My first tempo run

Last night was an awful night for a run but look at me now.

Tonight was suppose to be a nice easy run. I met up with Amy, Troy and RC and we ran the course route for Saturday's mission run. I went out with Troy and told him that I was going to take it easy at a 11 pace.

NOT!!!!!!!

It was feeling soooo goooood when I was out there and forgetting about last night. I was in the grove and decided to see what I might be able to see what I could do the course in. That was fun!

Negative splits

This is how all my runs should look like with the negative splits. I really tried to do this today while I kept looking at my watch to perfect this. My HR average was 139. I could not believe how easy it was this morning. It felt really great just to be out on the loop again.

Have a great week.

D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E + AWESOME RC = New PR

Yesterday I ran the Strawberry Festival 5K in Reynolds GA. I was kind of not sure if I would race or not. Well it was supper time and we wanted Chinese food for supper. I went to our local restaurant and we sat down for supper. I opened my fortune cookie and it said that you will be granted a special reward. So then I told myself that I have to go now. LOL

I normally try and get to the runs about 1 hour before the race and warm up and stretch but I did not get a chance today. I got there and signed up and went out for a short warm up lap with Amy. The weather was great in the low 50's with low humidity. I ate some peanut butter with wheat bread and now I am feeling great. I am ready to run.

I lined up, turned on my MP3 player and reset my watch. I had already planned to go out slow and watch everyone just run off and leave me. I always go out to fast and pay for it in the end. It was killing me to see everyone leave me. But I was not going to break this cause that is one of the things that RC has told me. Boom the race is on and we are off and running.

Mile 1: 9:02
Mile 2: 8:58
Mile 3: 8:58
Mile .1 : 8:56 pace

With this time, I now have a new PR of 27:08. I think the official clock said 27:06 but I am not sure. When I was approaching the end of the race, I looked up and saw the clock when it said 26:20 and I told myself to hold the pace and just get a PR. I thought for a second that I might break 27 but I told myself that if I did that then I would not have something to look for next time. I was pumping my fists cause I knew I was getting a PR today. I have not beat my time in 2 years.

I crossed the line and was awarded a new PR. I felt great. I was on cloud nine. Then I found out I was 5th in my age group. Man I thought for sure I would place in my age group but not today. I would just have to settle for a new PR. LOL. I am sorry I can't believe I just said that.

Once again I would like to say thank you to RC for his knowledge and support.

My new marathon pace

I went out last night to the track and tried a new schedule. RC showed up and told me to try my marathon pace on my 30 min run and see if I could keep my HR at 153. Well I thought it would be like running a 5K so I decided to give it a shot.





30 minutes running = 2.99 miles = 150 average HR





My goal for the run was to keep a 10:07 with an average HR of 153. I nailed it and did a little better. I was feeling good last night. I was surprised because the night before I did my long run. I used to have to take a day or two off to recover but not now. The training is paying off. Consistency really works.


When I got through, I was told that each week to extend the run by 5 minutes or so and before I knew it, I would be holding this pace for a marathon. WOW, I never really looked at it like that. I think it is all coming into perspective now. It does not happen overnight but it will eventually happen.

I now that the charts don't reflect super human speed for some people but it is a major improvement for me.

Have a great day.

Gator-Go 5K

Saturday was my first 5K run since around Christmas time. I got into the habit of training for long runs like marathons and not trying to get any faster. Now that has all changed. This race doesn't show a big change in my abilities but I did not walk any during this race. There were alot of hills and some cross-country trails also.

I tried to think before the race of what time I was shooting for and I thought I was going to get somewhere in the 29's. Well I missed it be a little bit with a time of 30:29.

My RC showed up before the race and talked with me about thinking about my split times, running 2 miles for a warm up with 30 sec sprints put in with it and then lots of stretching. I have never ran 2 miles before racing 3.1 miles. I did not know what to think about that but looking back, it helped me to keep my HR up and not crash.

I am possibly running another 5K this weekend that will be somewhat flatter so that I will get a better view of how my training is progressing. Also I hope that I will not have anymore problems that will keep me from running.

