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.
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...
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
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.
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.
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.
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.)
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
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.
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.
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.
...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.
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.
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
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
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.
52 laps, need I say more? Got in my midweek "semi-long" run indoors this evening (the -3 windchill sort of turned me off from running outside). Instead of doing the run on the mill, I opted for the speedy 13 laps to the mile track. I still think the track is off - though they raised it from 11 laps/mile about 6 months ago to the 13, so one would ass u me that they measured this time...then again it is the Univ. of Colorado system we're talking about. Felt great the whole time, some eye candy came out and ran around for a bit as well, overall pretty good. The BAD: my heel hurts like sheet!!! Every effing time I run it hurts. I iced it when I got home, so maybe it won't be as bad in the morning...doubtful.
BTW, I did get in my 30 minute Tuesday (very early) morning run in yesterday - even pulled off a negative split for the return trip.
Speaking of heels:
Tuesday 2 slices toast small bowl cereal ham/cheese sandwich 2 cans diet soda apple clementine 2 small baked potatoes with chili on top 2 handfuls of chips and salsa small bowl of cereal
Wednesday 2 slices toast small bowl cereal same damn sandwich as Tuesday apple clementine 2 cans diet soda small bowl cereal 2.5 plates of spaghetti 2 slices of toast 1/2 of a small Reeses blizzard (why can't the kids finish their desserts so I don't have to???
Tomorrow is supposed to be my first run up the Barr trail since my Pikes Peak DNF last August.
Slow start this a.m.; seems to happen when I've got nothing official scheduled. Nothing really eventful to speak of; went to work, came home for lunch, shaved my head after work (well, OK, not quite), hit the gym for a run, talked to a friend for 20+ minutes, mostly about something I don't really want to talk about at the moment, and headed home. Mi vida loca.
Good thing, I've gotten two of my three runs done for the week and it's only Tuesday. Gotta see if I can get in all three this week without a break. Take it from me, breaks suck.
The downhill: yogurt grapefruit 3-4 pieces of jerky 6 M&M's salmon salad wrap 2 glasses of milk candy bar 2 small quesadillas 4-5 crackers
Well I didn't make my dream Monday morning workout (bike ride at the gym), but it would have been a long shot anyway, especially considering NM kept me up on the phone all night. I did get in a short road run at about 9:00 tonight. My knees hurt, my hammy hurt, my heel (STILL F---ing) hurts, but I did it. In the dark. And the cold. All alone.
Nice job on the weigh in NM...you're my hero. I on the other hand stuck true to my word and did not weigh myself this AM, my feeling is that there may only be a 15 lbs difference between us.
Ate OK, missed breakfast - that whole first day back to work after spring break thing had me running a lot behind this AM.
The muy malo:
foot long subway hot italian sandwich. This was supposed to be 6" for today and 6" for tomorrow, but due to my continued lack of will power, it all went down today. Hey, at least I didn't get the chips and cookie.
2 pop tarts too many servings of an otherwise healthy taco salad 2 cans of diet pepsi
I guess not too bad. Word on the street is that for the Pikes Peak races, 1 pound = 1 minute. seems to be the rule of thumb for many people. With that in mind, all I need to do is drop 184 pounds to get to the course record/ That of course would leave me in the 80 pound range, which of course wouldn't be enough strength to hold my head upon my neck.
So day started with a pleasant surprise when I hopped on the scale. Even did it a second time to make sure I was seeing things correctly. And here I thought I'd had a relatively lame week, workout/eating right-wise. Huh.
Then, stayed true to my goal of hitting the gym at lunch. Was almost talked out of it by the some of the boys making an indian food run, but thankfully another of my pals was steadfast and hit the mills. Ate a little worse snack wise than usual, but I'll get that back in line for tomorrow. Think part of the snacks were just things other than work/working out sucking a bit. Just gotta deal with it. Especially since my postponed brewpub lunch looms tomorrow.
The Forward: 3.03miles/574C/42min
The Backward: yogurt grapefruit 3 pieces of jerky 6" turkey/ham sub small bag of Sun Chips bag of Skittles 6 jellybeans 7 crackers w/dip spinach salad toast w/butter & jam 3-4 bite size snickers glass of milk
Just got off the phone with CS. He's alive, Mrs. CS is alive, and so too are the little CSes. Glad to hear they weren't caught up in the cartel wars, swept out by a tsunami, run over by a cruise ship or eaten by a giant squid.
