Jim :: Jim's Run

Picking Up the Pace

Posted by Jim on March 22, 2012

The last two days I’ve set out to run a bit faster than normal.

Yesterday’s Run

Yesterday I went to the Chickamauga Battlefield to do some speed training and to get in about six miles of running. I was thinking about doing some fartlek training, but decided to modify it a bit by running 50% of my training time at a faster tempo pace. I set my HRM to 80% – 88% of my maximum heart rate. My training run was 3 minutes of easy running, 5.5 minutes of fast tempo running then 1.5 minutes of walking….rinse and repeat. I ran a somewhat flat route in the park with only a few gentle hills. The tempo runs felt great.

After an hour and sixteen minutes I finished the run of 6.6 miles. During the 1.5 mile walk back to my truck, my calves felt a little tight, but not painful. I’m still a little worried about the calf pain as it seems that at any moment I could pull or tear a muscle. I’m trying to be careful to not push so hard that I injure myself.

My average heart rate for the run was 150 with just over 40 minutes in my targeted heart rate range.

Today’s Run

I woke up this morning feeling great after yesterday’s run. The weather is cloudy, but nice. It’s supposed to be stormy this afternoon and evening, so I decided to get my run in before noon.

I left my heart rate monitor at home because I felt that I just wanted to run without worrying about staying in an predetermined heart rate zone. I knew that this would probably result in a faster pace than normal, but I was looking forward to a somewhat quicker run. I reminded myself that running is supposed to be fun, so off I went.

I chose the church loop to do my run. Since measuring the distance on Google maps, I’ve come to the conclusion that the loop distance is 1/3 mile and not the 3/8 mile that is posted on a sign at the track. This means that I had to adjust the distance/pace of all my past runs at the church. I determined that I would run four miles and continue with my typical 1.5 minute walk breaks every ten minutes.

After four miles I felt great and ran another mile just for fun. I finished the five miles in just under 58 minutes.

[PhotoCredit: Air Beagle]

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Chickamauga Battlefield Run

Posted by Jim on March 19, 2012

I can’t believe how many beautiful places there are to run in the Chattanooga/Chickamauga area. I thought that the Tennessee Riverwalk was my favorite place to run, but now the Chickamauga Battlefield is competing for that top rank. The park was the site of one of the biggest battles of the Civil War, just ten miles south of Chattanooga. The park management has worked to keep the landscaping as close as possible to how it appeared in September 1863. This means most of the park is wooded with a scattering of open fields. Various roads crisscross the park allowing a variety of routes for runners and bike riders. Vehicle traffic is allowed on all of the paved roads, but traffic is limited to 25-35 miles per hour.

Running in the park usually means running in the shade of trees along the road. The terrain is often flat or with some gently rolling hills. And I have yet to run in the park and not see a deer or two, or on one occasion a couple dozen. This weekend I headed over to the park for my weekend long run.

Since I ran 19 miles last weekend, I planned for 10 – 12 miles this weekend. I decided that a run of about 2 1/2 to 3 hours would be about right. I parked near the battlefield museum and started running on the west side of the park. Since I knew about how long I should be running, I didn’t worry about the distance and just took any path that seemed interesting. I figured I could measure the distance on Google Maps when I got home. I crossed the park, ran north on the east side of the park and cut back to the west after about two hours of running. At one point I missed a turn I wanted to make and headed out of the park. I turned around and found the path heading up a hill into the woods. I had no realized from the map I was carrying that the path was really a dirt road.

I was not exactly sure where I was as the path entered the woods, and I soon found myself on the wrong path heading north. After nearly three hours of running, I came out of the woods onto McFarland Avenue which borders the park on the north. I ended my run and walked the mile back to my truck. Total run time was 2:56 and I calculated the run at 12.2 miles.

[PhotoCredit: Rob Shenk]

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Marathon Training By the Numbers

Posted by Jim on March 17, 2012

For anyone who has read more than a couple of my blog posts here, you know that I am interested in numbers. I enjoy playing with statistics and numerical data. It keeps me motivated.

There is a challenge to not become obsessed with the numbers and letting it drive my training. I don’t try to beat my best time on every training run, nor do I feel bad if I miss a training goal. But plugging the numbers into my spreadsheet after every run helps drive me to keep running. As the miles accumulate and the weight drops, I know that I’m getting closer to my goals. So numbers are important to my training. (The above spreadsheet is a screenshot of my training log, in case my love for numbers needs verification.)

I’ve run three times since my last blog post, so let me give you a quick rundown on what I’ve been doing.

I’ve been trying to increase the average distance of my daily runs during the past couple of weeks. Most of my weekly runs (not including my once a week LSDs*) had been about 4 miles. This week I was shooting to average about 4.5 miles for each run. I did 4.3.

