Two More Halves in the Bag

So, it has been a relatively long while since I've posted last --- damn, nearly a year. So what has been going on since last August? In February, we did the Surfside run again, but with a kicker this time around. It was pouring rain for a majority of the race. Fun? You bet your ass it was fun, but damn, I could've done without some of that rain. My time suffered because I had to slow down. On the other hand, last year when I did Surfside I had problems with my left calf ... and this year, wouldn't you know it, I had issues with my right calf. It locked up on me again at mile 10. I don't know if it was the rain, the cold or the sand being extremely loose because of all the moisture, but the last three miles kicked my ass. In better news, I met an older gentleman on the race, he was walking it with his grandson. Less than a year prior to the race, he had a heart attack and his wife's solution was to start signing them both up for half marathons. The guy dropped 80 pounds and has done a half a month since he started. Seriously, the guy is my hero. I don't know how the hell he does it, but wow, that is a goal to definitely work toward.

After Surfside, I was inspired and went ahead and signed myself up for a half in April, May, June and July. Talk about biting off more than you can chew.

April 7th came around a lot sooner than I start but damn, I had my personal best on that race. I beat my Surfside time by more than 35 minutes, and for me, that was a huge accomplishment. My legs didn't cramp up, I kept a great pace, and when the race was done, I felt awesome. I really want to do that one again next year. Westminster 13.1 is what it was called, and a majority of the track was on a dirt hiking path. There were some hills, I'm not gonna lie, and one of those hills never seemed to end, but I made it to the top and back down, all the way to the finishing line. I was so proud of myself that day, it was a great run/walk.

May 20th is the next one, and it is coming up this week. I haven't done any kind of walking since the April 7th race, so I am hoping to get some miles in tonight to get my legs back in the mode of go and go and go and then go some more. I hope to get in 10, don't know if that is going to be possible, but I'm going to give it a shot. I want to be sure that I don't cramp up on this one - it has a strict time limit and it is going to be hot on Sunday.

June 23rd is the Slacker - and it is the one that I signed up for last year, but failed to actually make it up there for the race. I must make it this year, as I won't be able to make the July 7th race - as I will be in HI getting married. So June 23rd will be the last of the local races for the summer. I don't know what I'm going to do for August, or perhaps I can find another suitable race (meaning no hills) in July, but around here that is hard to accomplish.

I will post again once I've finished up on Sunday (at least I hope that I'll be able to finish) and hopefully it will be a vibrant post giving glamor to yet another 13.1 under the belt.

Continuity

So this makes the third night in a row that I've gotten out and gotten in some miles ... yay me!!!

Last night, granted I was stiff and sore from Tuesday's nutso walk when I was running on empty, but I managed to get in a couple of miles. I also went for a "run" yesterday morning to loosen up a little bit ... it was a very...very...very...short run. But, I was glad I was even moving, so I was just fine with it.

Tonight, I knew that I wasn't going to repeat Tuesday, but I did manage to get my full six back on the roster. I found a new path, and I actually like this one better. It is next to the park, no lights to worry about, and I actually ran from mile three to mile four. A full mile at a faster pace, that was awesome.

I managed to keep up a really good pace tonight too, so that is telling me that I didn't let things slip quite as far as I thought I did. I guess we will see how long I can keep this up.

Oh, I'm also looking at a half in October in New Mexico. Crazy I know, but its close, I can drive and the entrance fee didn't shoot up like it did for Niagara. I'll see how the next few days go and if, within the next week, I'm feeling better about my six mile times, I'll sign up for it. Costume-driven half. Fun, fun.

Back? Again?

Ok, so yeah, the past few months have been a little insane and not much has been accomplished in terms of miles. Well, my mornings just opened back up so that means I don't have to wake up after sleeping for four hours ... can you say happy camper?

So, last night was a rough night at work - Murphy's Law and then some. So, I decided early on that I was going to go for a long walk when I was done to clear my head. I get home, change and then got sidetracked for a bit before finally getting my shoes on and heading out the door. It was 10:48pm when I left. It was after 1:30am when I got home.

So, I start heading out and I had a plan, but that plan quickly went to shit when I decided I was just going to keep on going and turn around when I started getting tired. Ok, so this took me 9 miles. I hadn't eaten at all during the day, and I was seriously dehydrated when I started (after not drinking any water all day) so by the time I drug my ass through the front door I was tired, sore and thirsty as heck. But, I felt great.

I forgot how good walking those distances made me feel. Granted, last night I had to do a lot of stretching and icy hot was my bed buddy, but still, when I got up this morning I felt great.

I think I'll go for another walk tonight, not the miles I did last night, but hopefully I'll get in my normal six (well, that was normal up until the summer started).