So I took that hard-earned lesson from last weekend and promptly ignored my advice, and waited until late in the day when the wind was up before jumping on the bike. Thankfully not quite as windy as last week, so a little slower going upriver, little faster coming back downriver. In any case, had to go for the ride just to get out of the house. Somehow managed to get myself involved in not one but two fantasy baseball leagues this year, and both leagues had their drafts today. So not only am I an idiot about the bike riding in the wind, but also a loser just in general!
(And though apropos of nothing but speaking of baseball and geekdom, check out this photo I ran across. Can't decide if I'm amused or ashamed that this is happening at the home of my favorite team.)
The Hurt: big bowl of cereal w/grapes toast w/butter 6 pieces of leftover sushi big gulp cherry coke bag of chips spinach salad decent sized glass of milk
Yes I am back, no I wasn't kidnapped, and yes "F-off." I had a great time in Mexico, relaxed, swam, got to hang out with the kids and the extended family and I even got in a ton of workouts.
Sunday: walked from our unit to the pool (about 42 steps) at least 6 times. Also swam up to the bar for a cerveza Monday: repeated the same walk, but this time I also pushed kids around the pool - a little resistance training. Tuesday: actually had a 44 minute run on the beach complete with: dead fish (3), walk of shame college students (2), waves crashing on me and wetting my shoes (4), fishing lines to duck under (2), and "chicle" sellers (1). Wednesday: played about an hour of soccer with Veronica. I also had a beer on the beach while she got her hair braided. Thursday: returned to the beach and played paddle ball for about 30 minutes. Also played in the ocean...more resistance training. Friday: lots of lifting...had to finish all the beers in our condo Saturday: push, pulled, dragged and carried luggage all over the frickin' place.
Alright, so probably figured by now that Friday was bunk (no workout, didn't eat as well as I should've), so I didn't show my face around here. Don't know if Saturday was much better, so let's go to the videotape.
Last week we moved our running our running group up an hour to try escape the increasing temps during the day as our runs got longer. Of course, as soon as we did that, big cold front comes in, drops snow all over the place (except here in River City of course...dry as a bone) and lowers the temps by a good 15-20 degrees. So the start this a.m. was pretty brisk, but with the right clothing it was pretty comfortable once I got into my pace. Ran my 6 and felt like I'd done it a bit faster than past long runs and I think the numbers below bear that out. Goal this week is to keep the pace up just a bit and to get in all three training runs, starting with one actually on Monday so I'm not trying to squeeze all three in at the end of the week.
AND WHERE THE HELL IS CS!? Won't call, won't write, won't tell me to F-off...He get kidnapped in Mexico?
Coming: 1 packed oatmeal (pre run) 8oz amino vital Brazilian Blast Smoothie at Keva Juice 1 Hershey's kiss 1 lg Sapporo small bowl of soup 8-10 pieces of sushi reese's blast @ Sonic (hey, felt like I'd earned it on the day)
Day started well. Got up early (not early enough to get to gym before work, but early enough to pack a lunch and get stuff together for gym at lunch). Spent all morning cooling heels in court and then hightailed it to gym for lunch. Got in a good run at a slightly faster pace than I'd been doing (yeah, I know, the numbers below are still glacially slow). Went back to the office, ate my lunch and had been a good boy up to that point.
By the time I got home, however, I was pretty hungry and had a snack before I met the rest of the family for dinner to celebrate my father's 69th(!!!). Had a fairly decent thai style green curry with shrimp (wicked tasty), but as is usual when we go out to eat, there were appetizers (stir fry veggies and small plate of asian bbq ribs), drinks (or beer in my case) and dessert. All that good work I did earlier to day, for naught. I shoulda run home from the freakin' restaurant. Could I be any weaker? (Actually yes; I could've had another rib and another beer. Guess that counts for something.)
Well, at least I got the workout it and the muscles worked out. See if I can get back on the horse (again) tomorrow. Not bloody likely, though, since I'm meeting a friend for lunch at one of my favorite brew pubs. Dammit.
The Ins: yogurt grapefruit corned beef sandwich (that's the end of the Patrick's day brisket) handful of cracker candy bar coke zero 7-10 crackers and dip one small rib some stir fry veggies shrimp and veggies in green curry sauce pale ale chocolate silk cake w/small scoop of ice cream
Didn't feel like getting up at pre-crack o' dawn hours and decided to stay in for lunch, so plan was to go to gym after work today. Of course, as soon as I was halfway through lunch, got an invite to dinner right after work. At some point I'll learn to take advantage of the first opportunity that presents itself and go then. Plan now is to hit mill at lunch tomorrow. Gotta do it, as two weeks in a row w/o hitting all the training runs is pretty pathetic.
