Tag Archives: running

Mar9

Running Diary Part Deux – Weeks 1 & 2

Posted on March 9, 2009 by husband

Back in January, Wife and I ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon, my first half marathon. Those 13.1 miles were the first in a series of three half marathons, making up the Triple Crown. We are now training for the La Jolla Half Marathon on April 26th, 2009. This is week 1 and 2 of that half marathon training program.

After a nice long break the time came to restart our running regime. We are using almost the exact same program that we created for the Carlsbad Half Marathon. However, from the start we will only be running 3 times a week as opposed to 4. We will also try to run faster. When we trained last time we averaged an 11 minute mile and ran a 10 minute mile during the half marathon. This time our goal is to shave off a minute from our miles during training and hopefully run a 9 minute mile during the next race. So now I will also include our times to help us stay on track!

Wednesday – 2 miles – 20:02

A nice short run and a great way to restart the training. We knew we could go farther but we wanted to take it easy on ourselves in order to prevent old injuries from coming back. We felt good and made record time.

Friday – 3 miles – 28:00

We followed our normal route around East Mountain View. We like it because it is a big loop and we end a block or two away from the condo, depending on how well the GPS tracks us. As you can see from our time we booked it (at least by our standards). A conversation was hard to have but we ran fast and felt good at the end.

Sunday – 3 miles – 27:48

Our same route and even faster then on Friday. The conversation died at about mile 2 but we kept on our good pace!

Tuesday – 3 miles – 28:16

Not as fast as Sunday but still a respectable time. We just ran around the ol’ loop just to keep things simple on this early morning run.

Thursday – 4 miles – 39:19

We have been told their are two killer hills (one is really bad) during the La Jolla Half Marathon. So we have changed our route to include more hills. They may not be big, but at least they have an incline. So we obviously slowed our mile time a bit but hey, we made it down and up the hills in under 40 minutes!

Saturday – 5 miles – 47:35

At this point we don’t even bother talking to each other (we still do but it is labored) because of how fast we are trying to go and the newly added hills. We ran almost the same route as the 4 mile run but added on another block and ran back to the big hill doing it twice. It felt great because we averaged around 55 minutes during our last training program and now we are down under 50 minutes.

We still have a long way to go until the April run but we are feeling better about it. Once you have done it, the second time is easier. We just need to incorporate more hills so that we do not die in the hot April sun. With two weeks behind us we look forward to our third and also something we have not done in a very long time!

Jan28

Running Diary Final Week…

Posted on January 28, 2009 by husband

Running Diary Final Week…

Wife and I are training for the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January. Wife has already run both a marathon and a half marathon so luckily she has already created a training plan. This is the final week… of that half marathon training program.

This was the final week of our training program. Time to lower our running distance and rest up for the big race.

Wednesday – 3 miles

We took the dog just around the neighborhood and the run was a little rough on our bodies. Wife’s knees felt achey and I did not feel good until we hit that third mile. Just goes to show that our training now makes the first three miles tough, but it gets a lot easier once we find our rhythm.

Friday – 3 miles

Our training program wanted us to run 5 miles but Wife’s knees really ached so we reduced it to 3 miles in the middle of the run. This also made the evening much more relaxed and less painful.

Sunday – 13.1 miles

Back in 1996 while nerding it up and talking about Star Trek, I met a young gentleman by the name of Tom. 13 years have now passed and luckily I still talk to this now older gentleman because he lives in Carlsbad. The Carlsbad Half Marathon started and ended at the Westfield Plaza Camino Real mall and Tom lived about 1.5 miles away. That meant we did not have to get up at 4 in the morning (like my parents did) to make it by race time at 7:30 am. However, this did lull us into complacency because we took a little longer getting out the door than we planned for.

