Listen to your body

I've heard this time again over the course of the year, but didn't really get it.  I suppose, in theory, it is a safety device to make sure that you do not hurt yourself, or that you know when to say when.  Well, I officially know when to say when.  That time is right now.  I was still pretty fired up from my long 7 mile run on Friday, that I tried to sneak in a 5 mile run on Sunday, even though I was not slated to run until Monday.  Also thought I would point out that I took a 3.5 mile walk on Saturday instead of a rest day.  So, as you can tell, I was probably at the point where I was really just going for it because I had a new confidence.  I would say that I should probably not break from protocol anymore.  My left leg was so sore after the run on Sunday that I had to debate if I would run my normal run on Sunday or not.  Didn't happen.  Mostly because I was "listening to my body", which was not hard to do because it was screaming at me "Do not run today or you are really going to regret it".  Body wins this round.  Taking Monday off, and now taking today off, just does not feel right.  I don't think I'm falling too far behind my training or anything, but I'm just bored to tears.  At least when I go run, I kill like an hour and a half or two hours between walking to warm up, stretching, running, post run stretching, rehydrating, showering, etc.  Now, I've spent two days watching the same Sportscenter reruns during the morning.  I'm really, really hoping I don't have to take Wednesday's run off, too, but I'm not going to push it too much, because I enjoy walking normally, not having to limp around because I'm in pain.  So, if no running tomorrow, I've got my 8 mile long run on Friday, which I will not miss because that is where you make gains towards that Half Marathon.  Until next time...later.

Shunga Trail, I am a fan of you...

I decided to take the traveling show known as my long runs out of the comforts of the lake today, and try to get into the city to check out what I've been missing.  I've heard lots of stories...well, I've read about the Shunga Trail that winds through Topeka, connecting park after park with a nice running/biking trail along the Shunganunga River, I think.  I figured it would be a good spot to get to, maybe to break up the familiarity of the lake, since whatever races I run will most likely not be at the lake.  I had taken yesterday off to rest up from back to back 5 mile runs.  No doubt about it, I wish I had been running since I was 16, or that I was 16 so that my knees and legs wouldn't ache all day.  I've tried stretching them well and icing them, but it is one of those things that if you are not consistent with it every single time, it'll bite you in the ass.  So I've been dealing with a slight calf strain on my right leg, and again, my left knee is sore either based on heavy impact, worn down shoes, the fact that I'm getting older, or all of the above.  None of it seems to bother me once I get warmed up, and I would imagine I'm not the only one that experiences similar issues.  But enough about my falling apart, let's talk a little running.

Going out to the Shunga Trail was an important step in my running development, or whatever you want to call it, in that I was leaving the proverbial nest, or the comforts of Lake Shawnee.  Heading to a foreign place, I think, helps you focus on running.  Too often I feel that I'm just noting where I am on Lake Shawnee's trail, and where the next mile indicator is, and how far away I am from the next water fountain, etc., as opposed to thinking about my form, if I'm pumping my arms enough, if I'm going at race pace or regular pace, etc.  Today was the first time I've ever run 7 miles in my life.  Think about that.  I did something today that I've never done before.  I can't say that every day.  But with 49 days left until the Half Marathon, which I officially signed up for yesterday (!), I need to make sure I'm covering my long runs, especially making sure I diversify my run between nice pace and race pace.  My boy Hal Higdon tells me that to practice what he calls "Progressive Running", which is to take a middle section of a long run and really push it with "race pace" or the speed you anticipate running a race.  Now, clearly I'm not ready to do something like that for 4 miles at a time, but I did feel I could break it up and run about 3 miles or 3.5 miles during the 7 miles at a racing pace.  After the first two miles, I felt pretty warmed up, so I decided to race it until the turn around point, which happened to be about a quarter of a mile from Topeka Blvd.  That's a long ways.  I should also point out that since I've devoted the middle of the week towards working on speed, I had a pretty good idea of how fast I can push it, which hasn't always been the case.  Reference my first 5-K where I had no idea how to race or how to pace, and went so hard to start before crashing out and throwing up immediately after crossing the finish line.  But I digress.  It was nice to have a couple of factors working for me out there today.  First, it was cool again, around 70 degrees when I made it outside.  Second, most of this trail is lined with trees, so you avoid that direct sunlight, which is perfect for a pasty pale dude like myself.  Third, no pressure to try for a personal record.  I haven't run this far, so I have no idea what is good and what isn't good, so whatever I do, I do.  Fourth, and this is the big one, I knew that once I got done with my run, I was going to go home, write, shower, and then go to QDOBA.  Once you picture that Queso Burrito staring you in the face, you'll run as fast as you can to finish your distance.  When you roll these four things together, you come away with a 7 mile time of 1:01:11.  One hour, one minute, eleven seconds.  Roughly 8:40 per mile, which is downright astonishing considering how brutal running 1.5 miles in 15 minutes felt back in April.  But if you make time and put in the work, I suppose anything can happen.  Next run is Monday, and we'll be back to three consecutive running days before tackling my first 8 mile run next Friday, which is the day before K-STATE FOOTBALL begins!  Also, I have signed up for the Race Against Breast Cancer 5-K (www.rabctopeka.org) on September 11th at Washburn, so coupled with the KSU game that night, that'll be a busy day.  But for now, I've got QDOBA to attend to.  Until next time...later

