Well I never was good at following directions, couldn't help running in Central Park this morning. My work friend is in town working at a different hotel so I made him wake up early and meet me for a run. He is about a 10:00min/mile guy so I figured that would be perfect to run with him and keep me under control. Hip felt really good most of the way, I tried to toe strike most of the run that seems to help and for the most part didn't really have any pain at all, I could tell that on the downhills or if I tried to speed up a little things weren't totally back to normal but hey its a start. Ran out around the resevoir and back for a total of 6, that was a bit far for poor Jeff but he'll live.
Got back to the hotel and decided to go to the gym for a bit more, 30 minutes on the elliptical. While I was on the elliptical I kept thinking the guy next to me looked awfully familiar. After going back and forth between Fox news and looking at him I realized it was Mitt Romney. I wanted to go talk to him but he seemed pretty deep in thought. I day dream about running a really fast marathon when I work out, he dreams about running the nation. Pretty close. I thought that was strange but then realized I am in the New York Marriott Marquis, I'd imagine Marriott pays for all of Romneys hotel rooms.
Just to make sure I came back to my room (I have access to the hotel rooms list) and checked, sure enough, Willard M Romney is checked into the hotel under his very own name.
P.M.
Since I have to wake up at 2:45 am Utah time tomorrow morning to catch my flight home I decided to get my morning workout done tonight.
30 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minutes of weights
9 Elliptical miles in 1:15:14 Avg HR 126. Must not have been working hard. Did 15 minutes of weights and then came home to get Britt to the Dirty Dash. She was in the 9:20 heat and did awsome. 38:18.
Felt icky this morning but for some reason jumping in cold water makes it so you can't really tell how your body feels. I wanted to swim in the outside pool but there was a big sign saying it was closed.
2400 meters in ~55 minutes, then 20 minutes of weights, Bench press, shoulders, abs.
Not sure if I'm just going downhill, or just not feeling it today for some reason but 7 Elliptical miles in 59:50 was about all I had in me today. Did some weights for 20 minutes after. Back and legs.
I'm definitely getting better at swimming, Getting the whole breathing on both sides down. 2400 meters in ~55 minutes w/bathroom break. 30 minutes of weights. Leg press, Bi's and Tri's.
Plan was to meet Dave at work and go on an early morning bike ride, he texted me last night and said he was to tired and thought it might rain, when I woke up this morning it wasn't raining so I decided to stick with the plan and just go alone. 1 mile into my ride I met up with a group of 9 other guys and asked if I could tag along, they said sure. We went up Big Cottonwood canyon for a bit then turned off and went parallel to Wasatch going South, up Little Cottonwood to the turn off and then down to Wasatch, looped around through some neighborhoods and back. 22.2 miles round trip, I felt really great the whole time and was able to keep up with Mike (the group leader apparently) and on the hills I usually was able to pull ahead. I'm glad to see I'm in decent shape still, I made them all feel bad when I told them I didn't ride bikes and this was only my second bike ride in 4 years. They meet every Tuesday and Thursday, I think I will try and join them, I'm also trying to figure out logistically how to start commuting to work from home, it's a 20 mile route and I think I could easily handle it 2 times a day. If weather permits I may ride home from work tonight and back tomorrow morning.
Rain stopped around 3:15 so I decided riding my bike home would be fun, Had a nice tail wind going South and made it in good time. 1:15 for ~25 miles. My Garmin died half way home.
Since my car was at work I had no choice but to ride my bike back. Pretty hammered from yesterday and my butt was really sore, so my time was pretty slow compared to coming home. Followed the Traverse Mountain road around Draper, even though I thought I knew it didn't, it sure seemed like it should have linked up with Wasatch Bvld, But when I got to the end I found out it didn't. So I had to backtrack back to 123rd down to 13th East and back up the brutal hill climb up to Wasatch Blvd. Caught up with some older guy and ended up riding up Little Cottonwood canyon with him for a bit and then went back down the canyon to my work. Route ended up being 26 miles in 1:34, it's a really great workout but if I'm going to commute I think I need to find a little flatter route. I'd like to get my commute down to 1 hour if I absolutely need to and just make it longer for harder days.
Feeling sorry for myself for not being able to run UVM today, I just woke up early and went to the gym for a swim. While I was driving there at 4:30 I thought about all the people that had to wake up at 3:00 to catch the buses, that made me feel a little better. (suckers)
2400 meter swim in ~53 minutes, my times are coming down. I may need to up my swims to 2 miles instead of the standard 1.5
Went to lunch yesterday with about 15 other FRB'ers. That was fun, it was nice to meet other people. Most of them had no idea who the heck I was but I decided to un-hide my account again since I told people where to find me on the blog.
