So Cal Runner

Training - 26 Miles

2010-07-25T21:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time is flying! Training is going very well, and I'm starting to string together some decent distances right now. Since July 4th I'd been tossing around in my head about doing my own 'little' dualthlon. Run - Bike - Run (3.1 Mile - 20 Mile - 3.1 Mile) Well this weekend I did it. The final 5k really hurt and I'd forgotten how difficult it is to transition into running after being on a bike for an hour, but I did finish the whole thing only having to walk a few mins over the final 2 miles.

I was kind of stupid to start this endeavor at 1:00 pm on Saturday in 82 degree heat, but I dressed for the occasion and drank plenty in the transitions and while I was out on the course. I'm kind of surprised on how easy it was to complete the distance (just not very fast), and I'm starting to believe that I'm going to be able to finish my half marathon in September without walking.

My other workout have been pretty good also - my long run last week was 8.23 miles at a 10:23 pace. The run itself wasn't too difficult, I did get a blister on my left pinkie toe for the first time in over 10 years..... While I was out on the course I'm guessing I could have run over 10 miles without stopping so I was happy with the workout, but my recovery afterwards really surprised me. I ran my long run on Monday night and on Wednesday night I was still really sore. I wasn't prepared for my body to be so slow in recovering from that effort, so I'll have to keep that in mind.

Abby and Cade in the rain.

Coming up this week I most likely will take it pretty easy. I'm tossing around another 8 miler in my head most likely toward the end of the week, depending on how my body reacts to my 'big' weekend this week. If I recover nicely I'm pretty sure I throw in an 8-10 miler, but if not, I'll most likely put some miles in on the bike and try to take it fairly easy. I'm still looking at about 6 weeks before my run so I have plenty of time to get some long runs in, but the more I get in, the better my confedience will be when I toe the line on Sept 11th.

On my smaller runs/walks of 1-3 miles I've been searching out the local hills in the area to trek up. I'm doing pretty well with this so I'll continue this practice unless my legs really need a break.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

5+ Miles Tonight - Feeling Good

2010-07-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've actually started working towards my half marathon today. I ran 4 miles at a 10 min pace and then another 1.5 miles at around a 12-13 min pace. The 10 min pace felt really good and I'm guessing I could have run another hour at this pace without too much difficulty which is a good sign since just a few weeks ago I was worried about my conditioning.

My long runs this training period (approx 8 weeks) will start at 6 miles working up to an 11-12 miler a few weeks before my race. I'm going to start looking for a water belt this week so I don't have to worry about looping close to home on these longer run.

I'm going to through in some hill workouts hopefully about once a week also since this race is very heavy in hills. I think this work will also help with my overall strength.

Training mileage should top out around 60-70 miles per week, with July mileage coming close to 200 miles for the month. We'll see how this goes over the next few weeks, and I'll adjust if I have to.

I'll leave you with a few pictures of my Fourth of July......

Dana Point Harbor, Ca.

Beth and Cade

The Family

Not a bad group

Squirrel time

Eating out of Abby's hand - fearless.

I should get this guy to run with me over teh next few months....

Cade and Alex getting into it

Cade showing off his Ninja moves - getting the best of his older brother.

Out for a night sail to watch the fireworks.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Race Report - Freedom Run at the Ranch 2010

2010-07-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

I was actually writing a pre-race entry, but didn't finish it before I ran the race yesterday, so I've scrapped it and I'm writing this now.....

Yesterday was my Fourth of July 5k and I'm, very pleased with my results. I wasn't quite sure what to expect going into this - I knew training-wise I could finish the distance fairly easily, but I wasn't sure in what time since my pacing has been all over the place during training runs running up to this race.

A couple of posts ago - I set up the following race goals:

Goal A : Run a sub 28:30 min
Goal B : Run a sub 29 min
Goal C : Run a sub 30 min

Looking at this, you can tell my apprehension going into the run - a 1:30 spread over 3 miles? I wasn't sure what pace I could hold.

Raceday: I woke at 6:00 am for a 7:15 race start feeling pretty good - usually my 39-year-old body needs about 10-20 mins to warm up just so I can walk normally - too many years of killing it growing up. But yesterday I was feeling good after only laying awake in bed for about 5 mins. A good sign.

My house is exactly a mile from the start, so I used that to warmup and I felt pretty good once I stepped out of the door. I brought my ipod to run with, which I normally don't do for races, but I wanted to try something new - I was going to line up at the very back of the field and run my way through the pack - don't you love chip timing?

Up at the start, the race area was pretty good and organized. Over the past few years, this race has really grown and I haven't seen too many issues with this growth. Afterwards I found out that 762 people were running the 5k, and I'm guessing about 400 ran the 10k (I haven't checked yet). That's pretty amazing since 2008 had 550 runners in the 5k race. So it's good to see a race grow like this especially since this run is in my back yard.

After all the pre-race hoopla, I shed my sweatshirt and lined up at the very back of the pack. Behind all of the kids, strollers, walkers, etc. Sitting at the back I started talking with this guy who you could just tell was very fast - tall, lean, and wearing racing flats in bright orange. This guy was about 6'3" and maybe 150 lbs kind of freakish if you ask me, but still a nice guy. After about 2 mins from the gun start, I made my way to the start line and was able to run right from the first step.

I felt really good over the first mile, going out just a little too fast though - I think I clocked a sub 9:00 min mile, just because I know the course really well (I was surprised by not seeing mile markers out along the course.) Running traffic was minimal, over the first mile - even though I did have to step off the street a few times in order to pass some slower people. Still, the choice to start dead last was turning out to be a good idea.

Mile two is pretty much all up hill, not a huge incline, but just enough to become a pain especially when the rise kicks it up a notch over the last 400 meters, but I was pretty much able to hold a good pace over this mile. I'm guessing my mile time here was about a 9:30 - not too sure because I really didn't look and was going on perceived effort at this point - I was still passing slower runners at this point, but started to notice that some runners were 'hanging' at my pace. In fact I had several people come up to me after the race to 'Thank me" for setting a quicker pace than they were used to up that hill. That was a nice side affect for starting last - shoot all I wanted was space to run at the start. :)

The final 1.1 miles were all basically down and flat, setting this course up for a very fast finish. The winner ran this in 15:47. Oh the joys of being 19 again...... Anyway, I was still feeling pretty good, but my quads were getting tired from the effort of the uphill, and all I could think of was, "How are you ever going to finish a half marathon you wuss." Slowly I picked up my pace and passed a few more people on the down hill - but there was this one stroller dude I just couldn't catch until we hit the final flat. I did sneak a glance at my watch when I hit the flat knowing I was about 3 mins from the finish if I was running a 10 min mile - 25:52 - right there I kicked it up another notch, then at the final turn with 400 meters to go, another notch. My lungs were hurting, and my legs were burning but it was too late to stop now - I could see the 'official' clock counting down 29:40, :41, :42 - dammit "I'm going to break 30:00 on that clock" and put myself into another gear. I crossed the line in 29:54 - for an 27:59! What a nice PR! :05 seconds faster than my Birthday Race run back in December.

Overall I'm pleased with my effort, time and ability to improve here. I mean who wouldn't be happy with a PR? Still I was able to take a few other items from this run:

I now know I have a few more gears left in my legs - I really haven't tried to use them since I hurt my hamstrings about 6 years ago. I know if I really tried to do some speedwork, the speed it still there.
Conditioning came back pretty quickly (4 weeks) after taking about 8 weeks off. Still I need to maintain the 120 mile monthly base if I was to continue to improve.
I need to kick up my workouts, to prepare for my half marathon that's in September - this is going to be brutal, but I'm looking forward to it.
Finally, I know I can run this course in 24 mins if I trained hard enough of it. I can 'feel' it in my body right now. In fact give me two years and I'll hit 21 mins..... (yeah that an 8 min improvement, I know, but it's there.) Shoot I've improved 8 mins in the last two years now and I know I'm not even halfway to the ends of my ability.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

I'm a Quiet Runner

2010-06-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

I was thinking during my run this evening - I'm basically a very quiet runner who has a blog. I usually run by myself, and even though I nod at other runners on my route, I usually don't strike up a conversation with my fellow runners. I'm not rude or anything, I just tend to use my running time for quiet introspect rather than a social outing.

Now there has been times where I've started a conversation with other runners in corrals, on the path, etc. And as I look back, I've enjoyed these conversations for the insights I get from other runners. I think that is why I enjoy reading blogs so much. Just knowing there are other people out there running, and struggling over a three miler helps keep my training on track.

Today's run was on a difficult course, I took it easy but effort-wise I felt like I should have clocked a faster time (32:21) Yesterday I took the day off killing my streak - really thee wasn't a reason for the day off, it just turned out that way. Six day and counting until my race.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Damm Computer - Running is Getting Done

2010-06-27T12:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't been posting that much because my computer is acting up again - I've lost my drivers for sound and I can't download any pictures - I'm going to have to do a complete overhaul on it but really don't want to take the time or spend the money on it right now - so I've just left the computer sitting on my desk running at about 60%.

Other than not being able to post pictures to my blog, I have been running quite a bit. I'm currently at 120 miles for the month and on-pace to finish this month at about 140 miles. My 5k race (the first race this year)) is in a week, and I'm starting to look forward to racing again. I don't have very high goals for this race other than to just enjoy myself. Cycling on my off days is really helping me get my conditioning back quick - I feel pretty good running after a cycling day. I'm currently on a 11-day streak right now, and I feel pretty strong so I'm pleased with my progress this month.

Goal wise for my race next week, I've been kind of wishy-washy on. I'm really not too sure what to set for myself. I've thought about it quite a bit because I hate going into a race without any specific targets. So this morning I decided to take a look at some of my past 5k training runs:

6.26.2010 Run 3.1 Mile - Tempo 3.1 Mi - 28:59 / 9:21
6.24.2010 Run 3.1 Mile - Easy 3.1 Mi - 31:11 / 10:04
6.21.2010 Run 3.1 Mile - Easy 3.1 Mi - 30:30 / 9:51
6.7.2010 Run 3.19 Mile - Easy 3.19 Mi - 31:43 / 9:57
4.25.2010 Run 3.1 Mile - Easy 3.1 Mi - 29:29 / 9:31
4.7.2010 Run 3.1 Mile - Easy 3.1 Mi - 29:20 / 9:28

Looking at this I think I can set up the following:

Goal A : Run a sub 28:30 min
Goal B : Run a sub 29 min
Goal C : Run a sub 30 min

Last July 4th I ran this in 28:27 with some solid 80 mile months going into the race - this year I took off April and May basically but I did have a great June so I'm guessing I could have about the same results. BTW my PB for this distance? I ran on 12/30/09 - 28:04..... on this exact course by myself.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

4.5 Miles Tonight - Feeling Good!

2010-06-22T23:18:00.000-07:00

Well I get in another good run tonight - 4.5 miles total with 3 miles coming at a tempo pace (9:30). Overall I still feel pretty good. During my slower cool down mile, my legs started to tighten up but nothing too bad. The weather here in So Cal had been perfect over the past few days and that has made my runs even more enjoyable.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to try to sneak in a nice bike ride just to switch things up a little. Hopefully I'll be able to break away to do this - if not I'll stick with my night run maybe another 3 miler is in the works....

With tonight's run I'm currently on a 7-day running streak and I'm no-pace to log 106 miles for the month. I was going through my goals for he month last night and realized that I wanted to complete 120 miles for the month so I'm going to have to step it up just a little if I'm going to reach this goal.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

So Little Time So Much To Do....... 4th of July Race Coming Up.

2010-06-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

The weeks are just flying by for me right now. I can't believe the 4th of July is just around the corner. My workouts are going well - and I'm on pace to log 100 miles this month and I feel pretty good right now. Tonight I'm planning an easy 3.1 miles with a little cool down - something around 32 mins would be fine - hopefully I can keep my pace that slow so I don't fry myself with a tempo run.

I missed my cycling day this weekend - I didn't get a chance to work on my bike until Saturday - once I get my tire fixed and my bike cleaned up, it was getting too late and I couldn't get out of the house. My next ride is going to have to be something short because I put on a new tire that I haven't ridden on in about 4 years - it's a softer 'racing' tire and the tread is marginal so I want to stay close to the house to make sure the small cuts aren't going to cause a blowout.

Running is coming along - I've lost a ton of conditioning and I'm really going to have to pick up my workouts over the next few weeks. After the 4th I'm going to start picking up long runs every week, I'd like to have an 11-12 mile run under my belt before the half marathon on Sept 11th. Currently I'm having mental issues going beyond 3 miles at a sub10 min mile, so somehow I'm going to have to work through this - hopefully a breakthrough will happen sometime before July 4th.

My racing plan is to run July 4th at the Ladera Ranch 5k. I've run this race several times now, and even though the course isn't that difficult I'm not quote sure what to expect. Currently I'm shooting for a sub 30 (again) but I'm not sure if that is doable because of my lack of preparation. The starting line is about 2 miles from my house, so I'll use that as a warmup again this year so it makes things easy since I don't have to worry about driving and finding parking, etc.... The run itself is really fun with a good turnout and nice streets to run though. The final miles is almost all downhill, so it sets itself up for some quick times.

My next race is my half marathon that is scheduled for Sept 11th at Camp Pendleton. This race I'm really worried about. My neighbor signed me up for this because I keep talking about running a half but keep chickening out at the last moment. The course itself looks like it might be painful - run on firebreak roads here in Southern California at our local marine base - the trail is called Heartbreak Ridge......

With 1280 feet of climbing I'm worried about this. My long 9.5 mile run that I ran back in January this year only had 983 feet of elevation change. It's going to be brutal - and I'm guessing a 'Death March' over the final few miles.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Running / Softball and its Getting Late

2010-06-10T23:46:00.000-07:00

I know I wanted to write some about my upcoming races, but it's already 11:30 pm and I'm pretty tired as I type this. So the telling of the race plans is going to have to be put on hold for a day or two.

Today I got in another 2.2 mile run with the same old .3 mile cool down. I ran fairly well and felt pretty good. In fact, over the final mile I really slowed down on purpose because I didn't want to have two tempo (sub 10 min miles) on back to back days. Granted the sub 10 min mile is pretty slow, but I feel pretty good overall, and I want to get in 4 miles tomorrow night.

This weekend looks like a 4 miler on Friday, a 16 mile bike ride on Saturday, and hopefully either a 20 mile bike ride or 5-6 mile run on Sunday - just depends on what the family has planned though. If all goes to plan I'll have a eight day running streak going and I'll be feeling pretty good about my gearing-up for a 4th of July race I have planned.

I played softball tonight with my long standing Thursday night team - we're playing much better recently. Actually we've won 4 straight and 5 out of the last 6. I might have mentioned before, but I play second base for the team, and lately I've found my fielding range. Somehow I'm getting really good 'reads' off the bad and I'm getting to balls that I couldn't have even dreamed of getting to last year. Shoot tonight I almost made a play on a grounder that went to the left of our pitcher and left of second base. If I hadn't hesistated as the ball passed the pitcher I could have dove for it and most likely made a play on the ball. Still I made 6 of the first 9 putouts in a low scoring game. Season ending game is next week - if we win we get second place, not bad for starting out loosing the first 4 games.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Geocaching

2010-06-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

Today was my 'off' day so I tried my hand at geocaching. For those who don't know about this - in a nutshell it's like taking a hike looking for hidden treasure. All you need is a GPS (or iphone) to get started. I downloaded the free started app to my iphone and was suprised to find over 300+ geocaches within 8 miles of my house - kind of surprising if I do say so myself. Anyway I thought it would be fun to go looking for my first one with Abby - about 2 miles later and 2 cashes we returned home. It's fun to do and I got to spend some time with my little girl. The next time I go out I'll capture some pictures and share them.

Last night I got in 2.2 miles with a .3 mile cool down. I ran it pretty close to a tempo pace I would have had about two months ago, so my conditioning is coming back - I struggled throughout but I'm happy I was able to cover the distance at a fairly good pace without walking.

I'm still failing in getting up at 5:30 am. Tomorrow I HAVE to get up so I can get a run in because tomorrow night is softball, and I won't have the chance to run at night.

Physically I feel pretty good - the scale is p*ssing me off, why did I stop running/working out for that month and a half? Any why did I eat like a pig? It's frustrating when I think about it.

