7/28/2008 Activity
July 28, 2008 by Doug · Leave a Comment
On an earlier post I mentioned that I didn’t do much in the way of exercise last week. What I did though was spend money on running stuff. I try to do my part to keep our economy going in these tough times. Among the stuff I bought were some clothes, a new pair of Nike Shox running shoes and a Nike Sport Band +.
I love Nike stuff. I’ve been wearing Nikes since the sixth grade. I get other brands of athletic shoes from time to time but I always go back to Nike. Anyhow, I went for a run tonight at the park. I kind of dogged it because I was breaking in my new shoes and trying out the sports band. I mixed up jogging, walking & sprinting to test out the software. Here’s the results:
I walked from the start of the path (X) to the start of the loop (Y), about .3 miles. Then 2 laps around the loop, mixing up speeds, loop is about .9 miles. Then a walk back to X after the second lap.
This loop is extremely hilly and continues to kick my ass. It’s a good test of endurance though. If I can run the loop consistently for four laps, I think it’s tougher than just about any road 5k.
Oh, the Monday weigh in results: 178, up 1 1/2 pounds.
5k Results and Observations
July 26, 2008 by Doug · Leave a Comment
Well, it’s over. My first 5k. It was a good race to get my feet wet with … a $5 “fun run”, and the first annual one at that. I came in 95th out of 141 registered runners. My official time was 26:25 which was WAY better than I expected to do. My time may have been attributed to the fact that I was well rested, the course was much more even & flatter than I’m used to and my practice times may not be as close to actual 5k distances as I thought.
Some things that I picked up as a competitor and not a spectator:
1. Don’t fly out of the gate at the start unless that’s an established part of your game. Fran warned me of this earlier. If you start near the front & your adrenaline is going, you might tend to take off & keep up with the leaders. Luckily, I settled down early when I reminded myself that hey, this is over 3 miles.
2. Be humble. At my last few morning runs I finished in under 30 minutes and I guess in the back of my head I thought, how tough can this be? After all, I’m shooting for 10 miles next year and this is just a mere 3 miles. Well, over two thirds of the field finished ahead of me. Also, I never expected to get lapped (the course was 3 laps through residential streets). The top finisher came in around 15 minutes!
Also, my wife’s coworker Debbie ran in this race. Now she competes in 5k’s and 5 milers a lot and runs regularly. I sort of casually challenged her. I figured I’ve been running for a few months and I’m slightly younger than her. Hey, I was in track back in high school and c’mon she’s a girl! Well … you can figure out what happened (Just kidding Deb, and no disrespect for the ladies out there 
). She beat me by over 2 minutes.
3. Dress comfortably. I love black, it’s my favorite color. I always wear black when I run and I’ll probably continue to do so. However for a competitive distance race, a black skin tight dry-fit shirt covered by a black Guinness t-shirt probably isn’t the wisest choice of attire. Some of the serious runners weren’t wearing shirts at all, just heart rate monitors (Intimidation tactic?).
4. Stick with it! I’ve been getting a lot of support from friends since I started this but I have to say, on the last lap of the race I’m thinking, What the #%@& am I doing? I was dying! It ain’t easy. I want to see improvement (and my abs 
) so I’ll keep doing this at least until the Broad Street Run.
– D.
An Uneventful Week for exercise
July 25, 2008 by Doug · Leave a Comment
Things have been quiet on the running front for the last few days. My last time out was on Monday morning. We had storms earlier in the week coupled with a hectic schedule (These aren’t excuses just the facts ). I’ve been using my perfect pushup daily but that’s about it.
I’ve been doing a good job of watching my diet. We went to Applebee’s last night and I opted for the Shrimp & Spinach Salad, which just a few months ago would have been unheard of.
I’m finding that I’m not as hungry these days, and I’m also not craving the same foods as before. My body is definitely adjusting to a healthier lifestyle, although the smell of McDonald’s in the morning still drives me CRAZY.
I feel good and rested for my 5k tonight. Although it’s only categorized as a “Fun Run”, it’s a big deal to me since it’s my first competitive run since Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” tour.
– D.
