August Update - Final

Ended the month with the following...a couple more miles and pu/su's.

120.33 miles run
2 miles x-train.
Sit-ups -570 Push-ups - 802

September won't start as nicely as I've got to drive to PA tomorrow and head back home Friday (into a hurricane apparently...). Daughter's B-day Saturday, the big 6. Hopefully the weather will be clear by then so the pool party can commence. :-) Going to try and get a couple of miles in while on the road. I hear our office down there has a great gym, we'll see if I have time. I've got the mileage fever though, so I'm sure I'll figure out a way to get some in.

Yes Matt, it was ALL you buddy! Seriously though, talking about the daily plan definitley helped me execute.

August Goals...Achieved...

Quick update -
113.13 miles run (goal was 110 for month)
2 miles x-train.
Sit-ups -520 Push-ups - 757
Weight - 193.7 (goal was to maintain 194)

Best mileage month for me since I began running in 2008, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Was a nice progressive increase in mileage from June to now and I'm injury free as a result. Goal for mileage running was 110 and it looks like I'll finish close to 120 (which was my Sept goal). So this is good, my body is responding well to the workouts, but now I need to get into the next phase and begin working on the short recovery running. The plan will be to start fairly small early Sept and then increase the B2B mileage. Since I haven't really trained this way before I'm going to take it fairly slow and see where it takes me. In other words, I'm not going to run a Goofy by the end of September...or probably not at all till January. Will plan one B2B that gets me close though as I need to understand how much fatigue I'm going to feel. Plenty of Endurox R4 will be used over the next couple of months! LOL

Swing and a Miss!

Due to the weekend schedule, I had to go for the long run today. Felt just alright about it, but figured I could muscle my way through it. Well, I guess I underestimated how much my legs needed the rest cause after mile 2 I was starting to get that whole body tired feeling... I lasted 6.31 and that's all folks. Really should have waited till tomorrow, but no worries, still feel great about this past week (will post the numbers, but think I was over 30 miles). If the schedule permits I might make another "run" for the 13.1 next Friday...

Totals for the month are right around 80 miles running, will check my spreadsheet and update later if need be.

Is everyone booked in hotels for January? I haven't done it yet, was waiting for annual passholder discount announcement for that timeframe, but hasn't come out yet. Should I just book the Pop or somethign and update it if the discount comes out? Far from an expert on this topic... I suppose an alternate would be to book a moderate and then downgrade if the dicount doesn't come through or isn't what I want it to be....Advice?

Updated: Yeah, I might have overdid it for me this week, just checked and put in 36.21 miles for the week. Probably about 12 miles more than I was planning, no wonder why my legs were spent today. :-)

Possessed..By the Mike-Speed...

I tell ya, I've been trying out these new Brooks Ravenna's and I'm not sure if it's the shoes or what, but I've been running like I stole something lately! Oh wait...maybe I did steal something...nah..or did I....nah...

Put in a 7 mile escalation run yesterday where you keep upping your pace every mile till you've hit the roof. I don't think I hit the roof, but I ran out of time... Anyhoo, I was running a 6:47 mile at the end and didn't feel bad at all. Of course, I probably couldn't sustain that at this point, but it was very encouraging to know I could get up there. I averaged right around 8 minute miles overall, still not bad at all and something I haven't gotten back to since January. Today I put in 6.35 and ran most of it around 8 or 7:50ish. The shoes are defintiely helping, they are much lighter than the Asics 2150's and more of a curve style at the toe. I'm sure there are technical terms for this, but you won't find that on this blog! LOL.

On the buddy front, Matt is doing great! He put in a monster 6 miler yesterday in the heat and has been pushing towards recommiting himself to weight loss. I'm darn proud of him. :-) He's got alot of work to do prior to December when he'll be sporting his thinner self down that aisle for graduation, but I've got a good feeling about it. Buddy or not, I'm going to be all over him like stink on a monkey till he achieves that goal for December, he deserves to succeed.

Might be off tomorrow or I might get my long run in, trying to work out the schedule with the wife....I'll post and let y'all know how it went. Would like to put a half in, but anything over 10 will do...depends on how much time I've got to do it (and partly the weather).

One more thing. Steph is back on-line so head over to her blog and give her some encouragement! http://theeyeofthetigger.blogspot.com/2010/08/back-to-start.html

Mid-August Report

Half way through the month and I feel pretty good about the mileage build-up, but something is still missing. Got an 8.7 mile run in this morning under cloudy skies with a temp of 77. Think that I need to get back to the gym for some weight training. When I started it up early November last year it really gave me a boost in my training as well as my overall per mile time. This week is going to be tough at work as I've got people flying in from a couple of places to be heads down in a conference room working, but will see what I can do.

Run miles for August thus far - 52.90 (might be off by a tenth) with a bit of swimming thrown in there. Haven't put in miles on the bike but will look to do more of that in the second half of the month to give the run muscles a rest. Goal is 110 miles running for the month, and get a 13.1 mile long run in. Shouldn't be an issue unless this week goes badly at work (not anticipating it though).

Been pretty quiet on the Team Voice front, hoping that everyone is just too busy running and no time for the computer. :-) I've been chatting with my buddy Matt who put in a nice 6 miler today, WooHoo! I know it's tough to get that kinda mileage down in that ridonculous heat, but he's committed for sure. Keep up the great work, Matt!

Ain't it funny....

How one minute you resign yourself to the fact that your body needs a day off from running and the next you're walking out the door in your tech-tee ready to roll! That's what happened to me today. Couldn't get the body to feel like doing anything, so I was going to rest, but Emeril rang my doorbell and BAM! I was out the door for close to 4 miles. Helped that the weather was overcast and low 80's....

Anyhoo, hope everyone is going through the same thing. Virtual 10k coming in a couple of weeks.... Is this the Corn-fest run part tres?

Answers....

Found a couple of articles that gave some great information about training for Goofy and fuelling for a quick recovery.

http://running-advice.com/blog/?p=768 - Training

http://running-advice.com/blog/?p=2726 - Nutrition for quick recovery

5 miles today puts me at 36 running and couple more walking/swiming. Still hot here, but nothing like it was (or IS down south).

I love it when a plan comes together...

So had a couple of minutes and was pulling together my spreadsheet for January. Nothing fancy, just an easy way to see activities for those couple of days at a glance (parks, flight info, ADR's, etc.). The question of the day is "what is the fueling strategy for Saturday after the half-marathon?". Gotta get something in quick to replenish the depleted muscles right after the race and I'm thinking that I should be fuelling often during the day/evening with small meals (easily digestible). Either that, or just find the nearest buffet and chow down! LOL

No workout today, feeling like junk due to allergies and just need to relax a bit. 30.95 miles in August so far, will get back to it tomorrow.

Never Show Surprise, Never Lose Your Cool....

Coughlin's law... just watching a little "Cocktail" and I've all but run out of tag lines....

Just over 26 miles in the month so far, feeling good about the month and the steady build up of miles based on July's 90 mile performance. Shooting for ~110 or so and will get a short recovery double long run at least once to kick off a monthly occurence as we move into real Goofy training territory.

Gotta watch the snacking in the evening, the major achillies heel as of late. However, I'm happy in that I'm back down to 195 after hovering around 198/199 for a while (over 200 for a bit there....). Time to push towards making 192 my maintain weight and then down towards the end of the year. I had always targeted 188 as the weight I want to run the Goofy at. I know I shouldn't have a time goal for that race, but since it's still far off....I'm wanting to complete the whole deal in less than 6hr 30min. Crazy? nah, I actually think I can do it based on where I think my half time will be and given what I think I can do for the full (if I don't have ITB issues again). Either way, I'm going to have a blast running this thing, but for me, the time thing does motivate me. I figure, if it motivates me to stay healthy and get the mileage in...then it's a good thing.

Anyhoo, great Team Voice meet today, really like talking with y'all. Looking forward to the virtual run at the end of the month.

Last note, NBC re-aired the 2009 Ironman World Championships yesterday during our meet, totally bummed that I didn't DVR it! Only got the last 30 minutes... Here's a link to a great video on YouTube though, if this doesn't get you pumped up I don't know what would! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iROsDCzDRRI

5k Championship....

That's right folks, I'm going to run in the national 5k championship race, not because it's easy, but because it is hard.... anyone, anyone...Kennedy reference? no? Oh, fine... Anyhoo, yes, I'm going to Providence in September to run the CVS/Caremark 5k which happens to be the National 5k Championship race (or some I'm told). It's a "Team insert major pharmaceutical company that I work for here.." running event and I thought it would be a good way to get me motivated for speed work. The run is September 19th I think, so I've got a little time to get my run on, and try for a PR. Says the course is flat and fast, but so don't they all (except for the Colchester Half Marathon, but don't get me back on that one..). Best 5k time for me is 24:17, but I do think I could do better with a little work. So stay tuned on the training front, but I'm already starting to get some speed back based on the miles I've been putting in.

I'm still debating as to whether I'm going to participate in the company sprint triathalon. I've been swimming more lately, but it's in a couple of weeks and I'm not sure if I'd be ready. As it is, I found out today that work is going to severly interfere with my running schedule over the next couple of weeks, but won't bore you with the detail. I'm just ticked off, annoyed, anxious, etc. all in one at this point, but know I'll get through it.

Hope everyone is doing well, haven't seen much on the blogs in the past couple of days....c'mon people, I'm checking daily now and want to know how y'all are doing!!!!! Jonathan and his buddy Amanda are the exception, they entertain me daily. ;-)

When is now? Sooon.......

I owe y'all a trip report/recap, but it's not going to be today. Have a ton of documentation to get reviewed and time is a-wastin'.

July turned out to be a decent mileage month, despite the 10 days in Disney. Just a tick over 90 miles running and a few more miles swimming for the month. Weather here in CT has gotten very condusive to running and I'm hoping that trend continues into August.

Apologies to Eric, my buddy, as I've been absent the past few days getting back into the work swing :-(