Training for a Belt Buckle

Work and family have been very stressful.  I have not been able to motivate myself to work out even though I know it would help, but was in survival mode.

Tonight I ran 5 miles - the first 3 with the dog.  Stretched.  While watching tv I did an upper body workout and then the ab workout from the February issue of Runner's World.  I will be hurting tomorrow, but this helped the stress level.

Several small outings during the day.  Total of 7.5 miles running.

Trying to get motivated again.  My achilles in the right ankle is still bothering me and my left ankle has been stiff and achy.  I think it is a combination of cold, old, out of shape, and overweight.

I'm going to go back to a combination of heart rate training and pace training.  I will do my recovery runs and long runs using the HRM.  Other runs are going to be using the Garmin pace calculator.  I was just running too slow doing heart rate training and it was very depressing.

So - for the remainder of February, I will run M/W/F for 5 miles keeping my pace under 12 MM.

5 miles - 57:27 avg: 11:29     11:36/11:34/11:26/11:14/11:36

I leave on Friday to see my daughter and family in Savannah, Georgia and return on February 22nd.  Then I will be in Livonia, Michigan from March 1st-4th.

Took a lunch break for once and ran 4 miles on the dreadmill at the gym.  It is so much easier for me to run outside than inside.

Going to try to get up early and get a run in before 6. Leslie is picking me up at 6:30 a.m. to drop me off at the airport.

I meant to get up early yesterday and run before Leslie picked me up to go to the airport - but I lost my motivation while laying in bed - and didn't.

Shortly after Leslie dropped me at the airport, I found out my connecting flight from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia was cancelled.  They were predicting 6 inches of snow in Savannah and recommended I go home and try again on Saturday - but the weather was not looking good then.

I took my chances and flew to Atlanta.  It was just barely starting to snow, but all flights the rest of the day were cancelled or soon to be.  I decided to rent a car - highway robbery for one way rentals.  The cheapest place I could find was over $250 with discounts, some were over $400.  What should have been a 4 hour drive took 6.5 hours.  Never a break in the snow and lots of accidents all over the place.

Today we did some shopping and then I mixed up a bunch of bread.  I took off on a run and my grandkids followed after trying to catch me on their bikes.  They finally caught me 4 1/2 miles later shortly before the Walmart we were heading to.  We got separated and I ended up running home and they hung in the shopping center for a while.

Ran along a pretty highway - swamplands on every side. We passed over the Okeechokee River (or something like that). A lot of the way I could run on a grassy shoulder.  It was cool out - but all the snow had melted from the day before and a lot of the time it was sunny.  Total of 11 miles round trip.  Much easier running without the effects of altitude.

No running today.  We ended up going to Tybee Island and I ran a little in the sand and convinced them all to climb to the top of the Tybee lighthouse (189 stairs).  

When my son-in-law gets up for work tomorrow I will try and run then.  Hopefully we will get the kids in school soon. They are awful bored after two weeks of no school.

Quads were very sore today after the stair climb yesterday.  We were all doing a little whining when going up and down stairs.

The grandkids are really bored.  The stupid judge in North Carolina still has not signed the custody papers, so they can't get the kids into school in Georgia.  It has been 2 1/2 weeks and they are actually wanting to get into school.

A little before noon we came up with a plan.  Sent the kids off on their bikes to ride the 5.5 miles to Wally World.  We met them there and got more decorations for their rooms and I bought the kids and Jenn each some Wii games. After lunch, I started the run back home along the Atlantic Coastal Highway.  Brad and Elise caught up after .5 miles and then Elise took off. Brad stayed back to talk to me and pushed me to go a little faster than usual.

12:05/11:46/10:42/11:26/11:13

Legs were really tired, I think the residual from the stair climb up the lighthouse.  Did a very slow recovery run.

Tried to find 'the hill' in Richmond Hill.  I have come to the conclusion that it is the freeway overpass.

Didn't sleep too well and wasn't feeling good today, so I took a walk around my daughter's subdivision - a little over 3 miles.

Ran around my daughter's subdivision more.  I have covered every road at least once.  Another 5.5 miles.  Weather warmed up 10 degrees while I was running.  Finally getting pretty outside.

My daughter and I got our first time alone the entire trip when my son-in-law came home early from work.  We went back down to River Street and bought a peacock stained glass window I couldn't get off my mind all week.  And some pralines and other southern fattening food. Dropped the stuff at their townhouse, then we went to Sticky Fingers for some delicious barbecue.  (We weren't impressed with the other food, but the ribs were to die for).  Then we each grabbed some books and found a corner to sit in at Barnes and Noble and read.

Homemade pizza for dinner and then a Wii tournament as our version of the Olympics.  Our goal was to have everyone get together and play together.  I bought some sinful caramel and chocolate covered apples as Good Sportsmanship awards and we gave out money for Gold, Silver and Bronze medals.  Everyone had fun together and no one got mad.  We only had to tell Elise once to shut down her phone. 

Another bright sunny day today.  I did an 11 mile run through the city and on some back roads.  The roads are nice and soft on the shoulder and I can do a lot of running on the grass/dirt as long as I avoid swampy sections.  My daughter lives only a few miles from the ocean, so see lots of swamps right off the road. Temps increased 20 degrees while I ran. I was in shorts and a short sleeved shirt today and got plenty warm at that.  High 60's or low 70's now.

I was actually looking on Map My Run at a run listed in one of the neighboring cities.  It sounded good until I read the part about poisonous snakes and alligators and watch where you are stepping to avoid them.

The family is off at family counseling, so I did laundry and packed my clothes.  Also walked to the store (another mile or so) and got some blister pads because I ended up with a big blood blister on my left big toe, for some reason.

My daughter and her husband are going on a date tonight and I am taking the grandkids out to dinner.  I've spoiled them both and they both seem to like me (at least I don't get referred to as 'he/him' or 'she/her' like they do for their dad and stepmother.

Everyone wants to take me to the airport tomorrow.  Much better weather than when I came.

Still on Georgia time so I woke up early.  After having a heart attack when stepping on the scales, I headed out for a run. I could feel the altitude change after just one week away and sure felt the temperature change.

5 miles.  Avg pace 11:37.

Took the dog out for an easy recovery run after work.  Cut it down to 3 miles after 2 phone calls from work left me needing to go into the office again and fix a network issue.

After an hour in the office, headed to Gold's Gym and did 45 minutes on the stationary bike followed by 45 minutes of weight training.

Managed to fit in 5 miles between work and working at the temple.  Nasty headwind the first half of the run.  Could tell I have not eaten enough today because I had little energy.  58:13 total time.  Kept all my miles under 12 mm.

Went out to lunch at Epic this afternoon with my boss/friend to celebrate my new title of Business Analyst and to celebrate my company surviving me daily for 6 years.

Took Twilight out after work for a 1 mile warmup walk and heard Steve Ashbaker call me as I passed Chevron.  Visited with him for a couple of minutes and then headed home to drop off the dog.  As luck would have it, I got a couple of emergency calls from work and was held up another 10 minutes or so fixing the problems.

At that point I decided to just run down 7th East for 2 1/2 miles and back.  Started out at about 11:30mm. Just after the mile mark I started feeling my stomach complain about lunch, so headed over towards Gold's Gym and passed Steve A - already on his return run. I ran 2 1/2 miles at Golds on the treadmill starting at 5.0 mph and increasing .1 every 15 minutes.  Ran home afterwards.  I was glad I stopped at the gym because I had to take several breaks and ended up running home a lot lighter than I went out.

Now I am drinking hot chocolate made from almond milk, chocolate protein powder and strawberry flavoring.