Running consistently hasn't been the only achievement

The fact that I've run at least 6 days a week for the past 9 weeks isn't the only thing I've managed to accomplish.  Updating this blog near daily has also been an accomplishment.  Usually, I would keep it up for a little bit then let it slack off.  I hope I haven't been boring you.

Today's workout:
(1W/30sec R)x20, 5W
weather: HOT
distance: ~2.8 miles

Thank you to all who have served

I'd like to take this moment to thank all the men and women who have served our country.

I'd also like to take this moment to thank all who have donated to my MS Ride.  Thanks to one anonymous donor, I reached the minimum fundraising requirement of $250.  Now, thanks to the generosity of more wonderful people, I reached my second fundraising goal of over $500.  I'm not raising my goal, but I would be most appreciative if you would consider donating to me and my team.  If you'd like to do so, please go here.

Today was a restful day in the program.  Normally, I still do a little running even if the program calls for just walking.  Today, I decided to just walk.  This week is going to be killer as it is.

Today's workout:
30W
weather: sunny, hot
distance: ~2 miles

Moving right along

Reached an interesting goal: since beginning, I have walked/run over 100 miles now.  Phew!  I'm tired :-)

Adjusting my day off this week since I know I won't be able to fit in my run/walk on Friday.  The whole week is accordingly moved.

Today's workout:
(2W/1R)x10, 5W
weather: sunny, hot (even in the morning)
distance: ~2.8 miles

Morning is a nice time to run

The past two days, I've run shortly after getting up in the morning.  It's been nice and cool, though still humid.  So I'm still working up a good sweat.  As nice as it is, I still wouldn't do it on a workday.  Since I haven't been to work the past couple of days (took a vacation day and weekend), the time I've been running would be when I would normally been at work.  And since I normally get up to get ready for work around 5 am, there's absolutely no way I would go running before work.  But it's not so bad when I don't have to get up so early.

Today's workout:
5W/15R/5W
weather: cool, mostly cloudy, foggy
distance: ~2.2 miles

Gearing up

So, I think I'm ready for the Tin Man triathalon in two weeks, gear-wise.  I got some biking shorts (which I think will be more important for the MS ride in September), biking gloves, toe clips, water bottle holder and water bottle.  I'm ready, right :-)

Didn't do an update last night because we lost power and it didn't come back on until the middle of the night.  So, you get a double update tonight:

Thursday:
5W/15R/5W
weather: cloudy
distance: ~2.2 miles

Today:
(2W/1R)x10, 5W
weather: mostly cloudy
distance: ~2.8 miles

Kicking it up a notch

Each week from now on, 5 minutes get added to the length of the runs.  Tomorrow, 15 minutes straight.

Today's workout:
(2W/1R)x10, 5W
weather: sunny and hot
distance: ~2.8 miles (longest yet!)

Just the facts, ma'am

Nothing exciting to report today.  Just today's stats:

5W/10R/5W
weather: sunny and hot
distance: ~2.3 miles

I change my view about visors

I never used to like visors.  I figured if I needed something with a brim, I'd just wear a hat like a baseball cap.  But now I really like my visor.  I really like the fact that it keeps the sun off my face when I'm running mid-day.  And my head doesn't get too hot since it isn't covered up.  So, I'd like to apologize to the visor.  You are fantastic.

And by the way, it was hawt today.  It seemed OK when I first started out.  My I was soaked by the time I was done.

It's just going to get worse.

Today's workout:
(4W/6R)x2, 5W
weather: sunny, hot
distance: ~2.1 miles

My main criticism...

of the Nike+ iPod is that the coaching program on the Nike+ website doesn't program the iPod.  Meaning, if I'm supposed to do some program of walking and running one day, it doesn't program cues to tell me when I should be transitioning between the two.  If the intervals are anything other than a multiple of five minutes, I have to keep track on my watch.  Given that the system only goes with each other, you would think that this would be a functionality they would want to program into it.  Otherwise, I really enjoy using it for tracking my progress.

Oh, and I think my knee is nearly 100%.  I'm still using the knee strap during my workouts and for a while after I'm done.  But I'm pain-free.  Whoo-hoo!

