Wintertime Training

As many of you have heard, "rains all the time" here in the Northwest. Truth be known it does rain quite a bit but not all the time. A few years ago my sweetheart got tired of seeing me return from a fall/winter run soaking wet and she bought a treadmill. It has been in various locations around our property and currently resides in our "house garage".
Training on the treadmill is okay so long as I can listen to music or do some other mindless task. I can't run and read, I'd fall off. This week I logged just over 20 miles, all but 2 on the treadmill. It's starting to stay light past 5:00 PM so if I hurry home from work and change clothes quickly I can run out the lane and back. I did that once this past week; it was a nice change from the treadmill.
It's been a crazy week with Elly not feeling well and me trying to play Big Nurse. I haven't exercised as often as I might have otherwise. Yesterday I had the opportunity to get on the treadmill and did 6.5 miles. It felt good while it was happening but shortly afterwards I got a pretty good pain in my lower right leg. I don't think it's shinsplints, it hurts sort of on the side, right at the bottom of my calf muscle where it hooks to the rest of my leg. I didn't do any running or walking today, just nursing. The leg seems to be getting better but I may not do anything again tomorrow.
I want to do the Sweetheart Run on Feb. 13th at the Bangor Submarine Base. That guy from work will be there and he'll probably kick my ass again. I wish he'd try the Discovery Half with me.
Anyway, back to the treadmill use. It's a good, necessary thing for me because I wouldn't do much running outside in the dark or rain from early November through March. You can see in the picture, I have my sweatband and my headphones and I am having a good time.
Another lesson learned by me - sweatband. I never used one until last summer, now I won't go without one. Sweatband or visor, they are wonderful for keeping stuff from getting in ones eyes.
Time to check on my patient. I hope my leg heals itself quickly so I don't lose any fitness, I don't have much and any loss would be bad news.

Counting Coup

This is my wall of little victories documenting my running over the past 3 years. It's another idea I got from my kid who has outgrown it but I haven't. The column on the left is 2007, middle 2008, and the right 2009. I see it as my modern day way of hanging scalps from a warrior's waist.

What happened in 2008, get lazy or something? If you could get close enough to read the dates on the numbers you see that the 2008 bib was dated Nov. I hurt my back early that year, I mean really screwed something up. It took me nearly 30 seconds to get into and out of my truck. I waited and waited for it to heal itself but that wasn't happening. After months of pills and practically no exercise I thought I could get back on the treadmill but that nearly floored me again. So I waited until November and did the Turkey Trot 5K at the Bangor Submiarine Base. That run was the most miserable run I done to date, 38 degrees and raining. I thought about quiting and walking back but realized it would take me longer to walk that to keep running (I know, absolutely brilliant reasoning) so I finished in a respectable time for me.

That brings the thought of "what is a respectable time" for me; anytime I cross the finish line on my own feet and they haven't taken down the finish line is a wonderful time for me. Remember in an earlier blog when I said I was never fast, that hasn't changed. At many start lines other runners have asked me how long I thought I would take to finish and my standard answer usually makes them look at me a little strange - "Sometime before sunset". That's how I really think, I'm enjoying the running events and really don't care when I finish so I do.

Except for one race.

There's this guy at work who does all the local runs just like me and he looks old and slow but he beats me in every 5K. Last fall I ran the Spooky Trails 12K. It's a trail run over some pretty good hills and through dark, dark, forest. As we were driving there I told Elly about this growing obsession to beat this guy just once, I said today might be the day. As usual, when the race started and through the first 5+K he was ahead but within sight. Then it happended, the distance between us closed and soon I was right behind him, then alongside, then I was in front. The little devil inside my head said 'you better not let this guy go back by you'. He was puffing like a steam engine but couldn't hang with this old timer. We were about 7K into the race so I kept wondering where he was and dreading that he might come zooming by. When I crossed the finish line I stood and waited...for nearly 5 minutes until he crossed the line. Today was the day!

I'm hoping I hang a few more "scalps" on my wall for 2010.

Brooks or New Balance

Decisions, decisions...should I get Brooks or New Balance shoes. Truth be told, I've had both and don't really have a preference. I've run several events in Brooks Beasts and New Balance 1063s. You probably can't tell in the picture but I wore a pair of Brooks Radius (R7) during this race, the 2009 Skagit Half. I really liked those shoes but can't find that stlye anymore.
I wonder how long (months or miles) I should use a pair of running shoes before I retire them to "around the house" shoes. I know having good, comfortable shoe is paramont to enjoying my activity so the measure I use to determine it's time for new shoes is when the balls of my feet hurt for a few hours after I finish.
The New Balance 1063s are trimmed in yellow and when I wear my yellow head band I'm sure I'm faster and look better. I haven't found any shoes that are comfortable and match my green visor. Maybe I'll just see which brand feels best and forget the vanity.
I had a pretty good mileage total for this week-good for me-just over 20 miles on the treadmill in the past 7 days.

Who's bigger?

I started this edition of my running in late spring 2009 for some personal reasons. One that I'll share is the fact that I was getting about the size of the wooden fellow I'm standing next to in this picture. I tipped the scales a slightly over 250 lbs. - that's fat for me. I had a really good experience running in 2009 and ended the year about 25 lbs lighter. I have new goals for this year, secret right now.
I had a pretty good weekend for distance. I track my steps using a pedometer. I don't really care if the things counts every step I take, I use it to compare one day to the next. I log each day on a Excell spreadsheet. Today I ran 4.75 miles on the treadmill but the step total for the day isn't too impresive, 12,912 steps.
Some days at work I'll have nearly 8,500 steps before I get home. It doesn't really mean much but I like to keep track of it. Friday I worked then got on the treadmill for a while and had a step total of nearly 17,000.
My legs are pretty tired this evening, maybe tomorrow will be a walking only day.

The Beginning

I'm going to try this out to have some accountability to myself and document what I hope is my journey of running (at least that's what I call it).
I've always liked to run but never was very good at it - translate that as not fast. I ran track in high school and had to do a lot of running during my years in the military but nobody ever stopped what they were doing to watch me streak by.
My son and daughter-in-law inspire me to try things that I ordinarliy would think are beyond my physical capacity. I've watched them do incredible things and semi-secretly wished I could do little things (not the big things they do).
I'll keep track of this adventure and let you know how it goes.