The Burgh saw quite a bit of snow from early to mid February. Fortunately, I got a run in the day before the clouds opened up and dumped almost two feet of snow on the area. Thanks to school cancellations and roads that still remained icy and snow-covered, I was unable to run for two weeks. But yesterday, I got back on the horse.
I managed to run a little over 1.5 miles; I was feeling pretty out of shape the first few minutes, so I did not run the entire length of the street, which is one mile, as I like to. I probably ran over a 10-minute mile (I kind of screwed up the stopwatch feature on my phone, so not completely sure), but considering my layoff, I was fairly satisfied.
My last half mile was punctuated by a steady rain, so not exactly ideal conditions, but what can you do. Be glad that the snow is melting and I can see pavement, which means I can run again!
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Friday, February 5, 2010
That ice cream had nothing on me!
Yesterday, I helped serve ice cream (well, more specifically, I spooned sprinkles) at my kid's school. At one point, I helped myself to some of the soft-serve, complete with hot fudge, sprinkles, and whipped cream. And about 40 minutes later I went running.
I used the stop-watch feature on my cell phone, only to accidentally touch a place on the touch-screen phone that I should not have. And, alas, the time on the stop watch went away. But I tried again on the way back, and my second mile clocked in at 8:36. I am pleased with that, though I was running pretty hard (for me) down the hill at the end, doing my best to complete my mile in under nine minutes. For a brief time, I actually thought I was going to do it in under eight minutes, but decided if I pushed myself that hard, I would fall down the hill.
This (more or less) sprint made me think of the time I ran in the Montour Trail 5k (it used to be called the Ikea 5k, FYI). The first mile has a huge downhill at the beginning, and because of that, my first mile came in at 6-something. In fact, I think I had my best-ever time in that race back in 2002, with an impressive (to me) 23:53.
I still want to increase my mileage, but I am happy to end this week's runs with an improved time.
I used the stop-watch feature on my cell phone, only to accidentally touch a place on the touch-screen phone that I should not have. And, alas, the time on the stop watch went away. But I tried again on the way back, and my second mile clocked in at 8:36. I am pleased with that, though I was running pretty hard (for me) down the hill at the end, doing my best to complete my mile in under nine minutes. For a brief time, I actually thought I was going to do it in under eight minutes, but decided if I pushed myself that hard, I would fall down the hill.
This (more or less) sprint made me think of the time I ran in the Montour Trail 5k (it used to be called the Ikea 5k, FYI). The first mile has a huge downhill at the beginning, and because of that, my first mile came in at 6-something. In fact, I think I had my best-ever time in that race back in 2002, with an impressive (to me) 23:53.
I still want to increase my mileage, but I am happy to end this week's runs with an improved time.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
tick, tick, tick
I discovered today that my cell phone, which acts as a watch so I can keep a pretty close gauge of my running time, has a stopwatch. The next time I run, which will hopefully be Thursday or Friday, I plan on using it.
According to the time on my cell phone (before I discovered the stopwatch), it took me about 10 minutes to run up the street and just about nine to run down the same street yesterday. Actually, it was probably a little under nine; I had to stop to tie my shoe as I was practically careening down the ending hill.
I would love to do that two-mile jaunt in 18 minutes; actually, 17 would make me feel really good. But considering it is still cold around here (about 28 at most when I ran on Monday), I am not beating myself up about it too much. Plus, I have to wonder if it is counterproductive that my run always begins up a hill, and a tough one at that. When you start out winded, it is hard to pick up steam.
But I also wonder if I should start increasing my distance, rather than worrying about how long it takes me to run my usual two miles. The fear of biting off more than I can chew keeps me from running any farther. After all, I have had relatively little pain in the last month, and I have not run much more than two miles at a time, most weeks only one time. Last year, I would run close to three miles during some of my runs, and I would often run on consecutive days.
I guess I just hate to mess with a (pretty) good thing.
According to the time on my cell phone (before I discovered the stopwatch), it took me about 10 minutes to run up the street and just about nine to run down the same street yesterday. Actually, it was probably a little under nine; I had to stop to tie my shoe as I was practically careening down the ending hill.
I would love to do that two-mile jaunt in 18 minutes; actually, 17 would make me feel really good. But considering it is still cold around here (about 28 at most when I ran on Monday), I am not beating myself up about it too much. Plus, I have to wonder if it is counterproductive that my run always begins up a hill, and a tough one at that. When you start out winded, it is hard to pick up steam.
But I also wonder if I should start increasing my distance, rather than worrying about how long it takes me to run my usual two miles. The fear of biting off more than I can chew keeps me from running any farther. After all, I have had relatively little pain in the last month, and I have not run much more than two miles at a time, most weeks only one time. Last year, I would run close to three miles during some of my runs, and I would often run on consecutive days.
I guess I just hate to mess with a (pretty) good thing.
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