Steady Easy 3 Miles

I don't want to get in the habit of racing myself (or my previous times) every day so today I decided to take it a little easier. Instead of my usual game of increasing the treadmill speed every quarter or half-mile, my plan was to quickly get up to 8 MPH (7:30 pace) and stay there for most of the run.

Well Milica walked by right after I started. We chatted for a bit about our respective training and fitness. Kevin D and Rick both also said hi as they walked past. Anyhow I didn't get to 8 MPH as early as I intended, but I was still at that pace before I hit 1 mile.

Mile 1 - 8:25
Mile 2 - 7:31 (15:56 cumulative)
Mile 3 - 7:29 (23:25 cumulative)

I'm not sure why the last 2 miles weren't the same, as I didn't adjust the speed the whole time.

I checked my pulse when I finished (156) and again after walking another 0.1 mile (114) and this confirmed that my body felt that today's effort was much easier.

Weight is still holding at 193 lbs.

Rapid Progress?

I think that at the beginning of most fitness programs, after a couple days of extra soreness, most people experience some rapid progress. I see this in myself especially since I'm not really working towards a new level of fitness, but simply recapturing old ground.

I ran 3 miles on the treadmill today, the same as yesterday. I did time my miles today, and I'm sure I was at least a minute faster than yesterday. I started faster (6.8 MPH), held yesterday's fastest pace (8.8 MPH) for almost a mile, and then bumped it up to 9.0 MPH for a quarter mile.

Mile 1 - 8:23
Mile 2 - 7:15 (15:38 cumulative)
Mile 3 - 6:54 (22:34 cumulative)

I checked my pulse again and it was about the same, 174. I'm not sure how accurate that is as I am checking it for 10 seconds and multiplying by 6, and it feels to me as if my pulse is rapidly decreasing during those 10 seconds.

For comparison, my pulse right now (about 20 minutes after my run) is about 78.

I then walked another two tenths of a mile as a cool-down. I have now run 6 consecutive days.

Weight is also the same as earlier in the week at 193 lbs.

3 Miles At Lunch

Today I worked out at lunchtime again. I went up to the fitness center and ran 3 miles on the treadmill. I forgot to note my time but it was around 24 minutes.

I start out slow, today at 6.2 MPH for 2-3 minutes, then I worked my way up to 7.4 MPH when I hit 1 mile. I kept gradually increasing the pace 2-3 times per mile and by 1.75 miles I was running 8.5 MPH (7:04 per mile). I even bumped it up to 8.8 MPH (6:49 per mile) for a quarter mile.

Then at 2.5 miles I start gradually decreasing the pace and finish around 7 MPH. I then usually walk another 0.1 mile, depending on if I notice anyone waiting for the treadmill.

I did check my pulse when I finished and it was 180 so I was again running at a hard pace, for me. I have a long ways to go to get to the shape I want to be in, but I've now run 5 days in a row so I'm on my way.

Tuesday Night - Good Effort

There were 5 of us tonight, Greg & Keith from the farm and Randy & Ken from up here. We met on the bike path and ran 4.5 miles, out and back. Although Keith said he hadn't run since January 31st and then changed it to December 31st, he and Randy still quickly went to the front. Randy let us know tonight that he was officially signed up for the Cleveland Marathon.

I tried to keep up with them, and Greg & Ken were a little behind. They caught me before the turnaround and we ran together for a while before I started to fall back.

With about a mile to go, when we crossed the last road, I increased my pace. I gained on Greg & Ken all the way and almost caught them at the end. It felt good to run hard.

The weather was rainy but it didn't actually rain while we were running. We had a slight headwind on the way back.

2 Miles?

There once was a time when I thought it was a waste of my time to run "only" 2 miles. But that's what I did at lunch today.

The weather was decent outside, I went out in shorts, long sleeves, and a hat. My primary goal was just to get another light, easy workout in, and I did it. That's now 3 days in a row and Tuesday will make 4 when I run with my Tuesday night group on the bike path.

Weight 193 lbs

Sunday Treadmill 2.5

I ran another easy 2.5 today on the treadmill. I watched some more of "Hard To Kill", and then sat down and watched the end. I had planned to run before church but I didn't. So it was a step in the right direction that I ran after church, saving my lunch until later (now).

Now the next step will be for me to make my return to the fitness center on Monday.

One of my favorite lines from the movie is where Steven Seagal tells his friend they will win, even though they are outgunned and outmanned.

"Superior attitude, superior state-of-mind."

Starting

I've been lazy for most of 2 months. I've only run 8 times since the half-marathon in November. Three of those were the Tuesday night runs with my family, and four others were less than 3 miles.

However, I'm ready to get started again for 2008. I'm reading a book Running With The Buffaloes, a journal account of the 1998 Colorado University cross country team. Since I was a college cross country runner about 10 years prior to that, the book is both interesting and motivating to me.

I have decided I will run my first race, the St. Malachi 5-Miler, in mid March. I haven't finished setting my goals for 2008 yet but I may put a November marathon on the list.

Anyways, with all of that in mind, I got up today and ran 2 1/2 miles on the treadmill in the basement. I watched the first part of Hard To Kill, my favorite Steven Seagal movie.

I could have gone farther but I'm going to try to run almost every day, if not every day, so I took it a little easy on myself.