On tonight's episode of "Treadmill Running"

I'm not a person to "need" headphones when I workout, but in a gym I find them very, very good to have. Well, tonight I forgot them and I'll take it as a lesson learned to always remember my headphones.

Anyway, tonight I had planned on running 5 miles on the treadmill, but it just wasn't going to happen. Headphones make treadmill running much easier, but without them it's just dull. I did pull out 3.5 miles with a half mile at a 7:53 pace and four quarter-mile intervals steadily faster. The last one was in a 6:58 pace. All told I actually ran 4 miles today since I got in a half mile with my dog earlier. I closed out the night at the gym with 1.1 miles on the elliptical machine.

Now that I've gone to the gym a few times, it definitely feels normal. I can't believe it's something I have never done before. I think there are so many assumptions about who goes to gyms, but none of them are true. All sexes, genders, races and weight classes are well represented where I go. With the gym moving in a couple of months to a nicer facility, I'm sure the crowd of all faces and body types will continue to grow.

The DREADmill isn't so bad ... not yet anyway

I was almost at a point in which I was going to have to take a "starting over" approach with running. But tonight I prevented that. Instead of starting over, I can comfortably say "I'm back."

I never thought these words would come out of my mouth, but I hit the treadmill tonight with anticipation. I went away having the best run in a long time. One thing I plan to use the treadmill for is speed work, so tonight I did several quarter-mile intervals as part of a 5-mile run. After a warm up, I did two quarters at an 8-minute mile pace (with quarter-mile breaks at a 9:13 pace) and then two quarters at a 7:30 pace. Then after a half mile at a 9:13 pace, I mixed it up so much that I lost track of what I did exactly. That's one drawback of not having a Garmin to help me out on a treadmill, but at the same time it's nice to end a workout trying to figure out what I just did.

Hitting the 5-mile mark is a great milestone as well. It's my longest run since the Rock 'n' Roll Half, easily beating out 4.1 miles on Oct. 5. I've had several runs between 3 and 4 miles, but I've had no urge until tonight to even think about 5. It's nice to do it in the middle of the week too. I get wrapped up into thinking I'm too busy to run much in the week, but I know how much of an excuse that is.

I didn't join the gym to do much treadmill running, but it was much better tonight than I thought it would be. My goal with the gym is to mix it up a lot, but tonight I just wanted to run. Even though I wasn't going anywhere, it worked out pretty well.

I'm glad that I didn't have to work my way back to a workout like this. I've said it already, but joining a gym is one of the smartest things I've done in some time. Had I not done this, darkness would have been an excuse and I would have ended up only having a walk with my dog as my exercise for the day.

One day, two events ... no gold

One thing that is remarkable about some of the Olympic athletes, notably the swimmers this week, is how much they'll do in one day. Well, I must be inspired by what's happening in Beijing because yesterday I did two things that left me wiped out at the end of the day.

I'll first start with a tree replacement. In my backyard there was a waste of a tree. I think the previous owners put it up last year to spruce things up a bit to try and sell the house. Well, in the almost year that I've been here, I've seen this thing slowly die. So with the good news this week that I got a job, I've decided to do a few things around the house before I have the excuse of having a job. One of those things is replacing this horrid tree.

Since I couldn't drive to my backyard to try and pull it out with my Escape, I basically had to dig around this tree and slowly work my way underneath it. It was quite an adventure. Once I got it out -- probably a little more than an hour's work -- the rest felt simple. You can see with the before and after pictures that there are a few new flowers around the replacement tree -- a crepe myrtle -- to spruce things up a bit. Now comes the fun part of keeping it all alive.

This was a great cross-training effort and in any normal day, this probably would have been it for me. But since I had decided earlier this week to run a 4-mile evening race, my day was only half done.

After a brief nap in the afternoon, and drinking lots of water, I ventured across Richmond to the Moonlight 4 Miler. This was the first race I have ever done in the evening -- there aren't too many of those out there.

