Muuuuch better, thank you

Day - Saturday
Workout - Long Run
Total miles - 8.0m
Total time - 1:38:49 (12:20/mi)
calories - 1,567C
Avg HR - 154bpm
Notes - Had to go out and run this one on my own because of family obligations. Great, crisp morning, hardly anyone out on the Bosque Trail. Looking back, I see I need to start doing this long runs much faster (like Halloween 10K pace faster) if I want to meet my goal and qualify with a 1/2 before the Ascent signups.

Day - Sunday
Workout - Bike/Swim
Notes - The now-usual Sunday workout, doing about 10ish miles on the stationary bike and .71mi in the pool; I want to get this up to at least a mile every Sunday (at the least) before the end of the year

Day - Monday
Workout - Lift (legs)/run
Total miles - 3.52mi
Total time - 40:01mi (11:22/mi)
calories - 416C
Avg HR - 164bpm
Notes - took day off, got my lift on in the morning and then got out for a early afternoon run and got it done at a nice (i.e. qualifying pace)

Day - Tuesday
Workout - bike/swim/run
Total miles -10ish/.53mi/3.36mi
Total time - ???/???/38:31mi (11:28/mi)
calories - ???/???/384C
Avg HR -???/???/167bpm Notes - Usual morning bike/swim, but went back to the Academy for my second training run of the week (wanted to make sure and get two in before Thursday's event); PR'd by 1min14sec over the previous PR...which I'd set last week. In any case, stoked that I ran that trail at that pace. Problem is that I can't ever go back to that 14ish per mile I used to run that trail in. Ah, progress...

Day - Wednesday
Workout - lift (chest/back)/bike/swim
Total miles -10ish/.71mi
Total time - ???/???
calories - ???/???
Avg HR -???/???

Notes - since I was pretty sure I wasn't going to make the gym on Thursday, decided to get the bike/swim done today; everything went pretty smoothly

Day - Thursday
Workout - Thanksgiving 5K
Total miles - 3.1m
Total time - 31:57 (10:17/mi)
calories - 372C
Notes - HOLY SHITE! Prior to today, the fastest mile I ever ran was the ABQFit Invitational Mile in Sept. '08...at 10:46. Today, I ran 3 of them faster than that (10:21, 10:35, 10:20). Needless to say, another PR. And when it was over, I was gassed. Got out with CS, Mrs. CS, and the eldest CS kid and everyone had a great showing (especially CS Jr. who smoked us all). Wish they'd been taking pix at the finish line, because the three adults all crossed at basically the same time; woulda been a nice shot.

Day - Friday
Workout - lift (arms/shoulders)
Total miles -
Total time -
calories -
Notes - lifted in the morning, but took the rest of the afternoon off after yesterday's event. Closest thing to a run was buying new running shoes.

Day - Saturday
Workout - Academy run
Total miles - 3.29mi
Total time -38:15 (11:38/mi)
calories -
Notes - Got CS out for his 1st run around the Academy. Great conditions: cool but not cold, overcast, little wind, no one else out there to speak of. Ran a good lap at a decent pace...and then gave it all back by stopping for beer and nachos on the way home.

The Week that Was...not much to talk about

Though I got in most of my non-running workouts this past week, I think you'll be able to see that the week wasn't nearly complete. And I feel like shite because of it. The eating wasn't too great, either. And hey, great that this breakdown has come just as the eat-yourself-silly holiday season is about to begin. Bah Pinche Humbug.

As with CS, last week's numbers in parenthesis:

Day - Saturday
Workout - Trail Run
Total miles - 6.57m (5.12m)
Total time - 1:56:20 (1:03:46)
calories - 1,007 (9950
Avg HR - 90 bpm (157pm)
Notes - Just awesome; trail along bottom of Keystone mountain, about 3" of snow, just gorgeous. Altitude, however, is not my friend. And there may have been some beer and nachos later in the day. Oh, and much more nachos.

Day - Sunday
Workout - 8+hr drive
Total miles - 512m
Total time - Like I said, 8+ hours
calories - Given the junk food, net gain for sure
Avg HR - About as low as possible while still being awake
Tempo - 55mph from KS to Denver, 65-70 Denver to Raton Pass, 85 Raton Pass to ABQ
Notes - snow or at least wet everywhere in CO, not-quite-whiteout and icy to top of pass, but NM was practically bone dry for the whole haul in to ABQ

Day - Monday
Workout - Umm, jet lagged?
Total miles -
Total time -
calories -
Avg HR -
Notes - nada

Day - Tuesday
Workout - bike/swim
Total miles -9.84/.56
Total time - 32:00/25:00
calories - 302/??
Avg HR -
Notes - You'll note that I didn't get a run in today. You'll also note that it's a theme for the rest of the week.

Day - Wednesday
Workout - lift (chest/back)
Notes - this is still very disappointing, knowing what I could lift just over 10 years ago vs. what can lift now. 10 years ago me would kick today's me's arse. And notice the run missing?

Day - Thursday
Workout - bike/swim
Total miles - 8.87m/.56
Total time - 32:00/25:00
calories - 259/???
Notes - Nope, still no run here.

Day - Friday
Workout - lift (arms/shoulders)
Notes - See previous lift notes, i.e. "I suck"

Week 11/9 - 11/15

Damn that weight thing!!! Same reasons I'm sure....I eat too much!! Last week's numbers are in parenthesis:

Day - Monday
Workout - Rollerblading x-training
Total miles - 4.02m (4.47m)
Total time - 31:51 (31:48)
calories - since it's wrong, why bother?
Avg HR - 127 bpm (125bpm)
Notes - last week I went farther and in less time. My watch also indicated a 1293 ft elevation change....on a roller rink? wtf?

Day - Tuesday
Workout - Tempo run
Total miles - 3.19m (3.46m)
Total time - 42:14 (49:57)
calories - 528 (536)
Avg HR - 149bpm (150bpm)
Tempo - 1.5m in 18:18 - 161bpm (1.5m in 19:27 - 168bpm)
Notes - ran the same course more than a minute faster and faster is the goal for this!

Day - Wednesday
Workout -
Total miles -
Total time -
calories -
Avg HR -
Notes - nada

Day - Thursday
Workout - 4 x 400
Total miles - 2.51m (2.71m)
Total time - 31:57 (36:45)
calories - 436 (461)
Avg HR - 141bpm (139 bpm)
Notes - Lap times: 2:06, 2:04, 2:10, 1:57 (2:07, 2:04, 2:08, 2:59). Did a shorter warm up, and ran 2 laps in each direction.

