Running For My Life

I had intended on running 18 miles this morning, but it turned out to be 17, so I added another mile a few hours later to make it official.  Okay, that’s not the real reason I went for a 1-mile run; for the past few weeks my wife has been doing 1-milers with my oldest son to try to introduce him to running (he would much rather be playing video games or on the computer like so many other kids his age).  So today she asked me to go out with him since she was going to be gone and I was not.  He did okay the first half-mile, but then had to stop for walk breaks several times in the last half.  Maybe by the end of the summer I’ll have him going the full 18 miles with me!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Time: 11:00:00
• Total Time: 00:13:00.00
• Distance: 1 miles
• Average Pace: 12:59.22/mile

I went 17 miles on the hills at Whitnall Park.  I had a training partner, Kane, who is a bit faster than me so I got pushed.  We did six loops, meaning we got to experience the same hills six times.  It was a hot and humid morning so I thought the loops would be good so we could make frequent water stops at our cars.  As is usually the case when there are hills involved, it turned out to be a great workout.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/28/2008
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 2:10:40.00
• Distance: 17 miles
• Average Pace: 7:40.95/mile

This morning was one of those runs without a purpose.  On a good day I call it doing “base miles” and on a bad day it’s “junk miles”.  I guess today was a bad one because I felt like I would have been better off not running at all.

Tomorrow morning I am planning to go 18 miles, which will be my longest run since the Boston Marathon and my longest training run since I injured my Achilles in early March.   The humidity is supposed to be in the 90-95% range so it should be a challenge, especially considering I am running at Whitnall Park, home to some tough hills.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/27/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:18:18.00
• Distance: 9 miles
• Average Pace: 8:41.74/mile

45 miles on my exercise bike (note that the odometer on my bike does not measure in real miles)

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 06/26/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:09:30.00

The recent flooding caused the race organizers of the Pewaukee Run to the Beach 5K to change the course, so it was more like the Run to the Park 5K+ since it finished in a park and the new version of the course was actually 3.37 miles.  Even without the cool finish at the beach and the certified course, it was still a great race that drew over 400 runners and walkers.  Not bad for a Wednesday night!

I crossed the 5K point in 19:17, which is a little slower than last Saturday’s time but respectable considering the heat, humidity and hills.  My total time was 20:58, which put me in 16th place overall and 3rd in my age group.  It gets harder to crack the top 10 in these summer races since the high school runners are allowed to race since they are not in season.  Oh, to be young again!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/25/2008
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 00:20:58.00
• Distance: 3.37 miles
• Average Pace: 6:13.44/mile

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/25/2008
• Time: 18:00:00
• Total Time: 00:18:14.00
• Distance: 2 miles
• Average Pace: 9:07.11/mile

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 06/25/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:19:40.00

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/24/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:07:52.00
• Distance: 8 miles
• Average Pace: 8:29.19/mile

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/23/2008
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:15:53.00
• Distance: 9 miles
• Average Pace: 8:25.62/mile

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/21/2008
• Time: 16:00:00
• Total Time: 00:28:07.00
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 9:22.5/mile