Mapping Runs

My wife found this site at one point and showed it to me, but since I wasn't running, I didn't pay attention. However I wanted to run outside today, so I decided to check it out:

www.mapmyrun.com

It allows you to use a real time map to plot out your run and it gives you the distance, which is cool. Saves me driving around with the odometer, and it allows me to get to places I couldn't easily measure before.

I actually used this the other day to map a run outside. My wife and I were thinking to run together and while she wants to do the run every day thing with me, it's more of a hobby for her and not as serious as it is for me. I'd like to get on the streak for the USRA, so I want to be sure I'm going at least a mile.

Her plan was to run for 20 minutes, which should do it, but I wanted to mark things down. So I used the site above to map out a run, ensuring we were going about 1.5 miles and then we ran what I'd mapped, which took about 20 minutes.

She was right, but I was sure.

Three Weeks

I'm almost a little surprised. I had a hard time getting out there Saturday, and I thought the current streak might end there, but I made it out there. Now I'm 3 weeks in and kind of surprised. I figured I'd be broken down a bit by now.

It's very inspiring to reach a milestone like this. Every 7 days gets me a little more excited and closer to that 365 number that I can submit.

Totals
Week 3: 10mi, 110 min, 1596 cal
Overall: 19.8mi, 213 min

Day 21 - 3 weeks!

I did another easy run, slow, steady pace, trying to preserve the legs for the long term. Kept a 6mph pace through the mile, added a 6.4 for the last minute just to stretch.

1.4mi
15:10min
243 cal

Day 20

I'm impressing even myself.

A slow, easy run. I wasn't in a hurry, but was looking for a bit of a break after yesterday.

1.28mi
14:00min
250 cal

Day 19

I got to run with my wife and kids, for at least part of it. We tried for a family outing, with the little kids riding bikes and Tia and I jogging. They got tired of bikes and jogged with us for a few minutes before they walked back to their bikes. It was a short out and back down the road, and I guessed the distance using a web site that I'll blog on tomorrow.

20 min
1.5mi (conservative estimate)
250 cal (slow run)

Day 18

An evening run, even after a margarita at lunch.

1.45mi, 15:00min, 283cal

Day 17

Finally got an afternoon run in. A longer, slower run (for me).

1.7mi
17:11min
330 calories.

And Tia said my belly looks smaller!

Day 16

Just finished, late practice and I'm beat.

1.23mi, 13min, 240 cal.

But I still made it. Another late night run.

Week 2

I completed my second week and the need to finish two weeks was what motivated me to run at 9:30 last night after the kids were in bed. I know I've never run two weeks in a row solid, and it feels like a good achievement.

Totals for Week 2:
Mileage: 9.8mi
Minutes: 103
Calories: 1534

Overall Totals:
Mileage: 19.2
Minutes: 201
Calories: 1534 (didn't track week 1)

Day 15

An afternoon run, but not outside. I regret that slightly, but I started "Hoosiers" on the treadmill last night and wanted to get back to it. It's interesting watching movies 15 minutes at a time.

1.6mi, 16:30, 304cal

Day 14

Two whole weeks! Woo-hoo!!

Short one, lost 45 minutes looking for keys, football, girl scouts, horse feeding in the dark, started my run at 9:20.

1.3mi, 13:30, 253 cal.

Running Together

I had planned on running with Tia, my wife today. We haven't done that in a long time, and we haven't had a lot of time together the last month or so. She's been traveling, and we are a busy couple with 3 kids.

So we talked a bit and were going to try and go between her conference calls, but it wasn't working out, she ran long on one, had another pop up, my eating wasn't matching hers, and so I hit the treadmill, knowing I needed to shower and get some work done before she left.

While she was getting ready she said she'd had a good Body for Life run on the treadmill. She had gone down to the basement to run right before packing. I said that I was on my 13th day of running and felt good. Not great, but I was trying something different. She asked if she should do it with me.

I said sure. It's not that we'd necessarily run together every day, but we'd try to coordinate some runs so that we had some time together. The low mile to mile and a half time frame makes it easy for us to fit it in, and moving at a nice easy pace would be good for both of us.

