Training Widget

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

9 months and 273 days complete

Day 273 - September 30, 2009

Another month complete and I finished September with 125 miles to give me 1070 for the year. I'm a little nervous about October. The flu is ravaging this area - a nice mix of H1N1 and the regular variety. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my kids won't bring it home, but I'm not optimistic. I'm going to do my best to at least get that mile in, even if I do come down with something, but I remember how hard it hit me in 2008 when it crushed my first streak.

Until then, I'll keep logging miles, washing my hands, and getting lots of vitamin C. I hope all the other streak runners can stay healthy too.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Rainy Day Run

Day 269 - September 26, 2009

A light rain has been falling all day and shows no signs of letting up. With no hope of avoiding it, I decided to get it over with. Six miles later, I'm glad I got it in. Bring on tomorrow and sunnier skies.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Seven Miles after work

Day 266 - September 23, 2009

Only 99 days to finish the first year of the current streak and break the old record of 364 days! I have to admit, as the amount of daylight each day gets shorter and shorter, I'm finding it harder to be excited about running. I just don't enjoy running in the dark and lately I've been doing a lot of late evening runs. Running in the morning has been tough to do with the sun coming up later and later each day. I've been telling myself I'll run at lunch or right after I get home, but inevitably, something comes up and it is after 8 pm before I get out the door.

Tonight, I wanted to run at least 5 miles and I knew that probably wasn't going to happen if I waited until after dinner, so I took my clothes and shoes to work so that I would run before coming home. Turned out to be a good idea and I ended up running just over 7 miles. I'm going to try and do this more often on Wednesdays, at least until daylight savings time ends.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Good weekend of running

Day 263 - September 20, 2009

The weather was pretty nice this weekend and I was able to work in two good runs this weekend. Saturday, I mapped out a 10 mile run and was looking forward to a long run. Note to self: don't believe everything you see on Google Maps. I mapped out a run that was supposed to start on Fredericksburg Road and turn west onto South River Road. Well, after running on that first road for much longer than I had expected, I came to a road that I knew was after South River Road. Now what do I do? I decided to just go with it look for an intersection somewhere near the 40 minute mark and then turn around. That worked out as I came to a crossroads at 40 minutes and 40 seconds. Nice. On the way back, I paid extra attention to see where I missed South River Road. Turns out, I didn't. The road doesn't actually connect to Fredericksburg Road. I'm just glad I wasn't running it from the other direction and end up at a dead end only a mile from where I planned to finish. I think I'll do a quick drive of the route next time I plan to do a loop I haven't run before. In the end, the run mapped out at 10.7 miles so all was fine.

Today, I gave my legs a break and just put in a relatively easy 4.2 mile recovery run. It was one of my favorite runs and it felt good to get out and loosen up.

I'll close today with a quick update on my YTD progress. I am currently on pace for 1430 miles which would be a personal best for a year. I think there is still a chance I can get to 1460 and average 4 miles per run for the year.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

13 Years of Running and a lot of miles

Day 259 - September 16, 2009

According to my running log, I have now run over 14,000 miles in my lifetime. I'm pretty anal when it comes to my record keeping and I have running logs for 13 different years from 1990 - 2009 where I've recorded my times and distances. From 1992-1998, college and grad school got in the way of my running and I didn't run enough to bother logging my mileage. I doubt I ran 50 miles in those 6 years, so I don't count those years. I also know that I didn't log my miles the first year I ran in high school, which was 1989, but I doubt that amounted to even 400 miles in the 4 months of training.

Being a perspective guy, I needed some frame of reference for what 14,000 miles equates to. The first thing I thought of was in relation to the Earth's circumference. That was cool and all, but I'm no where near the 29,000 miles needed to get around the equator. But I could start in Moscow, run due east on the 56th parallel and end up where I started. That's pretty cool, but kind of like saying you can run all the way around the earth in less than 5 minutes when you are at the north pole.

Then I got the idea, what about the moon. I had no idea what the circumference of the moon was, so I Googled, and wikipedia had my answer. It turns out the distance around the moon is 6,786 miles. My 14,000 miles is enough to run all the way around the moon, TWICE!! That sounds way more awesome. So, that's what I'll be telling my friends tomorrow. I think they'll be really impressed - or they may just think I'm a bigger dork than they previously realized.

Either way, I think it is pretty cool that I can say I've run 14000 miles lifetime and I look forward to getting to 15000 in another 9 months or so. If you have the records, check and see what your lifetime totals are and let me know what that equates to. Then drop me a comment - I'd love to see what everyone has done.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Weather so nice I had to run twice

Day 256 - September 13, 2009

I was enjoying a lazy Sunday morning today, so instead of going for a long run like I had planned, I stayed in bed an extra hour and settled for a 4 mile run on a crystal clear morning. It was really a great morning for a run and had we not needed to get ready for church, I'm sure I would have stayed out and run at least twice that.

After church, I mowed the lawn and sat down to log my run. That was when it hit me. I was only 4.5 miles shy of 1000 for the year. As the sun was going down, the temperatures were still hovering near perfect and I just couldn't let 1000 sit there just out of reach. So I laced up the Asics and was back out the door. It felt great knowing I got in the extra miles and I reached a key milestone.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Lunch time run

Day 251 - September 8, 2009

The plan was to run before work today, but when the alarm went off and it was pouring rain, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I don't mind running in the rain, but I don't feel all that safe running in the rain in the dark. Around here the roads are just too narrow and people drive too fast.

I took my shoes and some running clothes to work and made time to run at lunch. Fortunately, no one scheduled any "working" lunch meetings and I had an hour of "free" time. I mapped out a quick 5 mile out and back route on gmap-pedometer, and I was off. The route was one of those run to the top of the hill, go down the other side, turn around and come back. Not a lot of flat space, but it was good to get in some sustained climbs. I finished the run in ~40 minutes which gave me 20 minutes to shower and change and be back to work. Not bad.

