Today was the first time I had ran outside in 10 days. When I first stated this whole running thing I really wanted to get out everyday, sun wind water or cold, but there are just some elements that shouldn't be toyed with, like -10f at mid-day. When your entire world is trapped indoors due to cold its really, really hard to convince yourself that not running is the better choice. In my head all I've wanted to do is hit the streets, but my stupid brain kept reminding me how much I hate the cold so I just ended up staying in. Sure, there's a treadmill, but I get so bored running on it that it seems counter productive.
The good news is today the weather turned and it was in the mid 30's all day giving me the perfect opportunity to get out and see the road again. I wasn't sure how I was going to react to being back outside and not having the ability to just stop running and not worry about getting home, so I planned a shorter 4 mile run. I figured it is enough of a middle distance so it would be a good re-entry workout while at the same time be worth the effort of doing. I don't see 2 miles as worth the time anymore. Maybe if I was really pressed for time and I could turn a 2 mile run into something more like a speed training exercise, but just to run it seems worthless. So 4 miles it was, and I couldn't be happier with the results.
Not only did I post my fastest on road mile time to date, but also carried my fastest overall pace as well, scoring a healthy 8:09/mile. I don't know if it was the rejuvenating sense of getting to see the outdoors comfortably or just my excitement to be running again, but I don't know that I have had a better run to date. I felt great the entire run and when it was over I felt completely relaxed and ready to go again if I had to.
Maybe it was the time off, they say that taking a good break every now and again can really improve performance, so thats always possible. Regardless of the why, the fact is I got back out, ran a decent distance and had a great overall time. Lets just see if I can keep it up for the next 16 weeks.
Jan 27, 2008
Jan 22, 2008
-10 = no running outside
Minnesota is killer in the winter, especially in the 'dead' of winter, which is right now. More times than not in the last 9 days it has been so cold outside that if you were to spend 15min standing without proper covering you would be sure to get frostbite. This is no joke, they say it one the news.
I have not been able to run outside at all for the last few days, which is a terrible thing when you're in my position. The key to accomplishing anything is sticking to your convictions, that means when you've set out to do something you need to take all the steps that move you toward your goal and not away from it. When I set out to run this spring I want to build up from 20 miles a week to over 40 miles a week within 8 weeks time. This didn't seem too difficult when I plotted it out. The problems come when you deviate from a schedule, not just once but many times.
I love setting goals and have ideas. I dream all the time and have extravagant goals that I want desperately to achieve, but have a really hard time following through with them. Take 'New Years Resolutions' for example. The first few weeks are great, you stick to your diet or workout all the days you have planned and it feels great. Then you skip a day. You get back on track afterward but then something else happens and you miss two days. You get back to the gym and pick up where you left off, well now you go an vacation for 6 days and don't workout or follow your diet plan at all and when you come back it is almost impossible to get caught back up. This is whats going on with me right now. I was doing great, feeling great and getting my miles in, then the cold came. I had no motivation to bundle up and get my running shoes out in the cold, so I didn't. Then I didn't again, for 4 days. Disaster.
I have a treadmill at home, which helps out a lot this time of year, but running on a treadmill may be the worst thing ever invented. You can watch TV or listen to your music but for some reason that constant sound of your shoes on the fake road and the wurr of the motor just ruin the whole experience. Change your speed or incline, turn on the 'Simulated Wind' and you'd think you're ok, but you're not. You just cant help but get bored. All you do is stare at your little stat counter, miles run and calories burned, it takes everything you have to look away and not follow along. Its when you try your everything to not focus on the numbers that you stop focusing on your legs and running, and you falter. There is nothing you can do, you're trapped in your head not being able to think about running because that just makes you want to see your progress and it all starts over again.
When you're on the road its different, you can get lost in the world and as long as you keep your legs going everything works. You can pace yourself with your surroundings and you know when you're moving or not, this is not the case when on the treadmill. Your not moving, really, so the signal your brain gets is "why are we running, we're not getting anywhere?" and you start to fall off the ball. You get tired for no physical reason, you're just bored and you can no longer go on. On the road you can hit 5 miles without hurting, but on the treadmill after 2 you just feel done. It isn't the same and in the end I fear it will hurt me.
