4: Number of times I ran while on vacation. This was directly proportional to the number of clean running shorts I had at the time of packing. One pair of shorts seems to have gone missing and the other was used to run the night before I left. Six pairs of running shorts is not nearly enough, so I will be investing in more shortly. I ran on the Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of my vacation.
20.2: Total miles ran during those four runs. I ran runs of 5, 6.2, 4 and 4. This is my highest weekly total since marathon training from 2010.
2.5: Miles run while carrying a newspaper. I ran to a local market to get the newspaper. The market was precisely 2.5 miles away so I had to run the 2.5 miles back with the paper in hand. As it turned out, this was mostly uphill. It's also worth noting that I did this run on the Sunday. For those old school folks who have ever purchased an actual newspaper, you are likely aware that Sunday papers are easily the thickest of the week.
.25: Distance of my intervals for my Thursday run. I ran a half mile warm up before stretching. (I only stretch before running when I'm doing speed workouts.) I then traded off sprinting and jogging quarter mile intervals for 3 miles. I finished by running an easy half mile to cool down before stretching again. (I always stretch after a run regardless of the speed or distance.)
5:19: The fastest pace my GPS watch clocked me at during my intervals. I averaged under 6-minute miles for the first couple sprinting intervals, but ended closer to 7-minute miles. The 5:19 simply represents the fastest I was running at any moment. On the one hand, it was encouraging to me to see my speed hit that mark while still so early into my objective of getting back into running shape (it had been about a month by that run). On the other hand, it was discouraging in the grand scheme of things because my fastest timed mile in high school was 5:17. I ran faster than the fastest I ran while "sprinting" for an entire mile about 11 years ago. Looking at my actual average makes it worse. I was running just under 1:30 quarter miles, which is far from the 60 second quarters I was running in high school. Ok, ok...so I'm getting older, but at age 28, shouldn't I be in the peak years of my life right now physically? Maybe it's because I was 30 lbs lighter in high school when I ran those times. *Note: I don't sprint my absolute fastest during the "sprints" but simply go the fastest I think I can maintain for the entire quarter mile.
6.2: The longest distance I ran in one run during the week. This is also the equivalent of a 10K which I will be running with my daughter in just over a month. I'm not going to lie...adding the jogger into the mix is going to slow me down. Let's just hope it doesn't slow me down too much.
5: Slices of pizza I ate when we went for all you can eat pizza on Wednesday night. Normally, I don't eat pizza at all and definitely don't exceed 2 slices. But, when you're on vacation, you do crazy things. Hey, it was $5/person...I wanted to get my money's worth. On the positive side, I could have undoubtedly scarfed down another 5 no problem, but showed restraint. Pizza is not necessarily a runner's best friend, but there are plenty worse things one could eat.
2: Number of "coins" I purchased at a shop in Alexandria Bay. They were inspirational runner coins. On the front is a picture of a runner. On the back is the phrase, "With God, All Things Are Possible." This is a direct reference to Matthew 19:26. This is not at all what Jesus was talking about in this passage but that doesn't make it any less true! The coin was a cool piece that flows well with my running motto: "in His strength. for His glory." I will run with one of the coins during the 10k I'm running with Genevieve next month and then gift it to her after the race as a memento for her first race and a reminder of where her strength comes from. The other I already gifted to my running partner and teammate from East to West Running Club Peter Stivers (follow him on twitter @300_therunner).
2: Number of chapters I knocked out in Ryan Hall's book Running with Joy. I obviously intended to read a lot more while on vacation but opted to veg out a bunch instead.
100: Satisfaction level that I bought a GPS watch with my Christmas money earlier this year. I use it at home as well and it certainly has a great benefit to me, but the convenience of running on vacation without haven't to figure out mapping a route beforehand is a time saver and stress saver. I recommend this tool to all serious runners!
No comments:
Post a Comment