Awkward...

Today the plan was for 7 easy miles. Nothing too big. Unfortunately due to unfortunate circumstances involving hiding behind a tree, a sweatband and walking home I was only able to get in 5 miles. Trust me you don't want the details. Next week will be a real 4 day rn week and I'm gong to add a hill on the Tursday run per the training schedule. Details to follow. Have a great long weekend.

Today...was pathetic

I got up and got dressed. Put the leash on Ladybird and then walked a couple blocks. Turned around came home and went back to bed. that was a first. Oh well. It's been a long week. 7 on Saturday at least my legs will be fresh.

< 30 Minutes?

There was a chill in the air which made the feat possible. My thought as we started the 3 mile run was if I was close at the 2 mile point I could power through to break 30 minutes. So today it started pretty well...my legs felt good after that extra day off and I had plenty of energy.

At the 3/10's of a mile spot I was under 3 minutes so that was good. At the 1/3 I was right at 13 minutes which was still on pace. Between the 1.3 and 2 miles there is 1 of my 2 biggest hills and that slowed me down so I reached the 2 miles point around 21 flat. No problem right? I've ran a mile in under 9 the last time I really tried to break 30 so I kept pushing.

I was flying...well as fast as I can possibly go. Last time I hit the 2.5 mark and was at 26 even. This time I was at 25:31. I knew I had a real good chance so I kept pushing. My legs were tired. My chest was pounding. I was hurting...hell even Lady actually had to slightly run instead of trot.

2.8 miles @ 28:10. I huffed and I puffed and I ran like the wind err a stiff breeze...okay fast for me. At this point I decided not to look at my watch in case I went over 30 that way I wouldn't let up. I pushed up the last, biggest hill and reach my stopping point. Reached down to stop my watch. Looked at the time and....30 flat. 1/10th of a second from breaking 30 minutes.

Son of a beesch. Seriously WTF? I just want to break 30 minutes. Just once. Show me something damn it...

Recovery Week7

After the 9 mile thing on Saturday it's time for a recovery week.

Monday: Off
Tuesday: 3
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 3
Friday: Off
Saturday: 7

What I learned this weekend:
1. 9 miles is a far.
2. Smoked pork tenderloin is underrated. It's cheap, easy to grill, healthy and amazingly good. Try to make it or let me know and I'll make it for you sometime (not really).
3. Homemade chicken jerky is easy to make just time consuming.

That's all I know. Keep on keepin' on.

9 Mile Saturday

Typical Saturday morning where I got out of bed way entirely too early to run a distance that is entirely too far. When I stepped out the front door it was warmer than it was in the house and pretty damn humid. Almost immediately a headwind picked up and I ran into that for the first 3 miles. It made me expend a little more energy than I wanted to but my 3 mile time was pretty good. The next 6 were pretty damn ugly. I ended up walking a lot more than I expected to and that sucks but I kept going. Overall I probably walked 1/2 to 3/4's of a mile throughout the last 6 miles mainly on the uphill portions of the road.

I would be fibbing if I said I felt great about the run. The amount I walked was discouraging but that head wind in the beginning hurt me for sure. That being said I did 9 miles in 1:49:32 which sucks but I finished...so that's better than nothing.

On a side note instead of my patented sweatband I went with my dry fit visor that I got for doing the Hospital Hill 5k earlier this year (because I shave my head (chose to) I sweat like a...um...a...well damn I sweat a lot and I've been told the sweatband is dbagish). Any who the dry fit thing must be for nonsweaters not mansweaters or manateesweaters. Needless to say 3 miles in sweat was dripping off of my hat to the point I thought it was raining on more than one occasion. I've tried bandannas but the cotton doesn't pull away the sweat as well at the sweatbands. I'd say it's okay to laugh and point but you'll be so far ahead of me in won't matter.

Recovery week next week. Details to follow.

