So Long Wildwood...

Well, after a long enjoyable 9 days in Wildwood with the family, all good things must come to an end. We headed home today, but not before I got my 18 mile run in this morning.

Isn't it a sin, to be on vacation, and have an alarm set, telling you that you need to get up!

AND, isn't it a bigger sin, when that dreaded alarm tells you to get up at 5:30am!

Well, that's what I had to deal with this morning. I would have much rather sat on our front porch deck last nite, with my wife & her father, having a nice cold beer, basking in a beautiful nite. Reminiscing about the fun we had this past week. Instead, I was in bed, trying to get a good nights sleep, knowing I had 18 miles to accomplish before we headed home.

It seemed as soon as I fell asleep, the alarm was going off, and I had to get up. I wanted to get out of the house by 6:00am, so I would be home by 9:00am. It was supposed to be a nice warm sunny day, and I wanted to get done, before the heat set in.

Let me just start out by stating the obvious.. this was damn hard!

I've run alot in the past, but a few years back, after struggling at one of the Hamilton Hangover 5 milers, I swore I was done "long runs", and was not going to do any races over 5k in length.
Well, so much for that!

After last Sunday's debacle, I wanted to start out in a good frame of mind, and look forward to the 18 mile challenge that lie ahead. While my time for last Sunday was good, by looking at my splits, I hated the run, as soon as I started and nearly avoided catastrophe, when I fell at mile 6. I prepared myself all day Saturday, both mentally and physically for the run on Sunday. I made sure I drank plenty of fluids Saturday, especially when I spent the morning on my father in law's boat, and the afternoon at the beach.

I started out the morning run, in the pre dawn, and it was really cool to see the sun rise over the back bays. I didn't take my camera with me, since I had no room for it. I did try for the 1st time, the Jelly Bean sport beans. (memo to self.. pack extra Gu's next time since no one sells it at a shore resort!). I was lucky enough to find a drug store with a GNC inside it, that sold the jelly beans. They were not bad, but I prefer the gels.

Other than a few people out fishing, I think I was the only nut up and out on the road before 6:00am.

I planed a route that would take me off the island, and loop back, so I could run the last 2 miles on the boardwalk. Nothing, beats the sights & sounds of morning on the boardwalk! It was a tough run, and I was determined to keep a consistent pace, not like last Sunday. I wanted to go long and slow. I feel for the most part I did just that. I was around the 2:08 mark for 13.2. I was pleased with that, because I felt the legs starting to get that heavy feeling around 12 miles. It didn't help that I ran the majority of the run into a slight headwind.

Around mile 15, man I was hurting. These miles are uncharted territory for yours truly. It was also around here, that I had a nice uphill, up a drawbridge, just as you get back onto the island. I popped into the WaWa there, at the bottom of the hill, to get another bottle of water. By now it seemed everyone was up, as the check out line was thru the store. I told the kid at the register what I bought, dropped my money and left. I couldn't wait in that line, I'd probably still be there.

Mile 16 wasn't much better than 15, but I just so happen to be on a chapter in Dean's 50 in 50 book, that talks about "baby steps". So that's what I did. I broke it down block by block, instead of thinking I had 3 miles to go, and if I wanted to complete the marathon, it would be 10.2 to go!

It's at this point you need to determine if you have it in you. I just keep thinking another block to go, and you'll be one block closer to the boardwalk. It worked like a champ! Next thing I heard was the Forerunner beeping at me, that we clicked off another mile.

When I hit the boards, I was toast. All I wanted to do was finish. Luckly, for me, I came up on a young guy, I'm guessing he was maybe of high school freshman age. He was just ahead of me, and I wanted to keep up with him. He wasn't setting a blistering pace, but he was something for me to focus on, instead of the hurtin' my legs where in. We passed each other a few times, and a little past the 1/2 way point on the boardwalk, the forerunner beeped that mile 17 was in the books. I could see my running buddy was starting to struggle a bit, so I yelled over to him that we just did a 9:42 mile. I told him that was my 17th mile of an 18 mile run, and to keep up the good work. He was apprecitative of it, and I think it gave us both a little jump in our steps. I told him what the mile marks where for his return trip, and thanked him for helping push me the last 2 miles. I was surprised to see that we picked up the pace, and I ran my fastest mile as my last mile, at 9:24.

