No long run Sat

... instead it was a time with other men and especially my youngest son and even a little bit with my oldest son too. It was the weekend of our Men's retreat: where we head out to some property and eat together, camp, have some teaching, sharing and do some cool things: skeet shooting, hand guns, etc...

I put up a 'large' tent that my youngest son and I slept in. We got there after dark, so It was a little challenging putting up a tent in the dark that I've never seen before. We only stayed Friday night due to a commitment for Saturday night already - but J. likes to camp.

There were parts of the property that were very wet : I got stuck in my pathfinder for about 15 minutes. Others also got stuck and I rescued / pulled out a truck on Saturday from the middle of a field that was difficult even for the 4 wheel drive.

In the morning J. and I went for a walk before breakfast and enjoyed seeing all the different flowers, weeds, animal tracks and etc: he likes to pick them, I like to take pictures of them.

Later in the day we got to do some shooting and that was fun. And towards the end of the afternoon when we were heading out J. and I had a little time with my oldest son too. He spent some time with his little brother (who enjoyed the four-wheeler rides and shooting his paint ball gun) - and I enjoyed seeing them enjoy being together!

[Photos: different shots from the time at the men's retreat.]

Weights & Home work

Friday morning started with my second Friday weight routine. It was nice to get in a second week of 5 times with the weights. This is my goal for the weights. Doing it in the early morning M-F aids in it being a regular time as I'm usually here and don't plan other things.. yet. (But, I knew this was my last formal exercise for the week: sure there is exercise in everyday active living - but that's not what I'm talking about here as formal exercise.)

Once the kids were gone it was into my youngest daughters bedroom where the carpet has been pulled up for a couple of weeks now and get it ready to put down some laminate wood flooring. My friend K. and his 9 yr old son came over and assisted me. Having the extra help was GREAT! They left at noon and it was my intent to stop at noon too ... but the room was so close to being done. So about two hours later I stopped and all but the closet was done. (I had to rip a half inch strip down the last wall and some other custom cutting for the threshold - but it looks very nice now.) Sunday afternoon I finished the closet. Doorways are tough and this was no exception as I made several cuts that were incorrect: probably one bad cut for every correct one - I'm thankful we had the extra boards to cover my mistakes.

It was good to get the "Home work" done with a day of vacation, help of a friend and time on Sunday.

[Photos: flooring and continuous through into the closet.]

A cluttered desk...

... a cluttered desk is often a symptom or sign of a life that is too full - or so it is in my case. If you want to know how my life is, the untouched up photo of my desk from earlier this week (unfortunately it's even worse today) speaks louder than several hundred words here could.

I try to keep the big rocks, but these days it seems like not even all the big rocks are getting done. No answers for this today... I know the simple techniques and choices - but the difficulty comes in making the many daily choices.

Wed and Th morning == two more bricks in the wall. I switched up the Wed leg routine to do different exercises with my bench attachment for thighs and hamstrings still broken (and no replacement part available from the manufacturer) - so I added some light squats and good mornings.

The fullness of these last days has made running one of the big rocks that didn't make it into the days activities. I did take a reflective 4 mile walk Wed around lunch time. That was nice. No walk or ride walks for Thursday.

Friday I'm planning on the weights in the morning and then working on a home project as I use a vacation day.

Saturday is already to full for a long run, so I'll only have 2 runs in for this week ... consistency is so difficult. Hopefully next week I'll get 5 and 5 again. That's my hope; with out sacrificing other big rocks.

[Photos: my desk in it's current state (and need of attention), breakfast this morning when my oatmeal concoction just didn't sound good...]

Two more bricks in the building...

Monday and Tuesday were 'Two more bricks in the building" - meaning they weren't anything particularly special, other than they were faithfully done. Had they not been done - then that would be noted as two "Missing" bricks.

Nutrition wise I've been doing pretty good - except for some red vines and some small bowls of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (Blue Bell Ice Cream). After my morning workouts I'm drinking a soy milk, whey protein powder, almond powder, carob powder and a little cayenne pepper. (I can fill a little burn on my throat from the cayenne pepper.) Then I'll cook my oatmeal concoction for my breakfast meal.

For lunch I've been making two peanut butter-jelly-spinach-black pepper sandwiches. (The black pepper is new and came to me after trying a seasonal nut that had a coating on it that included black pepper.) My appetite has stepped up a notch due to the increased exercise, so I'm trying to be careful in my drinking of water and snacking of good foods at regular times.

