Post Race Recovery Run

I took an extra day off. I was sore. But I was pretty feeling decent today. So I headed to the track after work. It was nice and easy. Nothing else to report. And on that note, I'm out. Activity Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 05/06/09 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 07:43 PM Difficulty: 1.8 / 5.0 Weather: Overcast 57 F temp; 86% humidity 57 F heat index; winds SE 5 Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:47:46 Speed: 6.3 mph Pace: 9' 33 /mi Calories: 555 Notes Cool Down = .36mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 55 +0' 22 6.0 -0.2 0 ft 2 9' 36 +0' 03 6.2 -0.0 0 ft 3 9' 29 -0' 04 6.3 +0.0 0 ft 4 9' 28 -0' 05 6.3 +0.0 0 ft end 9' 20 -0' 13 6.4 +0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 33 min/mile

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Speed What?

I was scheduled for 5mi of speed work yesterday. But I left work the day before with a headache and decided to sleep in. I figured I'd do it after work. I still had a headache, so I didn't. Went to bed last night. Dreamed about the headache I had. Woke up with the same headache (just less intense), but went to the track anyway. In any case, I said to hell with speed work. Just run 5mi and call it a day. Headache and all, the last 2mi were sub-9:00. So that should count for something. Activity Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/24/09 Up/Downhill: [+3/-3] Time: 05:22 AM Difficulty: 2.2 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 36 F temp; 81% humidity 36 F heat index; winds Calm Performance Distance: 5.00 miles Time: 0:45:47 Speed: 6.5 mph Pace: 9' 09 /mi Calories: 553 Notes Cool Down = .31mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 9' 33 +0' 24 6.3 -0.3 0 ft 2 9' 20 +0' 11 6.4 -0.1 0 ft 3 9' 05 -0' 04 6.6 +0.0 0 ft 4 8' 58 -0' 11 6.7 +0.1 0 ft end 8' 50 -0' 19 6.8 +0.2 0 ft Versus average of 9' 09 min/mile

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Running AM, Biking PM

Let me just start off by saying that I'm so excited that Bim Active is posting to my blog again. It's been, what, a couple weeks? I've had to do a screen shot of my graphs and such with this program, then upload it like a picture. It's annoying as hell. And time consuming. Well on to the workout. I didn't want to get out of bed this morning. Since only 3mi were on schedule, it wasn't that big of a deal that I got out late. Whatever. So I didn't stick to the training pace at all. It was supposed to be 10:46 (well 10:34 according to my bootleg calculations). Whatever the pace should have been, it wasn't. But what it was was consistent. Miles 1 and 2 were at 10:00. How I managed that? I don't know. Anyway, I wrapped it up with an average pace of 9:56. I really should work on going slower on training runs. Especially since I came off of a hilly long run. I still felt it, you know. Okay, now fast forward. After the cold rain yesterday, it was a pleasant surprise to have sunny skies today. On my way home, I was flying down 295 with the windows down and sunroof open. It was glorious. I didn't want to waste the day. Mind you, I had spent 9hrs wasting away at work. I decided to get in a ride before dark. And it was nice. It was just good to be out. I headed home once the street lights came on. I managed to get in 8.46mi. My quads of course, got a workout AGAIN. I just hope I won't have any issues doing speed work on Thursday morning. That's the crack of dawn on Thursday morning. I hope my body cooperates in general. We shall see. Anyway, feel free to peruse my freshly posted BiM Active stats as I wind down for the evening. I've taken some valerian root and I'm ready to get the best sleep ever. And tomorrow's a rest day. Sweet. Night all! Activity: RUN Route: Track Elev. Avg: 36 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: +0 ft Date: 04/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+0/-0] Time: 05:46 AM Difficulty: 1.5 / 5.0 Weather: Fog/Mist 51 F temp; 96% humidity 51 F heat index; winds W 3 Performance Distance: 3.00 miles Time: 0:29:49 Speed: 6.0 mph Pace: 9' 56 /mi Calories: 333 Notes Cool Down = .17mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 00 +0' 04 6.0 -0.1 0 ft 2 10' 00 +0' 04 6.0 -0.1 0 ft end 9' 48 -0' 08 6.1 +0.1 0 ft Versus average of 9' 56 min/mile