Kyle S.  (@kyleseiwert on twitter; thisfatguyisrunning.blogspot.com)

It's a Beautiful Day

I'm not talking about anything U2 would sing. I'll never talk about U2, trust me. I'm talking about the terrific combination of 62 degrees, breeze, low humidity, and breaking in some new shoes. I learned quite a bit today, so I'll get right to it.

1. I was running weird. By that I mean, there was a problem with my stride that I did not see due to the flexibility and worn state of my old shoes. Within about 15 feet, I noticed that my knee was already hurting, and with the new rigidness of my new shoe, I was able to see why. On my left foot, I was rolling my foot inwards ever so slightly, landing on the outside of my sole. I spent today's run working on striding forward, not at an angle, which is what I guess was going on to allow me to run like that. I seemed to work, and it'll just take some practice to make sure I continue to stride correctly. I could use a coach, but that's another story. So, I had that to work on.

2. I was running slower than I should have been. One advantage to running at Lake Shawnee is that there are nice cement lines every 7 or 8 feet, like a larger sidewalk, that can be used to gauge your stride and pace. To this point, I had not been utilizing those lines because I know that when I run a race, I won't be able to use those lines to see how I am doing. But since my running during the week is dedicated to working on speed and form, I think I have been hurting myself in this regard by not using them. So today, I really tried to focus on keeping my stride consistent and long. I very much accomplished this goal as well. I had my second straight day with a 5 mile run, and today I trimmed over a minute off of the time I had yesterday, covering the distance today in 43:27, my fastest time yet for 5 miles. I think the overall effects of the new shoes (less pain), straightened stride (no wasted motion), and the weather (no dying for water after one mile) all came together for a great run. I get a rest day tomorrow, and then 7 miles on Friday, which will be the new longest run of my life. Until next time...later.

Saying goodbye

Today was the last run I'll have in my first pair of running shoes. I bought them last October just in case I decided to start running, and, lo and behold, I did. Nike Max+ with the Livestrong color scheme. Here's a Picture. I did a little bit of research, and apparently the standard knowledge is that you should use your shoes for 300 miles. Well, between running and walking, I'm pretty confident that I am well over 350 total miles, which would probably explain why my legs have been hurting so much. The ones I picked up today, the Nike Moto 8, appear to be exactly what I was looking for. Needs to be built for comfort, and compatible with the Nike Plus running system. So, tomorrow, I should have some early reports on how the shoes are acting.

Now, after a 3 day layoff, including a massive boozefest on Saturday, I was back into the running today. Originally this week was slated for a 4 mile, 3 mile, and 4 mile run before a 7 mile run on Friday. Since I skipped yesterday to recover and keep resting, I am making up for it by running back-to-back 5 mile runs. Today's run was nice in the fact that IT WASN'T 80 DEGREES AT 7:00 AM. I made it out just after 8:00 AM, when the temperature was still around 68 degrees. As I had stated earlier, I believe I had worn my shoes out, and my legs paid for it. This would most likely explain why I've been so sore. But, still, had to keep going through it. The big race is now 52 days away, so no time to miss multiple runs in a week. I covered the 5 miles in under 45:00 minutes again for a second consecutive time, so I liked seeing that. Tomorrow will be an interesting run because I'm combining new shoes with cooler temperatures. That's important in that I might actually be able to run without sweating myself to death. Until next time...later.

Kyle S. (www.twitter.com/kyleseiwert)

New and Improved

Possibly. This blog might be reaching more than my 3 listed followers, so I decided to update the look of the blog. Just to try something new. I'm probably going to have to do some sort of recap pretty soon to fill people in on what's going on with this blog. A good first step would be to read This..., which is the first blog post I made all the way back in April. Second is to use the new search function, although I might have to start throwing in more tags. I've learned a lot over the course of the past 4 months, so I'll try to throw out those lessons periodically since this was sort of supposed to be the type of blog that someone who was looking to get into running for the first time could read and go "hey, if this fat idiot can do it, so can I!" And I might have gotten away from that a little bit. Also, feel free to check out the new poll on the right side of the page, as well as might very modest list of personal records in races.

