BloodyAnkles

New beginnings

2009-08-20T08:04:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! (if you're still out there...)

It's been a crazy year! I've been back at school which has taken up a
lot of my time and I have moved half way across the country!

But now I'm starting to think that I'm going to continue blogging just
for my own fun and to record the exercise adventures that I am having.

We'll still talk about running and distance events. I do have a friend
that wants me to run a full marathon with her at some point. Nice
friends huh? ;-)

In addition to running events we'll be talking some about cycling
(mostly mountain biking) since I have gotten back into this hobby at
the encouragement of my S.O.

So stay tuned everyone! I'm going to try and keep with posting this
time.

Personal Record!!!

2008-04-20T21:59:00.003-06:00

This weekend was a special weekend that I have been training for. I have been working very hard to speed up my pace for the half marathon distance, but I figured I had a pretty good shot at a 5k PR as well.

Dorann and I were signed up to run the Blues for Greens Earth Day 5k in downtown Des Moines this weekend. I wasn't sure what to expect from myself so I just took off when the race director said: Ready... Set... Go! and dropped his hands to start the race. For the first mile which consisted of a trip around the block and then up a pretty big hill, I just took it easy and tried to stay calm. Especially when I noticed how few people were in front of me! I've never been that close to the front of a race before.

After we got up the hill I settled into a comfortable pace and waited for the downhill to really take off. Once we got to the downhill I lengthened my stride and tried to make the most of the favorable conditions. I also got a really cool experience when I got passed by a couple of runners, one of whom was blind and being led by the other. AMAZING!!! I met the runners after the race and Don (The Blind Guy, it said it on the back of his shirt no kidding) was a great person to talk to. Very inspirational and a very friendly person.

After I was done talking I started walking back up the course to see how D was doing on her running of the 5k. Then she came into sight, still running. I know it was a goal of hers to keep running for the entire course. I ran about the last .3 miles with her and then watched her run across the finish line with a time of 41:13. She says she's disappointed with her time, but I'm so proud of her for taking this on. Her next goal is to finish one in under 40 minutes. I told her that setting a goal right after crossing the finish line makes her a runner. :-)

As for myself, due to my watch getting a bit messed up I wasn't sure how I did. Later that night I found out that I ran a PR and a near LIFETIME best time of 24:37 taking nearly 2 whole minutes off of my personal best. I also happened to finish 12th in the men's division and 18th overall in the race. I'm completely flabbergasted at this result. I can't believe that I was up towards the front of any race and I'm very grateful to have had the opportunity to do so.

Intervals are FUN!!!

2008-04-16T14:32:00.003-06:00

I know that sounds twisted, but I really enjoy them because they make me faster!

Workout report
I went over to the Roosevelt High School track this evening after work and ran my intervals workout. I started off with a mile warm-up getting used to the wind and planning my strategy to get around the track quickly and work with the wind instead of against it. After my warm-up I ran three 1000m intervals with a 600m jog recovery period.

Interval 1: 4:45
Interval 2: 4:46
Interval 3: 4:32 (flying!)

I always try to do my first two intervals in my goal pace and then the third one I let it fly and see how fast I can go. I'd like to keep working on these to improve my speed and really work on getting faster. I'm excited for my half marathon as I know I've prepared really well, so now I just have to go out there and execute my plan.

Diet/ Weight Report
I'm still going down in weight even while I'm struggling with my diet. I have a hard time getting regular, healthy meals in. It's just been really busy lately and I've been hitting the fast food places more than I should. I should really be cooking at home.

Weight: 193#
Body Fat: 21%

These numbers are good, but I'd like to make them even better! I'd like to see 188# and 19% body fat before the end of May. That's a short term goal…

See you on the roads folks!

