Training Log – May 29, 2008

SCHEDULE: Run, Stretch

RUN:
      Length: 8.45 miles
       Time: 1:09:00
       Pace: 8:10 per mile
       Calories Burned: 1,294

CONDITIONS: Sunny, mild, breezy

NOTES: A pretty good run today. I got close to my longest run ever (8.53 miles last Wednesday) and maintained a similar pace (about five seconds slower – but that is factoring in that I had to stop several times for almost 15 seconds before I could cross a couple roads on my route – possibly 30-45 seconds in total). I went off the roads today and hit the bike path that runs through my town. I made it all the way to one end of it (the shorter direction) and I hope to tackle the longer way next week on my long run.

I have come to the conclusion that my new Nike+ SportBand is about a quarter of a mile off (too short) and that the pace per mile times are pretty inaccurate. When they are averaged together, it isn’t that far off, but when you look down hoping to get a good idea of what your pace during mid-run, the thing is all over the place. I had mile times ranging from 7:02 all the way up to 10:30, and that was over the course of the first two miles! After that I just turned it to the overall distance. Hopefully, when I get a chance to calibrate it, these will be fixed.

Tomorrow is an off-day, and then it is off to Foxboro for the Foxboro Against Diabetes 5K! On a related note to the race, I convinced my dad to wait a couple weeks before actively beginning to race again, and he will not be racing this Saturday. As much as he would love to, he just can’t at this point. He ran a half-mile without stopping today, so that was good to hear! I can’t wait for race day!

Training Log – May 28, 2008

SCHEDULE: Run, Stretch

RUN (from Nike+ SportBand):
      Length: 3.93 miles
       Time: 31:30
       Pace: 8:00
       Calories Burned: 609

CONDITIONS: Mild, sunny

NOTES: Not a great run today. Due to some unforseen difficulties (like my term paper being corrupted – long story), I was unable to go for my long run today. So I settled for about 4 miles. I chose a moderately hilly course, with a couple gradual climbs rather than some of the steep brutal ones that I have been encountering on some of my runs lately. I wish my pace was a bit better, but I was not able to warm up as well, and, as usual, the hills gave me some issues.

Today was the first day that I ran with my new Nike+ SportBand. I have been looking for a slightly more reliable way to calculate all of my stats, and I read some good reviews about it so I thought that it was worth the investment. For the first day, it seemed to operate pretty well. I entered in the information just to see what my old system (MapMyRun) said, and this is what I got: 4.17 miles run, a pace of 7:33, and 638 calories burned. I will reserve final judgement on it until after this weekends’ race, where I will know the distance and my time, then I will be able to see how accurate it really is. While I may not be certain how accurate it really is, I will still use the stats from the Nike+ SportBand this week.