Bryan's Running Blog

Mile in 5:00.88. I need to run it one second faster. Close!

38:22 at 7:15 pace.

38:31

Racquetball

4 reps for 4 minutes at 8:00 pace followed by 3 reps for 4 minutes at 5:30 pace. Plus 1 minute 30 seconds at the end at 5:30 pace. (I was going to go farther but I was already home.)

We all went camping/hiking in the Smoky Mountains.

52 minutes and I was going pretty slow -- probably about 8:00 mile. It felt good though.

55 minutes. I forgot my watch, so I had to ask someone the time at the start and at the finish. I figured out my distance using gmap-pedometer. So needless to say, it's a rough guess - although I think my 7:20 pace is pretty accurate.

I was going to run a fast mile again today -- and I started to run it, but I just didn't have it in me. It was raining pretty hard. I ran a 1.5 mile warm-up and then ran my mile in the opposite direction than I usually run it. I ran 4/5 of a mile in 4:09 and accidently stopped my watch when I was trying to turn on the light to see my pace. Anyway, at that point I decided I'd had enough.

Today's run further convinced me that I need to run my official mile on the track, as I think there is enough of a hill on my neighborhood mile that it could give me an unfairly good time when I run the downhill direction (which is what I did when I ran the 5:00.88 mile last week).

45:21. Nice run. I ran the last mile up a hill and down the other side in 6:45, and I felt pretty good. For the most part, I took it fairly slow. I've enjoyed just going on nice longer runs this week, rather than on pushing speed.

50:40, which means about 7:08 per mile. I felt good about this run -- I could have kept going and it didn't feel like I was pushing it. So that's a good sign. Eventually, I'd like to be able to run 7 minute miles without pushing it for forever (like 26 miles).

I did not really go running today, but played 2.5 hours of ultimate frisbee. That has to count for something -- I am a lot more sore now than I am after my usual 7 mile run. Running is great and all, but there are few things better than ultimate.... Fall league started today, so I will be have to run my long runs sometime during the week.

34:18. I am very sore from Saturday's ultimate. So I ran a very slow 4 miles this morning just to get my legs moving.

34:30 -- 7:40 pace. I'm still sore from Saturday's ultimate. It was rainy, windy, and dark this morning. My glasses got all covered with rain/fogged up, so I couldn't see too well.

1:04:07 -- just over 7:30 pace per mile. I started kind of fast, then slowed down because I realized I had a long ways to run and couldn't sustain my pace. I turned around at 32 minutes and tried to make it back in 32 minutes. I would have, except I had to go to the bathroom for the last mile or two, so I slowed down a bit. I'm kind of bummed that it only ended up being 8.5 miles (according to mapmyrun.com). It felt like I was going faster than 7:30 pace. Oh well.

I'm getting slower!!!!

I tried running a fast mile today on the track. After a half mile in 2:37, I decided to give up. (I ended up jogging a couple of laps and running two quarter miles in 1:18 each.) This is somewhat frustrating because back in June, I ran a 5:15 mile on the same track (it was a race, which tends to make me run a little faster). I've definitely done a lot of running since June.

Maybe today's mile-attempt was slow because I went on a long run at a little faster pace than usual yesterday. I should probably also discipline myself to run the entire mile, instead of stopping early when I'm not going as fast as I'd hope.

I definitely I prefer long runs. I'd rather go out and explore a neighborhood and enjoy my run rather than killing myself running circles around a track. But I still want to break the 5 minute mile mark -- and hopefully by the end of the year. Oh well.

48:24. About 7:55 pace per mile. This is the beginning of my new training routine based on Sasha's advice. 6 miles a day at 8 minute pace for two months. I have to admit I'm a little skeptical: no pain, no gain, is what I've always thought. But we'll see. In any event, I enjoy these sort of runs and I'm sure this will build up leg strength. I just hope slow runs don't habituate my body to running slow.

Two games of ultimate. Each game was about an hour long. A mile is probably an underestimate for each game, but I guess it isn't typical running.

48 minutes. Slow run around my neighborhood. It was cold. I'm a little sore from Saturday's ultimate. Theron, Kari, and their 2-year-old Carston visited us this weekend.

48:00; 7:37 per mile. I ran the Crocket Park, Green Hill Blvd run, plus a little (to the corner of Paul's house and back). This goes up and down quite a few hills. It was very cold (about 32 degrees) this morning and dark -- I felt good the whole way though.

1:17:30. That is a 7:30 pace. Since I'm playing ultimate on Saturdays, I figure I need a new day to do my long runs. So I figured today would be a good day. I ran from Vanderbilt, down to the Belle Meade area getting down to Sunnybrooke Drive. I crossed over West End/Harding and ran back by McCable golf course.

I feel good about this run because a) I don't think I've ran this far in several years, b) I thought I was running slow (around 8 minute pace per mile) but was pleasantly surprised when I plotted my run on mapmyrun.com, and c) I feel fine (although my legs are a little tired).

So anyway, it was a good run. I just wish Nashville had more sidewalks.

48:30. 8:13 pace. This was meant to be a slow run, it felt slow, and it was slow. I can feel yesterday's run a little bit in my knees.

50:53, about 8:12 per mile. Around my neighborhood, quite slow. I'm still a little tired from Wednesday.

Two games of ultimate. I had good intentions to go running in addition to the ultimate, but I ended up helping a guy move, buying a tree, going trick-or-treating at the zoo with the kids, etc. My wife says there is more to life than running.

42:00. I ran along Old Smyrna Road -- a beautiful old country road about a mile north of my house. It was nice to be able to see where I was running this morning (because of Daylight Savings). I got a little carried away and ran my last mile in 6 minutes.

46:00. 7:36 per mile. I did the Crocket Park, Green Hill Blvd run.