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Activity: BIKE Route: Around the way Elev. Avg: 34 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -9 ft Date: 04/21/09 Up/Downhill: [+269/-278] Time: 06:52 PM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 68 F temp; 46% humidity 68 F heat index; winds Vrbl 3 Performance Distance: 8.46 miles Time: 0:49:13 Speed: 10.3 mph Pace: 5' 50 /mi Calories: 464 Elevation (ft) Speed (mph) Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Elevation Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 5' 12 -0' 37 11.5 +1.2 -46 ft 2 6' 25 +0' 35 9.3 -1.0 +43 ft 3 4' 37 -1' 12 12.9 +2.6 -59 ft 4 6' 44 +0' 54 8.9 -1.4 +19 ft 5 5' 43 -0' 06 10.5 +0.2 -6 ft 6 5' 55 +0' 05 10.1 -0.2 +3 ft 7 6' 21 +0' 31 9.4 -0.9 +26 ft 8 5' 05 -0' 44 11.8 +1.5 -20 ft end 7' 13 +1' 23 8.3 -2.0 +29 ft Versus average of 10.3 mph

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7 Miles of Hills

They say long runs should be easy. But I figured it would be the perfect time to fit in a somewhat hilly, incline-y route. For the most part, I only have the opportunity to do that on weekends. During the week, now that I'm getting up at the crack of dawn, it's all track running. I keep hearing about the hills and inclines in Central Park and Prospect Park. And I'm sure the familiar route in my local park isn't going to cut it. So I ran around the golf course like I said I would. I chose an out and back route that had hills coming and going. Anyway, I was surprised to see that my fastest mile was mile 3 going uphill around the golf course. I don't know, I guess my thinking is, let me just get this over with already. Anyway, my pacing was fairly consistent, which shocked the heck out of me. At the end, I was so ready for the run to be over. I think this one street grew or something. I spent the last 2 miles wondering why it was the longest 2 miles of my life. What in the world? So I'm totally not prepared for Central Park or Prospect Park. But if I torture myself every weekend until then, hopefully I will be.

And with that, goodnight all! I'm tired.

O'Dark Thirty Tempo Run

I had a somewhat successful tempo run this morning. It was my first attempt at a real tempo run. And I think I did pretty okay. Pacing really isn't my thing. I can be consistent, yes. But I have no idea what a certain pace feels like. Anyway, according to this training plan, the tempo pace should have been at 9:28. Of course, I think that's too slow. According to this other calculator (on the same damn website, mind you), tempo runs should be at 9:00. And according to my bootleg calculation (the original pace minus 30 seconds), tempo runs should be at 8:58. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I'd do once I got to the track. It's just too damn early to expect my body to cooperate. I figured I'd just run 5 miles and hope for the best.

Alright, so here's what happened. Once I started, I figured I'd try to keep miles 2 through 4 at 9:00. But it didn't help that it was pitch black at the crack of dawn. I could only make out numbers on my Garmin on one side of the track, where the stadium lights were. And about the time I got to checking where I was, mile 2 was just about over. And too fast. Okay, so let me slow down. Then about the time it was light enough to see the numbers clearly, I had about a half mile left of tempo running. It wasn't until after I got home that I saw that miles 2 and 3 were on point for the most part. Not too shabby. Like I said, pacing isn't my thing. And of course, track running isn't my thing either. I'm just happy that my body didn't go on strike.

So my next run is Sunday. It will be 7 miles of trying not to go too fast. Or maybe I'll just do away with pacing all together on long runs. If I can get it over with sooner, then why not?

