Energized by the weather

These spring days are almost irresistible. I'm sitting in my office and I realize it's 80 and sunny outside. No humidity. Beautiful. I can't wait to get home and get out on the road.
Today, I pushed it a little, but never clocked a mile faster than 8:54, so I never got tired or let things progress to oxygen debt. Finished a 10k in 56:07, or 9:04.
Today's run brought my monthly total to 133.8 miles, or an average of 4.3, which is pretty good considering I had one week below 20 miles. My goal for the year is to average 4 miles a day, and so far my average daily mileage is 4.13 miles. -- Rob

Someday I'll learn!

Ran with Rob at English Landing in Parkville. Weather was perfect, albeit a little windy. Lately, I had been starting with a 6-10 minute walk then beginning my run very slow. However, for some reason, I decided I really could dispense with the pre-run warmup. Wrong! I ran about a half mile and my hips tightened up to the point where I HAD to walk. Rob did a short loop in the park and rejoined me after a mile or so. I completed the 2.5 mile loop and decided it best to call it a day. Rob went on to add another 2.5 mile loop and I decided it best to just walk while Rob was completing his run. However, I started to feel pretty loose and ended up completing another mile with the last half at an 8:45-8:50 pace. One of these days I'll realize my age and allow plenty of warm up time before a training run or a race. Mike

Nice day, nice run

Ran with Mike and started slow, which was great. We split up after 3 miles, and because I'd taken it easy up to that point I felt good enough to run the last 2.6 miles pretty quickly.
It was a little windy, but otherwise there's nothing bad you can say about a spring day like today. Warm (not hot), no humidity. Perfect for a run. I wish they could all be like this. -- Rob

More Progress!

Walked 10-15 minutes waiting for Rob to join me in our run. Ran with Rob for four miles and walked twice for about a minute to two minutes each. Added on a quarter mile walk at the end of the four miler and then ran another slow quarter mile. Averaged 11:05 for the four miles which included the two walks. Figure I covered five miles total. Long way from running a marathon but, what the heck, I have plenty of time to prepare for a fall race. May even drop down to a half-marathon if I don't get in the mileage.......Mike

A New Pity Party Dress for My Running Program

This past week was a tough week for me. My runs were only 3.0's all week, and they got progressively harder to complete and dropped down back to 11:00's with walk breaks every mile as the week bore on. My chest cold is lingering on, I get breathless at a 10:00 pace, and my chest actually hurts from having to breath in and out. Good Lord, getting up off the couch is hard! I actually got so tired of the ever-slower runs, I did an ellipical machine workout for a break on Friday. The only good thing I can report from this week -- other than IT IS a mighty fine pity party dress I've been wearing (honestly, another week like this, and I'm going to have start wearing high heels) is that I actually exercised 5 of the 7 days. My goal for next week is to log at least another 5 workout days and see if I can actually string 2 miles together again without a walk break. -- Bill

Rock the Parkway - Revisited

Due to a delay in my travel plans, I was in town and able to participate in the Rock The Parkway inaugural event. Like Rob, I ran in the rain, got cold but had a great time. I was pleased with my time of 1:57 - achieving my goal of under 2 hours.

I ran with an old friend, Mari Bashor, in from CA. She is in KC to visit friends and family and run. Mari and Alan are happy in Sacramento. I saw some other familiar faces, but did not see Rob as I was too far behind him.

I recommend the Rock the Parkway half marathon. - Ken

Rock the Parkway Half Marathon

I was worried about my hamstring, but I warmed up a little before the race, then started reasonably slowly and kept the pace comfortable. I was just trying to finish without hurting myself, and I wanted to break 2 hours if I could. After laying off running for a week leading up to the race, I didn't have high expectations, but despite the cold and rain, I felt pretty good and was able to gradually increase my pace as the race went on. I walked for about 25 seconds every couple miles through the aid stations to help conserve fuel and keep my legs fresh.

My splits were 9:10, 8:58, 8:54, 8:41, 8:32, 8:33, 8:32, 8:39, 8:33, 8:15, 8:38, 8:29, 7:47 and 1:08. Final time was 1:52:47.

I'm pretty happy with that.

It rained pretty much all the way, and my hands were completely frozen for most of the race, which was more of a discomfort than the weather. The hot shower at home was fabulous.

I predict Rock the Parkway will become a major KC race. They drew about 3,500 people in their inaugural event, the course is not very hilly, especially for Kansas City, and is run in a really nice neighborhood. Organizationally, it seemed to be run pretty well. -- Rob

Making some more progress!

