Friday, July 30, 2010

Training partner

It's so great to have a training partner. Someone to talk to on those long runs, cheer on at races, support when there's been an injury, and celebrate all that is running with. It's awesome to find someone that can be as into running as you and not be embarrassed about it. Comparing splits off your Garmin's after a great workout or discussing racing philosophies over a cold beer is always fun. Often this training partner can turn into more then just a training partner, but can also become a great friend. A training partner like this is a valuable commodity and definitely someone that is hard to replace. I really appreciate having my training partner and if you have a great one too congratulations!!

Go wild and enjoy running!!

Monday, July 26, 2010

Clam Beach 5K Challenge

I know I just posted, but I'm feeling great after a wonderful weekend. My wife and I ran a 3 mile warmup with a fellow Windy Wednesday member to the start of a 5k yesterday. After completing the run, we jogged back home finishing up with 9 miles that day. What an awesome workout. My wife and I then took the kids kayaking for a couple of hours in one of our local lagoons. Probably not the best idea, but it was definitely a full day of physical activity. I slept very, very well last night!! I almost forgot to mention that my feet feel better today then they have in 3 weeks. I'm so happy to be running pain free again. I hope it continues!

Next up is a half marathon on August the 15th. We hope to get 2 long runs under our belts in the next 2 weeks. One run will be 8.5 miles and another that will be 10 miles. I still don't think I'm ready for a fast half marathon, but we'll soon find out!!!

Go wild and enjoy running!!!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Summertime fun in the sun!!

Well, it sure has been a while since I got a post on here. A lot has been going on the last several months. Amber and I are still running and racing. We've both gotten a couple PR's in the last couple of months too.

An exciting thing for me happened about a month ago when I was accepted into the Brooks ID program. I now get to wear their gear, which I already proudly wore because they make such awesome products, but I also get a pro-discount on all the merchandise at the Brooks website. This is dangerous for me, but I've behaved myself for the most part. I also have a sense of being part of the Brooks running community with a racing series that is posted online. Every member (some 818 members are in the racing series) enter their racing times and then an age grade or VDOT(V02 max index for runners) scores your performances for the year and then compares them to everyone else. It's an age/graded, gender based scoring to help compare apples to apples. Needless to say, it really helps to keep me going and establishing PR's. Today I'm 52nd out of the 818 runners posting races on there. There are some really amazing athletes that are part of the Brooks ID program and I've enjoyed reading posts in the forums, people's bios and member blogs.

As for PR's, I've been hurting as of late with achillies tendonitis problems and some plantar fascia issues have arisen too. Each foot has an issue. It's limited my miles some, but I'm still getting out at least 4 times a week to run even if it only means 20-30 miles of training per week. A running buddy of mine has also experienced some ankle issues which he thinks might be a stress fracture. We both love running so much that we just want to keep running through the pain, but I think we both realize that sometimes you can't do that and you have to give your body time to rest.

Windy Wednesday's running club still meets every Wednesday evening after work. We've been running on the track and have been doing 800 and 400 meter repeats. Barefoot strides in the infield are sure to follow the track workout. It's been awesome getting back out on the track some, even if I'm not out there flying around the oval like I used to. I've really enjoyed running with my wife and friends as a group. We have so much fun running this way and everyone is improving.

Lots of great runs coming up too. A club run 5k this weekend followed by a half marathon that my Windy Wednesday running partners might do. I haven't been logging the miles that I need to be doing in order to do a sub 1:18 half marathon, but I'll put in a couple 8-10 mile tempo runs and should be ready to go on August 15th. It's sure to be a real gut buster. I hope to keep on training, improving, and having a blast out there.

Go wild and enjoy running!!!

2009 Races

February- Trinidad to Clam Beach Run
March- Foggy Bottom Run
April- Avenue of the Giants
May- Waterfront Run
June- Atalanta Run (Amber)
June- Dow's Prairie
July-4th of July Run
August- Hammond Half Marathon & 2M
August- Tim Brownlow Memorial
September- Blue Lake Swan
October- Sand Dollar Shuffle (Cody)
October- Humboldt Redwoods
November- Arcata Bottoms 2.4M and 7.95M
November-Turkey Trot 5K- November
December- Patrick's Point 10K & 5K

2010 Races

January- Patrick's Point run
February- Trinidad to Clam Beach run
February-Sequoia Park run
March- Foggy Bottoms Milk run
April- Hour run
May- The AVE
May- Waterfront Run
May- Burton Pickle 5K
June- Atalanta Run (Amber)
June- Dows Prairie run
July- Firecracker 5k in Santa Cruz (Cody)
July- Clam Beach 5k challenge
August- Hammond Half Marathon
August- Tim Brownlow 10K (Cody)
September- Cross Country Carnival (Cody)
September- Blue Lake 5k/10k
October- Soroptimist 5k-10k (Cody)
October- Humboldt Marathon

October- Ridge Trail Run
November- Arcata Bottoms Run
November- Turkey Trot
December- Blue Lake Fish Hatchery Run