Friday, January 29, 2010

The End is the Beginning






This song is pretty awesome, if you disagree don't talk to me we have nothing in common. It has nothing to do with the title of this blog, in fact the title of the blog is another awesome song by The Smashing Pumpkins. I was never really a smashing pumpkins fan before when they were apparently popular. It was on The Watchmen soundtrack but it was not the original version, or at least not that I know of. The original is much quicker paced.


Anyway end to an awesome week, Despite a shitty week running wise since I missed so much time I'm still very optimistic about pretty much everything not just running. So anyway now I am off to Lowell to hang out with some friends and have a good time. Have fun reading my blog.... jk no one will read this tonight.


P.S. Good Luck to Jim Johnson this weekend at the snow shoe qualifier race.




P.P.S. Apparently posting a embedded video messes up the text below so it's a little jumbled. I'll fix that later.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Poor Timing

So today was an odd day, it was as far as I saw above freezing all day then around 1pm it started snowing.  I wasn't sure how much snow to expect since I never watch the weather but I was wishing I could run then before too much snow accumulated.  Then I ended up talking to my friend Jim about meeting up in Wakefield for an easy 10 miles.  So we decided to meet up at 6pm and we'd learn later how bad an idea that was.

The snow in the afternoon didn't really stick to the ground at least not the pavement it was mostly just melting.  The snow seemed to stop close to when it was time to run and as I drove over I noticed the temp had then dropped below freezing.  As I pulled into the parking lot and we got ready to run suddenly blizzard conditions hit the lake.  It didn't last very long but it was heavy enough to put a layer of snow over all the pavement  within maybe 5 minutes.  There were no tire tracks from when I drove in but it was clearly covered when we started our run.  A thin layer of snow normally wouldn't be a big deal but since all the snow previous had just been melting and the temp was dropping the snow that had just fallen was covering a thin sheet of ice pretty much around the whole route we were running.  Now the plan was to run 10 miles and as we went along my legs were feeling worse and not like they were loosening up so I wasn't looking forward to the rest of the run.  Anyway we finished our first lap kinda a slower than normal pace because of all the slipping.  It really felt like at some points it was trying to run across the frozen lake instead of on pavement.  Anyway we started the second lap and in my head I was thinking since my legs had no felt any better that I might just make it 2 laps instead of 3.  That would have been fine until we approached one side where it was apparently much more slippery and Jim went down pretty hard.  Going down with his full weight on his right shoulder he was hurting. After waiting for the pain to subside and debating on weather we should cut the run short or not.  Instead of finishing that lap we just turned and headed back since we were not yet half way.  He has his snow shoe national qualifier race this weekend and I didn't care if I cut it short or not since my legs felt crappy.  We finished the run in 42 minutes and it was probably between 5.25 and 5.5 but I'm just going to call it 5 since I don't really care to map it out.

To complete the night when I got home after the run the power was out, either strong winds or some idiot that can't drive in winter conditions took out a pole and knocked the power out who knows.  Anyway so instead of getting some candles going and showering by candle light I just gave my friend a call and got some clothes and headed over to shower there and hang out for a bit.  Now it's approaching 10pm I am home again trying to figure out what I want for a late dinner.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

A Lack of Consistancy.

Well another week without a run pretty much.  I finally got back out there today and despite having my legs feeling extremely sore from football on Sunday I still managed to get in a good run.  I did a loop just shy of  7 miles with a little add on to make it 7 even.  I finished the run in 51:47 which comes out to around 7:24 pace for the entire run.  I'm pretty happy with that considering how my legs felt and that I slowed down on the second lap of the run because my left achilles felt a little tight so I didn't want to push it.

One thing I need to do better is stretch a lot more often, I don't do nearly as much stretching now as I did back in high school or even college.  So hopefully that combined with eating better will help recovery a bit and stay ahead of any injuries that I might run into.

Conflicting Interests?