Rainy days

I actually woke up before my alarm clock and went out to run 4 miles but I couldn't find my braces (ankle and 2 knee straps). I looked and looked and looked and then looked some more. Finally after found them in the laundry basket under other clothes. After that I didn't have the time for 4 miles so I only did 3. I really need to switch to evening runs. After I get back from Reno in a couple of weeks I'm going to make that transition. Too many lost miles because of time restraints.

The actual run was pretty good.I stopped with Lady when she had to pee on the busy stretch of road. Ended up finishing in 34 and some change which wasn't bad considering it was raining the entire time. 9 miles on Saturday. Keep on keepin' on.

Sh!tty

Well that sucked arse. First I hit my snooze 3 times before I realized it so I couldn't get in 4 miles and instead had to settle for 2 and the 2 absolutely sucked. I was just in a piss poor mood and couldn't get into to it today. My pace was horrible and then I walked and then bleck...it was sh!t. Enough about that. Can't win 'em all. Cross train for a bit tomorrow and then 4 on Thursday. Should be a good run since I'll be taking out aggression for todays weak attempt.

Monday Funday

Today felt pretty damn good. Ran it in 32:52 but actually felt like I did better. I've developed this bad habit of stopping and stretching while running which hurts my times. My legs always feel better after the run but I wish I hadn't developed that habit. Oh well. Despite the stop to stretch I feel like today was a good run. 4 miles tomorrow. Hopefully I won't have to stop to stretch.

Keepin' on rockin'.

Goals for this Week

I feel like I am finally to a point where I can push past where I was before I missed those two weeks last month despite what my times may say. So this week the plan is:

Monday 3
Tuesday 4
Wednesday cross train
Thursday 4
Friday rest
Saturday 9
Sunday rest

Within the next month or so I'm planning on switching from running in the mornings to running in the evenings so I can get more mileage in during the week. Getting up earlier than 415 to get in 5 miles just does not sound appealing so to accommodate more mileage I'll make the switch. I'm not looking forward to it because I love how I feel after the runs especially going into a long day at work but you gotta do what you gotta do right? Keep on truckin'.

7 Mile Saturday 2.0

7 miles today and it went as planned. I felt very strong for the first 3 miles. I think I was close to 31 minutes which made me pretty happy. I had to stop to stretch a couple of times and the hills gave me some trouble but I'm okay with the results. I finished in 1:20:42 and I'll take that. It felt good to fun the 7 but since I had done it before it wasn't the release it was the first time. I'm just to happy to be back to where I was before.

The only problem I has was my iPod battery died 15 minutes in to the run so the last hour I had no tunes. It wasn't as bad as I expected but still music makes the world go round.

I saw a raccoon around the 2 mile mark. My guess he was on watch and went to round up the rest of the convoy/posse/family or whatever we decided to call them. Luckily I'm pretty confident that I can outrun a raccoon.

Lastly Michael Phelps is freakin' amazing. That 100 meter butterfly race last nice was the most exciting 50 seconds I've seen in a long time. Keep on keepin' on.

Ummm

So my plan was to run a simple 3 miles today. About 1.3 miles in my stomach cramped up (yeah in that way) so I decided to turn around and walk home. I tried to jog but I didn't want to...so I just walked. No biggie. At least I didn't have to throw my shorts away.

Running Out of Clever Titles

Today was good. Ran 4 in 45 and some change. It wasn't 100% legit as I stopped to stretch I may have accidentally on purpose stopped my watch since I wasn't actually running. Not sure why I did that (actually yeah I do because my run times are so damn slow). But anyway I stretched for probably 30 seconds tops so even with that it was a good run. I got up at 4:15 so right now I'm freaking beat, tired and sore but I go a run in so that's all that matters.

No run tomorrow but I'm gonna do crosstraining for 45 minutes or so. Keep on keepin' on.

PS: The Olympics rock. Not sure why but I'm really into it this year. It's been a blast to watch.

