Monthly Archives: April 2011
20, 80, and a whole lot more
Today’s 4.5-mile run may very well be the most important run I’ve had in 6 months. Not only did it get me to 20 miles for the week and past 80 miles for the month of April, it caps what is the wildest 6 months of running I’ve ever had.
It’s almost hard to believe that at the start of this cycle, I was injured and now I’m talking about running 20 miles in a week again. I’ve gone from running the Richmond Marathon with a bum leg, to running just a couple of miles a week for a while, to slowly building my mileage back, to getting a PR in a 10k, to this.
This is about so much more than the mileage. It’s about getting my confidence back; it’s about feeling the best I have felt in a year; it’s about getting back to having fun with running again.
Having all this come together in April is very important to me too. After completely awful Aprils in 2008 and 2009 in which I ran just a little more than 30 miles each, I’ve now had two awesome Aprils. Last year I did my 30-day streak, had two great races and logged 100 miles.
In addition to running, I have continued to do many “other” things such as a variety of push-ups, sit-ups and squats. I fell short my 50 consecutive push-ups goal, but I still did more than 500 push-ups this month. I have to go back to the drawing board on that. I maxed out at 35, but even with rest when my arms felt tired I couldn’t get beyond that. I need a better plan.
All in all, I am happy with where things are 1/3 of the way through the year. I’m in a good place with my running to keep gradually increasing my overall mileage and continue building a base before I flip the mental switch to “officially” training for the Baltimore Marathon.
#watchlessmonday lives on
For those who didn’t “get it,” #watchlessmonday was not intended to be a one-time event. It’s something you should try for every week. It seems the fun of it came and went fairly quickly on Twitter after a few days of initial excitement.
The best response was this post from Tara who blogs at A Life Changing Journey. The end of her post sums up the point of #watchlessmonday very well: “I didn’t need my garmin to tell me I have endurance. … I didn’t need the garmin to tell me I can run fast. … I didn’t need the garmin to tell me how far I was running. … I didn’t need the validation of a gadget. … I just needed me.”
There were also some great excuses of not doing it, including “I don’t run on Monday” (read the original post; it doesn’t matter) and a few from people worrying about how far they’d run. Um, that’s why running just to run is fun — the “not knowing” element. Take a familiar route or map it out BEFORE you run if that’s what you’re worried about.
Whether #watchlessmonday lives on with others or not is yet to be seen, but I certainly plan to keep doing it. I’ve now gone watchless three Mondays in a row and am considering doing it more often. It’s so liberating to get out there and not worry about pace or time or distance. Give it a try if you haven’t. It’s not nearly as difficult as you think it is.
#runchat scrapbook
This past Sunday’s #runchat on Twitter was one of the best yet. One of the highlights for me was seeing so many of your photos from either during a race, after a race, or your favorite scenes. Here is a collection of just a few of the photos that were shared that night.
Mark your calendars now for the next #runchat with me and Scott — Sunday, May 8 at 8 p.m. ET. If you’re on Twitter, be sure to use the #runchat tag any time to ask running questions, post link to blog entries or make comments about anything to do with running. As always, we’re looking for new #runchat questions, so feel free to leave them in the Comments section below or send me an email via my Contact page.
A quest for 80
For much of this month I haven’t been looking at my overall mileage very closely. I’ve been feeling great and striving for continued consistency. By shifting my focus a bit, I didn’t realize until the end of last week how close I was to 80 miles for the month — before yesterday’s run it was 18.9 miles to go; now it’s 14.6. I also want to get to 20 miles for the week, so if I’m a bit short Saturday, I’ll certainly nail it Sunday.
There’s something special about hitting 80 miles with where I’ve been since logging 120 miles in October. If I’m this excited about hitting 80, I can only imagine what it will feel like to get back to triple digits again later this year. I’m staying patient, but I’m also very excited for what’s ahead.
Getting up with the birds
Today marked a rare occurrence of getting up and out the door a few minutes before 6:30 a.m. to run 3.5 miles. The alarm clock didn’t go off — I just got up and ran (after a trip to the bathroom, of course).
