The Summer Re-Format

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Of late, my running, much like my blogging (you can see where this going, can't you), has been fairly non-existent.  If it wasn't for my cross-training, I doubt that I would have much to show for this summer.  The day before a run, I always seem to have the best intentions, but when the day comes, I always seem to find an excuse.  I have too much work.  It's too (damn) hot.  My legs are achy.  It's too damn hot.  The British Open is on.  I need to pack for vacation.  It's TOO DAMN HOT!!!  You get the picture.  I'm not sure when I became a whiny, sissy, but I don't care for it.  Next week, I'll be on vacation (again), but I'm hoping the free time will give me a chance to re-ignite my running.. I need to start from scratch, and re-build my base.  The first thing that I need to do, is write down my training plan for the week.  Even if I have to switch it around, at least I have a guide to go by.  Hopefully this will inspire me to get in my miles.

Hard numbers for the day:  No miles today.  Just 20 minutes of cross-training/cardio.  The usual at-home workout:  5 minutes of jump rope and a couple quick sets of push ups, lunges, curls, etc.

Geek Tip:  My IT guy just upgraded me to Windows 7 this week.  It called for a re-format of my harddrive and many hours spent re-installing my drivers, apps, and games.  After playing with it for a few days, I have to say that 7 is a VAST improvement over Vista (and I kinda liked Vista).  7 is easier to use and significantly faster.  It gets my finisher's medal of approval.  That's all I've got.  Later kids!

The Vacation Quarantine

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  A quick shout out from the World of the Mouse.  The weather has mostly cooperated (other than the heat), and my kids have had a blast at the parks with us and our friends.  One quick note, my son got a little stomach bug (awww), so he didn't get to go to Aquatica yesterday.  He's feeling better today, so we're going to take it easy and visit the parks this afternoon.

Now for the hard numbers:  I did a quick tempo run of 3.25 miles this morning with negative splits of 7:39/mi, 7:21/mi, 7:03/mi and a recovery jog of 7:14/mi.  That does it for me.  Later kids!

The Vacation Influence

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Today was my daughter's kindergarten graduation, tomorrow is my son's last day of school and in less than 2 days my family heads off on vacation with our family-friends to the southern Land of the Mouse.  Needless to say, my household is in high gear prepping for our trip.  We have snacks in the corner of the pantry, piles of folded laundry sorted for trip and non-trip, and stacks of comics and reading material (not all mine, I swear) to be crammed into duffle bags.  My kids have been so ready for vacation, they "packed" a week ago (I"m afraid to go through their bags, but I'm sure they're stuffed with every doll, action figure, Lego and DS game imaginable).  For my part, I have to sort through which running shoes (someone has to run and fetch Fastpasses.  It may as well be me) to bring, how many tech shirts I'll need (I need that breathable fabric for all my profuse perspiration!  Stinky.), and what kind of socks should I wear (I favor the ankle socks, but they leave a funny tan, after all).  At work, I've poured through every paper on my desk to make sure I leave as little as possible unfinished (to keep people from snooping through my office).  All this being said, I've had very little time to train this week (i.e. I'm tired and I want to take a nap).  I'd be upset if it wasn't still so early into my training program (i.e. It won't hurt anything if I have bacon with my pancakes).  I figure that I can afford a couple weeks of recovery time (sleep and eating candy) this summer before I really hit my training hard (to make up for all those pancakes and candy).  I'm still planning on doing some running next week (Ha!), but I figure my runs will mostly be early (Double Ha!  Not unless the trails are in your bed, lazy ass) before we hit the parks.  Probably just easy runs for not longer than an hour (you betcha), but you never know (not really, I do know.  And it ain't gonna be pretty), I may throw in a tempo run or two to spice it up (or just sleep in).

If you've been following Biggest Loser, like me, this season, then you most likely watched the finale last night.  Michael won losing over half his starting weight.  Say what you want about the artificial conditions of the show, but that is a HUGE weight loss in 8 months!  So a quick congratulations to him.  I hope he sticks with the weight loss (he said that he wasn't done yet), because I think the show, at the very least, gives a platform for living healthier lives that the contestants can promote nationwide.  On a side note, anyone else think that Daris's popularity screwed him and Koli?  If America hadn't voted Daris to compete in the final 3, he would have won the at-home competition prize of $100,00.00 and Koli would have beaten Michael by over 3% total weight loss.  Way to go America.  Where was the Samoan love?  

Now for the hard numbers:  Today I did a short set of half-mile intervals with quarter mile recoveries.  I did 5x.50 mi intervals at 3:14, 3:19, 3:22, 3:22 and 3:29 respectively.  My slowest recovery lap was 2:17.  All right, that's all I have for now.  Later kids!