Cool Runnings!

I will add to this later when I run with the boys, but I wanted to get in my morning run before I forgot about it.  Ran 4.1 easy miles this morning, felt absolutely great.  I decided to put on the HR monitor this morning, and I was pleasantly surprised.  There was quite a difference between my HR when running at 7:30 pace and running 8:30-9:00 pace.  In fact, I could tell when I picked up the pace a little bit on the return leg.  First leg (out leg) it took a while for my HR to get going.  Average HR for the first leg was 153 (wow!).  Average HR during the return leg was 168.  So I mentioned I could tell when I had picked up the pace a bit - during the last 1/2 mile of the first leg, I was working to keep my HR below 160.  As soon as I turned around (there may have been a slight slope), my HR automatically went up 5 bpm.  Soon after that, I was working to keep my HR below 170.  Still, the entire run felt wonderful, I feel good, my calf feels good, and I am continuing to lose weight.  I am very close to my original weight loss goal, and feel motivated to continue to lose.  In fact, I am pretty sure that without doing anything else but running daily, I will continue to lose weight.  How much, I will have to see.  I am not going to change anything else with my diet - I feel I am eating pretty healthy.  I am grateful to have a wife who is very supportive of me, and who has now helped to motivate our children to run every day as well.  As long as we don't load them up on sugar, I think that the running helps with their (boundless) energy.

Update:  we went to the track with the boys today for family home evening, and had them run around on the track, and then had watermelon for our FHE treat.  Ran 1/4 mile with Sam, then ran another 1/4 mile with Joseph.  Both Sam and Joey each ran another 1/4 mile all by themselves.

1.0 mile so far this evening with Samuel (wahoo!).  He did great, running the entire mile without stopping in 14:27, a new record for him for both distance and time.  I will get in my normal run a bit later this evening, just wanted to not forget his run.

Ran 4.1 miles in the morning, nice easy pace, put the HR monitor on, and the HR was good.  Managed to keep my HR below 160 the first 2 miles, and hovered between 160-163 for the third mile.  I sped up for the last mile, and saw my HR spike at about 173, but everything felt real good.  Total time was 36:28, average pace of 8:47/mile.  Would have been slower if not for the last mile.  Ran another mile (approx) with the boys in the evening.  Samuel really picked it up today and ran faster than the other day.  I think that he is beginning to realize the limits of his body.  After a month or so, I think that he is going to be able to put in a sub-10:00 mile without any problems.  On a side note, I had forgotten that the registration deadline for St. George was May 1, and I am seriously considering registering for it, along with the other races I had mentioned earlier (Phoenix Road Runners Summer 5K race series, White Mountain 1/2 marathon).  I am probably being a bit optimistic here, but I am feeling pretty good about my running, and as long as I don't get injured, I definitely have plenty of time to build up a good base for St. George.  Thoughts, anyone?

Ran my standard 4.1 mile loop early this morning.  It was windy.  Wore my HR monitor again to see what my HR was doing.  The first mile my HR was lower because the wind was behind me.  Average HR was probably around 155.  Second mile, HR was still low, stayed below 160, average was probably a couple points higher.  Third mile kept my HR below 160 until the end, when it bumped up to 161 for a short period.  Final mile was run into the wind, and I also increased my speed again, but not as much as yesterday.  Max HR was 173, average HR for the run was 159.  My body felt good after the run, no soreness, HR went right back down within a couple minutes.  My cardiovascular fitness is not yet such that my average HR is in the 120-130 range on an easy run like this, but hopefully if I keep up the work and don't get injured, I will be able to see noticeable changes.

Ran approx. 1 mile with the boys this evening, then ran 4 miles on the treadmill at 7 mph (8:34 pace) - Lybi had a piano teachers association meeting she had to attend, so I had to stay home with the kids.  The run felt great, my body feels great, and I am actually getting really excited to hopefully run St. George this year.  If I keep running at this rate, I will be up to 30 miles/week in a couple of weeks, and will continue to increase from there.  Feeling pretty good about my running right now.

Ran 4.1 miles this morning wearing my HR monitor.  Ran the first mile entirely too fast without meaning to, and my HR was affected for the rest of my run.  I also think my HR was higher than normaly because I ran last night, and because it was fairly warm (I ran about 8:00, and it was already almost 80 degrees).  However, I really need to get myself a "toy", as Sasha puts it, so that I can keep track of my pace.  Average HR for the run was 170 - about 10-15 points higher than normal.  I attribute this to all of the above.  Hopefully I can get a better measurement on Monday when I run again.  I also just checked the St. George marathon website (or rather, active.com) and found that my original entry from 2005 which I was not able to use last year was still available for me to register as a guaranteed runner, and so I went ahead and registered.  I am very excited about this, and am going to make sure that I take it easy enough throughout the summer so that I do NOT get injured again!