The Aimless Runner

Where have I been??

2011-07-14T19:43:00.001-04:00

Well with a recurring case of Achilles tendinitis bothering me the last two months, Florida summer heat, and no races til fall, I've decided to take the summer off and focus on cross training at the gym to get stronger and hopefully come back healed and strong. I've been doing three days of cardio (rowing and elliptical) and two days of weights.
So hopefully I'll have more interesting stuff to post once I start running and racing again :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Bay to Breakers Recap / Pictures

2011-05-18T20:20:00.000-04:00

I just returned from a quick weekend in California. Had some fun catching up with friends, sampling wine at wineries, seeing San Francisco, and participating in the 100th running of Bay to Breakers!

My girlfriend, two of my friends, and I opted to walk the route to fully take in the festivities. Of course we dressed up as well and went as Walmart shoppers.

This year supposedly the police were cracking down more than previous years, but it was still rather crazy in my opinion. This is definitely an event you should do at least once. It was a blast! Oh and its more of a parade than race. If I had seriously run it, I would have missed out on a lot of the glorious randomness I encountered :D

Thats all the blabbing from me. I'll let the pictures do the talking!

My gf and I as Walmart shoppers

Heading to the corrals...

There was a Donald Trump lookalike, but I couldn't get him in the picture

The masses...

A tortilla fight erupted in our corral while we waited. Epic!

Tortillas everywhere!

If you click on this picture to expand it, you'll see all the stuff in the air

What a mess!

Heading to the start....

And we're off!!

My favorite costume...

Yes, there were naked people.

Appropriate sign...

Salmon going "up river"

These red gnomes eventually encountered a group of green gnomes and much shouting and cursing ensued. It was hilarious!

And now some randomness...

And some scenery. It's a beautiful city!

Making Newton Shoes Last Past 500 Miles

2011-04-25T22:21:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Neil for showing me this trick when I met up with him at Gate River Run.
Doing this to your Newton's should help them last past 500 miles. Neil said he has a pair with over 900 miles on them. So this definitely offsets the high cost if you can make them last that long!

What you will need:

Tube of Shoe Goo (available at Walmart in the shoe section)
Popsicle sticks (or something similar) to apply the goo

What to do:

1. Apply a small amount of Shoe Goo to each of the lugs.

2. Apply to any other areas showing a lot of wear. For me, most of the wear was on the lugs.
3. Allow to dry for at least 24 hours.
4. Reapply whenever the Shoe Goo has rubbed off. I do it about every week.

Finished product:

That's it! If you keep reapplying the Shoe Goo wherever there is wear, your Newtons should last quite a while, making the most of your investment!

Newton Distance S Running Shoe Review

2011-04-18T21:18:00.000-04:00

So, fresh off my 5K PR, I suppose it's time to write my review of the Newton Distance S racers that I've been running in for the past 6 weeks. I wanted to try something new to keep running interesting and maybe even improve myself. This was definitely the ticket!
Disclaimer: The following review is all my opinion. People are built differently and my results may be completely different than yours.

From Newton's website:
"Newton Running's top-of-the-line stability performance racer is the ultimate Natural Running shoe for people who pronate. Engineered for speed, distance and performance, this is the shoe Craig Alexander wore in consecutive Ironman World Championship wins in 2008 and 2009. With a level platform construction, medial posting to offset pronation and Action/Reaction Technology™, this lightweight, high mileage racer gets you to the finish line faster and with greater efficiency, quicker recovery and less overuse injuries (like achilles tendonitis and plantar fasciitis). Recommended for any distance just like its complimentary training partner, the Stability Performance Trainer."

The Shoe

This particular model is the racer stability shoe, hence the S after the name. They also come in a neutral form as well. When the shoes arrived at my house, the first thing that I noticed was just how light they were. Each shoe tips the scales at a mere 8.8 ounces. Compared with the 12-13oz of my Brooks Adrenalines, these felt like feathers. Also noticeable was that the mesh upper is see through. This is great for running in Florida heat. You can see my toes in the picture below to illustrate how airy these shoes are.

Turning them around, you see Newton's claim to fame, the lugs:

The lugs are what really make this shoe and form the basis for Newton's "Action/Reaction Technology". When correctly running in the shoes, Newton claims that the lugs absorb energy and give some of that energy back when you lift your foot. They refer to this as the Land-Lever-Lift technique.

Since I chose the racer shoe, the heel is all lightweight foam. The downside to this is if you don't use proper mid/forefoot form, you will wear the heel out fast since there is no rubber coating (more on that in a bit). For an extra $20 and about 1oz of added weight you can go to the trainer version of the shoes, which have more of a rubber coating on the heel.

My Experience with the Shoes
Ok enough babbling about the shoes. How did they actually work for me?

"Holy Ronald McDonald shoes, Batman"
--The Redhead upon seeing this picture.

Correct Form
Following the instructions on Newton's website (and common sense) I took it easy and ran a couple two milers in the first week I had them. After the runs I felt fine and had none of the calf soreness that seems to be common among people starting in Newtons. I also noticed a lot of wear on a small section of the back of the heel. Feeling something was wrong, I videoed myself running to see if I was using correct form. Yes, the neighbors gave me odd looks when they saw me running back and forth in front of my tripod.

Reviewing the video evidence, I saw that I was indeed still heel striking.

After reviewing the videos and running form guide at Newton's website, I videoed myself again and paid close attention to what I was doing. This time I did much better!

Easy Runs
With a better idea of proper form in mind, I set out on my first two mile run at about an 8:20 pace (normal training pace for me). After adjusting my form, I immediately felt a lot more springy when lifting off. The lugs feel weird at first, but I grew to actually enjoy them because you get used to the feeling and knowing you are hitting your stride right. By the end of my two miles, I could feel the burn in the lower calves. I was also sore in that area for the next two days.

The next two weeks I did 3 mile runs three times a week and the calf soreness started to get much better. By the third week, I replaced one of the three runs with a 5 miler. Towards the end, I started to get sore again but nothing too bad. The 5 miler the following week resulted in even less calf soreness. I've been told by other people who run in Newtons that this will last a few months until my calves gain the needed strength.

Faster Runs
Next, I tried adding some speed to my runs. This is probably where I noticed the biggest difference in my running. During week 4 with the shoes, I went out on a three miler with a mile at 5K pace (6:50) and the other two right around 8:00 pace. During that mile, I felt a lot stronger and quicker on my feet than in my old shoes, especially cardio wise. I had to slow down after a mile though because my calves were starting to really burn.
Reviewing my heart rate data, I saw that during the mile at 5K pace my heart rate was a full 10 BPM lower than what I have seen in the past at those speeds. Mid 170's, as opposed to mid-upper 180's. I figured this was a fluke, so in week 5 I did two runs with 5K pace miles in them. Again, I was hitting around 10 BPM lower than I'm used to at those speeds. That's about a 5% decrease. So it seems like the shoes were making me a more efficient runner.

5K Performance
To really prove to myself that the shoes were making me more efficient, I signed up for a local 5K during week 6 with the shoes. Leading up to the race, my 5K PR was 21:41, set back in April of 2010. I had failed in two previous 5Ks to beat it. Both of those 5Ks I finished around 22:10. That 5% decrease in average heart rate I saw in my training runs should mean that I could shave about 60 seconds off my 5K time if the shoes really were making me more efficient.
Race day rolls around and I take off.
First mile in 6:52, feeling good.
Second mile in 6:55, still feel like I can go faster.
Third mile in 6:47, starting to max out HR and calves are tiring out.
Finish time: 20:50. New PR and almost exactly the predicted 5% margin of improvement based on heart rate.

Shoe Wear
Having put up 50 miles in my Newtons, the wear patterns are starting to show. Here is a shot of the wear on the lugs. Click to see a full size view:

You'll notice that the lugs have considerable wear towards the front of the shoe. Newton told me this is normal when I emailed them about it and that the lugs will start to wear further back as I keep running.

There is some wear on the heels, but nothing too bad. Beware that if you keep heel striking or drag your heels, you will wear out the foam very fast and will have wasted your $155. The wear you see close to my index finger was the result of my first few runs where I was still hitting on the heel. It wears FAST so that is good incentive to get your form right in these.

Fellow Newton runner Neil shared a trick with me to get these shoes to last over 600 miles. Stay tuned later this week and I'll give you the complete details on what to do.

Conclusion

So, a quick review of the pros and cons.

Spiffy:

Super light
Lugs cushion well and feel good once you adjust
Springy
Well ventilated
More efficient form (5% increase in performance for me)
Bright colors
Great customer service from Newton
30 day money back guarantee if you buy the shoes from Newton's site

Iffy:

Expensive ($155)
Heel wears fast if you keep heel striking
Lugs seem to wear down fast for me (check back this week for how to fix this)
Calf soreness, so you have to slowly adjust
Not sure how they will do on long runs for me

Overall, I am very satisfied with my Newtons. In fact, I tried running in my old shoes last week and took them off after .2 miles and switched back. They just felt really clunky and the heel striking felt weird after getting used to the feeling of the lugs under my feet.
Having not done any runs longer than 5 miles, my next goal is to slowly ramp up the length of runs as my calves adjust. I may have a followup review after a few long runs in these.
Happy running!

Finally got that elusive 5K PR

2011-04-17T19:52:00.000-04:00

Well it took me about a year, but I finally beat my 5K PR set at the "Duel to the Death" last April with The Redhead.

Old PR: 21:41

New PR: 20:50

Splits:

06:53 06:55 06:47

I also got my first ever 1st place finish in my age group and 9th out of around 130 overall. Super excited!!

Pre Race Meals?

2011-04-15T19:34:00.001-04:00

Got a 5K tomorrow, so I'm chowing down on my pre race meal of choice:

Do you have a weird pre race meal?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

How NOT to adjust to running in heat

2011-04-12T17:12:00.002-04:00

The past few months in Florida have been great for running! From October til about now, I could just go outside anytime I wanted to and go running without a second thought about silly things like sun and heat.
Then came yesterday. I decide I wanted to do some 1-mile repeats after work around 4:30pm. It was 87 degrees outside, but I don't need to be bothered with minor details like HEAT! Right? Well, here is how it went:

Half a mile of warmup at 8:30 pace: "Its kind of warm today."
One mile at 6:50 pace: "Man, when did it get this hot?"
Half a mile at 8:00 pace: "Holy balls its a bit hotter than I thought!"
Half a mile into a one mile repeat at 6:50 pace: "My balls are going to melt if I don't stop now."

So rather than give myself heat exhaustion, I slowed to around an 8:30 pace and went home. Needless to say, I will not be doing any kind of fast runs in this heat until I get used to it again.

For not following a steady 2-3 week plan of easy runs in the heat to acclimate my body back to heat runs, I get a giant....

Gate River Run 15K Recap

2011-03-14T21:13:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday, I ran the Gate River Run 15K in Jacksonville. I've been wanting to do this race ever since I first started running last year, so I was quite excited to run this one.

This is a huge race with about 15,000 finishers this year, so I made sure to get there early in case of traffic. Arriving about 1 1/2 hours before the 8:30 start, I pretty much drove right in and got a good parking spot so for me there was no traffic. I'm sure the people about 30 minutes later weren't as lucky!