When I got done I was spent. This was the hardest run I had ever done. It was the longest run I had ever done, and I was proud of myself for showing discipline on Saturday to do the right things to allow me make this run a success.

Final time: 2:55:53

Well, this is another full week of running, with my 6-8-6 milers Tuesday - Thursday.

Mile/Lap
1 9:35 min/mi
2 9:38 min/mi
3 9:34 min/mi
4 9:39 min/mi
5 9:35 min/mi
6 9:36 min/mi
7 9:48 min/mi
8 9:29 min/mi
9 9:44 min/mi
10 9:42 min/mi
11 9:43 min/mi
12 9:52 min/mi
13 9:53 min/mi
14 9:42 min/mi
15 10:08 min/mi
16 10:21 min/mi
17 9:42 min/mi
18 9:24 min/mi
.07 00:38

Weekday runs

Well, after the run I had on Sunday, with the fall, and not completing the 16 miles, I was hoping for 3 good runs on Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. I also wanted to run towards North Wildwood, explore that end of the island. I was getting bored of the same route to Cape May.

One thing about me, when I find something that I like or works, I repeat it over and over, until I am sick of it.

Well, here's the scoop on my road rash mess from Sunday. The knee has finally stopped oozing liquid, the elbow is fine, and my right hand, I think is the worse, and it has been sore. I guess it took most of the impact from the fall. The knee was a bit tender at the start of my runs on Tuesday & Wednesday, but has mostly scabbed up, and felt pretty good on Thursday.

Here's a little recap of my runs.

On Tuesday, I was a little nervous about how the knee would feel. I was glad it had a day of recovery. Everything went great. I felt good. The knee was a little tender at the beginning, but I soon forgot about it, and got into the run. I ran to North Wildwood, a place I have really just passed through. It has a block or 2 of bars, that pack them in at nite.

I was surprised to find that they built this cement ocean wall, that you can run/walk on . It's more of a barrier to keep the ocean where it belongs during storms, but they made it a beautiful part of the landscape. It was a really cool place to run on.

Here are the stats for Tuesday:

6:04 miles (54:19 9:00/mile)

Mile

1 8:56

2 9:09

3 9:16

4 8:51

5 9:05

6 8:44

.04 .19

Wednesday morning I felt really strong. It was the best I had felt all week. Maybe it was a high off the nice come from behind win I saw the Phils do. We got home in the 9th inning from the boardwalk ,and caught the rest of the game. Nice game huh BeachRunner411 !!

Anyway, I was up and out the door by 7:00am, and headed to my new favorite running course toward North Wildwood.

I felt so good the last 2 miles, I deceided to see how much I could pick it up. My 7th mile split was 8:39, so I wanted to see if I could get under 8mins. Boy I was surprised to see I did that 8th mile in 7:39! It was quite a confidence boost after the Sunday run.

8.13 miles (1:12:58 8:59/mile). It would have been a better mile average, but I couldn't get forerunner to stop.. damn modern technology.

Mile

1 9:26

2 9:05

3 9:05

4 9:10

5 9:02

6 9:08

7 8:39

8 7:40

.13 1:44

Thursday, being a creature of habit, I headed out to do close to the same route I did on Tuesday. It was a windy kinda overcast morning. I think this might be the worst day, weather wise of the week. Not a good beach day. It was a good surrey rental day, and we did that after breakfast.:

I wasn't out for a leisurely run, a bit uptempo.. Nice and smooth..

6.46 (56:03 8:40/mile)

Mile

1 8:54

2 8:31

3 8:42

4 9:09

5 8:35

6 8:24

.46 3:49

Well, there you have it. I survived the Sunday fall, am enjoying the beach life for a week with the family, and getting my mileage in before the family gets up.

WIPEOUT !

Saturday, I got up early, put my easy 4 miler in, and got ready to hit the road, for our vacation.

Nothing special, an quick out and back. Here are the quick stats:

4.05 miles (35:27)

Lap/Mile

1 9:17

2 8:53

3 8:36

4 8:17

.04 :24


Ok, onto my Sunday 16 miler. I set the alarm for 6:15am, and got up. It wasn't a great nite sleep, and Saturday was a busy day.