Day - Friday
Workout - easy run
Notes - high stress driving, 16 oz curls, and a 200 yard walk to the bar

Day - Saturday
Workout - "long" run
Total miles - 6.7m (5.2m)
Total time - 1:56 (1:08)
calories - 1002 (914)
Avg HR - 134bpm (158bpm)
Notes - nice run in the snow, virgin trails (at least footprint wise) and a dash through a yard.

Day - Sunday
Workout - nada

As a whole, my HR was lower all around. I also think NM has found his Pikes Peak training grounds, wait until he runs there in the summer - he may move in. Had a great weekend, hopefully I can get some runs in this week, the ground is still pretty snow packed as I write.

OK Week...I guess

Not a bad week considering that I was fighting off a cold during the last half of the week. Think that it never got really bad because I kept hitting the gym or going out for a run. Knock on wood, seems to be going away today, just in time for the roadie up to Colorado to spend the weekend w/CS. The weight numbers for the last two weeks have kind of plateaued, but think that's in part because I backslid on the eating a bit. This week's eating was much better, but it probably won't show because of the beer, etc. that will be killed this weekend. C'est la vie.

Here are the week's #'s:

Day - Saturday
Workout - Tramway Run
Total miles - 5.12m
Total time - 1:03.46
calories - 995
Avg HR - 157bpm
Notes - pretty clear that my HR is still too high, even with the hills

Day - Sunday
Workout - Bike/Swim
Total miles -10.6m/.57m
Total time - 32:00/25:00
calories - ???
Avg HR - NA
Notes - the usual off day workout

Day - Monday
Workout - Weightlifting
Total miles - 0m
Total time - 45:00
calories - NA
Avg HR - NA
Notes - skipped the run for the day; unfortunately no cardio today

Day - Tuesday
Workout - Bike/Swim/Run
Total miles - 9m/.57m/3.33m
Total time - 32:00/25:00/40:00m
Calories - NA/NA/NA
Avg HR -NA
Notes - can't wear Garmin in the pool and GPS doesn't work on stationary bike; forgot to take it to run around Albq. Academy

Day - Wednesday
Workout - Weightlifting
Total time - 45:00
Notes - fighting off a cold, skipped run for the day

Day - Thursday
Workout - Bike/Swim/Run
Total miles - 10.2m/.57m/3.38m
Total time - 32:00/25:00/39:45m
calories - NA/NA/692
Avg HR - NA/NA/164bpm
Notes - back to the Academy for run, this time w/Garmin

Day - Friday
Workout - Weightlifting
Total time - 45:00
Notes - no run today, road trip to Keystone

Week in Review

Well, all things considered, I'll call this a very successful week. On to the #'s

Day - Monday
Workout - Rollerblading x-training
Total miles - 4.47m
Total time - 31:48
calories - 918
Avg HR - 125bpm
Notes - cals have to be off. Started at 4:56am

Day - Tuesday
Workout - Tempo run
Total miles - 3.46m
Total time - 49:57
calories - 536
Avg HR - 150bpm
Notes - 20mn warmup, 2o hard, 10 cooldown

Day - Wednesday
Workout - Speed 4 x 400
Total miles - 2.71m
Total time - 36:45
calories - 461
Avg HR - 139bpm
Notes - 2:07, 2:04, 2:08, 1:59 (should have been hills)

Day - Thursday
Workout - Should have been 4 x 400

Day - Friday
Workout - Should have been easy

Day - Saturday
Workout - Easy run
Total miles - 3.17
Total time - 43:45
calories - 507
Avg HR - 162bpm

Day - Sunday
Workout - "long" run
Total miles - 5.2m
Total time - 1:08
calories - 914
Avg HR - 158bpm

The 4 x 400 went great, my fastest last week was 2:11 and my slowest this week was 2:08 - just call me Usain. When I can get all four under 2:00 I'll add a 5th and work up to 8 x 400 and then switch over to 800's. Felt great on the long run, my HR never spiked too hard, had a fantastic time alone on a great trail. For two yrs I've been saying that i would make roller blading a cross training activity and i finally did it. Hit a roller hockey rink nearby. In the dark. All alone. This way i don't have to worry about stones or uneven roads. The tempo run was good. The "push it" portion was to only be 15:00 but I pooped out on the return. My goal here is to run the same course every week and get faster each week. I'm proud of the workouts for my first real training week in quite awhile. i still ate like crapola, but not as bad. My weight went anywhere from 263 - 158, we'll see what tomorrow says.
Total 14.53 miles on my feet (skating doesn't count). 2418 total calories + whatever Monday's real total was. Seems odd that less time and lower HR would burn more cals. I think the watch thought I was running that fast. Still, that's less than one pound burned. I'll eventually have a long run that will surpass this whole week, but I'm planning on taking it easy this season and steadily build up my base and getting quicker.

A good first step...

Did it.

Last time I was in here, I mentioned that I needed to up my pace for yesterday's 10K so that I would be on pace to eventually hit the mark needed to qualify for the '10 Ascent. Wasn't sure I was ready to do it for that kind of distance just yet, but went out and gave it a shot. Felt a bit anxious right up until we started, not because I was worried about the distance (really, at this point 6 miles is a very nice distance), but because I had a definite time I wanted to hit which was much faster than any 6 mile run I'd done before. As with most races/racers (like I did in the half two weeks ago), I went out too fast in for the first mile and had to repeatedly tell myself to slow down. I was able to settle into a fairly even pace for the last 5 miles and ended up bettering my goal by just shy of 4 1/2 minutes.

Next step is the Turkey Day 5K. Not quite sure what specific numbers I want to hit in that run yet. Clearly I want to do at least as well as yesterday, and I'm thinking I'd like to shave about 15-20 seconds per mile off my average, but I'll figure it out as the event gets closer.

In the meantime, gotta keep the work up. Be back tomorrow for the weigh-in.

Test

Just seeing if this works from my phone

Like a Virgin

After V's volleyball game I wanted to get in a run on that side of town because I knew if I drove across town to run I would a) get tired b) it would get dark c) I would talk myself out of it. So I headed towards an Open Space area that's near where she has played soccer in the past. Changed clothes in the car, put on my gloves (it was getting a little cool) and headed out onto virgin trails. AWESOME!!! I'll definitely have to come back this way once I've built up some endurance because I could have run forever back there - may have got lost, but still. The only issue was that Lots of dry leaves + crawly little critter = big sounds coming from the woods. Since this area backs up to the mountains and it was approaching dusk, I got a little spooked into venturing too far away or too far off the main trails. Only ran for about 43:00, but it was nice to get out there again.

