Great Running Books

For Christmas I received a copy of Dean Karnazes book "Run!: 26.2 Stories of Blisters and Bliss".   Before reading this book I knew a bit about Dean Karnazes and had seen the movie "Marathon Man".  I was surprised how much Dean opens up in this book and shares pieces of his life, why he runs, and his perspective on his fame.   It is an easy read and suggest that you pickup a copy.

I also received "Why We Run: A Natural History" by Bernd Heinrich. I am just getting into this book but enjoying it.

Mid Jan Report

The first two weeks of January have been good.  The weather in Virginia and Connecticut has been great for running and I have been able to get out for a number of runs.   

Last weekend I headed out on a long run from ACAC downtown and headed to the Monticello Trail.   The 2Mile run to the bottom of the trail was non-eventful even when crossing under I-64 with many cars exiting and entering the freeway.   Once at the trail, I started to remember the 2011 Montalto Challenge.  The crushed gravel and board walk trail is a lot of fun to run.  It is a steady incline as you climb to Monticello Visitor Center ~2Miles from the trail head.   All in all a solid 8mile run.

My business travel resumed this week and I expect to be on the road a significant amount for the next few months.   Even with the travel I was able to get a number of runs in this week.   I got a nice 6Mile run in on Wednesday and a good treadmill run in on Thursday.  

I did not get a significantly long run this weekend due to a busy Saturday schedule with the kids.   I tried to make the most out of the 3Mile run by doing some speed work.   I was able to brave the bitter cold and get a decent run in, but I must admit I wish I had more time to get a longer run in.

So far so good; I have been able to stay healthy and committed to my training.   I am starting to look at races for the spring - first one up will be the C-Ville 10 Miler at the end of March.  I will start training in earnest in the next week or so.  I will craft out a training plan and set a goal.

2011 Retrospect

I have taken a small hiatus from posting to this blog, but I have continued to run. My work required a significant amount of travel and with the holiday season activities, my time for posting was at a minimum. My runs as of late have been more maintenance and recreation than for training. I expect that I will get into a training cycle in mid to late January to run in a few racing in the spring.  I would like to take this opportunity to do a year in review and set goals for 2012.


2011 In Review 
A very productive running year in 2011 were I ran a number of races of multiple distances from 5K to Full Marathon and did performed at levels to achieve achieve Personal Records.  Some overall high metrics to show depth of commitment and running follows with comments.


Goal Metrics
# Runs: 175 - That is basically running every other day! This was in line with my goal.
Total Distance: 993.89 mi  - Fell short of my goal of 1K miles by just a few miles.
Avg Speed: 6.5 mph - I ran a bit slower towards the end of the year, due loss of training plan focus
Avg Run Cadence: 87 spm - I worked on pushing this to 90 spm, and made good progress as the start of the year this was ~85 spm.

Other metrics
Avg Time: 52:41 h:m:s
Avg Distance: 5.68 mi
Max Distance: 26.43 mi
Avg HR: 160 bpm

I was lucky to stay healthy this year with limited injuries.  I suffered from a small case of Plantar Fasciitis, which probably had an prolonged impact due to my continued running.

2012 Goals
My goals for 2012 will be very similar to my 2011 goals:

Races: I plan to run a few races this year, highlights include C'Ville 10Miler, Some 1/2 Marathon in the spring and a Full Marathon in the Fall.  I will also pick up a few 5ks or 10Ks based upon schedule and opportunity.
#Runs: I plan to continue to run 3-4 times a week.
Total Distance:  I plan to target 1000 Miles this year.
Avg Speed: Increase speed to Average over 6.5 mph
Avg Run Cadence: Increase cadence to 90 spm and continue to improve on mid-foot running form.
Blog: Post more meaningful blog entries.
Special Activities: Run with my daughter

Running has become a big part of my life in the past year.  I will continue to run and train to meet these goals as the experience and benefits this has brought to me are huge.

Happy new year and easy running in 2012.