Back at it...Again

It seems a bit like Groundhog Day, but once again I'm trying to get back into a regular routine of running. Only this time, I've actually gotten out there, four times in the past week.

It hasn't been much, a mile and three-quarters in the longest one. And it hasn't been easy, which makes me a bit wistful of the way I was running last summer, a time when five-miles was a breeze. Of course, I realize that getting out there regularly will eventually get me back to that point, but in the interests of instant gratification...I want to be there now. (In a small indication that I'm progressing, I have lowered my average pace on the 1.25 mile course by 40 seconds or so, from 10'34" to 9'51". It didn't feel that way, though.)

At the moment, I'm concentrating on running just in the local neighborhood, either Old Freehold Road through the Walnut Street School yard, then Walnut Street back to OFR, or up to the High School and back. The weather has been largely cooperative, but we are getting towards the winter months, so I'd like to establish a regular routine before then, because I'm not going to be wanting to get out there when the temperatures are at freezing or below if I haven't.

I'm aiming for a near-term goal of five miles per run, which I should get to by December 1st if I keep this up. Last year, while training for the marathon I didn't run (yet...someday I will, when I can devote four hours on a Saturday to training), I found out about the Manasquan Reservoir, which has a beautiful 5-mile perimeter course around the water. Now, if one could only do it without the assorted other walkers, runners, and bicyclists, it would be perfect. In late spring, I'm going to try again for the Historic Half Marathon, and by try, I mean run the whole thing.

I'm still using Nike+, which seems to be pretty accurate. I've thought about trying one of the other apps, such as RunKeeper, but if it works, why change it. My Nike-sponsored cheerleaders for the first couple of runs have either been Shalane Flanagan or Sanya Richards-Ross.

For a little bit different take on things, check out my friend Roseanne Rappoccio's blog. She's a fellow never-was-a-runner, and has really gotten into it. She says she still doesn't like it, but I'm not quite sure I believe her.

Finally, I've changed up my playlist, too, trying to get a fresh start.

First five songs, old and new playlists:

·         “Armageddon It”, Def Leppard	·         “Out of Our Heads”, Dropkick Murphys
·         “Already Gone”, The Eagles	·         “Sing the Changes”, The Fireman
·         “I Want It All”, Queen	·         “Danger Zone”, Kenny Loggins
·         “She’s A Rebel”, Green Day	·         "If I Should Fall From Grace With God”, The Pogues
·         “Back In The Saddle”, Aerosmith	·         “We Didn’t Start The Fire”, Billy Joel

Week Three - Day Three, Friday, August 2nd.

Two days in a row, this time a short run following a long run. And it felt worse. The weather was quite a bit warmer - I was off for the day, so I allowed myself to sleep in a little later, which means I went out when the sun was already up. And, as I mentioned in a previous post, so was the traffic, so I had to confine myself to the sidewalk for a good portion of the run. I took one of my usual routes into one of the local developments, and on the return leg I decided to take another detour to a different section of my neighborhood. This section had more shade, but also gave me a monster hill at the end, which I wasn't unhappy to climb...gotta get used to them. At the end of my scheduled three miles, there was absolutely nothing left.

Tomorrow is a scheduled seven miles, which - again - will have some breaks worked into it. I did find some validation in Runner's World, which said breaks are NOT cheating, and still allows one to build endurance.

Sanya Richards-Ross was the Nike Pep-Talker, who congratulated me on my effort.

Week Three - Day One, Tuesday, July 30th

Shockingly, it's a lot easier to run in 58 degree weather, than it is in 78 degree weather.  Whouda thunk it?

Owing to the fact that I had to be in the firehouse at 6:30 on Tuesday, it was out the door around 4AM again, a nice three-mile jaunt around the neighborhood. Nothing spectacular, just the regular first short run of the week. I was quite happy with my third mile being faster than my first one. At the end, I intentionally went a wee bit farther, in order to make it a 5K (3.1 miles), just to see if I could beat my fastest time at that distance, and I did.

I am getting a little concerned that the Nike Pep-talkers haven't been showing up lately, except for Kara Goucher or Sanya Richards-Ross telling me to "tap now for a power song" (which is "Danger Zone", by Kenny Loggins) when I'm about a tenth of a mile from my intended goal. I wonder if they think I'm slacking?

The run.