I switched my scheduled 10.0 mile long run to today, because it doesn’t look like anything but some serious snow removal several times probably, will be all the workouts that I will be getting tomorrow. Since somewhere between 10-24 inches of snow is supposed to wack us, according to whichever forecaster you tend to believe.

It was below my personal temperature limit (even though there are a lot of runners out and about doing their long runs today), so I headed to Planet Fitness and an hour and half on the treadmill.

If nothing else, I am getting a great deal of toughening the brain training, running this far on the treadmill. Hopefully it translates well to being able to run my goals outside later this spring. We will find out.

Although I did an experiment and ate cold cereal and milk for breakfast this morning. I gotta admit that I love the taste and convenience that eating cereal gives me, but about 15 minutes after finishing, I felt like crap, my stomach was bothering me and a nasty headache. Now I can’t be sure that that the actual cause was the cereal I ate, but it was the same reaction I had on Thursday. Which leads me to believe it is more than coincidence.

No more cold cereal for breakfast and get back to eating higher quality carbs and avoiding sugar/wheat products.

I got on the treadmill, started my playlist and set the speed to 6.6 (about a 9:05 pace) and began. No issues until 2.0 miles when all the crap I have experimented with eating over the past few days reared its ugly head and at mile 2.5 I had to rush to the bathroom.

After that I got back on the treadmill and kept it at 6.6 mph and finished the run, without any other issues. It was more just keep the eyes focused on a little spot on the screen in front of me (the TV didn’t work) and keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I do wish that the treadmills at PF didn’t turn off at the 1:00:00 mark, it is a pain in the arse when doing the longer runs, but in the overall scale of things a pretty minor inconvenience.

About 8.0 miles into the run, the right hip complained a little, but not nearly as badly as it has in the past. So it wasn’t a big deal, but just something I wanted to note. After the run, I foamed rolled and stretched things out and it hasn’t bothered at all the rest of the day. A very good thing.

No, I am not thrilled about running for an hour and half on the treadmill, but it is in my opinion a lot better than running outside that long in 15*F with a lower windchills.

I was very happy with the way my long run went today. However, I am not looking forward to the storm that is going to wack us. On the positive side I will get in a great upper body workout.

Unfortunately, the yard will not look like this after tomorrow.

Hey, do you believe it, I actually ran outside this morning. The temps hit 20*F and the winds were not howling. No, it was not a warm run, but it wasn’t horrible either. I did exactly what I wanted after yesterday’s harder tempo run – a nice recovery run.

However, based on Sunday’s weather forecast I did skip my scheduled 4.0 miler to what I would have done on Saturday and have moved up my 10.0 mile long run to Saturday, since there is a good probability that I won’t leave the house to do anything but snowblow the driveways.

The run itself was not anything special, but I paid for experimenting with eating cereal yesterday and needed to take a pit stop after 3.0 miles. Which meant that I turned up from Leighton Road and went back into to Planet Fitness instead of heading out around the Commerce Center. Once I did that I didn’t have any desire to head back outside to finish up the next 3.0 that I needed get my 6.0 miles. Continue reading →

It would have been a perfect day for a run down-back…however, I am trying really hard to do this training plan the best that I can. So even though it was a gorgeous winter day outside, I ran my speed workout of 6 x 1/2 mile @ 8.2 mph on the treadmill.

To be honest the tracks up heah are rather occupied by a nice layer of snow or the rail trail usually having uncertain footing this time of year and even with temps in the 30s those kind of temps in the past have resulted in too many strains or pains that are simply avoided by running in warmer temps. Indoors is the primary option and since I don’t want to pay for the indoor track at Colby, Planet Fitness’ treadmill is the answer that I have. Continue reading →

Let’s see how many treadmill days I can get in a row…isn’t that what I am trying accomplish?

Naw, it just seems to be working out that way. I like to run mid to late morning most days and even then the temps are still not above my 20*F outside run limit or the storms are making the footing such that this old fart ain’t taking too many chances out there.

So the treadmill streak continues and hopefully it will end on Wednesday. Tomorrow is a speed workout and I ain’t doing it outside in freezing temps. I like my hamstrings and Achilles just the way they are – thank you.

What did I do today, well it was a planned easy 4.0 miler and guess what I almost did that.

I got on the treadmill set it to 6.3 mph and started running. No music, just ESPN front of me, after all I had to see all those sports casters eat crow several times over the New England Patriots winning their game yesterday. Yes, I am a fan and have been since the late 60’s, so I earned the good years we have had lately, like 8 straight AFC Conference Championship Games.

Although I have my doubts on whether they can pull this one off in KC, I also do not underestimate Belichick or the rest of the team, when it comes to the Post-Season. No, I will not watch much of the game, but I will be checking in on the scores. I have a feeling that we might be digging out from a bit of snow that afternoon.

Oh yeah, before I got side tracked, I got to the 4.0 mile mark and was feeling pretty darn good, so I added on an extra mile, which is something that is okay on easy days from what I was reading in the Hansons Method book.

Overall, this was just one of those go get it done runs, where you get time on the legs at an easy pace. One thing that I do know and have learned over the past month or so is that that the 7.2 mph pace that I was using as my easy runs on my treadmill runs was way too fast, especially when that speed is pretty darn close to what I would expect my marathon race pace to be if I ever run again and probably contributed to many of my issues physically that I tend to never get rid of.

Tomorrow will be tough though 6 x 1/2 mile @ 7:20 pace, should work up quite a sweat. I am not maxing out the speed and just keeping to the pace assigned to see how I actually feel after doing that speed.

Still a lot going on, but I am liking the way my running is going right now.

When the thermometer say 4*F and the winds are around 10 mph, even Bennie doesn’t dwaddle along. While it was sure purty down-back, when we got to the lower gate, it was time to definitely turn-around. By the time we got back to the house, there was no hesitation on his or my part about heading up the drive-way.

While it looked gorgeous out there the temps were just too miserable to run outside this morning for me. It was below my self-imposed low temperature standard, so I headed into Planet Fitness for another bout on the treadmill. Continue reading →

No Running Today, but it sure as hell was not a rest day. Yesterday’s multi-type storm made clean-up, both necessary and a pain-in-the-arse.

Okay, first walk with Bean was okay, the footing a bit treacherous with ice under the slush, but walkable.

After breakfast the real fun began, the snowblower and I had two hours of getting re-acquainted, which is always fun. The shoulders and wrists just love all that wonderful vibration and pulling on a behemoth on wheels. No the snow was not more than 5-6 inches, but underneath was a nice frozen base that was so much fun to walk on. Continue reading →