Cool morning, hot run!

Woke up early this morning, and decided to take a run. Did a 5K in just under 34 minutes. It was nice and cool outside, but I sweated hard. I'm really trying to keep my legs in shape leading up to the Tower of terror 10 miler this coming weekend, but trying not to overdo it!

Kicking it up...

I kicked it up a notch last night, running 10.12 miles on a path through my neighborhood. I started out just after 7pm and did my first mile at a really fast (for me) pace of 9 mins 51 secs, then slowed down a bit and averaged around 11.5 mins per mile for the duration. It got really dark, really quickly and I soon regretted not bringing a flashlight or wearing more reflective clothing. Luckily traffic is very minimal in my area and running in the direction of oncoming traffic helped me avoid any mishaps. I had hoped to finish out a half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles, but with the darkness and late hour I couldn't justify 3 more miles. I hope to finish up a 13.1 miler before the end of the week though, to serve as my entry into the NerdHerd Banned Books Week 5k/Half Marathon virtual event.

The pain lies down...

After taking a short recovery break from my recent injury at work, I got out and ran today. I did a 5.75 run around my neighbourhood at a reasonably slow pace, averaging around 11:51 per mile. It wasn't as painful as I had expected, though the arch of my right foot is feeling a little odd...I must have been compensating for the injury to my left leg a bit too much. Tomorrow I'll be biking if all goes well, then later this week I'll be doing a 10-miler with a friend to test my readiness for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler which is now just a few weeks away! 

It never fails!

Fate is a cruel and winsome wench. Just when I really start advancing my mileage, and just 4 weeks out from the first of 3 major running/cycling events I'm participating in, I get injured. And not from running or cycling, from a stupid work-related training activity. On 9/11 I sustained a major injury to my upper left leg which has left me sore and stiff, and extremely bruised. Walking is uncomfortable, and running is painful. I've been trying to stay off it and rush the healing process but only time will tell. At this point I have under 3 weeks until I head down to WDW for the Tower of Terror 10-Miler...here's hoping I can get at least some running in this week and get back in the swing of things.

Pushing the limits...

Yesterday I set out on a run with the goal of doing at least a 5k. I ended up doing 9 miles...I just couldn't seem to stop! It was great and was just a mile shy of my upcoming RunDisney race. Now I know I'll be fine when I head down there, which helps a lot. Today is a rest day, tomorrow  I'm going to try for at least 10 miles, perhaps longer!

Happy Birthday Harry Potter 10k

Yesterday I ran a 10k (6.2 miles) as a part of a virtual race series put on by NerdHerd. It was a blast! Today I'm running in Elon and hoping to get in at least a 5k or better!

The Slow Bounce Back...

As some of you may have noticed, I've been a slacker during the month of August. The weather here has been awful, super hot and muggy with lots of nasty rain and thunderstorms. I haven't run since the month started and here we are closing in on September. So today I forced myself to get out and hit the ground running...heat and all. I went for a 5k run at Hagan Stone Park in Pleasant Garden, NC...it was hot, muggy and I could really tell I hadn't run in a month. I did 3.26 miles at an average pace just under 13 mins per mile. I had to take a few walking breaks, but I think I did ok overall for my first day back.

I recently registered for a series of online races, wherein I run a 5k, a 10k and then a Half Marathon at my leisure. I send in my times and get recognized with an uber cool set of medals for participating. The group that sponsors the races, NerdHerd, gives all the proceeds to StupidCancer.org. A worthy cause, and since I'm out running anyway to prepare for my RunDisney events, I figured why not get something cool at the same time to continue filling my medal rack. I sent in my time for the 5k using today's run, and plan to do the 10k sometime in the next week or so if all goes well.

So, I have about 35 days until I head to Disney for the Tower of Terror 10 miler, then 7 days later I head to Washington, DC for the Ride & Run to Remember...I've challenged myself to run a total of 60 miles in September to help prepare myself. Hopefully I will meet my goal and be well prepared for these upcoming events!

Wheelin' and Reelin'

Got back in the saddle today, so to speak. I've been spending a lot of time running of late and had been neglecting my bicycles a bit...so today I went out to ride in Greensboro. I started out on the Guilford Courthouse National Military Park road, then veered off into Country Park and did their circular park road, then back into GCHNMP and finished up their loop before turning off onto the Yadkin & Atlantic Greenway. I took it all the way to the end, and then circled back the way I came. I had hoped to venture off onto one of the mountain bike trails, but they were all closed due to mudslides resulting from a heavy storm that ripped through the area yesterday. So I returned to my starting point and did another lap around GCHNMP and Country Park to finish out my ride. It ended up being 17.52 miles, although honestly it didn't feel that far...I could have kept going but I was back near my truck and really wasn't feeling the idea of re-riding the same circuit again. I really need to get up to Galax again and ride the New River Trail...it's long enough that I don't have to worry about riding the same section more than twice on any given trip.