Side note: I ran into this lady on the track who knows my father. This morning she told me, "You look good. Now don't lose anymore." I'm getting a lot of comments like that these days. I have friends telling me, "You run too much. You need to eat." My aunt asked me, "How small are you trying to be?" I've had co-workers call me skinny or tiny. I think I'm normal (You can see here and here). I have a healthy amount of body fat (not like I've been measured, but my bones don't start fires from scraping against each other). I'm 5'5" on a good day. I weigh between 140 and 143lb on any given day. Add about 5 more lbs to that if I'm using the scale at the Y. That's not skinny. So I'm wondering, is this just a thing in the black community? And probably the Latin community too (My Puerto Rican ex made comments as well). Or do some of you get this too? Since when is being healthy a bad thing?

Man Up!!

That's right, Spring. I'm talking to your punk ass. I had to scrape ice off my car before heading to the track. And get this, when I got there, I discovered it was covered in black ice. So yeah, my plans for a tempo run didn't quite work out. Of course, I wasn't in the mood for it anyway, but still. Spring, you need to stop acting like a little punk and man up. For real! I mean, it's April, and I don't have time for this. I'm finally making it my business to get up at the crack of dawn to get my run on, and you do this. Look, don't let me have to bring my people.

So yeah, I didn't do the tempo run. I couldn't see speeding up without busting my ass. So I just did 2mi that was actually due tomorrow. I guess that works out anyway. I got a late start this morning. I wasn't in the mood today. I just wasn't feeling it when I woke up. Trying to do a tempo run on top of that wasn't gonna work. I just hope tomorrow is better.

I finally did it!

I got my lazy butt up this morning and ran. Boy, what a difference a decent night of sleep makes (Special thanks to chamomile tea and valerian root). I woke up at 5am and just laid there for a few minutes processing the fact that I was awake and wasn't pissed off about being up so damn early. It sounded wet outside, so I turned on the news to check the weather first. There was a sprinkle here and there, but nothing significant, so off to the track I went.

My goal was to run a pace of about 10:34. If you remember, the training plan I'm using has my easy pace set to 11:04. I decided that I'd try to adjust down my pace on all runs by 30 seconds. To get to 11:04, I would have to walk. Seriously, the whole run felt like I wasn't doing any work. I don't think I sweat the whole time. I could have had an entire conversation on the phone while running. Are easy runs supposed to be that easy? And I'm not sure I can do longer runs at such a slow pace either. I'm the type who will get something over with quicker if possible. I mean, why spend so much time on a long run when I can finish it 15min sooner? Maybe I'm the only one who thinks like this. But I can't see sticking to the training pace on a long run.

So Michelle sent me a link to a Runner's World pace calculator. I still think the training pace is too slow, but at least the tempo pace is promising. After my bootleg calculations, I was planning to do about 8:58. So 9:00 isn't far off. I still think I should just run for two hours at whatever pace is comfortable for me and just roll with that. A two hour training run before the half is more than enough preparation, I think. So, of course, I'll be adjusting the training plan some more.

With all this half stuff, I'm forgetting that I have a 10k race in Central Park first. That calls for a training run or two around the golf course where there's a steady incline. I ran that route as a fairly new runner, in the summer time, and hated every minute of it. My skills have improved since, but I'm thinking I'll still hate it. Hopefully I'll handle it better in time to kick Central Park's ass. We shall see.

So no pictures today. There was nothing to see anyway. It was a shade above pitch black, and in the distance my view was a stop light and a Shop Rite. Yeah, nothing to see here.

Alright, so I'm off. It's time to wind down. Night all.

Run 4/10/2009

Happy Friday, y'all! And Happy Good Friday too! So yeah, I bring my camera with me everywhere. I took a picture with my friend, Camella, today at work. It's funny because she's actually taller than me by about an inch. But she's wearing flats, and I'm wearing heels. And she kind of bent down for whatever reason.

