5mi tonight

i couldn’t quite make it out last night for a few reasons. first, we were at my parents’ house all day yesterday enjoying the sunshine at their pool. the kids went for a swim – rachel’s first – and loved every second of it. plus, it was a good chance to visit with my dad and cheer him up as he’s bedridden after a knee replacement surgery. we got home too late for a run.

so today i got home from church, goofed around for a while, cleaned up, mowed the grass, goofed around some more and went running with SPC dave. that’s right, it’s no longer PFC dave. he got a promotion. congrats SPC dave!

i met SPC dave at his house at about 6. we watched his skydiving video – he went yesterday for the first time – and then made our way over to the chattahoochee rec area for some trail running. i did OK but not great. my knee was giving out. that didn’t stop me from making 5mi however. SPC dave is a good motivator even when he isn’t trying to be tough. next time i’m going to have him yell at me like his drill instructors did to see how well that stuff works

the run was slow, and it will be on my nike+ sometime tomorrow. the only bummer is that my nike+ stopped reading for a little bit, so it only shows 4.8ish miles complete when we, in actuality, did a little more than 5. SPC dave can vouch for me!

still need to do 3 more to catch up! i’ll do a mile here and there for the next couple of days to make it good.

overall it was a good run and, yet again, my left knee is pounded. i think 5mi is my limit until i lose some more weight.

ragamuffinTOP week 2

week 2. this was a rough one for me.

bad knees, a couple of bad eating days, low morale. this post will help me pick it up a notch i guess… hope everyone else is doing ok!

i’m 3mi behind on my running since my knees (specifically my left knee) were acting up this week. i am on tap for 5mi tonight, so here’s to hoping i can make it. i’ll make my 3 up over the next couple of days. check my nike+ some info. my last run was dismal since i had to walk so much, but at least i went the distance (4mi).

now for some nerd time…

ouch.

better, but i still need more protein.

ugh. momma’s home cookin plus a couple of business lunches did me in…

like i said, not so great this week.

forgive my toe nastiness the good thing is that, even with the failures, i still lost 2lb. i’m already on track to do better this week.

thanks again to carlos @ ragamuffinsoul for organizing the challenge. check out the week 2 results here.

keep up the good work y’all!

last night

i haven’t downloaded my last 2 runs to the nike+. i’m almost ashamed to post up last night’s “run”…

i went out for my scheduled 4mi run. after wednesday night’s failure i was pretty nervous. i prepped all day – lots of water, ibuprofen an hour or so before the run, everything was clicking.

got 1mi away from the house and my left knee starts to go again. i kept going. you’ll see tonight when i get it uploaded, but i did a lot of walking. it was brisk walking, but i just couldn’t run the entire way. my knee would start to feel better and i’d run for a while, then it’d give out again for a little bit.

i’m supposed to run 3 more miles tonight to catch up with my training but i’m not sure i can do it. we’ll see. and then there’s my scheduled 5mi run on saturday. who knows if i can do that.

i think the moral of this post is cross training. i need to get back on my bike. my knees can handle an hour of riding much easier than they can handle an hour of running. as the weight comes off the knees will have an easier time at it. i’m still going to keep up with my running, however. i just don’t need to miss scheduled runs – that forces me to jam long runs together with no rest days, and that’s not good for the joints.

keep working hard out there!

silly knees..

how appropriate.

tuesday morning my dad went to the hospital for a complete replacement of his left knee. i spent the night at the hospital with him last night, but i left my running shoes at home, so i missed my 4 mile run last night. bummer. i needed to be with my dad anyway.

fast forward to tonight. i go out and try to make up my 4 miles tonight. one problem – i forgot to take my ibuprofen beforehand (i feel like such a junkie!!). i ended up making 1.08mi before giving up. i might have been able to bang out another mile, but i wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow. i came in and there’s a nice bag of ice on my leg as i’m typing.

this means that i need to do the following to keep up with my training:

• run 4mi tomorrow
• run 3mi on friday
• run my 5mi on saturday

it doesn’t seem really smart to mash all this running up into the span of a few days but i don’t have much of a choice.