I miss exercising with her, running, lifting, etc., and life has been so busy, it's been hard for us to get the good workouts we used to enjoy in every day. Going with a lower threshold of a mile has worked for me, so we'll see if she joins me.

Maybe I'll even get her to blog.

Day 13

Today was a busy day, with Tia leaving town. I was thinking we could run together outside between her calls, but she got busy and we couldn't get meals coordinated, so I decided to hit the treadmill. Ran a touch more.

1.45mi, 16:00min, 293cal

Day 12

Had to fit on in between the Broncos game and getting new tires on the car this morning.

1.27mi, 13:30min, 230 cal

Day 11

A quick one in between grass cutting.

1.367mi, 15:00 min, 263 cal.

Feet are sore, which worries me. I'll try ice later to heal them up.

Day 10

Once again in a hurry. Fed horses and then had 20 minutes before I had to leave for softball. Pushed a bit and my legs are sore.

1.225mi, 12:00min, 235cal

Plus about .5 miles of running at softball back and forth and a 3 run home run. :)

Can You Run Every day?

I've always heard that running every day was bad for you. It seems that so many running magazines, articles, sites, etc. stress the need for days off. And I can see the wisdom in that. Running is hard and it's a lot of stress on your body.

In previous years, I've tried to build running routines, but I've often been training for an event, or to get stronger, and so I've pushed hard. Too hard I think as I've often had issues in the 6-8 week period where my shins start to hurt and my body breaks down a bit.

However most of us walk every day and use our bodies, so can running every day be that bad? I wrote in my Inspiration post that Jim Garrett had been running for 28 years. When I went looking for streaks, to see if he was unique, I found runeveryday.com, with some 30+ year streaks! It's neat to see, especially as the lowest person on the list is 384 days. I wonder if I can get to that.

This time I'm going for the low denominator, shooting for between 1-2 miles each day, at a reasonable pace. I might run some longer stretches, perhaps a few 5k races, but really I'm going for a steady, long term pace and then using baseball, karate, weight lifting, etc. to build my body.

Day 9

A quick one again before football. I wanted to run outside, but as usual, the day got away from me and so I decided to get one in before we left.

1.4mi, 14:30min, 260 cal.

Changing Things

I decided to separate out the logs and thoughts into separate categories so that anyone can ignore the logging if they're not interested.

The Routine

I wanted to run at 11:30, got busy and then when I was free at 12:30, I was too hungry. So I ate and planned for 2:30-ish. Forgot about it and the next thing I knew it was 3:14 and time to go get kids.

That's how a lot of my days go, trying to match up the window of time when I'm not too hungry with work to find time to run. I haven't made it enough of a priority and I'm not in enough of a routine to do it consistently. I think I need to pick a time and stick with it, adjusting on the road. That has always worked well for me and when I had to drive to an office, I planned my meals so that I'd be heading out to the gym or for a run at 11:30 every day. I definitely like that.

My normal treadmill routine is based on the Body For Life workouts I used to do. It's modified for time, but as I get in better shape, and my legs get stronger, I'll work a few of these in there. Now, here's what I do:

1 min stretching (both calves and then touching toes)
2 min warmup, 4mph - This is where I walk quickly, get blood flowing
1-10 minutes, 6-6.5mph - Depends on how I feel. I might start at 6.2 or I might creep the speed up every minute or two. This is where I do most of the work and start to build a sweat.
2 minutes, 7-7.5mph - A kick at the finish, making sure I work.
1 minute, 6mph - Starting to cool down
1:30-2:00, 4mph - The cool down

If possible, I then stretch while watching TV or reading to cool the legs down. As always, lots of water.

Day 8

A longer, slower run today. I wanted to add a few minute minutes since I had time, but I didn't want to overdo it. So I ran at 6.2mph for most of the time, moved to a two minute burst of 7, then back to 6 to cool down a bit.

1.8mi, 18:30min

Starting week two and it feels good.

Week 1 totals:

9.3mi
96 min.

