September 30, 2005

In the News

The Washington Post ran an article this week about a runner in Maryland, Mikias Gelagle, who logged some 100-mile weeks this summer in preparation for the cross country season. The article brings up a good question: How many miles per week should a high school runner be running? Personally, I don't think anyone can just say 100 miles a week is too many. It's all about how you get there. If you've been steadily increasing your mileage and been relatively injury-free, you should be able to handle 100 miles per week.

The human body is not, as the article claimed was stated by some coaches, a car that is going to break down after a certain number of miles. That is as absurd as telling people they should not exercise hard because their heart only has a finite number of beats. If you take care of yourself, you can run high mileage for years.

In order to maximize your potential in any event 800m and up, you need to run high mileage. When you start should be up to you, not some arbitrary time.

September 29, 2005

Gorgeous

I took yesterday off from work because B had his two month checkup. He's doing well, gaining weight like he should, but he does have a slight reflux problem. Since I wasn't going to work, I slept in and ran in the afternoon. The weather was gorgeous, sunny and 80 degrees, with a slight breeze. I did eight miles, the longest run I've done in a little while. The run went well except for some stomach issues. I think I ate lunch a little to close to my run, so I felt almost nauseas for a little while. Thankfully, that went away, but even after that I still didn't feel quite right. I think I have a bug that I might have caught from Puff. He seemed a little ill for a day or two last week.

This morning I was planning on running four miles, but going out of my way to use the bathroom made it five miles. My legs felt really tight this morning; I hope they loosen up as I go on. The Stick should help as long as I remember to use it.

It looks like the fall weather is finally here. Lows for tonight and tomorrow night are in the mid-40's. Finally.

September 27, 2005

Easy Days

These past few days after my race, I've taken it pretty easy. Sunday I went out in the afternoon for 32 minutes, which I'm calling four miles. It was still warm and humid Sunday, but it looks like to cool fall weather is finally going to be here in the next day or two. Monday and today I went six miles. Despite my less than ideal sleep, I feel OK once I get out the door and start moving. I'd like to begin increasing my mileage. I feel like if I don't start soon, I won't have enough time at a high enough weekly mileage to justify running a marathon. I'm not doing just to finish.

September 26, 2005

Spiked and Pysched

One out of two isn't bad.

I've been following Matt at chasingtradition.com. While in Boulder with the Colorado Buffaloes, he wrote about the team being "spiked and psyched up" for their workout on Friday morning. I liked the phrase and was planning on being "spiked and psyched up" for my race Saturday. Unfortunately, I realized on the way to the race that I had forgotten my spikes. Oh well, I thought, it should be more of a workout than a race anyway. And it was, although it wasn't really even a good workout.

I felt OK when I woke up Saturday morning, so I figured my plan of running 6:30-6:40 miles would be doable, even without the spikes. I warmed up about a mile, and headed to the starting line. A few minutes in, I realized the race was not going to plan. I think I went through the first mile in 6:45, but it felt a lot harder than I though it would. I don't have any other splits, other than coming through 5k in about 21:50 and finishing in 44:16. I just didn't have it Saturday. Even though I felt OK, I figure I still had to deal with the lack of sleep I've accumulated over the past few weeks. My stomach didn't feel very good during the race either. Somehow, though, I still managed to finish first in my age group to move me to first place in my age group in the cross country series.

September 23, 2005

Night Game

At one time I was contemplating running in the open division of this race, but it would be even more fun to enter a team.

September 22, 2005

10k

Despite the fact that I haven't been running much recently, I'm still planning on running a 10k cross country race Saturday. I wouldn't bother, except that it's the last cross country race in the series that I'll have a chance to run, and I need to run one more to qualify. Right now I'm fifth overall and second in my age group, although the standings can be a little misleading at this point because everyone has not run the same number of races. My expectations are basically to try and run 6:30-6:40 pace. The course is two laps of a 5k loop, and does have some hills. If I can contain myself at the beginning and stay conservative, I should be all right.

New Look

As you can see, my blog's look has been updated. I'd like to say I designed it myself, but that's not the case. The template can be found here.

September 21, 2005

Out of Hiding

I've had a rough past two weeks. The worst part of it was that B was not eating like he should be, and was actually hospitalized for two days to see if the cause could be determined. Despite running a lot of tests, nothing was found that explained his poor eating. As a matter of course, the doctors put him on some antibiotics, which may have helped things, but they never found an infection. B is back home now, and he is eating better and gaining weight. My is that his poor eating has something to do with the jaundice he had right after he was born.

B is also not sleeping quite like J and I would like. He'll sleep for a few hours, wake up, have a snack, and then sleep for a few more hours, and that's not too bad. The problem is that he doesn't start sleeping until around 11 most nights, and last night he didn't go to bed until midnight.

Due to the two items above, I have not done much running lately. I've been able to get out a few mornings and weekend afternoons for a couple miles, but nothing too significant. I know that the priority is B's health, but that does not stop me from wishing I was running more.

September 07, 2005

One of Those Nights

B did not sleep well last night. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, but he was fussy and would not go to sleep. The worst part about it was that a few times I had almost fallen asleep, and then he woke up. I thought about running this morning, and probably should have since B woke up about two minutes before my alarm went off, but I didn't.

Yesterday I had a good seven mile run. The weather was great; it was 59 degrees as I ran by the stadium clock with the thermometer. The run started out slowly, but I picked up the pace over the second half of the run and finished the last two miles or so at a good steady pace. Just about at the turn-around point in the run, a guy on a bike passed me. It wouldn't have been a big deal except that it was still dark and I was far enough out on the path to be past the streetlights. The bicyclist said something about a runner, but then took his time passing me. I thought someone driving by had said something since when I turned around I didn't see anything. I was startled when he finally passed me.

About a mile from the finish, I caught and passed two other people who were out running together. For some reason, I'm always concerned that when I pass people they'll think I'm showing them up. That's never been the case, but it doesn't stop me from thinking about it.

September 05, 2005

Change in Plans

When I began my run this morning, I was planning to run out and back along the Parkway. But instead of turning left to head to the Parkway, I went straight and ran through the park and on the one trail I know of that's close enough to my house to run to. I hadn't been on the trail for a few weeks and so I decided to go back today.

It was a beautiful morning to run. I was out the door at about 7:30, and it was cool and sunny. It made me wish I could stay home every day so I could run after the sun comes up. The trail was still overgrown in some spots, so I was careful not to get smacked in the face by a branch. I felt pretty good after yesterday afternoon's seven miles. Today's trail loop was six miles.

As I mentioned above, Sunday I ran seven miles. I ran in the afternoon, when the temperature was in the mid 80s. We've had a string of a few days of some pretty nice weather, lows in the upper 50s and highs in the mid to low 80s. The warmth bothered me a little, but not as much as my stomach since I think I ate a little too close to the run. I think the stomach bug that I had is gone.

Saturday I ran an easy six miles. I was going to run laps on the soccer fields in order to stay on soft surfaces and to be close to home in case my stomach bothered me again, but there was a soccer tournament going on. I ended up just running around until I felt like I had run long enough to count the distance as six miles.

Last week didn't end up too well. My run on Wednesday didn't go well and then I didn't run Thursday or Friday due to lack of sleep. Running five out of seven days in a week isn't bad with a new baby, but I'd like to be running seven out of seven days.