One More

I got in one more 3-mile run this week, squeaking it in between meetings. My schedule is too packed this afternoon to do anything longer and I figured hey, let's at least do something. I thought about adding an extra mile but really, there's not much benefit in that. I sped up the last quarter-mile and as usual, it's kind of fun to go faster. A little cloudy this morning but not bad and certainly not threatening rain. I've been enjoying the mild temperatures, although it's relative since the highs have still been in the low 80s.

Meeting Run

I had a meeting this morning, but it was a meeting I could listen to and didn't have to talk or be on camera. Perfect for a run where I could get out without missing anything. I took the westerly route and ran 3 miles. Another nice morning and perfect for a leisurely outing. One thing I've noticed on my health app is that my VO2 max is slowly going up, a tangible number that reinforces my efforts. Right now it's at 39.5, up a few ticks in the last month or so. I'm aiming to get above 40 and planning on not letting the upcoming holidays ruin the trend.

Gap Run

Another run today in the gap between meetings, this one a lovely 4-miler. For those of you playing along at home, that's another sunny, mild fall day in the books for north Texas. Not as many people out as you'd think, but then again, maybe people have meetings at the time I didn't. I also had time to mow the lawn and make a quick trip to the store for some dinner supplies for tonight. It's been a good day. A few more meetings and then I can actually relax.

Quick Three

Today my mileage was from the house and not the warm-up point, as has been the case lately. I had limited time to get in 3 miles and so I did. Beautiful weather once again and not a complaint to be heard. I do have to say it's nice to get in a run without courting heat stroke, as much as I like the hot weather. Hoping to get in some more mileage tomorrow if my schedule cooperates.

Made it Seven

Wow, the city workers went all in on Halloween this year. At Bonnie Wenk Park, which I ran through today, they have arches over the running path, decorations littered all around the lake, skeletons propped up against signposts, and even a raft in the lake with a large skeleton overlooking a dog and other assorted characters. Fun stuff. I ran 7 miles today and even though I felt like walking several times, I stayed the course and ran the whole way. It helped that the temp was 54 degrees when I left the house about 8:30 a.m. and also that I slowed whenever I had that feeling. I'm certainly winning any awards for today's outing, but at least I got out and enjoyed the lovely day. Now on to other pursuits, like working on the draft of my next novel and also creating an audio version of my most recent release.

Easy Outing to the West

This morning I took a nice little, easy outing on the westerly route. I went 3 miles and the weather was startlingly similar to yesterday's. As I've mentioned before, it's good to take a different route occasionally. Once again, I pondered running up a big hill on Virginia Parkway but decided I didn't need to increase my heart rate that much. It was supposed to be a recovery/relaxing run and therefore I decided to not push it. Tomorrow will be an off day and Saturday I'll go for distance again. We'll see how I feel. At the moment I'm thinking at least a seven-miler and if I feel up for it I might add an additional mile onto that.

Five on Wednesday

Yesterday I ran 5 miles, a nice outing on a nice day. Sunny, temperature in the 50s, just an overall good day for running. I somehow forgot to post about it, so this is a day late. As usual, I'm finding I sleep better on days where I exercise and ended up with another perfect sleep score last night. The one before (Tuesday night) wasn't bad either. We're in that trend of weather where the night requires the heater turned on and it gets too warm during the day (82 degrees) to keep the air conditioner off. I took the usual route and considered running up the big hill, but common sense prevailed.

Monday Recovery Run

I really felt it yesterday - the stiffness, the exhaustion. Probably because I didn't sleep well Saturday night. This morning I had a gap between meetings and felt ready for a run. The temperature was in the 50s (I think) and sunny. The first mile was rough and I didn't sense a loosening up until the second. Not the first time that's happened. I went 4 miles and by the time it was over the outing had paid off. Not in speed or anything like that, just an overall sense of chasing the blahs away. It's funny - we're in the last half of October and the temps are supposed to stay around 80 degrees or slightly above that well into next week. The dregs of summer continue.

