Posted on Aug 07, 2008 under Blog, resources |
Many of us in the Running Blog Family have taken advantage of new fangled technology called Twitter. Many runners probably first learned about Twittering from the podcaster Steve Runner who, with the help of his son, twittered his way through this year’s Boston Marathon.
My “twitterverse” or my universe of Twitter has quickly grown with lots of running friends, most of whom I’ve never met except through blogging and e-mail. In the past month or so that I’ve been active in Twitter I’ve encouraged other runners and they have encouraged me. Especially after finding this blog post with a list of running tweeps.
So What is Twitter? Simply, Twitter is the most popular micro-blogging site on the web. The official definition is:
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?
Twitter will help you fill in the gaps in-between blog posts about what is going on in your friend’s lives. Common Craft has a great video that might help you understand Twitter a little better.
Still not convinced you need Twitter? This article written by a CEO Twitterer is what convinced me to take the leap and now I’m hooked to this 140 character phenom. I say go on over and try it out today!
You can find my Tweets here.
I will say that initially I used Twitter every few hours, but now have gotten into a more realistic mode of posting every few hours and tend to post more highlights, while many people post lots of little details of their day. I have also seen tons of encouraging tweets from runners to other runners who are struggling to get on the road or with other personal issues. If you have 5 minutes a day and want to meet some other great runners and people - Twitter is the way to go. It might be a little over-hyped but it is a great tool.
Technorati Tags: Twitter, Running Blog Family, Micro-Blogging
Posted on Aug 06, 2008 under Charity, Marathon, World Vision |
Below is a letter I sent to family and friends about my plans to run a marathon and raise money for Team World Vision:
There is nothing more important than having a passion that drives you. You probably know that two of my passions are running and Africa (if you didn’t know you do now!). I have decided to bring these two passions together to create something exciting and hopefully powerful and life changing. Read on to learn more!
A few years ago while lining up for the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon, I noticed a guy wearing a bright orange jersey with the World Vision logo all over it and the words “Team World Vision”. I found that quite interesting, but didn’t really have time to talk with him before the race started. When I got home I did some research and found out that World Vision has a fund raising program where individuals join the Team, raising money while competing in an athletic event.
Since then I have thought about when would be a good time to join Team World Vision and combine running and Africa. When I started thinking about running my first marathon, I decided this would be the time. I will be running the Twin Cities Marathon, here in Minneapolis on October 5, 2008. I am about halfway through the training and it is going really well. Christy and I decided that this would be a good time to raise money for World Vision in honor of our friends across Africa. We set a goal of raising $2,000, which is roughly $76 per mile! My goal for the marathon is to cover the 26.2 mile distance in 3 hours and 10 minutes.
Will you join our team and support me as I train for this important race and vision? Your gift of any size will have tremendous impact. World Vision is one of the most respected humanitarian organizations in the world today. You can make your tax-deductible donation by visiting the secure website at http://www.firstgiving.com/teamcross
Thank you for your friendship and your ongoing support!
With thanks and hope,
Team World Vision
Team World Vision is a fund raising arm of the organization which uses ordinary people like me, to get ordinary people like you involved in ending poverty and injustice across the world. I have decided to commit the 26.2 miles of my first marathon to the memory of and in honor of the children I have met during my international travels. I can’t remember all of their names, but I have many pictures and stories.
On the right side of my blog there is a widget that will allow you to support me during this race or you can visit this secure page. I have set a goal of raising $2,000 which will help children have a chance at living to become adults across Africa.
Technorati Tags: World Vision, Team World Vision, Africa
Posted on Aug 05, 2008 under 10K, My Running, Race Review |
This is the pack at the end of the first lap. Our faces are a little grainy but you can see the lake and skyline which makes it cool!
It has been awhile since I raced so I was glad to get out there and do it again. The 31st Annual Hennepin Lakes Classic 10K, 5K, Doubleheader had a decent day for racing. It was about 72 at the start with humidity about the same, with a slight breeze. To top it off it was overcast… until the start! Located at beautiful Lake Calhoun on Minneapolis’ west side this could have been a good race.
If you read my weekly training update you pretty much know how I felt going into the race, but I woke up feeling pretty good and thought it’d be a good day for racing. After warming up and hitting the porta-potty it was time to line and get this thing started.