So on to this running business. I figured I'd do some kind of training plan from Runner's World, but alter it a bit. Anyway, I decided to incorporate a mini one mile race test into today's 25min run to come up with a pace for the training plan. So I did a one mile warm up, then one mile fast, then the remainder a cool down jog. So my fast mile was at 7:54. After that, I would have loved to just stop and fall out on the track. I resisted the urge to stop and walk and just jogged it out. It was a pretty decent cool down. My legs were up for the challenge. Again my lungs are a different story. But I am improving. I don't think it would have been possible for me to run a sub-8:00 mile before. Especially on the track. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I don't run well on completely flat surfaces. That would explain part of my treadmill hatred.

Anyway, I was looking at the training paces Runner's World came up with. I don't know if I can bear to run an easy pace of 11:04. On top of that, I don't think that the paces for tempo runs and speedwork are challenging at all. So maybe the whole one mile test thing was pointless. I guess I'll need to do a lot of tweaking to come up with my own plan. I believe most of you are more experienced than me. Tell me, what do y'all think?

Rest, New Kicks and a Good Run

I took off Monday and Tuesday to rest the right head of fibula. Yesterday, I went to the Moorestown Running Company to get fitted for some new kicks. It was a toss up between the Adidas Supernova Sequence and the Mizuno Wave Inspire 4. They both felt really good. So I got both. I figured I could just alternate between the two. It would be better for my injury. I took the Adidas out for today's 2miler since they matched my pink shirt. They felt wonderful. And my right head of fibula felt completely healed. I doubt that it is, but that's how it felt. I'll still take it easy. I have that HM distance coming up on Saturday. I'm not sure if I'll attempt the distance. Maybe I'll just go for the 10mi that I missed out on last weekend. Anyway, on to the run. It's been a while since I've run only 2mi. So I don't know if I was excited that the distance was short, or if the new kicks were just that damn awesome, or rest just made me that much better, or if the 2lbs I dropped recently (that will make an appearance again soon) had anything to do with it, BUT it was one fast run (for me). I'm surprised that my first mile was as fast as it was. I checked Garmin in the beginning and saw 8:21. Ain't no way I can maintain that. Let me slow down. And I did but it was still way faster than any first mile I've ever run. Okay so mile 2 comes around, and I tell myself to just breathe. If I can't catch my breath, I've got serious problems and just need to hang it up for the day. I had that issue a few weeks ago. But not today. Today, I say, "Eat my dust, BITCHES!!" LOL. Activity Route: Park Elev. Avg: 37 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -23 ft Date: 09/24/08 Up/Downhill: [+52/-75] Time: 12:20 PM Difficulty: 1.4 / 5.0 Weather: Fair 69 F temp; 54% humidity 69 F heat index; winds E 9 G 17 Performance Distance: 2.00 miles Time: 0:17:27 Speed: 6.9 mph Pace: 8' 43 /mi Heart Rate: 177 bpm (Avg) Calories: 221 195 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = .4mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 00m 1% 0.02 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 02m 14% 0.27 mi 5 167 - 185 0h 05m 30% 0.60 mi (none) out of range 0h 09m 53% 1.09 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 8' 48 +0' 05 6.8 -0.1 165 -52 ft end 8' 38 -0' 05 6.9 +0.0 191 +30 ft Versus average of 8' 43 min/mile

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WTF Man!!

