Lunchtime Run Before The Rain

This scenario has been happening waaaay too often. I lay my running clothes out the night before, but then either sleep in or can't get my behind out of bed in order to get the run in.

It happened again this morning.

By a nice stroke of luck, I had some meetings cancel and saw that there was a big empty space on my calendar from noon to 2pm. I could go for a lunchtime run. And I could do it outside since it wasn't going to start raining until this afternoon (and I loathe running in the rain when it is 40 degrees or colder...)

I ended up meeting HH at our neighborhood coffee shop to run 3-4 miles around the streets of my neighborhood. I decided not to look at my heart rate during the run, but to keep up with her while ensuring the pace was slow enough that I could keep up a conversation.

It seemed to have worked. Although I was a bit winded a few times along the way, I never felt that low-energy, fatigued feeling that I have been getting while running during the past week. That in itself was a huge confidence builder that I'm finally seeing the other side of being sick.

We ended up running for a little under 3.5 miles at an average pace of 9:48/mile. I'm glad I wasn't watching my HR as I averaged 165 bpm. I would expect an 8 minute mile pace with that average HR...I guess I'm still fighting off something.

All afternoon I had that great feeling pumping through me after a good run. I had almost forgotten what it felt like. I thought to myself, "this is only after 3.5 miles...I can't wait until I've ramped up to 6 or 10 or 15 miles again!"

Yes...I'm Still Here!

It has been 10 days since my last blog post. Wow! I don't think I have gone that long without posting to the blog since I started at the end of December 2007.

Things have just been really busy - my current project is based in SoCal so I feel like I'm working both in the Eastern and Pacific time zones, and I'm trying to balance this along with family time, Israeli Dance commitments and prepping our taxes.

I haven't been running as much - this can be attributed as much to the weather as it can to being busy. Since I came back from SoCal last Thursday night, I have run 5 times - 4 of them on the treadmill. And each of those runs have been "squeezed" in.

For example - this morning my younger son woke up at 3:45am (and woke us up too). He fell back asleep shortly afterwards, but I was still tossing and turning. By 5am I still wasn't asleep, so I decided to head to the gym (it was 10 degrees outside with many parts of the sidewalks not shoveled from Saturday's snow...). I'm glad I got a run in at that time as I don't see any other spot in my schedule today where I could run.

But at least I'm running a little. Which is more than I can say about blogging! No posts for 10 days? What gives? Additionally, I just checked my Google Reader of the blogs that I follow - I have 134 unread posts - YIKES! How will I ever catch up???

The worst part (or best part - depending on how you look at it)...I don't see it letting up anytime soon. This project will keep me busy through April at least, and my customer is discussing adding a Phase 2 that will go through July or August. I can't really complain about that - I like my job and it's great to have work - but it's also nice to run, keep this blog updated and read other blogs (and it will return in that order, of course!)

...And Sometimes You Have To Put Work Aside And Go Run

Today, the mercury hit the mid-50s in the DC area. That's pretty much a heat-wave compared to the bitterness that we've been experiencing. I soooooo wanted to run today.

However, my work-day looked slammed...my Outlook calendar showed meeting after meeting after meeting. Basically, there was no free time between 10am and 6pm.

Or maybe there was...

I took a closer look and saw that between 11am and 12noon the only thing on my calendar was a daily conference call in which I present my project status for about 5 minutes. Since my project is not related to most of the other ones being presented, I usually present first. That would mean I would have from 11:10am until 12 noon open. Just enough time for a 3 mile run around the lake, a quick shower and to grab something from the kitchen for lunch to eat at my desk during the conference call that starts at 12 noon (which I needed to be on for the duration, but in a "listen-only" mode). SCORE!

I decided since this needed to be fast - and since I was having a tough time running slowly outside anyhow, that I would do some type of speedwork on this 3 miler. As I was heading out the door I thought about gradually upping the pace throughout the run...how about starting at 10min pace, then doing a 9min pace for mile 2 and an 8min pace for mile 3. Sounds like fun!

The first mile I was just so excited to be outside that I was running a bit too fast. I had to slow myself down many times as I worked my way to the perimeter of the neighborhood and towards the lake. Mile 1 came in at 9:43.