So, I'm stuck with a dilemma: not run in the cold and killing my habit, or running with bad form for a shorter period of time and mentally killing the notion of running.
Whats worse, not running and letting my legs and muscles hibernate or hating every step I take giving my mind a bad feeling about this whole running thing?
This weekend it is supposed to be getting warmer, the high 20's and 30's sound great compared to -10 and 5 above. Hopefully this will be the motivation that I am in so desperate need of, otherwise I may close this blog and go back to 'not running'.
I have not been able to run outside at all for the last few days, which is a terrible thing when you're in my position. The key to accomplishing anything is sticking to your convictions, that means when you've set out to do something you need to take all the steps that move you toward your goal and not away from it. When I set out to run this spring I want to build up from 20 miles a week to over 40 miles a week within 8 weeks time. This didn't seem too difficult when I plotted it out. The problems come when you deviate from a schedule, not just once but many times.
I love setting goals and have ideas. I dream all the time and have extravagant goals that I want desperately to achieve, but have a really hard time following through with them. Take 'New Years Resolutions' for example. The first few weeks are great, you stick to your diet or workout all the days you have planned and it feels great. Then you skip a day. You get back on track afterward but then something else happens and you miss two days. You get back to the gym and pick up where you left off, well now you go an vacation for 6 days and don't workout or follow your diet plan at all and when you come back it is almost impossible to get caught back up. This is whats going on with me right now. I was doing great, feeling great and getting my miles in, then the cold came. I had no motivation to bundle up and get my running shoes out in the cold, so I didn't. Then I didn't again, for 4 days. Disaster.
I have a treadmill at home, which helps out a lot this time of year, but running on a treadmill may be the worst thing ever invented. You can watch TV or listen to your music but for some reason that constant sound of your shoes on the fake road and the wurr of the motor just ruin the whole experience. Change your speed or incline, turn on the 'Simulated Wind' and you'd think you're ok, but you're not. You just cant help but get bored. All you do is stare at your little stat counter, miles run and calories burned, it takes everything you have to look away and not follow along. Its when you try your everything to not focus on the numbers that you stop focusing on your legs and running, and you falter. There is nothing you can do, you're trapped in your head not being able to think about running because that just makes you want to see your progress and it all starts over again.
When you're on the road its different, you can get lost in the world and as long as you keep your legs going everything works. You can pace yourself with your surroundings and you know when you're moving or not, this is not the case when on the treadmill. Your not moving, really, so the signal your brain gets is "why are we running, we're not getting anywhere?" and you start to fall off the ball. You get tired for no physical reason, you're just bored and you can no longer go on. On the road you can hit 5 miles without hurting, but on the treadmill after 2 you just feel done. It isn't the same and in the end I fear it will hurt me.
So, I'm stuck with a dilemma: not run in the cold and killing my habit, or running with bad form for a shorter period of time and mentally killing the notion of running.
Whats worse, not running and letting my legs and muscles hibernate or hating every step I take giving my mind a bad feeling about this whole running thing?
This weekend it is supposed to be getting warmer, the high 20's and 30's sound great compared to -10 and 5 above. Hopefully this will be the motivation that I am in so desperate need of, otherwise I may close this blog and go back to 'not running'.
Jan 10, 2008
Tiger Woods and Lance Armstrong
Today I was congratulated verbally from Tiger Woods, today was officially my fastest average mile pace, 8.19/mile over 4.5 miles. Digitally its correct, but during my run it sure didn't feel like I was running any faster than before. Today was hard, it was really hard. I have run longer and I have run faster, I have run more hills and less hills, but today I really felt like I was running out of myself, running away from the norm, today hurt.
Now, my normal average is around 8.30/mile, so dropping down to 8.19 doesn't seem like a whole lot faster, but over the coarse of say, 5 miles, 11 second a mile tuns into almost a minute faster in the end. Every second counts.
