Sunday, June 25, 2006

Between the showers

I managed to get a decent run in between the showers today. It was pouring early and as we had overnight guests, I did not get out to join the Pacers for the Sunday run or get to the Timlin Run in Hopkinton which had been my other options.
 
No big deal, the company at home was good. Great conversations, making connections and then cooking breakfast took most of the morning before they all headed out on the road in various directions for their return trips.
 
I watched England squeek by Ecuador with a good score by Beckham (yes, he of the "Bend it like... " fame). Finished cleaning up from yesterday's party before catching the melee called the football game between Portugal and the Netherlands. What happened to the beautiful game? No joga bonita in this one!
 
Then after the game, after the down pour took a break, I hit the roads. The first three were relatively easy/comfortable at about 9:00 pace, then the last mile and half I picked it up to close at just about 8:00 pace. Still sticky and warm. Almost wish it was raining more than the little spritz it was doing at the time. Might have been more refreshing.
 
May the roads/trails be kind to you!
 
 
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Friday, June 23, 2006

Pub Run and blueberry ale

It was a warm evening, temps in the 80's F, but the threatened thunder storms held off to let us run. One of the smaller turnouts, less than 20, showed up to run this night; two Pacers and the rest Wampanoag Road Runers.
 
It was a good run. I did a comfortable and evenly paced mile one and two. Not sure what occurred during three. I thought I was picking it up but ended up about 40 seconds for the mile slower than the first two (at 7:20).
 
The best part was the warm down back to Tom's Tavern (Wrentham) and cold frosted mugs of Wachusetts Blueberry Ale. That hit the spot! At Tom's, it is served with some frozen blueberries added to the glass before the pour. The blueberries are good for runners with anti-oxidant features!
 
May the roads/trails be kind to you!
 
 
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Thursday, June 22, 2006

Run that again!

What did I write about a year ago today?
 
On June 22, 2005 I had this posting:

From Curt Rosengren at The Occupational Adventure

Staying motivated can be one of the hardest parts of creating a career that really lights you up. It's not an overnight, push-button process. It takes time and effort for it to unfold, and it's really easy to stray off the path, especially if you're doing it alone (versus working with someone like me).

Taking a look at what motivates you and building that into your process can help. What motivates you? Is it competition? Is it somehow keeping score? Is it rewarding yourself for your efforts?

So what is your motivation to run? to run well?

Do you have a race in mind?

What is your short term goal?
What is your long term goal?
 
 
I have updated my goals for this year.
Have you?
 
 
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Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Warmed Up Quickly, Adjust

The weather turned warm quickly last week reaching for the 90's on Sunday. So even though we started early Sunday morning, it was already 70 and humid for our distance runs.
 
The cold front was supposed to move through last night and this morning but while some thunderstorms broke yesterday, the front is still lingering this evening with more storms just starting to roll their thunder through the night sky.
 
Needless to say, the long run Sunday was warm. Especially as we did not get much of a preparation for it, it just came in. I took my shirt off after the run and it must have weighed 6-8 pounds. After a Dunkin Donuts Smoothie, a Gatorade, two 16 oz containers of water and a shower, I stepped on the scale and was still underweight by about 4 pounds.
 
Needless to say, proper hydration is required to run in the heat and humidity.
 
Adjusting the workouts to the conditions is also recommended. With nothing major on the plate right away, doing less is better than forcing it. What did Falstaff say: "Discretion is the better part of valor". Right on!
 
The track workout this evening was cut back accordingly. One had some family duties to handle. Another had run a five mile race on Sunday, in the heat, and was still recovering from that. We opted to do one set of 400's and let it go. The legs will reward us by being fresher on Thursday for the Pub Run at Tom's Tavern. At least, that is the plan.
 
So bottom line, listen to your body,
adjust to the weather,
and enjoy the run!
 
May the roads/trails be kind to you!
 
 
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Thursday, June 15, 2006

New PR - Corporate Challenge

Yes, a quick update before I get to bed. The weather cooperated, the sky was blue, the temp in the 70's with a gentle breeze, hence a really nice night to run the streets of Boston.

I was fortunate to get close to the starting line and not have to deal with navigating my way through the thousands of runners on the course, just the hundreds ahead of me.

I dropped my time almost one minute over last year. I like that. It was a comfortable run in the crowd and dropping as much as I did was not expected. This bodes well for an attack on my 5K PR in some up coming races.

May the roads/trails be kind to you!


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Wednesday, June 14, 2006

JPMorganChase Corporate Challenge - Boston

I will be amongst the capacity crowd (12,000) of runners looking to make it safely and quickly from Charles Street along Commonwealth Ave to Kenmore Sq and back Commonwealth to Charles to finish the 3.5 mile race on Thursday.
 
May the road be kind to all runners in the race!
 
 
May the road/trail be kind to you when you run!
 
