Exercise 04/29 - 05/05

Not too pressing but it was a nice week for me. 

Tuesday - 3.9 miles walking in 1:10.  Again I forgot my sports bra and had to walk instead of run.  I printed up a list and will attach it to my gear crate so hopefully this will be the last time.
Wednesday - 11.5 bike in 58.  Lovely ride in a lot of sunshine but having some mechanical issues. I called my brother and asked him about it. From my description he suggested either user error or bad bearings in the rear wheel.  Not to keep any (I don't know if there are any) readers in suspense - I took my bike to the shop Saturday and user error is the answer.  The brake thing was not pulled far enough so it was rubbing and causing issues in tightening down the wheel.  I'm looking forward to riding without dealing with that. 
Thursday - 3.6 miles in 47 (13:03) plus walking warm up/down.  I did 2:00/1:00 throughout and felt really good about it. I was able to keep my HR down throughout and keep it up.  Not fast but felt good.  Oh and it was 53 degrees out with a 14 mph wind.  In Texas! 
Saturday - 30 minute core work.  Then a 4 mile walk to the grocery store and back. 
Sunday - I was feeling somewhat lazy and didn't really want to go for a long bike ride or run so it was perfect when a friend texted to say did we want to hike.  ChocolateDaughter and I met the friend and her dog for an easy hike before gathering the rest of our families and going to a birthday party.  We probably only went about 2 miles but it was lovely. 

Weight:
4/8 - 170.0
4/14 - 169.5 (-.5)
4/21 - 166.7 (-2.8)
4/27 - 167.6 (+0.9)
5/4 - 166.2 (-1.4)

Steps:
Monday - 8,517
Tuesday - 12,189
Wednesday - 8,110
Thursday - 11,655
Friday - 9,712
Saturday - 16,017
Sunday - 9,734
Total - 75,934

I donated a small triple of platelets on Thursday.  Not coincidentally I learned that it is a bad idea to get very cold before donating platelets.  The run done in 53 degree weather immediately before and combined with the cold temperature in the center made my donation very difficult. I will not make that mistake again.

Workouts 10/08 - 10/14

Another week of so-so workouts but this week for a very good reason.  ChocolateWife and I had our first overnight date since having kids (almost 9 years).  I shifted a lot of my workouts around through the week to prepare and then took Friday off work to run my Sunday run on Friday. 

Monday - Tabata Arms and Core.  A very good and hard workout.

Tuesday - Did Pre-Dawn Runner's Core Workout for 30 minutes.  Hard!

Wednesday - Ran hill repeats. These were scheduled for Thursday but I was not going to run hill repeats Thursday and then 12 miles on Friday.  It was 87 out and felt hotter than that.

Friday - 12 miles in 2:54 (14:30). This run was supposed to be 12 miles with 10 at marathon race pace.  I was thinking that marathon race pace should be about 13:15.  I got out there in the 75-80 degrees and 80% humidity and was just slammed.  This was as fast as I could manage.  I'm impressed that I got the miles in at all given how not in the mood I was. 

Nothing on the weekend! 

During our date we went to REI and I got a new pair of Brooks PureConnect running shoes.  They fit and feel like my Brooks PureGrit but are road shoes rather than trail shoes.  I had a 20% off coupon so the price was pretty reasonable. 

Next week is more lifting (no tabatas), stretching, and what looks like 3 pretty challenging run workouts - mile repeats, mile intervals, and then a 14 mile run with 10 at marathon pace on Sunday.  I'm sort of surprised about a 14 mile run a week before my 10 mile race.  I e-mailed the coach to say "huh... that's weird" and she said that it's what the schedule calls for but also said something about having a 8-9 mile zone 2 run on my description so I'm not sure what that means. 

I may go volunteer or at least cheer for a marathon that's about 10 miles from the house on Saturday morning.  I would have to go and then leave pretty quickly because ChocolateWife has an appointment at 11:00 but I'd like to put in an appearance. What are the odds of a marathon run at a place I run frequently and with only 150 runners?  I sent an e-mail about volunteering but haven't heard back yet. 

Review of Simple Hydration Bottle

A few weeks ago, I was listening to the Extra Mile Podcast (or possibly the Extra Mile to Finish Breast Cancer). Kevin had on Brian who has invented a new running bottle: The Simple Hydration bottle. Brian said that he would give away 5 water bottles based on a few criterion and I was in. I've tried many different bottles and bottle systems. My solution to this point is basically that if the run is under an hour, I don't take water and if it's over an hour, I wear a camelbak water pack which also lets me carry my phone and gels. For my submission, I put on all three camelbaks in the house (a big pack for family hiking trips, my running pack, and ChocolateDaughter's small pack), my running water belt, held two camelbak bottles in my hands and even balanced a bottle on my head. When Brian announced the winners of the giveaway, he was particularly impressed with the bottle on my head.

A few weeks later the bottle arrived in the mail. I filled it with water, hooked it into the back of my spibelt and off I went. The claims that it is hardly noticeable are absolutely true. I let it rest against one of my butt cheeks and found it comfortable and easy to forget. I tried it in the middle and didn't like that feeling but on the side was great. The bottle is great for short runs when I don't need to carry a bunch of stuff. I think the inventor has a pretty good idea and really appreciate the giveaway.

