Running is therapy

Just did 2 miles in that stinkin hotness of a business park.

As you can probably tell, I don’t follow the Higdon plan to perfect spec. I take the days, jumble them up and try to come up with something not resembling a schedule for torture. If you are trying to follow along at home it won’t work. The week hasn’t gone to plan, and as a result I have run 11 miles in the last 3 days. Today I was doing the ‘2m or Cross’ day. In an effort to be able to get some things done at home tonight I decided to run 2 miles over lunch. It wasn’t the worst I have ever felt, but it was pretty unpleasant in the humidity.

I realized today that I used to record my average heart rate below but had stopped. I will start doing that again.

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Some Stats:
Distance: 2.00 mi
Time: 22:01 (pace: 11:00)
Average Heart Rate: 144 bpm
Calories Burned: 328

New week, same heat. Tonight I had a running buddy that wanted to hit up a trail he found at Opossum Lake near Carlisle. We met up at 6:30 and drove over. The humidity was oppressive. The pace was terrible. The run was great! Seriously, I threw pace out the window 10 feet in, I saw it was a single lane with twisted roots all over the place. I am not sure if it will help my training or hurt it, but it was a fun 4 miles. My head and chest weren’t particularly happy to be out in such thick air, and this will either knock the cold out of me, or I will die in my sleep tonight.

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Stats:
Distance: 4.03 mi
Time: 55:10 (pace: 13:41)
Calories Burned: 457

Day 7 of the HH Half Marathon plan was today. I got to bed at a decentish hour last night (midnight?) and set my alarm for 6:30 in hopes of getting out on the trail before the day got hot. I actually ended up laying in bed till 7. My head and chest are still pretty congested, but I was NOT missing this workout. I threw on some clothes, grabbed the chest strap and garmin and headed down to Pine Grove Furnace State Park for an out and back 5 miler.

I hopped on the trail and walked .5 mile to warm up my sleeping legs, then off I went trying my best to stay around 11:30 miles for the whole thing so I knew I could finish in my diminished capacity. The lungs felt pretty good throughout since I wasn’t breathing hard, and my legs only really got tired toward the end. The temp felt like 50 degrees (so close to 70 while I ran) which was nice change from all the heat I have been running in. The flies were bad though and a few bit me. Overall though it was an enjoyable run and I was glad to be out there in the cool morning air. Afterward I coughed for a long time on the ride home.

Some Stats (running only):
Distance: 5.12 mi
Time: 0:58:22 (pace: 11:23)
Calories Burned: 818

I went to bed night before last with a sore throat. Now this isn’t out of the ordinary, I have pretty bad allergies. Interestingly, my allergies are much better when I smoke. When I quit the last time my allergies got pretty horrible. Here I am on the good side of a month of smobriety (heh), and my allergies are back in full force. No problem I’ll start taking Claritin again all will be well. Woke up in the morning and took one, then off to work where I ran into a guinea pig that Marcus brought in for Jeff’s daughter to babysit (don’t ask). Well the pic of my eye below should indicate how that went. Both my eyes were red, nose running…you get the picture.

Fast forward to this morning, when I wake up with a tight chest and a head full of snot. I am unsure if I have a cold or this is just allergies, but my chest is raw right now and I am concerned about tomorrow’s run. I am supposed to do 40 minutes cross training today, so I think I will nap, wait for some more of the days heat to dissipate and then head out for a walk. The good part is that I am not dehydrated, so I can rule that out, the bad part is that my lungs burn and that will be bad for turning over oxygen.

It’s all a sign that I am getting better after quitting smoking. My lungs and sinuses are digging out from under the terrible daily onslaught chemicals they were bombarded with….and man are they pissed :)

*Gross part*
I am speculating that the reason my allergies are getting worse is because all the mucus membrane area in the nose, mouth and lungs were coated with tar and impervious to allergens. How’s that for disgusting.

I am apparently still allergic to Guinea Pigs

I first heard of Jim Fixx about 15 years ago when I started running the first time. I was at the Altoona Library at a book sale and I ran across The Complete Book of Running. I don’t recall much about it, or if I still have that copy I bought back then. However, I was reminded of the book by John yesterday.

In looking over his page on Wikipedia…I was struck by a similarity between he and I. Fixx started running at age 35 when he quit smoking 2 packs a day. Which happens to be my age and number of packs as well. However I was dismayed to read:

Fixx died at the age of 52 of a massive heart attack, after his daily run

Bummer. Oh well, much like my ideas on dying after finally quitting smoking, if I die from running, I die a runner. I take comfort in that.

Last month on the 2nd at 10:18 pm I became a non-smoker. Not patting myself on the back, just want to record that on this night, I remembered what I did the month before, on the same day.

Went over to trail where I felt like crap on Saturday. I was a bundle of nerves over there tonight. I was concerned about bonking again like I did Saturday. I was hydrated to the hilt, but still, my mind was working overtime. I walked .5 miles, ran 3.5 then walked another 2. That gave me 6 miles for the night. I did pretty well considering my nerves.

I was in need of a good run, and I walked out of work eager to put some trail under shoe. I drove home, lubed up, slapped on the garmin and headed over to the barracks. About 1.5 miles into the run, the wind really picked up and as I passed the 1.5 mark a tree branch snapped above me and fell about 20 feet in front of me. That was pretty cool. Then it started to rain, and rained from about the 2 mile mark to the 3 mile mark of the run. The last .5 mile the wind kept up but the rain slacked to nothing. I was nice and cool by that time though as the rain was very refreshing. I walked out the last 2 miles slowly on tired legs.

My pace was awesome (IMO) My 5K race pace the last time I competed was 9:30, tonight I was training easy with (barely) sub 10 minute miles over 3.5 miles. I felt great, I could have passed the talk test, and I didn’t lose form.

Some stats:
Distance (total): 6.02 mi
Distance (running): 3.5 mi
Time (total): 1:15:51 (pace: 12:36)
Time (running): 34:46 (pace: 9:57)
Calories Burned: 844

See you on the trails!


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That is all

Happy 30 smoke free days to me. This is crazy to me. My life, while mostly the same, seems so different than just 30 days ago. I can sit for over 2 hours watching a movie, and never once have to go outside to smoke a cigarette. I can ride in a car for over an hour with a non-smoker and not be constantly wishing I would get to where I am going so I can hop out and have a smoke. I can transition from one task to another and don’t need to sit for a sec to have a few puffs.

Most of these things boil down to one overall theme. I can do things with non smokers and not need to interrupt to feed an addiction that makes me smell like a forest fire.

I still have a long way to travel on this trip. I won’t really be free for a while to come. There will be urges and craves, but I think I am getting stronger everyday. Looking forward to 30 more smoke free days, and 30 more after that. Now if I could just get myself to bed at a decent hour that would be fantastic ;)