I misspoke earlier in the week. I said I was going through 8 runs in 11 days, which was incorrect. It was 8 runs in 10 days, totally 31 miles. Today was the final run. 6 miles. I used today's run as more of a pace run than anything, as I was not interested in pushing it too hard, since my legs were still pretty sore. Covering the distance was the important part, and the nice thing about the track around the lake is that it is easy to build your run around the water fountains, so you can take a quick breather at miles 2 and 4. The thought of running 6 miles at any given time used to be pretty terrifying, but now it isn't even half of what I'll be doing in less than 2 months. Pretty crazy stuff. Just goes to show that pretty much anyone can pick up this running business. Ran my six today in 55:00 flat, so my time on that distance does keep going down, even though I haven't been aiming for that. I take that as a good sign. Now, things really get interesting in that I'll be hitting 7 miles, officially the longest run of my life, next Friday. I swear I haven't been thinking about a time for the Half Marathon, but once I hit 8 and 9 miles, I'm certainly going to be analyzing how those additional miles affect my time from mile 6 to mile 9 or so. Should be fun. Anyways, until next time...later.

Almost there

If you recall, due to the switching around of my rest days and long runs, I am currently in the middle of a grueling stretch of 8 runs in 11 days. And it is brutal. The shin splints I had worked so hard to get rid of are back in a big way, which isn't all the surprising since my legs have had very little time to heal. That's important. Let your legs rest. But, overall, it could be worse. They loosen up once I start running and all I need to do is ice them right when I get home. I didn't really update the last two runs because there really wasn't anything all the notable to report, except that the weather has finally been nice. I'll take overcast, high 60's, and high humidity every day over mid 80's and sunny. A development to my training schedule is that I'm turning Wednesday into a day where I work on hilly terrain to get myself used to the terrain that I'll be encountering in Kansas City. During that race, there are a couple of major hills, but there is so much downhill terrain that I should be able to make up time without much of an issue. Now, the hills here in Topeka in certain areas are similar to what I'll encounter in Kansas City, but not quite as frequent, so I just need to do the best I can with what I've got. Running these hills once a week should be a decent preparation. Today's hill run took me from the lake out into the real work, running down 37th street in Indiana, which is just past the Turnpike, and back. In a shocking development, I was able to run to Indiana and I wasn't stabbed or shot, which I consider a small miracle in that particular part of the town. So I had that going for me. My time did not slow down too much, even though I had to run through some grass areas because of no sidewalk. Did you know that running through grassy yards is akin to running on sand? It was tough, especially having to deal with very uneven terrain. But, it was a good experience, and it will help me on the way. A much needed day off tomorrow, and then a big time 6 mile run on Friday, upon which I will finally get a two day off stretch. Until next time...later. And 58 days until the race.

Sweet relief?

After a nice rainstorm last night, I was super stoked to wake up this morning and see that it was a brisk 71 degrees (!), down from the usual 82 or so that it has been at for the past month. Nice long run today with a decent temperature is just what the doctor ordered, even though I've been nursing a couple of injuries involving my left knee and left quadriceps. Nothing that staying off of my feet and icing my wounds won't fix. Of course, though, nothing good lasts forever, and while the temperature was around 72 or so the majority of the run, the humidity was like a blanket over the lake. Absolutely ridiculous. The humidity is the sole reason I feel that today's 5 mile run was the hardest run I've had so far. That humidity is so draining that it is nearly impossible to stop sweating, and you can just feel your energy being sapped right out of you. I did have to take two walk breaks, even though I was only planning for one. This was going to test my time in trying to get under 9 minutes a mile for the average. The last two and a half miles really felt like running in quicksand. The bad part was it wasn't nearly as hot as it had been over the course of the week, but again, and I know I sound like a broken record, that humidity just shuts you down. I was able to finish in 44:40, so I was able to hit my goal. I'll be interested to see if I can maintain that pace once I start upping the distance back to 6 miles and beyond. This coming week is a continuation of a grueling stretch that includes 8 runs, including two longs run, in 11 days, with 3 days of rest sprinkled in there. All part of a shift if running days to coincide with K-State football season leading into the KC Half Marathon. So, until next time...later.