I run alone most days, sometimes its a good thing but most of the time its hard. I run alone because I live out away from a big city and my friends that run regularly are at a different pace and distance than I am at so someone has to sacrifice or we're still just running alone only with another person on the path either ahead or behind. So the only option is to seek out others who run like you or at a place you want to be soon. So I went looking and much to my surprise found a group locally who happen to be professional runners. This may have been the greatest discovery I have ever made whilst attempting anything athletic.
Running with someone who has been running for as long as you've been alive makes a difference. Running with someone who has trained for marathons or triathlons or Iron Mans makes a huge difference. Never before had I felt so inferior while at the same time felt completely accepted as a novice.
When I run alone my pace varies constantly, I cant help it. When I get tired I slow down and recover then after I've gotten some strength back the pace get picked back up and I try and regain ground. This is a terrible way to run.
Considering driving your car in traffic versus on the open interstate. You will conserve far less fuel traveling at a constant 50mph versus going 30 then 50, 60 then 20 ect. You may reach your gaol in the same amount of total time but in the end if you keep a constant pace you will be in better shape, or more 'fuel' efficient. This I learned on Tuesday of this week.
During our 5.25 mile run through the White Bear area we averaged 8.25min/mile. This is about what I run by myself for the raw data doesnt show anything. But when you look at my speed over time over distance graph (thank you nike+) my pace was a constant 8.25min/mile with the group, where when I am alone I am all over the board.
I started to wonder about running up or down hills, maybe it was the rout we were on that gave us the 'plateau' of perfect performance, that we were on perfect level ground the whole time giving us a huge advantage over someone who happens to run over less than perfect terrain, myself. This was not the case at all, in fact it may have been the exact opposite. We ran a rout that took us up and down, around crazy corner and over all sorts of terrain and at one point over a snow cover frozen lake. So whats was there great secrete?
Training. Plane and simple.
Whether you run 3 miles or 30, keeping a constant pace is the answer to longevity and overall body health. Constant fluxuation is the enemy. Think Tortoise and Hare.
Sure, running with the group was neither me fastest nor my longest run of all time, but when it was all over I couldn't have felt any better. I felt so good, felt so in control that I wanted to go again, something they said was not the right idea.
"Training isn't about pushing your limits every day. Training is about understanding your limits and building on them for strength"
I did not realize any of this until after my solo run today, where after it was over I felt like shit and didn't know why. After loading my run data onto Nike+ and comparing the two it all just clicked. I had more highs and lows than a meth addict putting me into the weeds through my entire run. Yes I was faster than ever (which may be attributed to my day off yesterday) but today was one of those 'wall' days, where every step hurts a little bit more than the last, every mile harder than its predecessor and it was one of those defeating kinds of runs where you just want to end.
Today was a learning experience, and those are always good days.
Now, my normal average is around 8.30/mile, so dropping down to 8.19 doesn't seem like a whole lot faster, but over the coarse of say, 5 miles, 11 second a mile tuns into almost a minute faster in the end. Every second counts.
I run alone most days, sometimes its a good thing but most of the time its hard. I run alone because I live out away from a big city and my friends that run regularly are at a different pace and distance than I am at so someone has to sacrifice or we're still just running alone only with another person on the path either ahead or behind. So the only option is to seek out others who run like you or at a place you want to be soon. So I went looking and much to my surprise found a group locally who happen to be professional runners. This may have been the greatest discovery I have ever made whilst attempting anything athletic.
Running with someone who has been running for as long as you've been alive makes a difference. Running with someone who has trained for marathons or triathlons or Iron Mans makes a huge difference. Never before had I felt so inferior while at the same time felt completely accepted as a novice.
When I run alone my pace varies constantly, I cant help it. When I get tired I slow down and recover then after I've gotten some strength back the pace get picked back up and I try and regain ground. This is a terrible way to run.
