Cool Runnings!

Ran 3.0 miles easy this morning, at about 9:00/mile pace, felt nice and easy, I can definitely tell the difference between these last two runs and my other runs.  There is really no cardiovascular stress, and much less muscular stress on my body (good thing).  I was also motivated by Sasha to continue losing weight and get down to the 160-155 range.  My weight was definitely a determining factor in my getting injured late last year, and I want to keep my weight out of the equation.  After I finished my run, ran another 1.0 miles with my wife and with Sasha before going to work.  I'm going to try to start up this habit of getting up early and running about 3 easy miles for a few weeks.  Once I get used to that, I will start slowly adding miles.

Ran 3.5 miles in the morning at about 9:00/mile pace.  Felt nice and easy from every perspective.  Calves feel great.  Lungs felt great.  Ran another mile in the evening with the boys.  I had them alternate running about 1/4 mile or so at a time.  Worked with Samuel (6 yr old) on making sure he picks his feet up enough to not scuff them on the ground.  I am going to make sure that Libby starts blogging her runs :)

Ran a mile with the boys in the evening - Sam ran about .8 miles today, with one brief rest.  Had a meeting at 8:00, then ran another 3.3 when I got home.  The 3.3 miles was a little bit faster than I had planned on - I was shooting for 8:30-9:00/mile pace, but it turns out I was around 8:10/mile.  I thought the route was closer to 3 miles, but when I mapped it out, it was actually 3.3 miles.  Oh well - I will make sure I run slower tomorrow.  Calves still feel good, but HR was a little high for the run.  I felt a little uncoordinated during the run - couldn't find a good rhythm or a good posture.  Lower back was a little sore - around the L5-Sacrum.  This is where my chiropractor has been adjusting me.  He has also been providing much of the physiotherapy I would have received from a regular PT - heat, electric stimulation, and he has given me exercises to strengthen my back and trunk to keep me in alignment.

Ran 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening.  Samuel ran another .75 miles (maybe a little more).  Then I ran my standard 3.3 mile loop.  I managed to slow down a bit more than last night.  Average pace was 8:32/mile.  Legs felt fine, cardiovascular felt better as well.  Still getting over either a sinus infection or a nasty bout with allergies.  I feel much better when I am running, but get all stuffed up and feel pressure during the day.  I am feeling really optimistic about this running approach.  Thanks to Sasha for the great advice.  I don't feel the pressure to run fast at this point.  I will probably plan on either running the PF Chang's 1/2 marathon/marathon or another spring marathon, and then maybe St. George next year.  That is, of course, looking forward in the future . . .

Ran with Samuel in the morning in the Pat's Run kids fun run (0.42 miles), ran a little bit more with him after the race.  He did great, and was able to keep a good pace throughout.  Later in the evening, I ran my standard 3.3 mile route in 28:30, average pace of 8:34/mile.  The run felt very good to all of my systems, and helped me to calm down from a stressful evening.

I will add to this later when I run with the boys, but I wanted to get in my morning run before I forgot about it.  Ran 4.1 easy miles this morning, felt absolutely great.  I decided to put on the HR monitor this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised.  There was quite a difference between my HR when running at 7:30 pace and running 8:30-9:00 pace.  In fact, I could tell when I picked up the pace a little bit on the return leg.  First leg (out leg) it took a while for my HR to get going.  Average HR for the first leg was 153 (wow!).  Average HR during the return leg was 168.  So I mentioned I could tell when I had picked up the pace a bit - during the last 1/2 mile of the first leg, I was working to keep my HR below 160.  As soon as I turned around (there may have been a slight slope), my HR automatically went up 5 bpm.  Soon after that, I was working to keep my HR below 170.  Still, the entire run felt wonderful, I feel good, my calf feels good, and I am continuing to lose weight.  I am very close to my original weight loss goal, and feel motivated to continue to lose.  In fact, I am pretty sure that without doing anything else but running daily, I will continue to lose weight.  How much, I will have to see.  I am not going to change anything else with my diet - I feel I am eating pretty healthy.  I am grateful to have a wife who is very supportive of me, and who has now helped to motivate our children to run every day as well.  As long as we don't load them up on sugar, I think that the running helps with their (boundless) energy.

Update:  we went to the track with the boys today for family home evening, and had them run around on the track, and then had watermelon for our FHE treat.  Ran 1/4 mile with Sam, then ran another 1/4 mile with Joseph.  Both Sam and Joey each ran another 1/4 mile all by themselves.