We left Tom’s place at 6:50 am and arrived a little after 7 am at the mall. We applied body glide (a godsend that must be used by every runner) and our water fanny packs and headed to the race’s starting line. On our way Wife needed to use the restroom and the starting time was drawing nearer. Feeling rushed we started to run to the bathroom area and needed to get around a planter in the parking lot. I hopped through a nice break in the bush and Wife followed suit. Unfortunately, that went very wrong. Wife’s foot caught the edge of the curb and she went straight down. Since I was in front of her I just heard the thump as she hit the ground and my heart sank.

I turned around to see Wife sprawled on the asphalt as her water bottle rolled past my feet. I quickly helped her up to see if she was okay. Her knees (the part that ached during the week’s earlier runs) were scratched up along with her left shoulder. She held her left wrist in pain with her half marathon dreams now passing before her eyes. Someone picked up the water bottle and handed it to us as we headed toward the bathrooms discussing whether or not she wanted to run. Wife said her knees felt okay but her wrist really hurt. She used the restroom and came back out barely holding back her tears but you could see her resolve. She later shared she was trying not to cry because she was worried she wouldn’t be able to breathe when the run started from all the snot! She had trained 8 weeks for this day and she wanted to run the race.

By now the race had started realeasing the waves of people. We were in wave 5 so we had a little bit of time. We headed toward our group and realized we had not yet stretched due to the incident. I tried my best but only had a few minutes and Wife did nothing as she tried to focus on anything but her wrist. Our wave moved up to the front and we went with it. The emcee picked up the bull horn and sounded the start of the race. We shuffled to the starting line, bruised (we hoped) wrist and all.

The first few miles of course were a little rough getting our bodies into a rhythm. Wife started feeling better and we started picking up a little speed. Just before mile 3 we had a little pick me up: my parents anxiously waited on the sidewalk to cheer us on. My dad tried to film us but we were just too fast even for the simple-to-use Flip camera. Soon we came out next to the ocean running in the perfect weather. Just after mile 6 we had a big hill but we ran up it and felt good. At mile 7 we passed the pace runner holding the 2:20 sign which meant we were running faster than we had expected (we thought our time would be 2:30). At mile 8.5 my parents shouted encouragements again while comfortable in their bright purple Saints jackets (it made them easy to spot).

With that extra boost we headed into the final stretch of the race with less than 5 miles to go (Wife had thought we only had 3 miles left for some reason-ah delirium). Our bodies felt great, injuries and all and we really began to push ourselves as we passed the power plant (a good visual landmark) and headed back into downtown Carlsbad. Past mile 11 we met up with Terry, Wife’s parent’s neighbor, but unfortunately he had just entered the walking part of his running (you run real fast, then walk, then repeat). We left him behind and then mile 12 came and we picked it up thanks to the downhill to the finish line. At mile 13 we began sprinting with only .1 miles left to go. During that last .1 miles, Wife’s friend Vanessa caught us and cheered us on and in the last 100 feet, Terry’s wife Ann saw us and yelled encouragements at us. We crossed the finish line tired and elated because the clock showed a time of 2:23, much better than we anticipated.

Volunteers handed us our medal for completion and we walked as best we could over to wait in front of the Sears for my parents, Tom, and Vanessa. After a bit of talking we drove back to Tom’s house, conveniently located, for a shower and then off to The Broken Yolk for a well deserved breakfast. After breakfast and a nap we took Wife to the doctor to find out about her wrist. Luckily, it was only sprained and should heal just fine. After arriving back home from the doctors we checked for our time and became elated when we saw it was 2:12:05, a time of 10:05 per mile, a full minute faster than we anticipated. What a way to end the day.

Now I wrote “Final Week…” because while this race is behind us two more, La Jolla Half Marathon and the America’s Finest City Half Marathon, are ahead in order to finish the Triple Crown. We will take a week off to heal the bodies but then we start into a holding pattern of running before kicking up our mileage again for the April run.

