Au revoir October

After the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in August, I was ready to just give up on running ... hell, I was ready to not do anything for a while. I documented it pretty well that I was taking September as a rest month. In the end I did a little bit here and there and finished with 24.8 running miles, 20.8 walking miles and 19.9 miles on the bike. When October got here though, I said enough is enough, and I ended up having one of the best-feeling months I've had in a long time.

Joining Gold's Gym has turned things around for me. In just a few short weeks I have figured out how to keep going without running, although running is still very important to me. In October, I still ran 53.6 miles, the fifth most this year. I walked 36.3 miles, the second most this year. And thanks to the exercise bike, I hit 49.1 biking miles. That bike is really giving me a burning sensation in my legs that I haven't felt in a long time. I also put in 6.7 miles on the elliptical machine. It's worth noting too, that I ran my first 5k in more than a year.

All told, I had 145.7 miles of exercising for the month, just shy of what I did in August (107.4 running miles, 32.8 walking and 8.2 on the bike). As I mentioned the other day, I passed 1,000 exercising miles for the year. As I head into the final two months of the year, I'm at 1,012.4 miles (not counting today) -- 576 running; 255.7 walking; 174 biking; and 6.7 on the elliptical.

Today, for the second Saturday in a row, I did a run-bike-run workout doing 2.1-5-1.1 Just like last week, the transition from the bike to running felt weird, but it didn't seem to last long. This week I have done three run-bike workouts, and I'm feeling pretty comfortable with that transition. It's the second transition that I need to start working on.

As November begins, I am not setting goals -- I do have a baby on the way you know. I'm still hoping to do the Ntelos 8k in a couple of weeks, but the commitment has to wait. I'll do as much as I can when I have the time to do it.

A mini duathlon

One of my goals for 2009 is to take part in a duathlon, preferably the National Duathlon Festival, which will be in Richmond for a second year. If you're unfamiliar with a duathlon, it's a run-bike-run race. I've gone out for a run and then biked, and I've biked and then gone for a run, but I've never done a run-bike-run workout ... until today.

I did 2 miles on the treadmill, 4 miles on the stationary bike and then another 2 on the treadmill. Everything felt pretty good, although my legs were a bit wobbly the second time I got on the treadmill. That seemed to work itself out after about a half mile. This workout is a good start to know what those transitions feel like. I like trying it out in the gym first. Eventually I'll take it outside. It was a good day to try it too since it was raining this morning.

My running on the treadmill has gotten steadily faster in these few runs I've done. It's tough to just set a speed and do it on the treadmill, so today I played around with bumping the speed up 0.1 mph every minute from 6.5 mph to 7.5 mph during the first 2 miles. On the second two miles, I worked my way up to 8 mph, bumping the speed up every tenth of a mile once I got to a half mile.

Thankfully today I remembered my iPod ... but I forgot my towel and my usual water bottle. I'll get it right eventually.

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.

Sooner, rather than later

If I had known that joining a gym would be such a big motivator, I would have done this a long time ago.

Due to various things at home, I ran out of daylight to get a run in, so I headed over to the gym I joined yesterday. I thought that it would probably be a few days before I felt the urge to go there -- the weather has been gorgeous and there's just enough daylight for another week or so to get in a run or bike ride after work. Anyway, when I was there I started thinking about all the benefits I can get with the ability to control my speeds with the click of a button.

I didn't do anything drastic this evening -- it was more of me getting familiar with the machines and the gym itself. I got in 30 minutes on the elliptical machine for a total of 2.3 miles. I hadn't been on a elliptical since early 2005 when I was in an apartment. It was very different. I was going to head on home after that, but I felt the urge to run since I've only ran once this week. I'd have some nagging knee pain out of nowhere this week, so I've taken it kind of easy. When I got on the treadmill I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked it. Just like the elliptical, I haven't been on a treadmill in a few years and I had really forgotten about that ability to be in control.

I ran 2 miles on the treadmill experimenting with different paces up to 7.5 miles an hour. I had a ton of thoughts running through my head on speed work I can start doing. I also was pleased with how smooth the treadmill felt. Lately I have felt like my body is taking a pounding on the pavement, thus the knee pain I think, so treadmill running will be a welcome break on my joints.

The biggest thing I realized tonight was how important it is to get in good overall shape before I focus on a longer-distance race again. In the past couple of years I have really gotten caught up in just running that I think that it automatically keeps me in shape. Well, 30 minutes on the elliptical machine tonight and a weigh-in on the scale this morning make me realize that I'm not where I want to be. Tonight is a great start on a completely new journey.