Strength.
That's the one quality I long to have when I run. I might not be the fastest guy, I may not have the truest form but dammit if I'm strong then I can get through anything.
I feel strong these days. My legs feel strong. I've been logging lots of miles lately and as a result I feel as strong as I have in quite a while.
On Sunday I ran 12 miles. It was a 10-mile day that turned into 12, and that gave me just over 43 miles for the week. I've run 92 miles in October already and I will cross 100 miles for the month on Tuesday, the 18th day of the month. Not too shabby.
I feel a difference. I feel stronger and I can hit mid- to low-8s and not feel like I'm overexerting myself. Not sure yet for how long I can maintain that but I suppose I can toy around with that during some of my midweek runs.
Anyway, I'm on pace to shatter my previous record high for a month. I should get somewhere around 170-180. How awesome would that be?!?
Showing posts with label miles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label miles. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Setting A High Bar
I didn't make it out for a run on New Year's Day. I was kind of bummed about it. The morning saw me getting up late along with Mrs. LB and we got up and went to get the girls, who'd stayed the night at their grandma's. We went over to my mom's immediately afterward, then straight to a birthday party and then... well, by then the day was all but gone.
But it's actually a good thing. Instead of saying that my first run of 2011 was a two-miler, I can say that it's a little longer than that.
I knocked out a 20-mile run. And just to put an exclamation mark on it, I did what blog buddy Lisa suggested, and ran 20.11 miles.
The run was tough. There is such a huge difference between 18 and 20 miles. You wouldn't think that; I mean, it seems like anything above 15 miles would be tough, but my sides hurt much more, my legs were heavier and harder to move after 20 than they were after 18.
I ran with my Lopers group, however, it wasn't all smooth sailing. I ran the first 14.75 with them, and the last 5.whatever by myself. That was the hardest part of the run. Just when I needed the support the most, they were gone! It was my own choice, though. I could have either run earlier or stopped at 15. But neither were options because we all set out for 18 miles, but some aches and pains flared up for others and I was the only one who elected to run further than 15.
The hardest part was going all the way back to our start/finish point and then having to go back out. Oh well. It gave me some mental preparation for Surf City, which has huge out-and-backs along PCH and the paved bike path.
Anyway, in 2009 I ran five miles on New Year's Day. In 2010, I ran 10 and set a high bar each time. On Jan. 2, 2011 I ran 20.11 miles, and while it wasn't on New Year's Day the bar was set high nevertheless.
But it's actually a good thing. Instead of saying that my first run of 2011 was a two-miler, I can say that it's a little longer than that.
I knocked out a 20-mile run. And just to put an exclamation mark on it, I did what blog buddy Lisa suggested, and ran 20.11 miles.
The run was tough. There is such a huge difference between 18 and 20 miles. You wouldn't think that; I mean, it seems like anything above 15 miles would be tough, but my sides hurt much more, my legs were heavier and harder to move after 20 than they were after 18.
I ran with my Lopers group, however, it wasn't all smooth sailing. I ran the first 14.75 with them, and the last 5.whatever by myself. That was the hardest part of the run. Just when I needed the support the most, they were gone! It was my own choice, though. I could have either run earlier or stopped at 15. But neither were options because we all set out for 18 miles, but some aches and pains flared up for others and I was the only one who elected to run further than 15.
The hardest part was going all the way back to our start/finish point and then having to go back out. Oh well. It gave me some mental preparation for Surf City, which has huge out-and-backs along PCH and the paved bike path.
Anyway, in 2009 I ran five miles on New Year's Day. In 2010, I ran 10 and set a high bar each time. On Jan. 2, 2011 I ran 20.11 miles, and while it wasn't on New Year's Day the bar was set high nevertheless.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tres Cosas Jueves
Damn. I did it. I didn't think I'd ever follow the trend set by my rockin' blog buddy Morgan but here I am, blogging about Three Things on Thursday. Well, I changed the title to protect the innocent and to give it a little spin. Nothing wrong with TTT but I just like to march to my own beat, but because of time constraints and because I have to ramble about more than one thing, I decided to join la fiesta (by the way, I'm dedicated an entire blog post to the aforementioned Morgan so stay tuned).
1. End-of-Year Cram Session: I've run 1,327.26 miles in 2010. Unreal! How awesome is that?? What will my final total be? Actually, I'd love to get to 1,350 but that would mean 23 miles in two days and that ain't happening. I might shoot for 1,335. Who knows? Whatever number I end up with will be a personal best and will set a high bar for next year. I will go to the gym on Thursday morning and will probably do intervals, which will get me about four miles. We'll see how much I run on the 31st to close out the year.
2. Year Of PRs: One of the bloggers who really sets a high bar for me is Lisa of Discovering the Meaning of Stonehenge. She's just very workmanlike in the way she puts in her miles, the way she sets goals and how she goes about getting it done. She's a blue-collar runner and I like to compare myself to her. She wrote a great blog post about her year in running and I'm inspired to also mention some of my personal bests in 2010.
