VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

Had a nice run with the lunch time basketball crowd today.  My teams went a perfect 5-0.   The way everybody made their shots before the first game, my team was stacked, and we easily won our first two games.  At the gym we play 2 games and out,so when we went to sit there were 19 guys there.  None of my teammates wanted to break up that budding dynasty, but I just wanted to play, so I joined a lesser squad of 4 guys, and got in after sitting just one game.  Soon we had 20 players, so I ended up playing 3 more games going the shorter cross court.  I played well especially on the longer court where I pushed myself to run more.  I was also effective on defense, and rebounding although I rarely touched the ball on offense.  I had a lot in the tank when I stopped, giving in to my daughter’s pleas to take her swimming.  The trip to the gym ended with a nice cool down in the pool with my daughter.

Since I’m playing basketball later today, I don’t feel badly about missing my recovery run this morning.  The temperature here is -10F, -23C, that’s just too f@$*ing cold.

When I woke up it was 5F, -15C, and there was plenty of snow on the roads.  I said to myself, "Self, now is not the time to run outdoor mile intervals."  So I shoveled out the driveway (Buffalo coach, I still count this as an arm, back, and abs workout). After lunch, and was preparing to run in the afternoon it was 13F, -11C, and there were still snow on the roads.  I said to myself, "Self you are not running outdoors today, time to go to the indoor track at Racquets Edge.  My fitness club has 5 buildings in 3 towns all less than 15 minutes from my house.  One of them has a 8 laps to a mile indoor track.  Since I was running mile intervals, I’d much rather do that on the indoor track, than the hamster wheel.  

So I ran in shorts and a t-shirt for the first time since that one freak day in January when it was 62.  I ran consistent 1:20 laps for my warm-up, averaging a 10:40 mile at a relaxed warm-up pace.  A couple guys from the Sunday running group were there, and I told them my goal pace: 8:03, which would translate to ~1:00 laps, and off I went.  They yelled that I was going too fast, I replied that I was just running.  One of the guy was doing 7:00 paced intervals, and he confirmed my pace was closer to his, than 8:00.  most of my laps that first mile were at 1:00, and my time was a solid 7:53.  I rested for ~2:00 then set off on the quest for my second mile, boy I was surprised when the watch read 9:07.  Boy, I couldn’t count to 8, running 9 laps instead at an ~ 8:06 pace, still right where I was shooting for.  For my last interval my counting woes continued, but this time my watch showed a pedestrian 9:30, so I must have clocked a 8:27 last interval about 25 seconds over my goal pace.  I enjoyed my cool down, and even shot some hoops before heading for home.

When I got home, my kids wanted the dad taxi to be in full operation.  My 10th grader wanted to go to a friend’s house, while my 8 year old wanted to go to the gym for a swim.  After watching her for ~ a half hour, I joined her in the pool.  I began by dragging her around the pool while I ran and walked some laps.  Latter we both swam together, putting in ~ a quarter mile of relaxing swimming.

We did not get as much snow as forecast, only ~6inches (15cm), but my early morning was spent clearing out the driveway, so that my wife could get to work on time.  The snow was wet and heavy, so I chose to use the snow blower rather than muscle power and the snow shovel.  Because of all this early morning activity I didn’t go for my recovery run, instead I went to the gym at 11AM to play basketball.  During my first game I was so sore and stiff that I could barely move.  I loosened up during that game and proceeded to keep playing and playing.  We had less than 20 people at the gym, so we playing full court.  My team was moving the ball well, playing hard, and winning.  I had a blast.  During the first 1&1/2 there 10 games were played in the gym.  I played in 8 of them, with my team winning 6 out of 8.  It was so much fun, but I’ll pay for this tomorrow, as I’m sore as I type.

My 10th grader got his introduction to nordic skiing as part of a youth biathlon club as an eighth grader.  Last week his nordic season ended, so he convinced a friend to join him at the range for biathlon practice.  While they trained for biathlon, I went on a nordic ski.  It was 1:40 of uninterrupted bliss.  The temperature was around freezing, and a light snow was falling.  The range has many kilometers of groomed trails, I enjoyed the best skiing conditions of the year at a picturesque venue.  I was by myself and only periodically I saw another skier.  The trails had many rolling hills.  It was a skiing paradise.  By my estimation I skied 15K.  I was alone, I was in nature, I was having a blast, and I was at peace.  Coming home the weather started to turn into the storm they had been predicting for all day.  I’ll need to rest and regroup, because I see early morning snow shoveling in my future.

