Listening to my body

My legs still felt tired this morning when I woke up, so I decided not to do the run today. While I would rather not have missed a run on my schedule, I think it's more important to listen to what my body is telling me and be open to adapting my schedule to how my fitness is progressing rather than adhering to a rigid schedule and potentially doing damage to my legs.

Tomorrow's 5-mile run is still on. Weather should be awesome, and I'm looking forward to it!

...set an open course for the virgin seas

Statistics:
Distance: 3.2 miles (made up my .2 miles from last time)
Time: 33:21

Course Map/Stats


Observations:

Cold day again. Temp says it's 38 degrees outside. I'm still learning what (and what not) to wear. I wish I owned a pair of long-leg technical pants - the skin-tight kind. Those would have been perfect with a pair of shorts over them. I actually stopped in Fleet Feet before my run to see what they had, but surprisingly they had very little selection for men. So instead of buying something unideal and probably overpriced, I just left, and elected to wear sweatpants for my run today. I'm hoping that today will be my last day in sweatpants. Tomorrow should be about 10 degrees warmer, so I'll leave the sweats behind. On top I wore my long-sleeve technical shirt with a T-shirt over it, and a light windbreaker over that. Pretty good choice there, though I was getting pretty warm by the end of the run.

Oh, I almost forgot. New shoes! I went to Fleet Feet yesterday for a fitting/analysis/diagnosis, and came away with some new Sauconys. The shoes I had been using for the last couple months were comfortable on my feet, but they weren't giving me the kind of support I needed, which was probably causing some of the soreness in my legs. I've got to hand it to Fleet Feet for knowing their shit! First the guy examines me in my current shoes, then he gives me a pair of neutral shoes and has me job down the sidewalk to analyse how my feet hit the pavement. From that he can tell what kind of support I need in my shoes to get the most stability, and I ended up with the Sauconys. I should have taken a picture of the sign on the wall at Fleet Feet that read "When buying running shoes, you can NOT choose color". My apologies to Michael Kors and Neeeeena Garcia.

Anyway, today was my first run in the new shoes, and I feel pretty good. The knee soreness is gone and the calf soreness is a lot more minor than before. It will take some getting used to because the shoe sole really does make my feet hit the ground in a slightly different position than before, which is causing certain leg muscles to be used more than they used to. But in the long run I think this will be an improvement. Also, if they don't feel right, I can return them up to 30 days after purchase and try a different pair.

As for the run itself, it felt fairly challenging despite the short distance. First, it was a bit colder than my last run, and I had more clothes on. Also, I don't think my food intake was ideal today. I kind of forgot I'd be running tonight when I got a heavy meal for lunch. Ideally I'd have had a lighter lunch and then a snack in the afternoon. Oh well, live and learn. Despite that, I pushed myself on the pace. I didn't want to feel complacent at any point on the run, so I tried to keep my pace just that little bit on the pushing-it side. According to the stats, it was the same pace as Saturday, but I'm still a bit dubious about the exact measurements with this GPS tracker. Anyway, I'll be running the same course tomorrow, so I can compare my pace again tomorrow (sans sweatpants).


Street Shout-out:

Shout-out to the sneaky black ninja dog that scared the crap out of me on Wilson Ave!


Track List:
The Sweet Escape - Gwen Stefani
Under Pressure - Queen
St. Elmo's Fire - John Parr
Come Sail Away - Eric Cartman (South Park cover)
Let Me Clear My Throat - DJ Kool
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
Texas Flood - Stevie Ray Vaughn
I Know - Save Ferris
(warmdown)
Walk Like an Egyptian - The Puppini Sisters
Sure-Bla-Di Shot-Bla-Da - The Beastles
Yeah Yeah Yeah Song - The Flaming Lips


Next:
Tuesday - 3 miles

End of Week 1

Statistics:
Distance: 2.8 miles
Time: 28:05

Course Map/Stats

Week 1 total distance: 12 miles


Observations:

Well, somehow I mis-measured my route. According to Google Maps, it's 1 mile from Irving Park to Lawrence, and .5 miles from Damen to Ashland. So a route using those as my boundaries should have been 3 miles. But I guess Google fudged a bit, or perhaps my GPS cut some corners, or both. Anyway, the running tracker says I did 2.8 miles. No big deal, but I wish I'd notice while I was running so I could have added a couple more tenths on there. I wanted to see if I could do 3 miles in under 30 minutes. I think I'd have been right at/just under 30 minutes.

