VT Dad’s fight vs. inertia & flab

I was really psyched today, it was my first opportunity to play basketball in quite some time.  The gym I go to has a Monday, Wednesday, Friday game that runs from 11:30~1:00.  I arrived early at 11:20, and there were already 23 guys there ahead of me.   I played at least 6 games, and the numbers swelled to a max of 33.  It was a blast.  I got some good runs in.  We got smoked in our first game, and my teams played better as the afternoon wore on.  

After lunch I began a run, thought better after a lackluster 2 minutes, a retired to soak in the hot tub instead.

Spirit[186]
New Friends-2
Blog Comments-79×2=158
Group Activities-7×2=14: Having another family over for dinner Friday, Saturday cheered at son’s cross country meet, PR 5K= 20:26 & UVM Hockey vs Miami of Ohio, official 3-3, but UVM won an experimental shootout, Monday attended son’s oboe rehearsal,   Tuesday night attended ice cream social after services, Wednesday hosted luncheon in grandmother’s memory after services. Thursday took son to UMASS for campus tour and information session.
Worship 4×3=12 Friday night, Sunday morning, Tuesday night, Wednesday night.

Body[10]
Regular runs-5
Ab Workout-2
HIIT work out-3

Mind[12]
4 Hours of reading-8  Read “Newman, Paul and A. E. Hotchner. Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good.” The wonderful story behind Newman’s Own and the philanthropic work behind the Hole in the Wall Camps
Riddles-4
This is an unusual paragraph. I’m curious how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it? It looks so plain you would think nothing was wrong with it! In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is unusual though. Study it, and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit, you might find out! Try to do so without any coaching!  ……No Letter “E” in this paragraph
Gaze at this sentence for just about sixty seconds and then explain what makes it quite different from the average sentence.?Quick! What is it?  …….All the letters of the alphabet are used
Riddle:  Which of the following doesn’t belong in the group with the others & why??Apple, Grape, Banana, Cherry, Pear…. Banana, the other fruits you can bite and eat the Banana you need to peel first
Assign every letter of the alphabet its numerical value: A=1, B=2, C=3, and so on, up to z=26. Can you think of a familiar 7 letter word whose letter values total only 21?  HINT: It’s edible.
Weekly total-208
Total-576

I went for a late run today, it was cool, crisp, and clear when I started 43F, 6C.  I was supposed to go ~6,5 miles so I came up with a nice loop starting and ending at my health club.  The one problem was that 1 section of the loop was on the bike path, and I knew where that section started, but wasn’t sure where that section linked up with the rest of my route.  I decided to start on the known section of the bike path, so that in the future I could run this loop in either direction.  The bike path emptied into a condo neighborhood, but still had to continue further.  There seemed to be a fork, so I took the left fork.  It was the wrong fork.  It wound up on the road I wanted to be on, but 1/2 a mile from where the terminus of the bike path should have been, Overlook Park.  I ran to Overlook Park, but I couldn’t find the bike path.  Overlook Park has wonderful views of Lake Champlain, and in the late afternoon the setting sun’s reflection was shimmering on the Lake.  I turned right, saw a path, and thought I might have found the terminus, unfortunately it was a walking trail in Overlook Park.  I ran further into a new condo development, but the only path was a short dead end.  Flustered I retraced my steps and found the bike path.  I gave up on my loop, instead returning on the bike path all the way back to my club.  This bike path at times traversed some beautiful wood lands.  Parts of the bike path were completely covered by leaves.  It was a nice path for running, and I think I’ll enjoy it even better as part of the original loop I has envisioned for today’s run.

Today was a miserable day weather wise.  I awoke to snow flurries.  When we danced with the Torahs outside, during Simchat Torah, more snow flurries.  By 3:30 PM when I set out on my run it was gray, blustery, and 38F, 3C.  I began my stretching routine, but stopped and scurried inside to grab my gloves, and a wind breaker.  My 2 mile warmup was anything but relaxing, I labored with every step.  Today was my hill workout, 12 hill repeats sprinting both uphill and down hill, with a 2 minute running recovery after each repeat.  I focused hard prior to my first uphill.  I wanted to bound up the hill, and keep my legs churning all the way until my turnaround.  That first uphill took 31 seconds, and all my uphills ranged between 31-34 seconds.  I wasn’t quite as focused during my down hills, and my downhill times ranged between 27-31 seconds.  I finished with 2 more recovery miles, before savoring the reward of a hot shower.