Busy Saturday

I missed Thursday's run due to rain, and my plans for making it up yesterday were foiled by an impromptu trip to Wichita Falls. I know what you're thinking. There's no reason to ever go to Wichita Falls. I went to support a friend whose 91-year old father passed away. There, don't you feel bad for questioning my motives? Anyway, last night the temperature plummeted into the low 40s, quite the drastic plunge after lows had previously been in the mid-60s. I decided to start a brisket on the smoker before going for a 5-mile run. An hour was a little long to be away from the smoker but it recovered quite nicely. After lunch, I finished staining the back fence and let me just say it's nice to have that project behind me. For now, it's time to relax until people show up for dinner in a few hours.

Slog

Good news is that I slept great last night, so that wasn't the reason today's run felt so tough. Instead, it was high humidity for some reason. Cloudy, a little breeze out of the south, but still not great with all the moisture in the air. I persevered, though, and completed my 4 miles. I felt like walking several times, especially in the second half. Maybe that good sleep actually paid off in my mindset. Anyway, not the best of runs but definitely not the worst. I kept my pace slow and I'm sure that helped as well. Plus, I stained the entire back fence late afternoon yesterday and I'm sure felt some aftereffects from that. The east side still needs to be done but there will be no staining today.

Recovery Run

I only went 3 miles this morning between meetings, but that was a perfect distance to recover after the weekend. Not only did I run those seven miles on Saturday, but I also stained about four sections of back fence that afternoon. It was quite the day for physical activity. Then yesterday I stained even more but ran out of stain. If you've been following along, you know I've been wearing the Apple Watch at night to check my sleep score. Let's just say it's varied widely based on whether I had a few beers or not. Strangely enough, my score has been excellent on most nights. Again, not a surprise it would go down on those other nights. I try to not drink anything on school nights, as I call them even though we don't have kids in school anymore, and that seems to help. Not just with the sleep score, but also the exercise and everything else. Guess I didn't need a watch to tell me that.

Most in a Year

Today was the longest I've run in a year. Yeah, I'm saying that more often and probably will continue to do so. I don't care if it's repetitive since it's taken a while to get back to this level. I'm thankful to be able to run again and to run far. I ran 7 miles today and yes, it was slow but steady. I ran through Bonnie Wenk Park, with its Halloween decorations lining the path. Lots of people out today walking, cycling, running, and getting their dogs some exercise. The temperature was mild, only around 70 degrees. I even saw a couple of hot air balloons to the north when I set out, a sure sign that cooler temperatures have arrived. We're still forecast the first part of next week for highs around 90 before a cool front moves through. By my calculations, I ran 25 miles this week. Doubt if I'll reach the same distance next week, but at least now I have a good base.

I'm Back

Today I ran 6 miles. That used to be my standard run and it felt good to be back. Hoping I can return to this as the standard. It's not fast, and that's okay at this point. At some point I'll start working in some fartleks to mix up things and get faster. It was a beautiful morning, once again in the 60s, sunny, and very slight breeze. Unless I mention otherwise, I'm also back to .15-mile walks bookending the run, so the mileage I spout off about running is actual running. My goal on Saturday is to increase today's outing by another mile. Either way, today was great with my longest run in a year.

Is This Autumn?

Hard to tell if it's actually autumn here in north Texas when the day's high is 85 degrees. When I ran this morning it was only 65. Very nice. Sunshine, light breeze, and just a good day for running. I kept it short today and went 3 miles on the westerly route. It's always good to throw in some variety so your body doesn't get overly used to the habits of a routine, especially when it comes to running. Nothing like your body expecting a downhill at mile six of a race because that's what's on your normal route, only to discover it's an uphill. You can probably get through it, but just like pace it's good to mix it up. There. That's my free, unsolicited advice for the day.

