Thanksgiving Day

For anyone that is trying to lose weight and train for a marathon, Thanksgiving has to be just a killer. Maybe that's why that decision should have been made after the first part of the year. But no, the decision has been made, and I must act accordingly. So, today I awoke early, which is normal. I watched some news and all, and then at 6 AM, hit the treadmill. Did 40 minutes on that badboy. Burned several hundred calories as well. Followed that up at 9 AM with about an hour and a half of basketball -- another good calorie burn.

I think that I will soon solidify my marathon commitment by going ahead and signing up for the race itself. Plus, if I do it before the end of the year, I will lock in the price break. Price jumps up about 15 or 20 bucks on January 1st. I'm pretty locked in as it is though. When I shared my plan and goal with a friend of mine in California, he was so excited he got himself a plane ticket to come cheer me on. So, I'm pretty locked in.

The weight keeps coming off too. Can't remember if I've written this or not, but I'm currently on a workout plan that has me running 3 days a week, cross training 2, and resting 2, although I sometimes only take 1 rest day.

Anyhow, hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving. And remember what you're thankful for. At my house, we create a "Thankful Turkey" every year. It's a box decorated like a turkey where we can write things we're thankful for on slips of paper to deposit them in the box. Then we read them, usually before thanksgiving day. But we haven't read them yet this year. Good thing, cause I need to make a few more deposits in the box before we do.

Studs on Ice

Well, my season for basketball started Monday night. I've been refereeing for 12 years now, and I really enjoy it. Even if some of the games are just horrible. Like the second one today. But it was junior high ball, so what do you expect. Oh, well.

My games were in Nikiski. About a 25 mile drive. The drive out wasn't bad, but when it came time to drive home, the weather had taken a turn. It was RAINING. Unreal. Temps were in the high 30s.

Made for an interesting ride to work Tuesday morning. By morning, the temps had dropped, and naturally that meant some icy roads. Which, actually, I was a bit excited for. That meant I got to REALLY test my studded tires on my bicycle. They worked great. It was cool to listen to them grinding on the ice. And also to see the tracks in the driveway.

I strapped on my hear rate monitor for haalf of the first game and all of the second one. Didn't even get a half mile per half. I've gotta find a strap extender so that I can wear the watch part on my ankle or something. It just don't look right wearing it on my wrist when I'm refereeing.

A Near Disaster Avoided...And Other Thoughts on a Saturday

So Thursday afternoon, I was getting ready to leave the office and head home for the night. When I went to turn on my GPS/Heart Rate Monitor, I got nothing. It wouldn't turn on at all. I found that rather odd given the fact that I had even plugged it in to chage . I was pretty disappointed to say the least. I love all the information I get from that thing. I was sure something was haywire and I would end up having to send it in for repair. I had to do my 40 minute run Thursday night without it. Friday morning as I got ready to try calling tech support, I got it to turn on but only for a second. So I put it on the charger again. And it worked!! So, hopefully it was just a fluke. Glad it's back up and running.

Yesterday was a day for some cross training. I didn't get it done, but I did get about 7.25 miles of walking in during hockey practice for my kids by walking laps around the outside of the rink. In about 7 degree temperatures. Does that count as a substitute? I didn't think so either. So when I woke up at 5:15 this morning, I flipped on the Wii, put in my EA Sports Active, and did a cross training workout. I do still have a 2 mile run to do today in accordance with my marathon training. I'll get it done.

I like this new program I started this week, while it still has 3 days a week of running, it adds 2 days of cross training. And I, not liking to take Wednesdays off to rest as it says to, throw in a day on Wednesdays as well.

A Streak Broken

Well, other than the 3 weeks during which I was without a bike because it was stolen, I had ridden my bike to work every day since sometime in late April. That streak came to an abrupt end yesterday. While it was somewhat planned, it couldn't have come at a better time. I knew a couple days ahead that I had to drive to Kenai at midday, so I was already planning to drive instead of bike. But it couldn't have come at a better time. The outside temperature this morning was -10, colder depending on who you believe. I even got a phone call close to when I was about to leave from a friend of mine who knows of my commitment to biking offering me a ride. I thanked him and let him know that I was already driving, albeit for different reasons. I have a feeling that by the end of the winter, I will most likely be taking him up on his offer at some point.

Yesterday was supposed to contain 30 minutes of cross training as a part of the program I am now following. I didn't get it done, so since I woke up early today, at just after 4 AM, I did my time that I was supposed to have done yesterday after watching the early broadcast of the Today show. For my cross training days, I am using EA Sports Active on the Nintendo Wii. It gave me a pretty good workout, and I finished up just a little before I had to wake the kids up for school.

THis morning, the temperature is back up above zero. 4 above to be exact. So, I'm off to my bike again.

As far as my marathon training, today is supposed to be a rest day. This is going to be the biggest struggle for me. I feel like I should do SOMETHING every day. I probably will. Even if it's just some fast walking on the treadmill tonight. Or something like that.

Riding in the Cold

So, my quest continues, despite the freezing temperatures that came in so suddenly. I left for Las Vegas on November 6th, and the current local temerature was around 35-40 degrees. The day after I left, I heard that it had snowed. That was of very little concern to me as I was enjoying temperatures in the high 60s and mid to high 70s. I didn't really think about the temps back home here until the day I was set to leave Las Vegas. The warmest thing I had with me was a hoodie sweatshirt. BOy was it chilly as I walked off the plane in Anchorage at 1 AM on Saturday morning.

But it was nothing compared to what I got to enjoy today. In my never ending quest to continue riding my bike to work, I had the joy today of pedaling to work in about 2 degree weather. By lunchtime when I rode home for lunch, it was -4. And back up to zero when I came home this evening. Chilly indeed!!! But I will persist. It is just one small part of my marathon training program. Which I am down to 214 training days. Tonight I officially begin a more formal program. 3 days of running and 2 days of cross training for the next 11 weeks. That will take me to the end of January, at which time I will begin a structured, 20 week program.

Up tonight -- 30 minutes of moderate running. I am also going to start doing the correct 5 minute warmup and cooldown periods on each end, and conclude with some proper stretching.

Now, off to the treadmill!!

P.S. -- Has anyone seen my hat?

T Minus 31 Weeks to the Starting Line

So I spent the last week in Las Vegas on a business trip. I managed to wear a blister on my foot the first day I was there while walking up and down The Strip. Luckily it wasn't too bad and by Tuesday I was able to get out and run. Ran again on Wednesday, but managed to get ANOTHER blister, so that was the end of my running while out of town. But, between blisters and watching what I ate, I still managed to drop a single pound while I was there, which was OK by me.

I also took the time to evaluate what training I needed to do between now and June 19, 2010. I found out I had 31 weeks remaining. And so, I have developed a plan that will start tonight. I'm going to do the first 11 of 14 weeks of a half marathon training program, followed by a full 20 week marathon training program that will take me to race day. I'm looking forward to it!!

Running outside.....in November

So I had a pretty good week last week, despite the fact that I didn't record a single blog. The only night I missed running that I had intended to run was Friday night. I had good intentions, but just ran out of time and something had to give. I was leaving that night to go on a business trip and so I just didn't make it out.

