Tuesday 6 Miler

Could have taken another rest day. Ran on Melrose Avenue. Pain on my right knee is back since Sunday. It does not hurt when I run, that's a good thing.

Sunday Long 24 Miler!

Ran to RW in the morning and met with the group. Ryan, Joel and Kelly stayed with me for the long run (went around the Trueblood Rec Area). It's soooo nice to run with a group of runners.  Miles are shorter and time flies!  The group kept a great pace (about 9:10 MM). Did some additional miles and got my 24 under the belt!  Time to rest!

Saturday 4 Miler

Went for a slow run this morning. Getting lots of rest and getting prepared for tomorrow's long run.
We enjoyed attending a Chinese Concert this afternoon.  Chinese students from East Normal Najing University did a great performance.

Friday Rest Day

Did not get up this morning to run.  Recovery Day!  I was looking at Hotels in St Louis for the marathon week. Need to make arrangements soon.

Thursday 7 Miler

I was planing to do eight miles, but time was against me this morning.  I also felt pretty tired, so decided to cut it into seven miles. I felt like I was running slow, but actually my pace was about 9:30 MM which is not that slow for me. I will definitely appreciate a rest day tomorrow.

Wednesday 6 Miler

Had to go to the airport this morning to drop my friend Wei Wang, who came from New Mexico to give a superb seminar. I went back home and rapidly changed my clothes and went out for a nice and slow run.

Tuesday 4 Miler

My legs did not feel like they wanted to do intervlas today.  I also could not figure out how to change the lap recorder in the garmin, so I decided to just run.  Somehow, I ran each mile faster (negative splits). That was a great feeling! I figured out who runmex is in garmin-connect.

Week 13?

Skipping week 12. This should be the beginning of week 13 of the marathon training program, since I plan to do St Louis in April 15. Rest Day today. My right knee hurt all night. I am slowly recovering from yesterday's 22 miles.  I hope I can do the 6 X 800 tomorrow morning. Took some ibuprofen.
My friend Wei wang is visiting from New Mexico. We enjoyed dinner at Thi Spice last night. He will be giving a seminar tomorrow.

Sunday 22 Miler

Got up earlier than other Sundays and went running to RW.  Took the short route because there was enough light and I wanted to get there on time. Ran the South Route (16 Miler) with Ben and two other young guys.  Then Joel Wells joined the group and Ben turned around on mile 5. Went all the way to Napoleon Park and then headed back. Felt pretty good the whole time, except when I had to go home solo!  Those last two-three miles were the toughest ones.  Nicely, I had an average pace of sub 9 MM. Felt pretty good about the run!
We took the children to pick up garbage by the pond near FareWay. We filled three large bags with trash!  We left the place clean.  I felt really good about it.  I hope our children learn no to trash any place, but to pick up garbage and keep this country beautiful.

Saturday Short Run

I started reading the book, Cita en el Azul Profundo (2004), by Roberto Ampuero. It seems to be an interesting detective novel.  I think I will enjoy reading it. I found the book in our IC public library.

Ran four miles after breakfast. Getting ready psycologically for tomorrow. Plan to run to RW for about 3 miles, run 16 miles (South Route?), and 3 miles back home.  That should add to 22 miles.

Hiked a couple of miles this afternoon with the family in Frytown. It's beautiful this time of year. A rabbit scared the heck out of me.  Not used to wild animals yet.

Friday Rest Day

Well deserved rest day. Looking into reading some local Spanish writers.  The University of Iowa is well known for their International Writing Programs. I am interested in reading some of these authors.

Thu Double Four

Ran to Walgreens and back (four miles), then ran to Weber and back (four more miles). Got my eight miles done!  Tomorrow, a well derserved rest day.

Wednesday 6 Miler

Decided to put six miles under my belt. Ran to Finkbine until hitting the 3 Mile mark, then made a 180 degree turn. Temp was as nice as yesterday and there was even more light!  It's getting nicer in the mornings.

Valentine's Day

Felt well recovered from Sunday's long run.  Got up earlier than usual and got those seven miles under my belt! I overdressed for this morning's 32F warm temperature. There was a layer of snow in some parts of the trails, but not enough to slow me down.

Ricardo Abad, a Spanish runner, is running 500 marathons in 500 consecutive days!  Wow!  That's very impressive.  I believe he runs each marathon in about four hours each. But he has a marathon PR of 2:46:11.

Week 10/11

Feel a lot better this morning, with lots of rest. This week will be 10/11. I am thinking about skipping week 10, so I can catch up with the training program, since St Louis M will be on April 15.

Watched the Grammy's last night. Adele got several Grammy's and album of the year (21). It was a great show. They paid homage to Whitney Houston who just died at 48 years old.

