Sunday, September 30, 2007

Last day of September

So, it's September 30th. You know what that means--it's been 3 full months of running at least 1 mile every single day. That's 92 days in total. Wow! Never in my life did I think I'd ever be so into running.

Today was Sunday, so we went to the YMCA. When I first got on the treadmill, I couldn't decide whether to do intervals or not. I decided against it and thought I'd just run and try to do a fast pace on the treadmill. I started at about a 6.7 pace on the treadmill and kept gradually increasing it to 7.0 (8:34 pace) over the course of the first mile. I also increased the incline to 0.5 so it was a little tougher. As I neared one mile, I felt OK so I thought it best to do 2 miles. Kept running at this good pace til about 1.5 miles, then gradually decreased the speed and incline. For the last 0.1 mile, I kicked the speed back up again til the end. Ran the 2 miles in 18:06. Good run.

Then went and did 12 minutes on the recumbant bike with rolling hills at level 6. That was a little tough hill workout.

Went on to the machines, but thought it best to give the legs a little break. Did the sitting press and the lat pull down. Then did the tricep pull down, 8lb bicep curls, and 8lb side shoulder raises. Finished with lunges with 8lb weights. That was enough for today. On to breakfast/brunch!

Saturday, September 29, 2007

Saturday, close to home

It's been a while since we've run on the northside. Bill only had to run 8 today as this was the lowest part of the taper before next week's marathon. We were running the north bike trail, starting at 3 Mile and Douglas, so it was nice to get up a bit later and leave the house at only 8 minutes to 7am.

As I got started running today, I knew it wasn't going to be a breakneck pace. I just really felt it was going to be a steady run, but not an overly fast run, nor a really far run. Ran with Bill for about a mile, then he said that Mike D. and I were going too fast. Mike and I continued and ran north 2.5 so that we'd get a nice 5 miles in.

Ran 5.13 miles in 48:16 (9:24/mile pace). For not thinking I was going too fast, it still turned out to be a pretty decent run.

Friday, September 28, 2007

Up a bit early

Got up pretty quickly this morning and went for our run. While running I noticed I wasn't really that sore at all, not as sore as I typically am two days after weight lifting. Maybe my body is getting more used to the lifting, maybe the yoga stretching last night helped. Either way I felt pretty good.

Ran 1.02 mile in 8:45 (8:35/mile pace)

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Something new

Got up this morning and went for our morning run. It's really getting chilly in the mornings now.

Ran 1.02 mile in 8:59 (8:51/mile pace--again).

Then tried something new. Sara and I signed up for some studio classes with Synchronicity. Tonight was the class we talked about going to-- a Yoga Mix class. It's supposedly a basic yoga class with a little extra (some free weights and other accessories). I've never done yoga so it was a little different and I didn't know what to expect. It was a good relaxing session with some great stretching. I think going to yoga the note on the night after a weight session is a great idea. Since I'm typically starting to get sore about 24 hours after lifting, doing yoga stretching right then was tough, but felt so good.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Full of fitness

Didn't really feel like getting up this morning, but knew that Bill had an evening meeting and I could go to the gym or run later if I wanted.

On the way home from a Milwaukee meeting, I decided to go to the YMCA to get some good exercise in. I did my 1 mile (with intervals--raising the jog pace up a bit as a challenge, also a little incline) run, then did 20 minutes on the recumbant bike with a hill workout at level 5. Then I did some weights--did the 3 leg machines I always do, plus the three chest/shoulder/back ones I always do. Then I did a few reps on the Roman chair and some bicep curls with free weights.

On the way home I chatted with Bill and he hadn't run yet. I felt pretty good so I decided to run with him again. Ran another mile around the neighborhood---did 1.01 in 8:57 (8:51/mile pace).

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Wow, morning glory!

Got up this morning and thought I may run 2 miles. Bill just wasn't waking up so I let him sleep. As I was getting my shoes on, he got up and I told him he didn't have to go with me. He told me to be on my way and just go.

As I got going, about .25 in, I realized I didn't think I was going to do 2 miles. I started out fast and just wanted to keep going. Still fighting the scratchy throat, so I also didn't want to overdo. Although I tired about 0.5 mile in, I kept going pretty fast. About .75 into the run counterclockwise around the neighborhood, I passed Bill going the other direction.

Ran 1.02 in 8:35 (8:26/mile pace). I think that's the fastest I've ever run a mile! Less than an 8:30 min/mile! Wow!

Monday, September 24, 2007

Late Monday run

We decided we run later today, but then when we got home from work, neither of us could decide whether to eat first or run first. I was really hungry, so we decided to eat first and run later.