Early up for a 4 miler,

pack up the family,

and head downashore,

clean the place and unpack,

Hit the beach... gotta do that!,

boardwalk with the family,

and finally hit the sack around 11:00ish.

So, I wasn't feelin' it, when the alarm went off.

I decided on an out and back run from Wildwood, thru Cape May, and back. I had a decent idea of the route I was going to take.

When I was packing the essentials, I wrote down the wife's cell number. Scary when you don't need to remember phone numbers anymore! I wrote it down on a business card I found, and put it in my back pocket along with 2 gu's, and a camera. I just thought it would be a good idea to have it, just in case. Little did I know, I almost needed it!

Memo to slef.. memorize her phone number. My road ID has our home number, but not her cell, and now that I am not running just around home, I need to get the wife's cell number on it.

I felt a bit tired in the beginning, and just was content to put the mileage in.

Since I had much feedback to add some pics, since you never know what you'll run across.

This shot is of one of the back bays, on the way to Cape May.

This guy was hanging out in front of the 2 mile landing, where there are 2 great restaurants.

ROADKILL ! One dead possum.

The $1.00 toll bridge. This was a tough hill, with one lane , so you have no room for error, crossing it.

I started out slow, hoping to get more into the run, the longer it went. Things where going OK, until I got to around the 6 mile mark. That's when I ran into trouble! I was running on the sidewalk, on a road in Cape May, headed to the center of town, when I tripped over a raised portion of the cement sidewalk. I think it was raised due to a tree route. I think that was my problem, as I was paying more attention to the lower tree branches, than the sidewalk under my feet.

Well, I hit it, stumbled, and fell hard. As I fell, I was able to get my right hand and arm up, so I kinda rolled, with that protecting my head. Luckily, I did not hit my head. I did land pretty hard on my right knee, which was scraped up pretty good, along with some road rash on the right elbow & outside of my right hand. After I fell, I got myself up on one knee, hit the stop on my watch, and kinda collected myself. I checked to make sure I wasn't injured too bad.

I did see a few cars pass, which of course no one stopped. I'm sure one of them had to see me fall.

I had remember I had just passed a sign that had said "welcome center 1 mile", so I started back up after a few minutes. When I got there, the place was nothing more than a little bus terminal, and of course it was closed. I was close to the center of town, where I had ran a few years back, in the Great Cape May Footrace, a 5 & 10k races. I thought for sure there would have been a water fountain, so I could at least clean up my wounds.. WRONG! I was close to the beach, where the Ocean Drive Marathon & 10 miler start is. I found the convention center was open, and used their bathroom, to get some soap & water. I hate the bathroom that don't have paper towels. They just had the air dryers, so I grabbed some toilet paper, to dry the leg off.

It didn't look that bad, when I got it cleaned up, but it was still a nice road rash. I was able to refill my water bottle with some nice cold water, form their water fountain, which was a benefit. When I got done, I followed the route that was the OC Drive Marathon. The knee did bother me a bit, but I tried the best I could, to put it out of my mind.

I lumbered along, and was glad to get the hell out of Cape May.
As I got closer to returning to the Wildwoods, I noticed that I would be about a mile short, on the return, so I started to think of how far I would have to run past our house, to get in 16 miles. When I hit the 15 mile mark, I was around the start of the boardwalk, and wasn't feeling good at all. It was about 9:30am, and the day was starting to heat up. I felt a bit of nausea, and called it a day at 15:38 miles (2:29:57).

I hated to cut a run short, but I wanted to air on the side of caution. I have a 18 miler this coming Sunday, and it was just the start of the family vacation, so I didn't want to do something stupid.

Let me tell ya, when you stick the open wounds in the salt water, it feels good until you get out, than you get that stinging.. Well, 6 miles is on tap for Tuesday, so we'll see how it goes.

Lap/Mile
1 9:34
2 9:24
3 9:28
4 9:35
5 9:44
6 10:07
7 10:31
8 9:42
9 9:30

10 9:32
11 9:34
12 9:52
13 9:40
14 9:47
15 9:57
.38 3:53

A Rushed Thursday Nite Run !

