Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Running

My legs are still tight from Ragnar.  I just didn't have the spring in my step that I usually do.  Splits - 1mile - 8:13, 2 mile - 8:22, 3 mile - 8:30, 4 mile - 8:32, 5 mile - 8:16, 0.64 mile - 4:54 (7:41 avg.)  Overall average - 8:18.  Overall time - 46:47.

AM Bike

I rode my bike to work for the first time in over two months.  17.62 miles in 1 hour and 11 minutes.  Average speed 14.9 mph.  Max speed 19.8 mph.

PM Bike

17.59 miles home in 1 hour and 6 minutes.  Average speed 16.0 mph.  Max speed 23.6 mph.  I tried to ride behind this guy with big calves all decked out in his bike gear.  He was too fast for me and lost me at a stop light.  I probably look goofy in my work clothes and my pants tucked into my sock.

I started to run home from work and wanted to see how far I could go. 

1 mile - 8:03 - This first mile is always hard.  I run right by some orange groves on Southern Ave.  Breathing is hard with all the pollen or whatever it is.

2 mile - 8:16 - Crossed the US 60.

3 mile - 8:45 - At mile 3.3 started to feel like I wanted to puke up all the chili dogs and peanut brittle I had for lunch.

4 mile - 8:58 - Somewhere along here Ox saw me and honked at me.  He probably made some people mad thinking he was honking at them.  Did I mention that he was the one who brought in the peanut brittle?

5 mile - 9:09 - At mile 5.25 (right at the 202 overpass) Gabe saw me and pulled over.  It was pretty cool for him to stop and see how I was doing.

6 mile - 9:08 - Here I left Higley and started running down the UPRR tracks.

7 mile - 9:11 - Ran passed the site I'm currently working on for RWCD.

8 mile - 9:22 - Right at exactly 8.0 I must've been doing pretty good.  This is where the tortoise passed the hare.  By that I mean I ran past a couple of cotton tail bunnies.  I saw about a dozen of them over the next mile and a half.

9 mile - 9:44 - Got to Power Road and decided to call my wife to have her pick me up.

10 mile - 10:02 - Figured I would get at least another mile in before my wife arrived.

10.83 mile - 10:10 avg. - My wife finally got to me, but I kept going because I wanted to get an even 11 miles in.  She thought I'd gone crazy when I didn't stop.

11.1 mile - 9:19 avg. - I overestimated how much I had to run to get my even 11.

Overall time was 1:41:47.  Well, at this pace I would've beat my time for a half marathon if I'd gone two more miles.  Live to fight again another day.

Bike AM

Distance - 17.64 miles

Time - 1:19:00

Avg. speed - 13.4 mph

Max speed - 19.5 mph

Temp - 55

This was just a nice liesurely ride to work.  Nothing too exciting.

Time: 39:13 (8:02 avg. pace)

Splits:

1 mile - 8:01 - the first 1/2 mile it felt like my legs were really heavy.  Then for the next mile and a half it felt pretty good.

2 mile  - 7:51 this mile felt really good and was probably slightly downhill.

3 mile - 8:06 - right in here my legs felt really numb but I was still clicking along pretty good.

4 mile - 8:13 - the breeze stopped and I started to feel the effects of the sun.  Not too bad, though.

0.89 miles - 7:02 (7:56 avg.)  I was surprised that I was able to finish so strong and feel so good after my 11 mile run less than two days ago.

Finish time: 10:30am

Temp: 61

A new 10k PR!  This wasn't a race, but I managed to run 10,000 meters faster than I ever have.  I didn't mean to run so fast.  I just felt real good this morning.  I still have my Garmin set to alert me after every 8 minutes and 15 seconds.  I figured that sounded just about right because I wanted to run 6.2 miles.  But I never got close to that.  Most of the time I start out fast, and then slow down until I manage to average what I think I'm going to.  This morning I just felt fresh and ready to run.  Below is the breakdown.

