Category Archives: My Running

Week in Review

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Appropriately this week is full of family time and not so much running time!

Monday I enjoyed my day off running with my Dad’s family in Springfield, OH.

Tuesday I woke for a morning run, checking the weather pleased to see that the temp was 16 with 5 above as the windchill.  Yay for a little warmer running.  I just did an easy 4 mile out and back from their house in about 30 minutes.  They live on the outskirts of Springfield in an area called Forest Hills which has a lot of little hills, starting with a steep downhill from the front door to  the road which immediately goes back up!

Wednesday it had rained all night but at least the temperature was in the 40’s and melted the layer of ice that had grown on everything Tuesday evening.  I went for a 3.4 mile run around the town I grew up in.  It is always interesting to see how some things have changed over the years and some haven’t.  There was some flooding of the creek by our house so I had to turn around instead of attempting to cross the swollen banks. It was a pleasant run in Frankfort OH.

Thursday Merry Christmas!!

Friday an interesting run on the Lawrence Creek and Horse Trails at Fort Harrison State Park.  It was raining off and on, with sections of ice and snow, oh and don’t forget the thunder! I saw a lot of deer and a fox while driving to the trail head, but no animals during the run. A nice easy 4.1 mile run with some hills a wet creek crossing and a potty break only passing one other runner.  I also used the “back to start” function on my Garmin for the first time, it is a little confusing but got me headed back in the right direction. It was about 35 and a little windy.

Saturday what a difference… it was 56 when I left with 90% humidity.  I ran 8 miles along the Frankfort Bike trail.  I was surprised more people weren’t out enjoying the nice change in weather.  The sun actually came out and there was a small bit of wind. I threw in a few 1/4 mile pickups on the out and back finishing in 59:58 for a nice hard run.  It was nice to have the chance to run on a flat trail without snow or anything. I didn’t bring any t-shirts though so I ended up taking my shirt off!

Sunday back in Indianapolis I awoke with my lower back calling out in pain.  Sadly sleeping on air mattresses has caught up to me. I decided this time to not go for a run to loosen everything up.  We are spending way to much time in the car and sleeping on uncomfortable pieces of floating plastic.

Weekly Mileage

Running – 19.5 miles

Last Year

Run: 3.0 Mi
Bike: 8.6 Mi
Elliptical: 40:00
Rowing: 10:00

Last year I wished all of my friends a Merry Christmas before continuing the Best of 2007 Series.  This week it was the Best National Performances, my top 5 most read articles, and a Foto Friday showing my 2007 hardware!

Week in Review

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What a busy week! Getting ready for Christmas and traveling for two weeks made for lots of stuff that needed to get done!

Monday was my rest day. I should have taken advantage of the morning and ran knowing that I’d be busy later, but oh well! I still did my push ups getting Week 5 Day 1 done.  I did the first column resulting in 81 total push ups.  I also did my core workout.

Tuesday I did a 4 mile run on the way home from work. This was along the greenway. It was 2 above! I forgot to record the wind chill but it was windy too. We also got a fresh layer of snow that was falling during my run!

Wednesday I did the downtown 3.25 mile loop and enjoyed watching the sunrise hit the downtown buildings despite the -6 wind chill.  I did a total of 100 push ups on Week 5 Day 2.  I also did my core workout.

Thursday I’m not even sure why I didn’t run.  I think I had an early meeting and actually missed breakfast.

Friday I ran 3 miles around Lake Harriet. I dropped my wife off at work and ran the very snow covered trail.  It was 18 and windy so I didn’t force myself to do anything more than one 3 mile loop around the lake! I did my 120 pushups but forgot the core workout!

Saturday was a long day of travel.  We drove through inches of falling snow, freezing rain, and finally just rain before arriving in Indianapolis for the first leg of our “vacation.”

Sunday I almost didn’t run because it sounded like it was freezing rain outside, but in reality it was just the house making weird noises and the sun was shining despite the -12 wind chill. I thought we had left those kind of temps behind so I was a little underdressed while running to Fort Harrison State Park but once I turned out of the wind it wasn’t bad.  I ran just over 6 miles, most in the park on nice trails. It was quiet and pretty empty which made for nice running. I had to hop a fence to get in and shortly after hopping back out I passed a police officer driving by.  There were big NO TRESPASSING signs, despite it being a state park. With no snow on the ground it was a nice run.