3rd time not the charm

A running first for me today. This is the first time that I've run on 3 consecutive days since I started doing this back at the end of March. It was not easy. In fact, I found it to be pretty tough. My legs were sore from the very get go. I warmed up longer than normal, but clearly a little more rest would have done some good. The cumulative effect of three straight days of running was apparent, but I didn't have much of a choice but to fight through it. I've got a planned day off tomorrow, so I've got 48 hours to rest before I run again on Saturday, a 5-mile trek. I can only hope that it goes well. As for today, like I said, it was tough going. Hotter than it had been for a couple of weeks, and it didn't help that I started about 45 minutes later than normal, allowing the Sun to really get cooking. No worries. It's been hot for about a month, so I'm getting used to it. Put in 3.5 miles today, and I knew I would have a drop off in pace, so I wasn't too concerned with paying attention to my time, mostly just wanted to make sure I finished the run without too much pain. It sort of worked. My legs were tight, but I was able to cover 3.5 miles in under 9:00 min/mile, which has become my unofficial goal for all runs 4 miles and under. So, I'm pleased with how things are going, and can't believe it is only 64 days or so until the KC Half Marathon. Until next time...later.

Break on Through

I doubt that Jim Morrison has improving his 3 mile time in mind when singing that song, but I feel that it applies at this given moment. But I'll get to that in a minute. First things first, yesterday was the first run I'd had since running the Brew-to-Shoe 10-K in Manhattan on 8/7/10. I had given myself basically a full three days off between runs, kept hydrated in this ridiculous heat, and had taken it pretty easy overall, with only a 3 mile walk on Sunday as my only real workout, if you can call it that. Monday night, I did go to KC to see Wolfmother play. They rocked, but it was over 2 hours of standing, as well as two hours of driving, so I did feel a little tightness in my legs. Now that we are getting into the serious Half Marathon training, with 4 runs a week, including a long run, it's time to just deal with the minor aches and pains, stretch them out, and run through it. To this point it has not been anything serious, so nothing to really worry about. Anyways, it was a little tough going to get started because I was still feeling it from the race. Clearly I need to evaluate what I'm doing in recovery, because I would have felt that 3 days of rest would have been enough. Maybe one more day off would have done the trick. I guess we'll figure it out. But, Tuesday's run was 3.5 miles, and all things considered, I thought it was pretty solid.

Now, today's run of 3 miles was one that I was really planning on taking seriously. I've been around the 25:00 mark for a couple of weeks, and have been consistently under 26:00 on these runs, which I'm good with, but I really wanted to see if was at the point where I could break 25 minutes. I decided to alter the course a little bit to make it nearly flat all the way through. 3 miles is 3 miles though, right? That's what I'm going with. I was unable to make it outside before the sun broke free from the clouds, so it was pretty damn hot. I am getting used to the heat, though, but it doesn't make it any more fun. You just get to know that it'll be hot, but you'll be done soon enough. So, knowing that I really wanted to set a personal best in the 3 miles, I really made sure to do all the little things correctly. Pump my arms, use my core, keep my head up, etc. It paid off with a time of 24:16. Well under 25:00, which I would have to say has a lot to do with how flat the run was compared to the course I had been on. But I don't care. If anything, now I know that I can hit that mark, and I'll be feeling the pressure to attempt to duplicate that effort every time, which is good. So, thanks for reading (if anyone does), and until next time...later.

Recovery

I certainly learned my lesson from the last race when it comes to recovery. Take it easy. So for the last two days, I've done nothing. Drank lots of water. Sat around. Watched some baseball (Oakland is only 7.5 games out now), and went and saw The Other Guys, which was funny. My recommendation is when you really push it like that, take a couple of days off. That's it. 3 straight days of running tomorrow. Until then...later.

Well that was fun

Seriously. I would have to say that I enjoyed that run more than any of the 5-K's so far. Maybe it was the challenge, maybe it was because it was in Manhattan, greatest city in the world, or maybe it was because I knew there was some Tallgrass Beer waiting for me at the end of the race (even though it was before 9 AM), but it was a very enjoyable run. I was pretty amped up last night knowing that I was going to be running my first 10-K, so naturally I woke up at 4:30 AM because I was certain that I would miss my alarm. That was awful, but I was planning on being up at 5:30 anyways, so that early...does it really matter? So I ate my breakfast and got out to the starting place at 6:30 AM for some good stretching and warming up. It seems all the real runners like to do some jogging as their warm-up, so I thought I would give it a shot. Turns out, these guys might be onto something. Even just a light run was enough to get my legs warmed up much better than just walking and stretching, which is what I usually do. Having that in mind, I was definitely ready to get after it.

