Running with the Fleet Feet Crew

Recap: We changed our training schedule to include 2 short days (although I may try to sneak one more in) and 1 long day (Saturday). After buying our shoes at the Fleet Feet last week, they mentioned they were doing marathon training every Saturday morning that would cover your long run for the week. We all thought this was a good idea. The $50 fee covers you all the way up to the race and provides a pace team, fluids, and from time to time, clinics on various topics.

Mom is on a plane back from Sacramento, so she could not make it. Karen has not been sick this year, so she felt that running in 25 degree weather was not a good idea.

I had some of the nervous nellies about going out myself, but it really turned out to be a great idea. They said they had close to 200-250 people split up into Marathon and Half Marathon, then if you were run, run/walk, or walk...then if you were a run/walker what your interval is. I ran with the 3:1 group and held my own. There were 7 people in my group...all ladies...I liked my odds.

The run started at the store and we did a 7 mile stretch in Brentwood that is called the loop, south on Franklin rd, west on Murray, north on Granny White, once around Granny White Park, north to Maryland Farms, East back to Franklin Road, then downhill to the store...it is a relatively flat course until the end, where there was brutal short hill that was a piece of shit that I wanted to punch in the face...

Stats for today: 7 miles: 1:29:25 12:46 pace...
*Update* Karen 7 miles 1:24:14 12:01 pace

Pretty proud of that, I am tired though, a little sore...but I do not hurt...

Karen is on the treadmill now. I will update her stats later.

Thursday Night Workout

This evening I continued the interval approach and once again it paid off. Due to some cold weather, I used the treadmill to run, not my favorite thing, but since my workout partner is in Sacramento (MOM!!!!), I did not feel like going out on my own.

Tonights Stats:

Joe: 3 miles: 36:31 (Personal Record)
*UPDATE* Karen: 4 miles: 47:00

I rotated between 3 minutes run/1 minute walk (3:1) and slipped a 4:1 in there as well.

Couple of Observations:

I feel great, no major pains, waking around upright. I do not feel as though I over exerted myself.

I LOVE my shoes. I honestly may see if I can find another pair of Brooks Defiance II's so that I can have an extra pair.

Focusing on the interval times and not the mileage was key for me. It was an enjoyable run tonight.

This weekend, I will be going out "into the wild" to train with some folks at Fleet Feet of Nashville. I am a little nervous, because I will be doing it alone. Karen was sweet enough to manage my expectations by letting me know ahead of time that she most likely would not run if it was cold. Guess what, it is supposed to be 25 degrees, with Mom coming home from CA that day, well, it will just be me. I really should not be overly anxious because their training covers everyone from walkers to true runners. I will be fine. Anyhow, I will be rolling out of work a little early tomorrow to go to a Super Bowl party at Claire's school, then after I drop Claire off, will run out to check out some cold weather gear. Hopefully, the run will put me in a good mood, I have to go do the taxes right afterwards...boo.


J

Quick Wednesday Post about Tuesday

Before I get too far into work stuff...I wanted to write a quick post about Tuesday night. It was supposed to be an off night since we had a long run Sunday and we are switching out the training from here on out to do long runs with the Fleet Feet group on Saturday (don't want to overdo it), Karen and I were going to catch up on 24 and American Idol and we have a normal Tuesday night date at Pancho's...

Anyhow, we did find some time to slip in some miles. Karen wanted to do her normal 3 miles...I believe she finished in 36 minutes. If she actually read this, she could correct me if I am wrong. I did a mile, but wanted to try a different training method. Mom sent me a link to the Jeff Galloway website. He has a run/walk method that is supposed to allow for your muscles to recharge as you run...I tried a run 3 minute/walk 1 minute approach and took it slow because I had not REALLY warmed up. Long story short, I ran a 12:24 mile which to most people is not a big deal, but here is the good news:

1. That was pretty fast for me and I could go faster.
2. I was not huffing and puffing the whole time, I could carry on a conversation.
3. I got off the treadmill, stretched and was not sore at all.
4. I was not sore this morning. I could go again, if needed...

I am interested to see if I can pull off more miles tomorrow using this same method. We will see.

Mondays

Yesterdays Results:

Karen: 7 miles, 84 minutes
Mom and Joe: 7 miles, 95 minutes

I am really pleased with our progress so far. That was our longest outing yet, and I would have thought that I would be dying today, but I feel pretty good and if it was not a rest day, I would have tried to squeeze a mile or 2 in tonight...

Training schedule changes this week...Mom and I will be running Tuesday, Thursday, and then our long days on Saturday. We are going to start training with the Fleet Feet group. The planned runs should help us quite a bit.

As for tonight, Mom did yoga, and I babysat Bella while Karen went out to hang out with her friends. Tomorrow night, even though it is technically supposed to be an off night because of the amount of miles we ran yesterday, I may squeeze in a mile using a new interval that Mom found...we will see...

