THOR running: Not fast..but I pound the pavement!

I am BACK!!!  Wow... had to take more days off then I wanted to but those other shoes did a job on my feet (serious pain).. thanks to advil and 15 min. ice bucket soaks. 

Also, I went back to a brand that I am really familiar with.. that helps runners with severe pronation and provides motion control.  I got in my 6 miles and they felt really good this morning no feet problems... THANK GOODNESS! :-) The only thing is that they are clunky to run in... but hey all things considered I will take clunking vs. pain any day of the week!

Also I got me a Garmin 305 running toy!  and am estatic about it too... no more glancing at the clock when I leave the house and glancing again when I return getting an approximate time... now I will know all of the details...

This morning got in 5.7 and will get in a few more this afternoon with my family run (i.e. I will be pushing the stroller again) :-)

Happy New Year... wishing many "fast" injury free miles to everyone!!

Ok two days and I am finally starting to get back into a groove.  Gotta love the Christmas holidays but the varying schedule is not good for the work-out schedule.   Almost got bit this morning by the excuse bug but managed to fight it off and get my run in.  I was indeed being lazy however in addition.... mentally I was not excited about getting out into the 24 deg. F. (with winds) for a run.  After I got about 0.5 miles into it it was not too bad; although I have to be honest... when the first wind gust hit me... I thought about sprinting back to my BED! Lol

The second set of shoes are definitely a keeper... I am happy with my selection now and my feet/body appear to approve!  I noticed this morning that I am going to have to focus more on my running form. It appeared to take a little more energy but the results were huge when I focused on trying to take a longer stride as well as pushing my arms... forward and backwards.  Not exactly sure if this is good form or not although I do plan on doing some research now to determine what is indeed best.

I think I am down approx. 2 lbs this week as I weighed in at 193.. good news as I need to be down approx. 18 more in the next 8 weeks.  Obviously I will be watching my diet a lot closer now with the New Year!

Lastly I am finally getting my Garmin 305 programmed to my specs... on my first run it was beeping at me the entire run telling me to speed up.. speed up.... then when I would run faster it would tell me that my heart rate was too fast!  :-)   I am excited to be able to use the heart rate feature.... after about two more weeks I plan to try and identify my optimal running heart rate and use that for my upcoming marathon in March.

Will try to hit the gym later today for another 4 miles! Stay tuned!

Lunch Update:

Was able to squeak out 4.2 at lunch today to round off today at 10 miles.... first 3 miles I ran in 22.32 seconds... from my rough calculations that puts me at a 7 min 31 sec / mile pace! :-) I am very happy with that... ok so after I exhausted myself on the first three, I literally walked some, jogged some, and sprinted some for the last 1.2 miles.  I believe I finished the 4.2 in 35min and 45 seconds? although I am not really sure because I was focusing only on distance at the end.

Did not make my full 10 miles today... that is my total including my 3 miles at lunch.  This morning was rough to say the least.  Temp. was about 19 degrees... no wind but wow was it cold.  A lot of runners on this site are from up "north" so I have to add my reference point.  I am fron NC where about 1 month ago the temp was in the low 80's... seriously! 

Ok so I am running with a t-shirt, two hoodied sweat shirts, a fleece coat, skull cap, gloves, sweat pants, and shorts!! I had planned on going about 8 miles but about 1/2 way through my first long loop (approx. 3 miles) it felt like I was carrying a 10lbs on my back with 3 lb ankle weights.  I was not pushing hard or anything... just taking a slow run that ended up being a train wreck.  In summary the run just felt bad... in the morning I completed 5.5 miles.

Lunch time I went to spin class and did fairly well.  It is a really tough class but the instructor has awesome music and is very energetic so you feel bad about not pushing yourself.

After the spin class I hit the treadmill.... the first two miles actually felt pretty good, but the last mile I had to push a bit.  I got the first two miles in at about a 8 min./mile pace and the last mile was about a 9.5 min./mile pace.

Unfortunately again I believe my lack luster day is due to energy.  I have been cutting back on the sweets and non-beneficial carbs but they seem like a direct link to my energy!  I am going to bear with it for at least two weeks.  Hopefully by then I will be through my withdrawel and my body will transition to other sources of food for energy... (i.e. protein!)