The course run through downtown Jacksonville, over the drawbridge and through local neighborhoods, some of which were quite ritzy with huge houses along the river. Then over the big bridge and downhill into the finish. The local residents even came out and set up their own aid stations with various drinks and snacks for runners, so I thought that was really cool. There were lots of spectators and bands throughout this run, making for an enjoyable experience.

With my recent IT band issues, I set out to run this race right around my last half marathon pace (8:00/mile). However, I got caught up and ran the first two miles around a 7:30 pace and felt fine so I decided to push it and see if I could finish averaging a 7:40 pace.

The start line was a sea of runners. I was luckily in the 1000-2000 seeded corral.

The race started and we were off towards downtown Jacksonville:

...and then up the drawbridge:

After this point, I put the camera away and focused on running. I kept very even splits and I was feeling great for most of the way.

Splits:

Mile 1 07:34
Mile 2 07:40
Mile 3 07:33
Mile 4 07:43
Mile 5 07:43
Mile 6 07:39
Mile 7 07:38
Mile 8 07:48
Mile 9 07:43
Mile 9-9.4 06:46(pace/mile)

Mile 7.75 - 8.5 is the Hart bridge, which is a long high rise bridge climb. It definitely slowed me down and I was tempted to walk, but I pushed through it and the reward was the whole rest of the race being downhill and I hauled ass through that and made up time.

Final time:

1:11:48

7:38/mile average pace

149/1020 Age Group

1193/15000(about) overall

This was a great race and I will definitely be back. For the $35 price, you get a tech a shirt, medal, and large runner's expo. Very reasonable and fun race!

Run for your life Palm Coast 5K race recap

2011-03-10T19:07:00.001-05:00

This will be quick. Last Saturday I ran the Run for your life 5K in Palm Coast. It was a small race with about 200 people running the 5K and about the same running the 10K. I opted for the 5K since I haven't run one in a long time.

Anyways, I was trying to beat my PR of 21:41 set almost a year ago but within the first mile I was sucking air and knew it wouldn't be a PR. My lack of any hill or speed work in the last months and my injury all contributed to slowing me down. I still managed a 22:13, which was good enough for 2nd out of 7 in my age group and 8/190 overall so it was still a good race! Time to start the speedwork and hills to knock out that PR!!!

Coming up this Saturday: Gate River Run 15K. I'm very excited for this race!

Where have I been? Semi-Injured...

2011-02-28T19:11:00.000-05:00

Alright, I know I have been slacking on posting lately. If my last post was any indication, I've been fighting injury the last 4-5 weeks.
Even before scoring a big PR at the Palm Coast Half Marathon, I had been having pain in the outer side of my left knee about 2-3 miles into runs. Classic IT band irritation. I ran through the pain for the half, but after that I pretty much stopped running for a few weeks.

Two weeks of rest and lots of foam rolling later, I went out for a 3 mile test run. SAME PAIN. Needless to say, I was quite pissed off. That week, I made the hour drive to Fleet Feet in Orlando in the hopes they could tell me what was going on. I thought maybe my shoes were no longer doing it for me, so I was ready to get new ones.

After about an hour of talking and going through a bunch of tests and measurements, they actually talked me out of new shoes and gave me some inserts. I thought this was cool since they could have made a lot more money off me by selling me shoes. Turns out my left hip abductors are quite weak and causing my form to be lopsided, thus irritating the IT band. They also showed me some new techniques on the foam roller and showed me how to exercise my weak hip abductors. Two thumbs up for the staff at Fleet Feet in Altamonte Springs, Orlando!!

I took the inserts out on a 3 mile test run the same day I got them and I was amazed - no pain! Over the next 2 weeks, I worked up slowly to an 8 mile run and never once had the pain return. I am now in my third week of being pain-free! Never would have thought simple inserts would instantly cure my issues.

To prevent the IT band from getting pissed off again, I am foam rolling a few times a week and doing some leg strengthening exercises with resistance bands that specifically target my out of whack hip muscles. Hopefully with time, I will build up enough strength that I won't need inserts. Here are a few that I'm doing, in case you were curious:

The leg spreader is much cooler when chicks do it....LOL:

I've got a 5K coming up this weekend that I'm looking forward to. My current PR has stood since last April, so it is time to at least try to beat it. Hopefully this ITB nonsense hasn't slowed me down too much!

Shoe wear pattern advice

2011-02-08T08:16:00.000-05:00

Check out the wear pattern of my last pair of shoes with around 300 miles on them. Does it look like I slightly underpronate? The top of the picture is the outside of the shoe. The majority of the wear is to the outside of center of the forefoot area.
Trying to get as many opinions as possible, besides the people at my running store, before I make a decision on changing shoe type.

Click the pictures to zoom in.

Palm Coast Half Marathon Recap

2011-01-28T17:04:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday, I ran the inaugural Palm Coast Half Marathon. Going into this race, I was not feeling good. I was actually dreading this race because I have had outer knee pain for the last 3-4 weeks any time I run longer than about 30 minutes. After that, the pain starts slowing creeping up on the hurt scale. Pretty sure it is IT Band related, as I have all the classic symptoms. Anyways, I did a lot of icing and foam rolling in the week leading up to the race.

I must say, for an inaugural event, this was very well organized so kudos to the people that made it happen. Parking was clearly marked and they had people to direct us to proper parking spaces.
The race had about 400 participants, with about half doing the 1/2 marathon and the other half doing the 5K.

Start time for the half marathon people was 8am and it was about 35 degrees at the start. Definitely the coldest I've ever run a race in!

The course itself was quite scenic and I really enjoyed it. We crossed a 55ft high bridge going over to the 6 mile loop on the beachside area that wound through oak tree covered roads. Then it was back across the bridge around mile 7 and around a loop that followed the river and wound through a park in the woods. Aid stations were every 2 miles or so and the volunteers were all loud and cheerful, which is always appreciated!

I ran the first half conservatively, as I wanted to see what my IT band would do. It started to hurt around mile 4, but never got any worse so I ran through it and eventually sped up for the last half of the race. I was neck and neck with this kid that was maybe 12-13 years old for the last 4 miles or so of the race. I think he is going to be a speedster once he reaches high school for sure! We kept leapfrogging each other and I kept pointing out his mom that was about 1/4 mile in front of him and telling him "Are you gonna let your mom beat you???" LOL :) It did get him more motivated because he was starting to slow down. Oh and I ended up leaving him in my dust in the last half mile or so. Yes, I'm a jerk and didn't let the kid beat me...haha :D

Anyways, I crossed the finish line and saw my time: 1:44:45. I was incredibly happy that a race I was dreading ended turning into a PR. And a big PR at that. I demolished my old PR of 1:51:30 and I even beat my 2011 half marathon goal time of 1:45. I guess I need to revise that now!

After I stopped running, the pain in the outside of my knee got worse for the rest of the day and into the next day. So I'm going to take a 2 week break from running to let my IT band calm down and hopefully be able to run pain-free again.

My splits:
08:03, 08:08, 07:59, 08:00, 08:08, 07:52, 07:54, 07:56, 07:57, 07:58, 08:00, 07:52, 07:51, 06:42(.15mi)

Summary 01:44:45 13.15mi 07:57 Pace

And the course:

New Half Marathon PR

2011-01-24T08:18:00.002-05:00

1:44:45, destroying the old 1:51:30. Race recap soon!

Disney Marathon Spectator Report and Pictures

2011-01-12T17:06:00.001-05:00

On Sunday, I spectated the Disney Marathon while my girlfriend was running it. I've heard bad things about this race regarding the crowds and how its hard to see your runner at the spectator spots, but I had no issues at all. They make you get there super early (4:00am for a 5:45 start), but other than that it was fine. I did go to their website and print out the spectator guide page and followed that and I was able to see my girlfriend at all the spectator points. Anyways, she finished her first marathon with no problems and I am super proud of her!

Here are a few pictures I snapped:

Starting line...

And we're off!!

The masses of people...

The elites. I was bummed I didn't see any famous Kenyans...

The bling...

The finish...

Dawn at Epcot...

And now the costumes....

A Spartan!!
I yelled: "This....is.....DISNEY!!!" at him :)

Aside from these two Asian men, I counted 2 or 3 others that were all dressed as Minnie Mouse. I wonder if they were all part of some group. Or maybe thats just how Asians roll! LOL :)

Overall, it was well organized and we both had a good experience; me spectating and her running. We did stay at a Disney hotel, so the shuttle service to the start was a huge plus.

Where do you display all your medals?

2011-01-12T07:30:00.000-05:00

I was doing some searching on Google last night looking for something to display my running medals on. After some searching, I found a great site that some of you may already know of.
For those that don't, check out http://www.alliedmedaldisplays.com/ if you are looking for something cool to hang your medals on. They have all kinds of designs and will even make a custom one for you. Here are a couple examples:

Considering all my medals are currently just piled on a bookshelf, it was high time I got something good to put them all on. Can't wait to get my new medal display!
Where do you guys hang all your medals?

2011 Goals

2011-01-06T16:24:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! This is going to be short and sweet.

My goals for 2011:

5K: 20:30 (Current PR: 21:41)

10K: 44:00 (Current PR: 46:10)

15K: 1:12:00 (No current PR)

Half Marathon: 1:45:00 (Current PR: 1:51:30)

That's it. No marathon planned for now. Come summer I may get bored with working on speed and decide to train for a fall marathon, but we'll see.

I also signed up for my first two races in 2011:

Palm Coast Half Marathon on January 23rd

Gate River Run 15K on March 12th

My goal for the Half Marathon in less than 3 weeks is below 1:50. If I have an awesome day and somehow run it in 1:45, then I'll have to revise my goals :)

From zero to marathon. 2010: What a year!

2010-12-30T13:32:00.001-05:00

January 1st, 2010. There I was. Never had ran more than 3 miles at once, about 20 pounds heavier than my usual weight that I'd maintained for years, and still somewhat newly single. My days usually consisted of: work, video games or surfing, dinner, then TV or video games. Rinse, repeat.

Fast forward to today: I completed a marathon training plan with minimal injury, ran a sub-4 hour marathon on my first try, 21 minute 5K, 46 minute 10K, 1:51 half marathon, racked up nearly 900 miles in the 9 months that I ran, lost 20 pounds and got back to my normal weight, met and fell in love with an awesome girl who is also a runner and surfer. Wow that's a lot in one year!

It all started back in March when I went with a few friends to cheer on our friend Morgan, AKA Redheadrunning, at the Gasparilla Marathon. After seeing the looks of accomplishment on the finisher's faces, I decided that I wanted to feel what it was like. I didn't set out to run a full marathon at this point, but I just decided I would start running more and eventually do a half marathon. I believe I even told Morgan that I'd never do a full marathon because those are for crazy people......

Anyways, I go get myself some decent shoes from a running store and start slow with random short 3 mile runs during the week and a long run on the weekend. I started the long run at 5 miles and then added a mile on to it every week. The week after I hit 8 miles on the long run, I entered my first race at a local 4 mile race on the beach in April and placed 5th in my age group.