Mile 2 was nice and comfortable. I was running strong but not taxing myself. Again I needed to slow myself down as to not get carried away, but ended up a lot closer to my goal pace here. Mile 2 - 8:51.

Time to turn on the burners! I looked down at RedG a few times during this mile to see that I was running in the 7:30 to 7:40 pace. No wonder this felt so darn uncomfortable! I slowed down a bit - especially since the last quarter mile was uphill - but still ended up with a 7:41 mile 3 split.

As soon as I hit mile 3, I brought the pace down nice and slow, jogging easy back to the house. Overall it was a 3.19 mile run in 28:21. It was the fastest I have ever run this route (OK...I normally use it for a short easy run and not for speedwork). A far cry from my first entry on this route in my running log - July 14, 2005 when I ran this route in 42 minutes. What a difference four and a half years - and a few thousand miles - makes.

I Hate It When Work Gets In The Way Of My Run!!!

I planned to run during my lunch break today. I'm working at my new office in Reston - two blocks away from my gym and right on the W&OD Trail. The weather is a bit warmer today, so I was hoping for a lunchtime run in sunny 40 degree weather!

Then reality set in. A few small issues at work spiraled into endless conference calls of reiteration. Time slipped away until finally I was able to peel my tush off my desk chair - at 1:45pm.

GRRRRRRRRRRRR....

No run. Just a quick lunch before heading back to the office.

I'm starting to remember why I like to run first thing in the morning...

Four Days In A Row!

A few years ago when I started running, I made it a habit to always take a day off after a run. I felt my body needed a rest and that I didn't want to over train. (I was already almost 35 years old when I took up this habit) I was running three days a week - twice during the week and once on the weekend.

I remember that last year when I started training for my first marathon and my training plan dictated four runs per week, one of my biggest concerns was whether my body would be able to adjust to the times where I ran on consecutive days. After about two weeks of the four-day-a-week regimen, my body was fine. No injuries. I didn't get sick from overdoing it. Consecutive days - no problem!

I still only run four days a week on average. Some weeks I'll throw an extra run in to make it five days. However, I still have two or three rest days each week. So far, so good - no injuries and I still do not get sick very often.

This week has been quite an anomaly though. I have run on four consecutive days! (and the wheels aren't falling off!).

Tuesday morning I got out of the house early enough for a morning run. I ran one of my 3 mile neighborhood loops. I started out a bit fast and didn't want to slow down, so I threw in a few fartleks and made it a speedwork run.

Wednesday afternoon I was able to get to the gym on my lunch break and hit the treadmill for a recovery run. 3.5 miles at a treacherously slow pace to keep my heart rate in the low 140s.

On Thursday, I had a bunch of afternoon meetings cancel on me - so I went for another run at the gym. This time I did more speedwork. Pyramid intervals of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 mile with 1/4 mile recoveries.

I was set with my weekday runs and planning to go long on Saturday or Sunday. Except that I started looking at the weather report. They are calling for 7-15 inches of snow starting Friday night and not ending until Sunday morning. Did I mention that the Washington, DC area freaks out at 7-15 millimeters of snow!

So I realized that I was not going to run this weekend. Karma came through and my 11:30am conference call got cancelled and my next call was at 2pm. Just enough time for a run, a shower and to shovel down something for lunch at my desk :-) I got dressed in my cold weather gear and went for a 4.5 mile run in 32 degree overcast afternoon.

After my last post complaining that I have not been running much lately, it was great to get four consecutive days of running in!

Back To The 20 Mile Week

My normal "base training" while not focusing on a particular race has been a 20 mile week. I usually run 4 times a week - 3 weekday runs of 3-5 miles and a longer weekend run in the 6-10 mile range.

Since the marathon, I haven't had a 20 mile week yet. First it was due to recovery and then it was due to time constraints.

This past week had its fair share of time constraint issues, but I was able to squeeze in runs where I could and I logged 21 miles over five runs. Hooray!

These runs included slipping out for a 4.5 mile run on Thanksgiving morning after the turkey was in the oven, meeting up with a friend that I went to high school and UofM with (neither of us were runners back then and we only reconnected when he searched for descriptions of the Turkey Chase and found my blog!), and a short Sunday morning run.

