Cool Runnings!

Total distance of 4.25 miles, time was 31:42. Middle two miles were each run in 7:17. It is still pretty hot outside in the evening. I am looking forward to when the weather cools down more to allow me to enjoy my runs more.

Walked 3.5 miles today at 4.5 miles/hr on the treadmill. As previously stated, I am going to keep up the rotation of running, walking and biking until I am 100%. I also read some information today to indicate that I may have a tight IT band on my left leg, so I have been more aggressively stretching my legs. I have never been an extremely flexible person, but I think I need to do more than I am currently doing, especially with my hip flexors and abductors and adductors.

Ran a total of 3 miles this morning. Started out nice and easy with the first mile about 8:20, then picked it up and ran the second mile in 7:09 (although it felt faster). I then walked for about 1/4 mile and ran the last mile in about 7:30. Perhaps the second mile felt harder effort-wise because I didn't quite get enough sleep.

Ran 4.25 miles this evening - warmed up the first mile, but still ran it in 7:58, faster than I wanted. I was hoping for about 8:30. Second mile was 8:05, felt pretty relaxed. Third mile I picked up, and ran 6:44.9. This mile felt much smoother and more relaxed than my 7:09 mile the other day. Last mile and a quarter was in 10:00, total time was 32:48. Good run. I will try to get in a bike ride tomorrow, as my hip flexor is hurting a bit again tonight. I will also try to not feel to envious of those who are running tomorrow, and will be rooting for Sasha.

Ran 4.0 mile loop this evening, the weather is finally cooling down. Decided to wear my HR monitor to see where my fitness was. Avg. HR was 174 - but that was really due to the 3rd mile, which I ran in 6:39. Overall. the run felt good I take the HR readings with a grain of salt, because I have always had a high exercise HR. Total time for the run was 31:04. Stretched out afterwards, which helped my hip to feel better.

walked 2.8 miles at 4.5 mph on the treadmill.

I'm not going to log any distance today, but I sure did get in some speed work. I decided to play basketball with our ward team tonight, and played for about 45 minutes straight - full court. After the game, in addition to my quads being sore from all the jumping, all of my sprinting muscles were extremely sore, but it sure felt good to get in that kind of workout.

Ran 3.25 mile loop this evening. Glad to be able to get out and run - had an extremely difficult day. I had to stay home from work today because my wife had sprained her back (we're hoping that's all it is). In addition, our oldest did not have school today (October break), and the kids were bouncing off the wall. Took them to the park and let them run around, but that only calmed them down for a while. My run tonight was part stress relief, part shaking out the sore muscles from last night. It felt good, and I think I actually ran more efficiently as a result of the speed work. In addition to trying to get in some 10-K's before the end of the year, my other goal is to get my weight down, which I know will also help out both my posture and my running technique. I think my ideal weight would be between 165-170. As tonight was our fruit smoothie night, I also wanted to pass on a good (and pretty healthy) recipe for smoothies:

1 cup rolled oats

1 banana, ripe

approx. 2 cups milk

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup frozen strawberries

orange or lemon juice - abt 2-3 tbsp

4-6 ice cubes (or more, to achieve desired consistency)

sugar (to taste, can also be substituted with splenda or other sweetener)

blend the oatmeal in the blender until it is the consistency of coarse flour, add milk, banana, blueberries, strawberries and ice cubes. blend until the desired consistency is achieved (we have all had smoothies before right?). Add sugar or other sweetener until smoothie is desired level of sweetness. Pour and enjoy. Makes about 4 full cups. Yummy!

Today's run was at a slow, relaxed pace. I deliberately slowed down to give my legs a break. First mile in 8:52, average HR 152. Second mile in 8:52, average HR 160. 3rd mile in about 8:00 (thought I hit the lap button, but didn't), average HR 166 (high was only 173). 4th mile in about 8:20, average HR 168. last .6 in 5:57, average HR 167. Total time was 40:00 even. Average HR for the total run was 162. This run felt very good, and I was happy to see a lower HR than the other day. I anticipate this will continue to drop as my fitness increases and my weight goes down. My muscles were still a little bit sore at the beginning of the run, but the soreness went away as my muscles got warmed up.

This morning's run was extremely difficult - not because it was fast, but because my body was stiff and still a bit sore. It was really hard to get going - even after I warmed up, my legs just didn't have the higher gears today. First mile in 8:46, second mile in 7:45 (I couldn't go any faster), last segment in 9:01. Total time was 25:33. Stretched out good afterwards, but my left calf is still tight. I have been following the AI stretching method, but in general have not be stretching before my run, but after, and have just been warming up before getting going. I think that I am going to start to incorporate some stretching before my run as well, in the hopes that this will help to limber me up more.

Rode the bike this morning for approximately 8-9 miles (not sure on the distance). Quads and hamstrings were both burning (good sign) by the end of the ride, and the absence of pounding felt good to my legs. Talked to a sports chiropractor about my hip flexor and got some good advice - I may start to see him to help me get back to 100%. On his advice I am going to put a hot pad on my hip flexor prior to running and ice it down afterward. This is probably also going to put a halt on my early morning runs, as it would take too much time to complete this ritual and still be one time for work. But it has cooled off here, so I will enjoy running in the afternoon now and be able to run in the daylight.

Had a good run this afternoon. Beautiful weather, about 75 degrees. Put the heating pad on my hip flexor before running to get it nice and warm - seems to have helped. Ran the first mile in 7:48 - this was faster than I had anticipated and was also into a headwind. Second mile was 7:23, also into the wind. Felt a little strained because of the wind, but overall not too difficult. I pushed the next 1/2 mile, and ran it in 3:30 - this felt extremely easy, but I also had the wind at my back - then slowed a bit, but not very much, and ran the last mile in 7:18. This also felt easy because of the wind at my back. Total time was 26:00. Overall a very good run. Will probably ride the bike again tomorrow.

Wow, this run felt hard. I really wanted to go for a run today, but I had a lot going on - make dinner, go to cub scouts (I am one of the wolf/bear den leaders now), do some work from home, make cupcakes for my 6-year old's birthday party tomorrow - next thing I knew it was 9:30. But I decided to run anyways. I could really tell that my feet and legs had taken a pounding today. My stride was choppy and inefficient, although the breathing was not bad. Nevertheless, I plodded on. First mile in 8:27, not feeling too bad, although I can't get into a good rhythm. Second mile in 8:02, felt faster than it was, this was when I knew the run was going to be hard. Turned around, third mile in 7:40. Wow, I thought this mile was quite a bit faster - I was expecting around 7:00. Nevertheless, only a mile to go. Last mile in 8:04. Total time was 32:14, only slightly more than 8:00/mile. I will probably not be able to run tomorrow, but will try to get in 5 or so nice, easy miles on Saturday.

I was planning on doing 6 miles, but felt bad enough to cut it short. Just like Thursday, my stride felt choppy and inefficient. I slogged through the run, and at the end, felt bone-weary. I'll have to see how I feel on Monday - if I continue to feel this bad on my run, I may need to see if there is something that is causing the tiredness.