Pre-President's Day Long Run

12.09 miles, 1:34:39, 7:49 pace, Cadence= 89, Entire run in Zone 3 HR

Post-Run core exercises: 300 crunches in two sets, 90 pushups in three sets, one with elevated feet, 60 seconds of elbows and toes.

Post-Run drink: Accelerade. I used to drink this after every Kenyan Way workout but I haven't had it more than a couple of times since KW ended. It's supposed to be a proper mix of carbohydrates and protein which helps in post-workout recovery and muscle repair. I don't know if it works, but my anecdotal evidence suggests that I ended up hurting just a bit more when I wasn't drinking it. So I bought a big jar and I'll try to drink it after every workout from now on.

I didn't get out to my long run on Saturday or Sunday during the day, so I squeezed it in just before midnight on Sunday night. This isn't a problem from a sleep perspective because my company is celebrating President's Day tomorrow, and we have the day off of work.

The run was relatively easy, except for the strong wind around certain stretches of Memorial Park. There were very few people at the park, and the street lights were out for a stretch of about 1/8 mile. I didn't see a single police officer there, which was surprising because there is usually a patrol car circling the park after hours.

Now that I have my phone again, I was able to listed to two episodes of Phedippidations, a podcast about running that I've mentioned before on this blog. For those of you keeping score at home, running alone after dark is a bit dangerous, especially with headphones. I listen with the volume extremely low so I can hear upcoming runners, I watch the shadows for people approaching behind me, and I keep my eyes peeled for anything unusual.

The topic of the first show was one of my favorite topics, the C25K . . . shorthand for Couch to 5k. Steve, the host, talked about a program to train for a 5k road race (3.1 miles) for the fitness level of a couch potato. That topic is near and dear to me because it WAS me a little less than 12 months ago. I've sung the praises of Power in Motion before, which was my C25K program. It got me off of the couch and I've never been the same. In a feeble attempt to try to give something back to PIM and the running community in general, I will be coaching for Power in Motion this year. I hope to share my enthusiasm with other beginning runners, like the way my coaches "infected" me with the bug.

The topic for the second show was about children and running. It addressed questions like whether or not it's healthy for children to run, train and compete. Without getting into too much detail, the thesis of the program was that it was perfectly ok, provided that the child enjoys the activity. Overtraining can cause health issues (in adults as well as children), but children will not overtrain on their own accord.

I hope to be blessed with a child at some point in my life. But my fear is that I'll put too much pressure on him/her to confirm to my standards. Those who know me well would say that I run a tight ship and I don't cut enough slack for mistakes. As I get older, I've tried to mellow and do a better job of looking at the situation from others' perspectives. If I have a child, hopefully I'll be a good father and find the balance between letting them live their own life and make their own mistakes, but still provide a structured, loving environment where I can teach them right from wrong. Jeff, my step father, told me that you can't imagine your capacity to love until you have a child. I pray for the strength to love without exerting undue control.

When you run these "zone 3" runs (Heart rate of 134-153 for me), your mind had time to wander and ponder.

mile splits: 7:51, 7:54, 7:58, 8:00, 7:47, 8:07, 7:55, 7:50, 8:04, 7:48, 7:42, 7:24