Mistake!!

For some reason, although we ran over an hour after eating, the food (just cereal) weighed on us. Additionally, I'm fighting off a scratch throat, so I'm just not feeling at my peak.

Tried to run slower, but in a way, I just wanted to finish. Ran 1.03 mile in 9:55 (9:38/mile pace). Definitely slower, but not overly bad.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

Lazy Sunday

We just had a really lazy day today, not even running til 6pm.

Started out relaxing and slower, but we really picked up the pace as we moved along. The little graph was bumpy, but kept going down, down, down.

Ran 1.02 mile in 8:50 (8:42/mile pace). Good time for starting out so slow and running such a good run yesterday.

Saturday, September 22, 2007

Another record Saturday

OK, so last week I ran with Ken and he really pushed me. We ran about 5.65 miles and I maintained an average 9:18/mile pace. That was a big push for me, but good.

This week was Colonial run, one of my least favorites. I just think it's a bit boring as we run it so often (about every 5 weeks). But I also noticed today just how hilly it is. Not big hills, but lots of little ones---so many little road overpasses and underpasses and river bridges. As we were getting started, Ken was there again and he hung back and we started off together. We started strong and passed the rest of the group before the first big bridge out of the trees. As we were winding through Lincoln Park, we caught up with Mike, an occasional runner with the group. Mike is tall and runs at a fairly good clip. He slowed a bit and the three of us ran the route together.

They really do run faster than my comfort level, but again this is a good thing. It keeps me going and pushing myself. At one point I was really struggling to keep up and told the two guys to go ahead. They said no, that wasn't what it was about, and agreed to slow a bit for me. Well, they did....for a bit, then I think we were right back up there.

As we were nearing back to Colonial, I realized that we hadn't been passed. Although we didn't run up the final hill at the 3 mile mark, we had run nearly the whole route and not even the faster runners had passed us. This is a unique thing for me as the faster runners always pass by me at some point. We pushed it all the way to the end.

We ran 5.63 miles in 50:56 minutes. I knew that was a pretty good time, but couldn't do the math to figure out my pace. I just knew I felt exhausted. As we chatted, a few members of the group commented on how fast I was running and how strong I looked (well, at least I looked strong on the outside...amazing how looks can be so deceiving!). Melissa asked my pace and I just showed her the time and told her I didn't know the pace. With the click of a button (I still haven't played enough with the new Forerunner to figure out the features), she showed me my pace screen.

9:02/mile pace!!!!!!!!!!! What!!!???!?!?!?!?! That can't be right. Oh my God. I ran a 9:02 mile average pace for over 5.5 miles. That's amazing. Then, of course, my natural competitive spirit came out and I was upset that I didn't run a hair faster so that my pace was under 9:00/mile. Funny how I was just exhausted and knew I had run "too fast", then once I knew the number, I felt I should have run faster. This Forerunner really helps my competitive spirit as I'm now able to track it all.

It was really neat to have people like Jodie and Melissa commenting on how fast I was running and how solid my run looked. Maybe someday I can catch up to them and actually join them on a run!

So, the end all was 5.63 mile in 50:56 (9:02/mile pace). What a run!

Friday, September 21, 2007

Humid morning

It was unusually humid this morning, a humidity we haven't felt in a few weeks. I just couldn't really get going today and Bill just had a kick to his step and pulled away from me, finishing a good couple of house lengths ahead of me.

Ran 1.03 in 9:20 (9:05/mile pace). A good pace, but obviously Bill wanted to run faster.

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Froggy

Boy was it foggy tonight. It was foggy in the morning as well, so it didn't really matter when we ran.

I had met Sara at Synchronicity this evening to see if we might want to do some yoga or other exercise classes. We thought it looked like fun, so we signed up for 10 sessions. We'll start with the yoga mix, but may try the 20/20/20 class as well. As I drove home, knowing we were going for our mile run, I noticed the fog was rolling in pretty heavy.

As we were running we noticed how wet we were getting. It was weird as it was just fog, but it was such a heavy fog it was almost like it was misting.

Ran 1.01 in 9:31 (9:26/mile pace).

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Nice crisp morning

Decided I should get up and run in the morning today as I woke up in plenty of time and it felt like it was a nice morning. Although I typically run better in the mornings, today was good, but not great.

Ran 1.03 mile in 9:33 (9:18/mile pace).