Sunday's run was chilly - about 31 degrees. It was my first sub-freezing run of the season. I wore running tights, a heavier long sleeve shirt and a beanie...winter is a-coming! I didn't want to run long because I traveled later that afternoon to Irvine, CA for work. I left my house at around 12:30pm Eastern and finally arrived at my hotel around 11:30pm Pacific - 14 hours door to door. Yuck.

However, when I walked out of my hotel this morning I saw how beautiful the weather was. I am so psyched to run out here!!!

BTW...if you take a look over on my training log, I have now logged 978.9 miles for the year. If I repeat last week's 21.1 miles, I will hit my 1,000 mile goal! Woo hoo!!!

A Few Cold And Rainy Runs

Work has been really busy this week - trying to pack almost 5 days of work into 3 days. Even though I have Friday off, I'll likely work a little. I'm starting a new project - and traveling out to Irvine, CA next week to meet with the internal and customer teams and get the whole thing kicked-off. It's very exciting...yet it is tough to get to everything in my normal routine. (and it will be nice to run in some warmer weather...)

Luckily, I haven't totally abandoned running (blogging, reading other's blogs and spending time on Facebook have all been put by the wayside).

On Monday - the day after my 6 mile (not 10K) race - I slipped out at lunchtime for a easy recovery run. It was a cold and misty afternoon, so of course I started out a bit too fast in order to get warm quicker. A bit after my 8:59 first mile, it started to rain...and I started to run faster. When a mostly uphill Mile 2 came in at 9:17, and the rain started to come down harder, I decided that this was not going to be an "easy recovery run" anymore. I started to haul it back home. Last mile was in an 8:22 pace, and last third of a mile in an 8:04 pace. 3.3 miles in 29:06...not exactly a recovery run for me.

On Wednesday morning I took my wife's car into the shop and decided to run while waiting. I headed out for an easy run - again in the cold rain. This time I was able to keep the going a bit slower. I ran 3.5 miles at a 9:43/mile pace. The best was coming back and looking at all of the aggravated people waiting for their cars at the shop...I was able to avoid that annoying wait by using the time wisely and getting a run in!

Today is Turkey Day! Unfortunately, no Turkey Chase 10K. But if I get my act together, I may be able to go for a short run while the turkey is in the oven.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Needing To Change My Running Schedule Due To Work

For the past two years in my job I was working on building a new wireless network for one of our customers. It definitely had its headaches along the way, but the great thing about working on a new network is that almost all work can be done during the day.

My current projects involve live networks. So whenever anything needs to be upgraded or changed, it needs to be done at night...just in case something goes down, there will be fewer subscribers that are impacted.

So tonight I get to start a conference bridge at midnight and start my Monday activities. Ick.

I'm still on duty to drive my younger one to nursery school in the morning too. So I'll either get a few hours of sleep before that - if the nighttime activities go quickly - or I'll go to bed around 10am.

So the big question is - when do I run?

I doubt it will be at my normal 5:30am or 6am. Perhaps after I wake up later today - around 2pm or so??

Preparing for THE Long Run

Tomorrow I am doing THE long run of my marathon training.

22 miles.

More planning has been put into this training run than many of the races I have run!

First of all, it will take me close to 4 hours to run this distance. Finding 4 consecutive hours on my schedule during the next few days has been tough. This weekend there are special holidays (Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah) so I'm going to synagogue both Saturday and Sunday. It is my 20th High School reunion on Saturday night - so I really did not want to run this on Saturday morning and then be dead tired on Saturday night.

I have some vacation days to burn at work, so I decided to take tomorrow off. Excellent! I can run on my day off, right? Well...my older son has a half day due to the holidays - which means there is less than 3 hours between the time I drop my younger son off at school at 9:15am and when I would need to pick my older son up at noon. UGH!!! I coordinated to have my older son go home with a friend until my wife can pick him up later so I can get my run in. Go figure, I'm taking the day off and don't have time to pick up the kids. Did I mention how much I love my wife....