There appeared to be around 300 people running the race today, about 80 people more than last year according to the dude on the microphone. So that's good. We started out at the Tallgrass Brewery, which is on Highway 24, and took the highway over the Big Blue River and turned on McCall road, which is two miles. The first mile was slow going due to the fact that the crowd had yet to really separate, but after about the first mile mark, things picked up and I was able to really run at my regular pace. Going through town seemed to really fly by once we got there. We ran through Tuttle Creek Road and down Vattier. Something about running down that street really drummed up the nostalgia. Can't remember how many times I partied down that road. Then we hit Anderson and ran past campus and the Alumni building, Old Stadium, and Nichols Hall (not in that order). Up the hill towards Tyler Elementary is where it got really tough. That is a hill. A real hill. Makes everything at the lake seem like nothing. So after basically power walking up this monster, the final 1.25 miles were downhill. That gave me a good chance to finish strong, which I feel I did. For my first 10-K, I was very pleased with the result. Never mind that the winner finished in 32:01, and was in my age group, nor the fact that I finished 30th out of 40 or so in my age group, I finished in under an hour, which was my main goal. My time ended up being 56:29. Sub-57:00 works for me. Not sure when I'll run another 10-K, but at least now I know what it's all about. For sure liked it more than the 5-K, so if I'm still running next year, I'm hoping to make it a point to run more 10-K's. Until next time...later

Twice as Nice

Two days off from running really does the trick. Legs feel fresh, body feels good, and the mental break is always nice. Since I'm running on Saturday in the 10-K, I planned for a two day break after the Sunday long run, with runs of 4 miles and 3 miles during the week to keep it light and work on increasing speed. It went pretty well, despite the fact that the temperature at 7:30 this morning was a brisk 81 degrees. It helped having some cloud cover. 4 miles doesn't seem to be the ball-buster that 6 miles is, which of course makes sense, but again, a lot of this is mental. So knowing that 4 is better than 6 seems to make a 4-miler seem easy by comparison.

Today's title refers to a double personal best. Today's 4 mile run brought about a new personal record 4 mile time of 35:21, which shaved a full 1:04 off of my previous 4 mile time. So that's nice. Second, I weighed in today at a new personal best of 180 pounds. The last time I weighed at that weight was (get ready for it) back during my Sophomore year at K-State. More than 9 years ago. I had a similar fitness crusade back during the second semester of my Sophomore year when I really got into playing racquetball. I would spend anywhere from 2.5 to 3 hours a day at the Rec working out, playing racquetball, and dropping weight. I dropped in the neighborhood of 20 pounds, with the last weigh in of the semester being 180 pound on the dot. I promptly put all that weight back on in the summer, when I wasn't working out at all. So that sucked. It didn't help that that summer turned out to be the summer that Mix Master Mike and I split an average of 3 30-packs of Keystone Light every week for the summer. No joke. Wouldn't it be great if every summer was like that? Anyways, besides draining my wallet, that summer enabled me to put all of that weight back on, and I've never really come close to taking it back off. I'm finding that it is getting tougher to lose these remaining pounds, but that's why I'm still working. Until next time....later.

Backing it up

One of my big concerns with repeating a 6 mile run is putting up a slower time than the previous run. It would feel like I have not been making any progress, which at this point, I strive for with every run. I started running as a way to lose weight, but now I've covered so many miles that I find myself wanting to improve with every run, not just cover the distance. I certainly did not think this would be the case when I started way back at the very end of March. Running for me has served the exact purpose I wanted. I prevented a workout slowdown after winter ended, which has always been a problem for me. Call it boredom, or complacency, but something always prevented me from continuing with exercising until I had basically put back on all the weight I had lost. It doesn't help that I have zero metabolism, so I have to work off everything I put in to be able to drop some pounds.

But I'm sidetracking at this point. I wanted to get back to talking about running 6 miles, which I did for a second consecutive Sunday. I thought it went pretty well, even better than last week. One thing I'm figuring out is that the last two miles or last mile plus feel like I'm running in quicksand, but it is not reflected that was on my times. This sort of boils down to the mental aspect. It sure feels like I'm struggling, but reality is that I'm still at a good pace. I trimmed a little bit of time off of last week's time, turning in a 56:26 today. This also included 3 water/rest stops during the run, as it was not cloudy today and it was much warmer than last week. The final stop at the 5 mile mark was sort of unexpected, but it gave me the energy to finish, as I was really dragging at that point. This has me feeling pretty good about the race on Saturday, which I'm running strictly to figure out how a longer race feels, and to try to figure out what sort of time I need to be aiming for in October at the KC Half Marathon. I also want to get a time of under an hour in this 10-K, just to make feel as though I'm on the right path. Until next time...later.