1.0 mile so far this evening with Samuel (wahoo!).  He did great, running the entire mile without stopping in 14:27, a new record for him for both distance and time.  I will get in my normal run a bit later this evening, just wanted to not forget his run.

Ran 4.1 miles in the morning, nice easy pace, put the HR monitor on, and the HR was good.  Managed to keep my HR below 160 the first 2 miles, and hovered between 160-163 for the third mile.  I sped up for the last mile, and saw my HR spike at about 173, but everything felt real good.  Total time was 36:28, average pace of 8:47/mile.  Would have been slower if not for the last mile.  Ran another mile (approx) with the boys in the evening.  Samuel really picked it up today and ran faster than the other day.  I think that he is beginning to realize the limits of his body.  After a month or so, I think that he is going to be able to put in a sub-10:00 mile without any problems.  On a side note, I had forgotten that the registration deadline for St. George was May 1, and I am seriously considering registering for it, along with the other races I had mentioned earlier (Phoenix Road Runners Summer 5K race series, White Mountain 1/2 marathon).  I am probably being a bit optimistic here, but I am feeling pretty good about my running, and as long as I don't get injured, I definitely have plenty of time to build up a good base for St. George.  Thoughts, anyone?

Ran my standard 4.1 mile loop early this morning.  It was windy.  Wore my HR monitor again to see what my HR was doing.  The first mile my HR was lower because the wind was behind me.  Average HR was probably around 155.  Second mile, HR was still low, stayed below 160, average was probably a couple points higher.  Third mile kept my HR below 160 until the end, when it bumped up to 161 for a short period.  Final mile was run into the wind, and I also increased my speed again, but not as much as yesterday.  Max HR was 173, average HR for the run was 159.  My body felt good after the run, no soreness, HR went right back down within a couple minutes.  My cardiovascular fitness is not yet such that my average HR is in the 120-130 range on an easy run like this, but hopefully if I keep up the work and don't get injured, I will be able to see noticeable changes.

Ran approx. 1 mile with the boys this evening, then ran 4 miles on the treadmill at 7 mph (8:34 pace) - Lybi had a piano teachers association meeting she had to attend, so I had to stay home with the kids.  The run felt great, my body feels great, and I am actually getting really excited to hopefully run St. George this year.  If I keep running at this rate, I will be up to 30 miles/week in a couple of weeks, and will continue to increase from there.  Feeling pretty good about my running right now.

Ran 4.1 miles this morning wearing my HR monitor.  Ran the first mile entirely too fast without meaning to, and my HR was affected for the rest of my run.  I also think my HR was higher than normaly because I ran last night, and because it was fairly warm (I ran about 8:00, and it was already almost 80 degrees).  However, I really need to get myself a "toy", as Sasha puts it, so that I can keep track of my pace.  Average HR for the run was 170 - about 10-15 points higher than normal.  I attribute this to all of the above.  Hopefully I can get a better measurement on Monday when I run again.  I also just checked the St. George marathon website (or rather, active.com) and found that my original entry from 2005 which I was not able to use last year was still available for me to register as a guaranteed runner, and so I went ahead and registered.  I am very excited about this, and am going to make sure that I take it easy enough throughout the summer so that I do NOT get injured again!

Ran approx. 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile route later in the evening.  Wore my HR monitor again.  The HR was better than Saturday, but still slightly elevated.  This could have been due to having eaten less than an hour earlier.  Total time for the run was 36:00 flat, which ends up being somewhere around 8:30-8:40/mile.  Average HR was 164, max HR for the run was 173.  I felt extremely good about that.  Especially since I picked it up on the last mile.  Interesting to note was that I actually felt the most comfortable during the last mile - I really got into a rhythm, and actually saw my HR drop about 5 bpm - that was pretty cool.  On a side note, the thought just crossed my mind that it might be pretty cool to have a fast running blog get-together for all those who will be at SGM.  My wife and I will be there, barring injuries, maybe we could all meet at the expo or after the race - just a thought.

Ran my standard 4.1 mile out and back route this afternoon.  I stayed home with the kids today while Lybi had to go to Samuel's school for most of the day to play for their recital rehearsal.  Wore the HR monitor again.  HR was similar to yesterday, still slightly elevated, although it seems I was able to better stay under 170 this time.  In addition, I found that I was inadvertently running too fast again, which I am sure had an effect on my HR.  I really gotta get me a GPS watch, just so that I can see what pace I am running.  Total time was 34:42, for an average pace of 8:21/mile.  Felt good.  I had some cramping during the last mile, but I think this was because I ate chili for lunch - I am guessing that beans and running an hour later are probably not a good mix . . .