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Tuesday Training

Tonight was a rare Tuesday night session with Anna as she was busy on Wednesday this week. She did weight (not great, but steady) and measurements (a few little partial inches down here and there) tonight. After a quick warmup, we did alot of different types of quad/hamstring exercises, as well as some core and back, plus shoulder.

I wasn't sure if I was going to run at the club or after back at home, until after the workout. It was a beautiful day today and I know that soon enough that nice weather will be gone and I'll be wanting to do more on the treadmill. Therefore I drove home and ran outside. Bill had waited to run, so we went out together right away when I got home.

Ran exactly the 1.0 mile in 9:36 pace. Not the fastest, but hard to run after a tough workout with cooldown.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Morning....nope

I woke up this morning and couldn't decide if I wanted to run or not. Since I knew we didn't have anything going on after work, I asked him if he'd rather run in the morning or not. That was a stupid question as Bill just isn't a morning person.

After work I was starving, so we decided to get dinner right away and run later. Ran a fast little run around the neighborhood.

Ran 1.01 in 8:57 (8:53/mile pace).

Sunday, September 16, 2007

YMCA today

It's Sunday and we really had no excuse not to go to the Y today. With Bill running 20 yesterday, he just wanted to do his mile, then maybe a few machines and swimming. I didn't really want to swim, but wanted to get some machines in as it's been a while.

Got there and decided to do intervals as this is the only place with the good treadmill with the interval training. Set my jog pace a little faster (6.0) and my run at a normal run pace (8.2). Then as I got going, the run pace felt pretty good, so I did a full minute at the run pace (rather than 30 or 45 seconds as I had been doing). Did 2 min job, 1 min run, 2 jog, 1 run, 1.5 jog, 1 run and a sprint of 8.8 pace until the end of the mile. Nice little push for the mile today. I then went on to do a hill rotation on the bike for 20 minutes.

Then did a few machines--sitting press, adductors, abductors, lat pull down, situps on the ball, hamstring lifts on the ball, circle situps on the ball, and finish with plank and stretching. A nice balanced workout today.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Saturday on the southside

Today's route came from thinking about the Culver's run, but knowing most people don't like the hills on the westerly portion (which is on the end of the route with the normal Culver's routine). Therefore this time we're starting at the south end, at Durand and West Blvd. Then people can run north to Time Warner (doing the hills in the middle of the route) or people can run south to KR or A and back (a nice flat route). I figure I'd decide in the morning which route I'd want to do.

As I was driving there, I realized how sunny it was and figured the Culver's route would be hilly in the middle, then sunny on part of the routine........not so much fun. Therefore as we all stood there deciding, I decided for the longer, but flatter north-south route on the bikepath. Ken was back joining us again and he and I ran together for the route. He runs just a bit faster than I'm comfortable doing, but it's a good thing as it pushes me. Plus we have great conversation so it makes it easier to be distracted as I'm pushing myself. He and I ran doing to the country club and back up. He lives west of Dr. Jones' school so he turned off at Chicory and I continued alone. As he branched off, he asked for the time of our run--41 minutes for 4.5 miles. Wow, that is a bit fast. I thought I'd ease up a bit (which I did), but then realized I should try to keep the pace as best as possible, so I tried to speed back up.

Ran all the way to Durand, then realized I should do just a bit more. Crossed Durand and ran to the funky corner (Taylor/West Blvd), with that last bit being a sprint with Chuck, who joined me as I passed him and Ralph about .3 miles south of Durand.

Finished with 5.65 miles in 52:31 (9:18/mile pace). That's great for me. I did 9:18 for just one mile yesterday and essentially kept that same pace for 5.65 miles today. Wow, that's the fastest run I've had running this long. That would be just over 58 minutes for a 10k!

Friday, September 14, 2007

Another morning = 4

This was the 4th morning in a row, but this one didn't start so chipper as the others. For some reason, I just couldn't get going this morning and I was sleeping for a 1/4 of the run. No energy at all. We had to run in the morning though as I'm going to Jess's tonight and Bill's running 20 tomorrow.

Ran 1.02 in 9:32 (9:19/mile). Not really that bad, but not as great as the other morning runs.

Happy Birthday Daddy! ;)

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Three in a row!

This is the third morning in a row for a run. For the last few mornings I've been waking up between 5 and 5:45am and am essentially awake. So there's been go excuse (other than the cozy-ness of the warm bed) not to get up. I actually got out of bed a little earlier today, so I thought I should maybe try for a two mile run.

