Running and Running and......

Running. I have been running and running a lot for me, an avid cyclist. I am sure others, the real runners of the world, will laugh at my running statements, but we all start somewhere.

The running has come about due to the cold & rainy miserable fall we are having in the Midwest. Is it too early to start bitching about the weather? To keep the training train going I decided to do a 10k, which is this Saturday. Then the following weekend it will be a 5k with some friends. This will be a fun run and nothing to serious.

The past four weeks I have logged only 95 total cycling miles and 29 running miles. The week of 10/23 I ran 8 miles, week of 10/30 it was 9.6 miles, and this week I will slow it down with only 5 easy miles before the race. I may throw in a road ride as there are a few 60 degree days projected for this week.

My goal for the 10k is 50 minutes. Not world record setting, but respectable for a guy who's longest run is 4.6 miles. I plan to start out slow and steady. If all is well at mile 4 I will pick up the pace. Unlike my one and only other running race (5k on 9/24 in 24:07) I plan to finish with NOTHING left in the tank. I do NOT want to finish the 10k and feel like I had more to give. The key is to determine when the right time is to GO. For a noobie this is the hard part.

While I am enjoying my running season it has brought back some old and painful memories. I use to play a lot of basketball and suffered from sever shin splints. As I have increased my running mileage I can kind of feel the twinge of shin splint pain in my left leg. Nothing to significant now, but it does bring back the memories of the burning! Time to bust out the ice and do some Shoe Research! Later.