Running Towards Fitness

Personal Awareness
The ancient Greeks used to believe that a healthy mind and a healthy body not only went together, but were both critical for happiness and a successful life. They were also intertwined, meaning that a weakness in either area would affect the other. When I started this transformation I was overweight and full of excuses. And by overweight I don't mean just a few pounds - I weighed over 70 pounds more than I do now. I finally took my life into my own hands and started exercising. At the time, I had no idea where it would lead - to a stronger body, a happier, more nimble mind, and a chest full of race medals. Healthy mind, healthy body, indeed! It hasn't been easy, or without issues, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world.

Make up run

No, I didn’t just invent running. Neither was I wearing lipstick. This morning I did the run I was supposed to do yesterday: six 1km intervals with a one-minute rest between each run.

Time: 4:42 - 4:32 - 4:51 - 4:45 - 5:04 - 5:07
Pace: 7:34 - 7:18 - 7:48 - 7:39 - 8:09 - 8:14
Pulse:  160 -  160 -  160  -  180 -  170  - 170

It was earlier than yesterday, and I was better fed and hydrated, but the sun was still really too strong for me. When I finished it was only 84 degrees with 70% humidity, but the difference between sun and shade was remarkable. Maybe I should try running with a hat, even though last time it was both annoying and hot.

After checking my heart rate on the fourth lap I decided to slow things down a little, which helped. Interestingly enough, on the last lap I decided to treat it as a “cool-down” and just plodded along - turns out my time wasn’t that far off what I had been doing before. The heat really did slow me down. That, and I enjoy the fact that an 8:15 pace has become “plodding” to me. Maybe I’ll do that from the start on my longer run next time, and see where it gets me.

No gym workout today, since its my wife’s birthday and I have other things to do with my time. I’ll try to get up even earlier tomorrow for my run, but that may depend on exactly how late we stay out tonight.

The fact that I stayed at or below 160 for the first two miles is a good sign. Should I be doing more longer runs, do you think, to work on stamina at this point? I’m really not where I wanted to be (for good reason, yeah, but its still annoying)…

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About

I'm Richard Stanford, a fit, happy runner. Of course, that wasn't always the case. Dip into the archives to follow my progress from couch potato to sub-four hour marathoner.

I also like to cook, write, code, and play with power tools...

Personal Records

DistanceRaceTimePace
Marathon2006 Freescale3:54:078:56
20 Miles2006 RunTex3:00:089:00
30K2005 RunTex2:42:448:45
Half M2006 3M1:42:577:51
20K2005 Decker1:40:428:06
10 Miles2005 Pervasive1:20:138:01
10K2005 Dublin Dr Pepper48:437:51
5 Miles2005 Turkey Trot37:017:24
5K2005 Margarita Run22:327:15
4K2006 Fila Relays17:247:15
1 Mile2006 Congress Ave6:236:23

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Activity

7 total comments, leave your comment.
  1. Regarding the hat: I enjoy wearing a hat, most days. When it’s a little warm, I wear a visor, so I still get some shade for my eyes and face, but the top of my head gets air. When it’s too hot, I ditch the head-coverings all together and just wear sunglasses. And douse my head in cold water. And whine a lot. That seems to help.

  2. My thinking is the long runs are the key at this point. It seems to me that your legs are coming back into shape nicely.

  3. Yeah, the whining helps me, too! You’ve got some hot temps there Richard. I think you are doing amazingly well for having had that long break.

  4. For me the jury is still out on that hat. I wore a hat forever. But lately I feel like it keeps the heat in. However it keeps the wicked sweat out of my eyes. Hard to say.

  5. Agreed. You took a break and are contending with heat. Your times are terrific. Good stuff Richard!

  6. Richard, are you still planning on doing a marathon in December? How about the February one?

    You have a question mark by the first one so I’m thinking you are doing one or the other?

  7. I’m on for Feb, but not for December. I’m giving serious consideration to doing this series of races, which would make the December marathon pretty unlikely. I have a reworked schedule (at home) which I need to post up here - for my own reference if nothing else!

    The races in the schedule:

    09/06/2004 Congress Avenue Mile
    10/03/2004 IBM Uptown Classic 10K
    10/24/2004 Pervasive Power Charge 10 Miler
    11/21/2004 Motive Bison Stampede Half Marathon
    12/05/2004 Decker Challenge 20K
    01/16/2005 RunTex 30K
    01/30/2005 3M Half Marathon
    02/13/2005 Freescale Marathon

    If I can’t make any single one of them though, I’m out of the series, so I need to figure out if its even possible - if its not, I won’t do a couple like the mile in a week and a half. I still may not - but I’m thinking about it.


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Famous Marathon Times

RunnerTimePace
Al Gore4:58:2511:23
Oprah4:29:3010:17
P. Diddy4:14:549:43
Sarah Palin3:59:369:09
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Boston Qualifier3:10:597:17
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Gilbert Tuhabonye2:23:075:28
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Haile Gebrselassie2:03:594:44

People I Train With

Alex - Addicted to Exercise
Carrie - Tri to be Funny
Erine - Thousand Miles
Frank - Running Blog
Gilbert - Gilbert's Gazelles
Jay - Leotian Blog
Mike - BROTH