My Newest Running Tool

I have been racking up a lot of miles around our neighborhood but I was asking myself how do I track my miles and find more challenging elevation change? I found my answer in gmap pedometer. Its a cool tool that lets you use google maps to make running routes. The maps include a Topo Map view that shows hiking trails too (free topo maps)! It estimates calories used and elevation change. I am stats nerd and this helps me get my fix and motivates me to go a little longer each run.

http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/

12 Miles

So this week my long run was 12 miles. It was hard but thanks to the rainy weather it was cool but balmy 80 degrees. So it wasn't to bad. I was making 2 and 3 mile loops around our neighborhood. I took the dogs for 2 miles each which was good for them and gave me a chance to grab some water from home. My goal for next week is to do a total of 30 miles over the week. This week I did 27 miles. So it shouldn't be to hard to get an extra 3 miles in.
-Paul

Blood Mountain Trip

It seems like a 4th of July tradition for Erin and I to hike Blood Mountain. Blood Mountain is about 90 miles north of Atlanta. Last year we did it and really got a good taste of what balmy heat in GA is all about. We barely made it because we didn’t have enough water or snacks. This year we came prepared with a lot of water and snacks but it ended up being a really cool overcast day. It was a good chance for me to do some training for the Imogene run. We hiked up together then I ran down then back up to meet up with Erin. It was about 4 miles of running and 2.5 miles of hiking. It was a good workout mainly because I haven’t gotten a chance to run down a lot of hills. It worked some muscles that I haven’t really worked out much. I am a little sore today but it was a lot of fun. Erin and I finished the day off with some tubing down the Chestatee River and firework in downtown Decatur with some friends.

-Paul

Photo from the Top of Blood Mountain GA sixth tallest Mountain at 4,458ft

My First 10 Mile Run and Course Profile

So today I ran 10 miles. I am finally getting to the point were I need more than just water to make it through my long runs. At about 9 miles I started to lose energy really fast. So my next long run I am going to get some sport drink or a power gel to finish out the last couple miles strong. I put a graphic below of the Course Profile. Next week I really need to work on my hills. Tomorrow I am going to do the stairs at my office then next weekend I am hiking Blood Mountain which has 2,000 feet of elevation change over 3 miles which should be challenging. I'll keep you posted.

-Paul

Weight Goal

I am trying to lose some weight so I can make it through this race without dragging a lot of extra weight around. My goal is to be down around 205lbs by the start of the race. I started my training at 228lbs and now after 3 weeks I am at 222. I am getting there. My gym has a body fat scale so I have also been tracking my body fat. It went from 18.6% down to 17.4%. This isn't my main goal of my training but it sure will make this race a lot easier. Check out the graphs below.
-Paul

Update 6/20

So I was rained out yesterday, now I am 4 miles behind for the weeks training and tomorrow I am busy for about 12 hours building a playground. The plan is to run tomorrow after the playground build and again on Friday to make up the miles. Also I have been playing ultimate Frisbee on Saturday (something different but a great workout) but this week the Atlanta Pride Festival is at the park I normally play at. So my training plan is all over the place but I am hoping to keep my overall miles for the week on track.
-Paul

Training Planning

So two weeks ago I decided I would compete in the Imogene Pass Run (Imogene Pass 13,120 ft). It totals 17.1 miles from the mountain town of Ouray to Telluride. Currently my training partner is Bailey (My Dog) and he hasn't been the best motivator. This race is going to be a huge challenge for me so I need a better training partner. The readers of this blog are going to be my training partners. Over the last two weeks I have been really nervous some days and other days over confident. So I am starting this blog to help me stay on track with my training. This blog will have my training updates and some stories. I am not trying to win this race but only finish. I’ll keep you posted. Below is a link to my training so far.