Monday was the weights in the AM and then my normal route for a lunch run. The weights didn't hurt as much as they did last week; and after a week of getting back into the routine of getting up early It's becoming a little bit fun/enjoyable again (Except for part of Tu and Fr as I do pull ups on those days - and those are still quite difficult for me). The run was a bit later in the lunch break as I was trying to finish a task at work, so I turned on my 8 min/mi alert (beeps when I go slower) and heard it remind me to pick up the pace several times and point along the route until I turned it off half way through... Numbers: 7:58/mi Avg, 151 AHR, 165 MHR.

Tuesday was similar with the weights and different on the run. I did a moderate pace for a little longer 6.9 miles with one of those miles being a maximum effort. As I've said before, and will now repeat: running hard/fast is difficult for me. I have never run a sub-six minute mile, so I don't really expect to now that I'm in my 40's (although it would be an amazing thing if I did - so it's kind of a dream goal). The mile loop (according to my Garmin) was done in 6:31 with AHR of 162 and MHR of 170. I've had a 6:26 when I ran with Wes earlier this year, but this was my best effort on this day.

During that short 1 mile loop I was ready to back off or stop long before the end: it was a small struggle compared to other life issues - but at that time is was my biggest struggle and one that had to be won or surrendered to. Life is full of challenges that are much more significant than running a mile hard. Part of the benefit of pushing past those limits where the body wants to stop, is the memory and experience that goes with me for future events that require a similar perseverance. Running a hard mile has some value on its own. But a life that has been trained by many of these experiences is like a wall that can support ... the more significant things of life!

So the moral of my two days of exercise is simply - they are bricks in a wall that supports much Greater things; they are my attempts to be faithful with what I've been given.

[Photos: bricks in a wall, protein drink before mixing (after morning work out).]

Ten workouts this week, as planned

[The photo is my weights log book for this week. I log times, weights, reps, sets, and make notes. I also track rest times and other time information. I've got lots of these pages...]

M-Th: weights in the morning and a run later in the day.

F: just weights in the morning.

S: a longer run in the afternoon.

-----------------------------------------

That totals up to 5 times with the weights: three different focuses and two days on all but the legs which are done on Wed to give 48 hrs rest in between the M Th and T Fr routines. It is my experience over the last few years that working each group twice a week will have results. I'm not looking for huge muscles, but rather to see a continued increase in strength: and that is still my goal and measuring stick.

For my run today I was able to run part of one of my bike routes. My wife and youngest two were in M at the soccer fields, so I ran there after getting back from my middle daughters soccer game. Google had it at 14.4 miles, but my Garmin said 13.49 when I stopped at 2 hrs as my wife and kids pulled up beside me after just leaving the soccer fields. It is the longest run I've done in the last few years.

I typically run loops, so this was the longest 'out' run ever. It was a little different seeing things on the horizon 4-5 miles away and then to know that I was supposed to run there .. and then keep going. The run was almost due South and into the wind. Normally I would get to turn around and have the wind to my back - but today it was into the wind almost the whole way.

My unit has gone missing, so the numbers from memory were 13.49 miles, 2 hrs, 8:56/mi Avg, 2020 calories.

Summary: most of my soreness from the weights is gone now - except for my calves which are still a little sensitive. Some totals for the week:

- ~32 miles run

- ~4.5 hrs running

- ~3.5 hrs lifting weights

- calories burned through exercise ~6600

- weight loss ZERO!

- energy and positive effects ... present but hard to measure

My hope is to follow this pattern for the rest of the year. Some variation of course, but much of the same structure.

Photos in the night

The photos are from out back last night. I like time exposed photos. The moon has been amazing for the last week; and even with it so bright in the sky the stars have been bright too.

It was windy, so I used my flash light to illuminate the flag while I took a 15 second exposure using my tripod. The moon of course is over exposed, as the shots that I've taken of it are around 1/320 of a second - so it's over exposed by 4800 times...

The flag is at half mast as a token of respect for the victims of the Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. As requested my flag of this Great Country will remain at half mast through Veterans Day on November 11th.

