Andy Gapin

Today was the long run of the week and the heat was supposed to get up to 92 today. So that meant getting up early. It also convinced us to try the Delaware and Raritan Canal Path. Running on the path was an amazing decision. The run is over 90% shade and it was very cool. With water on both sides, the air stays cool and any breeze is feels great. Some sections of the path felt downright cool. I really enjoyed it. Even after noon (we weren’t actually running that late, but just walking), it wasn’t too hot under there. I definitely plan to do a lot of our long runs here.

The path is also a little softer than the asphalt which helps.

I felt pretty good today, I kept a decent enough pace for where I’m at right now and I felt fine. I never felt like I was struggling with the distance. I even got progressively faster as I went and pulled out a 7:36 13th mile. Not bad.

Pace: 8:09
Overall time: 1:47:45
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 48.29

Today’s run was just a little faster than the six miles from the other day. It was less of a struggle to keep that pace too. I felt pretty good overall despite some crazy hot heat and my pace for each mile didn’t waver too much. I was glad to be able to keep a nice steady pace. For the most part, this pace is close to where I want to be training at. I’d like to be at an even 7:30, but I’m still building my self back up.

Pace: 7:38
Overall time: 45:50
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 35.07

Today was a bit warm, but I had to squeeze out 6 miles. I did my best to keep a decent pace, but 7:44 overall was the very best I could pull out today. For the most part, I felt alright though.

Pace: 7:44
Overall time: 46:30
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 29.06

Today was a very quick and steady 3 mile run. I kept just around 7:15 minute/mile the entire time. Not much else to really mention about it though, I did have much left by the end with this pace though. I gotta work on that.

Pace: 7:15
Overall time: 21:49
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 23.05

Yesterday’s 8 mile run ended up being moved to today thanks to the heat. And while it was literally 20 degrees cooler today, it was also pouring. So I did a run in the rain. It was actually quite refreshing, but since I didn’t want to risk my iPhone, I left it at home and have no idea what my time and pace were.

The run wasn’t too bad though, I felt pretty good through most of it and felt like I was keeping a nice pace. I wouldn’t really know for sure, but based on when I walked out the door and walked back in (there was some walking on both sides of the run), my best guess would be that I was somewhere around 7:30-7:50 minute/mile. I’ll take that if it’s going to be relatively pain-free.

Pace: -
Overall time: -
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 20.04

Captain America was never a superhero that interested me in the least. I don’t know why, I just never cared about him. Given that, I really had no burning desire to see this up until recently. The trailers actually made this movie look like it could be decent so I figured I’d give it a shot. I’m glad I did too because Captain America was solid.

Captain America is good a similar way that Iron Man is great. Everyone gets something, but without making a lot of sacrifices (not that I know much about the Captain America comics anyway). You get a half decent story, great effects, good action scenes, some eye candy, and characters you care about.

That being said, one of the best things about Captain America is something that you probably won’t even realize on your own (I hadn’t even really thought about it until Discover Blogs’ Malcolm MacIver pointed it out on his blog Science Not Fiction). The hero’s enhancement is different than in any other story. In Captain America, the enhancement comes from a deliberate experiment that goes exactly as planned with no negative side effects. In addition to that, the subject chose to be enhanced and made this choice for altruistic purposes. And lastly, the enhancement isn’t just a physical one, but also a moral enhancement. I’m not going to go further into this because you should read MacIver’s post about it, but after realizing this having this pointed out to me, the whole movie and story just feels better.

Up above, I compared Captain America: The First Avenger to Iron Man, but I wouldn’t go so far to say that it’s on that level or anything, but it’s not that far behind. Captain America is good comic book movie that does things right.

Rating: A

I didn’t get up early enough today and it was way too hot to run outside, so I had to make a trip to the gym. Ugh. The schedule called for 6 miles, so that’s what I did, but it was awful. Awful because the treadmill sucks. And unfortunately for my ankle, I don’t run right on the treadmill. I can’t get my form or stride right at all. This causes me to run awkwardly and ends with me being in a bit of pain.

