Training up-date.

Training for the half marathon is going well despite having a touch of a cold. I ran about five miles tonight and plan on another five Thursday and ten or so on the weekend and then start to taper to race day on the 25th of April. My hamstring problem has subsided and the plantar fasciitis is much better. I am even tempted to train a little harder and stray from the plan but I think it is wise to stay the course, I do not want to overdo it at this point and not be able to complete the race. I am at 75 push ups and 88 sit ups and I am continuing my non running day stretching.

Great running weather

I did a little over nine miles today in the Lehigh Parkway and then DA and I walked about four miles round trip to watch the St. Patrick's Day parade. I didn't have any physical problems and I believe I could have done another mile or two without any problems so I feel optimistic about completing the half marathon in about a month.

Run

I added a 1.3 mile run on Wednesday in addition to my non-running workout. Tonight I ran my scheduled 42 minute easy run and surprised myself with a 9.56 pace. I weighed myself today and I am now right at 200 pounds so I am hopeful the faster pace may be a result of the lower weight along with the conditioning. I am still trying to get my weight down to 185 which is a stretch but if I can continue to follow the schedule of adding a mile every week I may be able to accomplish that goal. Push ups = 70, sit ups = 83, slow but steady progress.

Ott St bridge repair

Having eaten a large breakfast at the Brass Rail on the way home from church today, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone and check out the running path at the rose Garden-still a little muddy and have a look at the progress of the Ott St. bridge repair.

7 miles

Hit the streets for an out and back 7 miler. I averaged a little under 11 minutes/mile and I felt good. I ran for four minutes and then walked two minutes for the entire run. I feel like I can reduce the walk to one minute but I am sticking with the plan which does not call for the one minute walk for a few weeks yet. I also took some Gatorade along and started taking a drink every time I walked from the half point on so I can get used to drinking, I will take along an energy bar in a week or two so I can see how the eating goes. I did not eat anything before running and I did not feel hungry but in a week or two I will have to think about eating before also. All in all a good run and right on schedule. I hope in a few days the Parkway is dry enough to run on, I do not like the streets!

Foot and ankle seminar

Last Saturday I went to the Coordinated Health foot and ankle seminar, good stuff. Although most of the information was not entirely new to me because of the availability of information on the Internet, it was reinforcing to hear it from a doctor. For example, I have a slight case of plantar fasciitis and I have read conflicting opinions on the Internet about putting on shoes the first thing in the morning. I read somewhere that you should put shoes on before taking the first step, another "expert" says do not where shoes at all, only when you have to. At the seminar they said you should wear supporting shoes first thing in the morning, I have been following that advice since last week and my foot is a little better even the morning after a good run the night before. So, my advice is when you have the opportunity to go to one of these seminars go!

Non-running workout update; push ups=65, sit ups=78, and yes I am spent after doing these!

This weekend I am scheduled to run 7 miles, this is the longest I have run in about 35 years but so far I have been following the schedule and it has been good so I am anxious to see how it goes. I am hoping the Lehigh Parkway is clear of snow by then. Since this will take me over an hour I am going to take some Gatorade with me to get used to drinking on the run and to find out if it agrees with me while on the run. I am also gong to eat something, probable oatmeal, about two hours before the run to see how that works because I want to find out how soon before running I can eat.