More to come later. Have a great day.

Time to get back on track

First before I get started I would like to give a big shout out to a great friend of mine that completed a big task. Stef a.k.a. The Princess Runner completed her first triathlon this weekend. That is something that I have always wanted to do but have not attempted. Stef did and came away victorious. Congratulations to her for her accomplishment.

Myself, well I have not had a good week. I got word that my Uncle in Alabama died after receiving a bone marrow transplant and getting some kind of virus that the doctors could not beat. My family and I have been back and forth to Alabama and working on funeral preparation and paperwork. It put a toll on us and I am glad it is over for now.

Running is FUN again!

Tonight was a fun day of running. I brought back so many memories of why I got into running. It is FUN. I can see in just one week a small improvement in my HR staying down at the same pace. This is fun.

While I was running my 30 minutes tonight, I set my goal in 30 minutes to run at a 10:55 pace. I upped the pace 5 seconds to just push myself a little more because I find it harder to run slower and I want to see an improvement. Well the charts say it all. I AM IMPROVING. I LOVE IT.

My RC was at the track tonight and it was like seeing the principal in the hallway in school. He was watching to see how things were going. I found out tonight I need to learn how to keep my big mouth shut. As I would come around the corners, I would tell RC how my HR was staying in the low 140's at a 10:53 pace. Well when it was over tonight he informed me that I need to work on keeping the HR in the low 150's. Well now my goal pace is 10:45.

NO MORE 11's. I have seen improvement and I am setting my Level 1 base. C-O-N-S-I-S-T-E-N-C-Y is the key word to my gains. Not missing more than 1 day in a row and running at least 5 days a week with one long day of 6o minutes. My food intake has changed also to eating 5-6 small meals a day and that helps in my goal pace of running.

I have my first 5K this Saturday and I plan on running negative splits for the first time. It will be interesting. Normally I would normally go out and just run. Now it is about listening to my HR and my body. Getting my HR in control will make my times fall down.

Have a great day and keep running.

1st finished

The 1st week of my new training schedule is over. I don't think I could go back and look at my schedule from the past year and see where I ran 6 days in a week, but now I can. I can already start to see some minor improvement in just one week.
Yesterday it was first long day run for 60 minutes nonstop at a pace around 11-11:30. Well I didn't want to go by myself so I called my friend Tommy and he said he is dealing with a stress fracture and could not run. He said he was looking at buying a bike and I told him that I have one and he could ride it while I was running. He agreed. Also Steve decided he was going to run with me also. He said his pace was going to be about 30 sec behind me so Tommy was going to ride back and forth between the two of us.
Well I was off and I am not going to lie, my nerves were kicking in very strong. I have not run a nonstop 60 min run in a long time. I am trying to convert from the Galloway program and just run. It was a little warm with temps in the mid 70's. No breeze. I had already been working in the yard and playing with my son all day. I figured that if you train in the worst conditions you always pray for the best conditions for race day.
When we were coming down the river walk I asked Tommy what kind of time did I have left to run. I thought I had about 20 minutes to go when he floored me and said "you have about 8 minutes to go and you will be through". I couldn't believe it that it was almost over and I was feeling great. I wanted to speed up some but I did not want to mess up my time splits.
We all meet up back at our vehicles and discussed how the run went and that was fun. It felt like being at a race. Then I realized that is so nice to have friends there to celebrate a minor achievement with me.
I don't know if I will run today due to Easter celebrations. I hope everyone has a blessed day and remember why we celebrate Easter. It is not for the chocolate, it is for our Lord.

1st week almost finished

Tomorrow I will be going for my long run. Normally I would say that a long run would be about 10 to 15 miles but tomorrow will be different. I will probably only get about 6 or 7 miles in. I will be running for 60 minutes continuously at a 11:30 pace.

I am loving this new training schedule. My RC is the best. To take his time after his full time job to do this for me is awesome. I have a slack discipline on running and need some help. That is why I decided to start over from scratch. I figured that after 3 years I probably needed a change.