Time: 48:50 (avg. pace 7:52) PR by 1 minute

Splits:

1 mile - 7:34

2 mile - 7:47

3 mile - 8:05

4 mile - 8:12

5 mile - 7:55

6 mile - 7:46

0.2 miles - 1:31 (7:22 avg.)

Somebody give me a medal!

My joints are still a little achy from yesterday's all out performance, but I feel good.  When I started to run, my body wanted to go all out again, so I had to force myself to slow down.

Time: 22:52 (avg. pace 7:37)

Splits:

1 mile - 7:46

2 mile - 7:56

3 mile - 7:10

I decided to run a little extra today to get that even number for K-Steph's sake.

I finally got David Hasselhoff to shave FRB into his chest hair.  Don't ask me how.

********************************************

Another long Thursday run!  I drove to a local supermarket and parked my vehicle.  Then I got out, made like I was going to walk inside, turned and walked out to the street, stretched a little, and took off home.

Time: 1:31:19 (avg. pace 8:49)

Splits:

1 mile - 7:43

2 mile - 7:45

3 mile - 8:06

4 mile - 8:24

5 mile - 8:39

6 mile - 8:52

7 mile - 9:09

8 mile - 9:18

9 mile - 9:40

10 mile - 9:54

0.36 mile - 3:50 (10:31 avg.)

That last mile  and a half was killer.  Serious lack of feul.  I started having doubts after 6 miles, but then I thought, "If I have my wife come get me, I'll probably be able to run another 2 miles before she even gets to me.  Then I'll only have 2 miles to go, and that will be lame."  I decided to tough it out.  When I got to where I had about 2.6 miles to go I got excited and knew I could make it.  I'm pretty sore right now and don't have much of an appetite for the delicious salmon and rice dinner my wonderful wife cooked.  She's the best.  (I need to let her know there's a reason I'm not eating, and it has nothing to do with her cooking.)  ((She does cook really well on the serious side.))

Why do we blog our runs?  For prosperity?  To keep track of our training?  Are we social butterflies?  Are there stories to be told, memories to keep?  The most memorable part about tonight's run was seeing this thing lying along the side of the road.  It was a familiar shape, and I saw it while I was driving this morning, too.  I thought, "It can't be that."  I made up my mind that it was a rusty old trailer hitch.  But as I ran by it this evening, it was unmistakable.  While I can't say what it was, because this is a family safe site, I can say that I have never seen one in real life.  It was terrifying.  That's all for now.

10.5 mile bike ride to get my truck.  Luckily it was still there, unscathed and unharmed.

The other day an ex-coworker and friend of mine Gabe sent me an email.  He works in Coolidge and the building right across the street from where he works and where he parks his car collapsed about 5 minutes after he left.  Here is what I think really happened.

I had this big giant root beer float last night, and I'm still feeling the effects of it.  It took me forever to get going this morning.  I don't mean running;  I mean getting out the door.  I haven't run since last Thursday.  My legs were pretty thrashed after my 10 mile run, so I took a few days off to recover.  I didn't run yesterday because I didn't get up on time.  All this being said, I feel fully recovered (other than a mass of gooey creamy goodness in my belly), and I've been toying with near 7 minute miles on my short runs.  So this morning I wanted to get at least one sub 7 minute mile.  I decided it would be easiest to do it on my first mile.  True to form, after starting out real fast, I slowed down quite a bit.  Below are the splits:

Time: (25:12, avg. pace 7:22)

Splits:

1 mile - 6:57

2 mile - 7:31

3 mile - 7:17

0.1 mile - 45 scconds (7:33 avg.) (Total time for 5k - 22:30 - New PR!!)

0.32 mile cooldown - 2:43 (8:29 avg)

Finish time: 7:30am

Temp: 55

So I got another unofficial PR.  This time for the 5k.  I highly recommend a giant root beer float before every race.

Time: 2:02:29 (avg. pace 9:21) New PR for HM!!

