Motivated to Succeed

8:00 AM - Sunny, blue skies, and temperature of low 40s. Perfect fall weather in the Northeast! Went jogging with Jonn. It's weird. I felt fine the first half, and then towards the end of the run I started to get a little knot in my right calf muscle again. No achilles pain, but the same stupid tightening of the calf muscle which still is tight now like an hour after the run. Not so much painful as it is uncomfortable. I did .5 mile warm up, then stretched, as well as .5 mile cool down at the end and stretched. Just really don't know what's up with it. I mean it's a plus that the achilles isn't hurting, but then I have to deal with a lingering soreness in my calf muscle that last week lasted three days. Not too pleasant. (Positive note: I did a .4 or .5 mile pickup towards the end of the run; steadily increasing pace. Got down to 6:28 pace with no pain!!)

• Mile 1 - 9:45
• Mile 2 - 9:28
• Mile 3 - 9:03
• Mile 4 - 9:23
• Mile 5 - 8:43
• Mile 6 - 8:28
• last .5 - 4:49

Total Time: 59:43 Total Distance: 6.5 miles Average Pace: 9:11

12:00 PM - After some morning errands in a cold, damp 40 degree drizzle, I went to the garage and hopped on the wind trainer. Felt good. Main goal was to try and work out the remaining soreness from the calf muscle. At least it's mainly gone, whereas last week's pain lingered until Tuesday or Wednesday. Felt good on the trainer. Ended up reading a bit of Dean Karnaze's 50/50  book that came out in August. Inspiring. I just hope to finish one marathon again! :) Staying positive is definitely the way to go. Feeling empowered and feeling like I can do this. Hopefully by spring I'll be pain free even on long runs!

Total Time: 1:05:00 Total Distance: 20 miles Average Speed: 18.4 mph*

*Note: I'm just going based on effort as far as the distance goes to try and put a gauge on how much I'm logging. I think that 65 mins per 20 miles is adequate because it is essentially as if I were biking on a flat road. Hopefully no one will mind. I know minutes are more important and those are what I will primarily use for objectives, but it is just nice to see how many miles you log as far as fitness is concerned.

12:00 PM - Gorgeous today. Exactly what I picture a fall day in New England to be. Blue skies, sunny, crisp, cool air. Temp right around 53 or 54. Couldn't have asked for better weather. I stretched and eased into a jog and felt good for most of the time. A little bit of tightening up the last mile of the run. Overall I was pleased though. Hope everyone's day was as nice as mine.

• Mile 1: 9:02
• Mile 2: 9:00
• Mile 3: 8:51
• last .75: 6:56 (9:15 pace)

Total Time: 33:50 Total Distance: 3.75 mi Average Pace: 9:01

8:30 AM - Gorgeous day like yesterday. Didn't want to push it so opted for the wind trainer instead of a jog. Did the same routine as Monday and did 65 minutes on the wind trainer. I like that length of ride. Just enough to get a good cardio in. Hopefully I can work up to a longer ride once a week or once every 10 days during the winter, but for now I'll stick to the hour range. Today is going to be a great day. Sunny, low 50s. Makes me want to go apple picking!

Total Time: 1:05:00 Total Distance: 20 miles Average Speed: 18.4 mph

5:00 AM - So today's run was a surreal experience. Jonn had a field trip for school to Salem, Massachusetts, so he woke me up at 4:40 this morning for me to take him to the school. I decided that "Hey if I'm going to be headed out that way, why not stop at the track and get a jog in?". Man what an awesome time! It was mid 50s so not chilly, but it was humid and there was a thick fog everywhere. It was so cool though lacing up and heading out onto the track. I bet all the people driving past were thinking either 1. I was a sketchmo stalker guy 2. a drug dealer, or 3. one crazy runner that just reaffirmed the reasons why they don't run. Man it feels good to be a runner again! Made sure to go nice and easy. Did 1 mile, stretched, then another 3 miles, stretched, and 1 mile cool down. No tightness in the calf today which was good and I feel a lot better than the other days so far. Maybe just have to keep starting slow :)

• Mile 1: 10:18
• Mile 2: 10:11
• Mile 3: 9:55
• Mile 4: 10:07
• Mile 5: 9:45

Total Time: 50:30 Total Distance: 5.02 mi Average Pace: 10:03

6:20 PM - Got out of work and zipped home, changed and was going to jog at the track, but got there and found there was a varsity soccer game going on. Too many people for me thanks! Parked my car on the backroads and stretched and ended up doing 2.5 out and back loops on the road. Was funny because towards the end I was .25 miles from my car or so, and I could see a truck stop by my car. I saw someone cross the headlights and then probably inspect my car for teen hooligans macking it in the front seat. Well he was probably surprised because there were no hooligans, and the most excitement in my backseat of my car right now is a 60's lamp and a bin full of tupperware and odds 'n ends that I am taking to Emma's for a tag sale. Oops! Anyways, the run was awesome. No pain in the calf or hamstring. I think the slow 1 mile warmup helps loosen up my legs so that the stretching is beneficial. Cool thing too was in the twilight seeing my shadow made from the moon, not the sun, and also "v" shaped formations of Canada geese coming in to land for the night. Cool! I love running in the fall, especially when I'm out on the backroads or just out when no one else is around :). Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! I almost made my short term goal of 20 miles of jogging in a week. I think I am going to stick to 4 days of jogging a week and use xtraining on the bike in between. Also I think I will take Saturdays off because tomorrow I am on my feet at work again all day 8am to 5pm. And could really use the day off from jogging. Overall this has been a spectacular week. I hope this continues!

• Mile 1: 10:17
• Mile 2: 10:27
• Mile 3: 10:24
• Mile 4: 10:03

Total Time: 41:49 Total Distance: 4.06 mi Average Pace: 10:17