The "Moonlight" name is a bit deceiving, as most everyone actually finishes before the official sunset. Fortunately, though, there was an almost-full moon rising as the race was going on. Plus it was cloudy, so that helped things.

There's really not much to report on this race. My time was 32:49, just over an 8-minute mile pace, putting me 99th out of 235 runners. The course was fairly hilly, but I managed to keep an even pace throughout. I felt like I was pushing myself, but it seemed like I couldn't go any faster than what I was going. I felt like I kept thinking about it too much. In my head I was coming up with some good excuses for why I wasn't going faster: I'm mostly a morning runner; I preformed a tree replacement earlier in the day; I hadn't ran a race in more than four months; my feet were still getting over one too many runs in my old shoes ... you name it, it was probably going through my head.

Despite those thoughts, I'm actually pleased with everything. It'll go down as a PR, but mainly because it's only my third 4 miler ever, and the first in almost three years. I know I can do better than this, but it'll go down as a solid speed workout. This was a good tune-up for the Rock 'n' Roll Half, which is a little more than two weeks away. It felt like it had been way too long since I was in a race, so it was very worthwhile getting that experience of starting with a large group of people, pacing with other runners and trying to finish strong. But never again will I do yard work on race day...


Workouts since last post
Aug. 14: Run - 4.6 overall
Aug. 15: Walk - 1.7

8 on 8th in 2008

When is a race not really a race, yet dozens of people participate? How can I finish several hours before others, yet still be a middle-of-the-pack finisher? Or how can someone finish 10 minutes in front of me, yet I beat them by two minutes? When is there an event in which I can use a fast mile time from earlier in the week because of very relaxed rules? And why would I be doing my long run on a Friday? Welcome to the world of virtual running folks.

Today is the third or forth virtual race put on by Non-Running Nancy, but it's the first I've been able to participate in. The rules are simple -- run 8 miles sometime this week. Those miles can be fast or slow or combined. For me, for the purpose of having a decent finishing time, it's a mixture of all three.

For me, today's 8 on the 8th started a few days ago when I ran a 7:25 mile. I HAVE to include that mile as part of my 8 for this race. It's just too fast not to. The rest of my miles came as part of a 10.1-mile run today. For me, this was like three runs in one -- part of it was a race. I kept thinking of how many people are actually out running 8 miles today because it's 08-08-08. Part of it was just a long run of 10 or more miles. It was my second double-digit run in as many weeks. And lastly, part of it was getting some speed work in as part of a long run. Speed + distance = a better racing experience in a few weeks.

Including my mile from the other day, my official race time for "8 on the 8th" was 1:05:39, an 8:12 pace. Had I known I was so close to an 8:08 pace, I might have pushed it a little harder in some parts. This time included a mile with my dog in 7:55 -- probably his fastest mile to date. I then had a two-mile tempo run of 16:18 along some rolling hills in my neighborhood. After a cool down, I logged an 8:10 mile with a few loops around a couple of soccer fields in a nearby park. After another cool down, I struggled to an 8:33 mile while dodging tree limbs in the same park. After taking the next 1.5 miles pretty easy, I did a half-mile interval in 3:51. I ended my long run with a couple of quarter-mile intervals in 2:01 and 1:49. To get the fastest time possible in 8 on the 8th, I added together two of my half-mile cool downs for the "final" mile, which was just under 10 minutes.

As confusing as that all sounds, here's a simplified look at my speed workout today as part of my long run: 1st mile in 7:55; miles 1-3 in 16:18; miles 3.5-4.5 in 8:10; miles 5-6 in 8:33; miles 7.5-8 in 3:51; miles 8.5-8.75 in 2:01; and miles 9.5-9:75 in 1:49. Adding it all up, that's 6 miles of speed work today. I'm mostly pleased with my times, especially my last quarter-mile interval.

I want to thank Nancy for organizing such a great event. And I want to congratulate all the finishers of this awesome race. There are so many of us who have never met that are taking part in this race, and it's a good feeling to be a part of it as the Olympics get under way this weekend. We may not win bronze, silver or gold, but we'll have the pride to carry around that we finished 8 on the 8th!

