June 2011

Photo of the Day

FlickrCalendar 1

Running

Elite Mens Mile

I ran pretty well in June, despite the daily 90˚F+ heat and ridiculous humidity of St. Louis. In previous months I had no problems running my morning 9-10 mile loop without drinking anything, but that’s simply no longer possible… I have to stop, usually multiple times, for water. Also, now that Will is spending fewer days at daycare, I’ve moved one of my three weekly runs to the evening after he’s gone to bed and the temperature has cooled (slightly). Mainly it’s the blazing sun that gets me.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
February 33.47 Mile 7 4.78143 Mile
March 71.64 Mile 10 7.164 Mile
April 31.12 Mile 6 5.18667 Mile
May 71.9569 Mile 10 7.19569 Mile
June 85.87 Mile 11 7.80636 Mile
Total 307.597 Mile 47 6.54461 Mile

Running 2011 6

Cycling

Something smooth

After taking it easy on my recovering knee for a few weeks I started adding some intensity to my bike training. And when that went okay I started racing again after over a year off. I’ve done the tuesday night crits at Carondelet Park four times now, each week showing gradual improvement (25th, 23rd, 13th, 11th). Statistically speaking, it’s just a matter of time before I win one, right?

My first race scared the hell out of me. Every lap I lost 5-10 places rounding the fast 35mph downhill corner. The good news is that I was easily able to make up that deficit and more going back up the hill. After a few more races I’m now holding my position there while still moving up when I want. This past week I felt really strong on the last lap for the first time, I just hesitated a bit too long before making the final jump. I’ll judge it better next time.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 60.3 Mile 10 6.03 Mile
Big Red 4.4 Mile 1 4.4 Mile
Pocket Rocket 29.85 Mile 3 9.95 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 249.47 Mile 12 20.7892 Mile
Total 344.02 Mile 26 13.2315 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile
February 0 0 0
March 3 Mile 1 3. Mile
April 36.25 Mile 7 5.17857 Mile
May 272.94 Mile 25 10.9176 Mile
June 344.02 Mile 26 13.2315 Mile
Total 691.53 Mile 63 10.9767 Mile

Cycling 2011 6

Walking

Full charge

Slightly lower numbers here now that I’m not walking Will to and/or from daycare every day. I still try to get out and stretch my legs with low impact walking on a regular basis. Will loves to walk.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 56.9 Mile 16 3.55625 Mile
February 47.6 Mile 14 3.4 Mile
March 83.4 Mile 24 3.475 Mile
April 84.3 Mile 26 3.24231 Mile
May 64. Mile 19 3.36842 Mile
June 57.3 Mile 17 3.37059 Mile
Total 393.5 Mile 116 3.39224 Mile

Walking 2011 6

Scooter

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 0 0 0
February 0 0 0
March 0 0 0
April 0 0 0
May 0 0 0
June 3 Mile 1 3. Mile
Total 3 Mile 1 3. Mile

May 2011

Photo of the Day

FlickrCalendar 1

Running

DSCN4475

Running has been going well. I have 2-3 good training runs per week and I even finished the month off with my first race in half a year, the U City Memorial Day 5k.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
February 33.47 Mile 7 4.78143 Mile
March 71.64 Mile 10 7.164 Mile
April 31.12 Mile 6 5.18667 Mile
May 71.9569 Mile 10 7.19569 Mile
Total 221.727 Mile 36 6.15908 Mile

Running 2011 5

Cycling

Guess who’s back on the bike.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 50.6 Mile 11 4.6 Mile
Big Red 29.75 Mile 3 9.91667 Mile
Pocket Rocket 58.04 Mile 6 9.67333 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 134.55 Mile 5 26.91 Mile
Total 272.94 Mile 25 10.9176 Mile
Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile
February 0 0 0
March 3 Mile 1 3. Mile
April 36.25 Mile 7 5.17857 Mile
May 272.94 Mile 25 10.9176 Mile
Total 347.51 Mile 37 9.39216 Mile

Cycling 2011 5

Walking

Hiking the Chubb Trail

More cycling equals less walking, but I’m still getting out and stretching my legs on most days.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 56.9 Mile 16 3.55625 Mile
February 47.6 Mile 14 3.4 Mile
March 83.4 Mile 24 3.475 Mile
April 84.3 Mile 26 3.24231 Mile
May 60.4 Mile 18 3.35556 Mile
Total 332.6 Mile 98 3.39388 Mile

Walking 2011 5

University City Memorial Day Run

A scant few hours after my last race I slammed my knee into a wall trying to step over a baby gate. You wouldn’t think this would knock me out of commission for several months, but you’d be wrong. All winter I struggled with running and particularly cycling. It took forever just to be able to do any training, let alone the type of training necessary to begin racing again. It’s a shame, because last fall I probably had the best fitness of my adult life.

