Benchmark Run - some signs of progress

So my standard, benchmark run has always been a loop from my house that is about 5.2 miles. When I was in shape this was my easy recovery run, or for times when I didn't feel like "really running" - Just a simple 5 miler at 7:30-8:00 minutes/mile.

Now it has become my challenge run - for when I'm feeling like going for it! So today I decided it was a challenge day. Goal was to do the full 5+ miles without stopping or walking except at the water fountain after 3.5 miles. So I set off, hoping for lots of traffic at the crossings.....

Last time I ran this was on June 5th. That was a real slog - lots of walking and an average pace (excluding stops) was 10:38. Today was 9:37, so a full minute faster in about 2 months - and HR was the same at 157 average. Not too bad in terms of progress, but still a long way from where I need to be.

Data......

This is a slog

2 weeks later, and this still sucks.  Lost about 5 more lbs, trying to run every other day, but finding too many excuses to skip a day. Still really slow, things ache. A long way from any semblance of comfort, enjoyment or speed. Hopefully next 2 weeks are better, but I somehow doubt it, especially as one of them will be in Mexico.

Not So Bleak?

OK, inspired by all of this I looked more closely at the GPS from my recent runs. 

If I take out stops for traffic & lazy-ass walking most running was 9 something pace, so not quite as bad as I thought. Further inspired by that I went for a run, and instead of running on roads where I have to stop all the time (which is a good thing given my fitness), I ran the 1/2 mile to the high school track and just ran for 5K.

Started out at a reasonable pace and tried to just keep going.  Ended up running it at just under 9 minute pace. So I think getting to 8 minute pace (25 mins) in 8 weeks in a race should be doable if I just get back to running regularly. 

Of course, I will probably wake up tomorrow injured.

A New Beginning

Pretty sure I've made this exact post before but here goes......
...35 lbs heavier than when I was my fastest
...my fastest was never that fast
...haven't run over 25 miles/week in 4+ years
...have only run 37 miles this entire YEAR
...haven't seen an 8:XX mile in at least a year
...Last run was at 11:43 pace
...Old
...Lazy

If I extrapolate these numbers forward I am going to be 250 lbs and completely sedentary before I'm 60, which isn't part of the plan, so it's time to get back to running. I've said this 20 times over the last 6 years, so to help I have signed up for a race.

Race #1 - 5K race (corporate work thing, so high embarrassment potential) in 8 weeks. Suckered into signing up. Gonna suck for sure. Was thinking I could drag my ass to a 25 min finish (~8 min miles) but looking at my current fitness, reviewing my progress when I first started running at age 40, and getting some input from some of the running message boards I think that is highly unlikely. Reset goal to running vs walking, and not puking in public.

Race #2 - Half marathon in October. This is really for my son (17 year old, fit, fast soccer player, natural athlete). He wants to do a marathon before college, so I'm helping him transfer his natural speed and soccer fitness (and youth) into a reasonable marathon time. I promised to run "with" him in the races. No way I am keeping up, so goal will be to finish before they pack up the beer tent.

Race #3 - Marathon in the spring. TBD.

Thinking about this it looks like 8 minute pace might be a target for me to strive for.....
1) Run an 8 minute mile. Seems easy, but I bet I couldn't do it right now
2) 25 minute 5K
3) 50 minute 10K
4) 1:45 Half Marathon
5) 3:30 Full Marathon

They all seem like achievable goals I can get behind, assuming I can shed some pounds (Tough to run carrying 35 lbs of anything), and not get injured. So let's see how this goes!

Edit: Just to clarify, I don't think those 8 minute pace goals are achievable in the next race (i.e the 5K in 8 weeks), just that they are achievable in this iteration of my running life

A year of Little Running

Time for the annual update on my running activities........ Last year's summer enthusiasm petered out quickly and led to almost zero running between September 2016 and April 2017 - I think it was 4 runs over 8 months. Not surprisingly fitness is at all time low and weight all time high.

So starting this May I decided (once again) to get back in shape. And (once again) it's going very poorly.  I have found it very hard to get excited about running frequently - primarily because it sucks when I am so out of shape.  But I have found it much easier to run when I am traveling.  I've run 13 times away from home (Davis, San Diego, Paris, London, Dorset, Chicago and Maui) but only 4 times here at home.

