Running in Life's Slow Lane

3.16 mi - 13:04/mi - 283 cal

Another day at camp which means another day running in the Ozark mountains. To get 3.16 mi I had to run up and down some serious hills which resulted in the slower pace.

Location: Eureka Springs, Arkansas

2.88 mi - 11:55/mi avg pace -- 333 cal
0.76 mi in 7:57 (10:27/mi)
walked 0.24
0.77 mi in 7:24 (09:39/mi)
walked 0.23
0.76 mi in 7:28 (09:52/mi)
walked to hotel

After discussing my stride and form with Dale, I decided to do a faster workout focusing on increasing my stride a bit. I didn't consciously stretch my stride but instead let my forward foot fall at what felt like a full stride and made sure I was pushing a bit with my back foot. It felt very fluid and natural.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

3.0 mi - 11:21/mi avg pace - 360 cal
Splits ---
11:21
11:28
11:16

Today's run was the first 3 miles I have completed in about a week. A nice easy run but I definitely felt tired at the finish.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

3.12 mi -- 10:51/mi pace -- 383 cal

Today's splits ---
11:14/mi
10:33/mi
10:34/mi

Good run this morning with an effort to pick up the pace a bit. I'm not sure how I managed to be so consistent over the last two miles but I will take it as a positive sign that the 10:33 pace is something I can maintain over a decent distance. Near the end of the run I made way for a car and stumbled a bit on the edge of the pavement which seems to have tweaked a muscle in the outside of my upper left leg. I'm going to soak it in a cold shower and take some ibuprofen in hopes that I won't me limping for the rest of the day.

Looking towards the race this weekend I am setting my goal at maintaining that 10:33 pace for the full 5K, so 32:45 or less will be my target.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

3.42 mi - 11:15/mi pace - 413 cal

Today's splits ---
11:28
11:04
11:08
04:50 (11:30/mi pace)

Ran after work this evening to get a feel for the temperatures I will be facing in tomorrow's run. In the shade where the breeze could hit me it wasn't too terrible. Otherwise it was pretty tough going. For some reason both calves were cranky. I intended to run a much slower pace throughout but kept finding myself at the 11ish range.

So the weather report says it is 86F with 48% humidity. Given those conditions I can be happy with today's results.

Wish me luck in tomorrow's race.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

Kyle, David and I met to run this 5K that was promised to be flat and scenic. After completing the run I must ask what the folks in Williamsburg consider hilly and plain.

As is usual in the smaller races, the first 0.5 mile or so was spent trying to navigate through a large number of slower runners as the pack spread out from the start. I believe they called out 09:51 when I crossed the 1.0 mile mark.

The second mile seemed like the toughest but I kept my pace strong while at the same time trying to convince myself that I could afford to slow down just a bit. In this stretch I passed quite a few people that had gotten off to a fast start but were now walking. Even managed to get ahead of a few racewalkers. The person called out 20:10 as I passed the 2.0 mile marker which meant I was at a 10:05/mi pace. Woo hoo!

Knowing that I was relatively close to the elusive 10:00/mi mark I tried to stay strong in this last portion of the race. As always I set little goals for myself as I tried to run down the tired runners that had started to fade. In particular, if there was any sort of incline I made a point of trying to pick up my pace just a bit so I wouldn't let myself fall off pace too much.

The last 0.1 mile or so I was pushing to catch one last racewalker. Once I was ahead of him there was a woman just ahead that I caught up with but the folks cheering at the finish had narrowed the street down to less than a lane and I did not want to pass the woman then cut her off to dash into the chute. I pulled up just a  bit and finished on her heels.

The official time posted on the website was 31:01.08 which gives me 10:00.35/mi as my average pace. Next time I push the woman out of the way for the split second better finish!

Location: Williamsburg, Virginia

6.0 mi -- 11:45/mi avg pace -- 713 cal

Today's splits ---
11:44
11:46
11:42
11:51
11:52
11:37

Felt good to finally get back to a 6 mile workout. I'm not sure if I will be able to walk tomorrow but at least today I can celebrate conquering the distance once again. With the heat and humidity being a double dose of danger I allowed myself to stop for Gatorade at the 2.70 and 5.0 mile marks. While stopped I also stretched and toweled off a bit hoping to help cool the body.

Realistically, I should approach all my long run days with allowances for stopping and stretching as well as the needed cold drink. I'm too old to prove my masculinity by dropping over in the heat.