Roll call: cup of yogurt cup of grapefruit 3 pieces of jerky 6" turkey subway (2nd half of the 5..$5...$5 footlong; anyone else sick of that jingle yet?) handful of crackers bag of skittles 1/2 handful of m&m's chips/salsa 2 beers crab meat enchiladas bowl of grapes
At some point, I'll probably feel more disposed to talking/typing. Today ain't that day.
The Montagues: 2.32mi/32min/430C
The Capulets: cup of yogurt cup of grapefruit 6" turkey subway small bag of sun chips med Dr Pepper 2pc beef jerky coke zero 8ish crackers w/Irish cheese sm. bowl of lobster bisque
Was happily surprised this morning when I got on the wheel of fortune and saw that I actually lost a pound or two last week even without getting my weekly runs done. Apparently digging up and removing most of your backyard is a kind of workout on its own.
Spent most the day jumping through foolish hoops at work and then had to boogie after work so I didn't get a workout in on the day.
Down the hatch: yogurt grapefruit corned beef sandwich 1 1/2 handfuls of baby carrots 2 handfuls of crackers 2 pc. beef jerky chipotle chicken pasta sm piece o'bread 2 cups of root beer
So, 'member that post a few days ago where I may have mentioned that spring in New Mexico is not particularly pleasant (I was 20 years old and living in DC before I learned that spring can actually be beautiful)? Well let me tell you about today to illustrate my point.
I knew even yesterday that I wanted to go for another long bike ride today. Went out to get the paper (yeah, I'm one of the six people in America that still gets a paper paper), and the morning could not be better for a ride: slightly overcast, temps in the mid- to high-50's and dead calm. So of course I decide to saddle up and go run a bunch of errands (in my partial defense, one of the stops I had to make was for a new inner tube so I didn't spend 20 minutes refilling my front tire, twice, like I did on my last ride). Finally got home about 2, had a late lunch, watched some of the Madness, and then decided to get on the bike and see if I could fix it up, go for a ride and be back in time for Amazing Race.
Tube change took a little longer that it should have because I spent a lot of time pulling goathead bits out of the tire, but got it up and running and was off a little before 5:30pm. By then, the clouds had long since burned off, the temps were in the low- to mid-70's...and the wind was blowing out of the south at 25mph, gusting at up to 38mph. Yeah, that's right.
So you can imagine the blessing and the curse this turned out to be. Unfortunately, it was blowing out of the south, and I, of course, was going to the northbound leg first. (You know, I'm quite the idiot where this is concerned; the same trail goes quite a distance to south of me too, but I always end up going north and then riding back into the wind which always blows from the south. Of course, my choice may have something to do with the fact that the trail doesn't go through the nicest of neighborhoods when I get that far south of home.) Anyway, I positively FLEW for the first half of the ride. Seriously, averaged 3-3:30 minute miles (approx 20mph...on a mountain bike) headed up. And then I had to turn around. It was like I was trying to cycle through a brick wall. For 9 miles. Lovely.
Next time, do the pinche ride first thing. You'd think 30+ springs would've taught me that by now.
The damages: Small (1pkt) of instant oatmeal cup of chai 5 crackers w/jelly slice Costco pepperoni pizza Lg Dr Pepper G2 Corned beef Boiled veggies Lg skim milk Grapes 5 crackers 2 baby carrot sticks
Well, didn't make it out for any of the three training runs this week, so you can imagine how well the 8 today went (the evidence in a moment). It's a cruel irony that going through some very unhappy personal shite can just suck the desire to workout right out of you when working out is probably the one tried and true (not to mention healthy) way to deal with unhappy personal shite. Pinche Joseph Heller.
In any case, got back with the program and ran the long run today. All 8 of those miles, and may I say, at about my slowest pace yet. I'm so proud. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I got out there and did it at least.
The ups: 8.05m/2h7min/1258C
The downs: 2 plain blueberry eggo waffles (pre-run) handful of trail mix 3 slices of toast cup of grapefruit cup of mandarin oranges regular schlotzky's sandwich bag of chips large root beer
So, remember how I said that the digging theme was going to be present for a few days? If only I had known...
