A Good Group

I got a chance to run this morning with a group out of a White Bear Lake store, Run, Swim, Tri. My past experience with running groups has always been lackluster in terms of experienced runners. This group was all above average to experienced distance runners, so it was nice running with a group where the average distance today was 10miles. I look forward to future Saturday morning runs with them.

10 miles@ 8 min pace. 156HR

Pumping Hard

Not feeling much better about HR today with a easy 3miler. Tried to take it easy, but blinding snow in the eyes made it a little difficult to concentrate.

3 mi @ 9 min pace. 160 HR

My Christmas Gift

A good gift for a runner, and it's the only thing I asked for, a Heart Rate Monitor! So today I took it out on a run for the first time. My high and low limits were set at 124-162, which sounds right for my age. My AVERAGE heart rate was 169 bpm. That's crazy! For how long and the amount of running I do, I hope this is wrong or I need to see the doctor. Last night my resting heart rate was 52 bpm which is pretty low, so there is a wide margin to account for. I will keep playing with it and hopefully be on a better path.


6mi @ 8:07 pace. 169 HR

Getting Cold and Getting Strong

Freezing is more like it! The past couple of years have pampered us here in the north country with little snow and mild temps before Christmas, however this year mother nature is reminding us Minnesotans where we live. I ran 8 miles yesterday starting at sunset with the temperature at about zero and ending around -3, felt good during the run and was plenty warm.

Currently I am working on building a good base of easier miles as I work to increase my mileage during the cold days ahead. I have been running a lot of miles inside on the treadmill while incorporating strength training with weights. From here out I will run three easy days (Mon., Wed., Fri.) inside while strength training and my longer runs (Tues., Thur., Sat.) outside on the road.

I am really focusing right now on just increasing my mileage at a comfortable pace, hoping to get a heart rate monitor for X-Mas (greedy) so after the new year I can start running with an idea of how hard I am working.

My goals are set to start training for Grandma's Marathon on March 4th this coming year.
Time to redeem myself!

Fall Update

I've been on hiatus, hopefully I can keep updated with my running a little better. As the fall comes to an end I fell pretty good about my results. The Whistlestop Half Marathon was Oct. 13th, my training consistency was very up and down with no regular schedule. I had a very tough time following my training plan, I was able to follow my schedule in regards to my long runs and my hard and easy days. However I focused more on just getting in distance and running furlaks and tempo verses track workouts.

The race itself when fairly well. The starting temp was a balmy 40 degree. I focused on starting out easy and letting the run come to me. Around mile 3 I let loose and got into a good tempo. It was a fun race, I basically ran 7:30 mile pace. I was in good control of my running, and breathing came very easy. I really didn't feel like I was pushing hard, but I was running fast!

I finished the race with a chip time of 1:42:14, which is a new PR for me! My pace was 7:49 overall which I am happy with the fact that I wasn't very confident in my training.

As for now I have been taking it relatively easy the past few weeks averaging 20-25 miles a week and doing some strength training in the gym. This spring I plan on redeeming myself and running Grandma's Marathon with a stellar result. I will need to get back on the horse here pretty soon and figure out my training schedule and start increasing my mileage. Here's to winter running. Cheers!

Keep On Keeping On

Last week started out brillant and faded to black. I was above my planned milage going into Friday, however I ended up being out late Friday and Saturday evening. I enjoyed a few drinks each evening, which isn't the norm for me and the body doesn't recovery the way it use too.

My good week running really tapered off into the weekend. Saturday morning I ran a 5k with a time of 21:10 and really didn't push to hard. I was a bit tired and just kept a moderate pace with a easy start. Sunday I planned on a morning 13 miles. I got out at 8am on a beautiful morning, so beautiful I thought to myself, I would love to sit on the porch with my family and have breakfast. So that's what I did. After a couple miles I turned back and said to myself that I would do 10 miles in the evening. Breakfast was wonderful, I made blueberry waffles and enjoyed the morning. We had a full day including a birthday party for my 4 yr old niece and by the evening, after being on my legs all day, I was cashed.

I didn't get my miles in and I didn't make them up Monday. I just looked at my schedule today, ran a few extra miles and kept on keeping on.

More Miles the Better

Gettting into week three of my trainging schedule and I already missed a workout. Well I tried to get in my track workout yesterday, however it's football season again and it's hard to find time to get onto the track at the college near my office when it's free. So I ended up doing 8 miles last evening near my house, which I am fine with. My legs were a little stiff, but I put in a moderate effort and I personal would rather be running more miles right now verses speed workouts which my training calls for. If anyone out there has better advise, I am all ears.