Considering driving your car in traffic versus on the open interstate. You will conserve far less fuel traveling at a constant 50mph versus going 30 then 50, 60 then 20 ect. You may reach your gaol in the same amount of total time but in the end if you keep a constant pace you will be in better shape, or more 'fuel' efficient. This I learned on Tuesday of this week.
During our 5.25 mile run through the White Bear area we averaged 8.25min/mile. This is about what I run by myself for the raw data doesnt show anything. But when you look at my speed over time over distance graph (thank you nike+) my pace was a constant 8.25min/mile with the group, where when I am alone I am all over the board.
I started to wonder about running up or down hills, maybe it was the rout we were on that gave us the 'plateau' of perfect performance, that we were on perfect level ground the whole time giving us a huge advantage over someone who happens to run over less than perfect terrain, myself. This was not the case at all, in fact it may have been the exact opposite. We ran a rout that took us up and down, around crazy corner and over all sorts of terrain and at one point over a snow cover frozen lake. So whats was there great secrete?
Training. Plane and simple.
Whether you run 3 miles or 30, keeping a constant pace is the answer to longevity and overall body health. Constant fluxuation is the enemy. Think Tortoise and Hare.
Sure, running with the group was neither me fastest nor my longest run of all time, but when it was all over I couldn't have felt any better. I felt so good, felt so in control that I wanted to go again, something they said was not the right idea.
"Training isn't about pushing your limits every day. Training is about understanding your limits and building on them for strength"
I did not realize any of this until after my solo run today, where after it was over I felt like shit and didn't know why. After loading my run data onto Nike+ and comparing the two it all just clicked. I had more highs and lows than a meth addict putting me into the weeds through my entire run. Yes I was faster than ever (which may be attributed to my day off yesterday) but today was one of those 'wall' days, where every step hurts a little bit more than the last, every mile harder than its predecessor and it was one of those defeating kinds of runs where you just want to end.
Today was a learning experience, and those are always good days.
Jan 6, 2008
Weight lose, and me
Today, according to my nike+, I burned 714 calories during my nearly 6 mile run. Speaking of nearly, my goal today was 6 miles and anything beyond that would have been great, the route I choose however, was just under 6 miles and I didn't know this until the end of my run. Shit. So I only ran 5.75 miles, which still isn't bad just not what I wanted. I am aware that I can program into my iPod the distance I want to run and it will keep track for me and alert me when I'm reaching my goal. That would be great and all if I wasn't on a specific route and could just turn 'round at the halfway point. That is not what I do, I pick a route and see how long it is for future use. I'm not that upset, I just have to adjust the rout for next time is all.
So, 700+ calories in one hour, that seems a bit unrealistic. I did calibrate my sensor and it knows what I weigh so I guess it could be right, but it seems like its too high. This means that if I run 10 miles ill burn about 1100 calories, 20 would be 2200 and 26 would be nearly 3000. Actually, now that Ive written that out it makes more sense, as I read (and wrote below) that the average male runner will burn about 3500 calories during a marathon, so never mind.
Today I learned that if I continue on my course of action, achieving a minimum of 40 miles a week by February, I will be losing a lot of weight. Now I'm not a big guy to start, 6' 165lbs, I really don't have a lot to lose. I don't know how I feel about this. I know that to be a successful runner I need to be a bit lighter, but I could slip down to 150 and maybe 140, which is about what my little brother puts in his shoes, and he's pretty fucking small. I don't know that I want that so much...
What I need to do is focus on the training and not the weight lose. What I need to do is train my body to work with what its got and not what it needs, to not lose weight but to focus on running with the weight I've got which in the end I guess could make me a better runner. Thats an interesting thought, forcing a disadvantage onto myself will in the end make me better than I would have been had I lost the weight making it easier to run. This could be a good thing, I should be cross training with muscle building in mind giving me the most advantage I could possibly attain, distance lungs and ripped abs...
