Today was the first long trip I have taken since I quit smoking. I did have some pretty decent urges on the 7 hour sojourn to Canada (which took us like 9 with stops and meals and such). I am a little weary now, but we are relaxing and I am looking forward to the rest of the trip.
To the surprise of no one, Linux works exactly the same in Canada.
I am using my phone to dial out with USBModem.
I ran 4.5 miles tonight, and I wasn’t feeling it at all.
First off my Garmin was acting very strange. I think the approaching storms were causing it to lose the satellite associations frequently so my pace and distance were all screwy. I turned it off and on several times trying to reset it. Eventually I just used it as an expensive HRM and ran by the mile markers on the trail.
I am also more than a little tired of the humidity for one season. I’d like nothing more than to wake up tomorrow to a cool clear Fall day.
At any rate, I got my miles in, I think the pace was good…over all on a scale of 1 to 10, I give it a “sucky”.
9 Miles on Sunday. Here goes nothing.
eating.com is owned by the Clorox Company
Today is the 55th day in a row I decided not to smoke.
I have only taken one Chantix in the last 2 weeks or so, and I doubt that does anything for you. I still have all the pills here in case things get really bad. On the whole I feel great, but there are times when I do start to get pretty decent urges to smoke. I am not going to smoke, I won’t.
I was terrified of gaining weight when I stopped smoking. To that end, I have been restricting calories and working out like mad. I woke up this morning and weighed in at 191. I am 14 pounds lighter than the day I quit smoking. I even had to go buy new jeans yesterday as the ones I normally wear were causing someone to call me ‘droopy drawers’. I am not bragging (well maybe I am a little) but I wanted to record my weight loss here to show other would-be quitters that stopping smoking doesn’t mean you have to gain weight. It’s not magic, consume less calories than you burn, and you will lose weight (or consume the same amount and stay the same). Now having said that…it’s much like quitting smoking. Simple, not easy.
Stay strong!
Upped my long run to 8 miles this morning as per the Nathan Powell Half Marathon Plan. Humid does not begin to explain what the weather was like this morning. I felt like I was running through soup. And not even good soup. I had sweat my shirt through after about 4 miles, but kept it on for another two miles until I just couldn’t take it any more and took it off.
Overall it was a great run. The physical part of the game was there, and I purposefully ran very very slow. The mental aspect of running for 90 minutes was fine too. I probably only spent .25 miles total with any worry on my mind. The rest of the time I occupied myself with thinking. As luck would have it I also ran into Bill again. This time I kept going, my pace was wretched and I didn’t want to slow him down…or fall over trying to keep up. :)
I am happy with today’s run…and also pretty happy that my shins feel good even though I also ran yesterday.
1 Mile splits: 11:22, 11:25, 11:43, 11:43, 11:46, 11:22, 11:08, 11:01
Some Stats:
Distance: 8.09 mi
Time: 1:31 (pace: 11:19)
Average Heart Rate: 141 bpm
Calories Burned: 1268
I am currently really into the following songs:
Postal Service: This Place is a Prison, Such Great Heights
Ben Folds: Gone, Still Fighting it
Modest Mouse: Satin in a Coffin, View
O.A.R. Heard the World
Consider a typical phone conversation to let someone know, that even though you are running a little late, you are almost to the place where you are meeting them:
Guy0: “Hello”
Guy1: “Hello”
Guy0: “Hey it’s me”
Guy1: “Hey man”
Guy0: “I am almost there, caught in traffic”
Guy1: “Ok cool”
Guy0: “Ok, then, see you in a few, later”
Guy1: “bye”
Now the text message that conveys the same information:
Guy0: ‘almost there’
Went for a walk for my cross training tonight.
I want to record this here, my shin(s) doesn’t hurt so bad I don’t want to run on it. Rather, I am afraid to run on it. If it were only a matter of taking the pain I would still be full steam ahead. That is sort of frustrating.
Some stats:
Distance: 3.64 mi
Time: 55:40 (pace: 15:13)
Average Heart Rate: 93 bpm
Calories Burned: 372
I feel a little silly still labeling any of these posts as HH (Hal Higdon) anything. I mean, I am so far off his plan it’s not funny. I feel pretty good about where I am, so I don’t think I entirely care.
I decided I was feeling good, and since it was raining I wasn’t all that interested in riding the bike, so I went out for a run. I had a running partner so we set out for a semi-speedy 4 miler. I wasn’t interested in killing it, but I didn’t want to do 10:30’s either.
My shins are hurting now, so it’s ice and few days of not running for me (not till Thursday, when I have a 4.5 scheduled).
1 Mile splits: 9:38, 9:39, 9:47, 9:10
The last mile is fast because for no reason at all the other dude wanted to sprint to a bend in the trail from where we were, so we did. It was a blast and helped make the last mile fly by.
Some stats:
Distance: 4.02
Time: 38:17 (9:31 pace)
Average Heart Rate: 149 bpm
Calories Burned: 616
Today was my long run, 7 miles. This was a crazy week because I was basically resting while still trying to get some of my miles in so I wouldn’t fall behind on the half marathon plan.
I only ran one other time this week, and then rode the bike once. The other days were devoid of exercise so that my shins could heal a bit. Anyway, I am rambling…
1 mile splits: 9:46, 9:57, 9:54, 10:33, 10:06, 10:15, 10:14
As you can see I had a pretty crappy split on the 4th mile. I started the workout by walking a half a mile out on the trail, then running. I was hoping to go 3.5 miles out then turn around and finish up with another .5 mile walk. However when I got to the 3 mile mark, the trail was blocked off with no trespassing signs. I basically had to do some shorter back and forth running at the end there and then turn and head for the start. In addition, the trail was a one lane dealy out there so it was a slower go. However I turned around and got my pace settled again.
After 4 miles, it was kind of automatic. I wasn’t even really thinking about the run itself or if I was tired, I just ran.
It’s kind of goofy to say, but I felt like a long distance runner when I hit that last mile. My stride was good, form was still there and the miles were behind me. I can’t explain it totally, and I know it makes me sound like the biggest nerd of all time…but I really did feel like a real distance runner. Of course, I blog about running and computers, so it’s not like I was fooling anyone into thinking that I was somehow not a nerd.
Some Stats:
Distance: 7.16 mi
Time: 1:10:50 (pace: 9:53)
Average Heart Rate: 151 bpm
Calories Burned: 1104