I'm currently in Las Vegas. I took a nice walk up and down the strip on Saturday. But in the process, I wore a small blister on my foot. That kept me from running until tonight. As I was getting ready for my trip, I contacted the hotel I was staying at and found out it was $55 for 3 days of using their fitness center. So I nixed that option.

This morning, I checked out the blister on my foot and decided I was good to go. I had discovered earlier today a large parking lot out behind the hotel that I figured I could go run laps around and that's just what I did. It was a little under a half mile per lap, and in 30 minutes of running I did a bout 3.2 miles. It felt good to run outside again. It reminded me of how much I hate running on the treadmill back home. But I'll keep doing it. However, I'll take advantage of the next 3 days and the chances they'll give me to run outside in 70 degree weather...in November!!

Long Time No Write

"The only secret is that it is consistent, often monotonous, boring, hard work. And it's tiring. "

Well, I have been a bit derelict in my writing as of late. Fortunately, I have still been running. And quite frankly, some of my recent weeks have been some of my best and most consistent. Which is why it is a bit odd that I've had some weigh fluctuations I didn't expect lately. I can only blame my consumption for it. Although tonight, I think I nailed down one other contributing factor, which I have since remedied. Early this month, my bike got stolen, and while I wasn't doing a whole lot of biking anymore, I was still commuting to and from work, including a roundtrip at lunch. That amounted to a little over 300 calories a day, but maybe just the mental awareness from that riding had an affect as well. I bought a new bike last weekend, including studded tires so I'm set for winter riding. I also got a good set of gloves today, as my hands have been a bit chilly lately.

Tonight as I was running on the treadmill, I got a great variety of music. Amazing what you get when you have an assortment of over 2,700 songs and put it in shuffle mode. I heard things like Run DMC, Neil Diamond, Debbie Gibson, Mike and the Mechanics, Reba and dare I even admit a dose of Michael Jackson. Love him or hate him, the man could flat out sing.

I had a health screen at work last week. It got me all fired up again. I had my first ever cholesterol test last spring at the end of April. Here I am 6 months later, and I was amazed at the progress I'd made. Everything came back considerably better, with the exception of my HDL number, which dropped from 39 to 36. That's the one number I would have liked to have increased, of course. But overall, I was very pleased. I was also told last spring, TWICE, that I needed to keep an eye on my blood pressure, as it was borderline high. It was down to 110 over 80 -- normal!!!! Exercise is such a good thing.

I still am not that fond of running on my treadmill. But it is a necessary evil. And I will continue to do it. A couple of weeks ago I decided to do something different. The competitive side of me likes to try and run as fast as I can. But I've determined that isn't what's best for me right now. So the fastest I run now is 5 MPH. And I have decided that when running on a treadmill, I won't change that speed at least until January 1, 2010. I'm also going to start putting in at least 20 minutes on the treadmill each morning.

I do have 2 major dilemmas to deal with this month. I have to spend a week in Las Vegas on business. Major Dilemma #1 -- Exercising while in Vegas. There is a health club at the hotel where I'll be staying -- The Rio -- but it's $22 a day according to their website. That is outrageous, I'll run outside in the 60 degree heat before I'll pay that price. I'm thinking about looking into renting a bike while I'm there too. Dilemma #2 -- The infamous Las Vegas Buffets -- I've never been one to turn down a good buffet. I think I'm going to have to determine before I leave to only participate in one or 2 of these scrumptious eateries, and then, keep it moderate, and exercise even more when I do.

Got 45 minutes in on the treadmill tonight. I think it's time to start increasing that time a little more.

I want to run outside!!

And of all nights, I should have done it tonight. Weather has improved a bit the past couple of days. Although Friday night was downright miserable, out camping with the scouts.

Tonight was good, but too much going on to get out early. Had to go get hockey gear for the boys, and then we had Family Home Evening after that, so by the time I was ready to run at 9 PM, I decided the treadmill was the way to go. It's better than nothing, but not by much. I'm debating whether to switch to mornings. Maybe I'll try that on Wednesday.

Tonight when I got done, I thought about running a few laps downstairs around the inside of the house. Don't think my wife would have appreciated that though. So I didn't.

Back on the Treamill

So tonight, I knew I had to get on the treadmill. A Gyro and Fries for lunch. Not good.

Seemed like everything was working against me getting on there tonight too. But in the end, I prevailed, and got on finally around 9:15. I will get used to running on that thing yet. I have to. It is where I'm going to spend a good part of my winter, at least in the wee morning hours I believe. I think that is when I will run the most this winter.

I did suffer a major setback this week. My bike was stolen. But it's my fault for leaving it outside overnight unlocked. I have no one to blame but myself. So now I have to decide whether to replace it now or in the spring. I really just am not sure what I'll do. Time will tell.

I did 30 minutes on the treadmill. When I'm on that thing, I just can't keep my full running as much it seems. Maybe it's just a matter of getting the hang of the thing. Which I will.

The pounds keep dropping. And they will. I have to win to get to 210. I may not set any Biggest Loser paces in doing this, but I can certainly get there well before December 7th now I believe. There are going to be 2 key periods that I will have to overcome. One is a week out of town. The other is thanksgiving. Thanksgiving I think I can handle. The week out of town will be a little more challenging. But I can do it. And I will!!!

A Day of Betterment

Is betterment a word? I guess I could look it up at www.dictionary.com if I really wanted to know. Perhaps I will after writing this post.

Today was a good day. This whole week has been somewhat interesting overall. It's been cold outside so I haven't wanted to run outside. As I mentioned previously, my treadmill key went missing as well, so I couldn't run on the treadmill. I've been exercising with my Wii, but that has even been inconsistent as well.

As I wrote in my previous blog, I've got a friendly competition going on with a friend of mine. My friend's wife gave my wife a coupon yesterday for $25 off of dinner at a mexican restaurant, so we went out to eat last night. We saw them there. When she gave it to her, she made a joke that it was an attempt to sabotage the competition. I guess it worked, a little. When I woke up this morning, it was the first day that I got on the scale and my number was UP from the day before. And it was up by over a pound!!! But, I've fixed that, as I will explain in a moment.

So today, I woke up rather early. That's not uncommon. The first time I awoke, it was just after 3. I went back to sleep, and awoke again about 515. I was going to try and go back to sleep, but about 10 minutes later my cell phone alarm started going off, and it was downstairs. I figured that I better go shut it off before it woke up all the kids. That meant getting out of bed, and once I'm out, I'm up. So I was up.

Luckily, it wasn't hard to find something to do early this morning. There was a brand new Geocache in town, so I decided to go see if I could be FIRST TO FIND on it. And I was!! WOO HOO!! There was even $1 of prize money in there which I claimed. The cache was actually in Kenai, so I headed back to Soldotna. This weekend is General Conference for church, and we have a tradition that we started a few years back. We always view the sessions at home, and for Saturday morning session, that starts at 8 AM, we get donuts and chocolate milk. For the kids who are 8 and over, and the adults, it's a large donut, shaped like a dough boy. About twice the size of a normal donut. I decided I wasn't going to let a little weight gain deprive me of our tradition, so I got the donuts like normal. And enjoyed mine to it's fullest!!