First things first. I only got in two workouts last week, partially because I ended up doing a one-day trial that took the better part of 3 days to get done. Due largley to my own mismanagement of time, I didn't get in all three sessions, but I did make at least two:
3/11 - 2.22mi/416C/32min 3/12 - 2.92mi/559C/42min
Saturday morning came and my running buddy got started a bit late and it became readily apparent that we weren't going to make our group on time. Since I already had my trailer hooked up, I decided to skip the long run for the day and instead go out and start excavating my yard. Easier said than done. Between the river rock and caliche, this was a nearly impossible task. Took two loads of dirt out on Saturday. Then Sunday, took two more. By this time, my legs, arms, shoulders and especially by lower back were really protesting. Feel fine when I sit down, but my back takes a few minutes to loosen up when I stand and start walking. And the digging continues. Took another load out Monday night and going to head home and see if I can finish this part of the project tonight. I'm telling myself that the work I'm putting into the digging is compensating for the not running, but I'm not all that convincing. Hopefully I'll be able to get two real running workouts in before Saturday and its 8 freakin' miles gets here.
Yeesh...
BTW, very good to see CS is back in here. Now let's see if we can get it together enough and get in here at more or less the same time.
So my home weigh in this AM said 255, which is good news and gets me within 3 lbs of my March goal of 252. When I got to the gym I stepped on the "real" scale, you know the kind with the sliding weights. and it read 261. I'm obviously sticking to the home scale since it's the one I've been using for a few years now. Unfortunately the gym scale is probably more accurate and I assure you I wasn't wearing 6 lbs of clothes (maybe 3).
6:00 workout at the gym: 25 minutes on the bike and then some lifting. Pretty easy, HR never above 110 and my average was 6.2 miles, in 25 min with a AvHR of 98. BTW I think my HRM is on the fritz. Saturay it showed that I was flatlining and today my HR was in the 220's. Got in my PM speed workout: 1 mile warmup and 10:00 of 1 min. hard and 1 min. off. Not bad, did well for about 3.5 of my 5 minutes hard.
The Diet So my wife decided that we needed to start a diet together. This would be a first for us, mainly because she hasn't needed to be on a diet. She's hoping to drop a few swimsuit pounds prior to Spring Break in Mexico and decided for me, that I needed to join her. So we're doing the pirated, non-meeting, non-weigh in version of Weight Watchers. The main advantage to this "diet" is that it simply forces you to log what you eat and record the points (aka calories) for everything you eat. It's a simple way to get the portion control and unhealthy snacking back under control. I've never done it for more than three weeks at a time, but I've always lost a few pounds...so why not a gain. This will however be sort lived as we head to Mexcio, tacos, Coronas, salsa, and butt sitting in seven days.
The Workouts Started running again for the first time in about three weeks on Wednesday. Did an easy (31:00/ 2.2 mile) jog Wednesday morning - at 5:00 frickin' o'clock in the AM. Did a slightly harder and faster 30:00 min. on the 'mill in the pm with some ups (incline - more on this later) thrown in. Did a Friday AM 30:00 minute run again, this time went a bit farther and a bit faster (actually only 28:??). Saturday AM got in a "long" run for an hour. Felt good, was able to push the last 10 min. and most importantly didn't overdo it. Not a bad first week back in the game.
The Plan Always a f---in plan, we'll see how this one goes. They never seem to last long becasue lfe always gets in the way and then it all goes to sheet. But here it is: Monday AM: bike and lift Monday PM: speed work at a nearby track. I'll vary what I actually do in terms of 1 min. on/1 min. offs and ?# x 100 yrds etc. Tuesday AM- my short little 30:00 min run Trying to keep these easy/ Back in the day when I got down to 236 it was with the extra little workouts. Besides, it's a good (and frickin' early) start to the day Wednesday PM - semi-long run. Most likely at the gym on the mill or around their 13 laps to the mile track. The goal is to increase the milage here every other week. Last spring I got this workout up to 10 miles. Thurday AM - 30 min Thursday PM - pretty hard tempo run. Eventually this will move to the Barr trial Friday AM - a nice bike ride and lifting at the gym Saturday - long run Sunday - possibly something different (skating, swimming, lawnmowing, etc)
The Race Registered for my fourth Pikes Peak Ascent!!! That explains the ups doesn't it? August 15 is now committed. NM, if you can qualify before Aug you can join me - economy hit this race hard - there are several hundred slots open (after 1600 slots filling in 21 minutes last year.)