Tomorrow I'll write a little about my upcoming races - I have two planned........

Keep Steppin'
Bob

3.1 Miles Today

2010-06-07T23:40:00.000-07:00

I snuck in 3.1 miles this afternoon so today wasn't a complete loss. I ran my Mission Viejo lake course which is fairly difficult with hills:

There's almost 900 ft in elevation change on this course so I'm pleased with my 31:43 time (9:57 pace). Considerating my first two mile splits were at a 9:44 pace, I feel pretty good. Conditioning is way off and I'm fighting pretty much over the whole distance, but I can tell I'm getting better again.

This morning I had planned to get up at 6 am to sneek in a 2.3 mile run, but I failed getting out of bed. I did get up 6:30 so I got into work earlier - but still I failed in my morning plan. Tomorrow I want to get out the door for 2.3 miles at 5:45 am. We'll see......

Physically I feel good - legs are tired and sore and I'm really tired - I'd be asleep now but I've been spending this evening playing with my new iphone. Before I knew it, it was 11 pm.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Nice Workouts

2010-06-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like jumping - so luckily I have my daughter to do it for me since my vertical is now only 3".

Today was a day I felt like jumping - this morning I got ot on my bike and finished 20 miles in 1:18:00 and I felt really good. Tonight's run was just under three miles and I struggled almos every step of the way. Still I was able to finish the course so I'm happy with the effort.

I have to send a shout out to my neighbors - Brian and Laura. Thank's for signing me up for the half marathon - I'll write more about it later, but I wanted to say thank you.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Redediction Time

2010-06-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

Once again it's been a while since I last posted - I slowly settling in to my new job and I'm starting to get out on the road again. My workout are slowly coming along, but today marks my rededication to two-a-days. I'm focusing in on my July 4th run now and I want to get in a solid four months in before.

So for the next few weeks - everyday I'll be blogging about my workout's - come be a part on my 4-week journey. Signup for a July 4th race and and for the next few weeks leave your comments on my blog :)

Good Luck,
Keep Steppin'
Bob

Wow! Time Flies....

2010-04-25T22:24:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything and honestly I've felt guilty for not posting over the past few weeks. It's not that I don't want to, it's just because I've been so busy I didn't feel like spending the time putting everything I'm going though down on my blog.

I haven't been doing much running lately, I took on a new job and for the past two weeks it's pretty much taken over all of my time. I'm slowly getting used to the time and effort and I'm ready to get back to my daily running. In fact, I'm looking forward to getting out and hitting the pavement again.

Tonight I finally got out and did an easy 5k with my partner Bogey. He was happy to get out and stretch his legs also so we both enjoyed ourselves. Now he's knocked out on the couch and I'm watching "Ball of Fury" on Comedy Central.

It's had to believe that the month is almost over - my numbers are going to look pretty sad, but maybe I can have a good week and close the month out on a good note.

I'll leave you with a few pics from the past few weeks:

Cade in Papa's Spa

This is what I've been doing instead of running

Easter Morning

Love that smile :)

My running partner getting all dressed up

Cade playing with water

Newport Beach, Ca. Pier

Abby in Newport

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Massive Fail

2010-04-09T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've written about difficult runs before and yesterday's run falls directly into this catagory. The plan was to run 6.8 easy miles (9:50 pace) with Alex. But as soon as we stepped out the door I knew I was going to be in trouble. All of us runners know that feeling - no energy, heavy legs, shortness of breath. Every step was like I was laboring from the get-go. Now I'm never one to make excuses but I was pretty tired from the day before, I didn't hydrate myself properly during the day prior to the run, and we did run at 4:00 pm in 80 degree weather which I'm not used to doing. I'm justifying the poor run in my head to these issues. Otherwise I might not ever get out and run again :)

On a side note - I accepted a job offer yesterday and I start Monday. Mostly because we're trying to free up some time for Beth so she can start using her Real Estate licence that she earned last month. She's currently interviewing for positions with all the 'big' agencies and I expect her to land a position here very soon. Because she won't be pulling a steady salary, I needed to make sure that I got something with a steady paycheck to pay the bills. I'm still doing the stock market stuff - and I'm doing pretty well this year ($4k in profits - off $14 initial investment). But this isn't enough to live off of, and I do want to re-invest about 50% in order to grow this liquid funds account. My IRA account is flat this year so I'm good there also.

Getting back to running - I'm feeling really tired lately, almost sugglish but I'm guessing that I'm just being a little lazy lately. I'm not sure why, but I am trying to push through this to keep my mileage up. Last year during these 'phases' I'd take two-three weeks off and it really affcted my results throughout the year. This is the first time this year that I've run accross this problem so I'm battling right now.

Tonight I'm hopig for an easy 3 miler to see how I'm feeling. I have to remember just last week I was hitting new PB's.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Not Much Going On

2010-04-06T09:21:00.000-07:00

I haven't been running that much lately. The kids are off on Spring Break and I've been kind of busy lately, so I've missed a few runs as of late. I'm not worried, P90x is going well and I'm sure I'll pick up my workouts later this week.

Easer was fun, the kids had a great easter egg hunt and we spent the afternoon at my in-laws. I have a ton of pictures and as soon as I get them downloaded I'll throw some of them up here to share.

I did get another 20 mile bike ride in over the weekend that felt really good. I recovered much quicker from this ride than the one I did the week before. Hopefully I can work in this 20 miler every Saturday from here on out. It really helps my hips and keeps my conditioning level up so an off day.

Monthly Totals were solid:

Total Miles for March: 117.1
Miles for 2010: 423.9
4 mile PB: 37:34
10k PR: 57:25
Ran 2 out of 31 days

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Special Day :)

2010-04-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Beth and I's 9th anniversary. So instead of writing about my running exploits I'm going to spend a little time talking about my wedding ("Because this is my blog and I can do what I want to." *spoken in the voice of Eric Cartman*)

For some reason nine years ago Beth agreed to marry me. Maybe it was because we just found out Abby was on the way, but I'd like to believe that didn't have any bearing on her decision to marry me. We didn't have ANYTHING. Seriously, I'm not kidding - I had nothing, no money, no car, barely making child support payments, my parents weren't talking to me, etc..... When I look back, I'm never quite sure what Beth saw in me...... Thanks Honey for believing in me ;)

Beth and I got married in Las Vegas - now before you say "How Corny." Let me tell you we did it proper. Married in a small ceremony on top of the Effiel Tower at the Paris Hotel with Her family there - it was a very nice morning with bright skies and crisp air. I could tell so many stories about this weekend like the one about Beth's hair, Christopher's (my nephew) "All done" sign language, or my golf outing wih my father-in-law, but rather I want to spend some time talking about my better half Beth today. Anyone who has been reading my blog knows that she is my world and everything I am and will be is because of her. She has such a kind heart and always thinks about me before she does anything - I couldn't ask for a better spouse.

Abby and Beth

Beth at Abby's Birthday (at our Condo)

Cade's Birth

Beth and I got married, and to this day what I remember the most (other than saying our vows on top of that God awful tower) was her face, in particular her eyes. They looked at me with such hope, happiness, and joy. I can always get lost in her eyes, but on this day they were more alive than usual. The twinkling in them was just a little bit more, the life reflected in them just a little more clear. Maybe it was just me reading more into what I saw, but I truely believe that what I saw was real. Right then I knew I was making the right decision and that she was the perfect person to spend the rest of my life with. Now nine years down the road - I love her more today then I did that day. I'm always suprisied how strong my feelings for her are even when we are fighting (which is rare). Her eyes still shine, and I love seeing her grow as a person. The times we have spent together have been magical - Cabo, Hawaii, Palm Springs, Yosemite, San Fransisco, house buying (twice), sailing, the kid's births and birthdays, etc are all imprinted in my mind and I'd never exchange these expirences with her for anything else.

Mother's Day 2006 - Beth's sister and Mother

Up in LA

Angel Game

Not sure where we were - but I love her in this picture.

Even though nine years is a good chunk of time - I'm greedy to spend another nine plus years with here. Sharing our lives together has been wonderful, exciting, and fulfilling. I love looking at her sleeping face the last thing at night and waking to her face first thing in the morning.

Beth and her sister

Beth's Birthday 2009

Yosemite 2009

Beth and Abby Yosemite 2009

Beth's side of the Family 2009

Love this Pic!

Abby's soccer game 2010

Abby's photo shoot at the Montage 2009

Thank you Beth for sticking with me - for loving me - for sharing your life with me. You have made me the happiest husband on this whole earth.

Taken off the coast of Dana Point when we laid Big Papa to rest.

Keep Steppin'
bob

A Nice 4 Miler.......

2010-03-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was a very good day to workout. I didn't get started until pretty late just because I couldn't break away. After dinner I took Bogey out for a walk 2.3 miles and 40 mins later we came back home and it was pushing 7:00 pm.

P90x was next once we got the kids setteled down to bed - by 8:30 Beth and I were working up a sweat (actually Beth doesn't really sweat, but I do enough for both of us.) And we both felt pretty wiped after about 60 mins of Kempo. Since we skipped the ab workout the day before we threw that 15 min workout in also.

Right after P90x I went out again for a run this time. I had planned a 5k but I felt pretty good and since I had mentioned going for a 4 mile PB a few posts back I changed routes about 4 mins in to attempt a 4 mile PB. My PB was set last year (4/18/09) at 42:47 so I knew I was going to set a new one. (I really need to run this distance more.) Plannng on the fly I wanted to run 9:40 mile pace and I knew this was totally within my grasp since I just ran a 9:14 mile pace for my 10k race last week.

MIle 1 was run in 9:55 - but I always start out a little slow on this course so I wasn't worried. I slowly started to pick up my pace and I felt really good despite P90x earlier. Mile 2 came in around 9:00 flat. A little too fast but I did feel good and my legs felt pretty strong. Core muscles felt strong also and I was able to get better movement throughout my hips which for me is has been uncommon these days. As I get stronger in my midsection I've become less stiff while I'm running. Mile 3 was uphill quite a bit and I was able to log another sub 10 min mile (I'm not sure what he actual time was here other than the face I was under 28 mins at tis point.) Mile 4 is all downhill and I finished off with a 37:34 total time. 9:14 pace! I DESTROYED my year old PB by 5 mins! I'm guessing I could have shaved another :30 - :40 seconds off this if I was really trying.

Total workout time:
Walking: 40 mins
P90x: 75 mins
Running/Cool down: 42 mins

Total Time: 2 hrs 37 mins

I'm very pleased with my runs recently - mileage is up, and my body is recovering very nicely between these efforts. I' setting PB's almost everyother run right now and I feel like I'm still improving with plenty of room to grow. I'm not sure how much more I'm goig to improve but for now I'm very happy with the results, workouts, and training runs.

I still haven't signed up for my half marathon, but I should get that completed sometime this week. I know can finish the distance, and I do have some 'goals' set this far out. 2:15:00 is my main goal with a stretch of 2:10:00. I'd love to be closer to 2:05:00 but I'm not there just yet. Still a 2:15:00 for my first half is a good goal right now and I can always improve on this at a later date.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Weekend Gone

2010-03-29T00:10:00.000-07:00

Well another weekend has past and I had a very good couple of days in my workouts. I'm already on a 12-day running streak and I'm not sure how that happened. I'm just trying to get out everyday and do something - it really doens't matter right not other than getting out the front door. If I do that the rest seems to come naturally.

Friday was an easy day for me with only a couple of walks logged - Cade joined me both outings and we almost logged 5 miles for the day. I was a little sore from Thursday night softball - I dove for a ball to my left and have a bruise on my hip that really ugly.

Saturday I meant to get up early and go for a bike ride (13 miles) but it was so cold I decided to stay in bed for a few more hours and had to push back my ride until the lat afternoon. Why? Well I had to coach Abby's soccer game at noon (they won 2-1) and then drive up to Asuza Pacific University (an hour north into LA) to watch Alex run the mile. Once Alex and I got home I had about an hour of time to get out on the bike. I snuck in a 20 miler in 1:13 so I was very pleased. Tired but pleased.

Alex's School at the Meet

Of course I got to the Meet just a little late....Again.

Today (Sunday) Alex and I ran an easy 10k together - it was a little too fast for me and my body was really tired from the day before but we did finish with a 9:34 pace so I'm good. Now after sitting a couple hours I find myself very sore from the waist down. As it worked out, Beth and I took the day off from P90x so I have a chance to recover a little.

Currently I'm sitting at 104.9 miles for the month with three days left. I'm hoping for about 15 more mies to finish the month off strong. That would put me at my second highest monthly total over the past two years (the highest being January of this year). With momentum building for April.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

10K Race Pictures and a Breakthrough

2010-03-25T09:58:00.000-07:00

I don't run a ton of races just because I don't want to spend a ton of money each year, but over the past 30 years I've run my fairshare of them. This is the first time I've run a race where I've had more than three picture taken. I don't think I've ever taken so many bad pictures of myself in one 'sitting'. I really need to work on paying attention to where the cameras are.

For your viewing/laughing pleasure.....

brightroom event photography

Nothing to write home about - and there's nothing there that I want to buy - but I though I'd share them with you.

Yesterday's run I had to cut back to a 2.23 mile run because of time restrictions. (I had to pick Abby up from school.) After dropping Cade off at the in-laws I had about 30 mins of free time that I decided to use to sneek in a brief afternoon run. So I grabbed my iPod and had Bogey join me and headed out the door.

I thought I'd be more sore than I was due to my effort on Sunday - but that has seemed to have worn off now and I felt pretty good starting off. Four mins into the run I was just cruising and I was almost pulling Bogey along to keep pace. I've been flirting with a sub 9:00 min pace for about a month now (on a mulitple mile(s) run) and I could tell today was the day that I was going to breakthough this barrier - first mile in and I was at an 8:30 mile. The final 1.2 miles are all uphill but I thought I could hold on and gut one out so I could get my sub 20 mins on this run. Suprisingly the pain really didn't come on the hill and I finished the run pulling Bogey across the line in 19:12 or a 8:37 pace. (This marks the first time I've run this course at a sub 20 mins.)

I'm pleased and suprised to see such a big jump in pace improvement in such a short amount of time. I think I could have held this pace for another mile if the course had been flat. Could I really be getting close to a sub 27 min 5k? Shoot my PB is 28:04 right now - but my current pacing would suggest that I'm getting close. I think I might have to change my easy run pace down to 9:30-9:35 per mile down from 9:45-9:50, I'll see how I react to that pace later on in the week.

Final thought/gripe. I've mentioned above that I really don't do too many races (1-4 per year) but I have been racig for a while. Chip timing has to be the best improvement in racing for the back-of-the-packer since the invention of the wheel and I've run about 20 races using these chips but single-use chips? That's what I had for my last race. I'd like to think that us runners are a little more in-tune with waste and our enviroment to really condone this type of waste. What's wrong with the old reusuable chips? I have no problem waiting for a race helper to cut my chip off after a race. Wasting the zipties are bad enough but the whole chip? Has anyone else see this one-and-done chip before? Mine was made by ChampionChip and I'm not too sure if this is a trend or still uncommon. I asked the Race Director at the site if they were going to collect the chips and she said the company was supposed to have a truck - but it never showed (at least up to an hour after I had finished the race)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Sliding into Half Marathon Training

2010-03-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Well my 10k is over and done with and I'm not going to take any time off - I have 8 weeks until the Half marathon and I'm diving right into training for it. Once again I'm going to set-up my own training schedule with a long run topping out at around 12 miles. I'm planning on having 6 weeks of solid training with 1-2 weeks taper time. Hopefully I'll max out at approx 30 miles per week.

During the run-up to my 10k I did set a consecutive day streak of 25-days that I'd barely mentioned. That 25-day streak was actually a yearly goal that I had set back in January so I'm very pleased with being able to set this. I broke the on-going streak totally by accident; some reason I had thought that I had run that day but I never got out the door. Interesting that my brain had thought I had run..... I'm currently on an 8-day streak ad feeling pretty good. My lower calves are still a little sore from my effort off the 10k but it's nothing I can't handle.

With the Half getting close now, I'm getting a little nervous. I know I'll enjoy the run itself but it's the training going up to it that has me a little uptight. Since this is my first in about 20 something years - I want to enjoy myself, but to do this I need to make sure I train without taking a week or two off like I did going into my 10k.