So as I move forward and backward on my journey back into shape as expected there are plenty of things getting in the way.  Some maybe shouldn't be an issue others maybe they should.  One thing that has come up recently that could cause me to alter my goals and training is football.  My friends and I have seriously started looking into getting a competitive flag football team together and playing in a league.  This of course is a great thing because on any given day if I had the option to do anything playing football is likely to be a top 5 choice every time.    

This is something that could work out very well for me or not well at all.  What it comes down to is if I come home from work on a Friday night and I can either go for a run or meet with my friends(teammates) for a football practice, I'll be taking practice.  One because I love to football but two because I'm going to be running the offense for this football team so basically a captain/coach in addition to being a player so it becomes more difficult to skip practices.  That being the case it will force me to alter my running schedule.  Something I should probably do anyway but am not forced to do unless we go through with this football team.  If I start doing my distance training in the mornings it simplifies everything.  Then at that point the only thing I have to worry about are injuries between over training and all the stop and go cutting that is involved with football it could beat up my body more than I can handle.  After all I am closing in on 30 and have been out of shape for a while.

These kinds of situations though I have never really handled well in the past though football vs running really isn't as big of an issue as others.  When it comes down to what I want versus what is best for me I end up doing something other than picking one or the other.  Sometimes I've tried to force the things together, other times it's waiting it out and hoping that what I wanted eventually became what was best.  Either way it rarely works out.  These decisions are something I end up spending more time on than they are worth because I tend to do that with everything in my life.  When you do that you end up a whole lot worse off than had you just accepted something for what it is instead of what you either thought it was or hoped it was.

Anyway enough off topic ramblings for today.  What it comes down to is I need to start running in the mornings and forcing my sleeping problems to go away.  Being wide awake until somewhere between 2am and 6am just isn't going to help anything and needs to stop.  I suppose being awake as much as I am I have no reason to not blog more but oh well you have to deal with it.  I  will keep you posted on progress in the future.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Funny I come across this on a Sunday morning.



Also not surprising that religious people would value going to church over an education.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Progress...kinda

So despite being a little lazy for a few days I managed to get a run in finally.  Last night after work I met up with Jim back at Wakefield to attempt 3 long laps.  Lucky for me Jim had done a track workout the night before and was late getting there so did it with no warm up and was paying for it.  By 6:45 or so we finally started our run, nice and slow which of course I'd rather go quicker but since it'd be my first run of this distance since last spring/summer.

We were probably well above 8 minute pace on the first lap, which was fine, not all of it was clear running, there was plenty of black ice along the route we had to be careful of.  We picked up the pace as we ran, nothing drastic but by the end of the run we were probably hitting 7:50 at least.  My breathing was completely fine but I started to feel my legs getting sore at the start of the last lap and they just felt progressively worse as the run continued.  Now at almost 1pm the day after they are still incredibly sore.  Getting out of bed this morning was a task.   Still though it's a good feeling and it's good to know that at least breathing wise the 10 miles was easy to do so even though I've been taking too many days off I am still getting into better shape.

Also another good sign is weight has started to come off, and I've seemed to get somewhat of a runners hunger back.  There has been a few times in the past week or so that I've been more hungry than I've been in months, something that runners can get when training or people with tapeworms get.  It's great though it just means that what little running I've done so far is taking effect, so I just need to keep it up, well hopefully run a little more consistently but at least for now no real injury problems.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Whoops where did that week go?

Well it was brought to my attention last night that I had gone a week without a post by my only reader so Jim here is another one for you.  I haven't updated it because I guess I really haven't had much to say.  I have been running though actually had a great run on Wednesday night.  6.7 miles at 7:36 pace definitely the best run I've had so far since getting back into it.  It's a lot nicer now that my runs over at the lake I'm not dying at the end of one lap and debating on if I should try for the second.  I am still going to do a few one lap runs and take it easy on days to hopefully avoid injury.  I think that is one positive about my laziness is I've gotten plenty of rest over the past month or so but I am still improving which is nice.  No calf issues yet and I have wondered if I am just lucky so far or if maybe it happens in the hot weather solely because I don't hydrate enough anymore at least when it's hot.  I drink plenty of water but I don't think as much as when I was in real good shape.

