5 mile easy run

Today was the first run of what might end up being 16 weeks of marathon training. Well, actually, this would be the start of week 2 since the marathon, the Akron Marathon, is now 15 weeks away. I went onto Runner's World website and used their little training application to come up with a training routine, and today was my first attempt at following it. Since I'm planning to run a 10K this weekend, and thus would come up a few miles short of this week's long run, I added a couple miles to today's "easy run" to make it 5 miles instead of the 3 the schedule called for. I did manage to follow the 8:30 pace closely, as I set the treadmill to 8:27/mi and it came out very close. I didn't use my inhaler today but actually felt OK. It was my legs that were tired more than anything, even after taking yesterday off. Next run is Thursday.

Ohio City Run & Crawl 5K (new PR!)

Tonight was the 2nd annual Ohio City Run & Crawl 5K. It was my second go-around at this race, and my first 5K since last year's event, though this year I was very glad to be joined by my fiancee, Kristy, who was running the event for the first time. The weather was a bit warm, but not unbearable. There was a very nice turnout this year, with about 470 runners, compared to last year's 310. The course, which mostly winds around Ohio City, was a little different this year, but was still very comparable to last years.

The starting line, on Market Avenue right in front of the West Side Market, was pretty crowded since the street is narrow, so the first quarter mile was a lot of trying to run around people. After that, it was pretty sparse. I honestly don't think anyone passed me beyond the first half mile, which just about never happens to me, and I was able to slowly pick off a number of people during the 3.1 miles.

I hit the one mile mark at 6:30, and knew I had a good chance of beating last year's time if I could keep it up. I was huffing and puffing pretty hard the whole time though, and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to maintain my pace. It was very encouraging to see my friends, Josh and Amanda, helping to man the water stop halfway through.

Luckily I still had some gas in the tank near the end and was able to kick it into high gear for the last tenth of a mile, though I was almost taken out by another runner I was passing as he was cutting a corner very tight. But I got past and was able to sprint to the finish line to clock a time of 20:35, which is 40 seconds faster than my time from last year, which was my previous best for a 5K. Kristy meanwhile knocked a number of minutes off her previous 5K best, finishing much faster than she had anticipated. So we both came away happy with the race and our results.

Afterwards, we met back up with Josh and Amanda, who were our guides on the pub crawl portion of the event. First we hit up the Garage Bar, and continued to enjoy the nice weather on their outdoor patio. We then hit up the Old Angle Tavern for some really good food, and then capped off the evening at the ABC Tavern, where much fun was had playing their "bowling" machine (as pictured above). I never knew so much fun could still be had these days with only a quarter. I had some beginner's luck at first, but Josh turned out to be a pro. All in all it was a great night and made us wonder why we don't head up to Ohio City more often.

Time: 20:35.70
Pace: 6:42/mi
Overall: 46 of 470
Division (Male 20-29): 12 of 72

Weekly Total: 11.32 miles

4.2 mile warmup

A 4.19 mile warmup run on the treadmill after work on a Friday afternoon. Kept it light because I'm running a 5K tomorrow evening.

4 miler

A four mile run on treadmill at work.

8 mile long run

Today was a beautiful day here in Northeast Ohio, as I went out for a run around noon and the temperatures were in the low 70s and very sunny. I headed out to the towpath, for the first time in a while, and did an 8 mile run, heading north out of Brecksville.

It wasn't until I started running that I realized I forgot to use my inhaler, the results of which I noticed shortly afterwards, so I knew I was in for a hard run. Surprisingly, I finished the first mile in 7:52, but then there was a huge drop-off as the 2nd one took me 8:44, which is the pace I hovered around for most of the rest of the run.

Today was also the first time I used the new water bottle I bought. Since 8 miles isn't too crazy, I felt taking the Camelbak was a bit of an overkill, so I have a new 1 liter bottle with a zip-up cover that has a handle you wrap around your hand. I was worried it was going to be cumbersome, but it wasn't too hard to get used to running with. The only bad part about today's run (besides the lack of inhaler), was that everyone else (and their cousin) was out enjoying the nice weather, so the towpath was a little congested. I think I was passed by about 100 bikers today. But I suppose I should be happy that everyone is out enjoying nature and getting some good exercise.

Weekly Total: 17.44 miles

5 mile tempo

Since my new issue of "Runner's World" arrived this week, with an article stressing the importance of tempo runs, I've decided this is something I need to focus on more. So today, I went out and did one.

Started off with the first mile at a warmup-ish pace of 8:27, then put in 3.1 miles at a 7:30 pace, and then cooled down back at 8:27, with a slight pickup to 8:00 for the last quarter mile or so, because I was bored and wanted to get it over with. All in all, my iPod says I did 5.11 miles in 39:03, for an average pace of 7:38/mile. Not too shabby. I followed that up with a solid 35 minutes on the bike (30 @ good pace, 5 @ cool down) and finally a good set of stretches. Fridays after work are the best workouts because the fitness center is the least crowded it ever gets. Just us losers who have nothing better to do on a Friday evening. :)

Four miles to 500!

Today I went for a four mile run on the treadmill after work, and with that run I passed the 500 mile mark on my Nike+ iPod device, for which I got this little certificate to brag about. It only took me 82 runs since October of '06 to get this far (albeit missing a few runs, notably the Philadelphia Marathon & 2007 Hermes Cleveland 10 Miler).

As for the run itself, it went well. I started at a pace of about 7:53/mi, and kicked it up a notch each mile before constantly speeding it up over the fourth and final mile. I felt pretty good afterwards, though I was coughing a little bit later, but not as much as I have in the past. Skipped the bike today though. Figure I'll save that for another day.

A 10km run

Today I went for a 10km run around the indoor track at the community fitness center. Even though it was indoors, the track area is not air conditioned, but rather huge fans pump in (or pump out, I'm not exactly clear) air from the outside. It was in the upper 80s outside and extremely muggy which made for less than ideal running conditions. But I still managed to finish in a very respectable 49:01, for an average pace of 7:52 per mile. At the end, I think you could have rung out my shirt and filled a 2-liter bottle. I know, that's pretty gross.

Weekly Total: 15.09 miles