Today's run is going to be an easy 3-4 miler around the house before Abby get's home from school - I'm dropping Cade off at Maas' house around noon because Abby and I have soccer practice this afternoon before Beth gets home from work. With my warmup/cooldown and walking I should log about 5-6 miles for the day which is good for me right now. Saturday this week I'm going to try to sneek in a ride in the morning, and Sunday will be my long run (scheduled for 6.2 miles this week). Overall I'm expecting about 25 miles this week (before my biking), with the biking thrown in I'm hoping for a 35-40 mile week. We'll see where I'm at on Sunday.

P90x is going pretty good. Beth and I took a few days off going into my 10k, but we're back at it. I'm getting stronger it seems almost everyday fomr this program. I feel like my shoulders are getting wider and I have more defined muscle groups now. I'm noticing my legs, stomach, and arms now. Nothing is 'popping' out but I'm slowly getting there. Weight-wise I'm almost always under the 200 lbs mark and my lowest has been 196.5 which is about 6 lbs off since we've started the program.

Final note today comes from my logbook. Since I just set a new PR for my 10k distance, I was looking at my other PR's. I do have several standing that are over 3-4 months old but one particular sticks out and that's my 4 mile PR. I set it back in April of last year with a 10:31 average pace. I'm going to destroy this PR very soon (shoot maybe today.) After this the next oldest is my mile time of 8:15 that I set last September. I'm going to have to make a serious bid at breaking this sometime BEFORE my scheduled Half. To be honest, if I set a 4 mile PR this week - I'll squeeze in this attempt most likely during the first week in April. I think I could shave off about 5-10 seconds off this PR right now under the right circumstances.

Keep Steppin'
bob

Newport Beach, Ca. Spirit Run 10k 2010 Race Report

2010-03-22T10:25:00.000-07:00

Well I've been missing in action for a while now - mostly because I'm lazy sometimes when it comes to my writing. My last post indicated I was going to do my shoe review - I didn't get it done and felt bad so I haven't written. I still plan to get this shoe review done, but in the meantime I did run my 10k race and wanted to report on it.

Sunday March 21st.

Newport Beach, California is about 30 mins from my house using backroads. Registration opened at 6:00am and my race started at 7:00 so I planned to get to the course around 6:15 just so I'd have enough time to get my packet, and get ready to run. Once again my plan was to run a sub 58:04 that I'd revised down from the sub 60 min goal that I'd set earlier this year.

I felt confident in my breaking my set goal even though over the past two weeks I've taken it pretty easy concerning my running (19 and 10 weekly miles respectively). I knew my legs were fresh and that's what I really wanted going in. I knew the distance was going to be fairly easy and a 9:30 pace was easily in my grasp. All I had to do is go out and grab it.

I woke up around 5:30 am and pulled out my black Nike shorts and my black sleeveless nike shirt (my favorite).  Lateley here it's been 80 degrees during the day so I figured it was going to be hot again, yeah I didn't check the weather report and it would hurt me before the race began.  As I drove towards the coast I hit a pretty dense fog bank hugging the coast. Keeping the temperatures in the low 50's. Luckily I had a sweatshirt in my car so I threw it on until right before the race started so I wouldn't freeze to death.

After sheeding my sweatshirt, I lined up in the very back of the crowd and chatted with a nice guy (I think his name was Jeff or Greg, I'm horrible with names.) Anyway I gather he signed up for the race that morning and was planning to run a sub 60 min race. I told him I was shooting for the same as I eyeballed his half marathon shirt from San Fransico. Too bad I didn't get a longer chance to talk to the guy - very nice and seemed to enjoy running as much as I do. After a great rendition of the Star Spangled Banner we were set to go. No gun, just a verbal "Ready, Set, Go" got us off the line. Jeff (or Greg) took off much faster than I and slowly pulled away from me and melted into the crowd. I settled into my pace and realized right away that this run was going to be pretty easy. I felt really good and the past two weeks of taking it easy left my legs feeling strong.   The first mile was mostly a slight uphill climbing about 100 feet in a half mile, much easier than any of my training courses.

The group around me was very quiet as we headed out onto the course so I turned on my ipod and put myself into cruise control.  Starting as the very last person enabled me to start passing people right away, and that felt really good as I logged a 9:04 first mile. Still feeling good I put in a 9:10 second mile on a flat plateau. My third mile was a 9:05 on a slight downhill and I was still feeling really good still at this point.  My breathing was steady and I was running at the back of a small pack - just dangling off the back end like a rubberband. Still I wasn't paniced because I knew these people were running a 9:00 pace which was ahead of my race goal pace. My three mile time was a 27:22 and I'm sure I would have destroyed a 5k PR if I was running a 5k race on this day.

Mile 4 was a little more difficult. Running uphill again on the second loop of the course, I clocked a 9:27 still without too muc difficulty. At this point I was really enjoying myself and started picking off more runners who had started to fade.  As I hit the 4 mile marker I look to my left and realized that I was passing Jeff (or Greg). He was chatting with a 50+ old lady and were slowing down dramically after reaching the top of the hill. I passed them pretty easily and put him in my back pocket. I was still bouncing off the backend of the 9:00 group pretty much all by myself once I passed these two, and on the plateau mile 5 I really kind of blew it. A small kink in my armor and a mental lapse left me with a 9:29 mile.  I should have realized that half of the group about 100 yards in front of me was slowing down. (The group of runners that were 'hoping' to run a sub 9 min pace.) I failed to notice this slowing until I checked my mile split and most likely lost 10-20 seconds at this point. Physically I could have run this mile around 9:10 without too much difficulty, but I failed to notice my slowed pace and it cost me.

The final 1.2 miles are basically downhill and after seeing my split at mile 5, I wanted to pick up my pace a little. Pretty quickly I closed the gap on about 10 runners who were in front of me and passed the gassed runners - I still was hanging off the remainder of the 9:00 min pace group that had started to thin out. Some falling back others surging forward. Even though my pace had quickened I wasn't passing very many people at this point. The road was wide with very few runners. Right before I hit mile 6 with a split of 8:54 I was passed by Jeff (or Greg) - where did he come from? Up to this point only 3-4 people had passed me without coming back to me. And once I had passed them the second time they didn't come up to me again. Greg (or Jeff) passed me flying, and once I'd taken a breath and gathered myself he had extened a 50 yard lead on me and had passed another three people. The rubberband was about to snap between us if I didn't try to follow. Gritting my teeth slowly I picked up my pace and was suprised to see my body respond. It wasn't like in the old days where I could go from 1st to 5th in .5 seconds, but I was able to 'crank' up the pace. Faster and faster I picked it up, just like an old heavy thunderbird on straight road. Jeff (or Greg) was slowly coming back towards me as I closed the gap. I cleared out the runners between us and he was only 20-30 yards in front of me with about 400 yard to go. With the small crowd cheering us on I kept increasing my pace gaining momentum as the distance closed. By the time we hit the line I was on his back shoulder and I looked at the clock 57:xx! I didn't know the exact time, but I'd broken the 58 min barrier and set a new PR!

Crossing the finish, Greg turned around and was surprised to see me grinning ear-to-ear. "Nice run" he gasped.  Patting him on the back I responded with, "Thanks for bringing me home. You helped me set a new personal best." Without saying anything else we drifted apart and I didn't see him again.

I had to wait until they posted the official results later that night, and my watch was right on with a 57:25! A PR by :39 seconds and I could have done more if I hadn't messed up on mile 5. Still I as very happy with my results.

Official Stats:
Overall: 172nd out of 295
Age: 17th out of 21
Sex: 100th out of 132

Actually I'm suprised with these stats - It sure felt like I passed more males and people in my age group. But it's my time that I'm happy with.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Healing....

2010-03-10T11:33:00.000-08:00

Well I've been takng it easy over the past few days, my toe feels better and the swelling is almost gone, but my thumb that I hurt at soccer last week is still tender to the touch. I'm guessing that since this is the 'worst' pain I have than I'm good. I dd do something to my right foot though, it almost feels like a strained arch. Last night I woke up from a dead sleep with a massive cramp in my foot. This is the first time in a while cramping has bothered me - I'll have to pay a little more attention to my diet over the next few days.

Later this week I'm going to write my review on my new shoes - I'll start writing the review tonight but I don't think I can get it finished so look for it most likely on Friday. What shoe did I pick? Post a guess (make and model) and as a prize I'll link your blog to mine :)

Running hasn't really happened over the past few days - I'm getting in my daily walks and Beth and I are doing our P90x stuff but the running is just not there. Tonight I am planning to get in an easy 2-3 miler just to test out my feet. I'm only 11 days out from my 10k now and I do want to ge in a few more runs before the race just to keep my legs loose. Other than my little aches and pains I do feel good - I feel pretty rested and relaxed so I'm hoping I'll actually 'run' in the past few days. This time period includes a bad toe, rain, and a distance PB so I'm happy over my accomplishment. Hopefully I'll be able to extend this PB (streak) upwards towards 30-days.

Somehow over the past 6-months I've become a blog addict - I'm now following over 120 blogs and trying to keep up with reading them all. I don't comment a ton but I do get to read them all (most of the time), usually when I'm watching my Lakers on tv. Please keep writing I lover reading about your running adventures.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Two Thumbs and a Big Toe Down!

2010-03-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

Wednesday last week I dislocated my right thumb trying to grab a soccer ball in the air with one hand. I was coaching Abby's team and had just finished instructing the girls to shoot low and into the corners when Abby stepped up and shot high and towards my head - I reached up and just swiped at the ball trying to catch it with one hand. Needless to say I closed my hand too quickly and my thumb decided to pop out of joint near my palm. Without attracting too much attention, I just grabbed my hand and pulled it back into place. For about two days it was so sore I couldn't open any type of jar if you had asked me to. Real manly I know.

That brings us to Saturday, Beth had put Cade into our shower (we have one of the handheld showerheads) when he likes to play with the water and all of our soap/shampoo containers. I was downstairs getting ready for Abby's first soccer game and all of the sudden Cade starts screaming bloody murder. My first instinct was that he had moved the water handle to 'scalding', and yes we do have a scalding setting on our shower, but that's another story. I come flying up our stairs - jump the baby gate at the bottom, and started taking stairs 2-3 at a time. Now our stairs have two turns in them doubling back on themselves, after making the two left turns I was approaching the final three steps with Cade's screaming coming from the bathroom - Beth flew past me in the hallway just above and I went to grab the top bannister as I jumbed the final stairs. Well I missed the bannister and jammed by left thumb into the railing. Being off balanced I then drove my left big toe into the riser of the very top step. Still I didn't really feel anything and rushed into the bathroom where Beth was reaching into the shower to turn the water off. Cade had slipped, and the showerhead was flinging around the shower scaring him. Once I realized he was ok I felt the pain in my thumb..... damm another sprain - I'm not going to get anothing open anything now..... Oddly my toe didn't start to feel bad until we got to Abby's game - when I got home I stripped off my shoes and socks to find a nice swollen and blue big toe.

Needless to say I didn't get my long run in this weekend and I'm still hobbling around on my foot - both of my thumbs are sore (actually I'm not typing with them just yet) so I'm not planning to run until most likely Wednesday. I'm not too worried about my 10k coming up - it's far enough away that I should be fine. I'm already ready for it and I'm looking forward to the expirence.

I was still able to get in a couple of walks with Bogey this weekend - nothing big but it did keep my streak alive for the time being. My streak is now 20 days which is a new personal best for me. Hopefully I can keep it going - my toe is starting to feel a little better today so that's not going to be the issue if I do ed the streak. It's will be my laziness raising it's head if the streak gets broken.

Other than that not much to report - I struggled through P90x this weekend (due to my 'injuries') and tonight is day 30. So we'll have to do all of our measurements tonight to see if anything has changed. I'm a little nervous to see the numbers just beacuse I don't want to be disappointed if they aren't that I'm expecting.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Took a Day Off

2010-03-04T08:41:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the day off pretty much. My legs were just a little too sore and I was just a little too lazy. Still it wasn't a total loss - I walked the girls to school, and Beth and I did our P90x program for the day. So today instead of talking about what I did, I wanted to take some time totalk about my monthly plans and beyond.

This month I've set just a few goals:

Run / Walk / Cycle 110 miles for the month
Break 58:00 for my 10k Race on March 21st
Create a new PB for distance - longer than 11.45 miles
Cycle 15 miles for the month
Break my running streak of 19 days

Beyond this, I'm still working towards my half marathon in May with my goal of 2:15:00. Training I'm going to do my own plan - I've been running long enough to put it together, nothing too formal but something to push me along. Most likely I'll have a long run of 13+ miles sometime between my 10k and the half. I know that most plans don't have a long run that long, but I really want to know what my body will do at that distance.

P90x is getting close to our 30-day mark now and I'm starting to see subtle changes, nothing drastic, but enough to keep the program going. I still can't say enough about the core strength though, It's making me faster for sure.

My running streak is now 15 days and going strong - I'm going to shoot for breaking 19 days in a row (a new PB). Hopefully yesterday was my 'down' day and I'll be able to string together a good 7-10 days now. This morning my legs feel pretty refreshed. Either way, from here on out to my race every run is going to be very easy. I want to be strong on race day (16 days away) in order to give me a chance at that PB.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Another Day Closer

2010-03-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

I'm kind of flying up to my 10k Race date now, it's suprising how fast it's approaching now only 18 days until the event. The question I now have to face is; "Am I going to change my race goal since I've already run a sub 60 min 19k now." After thinking about it yesterday and today I think I am going to revise this goal.

So here it is: 58:00 is now my goal. I'll be happy with anything under 60 mins though, but I think I can do this. Everything from here on out is going to be longer slower miles, no tempo runs period. I just want to keep running up to my race date and take it easy on my legs in the meantime.

Speaking of taking it easy, I'm currently on a 14-day running streak again and my legs are a little tired right now with the P90x workouts included. Still I want to continue on my current streak and see if I can beat my PB of 19 days here. Conditioning wise I'm ok, it's my shins that are tired, no shin splints, just tired legs. So I'm watching how they feel here over the next few days - if they don't recover like I think they will I'll dial down my effort this weekend.

P90x is still going well - last night Kempo felt good even if Beth was kidding me that I was getting to into it. I eally like that workout - it seems to work everyting for me, and I feel so good after doing it. Right now almost every muscle in my body is sore to some extent - from my arches in my feet to my shoulders. Very slowly I'm noticing a new 'cut' somewhere on my body, today it was a new muscle in my shins that are more defined (I'm guessing that's why my shins are so sore). My weight loss has basically stopped this week (196 lbs) but I'm getting stronger in my core and that's all I'm really looking for right now.

Last night's run was really easy 2.23 miles with Bogey just to get out and get my legs loose. We ran it at a 10:19 pace so I kept itreally slow, maybe a little too slow since I was shooting for a 10:00 pace. Tonight my goal is the same run, just nice and easy.

Total workout time yesterday:
Walking: 60 min
Running: 30 min
P90x: 60 min

Total: 150 mins <-- I'll take this anyday since I consder this was an 'easy' day now.
Total Miles: 5.5 miles (approx)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Month End / Another New PB

2010-03-01T10:44:00.000-08:00

My, has the time flown by this past week. Everything is going well, P90x is coming along, and my running workouts are getting better and better. Last week I logged 36.3 miles and I'm feeling good about the quality of my workouts. This morning I'm a little sore, but I'll get into that a little later. I'm looking back and I relly can't believe that a week has past since I last posted something, I'm really going to try to post more often because I go a week and I have WAY too much to share/write about that I can't get in all in a single post.

Wednesday and Thursday of last week were uneventful, I got my workouts in: nice and slow. Other than that not much happened. Thursday night is my softball night and I played ok, not great, but I was pleased with my effort. My range at second base is getting a little better and I feel lighter on my feet. I got to a couple balls that last year I wouldn't even had a chance at.