I set out for 10mi. And all was good. The weather was cool. The skies were blue with cotton ball looking clouds. I had my bootleg trail mix (peanuts and raisins) and my water bottle. I told myself to start out slow. I was aiming for around 11:00/mi in the beginning. That way I know I definitely wouldn't use up too much too soon. When I got to mile 3, I wanted to speed up but tried to keep it slow. I've never attempted such a distance before. And it's not about beating a specific time. It's about getting through it and enjoying it (not wanting to die). And I was enjoying it, especially when I hit mile 4. That's when I decided I was gonna do this thing. And I started to get this weird but good feeling. I'm thinking it was a runner's high. Okay, then it starts going downhill. Somewhere in mile 5 I start to feel some chafing. I never chafe. I've run 8mi in a running skirt and never had an issue. But today, all the sudden I have this issue. So mile 6 rolls around and I'm reminded that I may need to replace my shoes. The right head of fibula thingy started to bother me. Yes, you can tell by positive splits after that. So in mile 7, I had to stop for a few seconds and walk out the pain. Then I decided to finish running in the grass. It helped, but what I really needed to do was to stop all together. Somewhere in mile 8, I stopped and walked again. It felt better. Then I finished up 9mi instead of 10. I decided to walk a mile for my cool down. So yeah, you can say I was outside for 10mi. Because dammit, I was gonna do 10mi one way or another. I'm not too sure how I'm going to handle next weekend's run, if I will even run at all. I have a half marathon distance on schedule. I don't see that happening. Maybe I'll just do 10mi, fibula willing. But yeah, I don't have that much mileage on my sneakers but I guess the way that I run I need to replace them sooner than average. Maybe I'll stop off at Moorestown Running Company this weekend and check some shoes out. I'm thinking I'll buy two pairs and alternate between them. We'll see. Well, the good thing about today is that I still felt kinda high during the cool down. And I still went further than I did before. And I ran faster than I thought I would considering the injury flaring up. The first time I ran 8mi, it took 1:33:44. Today, 9mi with a jacked up fibula head took me 1:33:22. And I burned 1017 calories. I think deserve a big drink with lots of alcohol. And I should have big greasy burgers (veggie) with onion rings. I think I should treat myself. Well, I'm off to figure out how I can best ruin my calorie deficit. Have a good weekend, all! Music: Sujinho by Jackson Conti I've had this album on my mp3 player for a while now. I figured I'd play something new. I didn't know what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Sounds like some type of South American jazz. And I did hear a chick singing in what sounded like Portuguese. Then I checked Amazon.com to see that it is categorized as Brazilian jazz. So I wasn't far off. It's a good listen, mostly instrumental though. But check it out. Activity Route: Park Road Elev. Avg: 30 ft Location: Willingboro, NJ Elev. Gain: -10 ft Date: 09/20/08 Up/Downhill: [+272/-282] Time: 10:53 AM Difficulty: 2.6 / 5.0 Weather: Mostly Cloudy 67 F temp; 56% humidity 67 F heat index; winds Vrbl 3 Performance Distance: 9.00 miles Time: 1:33:22 Speed: 5.8 mph Pace: 10' 22 /mi Heart Rate: 173 bpm (Avg) Calories: 1017 187 bpm (Peak) Notes Cool Down = 1mi Elevation (ft) Pace (min/mile) Heart Rate (bpm) Heart Rate Zones Zone Range (bpm) Time In Zone Distance In Zone 1 93 - 111 0h 00m 0% 0.01 mi 2 111 - 130 0h 00m 0% 0.03 mi 3 130 - 148 0h 01m 1% 0.11 mi 4 148 - 167 0h 26m 28% 2.43 mi 5 167 - 185 1h 09m 74% 6.71 mi (none) out of range 0h 01m 1% 0.10 mi Splits Mile Pace (min/mile) Speed (mph) Heart Rate Elev Gain actual +/- avg actual +/- avg 1 10' 49 +0' 27 5.5 -0.3 150 -10 ft 2 10' 44 +0' 22 5.6 -0.2 161 0 ft 3 10' 30 +0' 08 5.7 -0.1 169 +4 ft 4 10' 16 -0' 06 5.8 +0.0 172 +10 ft 5 9' 59 -0' 23 6.0 +0.2 177 +16 ft 6 9' 58 -0' 24 6.0 +0.2 180 -10 ft 7 10' 01 -0' 21 6.0 +0.2 181 -20 ft 8 10' 19 -0' 03 5.8 +0.0 182 -4 ft 9 10' 41 +0' 19 5.6 -0.2 178 +7 ft Versus average of 10' 22 min/mile

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