Great Saturday Run...

So this morning, I woke up to this:



The weather did not look like it was going to cooperate with us participating in the "Reunion Run" with the Fleet Feet folks. I got up around 5:30, had my gear on and was stretched out by 6:00, and planned on sipping on my coffee and watching Sports Center until Mom and Gordon showed up to watch the kids. Well, it got to be around 6:30, and they still had not showed up. With the weather being what it was, I figured that Mom
thought it would be canceled and just slept it. Karen decided to go back to bed, 2 minutes later Mom showed up...I called up to Karen, she decided that she was already in bed, go on...So, Mom and I left and made it to the Concord Y just in time.

Everyone in our crew was there, except Tim, we decided that due to the rain (and lightning) that we would do a shortened 5 miler. Even with the rain, it turned out to be a great run. We all ran the escalated 3:1 interval that Mom is running during her "No Boundaries" training...Here is a picture of the group at the turn around.



Anyway, even with the weather not really cooperating, it turned out to be a great morning. Lastly, here is a picture of Tammy (the wonderful lady that ran the CMM training), Mom, and Lou (our pace leader). Seriously, I do not think that I would be as excited about running if it weren't for Christy Beth, Tammy, and the rest of the folks at Fleet Feet.

Another awesome run...

During lunch today, I went out to the Concord Y trails and did my normal 5k, it was warmer than normal, but I pulled out running the 3:1 the whole time and beat my best time set last week.

Still feeling great, not really losing weight...but I feel a lot stronger than I have in the past. I am working on a schedule for the next 10 weeks prior to Chicago...something that will incorporate short weeks for the weeks that we run the 5k in June, and the 10k in July...I will probably publish it at some point...

Other than that, I am really looking forward to 3 hours of Lost tomorrow night!

Great Interval Run This Afternoon

Mom has been working out with a bunch of folks from Fleet Feet, doing a 'couch to 5k' program...the thought is to slowly, but surely wean you off of intervals until you can run a full 5k with no walking. While, I still remain a disciple of Galloway's run-walk method...I am intrigued by being able to run further without having to take a minute or two here and there to have a rest period.

Mom has been feeding me what they have been doing, so I can follow along from home. I am going to do my best to incorporate their workouts to my normal ones during the week. Tonights only took 20 minutes and I felt great afterwards...

The workout for this evening was 5 X 3:1 meaning I had to run the 3:1 interval 5 times. Now, for the 4 of you that have been following since the beginning, you know that I have already run a 3:1 and for over 6 miles, so this was not too bad for me tonight. I ended up running 1.75 miles in about 19:45...I did not do the full twenty, because I ran through my last interval...Galloway says to push yourself at the end to show your body who is boss...

As much as I have ranted about it not being about time...with the short races, 5k, 10k, it is totally about time for me...if tonight would have been a race, I would have thrashed my 5k time easy...spirits are high.

So, as of right now, I plan on adding an interval run like this at least once a week to my normal tuesday/thursday/saturday routine, to help my legs get accustomed to moving so much...

Once again, spirits are high, and I am excited to run during lunch tomorrow...

Thanks

Joe

Cruddy Run Week

Well, my normal schedule is to run Tuesday, Thursday, and Long Run on Saturday...between the rain that has settled in for the last week...and my morning spent at the mechanic on Thursday, I have not been able to get out for a good run in a few days.

Unfortunately today was no different, I got up at 6:00 AM to thunderstorms...it rained so much overnight the gutters could not keep up, they are still draining...

hopefully tomorrow will be different...

Another Blogworthy Run

So, after being coerced into playing tennis yesterday, I made the guys at work promise to not tempt me again and training for our next runs would start today. In fact, one of my friends from work said that he would even come with me...Anyway, around 11:30 I changed and wandered down to Troy's office to see if he was still going to come with. He changed and grabbed his shoes, then we were off.

Since it was my first run since the marathon, I figured just a 5k would work for today. I upped my interval to 4:2 because since I have been running with the 2 minute rest period, it just seems to get easier and easier...we ran my normal 5k at the Concord YMCA trail and surprisingly after all of this rain, it was not as wet as I was expecting it.

Long story short, we made great time...I ended up finishing 0:35:58...my fastest 5k time yet by about 3 minutes...

The plan for the rest of the week is to go back out Thursday afternoon for a 3-4 miler, then we are either going to run a 5k or do a 5 miler near the house...we will see...

Good News, Bad News, Bad News

So first with some bad news, I have been trying my best to start running again, but the weather keeps working against me. It has been a week and although I have heard 2 weeks is the recovery time for half marathons...I am ready. The issue is these darn storms...the last few days, every time I go out to run it had been thundering. I guess another day or so would not kill me. Once I start out, I am going to be working on my intervals during the week, loosely following Mom's couch to 5k group...and then getting up early for some long runs over the weekends. Needless to say, we are all excited about Chicago and the opportunity to beat our times at the CMM.

At work, at the top of our gmail, there is a little "news ticker" that I rarely pay attention to, unless there is a cool recipe or something. Yesterday something caught my eye, Las Vegas entertainer dead at 52. As the 4 people that read this blog know, we make a yearly run to Las Vegas to see Dad, but even before he moved out there...I have been out there at least once a year since the late 90's. I really love that town. It's not just the gambling. The history of the place, the huge hotels, the desert, Area 51, the food...it has fascinated me for years. For as long as I have been going there, once I get off my flight at McCarran, I have been accustomed to seeing Danny Gans mug staring at me at some point. His face is on hundreds of billboards around town, for a while there you could not escape him. Unfortunately, he died yesterday in his sleep...the guy was 52 years old. Wife, 3 kids, seemed like a good guy. There was no sign of foul play...his wife said that she turned over and could not feel him breathing. It's a huge loss to his family and a pretty big loss to the city. Although, I never had the opportunity to see him, a LOT of people enjoyed his show...he recently made the move from the Mirage where he maintained his own theater to a new theater at the Wynn Las Vegas.

After that bummer, on the good news front, sis-in-law, Amanda was able to get us some tickets to Disneyland for the first part of our CA trip this summer. We only need to pick up tickets for the girls and also get some hopper add-on's (cause I am going to need to ride me some Toy Story mania)....I know we rode it 3 times last year and we most likely have 2 trips to WDW planned for next year (short one for the marathon and longer one with the kids in the summer), but that was a great ride. I personally am pretty excited about seeing Disneyland. Aside from taking the kids, I have not been to that park and I am excited to take it in...