LSD Sunday

Well, I showed up at RunningWild this morning...  and nobody else was there!  cancelled!  I drove home fast enough to catch up with Karen and run my first four miles with her. I did arrive on time just when she was ready to go out. We came back with more than four miles in the Garmin.  I thought I could go for seven more miles and then return (4+7+7=18). I went to the Water Park, and then about one mile more north on Debuque Rd. Had a gu on my way back and decided not to pay attention to the milage anymore, but only my hear rate. Got home and shut off the garmin.  17.5 miles, not 18!  Not sure what happened.
I felt very tired all day long.  Drank lots of water.

Saturday Easy Run

Temperature is cold (10F), but the cold wind on the face was worse! Easy run for today.

I listened to a very interesting podcast called Running the Golden Years. Dan, a sixty year young man, who talks about his exercise training routines. I was very impressed with the chronos he has!  It seems like he does a lot of swimming too. Definitely, that is the way to live retirement! Dan is a true inspiration!
I saw a YouTube video of German Silva running in Spokane in 1990 (Lilac Bloomsday 1990). Man! He is fast and strong!  I like his running form better than anybody else! What an inspiration.  I would like to get his book Corre!

It's Friday!

Rest day. Tomorrow only a short run in the schedule, getting ready for the long run on Sunday. Temperature is still going down.

Frozen Whiskers

Temp keeps going down. This time the thermometer read 14-16 F. Got the seven miles done in pretty good time (8:33 min/mile). Wetting the HR monitor helps to have a better reading. Now, it doesn't show that my HR goes up so fast.  I guess they were all false readings.

Slow Run

Took it very easy this morning and ran for four miles. Since this Sunday I will be running 18 miles, I thought I'd better follow the program and take it very easy today. I will run seven miles tomorrow, but Friday is off. Temperature is cooling down again.
Why do people resist to exercise? If they know exercise is good for them, if they know exercise is needed to live a healthy life, then, why they still opt for not exercising? They know, but do they believe? What is the difference between knowing and believing? They know because they have facts, documents that show evidence, convincing proves that support the knowledge. Knowing is not enough. When you believe, you do not need any prove, any data, you just believe and you act on what you believe.

Long Hill Workout

I warmed up for about one mile, and then ran up and down a hill by the Hawkeye Rugby Field. The distance was marked from 0 to 1/4 mile (0.25 mile X 44 ft). I did it a few times (about 7X).  I hope my legs get stronger with these workouts!
The hill at Shanon Dr is about the same elevation (48 ft), but shorter distance (0.15 mile). Not sure which one gives me a harder workout.  Probably the same.

Week Nine?

I am starting week nine of the training program.  Not sure what to call it because I am doing St Louis marathon and not the Urbana marathon. Rest Day. There seems to be more light in the mornings. Temp was still in the upper twenties.

LSD Sunday Run

Since we decided to go to St Louis for April 15. I will need to modify my marathon training schedule. Instead of running 7 miles, I decided to go for a little bit more (11 miles). It was slippery in parts of the trails, but I was careful enough to run on the grass when the road was icy. I saw more construction at the end of the trail.  I bet the Clear Creek Trail will get a little bit longer this year.

In the afternoon, we went hiking with the kids and our neighbor kids. We did the Cedar Valley Nature Trail by Suggar bottom. Walking on the road on our way back is always tough, those hills!

Saturday 5 Miles

Easy first four miles. Last miles ran solo a little bit faster. Road a little bit icy slippery. DailyMile says I have more than 100 miles on my Kinvaras and 100 miles on the Merrell. Sophia has gymnastics this morning.

Found out there is a spring marathon in Olathe, KS. The Garmin Marathon will take place on Saturday, April 21 at 7 AM.  That sounds like a great option!  I wonder if Olathe is closer than Urbana. I need to check that. The course looks scary, finishing a few miles going uphill!  I am not sure how bad going up 200 ft is.  I could check with some experienced runners.
Karen wants to go to St Louis.  She thinks it should be more fun (Go! St. Louis Marathon). We could leave IC sometime after noon. It should take us about four and a half hour to drive to St. Louis.

Fri Rest Day

Can't believe it's Friday already.  I think my body had enough energy to go for a few miles this moning, but I decided to follow the experts advice and give the legs a break, so I stayed in bed. I could ride my bike if there was more light in the morning.

Thu 6 Miles

Had some problems figuring out how the FR-405 gets started.  It looks like the garmin stops for no reason...  so I try to re-start it...  Maybe I should just leave it alone...  There is this Training 1, Training 2, and Training 3....  Not sure what they are. Time to take a look at the manual.

My knee is felling good, so I feel relieved.

Wed 5 Miles

Temperature went down to about 33F. Still, not bad for this time of year. Ran to Finkbine with the FR-405. Wasn't sure if it was working properly. It seems like you can have a virtual partner, even if you didn't set your distance or time!  That is great. Knee has been recovering.