50 Days of running

So today I completed 50 days of running at least 1mile per day.  This is the longest I have run consecutively and have found it to be quite tough.  As I mentioned when I started this challenge (see here, also contains links to all my runs) I was attempting  to regain some of my fitness which I am pleased to say I have managed to do and stop loosing weight which I am also pleased to report I have done.  Weight at the start of the challenge, 61.1kg, weight at the end 62.0kg, that is almost 2lb of weight gain for anyone not familiar with the metric system, this weight was mostly gained whilst on holiday.

So what have I learnt from doing this... well running 1mile per day doesn't sound like much but it soon adds up, my legs are pretty tired and fitting it around our travelling schedule was challenging though not impossible.  I thought I had stopped getting blisters however after yesterday's run I can confirm that is not the case, if anyone has a good solution I am all ears.  I still prefer cycling to running just not in Bogotá.  

Will I be continuing the streak, not for the moment. In case anyone was wondering I stumbled across this the other day. It's an article written about the running legend Ron Hill, he is 73 and has not missed a day of running since 1964!  On that bombshell I will sign off . Until next time.

STATS

Total Distance - 186.05

Distance per day ave - 3.72km/day

Total Runs - 53

Total Time - 16:46:52 h:m:s

Average speed - 11.2 km/hr

Number of falls - 1 completely my own fault

Number of runs in the rain - 3, becoming a fair weather runner :)

Independence day

Star Spangled Banner  

Amanda, Fiona and I choose to take our summer break during the 4th July holiday in North Platte, Nebraska. We stayed with her sister Pam. The 4th is a big holiday in the USA, one of the few. As far as I can work out it is when we (the British) decided that it would be kind to gift them (the Americans) a country just kidding. It is a holiday when people get together to drink alcohol and let off fireworks! hmmmm that doesn't sound right either but that is what seems to happen.

Thanks to all we shared this holiday with we had a blast!

MONDAY

Our holiday started by flying into Denver where we met up with Emily, (see her blog here and her trip write up here) Once we had had some dinner, I went out to do my run as Emily and I were still streaking (link here). After that it was off to bed for some much needed rest.

TUESDAY

Ready for the road trip

The road trip began once we had enjoyed breakfast with Raf and Jola who used to live near us in Bogota, and visited walmart for some essentials for Fiona. Since I have not visited Wyoming we (I mean I really) choose to take the long way to Nebraska via Cheyenne in Wyoming. Although we failed to stop to get the welcome to Wyoming photo, we did stop in Wyoming so I technically have been. Following a short stop at a Sierra trading post outlet we hit the road again for Nebraska. Due to the time change and our inability to contact anyone at Pam's we arrived later than people were expecting us to but about the time I was expecting us to arrive. When we arrived with Fiona in full on melt down mode we were introduced to an incredible amount of people, luckily none of them seemed to mind that we turned up late with a screaming baby. Jeff took Fiona and I out for a boat trip around the lake which calmed her down enough so she would eat something. Once we had all eaten and Mum and Emily had done their run and gone for a swim we finally managed to get Fiona down to sleep around 9pm, she was exhausted. Around midnight a car full of cousins (Paul and Maggie's) turned up to ensure even more names for us to try and remember. 

WEDNESDAY

Relaxing on the 4th. I got my run in earlyish to free up my day which was spent mainly swimming, water skiing or eating. The combination of Jeff, Paul, Maggie and Gerken (the experts) ensured that even people who have not skied managed to get up, this includes me and we have pictures to prove it.

Not sure about this 

Relaxing

Nick first time on ski's

Pam Skiing

Catch the ball.... 

Lola

Fiona getting sleepy

Paul and Rik

Gone

Going

Fireworks (Arsenal of fireworks)  

Once the evening drew in I was shown the array of fireworks that we would be letting off that evening, there were a lot and they were big, think display suitable and you are along the right lines!

The only minor problem with letting off the fireworks was going to be the fact that all of the mid-west was in a drought. Jeff had been watering the ground but as the evening drew in a big storm rolled in bringing with it a huge lightening storm and some much needed rain to the area. The good news was the rain meant fireworks were a go but.... and there is always a but. The storm brought with it rain and lightening and lots of wind which meant lighting and watching the fireworks would be a challenge. 