It sounds so easy, right? WRONG. If it was easy, I’d be a full-time morning runner. I generally have no problems doing this on the weekend. Even last year when I was going for really long runs on the weekend I could set the alarm for 5:30 and be out the door before Big Red made it’s daily rising.
This past winter, though, with nothing to train for except getting healthy, even weekend morning running took a back seat. I get up with my son — usually between 7 and 7:30 a.m. — and hang out with him for an hour or so before my wife gets up. I’ve been doing those runs closer to 9 a.m. or so. Don’t take that the wrong way though — I love that extra time with my son on the weekend and it’s often the only time it’s just the two of us.
All this being said, I am awful with weekday morning running. I’ve done it before, back when I had a job in which I didn’t have to be at work until 9 a.m. When I first started running in 2004 I worked evenings, which made it even easier to run in the morning, but that was more mid-morning.
Now, though, I have to be at work at 8 a.m. On paper, it seems easy: get up at 5:45 a.m., do whatever it is I need to do before running and get out the door around 6 a.m., give or take a few minutes. That allows me enough time to run 4-5 miles and still have plenty of time to get ready, eat breakfast, hang out with my son for 15 minutes and get to work on time.
Running in the morning isn’t a wish … it’s something I need to do in order for the next six months to go well. That’s right, need. Here’s why:
My son’s bed time is getting later. He’s a great sleeper, but as he gets closer to 3 years old, his bedtime is getting closer to 8 p.m. Before it was regularly 7 p.m., but those days are gone. It’s funny to tell other people when he goes to bed, but guess what?!? Kids need that much sleep. They shouldn’t be staying up with you until 9 or 10 p.m. or catching the late local news, and then turning around and getting up at 7 a.m. [end rant] … so for me as a family man, I love the evening time I get to spend with my son (and of course my wife). Those couple of hours or so at the end of the day are the only times during the week that I get to spend with him, so I’d rather not go out for a run if I get an extra half hour with him.- The weather is quickly changing. As the weather gets warmer and the humidity creeps up, afternoon storms can really ruin running plans. The rain I can handle; the thunder and lightning are another story. I actually don’t have any issues with the heat, and here in Virginia the humidity sucks just as much in the morning as it does in the evening.
- My wife needs the freedom in the evenings. With her stay-at-home Mary Kay business, evenings are prime time for meeting customers, dropping off products, meeting potential team members … the more time she has to do that, the sooner we can drive that pink Cadillac to race expos near and far.
- I need to set the tone for my days better. From my past experience I know that running in the morning helps set the tone for the day and leads to better decision making with food. No matter what time of the day I run, I need that, but I know getting up with the birds helps the process.
- My dog Duke is a better morning runner. He’s driven me crazy on the leash lately, but I was reminded this morning how much better he is in the morning. Other cruel dog owners don’t have their dogs tied up in the front yard early in the day, which keeps him and me calmer. While my dog is so great with my son and good in the house, he seems even more grounded when he’s getting his regular runs in.
- Lastly, for now, this also isn’t “need,” but I sure do like waking up with nature. Hearing the birds sing, watching the sunrise, occasionally hearing a rooster crow … it’s good for the mind, and there’s definitely nothing wrong with that.
Bring your photos to #runchat
This Sunday, Scott and I are back for another round of #runchat on Twitter. First off, this week features the best giveaway yet in the nearly year we’ve been doing #runchat — a pair of Pearl iZUMi shoes. Scott has all the details about the giveaway here in his post.
Secondly, be sure that you have a photo of you running or a photo of a scene you took on a run ready to post. One of our questions this Sunday will be about running running photos. Pick a good one! To prepare for that question, my suggestion would be to head to a URL shortener site, such as bit.ly or tinyurl.com, to shorten the link and make it easy to post that night. Later next week I’ll post some of your photos here. Think of it as contributing to a #runchat virtual scrapbook.
For more details on what #runchat is and how to take part if you’re not familiar with it, check out my #runchat page. If you have a question you’d like to see in a future #runchat, feel free to leave a comment below or send me a message on my Contact page. See you Sunday. Be there or be out running!
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