Anyway I will try to keep the posts more up to date but I still update my running log so it can always be checked to see if I am actually running.

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Staying on Track

Last night I did another short run, 3.43  my legs were still feeling fatigued from the previous two runs.  I think the snow/ice has taken it's toll just making it a little bit more difficult to run and it's now catching up with me.  I am undecided if I am going to take today off yet. I will probably try to go another 3 or 4 miles which is behind the schedule I want to be at but still it's a run that I'd be getting in.  

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Wakefield Winters

So New England winters can be annoying when it comes to running.  I don't overall mind it, I have a bigger problem with the town I live in and their lack of clearing any sidewalks.  Considering how narrow the roads are to begin with it makes it pretty difficult to run safely at night.  So most of my winter running as long as their is snow covering the sidewalks will be done in Wakefield.  Not that it's really a problem it's not too far away and since in the nicer months in the cases I do end up running I don't normally run there because there are better options so I don't get too sick of it during the winter.

Well since it is now 3:30 in the morning, I should say that Monday(no longer yesterday) I ran the lake with Jim Johnson and got in 2 laps which totaled 7 miles.  We ran it in just over 54 minutes which isn't too bad of a pace for me.  I felt awful starting out, Jim had shown up early to do a quick lap before I got there so he was warmed up well and going quicker than I would have liked for the first half of the first lap.  I paid for that the rest of the run.

Tonight(well last night since it was 10 hours ago)  I headed back to the lake to take an easy lap around, and from my start and finish point it's 3.4 miles.  I felt pretty weak at the start of the run, but I also felt loose.  I didn't need to warm up to run a quicker than normal pace but I didn't feel like I could sustain it very long.  Instead of trying to hold myself back I just went with it and figured I'd see what happens.  I covered the 3.4 in 25:21 which is 7:21 pace I think, either way without checking back at previous runs I'm pretty sure that is the fastest I've done any run since I've been keeping track again.

Definitely more encouraging information, also despite my lack of running in the recent past I still have managed to start losing weight.  Not that it's really a surprise I was doing regular runs before the holidays hit, but it's nice to see the weight start to come off as I've dropped 3 lbs.  Now All I have to do is keep it up so I can make it back down to the 140 range.  Maybe at that point my shin will stop hurting though I'm not sure if my rolled ankle will be completely healed by then, it doesn't affect anything but I still notice the pain now and again.

As to my yearly goal of getting a minimum of 2,010 miles in I'm certainly behind after the missed days.  A total of 17.66 right now when I should be at 27.5.  I figured I'd start off behind considering I'll be doing 3 mile short runs instead of 5 but still i've missed more days than I should have.  It shouldn't be an issue to make up seeing how I'd like to get up to 70 miles per week by the spring which should be easily doable.  If that is actually accomplished I'd be caught up rather quickly.

Saturday, January 2, 2010

New Year Shmoo(Is that spelled right?) Year

So today is January 1st 2010, the first day of my challenge for myself to see how long it takes me to run 2,010 miles.  I made a post about it before here.  I am not going to go into the details of my day but it started off pretty crappy and ended pretty good.  I didn't go running until 9pm which is probably why I am writing this at midnight and I feel like it's maybe 9 or 10 instead.

I did a longish run today at least for me at the moment, 7.23 miles is what it was mapped out to be.  I went slow partially due to wanting to and I was also kind of forced to, there was still an inch or so of snow on just about all the sidewalks which made it slippery especially going up hills.  I ran for a total of 59:37 which comes out to like 8:15 per mile much slower than runs were at least before the holidays and my laziness of not running.

So not that I will average that per day, hopefully it's more for the entire year but if I average that out for 6 days a week it would take 46 weeks to hit the 2,010 mark.  Anyway stay tuned and keep track on the widget on the side that keeps track of the running.  I may not always write a blog entry every day but I will update the widget to keep track of each run.  I also map each route with mapmyrun.com.