I like that the streak forces me to find creative ways to get my run in. It would have been really easy to blow off today with it raining, but I hate excuses. If I can find time to run everyday, so can anyone else. I hate when people tell me they are too busy to exercise. Are they really that much more busy that I am or is it about the choices we make?

Monday, September 7, 2009

A day of strange coincidences

Day 250 - September 7, 2009

Talk about strange - First, as I was preparing to write today's post about my 250th run of my attempt at 1000 straight days, I noticed that today's date is September 7th. Why is that strange? Well, if you recall, my first attempt to run 1000 days began on September 7, 2007.

The second coincidence of the day occurred right after that. I was going to write about how sore my legs were today and how I figured it was the result of lactic acid from Saturday night's tough 6.5 mile tempo run. As I logged into my computer, I noticed a new post was up over at Just Your Average Joggler. For those of you who don't know Perry, he is a joggler (think running + juggling) who has started a streak of joggling everyday for 1000 days. Perry also writes articles on nutrition and running science. Today, his post was all about the myth of lactic acid.

Most runner's have probably heard that exercise at a high intensity, leads to lactic acid build-up which impacts performance and causes muscle soreness. I've been told this for years by coaches, Runner's World magazine, and fellow runners. It was just the way it was. Our coaches even encouraged us to run right at the edge of our aerobic threshold to keep our lactic acid levels down. Now this Perry guy is telling me that we've all got it wrong.

Perry's post was based on this article from the New York Times which claims that lactic acid is really a fuel our cells use for energy. I won't go into all the scientific details here, but if you are interested, check out the work of Dr. George Brooks at UC Berkley. Thanks Perry for the post and the link.

Since I mentioned the first attempt at 1000 days, I figure this is a good place to compare streaks. The first time I reached 250 days, I had run 840 miles in a little over 103 hours of running. Not too bad, 3.36 miles per day. This time around, I've run 978 miles in 127 hours. Just 22 miles short of averaging 4 miles per day. I'm really pleased with my progress and hope to keep it going and make up those 22 miles by the end of the year. Be sure to check back and see how I'm doing.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Just a regular run

Day 249 - September 6, 2009

Many times I think I should only post if something strange happens or I do a run that is faster or longer than my average run. But really, when you try and run 1000 straight days, the vast majority of the runs just end up being, well, not very exciting. Today was one of those normal days that simply gets me one day closer to the goal. But as far as the streak is concerned, it is just as important as every other run that has gotten me to this point and all the runs to come.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

A good week

Day 248 - September 5, 2009

After last week's bee sting derailed my mileage, I am glad I was able to put in solid runs this week. I finished the week with 33 miles, which is the best I've done since April. I expect I'll drop a little this week, but I hope I can keep the momentum. I'm pretty psyched for this to be my highest mileage year.

Friday, September 4, 2009

And then the hot water tank sprung a leak

Day 247 - September 4, 2009

Friday, 5:00pm, time to go home and get in my daily run. I found my carpool friend and we were out the door for a long weekend. As I pull into his driveway, his wife greets us with the great news that the hot water heater is leaking all over their basement. Oooo - that isn't good.

I couldn't bring myself to leaving him on his own to fix that, so I volunteered to help. We got the water shut off, I went home and changed my clothes and three and a half hours and two trips to Lowes later we had the new heater in place and they were good to go. I have to admit I felt pretty good about helping a friend.

Were it not for the streak, that would have been the end of my day. But, I still needed to run. No heroic stories of running 10 miles in the dark, I simply put in my minimum 2 mile run and chalked up another day. I hope when I get to 1000 I'll remember days like today and be proud that I ran anyway, even at the end of a very long day.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Late evening run under a full moon

Day 246 - September 3, 2009

So not being able to find my key this morning and missing my window of opportunity to run didn't turn out so bad. Had I run this morning, I was only going to try and get 3-4 miles before heading to my breakfast meeting. Instead, I ran this evening, which was another perfect weather night, under the full moon, and was able to log another 4.8 mile run. It is good to be home, but it was nice to be able to run without the pressures of family obligations for the few days while I was away.

Unbelievable

So I missed my opportunity to run this morning before work. Why you ask???

Because I am a fool. I've been out of town on a business trip all week and today is check out day. I figured I'd get up early, get in a few miles, pack up, and leave. Great plan, right?

Well, I spent 30 minutes this morning looking for my hotel room key. I looked everywhere. I unpacked every bag, suitcase, and box. I tore the bed apart. I looked in the trash. You know where I didn't look? Yep, in the pocket of the running shorts I was wearing. Yes, my head is hanging in shame right now.

I have no idea when I picked it up and put it in there, but it must have been early. At least I can still run tonight after the girls go to bed.

Hope you got a smile out of my foolishness - Have a great day.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Almost back to normal size

Day 245 - September 2, 2009

My ankle swelling is just about gone and I don't think I had any itching today. It was another gorgeous afternoon and I had to take advantage. Normally after a 7 mile run I would back off for a day and go easy, but this weather isn't going to last forever. I picked another 5 mile route today that gave me two miles on wooded trails. It is really nice to get off the street once in awhile. Its definitely harder running on the crushed gravel, but it makes you stronger and gives a break from the pounding. I wish i could do it more often.

September Begins

Day 244 - September 1, 2009

Another gorgeous day and I took advantage. With no humidity and only 75 degrees at 4:30, I went out for a nice 7 mile run. That's a good start to the month and they are predicting more nice weather on Wednesday. If everyday was like today, running streaks would be more common.