Quotes

The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare. - Juma Ikangaa

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Relaxing Sunday Evening Run

Tonight I had a nice evening run.  I went 4.7 miles, at a very slow pace, and it was great.  It's runs like tonight that I love and keep me coming back to running.  I grabbed my walkman, setup Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon, and took off.

One might say DSOTM isn't a great album to run to, and one would be right.  That is... if one is looking for a workout.  As for a relaxing medium distance run, I think it's great.  The music isn't too fast, has some awesome melodies and lyrics, and it's the perfect music to contemplate the world too.  "Great Gig in the Sky" is probably the best song for this. 

After this week, I've realized I much prefer my personal runs than races.  All the competition, and hassle of the races make it feel more like work.  Plus, whenever I see another runner stop to walk, it makes me want to as well.  Does anyone else feel this way?

Lastly, I didn't mention it in the previous post, but Jen, Paige, and Connor did a great job yesterday as well.  The kids both got medals (all kids that finished the 1K did), but still Jen said Paige did awesome.  Connor, well how awesome is it to be able to sit in a stroller, have Mommy push you, and still get a medal at the end!  He won't be so luck next Saturday when he has a lengthy 100 meter race!

Here are a few pics of the kids and their medals.

IMG_1060    IMG_1065

And on the Metro.

IMG_1080

8 comments:

jen said...

Way to go!!!! Proud of you!

Annie said...

Good job to all of you! Well, I actually ran to "Great Gig in the Sky" yesterday as well- lol! It came on my ipod shuffle. : ) I like running to more relaxing songs and thinking about things while I jog, rather than trying to keep up on songs with a fast tempo.

Did you run the 4+ miles consistently or do a walk/jog? Are you doing walk/jogs anymore, or do you just run consistently now that you've built up your stamina?

Here's what I have done the last 3 runs: 5 min warm-up walk, 30 min run, 25 min of 3 min run/ 1 min walk, 5 minute cool down walk, and stretching at the end. I plan on sticking with this and increasing 5 minutes each week (@ 35 min run this week) until I get to running consistently for 1 hr. Then I will focus on speed, to give me something else to work on. I'm not really training for a race at this point, just doing it to for the cardio/weight loss benefits. One article I read said to focus on increasing time rather than distance, so that goes in line with what I've been doing. What do you think?

James said...

I mostly run nonstop. When I go to run with the shoe store group, I do a run/walk, but when by myself I'll do just a run, with maybe a minute here and there of walking, depending on the distance. As for improving, you would want to focus on either time or distance, but not both. I think there are people lined up on each side as to which is better. I'm more of the distance type myself. My runs don't consist of warmups and cool downs. My warmup is usually the first 1/2 mile or so, then once I feel warmed up, I speed it up some. I'm just now feeling like I'm getting to where I want to be on distances. Ideally, I would like to run about 4 miles 3-4 times a week, with a long run around 8-10 miles on the weekends. I've got a ways to go on the long run distance, but otherwise I'm happy with where I'm at. If you prefer to get to an hours run several times a week, I'd say go for it. I think we should shoot for 3-4 runs while in FL. You want to run them all together?

Jess said...

Nice job on the run! The more you run, the more fun races become. And soon enough when you see someone walking it'll just make you want to blow past them not stop and join them.

Annie said...

That sounds good. Yeah, lets run them together.

Mom said...

You're stamina is increasing quickly, James, with doing 4.7 miles. I think the distance is more important than the time.
Love the pics of the kids with their medals. Bet they were so happy to win medals!

Mom said...

oops, I meant YOUR, not you're

Anonymous said...

The wedding playlist I refer to a lot is the same way - many of the songs are pretty low key. It works for long runs though when I want to bliss out and not think. If I do use it for a faster pace run, it's more of a challenge, but it's a complilation of my favorite songs of all time so that's motivating in itself. I say, whatever works! :)

BlogNation.com