PS I had my first physical in ~10 years.  The doctor gave me a clean bill of health.  I was 19 lbs lighter than 10 years ago.

It was 30F, -1C when I got ready for my run this morning.  It was snowing lightly, the start of what  forecasters say may be 15 inches, 38 cm over the next 36 hours.  The snow was beautiful, but we’ve had nearly 100 inches of snow already this year, and today’s storm should place us in the top 10 winter snowfalls on record, so I wasn’t thinking how beautiful it looked.  The roads were still in great condition during my run, the snow had yet to stick.  Last week I completed 12X400 intervals, with each interval under 2:00 and 4 of the 12 at or below my goal time of 1:52.  Today I was only running 8X400 intervals, and none of them were under 2:00. Zero, nada, zilch, not a single interval sub 2:00.  As the pattern of ~2:04 intervals continued, I tried to tinker with my stride, but I found nothing to help today.

Today’s basketball session was an ineffective one.  I played 3 games before my kids got restless and demanded to leave.  My team won 2 of 3 games, but I was a non-factor. Hopefully, I’ll have a better game Wednesday.

it was clear, calm, and cold 15F, -9C, when I set off on my run today.  Since I am off work for the week I was able to wait and make this run after sunrise.  It was a glorious morning, with a brilliant sun, it may even approach 40F, 4C by the late afternoon.  Today, I ran what had been my base run when I started out in October, a 4.5 mile run that includes a few hills, and a mile loop around an industrial park.  I felt strong and relaxed, it was a glorious run.  At 7 there is a lot more hustle and bustle than at 5:40.  The industrial park had a stream of commuters arriving for work.  One guy let his dust mop of a dog do its business off leash.  The dust mop started to yap at me, and almost became a speed bump as it yapped its way onto the street to protect its territory.  Later today I get to play basketball.  I have to keep an eye on the forecast for my interval run tomorrow.  More snow is predicted, and I want to get my run in before the snow.

I just wanted to wish Pixie a happy birthday.  Pixie is my best friend on body space.  She is funny, intelligent, loyal, adventurous (although she is hydrophobic), and considerate of others.  She has given Webster a run for his money creating new words for the English language.  She has shared so much of her journey through her blogs, sometimes TMI, but usually a window that makes us feel more vibrant and alive for having known her.  Here’s a 3000 mile hug for Pixiglittrpants, and wishes for the best birthday every.  Pixie you are the best, you deserve the best, and the best is yet to come.

Your Friend,

Michael

This week was better in certain respects, the same in others, and some areas of disappointment.  I had a fabulous interval run on Wednesday, I ran fast, and the road conditions were wonderful.  I also had a great recovery day on skis with my dog, and a rest day hike with my family.  I even used the clean eating cookbook for tonight’s recipe.  Much of the week I spent juggling my schedule as parenting got in the way of training.  I wasn’t flustered this week by the disruptions.  I was disappointed in how I lost my focus during my long run.  These setbacks and challenges will help me with the marathon.  I still need to improve my pre-race nutrition, and find a during the race energy supplement that works for me.  I rarely run with an ipod, and my mind does a nice job cuing up music, and keeping me focused, but yesterday I had nothing.  One area where I need to improve on if I want to improve my running is committing to my home gym core workouts.  I have three different core/stability routines that take ~20 minutes, I could do them while watching the dvr, but recently I’ve been a slacker.

School is out until March 4th, so I will have time to play basketball Monday/Wednesday/Friday and Monday.  This may be my last basketball before the marathon.  My schedule for the upcoming week is as follows: Proprioceptive cue:  Running Against a Wall.
Monday:  Base run 5 miles.  Drills High Knees and Bounding: 2X20 Seconds.  Basketball@11AM.
Tuesday: 400m intervals at 3K pace.  8X400m@1:52 pace with a 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down.  Chance of nordic skiing in PM
Wednesday: VT DAD Triathlon Recovery run 2-6 miles, Basketball@11AM, Nordic skiing in the PM.
Thursday:  1 Mile Intervals: 3X1 mile @10K pace~8:03 with 1.5 mile warm-up and cool down.
Friday: Recovery run 2-6 miles at base pace, Basketball@11AM
Saturday: Rest Day or Family ski
Sunday: 10 Miles with running group.
Hope everyone will enjoy their upcoming week too.