After the first session of conference, I went biking for an hour. It was great. Weather was just right. A little cool, but once I got to sweating a bit, it was decent. And it was also an 800+ calorie burn. I got home just in time to take a shower before the second session of conference. Of course I had to get on the scale again, and I had dropped that extra weight from last night and then some. I should still be able to make at least my 2.5 lbs for the week that I need to for this little contest.

This afternoon, my son and I and one of his friends went to the priesthood session of conference at the church and then to Dairy Queen for a little treat afterwards. No harm done. When we walked in the door, the voices of the younger children rang out letting me know that the treadmill key had been found. Great news.

Things just keep getting better!!!

A Challenge and a Missing Key

Anyone that knows me knows that I have a bit of a competitive streak in me. And someone decided to put that competitiveness to use for both of our benefits. I had someone approach me on Sunday who is wanting to drop a few pounds. He knows what I've been doing as well, so he shared his goal with me and asked me to set a reasonable "short term" goal as well. We put a friendly wager on it (the loser gets to watch the other person's children for a day while the winner and their spouse take a day out of town without kids.) I have to get down to 210 lbs by the December 7th deadline. And, we decided that both of us can potentially win if we both meet our goals. That's 21 lbs for me to lose in that time. I can do it!!!

There is one thing I need though to help with this. My treadmill key is missing. It disappeared last THursday night. I had it just the day before. If anyone has seen it, let me know. :D Cause it's getting too cold to run outside. I still have some Wii games to exercise with, but the running is critical, and I need that key!!!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Ahh, yes, the name of a great song by Leann Womack and Harry Connick, Jr., but also likely the theme of many nights of running in the next many months.

When I went out running last Saturday night, it wasn't too bad. I was out on my bike last night, about 11 miles total, and it was pretty cool, but today took the cake. We awoke this morning to FROST!!! The first frost of the season. I had to get out and run a little early today since I'll be home watching kids tonight. And it only gets colder as the night progresses. So I took off around 6 PM for my 3 miler. And it was a nippy one. At least til I got warmed up. It felt good to be out again after 3 days off. I was still biking and doing my EA Sports Active on the Wii. But I set a goal at the start of last week to make sure I got in 30 minutes of running 4 days a week for the next 2 weeks. And if I miss one more night this week, I'm toast. But I shouldn't have any conflicts from here out that I can see.

As I ran tonight, I was thinking about all the running gear and bike gear I can get for $1,305. That's the amount of this year's PFD checks. I won't really be spending all of mine on that, but it sounds good in theory.

Stats for tonight: 30:06. 3.05 Miles. Avg speed, 6.1 MPH. Max Speed 9.2 MPH. Avg Heart Rate, 156. Max Heart Rate, 167.

Where shall I run tonight?

Well, I left tonight wanting to mix things up a bit, but not knowing where exactly I wanted to go. So my route was rather random, but I got it done. Left around 8 PM, which has me running through sunset these past few days. It's kind of nice, but I have to be careful of the cars and all. I still don't have the "wear light colors" down very good, but I do a pretty good job making sure I'm on the correct side of the street so I'm running against the traffic and can see what's coming at me.

I'm getting better at the settings on my Garmin. Have it set now where it automatically records a new split for each mile that I go. I like being able to see my pace from one mile to the next, and even comparing from one night to the next. It will be even more interesting once I start increasing my distances.

I wasn't feeling as energetic tonight as I normally do when I run. Probably cause I haven't eaten as well as I should today. We also took the family to the Nikiski pool today too. I didn't do anything too intense there. Mainly played in the kiddie pool with the little kids. I set a goal at the beginning of this week to run for 30 minutes straight, 4 nights a week, for 2 weeks straight. I'm right on track for that goal as of tonight. I think once I make it through next week, I'm ready to start increasing my time/distance a little bit. I also have a feeling that will mean slowing down my pace a little bit as I add more time and distance to my run. That will be a little bit of a challenge I think. As weird as it may sound, I'm kind of competitive, even within myself, and once I've started running at once pace, I hate to slow it down. But I'm going to have to do that as I increase my time and distance, at least initially.

Tonight's stats: Time 32:17 -- 30:30 minutes running, the remainder was the cooldown walk home. 3.1 miles. Avg speed -- 5.8 MPH. Max speed 8.2 MPH. Avg heart rate -- 154 BPM; Max heart rate -- 163 BPM.

Smokey Run

Note to self: Never go running just 30 minutes after eating a piece of cake -- even if it was a small piece.

We got home from a friend's daughter's baptism tonight, and I wanted to get out and run before it got dark. I knew I was going to be cutting it close since I had to drop my daughter off at the homecoming bonfire first. So I ran her there, came home and took off to run. I could tell almost from the start this was not going to be one of my better showings. And it wasn't. But I got my 30 minutes in -- 30:13 actually, and 3.0 miles. As I took off down the road, I could see the volcano steaming. Mt. Redoubt erupted a few times earlier this year, but has been rather quiet lately. At lunch today, I noticed a larger plume then normal hovering over the mountain. It has continued steaming a but tonight. But we haven't heard any warnings of emminent eruptions. It made for a nice view with the sun setting out that way also as I was running. As I ran down Kobuk tonight, I could see another plume of smoke. I'm pretty sure that one was from the homecoming bonfire I mentioned earlier.

Lots of smoke tonight, thus the title.

My running tonight wasn't as smoking as usual. I just wasn't feeling as energized from the get go. And then, about 16 minutes in, I felt like I needed to stop and leave a dump. But I just kept on running. All the way to the end. But it did slow me down a bit. It must have been the cupcake.

When it was all said and done, I had run for 30:13 and covered 3 miles. Average speed was 5.9 MPH with a max speed of 9.5 MPH. Average heart rate was 162 BPM with a maximum rate of 168.

I started using EA Sports Active for the Wii last night too. Watch for updates coming soon on that one.

Running out of Daylight

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Well, I was going to use this headline another time, but something else won out back then. And tonight it applied. Matter of fact, maybe even tonight it should have been running WITHOUT daylight, cause that's what it was.

I knew it would be a late run in the dark tonight. I had a meeting after work and knew that by the time I got home, my wife would be ready to leave for her meeting and I'd be home watching kids. I couldn't let that stop me from getting out though, and so once I got the kids to bed, I got ready so that as soon as my wife got home, I could head out. She didn't get back until around 9 PM, and sunset tonight was around 8:30 tonight, so by the time she got here, the daylight was gone. I had to go anyway.

When I took off, I was going to run my perfect loop, but changed my mind on the route part of the way through due to a lack of street lights along part of that route. It's nice to always have other options.

Overall, the run felt pretty good. I ran the full 30 minutes without problems and walked home after that 30 minutes ran out. Went a total of 3.11 miles during that 30 minutes, and then walked .29 miles more to get back home.

Total Stats -- 36:05; 3.4 Miles; Avg Speed -- 5.7 MPH (6.3 MPH while RUNNING, and ran 3.11 miles in 30 minutes of running.; Max speed 9.2 MPH, Avg Heart Rate -- 161 BPM; Max Heart Rate -- 176 BPM.

2+ Miles With an Untied Shoe

OK, I know, I've got some serious explaining to do. It's been 12 days since my last entry. But I promise there's a good reason. And I'll start with that.