Pushing the limits!

Today I woke up and decided I'd try a morning run...I've always run in the afternoon or late at night, never in the morning. It was still reasonably cool outside when I started, but my legs were feeling really stiff and sore. I trudged along at a nice slow pace for a mile and then locked into a pattern of walk .25 mile, run .75 mile for the duration. I challenged myself mentally to exceed my maximum distance to date with a goal of 6 miles. I ended up running 7.02 miles and keeping an average pace of 12:24 per mile...not bad if I do say so myself. I really felt like I could have gone a little further today, but my route brought me back by the house and I always have such a hard time going on after I see it sitting there, calling out to me with cool air conditioning and magical snacks of power. But sometimes giving into temptation is a good thing.

Today's run put me at 48.49 miles this month...with 5 days left I think I'll be surpassing the 50 miles per month mark, which has me smiling from ear to ear. I would have never thought a year ago that I'd be running 50 miles a month.

Tomorrow I plan on biking and then Sunday I'm planning to do both a run and a ride...we'll see how it turns out!

Moonlight Bootlegger 5k

Last night I ran a 5k trail run...in the dark. Yep, doesn't seem like the smartest plan but I had a great time. The course was challenging and well marked with glowing lights, and the moonlight was nice and bright. I ran it in a decent time I think, coming in at 35: 12 and placing 106th out of 216 participants. I placed 11th out of the 19 in my age group, which I don't feel too bad about...I was only about 10 minutes off the fastest guy. I hope to make this an annual event, as it was lots of fun.

Slow down, cool down.

After pushing myself just about as hard as I could during the last 7 days, I took a little break Sunday...I only rode 20 miles on my bike. No running, in an attempt to let my body recover a bit. Monday I went out for a 3.5 mile run around the neighborhood, but did no bike ride. Yesterday I slacked completely and did nothing but some walking during my regular workday...I regret that already, I missed my Nike+ Fuel goal for the first time in 9 days. So today I'm working a half day and planning on going for a run and a bike ride before heading out to see one of my favorite bands, Toad the Wet Sprocket, play a show. Still going to try and take it a little easy though, as I have the Moonlight Bootlegger 5k coming up on Friday night and I want to make sure my body has enough energy to complete it in good time!

Feel the Burn!

Today I continued with my stupidity, thinking "why would I need to take a rest day, I've only logged 50+ miles this week between my rides and runs?"

I took off after lunch for a quick mile run to keep my legs feeling loose and ended up doing 5.59 miles. I ran the first mile, then alternated walking and running every 1/2 mile for the duration. I think I probably would have gone much farther had I not wound up back in front of my house. I'm finding that running in my neighborhood (and biking for that matter too) is somewhat counter-productive, in that I run out of places to go without doing laps which I find to be inherently boring.

So, after a somewhat healthy dinner I decided to go for a bike ride to keep up the action and ensure I met my Nike+ Fuel goal for the day. I ended up riding 11.5 miles, which puts me at a total of 49.19 miles in the saddle this week. Add that to the 18.74 miles I've run and I'm just shy of 70 miles this week. I plan on riding tomorrow if all goes well, in hopes of surpassing the 75 mile mark for the week. I'm not sure my knees can take another run, but knowing me I'll probably do it anyway.

Raiders of the Lost (in the) Park

So this morning I decided I needed to go out and buy some trail running shoes. I've been doing some runs on the trails at local parks and after my experience running the Vineyard Stomp 5k I was getting a bit nervous about my footwear for the upcoming Moonlight Bootlegger 5k...so I went shopping. After looking around a bit at several stores I settled on a pair of New Balance 411v2 trail running shoes. They're stylish and felt good on my feet, and appeared to have all the rugged gripping devices I would ever need...and at less than $60 I felt they were just what I needed.

Now, I'm a sucker and a glutton for punishment. That's a given. So what do I decide to do after buying my new shoes? Break them in, of course. So I went out to a little wooded walking trail near one of the churches near me and went for a few laps. Clearly no one had used this trail in a while and I felt a bit like Indiana Jones coming through a cave filled with spider webs...I was covered from head to toe in webs by the time I finished a mile long run. Disgusted with the spiderwebs, and the generally boring terrain at this trail I packed up and rode a few miles down the road to Hagan Stone Park. I told myself I'd run a 5k along the Chatfield Trail, with which I'm fairly familiar. But, trying to be adventurous, I decided to run the trail in reverse from my past experiences. First mistake. I also decided that the rain wasn't that bad and it'd be ok running in the woods. Second mistake. Needless to say I got hopelessly lost at around the 2.5 miles mark and ended up coming out of the woods onto the service road. At which point the bottom let out. I got soaked, and ended up only getting in 2.75 miles, the last .25 miles of which I walked on pavement fearing damage to my new trail shoes. 