We need not have worried though as the pyromaniacs (Maggie, Paul, Rik, Gerken and Butch) were on the case. Seeing fireworks being let off to a lightening storm was a fantastic sight. Also the ingenuity of these guys was incredible, "lets wire these together it'll look much better..." and it did.

The Pyromaniacs

Table preparation

 

Bang, Boom, Kaboom, Pow.... well you get the idea. 

THURSDAY

After the excitement of the previous evening I'd like to say we all slept in but alas that was not the case, due to another resident of the lake choosing this day to pour concrete for a new jetty the waterskiing had to wait until the afternoon. The early part of the morning was spent assisting with the pouring of concrete followed by a quick lunch. Then it was off to the local gocart track. At the track there is a small amusement arcade where you are able to play a chicken at tic-tac-toe, luckily for us Gerken is an aerospace engineer he didn't stand a chance......Chicken 1 Humans 0

After a couple of races where it seems which cart you had made the biggest difference we headed back to the house for some more swimming, water skiing and eating. This time the experts thought they would take people who were skiing on two skis and teach them to ski on only one, they clearly know what they are doing since Amanda, Alexa and I managed to get up and skiing in next to no time. I however did manage to take out my instructor (sorry Gerken).

Amanda's Slalom skiing

Here we go

A little assistance from Maggie

Slalom Ski

Comedy wipe out

Professional ski recovery

Nick's Slalom skiing

Ok up and going

Loose the left ski

A little assistance

Nick Slalom ski

Post wipeout

Splash

Enjoying the lake finally

In the evening we had some fantastic steaks with sweetcorn and salad. Thanks to Grandpa for picking them and Rik for cooking them. We then all chilled out around the fire chatting while burning the remainder of the firework boxes, this was all going well until the first one went off with the residual firework parts, I've never seen see 12 people move so fast. Once it got dark Pam remembered she had some Chinese Lanterns so Paul and Butch lit them, although it was still a little windy and the lanterns left the area pretty quick but were pretty.

Steak Dinner

Steak Dinner

Looking for the elusive otter

Relaxing with Auntie Pam

The house that Jeff and co built

Relaxing around the fire

Chinese Lantern

FRIDAY

Its a plough

Although Fiona asked to be in the carseat when we were getting ready in the morning, I think by the end of the day she was not so enthusiastic. Today was the day we drove back to Denver although we had a few stops on the way. The first one was at the Worlds Largest Plough, It was pretty big and dedicated to the "Sod House Settlers". 

After a short stop here is was off to Colby Kansas to meet one of Amanda's friends from school. We had a great lunch and thanks to Selena for the dog, Fiona loves it.

After Kansas it was on to Denver, Fiona must have dissagreed with something she ate at lunch time since as soon as we arrive in Denver it all came back up the wrong way, lucky mum did a great job of catching most of it so after we changed Fiona it was off for dinner with a friend of Amanda and Emily. Anne, it was great to meet up with you again.

SATURDAY and SUNDAY

Both days were spent mainly shopping. Since we were in Denver it would be rude not to go the flagship REI store so that is what we did on the Saturday, looking and buying things we never knew we needed. For the afternoon I took a much needed nap while the girls hit the shops at the cherry creek mall, I believe it was a successful trip, I definitely slept well.

Sunday was spent shopping at Castle Rock outlet mall once I had dropped Emily at the airport, we managed to pick up some clothes for Fiona and some work clothes for Amanda, so a successful weekend.

MONDAY

Sleeping with my new best friend

Another non-stop day, we checked out of the hotel in the morning and attempted to get Amanda's hair cut before our family photo session with Kent (our Wedding Photographer) The haircut didn't happen and whilst we were enjoying breakfast the rain set in. We called Kent and he said he would still do the shoot if we didn't mind the rain. So off we went to get some professional photos taken. We met at his house then headed up to Red Rocks. Once at Red Rocks the rain really kicked in, lucky for us Ken had an umbrella so hopefully we should have some interesting photos of the three of us.

After the photo session we met with a realtor on the south side of Denver. This was a really encouraging meeting and could potentially mean the purchase of a rental property for Amanda and I. 

After that it was off to another hotel, then dinner then preparing ourselves for the trip back to Bogotá.

TUESDAY

The trip back to Bogotá went really well, Fiona was really well behaved and even managed to get a nap on the first flight.