Long Time no Blog

Haven't had much to say lately...I have just been running slowly. Hit all my distance goals last week so this week I am bumping it up. Here is the plan:

Monday: 3
Tuesday: 4
Wednesday: Crosstrain
Thursday: 3
Friday: Rest
Saturday: 7

This will get me to where I was a month ago before I had to take some time off with the knee suck and all. The weather had been amazing for the past few days and is expected to remain that way for this entire week so that's good news...otherwise not a whole lot going on. Run hard.

Slower than Slow

Wow I am slow.

It's flippin' hot.

3 miles done but probably the slowest I have ever run. I'm ready for September or Wednesday whenever this flippin' heat breaks.

Raccoonapalooza 2008

It started off like every other Saturday. Alarm goes off at 4:27 but I'm already awake. I quickly turn off the screeching alarm and turn on my bedside light. Lady knows we only get up this early to run so she springs out of bed in anticipation. I, of course, am a little slower. I grab my running garb and quickly get dressed. After a brief stop in the lil' boys room I head to the living room where I look out the front door to see if it is or has been raining. That's when it happened...Raccoonapalooza 2008 in the cul-de-sac.

You know I don't have the slightest idea what you would call a group of raccoons. I checked the raccoon wiki page but it doesn't say what one would call the possee either. I know geese are called a gaggle so whould racoon be called raccaggle? Is it a herd? Flock? Family? Convoy (man I love that song)?Personally I'm not comfortable with family because what if they aren't a family? I mean trapsing through the sewers and eating garbage is probably like clubbing or going to a baseball game for raccoons so what if they don't even know each other? What if they are like friends of friends or a guy they went to raccoon elementary school with? What if they just ran into each other down in the sewer? It's possible...

Raccoon 1 "Hey do I know you?"
Raccoon 2 "I don't believe so"
Raccoon 1 "Nice ninja costume"
Raccoon 2 "Thank you kind sir. Yours as well. Ha, ha, ha" (in my mind raccoons are pompass)
Raccoon 1 "Would care to go to knock over trashcans and eat trash?"
Raccoon 2 "Indeed"

It's possible. Really. It it.

So anyway I'm standing at my front door overlooking (raised ranch style house) my yard and driveway while 6 or 7 raccoons are chilling in the street. At that point I realized I don't like raccoons. At no point in my life prior to Raccoonapalooza 2008 had I ever had a reason to dislike raccoons. Possums--yeah i friggin' hate possums. They are nasty, but raccoons ehhh, whatever. Now I hate raccoons. I mean seriously how can you trust much less like anything that dresses like a ninja everyday? Sneaky little trash suckers.

Okay back to the battle...at this point I'm stuck in the house. One raccoon heads for my yard and disappears on the other side of my neighbors van. Thinking quickly I turned on my porchlight...that ought to scare them away (I know pathetic right?) but of course it didn't phase them. Next I hit my door with the palm of my hand. Nothing. The raccaggle of raccoons continued to party like it was 1999 which I believe is 175 in raccoon years. They still sniffed and snorted (technically I couldn't hear them but I'm sure they were). Finally I opened my front door and they heard that. One of them stood up on his back legs in what I would consider an attempt to intimade me by making himself look bigger (it worked a little). With that they all headed straight for the draining system at the bottom of the street.

I stood watch from the front door for another 15 minutes so I wouldn't get attacked when we went out for our run. The paperboy (can you still say that?) or paperperson drove down the street and turned around. I figured that would be my best change to escape the horror so Ladybird and I took off and made it safely to the top of the street...made me wonder how many times I almost got attacked by raccoons and didn't even know it. I'm gonna have to get some bear mace or something especially since I run so slow. Although getting chased by raccoons might help me run faster. Is that allowed in marathons? Nice...

Anywho the actual run today was pretty pathetic. I had absolutely no energy and ended up walking quite a bit. I had some moments of brilliance where it seems to be coming together and then I would have to walk for a while. The weather was gross and with all the raccoon excitement I walked out the door without drinking anything at all so it made for a miserable morning. I didn't sleep enough last night either which didn't help the cause. I finished in 1:04:32 which is slow but no bad considering the walking. Next week will be better. I can feel it.