Motivated to Succeed

2:00 PM - I went to BWAC with Emm. She went on the elliptical and rowing machines while I went on the treadmill. I started reading the April edition of RT but had to ditch that as the sweat started to flow. I wanted to get in a good run so I decided to try and get some hills in. I did the majority of my run at 5%-7% grade and ended up with more vertical feet gained then calories burned for the run which was a good feat. Felt pretty good and now I am tired out. Good run for a rainy day. 

Total Time: 56:00 Total Distance: 6.03 miles Average Pace:  9:17

Yesterday was tux fitting/measurement day and we had a blast. Joe, Dad, Jonn, Me, Steve, Emma, my Mom and others all went to Tux Express in Pittsfield and Jonn helped pick out our tuxes. They look really snazzy :D. Mine is only slightly different because I have both a brown and ivory pocket square whereas everyone else will have just brown. Jonn posed to let me snap a shot :D.

6:20 PM - Rainy and drizzly in the mid to high 50s when finally got home from work today. Exhausted. I ended up hopping on the treadmill and then doing 6.10 miles as I read a back issue of RT that they mailed to me. Have not been getting them since I moved to Massachusetts. Felt pretty good, but afterwards I was exhausted and unable to do any school work. Got up at 5am on Tuesday to do some instead.

Total Time: 56:00 Total Distance: 6.10 miles Average Pace:  9:11

7:00 PM - Really long day with a poor amount of sleep. Was up tossing and turning all night. Alarm went off at 430 and I was out the door by 515. I was taking my junior class with Barbara's seniors to the statehouse in Boston for the Diploma Plus exhibition. They had to bring a project that they were proud of that represents their hard work to share with other DP schools. BArT is not a full DP school, however despite this we represented well. I was really proud o the kids and they did a super job. I blundered a bit however when they called us up to give out awards and made us go first. We did not really know that much about the exhibition as I had never gone before, however all the other schools knew what was up and named each kid as "most improved in English", "most outstanding essays" etc. etc. Some of the kids felt let down but I told them afterwards how I was still very proud of them and I apologized for not knowing about how we had to give them awards. It was difficult because I don't teach any of them in class, I only have them in advisory. Oh well. Next time perhaps. We left the school at 6am after some issues with laptops. I ended up letting one of my students use my personal laptop. Got back to the school at about 630pm, drove home and hopped on the treadmill. Felt blah because I did not run yesterday. Ran 40 minutes easy, then got 2 x footlong "Veggie Delite" sandwiches from Subway. Didn't eat much all day and was HUNGRY! Haha. 1 month until my birthday today! :)

Total Time: 40:00 Total Distance: 4.34 miles Average Pace:  9:13

6:00 PM - Cool, 55 degrees. Long day at work. Got home exhausted but needed to get in a run to relieve some stress. Went running up into Pittsfield State Forest and did the mountain loop, 2 miles up and 3.25 down and around. Going up I averaged ~11:00 minute miles; pretty strong! Coming down I had a 7:50ish and a 7:24. Really cruising. Hurt on the way down, however it felt good afterward. Went home and had dinner with Emm and then passed out. Long run on Saturday. Oh, the top of mountain had almost every tree down. Wind was ~43mph when I ran. Gusts of 50+ though earlier in the day. No trees fell on me however. Hopefully do 20-22 miles on Saturday!

Total Time: 47:30 Total Distance: 5.25 miles Average Pace:  9:03

4:45 PM - Partly cloudy and temperature in the low 60s. Perfect spring weather. Emm asked if I wanted to go hiking. It was wonderful and I had a great time. It was also the start of a crazy 24 hours with over 6 hours of exercise squeezed in. How about that for ultra conditioning? (hiking, running, biking). It took us 1:09 to get up the mountain and 1:01 to get down. Went up the Cheshire Harbour Trail. Took a few photos at the summit before heading down. Got down and went out to dinner at Zucchinis. A lovely night. I have such a wonderful fiancee :D.

Total Time: 2:10:00 Total Hiking Distance: 7 miles

8:20 AM - Partly cloudy and in the low 60s at start. Sunny and 72 at the finish. Projected high of 85 today. Phew! Went down to the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail and parked by the Lanesborough Mall. Jogged next to the bike trail the whole time. Felt good. Took the Amphipod with me, however I ran out of water with 3o mins left to go and it hurt on the way back! Eeck! Turned around at 1:00 and came back in 59:00. 4 weeks until my ultra! Splits were:

• Mile 1: 9:04
• Mile 2: 8:47
• Mile 3: 8:43
• Mile 4: 8:44
• Mile 5: 8:41
• Mile 6: 8:41
• Mile 7: 8:59
• Mile 8: 8:52
• Mile 9: 8:40
• Mile 10: 8:45
• Mile 11: 8:37
• Mile 12: 8:57
• Mile 13: 9:10
• .5: 4:18 (8:36)
  

Total Time: 1:59:00 Total Distance: 13.50 miles Average Pace: 8:49

1:00 PM - 82 degrees and sunny. Went home and got Emmy. We went to the bike trail and then biked down to BArT. The kids are getting ready to present their musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" next week and they were looking for volunteers to help paint props. Emmy and I biked down. It was hot hot hot out!! It took us about 40 minutes to bike down (slightly downhill). It took us 51 minutes to bike back with about 3 miles of gradual uphill. It was a fun bike trip. We got SUBWAY for lunch. We ran some errands and then got home and I am ready to pass out! Going to eat another salad however I think! Yummy! Quite the day of exercising! The hike yesterday afternoon, the long run today, and now the bike ride.

One thing I have to take away is that I have to plan better for long runs. I nearly died at the end and my left hamstring was starting to tighten up.

Total Time: 1:31:00 Total Distance: 22 miles