The problem with that is they are not compatible at all. For the very basic reason that says good distance runners are thin and good muscle builders are heavy. I know that there is a balance here, and I think with my athletic background I will be able to find it. So my new goal is to not lose weight, rather keep the weight I have and maybe even gain by way to muscle building there by keeping my brain happy. I just dont see myself happy at 140ish pounds and I know I couldnt just lift, that would go against most everything I have ever done or taught (at a high school soccer level).
I need to monitor my caloric intake to I don't fall to far away from where I am now.
Dinner tonight:
Small mixed green salad
-mixed field greens, white onion, carrot, sunflower seeds and light Italian dressing
Chili
-badass homemade chili
-two pieces of 100% wheat toast, no butter
1/8 cantelope
10oz skim milk
1/2oz Amplify Chocolate whey protein
2 liters of water
So, 700+ calories in one hour, that seems a bit unrealistic. I did calibrate my sensor and it knows what I weigh so I guess it could be right, but it seems like its too high. This means that if I run 10 miles ill burn about 1100 calories, 20 would be 2200 and 26 would be nearly 3000. Actually, now that Ive written that out it makes more sense, as I read (and wrote below) that the average male runner will burn about 3500 calories during a marathon, so never mind.
Today I learned that if I continue on my course of action, achieving a minimum of 40 miles a week by February, I will be losing a lot of weight. Now I'm not a big guy to start, 6' 165lbs, I really don't have a lot to lose. I don't know how I feel about this. I know that to be a successful runner I need to be a bit lighter, but I could slip down to 150 and maybe 140, which is about what my little brother puts in his shoes, and he's pretty fucking small. I don't know that I want that so much...
What I need to do is focus on the training and not the weight lose. What I need to do is train my body to work with what its got and not what it needs, to not lose weight but to focus on running with the weight I've got which in the end I guess could make me a better runner. Thats an interesting thought, forcing a disadvantage onto myself will in the end make me better than I would have been had I lost the weight making it easier to run. This could be a good thing, I should be cross training with muscle building in mind giving me the most advantage I could possibly attain, distance lungs and ripped abs...
The problem with that is they are not compatible at all. For the very basic reason that says good distance runners are thin and good muscle builders are heavy. I know that there is a balance here, and I think with my athletic background I will be able to find it. So my new goal is to not lose weight, rather keep the weight I have and maybe even gain by way to muscle building there by keeping my brain happy. I just dont see myself happy at 140ish pounds and I know I couldnt just lift, that would go against most everything I have ever done or taught (at a high school soccer level).
I need to monitor my caloric intake to I don't fall to far away from where I am now.
Dinner tonight:
Small mixed green salad
-mixed field greens, white onion, carrot, sunflower seeds and light Italian dressing
Chili
-badass homemade chili
-two pieces of 100% wheat toast, no butter
1/8 cantelope
10oz skim milk
1/2oz Amplify Chocolate whey protein
2 liters of water
Jan 2, 2008
Marathon
Competitive Marathon runners are completely insane. I say this with the utmost respect, but the people who run Marathons professionally have a screw lose. In order to run well for any amount of distance you need to be as small as possible. Small is the wrong word, you need to be as light weight as possible. In running, much like Auto Racing, weight is the enemy, so in order to run at your peak performance at all times you must be as small as your body will allow you to be while maintaining a muscle structure that is still capable of running 3-5 hrs straight. These people, these marathon people, they have body fat percentages in the low single digits, I'm talking 3-6% body fat. An athletic and healthy male age 18-30 will have a body fat percentage around 10, where a female in the same position will be just around 20%. It is however, not uncommon to find perfectly healthy men around 15% and healthy women up are 25%. These people are not runners. Runners are light weight calorie burning machines. In a normal full Marathon, 26.2 miles, a 120lbs competitive male can burn as many as 3500 calories. 3500 calories in under 4 hours, 1/2 of which will come from fat storage while the second half comes from muscle and blood glucose (carbohydrates).
This sounds appealing at first, but when you really get down to it its kinda gross. Skinny gross.
