2011 Yearly Archive

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24 Apr 2011

My 5 Miler and The Jelly Bean Race

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Racing Recaps | 3 Comments

Distance: 9.96km Time: 1:10 Pace: 7’21 kCal: 969 Heart: 143/162 RPE: 6 Type: 5 Miles


Yesterday was Saturday
and I did the first long run in my Marathon Training.

It was also Easter Saturday, which makes today Easter – a rainy quiet Easter Sunday morning where I am sitting on my balcony listening to the pitter-patter of rain drops and the sounds of doves and birds in the background, while everyone else is still sleeping before the rush of church goings and Easter egg hunts.

 

 

That’s one good thing about getting up in the morning to do my runs – even on my rest days I’m up early enough to enjoy the peace, quiet, and spiritual solitude that life and nature can offer.

So here I am, with my coffee, and thinking about the big Easter brunch that will be coming later in the day… and I don’t feel guilty!

Why? – Because yesterday I did the first long run in my marathon training.
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20 Apr 2011

Starting Week – The Unexpected 1/2 Marathon

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Posted in Blaine's Weekly Review | 2 Comments


So last week was kind of a crazy week.
I’m in the middle of my first week of Marathon training now and today is a rest day. I know I was supposed to write this entry at the end of the week but the weekend really was crazy!

Let me tell you why…

The week itself went like clockwork. I was able to get out on my running days and did 5k for each run. Again, I’m in no rush to push the miles, so an extra week to get my body all set up was a good idea. Especially because of what happened on the weekend!

Saturday morning I was up and ready. But today was different, I was going to go golfing (back-nine), have some Pho (Vietnamese soup), and then do a nice 5k walk to digest before my 5k run along the Newport Beach boardwalk.

Well everything worked out great. Until… I went to get my car keys and found that they were no longer in my race pouch! The only place they could have fallen out was at the 5k turn-around, since that was where I put my tunes on to start my run.

Oh No!!!

Nothing I could do, but to go back to the 5k turn-around and look for them. By now I was a little tired after walking on the golf course and completing 10k! But then the post-depression kicked in!
No luck in finding them, which meant calling the AAA (luckily I keep a spare key in the car or it could have been a real disaster).

Of course on the return trip, I just wasn’t ready for all this distance-stuff and my knees started to hurt – they hurt when I walk but not when I run… go figure.

But nonetheless, I ended up doing a ½ marathon that day! Ha! I did it! What a surprise!
Of course about two-thrids of it was walking, but I’m not going to tell any one if you don’t!

I must say though, I did have a number of great workouts at the beginning of the week and 5k/3-milers are starting to be a lot of fun. Oh, and to top things off on Sunday, when I went back for my 10k recovery walk. There they were! My lonely little car keys, sitting nicely on someone’s fence, just waiting for me to pick ‘em up. Thank you to whoever found them.

Thank you – thank you – thank you!
What a great way to end the week and get mentally psyched for my first week of Marathon Training.

18 Apr 2011

Marathon Training in Progress – Week One / Yeah Boston Runners

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 3 Comments

Distance: 6.28km Time: 0:34 Pace: 6’49 kCal: 657 Heart: 121/145 RPE: 5 Type: 3 miles (Lake)

What better way to start my first week of marathon training plan than by celebrating the Boston Marathon!?! It was great to follow my Twitter friends on their runs to victory. Don’t you just love Real-time Stats? Thank you Boston!

And then there is Ryan Hall. Did you see what he wrote on his shoe before the race? How did he know? 2h4m Amazing!

So here I am, starting out.
Well, not really… Pre-training is all done and 5k runs are a norm for me now.

This last Saturday I actually ended up doing a ½ marathon.

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14 Apr 2011

Speeding it up with Nike Splits

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | 1 Comment

Distance: 7.14km Time: 0:53 Pace: 7’26 kCal: 742 Heart: 134/153 RPE: 6 Type: 5k (2x Lake)

So this is my first serious run after doing the 10k last weekend. I had to stop for a few days because I developed a Subconjunctival Hemorrhage on my left eye. I’m not really sure what caused it, but it was recommended that I hold off a few days on doing any intense exercise.

Of course I could have gone out for a walk, but sleeping an extra hour Tuesday morning felt so much better at the time!

 

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11 Apr 2011

Week 8 PT – It’s Getting Easier

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Posted in Blaine's Weekly Review | 1 Comment

So I’ve finished all my pre-training and I think the runs are actually getting easier.
Even my wife came out to run with me a few times!

 

The key focus of the this last week was to keep conditioning my skeletal system for when I start the marathon training. So it was kind of a simple maintenance week trying to get myself into a regular routine. Even when I was dead tired, I still managed to get out and do my runs (and even fall a sleep, I might add).