Was going to run 6 but ran out of time due to having to head to St. Joe to set up my sales/display area for a basketball tournament this weekend. However, I did get in a quality 4.5 miler. Walked and ran slow the first mile. Mile 2 11:00, mile 3 11;02, mile 4 10:57, and the last half-mile was 4:42 which would have been a 9:24 pace. Heading back home was right into the wind and it was pretty strong. Really, really need to get the weight off.......Mike

Following orders

As ordered by Mike, I've done no running since Sunday in an effort to completely rest my sore hamstring. I feel like a real slug. I take it as a good sign that the pain is more localized now. It's high on my right hamstring, and while it's better, it was a little sore all day Friday because I spend a lot of time at work sitting.
I'm definitely going to run and, as instructed by our esteemed senior member, start slowly so I'm good and loose before I get going with at kind of tempo pace.
Rock the Parkway has a huge field for it's inaugural run. Last I heard they were over 3,100 for all the races, and there were 1,800 in the half marathon (two-week-old information). It's supposed to be windy and mid 40s with a 67 percent change of precipitation. I'm excited. -- Rob

May have to start calling myself a runner again!

Well, today was another confidence builder! Got in a solid four productive miles. Walked 7.5 minutes of the first mile (14:13), then ran slow and walked a minute for the second mile (12:16, then ran the last two miles in 9:47 and 8:22. The 8:22 was a complete surprise! I finished my run with a nice smile on my face. Tomorrow will be a slow 3 mile recovery run and Friday I'll attempt a six miler with a one minute walk after each mile....Mike

Bill, your are progessing very well! I'm very proud of you.

Two Good Days at Last!

Monday's run was indoors, but felt good -- 2 miles at 10:23's followed by 4 x 400's at 10:00's (I actually get out of breath at 10:00's, but this is progress vs. 3 weeks ago...). Yesterday, I was tired from Monday, but did 4 miles at 11:53's outside. This, while slow, is also progress since it's the farthest I've run to date and 9 minutes faster than last week's 4 mile walk/run. My chest is actually sore from having to breath so much, which I'm sure is a good thing. Still can't believe the depth of this out-of-shape hole I'm coming back from, but I can see steady progress. Just need to hang in there. Mike-- your post from yesterday is amazing; well done! -- Bill

Fantastic Feeling!

What a great day to run! I walked for between 6 & 7 minutes then my plan was to run slow for 2 minutes then walk a minute and repeat for 3 miles. For some reason I forgot to check my watch for the two minutes being up. I felt so good that I just took it easy and didn't walk at all. First mile 14:01 includes the 6-7 minute walk, mile two 10:48 and mile three 10:08. Not fast, but very satisfying!

Can't wait for tomorrow! Mike

Cursed?

Here I am, less than a week from my race, and out of the blue I develop an injury. Again.

This time it's muscle tissue in my inner thigh. I don't know how this happened. I've been careful with my workouts, usually running easy miles. Once a week I'd run a fast tempo, but even then I never went all out.

I ran just 5.6 miles Saturday at long pace and early in the run felt a slight tweak in my leg that immediately disappeared. On Sunday, I ran 5 easy miles and I noticed my leg was a little sore; it took a couple miles to warm up and feel loose. After that, Sunday's run was a real good one, and if I hadn't been in a hurry to get some other things done, I might have gone another 2 or 3 miles.

Then I get up Monday and my leg is very sore and stiff. I went back and forth all day on whether to run and how much, and I finally decided not to run at all. I started thinking about how the same thing happened last October before my last marathon, and instead of resting, I just kept running. Naturally, the injury just got worse. So I thought if I'm going to run this Saturday at all, what my leg needs now is rest.

Hated to miss getting out on Monday, though. Really a perfect running day. -- Rob

Spring is here!

It is?

We had had at least 4 inches of snow by the time I went to the gym this morning at 8 a.m. The roads were covered with deep slush/freezing slush, and there was no shoulder to run on, so running outside seemed out of the question. With a half-marathon coming up in a week, I didn't need to go long, but I did want to accumulate 30 miles for the week. All I needed was 5.6 miles, and that's what I did. - Rob

Back on Thursday!

Finally, after a week off with a sore calf and chest cold, I too got out in the 60 degree weather yesterday. My first mile felt fine, but my right calf tightened up again, so I ended up walk/running my way through a 4 miler. Took me just under 54 minutes in total as I had a lot of walking breaks in there. I think the key for me is to get as many days in as possible each week, and take walking breaks as needed until I get a base built up. Like Mike, I can't believe how slow my return is going. But I'm determined to hang in there and get back to actual runs sometime soon! -- Bill

Run while the runnin's good

Like Mike, I couldn't miss taking advantage of this perfect day. I did a pretty hard run Wednesday, so today was just an easy one. I was going to go only 4 or 4.5, but it was so nice I stretched it out a little to 5.7. All I could think of was that by the time I could get out again it was going to be cold and rainy or snowy, so I figured I might as well do a little extra while I could. -- Rob

Another Restart!