Weigh in this morning showed some progress. That was highlight of the morning though. Daylight savings kicked my arse and I was exhausted most of the day. Didn't make it to the gym before work (who knew it could be that dark in the morning?), and stayed in the office for lunch and took a nap, feet up on the desk and everything. Thought I was going to start a trial today so didn't even take the gym gear with me, but then opposing counsel went all panties on us and sent in a note from his mommy, er, doctor. Anyway, end of the day rolled around and all I wanted to do was go home, have dinner and go to bed. Should've skipped that middle part.
The damages: 2 cups yogurt breakfast burrito (egg, cheese, taters, sausage, chile) small bag cheetos small bag cheezits 2 large handfuls jellybeans 5-7 little candy hearts full rack of ribs
So I didn't work out per se today, but I did spend about an hour on the working end of a pick axe this afternoon breaking up dirt in my backyard in a looooong overdue effort to get the yard done. Since I'm already a little tight tonight, I'm guessing I'll be a little sore tomorrow, so I think that counts as a workout. And it will not be the last time I'm doing that kind of labor, either. Expect/hope to see much more mention of that made here. Gotta get that thing done once and for all.
The Sunday Funnies: bowl of cereal w/grapes and two slices toast bottle of G2 2 small bowls of green chile stew 2 tortillas salad greens w/tomato and some cucumber ranch dressing 2 small scoops ice cream 4 ginger snaps
Weigh in tomorrow. Am I being unreasonable in hoping to see some progress?
By the way, talked to CS today. Sounds like he needs to get back in here. Sure hope he does.
Knew going in to the day that I was flying solo to the group run. The GF has got herself a nasty bug that just won't let go of her so knew she'd be in no shape to go this morning. And after I got out there, I was jealous.
Looked like a nice spring morning from the window when I got up, but this is New Mexico. There ain't no such thing as a nice spring morning. When I lived in DC, we had spring. Here, we have summer, fall, winter, and blowing dirt. AND there's a nice cold front that's dropped in, too. Great day, can you tell? Oh, and this was the longest run I'd done since Santa Anna's Revenge in San Antone (yeah, yeah, I know, he won at the Alamo, so what's he got to avenge...work with me).
Felt long, took forever and was glad to get out of there when it was done. Tell me again how I did 26 in November?
The Frick: small nut/fruit bar handful of trail mix Brazilian blast smoothie chicken salad sandwich cherry coke zero chicken club sandwich fries Dr. Pepper
Yeah, so Thursday went all kinds of sideways right out of the gate. Didn't get up early enough to get to the gym before work, friend of mine called to invite me out to lunch, and then got tied up in a bunch of pointless shite at the office until almost 7. By that time I'd just had it, called it a day and went home. In short: Bustorama.
The tally: cup of yogurt cup of grapefruit Blake's Lotacombo (green chile cheeseburger, fries, soda) 1/2 seafood salad crabcake rice
But today was a different story. Even though I fudged yesterday, I was bound and determined to get in my three training runs for the week, so bounced out of bed and got the gym before work. Still really slow, still really fat, but got it done. Now, just gotta figure out if I can do the 6 tomorrow.
The numbers: cup of yogurt cup of grapefruit 2 small quesadillas handful of jellybeans Cherry Coke Zero fish and rice burrito 5-7 chips and salsa Tecate Light grapes
Holy cow! For the second day running, I rolled out of the house and got to the gym before work. Gotta say, the getting moving that early is tough, but it sure feels good to have the day's workout out of the way by 9AM. And I'm actually surprised the gym isn't more full at that hour. There was NOBODY on the 'mills at 7:45. Let's see if I can keep this up one more day.
And I think I'm getting the right frame of mind about this eating thing. I feel like I ate too much today, but when I finally write it down, it doesn't look all that terrible. See if I can keep that up, too.
Today's score: cup of yogurt 2 cups of grapefruit quesadilla glass of milk handful of jelly beans Vanilla Coke Zero 1/2 seafood salad at Landry's 2 crab-stuffed mushrooms handful of jelly beans
Got up bright and early and made it to the gym before work. Put in my time on the 'mill, stopped for a smoothie on the way to the office and behaved myself for most of the rest of the day. Then a buddy of mine suggested that we go out for a pint or two and, well, you can imagine the rest. Better yet, don't. It'll disappoint us both.
Today's score:
cup of yogurt grapefruit cup Brazilian Blast smoothie (Apple and raspberry juice, raspberry sherbet, blueberries and Acai) two pieces of banana laffy taffy vanilla coke zero 6inch ham/turkey Small bag of cheezits small bag of cheetos two pints of beer and then it all went to hell...