Keep it up NM - you're kicking arse!!

You need to start looking for a half to do before registration.

The New Goals

So after the much better than expected showing at the Duke City Half last week, I've started to re-evaluate where I am and my plans for the coming year. As I said before, I had planned to run the first 2 legs of the Triple Crown of Running in the hopes of back-dooring my way into the Pike's Peak Ascent in 2010, but now I'm thinking that a 2:30 half is doable in time to qualify legitimately.

At least partially toward that end, I've ramped up the speed on my treadmill workouts during the week to a point that gets me going faster than the speed I'll need to average in order to make that mark. Right now, I've only run that fast for about 4 miles, but I think I've got time to build up the endurance I need to get there. My goal/plan is to run this coming Saturday's Great Pumpkin Chase at that same speed for the duration of the 10K. If I can do that, I'll have a little over 4 months to get to the point where I can do it for the whole 13.1 in time to register for the Ascent. It's mucho work to do, but I think I can get it done. Which brings me to this posting's graphic.

As you might have noticed, the numbers in the right column have slowly but steadily been coming down. I'm down 33 since we started this little project, and down about 53 since my all time high. For much of the last month, I've been getting in a ton more time at the gym: in addition to the 3 training runs a week plus a long run on the weekend, I've lifting on M/W/F before work, hitting the stationary bike/pool on T/Th/Su (which has the added benefit of starting to get me ready for the Tri I want to do in April). This has meant two-a-day workouts about 3x a week, and as ridiculous as that may sound (haven't done that since high school football), it's not been too bad. Just have to keep it up, keep getting the work in, and keep eating well. Will talk more about that in the next post...

Back from the Dead

Well I am alive. The good news - my weigh in this morning wasn't as bad as I thought. The batteries went out in the scale about two months ago and I was afraid of what I'd see so I was subconsciously not replacing said battery. Other positives are that I went for about a 45 min run last night that included about 20 minutes of running (of which I felt like sheet - not sure how I just did 13.1) and 4x400. My 400 times came in at 2:28. 2:26, 2:18, and 2:11. Not bad, now if I could maintain any of those paces for more than a quarter mile, that would be great. I think I may try throwing these in once a week -assuming I run more than once a week - and after I can get to 8x400's under 2:15 I may switch to 2x800's at 4:30 and gradually raise the number of 800's (after I can do 2 x 800 at 4:30 which may take a while).

Bad news - still eating like a fatarse!

Nice job winning the Fatty McGee weigh in.

Kickin' Arses

So both CS and I did the Duke City Half and we did quite well. For CS, this was his first ever official half, and I shaved of about 22 minutes from my last legit half back in the spring, and came in about 10-15 minutes faster than I was hoping to...not a bad day. That's the happy part...

Now for the more somber news. My time puts qualifying for the Ascent within reach. Not easy, but at least possible, saving me the possibility of needing to run the Triple Crown races to backdoor my way in to the Ascent. I've clearly got my work cut out for me.

Better Doesn't Mean Good

Well at least I got two runs in this week. Ran Wednesday during Veronica's practice for 4.2 miles. It was nice running somewhere sorta flat and my times were pretty good. All in all I was happy with this run, not to mention the fact that I finally got in a midweek run. Friday I was responsible knowing that I wouldn't get in a PM run after football and soccer so I ran at...dum dum dum daaa... 4:30 in the morning. Well I ran about 2 miles, went back home, and crawled back into bed.

So all things said and done I really only got in one run this week. I'm doing 8 tomorrow with the boy in the jogging stroller, so we'll see how that goes. I ate OK for part of the week and bad as usual for the rest.

NM, I'll be in QQ next week so save a long run for me after all the balloons go up. BTW, my legs feel like sheet.

Back on (the) track

That's right, beeotches. Got all three of those pinche training runs done this week. Even put in a little extra work yesterday, going for about 45 minutes last night...after I'd logged 10 miles on the bike at the gym for lunch. Four hour run on Saturday, should be a disaster, but gotta get it done. The Duke City Half awaits.

This plateau shite ends NOW.

And so it goes

That about sums it up from here. After last week's debacle, wanted to get out and get an early start on today's 12-miler. With all the rain the last couple of days, didn't want to be anywhere near warms temps and humidity. Ended up running it faster than any previous 12-miler, but that just proves I probably had no business doing the full marathon last fall.

That will not be the case for the MCM next fall. As one can see from the right margin, there are a number of upcoming events that I (and maybe CS) would like to aim for next year. The coming season will the winter of my discontent.

More to come...

One word says it all...

Sunday was one of the most disheartening days I've had out on the road. Group was supposed to do a total of 18 that morning; 5 on our own, then the half event with everyone else. Took the pooch out with me early and did the 5 with no real problem; had to make myself slow down some because I always run faster with him, but felt pretty good when it was done. But when it was done, I didn't eat anything, didn't really have much to drink, just stretched a little, grabbed my timing chip and lined up for the long march. I'm an idiot.

Got about 6 miles into the 1/2 when I started thinking, "You know, you didn't eat anything, didn't drink anything, basically didn't act like the first 5 happened at all before you started this 1/2 today. WTF!!!" Sure enough, I hit the wall somewhere around the 10 mile marker of the 1/2 and struggled to finish. Final time was about as bad as my very first 1/2 last year in Denver, and at least then I had the excuse of not having run consistently in about 10 years. This time, I just plain failed...to the point that I don't think I'm going to be able to run a full marathon this fall. Think I may just sign up for the 1/2, try to knock some real time off of my PR and set myself up to keep going strong and prepare for the Marine Corps in '10.

Making matters worse, however, was that CS texted Sunday night to find out how I'd done. When I responded and mentioned that I didn't think I was going to do the full this fall, I didn't hear anything back. And still haven't.

I think I let him down.

Life on the 'mill

(Not an actual picture.)

So that's about the sum of it so far this week. I've only gotten in two of the weeks training runs, but both were fairly strong 50 minute efforts (an hour on a treadmill is kinda boring, but air conditioning is sure nice). Got to admit that I'm still having trouble with motivation, and I think I kind of hit the wall at this point last year, too. All of the runs are long, training and long Saturday runs both, so it's a little daunting each day. It feels like being on a treadmill.

But I'm still after it, and it still feels good to have done it.

Odometer: 2x 50 min runs/4.1+ miles each time/800+ Cal each time

Hey, remember me?

Yeah, yeah, I hear you. "Where you been, tubby?" "How fat have you gotten?" "You even been outside since we last heard from you?" "And WTF with the two pictures of that pinche Incline?"

