Daylight savings time rocks!

It occurred to me this afternoon that there would still be daylight when I got home from work, typically around 6:30 to 6:45 p.m.

Sure enough, sunset was scheduled for around 7:30 p.m. so I had plenty of time to get in a nice, easy 30-minute run OUTSIDE on a weeknight.

I was still sore from Saturday's 10-K in Erie, so nothing hard tonight just a 8:07/mile pace for each mile for the 3.7 miles I ran.

It felt good to get out there on the road to loosen up a little bit. Doubtful I'll do a sprint workout on Tuesday, but maybe a little more intense run than today.

Runners World Quote of the Day:

"Act like a horse. Be dumb. Just run."

Jumbo Elliot, Track and Field Coach

Happy running!

Easy four mile run

Although it was starting to melt outside, the snow was too deep to run outside today, so I headed to the gym for a treadmill run.

I was still kind of feeling sore from yesterday's 8-mile run, so I did 10 minutes on the stationary bike to loosen up.

This run wasn't designed to be fast, rather easy just to get in some mileage.

I really didn't pay attention to the mile splits, but most of the miles were done around 8:20/mile pace or slower.

Overall, the time was 33:44 or 8:26/mile pace. You would think these runs really are easy, but that's never the case because of the soreness and stiffness from the previous hard workout. However, I guess it's better than calling it a slow run, right?

I like this Runners World Quote of the Day:

"I don't believe in restricting calories, I believe in burning them."

Chanamalla Samagond, Indian National Champion at 800m and 1,500m

Happy running!

A day off before big weekend

On Thursday, I was still stinging after Wednesday's speed workout. I had intended to take the day off Thursday, but my legs were screaming for me to do something, so I hit the stationary bike for 40 minutes. Felt good to get some blood flowing through there as I recovered.

For Friday night, I decided to take the night off and have plans to do a long run on Saturday and perhaps a 4-5 miler on Sunday. The weather should be decent, so I'm hoping to do my long run on Saturday at a swift pace and hopefully I'll feel fresh. Maybe I'll bump up the distance to 10 miles, if I'm feeling good.

With the Olympics in full swing, I wanted to link you to this story about speed skater Apolo Ohno, who is a runner too. Check it out here.

Today's Runners World Quote of the Day is short and sweet ...

"Run into peace."

Meister Eckhart, 14th-Century Philosopher

Happy running!

Recovery and strength workout

Tonight I was feeling sluggish, but still managed to make it to the gym to get in a workout.

I hopped on the elliptical machine for 10 minutes to get a warmup before hitting the weight machines. I kind of like this elliptical machine, it's different and I'm finding it helps me get ready for my workouts.

I focused on chest and shoulders tonight with the weights. Then I got on the treadmill.

Nothing special tonight, just trying to get the soreness and stiffness out of my legs after last night's hard workout.

Not much to report with the run, although I managed to "get in" four miles in 34:47, for an 8:41/mile pace. This is what I call a recovery run, nice and slow, but it's still tough since you're definitely not fresh and just trying to power through the after affects of a hard workout the day before.

Runners World Quote of the Day:

"When the runner's high does set in, usually around three or four miles, my body flows into a smooth rhythm and my mind is no longer conscious of how far or how long I've run or how much farther to go."

Matthew Shafner, lawyer and marathoner

My comment to this statement is I wish that was the case for me most of the time, but it's not. What a lucky guy! I'm always conscious of how far I've run and how much farther there is to go.

Happy running!

Strength and recovery

Tonight was all about hitting the weights and running a fairly easy recovery run.

I busted out three sets of chest, back, shoulders, arms and abdominal exercise during a 45-minute span.

Feeling nice and warm from the lifting, I set out to do a nice easy run of 30 minutes or 4 miles depending on how good I felt.

I eventually settled in for an 8:20 mile pace for the first three and then decided to do another mile at 8:13. Felt awesome and finished in 33:30 for the four miles or 8:22/mile.

I love vacation, have I mentioned that?

Runners World Quote of the Day:

"If one has determination, then things will get done."

Chinese Proverb

Happy running!

Fruit cake/4-mile recovery run

The food editor at The News-Herald, Janet Podolak, brought in some fruit cake that someone made for her to sample. Oh my gosh was that good! What a delicious afternoon snack providing me extra energy to burn off this evening.

After last night's intense speed workout, tonight was designed to be a fairly easy steady-state 4-mile run, one that I eventually finished in about 32:20.

Feeling a little sore, I decided to warm up for a mile and stretch out before amping up the pace.

I hopped back on the treadmill and jumped into an 8:34/mile pace for a while, but that soon just felt too slow, so I dialed it down to 8:00/mile pace and keep it at that speed for about 25 minutes.

For the last four minutes of the run, I felt great and decided to kick it in at a 7:30/mile pace. Still felt easy, which was the point of tonight. I'm hopeful Thursday's workout will be a fast-paced tempo run.

Happy running!