Friday was mellow also. I picked up Alex at his mother's and he spent the weekend.  Late Friday night Beth and I went out and met up with some of Beth's friends for a night out on the town (It ws Beth's friend's birthday party.) We spent the evening having ddrinks in Laguna Beach and didn't makeit home until after 1 am. Needless to say the next day we were dragging. I was by far the oldest in the group and Beth and I were the only ones to have kids - let alone a 15 year old son. It made me feel a little worn down :)

Saturday the weather was ADD. First it was pouring, then sunny, then rain, then windy, etc..... Alex and I snuck out of the house around 3:00 pm to get in a easy run (10:00 min pace). Alex has been battling an intestinal 'issue' over the past few days so I left him around the 2.5 mile mark to let him walk the short way home as I added more distance to cover a 10k. I finished the 10k in 1:02:04 that included a long traffic light and some walking with Alex before we split up.  During the run the sun was out, I got drenched, and then I had water misting off of me when I finished. Directly after the 10k I went out again with Bogey for a easy 1 mile run just to keep loose.

P90x is coming along well Beth and I are now on week 4 day 2 (today). This it the week we mix workouts up. So we're learing new moves and last night's workout really did a number on me. I'm sore from my lower chest to my toes, and I didn't even get a really good workout in because I was watching a lot to learn the different moves. Next time I'm sure I'll be dead. Tonight is Kempo which we've already done so I'm going to use tonight's workout as a recovery workout.

Yesterday's run was epic. I did the exact same course as Saturday (10k) at a tempo pace just to see what I could do since I'm within 30 days of my race.  At this point I hadn't done my P90x workout, and I was feeling pretty good. Mile 1 went by in 9:40 which is basically all uphill so I was suprised since effort wise it felt pretty easy. Mile 2 included a min stop at a major intersection and I still clocked a 10:15 mile so I knew I was doing well. After that I didn't look at my watch until I was about 1.3 miles from the finish. Surprisingly my watch read 45:00 even when I glanced at it. Right then I knew I was going to destroy my PB at this distance - and I really have to give props to the P90x program again. All the core work and lateral movements are really helping me to keep my form during my 'longer' runs. Since I'm keeping my form, I'm faster and able to recover quicker. Therefore I'm logging longer more frequent runs that are beginning to come at quicker paces as I get even stronger. I have a long way to go, but I'mreally seeing the progress so far this year. Anyway I finished the 10k with a 3 min PB; 58:12. And I did this without really trying.

My montly number were pretty good.  105.9 miles, and I'm currently on a 13 day running streak. If this was a 'normal month' in regards to the number of days I most likely would have 114 miles logged (30 day moving average)

PB-wise I did set three this month. My 3-mile PB on the first of the month: 27:11 (9:04 pace), my 10k PB: 58:12 (9:22 pace), and my new distance PB of 11.45 miles. I'm very pleased with my effort and results and I can't wait to see my progress at the end of March.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Nice Tempo Run

2010-02-23T23:42:00.000-08:00

The last couple of days have been good. My body has responded pretty well to running the 11.5 miler on Sunday. Beth and I have done our P90x workouts, and they are getting a little easier (almost enjoyable). I don't feel so tired doing them, an I'm seeing the benefits (still) during my runs. The core workouts are helping me keep my form longer during my runs - overall I'm pleased with my results so far.

Tonight's run was a nice tempo run that I snuck in late tonight (after 10 pm). And it didn't come until I had done my P90x workout. The weather was nice, and I got in a quick tempo run 2.3 miles at a (9:12 pace) so overall I'm pleased.

The rest of this week I'm going to try to push myself a little harder and get in a few more miles so I can finish my month strong. I need another 20 miles to hit my 100 mile goal and it's going to be tight for me to get there. Even if I don't make it to 100 miles, the month isn't a total waste. My overall mileage is looking solid, and steady; my body is reacting to the extra workouts pretty well; and I think next month I can even take my intensity level up another notch without hurting myself.

Keep Steppin'
bob

Distance Record!

2010-02-21T19:18:00.000-08:00

For the past week or so I've been struggling to get my miles in and it has caused quite a bit of anguish on my part. Mostly because I was working to a schedule and I wasn't hitting my goals in both time and distance. After taking abou a week off from my schedule I feel much better about my progress after today's effort. 27 days and counting for my 10k but I'm really starting to eyeball and gear myself to get ready for my half marathon that's in May. The 10k I feel I'm ready for right now and I think I can reach my sub 60 min goal that I've set for myself and with that in the back of my mind, I've started to mentally get ready for my first half.

That all being said - I went out the front door (well actually my in-laws front door) and just started running. I took Bogey along with me to help me keep my pace slow, but I felt so good over the first 20 mins I started to 'add' distance 3,4,5 miles went by without even a pause. I felt great and the weather was just perfect for running - overcast with just a touch of a drizzle as I ran along the windswept ocean and harbor area (58 degrees). After the 6 mile mark I was still feeling good so mentally I added another loop in my head. Right about then I realized that I was closing in on a personal best in distance (9.5 miles). But I was starting to worry about my running partner - Bogey had started to try to take 'drinks' out of the standing water collecting in the curbs while we were running. Twice I stopped at water fountains to try to get him to drink out of my hands, but the stupid dog would rather drink out of the curb on the run..... I lost about 3-5 mins trying to get Bogey to drink when I decided to just head home (approx 4 miles; I wasn't quite sure of the distance at this point). So Bogey and I fought our way home - 1:30:00 on the clock clicked away, then 1:45:00 and I reached the point where we were going to leave the beach behind. I knew that from this point we were just a little over a mile away from finishing so I gave Bogey a quick little pep talk and we trudged our way home. 2:01:51 was our final time, but how far did we go? I was guessing just over 10 miles, but I was suprised to see 11.45 come up when I mapped it out! A personal best on a day when I just wanted to get in about 4-5 miles.

Now just barely removed from this PB I'm wondering if I could break 2 hours 15 mins for my first half? This run was very, very easy - and the pace felt really good (10:39 per mile). I walked three times (two of them water breaks for Bogey), and I didn't have any water, gu's or food for the distance - I'm beginning to think that it's possible. Physically I'm tired, but not worn out and that leads me to believe that I can handle the half distance now and maybe even 'race' that distance. First I have to see if I can do the sub 60 though before I start planning any thing else. I have to remind myself that I'm stil training for my 10k. "Don't get ahead of myself."

Keep Steppin'
Bob

It Was a Good Day.

2010-02-18T23:37:00.000-08:00

After a week of just being in the dumps - today was a good day. It's 11:20 pm as I type this and I just got done adding up my time doing something active today:

Walking 1 hour
Running 40 mins
P90x 1 hour 15 mins
Softball 1 hour 10 mins
Totals: 4 hours and 5 mins <-- simply amazing! I can't believe I actually put in a day like today. Ice Cube just seemed to fit today.

My run tonight was supposed to be a very easy 2.3 miles - I stretched that out to 3.5 miles (with my cool down.) and I made the decision to scrap my plan - I'll finish my 10k training by feel and see if I can break the 60 min barrier in 30 days. Pace for my run was a very slow 10:37 per mile, but my first mile was an 11:23 so I did lay down a good final two miles......

Softball was good even though we lost in the final inning. I was 3-4 with a HR, 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored. I'm sure the P90x is improving my power. Normally I don't hit the ball that far, and in fact my only out was a deep flyout of left field.

P90x was tough today, plyometrics and abs today. Slowly I'm getting better and I'm completing more and more of each move. Weight is down about 5-8 lbs since we started and we're only on week 3 day 2. I sweat like crazy during these workouts and I can feel me working muscle groups that I normally don't use, I can't wait until we reach day 30.

Alex called me tonight walking home from track practice - he was clocked running a 5:02 mile today by the Varisty Coach. Dammit that's my PR. He does three weeks of formal training and he hits my personal PR? The kid is a natural -he's got another week to break the 5 min barrier and the coach will take him to the varisty open meet here in Orange County. I'm not sure how I feel about that - he's never run in a pack before let alone a mile track pack. Still as a sophmore, it would be a good expirence fr him...... We'll see what the kid can pull out next week at practice. Either way I'm very proud of him.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Hitting the Pavement

2010-02-18T09:20:00.000-08:00

Well I made it out he door today for a run - not a very far run nor a very fast run, but I did make it out the front door and I'll take that as a win. The run itself wasn't very good - my conditioning has suffered and I wasn't used to running in the warmer weather (almost 80 degrees today). Needless to say I went out a little too fast and crashed over the final mile. Still I was able to put in a 30:07 time over a 5k so I'm pleased that I got out the door.

Abby is still not feeling well so she missed her second day of school this week - hopefully tomorrow she'll feel better. She looks much better today so I'm 99% sure she'll get back to class :) Both Beth and I have been struggling with headaches and low energy. I'm thinking we're spreading ourselves a little thin. Beth is getting really close to taking her test and as the study time picks up, the more tired she gets. Right now I think she's dead asleep with Cade in his bed - I'm tempted to let her sleep tonight instead of us getting our P90x workout in..... I'll play it by ear.

Tomorrow I'm going to get in a few more miles - I'm tempted on ditching the 10k plan and just go back to 'feel' - "Why?" You ask, well at this time the plan itself is putting a little too much pressure on me to get the runs in. I think I'm going to go back to running by feel - getting out the door and changing a 3 miler into a 5 miler. I'm ready for my 10k race coming up in 31 days so I'm not worried there but what I'm worried about is stressing out and not getting in a run because I don't want to go 5 miles instead of 4.

The other thing is I've been running too many fast miles with Alex - I've crushed too many PB's in the last few weeks and I think it's put a little strain on my body, so I'm going to step back a little on thse run with him. Shoot he's running over 60 miles per week right not so a couple of slower miles with his old man isn't going to hurt him. BTW he just ran a 5:10 mile the other day.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

I'm Behind my Schedule

2010-02-16T22:04:00.000-08:00

Wow! A ton has happened since my last post - I'm not suprised to see that it's been almost a week since I last wrote something. Running has been minimal not for any particular reason, but just because life has been getting in the way. It's kind of thrown a wrench in my 10k training plan, but what can I do except pick myself up and start working hard again.

What's been keeping me busy? Well job interviews have been on my plate last week - I was expecting an offer sheet on Monday but it didn't come, instead I got a voicemail indicating that I was over qualified and the company was going another direction. I've heard this three, four times in the past few weeks so it's getting a little frustrating. I really liked this prospect, in fact, this was where I had my 9 person panel interview I mentioned last week that I thought well pretty well. I'm wondering if I'm missing something in my presentation. So I've been mentally reviewing my 'interviews' trying to see what I might be saying that is scaring off potential suitors.......

P90x has suffered a little also just because Beth and I have been short on time - she's picked up a few more hours at the office, and is also cramming for her Real Estate test later this month. I've been struggling with finishing our taxes, which were fairly complex this year - mulitple homes, rentals, 401k transfers, unemployment, mulitiple 1099's, 1098's, home office, and a refi. I'm so glad I finished tonight. Still, we've only missed two days so far, and I on't see it getting any worse.

Abby's been sick over the last 48hrs with the flu, so that's taking up a little more time also. Hopefully the rest of the house doesn't come down with it, but I'm not going to bet against it. The poor girl pretty much slept the whole day away today. Hopefully tomorrow she'll feel better.

The four-day weekend was jam-packed with stuff to do. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before but I Coach AYSO soccer also (Abby's team) we are just getting the Spring season started and had a full game scrimmge this past Saturday. Since we'd only had once practice due to the weather, I was afraid we'd get crushed against this "particular" coach - you all not the type, just a little overzealous. We my girls came out and listened to my instructions very well and we destroyed this guy's team., 6-3. After our 'regulation time' was up we were leading 3-0 and he wanted to 'keep going' so I said "sure" - they scored a quick two goals but them my girls reponded. I got a good feeling of what they can do and what I need to work on with them so overall it was a good practice session. I love coaching, and this enables me to keep close to the game along with spending time with my daughter.

Damm - I still have to lose some of my beer gut...

Sunday, Valentines Day I took the family up to Big Bear - it's only two hours away and the kids had a blast playing in the snow. It was their first time ever seeing snow in person, too bad they only lasted about an hour in it..... So we made our way back home. Still I think it would be nice to spend a whole weekend up there in the future.

Watch out!

Sledding fun

Keep Steppin'
Bob

I Love Having Free Time!

2010-02-11T15:25:00.000-08:00

Well today I had an early AM interview. This is the second with this company so I'm hopeful I'll get an offer from them early next week. They pulled in the Big Guns this morning and I was in front of 9 person panel. Shoot it's a small manufacturing company, I think that was their whole staff. I'm not sure of this but it had to have been close.

Anyway, I was done within the hour and since Maas was watching the little tyke, and Abby was still in school I had the morning/early afternoon to myself. The rain left on Tuesday so the weather was back to our normal Feburary weather; sunny, windy, and just a little chilly. I came home, changed, grabbed Bogey and we headed down to our local harbor area. The plan was to get some longer slow miles in just because I had the time. 7.5 miles later I dragged Bogey back to he car - he was spent. If fact he's laying at my feet outside in the sun right now a I type this - dead alseep. In all fairness I think that was the furthest he's gone at one time so far. He held his own, but I'm thinking he'll sleep pretty good this afternoon.

I thought about bringing the camera for this run, but I really didn't want to hassle with it today - so I enjoyed the ocean air, sun and other people. Very easily I clicked off 10 min miles without any effort. My overall pace was 10:04 per mile and I'm a little suprised how easily that came. Shoot I stopped for a potty brake around mile 3 and at mile 4 I was stopped for about a min waiting for a light. So I could have easily dropped this into the 9:40 pace range if I really wanted to - but I'm fine with the effort today. The water was a nice light green, and there were some small white caps from the breeze, just beautiful. At one point I was running along Capo Beach (just south of the harbor) and some guy was feeding the seaguls from his upstretched hand. There must have been over a thousand birds hovering about an arms length from this guy. I wished I had the camera at that point, just so I could have shared the picture with my readers - maybe I'll try to recreate some day.

Once I finished I was famished - and locally here is a great lunch shop for sandwiches - Cultured Kitchen in San Clemente. I've been going here since High School and I had the craving - after a quick jump in the car I arrive and find out they don't take Amex. - damm, that's all I carry these days. So I setteled for Baja Surf Taco's instead. I scarfed down my meal within seconds - I don't know if I even chewed.

P90x is stll going - and Beth and I are doing well with it. We're on week 2 day 3 now and I'm completing more and more reps (correctly I might add). We're having a little problem getting the time we need to do the whole hour to hour and a half workouts. So sometimes we have to split up the workouts between the kids baths, nighttime, and early mornings. Still we're getting the workouts in and it's not affecting my running workouts too much. I still think I'm benefitting more doing the program than just running more. Today was Arms and Back with Ab's, and even with this workout this morning I was able to do the 10:04 pace just a few hours later. I have dropped my normal lifting routine for the time being - maybe Ill be able to pick this back up in a few weeks once my body gets a little stronger.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I also play softball - I've taken about 6 months off recently, but tonight is our first game of the Spring schedule. I play second base and its fun just getting out and playing with the guys. We have a good group of guys and we've been playing together for about 10 years now so it's always nice seeing them after an extended period. We should have fn tonight - hopefully we're back down in the "D" league.......

The rest of my running schedule is week is looking fairly easy. 3-4 miles tomorrow, and then 2 easy miles on Saturdy before I take on Becca's Virtual 10k Challange. Right now my PB stands at 1:01:33 that I did back on Jan 23rd, I think I'm going to shoot for something right around that time. I'm not looking to break the 60 min barrier on this run, but I just might happen if I'm feeling good. It mostly likely will be decided while Im out on the course. These miles should put me right around 35 miles for the week, a nice solid week of running and workouts. Only 38 dys left before my 10k Newport Beach race - I think I'll be ready.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Workouts Going Good

2010-02-08T23:32:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a few days, but I'm still working out hard. I've missed a few planned workouts so I have the 'guilt' thing going on, but I have to keep telling myself that in the big picture it's not going to matter that much. My streak ended at 14 days - just too much rain to get out of the house over the weekend. California just isn't used to getting 2-4 inches of rain in a 12 hr period. The ground is just too hard (or made of concrete) to let that kind of water soak in. And add the 4-6 inches we got last week; and the ground is totally saturated - I'm sure we'll get some more mudslides later this week when the next cold front rolls in (thursday).

P90x is going pretty good - week one is over (yesterday) and Beth and I only missed about 2 hrs of workouts during the week. Half of that was the day off stretching workout they have. Bodywise I'm sore all over, and actually during my long run Sunday I was barely able to move my arms due to the fatague in my back and shoulders. Still that run was nice.