Well, been here in NM plodding along through the summer. May have gained a pound or two because I haven't been religious about running, but haven't completely slagged off, either, and have been getting most everything done that I'm supposed to be doing. And the double exposure of the Incline? Well, that's because this last Saturday, I was in CO and hit the Incline again. Twice.

I had planned all along on going up to see CS do the Pike's Peak Ascent for the 4th time, but I was also supposed to do 16 miles with the group back here in NM. Talking with CS, decided that what I should do is drop him off for his race and then do a double on the Incline (and yes, still illegal). So, at about 6:45 Saturday morning, we parked just up Main from the bottom of Ruxton, CS went to the Ascent starting line (I'll let him talk about that event), and I headed up Ruxton to revisit my nemesis.

The first climb went slower than I'd hoped, but I still did it in about the same time that I had before. My hope was to get back down the Incline to a spot where CS's racecourse brushes up against it, but I couldn't make it back down the roughly 1/3 of a mile in time. CS had already passed by the time I got there. And let me say this: going down the Incline is far less enjoyable than going up? Lookit that picture above. That's the view from the top looking down. Those are parking lots and rooftops you're seeing. Almost all of the ties from the old railway lean downhill so they're more precarious than regular stairs, plus many of them have a nice layer of dirt/small gravel on them making them extra slick. Add to that that yours truly is sporting size 13 sneaks, which means I have to side-step most of the way down. Wow, did that suck.

Anyway, once I realized I'd missed CS, hopped on to the Barr Trail, hiked back down the 2+ miles to the bottom and then did it all over again. Got back up the Incline to where Barr Trail meets it and had a crisis of confidence about doing the rest, but I fought through it and finally, after wayyyy too much time had passed, made it to the top of the Incline, where my left quad immediately locked tight in a cramp to the point I couldn't bend the leg. Since there ain't no elevator down the mountain, though, I hobbled down the shortcut back to the Barr Trail and to the car.

It was not pretty, it definitely wasn't fast, and even today, 3 days later, my legs are still sore, but I did it dammit. A double Incline. Not even CS can claim that.

(What he can claim, however, is a wicked good Ascent time this year. Hopefully he'll come in to talk about it soon.)

Now, on to the big race...

A week up High

Last Friday while we were in keystone I ran - then hiked - then stared in disbelief - then ran again. Headed up under the chairlift on the mountain bike trails, followed what seemed like a nice one into the trees only to realize that this little "trail" turned into a corkscrew boardwalk 13' above the ground. On my way back down I then had to backtrack as the "trail" simply ended about 15' in the air. I was scared walking this dam thing...people ride bikes down it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBI-v1f0VMo

Sunday, I spent about 2 hours above treeline hiking and doing sprints above Loveland Pass. Great views, nice hike, and no people once you get passed the first little summit (the tourist all stop there).

Tuesday we went for a nice 19.4 mile bike round from Keystone into Dillon and back. In addition to the ride, I did mine pulling two kids in a trailer. we were also on the bikes daily so that surely countered the beer i drank doesn't it?

Thursday did my first Pikes Peak summit of the season. I stepped in snow 100 times, almost all of it during the last half mile. I also got to play with my new Garmin. According to the calories tracker, i burned 2100 calories during my 5:37 hike. I think I simply need to do this hike daily. I was pleased with my time. As is my custom I take the first ascent very easy, walk the whole thing, never push the pace. I was planning on a 6:00 ascent so this was nice. I'll try to shave off 15 min. during next week's trip up.

All said and done, I spent seven of the past nine days above 9000' and got in some good climbs. We'll see if it pays off.

BTW where are you NM?

My Littl Recap

June 18: Hydro to No Name Creek - 3 hard miles up (and of course three more down) - 1:03 up

June 20: Race start to Barr Camp - 7 miles up (and unfortunately I have to get back down so that means 7 miles down) - 2:36 up/ 1:39 down

June 22: Incline with the kid - :59 up

June 23: Ruxton to top of the W's, about 3 miles up and 3 more down - 49:55 up

June 27: Elks Park - 12 mile round trip with a start at 12,000 feet (timberline) and a low of 10,200 (Barr Camp) and back - 3:30 rt - see pic, whci is from the start
Great trip and not having 6 miles of down hill saved me from the beat up. A low point of 10k didn't help much, but I need the altitude.

What's that Smell?

Check out the link by clicking on the title.

Gel + Water + Nose = Disgusting

What do you get when you try to swallow a mouthful of gel and a drink water at the same time? Water down the wrong pipe and gel up the wrong pipe(s). Needless to say it was disgusting. My nostrils were sticking together until I found a stream to wash off in. Not one of my best running experiences.

59:25

What time is this? My time up the switchbacks? My time on a 6 mile run? The total time I've run this week. None of the above. It would be Veronica's inaugural time up the (soon to be legal) Manitou Incline. She did awesome; if i'm not careful she'll beat me up it by my 38th birthday. Can you believe she was evn a little upset with her time????

He's Back!

Happy to see that CS is back among the living. At least I think he is. Note that he mentioned he was headed up to Barr Camp on Saturday, but hasn't posted anything since. And if the weather up there has been anything like it has down here, he may have gotten snowed in. Here's hoping the mountain man made it up and down without a hitch.

Pretty good week here, at least I think so; tomorrow's numbers will tell the story. Got in two bike rides, all three training run, and have started using the calorie-counter at Livestrong.com to keep track of the food stuffing. And though the scale surely won't show what I want it to tomorrow, the clock doesn't lie either. Ran our 9 mile Saturday run yesterday without any of last week's discomfort, and did it 15 minutes faster than the same run last year, and about 12 minutes faster than the 9 mile training run I did early this year. Sure, it means that I was probably dogging it a bit in those earlier runs, but it also means there's some improvement. Gotta keep the momentum going.

Get it on.

u da man

What else can i say.. nice little inspirations. I of course would post something, but I have to run in order to do that. Barr Camp tomorow morning. hopefully I beat my last time, though not sure what makes me think that I will??? My heel feels pretty good, we'll see how it holds up tomorrow.

Happy Anniversary!