Next I needed to find a route. 22 miles is a lot of ground to cover. I also want some change of scenery so I'm not bored to tears. I have decided to connect the CCT trail to the Rock Creek Park trail route that the Parks Half Marathon is run on. I'll park at or near the Rockville Metro, take the Metro downtown to either Dupont Circle or Farragut North, and start running from there towards Georgetown to pick up the CCT trail (hopefully about a mile). I think it is about 8 miles up the trail to Bethesda and then another 13 miles to the Rockville Metro station if I follow the Parks Half Marathon route. There's 22 miles for ya!

Another cool thing about this training run is that I'll be running it at about the same time of day that I'll be running the NY Marathon. Since I need to drop my son off at nursery school, I probably won't get downtown until a little after 10am. This will be good for me since I'm so used to running at 6am...I need some more practice running later in the day.

This run will also give me a good chance to practice nutrition and hydration. Since I'm running at the same time of day, I can simulate what I will eat on race day before the run and during the run. I need to give this a little more thought this afternoon and evening so I have a plan tomorrow morning.

I'm usually not nervous or anxious for a training run, but this had so much planning going into it that I'm a bit jittery. Perhaps that's also good practice???

Managing Your Boss To Get A Run In

I overslept this morning. My wife woke me at 6:05am asking me if I was going to run. I really did not have time since she leaves with my older son to drive carpool around 7:15am. So I was stuck - either run at lunch or no run today.

As soon as I logged into my work computer, I saw a large empty chunk of time from 12 noon to 2pm. Hooray! I'm running at lunchtime!

However, as I was going through my emails, I received one from my boss who decided to move a meeting from 10am to 1pm. Oh man!

I started thinking about this meeting. The other PM on the project was not in the office today and was returning tomorrow. Also, there hasn't been much going on from my end with this project. It sounded like a waste of 30 minutes to me - plus it would stop me from my lunchtime run.

So...I replied to my boss giving him and update with my portion of the project, explaining that the other PM is not in the office and that it would be much better to meet tomorrow morning.

A few hours later I received the notice moving the meeting to tomorrow. YES!

My 11am meeting finished a little early and I was out the door by 11:45am. My plan - do my 7.4 mile neighborhood loop as a tempo run. One easy, warm-up mile; six miles at a "10K pace", cooldown for the rest.

My 10K PR is at a 9:03/mile pace. Since I feel I'm likely in the best shape of my life (except for about 10 more pounds that I should lose), I decided I would try to do the tempo portion at a 9 minute mile. Either I would crash and burn, or I would know that I could go for a 10K PR after the marathon :-)

I ran my warm-up mile in 9:45. I have no idea what my HR really was for that mile as I was getting false readings in the 190s and 200s. However, I pretty much knew my heart was not working that hard so I ignored heart rate on this run.

As I started to push the pace at the start of mile 2, I started to get a side stitch - probably from my mid-morning granola bar. Grrrr. I thought there that I would do one mile at tempo and then see if I could continue.

The side stitch disappeared at some point during mile 2. At the end of that mile is a monster hill - I hoofed it up and hit my first tempo split at 8:59.

That would be the closest I would get to a 9 minute mile. I found another gear somewhere and hit splits of 8:31, 8:29, 8:54, 8:16 and 8:40. Holy cow!!!!

To put this into perspective, the last 10K I ran was the Turkey Chase on Thanksgiving morning. I had a time of 1:00:30 for 6.2 miles. I ran the first 7 miles of my run today in 1:01:35...and this included a "warm-up" mile.

As long as I stay healthy after the marathon, I should be able to bring my 10K PR down on Thanksgiving morning. Watch out turkeys!

Weekday Runs - Done!

I wasn't exactly sure how I was going to fit in my weekday runs this week. I needed a rest day on Monday, after Sunday's 18 miler. I wanted to run this weekend's long run on Saturday, and given that the long runs are getting to be longer, it would have been nice to rest on Friday as well.

That meant running Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Lucky for me - running wise that is - work is a little slow right now :-) This may change, as one of the other accounts is looking for some Project Management support. I should find out more about this tomorrow.

However, this week was slow enough that I was able to get mid-day runs in on Wednesday and Thursday. Instead of 5, 8, 5 I did 5, 6, 6. I could not get a mid-day 8 miler in because of meetings I had on Wednesday afternoon...instead I did a 7x800 Yasso workout on the treadmill.