Weekly Mileage

Running – 16.5 miles

Last Year

Bike: 9.4 Mi
Swim: 400 Yd
Elliptical: 2.6 Mi
Stair Climber: 5:00

Last year I started my Best of 2007 Series. I started with my Best Personal Race Performance, Best Race Event, and a snowy Foto Friday! This was also the week I officially switched blog sites.

Wednesday Video

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Another break for a video.  A while back on a run Kirk and I were realizing there could be some awesome pictures taken during a run.  At the same time a lot of my Twitter friends were creating and using a new video-based running community.  This community is called Runcast.TV and has a growing number of videos and members.

I broke down and found a decent digital video camera that I could take on a run and created my first running video.  I had some difficulty creating it on my slowly aging PC but finally got it to work.  So below is my first “runcast” or snowcast!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G56FIjvr6vk

[tags] Running, Video, Snow [/tags]

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Week in Review

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Where does time go? It seems like time flies by.  It is almost Christmas and almost a new year. 2008 has flown by with lots of great stuff happening.  This week was no exception.  It is a busy time at work as we prepare for “winter break” and the students start getting antsy.

Monday was my requisite day off of running.  I sadly failed part way through my Week 5 Day 1 of the hunderd push-up challenge. I got 82 of 145 done before I couldn’t squeeze out another one and collapsed to the ground. After recovering a little I did my Prehab: Core, Hip, and Elasticity workouts. I also biked to work in the snowy slush.  It was fine except that the bike I planned to use for the winter didn’t workout too well because the suspension system on it made the bike too small for me.

On Tuesday I did 5 miles along the Greenway doing an out and back heading west.  It was pretty uneventful but it is interesting to point out that the Greenway was plowed better than the road next to my house! I did it 38:41. It was about 16 with a wind chill of 0.

Wednesday I took my new video camera along for a 3.5 mile run at Powderhorn Park.  I took some video of the snowy park which helped make the run longer! The snow also made the run a little more difficult because only some of the sidewalks around the park had actually been plowed.  I’m still trying to edit the video to make it right but you can see a rough edit here.  It was about 2 degrees without a significant wind chill. Since I failed on the push ups I went back to Week 4 Day 2 and did the 3rd column (last week I did the 2nd) which is a little harder as a result I did 140 push ups.   I also worked out on the Physioball.

Thursday I did a newer 3 mile loop which goes along the Greenway heading East and then takes the Hiawatha LRT trail north to the 24th St bridge and then head home.  It is a nice change of pace that I did in 24:00. It was about 9 and sunny which felt nice. I did my Prehab Core, Hip and Elasticity.

I had planned to run on Friday but woke up pretty tired and unmotivated. So I decided not to.  I then looked at the weather and realized it was -1 outside (air temp) and was glad of my decision.  So I did my push ups getting most of the way through Day 3 of Week 4. I didn’t finish but I didn’t write down how many I got. I think I was a little frustrated at myself. I was so wrapped up in editing that stupid video that I forgot to post a Foto Friday!

Saturday was a very nice morning. It was sunny and 28 without any major wind.  The Polar Bear group met at Lake Harriet Bandshell and we ran around Lake Calhoun, Cedar Lake, and Lake of the Isles.  It was about 9.4 miles and as usually happens with this group we went out pretty fast.  A small group of us settled into a comfortable pace and let the rest of them go out.  We never got too far behind but just enough that it was impossible to catch back up easily.  It was a gorgeous day to be running and a good workout.

Sunday on the other hand wasn’t too pleasant.  It was 36 with freezing rain when I woke up. I almost didn’t go but decided I couldn’t take another day off this week and the weather was only going to be getting worse. Our group met at Minnehaha Falls and ran to Fort Snelling over the 5 bridge backup the East River Parkway crossing the Ford Bridge.  It was just under 6 miles.  I was wearing shorts and felt fairly comfortable for most of the run.  The rain wasn’t too hard but was noticable throughout the run.