So it's been a year since we Fat Boys started this little project to accompany our running. Haven't been as faithful about as perhaps we should have been, but it's still kind of fun to look back and see some of the things we wrote about. Some highlights:

- CS, his wife and I did our first race together at last years Colfax; he did his first full and I did my first half, and contrary to my predictions, it did not kill me

- CS attempted his 3rd Pike's Peak Ascent, but got turned around because of the weather and ended up covering nearly twice as much distance as he should have

- CS, his wife, my running mate and I all ran in the inaugural RnR in San Antone, my first full (!), and again contrary to my predictions, it did not kill me...though it sure as hell hobbled me for a few days

- I lost my running buddy

- I got to run in Manitou Springs, Denver, Albuquerque, San Antonio, Dallas, Roswell, Vegas and Oklahoma City

- CS finally got my fat culo up the Incline...or at least would have if it wasn't illegal

- over the past year I've dropped 20 pounds, kept it off for most part, and I'm not putting it back on again

- I'm running faster, further, and more often than I did at this point last year and am going to shave at least an hour off my marathon time this fall

I've gotten to be pretty consistent about getting the workouts done. This year, I need to get the eating under control.

Get it on.

Putting right along

Here's a tip: Do not eat a bowl of black beans and rice the night before a big run. Couldn't 'trust' what could happen, so had a very uncomfortable run this weekend. All 8 miles of it.

Good news was CS was in town this weekend and came out and joined us. Good egg that he is, when he finished, he came back and dragged me in for the last 1/2 mile or so. A true friend, even if he was/is trying to kill by getting me out to run these stupid distances.

The digits: 8.17mi/1h51m/1,263C/82%avgHR

Hit the Wall...

For the SECOND week in a row, this is what I'm looking at. Even after the stomach punch of last week's weigh in and the deflating feeling that it came with, I was able to get in all three training runs and the 3 mile trail run on Saturday. Also got in at least one, maybe two, 18 milers on the bike.

And I have bupkus to show for it.

On the bright side, I ran the trail run on Saturday a good two minutes per mile faster than pretty much the same trail run this time last year. Bad news is that my HRM said my ticker was about to pop (averaged in the 90%+ range)

This is not going well...

...but I'm going to hit back this week.

Kinda p---ing me off...

I know it's been quiet for awhile, but for the better part of the last two weeks, I've been getting in some serious work. I've gotten in a 6.6-mile training run around the Albuquerque Academy a week ago Saturday and a 7-mile training run this past Saturday. I've gotten in all of my assigned training runs each week, including a couple with the dog in tow and another one that included an additional Academy appearance, and I'm noticing that my times are coming down, albeit slowly and in small amounts. I've gotten in roughly four separate 18+ mile bike rides, usually on days when I also got a training run in, during the same span. Hell, even got a good 20 minutes in on a rowing machine and another 30 in on a stationary bike. The eating's not always been great, but it's definitely been better overall, and you know what I've got to show for it? Look at the right-hand column. Yeah, that's right.

Pinche working out...

Yeah. That's right.

So, where were you Sunday morning at 7? In bed sleeping, or maybe reading the paper with a cup of coffee? Really? That's nice...for you, anyway.

For the first time in what seems like an eternity, I got up to spend at least part of a weekend with CS and his family. Reminded me how much I miss all of them and how much more often I need to get back up there. And part of the plan for the weekend was to tackle the Incline in Manitou Springs (which we wouldn't really do because it's illegal). The Incline is an abandoned cog railway track that goes up one of the lower hills at the foot of Pike's Peak. It's basically a mile-long staircase of railroad ties, some with a 2-3 foot rise between steps/ties. The track is actually a little treacherous in spots and since lawyers can ruin any and everything, it's posted as private property and illegal to hike up, down, or maybe even look at. Hence, neither I, nor CS, nor any of the other 50ish people we didn't see not on the trail were there on Sunday. Because that would be illegal.

I can't believe it was that long ago, but a little over 2 1/2 years ago, CS and I went up and hit the trail (which we wouldn't really do because it's illegal) before going to one of the li'l CSer's soccer games. Now, this trail is almost exactly a mile long, it starts at 6,574 feet above sea level and finishes up at 8,585 feet. A gain of 2,011 in altitude. In just over a mile. And I'm already breathing heavy just from walking from the car to the start of the trail. Anyway, first time out, I made it up maybe 2/3 of it before we had to bail off of it onto a nearby trail and get to the game. Never felt good about not being able to finish it, and have wanted to go back and beat it ever since. Which, of course, I wouldn't ever do because it's illegal.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. CS and I were out of the house at 6:15 and started up the trail before 7. Like last time, which never happened, I was already breathing heavy by the time we got to the trail head. Started off at a slow but steady pace, which I was able to keep up for about the first 1/3 of a mile. Then the slope really kicked in (as much as a 68% grade), and I slowed waaaaay down. But dammit if I didn't get to the top and finish that bastard. Except I didn't, because that would be illegal. CS, of course, bounded up the thing, then came back down a little less than 1/4 of the way, and pep talked me the rest of the way up. Some day I'm going to be able to run like that guy.

Just not up the Incline, because, you see, that would be illegal.

Where's Waldo

It's been awhile and I'll get to el foto in a bit. Last week I went up the Barr trail to No Name Creek - first time since the DNF 20 miler (of a 13 mile race). Took it easy, walked the whole way, and was only a few minutes off my PR. Total roundtrip is only about 7 miles and about 1:38. Felt good to get up there again.

Thursday I did the running group 1 min hard/easy for 30 minutes workout. Pushed it hard, and was satisfied with my effort. My 4 hill repeats at the end were a bit slower than previously, all four times were over :40.

Sunday went for a long run hoping to get in 2:30 of total time, with the goal being to run most of that. Went to Waldo Canyon (does the picture make sense now?). This is a lollipop trail with a 1.7 m hike in, a 3.5 mi loop and then of course the 1.7 back. I haven't done this in awhile and had no idea what kind of time I was looking at, so I was trying to plan some extra time in the event I finished well before my 2:30 goal. Got to the loop in :28 min. HR high the entire time. Completed the loop in :58 min which then put the whole workout at 1:26. I was pondering what to do: a) down to the trail head and back and then back (the problem being when i got to the car i was probably going to stop b) another loop (though that may put me well past 2:30) c) past the car and continue on another trail for a bit and return. I was favoring option C until I got to the beginning/end of the loop and BAM, i decided to go for it again! My thought this time was to walk more of the first part, as it climbs quite a bit, and then really push the rest of it. My thought was that the time would be a little over an hour for the 2nd loop, then the 20 ,inutes back down for a total closer to2:50-3:00, with sub 3:00 being my goal.

So I ended up finishing the second loop in :50 min - 8 minutes faster, despite walking more of it! This is a perfect example of why there are plenty of PPA Wave 1 "runner" who walk the entire race. Total time 2:40.

Quiet = Not Always a Bad Thing

OK, so usually me going quiet is a bad thing, but this week it's just that I haven't found/made the time to get in here and keep things up to date. Doesn't mean I wasn't thinking of y'all.