It all started Labor Day weekend. I went on a Boy Scout Outing with my son and his Scout Troop. We hiked up the Russian River trail to Aspen Flats cabin for a 3 day, 2 night outing. The hike was just under 9 miles each way. Packs ranged from a high of 61 lbs for one of the leaders to a low of about 15 for some of the scouts. It turns out that one of them had such a light pack because he left some of his food home. Good thing some of us brought some extra food. My pack was about 42 lbs going in, and about 10 lbs lighter coming out. To make a long story short, when it was all said and done, my knees were pretty sore.

Everything I have read says that when you're sore, STOP. Don't try to push things. So that's what I did. Did not run all week last week. I did continue to ride my bike to work though. I haven't driven the car to work since late April.

After a week off, I was ready to go for it again. I got home from work tonight, checked how long til dinner, and when the answer was, "about a half an hour," I knew I had time. Changed my clothes, and off I went.

I decided to run my "perfect loop" again tonight. That's the route that I discovered that is pretty much exactly 3 miles. My goal right now, for the next 2 weeks, is to run 4 nights a week, and run for 30 minutes minimum each time without stopping. Even with over a week off from running, I managed to make the full 3 minutes without any problems. That's a good feeling.

Did have one problem tonight, but maybe it was good practice for the future, or at least a warning. About a mile in tonight, my right shoe came untied. My good buddy once told me that if that happens, you just keep running. CAn't afford to lose the time. So that's what I did. If I was in a long race, I'd probably get down and tie it. But I decided to punish myself tonight for not tying it properly. I'll be more careful in the future about properly tying my shoes so they don't come untied so easily.

That's it for now.

P.S. Stats for tonight. 30:22 time, 9:55/mile average pace. 9.4 MPH max speed, 163 BPM Avg Heart rate; 172 BPM Max Heart Rate; and 3.06 miles.

Thanks for the Challenge John!!

Nothing like a little challenge to get me to push myself.

As I was running the other night, I was thinking about my pattern I had been following as far as going out for 30 minutes, and extending how long I ran each night before throwing in a 1 minute rest walk. Monday night I was at 20 minutes running, 1 minute walking, and 9 minutes running. I had been increasing my opening run 1 minute each time, but started thinking that maybe I should up it by 2 minutes between days. Then today, I got an email from my buddy John. He said I should try running for 30 minutes. No walking. The challenge had been thrown down.

I also decided to run early tonight since I knew I'd be home with the kids and it would be later before I could run if I didn't. So I came home, changed my clothes, and off I went. In addition to running all 30 minutes, I had another goal. I wanted to make the three mile mark again. I figured that if I could do it with a 1 minute break in there, I coul definitley do it running for all 30. But I also knew that not having a break would affect my pace somewhat. I haven't downloaded and analyzed the data from my Garmin Forerunner 305 yet, but this I do know. The first mile was no problem.The second mile was a little slower, but by the time I was at the 20 minute mark, I knew that if I could just finish with a 10 minute per mile pace, I could make it. When it was all said and dune, 30 minutes of running, and 3.02 miles completed. I had done it. But I definitely had to push myself to get it done. To me, it seemed the biggest goal was to run farther since I had made it 3.01 miles previously in a run that included a 1 minute walk. I think that thinking almost cost me.

Tonight I remembered another reason to run later in the evening. During the 5 o'clock hour, there's still plenty of traffic on the roads. If you can call it traffic in this small town. But still, the smell of exhaust can be bothersome.

I'll edit this later to add the stats from tonight's run. I do know the route I picked tonight was practically perfect. Started and ended right in my driveway with no time to spare.

3.01!!!

WOW!! What a night!! As I was out running, I had so many different potential headlines in my mind. But the one you see above prevailed. I ran 3.01 miles in my 30 minutes!!! WOO HOO!!

I had a board meeting from work last night, and didn't arrive home until about 9:15 PM. I knew my running window was closing as my GPS screen had turned the background to black shortly before I arrived, indicating sunset. So, I immediately changed my clothes and headed out.

And out with a bang I went. I could tell I was out at a prtty good pace when I started. And I finished my first mile in a little under nine and a half minutes. By the time I got to my 1 minute walking break, which came at the 20 minute mark tonight, I was slightly over 2 miles. I knew the 3 mile mark was within reach. When my 1 minute was up, I gave it a burst of speed again. I have to admit, I was keeping a little more of an eye on my watch than I normally like to. But it paid off. When I hit the 30 minute mark, I looked down, and I had done it. 3.01 miles!!! YIPPEE!!!

I'm also starting something new in September -- A 30 Day Challenge with EA Sports Active. It's an exercise game for the Nintendo Wii that I have and I'm going to start incorporating the workouts from there on my non-running days. Should be fun!!

To recap tonight -- 30 minutes; 3.01 miles; 6.0 MPH Average; 160 BPM Average Heart Rate' Max Speed -- 9.3 MPH; Max heart rate -- 172 BPM.

What can 22 miles do for you??

So, as a former FedEx employee, should I really be taking a slogan from UPS and changing it to use for my headline today? Probably not, but I did it anyways.

Today was the annual community picnic in Kenai that we call Industry Appreciation Days. It is basically a big party so that the main industries in our area can feed us all lunch, give away some toys and bikes to our kids, and we can appreciate them feeding us while we appreciate all the jobs they create and money that flows into our community through their industries. The main industries recognized are oil and gas, fishing, and tourism.

What does this possibly have to do with my quest to run a marathon, you ask?? Let me explain.

As I stated, this annual event is held in Kenai. The drive to get there is a little over 11 miles from my house. I decided this year I was going to ride my bike. Both ways. One way hauling a trailer with 2 kids in it. My plan was to ride there solo, and then ride home hauling a couple of kids. My wife was gone overnight, and hadn't yet returned when I left, so on a whim, I decided to take kids in the trailer going with me. I knew it would slow me down a bit. But it would also help me sweat more. So I hitched up the trailer and headed out. It took me a little over 83 minutes to make the ride. The two in the trailer didn't even start asking "Are we there yet?" until we were almost half way there. We still got there before the rest of the family by about 10-15 minutes.

The ride home was a bit quicker with no kids to pull. 53 minutes and change. About 30 minutes less. Not bad.

So now, to answer the question above -- What can 22 miles do for you? Well, let me tell you what it did for me. Through this grueling ride, I was able to eat a hamburger, a side of grilled salmon, a bag of chips, a bag of Kettle Korn, drink a couple of sodas, have a little bit of smoked pork with BBQ sauce from the 4-H pig that they smoke there every year, and drink a bottle of water each way, and still come home 2 lbs lighter then I left. NOT BAD!!

Gave me a new reason to appreciate industry appreciation days altogether. Not to mention, my oldest son won a new bike in the Frozen T-Shirt contest. But that's another story.

I sure am glad tomorrow is my day of rest. I surely need it after today. And Monday, I'm starting a new portion of training. I'll tell you about it on Monday.

RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY!!

Well, kind of a bummer last night. Was really looking forward to my run, but the weather would not cooperate. One of the rainiest days we've had all year I think. When I got up in the morning, it was raining, but by the time I had to head to wrok on my bike, it had stopped, although the road was still wet. It started up again by late morning and continued on pretty steady the rest of the day.

