Study shows running is GOOD for your knees...

Link: Put Those Shoes On: Running Won't Kill Your Knees

Yet another study supporting the benefits of running to joint health. I can say from personal experience that my knees and ankles hurt for years when I was NOT running. My joints would swell and ache frequently through my 20's and 30's, resulting in diagnosis from arthritis to gout. I resumed running almost three years ago and have had almost no problems since! I'm a living, breathing testimonial to the positive health benefits of running. And NO, I'm not on any pharmaceutical company's payroll...

Ah, sweet relief today. 4 very easy miles. Was cold, dark, and raining, but hey, it was only 4 miles.

30 X 100m hills sounds like a fun way to start your day, but I pretty quickly realized it isn't. I ran these on one of the long, slopping greens at Trump National golf course, which is a couple of miles from my house. Fortunately it is still cold and dark this time of year, so the groundskeepers aren't out. That's a good thing because they may have actually caught me this time (unlike the other pre-dawn encounters whereby I evaded capture). This workout wore me out. Warmup and cooldown brought today's total to around 9 miles.



TUESDAY, MARCH 29, 2011

90 minutes easy (~11.5 miles). Very easy recovery run. I know I'm getting in good shape now.

Congratulations Keith!

Keith Bateman, 55, of Sydney, Australia, just dropped a 10K in 31:51 to set a new age-group world record. That's 5:08 a mile, folks, which would probably win your hometown 10K. This goes along with his other world records at 3000 and 5000 meters.

As a younger man, Keith ran sporadically at an admittedly average level. In 2000, at the age of 44, he began running seriously after tipping the scales at 190 lbs. Through proper training, coaching, and nutrition, he has gotten faster EVERY SINGLE YEAR since.

For those of you in your 30's and 40's who are complaining that you're too old, I contend you're only kidding yourself. Lace up your shoes and get out the door! Join a gym and get a trainer. Start walking every night after work. Just do something! There's a tiger inside you somewhere!

Inspired, this morning (in 28 degrees) I logged 4X800m + 4X200m intervals. Warmup and cooldown brought the total to 8 miles.

I accidentally ran 15 miles this morning. Total time was around 1:47, I think. I intended to run my usual 13.5 mile long run course, but veered off and ran around Algonkian Park and the maintenance trail. Lots of iJoggers out today. I'm trying to shed a few more lbs before my first race of the season (2 more weeks), so the ~1500 calories I burned today will help. Beautiful morning, too.

This morning was a scheduled long-interval session (3X2 miles at tempo pace). Did the normal 2 mile warmup, then got rolling. I immediately knew I didn't have it today, so I shut it down. Ended up running 8 miles at a steady pace, around 7 minutes/mile. Oh, and it was 29 degrees this morning. Didn't we have a high of 82 a few days ago? What the...?


Yesterday (Thursday) I doubled. Had to be in DC very early, so I chopped my run into 2.
AM: 5 easy
PM: 5 easy
(10 miles for the day)

"I hope you comes to love distance running as much as I do. There is something magical about its simplicity and beauty."
--Weldon Johnson

After a nice bout of insomnia last night (must've had some caffeine?), I had zero intention on getting up as the alarm rudely sounded at 4:30AM. Fortunately today is an "easy" day, so I managed to drag myself out of bed (after hitting the snooze 3 times), make Thomas' lunch, and hit the road.

Considering yesterday's ball-buster of a workout and abbreviated sleep last night, I managed to log 9 very comfortable miles. I must also admit I'm a pioneer in the art of sleep running. On some of the more isolated stretches of road, I can close my eyes for 10-20 steps and imagine I'm home sleeping. Someday I'll run into a tree.

Back to the park for another early morning butt kicker. Alarm went off at 0430 hours, grabbed a cup o' Joe and made my son's lunch (one of my few parenting duties). Arrived at the park, did a 3 mile warm up, then the real running commenced. I did another session of 5 X 1200 meters (.75 miles) at 5:20 per mile pace. Cooled down for a couple of miles, home by 0630, out the door to work at 7. This is a freakin' rough way to start the morning, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Total distance today: 9 miles

Lightning is something which, again, we would rather avoid.

