31 March 2007 – Race Results are Posted

Results for the 10 Miler have been posted for anyone interested in seeing them.  I came in 477th out of 1,871 Runners.  58th out of 148 males ages 30 -34.  371st of 963 men.

I’ve really improved over the past few years.  This is my 3rd 10 Miler.  The first year I ran 93:27 and came in 855th (of 1,430).  Last year I ran 88:45 and came in 720th (of 1,902).

I think an eight minute 30 second improvement is awesome!

31 March 2007 – A Great Day For A Race!

I’ll start with a bit of a sour note from Friday.  I parked a mile or more from packet pick up for the race and walked there and back.  No problem – except this particular day in these particular (work) shoes gave me a blister on the bottom of my foot which I found terribly discouraging last night.

At first I thought this morning was a little cold - about 45 degrees at the start of the race but it was actually almost the perfect temperature.  I tried to make sure I didn’t start out too fast,  and I paced my first mile just a little slow.  Throughout the race I did quite well pacing myself at an 8 minute mile.

My splits (I missed the mile 3 marker) were:

mile 1 – 8:22; mile 2 – 7:57; miles 3 & 4 – 15:36; mile 5 – 7:58; mile 6 – 7:58; mile 7 – 8:05; mile 8 – 8:39; mile 9 – 8:05; mile 10 – 7:48

My chip time was 80:09 for 10 miles which is right at my goal time of 80 minutes.  However, its even better when you realize my long time in mile 8 is due to a 35 second rest room break!

I’m tempted to call my 80 minute 10 miler goal met.  Please share your opinions on doing so… this of course means that next years goal would be an even shorter time!

Oh and my blister didn’t bother me one bit during the race!  It is causing me to hobble around a bit now though.

Its been a great week for my goals, and I have a feeling that come Wednesday’s weigh in it will be a great week on the scale as well.

29 March 2007 – Wow, When You Least Expect It!

I’ll start with less exciting news.  I’ve done really well watching what I eat and staying in my points for the past couple days.  Easier said than done considering that I’m tapering for the 10 miler and can’t eat as I’m accustomed.

A bit more exciting is packet pickup tomorrow afternoon.  The race is almost here and I’m really looking forward to it.  The weather forecast is for ~48 degrees at the start and ~ 55 degrees at the finish with partly cloudy skies.  If they’re right those will be near perfect conditions.

Finally, I’ve unexpectedly met one of my goals.  I’m feeling a bit restless due to my lack of activity and thought I’d go downstairs and do some pullups.  10 pullups!  I’ve been trying to get to 10 pullups for over a year now and it happened at quite the random time!  My second set was a strong 9 pullups and I just couldn’t quite get my chin past the bar for the 10th.  I’m very happy!

28 March 2007 – I’ve Got to Do Something

Somebody stop that guy he’s eating… again.  My weight was up another pound at WW this evening.  I was actually relieved that it was only a pound because I’ve been a bit out of control.  For about 3 or 4 weeks now.

I’m really going to have to buckle down, for the most part I’ve been eating what I want, when I want and as much as I want.  Apparently this isn’t the best plan for losing weight.

I’m going to try to adhere strictly to WW this week.  I know that if I do I’ll lose weight… I just have to ignore the cookies, Indian Food, strawberry shortcake etc.  Have I mentioned that my wife is a great cook/baker.

10 miler is just a couple days away!  Packet pick up is Friday.

27 March 2007 – Hurry Up and Wait

This morning’s run (my final run before Saturday’s 10 Miler) was 5 miles: 1 warm up, 1 cool down, 3 at LT.  The run went pretty well, and now I just have to be patient and wait for race day.  I may actually run a couple easy miles tomorrow but Thursday and Friday are definite rest days.

Something I failed to note after Sunday’s run:  I’ve now run over 200 miles in 2007!  That puts me on pace to run over 800 miles this year!

25 March 2007 – Weekend wrap-up

This weekend I ran my prescribed 10 miles – 6 on Saturday, 4 today.  I have a 5 mile run on Tuesday and then no more running till race day.  Both runs went okay… I’ve been pretty wiped out so I’m going to try to take advantage of my taper by sleeping in!

22 March 2007 – Reporting In

At WW last night I came in with a .8 pound increase.  Not great, but better than I was expecting especially since I was wearing a sweater.  I was actually pretty pleased.

I did a little speed work this morning — running 2 x 1 mile repeats.  My first mile came in at6:59.33 and my second came in at 7:08.48.  Its not so much getting tired that makes the times different, its that I’m running mostly downhill one way and mostly uphill on the way back.  I’ve not been able to locate a flat place (a mile long flat place) anywhere near my house.

Total mileage today was 5.5 miles.  I’m trying to track everything in true WW fashion so I expect to be down some next week.

21 March 2007 – Oh Well, My Focus is the Race

As anyone that reads my blog regularly knows, I had a horrendous cold last week.  I didn’t exercise and I didn’t eat well either… and it shows up on the scale, up two from last week.  I’m not looking forward to WW weigh in this evening.   On the other hand I’m not particularly worried about it at this point.  My main goal at this point is to arrive at the 10 miler starting line (in just 10 days!) healthy and ready to race.

I lifted this morning and it went pretty well.  Its my last regular session until after the race.  I’ll do some low weight leg stuff Friday and next week and probably do the usual upper body workout, but again I’m saving up/tapering for the race.

Yesterday I ran 5 miles with three at LT.  It went okay, seems like I lost a few seconds from having an entire week off of running, but overall not that bad.  I’m trying for a sub 80 minute race, but I think my secondary goal will be a 85 minute time.  Last year I finished in 88 minutes 59 seconds.

I’m already getting excited.

19 March 2007 – Getting Back on the Horse

The last week hasn’t been the greatest.  My cold really laid me low, and aside from lifting once and running 1 measley mile, I didn’t get in any activity last week.  I did however get in plenty of food (and junk food) so I’m not looking forward to Wednesday’s weigh in.

I did lift this morning and am resuming my training schedule for the 10 miler tomorrow.  I’m hopeful that I didn’t lose much to my week off.  At least I’m feeling better.

Lifting went well this morning, and I’ll post tomorrow to confirm but I’m optimistic that my 5 mile run tomorrow morning will go well too.

Strange to say after being off a week, but the taper has begun…

14 March 2007 – Surprisingly Good Lifting

I didn’t sleep well last night.  I’m fighting off a cold that is getting worse daily.  I’ve been pretty sore from my long run on Sunday. 

This morning I lifted and had one of my best lifting days ever.  I increased reps on every lift I do, and increased weight on more than half of my lifts.  I have no idea why it was such a good morning, but it did help start off a day when I feeling pretty bad physically on a much more positive note.

I’m expecting to maintain at WW weigh in again this week.  I want to lose weight but I just haven’t been to good about tracking what I’m eating.