Workout: 2.25miles/32:00/425C
Good news is I can try again and do it right tomorrow.
OK, so I'm not going to get a good workout in today, but since I don't have anything first thing in the morning, going to try and hit the mill first thing. Hit the scale outta bed and gotta admit, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. It wasn't good, don't make any mistake, but it wasn't as bad as I was worried it'd be. I'm dropping 20 before DC/Denver. At least.
In the meantime, the goods:
4 pieces of beef jerky cup of chai 6inch turkey ham subway small bag sun chips 20oz soda small spinach salad chicken salad sandwich grapes glass of milk
Seriously. First thing in the morning. In the meantime, day of rest...
Like that? That's Van Gogh, beeotch. Classing up the joint.
Slow start on the day, and too many carbs. Big bowl of cereal with grapes in it with two slices toast for breakfast, cheeseburger, tots, cherry lime slush for lunch, spinach salad and grapes for dinner. Not great, but wait...
Needed a little head clearing activity so spent a little time giving a good once over to my oh so cluttered garage and took a load (probably just the first) to Goodwill, and then came back and jumped on the bike for a nice long ride. In fact, due to the fact that my front tire lost air not once but twice during the ride, it was longer than I'd intended. Looks like I've got some work to do before the next ride.
Yeah, so much for New Year's resolutions. After stumbling (badly) out of the gate in keeping up with this little project, decided I wanted to wait until it looked like I was really back on the wagon before I wandered into these parts again. That took a wee bit longer than expected.
Finally, here I am. This week I got in all three training runs and the "long" run on Saturday (OK, we were only supposed to do 3 miles this week, but still, I was out there, right?). In what I'm sure will come as a surprise to no one, I am not where I was at the end of last year; my pace has fallen off noticeably and I know my weight's shot up a bit since the last time I posted it. I'll get to that car crash with Monday's posting. I'm also going to start keeping track of the eating. I've got to see significant improvement in that this year so that I can see significant improvement in the race(s) later this year. I want a marathon time I can actually talk about without thinking that John Belushi could've run the same time on his training diet of cigarettes and Little Chocolate Donuts.
Now I've just got to hope that CS hasn't completely given up on this little project. I'm a bad friend.
Today may have been the most awesome run I've had in...a year? maybe even two years! It was cool, I was alone (for the most part), the scenery was great, the trail was great, I felt great, ran great, finished great, saw 5 great deer, one big ass bone that wasn't quite finished being picked at (and FTR whatever took this animal down had me on notice. This chunk of neck/back bone was big and thick and definitely required something big and thick to kill and eat it. Not too mention this park has a great big cage/trap sitting in it waiting to catch something???). Aside from that distraction, it was a cool morning, I found a great single track, some great lookouts and I ran the entire time. I'm still pretty pumped up about this run!
NM I'll take you there...that is of course if you ever blog again, or run, or come to CO!
Eating has been about the same sans the 936 pieces of candy. I've done pretty good, with the occasional snacking, but not terribly bad. Of course if I had actually written it all out there would still be the red highlights. I've realized that if I eat at a normal time (5-7pm) it eliminates an extra snack that otherwise sneaks in. I've also realized if I go to bed at a normal time 10:00-11:00 that too eliminates an extra snack.
Going back to Feb. 1 - I did the same long run as the previous week, except that this time I went out about 5 minutes longer. All said and done it was a great run that last 1:22 (about 7 minutes longer than prescribed). No fox this time and no snow, but still nice. I should have brought a gel, because I sort of pooped out on the uphill return.
Missed my Monday bike and lift session (as always). Missed my Tuesday track speed session - darn, I hate that work out. 5 x 200 yds was in order. Instead, I graded papers.
Wednesday I got in a semi-easy treadmill workout for 45 min. Didn't feel the greatest and sort of struggled. I lifted some and afterwards did one lap (1/13 of a mile) walking backwards. runner's World suggested some backwards walking/running on occasion to strengthen this and improve that. Damn, my legs tighten up even after that one little lap. FTR - I felt pretty stupid doing it, luckily there was no one else on the track and few people playing ball down below.
Thursday - tempo run in the park behing work. Great workout. Weather was cool and getting dark, saw one fox, though he looked pretty grey and made me look twice. 15 min. warm up, 14 min circuit, and about a 10 min cool down.
Didn't get a workout in - sometimes life simply eats up too much time; like from 6:35am - 8:40pm.
Same ole breakfast same lunch (sandwhich, chips, granola) a few little pieces of pork for a pm snack 2 bowls of vegi/pasta soup 1 big gulp 1 can soda half a bowl of cereal (ate dinner at 5:00 and was obviously hungry again by 9:00 1 toast but/jel (still hungry at 11:00)
Just a little reminder with 270 days until the MCM - if I lose 1 pound every 10 days I'll only lose 27 pounds and still be 10 pounds over my goal. Just something to let sink it.
Good good day! Right after work I changed (in my room that doesn't have a door and prayed no one walked in on me) and went out for a Speed workout that consisted of hill repeats. I wore my screw shoes for the first time this year with several new screws added. We lets just say a few of those screws were removed immediately upon return. Did a 16 min, warm up on the snowy trail and then 5 hills, with a decreasing rest time b/w each one (1:10, 1:05, 1:00, & :55). Then had a 17 min. cool down back to my classroom. One fox spotted today (and he was eying me for a long time... and no not the same fox as Sunday - different park). I also passed on the breakfast pastry at a meeting before work!
BTW - Pikes Peak looks great today.
2 slices toast w/ butter/jelly 1 smaller bowl of cereal 1 ham/cheese sandwhich 1 granola bar 2 pieces of chocolate 1 snack sized bag o chips 1 big gulp 4 small leftover pieces of pork 1.5 chicken breasts 1 serving rice 1 serving green beans THAT'S IT!
I'll take it. Not sure when or how I'm squeezing in a workout tomorrow????
Well the odds weren't in favor of me making a 6:00am Monday morning workout. To make it really unrealistic, I didn't go to be until almost 1:00 am.
2 slices toast butter/jelly 1 large bowl cereal 1 ham/cheese sandwich 1 granola bar 3 bite sized candies 1 slice of some sort of dessert bread 3/4 pieces of left-over fajita strips (just the beef) 1 plate of pork tenderloin, rice, and gr. beans pretty good so far, now wait...... wait...... here it comes.....
972 bite sized pieces of chocolate candy @%#&*#@*&#%@$@!!!!!!
I've been dropping the ball for the past three years now and I'm ashamed. Today I started my long run from home this morning and less than a block into the run the snow started falling. Ran about 25 minutes before I got to one the city's biggest and coolest parks. The shameful part is that this was the first time I had run to this park from home. Other than that it was a nice snowy 1:13 minute trail/sidewalk run that got pretty technical at the park. Whenever you get your butt up here NM I'll take you out to see it. Oh yeh, one fox ran by me (20 feet or so) along the way.
2 slices toast w/ butter/jelly 1 large bowl cereal 1 big gulp diet soda 2 bit sized Reeses PB cups 2 bowls chili 1 small snack bag of chips 5-6 (1 yr old sized) bites of the kiddos left-over burrito 3 bowls beef stir fry/over noodles 13-18 bite sized reeses PB cups - F#*@!!!
Better, until about 11:00 at night)=:
I'm supposed to ride the bike and lift at the gym before work tomorrow - we'll see if that happens?
Well I didn't run today since I ran yesterday and have a long run tomorrow. Hopefully my knees feel better tomorrow because for some odd reason they're a little sore going up stairs today.
scrambled eggs - probably 2 eggs worth hash browns - probably 3 big spoon fulls 1 large Sam's club soda 1 slice Sam's club pizza (which is really 2 normal slices) 2 bowls of shredded wheat cereal 3 bowls of chili 4 biscuits
I suppose their was less snacking, now I just need to cut down the quantity
...if I had PR'ed at San Antonio ...if I didn't add a ton of weight during my "off season" ...if my heel, knees, and leg didn't hurt ...if it was always as nice in January as it's been this week (in the 70's) ...if I had a running partner ...if I didn't have to work so much do that I could workout more ...if I cross-trained better ...if I could run before work more frequently ...if running downhill on the Barr trail didn't hurt ...if I didn't eat so much
Now the positives...
...if I broke the 5:00 mark during the MCM ...if I broke the 4:30 mark for Pikes Peak (of course I still need to break 5:00) ...if I swam at least once a month ...if I lifted at least once a week ...if I could run with snow falling more ofter ...if I could lose 4 pounds a month from now until the MCM (=36 pounds) ...if I could always run without music and still hear nothing
Season 4 is officially underway. Here's to our successes!
On that note....here it is: 4:55AM I set out for a 42 min. run. My goal was nice and easy. I felt pretty good, my right knee felt ok, nothing more. It was a great start to the day, nice and quiet, not cold at all, and an enjoyable jog.
