After posting to the blog yesterday I decided to see how quickly I had run the clean air 5K last year. (this is a good thing about running a race year in and year out. It can act as a barometer of your fitness as long as you take any variables into consideration). So...

2005 - 19:10
2006 - 18:21
2007 - I had to run this Boston Marathon thing which falls on the same weekend.
2008 - 17:56
2009 - 18:28

2005 and 2006 are suspect because I know that the course was measured incorrectly and short for the 2007 running. I would guess they used the same course for 2005 and 06 until this issue was brought to the race directors attention in 2007. What I can say for sure is that I ran the race 32 seconds slower than last year, or roughly 10 seconds a mile. That is a lot. Last year I was coming off of a winter with no marathon training, I was gearing up for a half-marathon that never materialized. I think my training was more conistent through March and April and I am guessing this is the major cause for the change. These days just putting in the miles doesn't lead to a PR at any distance.

In 2008 I was very close to a sub 60 in the 10 mile Broad Street Run until stomach ailments hit. This year I think that the 60 mark will be unreachable but hey, you never know.

Back to actual workouts. I dragged my mountain bike out of the basement on Saturday afternoon, dusted it off and checked it over. I forgot what kind of shape it was in when I tucked it away for the winter and was surprised to find that everything was working perfectly. On Sunday morning I took a spin down Forbidden Drive to meet Seth and Ron from the Philly Runners for a ride. The pace remained easy which is a good thing because, as I expected, I am not in great bike shape. The ride definitely piqued my mountain biking enthusiasm and got me out on a beautiful and cool spring morning. I think it was 13 miles or so.

This morning I got into the gym at my work for the 4th Monday in a row. Hot Damn. For me and the gym, that is consistency. It is paying off, things are easier, I am not as sore the next day, and the amount of weight I can push up and down each time keeps increasing. It isn't much but it is nice to put that missing piece back into the fitness puzzle.