I wanted to take it out slow and build the pace throughout the race. I discovered that MDRA Teammate Colin had the same plan in mind for about the same finish time so I stayed back with him at the start. It is frustrating because we definitely weren’t that far back from the front - maybe 6-10ft or so and we got boxed in pretty much from the buzzer. We settled into what felt like a good pace and dodged people for awhile coming through the first mile in 6:33. Maybe a touch faster than we expected but a good start. A quick little hill with about 50ft elevation gain at about 1.25 wasn’t too bad. It was really enough to make you push up it. They had water available at the 1.5 mark which was good. Up until this point the race had been along East Calhoun Parkway, now we headed out onto Lake Street for the last half of the second mile. We came through the 2 mile in 6:45. I really need to figure out how to setup the Garmin so it gives me the mile time and overall (anyone know how to do that?) so I don’t have to do math in my head while running! Finishing up on Lake St we turned onto West Calhoun Parkway where we were quickly hit hard with a headwind. By now the race had pretty much strung out and there were just little clumps of runners and a lot of individual runners. Colin and I were still together and looking at the picutres my wife took, there was actually 6 of us in the picture for maybe a pack of 4 or 5 ( I think we were passing some of them). Up to this point all the miles had been marked perfectly, Mile 3 was setup pretty early. But actually it was the 3 mile mark for the 5K race later - but it was blown around by the wind and a “helpful” spectator put it back up (but the wrong way)! The 3 mile mark was in the right spot and we ran it in 6:51. There was a waterstop setup as we passed the finish chute - I drank a little and tossed the rest on my head. We hit the first 5K in 20:55.
At this point I knew we were off pace and that’d I’d have to run a 20:30 to PR and 19:05 to hit my goal of breaking 40. The headwind took a lot out of us. As we rounded a curve female teammate Carly made herself known as she pulled up beside me. So here we were 3 teammates running 3 abreast down the street, if only for a few strides. The 4th mile was pretty unremarkable as we all struggled along,except that there was a headwind here too. I think the larger pack at the start mitigated much of the wind’s force but now in smaller groups we could feel it. We came through 4 in 6:47. I’m not sure when Colin dropped back but Carly was right with me until we hit the hill. Part of me wanted to beat her and part of me wanted to help her. I decided that I needed to focus on my race and try and encourage her as much as I could. So as we went up the hill at about 4.5 and I started to pull away I yelled some encouragement to her as I passed some other runners. Grabbed some water at about 4.75 and came through the 5 mile in 6:48. As I approached the mile mark I knew that I needed to be around 32 minutes to hit my goal time so I was a little discouraged to see my Garmin click over to 34 minutes. But I still put in a quick surge and tried to pick-up the pace (although my effort felt a lot harder than my times showed) and actually examining the 1/4 mile segment my pace slowed by a few seconds. Nevertheless I did pull away from the small group I was in and continued passing people for the whole race. Turning back onto West Calhoun I again got hit with the strong headwinds. I kept pushing myself knowing that the only way I could PR was going to be pushing the last mile HARD. I came through mile 6 in 6:52. Still struggling to run as hard as possible I finished the last 0.2 miles in 1:19 (which is 5:45 pace). Final 5K time 20:58 pretty much an even split race. Overall time was 41:59.
Post race they had lots of water, some healthy fruit bar, fruit strips, and Naked Juice. They were also giving away Clif Bars. Nothing too fancy but still a pretty nice setup. This is my second event hosted by The Sporting Life (TSL) Events (the other was Human Race 8K). They put on a good race.
5K Start
I recovered a little bit and cooled down with some of the guys who were warming up for the 5K. I was very glad not to be doing the double header! We stuck around for the start of the 5K and then took a quick dip in Lake Calhoun before heading home!
Were you there? What did you think of the event? Several of my teammates doubled!
Technorati Tags: Hennepin Lakes Classic, 10K, Lake Calhoun, Race Review
Posted on Aug 04, 2008 under Marathon, My Running, Training |
This has been a pretty weird/rough week. I think there are 3.5 reason why this might be the case.
0.5 - Camping and being gone all weekend didn’t setup the week very well.
1 - Staying up an extra hour pretty much every night this week working on my list of tasks, including wading through 435 pictures from the camping adventure.
2 - Not recovering from running in 91 degrees on Tuesday.
3 - Changing the schedule around to coordinate with the race on Sunday and wanting to perform well!
Monday: 4 easy miles. 4 miles on the downtown loop from home. I did it in 31:55 in the 69 and humid weather. This is a fairly easy loop with a lot of stop and go, due to traffic. I was a little stiff and sore from the activities from the weekend. I think specifically walking down the river on the rocks caused a variety of stabilizing muscles to be sore! I finished with a total of 73 push ups in Week 4 of the Hundred push-up challenge.
Tuesday: 9 miles with hills. This was a scorcher of a run at the Hyland Hills with the Marathon Class. It was 91 degrees with a slight breeze. It actually wasn’t too bad when we were in the shaded areas, but much of Hyland is prairie so there was plenty of sun! I had spent the last several hours walking around the Minnesota Zoo with some of the kids I work with - so I was a little tired! I tried to stay hydrated before the run and felt really good until we decided to run up the ski-lift hill. According to Garmin this is over 100ft elevation gain in about a quarter mile for about a 25% grade = brutal on the quads! I made it to the top without stopping and then barely hung on for the next 2 miles. it was overall a rolling trail with pretty much a hill of some degree in each mile. We ran about 9.5 miles in 1:15:51 so not too bad. Afterwards we all went to Majors for a Dinner Fun Night which was a good time to meet others from the class not in my training group. I had a burger and fries, while Mark across from me ate a Colossal Burger all 2lbs of it!
