Rest day.. Because your body needs it, even when your mind doesn’t want to!

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.


Sometimes rest days are like a toddler's nap. The Child may insist they don't want/need them - yet due to that nap they are MUCH better to be around. Like wise, as a runner, we may not WANT to take a rest day, but our performance is drastically improved (and injury avoided) due to taking that time off.

Now in my case, I had run Monday and Tuesday, and took Weds. off. Many runners would say you don't need a break after 2 days, in fact, I know runners that only take one rest-day a week. There is nothing wrong with any of these options - I think the trick is to know your body and what it wants/needs - especially based on the level of fitness you are currently at, and the extent of the training done on the non-rest days. When I was training for my Marathon, I tried to go 6 days. I followed a pre-written plan. Last year, pre-hernia - I ran two days, with one day off and kept this up as a standard. I also avoided injury, felt good and it seemed to "Work" for me, so I am returning to what worked.

My idea was to get up at 5 am and go running in the dark. The dark is much more peaceful in the morning than at night - as no-one is up and out at that hour, while everyone is rushing to get home in the evening. Once again, a mostly-free evening beat out the loss of sleep, and the alarm got shut off. I'm sure that extra hour will make me run better tonight!


And Today's Christmas Carol is also from the Parlor City Boy's Chorus:

Running in the cold – you may not be as fast as you feel you are.

This is a repost from my WordPress blog.

Last night I got out of work earlier than usual. That worked out quite nicely as I got to run in the light! I went with one less layer this time, no under-armour on the top. I regretted that for the first mile or so. I never hit the point that I was "warm," but I was not "cold." I think I may stop messing with WHAT to wear, I seem to have it figured out now.

I felt good out there last night, I was trying to concentrate on lifting my legs and letting them drop the whole way. I tried to lift them as soon as they hit the ground - as the POSE book said, and I felt like I was FLYING! I also quickly understood why the book says you need to focus on building your core muscles. I could feel it BIG TIME. When I got back - I was a little disappointed at my time. I felt like I was doing at MOST an 8 minute mile. This was slower than I ran at the beginning of November. Regardless of that, it was a good run - and my calves/legs are feeling it this morning. A little bit of soreness always lets you know it was a good workout!

Running in the Cold and Dark - and loving it.

Another chilly run done and under the belt. When I started out last night at around 4:50, it was a balmy 35 degrees. I found out that once the sun goes down - the temperature drops FAST!!! By the end of the run it was quite chilly and I was glad I was finishing my run, not starting it! I had the advantage of already being warm once the temperature dropped, so even without the polar-fleece layer I was just fine!

In the new additions department of my running kit - I have added a head-lamp (the red thing on my head in the picture.) I picked up a set of flashlights on black friday that had 2 head lamps and about 5 hand-held flash lights. I didn't spend too much time examining them when I put them in my shopping cart, but it seems that the headlamp offers a choice of red or white light. This of course was something I had to play with as I ran.

Running in the cold, and trying some of the POSE philosophy.

So with this weekend being a chilly 27 degrees, I thought this would be a good opportunity to figure out "how to dress" for the cold weather. I did a quick google to find some charts on what people recommended, and decided on this:

Head: Perry the Platypus hat, Sunglasses (snow is BRIGHT), and headphones for music.
Body: Underarmor (though it was generic, not UnderArmor brand), T-shirt, Polar Fleece and Shell.
Legs: Underarmor (again, generic.. And sounds much better than "running tights"), running pants.
Feet: Smartwool Toe Socks, Vibram Five Fingers Bikila

I also had a bandana around my neck - that I could pull up to breath through if needed. I should have had my wife take a picture of me in my running get-up for the cold. I will do so next time! (I looked goofy.)

Foot Turning, Shin Splints and changing the stride.

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.

So, ever since my long run in my marathon-training attempt, I have suffered from some shin splint pain on the left shin after a run. This week has been true to form, with the pain returning as my running has. Then, I began to look at the picture from the Pete Keyes Turkey Trot that I did on Thanksgiving day, and noticed my foot. If

you look at the picture to the right, you can see that my toe shoes are clearly NOT pointing straight ahead.

After I saw this, I decided to google the phrases "does running with feet pointed out cause shin splints." This brought back many different results. So, after reading countless pages, some of which did help, others were unrelated in their entirety - I discovered that this was a common thought on contributions toward shin splints.

running with toes pointed outward - was a contributor according to one site, along with "Tight Achilles and calf muscles."

Pete Keyes Turkey Trot 8k Race Report!

This is a repost from my Wordpress Blog.
The Sleeper Has Awakened!!! Ok, so now that I have my Dune quote out of my system, My apologies for being absent for so long, We have expanded our locations at Work - so things like running, blogging and sleep fell by the way side. But the new location is open, which means my free time is returning! With the coming of the Thanksgiving Holiday - to runners that means TURKEY TROTS!!! So this year I headed out to the Pete Keyes Turkey Trot 8k at Ostiningo Park in Binghamton. With it being an 8k, it was a guaranteed PR, since I had never run one before. In addition to it being a "first time" in that sense, it was also the first time I had volunteered at a race. I showed up early (in my Perry the Platapus hat) and helped pass out the Pre-Registrations (A-H!) It was actually a lot of fun, although the person who put the envelopes in "alphabetical order" had more of a theoretical sense of the alphabet rather than a practical one. Luckily runners are patient people!

Perfect Running Weather!!! Whether my Running technology works or not!

This is a Repost from my Wordpress Blog.

This unseasonable weather - is AWESOME!!!! Normally I am unable to run whenever we get "perfect running weather" - so I am enjoying it even more! All those days this year where the sun was shining, are being made up for - NOW! And I love it. Last night the timing was going to be tight - Our kids had "Family Dodge Ball Night" (Horace Mann does some of the absolute coolest things for their kids,) and it was Voting Day, so I couldnt' do a nice leisurely long run in the 68 degree (IN NOVEMBER!!!!) temperatures. I decided that the "run for the ride" was the way to go - so I headed out toward my wife's work.