Update on yesterdays run

First thing I did when I arrived home was plug in the garmin and check out my pace(s) from last nights run.

Recoveries 1, 2, 3, and 4: Average pace 11:04 (all dead even)
Recoveries 5 and 6: Walk

Interval 1 and 4: Both 6:06 pace
Intervals 2, 3, 5, and 6: All 6:41 pace

Do you have any idea what kind of mechanics it takes to move this much weight that fast? Now I know why I felt like shit!

Rookie

I'm at work. Schedule called for 6 x 30/30. Started the session with five easy minutes on the elliptical machine to warm up. During the run I pushed the pace too far and had to walk recoveries 5 and 6. Managed to have an average pace of 8:46, including the one minute of walking.

The run was followed up with an upper-body workout.

Stats:
Mileage: 0.69 mile
Time: 6:03 -- 8:46 pace

Erin said her knee is sore and also "locking up??". I told her to switch her running and biking days in order to rest her knee an extra 24-hours. Since I'm not home, that would have resulted in her using the recumbent bike, which she hates. Erin decided to complete the scheduled speed training, but on the treadmill and at a slower pace. She said everything went well. Hopefully she is only experiencing aches and pains associated with the rebuilding of muscles around her knee.

Erin Stats:
Mileage: .060 mile
Time: 6:00 minutes -- 9:05 average pace
6 x 30-seconds @ 4.5 mph, 30-seconds @ 7.0 mph

Ultra Marathon Running Movie - Indulgence

Rained out

Double digit ride on my mountain bike. Caught by the rain at 7 miles, which was the furthest point from my house. At least the temps felt good!

Stats:
Mileage: 13.26 miles
Time: 1:13:25 -- 10.9 mph

No title

Not much to blog. Uneventful run for me. Erin said her legs are tired. She also said she took one short walk break.

Stats:
Mileage: 1.01 mile
Time: 10:06 -- 10:00 pace

Erin Stats:
Mileage: 1.01 mile
Time: 10:47 -- 10:41 pace

Bike tidbit:
Shimano Dura-Ace STI shifters.
Shimano Dura-Ace front and rear derailleur

Bike

Not sure why, but forty miles on the bike kicked my ass. Steve Cantu and I bike our familiar Kingwood>Duessin Park>Crosby>Lake Houston>Atascocita>Kingwood route. Maybe it was the multiple surges early in the ride. Lots of other cyclist out. Late in the ride, we joined two other riders for six miles. Each of us took our turn at the helm. In the end, they dropped us with their 20++ mph pace. I'm sure this helped their ego, they too had been dropped from a larger, faster pod of riders as well.

I still had a great day. I've come to realize something...
I look forward to biking. I have fun, no matter the weather or pace. Unfortunately, cycling lacks the post activity "high" that you get after a good run. Maybe I'm not biking hard enough? On the other hand, I almost always dread running. Its a motivation issue. Once I get out the door, everything is fine. More times than none, I enjoy the time outside running, but its simply a matter of getting started. Just my observations. hmmmmm???

Stats:
Mileage: 38.40 miles
Time: 2:240:26 -- 15.08 mph

New bike tid-bit:
Cane Creek SCR-3 brakeset
Easton Circuit 700c Wheelset

Not so "long run"

Another Great run.

In an attempt to beat the heat, Erin and I started our run at 6:30am. Two-miles along the lake. Dual strollers, dual pace. Mile one and two separated in time by ONE SECOND.

OUR stats:
Mileage: 2.07 miles
Time: 26:23 -- 12:45 pace

Over the next several post, I'm going to spend time throwing out little tidbits about my new bike. I'm very proud of it!

Frame: Custom butted Altair 2 aluminum with Power-Diamond down tube. High Modulus carbon seat stays with aluminum chain stays. Forged dropout with replaceable derailleur hanger. Dual bottle mounts.
Fork: Full Carbon Monocoque integrated 1-1/8"

Blog re-released

Sure, I'm wishy-washy. Probably even lost a few readers when I set permissions on my blog. There again, no one had permission. I didn't want to delete the blog, but I didn't want it on the blogospere either. I've had a few beers since then and everything is better.