We could not have done this without encouragement from our family and friends. We would especially like to thank Tom for housing us, helping us load up on carbohydrates, and coming to support us during the race (his brother and sister-in-law raced, too), Vanessa for coming to see us and some of her friends run, and my parents for waking up early and making the trek up to cheer us on. We hope to see you all at our next run in La Jolla.

Check out our video and pictures of the race:

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Jan18

Running Diary Week 7 & 8

Posted on January 18, 2009 by husband

Running Diary Week 7 & 8

Wife and I are training for the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January. Wife has already run both a marathon and a half marathon so luckily she has already created a training plan. These are weeks 7 & 8 of that half marathon training program.

Since we are getting really close to the actual race we decided it was time to start reducing our runs to prevent injury and fatigue. We cut our runs from 4 runs a week to three runs a week. Now we will run 3 miles, 5 miles, and a long run. We also liked the idea because it just means one less run.

Wednesday – 3 miles

A nice quick run around the neighborhood. Killian really enjoyed it and slept the rest of the day away. Sadly we could not.

Friday – 5 miles

Normally we run in the morning but I had to make sure I made it to work on time so that I could make it to Fiesta Island to help film a segment for the Discover Science Channel about the Delta II rocket explosion. So we ran in the evening instead. This time we took a different route just for the fun of it passing by my parents house and running around Kensington.

Sunday – 12 miles

Even by car 12 miles is a really far distance to go. We found a great loop around Mission Bay that starts and ends at Fiesta Island. I can see why people love to run down there. Even though I did take some ibuprofen before and during the run, I must say everything else felt great. The loop really keeps you entertained because everything is new as opposed to our normal routine of running half the distance and then turning around. The best part is meeting people half way around who you now know are running the same loop, just in the opposite direction. With only 1.1 miles to go for the full 13.1 miles the race will be, we have now figured that our pace should be about 11 minutes a mile. Not the fastest time but good enough to finish which is all I really want to do.

Tuesday – 3 miles

Another quick jaunt around Normal Heights where everything is just perfectly normal. Funny how 3 miles now becomes a fun run after you have run 12 miles.

Friday – 5 miles

Another day that required me to be at work early so that I could be in Encinitas by 9 for a outreach on kites. We took the dog on his favorite light up leash (actually, every leash is his favorite because it means he is going for a walk). We all finished and Killian slept the evening away even though we had a guest.

Sunday – 8 miles

The day started out with a lot of walking around the zoo. We had passes that expired on January 31st. So I can tell you that we really did not want to go for a run after that. A quick nap helped energize us (well me at least, Wife had a bit of a headache) and we decided to do the 8 miles in our neighborhood. I mapped it out on mapmyrun.com and put on my brand new bottle carrier fanny pack while Wife tried out her new running clothes. The run had some beautiful houses and made us want to play the lottery in hopes of winning millions to afford the one bedroom with no bath in Kensington. The only bad part was that our run ended a few blocks to early, darn you technology for failing me. However, it did force us to walk it off.

Well, next Sunday is the big run. we now have the clothes, the equipment, and the endurance. All we ask is that you pray neither one of us dies at mile 7. Come cheer us on if you are in the North County area. Click here to download the spectator route PDF. Allright folks, Here we go!

Jan6

Running Diary Week 6

Posted on January 6, 2009 by husband

Running Diary Week 6

Only 3 more weeks until the big 13.1 miles. Luckily a week without rain and mostly without pain.

Tuesday – 3 miles

Just a quick jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog. A decent time and a decent time (the first refers to the time it took to run and the second to the nice time we had running).

Thursday – 5 miles

Once again, nothing too exciting. We did take the dog with us and he made it all five miles by pulling us forward. On these runs we have started to pick up on the last mile. Helps us feel like we could make decent time even though all we want to do is finish.

Saturday – 3 miles

We ran around Normal Heights with the dog. Exciting.