Ran another 1.5 miles with the boys.  Samuel ran an entire mile (or as closely as we could tell), then Joseph and Adam ran a combined .25 miles.  Joseph was sick last night, so that was fine.  I put all 3 boys in the double jogging stroller and then ran the .25 back home - man are they heavy when all 3 of them are in there!  I feel good about today's mileage, and about my fitness increasing.

Ran 4.1 miles this evening - my standard 4.1 mile out and back course.  Did not run with the boys today, as I was putting Adam to bed while Lybi ran with the boys.  Did not wear the HR monitor today.  Started off at a real nice and easy pace.  First half of the course covered in 18:42.  Increased my pace for the second half, second split was 17:25.  Total time was 36:08, average pace of 8:42/mile.  Felt very good about this run.  Friday and Saturday should be interesting - Lybi will be flying with her grandfather to Denver to be at her sister's sealing to their newly adopted baby, along with two baby blessings - the adopted baby girl along with a newly born baby girl of their own.  They now have 3 girls in their family - the first two are adopted, and the third is their own - balances out our 3 boys :)  I will have the kids by myself until Sunday evening.

Ran a mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile out and back course this evening.  Wore my HR monitor again, was very happy about my HR tonight.  HR stayed below or right around 160 for nearly the entire run, average HR was 160 (4 bpm lower than Tuesday) and even better, my max HR on my run was only 167.  Wahoo!  Average HR on the first leg was 156, average on the second leg was 161.  I am totally excited about this run.  Even better:  I finally went out (or went online) and bought a TOY!  I decided on the Forerunner 205, since I already have a HR monitor and can use it if I want to run by HR instead of pace.  For anyone else considering purchasing one right now, Garmin has a $50 mail in rebate until 5/15.  I would have gone through the blog store to get mine, but I am a cheapo and look around for the best price, period, which was about $10 less than what Amazon had it listed for.  Not a big difference, but that's the way I am.  I was even looking around on eBay for a while, but found out that Garmin would not honor the rebate on a device won at an auction.  That, plus the price plus shipping was ending up being about the same.  As an FYI, Amazon's price right now is right about 192.97, price after rebate is only 142.97, with free shipping.  I paid 182.95 for mine with free shipping.  Like I said, not a big difference.  For a while, I was waffling between the Garmin and Timex bodylink series, but this has so much more to offer, plus a huge screen.  Enough about my new toy.  I should get it sometime next week.  Tomorrow and Saturday may be treadmill days, because it is already 11:25 PM here, and I won't get enough sleep if I get up at 5:00 to run.  Lybi is going to meet me at work tomorrow and I will take her and her grandpa to the airport, and then it is just me and the boys all weekend long.

Ran a mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran 4.0 miles on the treadmill after I got them all to bed.  I ran at 7 mph on the treadmill (8:34/mile) with no incline.  Wore the HR monitor out of curiosity.  I could definitely tell that running on the treadmill was easier on my cardiovascular system.  Average HR for the run was 152, max HR was 160.  This is all about 7-8 bpm lower than when I run on the streets.  This seems to be a confirmation that if you are going to run a marathon on a treadmill, training on a treadmill would be adequate, but if you are running a marathon on the road, then you should train on the road (or running trails, etc.).  My body is still holding up well - calves are feeling a tiny bit sore, but I will stretch them out good.  My wife arrived safely in Denver and is at her sister and brother-in-law's house.  Tomorrow's run will have to be on the treadmill as well.  We need to get Sam a new pair of shoes tomorrow - he has a habit of scuffing his heels when he runs, and as a result, has worn all the way through the outsole of both heels.  Well, that's all for tonight - lots to do tomorrow with the boys.