Weekly Mileage:

Running – 26.3 miles

Biking – 3.5 miles

LAST YEAR

I ran 5 miles, biked 16.5 indoors, swam 400 yards, and did the elliptical, stair climber, and rower! I posted a guest review of the St Jude Marathon and shared about a 12 Days of Christmas give-a-way program which ended up being a huge marketing gimmick. I also posted 9 winter running tips and of course a hilarious Foto Friday.

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Week in Review

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Another week in the book.  It seemed to go by super-fast, without a lot happening either…

I didn’t run on Monday and belted out my Week 4 push ups. I completed a total of 97 push ups.  My core workout for today included Prehab: Core, Hip, and Elasticity.

Tuesday I ran about 4.25 miles from my house downtown and back.  It was a little cold (20) and windy.  Running into the wind wasn’t exactly pleasant but not unbearable either! Since I’m not doing all of the Core Performance workouts, I didn’t have any core work to do today!

On Wednesday though it was even colder with a wind chill of 3, which I didn’t realize until I got home.  The weather app on my phone said it was in the 20’s, but didn’t show a wind chill.  Learned the hard way! I ran 3.25 miles around a snow covered Powderhorn Park. The required 113 push ups really started hurting by the last 2 sets.  It was painful but I also don’t want to fail! Today was a physioball workout.  I also bike commuted to work which takes a bit longer when there is snow on the ground, not only riding but also the whole layering system takes time.  I didn’t slip or get too cold so that was good!

By Thursday I was exhausted and didn’t run.  I almost ran in the evening to blow off some stress but opted to just relax at home.  I did my Prehab:Core, Hip, and Elasticity core workouts though.

Friday morning was the coldest yet with a wind chill of 0.  I wore 4 layers on my upper body and felt comfortable, except for not wearing my face mask! It was a very uneventful 3.1 mile run.  On days like this it is hard to keep the body temp comfortable, when I was running into the wind my body was on the cold side and with my back to the wind it was on the warm side.  The joys of winter running! I also completed the required push ups – 140 to be exact. I almost couldn’t get the last set of 33 out – I had to pause a few times, but I made it!

Saturday was the weekly Polar Bear runs and it finally lived up to its name! We woke up with an inch or two of fresh snow on the ground and the temp was in the mid-teens with a harsh -3 windchill.  We ran a loop around the Mississippi River from Lake Street to Plymouth Ave which is just under 11 miles total.  The run out was brutal because of the wind and the River Road’s trails hadn’t been plowed yet for most of the run.  That made for a tough workout, between the poor footing and losing some of the normal return it required more energy to complete the same workout from 2 weeks ago.  We finished right at 1:26:00 for about 11.78 10.78 miles.  I did my push-up exhaustion test, completing 36, which keeps me in the middle column going into Week 5.

It was bitter cold on Sunday for the 7.25 miles that we put in.  It was an interesting morning though – Rob and I were followed by a weird stalker guy while driving to Fort Snelling.  He started tailgating us and honking his horn, matching our every turn and then passing us on the right when we entered the parking lot.  Rob called 911 to report him and we followed him around the parking lot before parking.  Then he pulled into the spot right next to us (on my side) and just sat there with a weird look staring at us.  He would also randomly just honk his horn. Rob got out and talked to some of the guys to tell them what was up and then when the whole group showed up we got out.  Nathan tried talking to him, but I don’t even think he rolled down his window.  Paul told him we had already called the cops and he finally left – we thought maybe he’d try and run us over but everything seemed fine once he left.   After that adventure the run was really good.  We ran on the snow covered trails of Pike Island.  Down on the island the windchill doesn’t feel as fierce but the temp was about 4 degrees with a -3 wind chill.  We didn’t see any deer until we got into the middle of the island and then they were everywhere.  It was a good run!

Weekly Mileage

Running – 28.6 miles

Biking – 7 miles

This Week Last Year

I posted a guest review of the Monster Mash Dash in Indianapolis and completed the third part of my training analysis which was for my Mid-South Half-Marathon.  And of course Foto Friday!  Last year’s mileage was 9.5 miles on the (indoor) bike, 1.2 miles on the elliptical, and 15 minutes on the rower.

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