You'll notice a few minor changes. The first item axed was the picture of me sub-200 pounds. Also axed any goals that had a time constraint. Axed the monthly cycle and running mileage. Did a little renaming and added a new "introduction".

Blog rules:
No more pinching my post without consent. Actually, I don't care.... just give me the opportunity to clean it up and make it appear that I graduated elementary school. My blog is and will always be my informal thoughts and ramblings. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about grammatical errors, which is why I feel like an idiot when I see it in print. There I said it, hope there isn't any hard feelings.

So, there you go. Read it, don't read it.... I don't care. I'm going to try and make this MY blog and not what I think people want to see or read.

Dueling Strollers for speed

What a great run. Tonight Erin saw a sneak preview of speedwork. I had Alison in one stroller, while she pushed Preston in the other stroller.
5 x 30/30 - (9.5 effort/recovery jog)

Its hard to believe, but the garmin shows all five, 30 second intervals ranged from 6:30-7:15 pace. Average pace on the recovery was ~12:00. Average pace was 8:58. Not too sure about that number.... I left the garmin running and now I'm confused. That's the number I get after I plugged everything into my training software.

We ran a straight line. Only managed to gain 30-yards on Erin... shes a much stronger runner than I had assumed. We did lots of stretching and an extended walk, but soon we will start a formal warm-up and cool-down. Like I keep saying, we're taking baby steps.

My Stats:
Mileage: ~0.50 mile??
Time: 5 minutes

Erin Stats:
Mileage: ~0.499999 miles
Time: 5 minutes

Wednesday Biking

First opportunity to ride my new bike.

The new in-line brakes are perfect and make for an enjoyable ride. Actually the first three miles sucked. I couldn't maintain any speed and I was tiring faster than normal. I knew something was not right, so I pulled over to check everything out. I was relieved to find the problem was minor.... the front brake pad was rubbing against the wheel set. Upon closer inspection, it had rubbed hard enough to cover the front right fork in brake dust. After I made a small adjustment the ride was like greased lighting. At the stop my average speed was 12.9 mph, which I improved to 14.3 mph. I can only assume my average pace would have been greater than 15 mph without the problem.

Stuff I like better about my new bike:

• Seat is more comfortable.
• More control in turns.
• A lot better braking.
• Faster speed in smaller gears.

My stats:
Mileage: 15.03 miles
Time: 1:03:00 -- 14.3 mph

Erin Stats:
Mileage: Unknown
Time: 30 minutes

Erin said she pushed harder than her usual leisure ride, which was evident by the amount of sweat pouring off her when she returned home.

Still on Schedule

First run of the week, which is 50% of the prior long run distance. Once again Erin and I did our runs on the streets, after dark. Its motivating knowing Erin is training with me, even though we aren't running together.

My stomach was upset after dinner, but it settled enough to hit the streets. If Erin wouldn't have run I surely would have skipped today's session. Glad everything aligned, because I had an excellent run. The mega-short distance was awesome, which was highlighted with a nice breeze outside.

Erin played the typical role of super-mom. Try picturing this: Alison joined her on a scooter, while she pushed Preston in the jogging stroller, and if that's not enough.... she had the dog on the leash. I have no idea how she did it, but she did.

Speaking of Erin, she committed to the HARRA Cross Country Relay. After informing Coach Steeeve, he elected to group me, Erin, Kevin, and Lynn together. Ought to be FUN!

My stats:
Mileage: 0.77 mile
Time: 7:56 -- 10:18 pace

Erin Stats:
Mileage: 0.77 mile
Time: Unknown

This morning the scale revealed that I am 24 pounds away from my all time high. Even though the data is depressing, I'm not interested in starting a diet for another week or two. Wait, I take that back. I'll keep a watchful eye and definitely try to consume more water. Right now, its one thing at a time. I'm in search of a training regimen that will fit my life before adding dietary restrictions.

We Started!

Erin and I officially started training for the Houston half-marathon today. Both of us ran on the streets of Kingwood after dark.

My stats:
Mileage: 1.5 miles
Time: 15:03 -- 10:02 pace

Erin stats:
Mileage: 1.44 miles
Time: Unknown

You'll see lots of changes in this blog, while I determine what I want and do not want.

