Friday, September 07, 2007

9-6-07 Finally cooling off

It's finally getting cool enough that running is not a invitation to a heat stroke. When I got home last night, it was cool enough that I could have left right then to go run. However, I had to attend to some home duties first, and I finally left about 7pm. The sun was lower ( I didn't even need sunglasses), and there was a very slight breeze. I ran with Steph for the first 1.25 miles, then I peeled off into the woods to run the trails for the first half. The trails are fun and very challenging. I'm going to have to be conservative with running the trails because it's hard on my ankles, and my shoes are road shoes, not trail runners - they are a little short on ankle support for the extremely uneven terrain. From the start line to the end of the trails is 4 miles, and from there up to the West Point entrance and back via the boat ramp is another 4 miles. When I took off, I'd planned on doing at least 6 and hopefully stretching to 8.

The run felt good, especially starting directly to the trails after the start-off with Steph. The hills on the trails are a real challenge (both the ups and downs), and by the time I got to the end of the trails (the softball field) I was tired, but wanted to keep going. I took the blacktop all the way back, but I missed my 1st turn to the boat ramp. I took the second turn, but this led me away from the end of the course, and added another .7 miles to the route. I felt myself speed up considerably during the last mile.

Total distance was 8.7 miles - a good longer run. I'll only do 5 miles on Friday, and try to go longer on Sat morning.

I'm working on a schedule that will allow me to incorporate weight training - I still need to loose a little fat around the middle, and I also need to work on stabilizing my knees a little to prevent injuries as my distances increase. So far I've come up with this:

Monday - 6 miles
Tuesday - 1 - 1.5 mile warmup, then weights (lower body workout)
Wed - 3 miles before work (UGGHHH)
Thursday - 1 mile warmup, then weights (upper body workout)
Friday - 6 miles
Saturday - 10 miles
Sunday - 5 miles

This increases my work(out) week, but it still allows me to run for 4 days (actual runs, not just warmups). It also gets me to my goal of 30 mpw (not counting the warmup runs), and starts me running in the morning a little bit. I figure I'll work in about 2 or 3 speed workouts/hills per month - maybe on my Sunday runs. It's still a work in progress - I've got to get my gym membership first, and then work in some swimming, too (Triathalon - here I come).

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