But, at least I got in almost 4 miles today. Hot, wet and bug-filled miles, but miles nonetheless.

On the road...by default.

So I finally broke down and bought an in-rail bike mount for my Toyota Tacoma. I'd been putting it off because Toyota wanted almost $200 for one that works with my internal bed-rail system. After much searching I found that Rocky Mounts made a compatible part an I got one ordered through the magic of Amazon.com the other day.

This morning I got it installed and hit the road intending to go for a trail ride. I arrived at Guilford Courthouse NMP and rode the 3 miles down to the trailhead for the Blue Herron trail...only to find it closed due to recent rains. So I rode another mile down to the Owl's Roost trail...same story. So I ended up doing 12.4 miles along the paved greenway instead.

It was a nice ride, but not what I'd planned...here's looking to drier weather soon!

Give me Fuel, give me fire, give me that which I desire!

Been awhile since an update, lots going on at home and at work and I've been inherently lazy since returning from the beach. But, I'm back on the wagon so to speak and I've logged 7.2 miles in the last 3 days...a 3.1 mile run and a 4.1 mile run. And I've been tracking my daily activity with the Nike+ Fuel Band to help get an idea of my overall activity level from day to day. Of course, working night shift I feel I'm a little off my game, but I've met my goal of 3,000 Fuel Points for 3 of the last 6 days, only missing it by 39 points yesterday. I find the Nike+ Fuel Band to be very motivational...I keep up with it throughout the day and it reminds me to take the long route and actually move about a bit more as I go about my daily business. I have some time off coming up over the next few weeks and I hope to log a lot of miles both on foot and on the bike...plus I have the Moonlight Bootlegger 5k coming up on July 19th...very excited about my physical fitness prospects for July!

The Dog Days of Summer

The heat arrived a little too early for my tastes. Since I got back from the beach I've been inherently lazy, although I'm not sure that's the right word since I've worked every day...I just haven't done any formal workouts. I have however run several times at work, and in my opinion a short 10 minute run with all that gear on counts for at least triple that amount in running shoes. So I don't feel awful about my inactivity. I plan on running Friday, biking on Saturday and then running on Sunday if all goes well...and the weather cooperates. 

Beach Time!

Enjoying a nice beach vacation! I ran yesterday and found that my gps powered run tracker did not like the highrise hotels along the beach...so back to Nike+ for some of my tracking needs. 

Today I skipped the run and played a round of golf with my dad instead, and did lots of waking on the beach and various shopping areas. 

Tomorrow, I plan to run again!

Fun in Forest Oaks

Last night I went for a run around the Forest Oaks neighborhood. It was relatively warm out at 79 degrees, and I had little sleep yesterday...I wasn't expecting much, but I knew I needed to keep plugging away since my week had been rather light on physical activity. I was surprised when I finished to find I logged my fastest 5k ever, averaging just under 12 minutes per mile and finishing the first 3.1 miles of my run in 36 minutes exactly. I was very happy with myself. I also weighed in yesterday at 162 lbs, which is my lightest weight in over a year...still a long way to go, but I'm pleased.

This morning I put the feet to the pedals and rode a nice long ride, finishing 16.05 miles in touch over an hour. I averaged 15.2 mph throughout the very hilly course I chose, and that's pretty good for me...especially considered I ran a 5k less than 24 hrs earlier.

This coming week I'll be exploring some new running locations while I'm on vacation, sadly the bike isn't going to make the trip...but that's one less excuse to run, so it'll be good for me.

Mud Run!

Well, not really a Mud Run, more like a trail run through nothing but mud. I ran the Chatfield Trail at Hagan Stone Park today...it's been raining a lot lately and the course was just one long mud pit. I still managed good time, with an average pace under 13 mins per mile over the 3.76 mile course. I've felt guilty for not running or biking so far this week, and for logging so few miles last week...I plan on running or biking again later today and then trying to run on Friday and Saturday. With my switch back to night shift, running on working days is going to be harder to achieve.

National Running Day 2013

In honor of National Running Day, I hit the pavement in the neighborhood after work for a nice run. It was hot, it was muggy, and the darkest clouds I've ever seen threatened to unleash their nightmares upon me. But I pushed onward and accomplished a first for me...I ran 3.54 miles. Without any walking breaks. This is the furthest I've been without using the Galloway run-walk-run method. I kept a decent pace, despite some massive hills along my route, and I'm very pleased with myself. If I can, I hope to ride tomorrow evening after work and then run again on Friday...pushing myself even further.