New Group Leader

Ran 2.5 yesterday around Lake Ivanhoe. Today, I went to the Metro 24/7 Fitness gym in downtown Orlando for a group run. I haven't attended in quite some time. There's a new group leader. So it was Dani (sp?), Steve, and myself roughing the high 40s this morning.

We ran 3.1 miles. I finished the last third of a mile strong. Felt great the whole time. We ran a conversational 10 minute pace. It was nice for a morning run.

That's 2 days in a row. Staying strong.

Time to Get Serious

The emails have started spreading.  The people are talking.  Non-runners are showing up at Lake Eola.

It's time to get serious about the Corporate 5k which takes place late April in downtown Orlando.  I decided yesterday that Saturday is going to be the start of my regular training regimen.  I haven't picked out workouts yet, but I am committing to training 6 days a week.  This may be in the form of strength training as well.  I will try to run every day even if it just the warmup.  I didn't tell anyone of my intention, not even Kim, for fear of not living up to expectations.  I've been told by coaches, mentors, and peers that I have lots of potential.  Not just in running, but I have heard this about other endeavors as well.

Well, I'm happy to state that I have gotten off to a good start.  I ran one lap around Lake Ivanhoe this morning.  That logs 2.5 miles so far.  I took it easy.  10 minute pace.  It was a perfect cool morning of 58 degrees.

New Year Run (Almost)

January first would have been the perfect day to start the year with a run, but New Year's Eve celebrations kept that from happening.  The second sounds better.  Ha ha.

I got up early to make up the difference and was on the streets before 6am.  I got to Kensington Park 5 minutes before it officially opened, but the gate was open.  I ran in and it was a bit weird running in a huge park before dawn with no lights.

Traveling south along the Broad Walk, I crossed over to Round Pond and woke a few swans.   Went northeast towards the square reflection ponds at the north edge of the Serpentine.  Noticed those were half frozen over.  South along Carriage Drive and Exhibition Road, then west to the Albert Memorial and back north winding my way back to Queensway.

Overall, it was a great peaceful run.  It was freezing, but I can just imagine running through this park in the spring.  Cheers!

Oh yeah, 4 miles.

3.9 miles easy

Nothing major to document here.

3.9 miles - started pre-dawn

37 minutes (just under 10 minute pace)
felt very easy, but I didn't want to push myself.

Ran through the small Rollins College campus and through a neighborhood by Mead Gardens to the Florida Hospital area.

It was humid (there was fog) and cool. I could see my breath by the end of my run even though it wasn't cold. Temps were in the 60's.

Calves tightened up by the end of the run. No stretching.

Pushing Through Pain

In the past 6 weeks, I have had bronchitis, a broken toe, influenza, and a weekend full of worrying while my significant other has been in the hospital.

The bronchitis was 6 weeks ago, the broken toe the following week, the flu 2 weeks ago and Thanksgiving weekend was spent at the hospital.  I have been holding on to something in my lungs and I could feel myself getting out of breath too easily.

I went out for a run this evening to the tune of 4.85 miles.  It felt great despite getting a blister on my left foot.  I started slowing down and a sinking feeling started to take hold.  No, sir.  I remembered how we used to show each other our blisters in the locker room in high school.  You start feeling the blister and if you just push through the pain for a minute or two, it will start to go numb.  I haven't done that in a long time.  Tonight, I remembered.  Tonight, I pushed through the pain until it faded.  I kept thinking about my pace and my form and I got through it.

Conditions:  cool 65 degrees, slightly humid

A Broken Toe Is Not Good For Running

A couple things to remember here.

I broke a phalange in my right foot.  OK, it's my pinkie toe.  It hurt a lot the first day, but hasn't been too bad since.  The swelling comes and goes depending on how much walking I do on it.  That's one thing to note.

The other thing is that I read a quiz in an email about your quality of life.  Topics were smoking, eating, relationships, blood pressure, exercise and a few more.  I scored in the middle.  That's not how I roll, so I went to the gym the same evening.  When I get there, I ask the guy behind the counter if he can look up the last time I had been there.  June 2nd he tells me.  That's 5 months.  I pay $25 per month in membership fees.  That's not bad at all, but if you go once every 5 months, that's a lot per workout.  I just had a $125 workout... plus tax.

At the gym, I wanted to test out my broken toe.  I hadn't tried running on it yet.  This may be a premature, because it hurts even when I walk on it too much.  This is why I wanted to use the treadmill instead of pounding the pavement, because if it hurts, I can stop at any time.

I start walking very slowly at .5 mph.  I can't feel a thing and either can my lungs.   Let's kick it up a notch I say in my head.  I bring it up to 3 mph.  Still doesn't hurt.  I keep increasing the belt speed to 5, then 6, and finally 7.5 mph.  Still no pain in my toe.  This is awesome!  I end up keeping that pace for 2 miles (8 minute mile).  No PRs forthcoming, but it felt great just to do that.  After the treadmill, I get some lat pulldowns, bench presses, arm curls, and stomach crunches into the workout.  I finished off with 7.5 minutes on the stationary bike for a cool down.

The next morning, my toe was swollen and purple again.  Oh yeah, it hurt a little, too.  Maybe running wasn't such a good idea... at least just yet.

Couch Potato... Not

So this day pretty much started by watching pregame on ESPN at 11am until 1pm.  Watched the Cowboys beat the Bucs and then continued to be a couch potato until 7pm by watching the Giants clean up a Redskin mess.

I stored up some energy with a cheeseburger and some pizza through the day, but I still didn't have a whole lot of energy.  I had to get up and do something, though.  I was inside all day.  I missed the sun completely.

I had to run.  4 miles.  I was probably going about 10 minute pace, but didn't stop so that was good.