A True Five

For the past year, ever since I started walking and then running again, my distance has been measured starting at the bottom of my driveway. Which is different from how I used to do it. As mentioned previously, I would normally walk .15 miles (to a corner, not just some random distance) and measure my run from there. Today, that's what I did. I ran 5 miles without the padding. Which means with the warmup and cooldown, the total distance today was 4.3 miles. I also took the new Apple Watch for a spin. Overall, it felt great and once again, the temperature was mild. No complaints and happy to be out and about as the weather cools off. After being sidelined last winter, I'm ready to run. I was thinking about it yesterday and was still amazed - I didn't run for four and a half months. How did I not go crazy?

Five to One

Five to one - that's the number of times I ran each of the last two weeks. Five two weeks ago, and only once last week. Not my fault - it rained from Wednesday onward, every day. Just when we thought it was done, we got more sprinkles Sunday afternoon. Wish I could say there were chances to get out for a run, but really there weren't. This is a new week, though.

This morning it's sunny and super-mild, only about 70 degrees when I ran. I went 4 miles, with 3.6 of that in running without pause. I mean, it was slow, but no walking. Except for the big hill. I suppose I could've walked that, but I decided it's only the first day of the week and no need to blow it out with more runs to come. Yes, it felt good.

On another note, I decided over the weekend to upgrade my Apple Watch rather than go with something else. The new one has enhanced workout and health features, so I'll be exploring what those do. More to come on this front.

Mildly Running

Compared to recent months, this morning the temperature was mild. We're still headed toward 90 degrees today, but this morning at 8:30 it was only 75. I went 4 miles and ran 3.6 of that. Since I've been running/walking again this year, I've walked a quarter-mile to the top of a hill before running, which is different than the way I used to do it. Back in the day, I'd only walk .15 miles as a warmup, but also to give my Garmin time to sync with the GPS satellites. That's what I warmed up with today (sans Garmin) and at the end. Now, I know you're thinking that the math doesn't add up. 4 - .15 - .15 = 3.7, not 3.6. That's because I walked a tenth of a mile up the big hill on Lake Forest. See? The math adds up. I increased the pace the last little bit, which was kind of a nice change. Rain in the forecast the rest of this week, so we'll see when I get a break to go out again.

Longer Run

The weather this morning was great, as predicted. 69 degrees when I walked out the door around 8 a.m. My goal was to run without walking, other than the beginning and end, and mission accomplished. I went 6 miles total with 5.25 of that in running mode. That's easily the longest I've run in a year, what with supporting the medical profession with two surgeries, recovery and rehab, and hot weather. Lots of people out exercising this morning and it felt good to be one of them.

Streaking

That's a streak of two weeks in a row where I ran four days in a row. Not sure I'll keep that up, but it's felt good as the temperatures start to decline. I was going to run later in the morning but a meeting got moved into the afternoon, freeing up a block of time for me to go 5 miles. Not only did I make it four days in a row, I think this was also the longest continuous run I've done in months at 4.25. It helped that the temp was only 76 degrees when I went out the door. I plan on running one more time this week, on Saturday, and I'm hoping it's just as cool that morning since I want to get in an extra mile on the total.

A Different Three

I got out again today for a short run. I went west this time, you know, trying to change things up from the normal route. I went 3 miles (well, 2.92, but close enough). I was going to get to Ridge and head north a short way, but the sidewalk was closed a few hundred yards before that due to some sort of road closure and whatever else they were doing. So, I had to improvise and ended up taking a path back that I've used for walking. The temperature was lower, only in the mid-80s and high today of 94 degrees. Yes, I think the many days of 100+ degrees are finally over for the year. I've heard from various sources that we had anywhere from 60-70 days of hitting the century mark this year. Sounds about right.

On another note, I tried my new MP3 player that arrived on Tuesday. This one is 128GB, compared to the 8GB of my old iPod. I copied a bunch of podcasts to it and started listening to one on today's run. The unit is incredibly light. It can use Bluetooth but I prefer to use wired headphones since they don't run out of power. We'll see how long the charge lasts on this thing. I haven't given up my iPod, though, just want to test out the newfangled contraption.