Art care at Denver Airport

In flight sleeping

30 days in, still going strong

So today was day 30 on the streak and it was a tough one.(all my runs on the streak) Once again with running in the city I managed to get stopped by what felt like every set of traffic lights on my route (I was only moving for 31min on a 37min run).  I do have routes that involve less lights but that means running around a canal which is rather smelly at the moment due to the lack of rain. Tomorrow for day#31 I am planning to attempt a slow 10km run, first one in a while.  

In case anyone was wondering this is my kit list to make running more tolerable .

Glove like socks!

Trainers - Asics Gel Cumulus 13 (runners world review) - seem comfortable, will probably change to a pair of brooks once I get to the USA as I'm trying to change to a more forefoot running style....
Socks - Injinji - these are a glove like sock eg. have separate toes, I'm very pleased with them no blisters yet. however they do look quite strange when on my feet and feel a little strange when I first put them on.
Shorts - Adidas running shorts.- I've been wearing a few different pairs, all are very comfortable.
Tights - Ronhill running tights - Comfortable with nice long zips to get them on and off easily. I only wear these if its cooler. 
Shirts - Various technical race shirts either short or long sleeve depending on the weather.
Music - Ipod Shuffle Old style with Sennheiser CX 680 headphones - I never use to run with music and was avidly against it.  I'm currently listening to audio books while I run, so far a massive success given the routes I run are not so interesting, just tune in and plod along.   
Sunglasses - Either my Oakleys or Rudy Project glasses (photo-chromic) depending on the weather.
Road ID - I've been using this for a while now.  Although I'm not sure if it will be useful if the worst happens and I'm unconscious at least I tried.
Watch - Garmin Forerunner 110 with soft strap heart rate monitor. -  This is my tech for running and I am really glad I got it last year.  It is really basic but allows me to see where I've been, at what speed and how hard I was working to achieve the speed I have been maintaining.  Although It is only a tracking device (Amanda has a 405 which does lots more) I'm finding it invaluable as a training aid/motivational tool.  If you are a geek like me and want to start running this is a cheap way to monitor where you have been and look back at your runs with a fine tooth comb!
Post runs - I'm trying to do at least twice a week a good stretching workout, for this I'm using P90X (its about 1 hour long) so far so good, I never used to stretch and this seems to be helping improve my flexibility and recovery.  

14 days into the streak

So we are 14 days into the streak and so far so good.  I have managed to run at least 1 mile per day and I'm slowly starting to regain my fitness back. The runs I've completed for this streak can be found on this page I'm actually looking forward to continuing this streak as I can feel it's making a real difference.

The runs I have done so far have mainly been short (just over a mile)  for two reasons;
1. I was ill before I started and have still not fully recovered from this I am feeling better now though still coughing.
2. Due to idleness and illness I had not run since March 2012.

One thing that I'm finding difficult at the moment is getting going again if I stop for traffic lights/crossing a road (today's run was 26min however for 2:21 I was stopped at lights grrrr!).  Hopefully in the not to distant future (within a year) we will move to somewhere where I can ride and run without stopping so much, runners and cyclist dream :)

I found today's run tough. It was the first run I've completed while pushing Fiona in the pram for a long time and I really felt it, even though it was a flat run.  It was also nice to have Amanda along with me on her bike, not that I was able to talk much since I was mainly struggling to breath.  Amanda went on to do a little extra on her bike which will hopefully help to build her confidence after the idiot on a bike attempted to ride through her last year resulting in a broken arm :(

I will keep updating the streaking page and hopefully report back in a couple of weeks with another update. Until next time enjoy what ever it is you are doing.

Summary of runs

Number of runs completed 14

Total distance covered 36.60km

Total time running  3:26:59 h:m:s

Average Heart rate 160bpm

Average Speed 10.6km/hr (includes stopped time at traffic lights)

Feeling towards running - Pretty good, but knackered!

Streaking again!

Ok so not that sort of streaking, don't really want to be arrested in Bogotá I'm sure that would cause all sorts of trouble.

At thanksgiving Runner's World ran a running participation challenge to run 1mile per day between thanksgiving and new year, the main idea was to keep people from gaining the excess weight some people manage to gain around that time and encourage people to get out running when the weather was perhaps not the best. Since my wife and Emily decided to do this I thought I would give it a go, I didn't manage the whole time but did manage to complete 26 runs and a total distance of 105km.