What a great day for a run! Make that a walk/run.
Just got three miles in but it really felt nice to run in a tee shirt and shorts. I really think that cold took a lot out of me. I just didn't have any strength and could only run about three minutes before I felt I needed to walk.
Should be a lot of nice running days coming up so let's enjoy it. It's getting close to where we need to make our plans for our bike ride on the Katy Trail and our Kayaking.....Mike

Little glimpse of spring

What a fantastic night for a run! There's still some sunlight now when I get home, and it was nice tonight, so I took off on my regular neighborhood route. The sunlight, temperature and lack of wind were all really invigorating, and after an opening 9:38 I ran sub 9 min. miles the rest of the way, finishing 7.45 miles in 1:06:11 (8:54 average).

This is the start of the best time for running - spring. Temperatures are mild and the humidity is low. Time to get those miles in! --Rob

Can cell phones cook?

Plenty was discussed at Monday's meeting of the Men's Running Club of Kansas City, but the only thing that drove me to further research was the discussion of cell phones as popcorn poppers. Is it true?
Unfortunately, no. This would have been so much fun to try at a future meeting. But alas, cell phones cannot pop popcorn or cook eggs, or heat up anything, really. Here's a very interesting article about the whole cell phone cooking scam: http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp. -- Rob

Down With a Cold, Cut Up For Dinner Tonight

My report on my first 3 complete weeks of running showed improvement, albeit very slow. Week 1 (w/o 2/22) I got in 3 runs for a grand total of 10.3 miles. Week 2 produced 5 runs and 18.0 miles, but sore calves. In week 3 (last week) my alter ego run as Barefoot Bill just about killed my calves and had me walk/running my way through very short 2-3 mile workouts. On Thursday, I was psyched when I started out at 10:43 miles -- first time under 11:00's and still able to breathe at the same time! -- but my calves absolutely gave out at 1.7 miles. My calves are back now with 3 days off, but I've caught a nasty chest cold. So count me in for parking lot patrol and dinner tonight, but no run. Hopefully, I can get back running by Wed. and still get in 15+ miles for the week. -- Bill

PS -- Rob and Ken -- congrats on fabulous runs last Saturday. You guys are my inspiration!

Ides of March

Tonight will be our first Ides of March group run. I only wish I knew where to park to meet up with the others.

Saturday was a delightful run with The Runner's Edge - 12 miles winding through the Plaza, Sunset Hills, Loose Park and Mission Hills. The hilly course took us past some of the most beautiful homes and streets in Kansas City.

Looking forward to a run and pizza this evening. Hope someone tells me where we start. Ken

NO FUN!

After last Wednesday productive four miler, I was really looking forward to Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Well, guess what? I haven't run since last Wednesday! Thursday morning my nose started leaking like a faucet and my head felt like a watermelon (can I use that analogy?) Yesterday wasn't too bad but I knew I shouldn't be out running. This morning was the worst and to top it off I had one of my episodes. The spell made me very weak and the head cold is moving south to the chest, as well. Not a fun weekend, so far!

I'm hoping by Monday I'll be able to get in a four miler again but if I'm not well, I'll just opt for trying to be acceptable company for the rest of the MRC gang.....Mike

Windy, wet and cold

It looked like rain right from the start of this one, and sure enough it started about 1.5 miles out. It wasn't heavy, but enough to make me wet in fairly short order. My shoes were making squishing sounds by the time it stopped about 5.5 miles out, and since I was wet everywhere, I knew it wasn't going to be fun going up hill against the wind for the next three miles.
It wasn't, either.
I just kept telling myself that by comparison the way back would be sunny and 65.
It wasn't, quite. But it was better.
I was a bit surprised by how much the wind, cold, rain and hills took out of me, but I was happy to rack up the 14 as planned. It's a good thing I did it when I did, because the weather got worse as the day went on. -- Rob

An easy run

Last mid-week run, and I plan a 14-miler Saturday, so I just made this an easy workout. Started slow and kept it that way, averaging 9:41 and covering 5.58 miles in 54 min. -- Rob

On the 'mill

Raining, dark, so I went to the gym again. Started slow, then ran 5-plus at between 9:22 and 9:13. I got in 6.39 miles in 60 min. -- Rob

STARTING TO COME AROUND!

Three miles on Monday was all I had
Skipped yesterday but I don't feel bad.
Cause today was a good one
There was no doubt.
I ran four good miles on my favorite route.

I'm starting to feel like a runner for sure
Albeit, a slow one, but I have the cure.
The miles will get longer,
So please don't scoff
If I get so hungry I eat from a trough.

Can't wait until I complete a race,
Half or full I'll keep the pace.
What pace I don't know,
But once I'm out,
I'll be happy I ended my running drought.