This was an easier run, which it's designed to be. Shorter distance than before, but also nicer weather - about 48 degrees and only light wind. Also, partly sunny. The only negative aspect of the run was the fact that I was running on sidewalks, which are inconsistent - sometimes they rise and fall, sometimes they slant left, sometimes they slant right. The left and right slopes are the worst, and I read that it could be part of the problem I had on Thursday with my knees afterward. I may start driving to the lake and running on the lake path just to have a smoother path. Also, when you run by Popeyes, it smells like fried chicken.

I stopped by Fleet Feet earlier today to pick up a couple pairs of running socks, and they were having a clearance sale on some of their cold-weather apparel. I got a long-sleeve technical shirt for 30% off, and promptly put it to use this afternoon. (Technical is runner-speak for synthetic, apparently). Tomorrow I'm going back there to check out a new pair of shoes. While the pair I have now is only a month or two old, they're on the cheap side, and if I'm going to be running more seriously, it makes sense to invest in quality shoes. They are, after all, where the rubber meets the road.


Street Shout-out:

I ran into Bryan B. on Leland and managed to recognize him without the beard.


Track list:
Golden Years - David Bowie
Vogue - Madonna
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood - Kill Bill Soundtrack
Don't Stop Believing - Journey
Dead! - My Chemical Romance
Tiny Dancer - Ben Folds
Elevation - U2
(warmdown)
Goodbye, Goodbye - Oingo Boingo
Don't Stop Me Now - Queen


Next:
Monday - 3 miles (GPS willing) and my first two days in a row of running.

First run done

Statistics:
Distance: 4 miles
Time: 43:52

I'm trying to figure out how to insert this cool widget into my blog that will show the map of where I ran and also give statistics, but I haven't gotten it figured out yet. It uses my Droid and its GPS to track me while I run. It computes speed, distance, and draws a map of where I'm running. I think you'll even be able to follow me live while I run if you really want to. It's actually pretty cool, so hopefully I'll have it figured out by my next run.

For now, click this link for my course map.

Some notes about the link: the GPS is a bit choppy, so it might think I'm going way faster at times than I am, balanced by times that I'm going much slower than I am. The average, though, should obviously be pretty accurate. Pretty freaking cool technology, though, huh?


Observations:

Tough.

Harder than the Shamrock Shuffle, even though it was 1 mile shorter. But there were good reasons for that. First, I hadn't run since Sunday, so it was a longer rest than optimal. Second, the wind! It was nuts today! I had a headwind on the longest leg of my course - the northwest leg - and also portions of the east leg. How that happens I don't know. Sucked, though! Also, it was cold. colder than Sunday. It's 30 degrees now, while Sunday was closer to 40. So I was wearing heavier clothes to keep warm, which made me a heavier person to drag around the course.

I imagine that in July when I'm sweating my ass off in the heat, I'll look back at an easy 4-mile day in the cold and wonder WTF I was complaining about.

The lower part of both of my calves are sore - the part below the big chunk of meat, just above the Achilles tendon. It's probably because that's what takes the initial impact of my running step, and it doesn't normally get that much of a strain in daily life. I'll keep stretching it, and hopefully in time it'll strengthen and not be as sore following a run.

But, I did it, and I kept it under my 11-minute per mile pace. I basically do two laps of a triangular wedge course through Lincoln Square. It's just under two miles per lap. I managed to force myself to make the turn onto the second lap and not stop at two miles, since that's the toughest part to not stop.


Next:
Saturday - 3 miles

Soldier Field 10-mile training schedule

Here's my first attempt at a training schedule for the Soldier Field race. I got it off a marathon trainer website. It's actually a half-marathon training schedule that I've modified to fit the 10-mile run goal. This might change as I read more and learn more about training, but for now, this is the plan.

10-Week Half Marathon Training Schedule

(Week 1 starts with the Shamrock Shuffle 5-mile on Sunday)



Also, I've read about different types of running workouts I can do to improve my overall pace. I will probably work that into these runs.

I guess that's all until tomorrow evening's run. Until then!

Gotta start somewhere

And as it turns out, I already did the starting part, so the hard part is done. By that, I mean starting to run. I started going back to the gym in January. I know, cliche. But it was NOT a new years resolution. It was a new job resolution that happened to coincide with the new year. I started using the weight machines and running on the treadmill, gradually increasing the duration of my runs from session to session.

I happened to post on Facebook that I'd been running, and was immediately urged to sign up for the Shamrock Shuffle, an 8k (5-mile) race through Chicago's downtown area. So, I did! More on that later.

The point of this blog is to help keep me honest about my training regime. After the success of the Shamrock Shuffle (more on that later, I said!) I've signed up for some challenging races this year, and I need to train to be ready for them. I know I can do it. Inspired by Neil's fitness blog, I am betting that this blog will help keep me honest about my schedule. That's where you come in! If my friends and family can follow my progress here, I'll be more motivated to stick to the schedule. Got it? Good!