I’ve also started to loose more weight, but it’s hard to tell how much, because I think my body never really gains back all the water I loose from the runs. However, I do know that my body is now shifting to the next weight range for my level of activity. It is the runs, is it a change in diet, is it my post-running freshly squeezed juice recipes, or is it combination of all three? The reason is not that important. I’m not looking to loose weight, since my goal is to run a marathon, but it certainly is a nice by-product of the training!

10 Apr 2011

My First 10k

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Various Posts | 2 Comments

Distance: 11.25km Time: 1:21 Pace: 7’17 kCal: 1,172 Heart: 139/152 RPE: 5 Type: 10k

So I did it again!
Sunday was supposed to be a rest day since I did 6k the day before, but it was so nice out and my wife came with me, that I decided to run just a little more than 40 minutes. How much more?
Well… enough to do 10k!

Pretty silly, but since I’m going to be doing a 10k race in a few weeks, I wanted to see if I could do it. Thinking back at it, I was a bit crazy to do it (my butt is still sore!). However, I must admit that I didn’t push myself.

For me, 10k in an hour is pushing it… but in 1hour 10min?
That’s a good training pace to start at – no?

Besides, my heart rate was in zone III and I felt pretty good while running along the boardwalk watching at all the amazing volleyball players!

So for the rest of this coming week I’ll keep things steady (4×40 minute runs) and just try to increase my pace a bit. I’ve got 2 weeks to go and then let’s see how I do at the Cinco De Mayo race on May 1st and to help out in Reaching for the Cure.

07 Apr 2011

Running in my Sleep

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal | Comments Off on Running in my Sleep
    Distance: 7.10km Time: 0:52 Pace: 7’26 kCal: 746 Heart: 133/151 RPE: 5 Type: 40min (2x Lake) 

    I’ve read about it, I’ve seen it, and I’ve even experienced it while driving a car. A very scary experience. One that I’m proud to say will never happen to me again. As soon as I feel the sleep coming on, I pullover as soon as it’s safe and take a quick 5 minute nap. Even if it means I’ll miss an important appointment or loose my job. After all, life it too precious to take crazy chances like that.

    So how does this reflect on my running?    Read the rest of this entry »

05 Apr 2011

Week 7 PT – I’m a Runner Now

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Posted in Blaine's Weekly Review | 4 Comments

Distance: 6.76km Time: 0:50 Pace: 7’24 kCal: 704 Heart: 130/157 RPE: 5 Type: 1x30min (2xLake)


Yahoo! Two months completed and pre-training is at an end!
With the 5k coaster run two weekend’s ago and then last week’s running,
I think I’m actually a runner now. That’s amazing!
How do I know?

Well, I actually like getting up in the morning and going for a run. I also feel good when I run and feel GREAT after my run. This morning I did 5.5k (two times around the lake) and tomorrow morning I’m looking forward to getting out and do it again.

It’s truely amazing – just to look back a few months ago and to see how I struggled with running just five minutes at a shot. Now five minutes goes by in a blink of an eye. I’m hoping that a month (or two) from now I’ll think the same thing on my long runs. After all, that 18 miler in my training looks pretty scary right now. But to think, just a few months ago, I was huffing and puffing just after two minutes. Now when running 3 miles at a shot, I can maintain a good pace and talk away… I’m looking forward to the next few months when I’ll be able to go even longer or faster!

The thing is that I’m ahead of my marathon training.
So the the next 2 weeks I’m going to run 6k runs (twice around the reservoir) 4-5 times a week.
Then come Mother’s day, I plan to run a 10k race.

I’ll keep you posted!

31 Mar 2011

The 5k Coaster Fun Run was a blast!

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Posted in Blaine's Running Journal, Racing Recaps | 3 Comments

Distance: 5.00km Time: 0:33 Pace: 6’40 kCal: 571 Heart: 149/166 RPE: 6+ Type: 5k Race

Wow. What a lot of fun last Sunday was!
My first running race in years and I was actually able to get some sleep the night before. So when the alarm went off at 5:45am, I was already up and ready to go. The fact that I’ve been doing my walks and runs in the mornings for the last month helps with that too.

For my wife, well…
She likes her sleep on the weekends.
But today was different. I secretly enrolled her into the 5k as well. Since she’s years younger than me (and in much better shape, I might add) I knew that she’d love to join me on my first 5k race towards a marathon.

And… whew… I was right!

 

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26 Mar 2011

Week 6 PT – A new notch in my belt

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Posted in Blaine's Weekly Review | 1 Comment

Yeah.
Another week under my belt. And I might add that I’m using a new notch in my belt too; one that I hadn’t used for quite some time! I must admit though, that this last week was a bit of a challenge for me. Because I was out of town on business, it was a little difficult for me to get my runs in.

A new town, hotter, more humid, a 3 hour time change to boot, and the jet lag!
I’m glad there was a gym where I was staying so I could use the treadmill. That helped a lot. As for the motivation to keep up my routine, it’s still touch and go – I need to keeping working on this. But on a positive note, it still feels great after I get my run in. Just thinking of that feeling when I wake up is enough to get me out of bed early and go do it!

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