The Life Ledger

Fitness is a way of life.

Well I’m dropping something down to let y’all know how it went. Don’t worry I’ll try to give more details in another post, as well as a picture of my number. But ya, I broke 24 minutes. That wasn’t an official goal I set for myself, but the fact is I usually run my normal runsat about an 8 minute mile.

Few quick things I can mention though…. And it’s probably good for other people to think about. For all my talk about running being a solo activity and testing yourself, it’s damn harder to do in person. Looking around there were lots of people in quality gear all appearing to be in great shape. It’s hard not to compare yourself to others. For all my noncompetitivenature, I was getting nervous. In fact I about psyched my self out with all the tension building up without a focus .

And I think that affects a lot of people. Whether it’s your first time or first in a long time, there is that sense of public scrutiny. How you handle that anxiety is another matter : raw self-confidence, pride, vanity, frugality, or whatever. Something that will get you to toe the line, waiting for the gun. For me, it was a little pride and vanity. I had brought along my cheerleader, my beautiful wife, and there was no way I was going to back down in front of her. Especially for fears that seem silly even in my own mind.

Pacing around at the line, I jockeyed for position. Didn’t want to get too far in front or too far back. Once the race started, all the built-up tension was focused and flowed out of me into my running. Sadly, it left a little present behind. Lactic acid in my arms. People may not think your arms get much of a work out while running, but proper and more efficient form uses the movement of your arms. By a mile and a half, my arms and shoulders were killing me. I had kept them so tense waiting for the race to startthat they were worthless. They hurt so bad I’ll even admit I walked 4 times, for about 5 seconds each time, because of the pain.

As is obvious from my numbers (60 out of ~250 and 7:43 min miles) it goes to show that you should NEVER go on appearances. You, and they, might be surprised as you pass them by before the end of the race.

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Hey all. So tomorrow is the race.

I’ve got to say, I’m getting excited. Nervous ya, cause I haven’t raced in a long time. But excited too. When I ran yesterday to keep loose, per the Ipod I was hitting 1:50 quarter miles. I have no idea how that’s happening. But its encouraging to say the least. And I’m pretty much as prepared as I’m going to be. It’s more going to be a matter of running smart.

Running smart. Bet that sounds a little strange. If you’ve never done it before, running in a race is completely different than anything you can do on a treadmill or by yourself. Sounds like a good article for next week.

Just wanted to give a shout out to Adam Hansen of the Yippie Show and Marcel Janus of bone187 for marking us as a favorite on Technorati. If you haven’t done so yet, go a head and get it in tonight. I’ll check in the morning before I go out the door. And in case you forgot, the deal is I’m donating 5 $’s for each person who tags us as a favorite before the race. I’m glad to be donating 10 dollars so far but my wallet’s bigger than that. And two names aren’t going to cover much space on my number.

And I’ll describe more tomorrow or Sunday after the race, as well as posting a picture of my number. While I don’t need beauty sleep (wonderful side effect of being married), I do need sleep for the race. Waddle on.

So to get ready for my race on the 21th, I decided to put in a long distance run last night. Got home from work, laced up my shoes, grabbed the ipod, and out the door I went.

And about killed myself.

I ended up sweating out 2 pounds and decided to walk the quarter of the mile back to the house. All because I had forgotten a cardinal rule for running : Only increase your distance about 10% each week. While my record on here shows a progression of 2.5 miles and 3.4 miles, but I’ve been running the 5k distance, or 3.11 miles, before my karate classes. That gives me about 9 and half I’ve been running weekly for the past few weeks. By running 4.25, I need to keep right at 3 miles for my other 2 days this week.

The reason for this rule is to prevent a hard shock on the body. By increasing your distance by more 10%, a runner doesn’t usually get enough to time to properly recover. Heck by increasing your distance or exercising to hard you can actually end up losing whatever benefit you were attempting to gain. If your exercise drains you so much you can’t do your normal activities later, you’ve reduced the overall amount of calories you could have burnt for that day.

