If you’ve been following my journey, you should keep reading along as the next few weeks will take me to Utah and running new routes, in a new city and with a new club. My weekly miles have bumped up to 32 miles, not due to anything in particular, it just has to do with my work-travel. I started this 16 week journey on a Sunday with an easy-long run. This week will end on a Saturday easy-long run along with the next 13 weeks beyond that.
The next few weeks will have me running solo. A big change from the weeks previous where I conducted the majority of my runs being with friends. I’ll continue to program all of the runs on my watch and will do my best to stay on program.
Travel Tips & Running:
Before Traveling
Conduct a Map Recon of the area you’ll be staying. You can use Google Maps, MapMyRun, Strava, COROS, Garmin or any other online mapping tool that provides public routes.
Strava provides a “heat map” that indicates popular routes in different cities, towns and locations. This lets me know if where I will be running is a common place for runners and if I’ll see others.
Research a a local running store, the more local the better. While Fleet Feet is a national chain, many times their employees are local runners who can provide valuable insight.
Search Facebook, the Meetup App or other social apps and see if there is a local running club where you are going.
Arriving in a new city:
I usually stop at the local running store and chat up the employees if they are not busy. I’ll buy a few gu’s, etc and a local hat if available. These employees generally provide the greatest intelligence on the running community, clubs, locations, neighborhoods, trails, etc.
Drive by the parking location and route if possible. Before departing on a run in a new location, I will do my best to drive the route and identify areas of safety that I can access such as a gas station, hotel, library, hospital, etc.
While Running:
Take your phone and let someone (Co-worker, spouse, etc) know your route and expected time of return.
Turn on Live-Tracking. Garmin offers this feature, Apple (Find My) or even easier is Google Maps. With Google Maps, if you are signed into your Google Account, you can share your Live Location with a link to anyone who has the link for a duration of time of your choosing.
Run with some type of self defense; mace, firearm, whistle, flashlight, etc.
Wear Reflective clothing and something bright that can be seen from the road, etc.
Carry enough water, food, wet wipes, etc to support your entire run.
I really enjoy the metrics and information that COROS provides and will be posting my weekly changes in “Running Fitness” and “Race Predictor”. I’m hoping in the next 98 days COROS can properly predict that I will run a sub 4-hour Marathon.
My goal pace in the Marathon is an 8’30”/mi average. It’s imposing and anxiety producing to see that the predictor only has that pace up to the 10K! We’ll see how this changes over the coming weeks.
More testing needed! I’ll be doing another blood draw before I leave for work to continue the testing of my A1C. I received the letter from my Doctor who requested more testing in order to identify if I am diabetic or not followed by more testing.
I’ve known that I needed to lose weight for a while and change my eating habits but have yet to take decisive, long-term, durable changes that meet those goals. I fear this time is different with the real and terrifying possibility of diabetes and the health risks that are associated with it. The time for change is now, then to keep the weight off and eating healthy.
The next 30 minutes matter.
If I can manage and control the next 30 minutes, then maybe I can do the next 30 minutes until I get through the day. Get through a day maybe I can do it for a week and after a week, maybe a month and then a year. It really feels like I’m addicted to food and this addiction is literally killing me.
The next 30 minutes matter.