• On Life and Love

    6.25 miles: The Longest Run Evar

    No, really, it’s the longest I’ve ever run. It was painful, and I’m worn out, helped by a big weight-lifting session last night. The first mile, as usual, was a little rough as I tried to find my stride. Miles two and three were pretty smooth, aside from the fact that I’d opted to go downtown. Me not being a car moving 30 mph, I couldn’t really time the light cycles, and often had to stop and wait for a green. Since I’d already been intimidated by the prospect of the run, I wanted the route to be a simple out-and-back, so I didn’t take the “whichever way is green”…

  • On Life and Love

    “Results” Class

    I just got home from a circuit training conditioning class at a nearby martial arts studio. Holy crap. I hardly ever partake in circuit training–I tend to prefer more measurable exercises that I can “program”, like weight lifting and running. I’m not particularly opposed to circuit training, as a lot of specialists in those two are. They like to argue that circuit training (with Crossfit as the big-name villain) produces folks that can do a bit of many things, but aren’t good at anything. Well, I’ll tell you what. The class I just came from wasn’t Crossfit, but if I do that once a week on top of my other…

  • Uncategorized

    Getting Back on a Training Schedule

    Back in December I was all like, “Hey, I’m go kinda free-form with this running thing for a while!” That didn’t work so well. I ran… some. I got faster… some. Then came the normal reasons for stopping exercise: hey, got this huge party to plan; the guys are coming over for D & D; I’ll clean house instead; I just need a little bit of relaxation; etc.

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    The Post-5k Training Gap

    There are oodles and oodles of beginner’s 5k training programs–I’ve been using Hal Hidgon’s novice plan for the race coming up this Saturday, and I like it, despite the difficulties of running in a neighborhood with no flat stretches at all. I actually have to leave my neighborhood and get chased by a dog to get a half-mile break from the hills. My goal for the race is just to finish it and get a sense of what my race pace would be (especially since I may be facing temperatures in the teens!), but during training I’ve cut 6 full minutes off my 3 mile run time from October. Of…