I'm glad to be able to have my 30' pole mounted to the top of my basket ball goal - which puts it up over 40 feet when it's flying at full mast: able to be clearly seen from the front of the house. City ordnance's allow a 50 foot pole ... maybe some day! :-)

Nov 5th and running with out a shirt

This morning was my second workout this week targeted on half of my upper body. It's similar to Mondays exercises but with some variation in weights, reps, rest time between sets, grips, ... maybe only similar in the base exercises and targeted muscles.

The main exercises were: punching bag and hanging knees for general warm up; bench (similar to Monday but with longer rest between sets, not going to failure on middle weights and adding a set of higher weight), decline (close grip), incline (dumbbells), triceps rope pull down, triceps bar push down and then dips. By that time I had been greeted by my youngest daughter and I was pretty much done anyways.

At lunch it was my regular route; and with the aching calves I didn't have any pace related goals. It was another one of those beautiful days we've been having. I told my wife if I wasn't so proud I'd run with out my shirt. She said I should anyways and I shouldn't be so proud or worried about how I look ... (content missing here). She convinced me, and it was very nice to run shirtless today. I haven't done that since the summer. Fall is a beautiful time here. As for the numbers: 8:45/mi avg, 141 AHR, 166 MHR.

Tomorrow will be back to a single work out - weights in the morning and no run at lunch. Saturday should also be a single workout - long run in the morning is the plan. So, no run tomorrow in hopes of resting my legs a bit for a longer run on Sat. I'm pleased with the way the weeks going so far.

I'd like to maintain 5 weight workouts and 5 runs each week for the rest of the year. That'd put me in a good spot for a Jan or Feb half marathon or maybe even my first full one .. And then there's the transition to preparing for the upcoming cycling season. :-) We'll see how it all unfolds...

Aching spreads

Yesterdays workouts (weights in the morning and run at lunch) happened as desired - but the details of each wasn't quite what I had planned on.

The morning started with the weights. It was lower body / legs. I have an attachment on my bench that is used for exercising the quadriceps and hamstrings and I use that as part of my routine. I've had this bench for 7 years now, so it has served me well - but the leg attachment failed during my last set. Thankfully the weights didn't fall on me and cause an injury. (Maybe I'll see if all that metal shop is paying off with my son and see what his thoughts are - I too took metal shop and have some ideas of my own...)

Back to exercise: the weight routine was 4 sets of increasing weights/differing routines. Each set was quad exercises (Left, Right, Both - LRB), calve raises LRB, jumping in place LRB, hamstring LRB and hanging knee raises. It's been a good workout for me in the past and yesterday was no exception. I found that the overuse injury that I'm nursing on the inside of my left knee wasn't able to handle the individual hamstring exercises. So, I used ice on it while sitting at my desk through out the day for the last couple of days. (I know this is what Lyle would say to do - so I'm just doing it.)

At lunch I was wanting to run a little further at a moderate pace and then do a faster mile. But ... that wasn't to be. I started, but was never able to get my pace up. I'm guessing it was from the work out in the morning. So I ran my normal route, but at a slower pace (9:30/mi avg). My AHR was 136 and MHR 150. I consider it a recovery type of run. I wasn't pushing hard, but just moving was stretching and using the muscles in a low stress way. I was completely not driven by my pace, but was trying to keep my HR down and keep moving. (This level of exercise also helps me to be more effective in thinking and praying as less of my thoughts are used on keeping my body to the exercise task.)

This morning I woke to sore and aching calves - certainly due to the focused attention yesterday morning. It's still uncomfortable to stretch as many muscle groups all over my body are aching now. My hands also are tender and aching from holding the various bars with weights.

[Photo: showing the broken attachment that holds the weights for let exercises on my bench.]

Two for Two

[Photo: protein drink this morning: 1 apple, spinach, protein powder, soy milk, ice]

Today was my second day of starting early with the weights .. and getting a run in later in the day. The weight routine today included (punching bag, various flavors of pull ups, lat pull downs, upright row, lower pulley curls, bar bell curls, dumbbell curls and hammer curls). The running was later and ended in the dark. It was my normal 4.8 mi loop - I wore my blinky light for safety. I turned the pace alarm off and just ran at a comfortable pace - it was nice.

I am continuing to have muscles express their dismay over the starting back up of the training. How you may ask: by aching, tightness, tenderness .. through my shoulders, chest, back and likely my legs after tomorrow. The joys of training.

Tomorrow I should do a lower body weight routine in the morning and then I'd like to do a longer run, with a fast mile in the middle. The weather has been beautiful these last few days .. to the point of wanting to be outside all day (not good for someone with a mostly desk job).

