The pay off

5 weeks until my first official run, a 5K in Woodstock. I was feeling really good about my progress through the first week in March, however; since starting a new job I hadn't fit running into my new routine until today. I had always run in the morning before breakfast but no earlier than 7:30. Now, I am in the car by 7 and can't bring myself to wake up at 5 to fit in an hour run before my normal hour "get ready" routine. The solution seems to be running an hour after dinner at 7:00pm. Part of the reason it took so long to make this adjustment is because I'm finally starting to get over a cold that turned into a sinus infection, draining me for the last three weeks. I've been on medication since Thursday night and although I still am not feeling 100%, I felt well enough to put in a couple miles. I ran 2.5 miles today. I had to stop because my chest was all scratchy feeling from the infection. Water is helping now.

So, yeah, most awesome moment so far since I've started running. When I went to a walk in clinic on Thursday to get treatment for the sinus infection, a fairly fit looking nurse took my blood pressure. Upon getting the reading, she said "Wow, are you an athlete, do you run?" Now, I am not built like a runner, I've got plenty of pounds I'd like to drop just to be a healthy weight, so I was surprised she asked that question. I explained how I had been running consistently until a few weeks ago, to which she responded that she could tell, that my blood pressure reading had me as possibly the healthiest person in the building. At the moment I'm sure I was beaming with excitement. I didn't realize how impactful running would be on my health so quickly. I'm glad to see that there is already some pay off to this enjoyable hobby.

Going forward, I've got a strict 9 week schedule I will be following until the 10K race on May 31st. It's game time.

Derailed!

So I had a week with a stomach bug, at the end of which I ran a few miles.  Then a week in Florida, when I had no chance to run.  Then I get back, recover for a few days, and then my wife gets a baby shower invite the same day as my half-marathon, so now I have to look for another one.  Finally, I go running yesterday, doing 4 miles, and now my knee hurts...annoying!

It's hard to motivate myself back into things now.

Crazy Life

Running has taken a back seat to the job search for the past 4 months, but this is coming to an end! I have two offers- one from Michigan Tech and one from Portland State. I have decided to go with Michigan Tech!

I was so excited last night that I went for a half hour run after the basketball game, which apparently was a bad idea because my knee is absolutely killing me today! Ah well, I am running that race on Saturday regardless.

Post Saturday race, I am embarking on an adventure with a fellow Bryant alum. We will be traveling cross country for the next week and a half. Going from San Francisco back to New York via the southern US. I am pumped and hopefully will get to run in several states!

Once I get back to NY, I will begin training for the Mountain Goat and hopefully get back into a regular routine again.

Miles for calories, not calories for calories

Whenever I had used a treadmill in the past, it was to burn off calories and drop pounds. I'd painfully watch the calories rack up one by one until about 300 or 400. With a pound consisting of 3600 calories, an extra few hundred burned, didn't seem to make much of a difference, and therefore I'd never give the extra effort to improve my daily burn. Calories burned was not much of a motivator.

My goal since November, however, has been to run distances. I'd like to run an official marathon. Seeing my distance improve weekly, is a strong motivator to jump on the treadmill and push myself harder each time. I ran 5 miles on Saturday. It took me just under 60 minutes. Every tenth of a mile I ran past 4 miles felt like a major achievement, with 4 miles being my best to that date. The best part of running is the improvements you make over what you have already accomplished. It might be the hardest physically but the improvement is why I jump on the treadmill every other day in the first place. It just so happens, that with these incremental improvements, the calories burned seem to rack up on their own. 5 miles meant 750 calories burned. 750! That to me is just insane. I have never burned that many calories at one time, ever! Obviously more distance equals more calories, but it is the difference in mindset between the two strategies that I find so interesting.

Rack up the miles if you want to burn calories....don't aim to simply burn calories because you'll always feel like you are not getting anywhere!