Sunday – 10 miles

Get off the road!!! This was the longest we had ever run, or at least the farthest I have ever run. We decided to run down the Silver Strand, 5 miles south and 5 miles north. We parked our car and started running on the west side of the strand. The sand made the impact on our feet nice and soft, but once we ran past the Navy seal base, the sand became asphalt. Unfortunately for us the asphalt was the emergency lane for route 75. Cars flew past at 65 miles per hour. At that point we realized the nice bike route was on the east side of the Silver Strand. However, we made great time due to the fact we were fearing for our lives. At about 2.5 miles into our run a car finally honked at us and we found an area that we could cross. The rest of the run was nice on the bike path. At the end we felt much better than last week. It was not until the next day that the pain caught up with us. I had a healthy-sized blister, and wife felt like she had steel knee joints that needed some oil.

We did survive the long run, not only from the distance but from the speeding cars. As we get closer the fear of injury creeps up on us, but so far we both feel like we can do it! Lets hope next week’s longer run will be as good as this week’s.

Dec28

Running Diary Week 4 and 5

Posted on December 28, 2008 by husband

Running Diary Week 4 and 5

Wife and I are training for the Carlsbad Half Marathon in January. Wife has already run both a marathon and a half marathon so luckily she has already created a training plan. This is week 4 and 5 of that half marathon training program.

Sorry for the delay on our running diary updates. With our trip to Sonoma, rain, and Christmas I have fallen behind. These 2 weeks included our best run and our wort run so far.

Tuesday – 3 miles

Thankfully the rain decided to take a break and we ran 3 miles. Nothing to exciting here.

Friday – 5 miles

We missed our Thursday run because we thought it would rain. Of course Thursday had no rain but we had already missed it. So on Friday we went to work and then had to come home, pack for Sonoma, and run 5 miles. We decided to only run 3 miles because we did not have a lot of time and we did not think the dog could run 5 miles. However, a while after we started we felt great and decided to power through and go 5 miles. We were glad we did because we felt great and the dog actually made it.

Saturday – 3 miles

After a long night of driving, we awoke in Kingsburg, CA (a suburb of Fresno) and prepared to run in 40 degree weather. I had to borrow a sweatshirt just to keep a luke warm temperature. The nice thing about Kingsburg is they have long straight streets. The bad thing about Kingsburg is they have long straight streets. They can make things a little boring. Our run went by just fine. The only problem was that our schedule called for a 4 mile run. Oh well.

Monday – 7 miles

This was the best run we have had so far. The weather in Sonoma cleared up with the sun shining bright. We once again went out to run a quick 3 miles to start off the day and postpone our long run for later in the week. Once we reached three miles I felt so good that I wanted to continue on. Wife on the other hand wanted to go back so as not to annoy our travel buddies. After a bit of arguing we found a nice nursery that allowed us to use the phone to call our travel buddies. They said it was ok and had a lovely romantic breakfast together while we continued. The scenery was beautiful as we ran by vineyards and parks. Plus we ended with a good running time.

Friday – 5 miles

After a break due to the holidays we ran 5 miles. My foot ached a bit but I made it through. Once again, nothing too exciting.

Saturday – 3 miles

Our fastest 3 miles so far at 28 minutes and 53 seconds. Just a quick jaunt around the neighborhood with the dog.

Sunday – 8 miles

Our longest run so far (farthest I have ever gone but a jaunt for Wife) but also the roughest. We headed down to Harbor Island to run by the water and down the embarcadero. It started off with a beautiful view of downtown but as we approached the embarcadero the sidewalk became crowded and hard to run. After we turned around at the halfway point my knee started to ache and I really slowed down. Wife humored me by running at my pace but even she ached. Three runs in a row can really take a toll on the body. We finished but only excederin took away the pain.

The funny thing about these two weeks is that we kept up our running while traveling in Sonoma but when at home we missed a day on our running schedule. Luckily it was only a 3 miles run, so nothing too big was missed. I just hope that my body will be able to make our long run next week!