Running Giant: My Journey

Scheduled Distance: 19 Actual Distance: 19.54 Average RPE: 4.875 Miles on Black Torins: 218.24 I find it somewhat disturbing that I really don't like running in the morning. It makes sense I guess, I don't like waking up in the morning, getting out of bed in the morning, or even eating in the morning. I understand that I sound a little crazy when I say these things, but alas they are true. But I still managed to roll out of bed around 8:30 a.m. it was quite the feat. After I woke up I went to my two stores that have all the fashion sense I can muster now a days, Costco & Runner's Corner. They happen to be right next door to one another and by my bank (a triple threat when it comes to getting running gear on sale on Small Business Saturday). Most people don't know this about me but I am a supporter of small businesses like the  Runner's Corner , Epic Puzzles and Games , Board Game Revolution , Dragon's Keep , Game Night Games , Salt Lake Running...

So I did a Turkey Run today, and it was 4 miles instead of a 5k (which I rambled about yesterday). My time was 47:42... which is 2 seconds slower than my first 5k time. Right now I am tired, but happy. I got the runners high from a shorter race. I can't believe I did 4 miles as fast as I did my first 5k. It's been almost 4 months and have improved that much. I didn't win a turkey or pie (at least to my knowledge), I left after I took a picture of my posted time. The run was good. Today we are having Thanksgiving, I am making a massive 18 lbs. turkey. I will also be making stuffing, gravy, and something else most likely. I make a good Turkey. It will also serve as a great protein source as I do my carb depletion starting Saturday. So here's the theory I picked up from a running nutrition class I went to, I may have said it before but I will do it again. The meals after the Saturday run before the race start a high protein, no carb diet for that day, Sunday,...

As my marathon gets closer the more determined I am to finish in the allotted time. I am exhausted right now and look forward to being able to just do shorter runs during the week for a while after my race is done. I have decided a change to my heavy racing schedule next year. Here's the changes: January/February Change focus of running to weight loss and weight management and speed March do a St. Patrick's Day 5k April SLC Half Marathon. May do a 5k June Ragnar July Canyon to Canyon 13.1 Trail Run (for the experience) August Wasatch Wellness 10k September do a 5k October Halloween Half Marathon November Thankful 13 half marathon or Earn Your Turkey Run My wife and I talked and came to the conclusion that more marathon's will have to wait until I am done with my undergrad. But doing half marathons seems to be alright while going to school. Those will also give me goals to shoot for that are not school related. Also the long runs won't take me away...

Time is starting to really fly. I am going to run and finish my first marathon on December 7th. So my run today was pretty awesome if I do say so myself (which I just did). I did a relaxed 14 minute mile to start out with, then pushed up to 4.5 mph (13:20 mile), and increased it by .1 mph every .1 miles. So by the time I got to 1 mile, I was at 5.5 mph (10:55 mile). Then I transitioned to intervals doing a change every minute for the last mile (4.5 mph to 5.5 mph). By the time I got to the end I pumped it up to a 6 mph (10:00 mile). So I pushed it really hard for my last two miles. I did this all at the gym, and finished 39:20. Which is god overall. Thursday my goal is to finish the 5k in under 40 minutes. Now I believe I can do it without a problem. My run was a lot of fun, and used a lot of energy. Today I played racquetball earlier and had enough energy to run this afternoon. I changed from my regular shoes (Altra Instinct that are officially dead) to a pair of my running sh...

Scheduled Distance: 27 Actual Miles: 14 Average RPE: 4.25 Miles on Black Torins: 198.7 Don't freak out everyone, I will be running a marathon in two weeks... this applies to me as well, don't freak out. Alright onto today's adventure. When I was going to head out and run it seemed like our apartment was shaking, and I decided not to go running outside because I am tired of being cold, which for some reason has plagued me this season so far. So I went to the gym and ran. It took a message from my cousin Andy that finally got me out the door. It was perfect timing. So I finished the run about an hour ago. I tried to go at the pace I need to so I can finish my marathon in enough time. It took a lot of energy to get this first three miles in, it wasn't hard, just used up a lot of energy. During the run I incorporated two sets of speed drills, in which I did 1 minute run at just under an 11 minute mile, then 1 minute at a 13 minute mile. I did that at the h...

Black Torins: 189.64 So today I had a hard time getting out. Since I had a late night out with some friends last night it made it a necessity to get out to do my 5 miler tonight. Tomorrow I will be getting my 8 miles in, then Friday I will do 5 miles and 9 miles Saturday. I will keep up with speed drills for the end of my run on Friday. Why am I doing speed drills you may ask, because I need to run faster. If you look back at my post announcing that I would be running Tri-State marathon you will notice I chose it partially because of the time cut off of 6:30:00. I was on the site on Sunday and looked at the time information, namely the cut off time. It was changed to 6:00:00. So I have been in a freak-out since then. I figured if I could get my speed drills in, it would be slight push in the direction of finishing faster. I have no idea if this will work or not, but I will prepare to run this marathon to the best of my ability, I have decided I will do all I can to finish this ...

