Yes, I Still Run!

Run: 4.8 miles in :36:06 min. @ 6:00 a.m.
Pace: 7:31 min./per mile

Weather: Partly Cloudy, 34°F, 78% Humidity, Wind: From SSE @ 9 mph; feels like 27°F.
Course: Without thinking while typing I glossed this short route simply Scott (loop, mostly flat, roads) and it's available for the complete voyuer on USATF Map It!

Initially, I did not feel well as I pulled on my tights this morning in preparation for my first run in five(!) days. Any injury I have had over the past twelve months seemed to be in attendance, at roughly 120% strength... the pain receptors in my brain seemed to be fully "open"... but (this time) it was after all only in my brain, so I forged ahead into the early morning darkness.

It was a relatively short run and a leisurely pace and one during which I attempted to maintain a level of awareness of my form and feet, working to quicken my foot speed and limit the impact of my feet (and knees) on the icy road surface.

Today is the first of seventeen days off from school (thanks to the Winter Recess) and with January first, and soon thereafter my son's thirteenth birthday, visible on the horizon, the timing is right for a refocusing of energies in a myriad of different directions. Running is an important one, but ultimately, one of many things I want to accomplish.

Embrassez votre été invincible!

8 Mile(r)... HOLLA!

Run: 9.6 miles in approximately 1:10:58 min. @ 6:10 a.m.

Weather: Clear, 59°F, 72% Humidity, Winds: W @ 7 mph; feels like 60°F.

Pace: 7:24 min./per mile avg.

"I'm a man, I'ma make a new plan
Time for me to just stand up, and travel new land
Time for me to just take matters into my own hands
Once I'm over these tracks man I'ma never look back"
~Eminem, 8 Mile

According to my recently begun training plan, today was scheduled to be a “Recovery Day,” followed by two middle distance runs of 8 miles on Saturday and 6 miles on Sunday. Instead, due to plans this weekend to go to my in-laws camping, I’ve shifted everything over one day, creating a two day recovery period on Sunday and Monday.

This morning at 6:00 a.m., I was not really too motivated to lace up my shoes and hit the roads. I had spent a few minutes last evening during the epic television show that is So You Think You Can Dance? Trying to find a trail run which would meet my mileage needs for today’s scheduled eight-miler… with little success, I then turned to the Erie Canal path, which after a little review, proved to be a little stale. When I went to bed last evening I had a road course using the USATF Map It! (which was a little over to account for a more sensible loop) planned but visually it just looked so-o-o-o-o-o-o long….

Once I went outside and felt the cool (yes, cool) air I was revitalized and ready to give that previously unappreciated loop a “spin.” It went very well and turned out to be well planned in that as the sun began to rise I was not running directly into it and when it had risen to a point that it was light out, the sunshine was warmly to my back. As I ran I began to think about how the lower mileage I had put in during the week had really helped me harness my energy for a better mid-distance run this weekend… maybe the idea of putting fifty percent of your miles in on longer back-to-back weekend runs will make some sense, especially as they become progressively more challenging over the next few months.

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Eight Urban Miles

Run: 8.1 miles in approximately :64:00 min. @ 7:30 a.m.

Weather: Fair, 61°F, 89% Humidity, Winds: SW @ 4 mph; feels like 61°F.

Pace: about 8:00 min./per mile avg.

Once again this morning I went running without my watch. Even though it was not there I could get a vague sense of time by checking the time when I set out, listening for church bells (which ring every fifteen minutes), and by maintaining a rough sense of my pace. I am fairly comfortable with the understanding that my general pace when training at a slower pace is about eight minute per mile.

Another different strategy I employed today was to layout a course in advance (primarily taking into account the desired distance) and stick with it, as a means of disciplining myself not to go beyond what I had planned to run. The only challenging point was during the greatest increase in elevation (hill), at approximately midway between the miles 4 and 5 when I was running along Mt. Hope towards Highland Avenue. The course I ran can be viewed here, courtesy of USATF.

It is always a joy to view these different neighborhoods in the city (many of which I've either lived or worked) by running shoe, and to greet those waiting for buses or walking with a breathless "Good (inhale,exhale) Morning!"

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!

Of Courses: USATF America's Running Routes

As I was sitting around icing my knees this morning, I began to play around with some online tools that, although I had been made aware of them by fellow bloggers, I had not had the chance to try out. The best of these was USA Track and Field (USATF) America’s Running Routes.

Previously I have almost exclusively used Yahoo Maps! to calculate the mileage I have run following a training workout. While the Yahoo system has been very functional, it does have its limits, the chief of those being that it was not designed for the number of turns and points and returns that take place in the running of a course—it can be somewhat inflexible. The similarly designed Google Pedometer also has the same limitations. (Though the mapping function at USATF is "powered" by Google Maps(?).)

USATF’s route page has some very helpful features that, if nothing else, help feed my innate nerdiness when it comes to looking at data. Depending on who you are and what you choose to focus on in your training, the following features may prove of interest: an Elevation Profile (including Total Climb and Elevation Change), distance computed in miles and kilometers, and access to a Searchable Database of previously generated courses to which you can also add your course.

To show the ease with which this site can be used, I put together a quickie course entitled "City & Burb 9 Mile Loop." Uh... I know it is slightly more than "9 Miles," but I tried to think fast! While I'm sure there are those of you who have magically imbued compu-fingers that can make each of these mapping options dance and sing... I ain't one of you, so until I acquire that mojo, I'm going to give USATF's system a try...

Breathe in, breathe out... YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!