Nice 5 mile run

This run felt great! I was very glad to be running today. After a long week at work I really wanted to have a good run. Usually, I am kind of tired on Fridays but today, for some reason, I was energized. I only ran 5 miles today because I was still recovering from being sick earlier in the week. I wanted to go longer as I wasn't that tired at the end, but I decided I should let my body rest for the long run on Sunday.

As a result, I ran my five miles at an 7'53"-mile pace. I realize that to expect something like this for my half-marathon would be a bit unrealistic as my longer runs are probably more indicative my half-marathon pace. Here's looking forward to a good long run.

A Good Run

Today was a good run. Considering the past few runs I've had (crash 'n burn, 11 miles, and crappy run) I was very glad to have this one. It was about 50 degrees, sunny and hardly any wind. In other words, it was perfect for running. My wonderful wife was walking again so it was nice to see her as I was running.

The run felt very good. I decided to only run 4 miles today due to my crappy run on Monday and tired run on Sunday. I felt I could have gone more at the end, but I decided not to push it too much and keep it an easy 4-miler. I ran it in 32'25" or about an 8'07"-mile. So that is pretty on par with what I have been running. I do think though that I got the time down a little by pushing it the last half mile or so. The run felt too good to pass it up.

My new shoes held up great, and they felt especially cushy when I had to briefly run on pavement. I've also added in my running log the total mileage for the week. I'm a little obsessed with spreadsheets and it's really easy to upload excel files to google docs. Oh well.

I should be running again tomorrow. I am shooting for 5 miles. I'll let you know how it goes.

Crappy Run and New Shoe Debut

Today's run was absolutely crappy. It was by far the worst run I have had to date. What I wanted to run was about 6 miles. With my luck, though, I was doomed to only 2 miles. My body felt as if it weighed 50 gazillion pounds today. I felt winded, tired, and somewhat sick. I didn't know what had come over me. But after my second mile, I knew I had to stop. I timed myself to 16'40" or an 8'20"-mile. I guess that's good considering how utterly bad I felt.

On a brighter note, I tired out my new shoes that I had purchased. I had every intention of using them last week, but with being sick, I didn't want to use them for the first time on a long run. So, even though I ran a short, somewhat crappy run, I still enjoyed my new shoes. They were light and airy and they also felt good on my feet.

To that end, I won't be posting for a couple days because of some work stuff. I won't be running again until Thursday. See you then.

11-mile long run and Week 9 Summary

After being sick most of this week, I am very happy that I actually got out to run yesterday and today. If you're interested, check back to last week's post with my week 8 summary and 10-mile run. And over at Get Fit Slowly, "macdaddy" has completed his first week of half-marathon training. Hats off to him and to keeping up the fun/hard work.

Today, I'll start with my first 11-mile run today and then move to my Week 9 Summary.

First 11-mile Run

I started out a little bit weary of trying to run this run. Since I had been sick most of the week I didn't know how my body would hold up for this. To make matters worse, I fell yesterday so I wasn't sure how my body was going to handle the run today.

Unfortunately, my body started of the day tired. For some reason, my brain decided not to let me get a good night's sleep last night. I was determined though not to let it stop me. I wanted to complete this eleven miles especially with my good run last weekend. The beginning of this run was killer. Usually, I find the first mile quite easy and a warm up. However, today was a different story. It seemed like from the moment I started running that my body wanted to quit on me! At two miles I wanted to quit already and my calves were already tight. One good thing I had going for me was that my wonderful, intelligent, beautiful wife was also walking on the trail on which I was running. This meant I could see her every two laps or so. She definitely provided me with some motivation to continue running.

After 7 miles, I felt like I was dying so I stopped quickly for a drink of water at the water fountain in the park I run in. The water was nice and it took a lot of inner strength to start running again. I was already tired/beat. My calves were hurting and my body seemed to scream at me. I'm sure this had nothing to do with the fact I had been sick all week. At this point though, my wife was reading at a picnic table, so every time I would run by, she would yell, "go Nairb!!!". This provided additional motivation/encouragement for me to finish me eleven miles. They dragged on forever though. My body was really tired and the number of miles left consumed my thoughts. Only 3 more, 2 more, 1 more......

I completed the 11 miles in 1 hour and 36 minutes! This worked out to be about an 8'36"/mile. I am actually pretty proud of this considering how tired I was plus the stoppage for water. I also thought I was running much slower due to tiredness, but I guess my body handles my pace pretty well. I have updated my running log to include this past week. I have also added a new column with how many miles I have gone in a week. I will try to keep it updated with each run so it stays current.

Week 9 Summary

I will summarize again what I did this week versus what my training guidelines (Hal Higdon) dictate. Hal's will be in regular type and mine in italics.

Mon- Stretch and strengthen; 2-mile walk (sick)

Tues- 5 mile run; (sick)

Wed- 9 x 400 5K-pace; (sick)

Thurs- 3 mile run + strength; (sick)

Fri- Rest or easy run; 2-mile walk (sick)

Sat- Rest; 4-mile (crash 'n burn)

Sun- 15K race; 11-mile run


This basically ends me up with 15 miles this week. It is significantly less than I wanted to run, but what I am supposed to do? At least I listened to my body for the most part. I am proud of myself though because I ran 11 miles today! I have never run that long before, so I is proud of my!

Crash and Burn

Today was quite the running day.

I finally felt well enough to run! I decided to run 5 miles because I wanted to still try and do my long run tomorrow. So I started out and even though I was a little stuffed up in my nose still, it didn't seem too bad. I felt pretty good during all of this. I did experience a mild hiccup at about 2.5 miles. My left foot briefly caught the shoe lace of my right shoe in the middle of my stride. I stumbled briefly but then I didn't really think that much about it after that.

Unfortunately for me, I should have stopped and dealt with it. Right as a finished my fourth mile, I caught the right shoelace with my left foot and when crashing down much like the runner in the picture. Lucky for me, I was running on a gravel trail!!! I basically caught myself with the palms of my hands ( or so I thought). I immediately got up and brushed off my hands of gravel to see no blood. I almost entertained continuing the run because I only had one mile left. I thought, my hands sting a little but that's it... Well, then I glanced at my left elbow and saw that it was bleeding all over the place and there was gravel embedded in my skin. It was a good thing I was close to a bathroom. I was able to get in there and wash out all the gravel and clean it up all nice. Upon exiting my wife saw me walking while holding paper towels on my elbow and only mildly freaked out. I convinced her to walk a little first for me to cool down before going home.

Other than not finishing my 5 miles and taking a cheese grater to my elbow, the run was pretty decent. I hope tomorrow's is just as nice.

Oh and since I fell and then walked, I didn't have time to stop my stopwatch( or cell phone).

Who loves being sick???

ME!!!!

That's right, I am still with the sickness today. I think I will try to walk a little bit as I think I may be on the up swing. I got some antibiotics yesterday from the doctor. Hopefully my drugs will work.

Still Sick

Yep, that's right. I am mad sick. Sickness sucks bunches.

I'm out...