As I was getting ready, Bill rolled over and said I was on my own. He had mentioned last night that he might not get up and run in the morning. Now, he just said he "warned me." So off I went by myself. As I got into the run, I couldn't decide whether or not to do the mile or two. At the decision point, the .5 mile, I decided that there was really no reason not to do the two. Also, today was the day the girls at work decided to go to Old Dutch at lunch. Knowing I was going to have frozen custard, I definitely needed to run the 2 miles.

Ran 2.03 miles in 19:44 (average 9:42/mile pace).

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Another morning

Got up again this morning and thought it would be good to run in the morning. I do feel more awake for the first few hours of work when I run, so it's good to get the blood flowing. Another chilly run!

Unfortunately as I finished the run, I must have not hit the Stop button hard enough, or I hit it twice. As I was stretching, I noticed the clock was still ticking! Oh no. Luckily I do remember what it said when I stopped.

Ran 1.06 miles in 9:13 minutes. Just a few seconds slower than yesterday!

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Up and at 'em

Woke up this morning and felt it should be a morning run. Boy it's getting cold. These morning runs are going to be a little tough and I'm going to have to pull the gloves out.

Ran 1.06 miles in 9:06 (8:38/mile pace). Wow! That's my fastest mile since I've been recording, and it's probably my fastest "one mile" ever. That's exciting!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Should have run in the morning

Woke up this morning to a drizzling sound on the window. Thought about getting up.........., then no, staying in bed. I knew I had nothing in the evening, so I can always run then.

MISTAKE! Got out of work and it was raining a pretty steady, hard rain. Looked up the weather when I got home, hoping it would clear up. Unfortunately it looked like it was going to rain for hours. Can't break the streak! Can't break the streak! It's been 71 days, can't stop now because of some rain. Unfortunately it also got chilly, so it would be a cold, rainy run.

Got out there and did the mile! Ran 1.01 mile in 8:49 (8:43/mile pace). That's a pretty swift pace, you can tell I was in a hurry to get it done! :)

Sunday, September 9, 2007

Art Fair Sunday

Today is the annual Starving Artist's Fair at Mt. Mary where nothing is over $100. Awesome, huge fair and great prices. Therefore that takes up the morning and early afternoon (always have to go to brunch after the fair).

Therefore running would have to wait until later in the day. Went out just after5pm for a nice little mile run.

Ran 1.0 mile in 9:27.

Saturday, September 8, 2007

New Saturday morning run

This morning we are doing a new route, well.....new for the running group. Bill and I did a version of this last summer once. Starting just south of the zoo at Lakeview Park, we ran south on the new path, around the back of the condos and Festival Hall, and down the path all the way to the beach behind Gateway. It was nice to have a different route as the regulars are getting a little too regular.

Bill said the route was about 5.5 miles, so I planned to try for it. This would be the longest run for me since last fall (probably November).

The run could have been about 20-30 seconds faster as I stopped completely twice with Carol (once for the dogs, once to look at something). Otherwise it was a pretty good run.

Ran 5.51 miles in 56:05 (10:11/mile pace). That's a pretty good pace for this length for me!

Now to just get another mile or so on this length and try to get the pace down to about 9:30.

Friday, September 7, 2007

Morning rain

We forgot to reset the alarm this morning so it went off early as I had needed it to the day prior. As I lay there awake, earlier than I needed to be, I realized it was raining. I really didn't want to run in the rain today. Therefore it will be another evening run.

We went out for dinner after work right away so it would settle a bit before running. Went out at about 7:30pm, the same time as Wednesday, and raced against the mosquitoes.

Ran 1.0 mile in 9:18 minute pace.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Early work day

Today I had to be out the door by 7am for an early interview, so a morning run just wasn't happening. Unfortunately I also have a hair appointment right after work and I have to drop something off at Mom's after that, so the run is going to be another later one.

With all the mosquitoes around, last night was rough running with the mosquitoes swarming and the sweating making the previous bites I had itch even more. Luckily I got out about a half hour earlier than last night so it was just before dusk and they weren't so bad.

Ran 1.01 mile in 9:19 (9:14/mile pace).

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Midweek workout with Anna

Today was another training evening with Anna. Haven't seen her in 2 weeks, and haven't seen her since before Bill's marathon. Had to admit to her that I've only run the 1 mile only each day for the past two weeks (as I even only ran 1 mile in Park City). At least I did run 4.4 miles on Saturday and we did the Y on Sunday, so there was a little something else.

Worked out well with her, some fly-supersets, back pull downs and other back exercises, some core, some backwards lunges with weights. She "pinched" me today and I've lost some body fat so that's a good thing. My BMI was about 25.6, much better than it's been in a while!