Running along... slowly

2008-04-14T22:52:00.002-06:00

Actually my running is getting better and better. My trainer has me up to 3x 1000m repeats at about a 7:20/mile pace. I'm really working hard now as I can see a 2 hour half marathon in my sights. I ran a hilly 8 mile training run yesterday in 1:14:16 for a 9:15 pace. That's right at a 2 hour finish. I think that I could keep it up or even take about 10 seconds a mile off at that point to get in just under 2 hours.

That's the dream goal, I'd really be happy with a personal best as well which is anything under 2:17:59. It seems that if I have a good day that should be achievable. I'm really happy with my progress and how the training has been going.

I'm also down about 11 pounds so far and 4% body fat, so that's a pretty good thing too. If I could just control my occasional cravings for burgers and steak I'm sure I could get down even faster. It's tough having grown up in the midwest after all. :-)

That's about it for now, I have a 5k race this weekend and I'm going to see how fast I can go. D is running it as well and I know that she'll make her goal of running the whole way. I just know it. I think that I'm more nervous for her than she is. I don't think she knows that though. I just really want her to succeed. It seems like such a great accomplishment for her. I'm sure someday we'll look back on all of this and remember how she used to struggle.

See you on the roads folks!

Dispatches from the road

2008-03-15T07:32:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone!

It's always more difficult to get runs in on the road, but we'll try and get a run in tonight when we get in to Orlando. It'll be nice to get out and move after being in the car for two days.

I'll be posting some other pics as well as soon as I can, but now it's time to get back on the road (in a van unfortunately...)

See you on the roads!

I'm still out here... just busy.

2008-03-11T10:54:00.004-06:00

Hey everyone!

It's been really busy lately as I have been working out, working on two freelance projects and I have started a second job which has been great fun, but the blog has suffered. I'll be working on cleaning this up and getting some more updates for you guys in the near future.

I'm still on pace for my 200 runs for the year and I have met my first two month goals and I'm going to make it for March as well. I just have to get my Nike+ system to record the runs consistently. I've lost two this month so far. Ack!

On the training news, Dorann has been losing about 2 pounds per week and I've been going down a bit more in weight each week, so I'm enjoying that as well. I even saw 189# on the scale today! That's the first in a while.

See you on the roads!

Running and shin issues

2008-02-28T15:27:00.002-06:00

Hey everyone!

Another quick update...

Workouts have been going fairly well, this is the time that everything gets a bit tougher. I am happy to report that D and I are doing well with our weight loss goals. I'm down about 9 lbs. and D is down a total of about 14 lbs! Great job! I'm really excited that we have a plan and are seeing results from following it.

On the running front, my pace has been getting quicker and my runs have been getting longer, but my poor shins have been taking the beating. I've been working with a physical therapist and he says that flexibility is a major concern. No surprise to me there, I've never been very flexible. So now I'm working on stretches and trying to make flexibility a priority. I'd like to get this to be a more major part of my workouts as apparently it will help me to keep going into the future. That's really important to me as I have other running goals.

More on those later. :-)

See you on the roads folks!

Sore and struggling

2008-02-17T23:00:00.002-06:00

I've been away from the blog for a bit. I'm just having a tough time right now keeping everything together. Work has been really busy and the weather here is still dismal for running. I've pretty much been a hamster on the treadmill for the last 2 months. It's not a lot of fun as I enjoy running outside and getting a view of the world. I hope that winter slacks off soon and gives us midwestern runners a chance to get outside without the worry of ice wipeouts or freezing bits of our anatomy off.

It feels good to get that out there as I've just felt a bit rudderless lately. I need to get back on track and looking on the bright side of life, but I don't really feel like that right now. We'll see how the next couple of weeks goes.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Busy!!!

2008-02-10T23:43:00.000-06:00

Man, it's been a crazy week! I've added some other things in my life, but I'm keeping with the running and working out. I just need to get a bit of a balance so I don't crash! Things should get worked out in the next couple of weeks and then look forward to me getting more posts out here.

Workout update:
D and I are doing well! I'm starting to see some weight loss and I'm picking up my pace with running. D is picking up the pace as well. I've never seen her run that fast! It's really great to watch her getting up to speed. I'm excited to see her conquer a 5k finally this summer!