Splits:

1 mile - 8:00 - I wish I could run the whole thing at this pace

2 mile - 7:56 - Still feel really good

3 mile - 8:19 - a guy passed me casually on a bike.  I wondered if a Sasha Pachev or a Jeff Shadley could keep up with him.

4 mile - 8:36

5 mile - 8:47

6 mile - 9:10 - Wondering if I should've drank the Cytomix before I ran.  The package says to drink 5 fl. oz. after 15 min. of working out, and then repeat at 15 min. intervals.  I drank the whole thing at once.

7 mile - 9:23

8 mile - 9:22

9 mile - 9:46 - Saw 8 bunnies on this mile.

10 mile - 10:09

11 mile - 10:28

12 mile - 11:17 - Yes, I was getting slower and slower, but this was in sand.

13 mile - 10:25 - In the parking lot at Rittenhouse and Ellsworth

0.1 mile - 0:53 - Man were my legs burning.

Finish time: 7:30 pm

Temp: 90 when I started.  80 when I finished.

Well, I'm not in the best shape yet to run a good half.  20 miles a week isn't cutting it.  My speed is coming along great for shorter races, but I need to put more miles in.  I want to run the Havasu Half.  It's only 2 weeks away.

17.7 miles on the bike to work. I almost ran into a cop car. It was a Hot Wheel.

It is not uncommon when I run to lost 4 to 6 lbs. depending on how far I go. I'm sure I was losing some serious weight last night because by the time I got to mile 12 I could barely keep my shorts on.

Oh man, I ate too much this weekend.  No problems with shorts falling down today.  I decided to go nice and easy, and I'm glad I did.  I don't think I could've gone much faster.  Yesterday the wind kicked up really good.  This morning there was still a lot of dust in the air.  I could barely see the Superstition Mountains.  It made breathing really hard.

Time: 49:09 (avg. pace 8:44)

Time: 22:48 (avg. pace 7:42)

Splits:

1 mile - 7:43

2 mile - 7:54

0.96 mile - 7:10 (7:28 pace)

I went to the Suns game last night.  It was a hard fought victory for them.  Now if they can just beat the Blazers and the Jazz I will feel a little better about their chances of getting in the playoffs.  The most important thing is that they scored over 99 points, which means two free tacos from Jack-in-the-Box.  My friend gave me his coupon, so I picked up a late night snack.  It was actually my dinner.  Again, not too healthy, but delicious.

I wanted to run more today, but I did not have time.  It was Mary's first day of track practice, and I had to get her there by 6:45am.

Time: 44:32 (avg. pace 7:54)

Splits:

1 mile - 7:39

2 mile - 7:49

3 mile - 8:08

4 mile - 8:03

5 mile - 8:06

0.64 mile - 4:48 (7:32 avg.)

It's a beautiful day out.  So beautiful that I decided to take today off from work.  Well, that's not the real reason.  I felt really good on the run this morning.  Even when I got tired I felt like I could push through it.  I mailed in my registration for the Havasu Half this morning.  It's due today, so I better email them and let them know.

I saw this dead field mouse in the road this morning.  It was huge.  It was like the size of a rat.  No Marion, I did not try to talk to it.

Time: 22:27 (avg. pace 7:35)

Splits:

1 mile - 7:47

2 mile - 7:48

0.96 mile - 6:52 (7:09 avg.)

It was kind of cool out this morning.  I didn't check the temperature, but I'm guessing 53 or so.  The last mile felt real good.  If only I could maintain this pace for a half marathon.

I didn't go running, but I did go on a 10 mile hike with the Boy Scouts.  This trail was ranked a 5 out of 5 for difficulty from AZ trails.  I'm very sore, but I had a great time.  I don't have a real backpacking backpack.  I used my sports backpack.  Since I'm such a stud, I was able to haul it the whole way, but I will admit, my shoulders are very sore.  And my legs are sore.  And my feet are sore.  And my head is a little sore from a slight sunburn even though I put on sunblock twice.  Maybe I'll post pictures later.