Our adventure at Fleet Feet

On Saturday, we decided to take a trip up to Fleet Feet, or as we call it, "the running store". We really did not know what to expect. We were greeted by some nice folks who told us that in order to be helped, we needed to put our name on a mirror that they have at the front of the store, Karen and I put our names down and crossed our fingers that it would not take TOO long due to we had the children with us. It is a pretty neat store, the people who work there are very knowledgeable and very thin. As we waited our turn, we took a look around at the clothes, the shoes, and the various accessories. I took a few minutes to look at the energy foods as well. I keep reading on some of the message boards about energy gels and clif bars and whatnot...look pretty gross to me.

Anyhow, one of the ladies called our name and we told her our story...from the last blog posting and advised how we felt the $30 shoes from Kohls were probably not being too kind to our feet. She agreed and told us to take our socks and shoes of. Claire grimaced at the thought of me taking my socks off, but I assured her I took a shower, she would be fine. Nevertheless, she moved to Karen's side. She measured our feet and then brought out several pair of shoes for us to try...she brought out a pair of Asics, a pair of Mizunos, and some Brooks. She brought Karen a pair of Nike and a pair of Asics...once each of us had our pair of shoes on, she took us outside to watch us run. After watching us run, she was able to give us a better sample of shoes based on her findings. We made our decisions, then she helped us out some other accessories, some socks, some inserts for the shoes. It was an expensive shopping trip, but in the end it will be worth it.

Before Shoes:



The Brooks I purchased from Fleet Feet:



Todays Workout:

Joe and Mom - 7 miles...will do this afternoon...Mom is nursing some soreness in her knees, so today is a survival run, we are not going to worry about time...

Karen - 7 miles...most likely on the treadmill...

Thanks,

Joe

New Directions

Well, my idea of a fall travel blog sort of sputtered out and fell short of what I really wanted it to be. To be honest, I posted the pictures and really did not have anything else to say.

As most of you know and don't give a shit about. Mom, Karen, and myself started running last fall. The whole idea came about when we did the Race for the Cure back in late October. After doing the 5k, I thought to myself, this shit is easy...I got a free t-shirt, some exercise...some free drinks afterwards, pretty sweet deal. We got home and I thought, lets schedule another. There was a not a ton of races in December...just a few 5k's here and there. We decided to do the Rudolph Run that happens before the Nashville Christmas Parade. Like everything, it was great idea in embryo, but the race started at 6:00 PM on a Friday night...that Friday night, it turned out to be 27 degrees. Karen was not awfully pleased, but we powered through. Karen finished under 40:00 minutes, Mom and I finished at 42:00. We were pleased with the showing for a few reasons:

1. We had been training for about 3 weeks.
2. There were several people behind us.
3. We did not die.

Since then we run every other day, it has become an extension of our lives and feels awesome. The question was what do we do from here?

Sort of off topic, but not really...There are 2 places in the world where I would travel every year if I had the funds and if Karen would deal with it, Las Vegas and Walt Disney World. This part of the story is about WDW. My love affair with WDW started a long time again, thanks to my parents and a several really memorable trips. After our first couple of trips, I can remember reading a 10th anniversary Walt Disney World book over and over...that lasted well into my teens. I would frequent the Disney store because it was one of the few places that you could get "official" books. When I found the 25th anniversary book, I was surprised to see my Uncle Harry made it into it. There was a picture of him painting a carousel horse in the chapter dedicated to the early years. I can remember visiting them in Kissimmee one year and getting to see his workshop which had a few horses he was working on and a bunch of neat photos. Those books remain on my bookshelf along with several out of date travel books...what can I say, I am a collector.

Anyhow, they periodically hold races at Walt Disney World Resort. The GrandDaddy of them all is the Walt Disney World Marathon and 1/2 Marathon. Before our Spring Break trip of 2007, I started listening to several Disney podcasts, the best of which, in my opinion, is WDW Radio...hosted by Lou Mongello, he is kind of a big deal as far as Disney-philes go. Anyhow, the last few years, I have been listening to his marathon coverage...one of the draws of this particular race is that the course meanders through all of the theme parks. For me, that is the best part. My initial thought was to run the 1/2 marathon...the more I thought about it, the more I believed that with over a years training, we could finish the full marathon. This blog is going to serve as our training log. If you choose to continue to read, you will hear about our ups and downs throughout the year...and the results of the other races we are using to train. Currently we have 3 races we are going to be running during the spring.

Predators FANGtastic 5K
Race Judicata 10K
and
Country Music Half Marathon

Currently, we run short runs Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday...those runs are between 3 - 4 miles. We use the short miles to work on our endurance and to keep the blood flowing. Sundays are mileage build days...we are up to 7 and will be at 7 for the next few weeks.

Workouts today:

Joe: 1 mile with Claire, then 3 miles timed at 37:05...my PR so far...
Karen: Her leg was sore, so she took the day off from running, but did her Cardio Max DVD
Mom: Did some fact-finding with the local GroupFit folks, then did Yoga.

Coming up: Our visit to the running store today and what we bought...Why are we doing this?