That's about it for this super quick update, you'll be hearing more from me soon I hope!

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

And this is me looking tired

2008-02-05T20:47:00.001-06:00

This is what you look like after a 3 mile run in the snow. Pretty
sweaty and tired. It was kind of fun, but one of the tougher runs I've
done.

Snowshoes would be better

2008-02-05T20:38:00.001-06:00

Holy cow! It's snowed about 4" so far and it's still going! I went for
a run/ walk/ slog through the snow for 30 minutes. It was kind of fun,
but really tiring. Is it spring yet? :-)

One Nike+ Century!

2008-01-29T20:15:00.000-06:00

Check it out!!!

I just finished my first 100 miles on the Nike+ system. I know it seems dorky, but I'm excited about it. It's kind of fun to get that kind of feedback when you're working hard. I guess the next goal is 200 or 250. We'll see if I can get to that this year. Although the miles aren't the most important thing to me.

Today's run went well. It was my first experience with striders. I had 6, 20 second strides to do during my run. I put starting at 3 minutes in and every 5 minutes. After my stride I slowed down and tried to keep a slightly faster pace than I had before. It was weird to feel how much slower my previous pace felt once I was done with the stride. I think I'm going to like this new type of workout.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Back into the freezer

2008-01-29T14:30:00.000-06:00

Well everyone, we had a lovely day yesterday at 53°F and I even got outside in shorts!

Workouts have been going well and I have been seeing some weight loss already. Not as much as I'd like and my body fat percentage is still a bit high, but I feel good about the weight loss for now.

Last night I had a really tough workout, starting with weight lifting at the Body Project then continuing to a taekwondo class (where we did a lot of strength drills) and then to a 30 minute run. I really had to buckle down and gut it out during my run, but I got it done and felt good about the accomplishment.

It's really cold here right now with a real temperature of 5°F (-15°C) and around 30 mph winds. This gets us to a wind chill temperature of -19 to -22°F (-28 to -30°C). All of this sciency-stuff means that I'll be running inside again. It's far too cold for me outside right now. I'm pretty sure my lungs would be really mad at the end of that run. :-)

So we'll go with that for now and I'll let you know how this week goes.

See you on the roads everyone!
Alex

A blogger @ work

2008-01-24T10:55:00.000-06:00

One more test to see if I can send photos to the blog from my mobile.
If so I'll use this to show you what I'm seeing out on the roads.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Mobile blogging!

2008-01-24T10:47:00.001-06:00

Hey everyone!

This is a quick test from my iPhone to see if I can get mobile
blogging to work. Maybe I can get some spur of the moment updates when
ideas strike.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Quick update

2008-01-20T22:14:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone!

Just a quick update from the frozen midwest!

If anyone watched the Packers/Giants football game, you know what it looks like here. They're a bit colder than us, but not much. It is right at 10°F right now (around -12°C) but this morning it was -1°F. So let's just say that I'm NOT going to run outside right now. It's just too darn cold.

Running this week went pretty well. All on the treadmill and I managed to stay in the 10 minute mile pace area. Which I guess is good while I am building base. My trainer says that everything is going to plan and we'll be ramping up soon. I'm kind of nervous for that, but I trust that he has a plan.

D is doing well with her training and is over the first soreness of re-starting working out. We'll see what this week brings, but I am excited to get going and see where we go from here.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Now it's getting serious...

2008-01-17T20:49:00.000-06:00

Well... we've started working out with our trainer. And he's kicking my butt already. Good!

As I have mentioned before, we're working out with Tim Ives who owns The Body Project here in Iowa. He's also in my same neighborhood, so I'm patronizing the local businesses. Tim has lots of experience with training as well as with running and training of runners.

I told him that I'd like to get faster in the 5k distance as well as in my half marathon. I'm hoping to break 2 hours in May. That's my goal anyway. Don't know if I'll make it there, but I have to try.