Got in all three of my training runs this week. Not terribly impressive when you realize that, per the program, we're only supposed to be running for 20 minutes each run, but been trying to run them a bit faster than usual and see if that'll make a difference in the long run. If I can keep that up for awhile, especially while the training runs are still relatively short, I'm hoping to see some results.

Also got in a nice ride after work last night, riding from my house to the kickball game and back. You never think about how far uphill a place is when you're in a car, but boy does it become apparent when you're on a bike. Didn't wear the HR monitor, but you can tell from the time/avg. speed how much a hill it was to get up:

To: 7.04mi/43:51/714C/9.6mph-avg
From: 6.65mi(started the clock a bit late)/27:48/368C/14.4mph-avg

Needless to say, the ride home was sweet. May not have had to pedal the bike for about 5 minutes at one point. Still, looking at my effort and then looking at Lance's down in the Tour de la Gila, well...



suffice to say I ain't sipping champagne on the bike on the Champs Elysees anytime too soon.

Two outta three ain't bad

I am IronMan. OK not quite, but still...

So it's been a busy couple of days. Took Friday off, mostly because of the "big" run coming on Saturday, but mostly because I was a bit sore from the spill off the bike on Thursday. Crowd at first group meeting Saturday was great; many familiar faces and many new ones that I think it's fair to say were there because they saw what I went through with it last year. One face obvious by its absence, but that cuts much deeper than just the running group.

Anyway, after a too-long orientation talk, we finally did our big 3 miles. Because it was relatively short compared to what I'd been doing recently (like just the previous Saturday), I decided to push it a bit, acting like it was a 5K. I noticed almost immediately at the beginning that I felt tired and just didn't have the usual energy from the start, but tried to not let that get me down. The final numbers were not great, but still better than the first ever 5K race I ever ran (43:16.1). Really pushed the last few yards, to the point that I actually dry heaved once when it was over.

This year: 39m32s/3mi

Then went out for a bike ride first thing Sunday morning. Would've been a bit longer, but ran into the 15K+ strong Breast Cancer Walk out on the trail and had to turn around. Felt like a heel hating on the charity walkers, but did they really need the WHOLE trail? How 'bout I just post the news report as penance for my temporary ill feelings.


Sunday ride: 16.58mi/1h18m9s/1213C/74%avgHR

So, Monday comes. Given that, save two bike rides, I really took last week off to recover from the half, the scale wasn't too much of a surprise, though still disappointing. We hit the gym for lunch, however, and that helps ease the pain. Per the program, I'm only supposed to do 20 minutes, so I do the whole thing straight through, and honestly it wasn't hard enough. Need to up the speed when I go in for the second run, hopefully tomorrow.

20min/1.6mi/???C

And then, when I get home tonight, I hit the bike again since it's just such a nice night. About a mile into the second half of the ride, I spot a guy in a neon yellow shirt waaaaaay ahead of me and decide I'm going to catch him. I crank on the way back and finally catch him after a 6+mile chase. I was gassed, but damn it felt good. Except for the second dry heave in three days. I'm guessing that's my body's way of telling me that I ain't in the aerobic zone anymore and have barreled right in to the anaerobic area. No discipline, I tell ya.

18.54mi/1h16m28s/1452c/79%avgHR (seriously, almost 2 miles further in 1:40 less time; I was hauling)

Now, if I could just get my fat self in a pool, I could complete my own little triathlon...

Pitch and pound

OK, so I'm not Chinese and it wasn't raining, but this is a fairly accurate representation of how my ride Thursday afternoon came to an end. I have no idea what I hit, but it was arse over teakettle. Got a good pedal bite in one calf and one elbow is sore, but other than that only my pride was hurt. Think I need to go back to running; I at least seem to have mastered staying on my own two feet.

So far.

Numericals: 18.55mi/1h23min (slightly longer than usual due to laying on ground, staring at sky, wondering if I broke myself)/1383C

I'm screwed

Ate great last week, however I'm off to a bad start this week. The 5 lbs is probably a result of a bloated 261 last week (258 was probably more accurate). regardless, i'm still happy with the result.

Here are the results of Mondays 4 mile, 5:00 AM tempo run:

Mile Total Time Average Pace Average HR
11:13 44:21 11:05 161
10:02 (47:45 last week) (156)
11:24 (49:20 2 wks ago)
11:36

Not too bad, though i have again screwed myself for next week.

Mudruckers

Well, this si the second time I'm posting this entry - the first time my slow arse 'puter took too darn long to upload the video and I finally abandoned my project. As a result this entry will be much shorter.

Saturday's run was wet, cold, wet, snowy, wet, windy, wet, muddy, wet, lonely and wet. I did my 2 hours (actual time 2:04). My feet were all but soaked for 2:00 of it. I splished, splashed, but did NOT take a bath, aka. I didn't fall. The crappy part was that Sunday people were running in tank tops and shorts. So no animals other than unleasehed dogs that may all too soon seek the wrath of my foot if they come charging and barking at me while their unlaw-abinding owners yells "Bobo, come back boy, stop Bobo, he doesn't usually do that." If I'm doing this trail with one of my kids and that happens, I'm kicking the dog (sorry NM).

I suppose the run was a succcess: I was on my feet with an elevated HR for 2 hours in conditions that are remarkably similar to the scree on the top of the Barr trail.

Off(-ish) week: Day One

Figured that after Saturday's festivities, I'd take this week easy and get back into it with the start of ABQFit on Saturday. As such, may not get a lot of running in this week, but given the somewhat encouraging signs from the scale, I've got to do something this week to keep that going. Plus, I really, really need the distraction right now.

Got home from work and dragged the bike out for the usual trek. Still a bit breezy, but not as bad as weeks past and the temps were fantastic. Made decent time both directions given what was mostly a crosswind. And it's far easier to work yourself into a rhythmic trance when you're focusing on the cadence and just cruising along on the bike.

Can you tell I've been in my head a bit lately?

The Results (bike): 18.6mi/1h21m/1406C

Where the heck I been?

OK, so just where have I been? Well, because of the big event I'll get to in a minute, I didn't plan on doing too much training this past week. Then came Monday's weigh in which you'll note I did NOT post on time. And then when I got out and actually did a run on Monday, it was so freakin' gawdawful (2.96m/568C/42min) that I felt like I'd fallen back to where I was at the beginning of last year before I ever started any of this running. And in many ways all of that was the high point of last week. Yeah, that's right.

