stretched for about 5 minutes. I must have looked pretty bad because this little old lady in a red pick-up stopped to see if I needed help.

But on the way back, my legs finally loosened up and the hills didn't seem as bad. I finished the second half a full minute and fifteen seconds faster than the first half.

Today's run puts me at 23.1 miles for the week already, so I'll plan to take it a little shorter tomorrow. I'm not quite ready for a 40 mile week.

Day 62 - Clear Roads again

The snow is pretty much gone despite the cold temperatures. I decided against the early morning run at 14F in favor of a later afternoon run at 32F. I ended up running a very hilly 5.4 miles and just managed to get back before dark. After all the slipping and sliding yesterday, my sore legs were glad to be back on more firm footing.

Warmer temperatures are coming this weekend - I can't wait.

Today's Run - 5.4 miles (0:42:43)
YTD - 234 miles (30:08:28)

And the snow came

Knowing I had another long day of work and family commitments today (Happy B-day Sarah), I decided to get up early and get my run in. Overnight it continued to snow, but the accumulation was really low here at the house (maybe 2 inches), but it was still snowing and blowing and sticking to everything.

For a while now, I've had the idea of taking a camera with me on a run and snapping photos along the way and what better day to try it than in the middle of a snow storm. As I started out, it was still snowing and the roads were covered. The snow was so fine that packed under foot, so traction wasn't too bad, but still slippery.

I decided I would stick with a favorite run that would take me through some wooded sections and avoid as much traffic as possible. The run starts out with a pretty steep hill, but as you can see, a few cars had already made it too the top. After making up the hill, I turned out to Swift Run Rd and then on down to the main road. As you can see in the photo on the left, the plows had not been out yet.

Fortunately, I only needed to be on the main road for a few hundred feet and then I turned down a "dirt" road. Of course, it was nearly pristine snow. There's just something cool about being the first set of tracks in fresh snow.

The wind started to come up and the blowing snow was really coming down. At times, visibility dropped to almost nothing, but would clear up within a few seconds.

Today's run was pretty fun, but I'll be sore from all the slipping and sliding. It is amazing how much that little extra slip affects your stride and stretches it out. Tomorrow should be back to normal as most of the snow melted this afternoon. The forecast is for chilly temperatures, but spring-like weather is on the way.

Running in the falling snow

Well, it was sort of snow, sort of rain, but it was mostly white and falling from the sky. I had no idea what my legs were going to be up for after the last three days, so I decided I would just run Random loops around the neighborhood until I was ready to quit. With the weather getting nasty, I didn't want to be 5 miles out and have to walk back, so this seemed like a good plan.

It turned out to be one of the best runs I've done in a long time. I ran pretty slow, so I never really got tired and I ran until it go dark. I ended up running just shy of 9 miles. I think I'm going to take this approach more often. I tend to lock into what route I'm going to do before I start out each day. A lot of times, that means I pick shorter routes because I don't feel great until I've been out and running for at least a couple of miles. If I had done that today, I would have run three or four and been done.

So, I'm off to a good start in March - hopefully the snow won't be too deep tomorrow and I can get another good run in.

Day 60
Distance - 8.9 miles (225 YTD)
Time - 1:12:44 (28:55:46 YTD)

When the streak gets tough

Phew -good thing I posted about the benefits of running at night the other day.

On Wed, I started a flooring project at a friends house that turned into a much bigger job than anticipated. On Thursday, I worked until about 8:30pm and finally got home to run at 9:30. I was sore and tired and barely managed to get 2 miles in. On Friday, I worked until 10:00pm and got home and out the door at 11:15 for a run in the rain - nice. Saturday was again going to be a busy day and we had family coming into town, so I knew an evening run was out of the question. That meant a 7am run before heading out to work on the floor. I was so tired and cramped from the last two days that I could barely stand, let alone run. It was the most pathetic 1.3 miles I have ever run. Thank goodness the first 25 days of February went better than the last three.

But, I kept the streak alive and I'm ready for March. Now I just need the wife to get home and watch the kids so I can go out and run in the falling wet snow - so much for spring.

Totals for streak through February 2009:

Days run - 59
Total Miles - 216
Total Time - 27 hours, 43 min, 02 sec