On Wednesday I ran 4.3 miles at the Walker County Community Center. This is the crushed gravel path laid out in a 1 kilometer loop. The run was slow at just over an hour. I took a break from running on Thursday to give my calf a rest and went back to the Community Center yesterday. I had hoped to run six miles yesterday, but a thunderstorm burst in the afternoon cut my run short at 3.7 miles. This run was on of my slowest in months. I ran a 14:37 pace.

Today I decided to change the oil in the riding mower and get started on mowing our 5 acres property. I got the main yard done, finishing a little after dark. So my run ended up taking place on the treadmill in the garage. I ran at a 12:30 pace for 4 miles with 1.5 minute walking breaks every 10 minutes. It was a faster pace than my normal run, but I felt great. Tomorrow I will do 10-12 miles at a slow pace.

At the bottom of this blog you can see the cumulative numbers for my marathon training. But for fun I’m going to post them here for you:

Total Training Miles: 317.7
Total Training Time: 69 hr. 35 min.
Total Weight Loss: 14.75 pounds

Avg. Weekly Miles: 16.2
Avg. Run: 4.9 miles
Avg. Pace: 13:09 mile
Longest Run: 19 miles
Longest Race: 6.2 miles

…since October 1, 2011
* LSD = Long Slow Distances

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Five on the Treadmill

Posted by Jim on March 13, 2012

I ran five miles on the treadmill this evening at a moderately slow pace. I was still feeling a little worn out from Sunday’s long run and had to push myself to even get out the door. The run went okay except for one concern. I’m feeling a slight pull on my left muscle (for lack of better wording). It’s not pain and it doesn’t yet hinder my running. But I feel as if it I could end up with a pulled calf muscle at any moment.

I tried to compensate a little with my stride. I found that running off my toes a little more seems to lessen the feeling. Even sitting here now I can feel that tingling in my left calf muscle.

I think I’ll have a chat with my wife (a nurse) and see what she suggest as preventative measures. Then I will look into making a doctor’s appointment to get an even more informed opinion. I really want to avoid anything happening that would keep me from running the marathon. I’ll keep you up to date as soon as I learn more. In the meantime, all else seems right on track for being ready and conditioned for the marathon run.

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Halfway There! Help Support St. Jude Children’s Hospital

Posted by Jim on March 13, 2012

Last night, because of the support of a couple friends, I reached and exceeded the halfway mark in my goal to raise $500 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. I decided early in my training that I wanted to do more than just finish the marathon. The Nashville Marathon had already partnered with St. Jude, so raising money for their research hospital seemed like a great idea. I was even more excited to help when I learned that St. Jude never charges the family for medical services not covered by insurance. And the hospital’s research on children’s catastrophic diseases has helped save the lives of thousands of children.

If you’d like to help St. Jude and help me reach my goal, visit http://bit.ly/jimsrun and click the donate button in the top right corner. And thank you for doing your part!

[PhotoCredit:Ginny]

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300 Training Miles!

Posted by Jim on March 12, 2012

That’s right, yesterday I completed my 300th training mile. Unfortunately I was a little too exhausted to blog about yesterday’s run when I got home. So instead, I checked my email and went straight to bed.

Yesterday’s run was a 19 miler along the Tennessee Riverwalk. It was four miles longer than my longest training run to date, but I felt the extra miles would help me prepare for the marathon on April 28th. I will probably run only two more LSDs (long slow distances) before the Nashville Marathon, running one every other weekend. I also need to plan a 2-3 week taper with decreasing mileage just before the race.

Yesterday’s run started out as usual with me running a slightly faster pace than planned. But after a couple miles under 12 minutes I settled into a comfortable 14 minute mile pace for most of the remaining miles. Instead taking my typical walking breaks every 10 minutes I decided to walk for two minutes after every mile. This seemed to work out okay, although it was difficult to start running again after the last few walking breaks.

My knees started feeling pain around the 8 mile mark, but never became unbearable. The pain even seemed to lessen during the last 4-5 miles of the run. I also had a cramp threatening to develop in my left leg several times during the run, but I was always able to continue jogging until the threat passed.

After 15 miles I started to slow down significantly to a pace between 16 and 17 minutes per mile. It felt like more of a fast walk. That was okay with me. My goal for the marathon is to finish. I will leave the speed records to the real athletes.

As I neared the last mile I saw that I was going to finish a couple minutes slower than my targeted average pace of 14 minutes per mile. So at the 18 mile mark I decided to pick up the pace some and surprised myself with the renewed energy I found. I finished the last mile in just under 12 minutes. This gave me a total time of 4 hours, 21 minutes for the 19 mile run.

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Author Archive for: Jim – Page 2

Picking Up the Pace

Yesterday’s Run

Today’s Run

Chickamauga Battlefield Run

Marathon Training By the Numbers

Five on the Treadmill

Halfway There! Help Support St. Jude Children’s Hospital

300 Training Miles!