That night I was thinking about all of it and the fact that my little first-of-the-year running program was supposed to culminate with a race on Saturday. I had been running with (well, really just at the same time and place as) the half marathon group, but had been thinking about just running the 10K or even just the 5K and trying to post a respectable time. But as I thought about it some more, I said "Eff it" and went in the next day and signed up for the Unser Half Marathon.

Night before the race it rained. And rained. And rained. Now normally here in NM it never rains for more than 5-10 minutes at a time, and more recently it hadn't really rained since about '05, so this storm was something else. The next morning I got up and could feel the near freezing air coming in through the slightly open bathroom window. I'm not going. I get dressed and pull my stuff together. I'm not going. I head out the door and feel the first real bite of the air. I'm not going. I stop and take care of some important business on the way to the race, drive to the gathering spot and realize that I left my race bib at home. I'm not going. I race home, find the bib and race back to the starting line, the mud caking on my shoes as I speed-walk over to get my timing chip. I'm not going. I get my chip and then have to stand in a ridiculous line for the Port-o-Let that still has me standing there when the official start time comes. I'm not going. Take care of business and walk up the dirt road to the start line, getting more and more mud on the soles of my shoes; maybe I can twist my knee running on this shite and not have to run. I'm not going. They blow the horn and everyone takes off; I quickly fall back to the back of the pack. I guess I'm going.

The storm had in fact made a mucky mess of the beginning of the race, but we soon hit the pavement and then I go to enjoy the freshly cleaned and mostly empty streets and the mountains were positively gorgeous.

The first mile, frankly, was a bear. The second was a little better, and by the third I'd settled into kind of a groove. I've also got to admit that the fact that the course was a completely new place for me to run helped, as it gave me plenty to look at and distract myself a little. My only gripe was that part of the course was not really well marked and for about a mile I thought I may have made a wrong turn. Not fun. And really, look at this map and you can see how convoluted some of it was:


Anyway, I got through it, and got through it about 20 minutes faster than the first (and only other) time I ran a half last spring. But damn if it's still not soooo verrry sloooooow. Something to work on during the marathon prep, I guess.

Which, by the way, starts Saturday. [Gulp]

The Digerati: 13.1m/LOOONG TIME/1864C/AvgHR 60% (Can you tell I got a little tired? Or do I need to work harder? Honestly, it's both.)

Up, up, and away

So far so good after me and the Big Man had a heart to heart. Tuesday was a rest day (I think I need to scrap the AM fun run, especially if I don't get my Mond. Tempo run in until 9 PM). I put down only 1720 calories and although dinner was meatloaf, I portion controlled well.

Wednesday only saw me put in 1360 cals. I may have been off on a few things, but regardless, there's no way I'm off by 700 cals, and my goal is 2000 a day. Did a 4 mile semi-long run on da 'mill at the gym (this will start increasing next week). Felt good, pushed it hard, sweat like you NM, no heel issues. Followed up the 44 min run with one mile of walking at 3.3 pace with a steadily building incline up to 7.0%.

Here are the run stats:
4 miles/ 44:28/ HR av = 156/11:07 pmm

Mile 1 = 11:48/139HR, #2= 11:12/153HR, #3=10:52/163HR, #4=10:33/171HR

A consolitory note: lady I work with is doing a 26.2 on May 10, she got in her longest run of training this past weekend...10 miles. She also missed the previous 3 weekends. So see, it's not just us.

Just call me Dash

In reference of course to the character from The Incredibles. Got my Monday PM 4 mile tempo run in at about 8:45 last night. I felt good, but was a little worried about the pace and kept pushing it. As a result...I screwed myself for next week! I suppose this is a good thing. Here are the stats:

Date Time Aver. HR Pace
4/6 49:20 154 12:20
4/13 47:45 156 11:56

Yeh, good luck to me next week.

Ate awesome; only 1400 calories. My wife thinks this is too low for me and that I need to eat more. My argument is that i have plenty of energy "stored" and don't need to worry about being too low for quite a while. There was no crap or red items in my diet yesterday. Now I need to have about 120 more days like this in the next four months.

*@#%!*#

Fill in title with every inappropriate and vulgar word you can think of and that would be my week. Here's my review, but let me preface this by pointing out that A) it was my wife's birthday on Monday and as a result her dad took us all out Monday, me and the lady went out solo on Tues and we had her cake on Wed. Throw in Easter goodies and you get a good idea of my caloric intake for the week.

Monday:
Did do a 4 mile road run at about 9:30 at night. Felt good. About the same pace as my three miles along the same course last week.

Tuesday:
No AM workout since I had just run 6 hours earlier

Wednesday:
Pissed about this one. I was running late so I was not ready to go to the gym when I took V home. So I came back home. I then helped get the kids to bed and decided to read for 15 minutes (as I had only finished dinner about an hour earlier and didn't want to do my 4 m with food IN MY BELLY!. Result - I woke up at 10:24..and woke up pissed.

Thursday:
Not sure why I missed my AM run. Did get in my pm running club up the mountain trail tempo run. Twenty minutes as hard as I could, easy back down, and then 4 hill repeats. Felt good, pushed the down hill too much and I was SORE for a good 48 hours.

Friday:
Ate no meat.

Saturday:
Opted out of my 6 am wake up and therefore had to force myself to run later in the afternoon. My goal was to run for 1:45 (did 1:38) and watch the HR. My HR stayed low and as a result I was slow, but it was a great run. Cool, occasional rain, new trail, gnawed off deer leg in the middle of the trail - still bloody and hairy - that always makes you run a bit more alert. Loved the run, then again i always have good runs at this park.

My total was probably about 12 miles - but I ate really bad, as my weigh in indicates.

Time for me to have a Come to Jesus meeting with myself. If I ate better, I should be able to drop weight even if I didn't workout. I simply need to do a better job, every day. I'm a bit disgusted that I'm about 20 pounds heavier than i was for San Ant, about 3 months behind schedule for PP, and very lowly motivated. This is going to be a hard week to get in every run as the kids have things going on nonstop this week. We'll see. Oh yeh, once again missed all the cross training.

Crazy Spring...

So last week was vicious windy and nasty for the long run. Today wasn't quite as windy, but a nice rainstorm moved into the area Friday night and just kinda sat on the place throughout today. Meaning the wind wasn't quite as bad today, but it rained on me for almost all of today's 8 miles. Was a little worried about getting too wet that I couldn't stay warm, but I kept moving fast enough that is never a problem. And running in the ran was really nice; not too many other people out on the trail, everything had that washed-clean feel about it. Just a nice experience all the way around. Perhaps I should wash the car every Friday afternoon?

