Grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Judy was really late tonight....computer issues at work and did not get home until nearly 10:30. It was after 11:00 when dinner had been consumed and my mind was working overtime on reasons why I should pass on tonight's run. I did remembered how I had encouraged my Jenn last night when I read her blog on how she didn't want to walk last night but did anyway. I told her that even though the schedule is only a guide, you usually feel better after your run since you have accomplished another step in the journey. I wonder if this is how chemo patients feel as they face their next session of chemo...another step in the journey.

Any way, I went and wore the strap and watch again. This time when I did my two miles I never went over 136 BPM. I still used the 4/2 pace of running and walking. That seems to be working. I think next week we will try 5/2. For Saturday I will definitely use 4/2 so that I can do better than last week and come away more satisfied. I will probably have breakfast and fluid also.

My time stayed under the 30 minutes so I am maintaining my 4 mph pace. I don't cause trees to bend over when I race by but to be able to do that without skyrocketing heart rate seems pretty good. I think that is a sign that I am getting faster.

I ran 4 days so far this week. Lisa was right...it is a lot of running. But I did it so far and feel Pretty Good. That by the way is while I am smiling like Alice's C cat.

Night night it is late.

Gasping with the group

The group all met at a park at the end of Bayshore and ran back toward downtown Tampa alongside the Bay. It is a pretty run but the typical buildup of clouds rolled in and made the possibility of thundershowers a concern. We managed to get everyone back and no storm occurred but that is a problem with scheduling group activities in Florida in the summer. It is much easier to go out of the garage and start my run in the neighborhood and if I have to wait an hour that is usually enough to get the rain over and done with.

I had my new heart monitor so I was able to easily keep an eye on my heart rate. I got up near 150 BPM and started my walk mode to bring it back down. The 4 minute run and 2 minute walk seemed to work for the first mile and a half. After turning to return, I found the rate stayed higher longer. Coach Steve stayed with me for a while and he said that I should try to keep the BPM at about 75% of my Max to get the maximum aerobic growth. He says that I am growing new capilaries to carry more blood to my muscles and that going faster than that may not encourage the growth as fast. Again he says that we have a long time to train and starting out slowly with build me up without having to take time out for injury healing. I still think I am running slowly but that is why I have a coach.

Lot's of encouragement from Steve followed by a good discussion about fund raising with Marai, my Mentor. Time well spent...I came home and prepared 3 letters for target groups and pulled e-mail addresses from my company e-mail to start my fund raising in earnest.

Legs feel good, psyche feels good, Life is good.

I hope my running will enable one or more of our honored teammates to feel that way too.

Going to bed to rest up for tomorrow's adventure.

Two nights in a row

I think that means I am back!!! I ran two miles last night using the technique of running 4 minutes and walking 2. I was able to maintain my energy throughout rather than petering out in the last 1/4 mile. I felt good and realized that I had completed the whole thing in 14:36. I believe that is as fast if not faster than anything I have done with straight running. They tell me that this will increase my endurance and I am getting constant aerobic activity since I can breathe right the whole way. Came in and stretched and went to bed feeling very good and no tightness or congestion feeling in my legs. All was relaxed! AAAAAHHH!

I forgot to carefully read the schedule tonight and thought tonight was a 3 mile run so that is what I did. Again using the 4/2 method, I completed the 1st mile in 14:39, the second in 15:09 and all three in 44:43. Good time and it felt good. I was gradually warming up the first mile and felt my stride move longer as I ran. My steps were lighter and my stride seemed to be efficient.

Maybe I am learning how to run. I do seem to be enjoying it as I am doing it without any complaint or whining. Who would have guessed.

I spent much of my time composing my fund raising letter which I did not have time for earlier today because of my workload. I guess 45 minutes to concentrate on a good cause is better than a 1 hour TV show which is fast forwarded through the commercials. (Thank you digital recording machine)

Well, tomorrow is my second group run. Now that I know the secret of the 4/2 I think I will enjoy this run more than last Saturday's as I will have more control over my success.

Heard from my Mentor today. They folks at TNT are certainly holding up their end of the bargain by staying in touch. Lisa, I think this will turn out to be one of our best ideas. Jenn, thanks for hosting the holiday get together that spawned this project.

