Short run...

Not much notable about tonight's run. For some reason, I've been very sleepy during the evening hours [I'm talking about the period in between dinner and morning]. I actually slept from 6:00pm to 9:40pm tonight...then I woke frustrated because I didn't run. That said, I decided to go by my runner's world schedule and run 2 miles tonight [since my friend hasn't sent me a tweaked schedule as of tonight]. 9:03 was my pace, which seems about a normal training pace for me on shorter runs. Weather.com says that it feels like 31F but that it's actually 37F. It's cold, but I've run in colder conditions [on an earlier run...last month maybe...it was literally 8F outside] I've started incorporating e-Gels into my long runs. So far they've been good too me - no weird stomach problems or anything like that. I started using them because it's what they use on the Mercedes course. I'm putting a link up on this page - if you run for longer periods than an hour, I would suggest looking into e-Gel or something like it. Also, to be forthright, if you use the link to sign up on e-Gel's website and subsequently purchase something, e-Gel gives me 10% of your purchase price [they'll do the same for you]. I first purchased e-Gel @ a local running store, but it's about 50 cents cheaper per pack direct from Cranksports.com, which is where I'll probably be buying it from now on. Feel free to comment if you have any questions or concerns on this.

More than I've ever run...

Check out my run here. With the assumption that I will increase mileage every weekend, I guess I could really wear out the title, but I'll only use it this once. Tonight's run was so much different than last weeks. I only walked about two blocks out of the whole run...which was 15.07 miles. I burned more calories in one run than some people burn all day [that would be 2300]. There is a good and bad side to it all though... Tonight's run was the kind that makes you really love Birmingham as a city. Street lights, sidewalks, variety in architecture, planes, trains, and trolleys paint such a wonderful city scape. Conversely, I've got no love for Homewood* because Homewood's* got no love for runners [ergo, they have no love for me]. I ran up Green Springs Hwy and across Valley Ave again. The difference between running the route at night as opposed to the day is that drivers seem to find this special anonymity that causes them to actually want to veer a smidgen closer to you as a runner. One may ask, "Why are you running on the road at night anyways." To which I would respond, "Because Homewood, in these particular areas, hasn't built any sidewalks." Of course, I'm only assuming that this area is part of Homewood [though, even if I am wrong, some friends have similar complaints about running in other parts of Homewood]. Half of my time running on Valley and Green Springs was spent running on uneven terrain in the dark [as there are no lights there either]. I digress. Overall, I enjoyed the run. I'm excited about running more. I'm happy that I didn't crash like I did last week. Now, I can say that I've officially run more than a half marathon - and that's pretty cool in my book. *Homewood is, in and of itself, an actual city. I suppose it was once a "suburb" of Birmingham. They have [in the past few years] built a rather large and rather costly city hall. The cool part about this is that it's mixed use - pubilc, private [in the form of condos] and business spaces are all available. The uncool part about this is that they pretty much destroyed all the apartments where some poorer people were living to do this [the irony of "progress" if you will].

Wet and Rainy...

I didn't really time myself tonight. I'm guessing that I ran between 6 and 7 miles; I'm not altogether sure because I started talking to myself and I lost count of how many times I had run around UAB's track. If it was 14, then I ran 7 [I think] altogether. Tonight was supposed to be speed work. I was supposed to run 3 1600m sets @ 7:35 [that's about a 7:35mile; 1600m = .98something miles..or .99...whatever]. So, I ran one 1600m set at 6:50. I also question whether or not that's right. If it is, it's the fastest mile I've ever run. I was pretty winded though. You can check out my run here...sort of. I got tired of mapping circles so I quit and figured I'd add everything up later. This weekend I'm supposed to run 15. That's miles. I'm a little concerned.

Better...

