A Passion for Running

I met Tom at HIS place this morning so a) he could avoid driving and getting another speeding ticket and b) so we could run our intervals at the “Peace Mile” which happens to be only about a kilometer from his place.

It was a good but tough workout. The first mile is a gradual uphill climb for pretty much the whole way so it is a very good test of strength. The way back is, of course the opposite giving one an opportunity to work with the decline and concentrate on quick leg turnover.

Mile one: 6:49
Mile two: 6:42
Mile three: 7:15 (yuck!)
Mile four: 6:55 (Tom was 6:45)

We started at our usual 7:00 a.m. time and I was home with a box of donuts for Lori and the kids by 9:30.

I love knowing I got all that done before most people are even up and about on a Saturday morning!

I really took it easy today. Didn’t run, didn’t bike. Didn’t work out. Feels kinda nice! I hope this rest translates into a good speed workout tomorrow…

I hope you LOVE this idea as much as Aaron and I do!

We’ve created three new blog-like (so they are searchable and easily maintainable) running pages. Our hope is that you will take part and help make them very special additions to the world-wide running community – pages made special because they are created by runners – such as YOURSELF!

The three pages are: a running quotes page, a favorite sites page, and a running wisdom page. Make sure you read the stuff under the “about” sections on each page for further explanations.

You can take part in THREE ways:

Way #1 – By simply visiting!
Way #2 – By commenting!
Way #3 – By posting your own stuff!

In order to make #3 happen, you have to register with a user name+password+email address. Don’t worry, it only takes a few seconds AND Aaron and I promise never to share this information with anyone.

We’re counting on the RBF to help make these pages a wonderful running resource for years to come so please visit and contribute often.

Thanks!

P.S. Aaron and I would appreciate any comments you may have for improving these pages.

I was just shy (by 4 seconds) of the time Corinne and I had a couple weeks ago on my tempo run today. I ran the 7km course today in 30:20 – roughly a 7:00 minute-mile pace.

I dunno – I am just not sure about the distance of this course. Is the distance right or am I just showing under-confidence in being able to pull of that pace for 7km?

hmmm…I think I need to walk it one day with Aaron and his Speed+Distance thing-a-majig.

Anyway, I was happy since I ran the course pretty fast and it was a lot warmer than when I did it in 30:16 + I didn’t have a partner to push me.

We’ve talked about power words before and I’ve also talked about my childhood love of The Six Million Dollar Man (TSMDM) TV show.

I’ve decided to make the title of today’s post, which also happens to be a famous line from TSMDM, my mantra – - my training mantra.

I’m going to be “better, stronger and faster”.

I love this mantra. It’s fun. It builds upon childhood inspiration and it gives me a focus to work on my overall fitness instead of just running and running and running and running and…

Dianna has something neat planned (she’s not telling exactly WHAT) so go over and take part!

Go to this post on Oliver’s blog for the answer!

Well, the weight training seems to be going well. Today, I did my usual routine but this time I added 10 pounds to a couple of the exercises and I increased many of them from 15 to 20 reps.

I don’t think I’m going to make 20 reps my goal. Instead, I think I’m going to work on increasing the weight and stay mostly with reps of 15. I don’t think this approach will put me out of the “low weight-high reps school of working out” for some time!

On other subjects: I had a pretty good bike ride against a TON of wind this morning and yesterday’s form/speed drills really did a number on me! My calves and upper glutes (ya, my BUTT!) are pretty sore but my attitude is BRING IT ON as long as it makes me lighter on my feet!

OH! One last thing: I definitely am losing some fat around my waist. You just gotta love this cross-training stuff!

WAHOO!!!!!!!!!

Chris is either going to give me crap or laugh (we traded a comment and emails this morning)!

I was considering not running for a second straight day following a very taxing 18 miler on Saturday and an equally taxing week leading up to it.

As it got closer to lunch, I began looking for a good reason to run and remembered that often, when my legs feel worn, a light run is sometimes better than pure rest. That was enough of a reason for me so I planned on a light run to loosen things up.

But things change…

I decided to have some fun with the run which I still planned on keeping under 20 minutes.I decided to do some speed/form drills I’ve been reading about.

I set my watch for 30 second intervals and started with a 5 minute warm-up and then began doing some toe running for 30 seconds at a time. For each interval, I ran very lightly on my toes and lifted my knees very high. I tried to pretend my legs were like springs. I did five of those with five 30 second intervals of slow, normal running in between each. Then I did a deviation where I did three intervals where I would kick my heels at my butt – again with the same rest in between with each interval being 30 seconds long. Then I did two sets of long hop running for the same amount of time. I’d hop as far as I could from one leg to another maximizing air time and stride length. That got me back to the Macdonald Hotel stairs (all 220 of them!) where I ran up the first half with springy feet one step at at time and the second half with springy feet two steps at a time.

Wow! That was some 20 minute workout! It was also great fun…

…but did I ever get some weird looks!

Aaron posted a poll question here. Take a look!