Tomorrow is an off-day, so I'll report back Monday.

Friday:
(4W/6R)x2, 5W
weather: sunny
distance: ~2.1 miles

Saturday:
10W/10R/10W
weather: hot (and it was only 8:30am)
distance: ~2.3 miles

A little treat on my run

I varied my route today and found this little gem:

It made me giggle.  And it gave me some motivation as I wanted to take the picture on my back end of my workout.  How did the 10 minutes of straight running go?  Not too shabby.  I felt pretty good at the end of it.  Not winded.  My endurance is definitely better than at the beginning  of the program.  As well it should be.  The main problem is some boredom along the route.  But at least I had the port-a-potty to think of :-)

Today's workout:
10W/10R/10W
weather: mostly sunny
distance: ~2.3 miles

Technology restored

After I wrote yesterday's post, I did some digging online.  Nothing on the Apple website forums was helpful.  But the Nike+ forums were very helpful.  Insomuch as I found out other people were having the same issues.  It was a Nike server issue.  At least it made me feel better that it wasn't something from my end.  And today it's fixed.  So I'm back to being current with my Nike+ website stuff.  Yay.

Today's workout:
(4W/6R)x2, 5W
weather: Mostly sunny
distance: ~2.1 miles

Tomorrow, the longest running interval yet: 10 minutes straight!

Technology is annoying me

I am having trouble getting my iPod data to sync to the Nike+ server/website.  So while I can track what type of workout I need to be doing on any given day, my Nike+ account doesn't recognize that I'm doing anything.  Not a deal breaker or anything, but it's annoying the heck out of me.

I tried a different route today since I knew I wouldn't be doing a lot of running.  This route was much hillier.  And the hills were big.  Nothing I feel ready to be running up and down, yet.

So, anyway, here's today's report:
5W, (1R.4W)x5
weather: partly cloudy
distance: ~2.3 miles

Raindrops keep falling on my head

So, for the first time in six weeks, the weather failed me.  But not so much that I couldn't get the workout in.  It was unseasonably cool today, only in the 60's.  And there was rain today.  Luckily, at lunchtime, the rain limited itself to a hard drizzle.  It wasn't actually too bad.

Today's workout:
(4W/6R)x2, 5W
Weather: cool and drizzly
Distance: ~2.1 miles

Yay me!

Did you miss me?  I spent the last week at Amelia Island for a work conference.  Usually, when I travel, getting workouts in can be a challenge.  This trip was the first one I had to take since beginning the Nike+ program.  So how'd I do? Fantastic!  Amelia Island was beautiful!  And so much better for running around than the airstrip at work.  Beautiful paths with lush foliage.  Walking on the beach.  It wasn't level, but the hills were manageable.  I left on Sunday and returned today (Saturday).  Everyday was beautiful and sunny.  Here's how it broke down:

Sunday: Mother's day.  Travel day.  No workout.

Monday: I had a workshop in the afternoon.  In the morning, our group tried to go kayaking.  They kayak people did not show up to open the facilities on time, so we left after waiting a while.  So we went back to the resort.  And I exercised instead.  And Pat came with me!  He jumped right in, joining me for a run of (4W/6R)x2/5W even though he doesn't do cardio.  Distance: ~2 miles

Tuesday: Free day.  Slept in.  Went for a 30 minute walk (~2 miles), with the last 10 minutes or so along the beach.  Pat came with.  Nice day.

Wednesday: In the conference all day.  Luckily, the presentations went faster than scheduled.  So I was able to fit in a run [(4W/6R)x2/5W, ~2 miles] between the conference and that evening's banquet.  Pat declined to run with me again since his calves were sore from Monday.  Lovely banquet along the intercoastal waterway.

Thursday: Conference all day again.  This time, we did not get done early.  So that, combined with the fact that it was my 10th wedding anniversary, lead to no workout in favor of heading out to dinner with Pat.  But I didn't feel bad since it was a walk day.

Friday: Workshop in the morning.  But I decided to get up early beforehand and go run [(4W/6R)x2/5W, ~2 miles]. Still no Pat on this run. This will never happen when I'm at home.  Given that I already get up at 5am to get ready for work, I am completely unwilling to get up any earlier.  When I get to get up later, not so hard.  Rest of the day after the workshop sent on the beach and by and in the pool.

