Boston, here I come?

First run with my fancy new Garmin Forerunner 305/heart rate monitor!  I'm impressed by the accuracy - I set it for "auto pause" when my pace slowed below 14:00/mile, and also kept time with my regular watch.  The times wound up 1 second different, and only .02 miles apart from gmaps.pedometer.com.  Pretty good!  Wound up with a 7:12/mile pace, and a 6:41 final mile, but this was really just to play with my new toy.  Heart rate was around 160-165 whenever I checked, not really sure if that's good or bad - I wasn't ever out of breath so it's probably a good range.  Next up is figuring out how to upload it to the computer and figure out all the different tricks :)

Pico and back 

Run #2 with the Garmin, very impressed by the accuracy on the GPS - it registered as .01 different than I had the course at.  I was tired after last night's run, with the short turn around time to this morning, but managed a smooth 7:15/mile pace and creeped over 20 miles for the week by adding a lap around the park mid-run.  The weekend will bring me closer to 30, for another solid weekly effort.

5 mile loop 

Tough Super Bowl Sunday run, it was pretty warm outside and I was in the car for most of the day yesterday.  Logged a good time though, with a 7:25/mile average, without feeling too worn down for the most part.  Used the lap feature on my Garmin for the first time to see my mile splits, which was fun..next week I've got to install the software it came with to upload my runs to the computer.  I'm hoping there are graphing options to see how my pacing is compared to the course tools on this site, which adjust for elevation.

Pico and back 

Uneventful evening run, everything felt great after a couple of days off.  Perfect weather, no stomach issues..I ate very well the last couple of days and my body seems grateful.  Averaged 7:12/mile, and was steady throughout the run.

5 mile loop 

Very good evening run, averaged a 7:02 mile over the 6.63 mile route.  Played with the Garmin a little more, I sprinted a loop around the park (.27 miles, 1:32) to get my heart rate going, maxed out at 181 bpm.  Not sure if I can/should get higher than that, but we'll see when I do some more sprinting.  Added some push ups tonight, that's the fourth round of those in the last ten days, gotta ramp it up.  Also really need to start on my core, I won't be able to BQ in the fall if I'm weak in the middle!

around college 

Whew!  First run this far in almost four months, and the route is just brutal.  I loop around a golf course a few miles into the run, which is nice scenery, but the hills are killers.  My heart rate max was 184 bpm, higher than when I was pushing hard on a flat course the other day..it was hotter today, so that played a role too.  I kept a nice steady pace though, didn't try to do too much and wound up averaging a 7:46 mile, somehow keeping all the miles under 8:00 (unintentionally).  Hills are definitely my friend, but sometimes you can spend too much time with friends :)

 Even so, I'm very happy to have done this distance, and even happier that I feel great afterwards.  I'll do a recovery run tomorrow, and I have no hesitation going into it. 

around golf course 

Standard order recovery run, took it easy and averaged a 7:32/mile.  My legs felt really good after yesterday's outing, but the rest of my body was a little tired.  Bigger news is that I finally re-inflated my exercise ball and knocked out some crunches (3x15), AND still did my little sets of pushups.  This is a big step, I'm starting very small with the core/strength training, as we all know what happens if you dive in too deep.

Today was a good, faster run to kick off the week - averaged a 7:03 mile, with a fast 6:40 to finish.  Came home and did the same pushup/crunches routine, keeping it nice and light so my body doesn't get too mad at me.  I'm only planning on two runs during the rest of the work week, the upcoming 3 day weekend I have is calling out for two longer efforts.

5 mile loop 

Took an extra day off yesterday, and am glad I did..had some tenderness in my left leg that completely went away.  So to celebrate I broke out the weight vest and hit the hills, felt much easier than the last time I did it.  Wound up averaging a 7:53 mile over the 4 miles, pretty fast considering the circumstances.  Tomorrow's run will be weather-based, it's supposed to rain so I may stay in, the upcoming three day weekend is begging for a lot of miles.

Runs like today make me very proud - it was raining (mostly soft but got harder at times) and windy..in LA that's pretty much a disaster and everybody who manages to get home safely just stays in.  So while all of my competition was sitting on the couch I was out getting stronger.  I got the 5 mile loop done with a 7:03/mile pace, faster than I had planned on but it felt great.  Big weekend coming up, excited to do two 10+ milers in the next three days!

5 mile loop 

Well, I disappointed myself yesterday by not running at all, although there wasn't much I could do about it.  My stomach was acting screwy all day, and I never felt the risk was worth it to get some miles in.  Today it still wasn't perfect but I decided to go out anyway (ordinarily a terrible idea) and just make sure I could make a pit stop if necessary.  As it turned out I felt very close to normal the whole time, and kept extending the run (just do 3...ok, do 5...ok maybe 6, how about 8?) at a nice easy 7:29/mile pace.  Made it home without having to stop at all and I feel great about it.  This was definitely an exception though, in most cases the stomach gods have to be in perfect alignment.

Big day for my training..I got home and really didn't feel like heading out for a run.  It was chilly and windy and I was hungry; I thought my wife would be home not long after me and we'd make dinner.  So I was in my sweats and she called a little before 7 saying she was leaving work soon (much later than expected) and I still had time to run if I wanted to.  Inspired, I changed clothes and headed out for a solid 6.5 mile run at a very even 7:10/mile pace.  Tomorrow night we've got a cooking class date night (fancy pizza is the theme) so if I didn't get those miles in today I would have been pretty sour with myself.  As it is, I'm still on pace for a 100 mile month (well 98, but it's well within reach), which is a number I really want to reach every month this year.  

What a run - the best ones are always unexpected!  I started off normal enough, at 7:12/mile for the first two miles and not pushing hard at all.  Sped up a bit over the next few miles before reaching the steep hill around the college.  I decided that I wanted to keep a good, non-struggling pace up the hill and definitely did, staying right around 8 min/mile for the incline.  Feeling good I figured I'd really turn it on for the last mile...and clocked in at 6:14!  I really didn't think I was going that fast, or that I had that kind of time in me tonight..but I did and I feel great.  Overall pace finished at 6:57/mile, which was another nice surprise - anything under 7 for an overall pace is really encouraging.  Tomorrow morning looks good for a short, slower recovery run to head into the weekend!

Typical recovery run, although I went a bit faster than I wanted to, due to starting later in the morning than planned.  I know that a minute or two doesn't make a difference when it comes to when I get to work, but I still feel like I have to get out of the house by a certain time.  Did the 3 miles at a 7:27/mile pace, planning on a nice long run tomorrow, depending on the weather.

What a great run..so far this was my favorite outing of the year.  I pushed out 12 miles at a 7:10/mile pace to top 100 miles for the month, and finished strong averaging 6:56/mile for the final four.  I was worried the whole time that my Garmin was going to run out of battery power, as the "low battery" warning came on only half an hour into the run..I've never looked at my watch so much over the course of a run.  But it survived, and probably pushed me to run harder since I really wanted it to last the duration.  Feeling very strong, I think I'm right where I should be with 7 months still ahead of me until the big BQ shot.

Very easy run, I really tried hard to go slow and succeeded, averaging 8:03/mile.  I golfed earlier in the day and had some beer while playing, so that helped dampen my appetite for speed too, but my goal would have been the same either way.  This capped off a big week, with a tally of just under 35 miles from Monday-Sunday.  I don't think I'll run tomorrow, so February will likely finish with a total of 105 miles.

5 mile loop