The miles ramped up and I hit the 11 mile mark for my long run before running my first 5K against the Redhead. Dubbed Duel to the Death, we full on raced and I placed 5th out of 39 in my age group with a time of 21:41; a time I have yet to beat.

A few weeks later, I hit a wall and worked through an injury that kept me sidelined for about 3 weeks.
Finally, in June I hit 13.1 miles on the long run. At this point is when I decided it was time. Marathon time!

I went through my 16 week marathon training plan, and only hit a few minor bumps on the way in the form of an iPhone death, gnats, a surfing injury, more gnats, and toilet issues. I even ran a half marathon or two.

I took a mini-vacation right before my marathon to Puerto Rico and surfed some of the biggest waves I've ever surfed before. It was AWESOME!!

Marathon day arrived and I felt 100% ready to rock it. And rock it I did. Under 4 hours on my first try!

A week later, I even ran my first 10K with a 46 minute time and placed 2nd in age group.

PRs acheived this year:

5K - 21:41 - Run for the Trees 5K 4/24/10
4 miles - 28:47 - Daytona Easter Beach Run 4/3/10
10K - 46:10 - Ed Root Memorial 10K 12/4/10
Half Marathon - 1:51:30 - Jacksonville Marine Corps Half on 10/2/10
Marathon - 3:58:10 - Space Coast Marathon 11/28/10

So what does 2011 hold for me? You'll just have to check back after the New Year to find out ;)

Have a safe and happy New Year everyone!!

Ed Root Memorial 10K Recap

2010-12-10T08:37:00.002-05:00

Last Saturday, I ran a local 10K. Seeing as how it was only a week after my marathon, I was a little apprehensive about running this race. However, it is a local race and it runs along one of my favorite and most frequently used running routes so I felt like I had to do it. My legs felt fine, so why not?

I get there bright and early and immediately curse the 40 degree morning. Hey, us Floridians aren't used to this crap!
Anyways, after packet pickup I huddled in my car until about 15 minutes to start. I walked the block to the start line and then started jogging loops around the block to keep warm. I did this until about 2 minutes to start and it worked great!

The buzzer sounded and we were off! I had never raced this distance before, so I was a bit unsure of how to pace myself. I set a 7:30 pace from the start and decided to hold there and see how it goes.

The course runs along side the ocean, across a 1.5 mile boardwalk loop and then back to the start. Here is a view from the boardwalk:

Nothing too exciting happened for the first 4 miles. I kept right around a 7:30 pace and was feeling great.

Around mile 4 is when I saw two younger looking guys ahead of me, so I increased the pace and passed one of them within half a mile. Then about .2 miles ahead of me, I saw the other dude and he wasn’t as easy to catch. I sped up to around a 7:00 pace and was about 10 feet behind him by the 5th mile marker.

I stayed there for about half a mile and noticed he was slowing down. He had an ipod so I don’t think he heard me behind him waiting to make my move.

So around mile 5.5 I made my move and passed him. At first he let me get some distance on him, but then I guess he noticed I was around his age and he also sped up. I increased the pace to 6:20-6:30 and managed to keep him about 30-40 feet behind me.

At mile 6 I saw he was gaining and maybe 15 feet behind me, so I gave it all I had and went full on sprint. Reviewing my Garmin, I did mile 6-6.1 at a 5:30 pace and I guess that made him give up because I ended up finishing 13 seconds ahead of him.

When results were posted, he was indeed in my AG and my effort got me a 2nd place finish (out of 6 in AG) and he was relegated to 3rd :)

Final time: 46:10 (PR!)
Place: 2/6 in AG, 32/162 overall
Splits: 7:24, 7:35, 7:32, 7:33, 7:26, 7:00, 6:23 (.25)

I like the award too....

Trying something new - VFF's

2010-12-06T11:10:00.000-05:00

Now that my marathon is finished, I'm finally getting around to adding something new to my running: Vibram Five Fingers. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but I definitely did not want to do this during a marathon training cycle. So I finally went out and bought my shiny new VFF Bikilas last week.

I only have worn them on a single run of two miles so far. But in those two miles, my feet felt great and I enjoyed the new feeling. Despite getting scolded by Red for running further and faster than I should have on the first VFF go, I only had minimal soreness the next day. I attribute this to my relatively high arches, which VFF says on their website have the easiest time transitioning from normal shoes. I plan to use them 1-2 times a week on short runs and slowly work my way up. Once I've logged 30ish miles in them, I'll post a more in-depth review.

Happy Monday everyone!

Space Coast Marathon Recap

2010-11-29T18:29:00.000-05:00

I AM OFFICIALLY A MARATHON FINISHER!!!

I've been waiting a while to say that and now I can :) That said, my first marathon experience at the Space Coast Marathon was quite awesome. The race was extremely well organized and there were no unpleasant surprises for me. Shuttle buses took us to and from the hotel, the post race food was great and plentiful, and being a space geek I really enjoyed the whole space theme of the race. And the medal is nice too! The course is flat and pretty much straight. It was very scenic though and ran along the Banana River.

The Start

Wake up was 4am and after getting ready, my girlfriend and I made our way to the hotel lobby where a bus was waiting to take us to the starting line. Got to the start at 5:30 and got the usual pre-race bathroom breaks out of the way and went to line up. Marathoners lined up on one side of the road and half-marathoners on the other. We started together, but we immediately turned in opposite directions. This was great, as it really thinned out the usual starting crowd. I estimate there were at least twice as many half marathon runners as full marathon runners.

The start:

My girlfriend and I before the start:

Miles 1-13.1

Temperature at race start was around 59-60 degrees with no wind and low humidity for Florida standards (60ish%). Great weather for me! It was still dark at the 6:15am start, but we were treated to a nice sunrise over the Banana River within a few miles.

I joined the 4 hour pace group and stuck with them for the majority of this part of the race. I think around mile 10ish I got tired of being stuck in a pack of 40-50 people and went slightly ahead of the group. I totally planned to keep just ahead of them, but by the halfway point I couldn't see them anymore. Oops!

Here I am around the half marathon point. Feeling good!

Splits: 9:36, 8:54, 8:38, 8:40, 8:48, 8:45, 8:55, 8:58, 9:00, 9:03, 9:07, 9:02, 8:44

Half Marathon Chip Time: 1:57:57

Miles 13.1 - 20

At this point we had crossed back over the starting area and it was time to tackle the course the half marathoners were now finishing. I was still feeling really good through most of these miles. A few times I even thought "Wow this isn't as hard as I thought it would be!". One thing that did start sucking at this point was the fact that the sun was now out from behind the clouds and shining directly on the course, so it was quickly heating up.

Splits: 9:01, 9:01, 9:03, 9:03, 9:00, 9:00, 8:59

20 Mile Chip Time: 3:00:27

Miles 20-26

So during these miles is where I would be eating my "this isn't that hard" words. The temperatures were now in the low 70's and the sun was shining directly on us. Around mile 21, my hip flexors started complaining. Then around mile 22, my left knee started hurting with every step. Around miles 23-25, my leg muscles started really tensing up and I had to walk though the water stations for about 30 seconds each to loosen them up enough to keep running.

"Just make it to the next water station and then you can walk a little again" I told myself to keep me in the game mentally. This strategy worked wonders and I continued doing it until the very last water stop between miles 25 and 26.

"Shit! This is starting to suck!"

"Good god why am I doing this??"

Splits: 8:57, 9:08, 9:06, 9:41, 9:16, 9:22

Finish

At the end I just remember zoning out and concentrating on making it to the finish line without puking. My legs screaming at me, I rounded the corner and I saw the finish line a tenth of a mile away. I passed by my cheering parents, grandparents, and girlfriend and crossed the finish line. I WAS DONE!! MARATHON FINISHER!!

Finish line in sight!

Dazed and confused post-marathon face....

Final Chip Time: 3:58:10

11 out of 30 in my age group

216 out of 804 runners

Considering I had never ran more than 3 miles at a time before March, I am VERY VERY VERY happy with my finish and how far I've come in a rather short time.

Thanks to my wonderful girlfriend for all the patience and support during my training highs and lows, and also to my family and friends for their support.

And thanks to my running frenemy Redheadrunning for getting me excited about running and answering all my newbie questions over these past months!

What's next? No marathons planned, but I have a few other ideas I'll elaborate on soon........

Training recap. I'm ready for my marathon!

2010-11-26T17:21:00.000-05:00

Well this is it. On Sunday I embark on my first marathon. The weather looks to be around 58-60 at start time, reaching to around 72 at finish time. Partly cloudy with a 10-20% chance of showers and light winds between 5-8mph.

When I started seriously running back in March of this year, I had never run more than 3 miles at once. And I only started running to train for some 5Ks and a 1/2 marathon. But I wanted more. I wanted to see what I was capable of. So now I'm about to embark on 26.2! Still hard to believe.

My main goal was to make it through my training schedule uninjured and I did that for the most part. I had a few weeks where I skipped my regular runs due to various pains/soreness that I didn't want to aggravate and turn into a more serious problem. But I always made sure I was good to go for my long runs.
So here is how my 16 weeks of training went:

Miles planned: 432mi

Miles ran: 385mi

Runs planned: 64

How many of those were planned long runs: 15

Runs completed: 53

Long runs skipped: 0

Longest runs: Two 20 milers

Races ran: 2. Jacksonville Marine Corps Half and Daytona Beach Half

Amount of post run beer and pizza consumed: quite a lot :)

High point: Running my first half marathon in 1:51:30, despite having a swollen and bruised shin bone. Also completing my first 20 miler was quite a feeling!

Low point: Obtaining said swollen and bruised shin bone a week before my first half marathon. Happened while I was surfing. See the FAIL post here.

So now, I am carb loading with a Guinness in hand. Tomorrow is strictly water though, so I am having a couple tonight.

Race plan/goal: Finish without injury. I plan to join a 4 hour pace group for the race. If I am not feeling it, I will drop back. If I am feeling strong around mile 20, I will break away and push hard the last 6 miles.

When I post again, I will officially be a marathon finisher! Wish me luck!

Training update and Puerto Rico pics

2010-11-21T20:55:00.000-05:00

Haven't posted in a while because life has been quite busy. But since I last posted, I ran my final 20 mile run. I even did it a full 4 minutes faster than my previous 20 miler only 2 weeks prior. And with that, the taper started.

To celebrate my completion of my first training cycle, I rewarded myself with a trip a Puerto Rico. Lucky for me, Mother Nature rewarded me with a HUGE SWELL event for Puerto Rico. I did tons of surfing and hiking in the 4 days I was there. No, I didn't run but all that surfing and hiking counted for good cross training. My legs needed a break anyways. Rather than bore you with a long recap, I'll give you some pictures to tell the story. Click to see a bigger view.

Looking for waves....

Found some fun sized waves the first day...

Beautiful scenery....

The swell really came in on the second day. 14-15 feet

This spot, known as Tres Palmas, was the biggest. Some waves were approaching 20 feet here.

So we decided to paddle out :)

And I rode them and didn't get injured! Definitely the biggest waves I've ever ridden. The wide angle of my board cam makes the wave look a little smaller, but I remember looking up and seeing at least another 6-8 feet of water above me. So the wave was around 14-15 feet. What a rush!!!!