Half-Marathon Gear Checklist

The See Jane Run Half-Marathon is this Sunday.  The race starts at 7:00 am and I am picking up a friend on the way because she doesn't have a car.  I've started thinking about my gear list. So far here's what I can think of:

 

Clothing:

• White Sports Bra
• Short-sleeve tech shirt (which short-sleeve tech shirt as yet undetermined)
• Black running shorts
• New Asics $12 socks
• Brooks running shoes
• Hat (in case it rains)

Accessories/Gear:

• HRM Strap
• HRM Watch
• Road ID
• Bandana
• Spibelt
• Phone?
• IPod Nano
• Interval Timer
• Sunglasses
• Sunscreen

Nutrition:

• 3 Gels
• 1/2 Bar?
• Recovery drink to leave in the car

Other:

• Backpack with a change of clothing.
• Printed directions to parking & friend's house
• A little cash

Happy Nike Plus-iversary

I got my Nike Plus one year ago today. According to the website, in that time, I've run (or walked) 835 miles in 185 hours. Wow. 185 hours? That sounds both awesome and not enough. I don't go by the Nike+ calories burned estimate but if I did, 91,000+ calories sounds like some serious burn. Also, it says that my average pace is 13:21. That's not bad when you consider that I walk with the sensor sometimes. In that time, I've gone from Yellow, Orange, Green, to Blue. I want to turn Purple well before a year from now and increase my mileage over the next year in addition to running faster and injury free.

New Running Shoes

Sunday I went and got fitted for new running shoes at one of the speciality running stores in town. I had been very hesitant to do this mostly because of the cost of the shoes there. My first pair of NB running shoes which I fitted myself did wonderfully. But the second pair (same style, size, etc.) have not done so well. I've had trouble with them slipping and feeling wide. Even pulling the laces tighter has not completely fixed the issue and at this point I have blisters on my toes that are not healing well.

This picture of my feet shows the current blisters. My right pinkie toe has blisters on top of blisters. It is discolored and ugly. The right big toe has a slight blister. The left big toe has a blister that is torn and the left little toe has a healing blister. I have been putting aloe on the blisters at bedtime each day. They only hurt when I'm not wearing shoes and walking around the house on the day after a run but they are still an issue.

The entire family went to the store and I told the salesman my problem and showed him my feet. Then I ran for him in barefeet, got my feet measured and he got some pairs to try and to run in. I asked him for his observations and he noted that I have very high arches (yes) and very narrow feet (yes again). I tried a pair of Mizunos, Asics, and Brooks and liked the Brooks best both because they had the least slippage and because they were blue rather than pink like the Mizunos and Asics. I can't see the model #/name on the box because they were marked in black marker by the store for some reason so I will have to find it if I want to get these again. The shoes were $100 which may be the most I've ever paid for a pair of shoes (not boots) but if they work well for me, they will be worth it.

Blue, Baby!

This is really a "last week's runs" post but I'm just so excited to be Blue in Nike Running. It's not just that blue is my favorite color because green is my next favorite but I am so goal oriented that it felt great to make that level. I did my run Saturday morning and then came home and the entire family came over to the computer to see the screen change colors and see my "ataboy" message from Nike Running. I also had a verbal "ataboy" from Tiger Woods when I stopped my workout.

I did a lot of walks this week because I was worried about reopening my thumb and bleeding profusely.

My runs/walks:

Sunday - 5.41 miles. 1:38. A nice walk. I walked over to the park and then back.

Sunday - 1.87 miles. 33:00. We took the kids/dogs for a family balance bike ride/walk after dinner because the weather was just lovely.

Monday - 3.67 miles 56 minutes. Lunch time walk at work.

Tuesday - 4.06 miles. 59:50 minutes. Walk.

Wednesday - 2.66 miles. 51:33. Balance bike ride to the school playground and then walking in circles while the kids played.

Thursday - 3.97 miles. 1:00:11. Walked .5 miles, Ran 2 miles, Walked the rest. My first day to run with my thumb and it felt fine and didn't bleed. It was also my first time to try to run 2 miles since I transitioned over to the run/walk technique.

Thursday - 1.47 miles. 24 minutes. Lunch time walk.

Friday - 3.47 miles. 54 minutes. Walk.

Saturday - 4.57 miles. 1:03 minutes. Walk .5 miles, Run 2, Walk the rest. It was a beautiful run at the park.

My weekly totals were 31.2 miles so I'm pretty happy with that.

Last Green Day

This is the last time I'll post a Nike Running graphic in green. That's right. If you look at the top, I have a mile (or less) to go until I hit the blue level. That's 620 miles (1000 kilometers). The next level is Purple at 1552 miles so I'll be blue for a long time. I walked this morning but the graphic said I was 5 miles from the next level and I didn't know if that meant 4.1 or 4.9 or 5.93 miles...

Also, I usually sign up for a challenge called the Stay Strong 75 each month. Some months I also sign up for the Stay Strong 50. This month I signed up for the Stay Strong 100 which means I'm challenged to run/walk 100 miles this month. My previous high was 80 miles back in September. I'm on target so far but it's only the 6th of the month.