So for myself, I’ve got to re-learn old skills and not be an idiot. For our readers, push yourself to sensible limits. By flirting with those boundaries you are able to expand to do and accomplish. Waddle on.

My run today was great. I wandered off the Greenway’s a ways, and followed a dirt trail for about 10 minutes. There is something to be said for running trails. Besides the feeling being alone with your thoughts, the uncertainty of the ground can strengthen your ankles. Flowing over the ground lost in the music on your player. I love running to ska or punk. For those would like to try trail running, I would suggest taking a partner for safety. It’s something that takes abit to get used to, and in my case I would only have to push through 50 yards of woods tops to get help. If you do decide to run some trails there are some tools that can help you track where you go.

In fact this run wasn’t for getting ready for my race. I specifically kept it slow in order to get loose, and warm up my body for sparing that I knew was coming in karate. After 15 minutes of bull in the ring, I am officially a brown belt. Boy am I tired… Time to soak the feet and relax for awhile. Not that I mind, it’s a beautiful Spring day here.

And spring is here in full force. New green as far as the eye can see. And Yellow. As if a huge bag of cornmeal had burst open, dusting everything. On the cars, windows, roads. This past Tuesday oak pollen created clouds so dense they looked like smog hanging over the highway. While my white running shoes are bit yellow after today, my sinuses amazingly don’t seem to mind.

One of the most noticeable benefits brought on by my weight loss is the change in allergies. Before I used to be congested from March to May then September through October. Weather changes meant breaking out the sudafed or other drugs, buying so much bet their stock went up a tick. And even then the drugs didn’t do what was expected. What should have wired me, knocked me out. Nyquil seemed like sugar water.

So allergies was one of the primary reasons I started my running in winter. Contrary to what my wife may think, winters here aren’t that bad. Hat, gloves, and decent sweatshirt take care of most days when running. Only a few required me to break out a ski mask. And I had been able to get about 3 months under my belt before the seasons changed and the yellow dust started to replace the snow. I can remember running up a hill, realizing I was following a 2 inch wide bare spot in the trail and surrounded by pine pollen. 20 minutes later I was home, and still no reaction. It was great motivation to keep it up.

I still get hit a little now and then. Rapid weather changes for instance and one tree that I haven’t tracked down yet. But it’s no where as bad as it has been. Walking to the car, I don’t flinch seeing it yellow tinted. I just smile and think about when I should wash it. Waddle on friends.

So today was my first run outside for awhile. Beautiful morning, when I prefer to run, and a nice cool 55 degrees out. The only “complaint” was that I was without tunes - My ipod wasn’t charged. So for most of the way I had to listen to the birds sing. If all off life’s problems were that Horrific. Laugh

But it was a good run, down around the Lake. Running on pavement is worlds different than running on a treadmill. While the health benefits are there for both, actually moving in the world and being able to see the distance you’ve traveled gives a better sense of accomplishment. It’s a more tangible thing, at least to me. Pull up google maps, and I would be able to trace it for you.

Another detriment to running on a treadmill is that the numbers fib to you. The speed setting might be set to 7.5 mph (8 minute mile) but given how you run, you can be moving quite a bit slower. Being 6′ 3″, I just lengthen my stride. And when both feet are off the ground the track just goes by underneath.

The last and most important difference, to me, is the texture. You can feel the difference when it comes to running on pavement, sand, “trail”, and even the treadmill. Each has its own give or softness, its own resistance which is something different. In fact someone who is used to running on pavement can be slower if they try to perform the same on sand, or trails. Your body has to learn. So to prepare for my race, I have to run on roads and pavement since it has been awhile.

Which leads me to today’s numbers. Didn’t wear a watch, but in feeling my pace the first 1.5 miles was cruising right along at an 8 minute mile. After that I slowed down to a 10 min mile. Which isn’t bad. But slower than my personal goal right now.

And in case anyone wants to donate, visit here to donate straight to Habitat, or follow the instructions here for me to donate in your name. Have a great day, and to those that run, waddle on!