Get Out the Door

8 miles - 57:40

There are definitely times that we all don't feel like going for a run. When this happens...just get out the door. I ended up going after trying to make a few excuses and I'm glad I did. I felt pretty good for the most part. Halfway through my left ankle felt a bit sore. I'll keep an eye on it as I go.

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Rest Day

Unfortunately I didn't have time to get a run in today. If you missed out on the Fancy Creek race then you'll have to join us next year.

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Fancy Creek Trail

10 miles - 1:40:00

Trey and I ran the course today with mo problems. I was prepared for it to have a ton of snow and I was pleasantly surprised to find it very easy to run. I'm looking forward to the race tomorrow.

46 miles for the week.

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Solid Ice

5 miles - 35:55

I went an easy 5 miles on solid ice tonight.  Best thing about it was I didn't slip a single time because I had screws in my shoes.  Even though it was pretty chilly out I was warm and toasty on the inside.  If you don't have any Mizuno BreathThermo tops then you are missing out.  That along with a lightweight Mizuno jacket I was super warm.  The other thing that you must try is Swiftwick Merino Wool socks.  If you haven't tried Swiftwick socks you need to and I guarantee you'll never go back to your cotton socks ever again.

Rest Day

Seems like as good of day as any!  Stupid snow!!

Recovering Quick

6 miles - 42:03

Surprisingly I felt like going for a run tonight after a hard run yesterday.  I really expected to be hurting and wanting to take a day off but I didn't feel like that at all.  This is a good sign that I am recovering fairly quickly and hopefully means I can continue to raise my weekly mileage total. 

Product Tip - For those of you who don't like to wear a ton of clothing even when its a little chilly out you need to consider arm warmers.  I've been wearing them lately with a short sleeve shirt when its been 38-48ish degrees and it is a great option.  We have a few left in the store and it is a great piece to add to your running collection.

Mizuno Precision - 241 miles

First Hard Workout

5 miles - 31:36

I wanted to see where I was at with my training so I decided to do a tempo run today.  I did a half mile warm up, 4 mile tempo, and a half mile cool down.  If I had time I would have done more warm up and cool down but I was crunched for time.  I ran on the Linear Trail because it was mostly flat and wanted this to be a positive experience.  I ran 24:00 for my 4 miles which was exactly where I wanted to be.  I was hoping that 6 min/mile wouldn't be to difficult and it wasn't.  I probably won't do this workout again for a while as I was just wanting to see where I was in my fitness.

Mizuno Precision - 235 miles

Congested

6 miles - 43:12

Just went an easy 6 miles today.  I've started to get a little head cold that hopefully doesn't sideline my running at all.  Not real sure when my next race will be.  I was going to do the St. Patty's Day 10k but something has come up that will prevent me from doing that.  I don't want to go to long before my next race.  I love racing.

Long Run

14 miles - 1:50:17

I backed my 11 mile run from yesterday up with a 14 mile run at an easy pace.  I felt really comfortable for pretty much the entire run.  As my friend Frank says, "There is a time to run long and a time to run fast and they usually aren't on the same day."  The best thing about it was I got to run it with Josh, Barry and Brandon.  When you run with someone the time just flies by.  The entire route was up and down with hardly any flat spots on the course as you will see in the following link.  The goal tis week is to hit between 45-50 miles.  http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/28543010 

Trails again...

11 miles - about 2 hours

This morning I met Frank and Brandon at the store and we headed up to Fancy Creek for another run.  I wanted to get a good run in but we went up to flag the course at any of the spots that might be questionable.  For the most part it was a nice easy comfortable pace and on the first loop we did a lot of stopping to flag the course.  I absolutely love running out there.  If you come do the trail race you won't regret it.  Tomorrow I'm going to be doing a long run on the hills out by my house.

38 miles this week!

31 miles on Mizuno Wave Ascend

Feeling Great!

5 miles - 35:00

I went for an easy short run tonight because I'm going to Fancy Creek Trail tomorrow at 7am.  Tonights run was once again at right at 7 min/mile pace with my heart rate being fairly low.  My heart rate averaged 153 bpm.  Running seems to be getting easier and easier everytime I go out.  I'm feeling really good about the upcoming months and what I may be capable of doing.  I'm going to take another step up in mileage next week.

45 push ups - 140 crunches

Gonna start keeping track of how many miles I have on my shoes on here as well.
Mizuno Precision - 210 miles

Fancy Creek Trail Run

about 6 miles - about 60 min

Went to run Fancy Creek trail today and it was awesome.  It was a little muddy but that just made it more fun.  Running a trail like that is such a breath of fresh air when all you do is run on the roads.  The Fancy Creek Trail race will be a lot of fun.  Come join us.

