Today's Run - 6/27

I forgot to charge my Garmin on Sunday night so this morning I suited up for my run and found it was out of battery. I headed out the door and did the Darby Loop, Out to 250 and The Scottish Homes route for a good 5Miles. I worked on my perceived effort and pace. My foot continues to heal and I think it is almost ready for some speed work and increased mileage. Just in time to start my Fall training efforts.

Today's Run - 6/25

A great Saturday morning run, the humidity / dew point was perfect and the temp was nice a cool. I enjoyed my run through the Preserve and Q2. The challenging hill climb was a great work out but it took an impact on my overall pace. I decided to head through to cottages to tack on a little bit extra to make up for not taking my usual route on Piper.

Today's Run - 6/23

Another humid morning which really affected my splits. I picked out an oldie but goodie route.

Today's Run - 6/22

I got to run one of my newest favorite routes, Piper loop into the Preserve Section and then into Q2. This is a great set of hills and views. It was a perfect morning with some cloud coverage which made the morning sky a crisp orange. Although the views were very nice the humidy / due point made this run very difficult. Welcome to summer running!

Today's Run - 6/20

A little sore from the race yesterday but overall this was a nice recovery run.

2011 Charlottesville Four Miler Results

2011 Charlottesville Four Miler Results are posted. I am happy to say that I PR and met my target of sub 32mins (8Min Pace).

PLACE NAME              DIV   DIV/TOT TIME  PACE 
166   Douglas Morrison  M3539 19/51   31:29 7:53

The turn out for the C-Ville Mens 4 Miler was impressive considering it was the first early summer running of the race. There were ~500 runners, and I enjoyed the new course and size of the field. I arrived early, which was good because I had some unexpected pre-race registration issues to work out. Apparently I registered for the training course not the race by mistake. I was able to get registered without issue, but it did cause a bit of stress. Once I resolved the registration issues I headed out for a quick warm up run. It was raining and muggy, which made the run a bit uncomfortable.

The start of the race was a little packed with runners but as we got through the first mile it thinned out. The first mile went pretty quick and I was probably out a little to fast. The course started with a slow incline for the first 1/2 mile and rolling hills for the last 1/2Mile as we headed out from Scott Stadium into campus. I covered this first mile at a 7:36 Pace and carried that momentum into the hilly section. The second mile contained the largest hill climb which started to separate the runners. This was a difficult hill but I concentrated on a fast stride rate to climb the hills. My heart rate was much higher than usual, it averaged 169BPM and maxed out at 181BPM which is ~10BPM faster on average. I working harder and it was humid. I was happy to pass mile marker 2 because I knew it was pretty much all down hill from there. I tried to relax into the downhill, but I found it hard to keep my foot speed and pace up. My third mile was the slowest probably due to my need to recover from the hill climbs. Once I got to the 3rd mile I was able to kick it back in but I was still struggling a bit. When we rounded the turn into the stadium I gave one last push and passed a few people in the last tenth of a mile. I was running so hard I forgot to look at myself on the Jumbo-tron! I was happy with the strong finish and meeting the sub 8min pace improving time by ~1Min for this distance.

Overall I felt good after the race. My legs were a bit sore but I probably would not have noticed that if I did not have to climb the stadium stairs to get off the field. My foot fared the pounding pretty well and I believe it is almost recovered.

The Charlottesville Track Club put on a great race. The new course is fantastic and the turn out showed that there is a strong running community in Charlottesville. I look forward to running this again next year and remembering to look at myself on the Jumbo-tron.

Today's Run - 6/16

A good finally training run before the Charlottesville Men's Four Miler on Sunday. My foot continues to feel better, and I expect to meet my sub 32Min total time target.

Today's Run - 6/13, 6/15

A good running week so far. The weather has been cool, clear and relatively pleasant for running. I have been getting out pretty early but still after sun rise. I have enjoyed some the picturesque views around the golf course and mountain backgrounds. In the recent weeks I started focusing much more on my form and foot strike cadence. In these recent runs I worked on keep a solid parallel torso with a strong core and relaxed shoulders. I found after these runs that my core muscles are sore. The constant checking of my form during runs has lead me improve my overall posture while sitting or standing because I have become more aware of my overall body position. On the cadence front, in the last year I have steadily worked to improve my cadence from the mid 80's spm to 90 spm. I have noticed that I am able to rev up my foot strikes when climbing hills, maintain a constant strike pace on flat, but my strike pace can fall off when I am running down hill. I think that down hill foot strike pace slows down because I am resting on the downhills which tends to lead to heal strikes and slower foot speed. I need to work on recouping on downhills while letting gravity do its work.

My left foot is feeling better, I would say it is at 90%. It is still a bit tender, at it worse in the morning when I just get out of bed. I don't think it is plantar faciatis because I don't have any heal or mid arch sole pain. The tenderness is still at the base of the 2nd and 3rd proximal phalanges and the metatarsal bones. I seem to be on the mend, as the overall tenderness is decreasing week by week and the overall discomfort has not kept me from running.

I am signed up for the C-Ville's Men's 4 Miler on Sunday. I have not really been training for it but I think my mileage base has me in a good spot for this. I am excited to run this new course and as always it is cool to see the family cheer me on.

Today's Run - 6/4, 6/6, 6/8, 6/9

Another good week of running and great weather. I have been able to keep my average run at ~5.25Miles. I found that the my pace has leveled off a bit, but I am focusing on form and foot speed. My foot continues to heal and I am sure it would heal faster if I rested more. I am icing my foot regularly which is definitely making it feel better.

Today's Run - 5/28, 5/30, 6/1, 6/2

I am well behind on my blogging about running but I am still running. The challenge has been busy weekends and travel for work has left little time for me to document my runs. Overall the early summer weather has been excellent for running. The temps and humidity are starting to rise which I work to escape by running early. I enjoyed the running in CT this week and was able to get a couple runs in the neighborhoods around the hotels. My foot is healing but still sore in the mornings. I am trying to keep my mileage and frequency at reasonable levels.

Happy National Running Day!

A fellow runner told me that today was National Running Day. I was happy to get a run in this morning to celebrate, I hope you did too.

Check out the National Running Day Website here.