One Thousand Five Hundred!

I broke a big mileage milestone today. 1500 miles since I started running with the iPod Nike+ system in May 2008. Had you told me in 2007 that I'd have that many miles under my belt I'd have told you that you were crazy.

Laela and I ran a new route today. We started at Northmoor park and ran South to the OSU stadium and back. We both had six miles to do today and six miles was her longest run ever. I'm really proud of her for sticking with it. I started by running a mile North on the trail instead of going south that way I'd be able to meet up with her at the halfway point of her run. I could then walk the dog the rest of the way and she wouldn't have to worry about slowing down for Indy.

I hope I haven't screwed the pooch by doing 8.25 today since I'm scheduled for 14 miles tomorrow morning. We'll see how that goes.

http://speedwalrus.blogspot.com

Imaginary Numbers

http://speedwalrus.blogspot.com/

Laela and I both had five miles to run today, but I tend to run a little faster than she. We both started off Worthington High School but I decided to run South for a mile while she proceeded North. My mile took me to Antrim Park where I turned around and then ran to the top of the trail which ends at Worthington Hills shopping center. That concluded my five miles (actually 5.5) and that's where I met Laela. She was at her halfway point.

At that point we decided that I should drive Indy and that Laela could proceed ahead. Indy and I walked the last two and a half miles behind Laela. Indy doesn't like for us to be split up so she gets a little anxious when L pulls out ahead of us and kept trying to speed up to catch her.

I wore out the battery on my shoe sensor on Sunday so I had to replace it today. With a new sensor comes new calibration so after the run, I did two walking laps around the track at TWHS and two running laps. I'm glad I did because the sensor was off by 0.01 miles walking and 0.05 miles running. That would have resulted in my sensor logging more mile for me than I actually ran.

After the extra 2.5 miles walking behind Laela and then the extra 1 mile from calibrating my sensor I ended up doing 9 miles today. 5.5+2.5+1=5.5 according to my sensor. I guess the extra 3.5 are imaginary. Oh well, at least I've got a fresh battery and I am ready to tackle the rest of the summer.

In Nike+/Facebook news, the developer of the Nike+ Running Monitor for Facebook added a new feature. It now has an update now button, that will post your runs to your page immediately rather than waiting for the next polling interval to post your run. So far I'm not a fan of the new Nike+ page. Too many features either weren't thought out or were implemented poorly.

Should've brought a Sherpa

The hills are alive with the sound of whining. Perhaps I was hallucinating, but I could've sworn I saw the family VonTrapp fleeing the Nazis over the weekend. I did all of my running in Cincinnati while visiting to participate in my sister's wedding. (Congratulations Sarah and Mike!) While there, I had a startling revelation. Columbus is REALLY flat. I ran three miles on Saturday morning and the entire run was either uphill or downhill, there was no flat at all. I was really surprised at my inability to run at a regular pace on the hills. I knew it was going to be tough but I didn't think I'd need a Sherpa and bottled oxygen. I thought I'd be able to leg it out. I was wrong.

After my three mile fail, I adjusted my intended route for Sunday's fourteen mile trek. Now, I'm not trying to make excuses but I had a few things working against me:

1. Hills - even though my Sunday route wasn't as steep as my Saturday route, the whole thing still rolled
2. Late start - I didn't get to bed until 2:00am so I didn't start until almost 9:00. I was already fighting the sun and the rising heat
3. Exhaustion - I was busy all day on Saturday
4. State of mind - I really didn't want to be out doing the run to begin with so I was having trouble talking myself into any additional exertion.

Long story short, I had the worst pace for a long run that I've ever done. I walked more than I ran and added an hour to my normal time for that distance. I was really dissapointed with my performance. Laela even informed me that she was thinking about getting in the car to go look for me because it took me so long.

To see just how crappy this run was, here are some comparable distances with times and paces. (Yesterday's car wreck of a run in red)

Date Distance Time Pace

23-Nov-08 17.1 mi 3:29'16" 12'14"

11-Jan-09 16.07 mi 3:09'31" 11'47"

3-Oct-08 15.23 mi 2:57'39" 11'39"

3-Aug-08 15.12 mi 2:54'07" 11'31"

9-Aug-08 14.37 mi 2:46'19" 11'34"

15-Dec-08 14.09 mi 2:38'15" 11'14"

9-Nov-08 14.06 mi 2:39'24" 11'20"

19-Oct-08 14.05 mi 2:39'27" 11'20"

26-Jul-08 14.04 mi 2:45'42" 11'48"

28-Jun-09 14.01 mi 3:22'32" 14'27"

Nike+ can suck it!

Following with this week's theme: Nike+ can suck it!

Last night, I missed my first run of this training schedule. Boo. I went to edit my schedule so I could make it up later in the week and Nike was doing "system upgrades"; therefore, couldn't log in to the Nike+ website site and modify my schedule. Due to the fact that you can't edit training days that have already passed, I'll perpetually be six miles behind on my display even if I make it up later (it doesn't count miles that are over your goal). For the most part I like the Nike+ training system but there are a couple of quirks with their training programs that I find irritating. It's a stupid thing for me to be all butt hurt about, but there it is.

Thanks for nothing Nike.

Jym Ganahl can suck it!

I don't know where that 75% chance of thunderstorms was, because it was a gorgeous Saturday morning for a run. I ran 2.6 miles to Antrim Park. My friend Kristi and met up there and ran another 7.7 miles.

I most likely could have run better overall if I hadn't got all amped up on the second mile of my run to the park. The song "Jump in the Fire" by the Night Marchers started playing on my iPod and I got so juiced up I felt like Mark McGwire. So, I didn't have as good of a pace as last week long run, but I was still under 11 minutes per mile over the course of the whole thing. I find that to be an acceptable pace considering the humidity this morning and since it's still this early in the marathon training.

I'm really looking forward to my three miles with Laela tomorrow!