Real speedwork .. is work

Today I ran my last “speed work” run, commonly referred to as Interval training.  It was definitely a challenging run, add to that record high Wisconsin temperatures, and an unfamiliar course and it was one of the must humbling runs of my training.  For me it was also one of the most satisfying, it gave me insight into both how far I have come, and how far still I have to go as a runner.   8 days till the 1/2 marathon, I am counting down.

See you on the road.

Sometimes you just need to know

Most days when I am training, it is just a matter of getting out there, putting in the miles, be they fast or slow, speedwork or long run. Today was a little bit different. After missing a few of my recovery runs late last week due to being out of town, I felt my legs were extremely well rested. So as I approaced mile four of my ten mile long run, I decided I would go the distance, the whole 1/2 marathon distance (13.1 miles). With 3 weeks to go until the real half marathon, this was really a racing simulation. There are more hills on my training route than on the real course, so this is only an estimate of what kind of run I can put together. I felt very good about it, I feel like I went out a little fast (for me), but overall I felt like it was a great run. The details (thanks to Polar Protrainer 5) are below.

Happy Running.

Need a reason to run?

There are definitely days for every runner, at least for this one, that the body is a little tired, or I couldn’t sleep as well as I hoped to, that getting out to run requires a little extra push. Here is one I heard listening to a The Final Sprint podcast that puts things in perspective. Tony Reed, who on June 23rd became the first African American to run a marathon on all seven continents had this to say about running: “It’s cheaper me to buy a pair of running shoes than it is to pay for insulin”. Something to think about in our modern, fix it with a pill, culture.

See you on the road.

Step 2: Blogging is harder than running

As my incredibly small fanbase (I think of one) has noticed, I am not much of a blogger. I have some good thoughts about what a nice “How to start with nothing and end with a 1/2 Marathon in 4 months or less” blog really needs to be. But, since I only gave myself that much time to get ready, not surprisingly, a ton of my spare time is spent…running. 25 miles a week (and it is still increasing) really chews up the spare time. So here is my only promise until I can post that I have completed my goal, I will post my training logs, so here is my log for week one.

Until next week…

Short Man Training (Week 1)

Step One

So finally my deep seated opposition to writing a blog has fallen.  Yes, that’s right, I finally found a reason.  Why Short Man Running?  I always thought my blog would be about gaming (and at one time I even wrote a few reviews) or poker (too many of those now), so why running?  For me, it is a combination motivational tool, and just a good place to write, vent, and share how running fits (and will be fitting) into my life.  A long long time ago (over half a decade) I loved to run, and even attempted Cross Country running in college, but to no avail, shin splints killed my every effort to run on anything but a treadmill.  Now several years older, better prepared, and better equipped I have begun again.  This time, I don’t plan to stop, just 1000 miles to go, I hope you enjoy reading about the journey, because for me, that is the point after all.