Day 7

5:10 - Arrive home
5:13 - check email real quick.
5:15 - change clothes
5:18 - Start running
5:30 - Finish running
5:35 - Take off for football practice with Delaney.

It's day 7 and I'm pretty proud of myself. I don't think I've ever run a full week in a row before. Usually I take at least one day off, even when I was doing a lot of triathlon training. Of course then I'd done probably 7-10 miles in a day at times.

However this was a concerted effort to do one mile a day at a minimum and I've done that for 7 days in a row. I feel good, and honestly I've been delaying too much most days because I know I can go take 15 minutes and run a mile if need be at night. A few times it's been 8:30 or 9:00 at night when I've run. Still better than my wife, who ran last night at 10:30.

This is a good goal and now I'm aiming for 2 weeks. I'm thinking that I'll increase distance in a week or two, but now I know that I'm still building a base and I don't want to go too crazy and hurt myself with longer runs when I don't need them. My normal 15 minutes is getting me moving and sweating and I feel stronger. Today I actually started running at 6.2, increased every couple minutes, doing the last couple a 7mph and didn't feel winded at all.

I'm not sure what I'll do when karate starts again, probably do a lot of one mile runs.

Day 6

Pushing slightly harder, but I was in a hurry, so I had to end early.

1.5mi, 15:00min.

I pushed my over 7mph for a few minutes, however in a schedule to get Delaney to Scouts and get his run in, so I cut things short. Felt good though and strong.

Delaney did his 1.1mi in 15:00.

Day 5 - Feeling Strong

The ankle hasn't hurt today and after some yard work and then a Cub Scout rocket launch, I wanted to get moving before it got too late (and so I could watch Sunday Night Football).

So I went down, knowing this is 5 days and not wanting to push too hard. The legs still need to gain some strength and endurance. So I did a fairly standard slow mile, but then pushed the last minute up to 7mph.

1.4mi, 15:00min.

Day 4

Slower today.

1.3mi, 15:00 minutes

I was out in the yard working on a project, pounding nails and roofing for hours. Definitely felt like skipping today.

Day 3

Not wanting to wait too long, I shot a podcast and had my shorts and shoes already to go. On the treadmill with rain all day outside.

1.5mi, 14:30

Feeling good and surprisingly the ankle actually feels OK.

Day 2

After working all day, running to the ranch store for a panel, taking Delaney to football, I got home at 8:15. Tired, hungry, I was tempted to skip, but I said 1 mile, 12 minutes, make it happen.

1.3mi 13:30 minutes.

I made it through and I feel better.

The mile as a distance is good because it's doable even after a long day. 2 minute walk, run for 1 mile, cool down for at least a minute.

Inspiration

I was watching Hard Knocks in 2008, getting excited about the upcoming football season in the US. This season was based on the Dallas Cowboys, the team I've followed my whole life, and I really enjoyed the show.

During the second week, the show talked about the Garrett brothers that coach on the team. There's Jason, the offensive coordinator, John coaching tight ends, and Judd in the personnel group. However the thing that caught my eye was a spot on their father, Jim Garrett.

He's 78 and while the show a bit of his inspiration to his boys, they show him running at Princeton University on the track. He's hunched over, he's moving relatively slowly, but he's running. They then show Bill Cowher asking John about his Dad and his running. Apparently he's still running.

Since 1980. 28 years and he runs every day.

I was amazed by that and inspired. I thought, "why can't I do that?"

I know why it's hard, injuries, life, and more get in the way. Finding the 15 minutes to run (warm up, stretch, cool down) and get a mile in is possible, but the motivation is hard.

I was inspired, so I decided to give it a try. I went 4 days, then missed one, then went every other day for a few weeks until I hurt an ankle and then decided to take a week off. I felt bad and decided if a 78 year old man, who probably hurts at times, can do it. So can I.

So here's the blog.

Day 1

Starting off on a new goal, running at least one mile every day. I've been running on and off for a few weeks, but I decided to start this blog and motivate myself.

Day 1: 12 min, 1.2 miles