My long run was 6.8 miles of 'hilly' terrian around my house. Other than my shoulders and back I felt ok. My legs were a little tired, but I was able to fight through that and I finished the run very strong (9:43 pace). That's pretty fast for me and puts me right at a sub 60 min 10k that is my goal for March. Considering that I was trying to keep the pace rather slow I'm pleased with the results. Once again I'm going to go back to my improvement that is related to P90x. With only a ween my pocket, I can attest that the program has given my confidencein my ability. I'm pushing myself to the brink during the program workouts so I now know just how hard can push myself during a run. I thought I knew this already, but I didn't.

Tonight's run was sandwiched between my back/arm workout and my ab workout. I only ran 2.3 miles plus a small cool down. I started out just taking it easy, but I felt so strong after about 5 mins, I cranked it up a notch. Then I cranked it up another - and finished with a 20:10 or a 9:03 pace. That's 5k race pace for me! And I did this on a hilly course! My form near the end of the run was good, and I felt really strong. I'm guessing if I really tried I could break 20 mins on this course - before too long I'll be logging a sub 9 min mile and that will be a major goal reached for me.

I'm thinking tomorrow I'm goig to try to get out on my bike. It's been a month since my last ride - so I want to get some miles logged in the saddle. Maybe 12-15 miles would be good. I haven't decided if I'm going to add a run with this, but I'll have to play it by ear. We'll see how I feel after my P90x morning workout.

I'm still following my 10k training plan but it being followed VERY loosely. I'm getting the mileage in and maybe I'm doing just a few more tempo runs and now quite enough slow mileage. I'm adare of this, and will try to adjust over the next few weeks. I've also made another adjustment to the plan. This weekend calls out a 5k race. I was going to do this becasue I wanted to attempt a PB at this distance, but another blogger, (Becca) is holding a virtual 10k run over the weekend (12th, 13, or the 14th) so I decided I'll enter this. If you want to join up, you still can, just check out the link and be ready to report your 'race'.

This week will be most likely mimial with posting - I'm working on taxes this week and I HAVE to get this finished. I started this weekend, and hopefully I'll finished in the next few days bt until then I might not post as much as I'd like to.

Finally I'd like to welcome my new followers/stalkers. Thank you for dropping by and reading what I have to say. Seeing new followers always encourages me to write more and to share more. Please feel free to ask questions, I'll try to answer anything brought to my attention - what I'm doing right, and what I might have done wrong. I've been running now on and off for 30 years so I do have a lot in my head that I'm trying to get out. :)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Quick Update

2010-02-05T22:36:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to drop in quickly (it's 10:30 pm on a friday night). Currently streak is now 14 days. Alex and I snuck out of the house during a downpour and got in 2.5 miles. We ran it at a 9:05 pace which is right at my 5k race pace. I feel pretty good right now just a little tired from getting up early doing the P90x program.

Speaking thereof - the program is going well. I can already tell that I'm getting stronger. A couple of moves that I couldn't do earlier in the week I pulled off this morning in the ab routine. The more I see of this program, the more I would recommend it. Even if you don't get the results (visual) they like to show off. I can tell that by the end of the program I'll be so much stronger and ligher. This week so far I've lost 4 lbs so I'm doing somethng right.

I'll post more this weekend about the actual workouts but I just wanted to get something in tonight since I hadn't posted since Wednesday.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

BTW I'm only 2.5 miles away from 200 miles for the year already. :)

P90x day 3

2010-02-03T10:56:00.000-08:00

So day two went by without too much of a problem. The program has us doing Plyometrics and that fit perfectly into my running routine. I felt really good thoughout the workout that was 58 mins long. This time took it a little easier and paced myself better so I wouldn't burn out at the 30 min mark. I could work harder, but for the first time though these programs I'm going to pace myself better.

Last night I was supposed to go out and do a 4 miler, but I was pretty shot so I stayed in and watched my new favorite show: White Collar. I love this show so far, if you haven't seen it I'd recommend it to anyone. So I skipped my 4 miler but still I walked twice for over 2 miles so I kept my 'new' streak alive at 10 days. HopefullyI can break the 19 days I set in Jan.

Physically I'm bone tired. not really muscle tired, but weary like I used to get in HS and College after a tough workout. So I know I'm doing things right. I think I did one too many tempo runs with Alex over the weekend, and that plus the P90x workouts are starting to tire me out. I'm keeping an eye out for injury possibilities so I'm not worried about pushing myself too hard - in fact I'm sure I'm only about two thirds to my max right now.

This morning was Day 3 of the program - Shoulders & Arms, and Ab's. The shoulders and arms section was 58 mins, so Beth and I ran out of time and will be completing the Ab section later this afternoon. This morning's workout was good, I felt under control but not helpless like the first day - I think I'm getting used to getting up in the morning and getting that workout done. Also even though I haven't done all the different workouts yet, I feel like I know what to expect and how hard I need to push myself. I'm already itching to do these workouts next week so I can improve on them.

Tonight's run is going to be an easy 4 miler this time. I feel well enough physically that I don't think I'll have any problems getting out the door. (That was my 'real' problem last night.) Actually I need to get some slower miles in this week - too many runs were too fast recently and mentally I'm having issues. A slow run will do wonders for me right now.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Epic Fail and a PB in one day.

2010-02-02T10:24:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was kind of tough - Beth and I woke at 5:40 am to get our first P90x workout in. Day 1 calls for 58 mins of Chest and Back work plus 16 mins of ab work. "Hmmm, I can do this - it's like doing a 7-8 miler. Shouldn't be too hard." Well about 20 mins into the workout I was dripping sweat. And mind you just not dripping, but pouring sweat and I wasn't even doing the moves all out or even that many reps. Mostly due to the fact I have no upper body strength and any flexibility. Needless to say, I was struggling big time by the 30 min mark. After doing some seated flys, I stood up and get very dizzy and sick to my stomach - I excused myself to Beth and barely made my way upstairs to our bathroom when I stripped down and just lay down on our tiled bathroom floor. In about 5 mins I was cooled down enough to get back down stairs but we didn't finish the workout until that evening. I'm really not sure what prompted me to overheat like that, and in fact that's really only happened to me about 3-4 times in my whole life so I guess I just didn't pace myself correctly.

The limited visibility I've seen of this program though is great. Changing up the workouts, moves and intensity are going to pay off big time later on down the line. Some of the moves are easier but they then range to extremly difficult. And you really can't cheat anywhere in the few workouts I've done so far. (But even if you could, I'm not built like that....) This changing around is not only found in the workouts, but also in the day-to-day planning. It's like puting an easy day after speedwork, and then throwing in strides and tempo runs during the week. The program has an edge to others out there because of this. It reminds me of old soccer two-a-days back in the day......

The ab workout is really going to help me - I can't do all of the moves yet, but they are within reach and I expect within a few weeks I'll be doing at least a few reps of each one. Once you get there, it's really just working form and reps. But I have a feeling once I'm beginning to master the current moves, we'll be changing things up a little..... (I think there's 10-15 different CD's.....)

So after that epic failure in even finishing my first workout, Alex and I went out for an easy recovery run after our quick 5 miler we did the night before (he had an off day from school - Finals were last week). I decided I didn't want to do any hills so I took him to RSM lake and the one mile loop I've talked about before. This course is the site of many PB's in the past, but today I just wanted to take it easy.

Alex and went out pretty easy (for him) and we clocked a 9:24 first mile. Funny I felt pretty good doing that, but I knew right then I'll be taking the rest of the runs this week at a much slower pace. More along the lines of a 9:50 mile. Mile two was just as fast, actually just a little faster - 9:01. That put us at 18:25, and I still felt good even if my breathing was starting to come a little rougher. My conversation with Alex pretty much dropped to nil at this point and I just let him chat away. Every once in a while I'd answer a question with a yes, or no so he knew I wasn't going to drop dead on him (he knew about my failure that morning.) Mile 3 we finished off with a 8:56 for a three mile total of 27:11. That was a PB and right at my 9:04 pace that I have for my 5k PB. I felt pretty good and I wasn't really pressing to go any faster. I think if I really wanted to I could shave about :30 seconds off this time without too much difficulty right now. My 10k schedule does have a 5k practice race in two weeks so I'll try for a PB there. It should be interesting and I'm starting to get anxious for a race now.

I'm off to clean the house, to bad I can't raise my arms above my shoulders........ At least from the waist down the house will get clean. :)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Wonderful Weekend!

2010-02-01T10:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how good this weekend was both for workouts and family! Where should I start? Let's see, I'll start with my running stuff - Friday I did 7.5 mile total, a bunch of that was fairly slow in fact Beth joined me for 2.3 miles! She's going to try to get some running in an maybe run a race coming up. It was nice getting out with her, we took Bogey, Cade in the stroller, Abby was on her razor with her friend from accross the street. I enjoyed getting out of the house and spending time with Beth. She always seems to handle running easily and she ended up doing the distance at a 12:06 pace. Not bad for someone who doesn't really run. My main run on Friday was only 2.6 miles and most of that was downhill. It didn't worry me though because Friday's are actually my rest day when it comes to my planning schedule, so getting in these miles were a bonus. My legs feel pretty good and overall I feel strong. Pace was a pretty quick 9:15 per mile so I'm very happy since the run itself didn't take too much effort.

Saturday was another good day - I picked up Alex from his Mother's and he wanted to run with me that night, so after giving him my old New Balance shoes, we went out he front door for an easy 5k. This kid is fast, but having him there really helped me. I was able to talk with him while we ran and the time flew by. Before I knew it we were going up our last hill for the finish. At that point Alex wanted to 'stretch his legs' and picked up the pace. Me being his old man tried to limit him pulling away from me. Over the final half mile he got about a :45 seconds on me and I fnished in 28:24 only :20 slower than my personal best. WOW! This run felt so easy paced for me so I know running with him will help me a ton. Hopefully he'll stick with it.

Saturday is my week ending date so I put together a solid week - I ran everyday this past week and logged 38.2 miles doing it. Beth and I ran, Alex and I ran, and Beth and I did the pretest on P90x. (more on this later) Overall it was a great week, I'm feeling really strong right now, and my workouts are going great! I still can't believe that I'm pushing myself into new territory here. I can't wait for P90x to get into full swing......

Sunday I did my long run for the week (5 miles). Alex joined me again. I thought maybe he was going to be tired from the night before, but the three miles didn't seem to bother him at all. We did just over 5 miles at a 9:24 pace. A little fast for me, but once again I felt good running with him, and he takes me out of my confort zone just a little. Not so much that I'm struggling, but just enough to give me that 'next level' of training that I need. Overall with our warm up and cool down we ended up logging 6.5 miles. This Wednesday he's has his first track day; 9+ miles on a track! They do 10 laps, 9 laps, 8 laps, etc. What an introduction to track running! No timing, but they have to finish before they go home....... This season could be interesting for him, but after doing 5 miles with me, it shouldn't be a problem him as long as he paces himself. BTW he logged a 6:15 mile for his PE final last week, I wonder what he could do with solid training?

Monthly totals: 179.9 miles, three new PB's, started weight training, did pretest for P90x. Pretty solid month if I do say so. Too bad for that three day rain stretch otherwise I might have had 30 days of straight running.

Family stuff this weekend was wonderful. Beth had to put in some hours at the office, but once she was home we made the best of it. Like I mentioned, she went running on Friday, and Saturday we had fun just hanging out together. Sunday we took the family down to San Diego (about a 45 min drive) and spent about 2.5 hours on the Midway. Yes the Aricraft Carrier Midway from WWII. The carrier is now decommishioned and is a floating museum down in San Diego. Beth's Uncle works as a tour guide / safety staff on the ship and gave us some free passes over Christmas. We had a blast. If you're in the area, I'd recommend this site to anyone even if you're not a big history buff. This boat has such a rich histoy and was so vital to us winning the war in the Pacific, you can't help be feel in awe when you step aboard. They are continusously opening new rooms so there is always something new to look at.

Cade with his Monkey Leash

Eject! Eject!

Just one of several planes they have on display, this is INSIDE the Midway.

Go Navy! Mr. Speedy himself.

Abby and Cade

Beth and Cade

Helicopter tansport - Alex knows it from Call Of Duty for XBox. Scary thing is Abby and Cade knew it also.

The kids

Check out that anchor! That only one of two in the bow. Taken from the flight deck.

Downtown San Diego skyline - taken from the flight deck of the Midway.

Abby the Fighter Pilot

After a late lunch in Old Towne.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Pacing

2010-01-29T15:43:00.000-08:00

We all have our own pace - having over 30 years of running expirence (wow that's getting scary) I can pretty much nail my pace without looking at a watch. It really doesn't matter if I am in or out of shape, I just know in my head how far I've gone and how far I am from finishing a run. Some of you most likely are saying, "What's wrong with that? I wish I could pace myself like that." But really this ability can be counterproductive when I'm doing a tempo run or trying to push myself harder through some 'pick-ups' during a run. I tend to hold a little back on these runs becuase I know in my head I'm on my target pace when it would be more productive to my running growth (ie improvement) to beat my target pace for that run. Tempo runs are usually the thorn in my side.

In addition I tend to improve in leaps, like my 2 mile PB from the other night when I don't make any assumptions on what my pace will be before a run. That way I tend to push myself just a little harder than the pacing voice that is talking in my head. I just wonder if I didn't have this pacing ability would I be a better runner in the long run?

A prime example of what I'm talking about is from my long run from about a week ago. I estimated to Beth that I was going to take 2 hours to finish over at her parents house, 9.5 miles later and 1:59:14 (Yeah :46 second off from my estimate.) I crossed the finish feeling pretty good. My overall pace was crappy but maybe if I couldn't pace myself so well I could have improved on this time. Would running this training run faster make me a better runner? Personally, for this example since this was a new distance I was pleased with my time. And that's when I have to be careful, I have to plan exactly how fast I want to push myself before I leave the house.

I'm currently on a 7 day running streak again. If it hadn't been for the rain and my hip during this month I think I'd be looking at 28 straight days. Still I have to be pleased with my month.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

BTW yesterday I mentioned I wanted to run my 4 mile training run at a 9:50 pace...... I did it at a 9:53 pace. Pretty damm close.

Too Much Information

2010-01-28T11:07:00.000-08:00

I've got a ton to update today so I'm sorry if I ramble more than usual on this post, but I just want to get it all in. Therefore you get bullets today.....

I was going through my log for this month and realized that my consecutive day streak is actually 19 days not 18. That's huge because it actually 'breaks' my record of 18 days rather than just tying it. I've made the correction on my sidebar to reflect this.
Monthly mileage is now up over 150 miles and I'm going to finish this month/week off strong with another 20+ miles. That will DESTROY my previous best month of 108.6 miles. I feel so strong right now I think I can add to this next month. We'll see how I feel doing the P90x program too. Because of this I've only scheduled 100 mile month. Anything beyond this will be good.
Last night was my first scheduled interval training session - I had a small problem. The local college track was closed (by 7:00 pm) so tried a local HS, that was closed also. I ended up coming home and running a tempo 2 miler. I hadn't run this course in a while and I DESTROYED my previous time of 19:02. I clocked a 17:25 or a 8:43 per mile average with more to spare in my tank! This is my fist recorded run over a mile where my average pace per mile has been under 9:00 mins! The 19:02 was done in March of last year so I expected an improvement and a :90 second improvement is wonderful, I'm completely jazzed over my results. With the increase in monthly mileage I expect to see this kind of improvement to continue throughout this year. Maybe not this big of a jump, but I can always dream can't I?
Weightlifting is going well - no real pains and I'm on my third week. If I wasn't doing P90x, I'd up these workouts - but I'm going to use these just to say I got the workout in. Weights never hurt anybody unless you drop them o your neck. (see USC)
Tonight I have a 4 miler easy pace planned. Nothing special just right around a 9:50 pace would be good. My hammies are a little tired/sore but nothing too bad. Tired in a good way - which is what I want. I should take my running buddy, we'll see, it all depends when I actually get out the door for this run.