I already blogged about all the races I ran in 2010 but I do want to mention the following - I set PRs in the four major race distances.
5K - 23:02
10K - 49:42
Half marathon - 1:55:03
Marathon - 4:37:51
I'm proud of all of them. I like that I set my marathon PR at San Francisco. I don't know that that will happen again in 2011, but you never know. I set a remarkably fast (for me) 5K time that I don't think will get broken soon simply because I don't know if I'll run a 5K anytime soon. Anyway, just wanted to get these thoughts and stats out before the year's up.
3. New Year's Plan: On Jan. 1, 2009, I ran five miles and was happy. On Jan. 1, 2010 I built on that tradition. I ran 10 miles and was happy. On Jan. 1, 2011 I will continue my tradition of running on New Year's. However, I cannot run 10 miles like I'd wanted to. I figured that running double-digit miles on New Year's would be a great way to ring in every New Year from here on out. However, I will run two miles on Jan. 1, 2011. Why only two? On Jan. 2, 2011 I will run 20 miles. So running 10 miles on Saturday and 20 the next day is not something I think I'm ready for. So two miles will have to suffice. Anybody else running on New Year's? I'm guessing if you are, you probably will run more than two miles. If so, run an extra one for me :)
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Lots And Lots Of Miles
This year has been a good year in terms of mileage. I've logged a total of 383 miles, or thereabouts. That averages out to about 31 miles a week and that's sort of my target these days - 30 miles a week.
Now, miles aren't my only motivation. It's nice to get in five miles or seven miles or whatever miles, sure, but it's better to have a complete series of runs each week. Intervals, tempo runs, hill repeats, fartleks and other speed workouts may be short when compared to regular runs, and on paper it might feel like less of a feat - 3.87 miles is less than 6.01 for instance. But your body needs all those types of runs to progress and develop.
Anyway, I've been able to track my mileage using a couple of things. On the web, I use dailymile.com and it's been a great resource. Some of my blog buddies are on there and it's nice to see their progress and their own runs. It's a good motivator - if they're running and I'm not, I feel left behind. The site is great in that it keeps you informed with all of your running and workout details.
Also, I've kept a written log. Of course I'm too lazy to take a picture of it (one of these days I will) but it's a small notebook where I write down the distance and time of each run, and if I can the pace and my heart rate stats.
It's kind of amazing that I've stuck with both for a while since I'm usually horrible at keeping track of things like that. I'm disorganized with a lot of things like that and tax time is usually tough on Mrs. LB since I don't do a good job of keeping tabs on some of my business expenses.
But it's just much more fun when it comes to keeping track of my runs. And it's a bit necessary for me too. I feel like I want to keep myself where I am right now, running at least 30 miles a week, mixing in hills and intervals and tempo runs, as I try and maintain myself in my top physical condition which I think I'm in right now.
Since I'm at about 383, I'm going to crack the 400-mile mark pretty soon. That's quite a distance to have traversed. I'm on pace to run about 1,600 miles this year, which is insane. I did not keep track of my miles run in 2009 but I'm pretty sure it wasn't even half that. I'd guess I ran between 600 and 700 miles last year, if that.
Now that I'm here at this level, running 30-plus miles a week, there's no turning back and no slowing down.
Now, miles aren't my only motivation. It's nice to get in five miles or seven miles or whatever miles, sure, but it's better to have a complete series of runs each week. Intervals, tempo runs, hill repeats, fartleks and other speed workouts may be short when compared to regular runs, and on paper it might feel like less of a feat - 3.87 miles is less than 6.01 for instance. But your body needs all those types of runs to progress and develop.
Anyway, I've been able to track my mileage using a couple of things. On the web, I use dailymile.com and it's been a great resource. Some of my blog buddies are on there and it's nice to see their progress and their own runs. It's a good motivator - if they're running and I'm not, I feel left behind. The site is great in that it keeps you informed with all of your running and workout details.
Also, I've kept a written log. Of course I'm too lazy to take a picture of it (one of these days I will) but it's a small notebook where I write down the distance and time of each run, and if I can the pace and my heart rate stats.
It's kind of amazing that I've stuck with both for a while since I'm usually horrible at keeping track of things like that. I'm disorganized with a lot of things like that and tax time is usually tough on Mrs. LB since I don't do a good job of keeping tabs on some of my business expenses.
But it's just much more fun when it comes to keeping track of my runs. And it's a bit necessary for me too. I feel like I want to keep myself where I am right now, running at least 30 miles a week, mixing in hills and intervals and tempo runs, as I try and maintain myself in my top physical condition which I think I'm in right now.
Since I'm at about 383, I'm going to crack the 400-mile mark pretty soon. That's quite a distance to have traversed. I'm on pace to run about 1,600 miles this year, which is insane. I did not keep track of my miles run in 2009 but I'm pretty sure it wasn't even half that. I'd guess I ran between 600 and 700 miles last year, if that.
Now that I'm here at this level, running 30-plus miles a week, there's no turning back and no slowing down.
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