How cold will Chicago be in January?

I will be in Chicago for business next week. For pleasure, I will try to scout the Chicago marathon route. I also may attempt to run along Lake Michigan. The last time I was there was summer of 2006 and I noticed some good running routes along Lake Michigan. I am hoping the temperature will at least be in the 30s and 40s as is the case this week in the Midwest.

2009 Running Goals – The 5% Solution

In a previous post, I mentioned that my resolution was to run more often in 2009. However, I want to make my life more difficult. Thus, I will add seven time-specific goals that I want to achieve for various distances. All these are about 5% better than my current best times with some rounding.

1.0 mile – 7:40

2.0 miles – 16:30

3.1 miles – 26:50

5.0 miles – 46:30

6.2 miles – 55:00

13.1 miles – 2:04:00

26.2 miles – 4:55:00

I think the hardest one to achieve will be the 13.1 mile goal while the easiest one would be the 5.0 mile goal.

Back from Toronto and feeling very heavy

I spent Christmas night, Boxing Day, Saturday, and Sunday morning in Toronto, Canada with family on my mother’s side. I stayed in a hotel downtown and the very nice Filipino woman in reception overheard me speaking Tagalog and discussing my 7 hour drive. She then described to me the various Filipino restaurants in Toronto. As I opened my room, I was surprised. This nice lady upgraded my regular room into a suite. The hotel was quite empty so my guess is that they were doing that as a good will gesture to their guests.

I ran twice in downtown Toronto. Both were 5k easy runs. I was checking out the course map for the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront marathon held every September. I am thinking about running the Toronto marathon as an alternative to the Chicago marathon if I cannot get into Chicago. Another alternative is to run the Toronto half marathon as a warm-up two weeks before the Chicago marathon. The runs were a bit dangerous because the sidewalks were pack with ice and quite slippery. From what I observed, the city of Toronto does not salt its sidewalks as often as the average cold weather American city.

Toronto Waterfront Marathon

So minimal runs and maximum eating. Here is the damage (a listing of Filipino / Chinese food consumed while in Toronto):

Beef stew noodle soup

Beef brisket and tendon

Bean tips sauteed with garlic

Salt and pepper pork chop

Salt and pepper fried squid

Deep fried tentacles

Tofu with shitake mushrooms, carrots, and wombo (Chinese pechay)

Chinese doughnut (fried bread)

Congee with abalone and chicken

Braised intestines

Guavas

Cantaloupe bubble tea

Raisin bread

Kare-kare

Lumpiang Shanghai

Chicharon

Filipino style sweet ham

Pancit

Fried rice

Filipino style fried chicken

Turon

Chocolate cake

Empanada

Does running improve work performance?

I would like to get run bloggers input on whether their running has led to better work performance.

For me, it definitely has. Since finishing my first marathon in 2006, I just have become more confident at work. Before my first marathon, I would always get nervous when presenting my team’s work to people higher up in the corporate food chain even though I knew the subject matter better than anyone else in the room. These days, I regularly present to people at the highest level of the corporate food chain. I am now so relaxed that I act as if it is a just another ordinary everyday conversation with regular co-workers.

Start the New Year’s resolution early

My only resolution for 2009 is simple: run more often! Since November, for various good and bad reasons, I have been neglecting running to the point that I am only running Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. I am averaging about 7 + miles per run. Thus, I am still getting at least 22 miles per week even on a three day running schedule.

My goal is to get at least 5 runs a week in 2009 including at least one 10 mile+ long run every weekend – rain, shine, or snow. If I do a minimum of four 5K runs a week and one 10 miler, my minimum mileage will be 22.4 miles per week. That should give me a decent “maintenance mileage” base throughout the winter months before I ramp up training for the Cleveland marathon in the Spring.

Although I still work 60 hour+ weeks, the only way to run more is to wake up earlier since I am usually so tired after a long day at work. I’ve just mapped out a 5K route throughout the various roads and a small park around my neighborhood. If I prepare my running gear the night before, I should be able to easily run 5K when I wake up in the morning and still be on time for work. I just have to wake up 45 minutes earlier than normal. This would give me 30 minutes to complete my run, plus 15 minutes to get ready before the run.

I think the critical part of this plan for 2009 is getting enough sleep.  I cannot afford to wake up early, run, and not get enough sleep.  The critical thinking required at work these days is intense given the deteriorating economic climate and the fewer resources available.  Without enough sleep, I have observed that my mind is less alert and prone to commit more mental errors.

Resolution starts on Christmas day, one week before the New Year.

No workaholic for me today

I am planning to leave the office at 11:30 am and go for a 5 mile jog.  Weather is great at 50 degrees Fahrenheit.   No workaholic for  me today.

Merry Christmas to all the run bloggers.

Racing in snow

The New York Road Runners are hosting the Manhattan half-marathon, part of their half-marathon series on January 25.  It is 2+ loops around Central Park.  I’ve run the New York City half-marathon twice which is one loop around Central Park plus 7+ miles through midtown and downtown Manhattan.  I wonder how this race will unfold given that January in New York city is very cold and there is probably a good chance of a snowstorm coming.

6 degrees Fahrenheit … I’ll be spending next winter somewhere warm.

The temperature just hit 6 degrees Fahrenheit this evening. I’ve decided to spend a couple of weeks next winter in some tropical climate. I am planning to spend the last week of December 2009 and first week of January 2010 in Hong Kong/Macau (3 days) and the Philippines (12 days).  By that time, I would have been away from the Philippines by over 19.5 years.  In that time, I have visited about 20 other countries so I think it might be a good time to stop by for a visit.

Bourne time trial part deux

Since it is frigid around here, I just did my Sunday run in the gym’s treadmill. It was so cold outside that I felt my skin being torn apart by the strong winds.

I don’t really like running over one hour in the treadmill. I did the 10k time trial and finished in 57:51. More importantly, for a one 2 mile leg, I finally achieved my goal of breaking 17:42 when I ran 17:30.

Mile 1 – 10:45 warm-up

Miles 2-3 – 17:30

Mile 4 – 9:23

Mile 5 – 9:15

Mile 6 – 9:05

Final 0.2 miles – 1:53

Los Angeles then San Diego

The one great thing about the decision to move the Los Angeles marathon from February to May is that it is scheduled close to the San Diego marathon.  A highly motivated runner can run the LA marathon on Monday, May 25 (Memorial Day) and then run the San Diego marathon the next Sunday, May 31.

sfrunner … you should take a week off in SoCal and do the double.