This distance coupled with my two walks and my warm up and cool down I should log about 7 miles today. The weather is nice enough for this to happen pretty easily.
My overall progress this month has been amazing - even though I want to change my 10k RACE GOAL, I'm going to stick with a sub 60 min goal. The race is 52 days off and with my 10k race last week (1:01:33 - race report) that I struggled with I think a 2 min improvement during this time frame is more than good. Continuous Improvement I've always said.
Finally after three tries I found my next pair of shoes - in fact I ran with them for the first time last night, and set a PB! I'll log about 50 miles in them and then FINALLY give you my SHOE REVIEW - here's my last one. Isn't it amazing how good a shoe feels and how bad a shoe can feel?
I've added music to my blog - if it's too much let me know. Hey Nicole thanks for reading, and I have to give No Doubt some play time. OC band, good music...... ok the song is kind of wierd in this context. If anyone wants to put in music requests drop me a comment and I'll try to add it to my list, that is if I like it. If the load times are getting too long for the blog please me know also - I'll cut back on some sidebar items.
Beth and I did our P90x pretest last night. Not too difficult - I can tell I need work on core muscles and suprisingly my quads. The conditioning part I don't think I'll have too much of a problem but either way, I can tell this is going to be an intense 90 days. We're starting the actual program Sunday, but we'll most likely do the one of the Bonus workouts between now and Sunday. I'm so looking forward to working out with Beth. If we don't kill each other it will be fun! Beth still won't admit that she sweats...... she glistens. Yeah right. I still can't look too closely at my 'before' pictures. I think the reality is slowly seeping in.....

Keep Steppin'
Bob

P90X

2010-01-27T10:48:00.000-08:00

Well Beth and I took our "Before" pictures last night - I can't post them. Just too horrible - maybe I'll get over it once I've finished the program but for right now I can't stand looking at them. Tonight we're doing the fitness test to see if we can even handle doing the program and most likely we'll start the actual progam over the weekend. We're both pretty sure the fitness test won't pose any problems but I'm still worried.

We're pretty much going to follow the program except for maybe the supplements they sell. Foodwise we're going to eat better and clear out the house over the next 30 days. After 90 days if we like the results I'm sure we'll do it again. I'm looking forward spending that extra hour working out with Beth but it's going to be hard on me getting up an hour earlier, I'm such a night owl.

I'll keep everyone posted on our/my progress.

On top of this program I am continuing my running and weight program(s). So I'm upping my daily workout time from approx 1 hour a day to 2 hours a day - I know this is going to get me tired but I want to see how far I can push myself here. I have enough base work put in over the past couple years I should be able to handle it. I think the hardest thing for me will be the change in diet.

Last night I snuck in a 5k at an very easy pace (10:26 per mile) that's a little too slow, but because of the two previous days at the quicker pace I'm ok with this. Also my running partner kept stopping and wanted to smell the grass....... My legs did feel pretty tired last night and I was overdressed for the weather (windbreaker and gloves). I most likely could have gotten away with just my sleeves and no gloves but I was being a wimp because of the slight drizzle. Still it was a good run, I got out the front door and put in the miles where I could have just easily sat in front of the tv so I have to be pleased that I put in the effort. I've run this particular course 14 times now and this run is the second slowest I've done, so that kind of tells me I did take it rather too easy.

Today is turning out to be fairly nice (forecast called for 40% chance of rain today), I honestly don't think we're going to get it. That's good because I want to sneak out and get my first speedwork workout in. I haven't done any speedwork in such a long time it's going to be interesting to see how my body reacts. I'm just wondering if I'm going to survive. :)

Because of the rain I'm basically two workouts behind schedule but I'm not worried about this at all. I'll just make them up along the way since I'm planning on doing more mileage than what my plan calls for anyway. Friday's are scheduled rest days and I love running Friday nights so I'm sure I'll make one day up this week. My long day - Sunday this week is only 5 miles so rolling in the P90x program this weekend works out well also. The weight training is coming along but I haven't really seen any results from this yet, hopefully by the end of March the work I'm putting in here will begin to pay off.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Beautiful Day

2010-01-25T23:43:00.000-08:00

I written alot about difficult runs and PB's recently. Mostly because these types of runs are important, memorable, and recently very common for me. Tonight I wanted to comment on another 'type' of run, the so called 'easy' run. That's the training run where you feel like your floating and effort-wise it doesn't feel like a constant struggle. I always see people writing about these runs - you'll see comments about 'runner's high' or endorphines, etc. These types of runs to me are the product of hard work and really only come at certain points in your training cycle(s). It's not mysterious that they 'just happen', they occur because what you are doing is working.

Don't get me wrong, these runs I truly enjoy and they are one of the many reasons why I run. But I always get confused when I see comments about "I'm still searching for that runner's high..." If you're searching for that run/feeling then search your log books - find out what you were doing the last time you had that feeling. Do it again. I promise you, you will have that feeling again. Running is a science as much as it is physical and mental. "But Bob I don't keep a log..." well then keep looking because your 'runner's high' runs will be few and far between. This might sound harsh, but this is my blog and it's what I believe - so you'll have to put up with it. :)

Enough of my soap box though. I got in a nice 3.7 mile easy run tonight (9:35 pace) that's about :10 - :15 seconds faster than my target pace tonight, but still within my target pace variance so I'm pleased with the effort put in tonight. I started my second week in my 10k plan and Wednesday night I have my first interval training scheduled (8x400's) I'll be doing these at my 5k race pace (approx 9:04 pace) so we'll see how that goes. I'm a little concerned though since we're supposed to get another wave of rainstorms starting tomorrow. Hopefully it's not a bad as last week and won't effect my runnng plans too much.

I had a nice little phone conversation with my oldest son tonight - he's 15 now and earlier this school year he promised he and his mother (my ex) that he was going to try out for the track team. I found out that he was planning on flaking on this promise so I called him on it tonight. I actually got to use the phrase: "Cowboy Up." I've been waiting a while to use that and I think it had a positive affect. I told him that I on't expect him to become this great runner, but I do expect him to follow through on a promise and to put in the hard work (mileage) to find out what kind of man he's going to be. And that maybe, just maybe he'll learn something about himself in the process. He's going to be suprised though - two years ago without any training he clocked a 6:13 mile, and that was on the road. The kid is fast I just think he's afraid to fail. It will be interesting to see how he responds to our talk. I'll know by Wednesday if he signed up for the team....

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Race Report - Running After Violet Virtual 10k!

2010-01-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

Another blogger - Casey put together this virtual 10k for her readers. I joined in because the timing was perfect for my training and also because this sounded like fun - and I'm up for fun so I did it, and I'm sure glad I did.

After a week of rain - I had been stuck inside since Wednesday and I'd lost my consecutive day running streak at 18 so I wasn't sure how I was going to respond to having three days off. My left hip had been bugging me a little so I'm sure the days off helped, but I was feeling a little nervous as I stepped out the door for this run. Weather-wise you couldn't ask for a more perfect day to run in. The rains had washed all the dirt out of the air, and the sky was clean and crisp. The sun was shining, and the temp was hovering right around 63 degrees, just perfect weather to go for a run let alone an attempt at a PR.

After doing a quick warmup, I setteled into the race itself. The course I decided on is slightly hilly but not too bad, in fact, I had set my current PB on this course back in March of last year: 1:04:11 so secretly I wanted to break 60 mins but I had no idea what to expect.

Right after I got going I knew this run was going to be difficult - the fact I hadn't had a difficult run in a while suprised me but having a difficult run the day I wanted to set a PB and after taking three days off? Now that really suprised me. It always amazes me how my body reacts in ways I never could guess or predict. You'd think after 39 years I'd know how I'm going to react. Maybe that's another reason why I enjoy running so much.

Anyway, I finished my first mile around 10:40 and I knew I was in trouble - my legs felt like dead wood and each step was difficult. That coupled with a shortness of breath really puzzled me. I should feel good dammit! Onward I pushed myself; mile 2 came in around 10:30. Slowly my legs began to feel better, and mentally I started to 'will' myself to run harder. I have a love-hate relationship with these types of runs, I know that pushing through this tpye of run makes me stronger and dammit I wasn't going to let two slow miles put me down. So right then I decided to stop 'watching my clock'. I put my head down and ran. Only then did I slowly started to feel better - focused I ran. Mile three, four, five went by without a hitch as I passed other Saturday morning runners. Slowly I noticed a smile had spread across my face and with Oingo Boingo "Stay" blaring in my headphones I cranked it up for the final mile. 1:01:33 at the finish! I did it, a PB and a PB that I had to work for. I'll remember this run for a while and that's good because I want to. Thanks Casey for encouraging us to do this. I needed to be challanged and I needed a difficult run.

Today I followed up my 10k race with an easy 4.5 mile run. Suprisingly I felt really good and even though I was supposed to run this at an easy pace (approx 9:45 pace) I did this at a tempo pace (9:12 pace). Legs felt strong and I felt really good. Once again the weather was perfect and I enjoyed getting out and hitting the pavement. It was like yesterday's difficult run had never happened. Funny. I don't think I'll ever understand this.

This week's schedule looks pretty easy - I'm supposed to roll in some track work but I'm not sure I'll have the time. I usually only get some free time after 8 pm so It will have to be at the local College.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Rain, Rain Go Away.......

2010-01-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

Well we've seen the most rain in that past five days that I can remember since grade school. Crazy weather, we've seen just about everything and a lot of it. Needless to say I haven't run since Wednesday now and I feel bad about that. I lost my 'steak' at 18 days (I tied my PB with that) and I'm now behind in my 10k training program. No harm done and I can't really complain because my right hip was flaring up a little and it was time to take a rest. I've already set a new PB in monthly mileage and I'm feeling pretty good so hopefully I'll get out sometime today to test out my hip.

Other than that nothing else has happened - I'm waiting for some new running shoes to get shipped, once they arrive and I get a few miles covered in them I'll write a review. Also I have another review to write about a pair that I sent back. I should have that done by the end of the month.

Today is the day I'm supposed to run my trial 10k. I think I'll attempt it just so I can set an actual goal time for my race, but if my hi feels bad - I'll cut this run back.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Lots of Rain

2010-01-20T08:49:00.000-08:00

I know that Southern California people can't handle weather changes but we've really had some freaky rain storms over the past 48 hrs with another 48 hrs to come. Yesterday for about two hours we got about 2 inches of rain with tornados, thunder, and hail. It was comming down so hard we couldn't even see accross the street.

These were taken at our local harbor (Dana Point, Ca.) a couple of hours after the downpour yesterday. The waterfall - it's never there. That's not a river, it's overflow coming of the cliffs into the harbor area. Right above the 'waterfall' are multi-million dollar condos, no word if they been damaged.

Runningwise I took it very easy yesterday - I'm really sore in my right leg (tendons in the hip area) nothing serious, but because of the massive increas in mileage I'm taking it very easy. I'm sure it's going to hurt my weekly mileage, and my training plan, but I'll deal with it. I'll get in a walk or to today to keep my streak going, but I don't envision getting in a run today.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Hal Higdon's 10k Plan - Started!

2010-01-19T10:05:00.000-08:00

Well I started my 'official' racing plan yesterday. I'm looking forward to using a plan over the next few weeks - I can use a little structure in my training right now. Even though the plan calls for some days off, I'm electing to use the off days as easy, short runs to add a little to my overall weekly mileage.

Yesterday I got in about 5 miles total which I thought was good because of the massive amounts of rain that fell for the most part of the day. Around 5 pm the skies cleared and I was lucky enough to get in a run after Cade fell asleep around 9 pm. It wasn't that cold so I didn't have to bundle up too much but I did wear my sleeves. Pace wise I kept it pretty slow since I've put in some difficult runs last week. My pace was actually a 9:35 per mile so it was about :10 seconds faster per mile than I had planned, but I'm ok with that. I have to keep showing improvement right? Actually I went and looked at my training log and noticied and the 9:35 pace on this course actually 'beats' a race time I had last January. So I have to be pleased right?

We're still supposed to get rain throughout the week so I'm not sure what my runs are going to look like over this time. Today I'm supposed to do another 3 miles easy - so I'm pretty sure I can squeeze this in sometime later today. I may have to get wet but that won't be too bad. I'm just going to play it by ear.

My streak is now 19 days which is my personal best. I really would like to finish the month without taking a day off. And actually I'm starting to eye going another 60 days from today. Why 60 more days? Well my 10k race is 60 days from today so I think that would be a good goal. Physically I feel pretty good. Last nigt's run went better than I expected, with just a little soreness overall nothing too bad. Stretching this out another 60 days may be good for me mentally. What I'm worried about is the interval training that starts nexrt week - how will I respond to that? I'm not sure since I haven't done any of this kind of training since college.

A final note: Beth purchased P90x last night, she's wanted this program since before Thanksgiving. I'm sure its a good program, but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to do it. Still Beth and I talked and we're going to try to do this together. I think I'm going to take before, during and after picture and I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

9.5 Miles in the Bank!

2010-01-18T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well I did it - I finished 9.5 miles. It wasn't pretty, nor was it very fun, but I did it, the course I plotted out was from my house to my in-law's house. The first three miles were brutal, up and down I thought my legs were going to blow out. On top of that for some reason I decided that a very fast tempo run for 3.1 miles (9:14 pace) the night before was a good idea. Needless to say, my legs were toasted before I even stepped out the front door. Still I finished the course within the two hour time frame I gave myself so I'm pleased that this run is finished.

Before go any further I have to thank Beth for letting me go, and for picking me up at her parents. It was totally unneccessary for her to do since she had all the kids, but I did appriciate it on her part. I love you honey.

I did do some walking out on the course so I do have a long way to go before I'm ready for my half marathon but now I know where I stand and what I need to do before my May half marathon comes around. But doing this run should help me mentally from this point forward. Talking about the mental aspect - Beth happened to mention before hand, "You're not ready for that distance." So of course, all I thought over the next two hours was "Maybe I can't do this." Funny how things like this work in your brain, but it definately messed with my head.

I already mentioned that the first three miles were brutal, but after that it's pretty much a straight run downhill towards the ocean. By the time I made it to this part, I was pretty toasted and I knew even then I was going to walk some more over the last six miles but I was ok with this since my real goal for this run was to finish and to finish under two hours. I accomplished both when I rounded the last corner and saw Beth and Alex waiting for me, waving me on in the distance. As I finished the final quarter mile they held up a finishing line between them - I was suprised how emotinal I started to get until I saw what they were holding between them - My father-in-law's old neck brace! I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I 'broke' the finish. Still it was a nice touch and I'm very happy to get a reception at my finish. I can't remember the last time I had someone watch me run - usually when I'm running it's just me and my head. Having them there was a nice touch.

Beyond yesterday's run, I'm currently at 17 consecutive days but we've got 6 days of rain coming in here off the Pacific. It's going to be really hard running in the kind of rain that they are predicting, over three inches. Still I think I'm going to try to cotinue the streak - I've started the month and year strong and I really want something I can 'hang my hat on'. A solid running streak (30+ days) would make me feel like I've accomplished something towards that.

I've already mentioned that I ran a tempo on Saturday night - that was a mistake really. That run was supposed to be an easy run, around a 10:00 min pace, but at the second mile marker I glanced at my watch for the first time - 19:01. That made me pick up my pace when I should have started to shut it down knowing I wanted to attempt a 9 miler the next morning. I finished in 28:35, just :31 seconds off a PB. It was pretty effortless - I should be able to destroy this time when I'm ready to.

Today marks my first day of 'official' 10k training. Three easy miles (9:40 - 10:00 pace) plus some strength training is being called out. I should be able to do that without too much difficulty even if my ass is a little sore from yesterday's effort. My longest run this week only calls for a 10k (a virtual race I signed up for - a sub 1:04:00 PB goal) so it looks like a pretty 'standard' week for me now. (approx 23+ miles.)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

PS My Chargers really stank it up yesterday, I don't want to get any comments regarding their play, how much they suck, or that they are 'soft'. My FB account is bad enough. I'm still in mourning. :(

It's Friday!

2010-01-15T09:39:00.000-08:00

Well another week has past, and a lot has happened this week. I did a very nice rain run, I missed my cycling outing and I'm planing a PB for distance (9 miles) tomorrow.

I'm closing in on some goals here in the next week or so;

Monthly distance is currently 104.7 miles my best month is 108.6 so I should pass that today.
Current running streak is 14 days - I'm shooting for 30 days which will beat my yearly goal of 25 days. (I might have to revisit this goal.)
I'll be making an attempt next Saturday (the 23rd) at a 10k PB - currently my best stands at 1:04:11 that I did last March. I should be able to destroy this.
I'm attempting a PB in distance (9 miles)

If everything goes well I should have a record month in regards to my goals that I set earlier in the month. I never dreamed that I'd be so close to so many of my goals for the year this early. Now if I can maintain this level, it would go a long way to becoming more consistant (another goal I set.) I'm still on pace to log 130 miles this month so I'm very pleased with my effort. I feel good and strong with very little aches and pains so I'm very encouraged that I should be able to continue at this level.