I feel like I wasted a morning today, pretty lazy. We are hosting some professional soccer players from England at our house for a Challenger soccer camp my kids are doing this week. They were so excited they could hardly stand themselves last night. Its almost like they have never seen a house with a Pool Table, Pinball machine and full 7.2 surround sound theater in it before :) So I was up late watching Iron Man 2 with them last night.
Woke up at normal time anyway and headed to the gym for 1 hour of elliptical and 30 minutes of weights. Never really felt like I was working out. I brought my bike up to my office (cube) and had my friend adjust all the derailers and breaks for me so I can start commuting 3 -4 times a week on my bike. I've decided between swimming and biking that will be my best non-running training I can do to start getting ready for St. George training. I want to be done with elliptical, I feel like that is wasted time at this point.
The leg is feeling really good, but I want to give it as much time as possible before I start running on it so I can go into it full swing.
Met with my new cycling group, it works out really nice cause they start like 1/2 mile away from my work and know routes around Salt Lake that I never new existed. Dave came with us this morning too. Went North today out to Sunnyside up around the Zoo and back on Wasatch. The group seemed really chatty this morning so when we got to Sunnyside I sprinted up to the Zoo cause I was bored with the slow pace, I pretty much pushed the pace hard the rest of the way back. Felt good, absolutely perfect morning for a bike ride, gotta take advantage of the extra sunlight for the next couple of weeks.
If I'm not careful I may need to leave this blog and join Fastbikingblog.com.
Rode my bike to work, the first 8 miles just seemed like a bike commute but then when I started heading up into the foothills it was actually quite enjoyable. I started going North on 13th but then got bored and headed up 106th and took Dimple Dell road. Great ride and felt really good the whole way. Went up Little Cottonwood to the intersection and then back down to Wasatch. My morning rides I don't mind going long but I would love to get my commute home to right around 1 hour. If it wasn't for all the detours and construction in my neighborhood I could probably do it. But the closed road adds about 3 miles to the commute.
25.85 miles in 1:24 Avg Speed 18.4.
I have 1 week to get my leg healed, next week I fly out for 3 weeks so no bike. First stop, South Beach Miami, maybe barefoot running on the beach will be a good way to get back into running.
P.M.
Rode my bike home, 21.9 miles in 1:14:41 Avg speed 18 mph with a very un-favorable wind.
Rode with my new friends again this morning. There was a new guy from Australia that was know for his hill climbing skills. It was fun to have someone to race up all the hills against. The rest of the group probably didn't appreciate our hard effort up every hill but I sure had alot of fun. He only beat me once to the top of Dimple Dell Very much like interval work today, hard uphill sprints followed my relaxed downhill coasting.
Garmin is dead so I don't know my average pace or time.
I felt like I had forgotten how to swim this morning, it took me about 10 laps to get my breathing right so I didn't feel like I was suckin air every stroke. Finally got into it, I was going to try for 2 miles but 48 laps is about all I'm good for. Not physically, just mentally.
1.5 miles in 55 minutes.
Yesterday my work had a health clinic in the office, I found out I still have really high cholesterol and they suggested I should do more cardiovascular activity. Any ideas on how I can increase my cardiovascular activity :) Perhaps I should take up jogging, I heard that's pretty good for you.
I was going to ride up American Fork Canyon this morning but it was cold and windy and I thought that sounded miserable so I went from my house and threw a couple of my running routes together for a flat ride. Went out main street Lehi to Utah Lake, up to Redwood, back over camp Williams into Bluffdale up to the frontage road and back home. I was trying to keep a 20 Mph avg and I would have gotten away with it if it too weren't for that pesky mountain I live on. I think runners probably make good time trial cyclists because we are trained to keep our legs moving even when going downhills. This flat route was just what I needed, a longish route where I could keep my HR at a fairly constant rate for over 90 minutes. I would have liked to go further but I have a huge list of house chores since this will be my last weekend in town for the next 5 weeks.
Having an easy day is 1 thing, but having it because I'm lazy really upsets me. I was planning on riding my bike to work today, but the rain last night scared me off. I apparently forgot to turn on my alarm clock last night so I slept in until 5:00, looked outside and it as absolutely beautiful out and actually warmer than some of the days I've ridden in so I'm not sure what my issue was but I wimped out and just went to the gym anyway. 7 elliptical miles in 59 minutes.