So tonight, I decided to do some time on the treadmill instead. I really don't like the treadmill that much, but I know I'll have to get used to it for winter time anyhow. So I may as well do some now. I did a total of just over 60 minutes on there last night. I combination of running and walking, but mostly walking -- fast walking.

I've got to keep doing something every day, no matter what. And this is how I will do it.

Today, Saturday, I'm looking forward to what I have planned. We're planning to go to a large community picnic in Kenai, which is about 11 miles away. I'm thinking about biking there and back -- and even pulling the trailer on the way back with 2 kids in it. Weather permitting of course. As of right now, 7:42 AM, it looks about 50/50 as to whether or not the weather is going to cooperate. It isn't raining right now, but the roads are pretty wet still. We'll see what happens.

Treadmill -- 1:00:27; 3.28 miles; Avg Speed 3.3 MPH; Max speed 5.4 MPH; Avg Heart Rate 132 BPM.

Wednesday NIght

Well, I made it out again last night. But I've got to get better about logging these on time so that they show up here in my blog on the right day. I wish I could put the right date on them, but the site has it's limitations.

Tonight felt pretty good. I made it 2.95 minutes in my 30 minutes. For some reason that 3 mile mark still manages to elude me. I actually thought I was going to hit it today. At around the 17 minute mark or so, my heart rate monitor started beeping telling me I was higher than I should be, and it beeped off and on the rest of the way, except for during my 1 minute walking period. My wife didn't even offer to go with me this time. Said her feet were still a bit sore from the previous night. I don't normall run 2 nights in a row, but needed to to get back on track since I sat out Monday due to the rain. It rained on me just a tad bit tonight near the end. Luckily I left when I did, because within a few minutes of finishing, it started raining pretty good.

30 minutes, 2.95 miles, Avg pace -- 5.9 MPH. Max speed, 8.2 MPH.

A Tuesday Night Run?

OK, so I'm a couple posts behind. But I've still been out running.

I didn't make it out Monday night this week, due to the rain. I had good intentions. Figured I'd go get on the treadmill and do my time on there, but I never got to it. So I decided to get out there last night instead. (I'm writing this on Wednesday night.)

As I got ready to go last night, my wife Marlene said something about going with me. But then she said that I probably needed to stay at a certain pace. Which was true to an extent, but I played it down, and she decided to go with me. We really ran for MAYBE the first quarter mile. At that point she was more "fast walking," and I was running along side her, baby step style I guess you could say. Again, not as intense as I'm used to, but it was fun to have her along.

It was supposed to be Run 18, Walk 1, and run 11, but since the intensity was so low, I pretty much "ran" the whole trip, if you could call that running.

To recap: 30 minutes, covering 1.81 miles. I'll get the other details added on here later.

Don't be so shocked!!

It's amazing the reactions I get when people see me running. And tonight, I saw more then normal. Less than a quarter of a mile in, I almost got run over by someone that wasn't paying attention to me. Almost turned right right into me. Luckily, I saw him and was ready to stop if needed. This is the second time in 2 weeks this has happened, although last time I was on my bike.

My run tonight fely great. OF course, it's always good to be presented with a challenge here and there. And tonight, just as I was leaving, I got one. I had a friend who is helping me through this endeavor, and today he emailed and asked me what the top speed is I reach. I told him what I thought was fresh in my memory from my last run, and he challenged me to do a little better than that. And so tongiht, for a little bit, I did just that. Top speed tonight I hit was 8.2 MPH, but my overall average was 5.8 MPH. It was my best average speed to date, and I have to credit my new shoes. They feel so much better than my old Nikes. My GPS gave me more problems tonight too. Actually, I gave it to myself. My routine tonight was supposed to be Run 17 Minutes, Walk 1 minute, and Run 12 minutes. Well, I screwed up again and had it set to run 17 HOURS. Luckily, I was paying attention and still got my walking interval in at the right time. You would think that the longer I've had this thing,the better I would be at using it. Hopefully I"ll get it right on Saturday.

And now for the sightings tonight. I had one person see me who pretended they were going to run me right out of the bike lane I was running in, followed shortly by one of my refereeing buddies who backed up to talk to me. I was in my walking interval and when he offered to "pace" me, I let him know I had my pace on my wrist, and that I had to start running again in 20 seconds. I headed on down the road, and he went on his way. Then came the third person to see me, who politley offered me a ride. As if I was out of my normal zone to be out running. Little does he know. Or most people. But the word is slowly getting out about my goal to run a marathon -- a goal that is very much in sight.

To recap tonight -- 2.93 miles in 30 minutes, 2 seconds. Average speed, 5.8 MPH. Avg heart rate of 159 BPM, and 554 calories burned. And I capped it all off with a nice, home made burrito.

Getting back in the loop

Well, after a couple weeks off, I'm back to my running ways again. The first week I missed was primarily due to the fact that I was travelling out of town in Las Vegas. While I was there, I managed to wear a blister on my right foot, so I had to set out a week and let that heal too.

Monday this week, I rode 21 miles round trip to Kenai for Jury Duty, so I started running again last night. I slowed my pace just a tad since I haven't run in a couple of weeks, but still managed to get in 2.68 miles in my 30 minutes of running. I accidentally loaded the program wrong into my GPS, so I had to pay a littlecloser attention to the time at the end as it wasn't properly programmed. But I still got it done.

THis was also my first run in my new running shoes, and they felt great!!

The hardest 2 miles yet!

Wow. I can't believe how difficult tonight's run felt. I have a couple of theories on why. And I'll get to those in a minute.

Tonight, I started by going to the local track to try calibrating my Garmin Forerunner with my footpod again. The result changed slightly from when I did it last week, but I'm still not convinced it's right. I may try one more thing in a week or so. When I get back from Las Vegas. For now, it is what it is.

Speaking of Vegas, I havebeen tracking the temps down there lately, and it is HOT!! Temps well over 100 degrees every day. It's supposed to drop to a high of only 97 by Friday while I'm there. We'll see. That being said, I don't suppose I'll be doing any outside running while I'm there. Luckily the hotel has a fitness center. So, since I'll be running inside while I'm there, I decided to do so here at home tonight. Boy was it different!! Seemed very exhausting, and I felt like I was sweating more than normal. And I probably was. Not to mention the fact that I couldn't even stay anywhere near my normal pace. Tonight I was running 16/1/13. THose first 16 weren't too bad, other than the fact that I didn't feel like I could run the same speed as when I'm outside. I did start out between 5.5 and 6 MPH, which is about normal, but couldn't maintain that at all. And eneded doing most of my run at the 4.5 MPH setting on the treadmill, which I'm told not to believe since those aren't really calibrated. But, the newly calibrated Forerunner was reporting a pretty similar speed, so I think it was probably pretty close.

At about the 23 minute mark, I could feel a small rock in my shoe, so I did stop to get it out of there. But it was a quick stoppage.

I hope the fitness center is well air-conditioned when I get there!! No matter what, I've got to keep going.

I almost tried to justify not running tonight by telling myself I had already ridden my bike to and from work twice, and then done 4 walking laps at the track when I was calibrating the Forerunner. But I kept telling my self, "The only minutes that really count are the 'Required 30' ". And I will keep telling myself that. Gotta do it!!