Thursday was a busy day!
My Thursday's, have me traveling roughly around 175- 200 miles this day, seeing some of my accounts over in Pa.
Every other Thursday is food shopping for the family, which I do right after work.
On top of that, I needed to run 6 miles, and go to see a buddy of mine in Burlington, to get a Thule rack he was selling, for our van. Ya can never have enough space for traveling, when you pack 4 people & 2 dogs up for a vacation.
See, Saturday we actually get away for a week+ vacation downashore!

I got out the door to do my run at about 6:00pm. Again, like Wednesday, I didn't know where to run. The wife was asking me where I was running. It's always good to have someone know where you are running... just in case. I wasn't sure, but told her what I was thinking of doing.
Well, I strayed a little off of that course. I need to find different routes, to keep this training on track. I decided on a route that would take me past a bad house fire that happened Monday afternoon.

Luckily no one was hurt in the fire, but the house is a total loss. This was about a mile from where we live.

The legs where feeling it after a week of long runs. The thighs had that "I need a day off feeling".
It was nice to get the run done, and get that sense of accomplishment, that I am another day/ run closer to Nov.23rd.

This Saturday will be a nice easy 4 miler, before we leave, and Sunday is another 1st.. 16 miles! I have planned on a run from Wildwood to Cape May.
I will be bringing along my camera, to take some pics for the peeps. The route I take, hopefully will produce some nice wildlife or roadkill for every one's enjoyment!

One nice thing I have noticed, is that I am starting to get to a place in my runs, where I knock off the miles at a steady pace.
54:34 (9:05/mile)
Lap/Mile
1 8:57
2 9:08
3 9:08
4 9:12
5 9:08
6 8:57
Enjoy the weekend! Go Phils !!

Wednesday Nite run in Mercer County Park

I had to get out and do a 8 mile run, and was trying to think of a decent course to run.
I like just leaving from home, instead of driving somewhere and running, ect..
I don't want my running to take time away from working around the house, and playing with the boys. My runs lately have been on the same roads, and I wanted to do something different. This is where having the Forerunner 405 pays off! If I didn't have this tool, I would have no idea how far I was running, since I thought of this run on the fly.
I ran to MCP, and did part of the Run For Dad 5k loop around the lake.
The Forerunner worked like a champ in the wooded part. This thing is awesome! If you are into running, this is the tool you must have!
It was fun to get a different route down, not knowing where I was going to end up. I had an idea of where I wanted to run.
I need to start to run with a camera, and take pictures of some of the things I see. Nobody does a better job of taking pictures & running than good ole Shoreturtle! Check out his blog, he does a great job with adding photos.
MCP has a ton of wildlife, and during this run, I ran right up on some deer. I got less than a few feet from them before they took off.
I saw some trails I want to explore, and will try them out in the upcoming weeks.
It was a nice comfortable nite to run. We sure have been lucky this last month with the humidity!


My time was 1:12:17 (8:57/Mile)
Lap/Mile
1 8:46
2 8:53
3 9:09
4 8:54
5 9:03
6 9:14
7 9:00
8 8:32
.09 0:43

Run to Swim... the Final Epic Race for the Gold!

As the summer winds down, tonite is the final of the summer series RUN TO SWIM!
The boys have taken it to me, constantly beating me in the 6+ mile race (wink, wink).
So tonite, VENGEANCE is mine! I will win the Gold and take my rightful place among the greats that have come before me. I will beat those 2 boys, oh yea, I will beat those 2!
Well, I left the house around 5:30pm, as the boys finished up dinner. Both boys were confident that they would finish up, have time to chill,maybe play a little, and have Mom drive them to swim before me.
As usual, I went out fast. I guess subconsciously, I really wanted to get there first. My 1st mile was 8:06. What the heck was I thinking?
I settled down into a nice 8:30ish pace, and was confident that my 2 circus clowns would be running late, and I would beat them.
WELL... as I arrived, I was shocked to see the mini van parked, with no one inside.
Not only had they beat me, they were inside waiting! When they saw me walking up, they came running out of the lobby, cheering, really giving it to me.
I was in shock.. both boys laughing, saying "we beat you Daddy!!".
It was a fun way to do my Tuesday runs, and the boys did great in their swim class. Maybe I didn't go out too fast.
Wait til next year boys!
Lap/Mile
1 8:06
2 8:26
3 8:37
4 8:36
5 8:32
6 8:19
.52 4:18