I will be running with my friend Tommy Chambers at WR Air Force Base. I figured this would be the best place to go since it is flat and long. I want this run to be the flattest place because I don't want any hills, yet. I am a little bit nervous about it. I know I have run marathons and an ultra-marathon but I have not been put under the 'microscope' like I am now. My log is looked over by RC after my runs and I use to just keep up with myself. Now I have to run 5 days a week with no more than 1 day off in a row. As I am in training now, I don't want to slide backwards.

Today I went for my normal 30 minute run and my running buddy Steve ran with me. Today was a milestone for me. I was able to log my 1/2 splits and only have 2 sec off from the start to the finish. They were 5:30, 5:30, 5:28, 5:28 and a 5:30. I think I am getting better at holding a certain pace. That is what I am suppose to be doing and it is working.

Looking back on what I have learned this week, I cant wait until 6 weeks and I go into Phase II. I cant fathom on what I might be able to do in a couple of weeks. And especially what I will be able to do in a year.

Mile repeats

Well last night was going to be my first test of discipline. I was suppose to go to the track and do 3 one mile repeats. My RC is trying pinpoint exactly where my times should be at. In order to get the exact number for the Daniel's schedule you need to have a recent 5K time and I don't have one. So the coach asked me to go to the track and run 3 splits and pick up the pace each time and see what I can do them without killing myself.

Mile 1 : 9:54 pace with 14 seconds variance throughout the splits

Mile 2 : 9:21 pace with 15 seconds variance throughout the splits

Mile 3 8:55 pace with 11 seconds variance throughout the splits

The last lap actually felt good and it was funny because one of my friends from the track club showed up to run his workouts and started running with me. At that point I actually felt like I was FAST. I mean I felt like I was one of the group. I know that I am no where near the speed of the tracksters in the group but it was nice for one short moment to fell that way.

Then when I went for my cool down laps, I was suppose to run 1 mile at a pace around 12 min/mile so that the lactic acid would not build up in my muscles. I took off for some EASY laps and I had to control myself and slow down. I looked at my watch and it was telling me that I was at a pace of 10:58/mile.

Then the same guy came up to me and asked if I would run the 1200m repeats with him tonight. I thought WHAT ME. Is he asking this because he can't keep up with everyone else and I am the slowest person out here. Is it because he does not want to be last in the group or could it be cause he saw me running faster and he wanted someone to pace him. Then I told him that I was finished for my workout and I was going home to get out of the cold weather.

As I was walking to my truck, for a slight moment I was on cloud 9 because I was able to tell a trackster ( someone who is way faster that me ) that I could not run with him tonight. It might not mean alot to some people but it meant alot to this big ol boy.

Have a wonderful day and lets get ready for a wonderful weekend while enjoying this hump day.

A day off

With the day of anticipation of possible snow, I took today off from running due to the cold weather. Normally I would love to get out and run in the cold but I have already transitioned to the warm weather. I fought with myself about running today until I got BAD news about my uncle in Alabama. He had a bone marrow transplant last Friday and yesterday took a turn for the worst. They have been calling all the doctors back in to see him. Please help me to pray for him and my dad who is sitting with him.

My RC told me that I could miss 2 days a week and today was 1 of them. I just could not bring myself to go run and had to go pick up my son at my mom's house. Normally my wife would do this but with her surgery, she is not allowed to drive yet. I am going to the track tomorrow night and doing some mile repeats and it is going to be cold.

Have a great day.

My first official day of training

Today was my first official day of my new training log. I was suppose to go out for an easy 30 minute run and keep it between an 11 - 11:30 and I nailed it. I like having someone telling me what distance and time I should be running. I am somewhat of a lack of discipline when it comes to that. I used to think that you just should go out and log in the distance and everything else should fall into place. Man I was wrong.

My RC is so smart I see him one day doing his coaching thing full time and helping lots of people. If not that, he should write a book and tell others how much fun running can be if you just do it right. You can see big gains with smaller efforts. Now don't think this is going to be a cake walk but I will only get in return what I put into it and I don't plan on stopping now. I have told too many people about it and I have made up my mind.