Ok ok I didn't make it out without a little injury. But it was worth it!

More beautiful scenery....

One of my last waves I rode before coming home....

Heres a video I put together with my board cam:

And now I am settled in back home and in full taper mode. ONE WEEK TIL MY MARATHON!!!!!

Daytona Beach Half Marathon Recap

2010-11-08T07:43:00.000-05:00

On Halloween morning, my girlfriend and I ran the Daytona Half Marathon.The race starts at the Daytona International Speedway, goes to the beach and back. Since I was in the middle of the hardest part of my marathon training, I decided to run this as a training run and help my girlfriend beat her half marathon PR of 2:11.

Race morning welcomed us with nice temperatures in the upper 50s. There was a little smoke in the air from a fire nearby, but this would clear out by race start and wasn't an issue. Lining up with the other 800 runners, we noticed that not many had dressed for Halloween. There were a few funny costumes though like two guys dressed as Chilean miners.

The race was very well organized and I will definitely be doing this one again. The two bridge crossings added a little challenge as well. Here are a few pictures from the race:

Here we are shortly after the start:

Sunrise at the first bridge crossing:

At the ocean turnaround point:

Coming in for the finish:

We finished together at 1:59:21 chip time. Blew my girlfriend's old PR out of the water by 12 minutes! I was proud :)

An insult to runners....

2010-11-04T15:17:00.000-04:00

What a bunch of pricks these two are. I bet they have never run 5 miles in their lives, let alone a full marathon. Time to send them some hate mail.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-hollander/are-new-york-marathoners-_b_777238.html

20 miler and other assorted mileage highs

2010-10-27T12:56:00.000-04:00

Last week was a week of firsts:
First 20 mile run (at 9:07 pace)
First 100+ mile month (and I still have this week to add to that total)
First week over 35 miles

With that, I must add that I'm feeling all these miles now. The IT band in my left leg has been bothering me for a few weeks. I've been foam rolling to keep it at bay and I just need to make it through this week and the next week until taper starts. ALMOST THERE!!!

An apology

2010-10-18T14:03:00.000-04:00

Dear toilets I blew up during my Saturday morning long run,

I'm sorry for abusing you in such a fashion. All three of you. I know it was way too early in the morning to deal with crap like that. I'm sorry if I made the rest of your day shitty. However, running with clenched butt cheeks is not an option. I will try to be more gentle in the future and refrain from eating spicy meals the evening before a long run.

Sincerely,
Harold

To all of you with a shocked and/or disgusted look on your face, I advise you to purchase and read Everyone Poops. LOL :)

Keep rollin' rollin' rollin'

2010-10-15T21:34:00.000-04:00

Behold, my new arch enemy. While it makes my IT band feel better, this is what I think about it while using it:

That is all.

Marathon Training Update

2010-10-11T07:46:00.000-04:00

I'm not quite sure what week I'm in. Maybe 9? Too lazy to go look.
But everything is going good. Leg is healed and I'm running at 100% again. Last week was my highest mileage week yet at 32 miles. Ran another 16 miler and did it 2 minutes faster than my previous 16 miler a few weeks ago!
Stats:
Miles ran: 32mi
Longest run: 16mi
Time spent: 4 hours 45 minutes

Rest day today and my legs feel fine. 35 miles this week with an 18 miler on deck for Saturday. Getting up there!

Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon Recap!

2010-10-04T10:09:00.002-04:00

WOOHOO I'm officially a half marathon finisher!!!! I completed the Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon on Saturday morning, and it was AWESOME!

The week leading up to the half was stressful, to say the least. Mainly because the Saturday before the race, I had a surfing FAIL that caused me to have a sore and swollen shin the entire week leading up to the race. The only run I did the whole week was a 2.5 mile test run on Wednesday to see how my leg felt and it still hurt. I spent the rest of the week in compression socks, elevating, and icing like crazy in an attempt to get my leg as close to 100% as possible. By race day, the leg was feeling about 80% of normal and only a little bit swollen.

After checking into my hotel on Friday evening, I had some dinner and took a few pictures along the course:

Sun setting over the two bridges the race crosses.

Running statue around mile 12 of the course.

Sunset view from my hotel room. Both of these bridges are part of the race.

On race morning, I went through my pre-race routine and ran the .5 miles from the hotel to the starting line. The weather was PERFECT for racing. Mid-60's and overcast. Definitely NOT the upper 70's and crazy humidity I was used to running in the mornings, so I was super happy about that.

The start of the race had about 3000 runners (2000 on the half marathon and 1000 on the 5k) and at 7am we were off! This being my first long race, it was very hard to control my pace and not go too fast in the first few miles. It seemed like EVERYONE was passing me and I just wanted to speed up and not get passed so much. I resisted the urge and kept it at around an 8:20-8:30ish pace.

Miles 1-6:

My leg was feeling decent with only a dull soreness.

At around mile 1.5, the first bridge was upon us: the Main Street drawbridge.

Since all my training long runs involve two bridge crossings, I easily conquered it and passed quite a few people as well.

With about a half mile to recover after the first bridge, it was time for the Acosta high bridge!

This one was quite a bit steeper than the drawbridge, but it still wasn't an issue and I powered through it. From here on out, it would be a mainly flat course. Aid stations were placed about every two miles and I think there were about 5 bands along the course.

After the bridges, we made our way along the river through some historic communities. People came out of their houses to cheer us on, and some has set out candy and drinks for the runners. I tried to thank as many of the people cheering as possible!

My splits were pretty even: 8:20, 8:20, 8:26, 8:25, 8:32, 8:17.

Miles 7-11:

Around mile 7, I saw the race leader zoom by on the other side of the road. He was absolutely killing it and the next closest person took a full 5 minutes to come. I don't know how they do it, but it was impressive to see. That dude ended up finishing in 1:12 and beat the 2nd place guy by a full 5 minutes. Crazy!
At this point in the race was when keeping my pace in check at the beginning really paid off, as I started passing a lot of the people that passed me in the first half.

I was feeling awesome through mile 10, but then around mile 11 I started hitting a wall. I've never run this distance at this fast of a pace and it was starting to wear on me. And my injured leg was starting to make its presence known to me. I tried to focus on the task at hand and told myself it was only two miles to go and to push through.

My splits were still nice and even: 8:22, 8:23, 8:25, 8:33, 8:23.

Mile 12, AKA mile of HELL:

Right as I'm forcing my way through the wall, I see ANOTHER BRIDGE! It is a pedestrian bridge going over a railroad bridge. That was the last thing I wanted and I blurted out a "FUCK" along with a few other runners next to me. I think this is the only point in the whole race where I seriously considered walking. My legs were on fire and it took all I had to make it to the top. To the left is the bridge of DOOM, as I named it afterwards.

Going down it was almost as much fun, because it was one of those zig-zag ramps. I had to slow it down after this for a few minutes to catch my breath.

Pace for this mile of hell: 8:49.

Mile 13-Finish

Having made it through the bridge of DOOM, I had 1.1 miles to go. I don't remember much from this part because I was just focused on the finish line and nothing else. I did ask the final water station guys "Got any beer?!" and got a few laughs. As I ran under the crossed howitzers and over the finish line, I raised my arms up and yelled "WOOOOO". I was DONE!!!!

I was given my medal and a commemorative beer pint glass. After grabbing a bottle of water, I got in the beer line and enjoyed a pint of cold beer.

Final time: 1:51:30.
29th out of 113 in the 25-29 age group.

The race was well organized and the route was very scenic. I'd definitely do it again! The soreness wasn't that bad the following day and my leg is now back to 100%. Time to resume marathon training :)

Here is the complete route:

Pre-race routine

2010-10-01T15:34:00.000-04:00

After checking into my nice hotel room tonight with a deluxe king size bed, I'll be doing absolutely nothing but relaxing on the bed, watching tv, and gorging myself on pasta. OM NOM NOM!

Kind of like this, but hopefully with food going in, not out!

My pre race routine will go like this tomorrow:

Get up at 5am
Take a dump (hopefully)
Get my gear together
Lube up (with body glide, you perverts)
Get dressed
Pee
Eat peanut butter toast with a banana
Pee
Leave hotel by 6am
Jog the 1/2 mile to the starting line, maybe a little further to warm up.
Pee
Double check Garmin, iPod, shoes, etc.
Pee
Start at 7am

Do you have a race routine you usually follow?

First half marathon tomorrow!

2010-10-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

Well my leg doesn't quite yet feel 100% normal after last weekend's surfing FAIL, but it is good enough to run the Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon tomorrow. I may not be able to run it as fast as I wanted, but at least I'll still be able to do it. I'm excited!

A Success!! And a FAIL!!!

2010-09-27T08:42:00.000-04:00

The SUCCESS:
I ran 16 miles on Saturday averaging a 9:03 pace per mile. It wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be and I wasn't sore at all the next day! Woohoo :)
I took this sunrise picture as I hit mile 10:

The FAIL:
I went surfing on Saturday after my 16 miler. The waves were a fun 3-4 feet. I wiped out on one wave while doing an off the lip turn and somehow my board flipped upside down in front of me and then I was thrown into it. Right onto the fin with my leg. I also happened to be out on my longboard that day, which has a BIG 9 inch fin on it that looks like this:

It got me right under my knee on the upper shin bone. I suppose I'm lucky it didn't get me an inch higher on my knee and really messed things up, but it still hurt like hell. So now I have a 2 inch gash down to the bone and my upper shin area is sore and bruised. The swelling is almost gone now, so I'm hopeful that it'll be ok to run because I happen to have a half marathon to race on Saturday. For now, it feels like I have shin splints. FML!!!

Free ballin'!

2010-09-23T09:42:00.000-04:00

Cause I'm freeeeeeeee.....
Free baaaaaaaallin'!

Random thought:
So because running shorts have those nets/liners in them, does that mean you should run sans underwear?

Marathon Training Update!

2010-09-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

Last week's training went much better than the previous week. I didn't blog about it, but the week before last I was sidelined for all but one day due to a weird twinge in my lower shin. Not wanting to make it worse, I took a few days off and was able to at least do a long run of 10 miles on the weekend without issue.
Last week was business as usual and I accomplished my longest run yet: 14 miles! I was super excited about that!

Week 5 stats:
Miles ran: 26.1 (almost a marathon!)
Time spent: 3 hours 50 minutes (that would be a great marathon time!)
Runs completed: 4
Longest run: 14 miles

Week 6 is a step down week and will be 24 miles, with a 12 mile long run.

"The Boys" and Icebaths

2010-09-13T08:15:00.000-04:00

I decided to try an ice bath for the first time after my long run on Saturday. Felt awesome on my legs, but not so much on "the boys". Any guy will know what I'm talking about....LOL :D

Sweat and iPhones don't mix!

