Monthly Archives: July 2010
Triple-digits and then some
“As I look ahead to the second half of 2010, I am ready to capitalize on what I’ve already done.”
Those are my words at the end of June. So far, so good. When July got under way, I just kind of gave myself a “whatever” approach to the month. What happened was one of the best months of running for the year.
Here are the top running highlights:
- A PR in the mile (minus whatever I did in high school).
- A good effort in the heat in a 5-miler.
- Passing my mileage from 2009.
- And to cap things off today, I ran 5.1 miles to get my July running miles past 100 miles for the year — 100.3 to be exact. That’s the second triple-digit month this year (April was the other month).
- For some of my non-running highlights from July, check out my post from yesterday, “The right direction.”
In a year in which so many things are going right, July just sets the tone for the last half of this year. As I look ahead to August, I plan to run later tomorrow to get to 30 miles for the week, my first 30-mile week since … well, I don’t really know (Sunday edit: I’m very tired today, so that 30-mile week is going to wait). I plan to continue to increase my mileage and my long runs as the Richmond Marathon gets closer. With the marathon 15 weeks from today, my non-plan plan will continue. I’m just going with what feels right, while loosely following some guidelines I’ve set for myself. From a mileage standpoint, I’d like to be between 110 and 120 miles.
In two weeks I am running the Lynchburg Half Marathon for the third time, but it will be more like a first-time event since the course has been completely altered from the last time I did the race. I’m not setting any goals for that since I want it to be more or less a long run a little faster than I’m used to. It’s a great opportunity to run with a large group and speed myself up a bit for a longer distance.
Other than that, I just want to continue this great 2010. So here’s to another months of great running!
The right direction
I feel like I have been very fortunate this year to have so many things going right with my running. After what felt like so much up and down in the past two years, my confidence may be at an all-time high.
* With tonight’s 4.1-mile run, I now have more running miles than all of last year. I continue to be amazed at that number. Seven months into the year and I have passed my 2009 total. Now I’m just 35 miles away from my 2008 total. It will be a while before I hit my all-time high of 960 miles from 2007, but of course my main goal is that 1,000-mile mark.
* Awesome by August has been a great challenge to get me focused on eating better and doing something other than just running. At this point with starting to add more miles for training, I know that weight loss will be harder and harder. But I am happy to report this week that my weight is 184.2, the first time I have been on the other side of the 180s (under 185) in probably three years. So for the challenge, I’ve lost 3.4 pounds, or 1.8 percent in three weeks; this year I’m down a total of 13 pounds, or 6.6 percent; and I’m down 35.8 pounds, or 16.3 percent from my all-time high.
So during Awesome by August, I have restarted the 100 push-ups program and am now in the second week of it, and I have added sit-ups to my routine. It’s a nice addition to just running. I hope that I can do even more in the coming months.
* I have revamped my About Me page to detail my journey of weight loss and becoming a runner. As I have written before, I often shy away from discussing my weight, but if I had never lost weight, I never would have become a runner; I would not have become a runner if I didn’t need to lose weight. So in a roundabout way, this site is just as much about weight struggles as it is with what I do with running. I’ll continue to write about running more than anything else, but it’s crucial I keep reminding myself of what I don’t want to go back to.
Behind the numbers
Tonight’s 12-mile run was more than just another long run. It was the longest training run since sometime last summer. Sure I’ve done a couple of half marathons this year, but no other training run in 2010 has been more than 11 miles.
Tonight’s run got me to more than 90 miles for the month, giving me a big boost to the second half of the year. Will I hit triple digits for July by the end of Saturday? Maybe.
Tonight’s run got me to 601.1 miles for 2010, only 2.8 miles away from beating last year’s entire running mileage of 603.9 miles. I’m well on pace to easily pass 1,000 miles for the year.
It’s time to keep my head up and keep pushing. I feel like the best is yet to come.
Survival
This past winter it was snow; this summer it’s record-breaking heat. It seems like there hasn’t been much in between that. This past weekend may have been the worst. It was just outright miserable. To beat the heat, I ran before the sun was up on both Saturday and Sunday, although I didn’t really beat anything. On Saturday morning, I headed out at 5:30 a.m.; the temperatures were in the mid-70s with extremely high humidity. It was like running through mud.
I’m not really complaining about it — it is what it is. I did what I could to beat the worst of it and managed to do a pretty good job. If I complained about it, I would just stop running and do nothing, but instead I pushed through the hottest week of the year and ran 25 miles last week, my highest weekly total in a few months. I’m now less than 15 miles from 90 miles for July and 600 miles for the year.
While I continue my great year of mileage, my runs are staying a pretty good quality too. It’s tough in the heat to have runs that I’m completely happy with, but I’m keeping in mind that this intense weather won’t last forever. If I can survive this, it will make the fall seems so easy.
No. 526
* I have started the 100 push-ups program AGAIN. Two days into it, I’m full of regret having not done hardly any upper body workouts in the past couple of months.
* Awesome by August is going OK. I went from 187.6 to 186 in the first week to then maintaining this week. Maintenance is a victory, but a loss would have been better. My biggest issue is what I eat on the weekends. If I could move beyond just a few bad choices, I’ll see another loss. That means no Dairy Queen this weekend. My eating during the week has been pretty good.
* My long run this week was 11 miles. That’s the longest non-racing run since a run of 11 miles this past winter. Pretty soon I’ll be hitting distances I haven’t seen in three years. I’m both nervous and excited about that.
* Unless something bizarre happens in the next week, I will hit 90 miles for the month and 600 miles for the year by July 31. I’m keeping right on pace to be above 1,000 miles for the year, with even higher mileage coming. I’ve said this before, but if I train like I should for the marathon and barring any injuries, I should hit 1,000 miles sometime in November.
* Want to win a pair of sunglasses? Check out a contest at iRunnerBlog to enter a chance to win a pair of Ryders Cirrus sunglasses. The deadline to enter is noon (ET) July 30.
Shoe check
To the guy who talked me into buying Brooks Ravenna at the Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon race expo in Virginia Beach: thank you. My running life has never been better.
When things are going good, I often fail at talking about what is really working. And since last Labor Day weekend, things have just worked well when it comes to shoes. After a good summer in another brand and another model, I was very hesitant to make the switch to Ravenna. If one thing was working, why would I switch?
Well, I did switch for whatever reason and it’s worked even better than I expected. I am now in my fourth pair of Ravennas, alternating between two pairs. I quietly retired pair No. 2 on June 28 at 310.7 miles. Pair No. 3 have 127.2 miles; and pair No. 4 is just shy of 20 miles. I’m not sure what the original pair got since I wasn’t keeping close track of shoe mileage the last part of 2009 — they lasted from Labor Day until February, getting more than 105 miles in them in 2010. No matter what the overall mileage was, I’m happy with the shelf life.
Shoes will come; shoes will go; shoes will be discontinued; shoes will change. I know all this, but I’m focused on the now and I’m focused on continuing this good thing I have going on. And these shoes are a huge part of that.
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