This guy is Kenya's (and the worlds) top marathon runner, Paul Tergat. Tergat holds the world record for fastest marathon completion with a time of 2hrs 5 min and 44secs. 26.2 miles in 2 hrs is roughly 13mph. His competitive mile pace is under 5 min. In my life I have never run a 5 min mile, not one. The closest I have even been to that is a 06:20 when I was in 10th grade. Paul Tergat is a maniac, but this is what he does for a living, he runs marathons.
I am not a small person. I am also not a very big person. I, age 24, am 6 feet tall and weight (today) 167lbs. All my life I have had a body fat percentage of just above 5, my lowest calculated % was at the age of 17 were I was 3.6%. Today, January 2nd 2008, I may be at one of the highest fat percentages in my life, maybe 9%. I do not have a way to measure myself right now, but I promise to get a real number here very soon.
I am not doing this to lose weight. I do not have nor have ever thought myself to be a fat or an over weight person. I feel that I need to say that right away, this isn't about me getting skinny. These numbers are merely a point of reference, something to base future information off.
Because its a new year and because this is what you do for the new year, here is the goal:
June 21th, 2008 enter and finish the Grandma's marathon in Duluth MN.
I do not expect to win, in fact I really don't even expect to place in a conventional sense, I want to enter this race and finish in the time allowed while at the same time not coming in last. Any idiot can finish last. What I want to to prove that you don't need to be a lifelong runner and that 1000's of hours of training isn't necessary. I will build a run plan including many different lengths, tempos and time guild lines but have only 5 months to finish. The advantage I have over many people is that I am (rather have been) and athlete, so I'm not starting at the bottom. I have run before, but never more than 10-15 miles per week and in reality I only ran consecutive 15 mile weeks twice and since then its been more or less 5-7 miles a week.
So as the Bandit would say, I have a long way to go and a short time to get there, so just sit back and watch old 'runner' run.
"Running is a very simple thing, once you have shorts, a pair of running shoes, you are off - you can become a champion" world marathon record holder Paul Tergat
This sounds appealing at first, but when you really get down to it its kinda gross. Skinny gross.
This guy is Kenya's (and the worlds) top marathon runner, Paul Tergat. Tergat holds the world record for fastest marathon completion with a time of 2hrs 5 min and 44secs. 26.2 miles in 2 hrs is roughly 13mph. His competitive mile pace is under 5 min. In my life I have never run a 5 min mile, not one. The closest I have even been to that is a 06:20 when I was in 10th grade. Paul Tergat is a maniac, but this is what he does for a living, he runs marathons.
I am not a small person. I am also not a very big person. I, age 24, am 6 feet tall and weight (today) 167lbs. All my life I have had a body fat percentage of just above 5, my lowest calculated % was at the age of 17 were I was 3.6%. Today, January 2nd 2008, I may be at one of the highest fat percentages in my life, maybe 9%. I do not have a way to measure myself right now, but I promise to get a real number here very soon.
I am not doing this to lose weight. I do not have nor have ever thought myself to be a fat or an over weight person. I feel that I need to say that right away, this isn't about me getting skinny. These numbers are merely a point of reference, something to base future information off.
Because its a new year and because this is what you do for the new year, here is the goal:
June 21th, 2008 enter and finish the Grandma's marathon in Duluth MN.
I do not expect to win, in fact I really don't even expect to place in a conventional sense, I want to enter this race and finish in the time allowed while at the same time not coming in last. Any idiot can finish last. What I want to to prove that you don't need to be a lifelong runner and that 1000's of hours of training isn't necessary. I will build a run plan including many different lengths, tempos and time guild lines but have only 5 months to finish. The advantage I have over many people is that I am (rather have been) and athlete, so I'm not starting at the bottom. I have run before, but never more than 10-15 miles per week and in reality I only ran consecutive 15 mile weeks twice and since then its been more or less 5-7 miles a week.
So as the Bandit would say, I have a long way to go and a short time to get there, so just sit back and watch old 'runner' run.
"Running is a very simple thing, once you have shorts, a pair of running shoes, you are off - you can become a champion" world marathon record holder Paul Tergat
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