This afternoon I had the pleasure of running outside. It was overcast, a bit breezy, temperatures in the low 60s and threatening to rain...seemed perfect for a run! For some reason I was craving a trail run - probably after last week's half marathon which is mostly run on the Rock Creek Trail. I decided to run up to Great Seneca Park and on the roads in the park...one of my favorite local runs is around Clopper Lake, but the last time I went there I almost wiped out 2 or 3 times and I promised myself I wouldn't run it alone again. I did run right past the west end of the lake and was able to look across and soak up the beauty.

On my way into Great Seneca Park, there were four deer standing in front of the path. They heard my footfalls and looked my way. When they realized I was coming toward them they all leaped back into the woods. I felt bad to interrupt them, but it definitely added to the beauty of the run.

Once I entered into the park, the threatening rain delivered! Luckily it only came down as a light steady stream - just enough to cool me down and bring a smile to my face. I thought about how I haven't run much in the rain this go around so this was good practice - just in case Nov 1 is rainy in New York.

I finished out the run with a bang - most of my splits were in the 10:40 range, however mile six was in 9:44. Nice! Final stats - 6 miles, 1:03:18 - 10:31/mile pace, average HR 145.

Five Miles At Dark O'Clock

I guess I better just get used to this as it's not going to get much better over the next few months: when I left this morning for my run - a little before 6am - it was still dark outside. My new training partners are Venus and Orion. Deal with it.

Since Sherry leaves to drive carpool by 7:15am most mornings, if I want a morning run it needs to be early. As a result, I'll need to try to get to bed earlier - so no Monday Night Football last night (I did end up winning my fantasy football games in both leagues that I am in - so my only team that did not win this weekend was the Redskins...3-1 for the weekend is not bad).

This schedule will not be so bad for the 4 or 5 milers...but I'm wondering what I'm going to do for the 8 mile mid-week longer run. My calendar is starting to fill up this Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, so a long lunch-break run may not be in the cards. I may have to wake up at 4:30am to get 'er done...UGH!

This morning - 5.5 miles in 58:20; a 10:31/mile pace with average HR of 148. My muscles still felt a bit stiff and sore from Sunday's run, but still I was able to keep a nice pace and my heart rate below and average of 150 for the entire run. Of course I would hope for a lower HR on an easy run (the first 5 miles on Sunday I had an average HR of 140 and my pace per mile was only 11 seconds slower), but it still felt pretty good.

One other tidbit - my weight is now at the pre-Disney vacation level. This is still 3 pounds more than I ran last year's marathon at - and about 7-12 pounds more than my doctor wants me at. I'll definitely focus on losing those last pounds after the marathon. I really don't feel like counting calories while marathon training - my body is a furnace right now and I'll feed it when it needs it!

Sneaky Speedwork - And A Great Playlist

As the events of this morning unfolded, I knew that I could get my long run in this weekend. So, I can get my last weekday run in - a 4 miler - either today or tomorrow.

I decided to go for a late afternoon run today. Since it was 90-some-odd degrees outside, I hit the gym. And since I didn't do any speedwork sessions this week (I was trying to squish my longer runs in during the week, so I took it easy), I decided that I should do some speedwork.

The plan - 4.5 miles of "pyramid intervals". Set the jog speed on the treadmill to an 11:00/mile pace and the run speed to an 8:00/mile pace. Warm up for 3/4 mile and then run intervals of 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 mile with quarter mile recovery jogs in between. Finish with a half mile cool down.

I did great today! It felt good - and even that mile-long interval 3 miles into the run didn't beat me up too hard.

One thing that helped was my playlist. It went almost perfectly with the run. My warmup was to "Overload" by Sugababes, "Waterloo" by ABBA (I will be working for a Swedish company in a few weeks...) and "Salamati" by Arash. As I started my first interval, the Theme from Rocky came on which definitely gave me a lift. After that was "Lose Yourself" by Eminem which took me through the second interval. The third interval started during "Pump It" by the Black Eyed Peas and then was run mostly through "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin.