14 Miles on a Sunday Morning

Well, with my recovery week over, it's back to loooong runs on Sunday's.
For the next 3 Sundays, I will be setting new longest run records. Today was a 14 miler, followed by next Sunday's 16, and 8/31's 18 miler!
I got up at about 6:15, and was out the door a little after 6:30. Weather was perfect, thermometer read 56.9. I decided to run an out and back , down Edinburgh / Old Trenton Rd, towards Cranbury, and back.
At about the 2 mile mark, I had my 1st encounter with a dog. The part of Edinburgh Rd. I was on, just past the entrance to Mercer County Community College, it was still a four lane road. Well don't you know, a house across the street from me had a dog out on their front lawn, and it sees me, and starts barking. I thought it was tied up, but next thing I know, it's coming across the street, and standing in the middle of the road, verbally letting me have it. Well, I just froze in my tracks, and let the dog bark. I told it to go home a few times, and it finally did.
For those who don't know the area I run in, Edinburgh Rd. is a very high traffic road, and this dog was really lucky it wasn't quite 7:00am. If it was any later, his attempt to cross the road, could have been a disaster. If you check out my splits, you can see mile 2 was just a bit slower, because of my 4 legged cheerleader.
The rest of the run was pretty uneventful. I did pass a bunch of roadkill, check out this list of animal roadkill:
red fox, possum, birds, garden snake.
I ran to U2 live from Paris, for a 1987 concert on Itunes. What a great concert. It really helped me for the 1/2 half of my run. If you are a fan of U2. I highly recommend it.
I was surprised at how good I felt during the entire run. I guess the week of easy mileage was good for the body.
My split at 13.2 was 2:04:00, which would put a estimated finish at 4:08:00. I know it's way to early to think about time, but if I can run like I did today, I think I have a shot at that type of a finish.
The rest of the week is back to the 6,8,6 Tuesday -Thursday, with a 5 miler on Saturday.

14.01 miles (2:11:56)

Lap/Mile
1 9:28
2 10:01 (damn dog!)
3 9:14
4 9:29
5 9:30
6 9:30
7 9:32
8 9:31
9 9:24
10 9:23
11 9:19
12 9:16
13 9:11
14 8:58
.01 :04

Sometimes I forget the real reason I run...

After a busy day on the road at work, I had to head to Wildwood, to clean the place and get the recycles out.
Today is a scheduled 4 mile run, so where better to run than downashore.
I had a lot on my plate, I had to clean the place, cut the grass, and get a run in, all the while keeping an eye to the sky, as there was a chance of showers.
I got the place cleaned, and headed outside to cut the grass. The last time I was down, the gas can was on empty, and I would have thought one of the other owners would have refilled it last weekend. WRONG! So now, with the sky looking a little threatening, and the wind picking up, I had to head to the WaWa, and get the can filled, because of course the mower had no gas.
Well, after getting it filled, and getting the lawn cut, I was finally ready to head out at about 7:15pm.
I get my running gear out, and don't ya know my Forerunner was DOA! I had just charged it a few days ago.
So know I have a threat of showers, I had no idea how I'm going to time myself.
No way of knowing how fast my miles are. I love knowing my splits. No way of knowing if I am actually going to run 4 miles.
This is insane! I knew the route I was going to run should be 4 miles, but without my Garmin.. Well at least I have my Ipod. That's charged and ready to go!
So here I am, pissed about the mower & no gas, even more pissed about my Garmin being dead, and a sea breeze with a threat of rain. Oh this should be a great run.

Well, I decided to run without any modern gadgets. No Ipod, no garmin, no dry fit Tee (I did use my body glide).
I went Old school, with one of my many FLYERS free tee's(cotton!)they hand out during the playoffs.
It made me think about why we actually run. Think about it. We run because we love it. It shouldn't be about splits, training, ect.. it should be about the love of the run. Getting out there and just enjoying it.
I did that tonite. I ran to the beach, ran along the ocean, with the wind, running with so much sand stuck to the bottom of my shoes, it felt like I was running in cement shoes. Having to jump over little rivers cut into the sand by the ocean.
Having people yell GO FLYERS at me, because I'm wearing a cotton Tee,with character, not a generic blah dry fit shirt. A freakin' cotton one, that weighed a ton by the time I was done.
I have no idea how what my time was, nor do I care.
What I do know, is that I had fun. I enjoyed it. I feel good about just doing a run. Yes it was on my scheduled day, and yea it was a 4 miler, I'm sure, but more importantly, I ran today, because I like to run!
I need to remember that more often.

