Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Last Night

Was only 16 degrees, so lots of runners appeared at the indoor track. As they blew past me, it occurred to me that they might not be back-of-the-pack runners. No gettin by me.
I assume they'll disappear again when the temps get back in the 20's.

ORN: 16 X 50" R/ 130" W Total Time 1 Hour

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Still Alive

Well..... things haven't exactly gone according to plan. I have done minimal training for the past 5 months, but now find I'm starting over. I began this journey one year ago, and the most charitable description of the past year is that I "loosened up" and didn't destroy my knees yet. Didn't manage to enter any running events and didn't manage to lose any weight. Am I discouraged? Sort of. Am I quitting on the goal of eventually running a marathon? NO!!!
So, once again, I'll start on the low end of the training spectrum, add a few seconds per week to the running part of my intervals, and target a 10k run in June and a half-marathon this fall. (The Half will probably be in Columbus in October, unless the Waddler informs me that the hills and heat at the USAF Half in Dayton in September won't kill me. :)

ORN: last night: 14 X 40" R/ 140" W plus 20 minutes walking. Total Time 60 minutes

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Tuesday

ORN: 15 X 90"R/ 90"W
Just creeping along, muttering about my weight every step of the way.

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Saturday

ORN: 14 X 90" R/ 90" W

Friday, September 14, 2007

Thursday Night

[ORN: 13 X 80" R / 100" W; 20 minute walk Total Time = 1 hours]

Weight not dropping a bit, and don't understand it. (Of course, refusing to count calories at the moment might have something to do with it.) Anyway.... pushing on.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

X-Training

weights; 30 ' stationary bike; 30' walk

Monday, September 10, 2007

Outside

Outside tonight.

ORN: 12 X 75"R / 105" W plus 23' walk Total Time = 1 HR

Saturday, September 8, 2007

Slowly Building..... Again

ORN: 11 X 75" R / 145" W
Raining.... so I took to the treadmill.

Thursday, September 6, 2007

Back at It

Well.... had to go back to 70"R/ 110"W intervals because of the previous period of illness. Dang, it took a long time to recover.
But did 9 intervals last night. Should be able to reach the Thanksgiving goal of running 2 minutes, walking one minute for the 5 miler. Seem to have my strength back..... finally.
And the other good news is that it looks like the weather might cool off for good this weekend.
Of course, I think I thought that last weekend also.

Friday, August 31, 2007

August Drought

By the end of July, training was on target. Even the first week of August was ok.
Then I traveled to Nashville and picked up a bug (I'm thinking it was on the plane).
Not a bug I was familiar with. Some coughing, but no fever. Just a complete lack of energy.
It took all my energy just to attend to work duties before crashing into bed immediately afterwards. Next week was a trip to Dallas, and the lack of energy continued. This past Tuesday, I felt better and returned to the gym. After twenty minutes on the treadmll, running only one minute out of 3, I was a dripping mess. Sheeeesh. And my legs hurt for two days.
How does one become so unconditioned in 3 weeks? Guess it's a pointless question. Although I had no energy for exercise during the past 3 weeks, I seem to have had plenty of energy to eat. Gained back 6 pounds. Anyway..... ONCE AGAIN..... it's back to training for the 5 miler on Thanksgiving morning. I don't care if I have to walk the whole damn route..... I'll be there. I'm sick of my excuses. I read about the athletic exploits of Waddler, GeekGirl, S Baboo, Mary Sunshine, and others, and shake my head. I don't ever expect to compete with them, but it would be nice if I could acquire the same self-discipline they display. Oh well..... tomorrow is September, and a chance for yet another beginning.

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Resurfacing

While other bloggers have been out running various races, I've been staying at home, steadily plodding along, slowly building up my base.

ORN: 20 X 87" R/ 93" W (Total time = 1 hour) + 30' walk

Approximately 6 months ago, on Ground Hog Day, I started with 10 intervals composed of running 10 seconds every 3 minutes. Now, I'm up to almost 50% running every 3 minutes for a total of an hour. I probably could have reached this stage quicker, but I really wanted to try to avoid injury, and I didn't want to find the workouts so daunting that I would quit.
So, all and all, I'm satisfied with my progress so far. The Thanksgiving day 5 miler is clearly attainable, even if I have no speed; but I'm not going to worry about speed until after the half marathon next April, and maybe not even then. I've lost 10 pounds during the past 6 months. I'd like to lose another 20 by next April because that act alone would probably help with my speed.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Wednesday Night

ORN: 42"R/78"W X 16 Walk 25' Total Time 1 HR

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tuesday

Weights; 40' bike; 24' walk

Monday, May 21, 2007

Monday

ORN: Treadmill 9 X 41" R/ 79" W
Track 5 X 63"R/ 117"W
Walk 24' Total Time = 1:02

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Saturday

ORN: Total time 45' (40" R/80"W X 15)

40 years ago, right after Cooper's Aerobics book came out, my dad, a couple of my friends, and I use to jog a few times a week during one summer. We jogged a steady 9 1/2 minute/mile pace, talked while we ran, and had some good times. Today, out of curiousity, I set the treadmill at 6.3 (which is suppose to be the equivalent of 10 minute miles on the road), just to see what it felt like. I only ran about 30 seconds.
Good Lord..... I felt like I was doing a 100 yard dash. Now that's stone cold reality.
Whew.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Easy Day, Sort of

Weights (not so &!@* easy)
36' bike; 24' walk

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Focusing

Today, I signed up for both the Thanksgiving 5 miler and next April's Columbus Half-Marathon, and reserved a hotel room in Columbus. Kind of early, I know, but my hope is that these actions will focus my training on real deadlines. For the most part, I've usually needed well-defined goals in my life rather than vague, indefinite notions of accomplishment. Anyway, hope these commitments provide some assistance in maintaining self-discipline for the next eleven months.

[ORN: Total Time = 65' (60" R/ 120" W X 13)

Monday, May 14, 2007

Change Up

Trying something different for the weekly 2 short sessions. The R/W ratio is the same I used last week, but the interval is reduced from 3 minutes to 1.5 minutes. Now that I can focus on a goal of something around an hour on Thanksgiving (have no way of knowing for sure at this point), I'm trying to concentrate on a bit more speed and better running form, rather than just lumping along for longer time periods. For my one long session each week, I'll continue to lump. :)

[ORN: Total time = 35' (30" R / 60" W X 20); 25' bike

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Revising the Goals

Got back from Chicago last night, and had some time to reflect on my goals while there.
I might be able to finish a half-marathon by the fall of this year, but my body is telling me it will be quite a struggle. When you're 60, the endurance --- or least my endurance -- just doesn't return as rapidly as one might hope. So..... my new goal is to run a 5 mile Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving day morning and complete a half-marathon next Spring. Initially, I was bummed out about "only" completing a 5 mile event; how quickly I've forgotten that a mere 4 months ago I wasn't doing anything. (And even if I decide later this summer to cut back to a 5k, I don't care. I'm still moving forward, and I will eventually get to the marathon.)

Weights; 30' bike; 30' walk

Monday, May 7, 2007

Easy Night

Not sure how many Pistons' fans are switching between the game and Dancing with the Stars, but I am. No explaining old age.

ORN: Total Time 35' (63" R / 117" W X 11) 20' bike