Wasted Continuum

I finally recalibrated my Nike+ today. It was much more accurate afterwards. I haven’t ran in almost two weeks because of my crazy work schedule lately. I got off work at a decent time today. It felt good to run again. It was a little chilly though. I was expecting mid-40’s, but it was 39 when I started running. I didn’t have my winter running gear with me, just my regular running gear and a hoody. It was not that bad after I warmed up. My left ankle didn’t want to run today. I had to stop for a minute halfway through and stretch it out. It was fine after that. I really need to make a new music mix though. It’s not motivating enough. I’m still aiming to hit 10K in two weeks. It’ll be tough, but I think I can do it.

I went straight to the river after work as usually do on my running days. As I was changing out of my Chucks, I heard someone call my name. I recognized the voice to be from my friend, Debbie. She just ran from her loft and just made it to the river when she saw me. I haven’t seen her in the longest time, so we ran together. It was nice to run with someone again. I haven’t really ran with anyone since Linhy went off and moved to Texas. I didn’t run a real 5K like Monday because I didn’t get to calibrate my Nike+ today. I’ll wait until Saturday. I might have to work anyway that day. I can run after I’m done.

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.

This week is almost as warm as last week. I haven’t ran since last Monday. Today was actually a little warmer, but it was snowing. Good size flakes were coming down from the sky while I ran my new route along the Mississippi river. I’m liking the route so far. Last week there were a few people to be seen. Today was like a Stephen King movie, completely empty except for me. It was good though. My breathing was good and my legs kept up. My ginormous hot turkey lunch gave me some minor side cramps when I started, but I worked through it and it went away. I ended up running 5K or at least something close. I think my calibration is off on my Nike+. I’m not sure I can believe I ran it in 21′57″ today. My fastest time is 21′43″ and I don’t think I ran as well as that time. I really need to check the calibration tomorrow.

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.