I hope this time I'll be able to keep it up ... making a lot of changes in my life, and hopefully this one will lead to the full 26 next year!!!

It's Been a While

So, it's been a while since I've posted on here, but after my trek yesterday I figured I should post an update. So yesterday around 1 in the afternoon I decided it was a good idea to get in 20 miles. Mind you it was 95 outside and I didn't really take that into consideration when I was leaving.

I left at 1:20 and after 20 minutes I was hurting. I had my camelbak fully stocked with 3L of water, and by the time I reached my destination it was all gone. The sun was raging and it was taking every bit of willpower I had to keep on going instead of turning around and going home or getting on a bus or light rail. I told myself that I would at least make it 10 and then see how I was feeling before calling it quits.

So, I continued to drink my water, had some GU along the way, and I made it 10 miles in 2.5 hours ... my best time ever. The heat was motivation to kick my ass into high gear so that I didn't get stuck out there.

And what did I do after I got there ... I found air conditioning and rested. I was tired, I was getting the early symptoms of heat stroke and I needed water. After waiting for a bit and resting for about an hour I made the decision that I wouldn't walk all the way back home ... I would take the light rail for part of it and save myself a little bit. I went and got some more water, filled my camelbak back up and walked 3 miles to the light rail station. I got on and the AC felt wonderful. I got off at my stop and had another 2 miles to go to get home. So, all-in-all I set out to get in 20 miles and ended with 15. Not bad for 95 degrees out. My camelbak has paid for itself time and time again ...

I will never do this again in this heat!!!

New Shoes, Part II

I decided I cannot run in those darn Nike things I bought. As much as a I love the Nike Plus system, I can't stay with Nikes if they don't have shoes that feel awesome on my feet. So, today I trotted off to a fantastic local sports store recommended to me by a co-worker called Finish Strong Sports. The staff and owner there watched me walk around, asked me questions, measured. We got my choices down to about 4 pairs of shoes..... and then the owner even put them on my feet! Talk about service. I settled on a pair of Asics Cumulus 12 that really do feel like walking on clouds. I took them out for a trial run today, along with a new little gizmo I picked up, the Amphipod Micro Pocket. The Micro Pocket lets you attach your Nike Plus to your shoe so you can use it with other brands instead of in the heel of your Nikes. I'm not sure whether it's because I haven't used my Nike Plus in a couple months, or whether the Micro Pocket was too loose, but I sweated it out in the humidass Houston evening air running circles around my neighborhood for 20 minutes and it only logged 0.68 miles. What the heck. I went home and mapped my route and it looks like there was a good hard-earned mile missing from there somewhere. I'll have to fiddle with this thing later. For now, I'm just glad to be on my feet again.

Urm, haven't dont Jillian since last Thursday. But have been doing a lot of kettlebell exercises. I only have a little 10-pounder. Wondering if I need to upgrade. Thoughts?

Week One in Review

Ok, so that sounds like some tacky news headline, but I've been very bad about posting so I have to do a week in review.

I started the 30DS last Sunday, and as expected, Jillian kicks my ass each and every time. I really don't know if I will ever be able to keep up with Jillian but it can be rather fun to try.

So, I'm still doing modifications, but I have been able to crank out a few push-ups without the modifications. Yay for me. On the other hand, I am still following Anita a LOT. By the time the 20 minutes is up I'm breathing like I've lost a lung but feel rather good about it.

I've also started up my walking again, and think that I'm going to start walking to work so that I can really increase my mileage ... perhaps that will make a difference in the way my body reacts to this punishment.

Today, I took the day off of Jillian and decided to go hiking instead. Three hours and seven miles later I made it back to my car, feet covered in red dust/turned to mud and I am SOOO glad I had my camelbak with me - that thing paid for itself. I drank about 3L worth of water and the miles didn't seem as bad when I stayed hydrated. That thing is definitely going with me on the 25th ... it will be much easier when I'm hydrated. That's one thing about Surfside, I wasn't hydrated ... and while I drank at every station, I was parched.

Ok, so back to Jillian - with the upper body changes, I'm noticing the shoulder workouts are getting easier, but Jillian v. walking v. hiking v. biking ... all different muscle groups. While Jillian does help with the walking and hiking, all those damn squats, it doesn't do a damn thing for biking. I think the only thing that is going to get my ass in bike shape is actually biking (or getting an indoor trainer ... why in the hell did I throw out the one I had in Cleveland???).

Tomorrow and Wednesday will finish up level one, and then we shall see about level two. Fun fun :)

JM - Days 3 and 4/Level 1

Did a workout yesterday before heading outta town for a couple days. Then did a workout today with my sister in law, who is really familiar with the JM30 also. Both workouts went well. My quads are feeling the burn, that's for sure.