A Penguin in the Orchard

Posts tagged running log

Runkeeper activity.

85 F, 93 Real Feel®, 55% humidity. Moderately tough run. Seemed much more humid than 55%. Felt awkward for much of the first half, though periodic self-checks were all good. Focused on Lakeside and the 17:00 mark, and made it through. Was pretty wiped out at the end of the run.

Big Thing(s): Kept visualing turning the corner from Lakeside onto Nevada. That got me down Lakeside and through that difficult 17:00 mark. Wasn’t so good about visualing after Nevada.

Little Thing(s): First 5:00 was at 9:47 pace. Brought the overall pace down by 20 seconds over the run.

I think a slight strategy change is in order. My original strategy was to increase time by 10% per week. The new plan is to increase by 10% and stay there until I’m comfortable at or below the target pace for 3 consecutive runs - then bump up 10%.

Runkeeper tracking.

This was another good run, though the weather left a bit to be desired. 81 F, 85 RF - it was humid.

I seldom really warm up, and I tend to start slow. That was the case today. I tried to stay steady throughout the run. Didn’t hit any real walls, but did consider walking again on Lakeside. The first half of Nevada was tough, too, but I knew I was within 5 minutes of finishing.

Big Thing(s): I left myself some room in the first two five-minute splits to improve in the last twelve minutes. I came in at a 9:08 per mile pace, on a 9:20 target. Most of the margin over the goal was in the last half.

Little Thing(s): First - Gov’t Mule, Dave Matthews, Pretenders, Rolling Stones, Kilborn Alley Blues Band in the playlist. Second - I think the reduction of my coffee intake throughout the day is starting to pay off. I don’t think it’s necessarily that I’m consuming less caffeine, rather than I’m replacing the coffee with water. I’ve felt pretty well-hydrated over the last week of runs.

I’ll have another 22:00 on Friday morning, then hope to move to 24:00 next week.

Runkeeper tracking here.

I’m moving the run log from the old format at steidler.net, and combining the narrative I’ve been posting in Runkeeper. That’s in an effort to keep everything in one place.

There probably won’t be a lot of startling insight here. I’m just a 50-year-old man who came back to running after a 26-year hiatus filled with cigarettes, fatty foods and sedentary jobs. But, I do want to capture the runs and the thoughts of any other runners who might venture or stumble this way.

This was another good run day, though not as easy and freewheeling as the Saturday run. I had to work a little harder at it. The heat (83 F, 83 RF, 65% humidity) was a factor. I’m finding out this year that I’m less tolerant to the heat than I assumed. Overall, though, I found a reasonable stride early on and was able to maintain a pretty consistent pace throughout. My target pace is 9:20. I stayed in that ballpark for the full run, finishing at 9:16.

Read More