Monday, November 30, 2009

Week After Thanksgiving

Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving weekend.   It's always tough to get back into the groove of things after a long weekend.   So last Saturday I ran in the San Dimas Turkey Trot (10K) and also got to see The Blind Side.  I'll post my reviews of both later this week.

Have a good week!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

To Turkey Trot!


I've decided to go ahead and run in the San Dimas Turkey Trot 10K this coming Saturday.  I've been wanting to do another 10K for a while now.  The last one I ran was last May and I just want to see if I can run it faster now.  Also, I normally take my son to piano classes on Saturday mornings but this weekend they are off because of the Thanksgiving weekend so that gave me that window of opportunity to join this race.

And another plus, my wife and I have our date night scheduled for Saturday also so even more good things to look forward to.  Probably will do dinner and a movie.  We'll be watching The Blind Side which seems to be a pretty good movie.  Can't wait to see it!

And one last shout out goes to NBC news anchorman, Chris Schauble, for completing his first Ironman this past weekend.  This consists of a 2.4 mile swim, a 112 miles on bike, and a full marathon (26.2 mile run!!).  That is some serious endurance and I can only dream of doing that one day.  I think for now, I set my sights on doing a full marathon sometime next year.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

To Turkey Trot or Not to Turkey Trot

I did a 7 miler yesterday but it had been one week since my last run before that because I didn't get to run at all during the week.  I've been feeling a little under the weather and decided it might be better to rest during the week to try and keep myself as healthy as possible. 

Can't wait to get into some longer miles.  I've been trying to figure out some other routes around my neighborhood and am excited to try a couple that I've been wanting to run but just haven't had an opportunity yet because I'm waiting until I get into some bigger mileage in my training.

This coming week I have a 7 mile tempo run and my long run next weekend will be 8 miles (unless I end up doing the 10K San Dimas Turkey Trot).   I think I'll decide tomorrow whether I'll do it or not.  

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

South Carolina Bound

This week I've been on a business trip in Greenville, South Carolina.  It's the first time I've ever been in this state.  I'm staying at a hotel in downtown Greenville and it's really nice here...friendly people, lot of nice restaurants (that are actually open pretty late).  Only thing I wasn't prepared for was the rain.  I had checked the 5-day forecast last week but didn't bother checking it again before I left so I didn't expect there to be any rain.  I was planning to try running outside in the morning but haven't been able to because of the rain and wind.  Actually, I haven't even had a chance to run, period, because I've been up late working.  

I did actually get to run 4 miles tonight on the treadmill downstairs in the gym.  It felt really good to run and not have to stop thinking about work for a little bit of time.  I also got to watch one of my favorite shows, Top Chef, while I ran so that was a plus.

Only two more days here and then I'll get to go home!  I miss my family and can't wait to see them again.

Week 3

This past Saturday I did my "long" run of 7 miles. I found a new route using mapmyrun.com and decided to give it a try.   It was definitely more challenging that my usual route because it was not as flat.  The combination of new route and more varying elevation was good as it gave me a fresh and different challenge to conquer. 


This is one of the trails I got to run alongside Grand Ave.  I've driven down this road hundreds of times and knew there was some kind of trail up there.  Didn't realize it was paved.  This was a nice stretch of straight running without having to stop for traffic lights and cars. 

This is at about mile 4 going down English Rd.  It was still pretty foggy as you can see.  This is another favorite stretch of road I like to run because there's not much traffic and no traffic lights.  It's exactly 1 mile to the end of the road and 1 mile back.  I usually see a lot of other runners on this road.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Tempo

Seemed like it has been a while since I had last run outside (it's probably because it HAS been a while).  My last run outside was last Saturday morning and I had a short run earlier this week that was done on a treadmill at the gym.

It was good to get out early and not be dark for a change.  It was pretty overcast and foggy this morning but didn't seem as cold as it had been in previous weeks.  All in all, it was good to get out and do my short tempo run (warmup, 3 tempo miles, and warmdown).

