Chi Running (after the honeymoon)

As I said in my last post, reading the Chi Running book was truly inspirational on that first run.  

So after almost two weeks or so of Chi running I've had mixed results, which is to be expected.  I went out and bought the book and have been reading it on and off since.  At first I had posted some really good times for me.  Then I think I got caught up in the whole speed thing and my form fell apart, which in turn made me slower.  After going back to the book and doing some serious reading, I realize that I need to slow down and focus on my form.  I was hoping to find a seminar locally, but being so late in the season, it doesn't look likely.  So it looks like it's just me and the book.

I've run 6 out of the past 9 days and spent the last 4 focusing exclusively on form.  This week is supposed to be a light week before the 5K on Saturday.  Form will be my primary focus for the two runs before the race, which should translate into speed.  Hopefully I will finish sub 28 minutes, but I'll still be happy with anything in 28 minute range.

Chi Running

On Thursday I discovered Chi Running!  One of my co-workers was telling me what she knew about and it sounded great.  On September 16th I posted a entry about how I discovered that shorter faster strides was the way to go.  Since making that discovery I've been consistently faster, but I never felt as good as I did that first night.  Until...

After getting home from working on Thursday, we did the usual dinner, bath, bed routine for the kids, but we got them in bed 30 minutes earlier.  I ran out to library as soon as they were in bed, came home and read the first three chapters (which is all background info) and skimmed through the beginning of chapter 4.  By this point I realized that Chi Running was very similar to what I had done on September 16th.  This book described in detail the mechanics and the state of mind I had on that run.  Even though I only skimmed chapter 4 (which covers the mechanics), I was able piece enough of it together to give it shot that night.  So without a lot of effort I was able to knock out 5K in 28:17 which is a personal best for me, then on Saturday morning I got down to 28:07.  I am confident that I will post a sub 28 minute time my next time out.

Tonight I plan on finishing a few more chapters, and reviewing chapter 4 again.  The possibilities are really exciting!  Just think, I didn't even get to the meat of the book and it helped me this much.  I can't even imagine how great this will be once I finish the book and really study it.  I'm even considering taking Tai Chi now!  Talk about drinking the Kool-aid!

Some short trips along the way

It's been a little while since my last entry.  And while I'm still averaging a little over 12 miles a week, it has been noticeably more difficult to keep myself motivated.  I used to run so I could post my times on Nike+ and Runnerplus and comment on runs posted by my friends.  I guess the novelty has started to wear off.

So... in an effort to keep myself driven, I've decided to do a 5K each month.  10Ks would have been better, but the way schedule worked out, these 5Ks will have to do.  My first one is on October 18th and my goal is to finish under 28 minutes or close to it.  I also have ones scheduled for November 9th and January 1st.

I was talking to one of my coworkers about doing the NYC half marathon in July and she said that she was doing the NJ half in May.  We agreed that we'll both run it next year.  I started recruiting other runners at work and I'm up to 5.  Being realistic about the holidays, I've decided that I won't start training for that until January.  Hopefully this won't hinder me too much.

Ahh-Haa!

So the past weeks I've been "Playing around" with my stride. For some reason I thought if I took longer strides, I would go faster. I had mixed results and my legs were a little sorer than normal, but I attributted that to just being old. Then Sunday, I ran my heart out, based on the way I felt afterwards, it should have been my best 5K time yet. However, I ended up being slower than normal and infinitely more tired and worn out. Now I was really confused, so when I posted my run on runnerplus.com, I mentioned my change in stride. One of my friends posted an article about stride and cadence. Basically, everything I was trying to do by lengthing my stride was not only inefficient, but somewhat hazardous. It ended up giving me shin splints and made both of my knees sore.

So long story, slightly shorter...
I needed to go back to shorter faster strides. Tonight I went out and ran 5K to put this theory to the test. I knocked 2 minutes off my last 5K time and I feel a bajillion times better afterwards.

Just in case anybody is interested I'll post the link. It really is quite informative.
http://www.runrichmond.com/id23.html

Post 9/11

Don't really have any earth shattering news about running.  Started doing intervals once a week, but I wanted to talk about something that really bothers me.  

Last night, my family and I went to the local fire department for the towns September 11th commemoration ceremony.  One our neighbors lost his son, who used to be a Wyckoff volunteer firefighter before he joined NYFD.  They had a awesome life size statue / memorial built at the fire house for him a few years ago.  The town also lost 11 residents in World Trade Center, so it's not like the whole town wasn't touched in one way or another.  Anyway, the part that bothers me was the turn out.  It was about 75% fire fighters and only 25% civilians.  The volume of people who turned out for the ceremony was embarrassingly poor.  I was really surprised and kinda mad.  How quickly we forget!  

My wife and I used to goto Ridgewood where they would have a large ceremony in the park at the center of town.  Every year it got a little smaller and smaller, until two years ago, we showed up and there was nothing.  I love how everybody says they'll never forget.

Anyway, we remember and while we personally did not know anybody who past away, we will never forget.  And everyday I remember and pray for my fellow brothers and sisters who serve proudly in the Corps and other branches of the military.  It doesn't matter if we're state side or in the suck, when the wolf calls we answer, that's what we do.  Semper Fi and God Bless America!

Finally some speed! (It's all relative)

Thanks to hurricane/tropical storm Hanna, I got to the gym yesterday.  As usual, I planned on doing an easy 5K.  Normally when I go it's pretty late so there aren't a lot of people there, but today I got there at 3pm.  While it wasn't mobbed, there were a good amount of people there.  Fortunately my favorite treadmill at the very end was available.  Unfortunately there was lovely young lady, two treadmills over who moving at pretty good clip.  I usually don't like to run next to people running fast, I find it screws up both of our paces and it's a little embarrassing.   Anyway, I guess all those miles I've logged are starting to pay off, because I was able to step it up and shaved a minute off of my best 5K time.  

As a side note, there two "old guys" on the other side of her.  They both started out strong, but it was slightly amusing to see the rapid decline as one quickly changed to a very labored jog and the other just decided to walk.  

Nike+ 10K Human Race - The aftermath

Well it's been 5 days since I ran my first 10k. I was a little more worn out and beat up than I expected. I guess I didn't stretch enough afterwards and then I did a boat load of walking at the Renaissance Festival the next day while pushing a double jogger with a 3 and 5 year old. Somehow I ended up with shin splints on Tuesday so I rested an extra day, which didn't help at all.

On Wednesday, I went to the gym and did an easy 5K on the treadmill. The first 3K was horrendous! I thought my calves were going to lockup and I was going to get shot off the back of the treadmill. The last 2K actually felt pretty good and the stretch afterwards helped a bunch.

Thursday I planned on running another easy 5k on the road, but at the last minute I remembered that I got that training mix "My first 10K" from Nike for signing up for the Human Race. Just before I started out, I decided to try it. I probably should have listened to the whole thing before trying it. As it turns out there at two sets of 1 minute intervals, which I have never done before. The funny thing is that they say in the mix, that if you can finish this whole workout without walking you can definitely finish the Human Race. So since I finished it, now I know I have to run the whole thing! The workout wasn't that hard, other than the intervals, so I guess I'll try to work it into my "routine" once a week. The only thing is that 1 minute intervals don't graph well, and as one of my fellow runners said, it's looks like you were running drunk.

While my next goal is still to run the NYC Half-Marathon next year, I don't think I will start training for it until next year. This year I think I will continue running 3-6 miles and hopefully pick up some speed.

I plan on running a 5K in October and hope to post a sub 30 minute time. I know that's not really a stretch, but it's still an improvement over my last 5k race time.