Didn't feel like running my mile at the gym as it was a little warm there and there was alot of people there tonight. Came home and Bill had just finished his 6.5 mile run, so I was off right away to do my neighborhood mile. Unfortunately I got a side stitch at about 0.2 into the run and it just wouldn't go away through the whole run.

Did exactly 1.0 mile in 9:40 pace.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

Bright and early

It's Tuesday, but it's a Monday. Gotta love short weeks.

Got up bright and early today and we did the run before work. It's been a while (nearly 2 weeks) since we've done this. Felt really good today...fairly nice weather and feeling fresh and ready to go.

Did 1.02 miles in 9:08 (8:56/mile pace).

Monday, September 3, 2007

Labor Day

It's a holiday, so I decided I should do a little longer run. At first I thought the 3.5 mile loop out the neighborhood and up the bike path. But as the morning moved on, I didn't really want to go that far. I was a little sore from lifting at the YMCA, so I thought we'd just do the 2 mile loop.

Well, we got outside at around 9am and it seemed really muggy. About .25 mile into the run, I realized 2 miles just wasn't going to happen. Although Bill wanted to do the 2, I just wasn't feeling it.

Just did the 1.05 mile in 10:04 minutes (9:36/mile pace).

Sunday, September 2, 2007

YMCA finally

Ok, so it's Sunday and there was no excuse for us not to get back into the routine of going to the YMCA. We were so good in July of going every Sunday, then kind of fell off the wagon.

Also, this is the only place that has the good treadmills that have an interval mode setting. Therefore I figured I'd better take advantage as it has been a while since I've done intervals. Did my mile with 5.9 jog pace & 8.2 run pace for the intervals. Did three 40-second intervals at the faster pace, about every two minutes in the run. Ended up the mile in about 9:20-9:25 minute pace.

Then did 20 minutes on the bike so I could read a bit, but also do some different leg exercises. Did a random routine at level 3.

Ended the workout with 6 weight machines. Did 3 sets of 12 on each of the machines: upper body--sitting bench, front press, lat pull-down; and lower body--adductor, abductor, and sitting leg press. Finished, as always, with some stretching.

Mid-afternoon, Bill and I decided to play a little tennis. Haven't done this in a few years. Hit the balls around for a bit, then played a set out. It was a beautiful day with a light breeze and strong, hot sun. Another nice little workout that was alot of fun doing together!

Saturday, September 1, 2007

Panera II

Today the running group is doing the Panera II route, the route that goes west on Hwy 20, back behind our old apartment, to the paved loop trail back there. Nice little run, all paved, with little reason to have to break/stop (except one major intersection to cross).

We had two new people at running today--Ken and Julie. Julie is a friend of John Becker. Ken just seemed to know a few people.

As we run, I ran pretty much by myself. Still not fast enough for the faster runners, but faster than the slow group. Luckily I remembered to bring my music this week, so it wasn't so bad. Also, since I've only run this route twice before, it's still kind of "new" scenery.

At about 2.8 miles and rounding to head back, Ken came up behind me and joined me. He's a much faster runner so after a few minutes of chatting, I encouraged him to go on ahead. He said my pace was OK and he'd stay with me. At first I dreaded it as I was getting a bit winded, but it was good as he kept me going at this nice, faster clip. We had a nice chat. He met Jud years ago and previously worked with Ralph. He also knew Melissa from SCJ. I also learned that he was the father of the bride that was featured in the newspaper a few weeks back as running on her wedding day with her wedding party and about 40 guests. It was a nice story when I read it then, and it was neat to meet the guy. As we were chatting, I learned his daughter was in school for Med Tech. Of course I went into recruiter mode and shared the high need we have for Med Techs and encouraged him to tell his daughter to start looking around Feb for next summer jobs.

When I shared about Bill's recent marathon, and his 50 in 50 by 50 goal, he was really fascinated by that. Then he shared his own goal--to run the distance of the circumference of the world by age 50! That's a neat goal and he already accomplished it and is still running. I wouldn't be diligent enough to track every mile to do that, but he did. He's run in 7 countries, 30+ states, and 44 cities. Wow. This chit-chat was nice to have on the last part of the run.

I had cut the mid-point of the run a little short by not running all the way to Old Spring Street (they have now paved the back part of the path across so you can just connect before the roads). This then gave me a 4.42 mile run in 42:43 minutes (9:40/mile pace). Although a little shorter than the 5 mile run I did two weeks ago, it was at :35/mile faster pace! Probably would have been about 2-3 minutes faster overall also, but I was stuck behind the slow group initially and had to work around them to get going.

Nice run with nice company (for part of the run) today!