This Week in Running 2/10/19

Total Miles: 33

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 9 (including D5K: 23:39)
Thursday: 6
Saturday: 12
Sunday: 120 min elliptical

I ran the 5K faster than I have in a long time (maybe a year and a half), and really cranked down on the last mile, running a mile in the low 7's. My knee stayed good through the entire 9 miles I ran that night.

I've been training either on the turf field at the high school or on the treadmill at Planet Fitness. The exception is Wednesday nights, when I run the D5K and add additional road miles. Given how well my knee has been feeling, I went for extra distance Saturday on the treadmill, which I finished but unfortunately my knee gave me some pain the last few miles.

Things have slowly been getting better as I continue to train and to lose weight. I'm not recording my weight or even weighing myself, as I've come to learn it just demotivates me. Based on how my body looks and my pants fit, I know I've been losing weight however. Every pound lost takes pressure off my knee, and given where I was at this time last year (not able to run even a couple of miles on the road because of pain in both my knee and my hip), I've come a long way. I can now run a 5K without the knee troubling me and as fast as I was a couple years ago. I'm pretty sure I can crank out a 10K as well based on my ability to run up to 9 miles on the road Wednesday nights without significant knee pain. The elusive half marathon is not out of the question if I continue to lose weight.

This Week in Running 2/3/19

Total Miles: 30

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 8 (including D5K in a whiteout)
Friday: 6
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 120 min elliptical

This Week in Running 1/27/19

Total Miles: 31

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 9
Friday: 6
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 120 min elliptical

This Week in Running 1/20/19

Total Miles: 29

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 7 (including D5K)
Thursday: 50 min elliptical
Friday: 10
Saturday: 6
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

This Week in Running 1/13/19

Total Miles: 30

Monday:  6
Wednesday: 8 (including D5K: 25:34)
Friday: 6
Saturday: 10
Sunday: 110 min elliptical

This Week in Running 1/6/19

Total Miles: 24

Tuesday:  10
Thursday: 6
Friday: 60 min elliptical
Saturday: 8
Sunday: 90 min elliptical

Wicked Frosty Four and Hangover Classic 10k

Yesterday I ran both the Wicked Frosty Four in Salem at 10:00 AM and the Hangover Classic 10K in Salisbury at 11:30. For some reason, I thought the Frosty Four was at 8:30 when I signed up. If I had known it was at 10 I wouldn't have signed up for both, as Salisbury is about a 40 minute drive from Salem.

My idea was to run both as an experiment to see how my knee held up. I've been able to run a 10K on the road fairly comfortably. How would I do with a four miler, some rest and then a 10K?

I arrived at the Frosty Four very early and got an ideal parking spot so I could finish the race, jump in my car and head off to the Hangover Classic with no delay. That's exactly what I did. I was in my car and driving less than 3 minutes after finishing the Frosty Four and made it to Salisbury at 11:20.

Both races went well. The weather at both was as good as one can expect at this time of year, close to 50 degrees. Both races featured some heavy wind at times, an inevitability when running along the coast.

I didn't run as hard as I could at the Frosty Four but instead kept a good, steady pace.

Wicked Frosty Four:

Frosty Four Finish

My knee started to bother me about the 3 mile mark of the Hangover Classic and I began to wonder if running both races was a mistake. At the turnaround (it is an out and back course) I took it up a notch and the knee started to feel better. It seems to feel better the faster I run. I wonder if that is because of adrenaline kicking in.

My fastest miles of the day were the last 2 miles of the 10K, which was a good sign for possibly running longer races than the 10K. I'm still hoping I might be able to try a half marathon again in 2019.

Hangover Classic 10k: