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.