Check out my route here. So here's the deal. My Runnersworld schedule told me that I should run 2 miles tonight [actually, last night, but last night I was too bust getting angry at Publix, where shopping was not a pleasure - another post for another blog]. A friend whose help I've enlisted in training [I've actually asked him to be my "Coach," and I hope that he is tweaking my schedule even as we speak] told me that he didn't think 2 miles was going to be enough. He told me that after my performance on Saturday, I really needed to start working on my base more and increasing my mileage during the week. So, I took his advice and ran 4 instead of 2 [4.31 to be exact]. I was pretty determined to make this a great run. I was pretty determined to eat some pretty big hills in the process. I took a hill at the very beginning and a 1/2 mile hill at the end. My pace was close to what I race [I ran an 8:13 tonight], which is not really what I intended. The more I thought about it while running though, the more I thought it might be a good thing to really make myself more tired while running. Needless to say, I was a little wet when I came home [I tend to sweat profusely out of my rear when I exercise, the picture is proof to the fact]. Tonight's interesting sights include a half mutilated pigeon, a woman who damned me, and lots of people taking in a warm winter's night. I'll cover them in the order that I saw them [which happens to be backwards from the order that I listed them]. The current temp in Birmingham is a balmy 56F degrees; I'm pretty sure it was warmer when I started out earlier. The plus side to this non-wintry weather [because yes, I love wintry weather] was the fact that there were a ton of people walking about on both the north and south sides of town. I've noticed that a lot of people are walking dogs on the north side of town these days - I can't decide if it's for protection or because they really enjoy letting their dogs defecate on city streets. Then, there was the woman who damned me. Most people might also be afraid of a near 200 lb, 6' tall, Asian male running towards them in the dark. Those same people also tend to walk funny [as if drunk] and wear way too much clothing for 60F degrees. When I run towards people like this [because they tend to overreact about 90% of the time] I usually try to cough, breath harder, or stomp to announce the fact that I am running behind them. My methods apparently need tweaking; they never work. As I ran past this lady, she invoked the name of the Lord to provoke condemnation upon me. All I could say was, "My bad," and I ran. I really did thank God that there was no condemnation for me. I figured that I had more favor with Him as I am typing this now and have yet to taste the sting of death [knowing too that my Christ drank the condemnation that was due me]. I also prayed for her as I ran a few more blocks - something I don't do often enough and something I'm learning to do more. Then there was the half mutilated pigeon. If you're looking for him, he's set in front of Subway on 20th Street right next to Starbucks. The irony of it all! On a different note altogether - if any of you know a good race to run in the Southeast during the winter or early spring, shoot over a link or a name - I'd like to go on a short road trip with a race destination. *Blogger is not working correctly [as it most often does not], but I will add the picture as soon as possible.

No love.

Check out my route here. My run on Saturday was supposed to be 13 miles. I was really pumped about it too; it would be a day of firsts. It would be the first time I would use gels during my training. It would be the first time I would run 13 miles [practically a half marathon]. It would be the first time that I carried a pace chart [handwritten] while running. It would be the first time I would run through 3 different cities [Birmingham, Homewood, and Mountain Brook]. In the end, it became the first run I've ever sat down on [Seriously. Twice]. It was the first time I've ever stopped in the middle of a run to pee behind a bush. It was the first time [and last] that I've ever run with a lumbar pack. It was the first time I've incorporated walking into my training [Greg swears that walking during running is a good thing - he sent me 8 articles to prove it]. We're mid way's through now; another 13 and we're talking marathon. A few lessons learned will benefit a long way. If you've kept up with the blog, you may have noticed that in place of the last 6 scheduled runs, I've actually only run 4. All the little wrong decision along the way work to break the machine altogether - I didn't build my base up enough to run in a healthy fashion this past weekend. The second lesson comes in the form of choosing routes. I usually "map my run," before I actually run them - that way I know how far I'm running and what turns to take. If you drive the route I've mapped this time around, you might notice that you're driving on some of the worst hills in Birmingham [i.e. Greensprings, Pawnee, and Cliff Rd - Cliff named because it's high...on a cliff]. My quads are still hurting worse than they do during Buda's summer league...and that's quite an astonishment. So, I'm not quitting. I'm learning. I'm hoping that tonight's run will be better. But all in all, I'd rather be running.

Run hard.