8 on the 8th video by Life Strides!

For those who participated in the 8 on the 8th virtual run, or even if you didn't, you have got to go over to LifeStride's blog, and see the video he made of the event.
It is really cool.
He had to spend a good amount of time on it. Just a great job!
I wish I had the talent and the time to put something like that together.

Check it out here on his site, or he posted it on you tube.
http://lifestrides.blogspot.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKRU0y9pdfA

4 in the Park on a Tuesday in August

Today, on my recovery week schedule, I just need to run 4 miles, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday. Tuesday & Thursday have been 6 mile days, with Wednesday being an 8 miler, and Saturday a 4. Well, Wednesday is an off day this week, along with the shorter runs on Tuesday & Thursday! I am going to take full advantage of the shorter mileage week, because the next 3 weeks are going to be tough, with weekly mileage of 38, 41 &43!
I have been running to the boy's swim class on Tuesday's, but since that is a 6 mile+ run, I will head over to Veteran's Park, and run 4 miles, before their class.
I'm sure the boys will be a bit disappointed in not being able to "race" me to swim. Somehow they always seem to beat me (wink, wink)!
Well, the weather has been just awesome recently, and today was no exception. It was 80deg, with low humidity, and a slight breeze. Again, I asked myself, is this really August in NJ?
I did 4.09 miles at a good pace. I started out slow, and even did some of the trails thru the park. That is the beauty of running with my Forerunner405. In the past, I would have never known how far I ran in the woods, but this baby tells you exactly how far. What an awesome toy!
The playground was packed with kids playing, and there were a few bikers, but I was the only runner. Usually I pass a few, but not today, at least not around 3:30, when I was there.
Anyway, I am loving these short runs. They seem like they are over as soon as I start.
Well, I ran the 4.09 in 34:51.

Lap/Mile
1 8:46
2 8:37
3 8:24
4 8:19
.09 :43

2nd half of my 10 on the 10th!

I finished the 2nd half of the 8 on the 8th challenge this morning. I amended it to 10 by the 10th.
I was up and out the door by 7:00am this morning, and my outdoor thermometer read 58.6 ! I'm still shaking my head at that. I mean it is August in NJ, which usually means it's about 80 deg w/ 80% humidity at 7:00am.
I just know we are going to pay for this great weather soon!
Anyway, back to the run. I took is slow at the start, something I am really concentrating on doing. Not many people where out and about. I passed a few runners & one cyclist.
It was nice to be done my run before the family got up.
This is a nice easy week of running. 4 miles on Tuesday & Thursday!
Here are my results:
Lap/Mile
1 9:41
2 9:33
3 9:24
4 9:19
5 8:50
6 8:20
.13 :57

8 on the 8th, or in my case 10 by the 10th!

While checking out Shoreturtle's blog, I came across a post about a virtual run called "8 on the 8th".
Here is a link:
http://www.nancy262.com/2008/08/8-on-8th-olympics-style.html

It pretty relaxed rules, since I had an off day yesterday, the 8th, I've decided to do my little part as 10 by the 10th.
Today I had to run 4 miles, and I'm running tomorrow, so that's my 10.

The part I ran today, my 4 mile run, was felt like nothing,since my training runs have all been 6 miles or more. I felt like it was a warm-up, and I'm done.
The weather this morning was more like September, not the beginning of August, and I'm not complaining one bit!
I did my 4.09 miles in 35:04, all in the 8 min range.. my contribution to the "8's".
Lap/Mile
1 8:46 1.00
2 8:44 1.00
3 8:43 1.00
4 8:12 1.00
.09 :37 0.09

Tomorrow, I'll do my 6 miles, to make it 10 on the 10th!

Wednesday Stunk & Rebound on Thursday!