Frontloading the Hills

So, I'm still in Anchorage and had another run to do in my brother's neighborhood tonight. Last night I realized what a flat area I'm used to running on. As I mentioned, the hills really got to me.

So tonight, I decided to do something a little different. I modified my route a little bit, so that I'd have some hills right off the bat, and pretty much have them over with. I think it worked. The last tough climb I had, and for many experienced runners, it proably wouldn't have been much trouble at all, was about 3/4 of a mile into my run.

This was the first night where I only had one, one-minute break. Which meant 29 minutes of running. It all felt really good tonight. And I ran farther than I ever have before -- 2.95 miles. At least that's what I THINK I ran. Best estimate I could get from Google Earth measurements. I didn't have the luxury of checking the mileage on my Garmin Forerunner when I got home. When I first checked when I got home, it was rather puzzled by it all. It had been recording my time, letting me know when to walk and then when to start running again. And it had recorded my heart rate info correctly. But no mileage. No average speed. None of that. After getting mad at Garmin for a few minutes, I think I figured out what happened. While I was changing some of the settings inside tonight before I left, at one point the GPS asked me if I was indoors, and I told it yes. That usually turns off the GPS portion of the device, and unless you manually turn it back on or reboot the whole system, it doesn't come back on. Now it makes sense why, as I was running and would glance at my watch from time to time, some of the fields were blank. I didn't give it much thought at the time. But you can rest assured I will next time.

It was another late evening run, not leaving until about 10:30 PM. The great thing about running that late though is that it's STILL LIGHT. As I turned a corner to head down the final half mile stretch or so, the sunset was gorgeous. Great reminder of what a beautiful state I live in.

Tomorrow is a day with no training on the schedule. I'm looking forward to it. I'm just glad I got back to a week where I got all 4 of my training days completed!! And 2 of them on the road. Next week I'll be out of town starting Tuesday, but I should be able to get my training in regardless.

Holy Hills!!!

Well, I thought I had the perfect title for tonight's run, but that one will have to be used another time. Tonight's run was something I've never experienced before.

We drove up to Anchorage today and will be here through Sunday evening. I knew that I had to get out and do my 30 minutes no matter what. We got here just after 9, and dinner was on the table -- Salad and Spaghetti. Boy did it look good. But I knew that if I ate that, there was no way I'd get out of here and run.

So I Got out my gear and off I went.

Until tonight, I never realized how flat the course is I've been running on is. Tonight, at the first small incline, I noticed I was running up a hill before I even visually noticed it. There were a number of hills around this route. But even the slightest hill was noticeable.

Overall, the first 14 minutes wasn't bad. The second 14 minutes gave me a few struggles though. Including a bit of a side ache about 8 minutes into it. But I got through it. I may do the 14/1 again tomorrow night.

THe spaghetti was good thought. I hate eating late, but I was sure hungry. And it was good. And post-run meals aren't something I've started doing yet. I guess this was my first.

Wednesday Night -- Thirteen and One

Tonight was my Run 13, Walk 1 interval run. It went off pretty well. I ran a slightly modified route from one of my regular ones, and it seemed to go pretty well. I've been reading a book called Running for Mortals lately. Spent a few hours in it today. One thing that stuck out in my mind was to not over exert yourself or push too hard too early. Tonight, I was wondering for a bit if I was doing just that. About the 25th minute of my run, I was really starting to feel it. But I persevered through to the 27th minute, at which time I got a 1 minute walking rest before the 2 minute finale.

Total mileage covered tonight was 2.89 miles at an average pace of 10:22 per mile(5.8 MPH). I then had .11 miles left to walk to get home. I perfect 3 mile loop.

Family, Fish and The Perfect Loop??

Well, Saturday my youngest brother got married. And weddinges always mean family. The Reds are running on the Kenai River. And fish also means family. So, we've had a lot of visitors lately.

Today, I went dipnetting with my brother Jim and his family. It was a pretty good day. Two of my nephews were in town to fish too, but they slept in and didn't make it down until noon. Still, we all did surprisingly well. Jim started fishing at 6 AM when it opened, and by the time I arrived at about 7:30, he had 1 fish. I jumped in around 8 and got one pretty quick, and then there was a bit of a lull again. Finally, between 9 and 10, it started heating up. My nephews showed up around noon and we were pretty much ready to give up the nets to them. I figured if they got 3-4 fish each that would be pretty good. They ended up with about 25-30 total. And we ended up with about 4o or more for Jim's family. Not a bad day on the river.

Tonight it was time to do some 12/1 intervals. I left around 10:15 PM. Decided to change things up a bit, and almost found The Perfect Loop. My pace was a little slow tonight, but I did manage to RUN the whole time I was supposed to RUN. That's always a good thing. But I only covered 2.72 miles total. When I got back home, I had been going about 29:40, so I ran a little past, and then looped back. ALMOST the Perfect Loop.

I made two major mistakes tonight, although one was kind of intentional. FIrst, I forgot my heart rate monitor. Had the GPS on so I got the time and distance and pace all registered OK, just didn't have the heart rate info. Second, I ran without my music tonight. My blackberry was still in my wader pocket from fishing, and are buried too deep still in my brother's car. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from running. Gotta stay consistent.

Late Night -- New Route

I decided it was time to shake things up a little bit. So far, I have pretty much either run at the local high school track, or done a "loop" near my house. Last night, I decided to change that up a little.

I still ran a "loop," just on a few different roads than what I've used before. Overall, my run felt good last night. Was running 11, walking 1, repeat, and then finish with 6 miuntes. Total distance run was 2.84 miles, and despite a new loop, I still managed to finish within about a tenth of a mile of home. I walked the rest of the way home for my cooldown.

It was a late run too -- started getting dark near the end. I didn't leae until about 11 PM. I need to remember to run on the correct side of the road when running against the traffic. A portion of my run tonight was also on a sidewalk right along the main highway running through town. I've gotta avoid doing that in the future. The smell of the exhaust was pretty bad on that stretch.

I also started reading a book last night, RUNNING FOR MORTALS, by John "The Penguin" Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. Should be interesting to learn his thoughts on running. Afterall, when he started running, at age 43, he was about 75 lbs heavier then when he wrote the book, not to mention he led a pretty sedentary lifestyle filled with overeating, and he was a smoker. I can relate to the overeating part of that, and the overweight.

My weight has been dropping pretty good the last couple months. I'm down 18 lbs since mid-may.

Tonight, it's time for 12/1 intervals.

Finally!! An Early Morning Run!!

So yesterday, I finally did it. My first morning running session.

It is mid-July, and in Alaska, that means one thing -- FISHING SEASON!! And I've let that slow down my running lately. Shame on me. It sure felt good to get out in the morning though. I woke up just after 5 AM, and decided to do it. Found my GPS Watch and the batteries were low, so I decided to let it charge for a bit before going. Finally, at about 5:50, I was ready to go, and off I went.

Today it was Run 10 and Walk 1 twice, and then an 8 minute run to finish my 30 minutes. I have a 2.85 mile loop that I've mapped out, and today I made it within one tenth of home before my time ran out. I walked the rest of the way home. THe first mile felt pretty good. I finished it in just under 10 minutes. About 7 minutes into my next 10, I was starting to feel it. The effects of the layoff. It slowed me down a bit. I thought about the need for CONSISTENCY. I have to keep my schedule and make the time for my running or I won't make my goal. For the first time, I started to have some second thoughts about doing this. But I can't let those thoughts creep in. I will continue to run. And be ready. For June 19, 2010.