Last night I finally ran the 4 miler that I thought I was running from my last post. The weather was perfect, no clouds, no breeze and nice cool air. Too bad I was runnning bad. I completed the 4 miles at a 10:40 pace. Now there were several reasons for this slower pace so I'm not too disappointed. First there was my running parnter; Bogey, he wanted to smell everything we past. So I stopped for him a couple times thinking he had to 'do his business', but actually he just wanted to smell the roses. Second I was trying out some new running shoes - I won't say much other than they are currently on the way back to the store. I'll write a complete review on these shoes sometime next week. Finally I wanted to keep my pace down since lately I've been running a little too fast, so the 10:40 pace is ok for a run or two right now.

Also I wanted to thank everyone for their recent comments / questions - I'll try to answer most of them.
(more bullets)

I'm not a 'streak' runner. I've always been interested in people who do streak because to me it shows more than just dedication, but rather a way of life. These people aren't just running for health, time, or to get better. They run because they truely enjoy it.
I run because I do want to get faster - and because it keeps me healthy, sane, and finally because I do enjoy it.
Last summer I was going through a difficult time after getting laid off from my job that I had for 9 years. I was transitioning to a stay-at-home Dad as Beth went off to work full time. Because of this, my running suffered. In fact I missed a couple of races because of my conditioning. I did spend a huge amount of time with the kids since they were home for the summer - something that I wasn't able to do while I was working full time.
My activity levels have taken off because I believe that I've put in the hard work over the past two years to get to this point. I've always believed that it takes about 24 months to get your body used to certain 'levels' of running. It's only just about now that I think my body can handle the extra workload. I really think I'll stay healthy through this current push for more mileage. I expect to keep at the 100-200 miles per month level for another 2 years though.
My graphs - they are really just an by-product from using RunningAhead as my on-line log book. Once reason why I chose this site (other than it totally free) is because I can get this kind of breakdown very easily. I find this VERY important because it makes me a better runner oveall. I can look back and know exactly how much I'm biking, walking, doing easy runs vrs tempo etc.... I can pull almost any 'stat' I want in about :30 seconds. Having this information helps me plan ahead. I can't every begin to express how happy I am with this site. Eric (the creator and owner) is great and is always improving the site in real time. Don't worry if you have another site with data - he's created automatic downloads to most major on-line sites to transfer data. (Including downloading your Garmin data!) And if you have your data in just a excel page - he'll download it for you. The link is on my sidebar - check it out. I'll continue adding graphs that I feel show my progress, or goals in future posts.

Next week is going to be difficult getting in my planned mileage - we're supposed to get 6-5 days of rain, and I'm not too keen running in this stuff everyday next week. I don't mind doing it every once in a while, but all week? There is a reason why I don't like in Spokane anymore. I do have my 'streak' to think of so I'm sure I'll try to keep that going even of I only get in 1-2 miles daily. I can't really complain though since we've had a very mild winter so far cmpared to the rest of the United States. Hopefully I'll get in at least 20 miles next week.

Tonight I'm planning another 4 miler (at least) - nice and easy becasue tomorrow morning I'm attempting a PB for mileage. I'll be running both runs with my old shoes but hopefully by the end of the weekend I'll find another pair of shoes. And as always I'll write a review on them.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

13 Days and Counting.....

2010-01-13T15:27:00.000-08:00

My streak is now 13 days, not exactly how I planned but still it's a solid streak. Yesterday I wanted to get in a solid 7 miles for the day but I went and put Cade down to bed and fell asleep until 10:00 pm. If Beth hadn't woken me up I most likely would have slept right on through the night. I'm not too upset, I really wasn't feeling very well and this gave me a chance to get a little rest and I had already logged 2+ miles for the day so all wasn't lost.

Today I had my 27 mile cycling route planned but what I didn't count on is having rain the first thing this morning. With the temps down in the low 50's and rain I decided to forego the ride and I went for a run instead. The plan was to sneek in a 4 miler that I didn't get to do the night before so I was eyeballing the cloud cover as I worked from my desk. Around 10:00 am I decided that the weather wasn't going to break and I could venture out in the drizzle. Now being from So Cal I don't have any wet weather gear so I pulled on my regular clothes and added my sleeves and by the time I was finished I was drenched.

The run itself was interesting, like I mentioned, I was going 4 miles and I wanted to finish in just under 40 mins, what I thought was 4 miles turned out to be 4.25 miles and I completed it in 41:15 (9:43 pace - right where I wanted to be). I struggled throughout the whole course, first I didn't feel loose then my left arch was cramping and finally my knees were sore. I kept looking at my watch (which was completely drenched) where I thought the mile markers were and I kept getting upset since I was dropping further and further behind my planned pace. When I finished, and as soon as I stopped my watch something funnny happened, all of the sudden I felt good. Now normally I go about a mile (or under) as a cool down, but today after walking about 400 meters I started up again and did another 2.3 miles in the rain. I tell you, I've been running for over 30 years on and off and I've never felt this way before, these additional 2+ miles I was grinning ear-to-ear and I'm sure the people passing me going the other direction must have thought I was out of my mind, but I was having so much fun rain and all. My pace over the last two miles was 10:22 per mile that included walking the 400 meters.

Today I feel much better, my headache is managable once again, and my upset stomach is gone so I must have just been having a bad day yesterday. As I write this it's now sunny, the clouds broke about an hour ago and I can't believe that it was raining at all this morning. Still I wouldn't do it anyother way. Today's run I will remember for some time to come.

Last night I did finally pay for my 10k race in March so I'm committed. (Or a least have a $30 investment on the line) I'm going to refrain on setting a new time goal until I run my 'mock' race on the 23rd of this month.

One final note, I hit 96.9 miles for the month already and I'm on pace to do 130 miles for the month, and this is without the planned cycling ride I had planned for this morning. 130 miles will be a record for me so I'll have to watch how I'm feeling since I don't want to get hurt.

Keep Steppin'
bob

A So Called Rest Day

2010-01-12T10:17:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was a rest day for me. No I didn't break my streak (12 days now), I just took it really easy. A couple walks and an easy 2.3 mile run. Because I have put so many miles in for 2010 so far I wanted to take it really easy today but I didn't want to just sit on my butt. Once again we had beautiful weather so I got out the door for the 2 miler around 7:30 pm. With just a smattering of cloud cover, I did a VERY easy 9:50 pace. This is pretty much what I want for my easy paced runs right now. Just a tad under 10 min miles and I'll recover nicely.

This morning I woke with an upset stomach coupled with a pretty bad headache. I know I haven't written about my headaches before, but I suffer from them daily. I manage the pain pretty well and usually within 5 mins of waking I can tell how bad its going to be. I've done everything possible to have this condition checked out but about 10 years ago I decided that I'll always have them and I'll just deal with it. Most of the time I can just pop a few excedrine and I'm fine but every once in a while they just lay me out. I try not to complain to my wife because I'm sure she doesn't want to hear it, and there's nothing I can do about them so complaining won't help.

Anyway this morning I could tell right away that it was going to be a struggle, hopefully when I get my run in today, it will clear my head a little, but with the stomach ache on top of it I'm a little worried I'm comming down with a little bug. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.

Today the plan is to get in a 4 miler with Bogey at about the same pace as yesterday's run (9:50). That with the cool down and my walks to Abby's school should give me about 7 miles for the day which is exactly what I want. On Wednesday (tomorrow) I already know I won't have any kids in the morning so I'm planning a duplicate of my cycling distance from last week (27 miles). That ride took a lot out of my legs last week and I want to see a few things:

Thursday and Friday last week were pretty tough - can I recover a little faster this time?
The ride itself was pretty rough on my quads, can I do this ride on back-to-back without my body crashing during the ride?

I should have answers to these two questions by the end of the week.

On my last post I mentioned that I was concerned about getting in a 'long' run and a trial 10k before my 10k training schedule kicks into play - well another blogger Casey who writes Running After Violet is doing a virtual 10k run on the 23rd of this month so I signed up for it. It fits my schedule pretty well and I'll still be able to get my attempt at 9-10 miles in this weekend. So I get the best of both worlds....... :) (BTW I don't think it's too late to sign up, come join us.) So the plan is to do a 27 mile bike ride tomorrow and a 9-10 miler this Saturday, then the following Satuday I'll be attempting a PB at the 10k distance..... Hmmmmm all the runs in-between are going to be VERY slow. On top of this, I'm looking at my PB's yesteday thinking it would be nice to attempt a new PB at the 2 mile distance....... Maybe I can work this in next month.

I almost forgot to welcome my new followers! Thank you for stopping by, leave comments, thoughts, questions - I'll most likely incorporate them into a post (or two).

Keep Steppin'
bob

Record Week

2010-01-10T22:01:00.000-08:00

It's been a few days since I last posted, but I haven't been slacking. If fact I logged a record 64.2 miles last week beating my previous best by about 15 miles. Once again I'll point out that I include my cycling miles in these numbers, but I've always have. Cycling made up 27 miles so I still had a very solid week.

Physically I'm a little tired now. I have a 10 day streak going on and I do feel a little fatuged. It's not too bad, but I've run a few of my last runs a little too fast. Getting home tongight and checking out my log for my last few runs, I'm noticing that my pace is about :15 seconds faster per mile than I really want. Now this doesn't sound like much, but over a 5 mile distance, and after 10 days the quicker miles do tend to sneek up on you. This week I'm really going to try to cut back a little on my speed. (I'm planning speedwork at the end of the month anyway.)

Sometime this week I'll be signing up for my planned 10k - my acutal traing schedule starts next Monday (the 18th) so I do have this week for a little 'freestyle' training. I'm actually looking forward towards a structured 8 week schedule that includes some track work. I haven't done any track running in about 15 years so that should be fun.

A couple other notes; first I'm closing in on a streak goal of 18 days. If everything go to plan that will happen on the 18th. Hard to believe that in the first 18 days of the new year I could reach one of my quartely goals. Second, I may revise my 10k time goal. Right now I'm just shooting for a sub 60 mins, but I'm going to have to put a stretch goal on that because in some of my tempo training runs I'm beating this time already. Yesterday I ran 5.9 miles in 57:15 or a 9:43 pace on a tempo training run without really trying too hard. A 10k race I should be able to beat this by about 3-4 mins. To get a better feel for this I'm scheduling a 10k run this next weeked before I start my actual 10k training. I want to see how close I'm actually to breaking that 60 min goal. This will put a slight crim in my distance plans because I wanted to put in a long run of 9 miles (a personal best) this upcoming Sunday. We'll just have to see how the week pans out. Finally I've set a goal of a sub 2:15:00 for my half marathon in May. I have no idea if I can do that - the 8 miler I did mid December really took a lot out of me. And if I'm not going to run a 9 miler this week, my next scheduled 'longest run' won't occur until early March. I'm sure I can finish that distance, but without attempting it I can't really get a good grasp on an accurate time. Anyway, I'm going to focus on running a strong 10k first then I'll worry about the half distance.

Today the whole family dicided to hike up the dreaded ridgeline by my house. It's a good hike and I had Cade on my back. I've included a few pictures this time so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about;

Abby on the backside of the ridge

Our house second row back dead center (grey-blue 2 story)

Abby again on top of the ridge

Close-up of our house

Cade - always smiling.

Looking towards Big Bear (East) - just a little snow.

Our little model - her print ad for the Montage will be out next Christmas.

It's a great workout with a 40 lb kid on your back - I was sweating bad.

Finally I wanted to point out that I'm on pace to destroy my monthly record in distance; currently it stands at 108.6 that I did in September last year. Right now as it stands I'm sitting at 81.6 miles for the month ad on pace to do 127 miles for the month. Personally I'm pretty sure that I'm going to reach this number in fact I wouldn't be suprised to see a 160 mile month here. I just want to be careful and make sure I don't hurt myself though.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

I Did 26+ Miles - Cycling

2010-01-07T12:30:00.000-08:00

The title says it all - yesterday was a very nice day. I got out and walked a few times and also found myself without any kids so I got the bike down and went for a ride. Just a little over 26 miles logged and I feel pretty good. My quads are a little tired but nothing too bad, and my lower bad feels good also. I'm a little surprised at how well my body has handled the increase in mileage so far this week.

The couse in itself wasn't too difficult, but I just wanted something fun. I wanted t go out and just enjoy myself on my bike. That I did - but now my rear end is just a little sore :). But the best part is, I finally got my bike out of the rafters, and rode it for the first time in about three months. I really need to incorporate riding into my workouts more. I can really tell that it would help my overall fitness, and it keeps my workouts interesting...

This morning my body feels pretty good, I didn't take the girls to school (I had an interview instead) but I do plan on picking them up and doing an easy 3 miler with Bogey later this evening. So far for the month I've logged 60+ miles and I can envision myself doing over 200 miles if I get another bike ride in later in the month.

Other than the ride, I did get in a few walks, to and from school, dropping off and picking up the girls. But by about 7 pm I was shot and was asleep within a few hours of that.

So far this month I haven't missed a day, and I'mgoing to see if I can keep this going thoughout the month. I've always liked streaks and maybe I can get a good one going here with all the nice weather we're having.

Finally welcome to my 'new' readers. Please take some time to read their stuff - very helpful, inciteful, and entertaining. Hopefully my readership continues to grow as I because faster and stronger.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Another Good Run

2010-01-05T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm bound to have a 'bad/difficult' run soon. I'm not sure when, but I'm overdue. I've always said the bad runs are what make you a stronger, better runner and I'm actually looking for this run to come. Last night was a pretty easy run I put in 3.4 miles at a 9:23 pace making this a tempo run for me. On top of this I did another 2 miles walking in the morning and a 1 mile cool down after the tempo run. My legs feel pretty good so far - a little tender in the calves but not too bad.

I'm very pleased with my start to the new year. I've already logged 25 miles for the month and I'm feeling very strong. I've run everyday of the new year so far and I can see this overall trend continuing throughout the whole month. (I do expect to take a day off - I'm now sure when yet.)

I've finally decided which 10k program I'm going to work towards for my 10k race in March. January 18th is the program start date and I'll be loosely following Hal Higdon's 10k Intermediate Plan. For those not familliar with this plan, it's and 8 week plan that involves strength training, tempo runs, cross training and some intervals. The plan also calls for a 5k Race on week 4 - which I'll be doing alone. I'll pretty much follow the plan except that I'll be adding a few extra miles hre and there. My race Goal is still running a sub 60 min Race - since it is my first I don't want to burn myself out, because my main goal this year is my1st half that I've scheduled for May. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress.

Kee Steppin'
Bob

5 Miler Today

2010-01-03T23:31:00.000-08:00

Today marked the last day of Christmas vacation for the kids - they went out in style. Abby went to the movies with Beth, Cade had a Birthday party to go to, and I got in 9 holes early this morning and a 5 mile run in tonight.

For golf , I played again with my Father-in-law along with my Brother-in-law. I was 8 over after nine but I was 5 over on just two holes (small implosion). My back felt really good afterwards with I was suprised, usually I'll have a pretty sore lower back after a round and that didn't happen today.

Tonight with clear crisp skies, Bogey and I made it out for a run. I was going to keep it really short (2.3 miles) but once again I turned a different direction and before I knew it I had gone almost 5 miles with my cool down. My pace was slightly slower than yesterday's (9:55 pace vrs a 9:49 pace) which I wanted so I'm pleased with the run and my effort. I feel really strong right now and I plan on logging runs for the rest of the week. We'll see how I feel on Friday :).

The night sky was beautiful today - clear and very bright as I watched the moon rise over the ridge to the east. I love night like this, it's almost a religious expirence.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

My Running Partner is a Year Old Today.