Well, I had to get out and run 8 miles Wednesday, before I went to the Phillies game.
The only time I had a chance to run, was about 3:00pm, in the heat & humidity!
This run STUNK! I picked a bad route to start with. It was a out & back, in direct August sun, AND I should have ran with a water, and didn't. I need to remember to bring water, on my 8mile+ runs.
As usual, I started out too fast, a 8:25 1st mile, and paid the price later in the run. Sometimes I can get away with a quick start, but not this day. I even, for the 1st time, cut a run a bit short.
I know it's not much, but I ran 7.66, instead of the scheduled 8 my plan called for. I know in the grand scheme of things, come November, it won't matter that I cut about a 1/2mile from a run in August, but this isn't something I want to start.
Well , I finished the 7.66 run in 1:10:42

Lap/mile:
1 8:25
2 8:46
3 8:57
4 9:05
5 9:29
6 9:33
7 9:48
.66 6:37

The only good thing about this day was that I got to see a Phils win over the Marlins.

Now Thursday was a different animal altogether!
I got out and ran around 6:00pm, the humidity from Wednesday was gone, and it was a comfortable, in the low 80's. Dare I say next to perfect weather!
My schedule called for a 6 mile run, and I decided to add on a bit, to make up what I didn't run on Wednesday.
While I have been fighting tired legs, my wind has been fine, and a few times during this run, I tried to do little bursts of speed, to break up the plowing along, kinda try and add a bit of life to the legs. I think what I need to do, is a better job of recovery after my runs, IE: proteins & stretching.
Funny thing, when I was checking out ShoreTurtle's blog, he ran a bit later than me, right past Sayen Garden's park. One day, I'm sure we'll bump heads on a run.
Here are the stats:
6.33 miles 55:42

Lap/Mile
1 8:53
2 8:54
3 9:08
4 9:05
5 8:43
6 8:25
.33 2:41
Have a great weekend.. It's an easy running weekend for me, 4 on Saturday & 6 on Sunday!

Back to the regular Tuesday Nite run...

Well, after a week away from my usual Tuesday nite run, it was back to running to swim class.
The boys wanted to beat Dad to swim, so the race was on!

I let them think they won, as I ran up along side of them, as they pulled into the parking lot,
(but little do they know I had been waiting for them for about 10 mins.).

It was an uneventful run. Nothing wacky happening on the roads.
My thighs where a bit heavy feeling at the beginning of the run, but my wind was fine. I pushed the pace a bit, as I felt pretty good. I have a tendency to run the 1st mile too fast, and that was the case here, as I ran my 1st mile in 8:14. Not good.. I thought for sure I would pay for it. I settled down, and averaged about an 8:30 pace for the run.
6.47 miles in 55:03


Lap/Mile
1 8:14
2 8:29
3 8:42
4 8:34
5 8:33
6 8:23
7 4:04

Today, I need to run 8 miles before going to the Phillies game. My company has 25 tickets to the game, and we are going with customers & a supplier, who's footing the bill!
Go PHILS !

Philadelphia Marathon Training Schedule

Here is my Philadelphia Marathon Training schedule.
It is a Liberman based schedule, that I am using.

I have been told that it is pretty aggressive for a 1st timer, but what the heck.
I picked the Liberman Schedule II, since I have a decent mileage base, and would like to finish in the 4 - 4.5 hour range.
I checked out a bunch of different approaches to training, and the look of this program, and the number of days running looked to work out best for me.

http://www.marathontraining.com/marathon/m_sch_2.html

When it comes to the longer 22+ mile runs, late in the training program, I might scale those back to around 20 or so. I don't want to burn myself out. I will look at those, and see how I feel.

So check out the program, and let me know if I am out of my mind.

Recent Runs

Well, I haven't posted any of my recent training runs, because the family and I took a quickie vacation to Wildwood.

I did a few runs in Wildwood, and was home on Sunday for my long 12 mile run.

Here is a quickie view of my training runs last week:

Tuesday:
I went to Veteran's Park, and ran 6 miles before going to The Police concert.

It was my 1st run, with the Forerunner, and this is where I learned that the GPS feature is an unforgiving mother. I had mapped out what I had thought would be a 6 mile run, only to come up a bit short!

It ended up being 6.01 miles in 51:44 (8:37/ mile).

Here are my splits:

Lap/Mile
1 8:09
2 8:14
3 8:31
4 8:50
5 9:04
6 8:47
7 :08

Wednesday:

I got up early to run before we left for Wildwood. This was tough one to get up for, especially after going to a concert the nite before.