Guess I need to travel more if I really want to get back in shape although it usually involves far too much eating/drinking so I'm not making much of a dent on my weight!

3 weeks back....

So it's been 3 weeks that I am running again and boy am I out of shape! I hit the plan of 15/20/20 miles over 3/4/4 runs. Long run is up to 7.5 miles. Out of the 10 runs, 9 have sucked, 1 was OK. Hoping that things start to get better quickly from here.

Next 3 weeks should be 28/29/30 miles each on 5 runs. I am really hoping that by then I'l start to feel that this isn't just a horrible way to spend time and get a little bit of the bounce back in my step cos right now it's a slogfest.

Still Alive, But Ridiculously Out of Shape

OK, so after way too long not running I am going to get back in shape. I promised myself that once I sold my startup company I'd run again. Signed the deal for that this week so it's time to go!

It has been almost exactly 10 years since I started running in April 2006. Back then I was 40 and weighed around 165 lbs. Now I'm 50 and 10 pounds heavier. Running over the last 10 years has looked like this (miles/year).....

Almost got going again in 2013 when I was consciously trying to balance running and startup life in an attempt to stay healthy, but by the middle of the year I admitted that running was'nt going to happen and that was the end of that! 2014, 2015 just got worse and over the last 12 months I have only 100 miles. At my fittest I was running that in a single week and I was 30 lbs lighter.  

Doubt I'll get back to that level of craziness but I now have a plan, which is a start! The next 6 weeks I will build up to 30 miles and 5 runs per week. All easy running, although the definition of easy has changed significantly since 2009, when 16 miles at 7:30 pace was easy.

Then I need to get a goal race to keep myself motivated, so I'll start to train for a winter marathon (probably CIM in December) with a goal of Boston qualifier (which is admittedly much easier now that I'm 50+).

My son is gonna do much of these runs with me. He is 15 and super fit from year round soccer but he waits for me at the lights so I can catchup....... It's very sad.

One Month Down

So July is done. A reasonably solid month of "starting to run again".  Total was 90 miles (which was a good week when I was in shape!) over 15 runs. Longest run was just over 9 miles, nothing fast. I am just beginning to feel a little bit good when running, but for the most part it is still pretty sucky. I managed to hit 3-4 days per week as planned.

Will plan to do at least this much in August, but ideally will add one more run week, and get to 110-120 miles for the month.

I haven't really lost any weight to talk about. Maybe it will start to fall off this month......

Week 4

So that is another week complete as I move to week 4 of my "comeback". Last week was 4 runs, 28 miles. Included a two mile stretch at a blistering 7:50 pace! Plus two runs on the trails. This was the view on yesterday's trail run, which was just over 9 miles.....

This was about 2,300 feet, off Monte Bello Road, near Ridge Winery. A warm day but nice on the trails.

Still haven't lost much weight, I think I may be drinking too much Belgian beer!

Plan to see if I can get to 30 this week on 4-5 runs.

Week 3

Still going with the every other day thing. Even managed to do a 7 miler with some hills last week, still all slowly though.

Was in the redwoods yesterday so ran on the real trails, in Henry Cowell State Park near Santa Cruz. A cool, wet, misty morning, on beautiful trails, lots of hills. Felt great to be out in the woods again after so long.

It's still a slog, but it's beginning to slowly come back. Now I have lost 2 pounds, it's not coming off very quickly. Maybe I will need to stop drinking so much beer.

Week Two

Well, last week went OK - ran 4 times (M/W/F/Sun). Not far (~20 miles) and certainly not fast but I did stick to the every other day plan. Will attempt the same this week.

Lost 1 pound! So now I am just way over weight. Being anal(ytical) about things like this I have data for mileage and weight for the last 6 years when I started running. This diagram shows the strong relationship between miles run (top chart is monthly miles) and body weight (bottom chart is daily weight).

Looks like the weight starts to drop when I get to about 140 miles/month and then really falls off when I get up to 200+. Of course, when I get injured, stop running but continue to eat tons of crap it skyrockets.

Tomorrow I am going to run again, and see if I can run a mile under 8 minutes without anything falling off.

Run #2

Amazingly, I ran again today. Another 6+ miles, this time a little hillier and on some trails. Was very nice to get out into the hills after such a long break. Very slow, and legs are a little sore from Monday's run. I guess that is what you get for being a lard ass for an extended period of time.