Given the lack of any exercise for the past two months due to illness (stupid Bogotá flu) I am going to attempt this next streak to try and get myself back in some sort of shape and try to stop loosing weight (yes that is right I stop exercise and I loose weight).  This time the streak will be between two American holidays, Memorial day (28th May) and Independence day (4th July).  It has the same format as last time so at least a mile per day of running every day.
Here is the link to the runners world page.
Runnersworld 2012 Summer Streak

I will upload links to my runs below after I complete them.
Number of runs completed 50
Total distance covered 186.05km
Total time running  16:46:52 h:m:s
Feeling towards running - Pretty good!

14 Day Review
30 Day Review

Run # 1 - A tough first run even though I went slowly... Definitely still sick
Run # 2 - Felt better than yesterday though lots of coughing. Tried out some barefoot running techniques, major calf workout!
Run # 3 - Still feeling rough though running wasn't to bad.
Run # 4 - Ok run, ran a little faster than yesterday.
Run # 5 - Good run today, only coughing when I finished.  Felt much better than previous days.
Run # 6 - Another ok run, still have a blocked nose and coughing lots.  When will I ever get better :(
Run # 7 - Another ok run, fastest so far this streak.  Starting to feel a little better.
Run # 8 - Good run today, think heartrate was higher due to Coca-Cola before run oooophs!
Run # 9 - Good run, didn't feel ill today :)
Run # 10 - Today was tough!  Legs felt really heavy, hopefully tomorrow will be better.
Run # 11 - Felt good today, more of the same tomorrow please :)
Run # 12 - Good run again today.
Run # 13 - Slowly slowly getting my fitness back.
Run # 14 - Run today with Amanda (on bike) and Fiona in pram, tired.

Run # 15 - Short run after ride with Amanda so was nice and warmed up when I started.
Run # 16 - Short run again for today, tired after yesterday's run.
Run # 17 - Short run today, plan for a longer run tomorrow.
Run # 18 - First 5km+ run, felt good, will see how tomorrow goes.
Run # 19 - Around my block, hot weather today.
Run # 20 - Another one done, sick again, hopefully better tomorrow.
Run # 21 - Still sick, coughing lots.  Run today was with Fiona
Run # 22 - Run with Fiona, not a bad one given Ciclovia was busy
Run # 23 - Still coughing but feeling better on today's run.
Run # 24A + Run # 24B - Run to have coffee with Audra then run home.
Run # 25 - Short run today, legs felt pretty tired.
Run # 26A + Run # 26B - Good run today, fast run back from coffee with Audra.
Run # 27 - Short run today, legs felt pretty good.
Run # 28 - Ok run, got stopped with what felt like all the lights on Cr7
Run # 29 - Ok run again today, managed to almost not get stopped at the lights.
Run # 30 - Tough one today, lots of traffic light stops :( Tired legs.

Run # 31 - 1st 10km run for a long time, it was tough. Probably ran a little to fast for my current fitness level.
Run # 32 - Nice run today, legs felt really good.
Run # 33A + Run # 33B - Run to have a coffee with Audra.
Run # 34 - Great 1mile easy run today.  Legs felt fantastic.
Run # 35 - Miss timed step onto a curb, landed flat on face DOH!
Run # 36 - Keeping it ticking over 1st holiday run.
Run # 37 - Funny GPS signal
Run # 38 - Final run of the Runners world streak, decided to do 50 runs

Run # 39 - Run one of bonus streak, very sore from water skiing.
Run # 40 - Good run, still sore from water skiing.
Run # 41 - Run in the rain, funny GPS signal.
Run # 42 - Run around a park, still tried from water skiing
Run # 43 - Ran post dinner, this was a mistake, so so so full
Run # 44 - Last run in the USA for a while, felt good.
Run # 45 - First run back in Bogota after the holiday, altitude still a killer.
Run # 46 - Second run in the rain so not so bad really :)
Run # 47 - Very wet run.
Run # 48 - Warm and sunny today.
Run # 49 - Wet run pushing Fiona.  Managed to get blisters on both feet :(
Run # 50 - Last run in the streak, knee a little sore probably from changing gate due to blisters yesterday.