Running For My Life

Due to the fact that I am running 19 miles tomorrow (including two races!!) and my hip flexor has been bothering me, I did a nice, slow 5 miler this morning.  I stuck to 9:00 miles and my hip actually felt better after the run than it did before the run.

Tomorrow morning I am running the annual River City 4th Fest 5K in Waterford, then in the afternoon I am doing the New Berlin National Dash 2-mile race with my son.  I am also going to run to and from the race in Waterford, which will account for the other 14 miles (7 miles each way).

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 07/03/2009
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:44:00.00
• Calories: 636
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 8:47.86/mile

Now that it’s summer and the weather is nice, I am getting more of a social experience on my runs and seeing some old friends.  Early in my 11-miler this morning I saw my good friend Tracy, and stopped to talk to her for a minute.  Then in the 10th mile I saw another friend, also Tracy, and talked to her for few minutes.  Then in the final half mile I saw Gordy and Randy, two neighbors who were running together.  I quickly caught up to them and jogged the final few minutes along side them.  It’s nice to see and talk to people, especially after the long winter and spring where I am basically out there alone in the darkness, without a soul in sight.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 07/02/2009
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:23:45.00
• Calories: 1377
• Distance: 11 miles
• Average Pace: 7:36.85/mile

When we built our house 6 years ago, I had the builder design a small room on one side of the basement for my personal gym.  At that time, all I had was a treadmill, so the room looked pretty desolate.  Over time I have added weights, an elliptical machine and an exercise bike.  This morning, for the first time, I managed to use all of these things in one day.  I started with 30 minutes on the bike, then 30 on the elliptical, then ran 4 miles on the treadmill, and finished with my daily upper-body weights routine.  Normally Wednesday is cross-training only, but in my attempt to get in more miles, I have decided to add a short run every week.  We’ll see how that works out from an injury standpoint.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 07/01/2009
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 00:33:35.00
• Calories: 508
• Distance: 4 miles
• Average Pace: 8:23.5/mile

I continued to feel strong and fast this morning.  I did 11 miles total, and threw in some hill repeats and 400-meter interval repeats during the middle of the run.  I can’t believe how strong I felt…absolutely no fatigue at all.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/30/2009
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:26:42.00
• Calories: 1425
• Distance: 11 miles
• Average Pace: 7:53.06/mile

It doesn’t get much better than it did this morning.   The weather was perfect and my legs felt alive.  I like to do my Monday morning runs slow and easy, and this morning was no different, except that “slow and easy” was about a minute per mile faster!  Now that’s a sign of improvement.

I went 11 miles and for the most part maintained a sub-8:00 pace.  I did stop twice for a couple of brief chats, once with my neighbor Heidi and the second time with a friend Bob who lives on the other side of the lake.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/29/2009
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 1:26:55.00
• Calories: 1429
• Distance: 11 miles
• Average Pace: 7:54.31/mile

I took my two older sons and my dog to the bike path today.  My oldest son Sammy and I ran 3 miles with the dog in tow, while my middle boy Alex rode along on his bike.  The weather was absolutely glorious (low 80s, low humidity, clear skies, slight breeze) so it really was a neat experience and much different that my normal routine of 5 a.m. runs all by my lonesome.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/28/2009
• Time: 16:30:00
• Total Time: 00:27:55.00
• Calories: 367
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 9:18.14/mile

It was my plan to run 20 miles this morning, but I was also asked to run a 10K course for an upcoming triathlon so the race director could paint the course markings.  So I decided to do 14 miles first (see previous post) and then 6 more as part of the course measurement.  Taking an hour break between runs is not something I would recommend, but I did get all of my miles in, and that’s what counts most.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/27/2009
• Time: 10:00:00
• Total Time: 00:56:10.00
• Calories: 739
• Distance: 6 miles
• Average Pace: 9:21.62/mile

What an outstanding morning.  I started it off with a 14-miler in downtown Milwaukee and finished it with a 6-miler later in the morning.  The 14 miles were done at a 7:27 pace, and there was plenty of oomph left to go faster.

I had an 8:30 a.m. meeting at the running store so I drove down there at 6 a.m. and hit the Oak Leaf Trail for 6 miles, then cut over to lakefront and ran the final 7 miles along the lake back to the running store.

I always get a little nostalgic when I run that course because it was there nearly 20 years ago that I trained and ran my first marathon.

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/27/2009
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 1:44:14.00
• Calories: 1850
• Distance: 14 miles
• Average Pace: 7:26.65/mile

…..considering I raced last night, never stretched afterward, then drank about half a dozen beers and only slept about 4 hours.  My legs felt great this morning.  Maybe it was the heat that loosened them up.  I could have probably run the 5K faster this morning than I did last night!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/25/2009
• Time: 05:00:00
• Total Time: 00:38:01.00
• Calories: 625
• Distance: 5 miles
• Average Pace: 7:36.27/mile

InStep Racing Team after Superun 5K

Tonight’s Superun 5K was my third 5K in the last 8 days and in all three I ran my slowest 5K times of the year.  Normally I would be worried that age is starting to catch up to me, but considering I ran two marathons in the past two months and that all three races were in the evening, I am not too concerned.  I don’t run well in the evening races, probably because my legs are used to the 5 a.m. starts.

The highlight of this night was the post-run party.  There were about 17 members of my racing team there and everyone had a great time.  There was an abundance of free beer for the runners and the setting was great - Lake Park on Milwaukee’s East Side.  The Superun has now earned the title of my favorite race of the summer!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 06/24/2009
• Time: 19:00:00
• Total Time: 00:19:27.00
• Calories: 384
• Distance: 3.1 miles
• Average Pace: 6:16.57/mile