Not so good Run

ORN: 4 miles, 4/1

Stretched this morning and ran this afternoon. Did 4 miles and my lower back is still hurting, I was able to run but it wasn't comfortable. I went to Stone Mountain because the day was to good to not get out and do something. I made it thru the run, but I don't know if it was a good idea or not. I am paying for it now.

I'll stretch again tomorrow, but I think I will do some cross-training instead of running. On-On as the hash house harriers say.

Running and Walking

1/27 ORN: 3 miles, 4/1; 2 mile, walk

Yesterday I went over to Mountain Park in the afternoon and ran 3 miles, felt pretty good. It was mostly sunny out and about 53 degrees. My heart rate stayed mostly below 140 bpm and I was comfortable during the whole run.

I walked 2 miles after I finished running and I ached a little during the walk.

This morning when I woke up my lower back was very tight, and it just got worse all day. It really hurts when I sit down or stand up. I am OK when I am standing or sitting, but the transition from one to the other really hurts. Can't figure what caused it.

Decided I wouldn't run today, maybe stretch and try to loosen my back up.

TWO GOOD RUNS

1/24 ORN: 3 miles 4/1

1/26 ORN: 4 miles 4/1

I took a couple of days off after the race last Saturday, then ran on Tuesday. Had a good run, did 3 miles and felt pretty good, averaged 10:39 even with the walks.

Ran again today, Thursday. Ran a mile farther than on Tuesday and felt pretty good today. I think using the 4/1 pattern is working for me. The weather was good, I like sunlight.

Ran Another Race

Well today I ran a 5K race in Peachtree City. The Atlanta Track Club held one of their Grand Prix Events today. At race start it was raining and about 55 degrees. I didn't know how I was going to do today, because in the 1st mile I didn't feel real good. As the race progressed I started feeling better and ended up with a 26:42 finish time. While this isn't great, I felt good about it. 

I still need to get back on the trails, I haven't run a trail in about 3 months. The time to start is now.

As you can tell from this entry I have switched from numbering my Blog entries to just using the title.

Post #11

GOOD RUN TODAY

I ran my second run of my new training program today. Yesterday was a cross-training day and I did some Geocaching with my son. Very easy day yesterday. 

Had a pretty good run today, ran on a paved trail using a 3/1 pattern. That is I ran 3 minutes and walked 1 minute. Did 4.05 miles in 45 minutes which is a little over an 11 minute pace. Pretty slow, but I am going to try to build up my mileage without getting injured. 

More later.

Post #10

START OF NEW TRAINING PLAN FOR 2006

I took a week off after the Disney 1/2 Marathon to rest. I wasn't really tired so it wasn't a major recovery week, just a week off. Now I am ready to start 2006 fresh.

I started a new training program in PCCoach. I switched from Roy Benson's 10K plan to Jeff Galloway's 1/2 Marathon plan. My 1st run was today. I ran 4.0 miles at an easy pace, not going over 145 bpm on my heart rate monitor. We will see if I am able to stick with this plan and improve.

Post #9

2ND RACE OF 2006 (NOT MY BEST)

Well, I did the Disney 1/2 Marathon today, Saturday, Jan. 7th. Had to get up at 2 a.m. in order to be at the buses to the race start at 4 a.m. Not that the race started at 4 a.m., the race actually started at 6 a.m. The race organizers wanted all runners in the starting area by 4 a.m.

This made for a very long cold time before the race started since it was about 35 degrees this morning at 4 a.m. I dressed pretty warm since I knew it was going to be a long wait. Of course the race organizers wanted all of the extra clothing checked in by 4:30 a.m., so I froze from 4:30 a.m. until the race started at 6 a.m.

Due to the slow start, narrow roads and slow runners in front of me, I didn't get to run at my own pace until after mile 3 and by then I just decided it wasn't worth it to try to make up the time. I ended up running the race about 14 minutes slower that I had planned.

Even though it sounds like I was miserable I still really liked the race. The cold is what made the race seem so harsh. If it would have been warmer weather it would have been great and I would have probably tried to get around the crowds. Being so cold I just stayed in the pack for the body heat.

Then of course there is the training, my longest run during my whole training plan was about 6 slow miles. It is very hard to race 13.1 miles when your base is about 12 miles a week. This just indicates that I should train longer and faster.

Well, I guess there is always next year.

Post #8

1ST RACE OF 2006

Well, I ran my 1st race of the year on Jan. 1, 2006. 

Since I am doing the Disney 1/2 Marathon on Jan. 7th, I thought I would try my 1/2 marathon race strategy. I had decided that I should use a 3/1 pattern for the race, but I wanted to average 9:02 a mile if possible. 

I decided to run the Atlanta Track Club Resolution Run 5 mile race at Stone Mountain Park. I ran/walked in the 3/1 pattern I mentioned above and averaged 9:01 for the race. Now the question is if I can hold that pace for 13.1 miles.

I may change to a 4/1 pattern for the race and if I start to get tired I will switch back to the 3/1 pattern.

Needless to say I felt very good about the 5 miler. It was difficult to stay on the pattern only because I wanted to run faster, but held myself back to get a true 3/1 time.

Leaving for Disney on Thursday Morning.