One other thought I had while running this morning -- boy do garbage trucks stink. One drove by me at about the 28th minute today. It was awful. And to think it was early morning and that truck had bearely started collecting garbage yet.

The Early Morning Run

So last night, I decided to change up the time of day I would get out and do my running -- first thing in the morning. And I had every intention of doing so.

But it didn't happen.

For starters, I didn't set my alarm clock, but I awake early most mornings without one anyhow. I was also up a bit later than normal last night, and I'm rarely in bed before midnight as it is. So when I awoke this morning at about 6 AM, I told myself it was too late to go run. What was I thinking?!?! I could have done it. Especially given the route I ran tonight, when I did run. Yes, I DID run tonight!!!

Instead of biking to the track and then running there for my 30 minutes(9 Minute Run, 1 Minute Walk, 3 time), I decided at the last minute to just head out on the street running. It felt good, despite having not run for the past 12 days. Once my run was up, I was about .15 miles from home, and I walked it in about 3 minutes. My 30 minutes of intervals burned 567 calories, covered 2.71 miles, and I averaged a heart rate of 162 BPM and 11:04 minute miles. Not too shabby.

Perhaps tomorrow will be my first morning run. Only time will tell. I better do SOMETHING in the morning tomorrow, because my evening plans call for DIPNETTING at the river, hopefully followed by a few, or a lot, of hours of cutting fish!!

Time for a Time Change

OK, I've been HORRIBLE about running lately. So it's time for a change. Summer is just too busy at nights. So tommorow, I try something new. Early morning running. Should be interesting. I'm thinking 530 AM or so.

Two Nights in a Row!!

Well, I ran again tonight. This time it was 8 minutes running and 1 minute walking with a 3 minute run for the finale. I was hoping to get out a little earlier then I did, but didn't leave until just after 10 PM.

My 8 year old son went with me. He got a bit of a headstart on the track while I was doing my stretches. I caught up to him a little over half way through the 2nd lap. We ran together for a bit before he slowed down. He then walked across the track and met me on the other side at one point. Then we ran together a little more. He eventually dropped out completely, but then after waiting for awhile, decided to get on his bike. He started riding around and eventually caught up to me and we finished the last 2-3 laps together with me running and him walking. It's always fun to have someone else along.

After the run, we went and checked out a nearby geocache. \

I'm glad I got out and ran since the next couple nights I'll be out camping again. Somewhere I've never been before. I'm going out with a group of scouts to the Moose Horn Trail out across Skilak Lake. Should be lots of fun.

Back on Track

Well, it's been too long since my last post. I was at Boy Scout Camp last week with my 2 oldest sons, and didn't have very good internet access. I tried posting via my Blackberry after my Monday night run, but after I got it written, I couldn't get it to post. If I can figure out how to get this to let me do a back dated post, I'll write about my runs in camp later. But I wanted to get this one up for now. Suffice it to say that I made my regular Monday and Wednesday night runs at camp, and rather than walking on Tuesday and Thursday, I did some biking -- about 2 hours or so each day. I didn't get to run on Friday due to travelling back from camp, and Saturday was busy catching up after being gone. I told my personal trainer that I felt bad about missing those runs, and he told me not to be obssessed with missing a session here and there, but to me, I feel like starting out, I need to remain consistent.

Tonight, I was back running at the local high school track. 6 minutes running, 1 minute walking, 4 times, and then finished with 2 minutes of running. Made a total of 2.74 miles, and it felt pretty good. I was able to complete at least 2 full laps during each 6 minute running interval, which, if done consistently, is a 12 minute mile. I'm hoping that by Marathon Day, I can run 10 minute miles. That is my goal at this point.

I need to get back to tracking my caloric intake as well. I was previously doing that on www.livestrong.com, but quit doing it a couple weeks ago. I have still been doing pretty good, but know I do better when I'm recording everything I eat and all my exercise. I once heard it said that when performance is measured, performance improves. When performance is measured and reported, the rate of improvement accelerates. I can use all the acceleration in t his regard that I can get.

I have still been riding my bicycle to work every day, usually twice a day as I normally come home from lunch. It's 1.25 miles each way.

Since my normal schedule is to run M W F and Saturday, and to walk T, TH, but I missed Monday night this week too, I think I will run every night this week, increasing my running interval time by one minute each day to get myself back on the proper training schedule so that in another 4.5 weeks, I will be able to be running 30 minutes non-stop. I can't wait.

I'm also going to do a little research tonight before I go to bed, but I got a new game for Father's Day called EA Sports Active, for the Wii. It came out in May, and on their website, they had a 30 day challenge in June. I'm hoping they have another one in July. I'd like to add some more cross training to my running routines.

I'm also going to look on changing up my running a little bit, as far as location is concerned. There's a trail system nearby, the Tsalteshi Trails, which have a variety of cross country trails. I know they're used for both running and biking in the summer, and cross country skiing in the winter. A little variety would be good I think.

And boy did I do something dorky in my run tonight. I Must have been a little over eager to get our there having not run in a while. I ride my bike to the track most times, except when I take all the kids. Tonight I was alone, so I biked. I got to the track, did my stretches, and hit the track. I made it around the track about 1.25 times before I realized, I WAS RUNNING WITH MY BIKE HELMET STILL ON!!! Man did I feel like a fool. Luckily, it was about 10:30 PM, no one else was on the track, and hopefully no one in the houses that can see the track saw what a fool I was.

MARATHON DAY...

... but not this year for me.

So today was the 2009 Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage. That is the race I have selected to run my first marathon. But in 2010. So, I'm down to my final year of training!! Instead of going to even observe the race today, we went to Homer. It was pretty fun.

So tonight, it was time to up the ante again -- 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking, 6 reps. I can't remember if I was getting a full lap in on the 3 minute running last night or not, but I know that even if I did, it wasn't consistently and definitely wasn't every time.

Tonight, I was completing well over 1 lap each running interval -- most of the time close to a lap and a half. I had the 5 youngest kids with me again, but the B-Lakester only joined me briefly one time. Tonight's run went pretty good I felt. It was the first time I exceeded 10 total laps in the 30 miuntes -- 2.60 miles exactly. I certainly dodged a weather bullet tonight. During the day, it was raining off and on. After we got back from Homer, I decided to go run early again, and it wasn't raining when we left.

But at about the 27 minute mark, it began to rain. Uh oh, I thought. But knowing it was almost over, I knew I'd survive it. And I did.

So, the final one year countdown begins. 52 Weeks to go. RUN, ROB, RUN!!

Friday Night With The Kids -- 3 Run/1 Walk

Tonight was fun!! (I'm actually writing this a night late, but who cares.) I came home from work and decided to go running a little early. My wife asked me if I'd take some of the kids with me. Why not. I figured it could be fun. I was originally thinking I was taking 5, but when it was all said and done, 7 of them ended up at the track with me.