Gotta get some sleep for tomorrow night.

See ya.

PS When I am home I can eat and then run and post. Will I be cooking or running and blogging when I come to California?

Where have you been?

Well it has been a while since this was updated. Some due to events and some due to excuses. Here you go.

After my last run on the 15th, I was walking through the dark living room and managed to jam my right small toe against an obstruction that I had forgotten I had placed there. No one to yell at so I just had to tough it out. I left the next morning to New Hampshire to visit my folks. The toe was very sensitive and I felt that if I put on sneakers and tried to run, I would be favoring my right side and probably throw my gait off. It stayed uncomfortable through Sunday so no running occurred then.

As I was trying to get ready to go out of town on a business function trip with Judy on Wednesday, I was too busy with work to get any running done on Monday or Tuesday. Wednesday was shot with travel and activity at the function. Thursday was spent driving back to Tampa to locate work papers that I needed for reporting which I had left behind in the hurry to get out Wednesday, I thought (turns out they were still in the suitcase in Orlando which I found when I got back). Then I had to do the work that I searched for the documents for and it was time for bed. Friday was also taken up with activity at the function and the drive home. I also justified my time off on Friday since I had the group long run scheduled for Saturday AM and wanted to be able to handle that.

Some much for my excuses since it all behind me now.

Now on Saturday, I joined the group for my first group run. About 35 people from all over the county were there. There was a nice mix of ages and sizes. We got good information from Coach Steve and I got my preliminary package that I missed with the kick off last week while I was in New Hampshire.

We started with introductions and some information about future gatherings. We did some stretching and then started our "easy" run. Most of the field was together when we started. Most of the runners seemed to get smaller and smaller as they moved ahead and tried to disappear out of sight of me and a few other stragglers. I felt that the start out pace was more like a sprint and found the run somewhat difficult as compared to my solitary runs. I think I was going too fast for my level of development and also I had not had any breakfast and am sure that cut my energy supply drastically. Also my hydration was down from sleeping for several hours beforehand and not drinking much before the run. I was trying to balance the need for hydration with the need for bathroom stops and did not know the layout of the trail where we were running. All this should get easier as I improve some of my pre-run preparation and get to know the areas where we are running.

I was not able to complete the first two miles without walking since I started too fast and will not enough to eat. Although I had not done three miles before I thought that I would do better with the group. When we make the necessary adjustments, I think the next group run will be more satisfying.

Well, that is it for my excuses and my update. Now that I am back to a regular schedule, the reporting should be more regular too. (At least until we go to California to visit the family there)

See ya soon

Oops missed a day

Just for the blog not for the running. I ran my two miles on Friday night and then ran around the small center of the inner horseshoe. I think that may be .4 miles but I had planned to check it today. Procrastinated right past that idea and then ran the same distance tonight. Both will be added into my totals when I figure out how far it is.

Just got the chance to read my daughter's blog on her training. Lisa and I will be running the half together in Flagstaff. She is inspiring me and she says I am inspiring her.

Judy got home really late tonight so the run did not start until after 11:00 so I am off to stretch, shower, and go to bed.

The run went well. The first mile had short steps but the second had loosened up somewhat. I tried lifting my knees a little higher in front of me and with the movement of my arms that gave me some feeling of a lighter bouncier step. I did notice that the turns at the bottom of the horseshoes used to cause a slight discomfort in my left knee. I did not feel any problem tonight. That must mean that muscles are developing where they are needed.

Oh well that is all the medical stuff for today.

Sign up day

I took the paperwork to TNT this afternoon and have officially joined up. The initial gathering of the group for 3 counties is to be held a week from Saturday. That day I will be in New Hampshire with my folks as Mom is moving and I wanted to help her. I can get the info emailed to me when I return but I will have to wait to meet our honored guest (likely someone who has been battling one of the diseases that make up the Leukemia and Lymphoma diseases). Robin said that there is a pot luck dinner in September that will also be a big gathering of the runners, honored guests, other speakers and Society and TNT people. That should be an exciting event and by then I will have nearly 2 months of running under my belt. I wonder how far I will be running then.