Location: Chesapeake, Va.

4.0 mi -- 11:56/mi avg pace -- 450 cal

Today's splits ---
12:02
11:48
12:05
11:47

The remnants of last night's heavy rains still clung to the air as I started running at 0600 today. As a result I was damp to the bone before I had completed the first mile. I can't complain about the temperature though as it was only 64F when I left the hotel. Good run on a pleasant morning. The smell of honeysuckle was thick in the air and the smell of green things after a rain was enjoyable.

At 2.7 miles I was hit by a spell of nausea and dizziness so I stopped and walked a bit. I kept the pace quite a bit slower for the rest of the mile once I started running again. I had no problems with the rest of the run so it was a passing thing.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

5.08 mi in 01:05:34 for a 12:55/mi pace burning 435 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:48
12:57
12:48
13:00
12:58

Instead of waiting for the alarm I had set at 0530 my body chose to awake at 0430. This let me take advantage of the cool morning (57F) to start my run in relative comfort. Running in the total darkness was a bit unusual but once I got my stiff legs moving I fell into a nice slow pace. My target pace was 13:00/mi which is an area that puts absolutely no strain on my heart or lungs. It is the pace at which I feel like I can go forever if my legs would just stop complaining about how tired they are. With the cool temps and lower humidity this morning if felt even more so.

Lots of bunny rabbits out in the darkness of the pre-dawn. Some of them are obviously quite accustomed to human activity as I was able to get within 4-5 feet before they would hop just far enough to see that I was not going to pursue them further.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

4.01 mi in 49:42 for an avg pace of 12:24/mi burning 370 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:41
12:40
11:59
12:16

A bit warmer and more humid than yesterday's run but still very pleasant. My pace was right on the mark as McMillan's calculator claims my Easy Run pace should be in the 12:03-12:33 range. I tried to keep my arms lower and my shoulders more relaxed. This will probably be a project for the next few weeks as I try to make improvements to my running form.

No bunnies this morning. Instead I was treated to a beautiful  morning sky of layered clouds. Where the clouds were thicker the sky was colored a deep indigo, contrasted by bands of lava reds in places of thinner cloud cover. With the deep greens of the thick tree lines in the foreground the whole landscape was quite scenic.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

3.51 miles in 42:30 for an avg pace of 12:05/mi burning 327 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:15
12:18
12:20
05:37 (10:57/mi pace)

Achy run today with the calves being the loudest complainers. It felt like I was working extra hard to keep my pace in the target range. Everything eased out around 2.5 miles and I pushed the pace during the last 0.33 miles. Reached down to the mid 8 range. It's fun to flirt with those sorts of numbers but I am not ready to maintain that pace over any distance.

Three rabbits this morning and an equal number of joggers or walkers. For some reason I must have been looking skyward a great deal because I recall seeing several groups of what I guess to be geese flying overhead. Surely it's too early for migrating so they must have been local flocks moving from one pond to another.

Location: Chesapeake, Va

Absolutely 0 miles today as I spent the morning flying from Chesapeake, Va back to Lawton, Ok. I plan to spend 3-4 weeks at home before traveling again so there will be plenty of time to accumulate miles in the days ahead.

4.15 mi in 49:19 for 11:53/mi pace burning 471 cal

Today's splits ---
11:50
12:01
12:07
11:58
01:21 (09:20/mi pace)

Back at home and running with Teresa. My schedule only called for 3 miles today but Teresa was slated to do 4 so I did the extra mile. It was a pleasant temperature (74F) with cloudy skies and we got just the slightest bit of rain midway through the run. The only thing missing was a breeze.

As always, it is wonderful to be back home.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

6.03 mi in 1hr 16min at 12:38/mi pace burning 628 cal

Today's splits ---
12:45
12:43
12:45
12:47
12:42
12:04

It was another nice day for a run. Clear skies, low humidity, beautiful sunshine and moderate temperatures kept us company for the entire 6 miles. Most of the scary dogs were inside their fences along our route. We actually made it from 45th street east to 90th and back which was a new route for Teresa and I.

