Week Six - Discovery Park

It's great running with friends when you can. This morning I went out to Discovery Park with Nari, Maggie, and Chris (though, Chris runs way too fast for me, so he humored the rest of us for about a mile and then took off...).

We ran somewhere between 7-8 miles all on trails - did the big loop that goes down to the water (by the sewer treatment plant, sadly) and then back up the hill to the small loop. Lots of fun, sweat and stairs.

Had my heart rate monitor on - said I stayed in my zone for about 45 minutes, with an avg heart rate of 158, max of 179. Total calories burned: 1900. Could that be right?

Either way, we were glad for the time change for sure...

Week Three - Camp Long

Had a great run at Camp Long today. Ran for a little over an hour, up, down, and all around on trails I'd never run on. It was a lot of fun (I enjoy zoning out while running through the woods).

Ran across various bridges and creeks, through narrow trails and a few wide paths. I went ahead and took my Timex Ironman watch and heart monitor. I think I did fairly well. I spent about 25 minutes in my 'Zone', which I believe is 155-165, still programmed from my triathlon days. I need to go in a get that re-evaluated to make sure it's correct for trail running. My avg was 158, and according to the watch, the calories burned was about 1275... not sure how accurate that really is.

Either way, I think I finally started losing wieght (I think I'm down about a pound), and though my knees hurt a little at the start and on a couple of the really steep hills, I felt fairly good. At this point (next week's long run), I'm going to have to start thinking more about hydration and nutrition for sure.

Happy running! :)

Phil