When we first got to the 4 that had ridden in the car with me all headed right to the track and started running a lap. It took me a couple minutes to get my HRM set up for the interval change and get stretched out. Just as I was about to start, one of my sons, who I was expecting, arrived on his bike. I headed off. As I was coming out of the final turn of my first lap, I looked at my GPS to see how much running time I had left on my first interval. ARGH!!! I hadn't started it correctly!! So I wasn't even getting credit for it on the HRM. I went ahead and started my walking there, and reset the intervals on the HRM. Got it up and running, and took off again. About that time, 2 more of my sons arrived on their bikes. (We only live about a half mile from the track.) By this time, most of the little kids had bored of running laps, (I think they ran one at the most, some less than that) and they had ventured off to various things -- running around the grass on the football field, playing on a dirtpile they found or frisbee on an adjacent field.

On about the 4th interval tonight(I had 8 to do), as I came up one of the straightaways, there was my 4 year old son, the B-Lakester as he likes to be called. As I came along side him, he told he he was going to run with me. Lucky for him, that interval was about to turn from walking to running. I think I was the most relieved that it was time to walk for a minute, but he picked up quickly on what the beeping "watch" that I was wearing meant. When it came time to run again, I started to pull away from him a little bit. He told me to slow down and wait for him. My first thought was about how it would affect my distance travelled tonight. But I immediately followe that thought up with the thought if, does that really matter? And it didn't. So I slowed down to his pace again. He eventually bored of running on that interval, but did join me one more time before the night was up.

Who knows, maybe he'll be running the marathon with me next year!! That could be pretty entertaining.

Another Easy Walk

So today, I got rained on. But not during my walk. I ride my bike to and from work each day. Twice most days since I usually go home for lunch. This morning when I woke up, it had been raining. Before I left for work, it had stopped, but I wore my "slicker" as someone called it anyhow. But no rain on the way to work. When I left to go home for lunch, I looked outside. Everything was dry. Still a bit cloudy though. No raincoat needed. After lunch, time to ride back to work. Got part way there, and it started. The further I rode, the more it was raining. Oh well. I guess I learned my lesson. When in doubt, bring the raincoat with you.

Tonight, I did my 30 minute walk as scheduled. Went pretty good. Just down the road and back. My wife went with me. Saw a friend walking the other way about 3 minutes from home, so we stopped and talked. I wonder if that really counts as a 3o minute walk since I wasn't walking continuously. Oh, well.

Tomorrow, 3s and 1s. Should be interesting. Another step up. I'm looking forward to it actually.

2/1 Again....This time, much better

So tonight, it was another night of 2 minutes run and 1 minute walking, for 30 minutes. It went better than Monday. My son went with me to ride his bike while I did my intervals. He lasted about 10 minutes before he decided to head home for some hoops.

I managed to make it the whole time running and walking at the proper intervals this time. I mad sure to tell myself not to run too fast. I think that was part of what did me in Monday. But this time I made it without stopping.

TOmorrow, another walk. Then a bump up to 3 and 1.

An Easy Walk

Tonight's agenda called for a 30 minute easy walk. I think we walked closer to 40 minutes. But I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor. Oops!! Or actually, my friend's heart rate monitor, which he so graciously loaned to me. I think I may have a brand new one on Sunday for Father's Day. I'm just guessing.

So, we just took a stroll down the street and through one of the local subdivisions in our neighborhood. Interesting to see all the houses for sale.

Tomorrow night it's back to the track. I think I have an appointment with my health coach tomorrow too.

The Next Step....Am I Ready?

So today was the day to change up my workout. Last week was 1 min run/2 minute walk, repeated 10 times. Was supposed to do that Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with a mild 30 minute walk on Tuesday and Thursday, and Sunday being a day of rest.

Well, a family outing to Hidden Lake threw a little hitch into the plans. I had every intention of doing my workouts even while I was gone, but realized that for the smell of the tent, it was probably better not to get all sweaty in the evening just before bed. Or in the morning for that matter, as I had no intention of jumping in the lake while I was there. So, I decided to forgo things completely on Thursday night, but managed to get a nice walk in on Friday evening. Saturday night we had company, so I didn't get out then either. Which leads me to tonight.

This week, I am to begin increasing my run times on the intervals. Tonight was supposed to be 2 minute walk/1 minute run. I managed to keep moving the whole time, and made it through the first 5.5 running sessions, but then it hit me. Over the rest of the intervals, I had to stop running a little early each time. I'm actually supposed to go to 3/1 on wednesday, and then 4/1 for Friday and Saturday. I think I may do 2/1 again on Wednesday, then 3/1 on Friday and 4/1 on Saturday.

Sore Thighs...To Run Or Not To Run?!?

OK, so yesterday I was a little frustrated with this site because even though I was posting my daily blogs before midnight in Alaska, it was showing the post time in the Pacific Time zone. So tonight I went hunting for the time settings and found it, so everything shows as being posted on the proper day.

My thighs have been pretty sore the past two days since I ran my first round of intervals Monday night. I wondered if I'd be able to run as scheduled tonight. After biking 1.25 miles to and from work twice today (I go home for lunch), and then about a mile and a half to the ball park for my son's baseball game, I have to admit I thought about taking the night off. But there was no way I could do that. I've got to save my passes for when it's really critical.

My wife decided to join me at the track tonight, so we donned our helmets, hopped on our bikes for the half-mile ride to get there. Once we arrived, we did a little stretching, and then it was time. I thought maybe she was going to try to run with me for a little bit, and I was even prepared to run a little slower, but when I hit the start button on the timer and started running, she just walked, and that was fine. As it turned out, she walked about half the distance that I covered when I was doing my 1 minute run/2 minute walk intervals. She completed 5 full laps. I made it 2.43 miles. But I completed my 30 minutes, and that's the most important thing.

While I will most likely not post anything on here for the next few days, I will still get my Thursday walk and Friday intervals in. We're heading out on a family campout tomorrow after work. Should be a good time.

To recap todays workout:

1 minute run/2 minute walk intervals for 30 minutes. Everything is still on schedule.

And the jacuzzi is filling up now.

Another Day, Another Training Session

Well, I made it through my training session tonight. 30 minutes of walking. I actually was out for 35. And then I went on a bike ride after that with my wife. Good times.

I think tomorrow will be a real test. My thighs have been pretty sore all day today after kicking off my training officially yesterday with some intervals. I think it's a good thing that all I had to do today was walk. I should have probably soaked in the jacuzzi for awhile tonight. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

After an email exchange with a friend of mine, I'm thinking about moving my training sessions to morning.

My Marathon Quest

OK, it's time to face the facts. I'm out of shape, and I need to do something about it. I got to thinking about this recently, and decided that there's no better way to do that then to run a marathon. Now, this is not something that one does overnight. And so I have picked one out over a year away. I'm still not sure I have the best training regimen picked out, but I think I'm on the right track.

I started an 8 week program yesterday to "become a runner." Once I complete this program, I will do a 5 week, 5K training program, followed by a 10K training program, a half-marathon training program, and then a full marathon training program.

I believe that the 2010 Mayor's Marathon in Anchorage, Alaska will be held on June 19, 2010. That is my goal race. Stay tuned for further updates.

Most of my training programs can be found on the Runner's World website at www.runnersworld.com. Being a rookie at this running game, I'm open to suggestions.