The new route has enough trees along the route that there are a few more birds. Today I spotted a pair of Blue Jays in the short hackberry trees along a creek bank.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

3.5 mi in 38:04 for 10.52 avg pace burning 455 cal

Today's splits ---
11:14
10:57
10:19
05:33 (11:04 pace)

Today was very rainy so I didn't get to run until after 3pm. But, since it has been cloudy and rainy the temperature was pleasant. Teresa and I did a 5K distance then tacked on a bit to cool down to make it a round 3.5 miles. I got around a half mile in at the 8-8:30 range so I am psyched about that result. Hopefully I can slowly build up from there to doing a greater distance at that type of pace. Tomorrow however needs to be an easy 4 miler.

On a sad note, the road kill count today includes a jack rabbit! Those things are a bit rare around here and I only spot them about once a year. I hate seeing one taken out by a car.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

4.51 mi in 52:59 for 11:45/mi pace burning 547 cal

Today's splits ---
11:22
11:29
12:03
12:11
05:54 (11:35 pace)

I tried to time this run between the drenching rains of the early morning and the threat of thunderstorms later today. Temperature was near 70F and a nice cool breeze made it seem almost chilly. It is becoming a habit that I feel really lousy around the 3 mile mark. I guess that is a sign that the increased distance was needed.

The several inches of rain has seemingly driven numerous reptiles and amphibians onto the roadway as the roadkill count was high among these classes of animals.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

3.76 mi in 43:35 at 11:36/mi burning 448 cal

Today's splits ---

Distance	Avg Pace	Avg Heart Rate
1.00 mi	12:01	126 bpm
1.00 mi	12:03	131 bpm
1.00 mi	11:21	139 bpm
0.76 mi	10:44	146 bpm

Today was the first time in quite a while that I picked up the heart monitor. Looking at my chart in the Garmin Training Center, it appears I stayed right around the 75% mark for the majority of my run which is a little too high for a good endurance building workout. I need to work on slowing the average pace down closer to the 12:00 mark.

Took a slight different route today. Through the neighborhood a bit, then west on Highway 7 before crossing over north into the Community Access, Inc. parking lots, then back to the house. This route has the dis/advantage of running on several different surface types so we will see how the calves feel tomorrow.

Roadkill is always of a different character on the highway. Today there was just one big raccoon. I am still amazed that people can find those things "cute". When I look at them I just see big scary rats.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

3.0 in 36:43 at 12:14/mi burning 338 cal

Today's splits ---
12:07
12:20
12:07

Ugh. This was a hard workout and I am just thankful I made it to the 3 mile mark. For some reason I was very tired, very stiff and very achy at the start of the run which made for a very slow pace. The problems never went away and it was a struggle to get the pace up near the 12:00 mark. My goal for today is stick around the house, try to shake the general malaise that has come over me and be ready for a better run tomorrow.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

I purposefully took a day off to rest my body. I think as I work to increase my weekly mileage over the next few months, the occasional day off may be important. Many weeks I will get a day off as I travel but this week it was strictly self imposed.

3.70 mi in 45:29 at 12:16/mi burning 409 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:04
11:55
12:37
08:49 (12:35/mi)

Another hard workout to finish. Actually, I did not finish as I had intended to do a full 4 miles. The heat has returned and the morning was quite humid so my excuse is that I wilted in the sun. The only other reason I have for how difficult today felt was that I spent about 4 hours yesterday evening hanging theater light fixtures at the church. That meant 4 hours on my feet on the ever-rocking scissor lift about 27 feet above the floor, hefting lights, cables, etc. I imagine that may have worked my leg muscles a bit.

Oh well, tomorrow is the slow 6 miler so we'll just look forward to a good, strong run.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

6.00 mi in 1:17:51 at 12:58/mi burning 556 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:31
12:31
12:37
13:31
13:19
13:19

Egads, today again kicked my butt. As one may determine by looking at my splits for today, my wheels fell off around 3.25 miles. I was doing well then suddenly developed a knot at the top of my stomach and some serious  nausea. Taking a break I toweled off and felt much cooler. The nausea passed almost immediately but I couldn't get rid of the knot. It felt like a belch caught at the base of my esophagus. Not incredibly painful but very uncomfortable. I had to stop again at 4.5 miles to walk off another period of the same discomfort. Thankfully I was able to eventually finished the distance.

Humidity was a killer this morning as it hovered near 90% throughout our range. Temps were not too bad as they grew from 71 to 76.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

5.0 miles in 1:00:08 at 12:00/mi burning 580 calories.

Today's splits ---
11:48
11:38
12:22
11:57
12:18

Today's run had none of the recent stomach issues or anything distressing. To guard against a recurrence I carried along some Gatorade and stashed it roadside. I also took the precaution of stopping to towel off and stretch at every 1.0 mile mark. This helped me fight the humidity and build up of heat that I think was my downfall the last few days.