I am battling with my speed and my weight so I hope and pray that both of them will fall together and I will become a better runner and person. One day I hope to be able to help someone else to become a better runner but for now, it off to the store for some good food.

In trouble with the coach already

I had plans on running a 5K this morning but my wife was telling me last night that her back was hurting so I decided to stay home this morning and sleep a little more. I got up at about 8:00 and it was nice to sleep in late.
I was sitting in my favorite chair trying to think about where to go run today when my phone rand and I had a SWAT call out. Now I am thinking YES I can use this for my reason not to go run until later. Well it lasted for about 45 minutes with no casualties. Well I guess it is time to change clothes and go run.
I went to the local track to run some miles repeats and while I was there I could not get my HR monitor working. So I decided to just run 30 minutes at an easy pace of 11's per mile. Well I tried to run slow like that yesterday and my coach said that my HR was too high. So today I was going to run a little faster thinking I was using more HR to slow myself down. Well I ran 30 minutes non-stop at an 10:31 pace and had a finishing HR of 146. When I got through I called RC and told him what I did and he replied: What was the purpose of today's run".
Man 2 days into training and I am already in trouble. He told me to replace the battery in the monitor and see if that works. If not I could use his to see if we can get my charts accurate.

Learning from scratch

I was going to go run a 5K this morning but we went to a Macon Tracks Social last night at Amy's house and when we got home my wife was telling me that her back was hurting. I did not push the issue so we stayed home this morning. I don't want her to hurt anymore.

I am going to the track sometime today and do some 1 mile repeats and try and work on some base knowledge on my running ability. My RC wants to revamp my training log and see if my HR can stand the speed ( or lack of ) that I am running at right now.

I did not know that there is so much to take into consideration if you want to become a better and more consistent runner. I thought you were suppose to put the one foot on front of the other and make it to the finish line. Boy was I wrong.

I was schooled on all the running definitions that I will know to make me become a better runner. I am borrowing a Garmin 305 because it has a HR monitor and my 205 does not. It is cool to see more functions on Sportstrack so I can oversee where I have gone wrong.

For the next couple of weeks we are working on just running for at least 5 days a week for 30 minutes straight and trying to hold it somewhere between an 11:30 to an 11:40 and see where the HR puts me at. I think my HR is at the wrong speed right now due to the lack of running consistency. I hope this all changes soon because I want to get out there and try and go a little faster with less effort.

Your body is like a car. You want to get the best out of your engine, the most MPG and you want it to last forever. Well that is the same as running. You want to be able to run without the feeling of you are going to die. You want to be able to run more efficient on the food and drinks that are in your body and you want to stay out of the doctors office and rehab.

Well until later, have a blessed weekend and log in some miles.

Starting Over

First of all I would like to say Thank you to all the thoughts and prayers that were given to my wife during her stay in the hospital. She is now home and slowly progressing forward one step at a time. I think in a couple of months, we should she a possible new person.

As far as my running goes, I am starting over from scratch. I now have a coach, RC, who has told me that he could show my the information I need to help improve my times and improve my to be a better runner. So I took the plunge and went to his house and sat down for a night of schooling. Man I was totally impressed with his knowledge of running. He showed me to a T on what I was doing wrong. So I asked him to help me to fix it.

Today was my first day of running and trying to see where exactly my VDOT scores should be at. It is so technical now with all the technology into helping someone go faster and stronger. I went out for any easy 30 minute run at an 11:40 pace non-stop. Well I have been running the Galloway style taking walk breaks but no more. It is now old school with some new technology.

I was able to run the entire time and finished with an 11:41 average bu the RC said my HR was a little too high for my chart. I think it is because I have not been running lately and I have to go to the track one night this week and see what I can do on 1 mile repeats. I might have to change my charts to fix my HR or just go on a freaking diet. I weigh in now 259 pounds on a 6'2" frame. I lost about 45 pounds 3 years ago and started running but I need to loose more.

I am going to a local 5k tomorrow to see what kind of time I will have in the end. More to publish later.