Over the past couple months I’ve been gradually increasing my training, both running and cycling. For the most part now I can run and bike without much (if any) knee pain, though my knee is generally still a little sore after workouts. Last week when I was in Urbana I ran the Second Wind fun run at Meadowbrook park. Without any fast training I ran three miles in 18:41 with a friend, with some serious negative splits. On a lark I decided this meant I could probably start racing again any day now, just in time for the Memorial Day 5K run in our new hometown of University City.

I ran much better than I expected, finishing in 18:25 (5:55/mile pace), only 30 seconds slower than the Danville Memorial Day 5K last year. This was good enough for 8th place out of 850 finishers, and 1st in my age group. I felt no knee pain. I dealt with the 80˚F morning heat and blazing sun as well as I could have hoped. I dealt with the couple of hills as well as I could have hoped. I think with a few more miles in my legs this spring I wouldn’t have slowed down so much during the 3rd mile, but I’m still pleased.

April 2011

Photo of the Day

April 2011

Running

I had a minor setback involving a few weeks off from running after a foolish 14-miler with a lot of pain in the last two miles. Now I’m back at it and running pain free again.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
February 33.47 Mile 7 4.78143 Mile
March 71.64 Mile 10 7.164 Mile
April 31.12 Mile 6 5.18667 Mile
Total 149.77 Mile 26 5.76038 Mile

Running 2011 4

Cycling

After nearly two months off the bike I can now ride again without knee pain. I ride Will to daycare a few times per week and we sometimes ride the tandem (Big Red) to the playground on the weekends.

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 11.4 Mile 3 3.8 Mile
Big Red 10.6 Mile 2 5.3 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 9.75 Mile 1 9.75 Mile
Total 31.75 Mile 6 5.29167 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile
February 0 0 0
March 3 Mile 1 3. Mile
April 31.75 Mile 6 5.29167 Mile
Total 70.07 Mile 11 6.37 Mile

Cycling 2011 4

Walking

We still walk either to or from daycare almost everyday.

Strut

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 56.9 Mile 16 3.55625 Mile
February 47.6 Mile 14 3.4 Mile
March 83.4 Mile 24 3.475 Mile
April 84.3 Mile 26 3.24231 Mile
Total 272.2 Mile 80 3.4025 Mile

Walking 2011 4

March 2011

Photo of the Day

Running

Good trend.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
February 33.47 Mile 7 4.78143 Mile
March 71.64 Mile 10 7.164 Mile
Total 118.65 Mile 20 5.9325 Mile

Running-2011-3

Cycling

Not so much.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile
February 0 0 0
March 3 Mile 1 3. Mile
Total 38.32 Mile 5 7.664 Mile

Cycling-2011-3

Walking

Good trend.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 56.9 Mile 16 3.55625 Mile
February 47.6 Mile 14 3.4 Mile
March 83.4 Mile 24 3.475 Mile
Total 187.9 Mile 54 3.47963 Mile

Walking-2011-3

February 2011

Photo of the Day

February 2011 Photo of the Day

Running

Winter sunset

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
February 33.47 Mile 7 4.78143 Mile
Total 47.01 Mile 10 4.701 Mile

Running 2011-02

Cycling

Well, so much for that.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile
February 0 0 0
Total 35.32 Mile 4 8.83 Mile

Cycling 2011-02

Walking

Cue the theme music and... strut

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 56.9 Mile 16 3.55625 Mile
February 44. Mile 13 3.38462 Mile
Total 100.9 Mile 29 3.47931 Mile

Walking 2011-02

January 2011

Photo of the Day

January 2011 Photo of the Day

I’m still going with the third year of my Photo of the Day project. I’ve been so busy lately that the quality of the photos has declined significantly (often just taking a photo of whatever I happen to see when the clock strikes 10 pm). I’d love to be able to devote more time to this (and a dozen other neglected projects).

Running

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile
Total 13.54 Mile 3 4.51333 Mile

I recently realized I now have over nine years of training data logged, so I might as well plot some historical trends. Here is monthly running mileage for the past nine years.

foo

See if you can spot the injuries. The good news is my knee is slowly getting better and I was able to do a little bit of running in January.

Cycling

Drive-train-er

I climbed onto the trainer a few times in January, hoping I could spin the pedals. Each time my knee would be pretty sore for a few days.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 23 Mile 3 7.66667 Mile
Total 23 Mile 3 7.66667 Mile

Cycling-2011-1

Walking

Walking at the Science Center

While cycling is still a problem and running is partially problematic, my knee doesn’t mind walking at all. Mostly I just walked Will to daycare a few times per week.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 51.1 Mile 14 3.65 Mile
Total 51.1 Mile 14 3.65 Mile

Walking-2011-1

Cross Country Skiing

Accumulation

We had a few days of snow and a few days when my knee felt up to it, but really only one day where both of those conditions were satisfied.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 2.92 Mile 1 2.92 Mile
Total 2.92 Mile 1 2.92 Mile

Skiing-2011-1

December 2010

I’ll be honest, December kind of sucked. Or at least I thought December sucked, but that was before January. The combination of physical injury/pain with stress from work and holidays made for a rough beginning of the month. What happened at the end of the month (which I’m not going to get into) made all that pale in comparison.