2010-09-07T13:13:00.000-04:00

I've been kind of slacking on posting lately, but I've been super busy with work, running, and surfing that by the time I settle down for the day all I want to do is lay on the couch and read to wind down. So blogging has been a bit lacking lately. However, here is a little story from 2 weekends ago:
I run with my iPhone strapped to my arm because that is where all my music is. I guess it is also good to have in case I fall and break my leg or something. On my 10+ mile runs where I get soaked in sweat from head to toe, the armband gets soaked as well and sweat gets all over my iPhone. I've been doing this for about 6 months with no problems at all; I just wipe the phone down and it is fine.
Well, two weekends ago I set out on my 12 mile run on a Saturday morning. It had rained that night, so I step outside and it is absolutely DISGUSTING! Close to 80 degrees and 1000% humidity. I finished my run and as I'm wiping down my phone, I notice it had turned off. Long story short, my phone eventually started working but the screen backlight wouldn't come on. Luckily I had warranty and it didn't cost me much to get a new replacement.
Moral of the story: sweat and iPhones don't mix!

Question:
Do any of you all run with an iPhone? If so, do you have a special sweat/waterproof armband you use with it? Have you had issues with sweat ruining your iPhone or other electronic device?

Giveaway winner!

2010-09-07T08:14:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone that entered my giveaway. The lucky winner is Stephanie from Girls Just Wanna Go Run!
Shoot me an email at SurfNSB@gmail.com and I'll send you the coupon code for $40 at csnstores.com. Congrats!!

Monday $40 giveaway!

2010-08-30T14:25:00.000-04:00

Monday, Monday. Oh how many of us despise you. So, maybe I can help brighten your day with a $40 giftcard giveaway from CSN Stores! They have just about everything you can think of. From Kitchen Tables (somehow my running gear always seems to fill up mine) and housewares to outdoor fire tables, grills, and bikes. Check out their complete catalog at www.csnstores.com.

I was contacted by them last week to do a review or a giveaway for my readers. So giveaway for my loyal readers it is!

Here is how to enter. You can do one or do all of them. Just leave a separate comment for each:

Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment letting me know. If you are already a follower, then just say hi.
Post about my giveaway on your blog and let me know about it with a comment.
Head over to www.csnstores.com and leave a comment letting me know what you'd like to use your $40 on.

Open to US/Canada residents. Deadline to enter is Monday, September 6th at 6:00pm EST. I will pick a winner shortly thereafter.
I will use random.org to generate a random number. That comment number will be the winner! Good luck.

Thorlos Experia Coolmax Socks Review

2010-08-27T08:44:00.000-04:00

The other day, I went out and got me a nice pair of Experia Coolmax Socks. Now, I've always run with very thin and minimalist socks but I've been wanting to try a pair of cushioning socks for a while. The Experias appealed to me because they only had the padding on the heel and ball area, which should make them a lot less hot than other cushioning socks.

After unpacking the socks, I inspected them before putting them on. The majority of the sock is made out of a very thin and lightweight fabric. The cushioned areas on the ball and heel felt nice and soft and of course thicker than the rest of the sock.

Putting them on, they fit very snugly and felt good. The elastic material that goes around the arch keeps them in place nicely. Walking around in them, I could definitely feel the cushioning and it felt nice!

So, time to test them out on several runs. Here are the results:

Run #1: 3 miles @ 7:30 pace

When I first put my shoes on, the socks definitely made the fit a bit tighter than normal. They are thicker than my usual socks, so that was to be expected. During my run, I definitely felt the cushioning affects on my feet and it felt good. The socks didn't slip and performed well. Didn't run long enough to form an opinion on whether or not they are hotter than my other socks. I was leaning towards slightly hotter, but not ready to decide yet.

Run #2: 10 miles @ 8:40 pace

This is where the socks would really be tested. Normally on long runs, after about 8-9 miles, I start to feel some soreness in the balls and heels of my feet. I was interested to see how the cushioning would affect that.

After about 6 miles, I was still feeling great but the heat was starting to set in and I could definitely tell the difference between these socks and my thinner ones. It wasn't drastic, but definitely noticeably hotter on my feet.

8 miles in, and I noticed some slight discomfort on my second toe on both feet. Felt like they were rubbing against my shoe. Probably from the tighter fit with the socks and swelling associated with long runs.

When my run was done, I had no soreness in the usual spots on my feet. I think the socks definitely helped there! However, the rubbing didn't get better and was annoying by the end of the run.

Run #3: 5 miles @ 8:35 pace

Felt the same as my 10 miler run, but I had trimmed my toenails back to see if that would help with the rubbing I experienced on two of my toes previously. That seemed to do the trick and the socks felt great.

Conclusion

Overall, I really like the socks. The cushioning lessens the soreness I experience on my long runs and the socks fit well with no slippage. They are slightly hotter on my feet, but nothing worth not wearing them over. Overall, a great product!

Pros:

Fit is snug, with no slippage while running.
Cushioning minimizes soreness in feet on longer runs.
Wicking fabric dries quickly.
Comes in lots of colors, for those of you that care about that kind of thing.
Cushioning feels like new again after a wash.

Cons:

A bit pricey ($13.99 is what I paid).
Running in the Florida summer, they are slightly hotter on my feet than thinner socks.
If your shoes already fit tight, the addition of these socks might cause some rubbage on your toes. Although my rubbage was from my toenails not being trimmed all the way back. This isn't a problem for me with thinner socks. Yes, I don't pay attention to my toenails and let them grow out sometimes. Ewww...gross :D

Marathon Training Week 2 Recap

2010-08-23T16:14:00.000-04:00

Miles ran total: 23mi
Bridge repeats: 4, which equals 2 miles
Long run: 10mi
Number of runs: 5
Time spent running: 3 hours, 17 minutes
Calories: 2872
Feeling: GREAT

Bring on week 3!
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: 3 miles @ 8:30-9:00 pace
Wednesday: 5 miles @ 8:30-9:00 pace
Thursday: 3 miles @ 8:00-8:30 pace
Saturday 12 miles @ 8:45-9:15 pace

Marathon Training Week 1 Recap

2010-08-16T19:12:00.000-04:00

Miles ran total: 21mi
Bridge repeats: 4, which equals 2 miles
Long run: 8mi
Number of runs: 5
Time spent running: 3 hours, 4 minutes
Calories: 2596
Feeling: AWESOME

Week 1 is in the books.

Bring on week 2!
Monday: 4 bridge repeats (just finished these)
Tuesday: 3 miles @ 8:30-9:00 pace
Wednesday: 4 miles @ 8:30-9:00 pace
Thursday: 3 miles @ 8:00-8:30 pace
Saturday 10 miles @ 8:45-9:15 pace

Marathon Training Day 1: Bridge Repeats

2010-08-09T20:21:00.001-04:00

Kicked off my marathon training with bridge repeats.
Behold my new enemy on Mondays. 1/2 mile of high bridge goodness:

I charged at my enemy full force tonight:
Warmup: .5mi (flat) @ 9:01/mi pace
Climb #1: .5mi@ 8:14/mi
Climb #2: .5mi@ 8:24/mi
Climb #3: .5mi@ 7:56/mi
Climb #4: .5mi@ 7:49/mi
Cooldown: .5mi (flat) @8:15/mi

Here's to a good 16 weeks of training!

July recap

2010-08-03T07:25:00.000-04:00

Miles ran: 83

Longest distance: 13.1 miles

Highest week: 24 miles

Long runs: 3

Distance ran most often: 5 miles

T-minus one week!

2010-08-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

One week to go until official marathon training commences! I'm excited to embark on this challenge and looking forward to the experiences ahead of me. My training plan is in the link below. I have revised it slightly since first posting it a few weeks back.
My Training Plan

Time to retire....

2010-07-26T16:49:00.000-04:00

The trusty ol' Brooks Adrenaline GTS10's that I've been running with since becoming a real runner have reached the end of the line after nearly 400 miles of faithful service. All my current distance and time PRs were achieved using these. All the FAILs and triumphs.
In their place: an identical pair of Brooks Adrenaline GTS10's! Why change something that works?

New and old:

But the real story is told by the other side of the shoe.
Old:

And the new soles, ready to make some new memories:

I start marathon training in 2 weeks. These shoes will get me through the majority of that training. I plan on buying my marathon shoes when I have around 75-100 miles left on the training plan.

Hoping for good runs and memories on the new kicks!

I HATE GNATS!!!!

2010-07-12T21:13:00.001-04:00

If you recall my post about gnats last week, well that was only a warm up for what I experienced during today's run. I ran through multiple huge swarms of gnats on my 5 miler after some afternoon rains. As I was running through the swarms, I was waving my hands in front of my face to try to prevent them from getting in my eyes and mouth. I probably looked hilariously stupid to anyone passing by. Probably similar to this video below, only without the lawnmower:
(Warning: bad language)

Maybe next time I'll start yelling "AW BOB SAGET" too.....

Needless to say by the time I got done, I had hundreds of dead gnats all over my face, arms, legs, and probably in my teeth! YUCK.

Speedy!

2010-07-07T12:22:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, I set out to run a 5 miler around 5pm. Temp was 88 with full sun. I started running and felt better and better with every mile. Before I knew it, I had broken my previous 5 mile speed record. By 46 seconds! I was quite excited :)
Time: 39:22 @ 7:51/mile average pace.

No more of these reckless runs though starting next month, when serious marathon trainage commences.

Sweat of DOOM!!

2010-07-02T20:47:00.001-04:00

Just a quickie here. Ran 11.5 miles this afternoon. Upon arriving home, I see my face/neck/arms had turned into a bug graveyard. They were no match for my Sweat of DOOM! RIP Bugs.

P.S. I wonder how many got in my mouth? Wait a minute, no I'd rather not know that!

June recap!

2010-07-02T10:45:00.000-04:00

June Recap:

Miles ran: 94mi

Runs: 17

Longest distance: 13.1mi

Time ran: 12:34:00 h:m:s

Avg Speed:

7.1 mph

Avg HR:

161 bpm

Calories:

11,472 C

Milestones:

Longest run (13.1mi)
Most miles in a month (94)

Running nerd moments.....

2010-06-30T15:38:00.001-04:00

I've had two major running nerd moments the last few days.

First, I bought some spandex looking Underarmor underwear to combat inner thigh rash on long runs. I never thought I'd wear skin tight spandex nuthugger thingies, but they prevent rubbage! The extra support for "the boys" isn't too bad either. Good thing you can only see them a little bit since they are slightly longer than my shorts. Well, on the bright side, at least they make my ass look nice.....LOL!!! :)

Second, my friend Morgan and I were comparing our hill workouts. She runs actual hills up North and I do bridge repeats. After comparing our elevation gains and losses, she proclaimed her hills were superior. However....my bridge repeat may only gain 70 feet, but it does so over a distance almost half as short as her hills. So I googled how to calculate grade percentage and it came out just about even. After this we had to laugh about how nerdy it was to actually take the time to calculate this!

Have any of you had running nerd moments lately?

"Why am I doing this?"

2010-06-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

Everyone has them. You know, those bad runs where you start thinking "Why am I doing this?". I experienced my first one of those yesterday. I have been consistently running around 20-25ish weekly miles since March, so I am surprised it took this long to have one of those bad runs. But you know, it was mainly my stupidity that brought this on.