 
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Falmouth Road Race Update

Yes, the entries for Falmouth have been posted to their web site.
This list will be updated every Friday evening. Please do not call or e-mail regarding your acceptance into the race. All runners who were not accepted have been notified.
There are 95 runners from Franklin registered, and lo and behold, my name is on the listing!
 
Just booked a return trip to the Cape for August 11 - 14th.
 
If you are running, let me know and we can arrange to meet up somewhere.
 
 
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Sunday, June 11, 2006

Pick it up at the end

Completed a good week of running, three days, twenty miles total: one day of speed/pace work, one tempo run and a distance run. I missed my walk with my wife by being out on some errands while she walked in the rain yesterday but I did get a day of extra non-running training in with the APECS class on Wednesday.
 
Coming to the last mile today had enough to pick it up for the finish. It is good to do this for a couple reasons:
  1. Psychologically - good positive reinforcement to finish a run strong.
  2. Physiologically - helps to teach the body good effort (i.e. running strong) when it is tired.
It helps when runners appear on the road ahead of you. It provides a target to go for and some extra incentive to get there.
 
What other reasons can you think of for a good finish to a good workout?
 
 
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Wednesday, June 07, 2006

APECS - a good choice for fitness

Along with some of the NC Pacers, I took advantage of a trial class at the Athletic Performance Enhancement Centers (APECS) located in Medway. Located off RT 109 it should be fairly easy to find for most people. Hustling from the train station to get there on time, I missed a turn and ended up a few minutes late. That did not stop me from jumping right into their "warm up". I only wish I had taken a couple of minutes to tie my shoes before getting into the warm up. But that is my fault not theirs.
 
The warm up was more than that. It was a good part of the workout. Quick one or two minute exercises; crunches, push ups, quick feet run in place, etc. You name it, we probably did it. I could hardly keep track it was so quickly paced. As a runner in good shape I was able to handle the pacing. It quickly told me something I already knew, I need to work on my upper body strength. My breathing was fine, my legs were good but my arms were quickly shown to be the weak spot.
 
With just time enough to grab the towel and water bottle, I got paired with an experienced member for the station workout. Here as well as the warm up, my arms failed me but my legs were fine. I did a resistance run (waist belted to a resistance rope), then to push ups on hanging rings, to resistance jumps (another waist belt to springs), to high knee steps on the marked floor, to a rolling climbing wall (yes, as you climb, the wall rolled down so you never reached the top, pretty slick), to pushing a 100 lb weight long the floor, to dragging some unknown (but very heavy) weight with a shoulder strap either by walking or running, to a jump rope station (the second time there I got the longer jump rope and did pretty well. I used to do that way back in high school prepping for basketball.), to the suicide runs... I think I missed a couple of the stations but you get the idea.
 
All this in just under an hour.
 
My partner was very helpful and supportive. The equipment was good. Clearly used but not abused. The room was not overly large but enough space with the stations spread around. A mirror wall on one side helped to expand the room. Most of the floor was the outdoor grasslike carpet.
 
My t-shirt was soaked but I felt okay. Supposedly I really find out tomorrow. We will see.
 
So would I recommend this?
 
If you want an indoor exercise arena, with professional support and guidance, with enthusiastic support from the other participants, then yes, you should consider this.
 
I need to spend more time on my upper body work and with the right amount of discipline I can use the weights I have and also do some simple pushups to provide the extra conditioning that I really should have.
 
If I find myself lacking in this discipline, then this would be a consideration.
 
So if you are in the Franklin/Medway area, check out APECS.
 
 
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Tuesday, June 06, 2006

06/06/06 - Part 2

Exercise is good for our health.

Here I write about my running and provide advice on running, training, race preparations, helping one another achieve ...

It may seem funny but a lot of my writing is drafted while I am running, especially if I am running alone.

I like to follow the train of my thought, letting it take me almost like I let my feet take me...

There goes the trail ... follow me

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Joint Club Run - Group Photo


Joint Club Run #4
Originally uploaded by shersteve.

Some of the Wampanoag Road Runners and the Hopkinton Running Club joined with the Norfolk County Pacers today for a couple of runs through Franklin. Some started about 8:00 AM and did a 3 mile loop coming back to the starting point to pick up more runners for a 6.5 mile loop. The group spread out to find their own pace and had someone to run with as they went chatting along the way.

The weather was perfect for running, overcast, no rain (a little sprinkle as we finished wrapping up) and in the 50's.

Plenty of good conversations, training tips shared, and joint runs planned over coffee, Gatorade, bananas and bagels.

Friday, June 02, 2006

Double Duty Run

Trevor, my good buddy in the UK, is doing the Run for Moore 5K race this Sunday. There is still time to make a contribution to the Bobby Moore Fund for cancer research.
Running is a good thing, but of course, since you are here, you already know that.

Running for a cause like this is also a good thing to do.

Putting the two together is a great thing.

If you can contribute, it would be appreciated. The link is available on Trevor's page.

Have a great run Trevor!


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