Ran 4.5 miles on the treadmill after putting the boys down.  Did not run with them today, as Sam was feeling a bit under the weather.  Ran with the HR monitor again.  First 4 miles were at 7 mph (8:34/mile).  Average HR for the first 4 miles was 154.  I experimented a bit with my breathing, and came to the conclusion that I am trying to breathe too deeply and too long.  I match my breathing to my stride, and I have been trying to inhale for 6 steps and then exhale for 6 steps.  It has actually been a bit laborious at times.  Experimented with going back to inhaling for 4 steps and then exhaling for 4 steps.  Seemed to make a difference in my HR, and boy, did it make a difference in terms of how easy it was to just breathe.  I think it actually helped me to relax a bit more, so I am going to stick with this rhythm.  I don't think that extending the time of each breath was actuallly getting more oxygen into my lungs.  Picked up the tempo after 4 miles to 8 mph (7:30 pace) for the last 1/2 mile.  Was pleasantly surprised to see that my HR held steady at around 165.  Average HR for the last 1/2 mile was 164.  Hot dog!  Of course, since this was on the treadmill, I fully believe that were this on the road, my HR would have been between 5-10 bpm higher.  Need to reprogram my HR monitor to make use of the HR zones (it has 3).  Missing the wife, probably ate less healthy today than I could have.  Hopefully I can get back on track quickly.  I had actually gotten down to 165, and have been hovering at about 166 for the last week or so.  I would still like to lose between 5-10 pounds.  As my mileage increases, I am pretty sure some of that will come off naturally.  I have figured that I need to be running about 8 miles/day, plus a Saturday long run of up to 20 miles to be prepared for St. George this year.  That equates to a 60 mile week.  At that point, I am pretty sure I will be burning up the calories pretty good.

Ran 1 mile with the boys earlier in the evening, then ran my standard 4.1 mile route.  Did not wear the HR monitor tonight.  The run felt very good.  Started off nice and slow, then slowly picked up the pace as the run progressed.  Total time for the run was 35:53, average pace of 8:39/mile.  I will plan on adding a couple of 5 mile runs this week to increase my weekly mileage above 30.  Everything is still feeling good, I feel like my cardiovascular fitness is continuing to improve.  At this point, I am still planning on running a couple of 5K's this summer, and will probably also run the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, which is on September 17, although I am still undecided about it.

Ran 1.5 miles with the boys, and discovered a new way to motivate Sam to run - talk to him throughout the entire run and distract him from the actual running.  If he is just thinking about running, he tends to think about how hard it is and get discouraged.  However, today when talking to him, he forgot all about how hard it was to run and just ran and we had a delightful time talking about all kinds of things.  Ran my standard 4.1 mile course later in the evening.  Wore the HR monitor again, and was extremely encouraged about my HR throughout the run.  I never broke 160 until the third mile, and then I was hovering between 158-161.  Picked it up the last segment for a total time of 35:27.  HR hit 173 at the end.  Should have my Garmin on Thursday and will be looking forward to testing it out.  Woohoo!

Switching up the color here . . . how daring!  Ran about 0.5 miles with the boys this evening (Sam went with Lybi to a Primary Presidency meeting and did not run with me).  Joseph did a great job running.  Then I ran a slightly different route today to make up for the difference.  Ran a 5.6 mile route.  Was very encouraged by my HR during the run.  For the first 4 miles, my HR stayed at or below 160.  Average for the first segment was 150, for the second segment, 156, same for the third segment.  HR went up slightly for the 4th segment - 158 average.  Final segment (about 1.5 miles) had an average HR of 162, but I picked it up for about the last mile and maxed out at 175, then cooled back down for the final 1/4 mile.  Average HR for the entire run was 157.  Woohoo!  I felt great.  About the only thing I noticed was a bit of achiness in my lower legs.  I am going to attribute this to my shoes wearing out.  the outsole is really worn down pretty bad.  I have a pair of Grid Hurricanes I haven't worn too much that I am going to start running in again until I can get a new pair of shoes.  I think these ones have had it.  That was part of what caused my injury last time - first of all, running too fast and too infrequently, and second running in shoes that were totally worn down and provided no shock absorption.  Will probably go through Road Runner Sports, since I am a VIP member and they have their 60 day perfect fit guarantee or they will exchange them for another pair. There are probably some people who take advantage of that.  in any case, gotta come up with the 85 or so bucks to get a pair of Adrenaline GTS 7's.  I loved the GTS 5's, hated the GTS 6's, and have read good reviews about the GTS 7.  Update on the Garmin - it won't be here until Friday now.  Also, I will need to run in the morning on Friday, as I will be taking Sam (and maybe Joseph if I am up to it) to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration/Fathers-Sons campout this Friday.