This week is going to be pretty light, Scout Camp on Wednesday, and an early flight on Friday to Miami. Plan is to hit it hard next week in Miami, whether it's running or something else I plan to do doubles as often as possible. I really need to drop my injury weight before starting St. George training. I'd like to get some sort of base running miles in before that starts too.
Met my bike friends this morning and went for an absolutely beautiful early morning ride out around Hoogle Zoo and back on Wasatch, my legs were a bit jelloy still but I won every hill climb challenge and after getting to the end of our ride one of the guys told me he's glad I was going out of town cause he can't keep up with me, (I think he was joking, but not sure) and then they asked me if I wanted to join their LotoJa team. Humm, interesting thought. 3 weeks out from St George.
This story is going to border on the line of a Burt story. When I got back to my office building I went to the showers and then started putting on my clothes that I had brought last Friday and left in the locker, put my shirt on, socks on, and then tried to get my pants on, humm they didn't fit, at all. Have I gotten that fat? Looked down and realized I had accidently packed my wifes pants, and un-fortunately, in this case, she is much smaller than me. So paint the picture, me in a dress shirt, lycra shorts, black dress socks and a pair of Nike Free's, and the only place I could think of that sells pants at 7:00am is Walmart. Yep, if someone had a camera I'm going to end up on the people of Walmart website for sure. How Embarrassing!!
On a happier note, last night my kids wanted to race me around the yard, so I took off my shoes and ran barefoot in the grass with my kids. My hip seemed to hold up pretty well, it didn't hurt at all, but it didn't feel exactly normal. I think I have forgotten how to run but I'm sure it will come back. I'm going to continue to be a cyclist for 1 more week and then slowly start running.
No workout yesterday except running from 30 9 year old boys with foam swords at Cub Scout camp. I'd have to say though, if I can do that my leg must be pretty close to being able to run again. I'm actually afraid to start running again, what if I'm not as fast as I used to be, what if I hurt myself again, I sure hope the fitness comes back quick, I really don't want to start from scratch. That was hard!
So today I went for my last group bike ride for a while, warmish temps but once again an awesome ride, Tim, the Australian wanted to break ahead of the main group and get some miles going up Little Cottonwood before doing the normal 22 mile loop, so a group of 4 of us went ahead and started up the canyon, it was absolutely beautiful up the canyon this morning, a nice cool breeze and the river was raging. Went up to gate B which was about 3 miles up and then came back down. I'm a little bit timid coming down canyons like that, I hit a top speed of 47 but I'm sure the others hit 55 or so. To scary for me, people die going that fast, I'm sure they die going 47 too.
Finished the regular Thursday loop and ended up going 30 miles in 1:45. 16.7 mph avg speed.
Wow! What a way to make a come back to running, 6 weeks since I last ran, 14 weeks since I ran without agonizing pain. My wife is always jealous of my traveling and says I'm just on vacation all the time. Normally I tell her it's no vacation and I have to work the entire time. Well not this trip, she has every reason to be jealous of this one, I'm livin the dream. I'm staying at the Eden Roc hotel on Miami South beach, they put me in a huge suite with a balcony and my bed is facing the window so when I wake up in the morning I look out on to the beach and ocean.
I woke up at 5:00 am expecting it to be light for some reason, layed in bed and at 5:30 decided it wasn't getting light anytime soon so I headed to the hotel gym, did 1 elliptical mile and then decided to try out the ol' leg, hopped on the treadmill, started slow and then worked my way up to 7:00 /mile pace. Ran 3 miles in just under 23 minutes, it started getting light so I headed outside. Ran along the boardwalk for 2.5 miles and then decided to try barefoot running on the beach back, took off my shoes and carried them. Ran along the beach line with the waves hitting my feet, if felt great. It was brutally hot and humid this morning, and I've never done it before but I decided I was at the beach and would normally just be in a swimsuit anyway so I took my shirt off and ran barefoot and shirtless. Loved every minute of my run this morning, it felt good and my hip never acted up at all. 8 miles may have been a little over zealous for my first run back but hey, you can't argue with a run like that.
Now off to the part my wife shouldn't be jealous of, work.
Went to the gym this morning, mainly cause all the people in the hall all night made it impossible to sleep. My barefoot running on the beach yesterday gave me a pretty big blister on my toe so I opted for the elliptical today. 6 elliptical miles in 46 minutes, then I did some weights and stretching. Came back to my room and grabbed my wallet and ran along the boardwalk to Walgreens to get some Muscle Milk and a fruit cup for breakfast. On the way back there were a bunch of swimsuit models on the beach doing a photo shoot, They were modeling the new ever so popular one piece bikinis, I think I know what I'm getting my wife for Christmas this year. Needless to say, this was a huge distraction on my run to the grocery store. Miami is still in America isn't it? I thought public nudity was against the law, I guess if you look like that no one is going to walk up and give you a ticket.