Photo of the Day


For the first, second, and third time in over two years I missed a day taking photos. I’m trying to get my act together. I don’t quite have the same joy for this project I once did. I’d like to regain that.

Running

December didn’t exactly go as I’d hoped. My knee problems made running difficult and I basically had to stop until my knee gets better.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
August 65.78 Mile 9 7.30889 Mile
September 107.4 Mile 13 8.26154 Mile
October 144.087 Mile 17 8.47573 Mile
November 131.57 Mile 15 8.77133 Mile
December 10.8 Mile 3 3.6 Mile
Total 943.427 Mile 112 8.42346 Mile

Cycling

Cycling made my knee hurt even worse than running. I ended the year with roughly half the miles I would have hoped.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
August 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile
September 146.5 Mile 17 8.61765 Mile
October 303.29 Mile 19 15.9626 Mile
November 128.21 Mile 14 9.15786 Mile
December 5.6 Mile 2 2.8 Mile
Total 3145.78 Mile 191 16.4701 Mile

Walking

I began walking a little more later in the month, as it wasn’t as hard on my knee as either running or cycling. Working from home, having no disposable income, and knowing practically nobody in area, my daily trips taking Will to and from daycare are often the only time I leave the house. Spending some time outside walking the 3.6 miles round trip seems to be preventing craziness from setting in. On the other hand, how would I know?

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 37.26 Mile 11 3.38727 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
August 56.75 Mile 16 3.54688 Mile
September 28.84 Mile 7 4.12 Mile
October 32.1 Mile 12 2.675 Mile
November 15.9 Mile 4 3.975 Mile
December 20.4 Mile 8 2.55 Mile
Total 491. Mile 140 3.50714 Mile

I would walk 500 miles…

November 2010 Stats

Photo of the Day

Running

Chubb trail

A lot of good, hard miles run in November culminated in a pretty good showing at the FOLEPI 4-miler. Immediately after the race I slammed my knee into a wall and I’ve been in near constant pain since then. I can’t remember a time when a non-athletic-related injury took me out this badly. It sucks.

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 109.05 Mile 10 10.905 Mile
February 76.18 Mile 8 9.5225 Mile
March 84.86 Mile 10 8.486 Mile
April 83.15 Mile 9 9.23889 Mile
May 57.95 Mile 7 8.27857 Mile
June 17.98 Mile 3 5.99333 Mile
July 54.62 Mile 8 6.8275 Mile
August 65.78 Mile 9 7.30889 Mile
September 107.4 Mile 13 8.26154 Mile
October 144.087 Mile 17 8.47573 Mile
November 131.57 Mile 15 8.77133 Mile
Total 939.827 Mile 111 8.46691 Mile

Cycling

Bike Distance # Rides Avg per Ride
Bianchi 34.4 Mile 6 5.73333 Mile
Pocket Rocket 48.24 Mile 6 8.04 Mile
Thundercougarfalconbird 35.57 Mile 1 35.57 Mile
Total 118.21 Mile 13 9.09308 Mile

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 166.25 Mile 20 8.3125 Mile
February 140.67 Mile 12 11.7225 Mile
March 508.83 Mile 18 28.2683 Mile
April 318.98 Mile 13 24.5369 Mile
May 365.89 Mile 20 18.2945 Mile
June 447.97 Mile 22 20.3623 Mile
July 390.59 Mile 19 20.5574 Mile
August 223. Mile 15 14.8667 Mile
September 146.5 Mile 17 8.61765 Mile
October 303.29 Mile 19 15.9626 Mile
November 128.21 Mile 14 9.15786 Mile
Total 3145.78 Mile 191 16.4701 Mile

Walking

Stroll

Month Distance # Workouts Avg per Workout
January 28.66 Mile 9 3.18444 Mile
February 51.45 Mile 16 3.21563 Mile
March 34.7 Mile 10 3.47 Mile
April 44.35 Mile 11 4.03182 Mile
May 48.75 Mile 14 3.48214 Mile
June 64.2 Mile 16 4.0125 Mile
July 56.3 Mile 15 3.75333 Mile
August 56.75 Mile 16 3.54688 Mile
September 28.84 Mile 7 4.12 Mile
October 32.1 Mile 12 2.675 Mile
November 15.9 Mile 4 3.975 Mile
Total 464. Mile 132 3.51515 Mile