30 seconds

Same time, same place ... only this time I ran a mile 30 seconds faster than two months ago.

Injuries are interesting. With my tail bone injury, I wasn't put to a complete stop, but I had to cut back for a couple of weeks and I had to really slow down. So when the first of this month rolled around, I was a bit worried about doing my "mile test" -- a simple thing that I decided to do at the beginning of each month this summer. My first test was June 2, when I ran a mile at close to all-out effort in 7:55. It's worth noting that my overall run that day was 3.2 miles. The next test was July 1, with an improvement of 7 seconds to hit 7:48. My overall mileage that day was 3.7 miles.

This month's test was delayed a bit to get my long run in this weekend, and my timing was off a bit with my runs last week. So I decided to wait until today to do it. When I started I had this feeling that I started too fast. But instead of slowing down, I felt like I kept the same pace for the entire mile. When my watch hit the mile mark, I was shocked and very happy that it read 7:25. I felt even better that I maintained the same pace and that I didn't want to throw up at the end. My overall mileage today was 5 miles.

To have the feeling that I could've kept going is one of the goals of doing this mile test. It's not a 100 percent race-pace effort -- it's a push-yourself-almost-to-the-max effort. To improve 30 seconds in two months with an injury in between is a success for me. I think a couple of months ago I would have loved to have shaved off a minute, but I'll take what happened today.

I avoided any other speed work today because I'll be doing some sort of tempo run Friday to have a decent time in Friday's 8 on the 8th, which will turn into my long run for the week. For those interested in doing something related to 08-08-08, I suggest that you take part in this event. Of course you don't have to run 8 on the 8th -- it can just be sometime over the weekend. You can run it as fast or as slow as you'd like. My goal is to just make it part of a 10 or 11 mile run, with a tempo of 3-4 miles thrown in.


Workouts since last post
Aug. 5: Walk - 1; Run - 4.2
Aug. 6: Walk - 1; Run - 5 (7:25 mile)

Slowly, but surely ...

One of the worst things about my tail bone injury is how limited I feel to do certain things. Sitting in a car is difficult; lifting weights is very limited; setups are out of the question; doing the plank is uncomfortable; I can't ride my bike. ... Oddly, running has been going great, although the injury forced me to really slow down.

For the first time in a few weeks, I did some speed work today and each interval felt like I was running into a wall. I've been doing some speed bursts with my dog in the past couple of weeks, but nothing serious enough to call a speed workout. I've intentionally ran more hills lately just because I haven't felt like doing intervals or tempo runs. Today I did two-half mile intervals -- 3:45 and 3:50 -- and two quarter-mile intervals -- 1:53 and 1:56. I'm happy to stay under the 8-minute mile pace considering the way the past two weeks have gone, but it felt miserable today. The weather has a lot to do with it -- it's hot and humid and temperatures are expected to be in the mid- to upper 90s all week with no end in sight. I was also pretty tired too thanks to my dog barking for no reason at all at 6:30 a.m.


Here's a recap of what I've done since my July 12 fall:
July 13: Walk - 2.1
July 14-20: Walk - 14.7; Run - 11.6
July 21-27: Walk - 8.3; Run - 21.3
July 28: Walk - 1.1; Run - 3.2
July 29: Walk - 1.5; Weights
July 30: Walk - 1; Run - 4.5 (with intervals explained above)

Paint me some speed, please

After three days of painting, the last thing I wanted to do this morning was go running. But I did anyway and ended up doing more than I originally planned for. I wanted to get in some kind of speed work despite feeling tired, so I set out to do four quarter-mile intervals. Instead I did six ... and then I tacked on a half-mile interval at the end. It wasn't pretty, but I got it done.