I like the plan so far. He's focusing on running for time right now just to build up a good base. Then we'll start to hit it hard later this spring as race day approaches. He's also working on getting my girlfriend Dorann up to speed so that we can run shorter races together and enjoy being outside. It's really important to me that we share this part of our lives together so we can enjoy being outside and active as we get older.

On Wednesday night Tim had me lift weights while Dorann ran on the treadmill. He kicked my butt pretty good, not letting me do anything halfway. He really stresses proper form, which I appreciate as I tend to shortcut at times (like when I'm tired). Tonight we switched places and it was really tough to run anywhere near as fast as I did on Tuesday. My legs felt soooo heavy! But I kept with it and had a pretty good run anyway.

Now we're recording what we eat so that Tim can fine tune that part of our life so we eat what we need to when we need to. I can tell you that this is my achilles heal. I just don't make time to prepare good food and then I end up eating junk. I really need to work on this and I appreciate that Tim is making me be honest.

Keep up with the blog and we'll see how this experiment goes. I'll start putting some stats down once we start generating them. Shouldn't be too long now.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Shred-mill!!!

2008-01-15T22:23:00.000-06:00

That felt GREAT!!!!

Went down to my friend Jo's condo again tonight (way too cold... thx Jo!) and got a quick 30 minute run in. I'm not sure what part of the running pantheon was in my favor tonight, but I hope it comes back for the half marathon.

I started off at a 5.2 mph (about 11:32 pace) just to warm up. That seemed really easy, but I thought I'd stick with it. After about 15 minutes I kicked it up to about 6.4 mph (about 9:22 pace) and felt pretty good there, but it still wasn't too fast and I felt pretty good keeping up. I decided to go for it and ran the last 3 minutes at 7.4 mph (an 8:06 pace) and still felt good! I can't believe it.

That was one of the best runs I've had in a long time. It's funny how they can sneak up on you. I'm going along well in the Bloody Tinkoff 200x challenge and I'm feeling good.

I have my first meeting with my trainer tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes and keep it going for the year!

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Movin' right along

2008-01-11T17:06:00.000-06:00

Just a quick post to keep up on the schedule.

Training is going fine, I can feel the old running ability coming back. I'm sure I'll have doubts once Tim, my trainer, is back in town and starts putting me through workouts to get my half marathon pace under 2 hours, but I'll enjoy for now.

There's something about going out for an easy run and just zoning out for a while. It really calms me down and helps me to take some of the stress out from the day.

Sounds like I'm going to run some junk miles tonight to deliver some tickets to a friend, but I'll enjoy that and just take it as I feel.

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Another base training day

2008-01-09T22:51:00.000-06:00

Well I guess some days you do great and others you wish to forget.

I just couldn't get it going tonight and struggled with just zoning out and having a good run. For the most part I just thought about work and family stuff that's going on right now which kind of hindered my ability to keep a good pace and run with good form. That's ok, but it was a bit frustrating at the time.

Dorann and I are still working on our homework until our trainer gets back from vacation next week and then the real work begins. :o)

Keep an eye out soon for some new running challenges from yours truly and from other podcasters/bloggers. I'm hoping this will be a breakthrough year for me personally and all of you out there!

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Splish Splash!

2008-01-06T13:20:00.000-06:00

Not taking a bath, but I should now...

It's 41°F here today! Beautiful weather, but tough to run in as the sidewalks are mostly puddles and the ice is covered with a VERY slick coating of water. Got to be careful to avoid falling on my keister. :-)

Today was another day of base training before my trainer starts to hammer on me for real. Went out for a 30 minute run through my local cemetery where I can run on blacktop without having to worry very much about cars. It's a beautiful place too and you can run over 3 miles without re-tracing your steps. I think you could actually run more like 6 or 7 miles, but I haven't mapped it out yet.

I started off chugging along and slowly getting my heart rate up to the aerobic zone and kept it there just to work on building the base as John Ellis talks about all the time. If you haven't heard him, check out episode 126 of Phedippidations. You can find it on iTunes.