It was a dreary, overcast afternoon, 45F, 7C, when I set out on my run.  It had rained much of the day, and was threatening to do so again.  My hydrophobic SD running coach would have been making her reservations for treadmill time.  I threw on some layers, and set off on my run.  I was blazing during my first mile, finishing that first leg at 8:25.  My first goal (sub 9:00) first mile was shattered, now I had to focus on finishing my loop in under an hour.  My proprioceptive cue was running on water, so playfully I kept trying to concentrate, and ask myself, “How would Jesus run?”  At ~1&1/4 miles I encountered my first hill.  I bounded up that hill keeping my pace and my rhythm.  I felt great.  At the second checkpoint I was >1 minute ahead of my last run’s pace, so I knew I had a chance of reaching my goal.  It began to drizzle, but the rain didn’t dampen my spirits.  I keep running strong, and fluid, like a caribou running with his herd.  The rain became steadier and heavier.  I now had to avoid running through puddles, or being splashed by puddles.  My focus didn’t waiver on the run, at every split I was faster than during any previous run in October.  This was going to be my fastest loop, the only uncertainty was whether or not I’d finish sub60.  I ignored the rain and cars, and ran with a singular focus, cruising home in 59:22.  I had a great run, shattering both of my short term running goals.

Riddle:  Which of the following doesn’t belong in the group with the others & why?
Apple, Grape, Banana, Cherry, Pear

Tonight my eldest son had a rehearsal from 7:00-9:30 PM, with an orchestra of adult musicians.  He was recommended by the conductor of the youth orchestra, as this orchestra was looking for an English horn player.  It took 45 minutes to drive each way to the rehearsal.  I sat alone, reading accompanied by classical music.

I did pretty well this week, running 5 of 7 days and working my core 3 of 7 days.  I logged ~35 miles, and improved my pace a bit from last week.  To reach my goals I still have to knock off ~ 70 seconds per mile from my base pace.

My schedule for the coming week: October 20-26, is as follows:
Proprioceptive cue: Running on Water
Monday: Off
Tuesday: Base Run 6.5 miles, drills: 2X20 seconds 1)Stiff Legged Run 2)Running No Arms
Wednesday: Hill Repeats: 2 mile warmup and cool down, 12X30 seconds hill repeats with 2 minute active rest.
Thursday: Base Run 6.5 miles, drills: 2X20 seconds 1)Stiff Legged Run 2)Running No Arms
Friday: Base Run 6.5 miles, drills: 2X20 seconds 1)Stiff Legged Run 2)Running No Arms
Saturday: 5K race: Goal PR sub24:08, compare fitness level with same race a year ago:25:42
Sunday: Long Run 9 miles @ base pace
In addition I intend to play basketball Friday, and included 3-4 core workouts.

Here’s a new riddle:
Gaze at this sentence for just about sixty seconds and then explain what makes it quite different from the average sentence.
Quick! What is it?

Today was a day that looked like, felt like, and smelled like autumn.  It was cool, crisp, and clear 49F, 8C, a day that was just screaming for a run.  I set out on an 8.8 mile long run, adding a 1.2 mile segment to my long tun from last week.  My goal was to run each split faster than the same split from last week.  My first 4 splits took me to the turnaround spot from last week.  Each split was faster, and I was ~40 seconds faster overall.  

My next leg was depressing. Where once had been undeveloped land, there was now a new road, that was prepped for suburban sprawl.  Someday this street will be lined with duplexes, each looking the same and choking off the vitality of the land.  With our economy in flux that time may be a decade or more away.  As my run continued, I passed a development of duplexes.  Every house looked the same.  There wasn’t a unique house in the bunch.  I wished the developer would have built a few 4-7 story condos relatively close together, and left the rest of the land for recreational trails, and/or a community garden.  

I left the cookie cutter neighborhood, and ambled back past an older neighborhood, before looping back to familiar ground.  My 5th split was also an improvement from last week, but I faltered during my last 2 splits, and failed to achieve my goals for today’s run.  All in all I had a great time celebrating autumn alone on my run.

alt="mail8.jpeg" undefined="96" undefined="127"  />The sun was shining brightly, it was a glorious and crisp 38F, 3C,  when I dropped my two youngest kids off to carve pumpkins for the haunted forest, and set off on my run.  It was anew run for me, a 6.5 mile loop that began on a secluded dirt that wandered around mostly downhill for about 2 miles, finally ending at a state road.  Immediately as I turned onto the state road, I faced a monster hill.  Up, and up, and up I went for ~3/4 of a mile, finally I crested the hill after more than 7 minutes.  With all that climbing I expected much of the rest of my run to be flat or downhill.  I was mistaken.  The terrain was rolling hills, but unbelievably to me there seemed to be more uphill than down hill.  When I was done with my run, I gathered my kids, and headed for home.

I fell asleep before 8PM last night, and awoke ~4AM refreshed and ready to have a great day.  By the time I set off for my run ~5AM it was 46F, 8C, clear and breezy, another morning with wonderful running conditions.  Since I was starting my run earlier I knew I’d be done before sun rise.  I also knew that there’d be fewer distractions, that I’d be alone, by myself on this run. I ran my first mile in 9:07, and I was only seconds ahead of Tuesday’s pace at the second check point. I knew I wasn’t going to reach any of my 2 short term goals (sub9 first mile, sub60 run), so I was just me running to better my time from Tuesday.  Whenever I found my concentration drifting my paced slowed, and my splits came closer to those from Tuesday.  Inside my head the Boomtown Rats were playing: Got to Keep it up.  I ran against myself the rest of the run, finishing 21 seconds faster than Tuesday.