Running

First casual 5k run since I did the Rocky Balboa 5k in November. I am attempting the party pace lifestyle rather than going for a PR every time I touch the pavement. Avg pace was 11:07. Lungs and heart rate felt good, but my right tibialis and calf started tightening pretty quickly. Changing my stride and striking zone helped, but I can tell tomorrow will be a small struggle 🙃
 
I managed to run in each of the European cities that I recently visited.

Paris, 7 miles, mostly along a pretty canal, as well as a park. Saw a lot of other runners out mid-morning. The weather was pretty good.

Brussels, 5 miles, a mix of random mid city streets and then half of it, doing laps in a park with a nice dirt path, easier on the joints. A bit cooler for Temps.

Antwerp, 4 miles, just some city street running. But this is the 1 city that I had never been to before, just seeing buildings for the first time is a trip. Weather was nice.

It's not always easy to squeeze in runs on vacation, but I typically try to squeeze some in. Especially to try to burn of some of the calories from the beer consumed the previous evening.
 
knocked out a personal record in the half on Sunday. pretty, pretty proud of myself.

then went and devastated the local Chinese buffet for an hour. capped off with a vanilla milkshake and then grazed the rest of the day like i had never eaten before. with the walk to/from the race, the run, walking the dog afterwards and running some errands the watch says i burned just under 4900 (!) calories on the day.

probably shoved 8000 worth of Chinese food in my fat face to offset it all, though. worth it.
 
knocked out a personal record in the half on Sunday. pretty, pretty proud of myself.

then went and devastated the local Chinese buffet for an hour. capped off with a vanilla milkshake and then grazed the rest of the day like i had never eaten before. with the walk to/from the race, the run, walking the dog afterwards and running some errands the watch says i burned just under 4900 (!) calories on the day.

probably shoved 8000 worth of Chinese food in my fat face to offset it all, though. worth it.
Congratulations.... On both
 
Wednesday was global running day; after work, I made a detour north to do a group run. Some people did 3 miles, I did a 10K, paced by some younger guy a couple years out of college. It was a pace that I rarely do by myself on a Wednesday after a full day of work. Some free pizza afterwards.

And on Thursday, there was a trail run with demo shoes from Altra, with a very small detour after work to get to. I got there early, did 1 mile solo in this park that hosts HS Cross Country events. Ran 3 miles with a group. Parts of it, a bit muddy, due to recent rainfall. Not too technical, which was probably a good thing, I rarely trail run
And I did 1 more solo mile in the surrounding neighborhood, since I neuratically wanted to hit 5 miles for the night.

The shoes were the Experience Wild 2. Pretty comfortable and performed good. And the sales rep gave us t-shirts and beer koozies, so that was cool. As I likely noted in the past, 95% of the time, I run by myself. So, it's always nice to be a little social.

20250605_185355.webp
 
Wednesday was global running day; after work, I made a detour north to do a group run. Some people did 3 miles, I did a 10K, paced by some younger guy a couple years out of college. It was a pace that I rarely do by myself on a Wednesday after a full day of work. Some free pizza afterwards.

And on Thursday, there was a trail run with demo shoes from Altra, with a very small detour after work to get to. I got there early, did 1 mile solo in this park that hosts HS Cross Country events. Ran 3 miles with a group. Parts of it, a bit muddy, due to recent rainfall. Not too technical, which was probably a good thing, I rarely trail run
And I did 1 more solo mile in the surrounding neighborhood, since I neuratically wanted to hit 5 miles for the night.

The shoes were the Experience Wild 2. Pretty comfortable and performed good. And the sales rep gave us t-shirts and beer koozies, so that was cool. As I likely noted in the past, 95% of the time, I run by myself. So, it's always nice to be a little social.

20250605_185355.webp
these events, they let you try on and run in their demo shoes??
 
Disclaimer: I am slow and I hate running.

I set a time goal of 11:45 pace for a 5k in my Garmin. At the start, I could push myself to do a 12:00 pace 5k. This training plan mostly has "Easy Run" workouts where the active part is at a 13:15+ pace. I've been following it pretty closely for all 12 weeks, with a load of 13-15 miles per week.

1000006664.webp

Every time I do a run at the recommended pace or even a faster 12:15 pace, this motherfucker loses confidence that I can meet my goal.

1000006663.webp

Motherfucker, I'm following your fucking plan. I hate this. My VO2 Max keeps dropping, too. I really should drink more beer and sit on my ass instead.
 
Disclaimer: I am slow and I hate running.

I set a time goal of 11:45 pace for a 5k in my Garmin. At the start, I could push myself to do a 12:00 pace 5k. This training plan mostly has "Easy Run" workouts where the active part is at a 13:15+ pace. I've been following it pretty closely for all 12 weeks, with a load of 13-15 miles per week.

1000006664.webp

Every time I do a run at the recommended pace or even a faster 12:15 pace, this motherfucker loses confidence that I can meet my goal.

1000006663.webp

Motherfucker, I'm following your fucking plan. I hate this. My VO2 Max keeps dropping, too. I really should drink more beer and sit on my ass instead.
Don't matter how fast... Just don't stop. Then build up distance and eventually speed.


Good job
 
Disclaimer: I am slow and I hate running.

I set a time goal of 11:45 pace for a 5k in my Garmin. At the start, I could push myself to do a 12:00 pace 5k. This training plan mostly has "Easy Run" workouts where the active part is at a 13:15+ pace. I've been following it pretty closely for all 12 weeks, with a load of 13-15 miles per week.

1000006664.webp

Every time I do a run at the recommended pace or even a faster 12:15 pace, this motherfucker loses confidence that I can meet my goal.

1000006663.webp

Motherfucker, I'm following your fucking plan. I hate this. My VO2 Max keeps dropping, too. I really should drink more beer and sit on my ass instead.
I started focusing more on distance instead of pace. It has helped me enjoy running more and is keeping me motivated to keep going.

You are out there running and that’s what matters
 
Disclaimer: I am slow and I hate running.

I set a time goal of 11:45 pace for a 5k in my Garmin. At the start, I could push myself to do a 12:00 pace 5k. This training plan mostly has "Easy Run" workouts where the active part is at a 13:15+ pace. I've been following it pretty closely for all 12 weeks, with a load of 13-15 miles per week.

1000006664.webp

Every time I do a run at the recommended pace or even a faster 12:15 pace, this motherfucker loses confidence that I can meet my goal.

1000006663.webp

Motherfucker, I'm following your fucking plan. I hate this. My VO2 Max keeps dropping, too. I really should drink more beer and sit on my ass instead.
Dude, you're doing the thing and that's the start. And 12 weeks is a really great start! VO2 max is a specific metric that may or may not align with your fitness goals. This is my chart over the past 6 months of mountaineering training for an upcoming Rainier climb.

1000011481.webp

Finally in "Fair" after being "Poor" for years, and it's only bumped one damn point. But last Thursday I completed a hike involving 3 mountains in the Columbia River Gorge that covered 10300 ft of elevation gain and 25 miles in just over 12 hours. I was a little sore the next day but 2 days later banged out a 7 mile trail run (slowly over 2 hours) with almost 3000 feet of elevation gain. I couldn't do any of that in January, and by Garmin's metrics I still kind of suck.

All this to say, let the data serve you, not the other way around. Compare how you of today feels with how you of tomorrow felt, and do the same thing tomorrow. Keep doing that and the stupid watch numbers will follow. Maybe even 1 point in 6 months if you're lucky like me 🤣 In the mean time, AI Greg can suck it.
 
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