Week One - Day Two

Have I mentioned that I'm starting this training program in the middle of a heat wave? 79 degrees at 0645.

Today was a scheduled run of four miles, and I wanted to get out early because of the heat. By "early", I was thinking somewhere around 0530, but my brain said getting up then on a day I don't have to be in work was not what it had in mind.

The route was up Old Freehold past High School North, with the original intent of just going til the app told me I'd hit two miles, then turn around. Around a mile and three-quarters, I made the impromptu decision to detour into a local development, and ran around that for about a half mile, then back down OFR. When I got to Lilac, I hung a left, and used the decline to rest up, hoping (and failing) to finish the run before I got to the corresponding hill at the other end of Lilac towards Mapletree. (Of course not.) Not til I got to OFR and Mapletree did I reach the end. I walked the rest of the way home, another 15 minutes, to cool down. Heart rate immediately post-run was 172, then 132 at about five minutes.

Today's pep talker was American marathoner Kara Goucher. British marathoner Paula Radcliffe told me I ran my fastest 5K to date.

Making progress.

Today's run.

Week One - Day One

This morning was my first scheduled run of the sixteen week program. A short run, it was "only" three miles. It seemed much longer. Not because I couldn't do three miles - I just did that the other day, and could have gone more than that had time considerations not been a factor.

No, today was more difficult because of the weather - which, admittedly, I am going to have to get used to, as I've said before - with a heat index approaching 90 at a little after 0800, and because I screwed up on the way I went.

Today was a new route, right in the neighborhood of my firehouse. I chose this area since it would mean I could immediately go out after getting relief this morning, as well as a place to shower and change when I returned. My other option in Bayonne was to go to Stephen R. Gregg Hudson County Park, but that meant a delay in getting out on the road, and the way the day was heating up, I didn't want to wait.

Using the mapping option on Nike+, I figured from the firehouse, if I ran to Broadway, turned right and headed to 1st Street, made another right, taking me to John F. Kennedy Boulevard, then up to West 4th Street and back to the firehouse would be about 1.6 miles. I set the app on my phone to a distance of 3 miles and out I went. The plan was to go the way I did, since the decline (or going the other way, the incline) on Broadway from around 2nd Street to 1st Street would be and the gradual incline from 1st Street to the 4th Street on the Boulevard would be easier than the incline going up Broadway in the opposite direction.

Ah, no.

Not only was the climb about as tough going up the Boulevard as it would have been going north on Broadway, but it was longer. And being that it was just paved, I felt like I was baking on the fresh asphalt. And there was less shade, which I am finding out on days like today is a precious commodity. I find myself altering which side of the street I'm on, just to take advantage of the trees. To somebody who may be following me, I'm sure I looked quite confused.

Towards the end, right on the incline on the Boulevard, I got one of those meant-to-be-inspirational "go get 'em!" statements from one of Nike's sponsored athletes, this time from Sanya Richards-Ross, who implored me to give it a little extra over that last tenth of a mile, while simultaneously getting pumped by "Danger Zone", by Kenny Loggins. Maybe it helped, I don't know. I just wanted it to end, period.

Run completed, I got an attaboy from Tim Tebow...*sniff*

The details on today's run.

What Training App to Use?

In yesterday's post, I displayed some of the stats from my run last night. I'd like to display an actual map of the course, as well as more comprehensive numbers, but unless the reader is a subscriber to Nike+, and also a "friend" of mine on there, they aren't going to be able to see it for themselves. It does display to Facebook, which I could probably link to from here, since most people who'd read this here are going to be my friends there, anyway. That would take care of the map, but not much in the way of stats.

Several of my friends are using MapMyFitness, and still others are on RunKeeper. I'd like to pick one app that would work well, instead of spending the first minute of any run starting three different timers, which will skew the numbers (four if you include the Garmin watch Kim gave me for Christmas).

My cousin Rose's husband Jay pointed me in the direction of linking the MapMyFitness app to the Nike+ one, but if you click on an individual run on the MMF site, it doesn't seem to load the individual run's information correctly. Or maybe I'm just doing it wrong.

Also, does any one app seem to work better than another, as far as accuracy? So far, Nike and the Garmin watch can have as much as half a mile and 30 seconds in pace difference over the three, though both use GPS technology. Nike also said I did 14.1 miles in the Marine Corps' Historic Half Marathon, which would probably be news to the race organizers, I would think.

Suggestions are welcome.

Update, July 17th: I've found that if I go to my Twitter feed, where I also share my runs, I can find the link to a specific run there. So for now, the plan is to copy-and-paste the link and repost it here. 

Sixteen Weeks

Yesterday was my last pre-training run, a total of 30 minutes, plus ten or so for cooldown. The Non-Runners Marathon Trainer says I should have had two weeks of four thirty-minute runs each to this point, but...that didn't happen.

On to the training plan. Tomorrow is the start of the sixteen week plan, which will take me to the Marine Marathon on October 27th. Four times a week I'll be getting out there, for two short runs, a medium run and a long one. The longest runs are scheduled for the last Saturday in September, and the first Saturday in October, 18 miles apiece. Of course, it would be the weekend we leave and the weekend we return from the Outer Banks. Why wouldn't it?

Tomorrow is a short run for three miles, which I'm planning to do as soon as I get out of work, right in the area of the firehouse.  Early in the day, when it's still (somewhat) cool. The humidity is still going to be high, but that looks to be the case for the summer. Might as well get used to it.

Last "Pre Training Run"

Went out this evening about 1830 for a scheduled 30 minutes of running, going up to High School North, short turn onto Bey Lea and a u-turn in the parking lot of the OCVTS, then back down Old Freehold Road to home. Hit the 30-minute mark just at the corner of my street, so I walked the rest of the distance to my house, while waiting for "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins to finish playing, having selected that as my "power song".  Have to see if I can adjust when I can play that to the last five minutes of a run, as opposed to the last minute of a run.  Might work a little better.

While on the subject of music, some work is needed on the playlist, since I have been using the same one now for at least four months or so. It's getting a little old. The first nine songs of the playlist, which is about where I am at thirty minutes:

• "Armageddon It" - Def Leppard
• "Already Gone" - The Eagles
• "Land of Confusion" - Genesis
• "I Want It All" - Queen
• "She's A Rebel" - Green Day
• "Back in the Saddle" - Aerosmith
• "Side of a Bullet" - Nickleback
• "Bicycle Race" - Queen
• "Invisible Touch" - Genesis 

Two songs by Genesis and two by Queen in the first half hour might warrant a review, I'd say.

This evening's stats, according to Nike+:

• Total time: 33:56 (includes almost four minutes of cooldown)
• Distance: 3.1 miles
• Average Pace: 10'44" per mile (though I was averaging around 10 per mile, if you exclude the cool down walk).

Additionally, British pop star Ellie Goulding, who is apparently quite a runner herself, tells me I ran my fastest 5K, in 32'41". (Well, she didn't tell me personally. It was one of those prerecorded messages that the Nike+ app plays to cheer you on and make you feel like you did something.)