Nutrition wise I'm doing pretty good. Not eating as much; not snacking as much; only had a small serving of Homemade Vanilla Blue Bell ice cream tonight; had yummy spinach and albacore salads for lunch; protein drinks and oat meal after the morning work out ... making much better choices.

I feel the need for some Discipline!

I feel the need for some 'Discipline'!

Let me explain: Discipline isn't a bad thing, nor should it always invoke fear or uncomfortableness. The discipline that I'm speaking of is the kind that helps us to make choices that may not be easy, but help us to keep heading the direction we really want to go; rather than getting caught in the ambient current of entropy and/or sluggardness.

My life has been crazy with mostly family activities (can you say soccer dad); and because of that I've allowed myself to get pretty undisciplined in the normal areas (getting enough rest, not eating everything that 'looks' good, regular exercise, ... etc) that I have to help me stay in balance and focused. So this week I've started back on some of those big rocks: getting to bed early, getting up early, using the weights before breakfast, running at lunch, reigning in my appetite, starting the process of loosing ~ 8 lbs.

Monday: using the weights by 6 AM so I can be around with the younger kids as they head off to school. I have 6 different routines (with some additional variation) that train 3 general areas twice a week. So a full work out with weights is ~40 minutes done 6 days / week - giving 48+ hours recovery time for each general area. This has worked well for me in the past and I expect it will again. It's been about 7 months and I am feeling the soreness associated with using weights...it's a nice soreness; a soreness that leads to improvement. (Specific exercises in this days routine: Punching bag, hanging knees, bench press, decline, incline dumbbells, butterflies, tri pull downs, dips.)

I also went for a run during lunch: 4.8 miles, with the alarm set to tell me when I'm running slower than 8 min/mi. Numbers: 36:16, AHR 158, MHR 178, APace 7:44/mi. Sometimes I feel silly for posting my information when there are others who are running 100 miles / week and at much faster paces, but it's important to remember why I'm training: I'm training to be able to do MY best; I train because it helps me to not be grumpy with my wife and kids; I train so I can be fit and wrestle with my 16 yr old; so I can carry my 2 yr old grand daughter, do work, ... so many reasons. Maybe even some day to the an Ironman or solo RAAM ...

[Photos: are of a butterfly that was filling up on the flowers on the porch.]

8.5 mile week

I can't say I know what happened exactly, but I only got two runs in last week - and short ones at that. It gives my left knee some extra time to recover and heal, so that will be good hopefully.

After having such a low week for exercise - I've set some new goals. Not everyone is the same in this area - some can exercise with out goals and/or a plan. But I know that I need some concrete goals with some milestone events in there to measure my progress; I need to track and log progress. The journey and end results are good for me though. So, my next entry will talk about my new goals.

It's an easy time of the year to get undisciplined and unhealthy: I would encourage you to make choices and not just 'slide' into behaviours and/or exercise habits, but instead consider things carefully and intentionally. :-)

3 New Mystery Shots

Three new mystery shots!

I'm always on the look out for 'mystery shots', as you never know when you will get one. But today there were several. I have another in addition to these for the future.

Any guesses on any of the three? (These have not been altered in anyway. They are just smaller portions of a larger photograph that I have taken today.)

Running against the clock

[The photos are of my post run recovery drink: flax seed, millet, almonds, carob powder, soy milk, spinach, apple, sweet potato, yellow squash, crasins, protein powder and ice. It was quite green as I was 'heavy' on the spinach. My son had a glass too.]

Tonight I got to go for a run again - first one since Sat morning .. about 80 hours. So it was nice to get out, but it was a 'run in the dark' which is something that isn't my favorite. I have a reflective vest that I wore which helps with being seen. It's a passive visibility: meaning that lights have to reach the vest to be reflected back. I prefer the blinky lights and had one on the back of my shorts (but ended up not turning it on). The other thing that I don't like about running in the dark is when car lights shine in my eyes, it gets very difficult to see the cracks and other features of the road ahead of me - so it's a bit like running blind.

As I like to do - I decide the plan for the run before I left the house. Tonight I chose to set a pace alert; to keep the pace under 8:00/mi. One of the nice features of my Garmin is that it you can set up a fast and slow pace alert. So it was very simple to have it make an audible tune when I was going slower than the entered pace. It would make the tune every 25 seconds or so that the pace was slower.