I haven't had any issues running in 90 degree heat (and actually prefer it over morning running because the humidity is less), but all those routes were mainly north to south routes parallel to the ocean. Yesterday, I decided I wanted to run a loop over the two bridges here. Only problem is that this is a mainly east-west route and I didn't have the ocean breeze cooling me. Going east with the sun at my back was no problem. I charged the high rise bridge no problem. Going back west for the last 2.5 miles was absolute hell. The 5:30pm sun was full in my face and there was no shade. I could barely make it over the measly drawbridge that I normally charge up. I seriously wanted to give up and walk the last mile while my mind was screaming "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!". Not even when I ran my 13 miler a few weeks ago did I ever think about quitting, so this was a new feeling.

In this case, my natural stubbornness came in handy and I told my mind to shut the hell up and I pushed through and finished my 5 miles without walking. My head was pounding and I stood under a cold shower for 15 minutes afterwards and I was still sweating 15 minutes after I got out of the shower!
Lesson learned: No east-west routes in the afternoon heat!

I've got a 10 miler on deck this Saturday, but not just any 10 miler. A 10 miler with my friend Morgan from Redheadrunning! She is visiting from Michigan. We are meeting out near Lake Mary and running on the Cross Seminole Trail. A new running route for me, so I'm looking forward to the change of scenery.

Have a great weekend everyone!

The plan for this aimless runner....

2010-06-19T15:35:00.002-04:00

So after some debating.....I have decided to man up and map out a plan for a full marathon.
On the way to the full marathon, I will be running:

October 2nd: Jacksonville Marine Corps 1/2 Marathon
October 31st: Daytona Beach 1/2 Marathon

Then the full marathon:
November 28th: Space Coast Marathon

I was going to do Disney, but after reading many negative reviews about it online and also from people I know that have done it, I opted for a smaller and less stressful event.

My training plan is rather ambitious. I am going to be flexible with the hill workouts especially. If I feel I need to rest that Monday, I will skip the hills and rest. Also, the paces might be slowed up as I get into the training. The ones I have put in there are the max paces to prevent injury. Keeping pace and not going too fast is going to be hard for me at first.

Check out my training plan.....click here.

Until I start, I will continue running around 20-25 miles a week to keep a solid base.

Happy weekend everyone :)

Aimless runner no more?

2010-06-18T09:43:00.000-04:00

So I'm finalizing plans for some half marathons and a full before the year is out. Aimless runner no more? Details soon.

Weekly summary....less miles....more waves!

2010-06-13T14:07:00.000-04:00

After running a 30 mile week last week, this week I am only sitting at 19 miles. But I have a good reason! We had a two day run of good waves, which is rare for summer time in Florida. You see, summer means long periods of flatness except when a tropical system comes around. So I had to take advantage of the waves while they lasted :)

Monday was my usual rest day.
Tuesday, I had planned to run 5 miles but I went surfing after work for 2-3 hours and figured that was a good cross train.
Wednesday, the waves were still good so another 2-3 hour post work session.

Thursday, the waves were STILL really fun. None of the forecasts predicted the swell would stick around this long! The current on this day was crazy and I was constantly paddling against it the entire 2 hours I was out there to prevent getting sucked into the inlet. I got home, hosed off, and decided I was going to go run anyways! I somehow managed to run 4 miles at a 7:48/mile pace! Surf n' turf! Needless to say, I slept good that night!

Friday, no more waves :( But I did run 4 miles in the heat at an 8:35 pace.

Saturday: LONG RUN! Set out at 6am for a 10 mile run around beachside. I started slow, but as every mile went by I felt stronger and faster. I increased my pace on just about every mile until the end. I definitely like this style of running and think I will do it more often! The humidity was ridiculous and I was soaked from head to toe and could wring sweat out of my shirt.

Splits: 8:45,8:16,8:24,8:21,8:26,8:17,8:18,8:12,7:52,7:44

Well, that's it for now! Next week I'll get more miles in, as there won't be waves to surf (supposedly). Happy running!

30 miles this week!

2010-06-06T21:00:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to quickly post that I've hit a new personal weekly mileage high:
30 miles!! WOOHOO!!
Tomorrow is rest day, and also happens to be my birthday. So I will be eating lots of cake and generally being lazy because I can :D

13.1 miles today!!

2010-06-05T17:28:00.001-04:00

It's been 6 weeks since my last double digit run. This morning, I set off on a 10 miler with an option to extend it if I was feeling good.

So, at 5:45am I got in my car and drove the 5 minutes to beachside. Before going to my start point, I stashed a powerade under some bushes around mile 5. 6am rolls around and I'm off! The first few miles I was sluggish, but after crossing the high rise bridge during mile 2 and the draw bridge at mile 3-4, my legs woke up and I was averaging an 8:45 minute/mile pace.

Somewhere around mile 7, something just clicked and I felt amazing and I ended up running the second half at an average 8:20 minute/mile pace. Reverse split! Oh and I extended my run from 10 miles to 13.1....HALF MARATHON WOOHOO!! When my Garmin hit 13.1, I was near a Publix parking lot heading towards my car and I put my hands in the air and yelled "HELL YEAH HALF MARATHON". This got a few odd looks from people across the lot...LOL!
Total time: 1:52:51
Pace: 8:36

When I got home, I put on my super sexy Recovery Socks. Ladies, contain yourselves!

And then the best part about long runs: BREAKFAST!!!!!!!

NOM NOM NOM

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! Time to go cook some seared ahi tuna with teriyaki sauce :D

Run details:

Fishstock 5K recap and back to double digit distances....

2010-06-04T11:16:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone! I've been slacking on posting a recap of last Saturday's Fishstock 5K, so here it is finally!

I originally was not going to run this 5K, even though it was in my home town. However, two guys I work with that also run casually walked into my office a week before and said how I was "chicken" to race them and they would show me up in my own home town. Well, I wasn't having any of that so I promptly signed up.

The day before race day, one of them told me they had a family emergency and had to leave town so they wouldn't make the race. He was also the fastest of the two, so I was a little disappointed but emergencies are emergencies.

Race day arrives and I get there about half an hour before the 8am start time. Right before I get out of my car, I see the temperature on my dash say it is already 82 degrees outside. I pull up the full weather report on my iPhone and humidity is 90%. Yuck! I grab my chip and make my way over to the starting area, but hadn't spotted my coworker yet. As 8am neared, I still hadn't seen him so I assumed he couldn't make it either. I'm going solo and racing against my PR then!

8am arrives and the race is on! I quickly go around all the slow pokes that shouldn't have lined up at the front and get into a sub-7 minute pace. After the first mile, I quickly realize that the humidity is taking its toll on me. The 8am start time at this time of the year was a bit too late I think.
Mile 1 pace = 6:54

I pass the water station at the halfway mark and attempt to dump the water on my head without slowing down. I somehow missed half of my big head....FAIL! But the half I did get water on felt good :)
Mile 2 pace = 7:11

The second half of the race was pretty much in full sun along the river and I was running out of gas. I dug deep and kept going and crossed the finish line, quickly downing a full bottle of water afterwards and dumping a second on my head.
Mile 3 pace = 7:21

I ran this 5K just as hard as my last 5K in April (where I PR'd), but the heat slowed me down and I finished 30 seconds off my PR. I was still happy with it though and it was a good race. I'll have to wait for cooler times to get here to PR again I think.
Chip time = 22:11.
39th out of 450ish runners.
8th out of 28 in the 18-29 age group (weird age range for this race) I would have been 2nd if the age group had been the usual 25-29. Oh well.

The plan this weekend....
Back to double digit long runs. Due to injury and vacation, it has been about 6 weeks since my last double digit long run. I planed out a 10 miler for Saturday, with the option to extend it if I'm feeling good.

7 Random Things

2010-06-01T08:01:00.001-04:00

I was recently tagged by Robin to post 7 random things about myself. Enjoy :)

I have lived in Florida my whole life except the first two years. I was actually born in Vienna, Austria and then my parents moved here when I was two. I can speak German, but I don't have an Arnold accent :)
I live in the sharkbite capital of the world, New Smyrna Beach. I was bit by a shark in 2008. 25 stitches in my foot to close it up and luckily no permanent damage. Now I just have a cool scar and a cool story to go with it. Yes, I still surf!
I enjoy photography and, when I have time, I like to go outdoors and find cool things to take pictures of with my Nikon.
By day, I'm a Network Engineer in the IT department at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach. Yup, I'm a computer nerd!
I am NOT a picky eater and will eat or try just about anything. I've tasted some pretty weird things in my travels, like pidgeon in Egypt...LOL!
My favorite part about running is EATING. After doing a double digit long run, breakfast just tastes oh so much better!
I am single. Ladies, please don't all throw yourselves at me at once! >=)

I'm supposed to tag a few other people to do this too. Sooooo:

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T09:11:00.000-04:00

Thanks to all that have served and all that are currently serving as well.

My favorite American flag picture....

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

2010-05-30T14:33:00.000-04:00

Happy Memorial Day Weekend everyone! Have fun and stay safe!
I'll have a new post on Tuesday about yesterday's 5K that I signed up for last minute, Morgan's goodbye toga party pics, and some future plans. Probably not all in one post though :)

Bye bye redhead :/

2010-05-26T20:37:00.003-04:00

Well, this weekend is the big weekend for my friend Morgan (aka RedheadRunning). She is moving up to Michigan to be closer to her boyfriend Spike. I wish her and Spike all the best and hopefully I'll make it up there for a race one day. After all, Morgan and I are running frenemies! I guess our duels to the death will have to be fought on dailymile :)

Morgan and I have come a long way over the 4-5 years we've known each other. We started off as party and drinking friends, and now we are running pals. She has given me so much advice over the last few months as I started running a lot and I am very grateful! If I could go back in time about 3 years and tell our former selves that we would be running races and 10+ mile runs, I think they both would have laughed in my face and finished their beer.

And now for some pictures to show how we went from crazy party friends to crazy running friends!

Then:

2am 7-11 runs....

Crappy bar music.....

Morgan and her Flamingos....

"GET ME A BEER!"

And one of my favorite ones.....Sorry Morgan I had to...bahahah...

Now:

The Redhead fan club at Gasparilla

Long run beachside:

Duel to the DEATH 5K

And so, on Friday is Morgan's going away party. It happens to be a themed one: Togas! Not having a toga handy, I decided to make my own and ventured out to get the fabric I needed. This meant going to a fabric and crafts store.

Walking in, I noticed I was the only male in the entire store. That is including shoppers and employees. I'm walking through aisle after aisle of fabric, only stopping to look at the most obnoxious/gay colors and patterns. I caught one of the female employees looking at me with a puzzled look on her face. Finally, I found the pattern I wanted and brought it up to be cut and to pay for it. As if being the only guy in the fabric store wasn't enough, I brought up a very gay looking animal pattern print. Oh if only I could have read that cashier's mind! LOL :) In retrospect, I should have told the cashier I was decorating the house for a drag queen diva party or something....haha!

I will post pictures from the toga party next week. Stay tuned!

So anyways, thanks for all the memories Morgan and we are all gonna miss you! But nowadays we have email, dailymile, blogs, and facebook to keep up so I'm sure we won't be out of touch. See you when I come up north to visit/run!

Back from the cruise!

2010-05-22T22:33:00.002-04:00

Just returned from a 5 day cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Was a great time!!! I even somehow managed to run 10 miles. Boy, it sure is hard to run the morning after an evening of doing things like this:

The running did help the hangover go away faster, so that was good!

