9-7-13 4 Months Ago I started

This isn't Sweat

It's Liquid

AWESOME!

Week Scheduled Distance: 17

Actual Distance: 16.58

I saw that little tag line and it fits me to a tee. I have liquid ASWESOME around me all the time. Today I really didn't think I could finish 7 miles. I did it at the gym (which seems to be the story of the week). I discovered the discomfort of chafing, and now have pro glide to help with that. I also picked up a second pair of running shoes to make sure mine last as long as possible. I was going through shoes at the Runner's Corner (where they are always super helpful) and was about to decide on a pair of the newer Altra Instinct 1.5 when I saw on the clearance table a pair of blue Altra Torin, in a size 14. I asked the price, they were $30 less than the instincts and a minute or 10 later I was walking out the door with them. Today I christened them with 7.3 miles. I need to add two more holes for lacing so I can do the ankle securing lacing.

My run was nice. I really hit my stride at around the three mile mark. My brain really fights me until then. I think it just gives up at that point. I ran the majority of the time which was great. I discovered a few things today. Electrolytes after you have been running for 45 minutes helps. I had Hammer Gel today as I ran and it helped amazingly. I started to get light headed and stopped and got a Gatorade. My light headedness went away and I was starting to feel better. It took about 15 minutes or so but I finished my Gatorade and was able to keep going. At the end of the run my legs were like jelly. The second thing  I learned was eat something real before I run (not right before but enough before where I will have energy for running). The last thing learned was about chafing. I need to start doing things now that will help to avoid it. My right nipple burns like hell. IT SUCKS!

The past 4 months, I have stuck with this health goal longer than any accept karate. I am really changing my personal family tree with this venture. I am feeling better. My legs are in pain more, but with how I feel on the inside can't be beat!

Until next time...

-Riley

9-5-13 FOOD!

It wasn't the the run that was hard or making it to my swimming class on time that was difficult, it was the cup of yogurt and my meds and supplements for breakfast that were, I finally got to eat at 1pm after my run at 830, swimming class at 10, and art history at 1130. Oh glorious food. I had a BBQ Blue Bacon Burger from the smoke house today for lunch, it was quite the lunch (I wish I had a second they are that good) combined with the mac and cheese, and a cool glass of water... I need more water.

My run was a little short due to getting out the house a little late. I should be able to make up the distance Saturday with my run. I will be starting on a different part of the Provo River Trail than I usually do (about a mile and a half away. I am hoping to run at a better pace than last week (by starting out slower). I really love my GPS for these outdoor runs, I am able to measure my distance better.

I am really starting to hammer my shoes with the distance I am putting on them combined with my weight. I should really figure out how to get a second pair of different shoes to increase the longevity of the pair I have.

Until Next Time...
-Riley

9-3-13 Runing + Swimming = Pain

This morning was a hard morning to get out of bed. I just wanted to sleep. But my sleep was becoming increasingly restless and my conscience was saying things like, "Don't justify your way out of this run. You will regret it," and "You need time to finish your entire run, you want to do this outside!" My lazier side lost (barley). I made it to the gym (not my outdoor run like I originally planned) but I made it out and that's what mattered today. I cut my run short so I could make it to my first class of the day, swimming. I did 200 meters, and tweaked my shoulder and right thigh (they are doing better after resting most of the afternoon as I painted my comp (in the process of doing art you often have stages, Thumbnails, Roughs, Comps, then final piece). So swimming beat me up, and I am looking forward to being more than just the underwater no form swimmer. Whose idea was it to run on Tuesday again... oh yeah mine.

I am off to my next class, until next time.

-Riley

9-2-13 Theme Song, The Prodigy: Thunder

Today was a good run. It's really nice outside right now and I should have ran in the canyon but I was feeling lazy and ran at the gym. I did set my incline to 2 (what ever that means). By the time I left the gym I was spent, then I went to the car and got a peach ring (or 2) and munched on those as I started my Gatorade Rain Lime flavor (it's a toss up between that and grape rain for the best flavor).

I was doing some reading this morning when I was procrastinating going to the gym. It was about energy gels. I have some cliff chews on top of my fridge I am going to try on Saturday pre-run when I do my 7 miles (Saturday is also the 4 month mark of the journey). I will also use the gel while I run. It helped a lot this past Saturday and the taste was tolerable.

Right now I am mentally prepping for my half marathon in October (but reading as much as I can about strategies. I found one that I tried for the first time last week and did again today with similar success. I run 1 mile, walk 2 minutes, run another mile, walk 2 minutes (rinse wash repeat). It feels natural to me and seems to be a solid method for running. I have the goal by my next 5k to be able to run the entire thing without stopping (which is completely doable with the level I am at right now).

Listening to my MP3 player as I run everything comes on that has a good tempo. I have been particularly liking The Prodigy when it comes to running. It's high energy. If you would like to give the song mentioned in the title of this post here is a link to it on YouTube (it's much better when running than just listening to it).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-91xG7scrDs

Until next time, have a great Labor Day (I'm off to the running store)

-Riley

8-31-13 Swallowing of Blackberry Gel

Total Miles for the Week: 14.15 of 16

So today was different, I didn't have any apprehension about running 6 miles until about 10 minutes before i started today. I am happy to say I did more running (slower than I would have liked, but I did run) than I did walking. The first 2 miles were hell. I worked my way up hill and started at too fast of a pace to finish it in a good amount of time. I stretched in the shower before I left to run, hoping that would be enough. I need to get out my sports massage and stretching books from massage school and redesign my stretching so it works better for what I'm doing. Today was the first time my IT band started to hurt some, I'll need to address that too.

