Gotta start somewhere

So here we go....my 2nd attempt at a journal/blog/whatever you wanna call it. I tried one on Xanga earlier this year and I told myself I'd write in it after each run, but that kind of fizzled out after two runs....oops! Now that it's summer and school's out, I figure I'll have a bit more free time and a little less clutter in my brain that I have to worry about, at least for a couple months. A big reason I'm giving this another shot is from a podcast I like to listen to called Phedippidations, where this middle-aged runner named Steve pretty much goes on a long distance run and talks about a different subject each time. Every now and then he talks about blogs he has found that are written by runners, and it's cool to hear about people who have similar interests. The podcast really is interesting, and it does a good job in helping me relax when I'm running. Check it out on iTunes or at www.steverunner.com.

I'm having a hard time concentrating on what I'm typing right now because I'm watching the Edmonton/San Jose hockey game and they're in sudden death overtime.....gotta love playoff hockey! If you don't know by now, you'll probably find out soon enough in future posts that I absolutely love sports.

Anyway, I'm mostly gonna use this blog to talk about running and how I'm doing...stuff like that. But I'm also gonna spend some time to just get things off my mind, just to keep you guys on your toes.

So here's some background info. I just finished my senior year in college, and since senior year of high school I had a hard time running good races. I always ended up being frustrated with how I ran or something like that. Near the end of 2005, I took a look at what I had been doing to train so far, and what I could add to make me that much better of a runner. What I added seems like it has made a world of difference...
1) Looking back at my running log of 2005, there were times where I'd run 8 miles one week, then 17 the next, then 7 the week after that. It just wasn't consistent at all, so I made a goal of running 15-20 miles over 4 days per week in 2006. After January, I felt comfortable enough to go 20-25 miles per week, and that's where I stand right now.
2) I barely did any speed work. So I decided to do one speed session per week, either intervals or a tempo run.
3) My long runs pretty much were 5 miles....maybe 6 if I felt ambitious. And I did those sporadically too. So in addition to one speed session per week, I decided to add one long run of at least 6-7 miles per week. I've done a couple days above 10 miles, and those really do feel good.
4) Flexibility. I wasn't very flexible, so I decided to stretch at least once a day, and I've only missed 4 days since the beginning of the year. I've also sort of gotten into yoga ever since Runner's World had a feature about it a couple months ago.
5) Core exercises. An efficient runner has to have a strong core, which pretty much consists of the ab muscles and the hip flexors. The more efficient someone is, the more energy they have stored at the end of a run or race. I had an alright core already, but there's always room to make it better.
6) Lift weights with the legs. I sort of half-assed my legs in the weight room in high school, and since then I really hadn't done anything with them. I normally lift about twice a week, but it's all upper body stuff, and it feels like it sort of created an imbalance. It might be the main reason I was so prone to lower body injuries in the past few years. So since the beginning of the year, I've been lifting with the legs at least once a week.
So it seems like a lot, but once I get into a routine then it's really hard to stop me. Overall I've been feeling much better and more confident with my running, and it has showed.....as witnessed by my 3 recent 5K races.

April 23 - 17:18 (new personal record)
April 30 - 17:47
May 5 - 17:28

My three previous best times before those were 17:40, 17:46, and 17:48. So now my next big goal is to break 17 minutes....fingers crossed! But anyway, when I say I've been feeling much better and more confident and stuff like that, it's a bit of a lie right now because I'm sort of bruised and broken. Shin splints have flared up on both legs and there's something going on with my right calf. Shin splints are a bitch, there's really nothing to do but ice and rest them, but this calf, I'm not totally sure what's going on. Sometimes the pain is on the lateral side of the calf and other times it feels like it's on the fibula. I've been icing that too, and slowly but surely I think it's feeling better. But I've stayed off the road since Friday and banished myself to the elliptical trainer this week. I don't have another race til June, so I have a bit of a luxury right now to rest up my body.

This is getting wayyyyy long, so one more thing about me. A big reason I wanna be serious about my rest and recovery from injury right now is that I decided to run my first marathon, the Detroit Marathon, on October 29. My sister ran it last year and qualified for Boston, which was just run about a month ago, so she has run 3 marathons (She also ran Chicago a couple years ago). So the competitive kid inside of me can't let my sister get the upper edge :) I'm gonna do the 16 week plan, so that puts my starting date around July 10. Knock on wood, but hopefully I can take care of myself until then. Well this is pretty much a ton to digest for a first post, I gotta get to bed. Adios....