Wednesday: Four easy miles. I think it was expected to wake up a little tired from yesterday’s run, but I definintely had no motivation and a somewhat early meeting made me opt out of the morning run. I really did plan on running in the evening, but it never happened. I did bike for 6.5 miles - that counts for something right?
Thursday: Rest Day! Well since I took yesterday off from running I decided I didn’t really deserve a rest day. So I went for an easy run along the Powderhorn loop. I still felt pretty tired and wiped out so the 3.26 miles in 27:21. It was 71 and pretty humid. I did manage to bang out a total of 76 push-ups for Week 4 Day 2 of the hundred push-up challenge.
Friday: 9 miles at marathon pace. No excuses for not running again. I woke up lacking motivation and pretty tired still. I biked 10 miles including 5 after the Twin game on a beautiful evening out. It would have been a good time for a night run!
Saturday:18 miles. Wanting to race well on Sunday I decided to skip the long run today. I think it will be ok! I might need to look at the schedule closer and not miss many more long runs though. I would have preferred to take a day off before the race, but having already taken 2 off this week I thought I couldn’t afford it. So I went out for an easy 3 miles on the Little Earth Loop. It was 62 which was great but the humidty did catch-up by the end. I ran it in 24:12. I didn’t think I’d be able to finish Week 4 Day 3 of the push-ups but I did manage to struggle through 85 total push-ups!
Sunday: Cross-Training. 10K race - 2 laps around Lake Calhoun on a decent day for racing. It was in the lower 70’s with about that much humidity. It tried to rain a few times but never quite did and the clouds broke right about starting time. I finished in 41:59. My 5K splits were pretty much even 20:55 and 20:58. Check back later for all the fun details!
Weekly Mileage:
Running - 26 miles
Biking - 37 miles
Hal’s Running Tips: Stretching is important for marathoners, who risk losing flexibility because of their high-mileage training. Include some stretching in your daily running routine. The best time to stretch is not before you run. Pre-workout muscles may be tight; the risk of injury is increased. Instead, stretch during–or after–your run, when muscles are warmest. If you own a hot tub, do some stretching while you’re soaking.
Week 9
Technorati Tags: Marathon Training, Hal Higdon, Running
Posted on Aug 03, 2008 under Highlights |
What a month! Summer months seem to go by so fast! It seems that we were gone pretty much every weekend this month. 2 of the weekends were at weddings, we should have gone to 2 more weddings and then celebrating my birthday!
Training continues to go well for Twin Cities Marathon. Weeks 5, 6, 7, 8. Part of my marathon training is raising support for Team World Vision and their great work in developing countries, but specifically in Africa. I continue to share about my experiences sharing the beauty of Africa, sharing a slideshow of pictures from my 8 weeks in Ghana, the importance of education, the hope and joy found in Africa, and talked about Ryan and Sara Hall.
I reviewed a couple of different things this month, including Blaine Moore’s book on Marathon Preperation and Recovery, running on the Midtown Greenway, Pearl Izumi’s Go Running Shorts, and the Hundred Push-Up Challenge. Not really a review but I talked about recent research showing that wearing flip-flops can be bad for your legs and feet. And mentioning research, there is a lot of research being conducted on runners right now, find out if you are eligible.
Last Year was a good month of racing for me. I raced a 5K - which turned out much shorter - and a 10K. I wrote about the infamous and fun to say fartlek run and runners obessions with keeping detailed running logs.
Monthly Mileage: (2008/2007)
Running - 152 miles/143.4 miles
Biking - 85.5 miles/20.4 miles
Swimming - 300 yds
Posted on Aug 01, 2008 under Foto |
Technorati Tags: Foto
Posted on Jul 31, 2008 under Health, Information, Weight Training, resources |
100 push-ups in a row. 6 weeks. 3 days a week.
That is the plan. Doing a prescribed set of push-ups 3 days a week for 6 weeks should allow you to complete 100 push-ups in a row. That is the claim of the latestet Internet fitness revolution. Bloggers (and non-bloggers) everywhere are taking part in the Hundred Push-Up Challenge created by Steve Speirs at Run Bulldog Run.
If you’ve been following my marathon training, then you know that I’m in the middle of Week 4 3. I’m almost up to 100 push-ups total in one setting - but within 5 sets. It can be pretty challenging some days.
I decided that I wanted to add a little something to my workout and started the challenge using a swiss ball. In addition to the regular benefits, I get a little extra benefits for my overall core. During an exhaustion test at the end of Week 2 my arms felt great doing the push-ups but my abs couldn’t hold my legs on the ball anymore and I fell over. My plan is that this will greatly strengthen my overall core and I’ll reap a little extra benefit for the marathon training.
It seems that pretty much everyone has had to repeat at least one week, including Steve himself. If you fail to meet the required workouts you should repeat the entire week to make sure you get the strength needed later. I repeated Week 2 because I skipped a workout! If you are thinking about starting it now, make sure that it fits in with your training schedule for fall races - you don’t want to try doing 100 push-ups the day before your marathon!
Are you one of the thousands doing the push-up challenge? Where are you at in the challenge and how does it feel?
Technorati Tags: push-ups, Hunderd Push-Up Challenge, Core
