Up and Running

So even though I haven't been blogging the past couple of weeks I have kept up with my running for the most part.

Two weeks ago, instead of running on my Friday schedule, I went mountain biking with my brother-in-law down at Gooseberry Mesa. It was my first time biking there and during the course of the day I took a somewhat major spill, bruising my rib and spraining my wrists. So I was not able to run on Monday of last week, but I did get my running in on Wednesday and Friday last week, 27 minutes straight running each time.

This week I ran Monday in the evening for 30 minutes straight, as well as a good 30-minute run last night at the community rec center while waiting for my daughter who was at a gymnastics class.

So things are on pace for me to run the Salt Lake City 5K coming up here in a couple of weeks.

Depressing

So I signed up for the Salt Lake City 5K yesterday. In the application it asked if I was signing up in the "Clydesdale" category.

Huh?

turns out, you're in the Clydesdale category, for men, if you're over 200 pounds.

(sigh).

Yes, I'm in the Clydesdale category.

"I'm Getting Better"

So I was able to run a full 25 minutes straight this morning without walking once. It wasn't the fastest pace in the world, but I'm not complaining.

On the shin-splint front: my shins were a little tight for the first 3 or 4 minutes, but then they gradually eased up. I'm encouraged. And I was shin-splint free the past 48 hours since running last, so hopefully with continued proper stretching and adequate warming up I'll be able to continue running sans pain.

Temperature: a comfortable 44 degrees. Clear skies. Nice morning for a run.

We're going down to Hurricane hopefully tonight, so I might try to get in another mountain bike ride with Wade and Adam. Always good to max out the heart rate.

Up to Speed

Last week I managed to run twice - on Tuesday and Thursday - each time running in segments of five minutes followed by 2 to 3 minutes of walking. The schedule today called for a full 25 minutes of jogging uninterrupted by any walking.

Woke up this morning with a bit of the stomach flu and without having run since last Thursday, but game to stick to the schedule. I was able to run for about 20 minutes before I decided to walk for about 1 minute, then finished off with about 6 or 7 minutes of running. Still trying to ease into it. Confident that I'll be able to get up to speed soon.

Immediate goal is to run the Salt Lake City 5K on April 19.

Cold this morning - about 28 degrees.

Listening to the Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt. I've made it through the middle of chapter 22, about the end of 1838 and the terrible persecution at Far West.

On the Road Again ...

Up at 5:15. Jogging by 5:40. Cold - about 25 degrees.

Ugh.

Listening to:

Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt.

Brrrrr ....

Cold run this morning. Started out at 32 degrees at 5:30 this morning and only got colder. Brought tears to my eyes when I started.

Bumped up to the next level in my "Couch-to-5K" training schedule:
Run 5 minutes, walk 3
Run 5 minutes, walk 3
Run 5 minutes.

It'll be nice when Spring actually shows up for good around here.

Blizzard Jog

Yesterday I needed to run to get my three times a week in ...

I procrastinated all day and didn't have a chance to run until later in the day. Unfortunately, by that time all the nice warm Spring-like weather we had been enjoying had given way to a sudden blast of cold and a sweeping blizzard-like snow storm.

So I layered up and headed out. It was crazy. My glasses were fogged up and covered in snow. I was running on the road next to the gutter and torrents of snow melt run off. Visibility was probably 30 yards, and that's before taking into account my glasses situation, which cut it down to about 3 yards.

Oh, and my shoes did not do a good job of keeping the water out. Wet socks. Wet hat.

But I did it. Felt pretty good to get out there and keep it up.