Check out my run here. My legs have felt awfully tight when I started out tonight [probably because I didn't run for 5 days]. This, undoubtedly, made my first mile hard and slow. My first mile on this route is mostly uphill - I try to make a lot of them that way these days. The middle mile, however, was smooth with only a hump in the middle. My first mile took almost 10 minutes. I ran my second in less than 8...which means that I probably ran the third in similar fashion. I was hoping to nail a consistent stride tonight. I'm satisfied with the time [it's close to a minute per mile faster than it should have been], but I'm not too happy with the inconsistency. On the plus side, it's a negative split - the first third was slow, the last 2/3's or so were fast. On the negative side, I can't run with the same parity for a long distance. In any case, if any of you have any ideas of how to run a more consistent mile during training, then shoot them my way. My last race was the exact opposite of this training run - I ran my first two miles in about 14:30, but finished the race at just 8 minutes per mile - this means I had some miles that were singly, or collectively, much slower than the 7:15 average of the first two. On a lighter note, if anyone is willing to pay my way, I will run the Antarctic Marathon next year [something I will never pay for myself as the cost is $15,000 - this is more than Laura and I paid for both our vehicles combined].

My running is more consistent than my blogging...

Check out Monday's run here. Check out Friday's run here. Running weeks go from Monday - Sunday [as Sunday, for most, is the big day - the day of Marathon], so I still have time for my last run of the week. This week was meant [by my training schedule courtest of Runnersworld.com] to be a short run week. After this week my long runs start increasing by twos rather than by ones [i.e. - my next long run will be 13 miles, that is +2 of my 11 miler last Saturday]. I'll do this for another three weeks before I have a shorty again. Friday was the coldest day I have run on...probably ever. When I got back in [after the sun had already risen], weather.com told me that it was 17F degrees outside...it also told me that it thought that it felt like 8F. I don't think our freezer gets that cold. Friday was also the slowest I've run in a long time - I clocked in at around 10 minutes per mile. But what should anyone expect? It felt like it was 8F degrees. I finish out my week with a 6 or 7 tomorrow to make up for the one that I didn't run yesterday [i.e. 4 instead of 5]. On a warmer note, we watched La's cousin-in-law run the Rocket City Marathon in Huntsville, AL today. She said she was shooting for 4:20-4:30. She ran it in about 4:11 - super girl! I was really inspiring to see all these folks running out there - to see the grimaces and smiles and everything else in between. It was especially interesting to listen to the announcements - in the Rocket City, they throw out a little factoid as X person is crossing the finish line. It was amazing to hear something like, "This is so-and-so's 53rd marathon!" We had a great time at the finish line - especially with La yelling out everyone's name as they passed [at least 20 individuals, or twice that] - in the Rocket City, they also type your first name in large letters on your number. She only received one strange look. I'm sure everyone else was just happy to finish.

Over 11 in Motown

Check out my run here.

I’ve been doing my long runs on Sundays due to various circumstances [my preferred day, to be honest, is Saturday]. Today, Laura is working on some prints in Montevallo, so I decided to come down with her and pull off another long run at our Alma Mater. Today’s run, if you haven’t checked the link, was 11.12 miles. I’ve never run this far in my life [all at once that is]. It was hard, and hilly – but it’s only another step towards 26.2.

Strangely, the base of my neck hurt a bit afterwards. I understand that this has to do with my running posture, and I also know that it’s something that I’ll have to correct on my short runs before I can even hope to on my long ones. My left knee hurt a little too – this is a new predicament for me [re: my history – I tore an ACL in my right knee while in college. Thankfully, I’ve never had problems with it. If you know people with ACL tears – I know of at least four others – then you know many of them continue to have knee problems after the surgery]. I don’t really think it’s anything major, but I see now why my running regimen is set the way it is [next week’s runs are all short – 5 and 6 milers, which I’ll probably run as 6 and 7’s].

I also took a water bottle with me – it was half apple juice and half water. I haven’t run with a water bottle and I think that doing so caused my right shoulder some pain. I needed something as I tend to start choking between miles 6 and 7 pretty much every time I run; I just can’t swallow around that time period. Today was much different.

Kudos go to 98% of all the drivers in Montevallo and the surrounding area today! Most of them not only saw me, but many would hug the center line or even drive in the opposite lane of traffic. They were all a pleasure to share the roads with and I was undoubtedly thankful for them.

I may try to run tomorrow as I missed a short run earlier this week…but at this point it may not even be worth trying to make up for it.

Today’s distance: 11.12 miles Today’s pace: 9:18 per mile Total Time: 1:43:26

Belated post: 5 miles

I ran here on Tuesday morning. It was nothing extraordinary [except that it was extraoridinarily warm for a November morning]. I ran an 8:20 pace, which is nearly what I should be running for my speed work day[3 miles @ 8:12 currently]. Felt good about the run, overall.