--Richard Branson

I saw the first flashes of lightning far in the distance, northwards over the Maryland side of the Potomac. No problem, I reasoned, I'm going to do a quick 6 and be home before this thing rolls over me.

Just as I reached my turnaround point at the 3 mile marker, the lightning began erupting all around me, bringing with it torrential rains and booming thunder. I don't avoid running due to inclement weather. If that were the case, I would be a hobby-jogger and find an excuse every day to stay in: it's too hot, too cold, too rainy, too snowy, etc. But lightning is a different beast. That stuff will kill you and I avoid it like a mouse avoids the hawk.

Tomorrow, intervals.

A crazy weekend schedule necessitates that I have a crazy running schedule. My son had a travel soccer tournament, and we had to leave the house by 7AM both Saturday and Sunday. No chance was I getting up at 4AM on a weekend to do a long run. Instead, I decided to forgo the longer run(s) and split them up. I still awoke at 5AM both days, however.

Saturday:
----------
AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

Sunday:
---------
AM: 6 miles easy
PM: 6 miles easy

Total for the weekend: 24 miles
Total for the week: 65 miles

There was a big owl convention going on at 5AM in Algonkian Park today. I do a lot of my running out there as it's flat and has few cars. There are no street lights and it meanders through the woods, so it's pitch black in the wee hours of the morning. I'm accustomed to seeing deer, fox, skunks, raccoons, and snakes, but the cacophony of owls was something new. Love is in the air, perhaps?

After running a few warmup miles through the park, I started my tempo run. Plan called for 6 miles at 6:20 pace. I could tell within 30 seconds that it wasn't going to be my day. My legs felt like jello, and I'll bet I could have gone to sleep within 30 seconds had I brought a sleeping bag.

I hit the first mile in 6:25, and started getting a little life in my legs. I ran the next few miles under 6:20 pace, with the last mile in 5:55. Total time was 37:32. Should have felt easier, but I'll take it. I'm happy that I didn't shut it down early like I really wanted to do. With warmup and cooldown logged 10 miles for the day.

9 very easy miles this morning. Pleasant weather (mid 40's), great for running. Sounds cold, and it is once you first get going, but after 10 minutes it's perfect.

Tomorrow I've got a 6 mile tempo run scheduled. Plan is to hit 6:20/mile -- not too easy, not too hard. You never want to run a workout so hard that it impacts the next few days' training. It should all fit in place perfectly, like a puzzle.

I've got to visit 5 separate client sites today. I wish they'd hurry up and get those personal jet packs commercially available. Would save me a lot of time in traffic.

"You see things; and you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say, 'Why not?'"
--George Bernard Shaw

Got in 8 steady miles this morning. Intended on running 9 but I got a late start. Woke up at 4:30AM following a dream about an ongoing technical problem at work. Inspired by the dream, I fired up my laptop, logged into a client's firewall, and fixed it the problem. This isn't the first time I've fixed an issue via an epiphany. Weird.

I ended up having to really push the last few miles in order to get home, shower, and catch my bus. Was still fatigued from yesterday's 5 X 1200 meter repeats.

I'm back, baby!

I have returned
9 hundred years I have waited
I have returned
the time is now to rise anew.
--Unleashed

It's been a while since I last rapped at you. Almost 3 years, to be precise. Am I still running? Yes I am, thanks for asking! I promised I was going to stick with it, and I have.

My training has evolved into this: Interval workout on Tuesday, tempo run on Friday, and a long run (~13-15 miles) on the weekend. The other days are just 'easy' runs of 6-10 miles, depending on how much time I have. Total of approximately 65 miles a week. Virtually all running is completed by 6:30AM. THAT is the hard part, amigos.

In my initial posts from 2008 I wrote that I intended to break 34 minutes for 10K. That hasn't happened. My revised goal for the Cascades Firechase 10K 2011 (Memorial Day weekend) is to break 35 minutes and earn a top 3 overall finish.

Another update: I used to suffer a lot from Morton's neuroma. I fixed that by simply loosening my shoes in the forefoot. Voila.