It was my 8 mile run day. I did the same route I ran in the pouring rain thru MCP a few weeks ago.

I will say that I felt really good running, considering I was up at 6:00am.The run was 8.12 miles in 1:16:02 (9:22/mile).

One difference I noticed between this run and Tuesday's, was I was more consistant in my pace. Lap/Mile
1 9:21
2 9:26
3 9:26
4 9:24
5 9:27
6 9:30
7 9:16
8 9:15
9 :54

Thursday:

Ahh running downashore! Nothing better. I was up at 6:30am , to get my run in before the family got up. It was beautiful! Low humidity, nice sunshine, and a slight southerly breeze.

I ran a 6.31 mile out and back, towards Cape May.

This was part of the same route I ran this past Sunday, on my 10 mile run.

At approx. the 3.1 mile mark, it put me at the base of the 1st bridge to Cape May. NICE!! No hills today.

I did the 6.31 miles in 56:32 (8:58/mile)

Lap/Mile
1 9:32
2 9:11
3 9:04
4 9:04
5 8:39
6 8:25
7 2:34

Saturday:

The last day of our mini vacation. Since I had not ran on the boardwalk, I wanted to hit it.

This is my short run day, I only need to run 4 miles, with Sunday's as my long run.

It started out as a really nice morning. I was out the door shortly before 7:00am.

As I was heading back, you could see lightning and hear the thunder, off in the distance, coming from Cape May, and headed right at us.

I was lucky enough to get back to the house, and hit the outdoor shower, before the skies unloaded on us. I felt bad for the people setting up to sell their goods at the craft show on the boardwalk. They had to get soaked!

I did 4.72 mile in 41:17 (8:45/mile)

Lap/ Mile
1 9:00
2 8:23
3 8:46
4 8:43
5 6:23

Sunday:

Well, this was my long run day. The 1st time I ever ran 12+ miles.

It was perfect running weather, in the low 60's, with just a slight breeze. Again, like a broken record, I was out the door before 7:00am. Gotta get that run in early.

We were taking our oldest son to the Haskell Invitational, to see Big Brown run. This was my 1st time at a horse race. I'm used to going to races with horsepower, just not the 4 legged type.

I felt really good during this run. I planned an out and back, from our house out towards West Windsor, and back, right down Old Trenton Rd.

I ended up running 12.18 mile in 1:52:49 (9:16/mile).

It felt really good to get a run of this length in. It made me feel as if I just might be able to pull off this marathon.

Lap/Mile
1 9:01
2 9:16
3 9:16
4 9:20
5 9:16
6 9:11
7 9:20
8 9:26
9 9:18
10 9:20
11 9:09
12 9:11
13 1:39

OK, there you have it, 5 runs in one long post..

My new training partner

Here is my new Training Partner... the Garmin Forerunner 405 !

This is an awesome piece of technology! What an upgrade from my Timex Ironman, that I've had for, ohh I guess 20 years!

I have used this for a few runs now, and I can see a love/hate relationship in the making!

For one, this is unforgiving, as far as mileage goes. Say you run a certified 5 mile course, the Forerunner 405 tells you exactly how far you have run, and if you zig and zag, you could run less than the "5 miles".

I have mapped out runs, using my runner's world training log, and have had runs come up short. Not a tremendous amount, a few 1/10's, but when you set out to run a specific distance, and you get to what should be the finish, and you are short, I have found myself running, basically in circles, to get to the distance I need to run.

I have had no problem picking up satellite signals.

This watch has some awesome features, one that I really love, is the lap timer. You can set the lap timer, to whatever distance you'd like, and BAM.... it'll beep at you, and tell you your lap time. I have mine set for 1 mile.

You can also set it to whatever pace you'd like to run, and again, if you are going slower than the pace you set.. it'll beep at you.

What I have found out, after a few runs, is that I need to slow down the 1st few miles, and get on a more even pace. I start out too fast, and it comes back to get me in the end.

The other nice feature, I love, is the easy of download. If you have the ANT-stick, hooked up to your USB port, just set your watch down by it, your data will automatically be downloaded to your computer!

The one bad thing about the software is that you have to go to Garmin's site to download. It doesn't come with a CD.

All I can say, is if you ever consider buying a new watch, this is the one to get!