Running in Life's Slow Lane

2.73 total miles in 37'16" for a 13'39"/mi pace
2.0 miles jogged at 12'20"/mi pace

Okay, so it appears that at some point my Nike+ has lost its calibration or I have changed my stride since I calibrated. I finally paid attention to how many laps I made around the track today and realized the Nike+ was giving me credit for too much distance. Right now the error factor seems to be about +10%. Since I am going to be on the road through Friday, getting it calibrated again will have to wait for at least a week. Until then I will have to account for the error in my goals.

This week my goals will be jogging 2.25 miles on Tues and Thurs with walks or short jogs on Mon and Wed. Friday I will spend the day flying back from California.

Nike+ : 5.10 miles in two workouts, with 3.5 mi of that being jogged
Adjusted: 4.64 miles in two workouts, with 3.18 mi of that being jogged
(Thought I should give the Nike+ numbers that my buddies will see on the website and what I estimate the accurate numbers to be)

Location: Livermore, California

I took off from the hotel planning to make it an easy day by walking a bit and jogging for a mile or so. Knowing that my Nike+/iPod distances are off by about +10% I had made adjustments to what that meant to the distance I needed to collect before quitting. I walked down a gradual sloping hill for 0.72 mi and then ran 1.32 miles in a loop near Las Positas College before walking the 0.72 mi back up the hill. Then as I stretched at the intersection near the hotel I noted that while my calf was achy my legs were not particularly tired and being at the top of a grade thought I would just tack on a bit more by jogging downhill. Well, basically I just ran until I could tell my legs were tired which ended up being a jog of some 1.86 miles! This included up and down some gently sloping hills. So I guess today was just one of my rare good days.

My pace during the first jog was 12'30"+ and I am sure I was even slower during much of the second jog. Yet, I'll take it. The fact that I actually managed the distance is a bonus when I was struggling so hard in Lawton.

I am sure the 2 hours of napping on the plane helped quite a bit.

Dinner was a visit to Cattlemen's Restaurant where I had about 5oz of Sirloin cooked medium well, a bit of salad, rice, beans and sourdough bread all washed down with a large quantity of cold water. Now I get to sit in the hotel and try to set up the AFATDS for this week's testing.

Nike+: 4.64 miles with 3.3 miles jogged
Adjusted: 4.22 miles with 3 miles jogged

Location: Livermore, Ca

Tonight I walked about 0.64 miles before starting to jog. From that point I just kept jogging with an eye towards getting as close to 3 miles as possible with no good way to judge my distance because of my Nike+ calibration problems. Finally decided that if I could tough out 39 minutes that should get me close to 3 miles. As it so happened, it appears to put me right on 3 miles. Not bad considering the lousy day of work I had which lead me to skipping lunch. I really need to understand that working that extra hour rarely leads me to any great productivity while just starving my body of calories. Today's run was done with a total calorie intake of one orange this morning for breakfast. Tomorrow's goal should be to eat decent.

I am really starting to hate Apple, Nike, and their whole iPod Nano Nike+ thing.

Apparently my Nike+ and iPod froze up 17 minutes and 1.3 miles into my run. At least that is what I gather from knowing that I had walked 0.7 miles before starting my run and the Nike+ seems to have frozen at 2.0 miles. I walked around a bit as I punched the dial on the iPod fruitlessly and finally gave up. Starting my stopwatch again I continued running until I had totaled 48 minutes.  I estimate that I must have ran at least 3.5 miles and that left me quite a stretch from the hotel so with my earlier 0.7 miles of walking I figure I got at least 4.5 miles.

Nice to know that I can run without music at whatever has seized the iPod also prevents me from playing any music.

Oh, and it must not be wind killing my runs at home. Tonight's total workout was 70 minutes in 23 mph wind gusting to 38 mph from the NNW. AND I ran up and down plenty of gentle hills.

Nike+: 3.63 miles jogging
Adjusted: 3.27 miles jogging in 42'37" for an average pace of 13'02".

Got away from LLNL late this afternoon so I knew I would be running in the dark. A big thank you goes out to the city of Livermore and their municipal requirements for industrial light pollution so that I could run on the streets beneath plenty of light.

Fearing another iPod meltdown I planned a course on MapMyRun that would cover at least 3 miles before starting. As I ran I tacked an extra loop on for good measure and the adjusted mileage seemed to match the mileage from the map measurements pretty closely. It felt like the wheels were coming off around 2.25 and I gutted out the last 1.0 mile just telling myself that I wanted to get the 3 mile mark accomplished.

Tomorrow is going to be consumed with getting home. IF I get home. They are predicting freezing drizzle for Lawton tomorrow and American Eagle loves to leave me stranded in the DFW airport.

No running today as I returned to Lawton from Livermore. Did get some nice sleep though as I made myself get a full 8 hours and then napped during my travel. Arrived in Lawton to find temps in the lower 30s, wind at 20mph and thunderstorms spitting out the occasional freezing rain. Just a bit of a change from my days in California.

Nike+: 4.63 miles
Adjusted: 4.17 miles

I started with a 5K jog that took 41'22" for an average pace of 13'21"/mi. The first mile I managed to keep at 12'/mi pace but soon after hit a long tough hill that crushed my pace. Ran in 31F windchill, light rain or heavy mist, winds NNW at 5-10 mph. Toes got wet a few times and definitely felt the results. Only one spot near the lake had ice and I managed to skate past without going down.

After the 5K I walked 0.4 mile then ran another 0.6 mile to meet my son at his vocal rehearsal.

When I met some friends immediately after the run, they initially thought I had ice on my stocking cap and chin stubble but it was just the fine silvery mist  that collected there. Still it was cool that they thought of me as being tough enough to run through ice. The wind is predicted to return tomorrow. Here's hoping I am ready.

Big news on the home front: Kristoffer has admitted to having a girlfriend. Now I have to think about having that father/son talk. Not sure I am ready.