Scheduled Distance: 36 Actual Distance: 36.29 RPE AVG: 4.125 Black Torins: 184.64 Blue Torins: 123.34 I first want to thank Lisa Messinger for the running analysis she did with me, and the coaching on correct form. Right now my left IT Band isn't bothering me in the slightest. My swollen feel are what's bothering me, but ibuprofen is assisting in that department (and if I had clean compression socks they would be to). Vivian Park where I was going to start my run It took me a while to get out today. I missed all the time I planned on working on my illustration projects, and eating lunch. But I ended up spending my morning finding pants I could use to run in the snow. I wouldn't have worried about if I were only going on a short run, tights and shorts would have worked then. But I intended on being outside for at least 4 hours... so I am now the proud owner of a very warm and fairly water repelant pair of running pants. Oh, then need for them. It...

Tonight I was running at the gym. I finished all 5 miles, while is amazing since it was at the gym and it was more than three miles. I now have all my runs accept my long run in for the week and I will get that done this Saturday. My run today took a lot of self talk around that point where running becomes easier (outside mile 2, inside mile 3). I was convinced I was only going to get 4 miles in and stop. But I kept going after I got to 4 miles. I even had to stop the treadmill and enter the manual program I was running again (gym treadmills stop at 60 min. and for me 5 miles is just over that. It was little more over that tonight because I went to the gym tired from a tiring run yesterday. Well, like my run this post is short tonight. Thanks for reading, Riley

When running I discovered that not playing racquetball earlier in the day makes it easier to run. Today I did a two part run. Six miles on the trail in the canyon and two miles of speed work at the gym. I finished my fitness day at the Salt Lake Running Company with Lisa doing a follow up to my gate analysis (which apparently is going alright so far) she did suggest looking into another shoe if my Altra's start bothering my legs (my old Altra's are, but they are an everyday shoe). After meeting with her, I went to a foam roller clinic teaching a protocol to use the foam roller for the likes of me who have never used one before but needed to learn how for self preservation. I decided the foam roller is having fun with me as I work with it. To be honest I fear the foam roller. My run today I did at noon, so I was a little hungry when I went out so I parked next to where my lunch would be... Bajio (where they ended up giving me a huge sweet pork burrito when I did finally go...

Tonight was a good run. My patient wife road her bike with me in the dark as I ran. She sang girls camp songs as she road until she ran out. Whenever she starts singing those it brings a smile to my face because I can see how much fun is associated with those songs. She had a head lamp on her helmet and was acting as the primary light source for us as I ran and she road. Every time she stopped for a few moments, I got ahead of her. She then road to catch up and said,"You're so fast!" I smile and say thank you and pretend I am for a moment. It was really encouraging and I liked hearing her say that. She is a constant source of encouragement for me. I don't know what I would do without her. The run itself was a good run. A little slower than I would have liked, but after my week last week it was an absolute victory. I feel really good post run, and worked on my form as I ran. Again my IT band started to bother me, but I corrected my form and the pain just goes awa...

Scheduled Distance: 36 miles Actual Distance: 6.74 miles RPE: Crash and Burn I would like to preface this weeks post with a couple of things. Running with Bipolar disorder is difficult. The rise and fall of moods (at times the littlest thing will cause the trigger). I had a breakdown this week, I hit the wall in my training, and haven't been able to pass it mentally. I have for the most part recovered from the breakdown. I am still a little sensitive emotionally which is one of the things that lingers after I cycle. I am up to date on all of my homework, and no major assignments are do next week. So I should be able to get my entire training session in next week. I missed so many miles this week and need to move past it. I have a bigger week ahead of me starting Monday. I made a futile attempt at running today making a visit to the gym where my wife and I are staying for our late anniversary getaway. I thought if I loaded up my iPad with movies I would be able to do...

I am dripping liquid awesome everywhere. It was a short intense workout, and it was frustrating. This week is full of deadlines, a test (which involves last minute studying), and more upcoming deadlines for next weeks assignments. I wrote a whole spiel then erased it that was a rant on how much work illustrations students have to do do get a degree in what they enjoy doing. It's a lot of work, if you want to know shoot me a message and I will give you the steps of completing assignments in most classes. The reason I bring this up is because I am not sure how I am going to get my running in this week. I will do all that I can (for myself readers you're second in this equation sorry), and will have a chance Thursday morning and Wednesday night (they are both slim windows of opportunity) to try to run and I will do my best to do so. Any words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated. My run tonight I tried to teach Silvia the form that I am working on for running. It...

Scheduled Miles: 34 Actual Distance: 33.54 RPE: 4.125 Miles on Black Torins: 173.76 Miles on Blue Torins: 97.93 Have you ever said to yourself, "I wish I were only running 14 miles not 16..." Well I can add that to my list of crazy that I have developed since I started running. I went back and looked at some of my running entries from just before summer started a couple of days ago, and looked at the distances I was running. My short runs are 5 miles, and I about died doing 5 miles when I first ran it. Now I run 5 miles easily, instead of these ideas of walking then running then walking, as a matter of fact I can now run a lot more. My view of treadmills have changed (don't like them) accept for speed training. So I ran a total of 16+ miles today, it was exciting to have that as my new max distance. By the time I got to mile 12.5 I was so spent physically I couldn't run anymore. At mile 8 my IT band started bothering me, then the knee pain came, but I ...