Monday, January 30, 2012

New Gear and a Longish Run

Since last Tuesday I have decided to get my run on all non-basketball days (and with only three basketball days left I think I can handle this).  I plot out my training calendars and logs on a Monday to Sunday basis with Sunday being my long run day of the week.  Last week was like this:

Monday: Rest day - even though I should have taken advantage of the better weather, the roads were still icy from our storm the previous week.
Tuesday - Refed two games and freaked out that I hadn't run in two weeks.
Wednesday - Pulled out the shoes and braved the mostly melted park path for 4 miles.
Thursday - Went back out to the park and put in 4 tempo miles
Friday - Two more basketball games
Saturday - One Basketball game
Sunday - 6 mile long run.

The significance of last week being that I did physical activity everyday but Monday.  More importantly I went for a 6 mile run, something I had not done since December 30th.  Really? It had been 30 days since I had done a pure run of 6 miles (anything over 4 really).  But honestly it was just what I needed.

The Sunday run was going to get done one way or the other, especially since I had set up a time and place with my running buddy.  And you know as soon as you commit to a run with someone else you aren't going to back out of it without good reason.  Saturday night I even went and got out the new gear from Christmas.  I got a fuel belt (an Amphipod with two 10.5 oz. water bottles) and a reflector vest (complete with flashing lights, also Amphipod).  Now mostly I was after the reflector vest because we were running at 6:30 in the morning, and it is still quite dark around here at that time.

Sunday morning I met up with my friend at the prescribed time and we set off, me in my new (Xinglet, I believe) vest and him with his dog.  We were greeted by warmer weather and wind.  It was in the upper 40s with about a 10 mph wind or so.  But it was a great run, we clipped along at about an 8:30 pace and went in search of an extra mile on our normal 5 mile loop.  I found that I needed to adjust the vest only once and it was a simple thing to do while on the run.  I adjusted the shoulder bands to keep them from rubbing the neck, but I still need to tighten them down a bit.  We ended the run right at 6 miles, in front of his house at an 8:26 pace.  It was a great run.

Honestly, during the run we saw exactly zero cars.  Now, I beleive we would have stuck out like a sore thumb had we, but if it gives the wives a bit of peace of mind that we are safe then it is entirely worth it.  So if you need a safety vest because you like to run in the dark, and don't like to sneak up on cars all ninja like, then I recommend the one I have (I didn't even notice I was wearing it, once it was tightened up).

Anyway, enough with that.  I grabbed another 3.5 today at lunch in at an 8:10 pace.  Felt really good.  Have basketball tomorrow so (probably) no running for me.  Back at it on Wednesday if everything feels good.
Until then have fun guys.

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