It ended up being a good run for me. Something that I think I should be able to manage for the 4.8 mi route and eventually longer. My HR didn't get very high, but runs like these are challenging for me; so it was a good workout. Numbers: 7:47/mi, 36:29, 4.69 mi (normally 4.8), AHR 149, MHR 168.

A quick walk through my log shows that on Oct 12th I did the same run and the same time/pace. So it's been 2 weeks since I've tried running under 8:00/mi on this route. I've been 'enjoying' running lately, but feel the need to add in a little 'work' too now. Sept 27th was the last time I did a 3 mi hard run - a month now. Those are hard ones for me and I would like add another to the weekly routine, but I'm still struggling to get in 4 weekly runs. I think I am going to plan on leaving the pace alert on for the next runs this week: all but the Sat long run. (That will push me out of my comfort zone.)

Paddling the motor boat!

I had promised that we'd go to the lake today - last Sunday when it got to late to go. So there was no getting out of it today.

It was nice to be able to keep that promise, even knowing that the boat didn't seem to be running just right after starting it in the backyard first. But after a little time and attitude adjustment on my part - we all seemed to think it was a good time.

We're going to try one more time to find an honest shop to take a look at the motor. It felt like it needed to be cleaned out; it wouldn't rev fully and take full throttle ... not to good for towing a extra large 3 person tube. We manager to get out just past the mouth of the harbor before we knew the boat wasn't going to run anymore. The kids were already on the tube, so we just put out our anchor and floated there. It was kind of nice. We had paddles stowed in the front - as I know that any time the boat is in the water I have to be prepared to paddle. (Such is the life of owning a 30+ yr old boat and motor!)

The kids all swam; even with wet suits it was cold; 64.1 F was the water temp.When we headed in, everyone got a chance to 'contribute' to powering us in via a turn with a paddle. And we even got a tow from a sail boat! :-)

My Dad owns an old Triumph motor cycle and he has told me on more than one occasion that he wouldn't ride it further than he wanted to push it home. So to it is with our boat: don't go out further than you want to paddle back!

29.6 mile week

Saturday morning I was able to get out for a run. My goals weren't very clear before I left, so those runs tend to be a mixed bag. The main goal was greater than 90 minutes and 12+ miles.

It was a full morning and a late night before so I was a little under prepared in the areas of rest and pre-nutrition. I ran an old route that, with the furthest part one that I've not run for quite some time (although I have ridden it this year) - that's out to Belt Line. It was a beautiful morning and it was very nice to be out. I ran 12.64 miles, 9:04/mi, 1:54, AHR 141, MHR 164. I haven't checked my Garmin yet, but I'm sure I ran a negative split: which simply means the second half was run at a faster pace than the first half.

I'm still building my strength and base miles, so almost 30 miles is about as many as I want for the next few weeks. I'll work on maintaining 25-30 miles / week and then work on incorporating more speed work; then add more distance. At this point I think I could finish a half marathon, but I'd like to not just finish but finish with in a certain time. I'm not sure what that should be exactly, but less than 9:00/mi I'm pretty certain of.

After the run it was busy, busy: soccer game, meeting at Barnes and Noble for our free hot chocolate and cookie, heading home to clean up for a Wedding and reception, then the tail end of the Izibongo CD release party... what a full day.

Running naked...?

[No action photos for this one ..., but instead today's sunrise and my granddaughter at the table eating Cheerios and playing with a puzzle at the table - how cool is that!]

For me, to run with out my electronics (HRM & GPS) and to not capture data - is to run 'naked'. Of course I would not run in public with out clothes...

This run took place Thursday evening (during my ‘dinner break’). It was a bit windy and cool, but it was great to get out after being in meetings for the last two days. The sunset was spectacular as the low clouds went through many colors of the rainbow. Even with out my Garmin, I found myself attempting to press the lap button at my normal places. That show’s how good it is for me to run ‘naked’ and unhindered. This is something I’m trying to do on one of my weekly runs. (I have different purposes for training runs through out the week (long run, intervals, recovery, faster paced, … and now 'naked').

