I'm a One Hour Runner (W5D3)

The rain has been a real drag lately. I haven't run since the 3 miles on Monday morning, but I really want to progress with my program. I kicked myself out of bed at 8AM this morning with the goal of running 4.5 miles.

It was in the 50s, but bright and sunny. I grabbed shades from the truck and walked off toward the abandoned golf course/running path behind Scott's house. Lucy's tail was wagging happily and she reached her nose out to catch the light breeze.

I love being able to track distance on the Forerunner. The GPS helped me decide to turn around after reaching the end of the 4th section of the golf course (new territory for me). In all, I found that running 4 sections of the golf course gave me 4.2 miles. I doubled back on the close one to reach 4.5 miles. At that point, I was only 1.5 minutes from running for a full hour, so I kept going just long enough to give me that coveted 60 minutes!

My pace for the whole run averaged around 13 minutes/mile. I'm pretty happy that I didn't sink down to the 14s. I was feeling good, even at the end. I'm not at all worried about reaching 5 miles next weekend.

W3D3 - New Program!

With my 10k race coming up quickly and the new training monitoring abilities available on my Forerunner, I've decided to switch to another program: Hal Higdon's 10K Novice, but only for the running distances. Following the cross training schedule there is a little bit more than I can handle. I just know I'd be setting myself up for failure.

I started with W3D3 and a 4 mile run this morning. I kept my pace nice and slow, averaging 14:11 minutes per mile (56:48 minutes running).

For purposes of "goal completion", I'm counting this run as One Hour Runner W9D3 (54 minutes minimum). When I manage a 60 minute run, I'll consider OHR completed.

My legs have been sore all day. I really hope I didn't overdo it.

Strollin' Along

I was supposed to run 49 minutes this morning, finishing off W8 of One Hour Runner.

Patricia woke me up with a 7:15 AM phone call to see if I was still planning to run at Meyer Park. I'd forgotten to set an alarm and probably would have just run locally if she hadn't prodded me.

We met at Meyer at 9AM. I was eager to try out my new Garmin Forerunner 305, but not really feeling like a long run this morning. We managed 2.5 miles at 12:22 minutes per mile average. I have to call it a "short" run.

W8D2

Kind of a weird jog this morning. I had a 9AM meeting downtown, so I got going right after 6 to give myself time to commute. It was still very dark outside. I could see stars twinkling brightly between the clouds.

Armadillos were out in force. I think I saw more live armadillos this morning than in my entire ~4 years in Texas. Lucy was impressed and intrigued.

I also managed to swallow a bug. This kicked off several minutes of alternating trying to spit it's remains out, retching, and wondering if an allergic reaction was about to start. (It didn't. I think my nose was just having trouble dealing with the amount of air passing through it after I closed my mouth.)

I think I only ended up running two 12-minute pace miles before I gave up and started walking.

YAY! My Forerunner 305 should arrive today!

W8D1

It was pouring yesterday morning, so my Monday jog had to be postponed.

This morning was muggy and ugly. Soooo hot! Got my 30 minutes in and dripped my way back home.

W8D2

36 minute run this morning. The middle school marquee said 66°. It was actually approaching cold!

W8D1

Easy 30 minute run this morning. It was muggy and warm, around 80 according to the middle school marquee. There's supposed to be a cold front coming in, so hopefully my remaining runs for the week will be cooler.

167.0 this morning.

W7D3

Patricia and I planned to meet up at Meyer Park at 8AM. I got there a little early and started my warm up and jog. By the time I met Patricia on the path, I'd run about 10 minutes. We walked for another 10 minutes before beginning a 35 minute jog. Altogether, I ran 45 minutes.

The scale has been at a virtual standstill this week. I weighed in at 167.2 this morning.

W7D2

35 minute run this morning. Clear skies, started to warm up towards the end of the run.

W7D1 and NEW LOW!

30 minute run this morning. I had a hard time getting out of bed so I started a little later than usual. Nice and cool out, overcast with no sun.

