Jammin' at the Reggae Run

Alright! Here's the run down:

Saturday, 10/3

6:50am - woke up for last session of running club

7:20am - started running with running club - 8 miles

9:00am - enjoyed a delicious Bruegger's egg white/cheddar/pumpernickel bagel and low-fat chocolate milk

9:20am - arrived back home

10:30am - Jen wakes me up as she returns from the gym - a nap with the windows open was superb

Mid-day - ate lunch, went shopping for some fall casual attire, took another nap

5:00pm - left for the Reggae Run

5:45pm - stretched and lined up at the starting line

6:00pm - Ave Maria completed and the start gun fired - off we went

6:05pm - realized my legs were super sore from running 8 miles a few hours before

6:30pm - crossed the finish line with Jen (both finishing much better than our last Reggae Run)

6:35pm - stuffed our hungry bodies with corn on the cob, popcorn, fruit, wine, jambalaya, pulled chicken, pulled pork, beer, LaRosa's pizza, grilled cheese...

7:00pm - ran [walked] back to the car to get some warmer clothes and a closer parking spot

8:30pm - enjoyed the beautiful view and the amazing party:

Spinning Opt Out

Jen and I met at the gym tonight with the intention of hitting up a spinning class. We were expecting to ride with Jillian (her name is Sonia but she is a close double of Jillian from NBC's The Biggest Loser - which is an awesome show, by the way). As it turns out, the schedule changed and another instructor was leading the class...so, we just cross-trained with the elliptical, bike, and weights instead.

Tomorrow is Friday! I like short work weeks. Tomorrow night will be another round of cross-training with some hills in preparation for Saturday's 5k. Now I need to go have some homemade pizza and Sam Adams Octoberfest brew.

Night Runner

Jen and I recently returned from our well-deserved and much-awaited vacation to sunny San Diego. The trip was amazing - some of the best fun we've had in a long time. Unfortunately, we were busy having so much fun that we didn't run or workout while we were on the West Coast. We did walk a measurable distance and swim in the Pacific Ocean; that counts for something, right?

We've had to modify the training schedule as a 12 miler was in line for this past Saturday; we'll make that up in 2 phases this coming Saturday. Tonight we ran our infamous loop (with an extension to boost it to 5k length) to get back into the swing of things. As an added surprise (especially after returning from San Diego), tonight was the first cold run we've been through since our formal training began. The temperature was in the low 50's and the sun was set for most of the run. Overall, it went very well; but needless to say we started assembling our clothing strategy for the Columbus Half.

The plan is to cross train at the gym Thursday and Friday and then tackle a medium distance at running club Saturday morning with the Reggae Run 5k Saturday night.

And...we're back.

After a few weeks hiatus from posting, Jen and I are back. And back with intensity - on Saturday, we both hit 10 miles. That's awesome. Now, I'll fill you in on how we got here.

So the last post was in July when we upped our runs from 4 to 5 miles. That was a big deal. We continued around that range for most of July. Then, on August first, Jen ran the Cincinnati Ladies Distance Classic 10k. Obviously I wouldn't be running in a women-only race but I still did my part, waking early to get Jen to the course and then volunteering as a course monitor. Basically I made sure all of the ladies made a certain turn. It was a lot of estrogen, but I did get a pretty sweet t-shirt out of it...and requests for kisses.

Throughout August we adjusted are weekly training schedule to something more like this:

• 1 fast light run (5k distance)
• 1 steady medium run (5-7 mile distance)
• 1 steady long run (changed upwards each week - currently at 10 mile distance)
• 2-3 bouts of cross-training (including light lifting, spinning, or elliptical training)
• 1-2 days of rest

That's been working pretty well for us, in terms of both our schedules and our physical/mental preparation. I've even gone so far as to show an interest in both trail running and the full Flying Pig Marathon. We'll seen how those crazy ideas pan out.

I promise I'll post a little more frequently than I have over the past couple months, especially now that we are down to less than 1 month to our big race!

Upping the Ante

Starting on Saturday, July 4, we loyally followed our training schedule and upped the ante of our runs, from 4 miles to 5 miles, 3 times per week.

Our Independence Day run left us feeling a little worried about bumping to 5 miles; fortunately, we were able to attribute our "lack of excitement/long time to finish" to the route itself. We had put together what seemed to be a well thought-out route when looking at a map. In reality, changes in elevation that you don't readily see on a flat map can have a HUGE impact on your run. Long story short, our run simply included far too many, poorly located hills. :)

Our subsequent 5 miles runs have resulted in a much better experience. Due to the humidity (thanks, Ohio), we switched to early morning runs (aka pre-sunrise). We've worked out a great out-and-back route that we continuously chip a few seconds off with each run. Yesterday was our first time back with running club since it started and we actually completed the 5 mile run nearly as fast as we had completed the 4 mile run a few weeks back - now that's improvement!

We stick at 5 mile runs for a couple weeks which is great because we'll have the opportunity to continuously improve our speed and form without having to worry about the additional miles.

HP Blast!

We were out of the country last year during the Hyde Park Blast and the year before that we were moving into our new place. I can't offer an comparison to how this event rolled in the past but this year, it was larger than life.

The race itself was packed with over 2100 runners and walkers. The water stops were well-placed just after the 1- and 3-mile splits. There were plenty of dogs. The route's aesthetics were stunning. And Jen and I started, ran, and finished strong! We beat our Wednesday night test run by a full 8 minutes - the fastest improvement we've ever had on a course. Running the route before the race took a little suspense out of the race but we were able to pace ourselves better and mentally prepare for the hills (there was quite the abundance of these).

Immediately following the finish line, we grabbed our complimentary biodegradable and reusable sport water bottles (very nice!) and caught the attention of a few friends that also ran the race. A little stretching led to the best part of the race - the after-race food! Some delicious Bavarian pretzels, mimosas, toast, eggs, and ice cold Moerlein draft later, we witnessed the incredibly speedy Elite racers cross the finish line. These men and women are fast...they ran roughly 4:15 miles. Wow!

Great race, all around. Looking forward to chopping double digits of my time next year. :)