Saturday: Returned home today.  But I do get up early enough to go for a 30 minute walk (~2 miles).  Pat joins me.  Then we get to spend 5 hours in the car to return home.  Back home to our kids who we missed very much.

I'm very pleased that I was able to wrap up week six of the walk to run program by keeping up with it while I was gone.  Being able to work out in such pretty surroundings made me even less satisfied with the boring-ness of my normal route.  I need to come up with a new route at work.
 

Busy day

Yes! I managed to work in my workout today despite having a very busy day.  We'll see how it goes for the next week...

Today's workout:
5W/(1R/4W)x4/5W
Distance: 2.2 miles
Weather: Sunny.  Very nice

Willpower

So even though I didn't post yesterday, I did do my workout:

5W/(1R,4W)x5/5W
Distance: 2.6 miles
Weather: Chilly!

And I did my workout today:
(5W,5R)x5, 5W
Distance: 2.8 miles
Weather: warmer

So why am I in the need of willpower?  I am going to a conference to work next week.  Traveling always presents a challenge to keeping up with exercising.  And a challenge to eating healthily.  There may some alternate forms of exercising (kayaking, anyone?).  Wish me luck!

On the road again...

Today I put the knee strap through its paces.  I will say that I wasn't completely pain free.  But it was a huge improvement.  I wasn't in nearly as much pain at the end of the run.  And the recovery was much quicker since I continued to wear the strap for the rest of the afternoon.  So onwards.

Today's workout:
(5W/5R)x3, 5W
Distance: ~2.7 miles
Weather: A little chilly, especially for May (oh, and May the fourth be with you!)

Cleared for take-off

Instead of doing my workout at lunch today, I went to the doctor to see about my knee.  For over a week now, I've had pain on the lower inside of my left knee.  And the odd thing is that it hurt less when running than when walking.  It didn't hurt when weight bearing.  It hurt when I picked up my foot from the ground.  I wanted to get it checked out to make sure I didn't have some sort of major damage and see what I could do since I could already tell that the pain was altering my gait.  I don't want to do any more/different damage due to pain in my left knee.

Very helpfully, the PA I saw at my doctor's office has gone through a similar circumstance.  And the knee is not really made for running.  And injuring a knee can take a while to heal.  She had knee pain and she was able to work through it.  And she was optimistic I would have the same experience.  So, with a brace and some anti-imflammatories, I am cleared to continue on with my training program.  If it doesn't clear up in about a month, or gets worse, then I'll go back to the doctor.

On my way back to work, I picked up a brace.  It was OK, but didn't seem like it would be the best during working out.  Stopped at Dick's Sporting Goods on the way home and picked up a knee strap.  I can already tell a fantastic difference with the strap.  So we'll see how it goes when I run/walk tomorrow.

Catching up

Don't take my lack of posting for lack of activity.  I've just been busy.  Went to Savannah with the family so L could compete in a Taekwando tournament.  He got 2nd in weapons and 3rd in forms.  Then we spent some time at Tybee Island and had dinner at The Lady and Sons (Paula Deen's restaurant).  That was followed up by a trip to Savannah Candy Kitchen on River Street.  So we had a full weekend.

I got my walk/run in on Friday after getting up ultra-early to watch the Royal Wedding.  Because I'm a sucker for that kind of thing.  But I went out after that for (3W/2R)x5/5W, ~2.4 miles.  Because I was running around my neighborhood, it was much hillier than my usual work runs.

Then we were gone for the weekend.  I decided not to work out.  Both to enjoy the weekend away.  And because my knee has been hurting.  I wanted to have a little break and rest the knee.

Then back into it today.  It was an escalation of run time.  Today's workout was (5W/5R)x3/5W, ~2.8 miles.  And the knee still hurt.  And I could feel my right leg compensating.  So I'm going to go get it checked out.  I've had other aches and pains.  But they've all resolved themselves.  The knee hasn't.  So I'm going to stop being a hero about it.

I probably won't get the workout in tomorrow.  Especially depending on what the doctor says.  Stay tuned...