Another cold morning around 17 degrees F at the start of my run and 16 degrees F at the end.  I was Eskimo man again... equipped with my T-shirt, Long sleeve T-Shirt, 2 hooded sweat shirts, skull cap, lower face wrap, gloves, sweats, and shorts!  I am guessing that those cloths weighed at least 5 lbs toward the end of the run because I sweat a lot and they were soaked!

Looking forward to next week... temps. are supposed to be back in the lower 40's... NICE!!

This morning my run was slow... not intentionally I just could not get any momentum (hopefully because of all of the cloths).  Although; I do have to say that I felt better than yesterday!  For some reason I just could not get the wheels turning!  In the end I was determined not to stop or cut it short and achieved that goal.  Although my shoes are now not causing me pain I do feel like I am running in bricks... they literally make a Clip/Clop sound like horse hooves when I run.

Two more runs before I can take a day off.  This afternoon I have been invited to run with "THE RUNNERS" at my local YMCA.  These guys are the real deal.  I will not be able to hang with them but for about 1-2 miles but I have to start somewhere.   They typically go 5 miles at about a 7 min 30 sec. pace...soooooo wish me luck!  I am a competitor so I don't plan on being embarrassed for long.  I plan to run with them once a week for a while until I can hang with them enough to finish with them in view ahead of me.... and then over time add days to run with them as my conditioning/speed gets better.  In any event I have no worries about getting lost, I have my Garmin GPS so all will work out "when" I get left in their dust today!! 

Then on tomorrow I have my long run... will target ohhhhhh 14-15 miles. Hopefully a warmer morning.

Stay tuned.. more updates after my lunch run! 

Update:

Well I didn't do good.... but not horrible either.  Got to the gym and thought I missed the group but only one of the runners (Keith) showed up.  We started off and I was doing well although two things came up which initially got me off track.  1) My garmin did not locate the satellite very quickly, so after about .4 miles into the run I had to shut it off and turn it on again... needless to say about the 1st .7 miles I was fiddling with it.  Next time I will meet the group down stairs/outside with my Garmin ready to go! & 2)I have always been running by myself, so it was different talking while I was running as well as keeping pace with someone else.  However, I did really push.  I still have quite a few lbs. to loose and today for the first time in a while I ran so hard that my lower sides (aka luv handles!) ached.  I was only able to keep up with Keith for about 2.25 miles then he started pulling away.  I did keep him in my sight for most of the run (i.e.he got approx 2.25 blocks ahead).  In the end... I am glad I finally made the run, and actually plan to incorporate running with that group at minimal once per week and over time get to where I run with them everyday :-)  (Gotta love the opportunity to add a new goal to the list right?).

Until tomorrow!

Saturday morning run... was decent.  I honestly think I was mentally beat from the begenning because I knew I exerted a lot during my lunch run on yesterday.

Also... I am starting to wonder if you can run too slow?  I wanted to get a really long run in 15 miles and felt good throughout until about mile 9.5.  After starting off really slow... I even lowered my pace just to be certain I could get the distance and time in.  Well I ran into a demotivational hill (i.e. 9.5 miles into the run) and had to walk... after getting past the hill I was able to run again but only enough to make it back home.  I tried using the hammer gel this morning and a couple of the gummi energy candy.  It worked well, although I think I am going to have to get used to using it.  I believe I waited too late to start eating it, although I had a bad experience a long time ago with cramping after eating while running so I was just being cautious.  Today... no cramps :-)

So the reason I feel I may have waited to late to take the energy gel is because I walked in the house and my wife is packing a gym bag... she looks at me and says come on!  WE are going to level 3 step class!  My neice was in town and was going to keep the kids.  I was tired but am not able to back down from a challenge (hence how I got myself into running these marathons :-))  Long story short I made it to the class... it was a new routine so I could not hang with the instructor... although I worked to keep my Heart Rate in my target zone for the entire class. 

Another good week... almost 50 miles but I know I can do it now... If I had run on Monday I would have done it!  Next week!!  Next week!  Tomorrow is my rest day and I plan to take full advantage of it.  Take care!