ADVICE

This morning was a simple maintenance run. I got up a little late, so I only did 3.5 miles. But they were 3.5 miles of hills, hills and more hills. Gotta love training!

Today, my first run of this week was suppose to be a 6 mile run, or at least that was what it started out to be. I had everything figured in my head as to what route I was going to run. How I would pace my runs at certain areas of the course. Everything was going just fine despite the humidity until about 1.8 miles into the run. At this point, there cars coming one by one, the humidity was getting bad, and I had to stop and wipe my face every couple of minutes. I had slightly over 4 more miles to go dealing with this stuff. Well, it wasn't getting better, just worse.

Yesterday, Tuesday May 22nd, I ran 3.1 miles for the purpose of preparing for my next 5k which is this Saturday, May 26th. Lately, I've been more successful in getting out there and running. I checked my log and noticed that I haven't been able to be as dedicated since July 2005. Actually, in reality since the fall of 2003 was my last real dedication of my running. The real reason for this was the fact in March of 2004, we moved and my schedule at worked changed, thus putting to many issues in front of me and therefor I was unable to focus on running. For me, running is the ultimate mind clearer.

Hello, this is my first post on this site...

I've been running for quite a few years now and I usually try to avoid running in the rain. I'm from Pennsylvania and of late, I've been considering running in the rain, so I can get a run in instead of being stranded indoors on the treadmill. I'd like to know what others think about running in the rain. Coincidently, I saw someone running in the slow rain this evening just a few blocks away from where I live. One thing I won't do is run in hard rain unless I'm caught in it. I'd like to know what others think on this subject. -- Thanks

Keystone - 5.00 - 1:00. It's Thanksgiving - always a good day for a run to get a nice calorie deficit going early in the day before the 5000 calorie pigout / football / food coma experience that always happens in the afternoon. I did what is becoming my standard Keystone 1 hour loop - from my house to the horse stables and back.

Today I tried out my Nike+iPod gizmo that I bought a month ago but haven't managed to take out of the box. I put on The Fountainhead (which I'm quickly mowing through), my new Nike+ shoes, and my Nano with the + adapter. It was trivial to set up and it worked great the first half of the run. I ran with my Garmin 305 also - not surprisingly the time was the same for both but the distance was off (the Nike+ was about 10% further which - while good for my ego - was probably wrong.)

Keystone - 7.09 - 1:30. Today was a much easier run then yesterday even though I went 30 minutes longer and 2 miles further. I took it easy and kept my heart rate in the 150's. My speed was obviously slower (about :45 / mile slower) but the time passed quickly. I did the same core out and back from my house - so it was very hilly - but I detoured through Elk Creek and then up to the Nordic Center and around the another suburb to get the extra 30 minutes in. The sun went behind the mountain at about an hour and the temperature immediately dropped 10 degrees, but Howard Roark and Dominique Francon kept me company. As I was finishing up around 4pm, I noticed a bunch of cars heading up laden with ski gear and realized it was the day before Thanksgiving and Keystone was finally starting to fill up.

Keystone - 5.11 miles - 1:01. Amy and I have a house in Keystone, Colorado at the far end of the Keystone Ranch area. My friendly Garmin 305 tells me that I'm at 9200 feet at my house. I have a standard "road run" that I like - it's an out and back from my house to the main road through Keystone. And - it's a bitch of a run. My heart rate - which usually settles in the 150's - 160's on a moderate run, hits 170 within 5 minutes of starting and is between 165 and 185 the entire time. Up and down, no air, up and down, still no air, grunt, turn around, run back home. The final uphill just drags and when I hit the top, I'm glad to be done. Two hours later and I'm still feeling it a little. I'm going to go stand in the shower for a while and relish a hard workout in the mountains.