I figured that my Nike+ plus has slipped in it’s accuracy lately. Today, before I left work, I used Google Earth to measure out 5K on my route along the Mississippi River. It seems that I’m a bit short of 5K as I have suspected from my last few runs this month. I only plotted out what 2.5K was from my starting point, which is what I planned to use to calibrate my Nike+ sensor. It turns out that the maximum distance I can set to calibrate is 1.25 miles. Since I didn’t know where 1.25 miles from my starting point is, I couldn’t calibrate it. I did however end up running the full 5K that I plotted out. I ended up running it in 31′15″ which is closer to what I expect for not running since November. I’m going to plot out a shorter calibration route before I run on Wednesday.
It was almost completely opposite conditions today compared to Monday. Today was sunny and 47 degrees. It’s was a great day to run. I ran another 5K. I’m still thinking it’s only roughly 5K because of the short time I took to run it. I didn’t have time to calibrate it on Tuesday. I really need to do it tomorrow or else just calibrate it on Friday and not do a full 5K run.
I’m slowly getting back in the the groove of running. I’m actually surprised that I’m still in relatively good shape for running. My first time out last week was not that hard. I was able to jump back into a 5K on my second run. I’ll probably do 5K’s through next week, then try to do a 10K.
Today is my first time running since the Turkey Day 5K. My goal last year was to start running to improve my lung capacity. I signed up for the Turkey Day 5K as a motivator and it worked. It kept my running schedule fairly consistent. I’m glad to say that after getting into running, my lungs have been healthier. I haven’t had any significant asthma attacks since I started training. I didn’t really push myself to run in the dead of winter. This is mostly because I’m running to improve my lungs not really to get into shape. I’m in good physical health. I’m definitely not fit and in shape like I was in college, but I’m no slouch.
I told myself I would start running again as soon we have a good 3-5 days of temperature in the 30’s or above. Today is the first of supposedly five days of 30’s to 40’s. With that, I packed my running gear and brought it to work with me. As soon as I was finished with work, I drove a few minutes down to the river and just started to run. It wasn’t too bad. It was sunny and 34 degrees out. It was 22 degrees during the Turkey Day 5K, so today was nothing. I ended up running 2.7 miles. I’m not sure how accurate my Nano is since I haven’t calibrated in months. I’m guessing I may have only ran 2.5 miles. I’m going to try and calibrate it tomorrow and see if I can run 5K on Wednesday.
I felt great to run again. I had a huge appetite for dinner. After dinner I came home and did some free weights.
I have finished my first official run. It was a blistering 24 degrees this morning. It’s a toasty 25 as I write this. There was an insane amount of runners there. It looked like the State Fair on a good day. Thankfully, I didn’t get run over by any strollers except when I was in the Target Center picking up my number. It took a good 3 to 5 minutes for me to get up to the starting line because of the crowd. It was just as bad at the finish line. I didn’t even get to run through the line. I hit a wall of people. I ended up with a time of 31′33″ which is very slow for me. That is also why I wasn’t even out of breath at the end. I could of ran a 10K. That is what I’m training for next. It was really fun though. There was one moment when I was running in the middle of N 1st Street by Origami that was just unreal. I was running right smack in the middle of this empty pocket of the crowd. Huge snowflakes were coming down and the only sound I can hear were the steps of the hundreds of people around me. I closed my eyes for a moment and it was like listening to a symphony. It was strange and peaceful. I don’t really know what to make of it.
After running cables this morning at the office, I decided to do a 5K by myself. I think my pace is completely off. Looking at my chart I can clearly see that I did not have a very steady pace. I guess it is easier to run with someone. At least it’s easier to run with someone who has a steady pace. I was nowhere near my fastest. I’m a little disappointed.
I forgot to turn my Nike+ for the first part of my run. Smart. I did the same run as yesterday so it should be around 4.7 miles. Two days in a row in the cold was not too bad. My legs were definitely a little fatigued. My average pace was slower today. The asthma is still under control. It got a little heavy towards the end, but hopefully I’ll be fine by this weekend. I might try to run on Friday. I’m probably working overtime again this Saturday. I might still have time after that. The Turkey Day 5K is coming up fairly quick. I should be ready for it without any problems. I’ve been running much more than 5K these last three weeks. I’m going to rock it.