On these runs where I’m less hindered or distracted with my normal ‘training’, I have enjoyed and been challenged by some of thoughts that occur. During this ‘free thought time’ in Thursday’s run, on of the thoughts that came to mind was: What if I die tomorrow? (I didn’t think to long about it, probably in part because it’s something that has popped up before for me. It was just around 5 years ago that I heard a heart Dr tell me that I may not live to see 40; that will get you thinking…)

So, I reflected on how I’m still very much alive, and am Glad for that! I thought about my family and work; how I am able to have my family as a priority over my career. Something that is difficult at times, but it really is what I want: I don't want regrets in this area. I also thought about being with God for eternity. That was a thought I could only ponder briefly as it quickly overwhelms my mind: what will it be like to be before God ... ?!

If you haven’t had that thought before - It's a good check. I don’t think of it as a morbid thing, but rather an opportunity to evaluate where I’m really at, and then to consider if that’s where I really want to be. If so, great; if not, make changes.

A life of training for me is one that is aiming to improve: not just in performance, but in character, quality, depth and value. Maybe you should try running 'naked' (but clothed) and see what you think about. :-)

A pad on the paw of my dog's foot

The last mystery photo is shown here in the red rectangle: it's a portion of the pad on the paw of my dog's foot. Kind of amazing to see what they look like up close!

I'm always on the lookout for a new mystery photo: so much around us, when magnified a bit, becomes quite fascinating to look at. :)

Interestring and another Mystery

The week days are indeed full with the work conference and it's been raining, so running has not happened since Tuesday. But that's OK as I'm nursing the balance of some (likely) overuse discomfort and wanting to be running more.

I've attached two photos: the first is a temporary 'low budget' projection stand. The second photo is another mystery: any guesses? (I think it, like many shots, are interesting.)

One hard mile

Tuesday: normally a rest or cross-training day, but with the rest of the week unknown and likely challenged for time; I took the time for a run. It was the route that has the 1 mile loops in it so I can make it 6 or more miles. On this trip it was 6.9 miles with 1 loop. The loop was done with the intent to be a 'hard' portion of the run. That loop was 6:46 with an AHR of 164 and MHR of 173. That was great for me. It was a challenge and I even noticed a little bit of a 'whees' at the very end of my exhale at the end. (That's not necessarily a good thing, but it was a reminder to me that I have reduced lung capacity and to be running at all is something to be glad about.)

The sky was like a shot out of Toy Story: light blue with lots of puffy white clouds. It was windy but beautiful: it was a visor and tank-top day. The rest of the run was: 6.9 miles, MHR 173, AHR 150, 58:38, 8:29/mi Avg pace.

Wed morning (now) it's raining. There are meetings all day and evening.. looks like it will be a recovery day.

[I'm using a different computer, so I am not able to upload any photos right now. Maybe later..]

Monday

Knowing it was going to be a full day - I ran in the morning after the kids went to school. There is usually a lot of traffic on my normal route, so I modified it some and ended up with little traffic and just over 5 miles.

My pace continues to be moderate to slow - but I'm OK with that for now and the next couple weeks - as I phase back into running. I see these weeks as base miles and I'll work on speed in the future after I'm able to run ~25 miles / week for 4 weeks (roughly). Today's run was 5.2 miles; 44:58; 8:37/mi; AHR 138. So the numbers support that I wasn't pushing too hard aerobically. This running is harder on my legs than cycling, so that's what I'm feeling most right now and that's what I'm working on.

I weighed myself this morning and I'm 8.2 lbs above the weight that I'd like to be - so I am planning on slowly loosing that extra weight by the 1st of the year. It's a pretty modest goal, but appropriate as I'm not training as intensely as I was earlier this year and I'm finding that my appetite is still supporting 1000+ calories a day of exercise .. all I'm lacking is the exercise! Time to cut back and allow myself to be hungry again and retrain the body on what the needed quantity is for my current level of activity.

Mystery Shots exposed

Here are the full photos that the last set of mystery shots were taken from.

From a small flower picked by my youngest son.

Dew on a spider web in the grass.

More dew on a spiderweb and grass.

~26 mile week

[Photo: little flowers given to me by my youngest son.]

Friday: I ran at lunch time, but left my HR monitor and timing stuff behind. It was close to my normal route, but I didn't want to be monitoring my HR or pace: I just wanted to run for the Joy of running!