in other news, i’ve had a crappy food week so far. i need to redeem myself over the next few days…

ragamuffinTOP week 1

check my nike+ for this week.. i’m on track with my training so far.

i mentioned earlier that i use FitDay to track my nutritional intake. last week was the first full week of use, and, in the interest of transparency, below are some screen captures from FitDay showing my intake for this past week. note that it only shows tuesday through friday. my weeks will start on saturday, so next week you’ll see Sat-Sat information assuming it works the way i think it does…

need to cut out those saturated fats!

i need to work on my ratios.. less carbs, more protein!

i stayed below 2kcal each day. not too shabby.

calories per day

74lb to go to get to my goal weight.

thanks to carlos @ ragamuffinsoul for organizing the challenge. check out the week 1 results here.

on the way out my door for 5 miles tonight keep up with my half marthon training goals by clicking on my nike+ipod link to the right.

longest distance yet

ran 4.01mi tonight – a nice long loop around my area.

check my nike+ for the stats. average time was about 14min/mi. i walked 3 times, but i paused the workout when i walked, so the 4.01 is actual running mileage. pretty neat.

i’m on track with the 10k training so far. wish me luck for saturday’s 5mi run!!

my nike + runs

check the links to the right. click the one titled “my nike + ipod runs” to see my actual progress.

i have a lot of work to do!!!

dear diary

i decided this week to start tracking my food intake. i’m doing this for a few reasons.

first, i really believe that i’ll be shocked to see the amount of crap food that i eat each day. the only way to shock myself is to keep track of it.

second, it’s becoming obvious to me that running needs to be coupled with proper food intake. i already see that i need more protein and less carbs.

originally i had a little notebook to write all this down, but then i remembered a website called FitDay that makes this nice and simple. you can use their library of foods or you can enter custom foods through their interface using the nutritional information shown on the package.

i’ve done well with my intake this week but i can do better. i’ll post reports at the end of each week (on saturdays) showing my food intake. this is where the real change can occur!

nike plus ipod

equals fun!

kristy bought me the nike+ipod kit for my birthday. since i don’t run in nikes, i needed a solution to mount the sensor in my shoe. along with the kit came this little gadget, allowing me to use the sensor.

so i start tonight on a 12 week 10k training program. the day after that’s over i start the 12 week half marathon program, which ends on 11/10/08 – about 2 weeks before my race. awesome!

soon i’ll be posting links here to my nike + training website so you can get more info than you ever wanted to know.. don’t worry, i’ll still be posting here so you can check on me

i’ll report back tomorrow on how this thing works!

what’s this!???

a while back someone commented on this blog asking if i was interested in trying some products from a company called SofSole. i’m a sucker for free stuff, so i said OF COURSE!

well the other day i get a package in the mail. sweet.

inside i find this

the first item was 2 pairs of the SofSole Cushion socks.

i wore them for the first time the other night and they are NICE. the cushioning is just right – not so thick that you lose your connection to the shoe, but thick enough to add a little extra protection. there are strips of meshy, lighter-weight material on the top of the foot to increase air flow to your foot, keeping things nice and cool. the same material appears again around the ankle cuff.

i ran 2.5mi the other night with these socks on and i was very pleased. until now i have been running in low cut anti-microbial socks from costco (i won’t mention the name). they felt great UNTIL i tried these socks and saw the difference.

check them out at http://www.sofsole.com – it’s worth trying a pair out.

the second item in the box was a pair of the SofSole Adapt insoles.

i haven’t tried these out yet but plan on it in the next day or so. i’ve seen this style of insole before. the instructions tell me to put them in my oven at 255*F for about 2 minutes, slip them into my shoes, and stand in the shoes wearing thin socks for a few minutes. the insoles mold themselves to your feet, creating a perfect foot bed.

i’m on my feet all day at work in a pair of boots. right now i wear a pair of Bates M9 combat boots, and these insoles will be a welcome addition i’m sure. i’ll report back once they are in service. if the socks are any indication as to their quality then i am sure to be impressed! next i’ll buy a pair of their athetic insoles and try them out.

thanks again to my friends at SofSole!