Rest Day

I have decided to take today off.  My left leg is still bugging me a little bit and I'm heading up to the Fancy Creek Trail tomorrow morning to run the course at 7:30am.  Its hard to take a day off with the weather being so nice. 

In Town In Light

6 miles - 43:17

Today I went for a run from the store at around 4:30.  This was great for 3 reasons, #1) I got to run in a new place #2) It was light out and I didn't have to use a headlamp #3) I got to run with my friend Barry.  As much as I love my ESPN podcasts, and I do love them,  it was great to converse with someone as we ran.  I felt pretty good for the whole run.  My left leg feels like I have a high ankle sprain(from the snow at the race) that was bothering me throughout the whole day but didn't bother me at all when I ran.  Average heart rate was 153bpm. 

I'm feeling good and want to really step on the gas pedal when it comes to raising my mileage.  I also know that I need to becareful because when you begin to feel like superman that's usually when you increase your chances for injury.  I will continue to listen to my body and proceed with caution...for the most part!!

45 push ups - 140 crunches

Feeling Better

6 miles - 43:00

The soreness is starting to go away thank goodness. The run felt really easy tonight and my heart rate and pace came back down to where it was before the race. This was good to see because it means that I have recovered pretty quickly from a fairly hard effort.

I am going to start incorporating some push ups and and into my workout. Tonight I did 45 push ups and 140 crunches. I always lack patience when it comes to this stuff. I'm going to try to start small and work my way into it. Always remember, something is better than nothing.

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Nice and Easy = Nice and Painful

4 miles - 30:38

I decided to go for a easy 4 miles to try and shake some of the soreness out of the legs.  The goal of this run was to just get an easy 30 minutes in, the last thing I was thinking about was pace.  My average heart rate was a low 150bpm.  This week the goal is to just maintain what I've been doing and get my legs back to feeling good.  Its looking like my next race will be on March 19th at the St. Patty's Day run.

Race Day!

10 miles - 1:29:04

That was awesome! I've been up since 4:30 am because I drove from Manhattan this morning with Trey and Meg. When my race started at 9am it was about 27 degrees. I wore a Mizuno BT top with an MRC singlet and my 3/4 tights on the bottom. I also wore my Mizuno Ascend Trail shoes with a wool Swiftwick sock. The entire race was run through snow and ice. My ankles will probably be very sore tomorrow because it was very uneven throughout the whole race. The hills were crazy steep and constant. At one point I remember mumbling under my breath that surely the whole course can't be uphill. My goal was to just get out well and settle in to a rhythm and try to work as hard as I could to finish as high as I could. To give you an idea of how difficult the race was with the snow and the hills; lately I have been doing my easy runs at 7-7:15 per mile pace. At 5 miles I was at 45 minutes which is 9 minute per mile pace. My average heart rate was 172 bpm.

By 2 miles I had settled in behind a guy that was going at a pace that I felt pretty good with. He would always pull away from me on the way up and I would catch him on the way down. We stayed together for the moat part until the 9th mile where I ended up dropping back. I haven't seen official results but I've been told I finished 4th. All in all I am very pleased with how it went. Trails are a great way to break up the monotony of road running. I'm looking forward to doing more soon. Pictures will come soon.

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Rest Day

Since this is my down week I decided to take another day off.  The rest will be good for me with the race tomorrow.  I can't say enough how much I love racing!!  I'll have a full report and hopefully some pictures tomorrow.

Goals and Accountability

5 miles - 35:00

I have been feeling great everytime I go for a run which means I am really enjoying myself while I'm out there.  There is one big reason why and that is consistency.  There is also two big reasons why I have been consistent and those are having set goals and being held accountable.  By posting what I have been doing on this blog and seeing that you all are reading about it has helped keep me accountable.  I know that if I don't do anything you all will see it.  This motivates me on a daily basis along with the goals I have set to get out the door everyday. 

I want to help you all do the same thing.  Here is my idea and if you think it is stupid that is fine but if you want to come along with me that would be awesome.  Lets do something this year that we haven't done before.  One of my goals for this year is to run an ultra marathon.  Anything over a 50k(31 miles) would suffice but I really want to do a 50 miler in October.  What are your goals?  It can be anything you want it to be as long as its something you haven't done before and something that you have to work at to achieve. 