That's it for today, make sure to check out the next episode of Another Runner where you just might hear an audio comment from a certain pokey runner from Iowa. :o)

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Treadmill man!

2008-01-03T10:04:00.000-06:00

When it's super cold outside (below 10 degrees F), a new superhero is needed. Behold! Treadmill Man!!!

It was just too darn cold to get outside so I decided that I'd do my 30 minute run for base training on the treadmill at my friend Jo's condo. It worked out pretty well although there were a lot of New Year's resolution folks down there. I ran about 2.7 miles in 30 minutes. Not a blazing fast pace, although probably faster than I should run but it felt good.

I'm also all signed up for the Maryland Double, running both the half-marathon in Frederick on May 4th, 2008 and in Baltimore on October 11, 2008. I'm excited to work on this challenge and I'm looking forward to setting a Frederick course PR!

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Brrr dude!

2007-12-31T17:02:00.000-06:00

Man is it ever cold outside today! It's currently 17.3°F here today (-8.2°C) and I'm really trying to convince myself to go outside and do my running as assigned by my trainer, Tim. I'm sure he's enjoying his vacation right now, but I remember how cold that is and I'm not looking forward to running for 30 minutes out there.

But I'll do it, because I'm getting back to working on all of this and I want to make it stick for even longer this time.

In other news, I think that I am going to sign up for the "Maryland Double" which is a combination of running the Frederick Marathon in May and the Baltimore Marathon in October. I'll probably run the half-marathon in both of those as I'm not sure I'll have time to train for the full 26.2.

How about you? What races do you have planned for the year? Any new distances out there? Anyone trying a half for the first time, a full, an ultra? I'd love to hear about it!

See you on the roads folks!
Alex

Another runner!

2007-12-30T16:53:00.000-06:00

Check it out!

Our favorite Zen-meister, Adam Tinkoff, has created another media project as he calls it. Another runner, found at anotherrunner.blogspot.com. He's also posted his workouts from Buckeye Outdoors and from his Nike+ site. Head over there and take a look if you're not familiar with Mr. Tinkoff, he'll keep you motivated.

In other news, my girlfriend and I have started working with a trainer and we're getting started on our running plan tomorrow! I'm excited to get going. I'm also looking at running the Frederick and Baltimore half marathons in the upcoming year. We'll see how that goes. I'm excited to get back to working out and blogging now that my hectic fall has slacked off a bit. I've missed being involved in this community. I've you're still out there reading, thanks for waiting on me. If you're new, welcome to the blog!

Thanks everyone!
Alex

Return of the bloody one!

2007-10-23T20:31:00.000-06:00

Muahahahahaaa!!!

Since it's nearly Halloween I get that whole Vincent Price thing going on in my head. Scary I know...

Well folks, with some encouragement from afar (thanks MarathonChris!) and some from up close (thanks sweetie!) I am working on getting back into both running and blogging. Not that I really stopped both, but I did slack off for quite a while.

Life has been absolutely nuts since I last posted. Here's what happened, not necessarily in order.

1. Got asked to become head instructor of my own taekwondo school. (Yikes!)
2. Got a call from Johns Hopkins University about my grad school application
3. Got another call from JHU notifying me that I have been accepted to grad school and when can I get there
4. CHAOS!!!!!!
5. Trip to the emergency room (waaaaay to long of a story to go into now)
6. 1 month of recovery from various illnesses
7. Missed my first Ultra (the North Face 50K)
8. Got bummed.
9. Ran in the Des Moines Half Marathon and finished in 2:37:25

So I guess that sums up a couple of months of trials and tribulations, but that's what's been going on.

Hopefully I'm back to the roads for a while and will get some of this sorted out.

Thanks everyone who has written and asked where I've been. It's both extremely gratifying and kind of weird to get encouragement from people that I feel that I know, but have never met.

Thanks so much everyone!
Alex