Horrible day at work yesterday, Horrible sleep last night. Pretty great run this morning.
Did 3 miles on the treadmill in about 22 minutes and then when it started getting light I went out to the Boardwalk, realized the Boardwalk is lit the entire way so running on the treadmill waiting for the sun is pointless. Seems like I have recovered really well, no hip pain at all, Here is the plan, in 2 weeks from today I start a 12 week program for St. George, for the next 2 weeks the plan is to just get some slow base miles in and try not to worry about my painfully slow pace (Yet). I will try to get between 45 and 50 miles this week and maybe 50 - 55 next. Turns out my cross training worked, I still remember how to run, but my legs are really muscle sore. I'm amazed I can go out and run 9.5 miles pretty easily though.
In the park there were a few rowdy hooligans thinking it was pretty fun to harass the runners and jog along side them makes snide comments, I noticed them running with another runner up ahead, when I got to them one of them put out his thumb like a hitch hiker, I told him "come on, lets go" and took off at a good sub 6:00 pace, dropped him in about 25 meters :) I'm glad I still have some kick, now I just need to hold that pace.
The bikinis models were out again today, hey, it's not my fault if they are right along my running route. Jeez, don't judge me.
Wow! My legs are really sore. They act like they haven't ever ran before. Finally got a good night sleep last night, I was really surprised when the first time I woke up it was already time to get up. Went straight to the lit boardwalk and ran out 3.5 miles, I saw lots of people running on the beach so I went to the beach, turns out that far down there is a hard packed section of sand where the work trucks drive so it makes for good sand running. Started running back and then the sand started getting soft again making it hard to run so I went back to the boardwalk to finish. Really slow running, but like I said I'm just trying to remember how to run for now. Pace doesn't matter, 7 miles in exactly 60 minutes. No hooligans, no bikini models just a "normal" day at the beach.
Off to work, I've been here 4 days and haven't once been in the sun yet. Lame, I could use a tan.
Last night I went to the hotel gym for about 30 minutes just to stretch out, I could feel my hip. It didn't hurt, but the fact that I could feel it made me think I needed to switch things up today. Went to the gym and did 4 elliptical miles and then decided to try out barefoot beach running again. Dropped my shirt and shoes off at a pool side table and hit the beach, started out just barely light, probably one of the coolest running experiences ever, running along the shoreline all alone on a beach that goes as far as the eye can see. Don't under estimate the workout you get from running barefoot in sand with waves knocking your legs every few seconds, it's like hill climbs X 10. It started to rain really hard but that just added to the ambiance, I was already soaking wet from the waves splashing on me so a nice cool rain felt really nice. Ran 2 miles out and then turned around.
I don't understand why I only get a blister on one of my toes doing this. My right middle toe had a huge blister on top of the huge blister I got last Saturday from beach running. I wasn't going to pop it but at closer examination I noticed it was completely full of sand, pretty weird. So I popped it put a bandaid on and now off to another busy day of work. Can't say I'm ready for this conference to be over, as much as I like running in Central park I doubt it can beat this place. I'm coming back here in November again for a different conference so I have that to look forward to.
2 miles, to and from Dolphin stadium for the U2 concert.
Yesterday morning on the elliptical trainer I was watching the local Miami news and noticed that they were talking about the upcoming U2 concert, I thought that would be pretty cool if it was this weekend and I could somehow figure out how to stay and go to it. Later in the day while I was working I remembered I wanted to look it up and found out that the concert was actually last night. I thought I had to work late last night so didn't really think much more about it. At 6:00 pm the people I'm working for told me to go ahead and leave, they didn't think they would need me anymore, I looked it up and found out the stadium was only 11 miles away and I have a rental car so I decided to jump in and go check it out. Well it took me 1.5 hours to drive 11 miles, finally I ditched the car in a grocery store parking lot and ran the remaining 2 miles to the stadium. Went to the ticket window and they had nose bleed tickets for $34. What a deal. I had a lot of fun, going to a rock concert alone is kind of boring, especially the 1 1/2 hour wait in between the opening act and U2 but it was a lot of fun none the less. I had felt really bad that I missed the SLC concert so I got that out of my system. I ended up leaving early since 11:00pm is way past my bed time.
Slept in till 6:00, ran down to the hotel gym, started out on the elliptical and decided I would feel bad if I didn't log actual miles so I got on the treadmill. Progressive run pushed the pace a bit, nothing crazy but definately running instead of the jogging I have been doing this week.