I need to circle this date on my calendar. I heard my first "Run, Forrest Run" called out from a driver. It came from my friend Alan Jolly who slowed to wave on his way to drop his son at school. Maybe I should get a running shirt with Forrest lettered across the shoulders on the back.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

4.50 mi in 49:40 at 11:01/mi pace burning 553 calories.

Today's numbers ---

Distance	Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
1.0 mi	11:14	115	132
1.0 mi	10:52	121	134
1.0 mi	10:42	125	142
1.0 mi	11:30	135	143
0.5 mi	10:43	137	143

Unfortunately I had plenty of stops and starts early in the workout because my Nike+ receiver seems to be failing on a regular basis. Finally around the 2.0 mile mark I just set the iPod to play music and resigned myself to losing the rest of my workout on my Nike+ log.

I tried to push myself consistently below the 10:00/mi pace for a few 0.5 mile segments. There was no real stress in doing so but at the end of the 0.5 mile push I definitely had to drop my pace way down to recover. It felt pretty good with no stomach or heat issues.

I have been listening to the audiobook "The Historian" which seems to be something of a classic vampire hunting story. Not something I probably would have read but it gives me something to think about while running.

Also, I saw two Monarchs heading south across my path today. They must be early starters on the yearly migration. The bulk of the migration generally occurs during the last week of September and first week of October.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

3.1 miles in 34:25 at 11:05/mi pace burning 387 calories.

Distance	Pace	Avg Heart Rate	Max Heart Rate
1.0 mi	12:09/mi	121 bpm	131 bpm (72%)
1.0 mi	10:52/mi	136 bpm	157 bpm (87%)
1.0 mi	10:24/mi	154 bpm	166 bpm (92%)

Good workout for the heart and lungs today. After the initial 0.5 mi to get out of the rough asphalt on the neighborhood streets, I tried to pick up the pace to force my cardio system to work a bit. By the numbers it looks okay. I really need to start studying up on the different thresholds and start targeting my training for the different heart rate regions. That is my task after I complete my first year of running in October: learn more.

The morning temperature was pleasant and a cooling breeze greeted the end of the run. This afternoon is forecast to be brutal though. Feel bad for the high school band members that have 2.5 hours of marching practice slated for the afternoon.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

No miles today. Taking the day off. Still need 7 miles this week though so I will be out there tomorrow morning.

3.1 mi in 32:55 at 10:36/mi burning 395 calories.

 Today's splits ---

Distance	Pace	Heart Rate
1.0 mi	11:30/mi	119 bpm
1.0 mi	10:46/mi	134 bpm
1.0 mi	09:44/mi	155 bpm
0.1 mi	08:52/mi	158 bpm

 A very challenging workout today. I pushed the pace in the second half of the distance trying to keep it around the 9:40/mi pace I would need to finish a 5K in 30:00. As it stands right now I don't think I could hold the 9:40/mi pace for the entire distance. I will have to be happy just trying to improve on my 31:00 time from the last race.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

4.0 mi in 45:15 at 11:18/mi burning 512 calories.

Today's splits ---
11:44
11:32
11:12
10:44

Good workout on a beautiful morning, Now, off to work a few hours at the theater before I start a busy day with the family.

Location: Lawton, Oklahoma

3.54 in 42:50 at 12:06/mi burning 394 calories.

Today's splits ---
12:23
12:09
12:07
6:11 (11:26/mi)

Well, I am once again hating my Nike+ Sport Kit iPod thingy. For several weeks I have been frustrated as during my workouts the iPod voice would tell me that my workout had stopped though I had done nothing. Pushing on the buttons it would claim that there was no receiver in place, yet, there certainly was one RIGHT THERE! During yesterday's workout it failed 3 times in less than 100 yards and I ripped out the the receiver and through it into a nearby field.

Yesterday I bought a new receiver/transmitter pair and thought my problems were solved. But alas, no. Apparently it is a problem with the iPod as it started failing within a mile of starting my workout today. BAH!

And today I was supposed to run 10K with my iPod as part of the Nike+ Human Race 10K.

So with the heat (76 climbing to 82, 88 heat index) and the iPod frustration I bailed on my plans for 6+ miles today. Tomorrow will have to be the long workout.

Location: Steamy Lawton, Oklahoma