Even as I was leaving I thought about peeking inside to see what time it was so I would have an idea of how long I was gone ... Man, some habits are deep and die hard! It was a beautiful day and very nice to run for fun. I tried to not let my mind thing about exercise, but tried to use it for other thoughts. I also like to pray for my friends that exercise and do that often when exercising. And there are other things that I like to think about and pray about too .. but some thoughts are mine. :)

Saturday was Soccer in the morning and other things in the afternoon. About 4 PM I was able to head out to the dam and run. The 10 mile route has a lot of traffic due to some road construction, so I opted for running on the dam where there are no vehicles to be concerned about. It's 4 miles across so the just under 11 miles was not quite 1 1/2 laps. My goal was 90 minutes and 10+ miles. My avg Pace ended up 8:51/mi, AHR 140, distance 10.81 mi, 1:35:42. I saw a couple other runners and a few cyclists.

My total distance is ~26 miles running this week; once on the trainer; a couple walks and no times with the weights yet. It's been quite some time since I've run over 25 miles in a week; so I'm pleased with that as I start back up running. I'm moving slow - but still moving: For that I'm very thankful.

A couple Cool Mystery shots..

These are some 'snippets' of photos that I took today. They have not been touched up or altered in any way. They are zoomed in parts of a larger photos.

Can you tell what they are? Any of them? Any idea of the scale?

(My compliments again to my Canon PowerShot A710 for such clear Macro shots that allow me to zoom in to such detail with clarity.)

Ride, Run, Walk, Whack (almost)

I can usually tell the the days are full when several pass by and I have no photos from them. That means I'm not taking the time to "stop and smell the roses". It's not my desired way to live - but it seems to be very common during this busy season of life.

Tuesday - I spent just over 30 minutes on the bike / trainer in the evening: averaging just over 18 mph.

Wednesday - I had a run during lunch, with a walking leg towards the end. No deep thoughts to pass on this time. The walk was in part due to the humidity .. I just wanted to walk for a bit, so since I'm not driven by the miles anymore, walking is allowed. The run included a mile where I could only squeeze out 7:12.

Thursday - ~40 minutes of walking with my wife during lunch. It was cool and nice. One of the little dogs that always comes up and barks actually bit my wife during that walk. It didn't break the skin, but it was a good reminder to not take for granted animals. We did a loop so she had a stick before we came back by and I was on the 'dog' side. It would have been my pleasure to 'whack' the dog had he come for a second bite, but he didn't show his face (good thing for him). Protecting myself from an animal is something that I've already thought through in my mind - but thankfully have not yet had to do. On the bike it's mostly try to avoid, but on foot it can get a little more 'hands on'.

What .. no mirror?

Several times now while running I've glanced up and to the left - where my mirror has been for the last 10 + months: attached to my helmet. But I've yet to wear my helmet on a run - even though I did wear a 'blinky' light on the back of my shorts last evening.

Having the mirror is nice and missed a little, but turning around isn't that difficult; I just need to re-train myself to do it. But for the transition period - it's fun to remember after glancing up and to the left .. "O yeah, I'm not on my bike and I don't have a mirror."

Run off a fever.

Yesterday late afternoon at work, I was wondering if I had a low grade fever, or possibly a sun burn? I think I need to go for a run to 'burn' this off.

[More on this in a minute.. photos: the morning mess, good 'big dog', post run Garmin.]

The day started with the picture to the right: Nice! We have two dogs: one will speak to me (as he did this morning) when he needs to go outside. He doesn't always like to 'go' on our schedule - especially when it's raining, so he will let us know when his schedule says he needs to 'go'. The other one is still a young dog and has only been in our family for ~6 mos. He has obedience issues, has destroyed many things by chewing and of course has left many surprises for us. If the mess in the kitchen wasn't enough, my daughter brought in part of a chicken from her room - special delivery from our young dog. So, we continue to train with the hopes that he ('rat dog') will some day be as well behaved as out 'big dog'.

I have been working on our boat as it's been sitting for a couple years. Something about having it stop working when you are out on the water ... just makes you want to not use it. This is our second boat and we've had similar experiences with our first boat too. (I'm starting to think it's par for the course when you try to maintain 20+ year old boats. Maybe someday I'll have that center console Boston Whaler... new of course. And big enough to take it to the gulf for some Snapper! That'll be the day... :-) My youngest has been doing some serious nagging and has been my helper in the process. So it's been good to work on it together.

