My longest run yet felt pretty darn great!

by Brandon  

This afternoon I went on my longest run yet – just over 8 miles! I was really happy with how well it went. I finished the run in about 1:17:30, giving me an average pace of around 9:37 min/mile, which I’m pretty pleased with.

Going into the run, I was a little worried about how well my left foot was going to do. It’s been feeling fine during my shorter runs this week, though I was worried that it might act up again on a longer run. But thankfully, my foot felt great during – and after – my run.

If there’s one thing that Anchorage does not have a shortage of, it’s trails. In fact, part of my run today was on a new trail that they are still working on. The dirt/gravel was a nice change of pace from the paved trails and sidewalks that I usually run on.

After today’s run, I’m feeling much better about my first 1/2 marathon coming up in 6 weeks. To be honest, I’ve been pretty nervous about being able to actually run the full 13.1 miles with a relatively short amount of training, but now my confidence is much higher.

One thing I discovered is that I’m definitely going to need to start experimenting with using some type of sports gel or energy bars during my long runs, because I could really feel my energy level dropping after about 5 miles. Any good recommendations?

Here’s hoping everyone has a healthy and happy 4th of July tomorrow!

Photo by darkmatter

Running Naked

by Brandon  

Monday night, for the first time, I ran naked.

No, not naked, naked – I ran without my headphones. Up until this point, I really felt like I needed my music to make it through my runs, to keep me motivated to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I’ve read a number of posts recently about running “naked”, just you and the open road, so I figured I would give it a try.

Overall, I enjoyed the quiet peacefulness that went with running sans headphones. I went running on a trail close to my house, and I found myself looking around much more and paying more attention to my surroundings.

One side effect is that I became hyper-aware of my breathing, as that was one of the few sounds I heard. At first it was helpful for me to realize how shallow I was breathing at times, but after a while it actually just got kind of annoying 🙂

While I did enjoy running without my headphones, I think I’ll probably stick with them for the time being. I certainly don’t feel like I need them anymore, but I do still enjoy them. They help pass the time on longer runs, and the right song at the right time can really get me pumped up and push myself.

What about you, do you like to run/exercise with or without music?

Lost Lake remains lost

by Brandon  
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Saturday morning I headed out with my father to hike the Lost Lake trail down near Seward. The trail is only 15 miles, but we enjoy doing overnight backpacking trips, and we heard there was good fishing at the lake, which is pretty much right at the midway point of the trail. We figured an easy 7.5 miles each day with some fishing in between sounded like a good way to spend Father’s Day weekend.

Turns out things didn’t work out quite as well as expected.

The hike started off well enough, passing by a waterfall in the first couple of miles:

And an easy creek crossing a mile or so later:

We even took the time to do a little geocaching:

But before long, we started running into a fair amount of snow on the trail:

And it just kept getting worse. At this point, it was raining, and getting very cold and windy. I kept hearing my dad muttering things about dying of hypothermia. Plus, we were having trouble finding the trail in some places, there were such large sections covered in snow:

It was at this point that we decided to turn back. We were about 5 1/2 miles in, and not even quite at the summit yet, so we knew it was only going to get worse from there. So we hiked the 5 1/2 miles back to the trailhead, giving us a longer day of hiking than anticipated. It was getting late, and we were wet, cold and tired, so we drove into Seward and got a hotel for the night.

Of course, when we woke up in the morning, it was a beautiful day in Seward:

Oh well, so we didn’t exactly luck out in the weather department for this trip, but it was still an enjoyable hike. And I found out that I did handle hiking quite a bit better with my newfound weight loss. My backpack was about 35 pounds, so I was still hiking around 25 pounds lighter, which was a great feeling. I found myself breathing much easier, and my legs weren’t burning anywhere nearly as bad as they have in the past. Chalk that up as a win for good health!

The Watch Is My Nemesis

by Brandon  

This is a guest post from Ryan of No More Bacon. If you’re not already reading his blog, do yourself a favor and head over there, it will rock your socks off!

Brandon has been doing quite a bit of running as of late and from what I can tell he’s been putting up some pretty decent numbers as far as running is concerned. Especially for someone who is so new to it.

I’ve run in two different 5Ks so far and will definitely be running in some more. I love the energy of the race. It’s so invigorating and almost guarantees a faster pace than what you’re used to running. The adrenaline just seems to really take over. At least that’s been my experience.

Speaking as a race veteran (tongue planted so firmly in cheek I’ll probably put a hole through it) I must say that each race was a very different experience for me.

My first 5K ever was a race that benefitted Autism Research and awareness called the Strides for Autism 5K. Now I have a son with autism so the race was really important to me. I wasn’t worried about any specific time. I did however know that my wife and boys would be waiting for me at the finish line. I finished in about 34 minutes. Not fast by any means, but it was 6 minutes faster than my personal best, and that was on a treadmill no less.

My second race was the Salt Lake City Marathon. I had a benchmark that I knew I wanted to beat and beating that time basically became an obsession for me. I was literally checking my pace at least every two minutes. That kind of tracking will take a toll on a dude. When I got to the halfway point I was at 16:30; on pace to finish a full minute better than my goal. Unfortunately the second half of the race had a HUGE (well huge for my “husky” frame) uphill section. I got a good start on the hill and I was feeling good until I got about halfway to the top. Then, I started to get sick. Whatever I had eaten for breakfast decided to play Montezuma’s revenge and I was literally choking back my own vomit. Sorry for the imagery. I stopped to walk to avoid tossing my cookies and I immediately looked down at my watch. I was slipping behind my pace. I walked a little longer and stared at my watch as I walked. I wasn’t going to beat my time. Because I had fallen behind my “pace,” I lost all self confidence. The last mile or so I was pretty much dogging it until I sprinted to the finish line. I still had a lot of gas in the tank but I let the watch dictate whether or not I was going to be successful. I finished in 34:30.

I can almost guarantee that had I been watchless that day, I would have bettered my time.

I’d like to say that this is limited to races but I find myself doing it all the time. On the treadmill, the bike, during my circuit training; I get so caught up in the time portion of what I’m doing that I lose all focus on the exercise itself.

In order to beat the watch I’ve done a few things. I’ll wear it backwards so that checking it is more of a chore. Somehow that helps me check it less often and I can just run for the sake of running. I’ve put electrical tape over the timer on the treadmill and the bike. I’m considering an all out declaration of war against all things timepiece. I wonder how my boss would feel about that.

Anyway, am I alone in this? Do any of you obsess over times? What do you do to combat it so you can just enjoy the ride?

Ask the readers: Staying hydrated on a run?

by Brandon  
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The runs I’ve been going on lately haven’t been terribly long (3-3.5 miles), but I’ve still been feeling the need for some water. Mostly, my mouth gets really dry, so I just need a few sips here and there – I think my overall level of hydration is fine. I drink plenty of water before I start my run, and more after I’m done.

From what I’ve seen, my 2 best options seem to be either using a Camelbak or a hydration belt – which to me is a fancy way of saying “a fannypack that holds a water bottle”. 🙂

What do you do to stay hydrated when running outside?