As I started my mile-long interval, the Theme to Chariots of Fire started. Then "Fire" by Jimi Hendrix and I finished off the mile to "Desire" by U2.

Awesome tunes to keep me going at an 8:00/mile pace!

Now I Remember Why I Run Long On Saturdays...

Due to some of the commitments I have during the week, the best mornings for me to run are Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays. I have blogged here that I aim to do my weekday runs on Monday morning, Wednesday lunchtime and Thursday or Friday morning with a long run on the weekend.

This morning I remembered why I like that long run to be on Saturday morning....I was still sore from yesterday's 13 miler.

I also had a little visitor in our room at 3am (our 3 1/2 year old). So when 6am rolled around, I didn't roll out of bed. Even for an easy 3 miler.

I had a stroke of luck, though. A bunch of standing meetings got canceled today due to "General Information Sessions" on the Ericsson deal. So I had some time clear up around lunchtime! I got my "easy 3" in during lunch.

I did my 3 mile neighborhood lake loop - in a sunny 84 degree afternoon. I ended up running a 10:37 pace with an average HR of 150. Not bad at all. I'm wondering if it would have been even better if it were 20-30 degrees cooler...

One other note for today. I'm down 1.5 pounds from last week (one pound from two weeks ago). I'll continue to do what I'm doing - try to make better choices each time I sit down to eat. Here's a few from this past week: 6" sub instead of 12" at Subway, no cheese or sour cream in a burrito at CalTort (although I can also go with the small instead of regular size...), nicoise salad instead of a greasy sandwich or fish and chips for Thursday's lunch. I'll continue to make these types of adjustments and hopefully will lose weight at the pace of about a half pound to a pound a week.

Planning Out The Week

This next week is my first bump in mileage in the training program. Up until now, the mileage has been around 20 miles a week - which is in line with my normal "base" of running.

Week 4 of the program calls for runs of 3, 6 and 3 miles and then 11 on the weekend. However, I'm planning to run Riley's Rumble on Sunday - so that will be 13 miles. As a result, I'm going to do an extra mile on one of the 3 mile runs, so I'm still within the rule that the longest run is not more than 50% of my weekly mileage.

I'll likely run 4 miles on Monday morning, 6 miles on my lunch break on Wednesday and 3 miles on Friday morning. Then the 13 mile race (as a training run - I'm not going for a PR or anything) on Sunday morning. It seems nice and spaced out, so I hopefully will be able to get a good amount of sleep and recovery between the runs.

Procrastination - With A Plan?

Last night I had prepared everything to go for a run this morning. However, my motivation just wasn't there this morning.

So...I procrastinated.

However, I was able to convince myself it was the right thing to do :-)

Normally, I go on a long run on Saturday morning. This weekend, however, I will be running the Twilighter 8K on Saturday night instead.

So, it may be better for me to get a 3 or 4 mile easy run in on Friday morning and then run on Saturday night....right?

Late Lunch Run

I blogged yesterday that I was going to use Wednesdays as my longer-middle-of-the-week-speedwork run - and that since I'm dead tired on Wednesday mornings due to running an Israeli Dance group on Tuesday nights, that I will be trying to get this workout in during my lunch break.

I could see that plan unraveling right before my eyes. Even though I put my run on my Outlook calendar (I'm busy at that time folks!), I managed to get triple booked at 11am. The meeting that was most important for me to attend was scheduled for a mere 30 minutes - and ended up lasting an hour and a half :-(

I ended up getting on the treadmill at the gym at 1:30pm. At least I made it.

However, I'm going to have to work on the pre-run nutrition aspect of things. I had my usual bowl of cereal with soy milk for breakfast, and then grabbed a Kashi bar at 10am for a snack. This would have been great if my run was at noon. I did eat a few pretzel rods that they had at the office (probably 100 calories worth) and then I had a GU before hitting the treadmill. So...I had some calories in my to burn - but not tons.

My plan for today - Yasso 800s. These are half-mile intervals that you do at the pace that equals the time in which you are aiming to finish your marathon.

I'm not gunning for a particular time yet, but I chose 4:40 - which would have me doing my intervals at a 9:20/mile pace. That seems sooooo slow for speedwork after the stuff I was doing last summer for the "fast 5K". However, it won't run me down - which has been concerning me lately.