Monday morning I was able to go to the lake with a friend and we tried it out. All in all it went well. The fish finder transducer wires had been chewed through (3 of the 5 wires), but I was able to see it and do what I think was a good repair job. The wires are twisted and wrapped in foil for shielding from each other and the environment. I used some aluminum foil and black electrical tape and made the repairs as well as possible. Thankfully once on the boat the fish finder came to life and seemed to work great. We saw lots of fish on it - but never saw any on the boat; or even a bite for that matter. But 'catching' fish wasn't the goal: the boat ran and we were able to have time together. Once the boat is working I need to improve my 'catching' ability so my kids and wife can have fun fishing.

Bad business experience - I can confidently recommend NOT doing business in the future with Lake Ridge boat repair. They didn't honor their word. I spoke with Richard who quoted me $70 to see what was wrong (I was having starter problems and I wanted them to look at it). If I wanted to do the work that initial cost would go towards the total repair cost. Instead what happened a little over a week later was I got a call saying it was $240 for what they had done and they wanted to do $600 more for a tune up. They said it wouldn't run in their tank - but it ran at the lake yesterday great; just like it had in my backyard before I took it to them to look at the starter. They said they replaced some corroded wires and tried to test it in their tank. It's pretty poor business - I've bought parts from them in the past as they are near by, but I can't support them anymore if that's how they do their business - taking advantage of people or not being truthful or not honoring their word. It's always a bummer to be taken advantage. My son actually cried as I was expressing my frustration about it; so I had to express the big picture as well (that it's only money, and that character is more important, being truthful, what they should have done to have integrity and ultimately that God knows what we need and he is still our provider). It was a good chance to pass on some of my core values to my youngest: well worth the cost of $240!! Maybe that's the part where God can take bad things and get good from them...

[..now back to my running Monday evening.]

I ended up working a bit later than normal and my family had gone out to eat (they were already pushing it for seating capacity in our van), so I said I'd stay. So when I came home the house was empty and I hadn't had any exercise yet. I still couldn't tell if I had a fever (I'm usually the fever checker), but it's hard for me to tell on myself. My thought was that a good run may just help my body burn up whatever was going on inside. It makes sense to me: heating up the body, making it work hard, making it undesirable for any germs or infection. Even if it didn't help with that, I figured it'd help in other ways.

I ran my most regular route (~4.8 miles). The goal was to aim for 8 min miles with out letting it consume all my mental capacity - reflecting back to the run from last week. The numbers: 36:29 for 4.78 miles, 7:46 min/mile avg, 710 calories, AHR 153, MHR 175. It was grey and cool and getting dark so I took my blinky light with me and used it towards the end. It was a good choice to run. I had made my protein drink (soy milk, flax seed, millet, spinach, carrot, pear, carob powder, protein powder and ice) when my family returned. I then fixed a sweet potato (sliced and lightly cooked on a skillet with a touch of olive oil). And later had a cup of key lime sherbet.

Life continues to be full and exercise and nutrition are a part of it. Since I'm not in any serious training at this time (just trying to transition to running in hopes of a future event) I will continue to write of training but will also include dips into other areas of life.

Life is worth living well!

Sat: 10+ mi run

I was able to get out for a run Saturday morning: two of the three soccer games were canceled due to the fields being saturated from the rain we've had.

Over all the totals for the week were down; only 3 runs in, no time on the bike, and still no time with the weights... I guess I'll call it a recovery week, or an off season week: 21.4 miles for the week. I missed my 3 mile time trial run this week.

Saturdays run was the first run of 10+ miles in a very long time. I don't have my log in front of me but I'm going to guess well over a year. This was my first run on the week that I didn't feel like I had to walk. When I finished and was walking up my street it hit me that I had been running for just over 90 minutes - and it went by Fast: like just a few minutes ago I just started. It was a enjoyable. The pace was easy aerobically as my AHR was only 136, but it was more of a challenge physically as my legs were tight and tired some during the run. My Garmin says I burned off 1500 calories.

The arch on my left foot is still a little tender. I may need to replace my inserts or maybe my shoes. It's been so long since I've run as a focus that I don't remember the history on these shoes. Even as I write this I can feel my arch aching.

Exercise goals for this week include 4 runs and to start back with the weights. It'd be nice to get in some time with a swim coach ... and maybe I could figure out what I'm not doing correctly. That would be Great as I would like to actually do a Triathlon this next year and am getting more and more pressure to join my friends that are already doing these events. I'd like to, but am just a poor swimmer at best.