My run tonight was good. I noticed tightness in my calves when I tried to stretch my beginning steps into a longer stride. Also I noticed that the longer step caused me to hit harder on my landing which then I felt in the muscles behind my knee cap. I left the steps short for the first quarter mile and then all the tightness melted away.

I practiced different stride lengths and different speeds to see how that affected my running. The longer stride seemed to require more wind as my breathing increased when I ran that way for a while. I checked the heart rate and it remained between 120 and 138 for most of the 2 miles. I pushed for the last 200 yards ( oh yeah that is 2 football fields) and used all the rest of my energy to get to my driveway. I was huffing pretty good but the heart rate was still in the mid 140's. That is high but since I was out of breath, I knew it was higher than the rest of the run.

Well, it looks like this is going to become a habit as I have now done this for 3 weeks.

I will weigh in tomorrow and see how much less of me will run the next 2 miles.

Thanks for checking in.

Another day..2 miles

Tonight I ran the 2 miles for another full circuit. The last 1/2 mile was very slow. I seemed to have gone out too fast to start. I made the whole distance and my heart rate stayed within limits so that was OK. I walked the inner part of the horseshoe which I guess is about another mile for cool down. I am trying to figure where to run to get in a longer distance without just doing a third circuit. I guess I will have to get new measurements.

I still feel good that I am not dropping back in distance and my time is staying pretty consistent.
I think it will be good to have the feedback of mentors and trainers and other runners. I think I have exhausted my knowledge of running so far.

Forest, maybe you will pass on some of what you learned.

2 mile enhancements

Now that I know I can do the 2 mile distance, I am concentrating on my technique. I am seeing how my feet land on each step. I am finding some spring in my stride that I did not notice before. Last nite when I did my final sprint I actually stretched my stride out and found nice distance between footfalls and it felt like that would someday be a normal feeling. I believe the muscles and musclememory are starting to develop.

Tonight we will see if we can keep the 2 miles under 30 minutes like yesterday.

Also my running total of distance since I started is 13.1 miles. Knowing that I can run that distance I just need to get my time down under 408 hours. I think my next will be faster.

Would you like fries with that?

No thanks, just the second mile...and tonight I did....2 big ones...wow.

I started out in the reverse direction at the suggestion of my daughter who thought there might be some advantage to not running the same steps each time. The light is different and the areas of light ahead are different. It was somewhat disorienting. Therefore when I completed the first mile I reversed direction and took the familiar route.

The first third of a mile was stiff running and I did not know how long I would go or if there was going to be a problem. After that, I guess the muscles warmed up and I went back to my usual steady plodding pace. I stopped about 5 times to get a heart rate check and most stayed around 120 to 126. My final after a light post "sprint" was about 145 but 4 light posts of walking and breathing and all was back to 120 with easy breathing.

We there is a new milestone for me. It feels great to have made it this far without hurting myself. I remember running in the cold in the Northeast with the cold dry air stabbing into your throat and lungs. What a difference 50 degrees and 30% humidity increases can do for a comfort improvement.

Weighed in this morning 244.2....6.2 down since I started. That is the shake to go along with my fries. I feel good. Is this a runner's high?

Night night

Life's bumps

After running Sunday night, I had just put my head on the pillow when I got called for emergency work in my job. That became a 14 hour disruption in my time schedule. Too tired to run on Monday night because of this.

On Tuesday, I had my first chance to run in a good soaking rain. I tried out the garbage bag workout attire and found that shed the water nicely down to my shorts which soaked almost immediately. The run went well. The continuous mile to start was not bad so I pushed beyond the mile mark and added another 1/4 mile to it. I walked for the next half mile and ran the last 1/4. I am still trying to get my technology working so that I can try to run with music. I will try to get a selection of songs with a beat count near my running pace.

Last night, work got in the way again and I did not get my run in. Tonight is important to make sure I get enough training in each week. I am not stressing too much about an occasional miss if I can catch up afterward and progressing forward.

One good note since today is Weigh Deigh, I mean Way Day, I mean Weigh Day...I am down to 244.2 or 6.2 total weight loss without "dieting".

That's all for now.