Mike

Rubberized Rob

Unlike the wild and crazy Bill, my feet were farther from the running surface than ever during today's run. I put my first 6.5 miles on a new pair of New Balance 1063s.
Like Bill, though, I have been trying to be less of a heel striker for a couple of years now. I keep reading that you are less liable to injure yourself if you can land more toward the mid-sole. To do it, I've tried to shorten my stride, which has the added advantage of increasing my turnover and, in theory, my speed. I don't know if it's working - certainly no one's going to accuse me of being speedy - but I haven't had a lower leg or foot injury for over a year, and I used to be plagued by plantar fasciitis, achilles tendonitis, ITB and hamstring problems.
Today's run was at a tempo pace of 9:11.
Keep running, everyone. -- Rob

Barefoot Bill

Based on the book I've been touting ("Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall), I decided to try and change my stride as I return to runningt regularly. I going to try and move from my traditional heel strike to a ball of foot strike described in the book as the natural stride our bodies were built for. The fastest way to get there is to try some easy miles running barefoot. Apparently, running barefoot immediately forces you to run more erect, thus properly aligning one's head, spine and legs -- important to get your legs back underneath you -- and it immediately moves you from a heel to ball of foot strike. Running barefoot also forces you to land more softly on your foot and try and run lighter in step. Sounds good, so last night, I tried it out with an easy 2-mile jog on the indoor track at the gym. I actually loved it, but I think 2 miles was too much distance as my calves are very sore today. My plan is to mix in 3x weekly low distance barefoot jogs as warmdowns and see where it takes me. Stayed tuned. Hopefully, I can change my stride without messing up the new loads on muscles still protesting my return to running! -- Bill (look, Mike, we can sign our names!!!)

ps -- my other reason for trying barefoot running is that I can't grow a ponytail, I'm too old for tatoos, and when I try to drink heavily I simply fall asleep....this may be my only option left!!!

Passing the test

This was my longest run since the Des Moines Marathon last October, and a test of my ability to actually do a half marathon. I think now I can safely sign up for the Rock the Parkway half marathon at the end of March. I ran at English Landing Park and on the Missouri River Trail. I took it easy today, usually walking about 15 or 20 seconds between each mile, and the run went very well. Kind of by accident I had 3 or 4 miles of about 9 min., but usually kept the pace around 9:20, which seemed comfortable. -- Rob

Getter Done!

I did it, I did it,
I ran three miles!
The weather was perfect
and I'm nothing but smiles!

But the weekend is coming
and I have to work,
but come this Monday
I won't shirk!

I'll continue my training,
for what race, I don't know.
I just hope to do well,
just so I can crow.

Gotta shake these blues!

Well, it looks like spring is gonna make it after all! Haven't felt much like running for some reason. Easy to blame it on the weather but that wouldn't be the whole story. Just can't seem to find the motivation I used to have. Might have to financially commit to a race, that usually works for me. Probably wouldn't hurt to find a pace car to follow, like the pacers we had at The Runners's Edge. She has to look good in shorts though.

It looks like it's going to be a really nice day, so I'll start with an easy 3 miler and go from there. If I didn't work weekends it would be great to get a long run in with the group!

Have a great weekend, guys, see you next Monday night somewhere on Wornall, somewhere in a parking lot. Mike

Intervals

After an easy run Wednesday I decided to do something different today, and it turned out to be an interval run. I never know until I get started. After a one mile warm up, I alternated between 9:22 and 8:49, switching every quarter mile. Went well. Friday is rest day. -- Rob

Almost Feels Like Spring

Had a great 4 mile run this morning. Took Maurice, the standard poodle, with me. It was not light yet, but the mild temperature felt great. Looking forward to a long run this Saturday with The Runners' Edge group at the Blue Trace Trail. - - Ken

Read (if you haven't already) "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall

During a family trip to see Jamie in a play at Trinity University last weekend, Lucy handed me a copy of Christopher McDougall's best seller "Born to Run." She said "this looks like a book you would like" and she was totally right. I read it straight through starting Sunday-last night. What a fabulous book! Buy it and read it -- it got great science, a fabulous cast of true characters, and a running plot that you can't put down.



As a personal note, the book reminded me of the importance of community and a wild sense of adventure to our running experience. Here's to MRC -- our tribe -- to our monthly runs and dinner, and multiple annual outdoor adventures (racing, kayaking, sailing)!!! We ride at dawn! --Bill

Getting out early

Since lately I am the Lone Ranger here, I am reminded of a line from the great radio play, The War of the Worlds (directed/narrated by Orson Welles; adapted from H.G. Wells' novel):

"Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there.... anyone?"

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There's the big KU - K-State basketball game tonight, so I got up early to get my run in. I enjoy the early morning runs, it's just the whole issue of getting going before daylight that sometimes seems a little difficult. Once I get going, though, I usually think it's the best time to work out. Just took it easy this morning. Never went faster than a 9:31 pace. -- Rob

6.34 miles in 60 min. on the treadmill. -- Rob