I ended up feeling very good the entire run. Recoveries run at about an 11:00/mile pace and intervals at 6.5 mph (a 9:13/mile pace). My heart rate never went over 160 bpm. Perhaps I should add some incline next time???

New Plan for Mid-Week Run

The training plan I am following includes 4 runs a week - three during the week and one long run on the weekend.

The middle weekday run is usually longer than the other two.  For my first marathon I used this as my speedwork run - doing either some type of interval training or a tempo run.

However, my schedule has changed a bit since last summer.  I now lead an Israeli Dance group on Tuesday nights - I am up on my feet and moving from 7pm until 10pm and I normally don't get home until close to 11pm.  This leaves me pretty exhausted and the last thing I want to do is wake up early on Wednesday morning for a longer and more intense run.  Also, when I would run on Tuesday morning - even an easy run - I would be tired before I even started dancing that evening.  By mid-week I would feel run down...which could be why I was getting sick so often.

This week I'm going to try something different - I'll do my middle weekday run at lunchtime on Wednesday.  I'm hoping that by not running early in the morning that I will get enough rest and I'll have the energy to do this workout mid-day.  I no longer have a standing 12 noon conference call on Wednesdays, so my work calendar is mostly clear.

Two things concern me a bit - weather and eating schedule.  Although the weather has not been bad for July, I know that we will have some really hot and humid days here in the DC area.  I guess I could always move my workout inside onto the treadmill - I just hate running on the treadmill when the sun is shining.  As for eating, I'll need to figure out what and when to eat on Wednesdays so that I will have enough energy to do the workout, but I won't get stomach cramps.

So, tomorrow's lunchtime workout will be a 5-miler.  I'm not sure if I'll do a tempo run or head to the track.  We'll see...

Somethings Gotta Give

I'm about as busy as can be right now at work - not to mention other commitments (kids, Israeli Dancing, running, etc.) - I barely have time to do much else. (as I write this, I have 3 active (work-related) IM windows up and listening in on a conference bridge - and this is some of my "less busy" times where I can throw up a blog post - YIKES!)

As I was discussing all of this with Sherry the other night, she was pretty amazed that I'm able to keep everything going. Her words were "Something's gotta give" - you can't be continuing to do everything.

Yesterday, I got the hard dose of reality what had gone by the wayside. Blogging. Both reading and writing blogs.

I logged into my Google Reader last night and had over 120 unread posts. YIKES!!!

Also, my last post to this blog was on Sunday. And this blog post is not much more than a rant of how busy I am (sorry to my readers...I'll try to get back to more running related posts).

On the running side - I have 10 miles logged this week. Tuesday morning I brought my car to the shop early and ran back home (6.5 miles...my wife thought I was nuts!). Thursday morning I also got out for a 3 miler around the lakes.

I also ran twice with my son - about 2 miles each run. I'm not sure if I should count this in my weekly mileage, as these runs are still run 2 minutes / walk 1 minute - there's something about doing a run/walk at such a pedestrian pace that makes me feel it's not "legit" enough for the running log. I'm going to try to push him up to 3 minutes of running soon. - we'll see how that goes as he's currently starting to whine during his 2 minute runs...but he finishes them all. Either way, it's great exercise for him, it's special one-on-one time for the two of us and he loves it!

Another Busy Week

It's been another busy week at work, along with everything else outside of work, so blogging - and reading blogs - got put aside again.

I looked in my Google Reader subscriptions, and I have over 60 blog posts to read. And it's not like I follow 200+ blogs like Marcy does...

Fortunately, running did not get put aside! I have 12 miles in this week (6 on Monday, 3 on Tuesday and a sneaky 3 lunch-time run yesterday). I'm planning on a 12 mile long run tomorrow, which should give me 24 miles for the week. That's the most I've done so far this year. Yes, I need to ramp up the mileage in the next few weeks as I prepare for the half marathon on April 19.

The other thing I need to prepare for - my yearly check up at the doctor. I've set it on the calendar - March 26 - so I have two weeks to shed a few pounds and eat less fatty foods so my cholesterol readings don't shoot through the roof. Am I the only one who crams for their cholesterol test???