Ran my new 5.6 mile route again this evening.  Did not get a chance to run with the boys, as I had den meeting with the Webelos scouts.  Did not wear the HR monitor today, but ran in my other shoes (Saucony Grid Hurricanes).  Ooh, what a difference.  I can tell these shoes still have some miles left in them, whereas the others (Grid Trigon Guide) are completely shot and utterly useless.  Legs felt better during today's run - felt less pounding.  Ran pretty even miles until the last mile.  Picked it up the last mile (I am so looking forward to getting my Garmin tomorrow so that I will know more approximately how fast I am running!) - total time was 48:16, average pace was 8:34/mile.  I need to get more sleep.  On a side note, I realized today that I will not be able to go to the Aaronic Priesthood commemoration campout with my boys, as I am on call all weekend, and the campsite is a good hour from civilization.  Does not bode well if I get paged in the middle of the night or on the weekend when I am all set up.  I feel bad about this, but to be honest, I was a bit apprehensive about bringing both boys - Samuel would have been fine, but the combination of both Samuel and Joseph together in the wilderness would have been too much for me to handle, I think.  Next year, Joey will be almost 6, and Samuel will be almost 8.  I think this will be a lot better situation for me and them.  I don't want it to be a majorly frustrating experience for me or them - I want them to enjoy the experience.

Before I begin my workout report, I just have to say that I was so excited today - MY GARMIN FINALLY ARRIVED!  I was so geeked out about it.  I absolutely love it.  No problems at all acquiring satellite, already have it cradled and connected to my PC and have already uploaded my two runs today (1 with boys, plus my regular run).  This thing is totally awesome.  OK, enough about my new toy, on to my workout.

I am excluding some frantic sprinting I did prior to my run with the boys, when Sam and Joseph took off, and we couldn't find Sam for about 5 minutes.  I was running around like a chicken with its head cut off, until I finally said a prayer, and started back home.  About a minute later, as I was on my way home, a car stopped to tell me that Sam was home.  Feelings of relief and gratitude flooded through me, first that he was home safe and second that someone hadn't seen him alone and tried to abduct him (yes, that thought had crossed my mind . . .).  All that aside, I had a marvelous run.

Started out by running 1.2 miles with the boys (I love the Garmin!), and finally knew exactly how far we had run.  It was great.  Sam did a great job.  Then I ran a 5 mile workout on the Garmin.  I set the workout for 5 miles with an average pace of 8:40/mile.  For the first 2 miles, I averaged about 8:37/mile - not too bad.  Next 2 miles were at 8:32/mile - just a little faster.  Picked up the pace for the last mile, had to stop at the stoplight for a few seconds (I love the autopause feature), and finished with a 7:39 mile.  Total time was 41:59, average pace was 8:23/mile.  I am so excited about this.  Today I was thinking about running St. George, and also was thinking about running the White Mountain 1/2 marathon, and think that the White Mountain will be a good indicator for me of my fitness for St. George.  As my mileage goes up, I think I will have a better idea of my predicted times for each of these races.

Ran my 5.0 mile route from yesterday, used the Garmin (of course!) again.  To keep this short, set a workout plan of 8:30/mile today.  Ran the course in 42:00, average pace of 8:24/mile.  The difference between yesterday's time and today's was that I managed to keep more or less an even pace, and not speed up at the end.  Legs feel great, body feels great.  I am even more motivated about running than I previously was, especially after having several weeks in a row of good results.  Hooray!

Note:  I have been doing one additional thing this week that I haven't previously been doing - I have started eating a banana after every run.  I feel like this is helping my electrolytes (especially my potassium) to stay balanced, which in turn is helping to keep my muscles from cramping up.

Ran 6.0 miles this morning using the Garmin.  I still love my Garmin!  I set a workout this morning to run 6 miles at 8:40 pace.  The run felt great.  I actually came in a bit faster than 8:40 pace.  Total workout time was 50:24, average pace was 8:24/mile.  The first mile was slow (warming up) in 8:51, then got into a groove.  The rest of the miles were between 8:19 and 8:24 (have to double-check that this afternoon when I get home from work).  It felt good to run in the morning, especially since I need to get used to morning runs for when I race.  Am planning on getting in at least 6 miles every day this week to hit a goal of 36 miles for the week.  Next week I will shoot for 40.  I am really excited about this.  I don't remember the last time I felt this good after running 34 miles in a week.  Sasha, I can't thank you enough for the advice about running every day - it has really paid off!