But the good news is that I kept a decent enough pace for the treadmill at 7:40 min/mile. I’ll take it.

Pace: 7:40
Overall time: 46:00
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 12.04

It’s another hottie here in Jersey, but the marathon training schedule doesn’t care about the weather. Miles need to be logged. Even though I ran a race last night, the best option for today still seemed to get up early and run before the full heat kicked in.

It was cloudy and humid as hell when I started this morning and already in the upper 70s. I figured I’d just do what I could and that would be that. My first three miles were a slow 8:23 minute/mile average pace, but somehow, I really picked it up for the second half of the run. I’m not sure where it came from, but I did the second three miles somewhere around a 7:30 average. This left me with a 7:55 average which isn’t too bad considering where I started at.

Today was the first run in my new Vibram Five Fingers Bikilas after retiring my KSOs last night. They felt nice. They seem to actually provide a small amount of arch support thanks to what feels like a slightly stiffer sole. This is actually appreciated for me. They also feel like they actually have a negative rise, but I feel like that’s just what it feels like. Anyway, aside from being a little snug (the same as my KSOs were until I broke them in a bit), they felt great on. I really like them.

As for my injuries, the side of my foot and arch felt perfectly fine and my ankle didn’t hurt at all during the run, just a little bit afterwards, but nothing I’m worried about.

Pace: 7:55
Overall time: 47:50
Vibram Five Finger Bikila total mileage: 6.04

Yesterday was hot, so very hot. So what was a good thing to do? Run a race! Right? No, I know. It was rough and hot, but the fiancée and I run this race every year. It’s in her hometown and there’s pizza at the end, how could we not do it?

Each year seems to be hotter than the previous one so this year I was smart and set my expectations a bit low. Given that we’re in the middle of a heatwave and the humidity is always awful in New Jersey in the Summer, I gave myself a goal of 22 minutes. I thought that felt fair for me and my ability.

I started off with a quick first mile (mostly uphill) at 6:35, but that wasn’t sustainable and I knew it. Even that first mile was hard with the humidity. I felt like I couldn’t breathe and I was pretty much willing to pay someone to inject some oxygen straight into my lungs. Being way ahead of where I wanted to be for the race, I decided to pull it back a bit, not that I really have a lot of say in the matter anyway. It was much more of my body’s decision than mine. It turned out that I pulled it back way too much and finished with a 7:15 minute/mile pace overall. That’s quite a drop for a 3.1 mile race.

Some days you just don’t have it and the weather has no interest in helping you out. Yesterday was one of those days. Even with all of that considered, I was pretty disappointed with my time. I’ll get over it though. I mean, that time still put me at 190 out of ~2200 runners. Not bad.

On the plus side though, the fiancée earned herself a PR at 23:50 (chip). Hot diggity!

On a side note, this was also the last run in my Vibram Five Fingers KSOs. They are officially retired now–from running, at least. They got me just about 470 miles of road running which isn’t half bad at all. They still could have some life in them, but a few of my toes have worn through and I can feel the asphalt through the holes. It’s time to move onto my second pair of Five Fingers, this time the Bikila model which is specifically designed for runners and has a bit of tread on the bottom.

Pace: 7:15
Overall time: 22:34 (gun) / 22:32 (chip)
Vibram Five Finger KSO total mileage: 468.84

Today was the long run for the week and, just like last Sunday, I decided to keep it as slow as I possibly could to make sure I got through and didn’t cause any more injury to myself. It started to get quite hot out and I didn’t have water with me, so that sucked.

Things weren’t too bad though, I mostly had the stamina to get through alright, but the last couple miles were a little difficult, mostly due to becoming dehydrated, I think.

The ankle and foot mostly held up without too much of a problem. For a while I had been pulling the strap on my Vibrams very tight to help pull my arch up, but I decided to loosen it a bit for today and it seemed to help with the pain in the side of my foot.

I can’t wait until Fall.

Pace: 8:46
Overall time: 1:36:37
Vibram Five Finger KSO total mileage: 465.74