2 slices toast with butter/jelly 1 bowl cereal 1 ham/cheese sandwich 1 cereal bar 1 diet soda 1 small snack sized chip bag 1 small bowl of sloppy joe 2 small snack sized chp bags 1 diet soda 1 beer 1 plate full of salad bar a Ruby Tuesday's grilled fish/rice/steamed broccoli dinner 1 quesadilla wedge
Shameful. Three months have gone by, the big event has gone by, the injuries from the event have seemingly healed, and nary a posting since early October. In short: we suck. Here's to being more consistent in '09.
Got out and ran a very slow 3 miles this morning, probably the second, maybe the third run since the San Antone RnR. Knee was...tight, I guess is the best word for it, but I made sure to stretch before the run and again after it, and now, 9+ hours later I'm feeling no pain. Looking more and more like it was just a case of poorly timed tendinitis. Cross your fingers that that's all it is, because I'm going to hit '09 with a vengeance.
My plan is to not only document workouts here, but to do a far better job of keeping track of the eating. Granted it was 25 pounds, but I only dropped 25 pounds over the course of 9 months of marathon training, and eating is largely to blame. Now that I've put at least some of that amount back on (weigh-ins on Mondays), it's time to redouble the efforts and the commitment.
For now, today's workout: 3.35 miles/50:34, 508 Calories
The program we've been running with down here is primarily geared at getting folks ready for the Duke City Marathon which is on October 19. As such, we're into our taper and did 8 on Saturday and are set to do 10 this weekend. For those of us doing San Antonio, we're supposed to do the Duke City half, then ramp it back up to 20-something the following week before starting our taper into the Rock 'n Roll. Can't believe it's as close as it is.
Like I said, did 8 this past weekend, running along Tramway. Nice cool morning, we started running south from the County Line down to Montgomery and back. Don't realize it until you turn around, but that is one long hill back to the starting point. Still, felt good throughout and shaved about 10 mins off of my last 8 mile jaunt back in late August. Now, just have to do the same on the 20 miler in three weeks.
Sorry to hear about your troubles. I know the distress you were feeling, but thankfully didn't have the difficulty you did as a result. Gonna take it real easy for dinner (i.e. NO SPICY) the night before the big event. And GET NEW SHOES, DAMMIT. Don't need you hurting yourself just before this shindig.
I am not doing very well! I can't say more than that. I ran last Tuesday and that was it for the week. In the past month I've run a total of 4 times (I think). Well, Sunday I went out for a long run, with a new strategy. Instead of 3 minutes running and 1 minute walking (because after awhile it gets hard to get started again after the walk) and thought I'd try running for a mile and then walking for a minute. So I started off at 5:55 am for 20 miles. FTR it's still dark as shite at that time. I busted out the headlamp and whenever I turned my head to the right (into the bushes next to the trail) I'd see a bunch - 4 or 5 pair - of lit up eyes staring back at me. Most likely foxes, but still very creepy. Needless to say I ran on the far left side of the trail until the sun came up. Well the first 10 miles felt great, I was having a blast, enjoying everything, smiling - it was cool outside, no one on the trail, felt like I could run for miles. Well at about mile 15 my insides dropped. You've experienced it DC, if I let it blow - I might end up with a biscuit in my shorts - if I hold it, my insides rumble. I finally made it to a port a pottie in a parking lot. I went in. Said a short prayer. Checked for toliet paper. No such luck. There was however a little box about 10 feet away for dog wallkers to grab a paper sack to collect their dog poo. Now I'm not talking about a grocery bag, I'm talking about an official made for dog poop plastic bag. I'm not sure if it worked, but I used it. Well, after that I pretty much sucked and more less walked it in. The problem was that I was having trouble simply walking. My leg is killing me, although I'm pretty sure it's a secondary effect of my heel, which is the effect of old crappy shoes that need to be replaced.
I haven't finished a long run workout yet - and we're down to like 5.5 weeks. Crap! I think next weekend I'll go for 10 miles nonstop. I'll then try 15 nonstop the following week, and maybe then a 22 miler with the frequent walk breaks which will be my last training run before the taper.
A little note from Colfax and other long runs: Miles 0 -12 = feel great 12-17 = stop focusing on how much everything hurts and it becomes really hard to get past that (for me at least). 17-22 = gonna be a gut check 22-26.2 = maybe a little adrenealine to bring me in.
I'm hoping the San Ant. course bumps all these numbers back a few miles.
