I took this interesting angle photo after taking a photo class put on by Sony. Their advice – take at least one photograph every single day… I’m not sure I do that, but have been trying. My new phone (the one responsible for the running shots) is a 2MP camera which takes great shots (for a phone, anyway). Since I have like a billion messages I can send every month (500 per month, actually), I will do my best to send them as often as I can and TRY to send them daily!
This was at the start of my 6 mile solo run on Saturday… waiting for Sara to join me…
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Solo 6 miler… it was interesting doing this alone! Activity
Performance
Notes Solo 6 miler
Map Elevation (ft.)
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Posted from runtracker.runnersworld.com |
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I have been continuing to trog through my weekly runs… Monday / Tuesday runs are the hardest since they are on my own. For example, I ran 3 1/2 miles this morning on the treadmill. Since school is now out, I got to sleep in a bit – and the gym was still crowded at 6 AM… Wednesday / Thursday runs have gotten better. While it is harder to run at night due to the summer heat, we’ve pushed the time back to 7 pm when it’s a bit cooler. We ran 5+ each of the past two weeks on Wednesday. While it’s a smaller group, it is definitely better than running on the treadmill solo.
On Saturday, we moved the run to an industrial park in the next county west of us. It is really close, about 3 miles west of us and, for now, a low-traffic route.
I just ran across (pun intentional) an article from a runner’s world blog. Since several of us have discussed this, I thought it was worth sharing. It discusses how to determine and change your running cadence which will decrease your chance of injury while increasing your speed — a really good combination!
http://rodale.typepad.com
Today, I checked my cadence at 6.1 MPH – 182 (91 left steps in 1 minute)… now to go back and read what that means! I’ll try to do the same tomorrow when we run outside.
Yesterday was my first 5K – a short 3.1 miles… The run was to raise money for autism research.
I wasn’t sure how to pace myself since it was only 3 miles. The weather started off only a little warm, but the temperature soared quickly. By the end it was in the 80s, way too hot to be running. The course was fairly flat – a long winding downhill meaning it was a slow uphill climb at the end. The first mile was way too fast… I ended up walking for two small sections in mile 2 and 3, each for less than a minute. However, I ended up at 30:46 officially, which equates to a 9:54 pace. While a bit slower than I hoped, it was still a good pace (it would be a 1:01:30 10K at that pace). It would have taken a 9:39 pace to end up at 30 minutes… and I think I can do that by the end of the summer.
I really need to get my act together and start to drop my times for my weekday runs, but won’t do that if I only run 2 – 3 days each week. I think I will attempt to hit the treadmill hard, then the elliptical two days a week as well. The elliptical is easier on my knees, so I should do that more. It also helps the muscles in the legs, just not the breathing part…
This was not a particularly difficult race — just heading out, a few turns, and heading back on a different street. My watch time (which was very accurate to real time) showed 1:04:01 – a little over a minute better than my previous best 10K. I love new personal records (PR).
The official time shown for me was 1:04:51 – a full 50 seconds from gun until I shuffled my way to the starting line. The start was not very organized, and the mile signs were not well marked either. A few of our gang did better than I (under an hour for two of them), and the rest were a bit behind me. In the middle is fine… I even ran into a friend / neighbor midway on the course. We ran together for a bit until I realized that his pace would kill me so I wisely slowed down.
Heading out, the road was one really long, slow uphill climb. A right turn changed that and quickly headed down hill to make up for all of the elevation in a couple of hundred yards. The remaining course was fairly flat. I only found that the fifth and early sixth mile were difficult, then I regained my legs to finish strong.
I have been very conscientious of my pace lately (thanks to the pace alarm on my watch), and know that if I hit a mile marker well under my time that I’m pretty much screwed until I can slow down and recover. During one weekday run, we ran 3 miles. My normal pace is between 10:30 and 10:45 for the first mile, then closer to 10 for the second. We hit one mile at 9:30 and finished in about 28 minutes (9:20 pace). I was dead for the next two days… I think I’ll keep to my 10 – 10:30 pace for a while!
Well, I am running another 10K today (Sunday). I’m not at all sure how I’ll do but as usual, will give it my best shot. It’s only an hour or so – longer with the drive, warm up, cool down and drive home, but only an hour of pain…
The “team” of folks I have been running with have continued the Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday runs. The team is fairly fluid, but I know I will always have someone to run with when I show. I have run on the treadmill a few times, even gone a round or two with the elliptical, but for the most part have just been running 3 – 5 miles with the team. I’ve been struggling lately with the longer distances, but think that if I get my act together and start eating right, it will help me remove that barrier.
Today’s 10K is the Carytown 10K. It’s a basic out and back course, but through a great little shopping district that is a favorite of mine. I’ve not run this race before, but am looking forward to the challenge.
Lately, I have been so busy with the pool. We have been trying to get it ready to open (next weekend), and finishing up with the projects we started this fall. I continue to be amazed that out of the 220 member families, about 20 individuals have spent any time at all volunteering to get the pool ready. We’ve built a pavilion, torn up and replaced 1800 sq. ft. of decking, torn up 600 sq. ft. of concrete (jackhammer, etc.), all ready for opening. 20 people helping at all – about 10 with serious effort put forth. I only know it’s worth it due to the comments. But, I’m tired… too much time spent there and not enough on the things around my home. Good thing this is the last year on the board (and I will not continue on the board). Now, if I could only find the time to manage the website for the pool as well!
Get your tissues out:
http://www.onetruemedia.com
So it’s been a while since I posted, but fully recovered from the Monument Avenue 10K and have run a few times since. I ran a brief two miles on the treadmill on the Monday following the 10K, then with the group for 3 miles on Wednesday, then again on Saturday for another 4 miles. One week until Ashland.
This week, I again ran on the treadmill on Monday — for my 3 mile recovery run. Wednesday was a short 2 miler with just Bob. We kept up a faster pace than normal, but knowing it was only two miles made it go by very quickly. Later on Wednesday, I picked up my race packet for Ashland along with a great tee shirt. The Monument Ave. 10K could learn from Ashland in this one aspect – not the boring white shirt you see everywhere.
Yesterday, I set a new PB with the 10K. Not much of an improvement, but chipping it off a bit at a time. This was not a chip race, so everyone was presumed to start at the same time. It was actually about 5 seconds until I crossed the start line, so my reported time of 1:05:22 was probably 5 seconds slow (presume 1:05:17). Not much of a difference, but some. Anyway, at 1:05:22, it was a 10:31 pace for the race. At the actual time, it was a 10:30 pace exactly – my goal.
Bob took off faster than the rest, and ended really strong based on where I saw him on the final turnaround. I ran mostly with Sarah and Qiana – and we ended within one second of each other (Qiana and I crossed the finish line together).
Did you learn from this?
1. Started slower — good thing
2. Ate a bagel with PB — good thing – had no empty stomach…
3. Watched the watch — but only because of the fact that there weren’t markings that I saw for the mileage. I was right on time for 10:30 miles at the 5 mile mark.
4. Mile 6 is the hardest — find a way to do better here… maybe longer runs ahead of time – more than one 6 miler in the preceding weeks.
5. Running with someone helps — I was ready to give up (walk) earlier but didn’t.
Things to do different next time:
1. Don’t spend the entire day beforehand spreading mulch — my legs were definitely not at their best because of that, and my arms were stiff as anything.
2. Leave earlier — while I knew I was on time, I was unsure of parking and how long it would take.
All in all, a PR is a PR. Just keep the numbers heading down!
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