Also, running on a treadmill after 3-4 beers while the ship is swaying a little bit sure is a good way to make the treadmill interesting. I was so focused on not falling off that the 4 miles went by really fast...LOL!

I did do some snorkeling too......

And sightseeing.....

Took a crazy Mexican cab ride with my cousin...

Got dressed up...

And got the obligatory humpage picture...

By the way, Morgan, you have been slacking on the traditional humpage pictures while traveling. Tsk tsk!

But now the fun is over and I'm going back to my usual healthy diet. My body is mad at me for all the junk I put in it during the last 5 days! I'm getting too old for this kind of stuff...haha :D
I'm thinking a long surf session and a 6-8 mile run tomorrow should do the trick!

I leave you with two nice sunset shots I got on the last day.

I'm on a boat!!!

2010-05-16T20:55:00.000-04:00

Well, did a 4 mile run in the 3pm heat and full sun. Wrapped some ice cubes in a bandana and tied it around my neck. It definitely made a difference and I recommend trying it when running in the heat!

With that said, tomorrow I am off on a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel. Should be a great time and I can't wait to chillax and do some snorkeling and a little (ok probably a lot) of drinking :D
I am taking my running gear and am going to attempt to get at least a few runs in, but we will see how that goes.....

Right now, I've got the "I'm on a boat" song by The Lonely Island stuck in my head. Ok time to go pack my swim trunks and my flippy floppies.

Caution: Explicit Language

First long run in a month!

2010-05-15T09:41:00.002-04:00

Finally got back to the long runs after a month off. I sure felt it as I was dragging ass during the last mile, but it still felt good to get back into the swing of things. 8 miles @ 8:46 pace. The humidity was killing me though. Luckily, my route has numerous showers at the beach approaches that I could stick my head under :)

And I definitely enjoyed my favorite part of post-long runs: BREAKFAST!! OM NOM NOM!!! Had an everything bagel with bacon, sausage, ham, egg, and cheese from Bagel World. If you are ever in New Smyrna Beach, make sure you hit up Bagel World before heading down to the beach.....soooo good!

Oh and I finally get to try out my new Recovery Socks.

Hope everyone enjoys their weekends!

First outdoor run in 2 weeks!

2010-05-12T19:27:00.000-04:00

After my treadmill test run on Friday went well and pain-free, I decided to rest a few more days before venturing out on the road again.

I had intended to get up at 5:30am this morning to do my first outdoor run. Well, last night I was tossing and turning until after 1am until finally falling asleep. Counting sheep, elephants, sharks, etc was NOT working!

So anyways, 5:30am came rather fast and I wasn't having any of it and rolled back over. Thats a big FAIL for me!

I was determined to run today though, so I went after work. In the 5pm heat. It was hot, windy, and I sweated a ridiculous amount but it felt GOOD and pain free! My legs were so well rested and wanted to go fast, but I had to keep myself in check; don't want to anger my hip issue again. Ended up doing a 5 miler @ 8:26 pace. It sure feels good getting back into things!

I'm baaaaack!!! (I hope)

2010-05-07T18:45:00.001-04:00

Got bored and tweaked my blog layout.....enjoy :)

Anyways, after a 10 day break from running due to pain in my right hip, I decided to do a test run today. Not wanting to push my luck, I opted for a treadmill to lessen the impact. Ran 3.5 miles and boy it sure felt GREAT to get back into it, even though I'm not a fan of treadmills. No pain and I'm hoping that when I wake up tomorrow, the hip won't be sore or hurting. If all is good, then I'll stick to treadmill runs for a week so I don't push my luck and then get back outdoors. GIGGITY GIGGITY GIGGITY :D

Almost ready to resume running!

2010-05-05T19:42:00.001-04:00

So in the week since my last run, I've noticed a few things that didn't happen when I was running 5-6 times a week over the last two months:

The return of the afternoon slumps. You know, where you get all groggy and tired around 3pm and want to take a nap. When I was running I was always hyper and alert all day!
The return of my somewhat regular migraines! Before running, I'd get a migraine about 2-3 times a month. Sometimes it would be really bad ones that left me sensitive to light/sound and basically useless. I hadn't had once since I started running consistently, but I had one of those bad ones today and had to lay down for two hours in the afternoon.

In good news, after getting the migraine down to a manageable level, I walked a few laps around my subdivision to clear the post-migraine fog and to see how my hip would feel. Verdict: feels almost normal. I barely noticed it. I think I'm ready for a test run this weekend.....I'll play it by ear.

When you can't run....

2010-05-01T19:14:00.000-04:00

......chill on the beach and drink beer with a fellow injured runner instead! Thanks for the entertainment, Morgan! Time to go nurse my sunburn....

Out of commision (hopefully not too long)

2010-04-30T15:25:00.000-04:00

Well, I had planned to do a 12 mile run on Saturday morning with a few friends. Unfortunately, my hip is going to force me to not run until at least Sunday. I haven't run since Wednesday, and it still doesn't feel quite normal. It's only a slight pain, but I've already found out in the past that even running with a slight pain can turn something small into a big problem. So I'm going to play it safe, as much as I don't want to!

Looks like I'll have to find something else to do this weekend! Maybe I'll go out with my camera and update my photography blog that I've been neglecting lately.

Also would like to send a get well soon to my friend RedheadRunning, who is also nursing a running injury.

Have a good weekend everyone! Run some extra miles for us injured people :)

Thursday Quickie

2010-04-29T20:55:00.000-04:00

My new Motto.....

That is all.

Do I have weird ears?

2010-04-28T20:55:00.000-04:00

So I've been on a hunt to find some new earphones to run with, as the ones I have currently are getting worn out.

I have now returned 3 different pairs because they keep falling out within a minute or less of me starting my run. One was in ear type, and the other two were earbuds with those hooks that go behind your ear to hold them on. Well a big FAIL to all three of those as they almost immediately started coming off, usually on my left ear more than my right. I think my left ear is slightly smaller than the right.

So are my ears just weird or does anyone else have problems finding a decent pair of earphones to run with? Any product suggestions would be great :)

First 5K recap - Bar has been set high for myself!

2010-04-24T19:17:00.001-04:00

So I ran my first 5K race today with my friend Jen from RedheadRunning. It was the Run for the trees 5K in Winterpark. It was a winding course through rich neighborhoods, transitioning to a dirt road going through the trees next to a lake. It was a very nice course, but I didn't really have time to admire it because I had a goal of 22:00 to meet and a certain Redhead to beat!

Before the start of the race, Jen and I were talking a little bit of trash about who was going to beat who. She ran the Boston 5K last weekend and got an awesome 22:19 finish, so I wasn't sure if I could back up my trash talk, but it's still fun to do! We dubbed the race the "Duel to the DEATH" a few times before starting :)

Pre race shot.....

While we were waiting for the start, I met some of Jen's blogger friends. Robin from Running Circles Around the Turtles and Lauren from Bananas and Toast. I'm still a rather new running blogger, so it was cool to meet some fellow bloggers! After chatting for a bit, I downed my 2x caffeine Gu and we headed to the start.

Mile 1

7:30 rolls around and it was time to COMMENCE RUNNAGE!!! I quickly went around the slower group and established a fast pace for the first mile. My strategy was to run a sub 6:45 pace the first mile and then run 7:00 paces for the last two. Jen blew by me and was 30-40 yards ahead the whole time. I just got chicked! I finished the first mile feeling pretty good with a 6:33 pace. I believe Jen had a sub 6:30 pace.

Mile 2

Starting to feel the effects of the first mile, I slowed down to a pace between 6:45-7:00 and caught up with Jen. Unfortunately, her ankle started hurting so she had to slow it down :/ I gave her a thumbs up and concentrated on keeping my pace. Finished this mile with a 6:58 pace.

Mile 3

Most of this mile went through a dirt path through a nature preserve. It was really nice and I really wish I could have appreciated it more, but I was in the zone and my legs and body were starting to yell at me. The dirt slowed me down a bit too and I finished this mile with a 7:09 pace.

Finish

Seeing the finish line, I gave what little I had left and ran as hard as I could through the finish. Raised my hands up and let off a loud "WOOOOO" as I crossed. Did a 6:43 pace the last .1 miles.

I was glad it was over, because I couldn't have gone much longer; heart rate hit 191, which is 99% of my max during the last .1 miles.
Final chip time: 21:41 / 6:58 pace.

Race place: 5th/39 in age group. 47th/979 overall. Very pleased!

I waited a couple minutes for Jen and she finished with a 24:06 chip time, and also got 5th in her age group....go Jen! We waited for the other bloggers to finish and then did a 1.5 mile jog back to the starting line with Lauren.

Before parting ways, we took a quick picture of us....

All in all, it was a great race. The only bad part is now I have set a high bar for myself to try to beat in the next race! Oh and Jen has already said she's coming for my time. But for now, I am the winner of the Duel to the DEATH....muhahaha!

New mileage highs, and a 5K next weekend!

2010-04-18T17:59:00.000-04:00

This week, I did an 11 mile run and 22 miles total. New highs for both! Although my calves are super tight from the long run.
Next Saturday I will be running in a 5K with RedheadRunning. I am shooting for a 22:00-ish finish. It's going to be tough, but I'm going to try my damndest! This will be my first official 5K, since the race I did a few weeks back was a 4-miler. I'm excited to see how I do!

10 mile threshold reached!

2010-04-10T16:44:00.000-04:00

Well today I crossed the 10 mile threshold for the first time. My previous high was 8 miles. It was a great feeling of accomplishment when I watched my Garmin go from 9.99 to 10.00. I let out a "WOO HOO" and got a few odd stares from the people out in their yards at the 10 mile mark.
Average pace: 8:25/mile.
Afterwards, I promptly went to Bagel World and stuffed my face with a sausage, ham, bacon, egg, and cheese bagel. I inhaled it like a dog eating peanut butter......OM NOM NOM NOM!!!

I took a two hour nap this afternoon, as I was feeling quite tired but I'm hardly even sore and not in any pain. All systems go for 11 miles next week!

Garmin details:

Attack of the dog!

2010-04-08T17:39:00.000-04:00

o last night I'm out running a nice leisurely 4-ish miler. As I run past some bushes I hear growling and then a rustling of the leaves. Next thing I know, this really pissed off dog is behind me and starts chasing me.
He looked kind of like this.....

I break into a sprint and start thinking about what to do, as I can't outrun a dog. For some reason at this point I thought it would help to glance down at my Garmin and check my pace. It said a pace of 5:25 mins/mile.
"Wow thats a nice pace!" I thought to myself, before cursing at myself for thinking about pace rather than the BIG MEAN DOG CHASING ME!
As I enter an intersection, a car comes out of nowhere and pulls up to the stop sign. I didn't have time to slow down and go around it, so I did the ol' hood slide over it. Similar to this picture:

Not seeing the dog chasing me, the owner got out of their car to curse at me and make inappropriate hand gestures in my general direction. Right then, they noticed the pissed off dog and attempted to get back in their car. The only problem was the dog jumped into their car right as they closed the door. All I see is the car shaking back and forth with the combined fury of the dog and the panicking owner.