My times for the quarter miles, with quarter-mile breaks in between, were: 1:51, 1:55, 1:56, 1:55, 1:57 and 1:56. These were done in my neighborhood with a few rolling hills. I was tired, but I was consistent. I would have liked to have been in the 1:45-1:50 range, but I'll try them again when I don't have paint fumes lingering in my head. My half-mile time was slower than I hoped, but I was still satisfied considering how I felt. Plus it was unplanned, so I can't really complain about being a few seconds slower than I would have liked. My time was 4:03. All told I ran 5.2 miles today, including 1.1 with my dog.

With a little more than 7 weeks to go to my race, I'm now realizing how important it is for me to get some good runs in with times better than 8 minutes a mile if I'm going to hit my goal of 1:44. It's a good amount of time to improve and stay focused -- it's a much better situation than I was in this past winter when I thought I could just go out and do it because I was still in shape from marathon training. I've certainly learned my lesson from that. It looks like I'll be able to get a race in soon - I feel like I need some kind of tune-up before the big event.

And lastly, I'd like to wish my wife a happy 4th anniversary!


Workouts since last post
July 9: Painted
July 10: Walk - 0.7; Run - 5.2 (intervals explained above)

7 seconds, with some pizza on the side

7 seconds - that's how much time I shaved off my mile "test" this month. When I stopped the watch and read 7:48, I was almost disappointed. It's not an all-out mile, but I really felt like I had gone a lot faster. Maybe I just wanted it to be faster. In the big picture though, 7 seconds is pretty good. It's an improvement, yet there's a lot to work on.

Following the mile test, I decided to add a couple quarter-mile intervals on my way home. The first, which was fairly flat, was in 1:39 -- my fastest quarter mile so far this summer. I was pleased, considering that it was coming after the mile. My second quarter mile, which started on a slight incline, was a little slower in 1:51. By that time I think I was just too tired. After all, I actually didn't plan on doing this until tomorrow, my usual speed day. The weather, though, was absolutely gorgeous this morning -- mid-60s, low humidity. It just felt right. Tomorrow morning's weather is supposed to be the same, if not a little bit cooler, so I may extend my miles just a bit.

On the nutrition side of things this week, I am having my final chain-brand pizza tonight. For whatever reason, I was craving some greasy mess from Papa John's, so I decided this week would be a good week to have it for the last time for a while. I likely won't give up pizza altogether -- my wife and I enjoy making it at home every once in a while. Homemade, or very close to homemade, pizza is much better. Plus we are much healthier with the ingredients. But for one final night, I'm digging into some unhealthy, but tasty Papa John's. In the past, I've been known to dig into pizza a couple of days before a race, but this summer I'm going to approach it a little differently.

Lastly, I've created yet another blog. This one is devoted to my Dave Matthews Band experiences. Click here to go to it, or go to dmbforever41.blogspot.com.


Workout since last post
July 1: Walk - 1.5; Run - 3.7

Hot intervals

I woke up yesterday and realized I was in a circle of hell not yet discovered. It was strangely hot for early June. Just the night before, a small tornado missed my neighborhood by about 10 miles. Today, Richmond is under a heat advisory, with temperatures expected to hit 94. The 10-day forecast is for temperatures to hit 97 tomorrow, then 100 for the few days after that, then cooling off to 91 by June 14. The normal high for this time of the year is the low 80s, so with temperatures almost 20 degrees above average, it's not exactly comfortable out there. Just last week, it was so cool in the morning that I ran in a long-sleeve shirt.

I'm not really complaining - I like running when it's hot vs. running in the middle of winter. It's just that it's been kind of cool all spring and we went from April to mid-July temperatures in a few days. Fortunately I'll be headed to the Outer Banks in a few days where temperatures are forecast to be about 10 degrees cooler.

So all this leads me to one of the sweatiest runs I've had in quite some time. Today I had the simple goal of four quarter-mile intervals with quarter-mile breaks in between. My goal was similar to the other day -- probably about 80 percent of the effort that I would put into a race with a goal time of less than 2 minutes per interval. I've realized that it's good to start simple with my goals, then beat them and then set the bar higher.

