Racing Dr. Abraham Lincoln...

I have been training for a race that is coming up on April 4th called the Lincoln Memorial Half-Marathon. I consider it special because this year is the bicentennial of President Abraham Lincoln's birth. As I am in the process of training I have let my training plan become more of a "what do I need to do today?" plan and have combined this with changing other things as well.

First, I made a change in the time of day that I train. Before, I would get home from work and go meet a group of people and just run the same four miles every Tuesday and Thursday evening. This was great for socializing and helping to push myself faster while with other people. The down-side was that I found it somewhat hard to focus and push myself during a race. I also changed to running in the morning so that I could have more time in the evenings for family and baby prep classes.

Second, I am following a plan from Runners World's Smart Coach that makes things a lot easier by automatically adjusting a training plan to meet your abilities. I have tried using the FIRST plan before, but found Smart Coach easier to use because it did all of the time calculations for you and inserted them into the plan. It is not a big difference, but seemed helpful to me. The biggest change to running plans was that I am actually following the plan. Before, I would do the three token runs and call every other day a rest day when it should have actually been some sort of cross-training. This time I get up every weekday morning early to workout either by running or doing Yoga. So, yes, I am actually doing the cross training this time with only using Saturday as a full rest day. Trying to do Yoga in the morning, on carpet, trying to not to fall while doing a Warrior three pose can be difficult. Especially before the morning coffee.

Lastly, I am trying out ChiRunning. It is an adjustment in how you run and land on your foot. Most people land on their heel, roll through, and toe off. I haven't really had a problem with the way I was running, but have read that landing mid-foot is better in many aspects. The two that stand out to me are not putting on the brakes with every stride and being easier on the body as a whole. Putting on the brakes, as I define it, is landing on the heel, which slows you down, before you push off with your toes after the roll across the mid-foot. ChiRunning develops landing on the mid-foot which eliminates braking. Braking also adds to the wear and tear of joints from the foot up.

Overall, this has been a training period of changes. Hopefully, these changes will allow for a better experience for my family, with more evening time, and for me, with fewer injuries and better running times. I guess I will just have to wait and see how things transpire, but I consider my efforts to be headed in the right direction.

*President Lincoln received an Honorary Doctor of Laws in 1864 from Princeton.

Spring Shave...

The first day of spring is a little over two weeks away, but I am already feeling the warmth invigorating me. As a gesture to the weather I thought I would take the first step in believing that it will turn from its cold ways. As you can see I decided to shave my beard. I did this over the weekend and when I went to work today most everyone noticed, commented, and asked why I decided to cut it off. Well, of course I told them. It's getting warm outside. They promptly looked at me like I was crazy. I guess it could have been the snow that was falling that threw them off today. Luckily, we did not get anything near what they did on the East coast, but it quickly deflated my reasoning. I, being the ever optimist, explained that it was going to be warmer this weekend. They didn't buy that either. In one explanation, I went on to describe how when a person goes running it feels 20 degrees warmer than the actual temperature. As her eyes started to glaze over I knew that must not be the approach. After attempting to help co-workers understand I conceded defeat, but the one thing I do know is if it really is in the mid-50's this weekend I will running in shorts.

Here is my "Welcome Spring" picture dedication:

Pre-Workout/Pre-Dedication

Half way there!

Just about done!

Post 10 mile run on Sunday. It was kind of cold, but I am welcoming Spring with open arms.

Its been a while...

Yep, it has been a while since I have been on here, but in my (read: lame excuse for a) defense the holidays have been crazy. To make up for this lost time, I have included a picture of me to show how much I have changed. As you can see my beard is changing colors to gray, but with an optimistic face underneath. I am aging beautifully!

Usually about this time of year, people are discussing their New Year's resolutions and what they want to accomplish for the coming year. I, too, have thoughts of how I want the future to turn out with careful planning. I have not made it public on this blog, but my wife is pregnant and just over half way through. This as opposed to my 30th birthday, which was a few days ago, has been keeping my thoughts.

How do I blend my time running into family time? I have thought about this and I think the only way to do this is to start running in the morning. I have already been doing 45 minutes of yoga three days a week, so, I am somewhat used to working out in the morning, but now I must transition to everyday and incorporate running.

Well, I am out of things to write and/or the desire to write more, so, I end here.