Splits:
1 - 10:51
2 - 10:07
3 - 9:54
4 - 9:59
5 - 11:31

The first tempo mile was done without looking at my watch so I was off on the slow side.   I did better on the next couple miles after that.  Next run will be Saturday morning (7 miles).  I'm looking forward to it.

On some unrelated topics... on my run this morning, I saw a high school kid going to school on a Segway.  I was thinking, "Wow, really?!?".  Even if I had one, not sure I'd be taking that to go to school.  Also, yesterday had some conversation on twitter regarding Nutella and couple people talking about how good it was.  I was curious and since I had to go too the grocery yesterday evening, I bought a jar and tried some last night.  That stuff is oh so yummy!  I think it's the same stuff they put inside those Ferrer Rocher chocolates (maybe?).

NOTE:  I just did a quick google on Ferrer Rocher and found on wikipedia that it's the same producer that makes both Ferrer Rocher and Nutella.  I knew it tasted familiar!

Monday, November 2, 2009

iPhone app review - Glympse


An app I have recently downloaded and installed on my iPhone is Glympse.  Basically, it allows you to share your location with different people via e-mail or text message.  You can even configure it to post to your twitter account if you so wish.

I mainly use this in order to share my location with my wife so that she knows where I am when I go out to run.  This way she is less worried (especially when I go out at night or early in the morning when it's still dark) and also has some idea about what time I will be home.   I carry my iPhone with me when I run so if she really needed to know where I was, she could call but the nice thing about this app is she doesn't have to call me and I don't have to worry about having to answer my phone while I'm trying to run.  She'll get the link in her e-mail and be able to check my whereabouts (make sure I'm still moving....) and then continue on with whatever she has to do.

You can choose to whomever you provide this information to, so it's not being broadcast to the world (unless you choose to do so).  Also, you choose the length of time that you will be broadcasting your location.

The one thing is that you have to have the app running in order for it to be able to track you which means if you use some other app on your iPhone (such as RunKeeper) then this won't work for you.

A New Week

I can't believe it is already November and now starting week 3 of my 16-week training for the Surf City Half Marathon.  I do most of my running now really early in the morning because I find that has been the best time for me.  With the time change this past Sunday, I'll be able to run with much more daylight now which will be cool.  I'm always afraid that I'll injure myself by stepping on something that I couldn't see in the dark.  At least now I won't have to worry about that as much.

This past weekend it was great to watch the New York City Marathon.  I watched a part of it on universalsports.com early on Sunday and then watched the whole thing on NBC later in the day.  I'm always amazed and inspired watching the elite runners run and will definitely motivate me in my running this week. 

Right now my mileage is not much (only about 13-15 miles a week).  I'm tempted to do more and to go faster than what my Smart Coach training plan has laid out for me but I'm going to stick to the training plan.   One of the big problems I had in my previous training for the Disneyland Half Marathon this past September was developing ITBS which really messed up my training the last 2 months going into the race.  I didn't really follow any training plan other than doing a long run every weekend and increasing that mileage by slowly every week.  However, I was still pretty inconsistent with my training and I don't think I did enough strengthening exercises for my legs.  I almost didn't think I would be able to run the Disneyland Half Marathon and was doubting I could be able to do anymore running for a while.   I discovered KT Tape (which was a godsend) and just had to take it easy and do a lot of resting and I was fortunate to be able to complete the half marathon.  I had a lot of fun in that race and took a lot of pictures and some video which I'm glad I did.  Consequently, my time was less than spectactular (2:46:51) but I was proud of myself for just finishing it considering my ITBS issues.

So, after that race, I decided I would have to start all over from scratch and be a little more disciplined in my training.  I was able to do a few shorter runs of 2-4 miles which I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had no issue with my knee.  When the ITBS was at it's worst, I had one training run where I couldn't even make it 1 mile without being forced to turn back because the pain was too much.   I am training now using the Smart Coach training plan from the Runner's World site.  So far it has been good.  My longest run since this "restart" has been 6 miles but I've been able to do it relatively pain-free so far.  I'm hoping to keep it that way.

So, here's to a new month and new week!  Get out there and run for fun!