Running in Columbus, GA

I took some time to add links to the blogs of people I follow on Twitter. The ones with podcasts are marked with an asterisk.
I think that the secret to enjoying Twitter is to find the right users to follow. I’ve been really lucky in that I’ve managed to follow some very interesting people who come from different states, different countries, have different outlooks on life and politics etc, but share some of my interests. Nearly all of the people I follow on Twitter are runners, triathletes, cyclists, or swimmers.
Despite the long run yesterday I feel pretty good today. Some days I’m really sore after a long run, but not today. I might do a short run later on.

My wife’s car is in the shop for some sort of Johnson rod issue, so she’ll be driving mine to work at least through Thursday. That means I’ll be cycling to work Mon-Thursday and maybe even Friday. And what that means is that I  need to have all my crap there today, so I can have clothes ready for when I arrive on my bike tomorrow morning. Wearing a shirt and tie really sucks, but I totally understand that me wearing shorts, running shoes  and a tank-top (even a wicking, technical tank-top) would be unprofessional.  So I have to have 5 dress shirts/ties/slacks/ etc and assorted belts/shoes/socks/towels  ready.

Food. I’m not a vegan, nor am I a vegetarian. I do my own cooking, but I’m pretty limited by both time and really limited by my cooking ability, so I tend to eat a lot of pasta and a lot of peanut butter sandwiches (peanut butter on dark German bread). It’s possible that I’m addicted to carbs… but it dawned on me yesterday that I haven’t eaten any meat in a very long time. On the other hand, I’ve probably eaten 10x my weight in pasta.

21.15 miles, new route since I needed to be home by 7:30am.

You know, you hear stories all the time about people having upset stomachs and having to find a toilet during their runs…but you think, “it will never happen to me“. Well, it happened to me this morning about 13 miles into my run. I’m not a math guy and certainly my math skills are impaired when I’m running, but I could instantly figure out to the second how long it would take me to reach the McDonald’s just up the road.

Can’t really pinpoint anything in my diet or hydration that would have caused it.  It’s been 20 years since the last time, so maybe I was just overdue.

The route was cool.  Probably the nicest part was the 6 or so miles on Milgen Road. One asshole drove past (the other direction, thank God) doing about 90mph. However, there were a few drunk hotties riding around in cars early this morning whose motivational antics more than made up for that one guy.

If I had any guts at all, I’d run 11.9 miles tomorrow so that I could be at 1000 miles for the year.

“Continuous effort — not strength or intelligence — is the key to unlocking our potential.” -Liane Cardes

That quote is so true and important on so many levels. Often just putting one foot in front of the other makes the difference between success and failure. There were times I’ve wanted to quit (OCS, Ranger School are good examples) and I’ve said, “I’m going to quit first thing tomorrow morning.” Then tomorrow arrived… and I no longer felt like quitting.

Running is like that too. If you can run 10 minutes today, run 11 minutes tomorrow. Run 12 minutes the next day. Eventually you’ll be up to 4 hours of running, or 5 hours, or whatever. What matters is that you’ve been persistent and your body has adapted.

Here’s a good one: I read this article on General Petraeus in Runner’s World. One of the things he did fitness-wise (aside from running 5-minute miles) is that after his run, he went to the pullup bar and hung, then raised his legs until his feet touched the bar. So the next morning at the gym I tried it, and I couldn’t do it. Not even close, and it was comical- I’m glad I was by myself. But every morning at the gym I kept trying it, and after about 3 weeks I got to a point where I could do 5 sets of 8 of these as part of my strength circuit:

Video: Body Curl sets at the gym

OK, so after all that motivation, on Wednesday I biked to work and back; should’ve run but got into procrastination mode.

Just trying to come up with a plan for next week. The logistics of riding to work…

Monday: Drive, bring clothes for Tues, Weds, Thurs + towels

Tues-Thurs: ride bike to work. I’m enjoying the bike ride.
Fri: Ride to work, take all my crap home.

Oh yeah… run M-T-W-Th  maybe even throw in a lunch run. Not sure about Friday yet. May take that day off and then do 18 or 20 on Saturday.

Kinda brutal 20-miler this morning. Felt great up till about 17 miles, maybe 18 miles, then the bottom sort of fell out. Combination of heat (74) and humidity (85).  I haven’t checked my Garmin but I think I averaged somewhere around 9:30 for the last 10 miles. Overall, though, it was OK.  First long run since turning 50 last weekend!