Last night I stayed up for more than 2-hours working on a generic running schedule. I've read enough to know the basics, so I decided to design a program to fit our hectic life.

The base is three days of running. Each weekend will include a long run. The second run of the week will be 50% of the long run distance. The third run will be some type of quality run, such as 30/30's, tempo, or 400's at the track. Most of the speed work will be short and fun, yet performance based.

Four weeks of ramping up will be followed by a recovery week. Normally this would be every third week, but the mileage is low, so our bodies won't need as much recovery.

Erin will add one day of leisure biking to complete four days of exercise. I'll add two days of cycling. One will be 15-25 miles with some speed play and the other will be 40+ miles. Cycling will also ramp up, with the exception of recovery weeks.... which has no cycling for Erin and only one ride for me.

Chance meeting

I always seem to run into talented runners. Take today for example. For more than a month, I've been looking for an used trampoline for Alison. I located one on CraigsList. The gentleman I was talking to was in Arkansas and was acting as the middle man for his mother.... who lived in Kingwood.

When I arrived at her house the woman told me I was emailing her son in Arkansas, to which I replied, "Yeah he told me he was out of the state". While we were negotiating a price, she told me she had initially purchased the trampoline for her daughter who later took an interest in Cross Country. This started a long discussion of her VERY talented kids who all run. Her oldest son (the one located in Arkansas) ran both Cross Country and Track for Kingwood High. Her and her younger son told me about his blazing 4:09 mile PR and how he was an all-state runner. Currently, he is running for Arkansas on a full scholarship.

Her daughter was a Kingwood cheerleader, before trying out for the girls cross country team. With no experience she placed 15th and immediately dropped cheerleading. If you know anything about Kingwood girls Cross Country, you probably know they are the State "Big-dogs". I can only imagine how impressive her times must be for her to place 15th without any formal training.

Her younger son was helping me disassemble the trampoline and seemed to be very excited just to talk about track. Subsequently, he knew all kinds of numbers/times about his older brother and sister. Just to see how aware he was of running, I asked him, "What did you think of Ryan Hall breaking the American record here in Houston?". He replied, "I can't wait till I'm old enough to run the half". For him to recognise the name and the distance, I knew this was a serious running family.

After that I kind-of stayed quiet. It would have seemed silly for this big ole 240-pounder to say, I run too.

Anyways, I just thought this was cool. I might have been talking to the mother of the next great American Runner.

Overdue update

Hello. Its been so long since I made a post, I had to think about my log-in password!

This is going to be short. Preston still has his days and nights backwards. That means mom and dad hardly ever sleep. To compound matters, we have been busier than normal at work. As I told another friend, I'm knocking on the door of death by way of exhaustion. I haven't had the energy to do anything that is not a must do. Right now the must do list is short and only includes work and family. No more, no less.

Very little, if any running in a couple weeks. I'm starting to worry if a winter marathon is possible. I wanna run, but I just can't find the time. A few days ago I squeezed in a 18.5 mile bike ride with a friend. We did 4 x 0.50 mile sprints. The overall average was a wimpy 13 mph because we were on the Greenbelts, but the sprints were a manly 26-29 mph on a long straightaway. The effort was all out. The last interval was the fastest, which resulted in me getting off my bike and puking in someones yard. Yeah, that's gross, but the effort level felt great afterwards.

I'm sure a lot of you are wondering about the contest between Vic and I. Yes, Mr. Vic won and Mrs. Bill lost. Congrats on your weight loss Vic, you look good and did a great job. As for the "dress", I spoke with Vic and we made an arrangement. I was scheduled to work the same day as the opening day of SMART training. unfourtantley, I was not able to take off becasue I used nearly all my vacation and sick time with my knee surgery and Preston's hospitalization. Anyways, I told Vic I would supply him with a picture of me in a dress and he can do whatever he want with it. In fact, this morning I made the embarrassing dress purchase. URG! And yes, it sucked!

I have to admit, I'm a bit lost right now. But as usual, I'll find my way and everything will be a-okay very soon.

You've all seen the cute pictures of Preston. This is what he REALALY looks like!