Also, saw 166.8 on the scale this morning. My first NEW LOW since late July! Yay! I hope it holds for tomorrow. That would be a two pound loss for this week!

W6D3

41 minute run this morning. It was still so dark when I left the apartment that I kept checking my watch to make sure I wasn't off by an hour or something. I think the culprit was the completely socked in skies blocking any hint of a sunrise. It had brightened significantly by the end of the run, but still no sun. It was raining when I drove to work 1.5 hours later, so I guess I really lucked out.

This run was just a few seconds longer than my longest 5k, making it the longest I've ever run. I like milestones and they're going to start happening again frequently.

Speaking of milestones, at 167.6, I'm once again past my halfway point to goal. I'm only 0.6 lbs above my lowest weight from July.

W6D2

33 minute run this morning. A little muggy, but at least the sun wasn't out yet.

I had a little bit of weird calf pain around the middle of the run. I was focusing on it for a while, but then something distracted me and I forgot about it. It went away when I stopped thinking about it. Fun!

169.0 this morning. No real change, but I sure wish that it would stick to 168s (and below).

W6D1

I was up at Scott's house this morning and didn't manage to get out of bed until 9ish. (AHHH lovely 3 day weekends)

According to the local newspaper website, it was in the mid 80s when I started my run out on the greenspace behind the house (former golf course). It was HOT. Not horrible, but much worse than anything I've run in since getting back from my motorcycle trip. Got in my 30 minutes and was soooo happy to get back into A/C and take a cold shower.

W5D3

38 minute run this morning with temps in the low 70s. According to mapmyrun, I covered 2.8 miles. I don't know how accurate that is, but I like knowing that I did close to 3 miles at an easy jog.

I've been very good about food since Monday, with the only blip being a reasonable portion of homemade blueberry pie, so I was a little surprised to see that the scale has barely moved since my last weigh in on Wednesday. At 169.4, I'm down 0.2 since Wednesday, 0.8 since Tuesday.

I need to work hard on holding together (despite the long weekend) to have at least a 1 lb loss on Tuesday.

W5D2

32 minute run this morning. I was a little cold during my warmup, but settled into it when I started jogging.

Historically I'm a wimp about cold weather. I have a hard time walking out into it, even knowing that I'll warm up. We'll see how this goes.

I'm back into the 160s this morning: 169.6

W5D1

It was fabulously cool this morning. The middle school marquee said 73°. No problems with the 30 minute run.

169.0 on the scale (down from the previous weigh in). I had a mixed week, so I'm just hoping to be down a few tenths for my official weigh in tomorrow.

W4D3

35 minute run this morning. There was just a little color to the east when I left the house. It's nice that it's so much cooler in the morning, but I wonder whether i'll still be able to do this when it's still pitch black before work.

W4D2

Easy 29 minute run this morning. The PE students were out running. I passed a guy who I think is their instructor twice. The first time got a "Good morning". The second time got a "You think you're tired? That dog has got to be tired!"

I was a little stung there. I replied with a "Oh, she's fine. We do this three times a week." As Lucy pulled me away from the encounter, I kept mulling over better responses. Arrgh.

Anyway, down to 168.4 this morning. Yay!

W4D1 Redo

Screw it. That was easy. I'm calling it week 4.

The only hitch is that it was the first day of school, so there were buses and cars swarming all over my route. I may need to work on getting going earlier so I can miss the 7AM dropoff at the high school. (Or at least be on the starting end rather than the bulk of it.

I'm finally back down into the 160s this morning: 169.2

W6D1

My allergies seem to be running their usual course. I was extremely lethargic on Saturday and Sunday. The sore throat faded by Sunday night and the nose stuff began.

I went to bed early on Sunday to make sure I had enough energy for my 30 minute run this morning. Even so, it was clear that this run was much slower than recent ones. I did get it done, but didn't cover my usual distance. Hopefully I'll be feeling better by Wednesday for a 35 minute run. 

My weight is up a little this morning: 168.6. Let's just say I had a high point Saturday night out with friends at Texas Roadhouse and then wasn't especially tight with points yesterday.