Running Again?

It's only been 2-1/2 years since I've posted last... After running 4 times in the last 10 days (and a friendly reminder from a friend) I figure it might be time to resurrect the blog. Definitely need a new picture of the boy. The goal is to get back to a reasonable running routine, take of some weight, and hopefully get to the point of thinking about another marathon.

Resurrection

Well, it's pitiful how long it's been since I've posted on this blog, or run with any consistency whatsoever. In fact, I went 44 days without running a step. However, this past week I managed to drag myself out for a 3.5 mile slog, and have gotten in equally painful runs of 3 and 5.3 miles since then. Let me tell you, a lot of fitness is lost with 6 weeks of no running. I'm hopeful that if I manage to string together a few weeks of consistent running that I'll get back into the swing of things and regain my fitness relatively quickly.

Speaking of running, the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon is on 7/4 and I really, really need to get off my butt and change over to the half marathon from the full. If I can make it even THAT far. Maybe I'll go for a PW instead of a PB.

Let's see, other news... our chickens are doing great, getting bigger all the time. They pretty much have free run in the backyard during the day, which is nice for them but a bit messy. Good fertilizer for the lawn but not the patio! The cat seems to be afraid of them, luckily. Our garden is doing well, although I'm regretting not planting any green beans this year - think it's too late to put some starts in the ground? We had a bumper crop of strawberries and blueberries, and the rasberries are slow and steady. Tomatoes and zuchinni have a long way to go though, but I guess it's not even July yet...

Where Have I Been?

The interesting thing about a running blog is that it's hard to write about running when you don't do any running! I feel like "Bless me Father for I have sinned. It's been over a month since my last blog post". I think when I last checked in here I was anticipating the Eugene Half Marathon on April 29. Well, that actually went better than I expected it would. 1:39:42 was the official time and I was happy to get it. I was halfway thinking before the race that I would run the first 10 miles at target marathon pace (8:00) and then pick it up over the last 5k if I was up for it. Of course I quickly abandoned that objective shortly into the first mile, as I always do, and put together a string of miles in the 7:20 range (after a slow first mile dodging runners). I didn't feel so great the first 2 miles but then felt okay for a good chunk of time. Then, my lack of mileage since the Tokyo Marathon reared its ugly head and it was a struggle from about mile 9 on. Still, it was faster than I thought it would be so I was happy, and being a part of the inaugural Eugene Marathon weekend was a lot of fun.

However, since then I've really been at a low point as far as motivation goes. I keep reconfiguring my marathon schedule, and then ignoring it and skipping runs. Running once a week does not make for a good marathon training cycle. So, I will likely run the half marathon on July 4th instead of the full, and hope my motivation comes back for a fall marathon.

A little more consistency...

I've managed to get two 5 mile runs in over the past few days so I think I'm getting back on track. The efficiency is definitely off - I think my long-lasting cold had more of a fitness impact than I thought. I should finish this week with 35 miles or so, and hopefully continue to build for a while. The half marathon is a week from Sunday and I'll be curious to see how my training goes between now and then. My best time in the half is 1:35:59 and I can't imagine coming anywhere near that but I hope to make a decent showing anyway. I'm glad to be getting more frequent running in because I was missing all of the data analysis that goes along with it (heartrate vs. pace, average pace per mile per month, etc.). Despite loving to analyze all that, I have yet to figure out how to hook my Garmin up to my pc.

10 Miles

Today was a beautiful day in Portland and I took advantage of that to get a nice 10 mile run in. My heartrate was pretty good but my legs could definitely feel that I haven't run much mileage since Tokyo. I managed 9:03 pace with an average HR of 149, so I don't think I was going too fast but I will likely run a bit slower as my long runs get longer again. I'm planning to alternate long runs with fast-finish long runs (ala McMillan) for my July marathon training.

Back in the Swing of Things

I'm starting to feel like my old self again, with 3 runs in this week and a long-ish run planned for tomorrow. I didn't feel super great on my runs this week but I could definitely feel some fitness still there and I'm hoping I'll be back to normal in a few weeks. I have a half marathon coming up in Eugene, OR on 4/29 that should be a lot of fun. My parents lived in Eugene for 7-8 years so I have a lot of good memories from visiting them there. I'm not expecting a PR in the race but it will be fun anyway. My main focus is building my mileage back up and getting my marathon training in gear. Plus, spring is finally here in Oregon so it's so great to get outside and run in the nice weather.

In unrelated news, our chicken coop is nearly built (well, we have a ways to go but made a lot of progress today). I need to figure out how to post pictures in here so I can show the coop and our chicks that we got 2 weeks ago and they're now about 3 times as big as they were. We're calling them Rhoda, Diddy and Ruttager. Rhoda is a Rhode Island Red, Diddy has puffy cheeks (get it? Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy) and Ruttager just because we needed a Simpson's reference in there somewhere. Ruttager is all black so Black Bart was the alternate name.

Ahhhh, Running Again

Wow, that was one long cold virus. Just about 4 weeks (I'd say I'm 90% recovered at this point). I guess that's one way to take a 2 week break from running! Actually, by the end of the 2 weeks I was sort of not looking forward to running. But, 5 minutes into my run on Sunday and I remembered why I love it. Must be those endorphins or something. Anyway, I managed 3.4 miles on Sunday and 3.5 miles today, so hopefully it won't take me TOO long to get back into the swing of things. I'm going to have to do a major overhaul of my training plan for the July marathon, but it's far enough away still that I think I'll be okay. I'll have to spend a good chunk of time getting back to my pre-Tokyo fitness but I should have some time to improve upon that (barring any major setbacks). I'm psyched to be back at it!

Sunday: 3.4 miles, 8:23/mile, avg HR 153
Tuesday: 3.5 miles, 9:07/mile, avg HR 147