So I posted I would be trying gel for the first time today as I ran. I didn't expect what hit my mouth as I was squeezing it in. I laughed after I had it. If you have never had gel (quick caffeine and carbs as you run, in a handy pouch). I took it when I reached the three mile mark. It's texture was like gel toothpaste, thick and smooth. Part of me wanted to chew it, another part wanted to spit it out, but the part that won just swallowed it and quickly drank some water afterward. It worked surprisingly well. But I believe that my attitude change after mile two helped it greatly.

Starting at mile 2.1 I started to have an attitude shift from hating life to wanting to push further. At the 1.5 mile mark I had justified to myself that I would go to the gym and run three more miles and finish my run that way. I would have regretted it if I did end up doing that. But I did turn and started running toward my car again, but by the time mile two was coming around I decided to run a mile and a half past my car and complete my 6 miles for the day. When I ran past where my car was, that was a great feeling. The side of my mind that wants to succeed was taking over. My last three miles I did a slow run almost the entire time (taking two 2 min breaks). I finished my run in 1:33. My last 2 miles were in 43 min compare to my first three which were 50. So it took 2 miles to have fun with running today, but I am looking forward to my new schedule next week for running.

Next Races:

3.1 for Don 5k: September 21

       I will be running the 3.1 in the morning and 7 more miles after the race. My goal is to beat my last time.

Provo Halloween Half Marathon: October 26

       Hopefully I will be sprorting a Batman technical shirt to run in (sans cape and cowl) this will act as my            long run for the day. Then my wife and I will do something for our anniversary. My goal is to finish.

Thankful 13 5k: November 28

       This is a maybe. It depends on what Silvia and I do for turkey day. My goal is to PR and have fun.

Tri-State Marathon: December 7th

       Just over 3 months away. My goal is to finish it.

Until Monday!

-Riley

8-30-13 Training Intensity

I ran this morning, it was a nice run. I used the suggested outline for running in Runner's World magazine. Since I'm a runner now, I read things like Runner's World, it only makes sense. It was a section on doing the long run. Today was a short run, but I used a principle in the section to do the run. The principle was to run 10 minutes, then walk 2. I modified to to fit the troubles I have been having and turned it into run 1 mile, walk 2 minutes. So I was able to do that twice, then finish with a 5 minute cool down. Today was the first run this week I actually had fun running. It was on a treadmill but that doesn't matter it was fun. Tomorrow morning I will be going up the canyon and run home. I will aim to do what I did today, run 1 mile walk two minutes. With the run a mile and walk 2 minutes I also decreased my pace to just around 13 minutes. I was never winded, and when ever my legs started to bother me I used a phrase from my training book, but it doesn't matter. So my ankle started bothering me, but saying it doesn't matter took my focus away from it and onto something better, the run. My calves started to burn, again it didn't matter... and back to the run. I got light headed and stopped for a moment, I was able to recover raster, because it didn't matter.

About training intensity, my understanding is that you don't want to increase too fast. Injuries are more prone to happen. It cost me going through a couple of different medical tests because I thought I was ready for more than I could handle. I am now able to run a sub 12 minute mile and need to do that more often, and I think that Wednesdays will be the day to that (I am not focusing on increasing my speed by leaps and bounds, just to work on my mile speed). I have a 3.5 as my intensity today, just because I know I could have repeated at least 1 more mile.

Here's the changes I am making to work out plan including my classes at school.

Monday: Racquetball at 11, Short Run #1 (end of day)

Tuesday: Mid Length Run in the Morning followed by swimming

Wednesday: Racquetball at 11, 1 mile sprint end of day

Thursday: Short Run in the Morning followed by swimming 

Friday: Off Day

Saturday: Long Run

Sunday: Teach the 8-11 year old kids at church (hard mental work out had to make note of it)

I hope my ramblings make sense, and you get as much from what I am writing as I get from training.

Until Next Time...

-Riley

8-28-13 School and running

Last night I wake up around 3 am and couldn't fall back to sleep for nearly 2 hours. Then adding school into the running mix has been exhausting this week. I am going to go out right now and run and it looks like to the gym I go. I will add an incline to my run in hopes to better prepare for that. It is 4 miles and will be about 45-55 minutes to get it knocked out for the day. Then home to shower and back to school for my afternoon class, then I will take my sketchbook and do about 20 thumbnails for my assignment in narrative illustration, then have some fun for the evening playing games (since I don't have the homework load this first week of school).

So I was able to make it two miles before I was struggling to keep up with the treadmill. I may have my wife drop me off up the in the canyon tomorrow morning and turn my Thursday into a 4 mile  morning. That would work really well. Today I am leaving it where it is and moving forward to tomorrow. I believe that's the right thing to do in this instance. I may even make tomorrow into my long run, and do a 4 miler on Saturday.

I guess we'll see how it goes.

Until Next time...
Riley