Here is how its going to work.  If you want to join me in this, all you have to do is email me with your First and Last Name, City and State, and your goal that you want to accomplish THIS YEAR!!  I'm going to put everyone that emails me into an excel spreadsheet and then I'm going to put it on our website, post it in our store and attach it to our montly newsletters.  I also want you to email me when you accomplish the goal so we can mark it accomplished.  If you accomplish your goal then you can give us a new one to put on the spreadsheet. 

Rules for the goals are simple: 
#1) It has to be an achievable goal.  Don't make it so difficult that you can't make it.  The goal can be anything from running your first 5k/10k/Half/Full Marathon to working out 5 or 6 days a week to running a certain time for a race.

#2) Make the goal easy for me to put in the excel file.  Such as:
Run my first 5k
Workout 5 days a week for 4 months straight
Break 4 hours for the marathon

#3) Make sub goals. This is something you get to do on your own and you don't have to share these with anyone.  For example, I want to run an 50 mile ultra marathon.  I know to do this I need to run more mileage.  So my sub goal is to get to where I can run 60-70 miles/week on a regular basis.  Sub goals are like a road map that help you accomplish what your ultimate goal is. I think you get the idea.

Start emailing me so we can help each other accomplish some big things this year.  My email address is bensigle@manhattanrunningco.com.  In the subject line put: Goals for 2011. 

Snowy Run

5 miles - 36:00
Avg HR - 155

Tonight I tried out two things I've never tried before. I ran with a handheld water bottle and I ran with screws in my brand new shoes(picture attached).

As for the water bottle, it wasn't as bad as I expected. Since I'm going to start doing longer runs and races that require you to carry I thought I would try it.

As for the shoes, I usually wear Yak tracks but with the race I'm doing this weekend they won't work. I've been told that they will break on the rocks and roots. To give myself a chance on the ice, snow and mud I had to put sheet metal screws in. They don't hurt the shoe one bit and work really well. My entire run was on packed snow and ice tonight and I didn't slip a single time. I feel ready to race. We will see.

Great website for finding your ideal heart rate zones for training: http://www.fitzones.com/members/Fitness/heartrate_zones.asp

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Rest Day

I was going to take one day off this week and this seems like as good of one as any! Stupid weather!

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Getting Easier

5 miles - 35:00

This running thing continues to get easier as I go. Once again I ran a pretty hilly route and avg 7:00 min/mi. My heart rate was on the lower end most of the time and I had an avg HR of 152. Looking forward to getting in some races this spring.

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Super Sunday Run

9 miles - 65:00

I took my long run one mile further than I did last weekend. Went out on my hilly country roads again and tried to keep my heart rate on the lower end of my zone. I averaged 158bpm throughout my run which I think is good considering the hills. Now its time to relax and watch the Packers win! Go Jordy!

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Feeling Good

5 miles - 35:00

Today was a nice, easy and quick little 5 mile run to finish off the week.  This puts me at 38 miles for the week which was slightly higher than last week.   Next week will most likely be the same or a little lower in terms of mileage since it will be race week.   I'm really looking forward to Saturday since I have been feeling so good out on my runs.  I just need to continue to put the time in and things will happen.

Back to the Roads

7 miles - 48:57

I love running outside and I can't stress that enough. After three consecutive days on the treadmill(which is a record streak for me), I was able to get outside for a great run. Once again, I can not stress enough how important a heart rate monitor is. When you want to get serious about running better/faster than you ever have, come talk to me. I will not only help you find the right HR monitor for you but I will show you exactly how to use it and get the most out of it. Your heart does not lie to you and if you commit to using it and listening to it, you will improve!!!

On a side note: Evidently dryer sheets are attracted to the liner of my running shorts and I didn't know that until the end of my run!

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Rest Day

Day off!! I'm tired.  Should be back at it tomorrow!

Twice as Nice!

6 miles - 44:20

Once again I was on the treadmill due to the fact that I want to stay healthy more than anything else.  Two years ago I was running outside and slipped and caught myself but my hamstring gave me fits for well over 2 months.  I really didn't mind it today as I was able to listen to my Colin Cowherd podcast and watch my Cowboys put a beat down on the little MU Tigers.  I've been really good about my running but really won't know where I stand until I actually race.  I've got a little over a week until the Run Toto Run 10 miler. 

Twice in Two Days

6 miles - 44:00

Well once again I hopped on the treadmill thanks to this wonderful Kansas weather. My shin actually didn't bother me at all and my legs are feeling great. Heart rate was under 160bpm the entire time. I can't stress enough how important using a heart rate monitor is for building an aerobic base. I have 20 miles in the first 3 days of the week so getting at least 35 shouldn't be a problem. At some point I will probably start using an elliptical to increase my mileage without putting the additional pounding on my legs.

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