Running in Life's Slow Lane

Distance: jogged 2.0 then walked 1.32

Thanks to the time change I didn't get to bed last night until 11:30pm then had to get out of bed at 4:30am to catch the 6:05am departure of my flight from Lawton to Dallas. Thank goodness I enjoy sleeping on planes so I could catch a decent pair of naps on my way into Norfolk.

Once I had lunch and did a bit of shopping I drove to the hotel and immediately took the legs out to burn a few calories. The new Nike+ sensor* went with me and I will have to take time to calibrate it this week as it was well over the usual 10% in error. My hamstrings were a little tight yesterday and this morning - probably from the expanded strides I took yesterday during the sprint - so I didn't want to do anything too challenging. In addition the complete lack of sleep left my legs pretty drained. As a result I felt comfortable quitting at 2.0 miles and was happing with the fact that I had maintained a 12'00" pace through the distance. Finished up with a decent stretch of walking and a hot shower.

*My adventure with the Apple Store -
Well, if Apple provides any sort of service for the Nike+ sensor, my buddy Josh at the Apple Store in the MacArthur Center Mall of Norfolk Virginia knows nothing about it. They were full of people today for some reason so I had to wait to get someone to help me and well ... Josh was lost from the moment I opened my mouth. I had already seen that they had no stand-alone sensors for sale so I asked Josh about replacing my sensor since the battery was running low. He of course looked at me and said "Can't you just replace the battery?" I explained that no, it was intended that I get a new sensor OR that I should get this sensor replaced since it had not lasted the 1000 hours as advertised. Josh informed me that since the sensor was a Nike product I would have to get it handled through Nike and maybe I could get the sensor from their website as well. According to Josh, Apple just has the little kits and doesn't really support the product otherwise.

I probably could have tried finding someone else in the store and asking about my issue but I was drained from the flights and ready for lunch. As a result I paid the $29.99 for a new Sensor AND Receiver as well as picked up some new armbands for Teresa and I that fit the Nano with the receiver attached: we have armbands but they are for the standard Nano and the Nike+ receiver sticks out the bottom keeping us from closing the pouch as it should. I will keep the sensor and see if I can get it replaced in the future.

Not sure how this week's schedule will unfold with regards to running since I believe we may be working on Germany schedules.

Jogged 1.0 mile to calibrate the new Nike+ sensor then jogged a 0.5 mile segment and another 0.25 mile segment with some walks between to test the accuracy of the calibration. The error seemed acceptable and knowing that it is completely dependent on how regular my stride length is means I will always have some error.

I had planned to jog a bit more but as I finished my last 0.25 mile jog I needed a PB and was close to the hotel so I cut the day's work short. 

First day to jog 4 miles!

The temp was nice and there was very little wind so the conditions were perfect for a slow, steady jog. I did 1.55 miles before the iPod Nano locked up so I stopped for about 90 seconds to fool with it. Thankfully I had the foresight to stop the timer on my watch so that I kept a decent track of my total jog time. I resumed jogging and around 2.25 miles decided to push my pace to finish the 5K and held myself to around 11'30" -- I know it's hard for you to imagine someone having to PUSH to get an 11'30" pace -- to get finished in 41'30". After that I decided to shoot for 4 miles and dropped back to my usual trot to finish the distance in 54'09" which is a 13'32" pace. Which really makes me wonder how slow I was going before I pushed the pace to 11'30". No matter though, slow is fine as long as my heart and lungs are pumping.

Of course, since the iPod Nano locked up I don't get credit on any of my Nike+ challenges or goals for this distance. Thank goodness I had the GPS and the watch with me today.

Jogged 3.16 miles in 39'00" which included a few sprints where I got the pace down in the 9'30" neighborhood but had to walk afterward to recover. Walked the final 0.4 mile as a cool down getting back to the hotel.

After yesterday's 4 mile jog everything from my knees down were sore this morning. Ibuprofen helped and there didn't seem to be much lingering effect this afternoon. Going to do a light day tomorrow and then a medium day Friday. Not sure what I can get mileage-wise after that since I will be traveling to Lawton and then heading to Colorado to go with Kristoffer and friends on a ski trip: they will ski and I will stay warm.

2 miles in 25'30" for a light workout.

Today was chaotic at work and I wasn't feeling the urge to run this evening. Somehow though, talking to Dale convinced me that I should at least drag myself outdoors and try.

I had a PODRUNNER episode of techno music mixed with a beat of 180bpm so I gave that a try. It fit my normal stride rate very naturally and with the 70F temp I worked up a nice sweat quickly. There was definitely enough energy to go more than the 2 miles but I just wasn't feeling the motivation today. Hopefully I can catch up tomorrow with a normal 5K jog.

Lots of crankiness in anything below the knees tonight. I think I may take an ibuprofen tablet before climbing into bed.

5.26 total miles in 1:10:12.

Jogged the first 5K in 39:08, walked 1K, jogged 1K and then walked the rest back to the hotel.

Weather was gorgeous with a moderate wind to cool off the sweat on occasion. Got out of the lab before 5pm so I didn't have to worry about as much traffic in the park which was one of the reasons I only did 2 miles last night. When you are running on a little park road and all the families decide it is time to take the children to soccer or baseball practice, there is not much room for the lonely jogger trying to trudge along the same stretch of asphalt.

I seriously need to get some new music on the iPod. All of my playlists are getting too familiar. Maybe the new Avenged Sevenfold album or some old school Cream.