Good Stuff

Back on my game and into a good routine. Finished this week with 36 miles which was my goal and managed to take an extra rest day, which I didn't need or plan, I just didn't have time to get out for a easy 30 minute jog today with work. But that's pretty awsome to be focused again, injury free, feeling good and running strong. Running so strong that this training plan is easy to handle.

Training Started

The first week of training isn't going as planned. For the most part I have had a poor running routine lately. I wanted to get healthy and have a strong second half of the year. However I know I need a lot of work at this point, because I don't feel strong. A light month on running has really effected my fitness level and I should have been doing some light weight training and core workouts. On the bright side I am working hard on getting back in the swing of things, increasing my mileage and I plan to improve my strength.

It is still very hot and humid in St. Paul which hasn't let up for a month. Today's 6 mile run was supposed to be 4 miles at threshold with a easy warm up and cool down mile. It basically turned into a light 6 mile jog in the 93 degree heat. Oh well... hopefully the heat makes me a more efficient runner.

Holy Hotness

Well it's officially to hot to run in the middle of the day. I pride myself on running in any weather condition, like the subzero temp with the 20 below windchill this past January. That's easy I can just put another layer of clothing on. Now that it's 90 degrees and very humid, what am I supposed to do, run naked. I wish. Yesterday I ran an easy 5 miles in the middle of the afternoon and I thought by the end I was going to start seeing things. I can handle the heat, it is the mixture of the high humidity that was taking a toll on me.

Saturday I ran my first longer distance of 10 miles since my knee is feeling better. I felt awesome and was able to run hard for a good hour. The week off really helped my knee. I feel good getting back into my usually running schedule. I can still feel discomfort in my knee, however it doesn't hurt after the run and I feel strong when running.

This and next week will be 30-35 mile weeks and I will start my half marathon training on August 6th which gets me right into 40 mile weeks again which I feel good about. The last couple of weeks have been good recovery weeks physically and mentally. Again I will be doing most of my training around my house in Hugo and in St. Paul's Mac-Grove neighborhood. I also made a link to my upcoming training schedule.

A Change In Direction

Three weeks from Grandma's Marathon and two weeks into training for the Whistleshop Marathon my knee and shin are not getting any better, not to mention motivation. Resulting in a change of plans and refocusing my attention to the Whistleshop Half Marathon.

The last week I have had a real hard time getting excited for the 16+ mile runs ahead. Focusing on the half is right up my ally and working on speed over endurance will help me prepare for faster marathons next year. It will also be nice to have a few more weeks to rest before I start my half marathon training plan.

I would like to shot for a 7:30 pace for the half marathon as my Grandma's Marathon goal pace was 8:00 minutes, which was a little to aggresive. At the shorter distances I have been able to hold faster paces easiler with a 10K PR of 42 minutes and working on a faster pace for the half will hopefully carry over into next spring.

A good day to start

I thought today would be a good day to start my running journal. I finished my first marathon a little over two weeks ago and have already started training for my next marathon on October 13th. I suppose I should first introduce myself. I 29 and live just outside of St. Paul, MN. I have been married for 3 1/2 years to my wife Lisa and we have a 1 year old boy, Carter. I have been a self proclaimed runner for the past 5 years averaging 20-25 miles a week and have finished 1 half marathon (Grandma's) and 3, 10 mile races (TC 10mile, which is the Twin Cities Marathon equivalent to the 1/2 marathon). It has been a natural increase to running my first marathon this spring and I have averaged 35-45 miles a week and topped out with a 54 mile week while training.

I really enjoyed working toward Grandma's Marathon, even though the race didn't go as planned. I originally was aiming for a 3:30 finish, however I did my long run three weeks prior to the race in Duluth. I finished the run and hit my goal split times perfectly but I was dead tired and would not have made it much further. So I adjusted my goal and was just looking to have a good race. Anyway race morning came and after the first mile I looked at my watch hitting 8 minutes right on the dot and every mile after was the same. As a marathon nubbie I just couldn't pull back, I figured I would give it my best and see what would happen. I ended up in the medical tent at mile 22 after struggling for a few miles. My blood pressure was 95/70 and the outdoor temp was 88 degrees, I was plain dehydrated. After a litter of fluid I got back in the race (walking) and finished 5:29. My first 20 miles were in 3:00 hrs and my last six were 2:30.

Today is the start of my second week of my new training schedule. I did a track workout out by my parents home. I jogged two miles to the high school to workout on the track. Less than halfway through the workout a sever thunder storm came blowing in. The wind picked up fast and I took cover over under the stadium concession stand. The rain came down fast and hard, I had nowhere to go except wait it out. Thirty minutes came and went, luckily I was able to stay dry, however by then my legs were tight and cold so I just made it the effort to get home. If you don't watch once in awhile, you can't believe how hard it can actually ran.