I was very happy when I hit my first quarter mile in 1:49. I didn't wear myself out and I was feeling great. My next quarter mile was also in 1:49. Consistency ... it's what all runners want. The next quarter mile was a bit slower in 1:55. I'm not really sure what happened, but it just felt sluggish. I think my recovery quarter was probably a bit too fast. I was a little worried about my last quarter, but I hit it in ... wait for it ... 1:49.

I'm very happy that be that consistent. I'm also happy to be under 1:50 at my first attempt at quarter mile intervals. My interval distances will vary all summer, but this is a good first test. I'll certainly revisit the same workout at some point in the next couple of months.


Workout since last post
June 5: Walk - 1; Run - 3 total (explanation above); Plank - 1:00; 50 set ups with Bosu ball

This weather can kiss it

After my rant yesterday, I woke up this morning ... feeling tired. It was about 20 degrees colder than yesterday, but no wind, so that was nice. Sort of. 50 degrees one day, 30 the next. That kind of swing just makes it tough to keep going. I long for the days of complaining about the heat.

So anyway, after my usual warm-up walk and jog with my wife and dog, I ventured over to the nearby park where I had my mind set on intervals. Like last week, I started off with a quarter mile. My time was 1:49, 20 seconds faster than my first quarter mile a week ago. After a quarter mile cool down, it was another quarter mile. This one was 1:48. It all felt great too -- nice and consistent. I then set my sites on a nice steady mile. Not an all-out mile. Just something that felt right. So I managed to log a 7:53 mile.

Overall today I ran 4.5 miles. Everything went well, yet I still feel like I'm in some strange funk. Maybe I'm just ready for the race to get here. Maybe I need a day off work. Who knows. Speaking of work, this weekend I'll be covering the Colonial Athletic Association tournament -- you know, the same league that has George Mason (Final Four in 2006) and Virginia Commonwealth University (the team that beat Duke last year). I mention it for two reasons. No. 1 is it'll be a pretty cool experience, just like covering the NASCAR race last fall and a recent Democratic dinner where Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both spoke. Secondly, though, it's possible that this tournament will get in the way of a long run this weekend. I'll still have time to run, but probably not as much as I'd like. Losing an hour on Sunday won't help. It's been a while since "life got in the way," but at least it's coming at a time in which I probably need to give my legs a break anyway.

Things just keep getting better

In the past few weeks I've had a lot happen to put my mind at ease when it comes to running -- a good race, a good mile time by myself, hitting double digits, etc. But I can't just be content with what I've done. Running is a never-ending process, and don't ask me why it's taken me five years to really realize that.

Today was one of those days that I could have easily turned my alarm clock off and slept until noon. But I got up on the first alarm and didn't sleep an extra 9 minutes like I usually do. I got up ... and went running. As usual, I didn't have much of a plan, but I knew I wanted to do some sort of speed work. So after a little more than a mile, I did some intervals -- two quarter miles and two half miles, with a quarter mile break in between everything. My first quarter mile was 2:06, and it felt like I was dragging through mud. The second quarter mile was 1:57. Better, but I wasn't fully satisfied. I still felt tired, but no worn out. It was just an odd feeling really. The first half mile went better with a time of 3:46; my last half mile was a bit slower at 3:55.

When I ran about a mile to cool down, I was thinking about what I just did. A year ago I didn't have enough confidence to attempt speed work by myself. It had to be with a group. And a year ago I would've never attempted this in a neighborhood -- I would've wanted complete flatness on a track. I was also very happy at keeping my pace under 8-minute miles while feeling like I could run even harder.

I keep getting mad at myself for a few pounds I can't seem to lose, but I am feeling great heading into the last two weeks of getting ready for the Shamrock Half Marathon. I have to keep reminding myself, too, that it's still February and most people are still in "off season" not thinking about running hard. And I'm doing much of this own my own. Yes, I'm running with a group on Saturdays, but it doesn't focus on speed or longer distances that I'm at now. I've been lacking some confidence for a while, and it's nice to be back.