Thursday Night Run...

I left work pretty excited today because my ankle felt great and I had an easy 4 miler to look forward to. I mapped out a new course through the neighborhoods that was not lousy with hills. I complained last week about our 3 mile course to Tim and of course he had to remind me of the name of the town I live in...

The new course was a slight upgrade. From the car, it seems very flat, but what I learned tonight was that it really is an incline one way, and slightly downhill the rest of the way...good thing is that it was not too difficult to run. I ran 3:1's tonight and kept to the Galloway approach of walking a bit at the beginning. I stuck to my 3:1 after that slowing my pace at the beginning (the uphill battle) so that when I turned around, I was able to pretty much trot at a much faster pace back until I got to the entrance of our neighborhood which is a pretty steep hill.

It was a lonely run tonight, just me. Mom is nursing some leg issues, Karen was at the dentist. I had my ipod to pass the time though so that was nice. Karen will jog on the treadmill later...

Joe 4 miles 47:36 11:54 pace

I believe that is my best pace time yet. I am getting to the point where I feel like I can conserve my energy, miles 2-4 were easy tonight just like miles 3-6 last Saturday. Granted, from about 2.5 -->3.5 it was downhill, but still...

J

Last Few Days...

I took the last few days off from training...or at least the normal training schedule due to some ankle issues I got from playing tennis 2 days in a row. Last night, I did got to the rec center and used the recumbent stair-stepper for a mile, then walk/jogged about a mile and a quarter...I feel good today and definitely ready to run my 4 miles tomorrow night.

I do not want to totally stop playing tennis, but I do need to get some court shoes that do fit me. I will be doing some more shoe shopping this weekend. I also got a $25 gift certificate from Fleet Feet which I am strongly considering purchasing a back-up pair of running shoes with.

The key for me is to not get the fear of getting injured in my head...when I ran the other night, I felt like I was favoring that ankle which I think will ultimately cause a "real" injury.

A couple of other side notes:

1. I purchased my first "running" book. Jeff Galloway's You Can Do It: Half-Marathon...this guy is a genius and has totally changed the way I think about running. http://www.amazon.com/Half-Marathon-You-Can-Jeff-Galloway/dp/1841261904/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234397745&sr=8-2

2. Check out my Mom's blog, she just started up yesterday:
http://jerseygrammy.blogspot.com/

Thanks,

J

Off Day, Getting over Sickness

I have to say after yesterdays long run, I feel great. I was expecting to feel really sore and cruddy, but I had no pains at all. It was still not in my best interest to run again today, but being able to walk down the stairs without my knees getting wobbly, that is awesome.

Due to the awesome weather, we spent a good portion of the day outside, Claire and Bella made themselves a lemonade stand and sat outside drinking lemonade, they had a couple of customers, but not a ton...I started the opening process of the pool. It is early, but I was ready to get the cover off and start cleaning the patio off.

I am hoping the weather holds this week so that we can get some outside runs in AND possibly some tennis in during lunchtime at work.

J

The Long Run after 3 days rest

Mom and I went out to meet the Fleet Feet crew at the Concord YMCA this morning to run our long run for the week. Mom ran with the 2:2 interval group while I stuck with the 3:1 interval group. They advised that the marathon group was going to be running the 8 miles, but they strongly encouraged everyone else to stick with the 7 miles due to the course we were running was very hilly. They were correct, it was definitely the most difficult course we ran yet, but ultimately was the most satisfying run yet.

Joe: 7 miles 1:28:15 12:36 pace
Mom: 7 miles 1:35:00 13:34 pace

I was really proud of this one because I ran every interval without stopping. Meaning, I did not take an interval 'off' to walk. I was very conservative with my energy at the beginning because at around mile 6 on the last run, I started to run out of gas. Thankfully, today, that did not happen. Our last 2 intervals, we were able to push a little harder and pick up the pace to around 10:15 which was pretty impressive to me...especially after running 6.5 miles...I really enjoyed myself today and still feel pretty good, although I know that I will sore tomorrow. We are off for 2 days, then we will run 4 miles Tuesday and Thursday, then we are scheduled to run 7-8 miles down near the David Lipscomb U Baseball field for our Saturday run...

Karen was unable to attend the run this morning due to a scheduling conflict, but she did an 8 mile run this morning, it was a 4 mile out and back. She did really well.

Karen: 8 miles 1:38:00 12:15

Have a Good Weekend!

J

Tuesday Night Workout

Due to the extreme cold, Mom and I ran at the Rec Center instead of out in the 25 degree cold with 20 mph gusts...

Update:

Mom and Joe: 4 miles 51:55 12:58 pace
Karen: Have not run yet...

Not a bad run at all tonight...we kept up the 3:1 the whole time, skipping 1 interval to recover. I am glad that we did not go back to 2:2. After last nights terrible run, I feel good again. Now, We have 3 days rest until our Saturday long run with the Fleet Feet people. This week, we move from starting at the store from starting at the Concord YMCA and running towards Ravenwood High School...apparently it starts flat, then gets hilly, then finishes flat. Should be interesting.

I added my gamer card to the blog too, if you haven't noticed. Awesome.

Tonight's Run = Not Fun

Well, it has happened before, but has not happened in a while. Tonights run sucked. It was a 3 miler and really was one of the worst ones in a while. We are trying out a new watch, so we did intervals, but I did not have the normal timer set up, so I do not have an exact time, but I would say it was in the 45 minute range. Kind of sucks, cause we could have walked that and probably did it quicker.

Reason why I think I did poorly:

1. Did not stretch properly...
2. Maybe confidence was too high after I killed 7 miles the other day...
3. Maybe my legs just were not ready...

We will try again tomorrow, this time at a slower pace...maybe 2:2 instead of 3:1...we will see.

J

Sunday Morning...

Just finished reading the paper...today is an off day. I read in multiple places that novice runners should not run a day before or day after a long run. Although I feel fine, just a little sore here and there, I will comply. I may do a mile tomorrow, to work on my interval...we will see...but will be back on Tuesday night and then will need to find some time for another 4 miles due to I am going to Atlanta Thursday night.

Going to run out to Target this morning to price some cheap Timex interval watches and get some terrible food for the Super Bowl. Possibly run over to the book store to check out a Jeff Galloway book, then home to play some Gears of War before the Super Bowl starts...

Have a good day!

J