Rest of the day was pretty laid back. Spent some time at the office, worked in the backyard a bit, ran to the Depot/Lowe's for yard/house related stuff...nice Saturday in suburbia.

Still not optimistic about Monday's weigh-in, however. I keep breaking down and eating a handful of shite here and there. Probably not as much as it used to be, and I think part of it is just me being a little harder on myself, but I need to start seeing major changes so I don't look like this anymore:



Okay, so it's not a picture of me, as I had shoes and a shirt on. Thank God.

By the Numbers:
8.06miles/1h57min/1,158C

Been quiet...too quiet...

...and you know if it's been quiet, that can't be a good thing

Week started poorly right out of the gate. A quick glance at the weigh-in column will show you that there was no improvement over the last week, even after making all three weekly runs, the long run on Saturday, and another 18-miler on the bike Sunday.
Then I got tied up in a trial on Monday and Tuesday that really just saps it out of you; by the time the day is done, I just want to go home and decompress. Really lame, and I need to get past that if I'm going to make my goals this year.











Wednesday...
well, Wednesday I just was not feeling it. Left the office early for an appointment and planned on hitting the gym afterward, but ended up just going home and kicking back with the pooch.

Finally, Thursday came and I was committed to getting at least one of the training runs in this week. So, skipped lunch with the lads/lasses from work and got in my run. Strangely, it felt really good and relatively easy. Normally I'm ready for the walk-break when it comes, but today I felt like I could've kept going right through them. (Probably helped that I had 3-4 fans blowing on me while I was trundling along.) Then played a double-header of kickball tonight. I know, it's only kickball, but every little activity helps, right? Right?!?!

As you might imagine, with the falloff in workouts, the eating suffered a bit as well. Now that I'm back on the accountability train, however, I'll get that straightened out soon.

For the (pathetic) week:

3.05miles/581C/42minutes

If It's Sunday, I Must Be Riding...and fighting pinche goatheads

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

So it's Sunday afternoon. I did the 9 miles yesterday, so I'm a little tight and want to go and get another ride in. Besides, I've got the time and I could use the activity to help clear the mind. So I get about 5-7 miles into the ride when I can feel the bike starting to drag and the back end starting to get a bit squishy. Sure enough, tire's nearly flat. I hop off, flip the bike and start airing the tire up when I see a giant freakin' goathead sticking out of the thing. Forgetting the lesson the Little Dutch boy, I pick the thing out and can hear this "psssssssssssss" over the U2 pounding in my ears and can see the Slime bubbling out. I decide/hope the Slime will do it's job, finish airing up the tire, and hop back on. Mile later, pinche thing is flat again, so I get to play pit crew. Open up the tire and there's just green goo everywhere; I'm nearly convinced Slime is for shite.

Finally got the ride finished, and it actually took longer, even without the stops than it did last week during the tornado/hurricane. WTF?! I'm not optimistic about tomorrow's numbers.

18.51miles/1h23min/3428C/avg 78%maxHR

5 for 5

If only I could get the 5 five powerball numbers right. All things said and done, I got in 5 workouts this week. The only one I missed was my Thursday AM short little wake up run. My total mileage for the week was around 15 miles, which obviously I'll eventually have to more than double, but for my first week back from break I'm happy with it. On a down note, I really, really, need to do some cross training. I didn't get in any bike or lifting time this week. My heel feels OK today, after feeling like Kaka following Thursday workout.

Recap:
Thursday - Incline club's first speed session of the year. 20 minutes of 1 min hard, 1 min. easy up the Barr trail followed be 4 (long and steep) hill repeats up a road. My 1:1 sucked as I didn't get far at all - then again this was my first time stepping foot on the trail following my 20 mile DNF of a 13 mile race. My hill times were (in seconds) 41.9, 41.8, 42.3, 40.9. These repeats grow in number as the season goes on, but it was good to get out and do a workout with other people, despite the fact that I was the back of the pack guy.

Saturday - missed my long run - cold, windy, slept in (to 7:15), and had to get ready for an Easter party.

Sunday - got the long run in at about 3:00, just as NM frequently advises, I should have done this earlier as it was cold (bearable), snowy (cool), and windy (sucked a--). I also followed NM advice of following CO advice and did 1:10 min with my eye on the HRM. As a result I walked a steep part , but got to run harder on the downhills. Had a negative split on the way back (35:00 - 33:08). Feel pretty good so far tonight. Next week I'll try to get that time (I do time on my long runs while training for PP) to 1:30.

Weekly miles: 15 ish, weekly time: 3:16:00.
Recap:
Mond PM, Tues AM, Wed PM, Thurs PM, Sun PM...all runs. Seriously - I need to diversify

An Improvement?

So, I don't know, probably more than a year ago CS suggested that I start training with a heart rate monitor. Figuring that every time I went out running, my fat arse was about this close to causing my ticker to just pop on the spot, I could never really bring myself to put the monitor on and see how bad things actually were.
Finally gave it a shot today, and while you'll be happy to hear I didn't die, keeping my rate in the desirable range for yesterday's run meant another pretty slow pace. We're supposed to get better/faster at this after awhile, right?

Anyway, went out about a half hour earlier than everyone else this morning, did my 9 miles, and there were still a number of people at the finish when I got there; that rarely happens for me on these longer runs. The eating the rest of the day wasn't so much, but felt like I'd kinda earned it this morning. I will say, though,I'm not expecting the same kind of improvement on the scale this Monday that I saw last week.

The Happy:
9.07mi/2h15m/1301C/86%avg HR

The Sad:
small bowl oatmeal (pre run)
bottle of G2
breakfast burrito
home fries
frijoles
3 slices pizza
greek salad
2 beers
glass of milk

The Best Laid Plans...

Apologies. Had a great start to the week, both getting in the runs and keeping this thing up to date, and then the end of the week got away from. Remember how I was happy that I'd gotten in two runs by Tuesday, leaving me just one to squeeze in for the rest of the week? Well, intended on going for a good bike ride Wednesday night but the weather just got too crappy (wind, spotty rain, and wind), so I bagged it at the last minute. Wanted to go run Thursday for lunch, but a coworker's BDay sneaked up on me and we had to go out to celebrate. Then we had our first kickball game of the season that night right after work. But I was determined to get in all three training runs this week, and still take it easy Friday to prepare for the long run Saturday, so I went to the gym and hit the mill after the game. Felt kinda good going in there at 8pm, determined to get the workout in regardless of the hour. Felt kinda bad doing the workout after having killed a beer+ after the game. I don't advise it.

32min/2.19mi/410C