Oh- on my way OUT to Fort Benning I must’ve seen a dozen or more soldiers heading north from Fort Benning on the riverwalk.  It’s always very cool and extremely motivating when I get “hooah’d” by one of the guys (or gals). Very very motivating. And as someone who still has a Ranger Tab someplace in his house, I feel compelled to give a “hooah” back at ‘em every now and then. Like I say, it’s very motivating.

I took a photo last year on my birthday (or near it) and thought I needed to add one this year as well. I’m wearing a cap, fortunately, otherwise the sun would reflect off my bald head

Monday: 3 miles

Tuesday: 7.2 miles, then biked to work & biked home from work. I have an old Nishiki Tri-A bike that I bought at Arnold’s Bike Shop here in 1988, so that’s what I’m riding. Bill fixed it up for me a year ago and I’ve ridden it occasionally since then. Still love the bike.

Riding to work: not so bad. Kind of fun. It’s 5 miles from my house to where I work (Brookstone Office Park) and the route is pretty safe. Coming home at +/- 6pm is a little more tough but still, it’s only 5 miles. It’s as tough as I want to make it, I think.

The hard part is the logistics of having clothes at work (I wear a shirt and tie at work), showering, having food, etc… Got lucky yesterday when I was able to get a ride to Starbucks at lunch…but I think that I can ride to work 3 days a week pretty easily.

So why am riding my bike to work? I think it will help my leg strength, and I can use some more of that for sure.

Had some great customers at Below The Knee this weekend. Very motivating! A soldier who I helped when she was in OCS, and at BOLIC II, came to visit with her husband who is just finishing up at OCS. She will make a great officer and so will her husband- it’s pretty easy to tell. And she will know about running & running shoes, just from what I put her through on her visits!

Also, 2 local runners who get to the Riverwalk earlier than me on Saturday, and that’s saying something, came by to look at shoes and they were talking about some trail runs they had done… Got me to thinking that I might have to try one. There is one coming to the area in December that I might sign up for.

Finally, a new customer from Fort Benning came in today, and she was very motivating- I was on the verge of committing to some lunch runs again next week and she pushed me over the edge, so I’ll do a few and try to hit 50 mile weeks again in July.

I’m sort of rebelling against the training plan I’m on, so I needed a kick in the butt this weekend. Glad it happened.

I follow Josh Cox on Twitter.

Yeah, I know… 12 miles isn’t really a long run… but it was, sort of, in the schedule I’m following. It was supposed to be 14 miles but I rested a bit last week and didn’t want to kill myself this morning. So it wound up as 12 miles at a very easy 9:20 or so pace.

I move into a different age group category as of Sunday, so I definitely want to get a run in on my birthday, even if it’s a short one. I’d like to set a couple of goals for the new year as well, and I’ll think some up today.  Maybe finish out the year with 2000+ miles? I’ll just have to think about it.

I’ll try to post some photos tomorrow on my birthday.

Well, I ended up with 215.9 miles for June, which was a few over 200.  And I’m healthy, no injuries or anything… so it worked out.

In the Runner’s World Challenge, the South ended up winning.  There were runners posting some really impressive numbers. My 215 was decent and something I should have been doing all along, but look at this thread to see some really impressive mileage! My hat is off to “onemorestep” who posted 515 miles!

Seems like all I’ve been doing lately is work, run, and sleep.

Wednesday: ran twice

Thursday: knee was killing me, took an unscheduled rest day. Had strong pain on the medial side of my right knee.
Friday: 5.2 mile early morning run. Knee was a tiny bit sore, so I cut the run short and slowed down.
Saturday: 15.5 miles on the Riverwalk, starting at 6am. 7.75 miles out, then a faster return trip. I think my return splits were around 8:30. Somehow I fuxxored the Garmin by touching the LAP button, so I have one mile split that’s only around  .3 miles, and that in turn screwed all the splits up. Knee problem wasn’t an issue.

Had a great day at Below The Knee. Lots of runners came in, including some very regular military customers that I hadn’t seen in a while.  Trey also came in with his wife and she found some new shoes.
The last marathon I ran, I ended up just under 4 hours, so it was about a 9:00 average pace. I am trying to shoot for a slightly faster pace on my next one… I don’t think I can manage an 8:30 pace for 26 miles, but I think I can do 8:50 or so. I like to just hit a pace and then stick with it. I chose 9:00 last time and could have gone faster.  By October, November, December (in cooler temps) I might be able to whittle it down some more. The heat here is sort of an ass kicker.
I may run today. My weekly mileage total so far is 44.6 and my month so far is 207.1.