The path to my fixed purpose is laid with iron rails, whereon my soul is grooved to run.
I registered for the Army Ten-Miler today, just hours before it sold out. The cap is 26,000 registrants, so it’ll be a big race.
The race is October 5, 2008 and will be the focus of my summer training this year. Right now I’m planning on starting the Hal Higdon 15K Intermediate plan about 10 weeks before race day. For now, I need to just get myself in good enough shape to be able to do the Higdon plan by then.
It feels good to have a goal.
Still sore from yesterday’s hour on the elliptical, I headed out for a slightly longer run today. Did 4.00 miles in 47:36 (11:53/mi). My 1-mile splits were 11:40, 12:06, 12:06, 11:40. Burned about 574 calories.
By the end I was dragging, so I did an extended cool-down walk and a little bit of stretching after that. I don’t feel horrible, but I’m pretty darn sore right now.
If you are wondering what song that is, it’s Saul Williams - List Of Demands (Reparations) from his self-titled 2004 CD (Track 5).
Well, it’s nothing much to be proud of but I was out there hitting the pavement this week. Here’s the recap:
Monday: Jog 3.13 mi @ 11:06/mi
Tuesday: 20 minutes elliptical + lifting
Wednesday: Jog 3.14 mi @ 11:36/mi
Thursday: Walk 2.55 mi @ 17:06/mi + lifting
Friday: Rest
Saturday: Jog 3.25 mi @ 10:25/mi
Sunday: 60 minutes elliptical
Total (running) for the week was 9.52 miles (11:02/mi avg pace).
Did 20 minutes on the elliptical and a little bit of lifting. Kept it to mostly upper body (but included lunges) and only did 10 reps each.
It really is amazing how much strength I’ve lost since November when I was doing 3×10 of everything. But I’m sure it will come back quickly… I hope.
I’ve been playing with the reporting features in SportTracks and took at look at miles per month since I started running:
Last March and April were low mileage months as well. Coincidence?
My last run was on 3/12, partially due to the plague and partially due to being a slacker.
So after work today, I laced up for a hot, sweaty make-up run. Covered 3.13 miles in 34:46 (11:06/mi pace) and burned about 460 calories.
One of my slowest, but one of my most satisfying runs. I did an extra long cool-down walk and I’m feeling good.
The new New Balance ads are amusing.
A while back, Bill H. recommended that I check out PyTrainer as an alternative to the Garmin Training Center software that I’ve been using. Today I thought I’d download it and check it out, but I’m not seeing a Windows build available for download.
That’s odd. Python makes it pretty easy to do cross-platform apps and releases. Anyone have any experience getting it to work on Windows? Or OS X?
Update: Looks like gtkmozembed is the deal breaker. More info on this blog post from 2006.
… just not right now.
Here’s the short version: I ended up getting the flu on the Thursday before Easter. It’s probably been about nine or ten years since I’ve been that sick, and ended up sprawled out on the couch for days fighting a fever and chills. By the middle of last week, the worst of it was gone, but now I have a persistent cough and chest cold.
The good news is that I’m definitely getting better each day, but it seems to be an usually slow recovery. As soon as my chest clears up (cf. neck rule), I’ll be out there running again.