Alright alright, this has gone on long enough. In case you didn't figure it out yet, all that was just a made up story. But it sure would have been an interesting experience if that actually happened :)

The real story is I was coming up on a lady walking her dog. She was talking on her cell phone. I called out that I was coming up behind her and I even moved from the sidewalk into the road. Oblivious, she didn't hear me and right as I ran past, her dog went nuts and jumped out at me. And it was one of those little annoying "drop kick dogs", as I refer to them. Yes, the name originates from this scene from Anchorman:

The leash wasn't short enough and the dog darted between my legs, causing me to stumble and land on my foot weird. Then she gives me a look like it's my fault. I decided to take the high road and continue on. Shortly after, I had to cut my run short due to pain in my foot. I iced it for a few hours that night and it seems ok today, but I'm going to take a rest day and hope that was the extent of it.

DISCLAIMER: I like dogs and do not blame the dog, but rather the oblivious owner of said dog.

I think I like the first version of the story better than the actual story >=)

That is my running related rant for the day. Have a good weekend everyone! If all goes well and my foot feels ok, I'll be crossing the 10 mile threshold for the first time Saturday morning!

Daytona Easter Beach Run Finish Pic

2010-04-08T15:23:00.000-04:00

Finally got the finish picture from the 4 mile race.....

Daytona Easter Beach Run Report

2010-04-06T16:37:00.000-04:00

Alright, the day finally came and I officially have my first race behind me! Last week, I had no intention of running this race but I'm glad I ended up just going for it to see what happened!

Goal Pace - 7:30 mins/mile average.

I arrived at 7am and was greeted by a beautiful sunrise over the Daytona Beach Pier.

After drinking water, stretching, and getting my chip, 8am was almost here. I downed a Gu packet before start and took my place under the pier and waited for go time. They had a pretty good turnout. I'd guess around 500-600 runners.

8am rolls around and the Forrest Gump impersonator tells us to RUN!!! I was so glad because I was ridiculously hyper and amped to go, so I took off and kept up with the front of the pack for a while. The course is a 2 mile run North on the beach, then a turnaround and back to the start.

The first mile flew by and I checked my Garmin and I did a 6:57.
"Woa there buddy, you better slow the eff down if you wanna make it all 4 miles!" I thought to myself. So, I slowed up a little bit and ran mile 2 at 7:10.
At this point, the sun was starting to get really hot so I grabbed some water from the station at the mile 2 turnaround and dumped it on myself. Much better!

During mile 3, the adrenaline from the start was starting to wear off and I was starting to feel the consequences of running at a fast clip for the first two miles. I pushed through and did a 7:30 for this mile.

"I really wish this was a 5K at this point!" I thought to myself as I started on the final mile, and passed over the 5K distance threshold. I really don't remember much else from the last mile, as I completely concentrated on keeping my pace at 7:30 until the end; head up and shoulders back and focused on the finish line getting closer and closer.

I would like to give a big FAIL to the event organizers for putting the finish line up in the soft sand, requiring tired legs to trudge through a few hundred feet of soft sand and preventing a strong finish sprint. I saw a few people actually fall in the soft sand. I was careful and crossed the line without incident and I averaged 7:38 for the last mile of hell.

Final numbers: 28:47.4 and a 7:18 avg pace/mile.

I was out of my mind stoked that I did quite a bit better than my goal pace, and promptly texted my good friend RedheadRunning (who has dubbed herself my running momma) to inform her of my finish. Shortly after, the results were posted and I got 5th out of 15 people in my age group which was enough to get a medal. Not bad for my first time out!

The finish area under the pier:

Race summary and route from my Garmin:

Oh and I learned the hard way that it is NOT a good idea to do a fast run with your car key in your pocket smacking your leg the whole time. This happens....LOL:

Note that I waited until Tuesday to post this because I was waiting for official race pics to be released to include in this post. They are STILL not available, so I'm posting this now. I'll probably do a followup post with some more pictures.

All systems go!

2010-04-02T20:37:00.000-04:00

Picked up my race packet this afternoon and I'm ready to go run tomorrow!

My goal for the 4 miles is an overall 7:30 pace. I've done a 5K distance on my own at 7:20, so I think I should hit the 7:30 over 4 miles; especially in a competitive setting.

Created a music playlist that runs a little more than 30 minutes, hopefully those last songs will light a fire under my @ss if I'm dragging that last mile :)

Hollywood Undead - No. 5
Avenged Sevenfold - Scream
Bullet for my Valentine - Room 409
Disturbed - Liberate
Nonpoint - Mindtrip
Disturbed - Guarded
Nonpoint - Bullet With A Name
Eminem - Till I Collapse

That last song is fitting for the last few minutes of the race, as the first part of the lyrics go:
'Cause sometimes you feel tired,
feel weak, and when you feel weak, you feel like you wanna just give up.
But you gotta search within you, you gotta find that inner strength
and just pull that shit out of you and get that motivation to not give up
and not be a quitter, no matter how bad you wanna just fall flat on your face and collapse.

Back tomorrow with how I did!

My new toy!!!

2010-03-31T20:07:00.000-04:00

Picked up a Garmin this week and did my first run with it. Oh how did I ever run without one? LOL

Bridge (hill) repeats SUCCESS! And I finally got off my @ss and registered for a race...

2010-03-30T21:50:00.000-04:00

Last night I decided to try doing some hill repeats in the form of a high rise bridge that goes over the river here. It is about .5 miles from one side to the other and goes up about 70ish feet. Here is a partial shot of it:

Now on Mondays I work from 8-5:30, then I have a night class from 6-9 so I try to run in the mornings. However, it was pouring rain that morning. By the time I started on the bridge repeats it was 9:30, but the nearly full moon was lighting up the sky and there was a brisk wind from the west. It was actually a nice night though.

I did 6 repeats, for a total of about 3.2 miles at a pace around 8:10. I could definitely feel the burn on the last two repeats, but I felt awesome afterwards for accomplishing my goal pace. I do a lot of squats at the gym and I think that definitely helped me power through the bridge repeats.

My legs felt fine with no soreness today and I intended to head to the gym after work to do a full body circuit workout. However, the waves were up so I hit up the inlet with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and surfed for 3 hours. I think that counts as a good cross training session :) It was definitely fun!

Oh and I'm happy to report that I got off my @ss and registered for my first race. It's the 43rd Annual Run Forrest, Run! Easter Beach Run in Daytona Beach.

It is a 4 mile run on the beach and should be pretty fun. I'm shooting for a goal pace of 7:30, so we shall see how it goes!

I'll resume my short runs the next two days and take Friday off before the race on Saturday.

20 Miles in one week - SUCCESS!!

2010-03-28T12:07:00.000-04:00

After this morning's 8 miler, I have broken the 20 mile in one week threshold! My previous high was 13 miles, so I really stepped it up this week. And I'm happy to report I'm not even sore, hurting, stiff, etc. Oh and I feel great too!

This morning I ran my long run with my friend Morgan, AKA RedHeadRunning. After getting up at 7am and eating some peanut butter and banana sandwiches (mmmmmm), we drove beachside to our starting point. Before I go any further, I just want to comment that the last time I saw Morgan in my town two years ago it was for an all night drinking binge with a group of friends. Back then, these visits by Morgan and her Orlando crew were quite common and all sorts of alcohol-infused debauchery would ensue. Oh how times have changed! I'm sure both our bodies appreciate that we are living a much healthier lifestyle now :)

Anyways, we get to the starting point and are greeted with a nice sun rising over the ocean...

You may also notice the high tide in the above picture. There was a very narrow strip of hard packed sand that we decided we could run on. Yeah, not so much. After about 2 blocks of soft and muddy sand, we dubbed that the beach portion of the run was a FAIL and we took the next beach approach back to the road.
The next few miles passed by quickly and was a mix of pavement, a short boardwalk through trees, and some dirt roads. Oh and a few dogs that tried to attack us because their owner wasn't paying attention.
The halfway point is located at Dunes Park, which is a 1.5 mile boardwalk loop over the dunes at New Smyrna Inlet. It is my favorite place to do my short runs during the week. There is usually a cool breeze from the ocean and the boardwalk is a little more forgiving on your legs than pavement. After a quick water break, we set out on the boardwalk and got a few pictures along the way.

The way back was rather uneventful, just some random conversation to pass the time. Oh wait, Morgan did stop at a beach shower to get water...LOL

Before I knew it we were done. It didn't seem like an 8 mile run at all! I probably could have done more, but I know not to push my luck. Thanks again Morgan for running it with me.....made the time fly.

Post run pic...

Here is a map of the run:
<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/run/united-states/fl/new-smyrna-beach/497126979232233431"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;8 mile beachside run&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmyrun.com/find-run/united-states/fl/new-smyrna-beach"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Runs in New Smyrna Beach, Florida&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Next week: 9 miles! (maybe 10....we'll see how I feel)

Closing in on 20 miles in one week!

2010-03-26T17:15:00.000-04:00

This has been a good week. I started off with the fast run on Monday (see previous post), followed by three 3-ish mile runs during the week with one day of gym time in there. I'm happy to report that my legs feel great! See my workout log on the right for complete details.
Tomorrow I will be taking a day off to be lazy, play video games, and drink beer.

mmmmmm beer!!

Sunday, my weekly long run is up to 8 miles. My good friend RedHeadRunning is going to be making a trip over to run it with me since her long run this week is also 8 miles. That and she is going to be my running nazi, because I've been doing my last few long runs "too fast", according to her. I say bring it on!
If all goes well, that will put my weekly mileage up to 20 miles! That's way more than anything I've ever done before....I'm pretty stoked!

I will report in after the weekend...later!

The MAN RUN!!!!

2010-03-23T20:31:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, I was on the way home from my night school class when I get a call from some friends asking if I wanted to meet them at the new pizza joint that just opened. So, I agreed and met them there and had some AWESOME pizza. This is my new favorite place now.
Anyways, upon getting home I decide to go on the run that I'm now calling the MAN RUN! Here is how to do it:

Eat 3-4 slices of yummy pizza
30 minutes later, go run a 5K distance at a fast pace (7:30/mile in my case)
Slam a beer when you get home
Grunt

Another successful night of aimless running!

Might as well.....

2010-03-23T20:16:00.000-04:00

Well I'm going to jump on the blogging bandwagon. I figure it would be a fun way to keep track of my progress, even if I'm just aimlessly running and not training for anything specific (yet). And hey maybe I'll entertain a few people with my ramblings along the way!

I've always run 2-3 miles here and there a few times a week, but I've recently started running longer distances and I love the way it makes me feel. I'm on week 4 of my increased running schedule. Here is how I've been breaking it down per week:

Two or three 3-4 mile runs at a moderate / easy pace
One 3 mile run at fast pace
One long run, increasing distance a mile per week

Since I started my long run at 5 miles, this week I'm on 8 miles. I've been amazed at how quickly my body has been adjusting. Last week I did 7.25 miles at an 8:15 pace and it seemed easier than my first 5 mile long run.

I'm going to continue aimlessly running until I hit 13-15 miles in a long run, then taper back down to long runs of 8ish miles per week until I get my @ss in gear and actually do a long race :)