2010-01-03T12:33:00.000-08:00

So today is Bogey's Birthday. The big zero-one for him - and I don't think we could have picked out a better dog for our family. He's good with the kids and loves to run with me. He's still a little hyper but I keep reminding myself that he's still a puppy. Abby has him trained with 'sit', 'shake', 'lay', and she's working on 'speak' and 'roll over'. Running-wise he's been a good buddy on the pavement. Only once this year have I run him into the ground but other than that, he's usually there step for step with me. He's been really good on a leash while we run - shoot I've only stepped on him once. I guess once it all it takes :)

Today for his Birthday the family took him to Hunnington Beach to the Dog Beach there. For anyone who hasn't been there it's a nice open beach where you are allowed to take the dogs off their leashes. Bogey loves it there - but it's about a 30 min drive so we don't go very often.

Running today went well, I did a total of 4 miles without any real difficulty. Pace was around 9:45 and I felt really good considering it was 48 degrees. Bogey went with me and we didn't see another soul the entire time which was kind of weird since it was still pretty early (8:30 pm). The moon was coming up peeking through a thin band of clouds making it look really big and bright. Very cool looking with the nearly full moon. Tomorrow I'll hopefully get in another 3-4 miler since I'm off to a pretty good start for the year.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

A New Year Dawns.....

2010-01-02T00:37:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that another year has passed, I'm a year older and my family is just a little more set in our ways. The kids are growing so fast, and I can't believe that Beth and I first started dating over 10 years ago. Where does the time go? Maybe it's just because it the first of the year, and my Birthday was this past week, but I can't help but look back at the past - to try to learn from it. What did this past year teach me? How can I learn from my mistakes to be a better person? A better husband? A better friend? I think we all should take time out of our busy schedules and ask these questions of ourselves every once in awhile. What do we all see in ourselves? Shoot - I just got done watching the old 80's flick, Pump up the Volume with Christian Slater - can you tell? And if you haven't seen this movie please do.

On to my run today. I had only planned a 3 miler when I stepped out the front door this morning, but after a mile I went straight instead of turning, then right, left, etc.... before I knew it I had gone almost 6 miles at a 9:44 pace. That's pretty good for me and a pretty good start for the year considering that I ran this 3 mins slower at the start of December. It was such a beautiful morning here in Southern California today - a perfect way to start off the new year. I have such high hopes for my running goals this year I can hardly sit still when I start thinking about them. Right now I'm just going to focus in on my 10k I planned in March - really I want to break 60 mins here and I think that is totaly possible. I'll be so happy if I do that since it will be my first official 10k since High School. Today I was almost there - with another 300 miles or so under my belt I should be able to achieve this goal.

As promised, I wanted to give an update about my Brooks (see my review) after 512 miles the shoes are holding up great. I paid $59.99 for them which works out to be approx $.12 per mile so I think I got my money's worth out of them. The outer edges are starting to wear a little but that's only because that's where my foot strikes hit first. Beyond that I haven't noticed any other wear in the shoes and I think I can get another 100-200 miles out of them before I really have to shelve them. I do have a gripe though, the place I purchased them through is no longer carrying the Brooks line. Hmmm I wonder why?

Finally, as always I'd like to welcome my newest follower - runningBarefoot. She has a good read over there even if I don't condone barefoot running, but to each their own. If I have forgotten any other new followers I'm truely sorry, but please feel welcome! I very much enjoy your feedback, and/or comments so don't be shy. I'll try to make this as interesting as possible. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them I'll most likely write about it (and my thoughts) if you want.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

New Look for a New Year

2009-12-31T13:19:00.000-08:00

I've created a new look for my Blog today - Please give me some feedback, if I get compaints I'll switch back to the old style. I just thought this was easier to read, and its easier for me to use. I'm not sold on the colors so I'm up for suggestions.
Tonight I'll write about my Brooks and my run today.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

2nd ABHBLD 5k Run - RACE REPORT

2009-12-30T23:41:00.000-08:00

Well it getting late, but I wanted to squeeze this race report in before I go upstairs, shower and get some shuteye. Before I start, I do want to thank those who wished me a great and wonderful Birthday. I think yesterday's was the best birthday I've ever had. Surrounded with my family, I couldn't have been happier.

That being said, I didn't actually run my 'race' on my birthday. The day started out very nice, got up early and was on the golf course by 8:00 am. Our tee time was at 8:30 so I got in a little putting which helped me. I shot a 16 over, 10 over on the front nine and 6 over on the back for an 87. That's pretty good for me. Considering that I was 5 over on a two hole stretch on the front nine I'll take the 87 any day. Getting home at around 2:30 pm, I had to drop off two of the kids with Beth, and go pick up the third at my Ex's. An hour later I made it home, got in a little stock work in even though the market had already closed and then showered and made our way over to my parents for dinner. Long story short, I got home after 9 pm and was just a little too tired to go out and make a serious stab at a 5k PR so I waited until today.

In direct contrast to yesterday's 80 degree and sunny weather, today was overcast, drizzle and 52 degrees. I like running in this stuff every once in a while; it reminds me of my senior year in High School traveling up to Big Bear for soccer training. We'd do a training week up there in altitude for conditioning purposes - it was always COLD and wet. Running in this stuff always brings me back to that time. It's nice, but only if it once in a blue moon - I'm a Southern California fan through and through. Shoot I was wearing my flip-flops yesterday. :)

As you can see it's not a particularly difficult course, but it's no cake-walk either. Today for my RACE I did start at the 1 mile marker instead of the actual start, the reason for this? It's because the 1 mile marker is the closest to my house and I used the distance between as my warm up and cool down. Anyway, the first mile went really well, I felt pretty good even though my back was sore from playing golf yesterday, I knew I had a sub 30:00 in my legs - running in my new birthday mock turtleneck running shirt, nike sleeves, and gloves I actually felt a little 'overdressed'. Usually I make fun of runners that looked like me today but I didn't care, in fact no one was out so it just made me feel better, I was braving the elements to get his run in.

Mile 1 split was 9:23 - not too bad, the first hill grouping was finished and I was feeling strong. Water was dripping of my hat, and my watch was soaked (secretly I was worried about it breaking), but I plodded along attacking the second uphill mile. Clocking a 9:30 here I knew that the final stretch was all downhill and I could really push myself since I feel good. My breathing was coming harder but at least my heart wasn't going to jump out of my chest or decide to quit on me, so I opened myself up more than I have done since I tore both of my hamstrings back in 2004. I put in a 8:32 third mile feeling like I could have gone even faster. At this point my lungs were starting to hurt a little and my left arch was starting to cramp up, but I pushed out the final tenth of a mile and clocked a 28:04! Yeah a PB by about :20 seconds! I had just missed my stretch goal by :04 seconds - and I had it in me. Still I learned a few things tonight.

1. I can go faster much faster, I just a little scared that I'm going to hurt myself. Mentally I'll have to gt over this. When I started to push during the third mile I felt my hammies pull a little, but they didn't give out. Surprising that mentally I'm still a little scared.

2. I need to get my core stronger if I'm going to get faster. It's sore now afterwards. Beth has been trying to get me to start Pilates - for some reason I'm holding back.

3. My hard work is paying off - since last year my PB pace per mile for the 5k distance has lowered from approx 9:56 per mile to 9:04 per mile. That a :52 second difference per MILE! Or approx 3 min difference over the total distance! Could I make these kinds of strides in 2010? That would put me down at around a 25 min 5k. I would be very pleased with that.

4. The pain I feel making a PB really isn't that bad - I've felt much worse (see my 8 mile run entry.) I can ignore this and go faster.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas - if you did run this virtually with me, feel free to give me your times, age and splits (if you have them) and I'll put together a good post with links to your blogs for your reports. (If you want). Have a fun and safe New Year.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

PS - I'm going to do an update on my Brooks for my next post. I just hit 500 miles in them I wanted to give you an update.

Finishing the Year - and 'Other Stuff'

2009-12-28T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well the year is almost over and tomorrow is my 2nd Annual Birthday Race (2nd ABHBLD 5k Run for short). (See this for last year's report). Even though I through out the challenge for people to join me tomorrow, I haven't been contacted by anyone that they will show up. Hmmmm I don't know if I should be depressed or ecstatic that I'll be first overall again this year. Last year I completed this in 30:45 missing my goal time of 30:30. So to set my goal I look a gander at my log and noticed that I've only run this particular course three times, two of these have been races:

7/4/08 - 36:27 (RACE)

12/26/08 - 32:10 (TRAINING)

12/29/08 - 30:45 (RACE, last years' ABHBLD 5k Run)

Funny I haven't run this course this past year. I was going to run in on the 4th of July, but they changed that 5k course this past year. I didn't blog about that race but long story short, I thought I was going to run this course and didn't check the web site before I left. Beth brought the kids to the lower end of the 'old' course (closest to our house) while I went out for a warm up. I didn't know the course had changed until we took a left turn instead of a right turn. Poor Beth and the kids never saw me since they weren't on the course...... It took a while for me to live that one down. :)

Back to tomorrow's plan, I'm planning on running this after 8 pm tomorrow since I'll be playing golf, and then having a birthday dinner at my parents. I might try to squeeze it in after my golf game but I might not have the time to do that. I'm going to have to play it by ear, but that's ok since I'll be running alone.....

Race goal time is going to be a PB attempt to break 28:27 (9:11 pace) which ironically was set at that 4th of July race I mentioned above. Yesterday on a different course (slightly longer and steeper) I clocked a 9:13 pace over 3.19 miles so I think this is totally possible on this course. My stretch goal tomorrow is going to be a sub 28 mins. I really don't think I can do this because I haven't really trained for a sub 28 but physically I feel pretty good so I'm going to throw it out there as a stretch.

Naturally I'll post a race report so please stay tuned, I'll try to get it up within 24 hrs.

On to training - I basically took the week off. I'm not sure why I tend to take complete weeks off and I really want to change this tendency about my training this upcoming year. After tomorrow's race, I'm going into 10k training mode, with plans to up my mileage to 30 miles per week for the next 10-12 weeks. The 10k I'm planning to sign up for will be Newport's Spirit Run in late March. So far I don't have a race goal, but I'll set that after the New Year.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T00:18:00.000-08:00

I don't have really anything much to say. Running this last week has been slim to none. I did get in a golf game and I'll be playing again next week. I really just wanted to take the time to all my readers to wish them a very Merry Christmas.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Distance PB Made!

2009-12-20T21:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I set out to conquer some of the 'ridge' hills I have around my house. I've mentioned them in other posts before; looming 200-300 feet high they are pretty much straight up/down. Really there wasn't a reason to hit these hills, and in fact I didn't know I was going to run them until I made a turn toward them in the first half mile once I stepped out the front door.

After scaling the first two miles at an 11:55 pace, I decided that since my time sucked I might as well go for a distance PB. I talked about trying for a distance PB in my last post and I knew that this was the day I was going to get my chance. Beth was watching the kids and the weather was beautiful for a mid December. So I stared plotting a new route in my head. Something to get me to 8 miles. Continue straight here, turn right, straight, right, left, add that loop and another hill. Before I knew it I was home. 1:40:35 - the last two miles were painfully slow with a ton of walking mixed in, but I did finish the course I had set in my head. The only question was did I map out the distance correctly in my head? I've always prided myself in being able to gauge distances - even back in HS riding my bike to my girlfriends house - I knew I was going 13 miles. Running to soccer practice 6 miles, riding to my friends house 10 miles. It really didn't matter where or how, I just knew how far it was. Now I couldn't wait to map it out. (see below)

I was .03 off! Wow! What a great run. Slow, but a good run. We'll see how I feel tomorrow morning and how I recover over the next few days.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

800 Miles in a Wimper

2009-12-18T09:33:00.000-08:00

Not exactly what I had planned for my 800th mile for the year, but I'll take it. Walking the girls to school this morning I clicked over 800 mile mark. No fireworks, no really good story, shoot Cade just wanted to get home so he could go pee. Still I'm happy that I reached this goal this year.

Since the year is coming to a close, I've come up with my goals for next year. Without further ado:

1. Run my first half marathon on Memorial Day. Sub 2:15:00 race goal.
2. Run a 10k in March - Sub 60:00 min race goal.
3. Run/Cycle/Walk 900 miles - stretch goal 1000 miles.
4. Run a 5k race on 4th of July - sub 28:00 min race goal.
5. Consecutive day streak - 25 days.
6. Run a 'long run' of 10+ miles.
7. Run/Cycle/Walk 120 miles in one month.
8. Become much more consistent overall - (example: every month total mileage ie 40+) I don't want to have such wild swings off my average.
9. Get my weight below 185.

All of these would be PB's except #8 since I can't really track that.

There's a few other things I'm eyeing, like a few more races, and maybe even another half sometime next year but beyond what I'm listing, I think I should be good for the upcoming year. I just want to run injury free and enjoy myself, but at the same time push myself a little more this upcoming year and see if my mile times start coming down. This is my last year in the under 40 group so I want to make it count.

The other night I took Bogey out and we did 6.8 miles pretty easily. I actually ran up a few hills that I couldn't make it up earlier in the year. If fact one hill at the 6 mile mark I've never run up until this run, ad even though it hurt I still made it up with extra in my legs. So I'll take that as a win this week. Overall my pace was 10:05 per mile which was right in the middle of my target pace for a long run. Afterwards I could feel my legs were tired but not too bad. The following day (yesterday) I was sore but nothing I couldn't handle. I'm thinking sometime next week I'm going to shoot for a 8 mile distance for a PB to close out the year. That with my upcoming attempt at a 5k PB on my birthday should close out a good year.

Looking back, I didn't quite progress like I wanted to, but really it's tough when I haven't been consistent like I wanted. Below is a graph out of my log book - it's my overall monthly mileage for the last 24 months. You can see what I'm talking about regarding consistency.

Really What I'd like to see is me 'beating' the mileage for the month that is 'dropping' off this chart. This will begin to start in March of next year. Until then I want to log over 40 miles in Jan and Feb to try to keep my average up. I'll post this again in July to show my progress. I'm putting stock into this metric for the upcoming year because I believe that if this graph does continue to climb my overall times will decrease. In fact I think I'll be in a better position (stronger) to start more tempo runs this upcoming year. If you notice the overall percentage of my tempo runs are almost nil. I did that on purpose because I wanted to spend the last two years building a solid foundation, lose weight, and make running a part of my life again. 2010 has always been my goal year in regards to distance and speed. I'll just have to see how it plays out.

Another graph I wanted to share that I look at quite a bit recently is my overall time spent running/walking/cycling - see below:

My goal here is to really have the whole 30 days over 1:00:00 or 30 hours of workout time for the month. Once again consistency this upcoming year is going to be important to me. I'll post this again in July for comparison.

Switching gears I wanted to once again take time to say Hello and Welcome to my new readers, and everyone who has started following me from FB. Thanks for taking the time and reading what I have to say. As long as I get more readers I'll continue to write about my progress - I might take time off here and there but I'll always be around. I'm starting to see quite a few more hits on this site which means to me that what I'm writing is either helpful, funny, or at least interesting. Thanks!

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Closing in on a Major Goal

2009-12-16T09:44:00.000-08:00

The title pretty much tells it all - I'm closing in on a major mileage goal I set for myself at the start of the year; 800 total miles. After my walk this morning I'm within 10 miles of that goal and should hit it later this week. It's hard to believe that I'm going to reach this since it's a stretch goal. (600 miles was my actual goal.)

There is a ton of room for improvement on this though. Next year I'm looking to log 1000 - 1200 miles. Consistency is my goal next year - I now have 12 months of solid base that I can build on, and I'm pretty sure I can reach this goal next year. But before I can look into next year I want to finish this one strong.

None of this could happen without my wonderful wife - Beth. She puts up with the late night runs (and even later showers). She'll drive me to some location to let me ride my bike home, and lets me 'take off' while she watches the kids. I can't thank you enough Honey for your support.

Switching gears - I promised a few pics from our Yosemite trip last month. I have all the pic uploaded to my fb account (100+ pictures) but I wanted to put a few of my favorites here (since I DID promise). Even though I didn't get the chance to get a run in up there we did bike and did a lot of hiking. That week I logged about 20 miles and I think half of that was done in the Valley. As a family we had a great time and I'm very thankful we made the drive up there even though on the ride home poor Cade had an "accident" and we didn't even know for about 2 hrs..... Ahhh the memories. :)

The Valley Floor

I love this picture - even though Beth has 'Shrek' hands

At the bottom of Yosemite Falls

Abby all bundled up

Had to do the 'Standard' Yosemite picture

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Another Good Day

2009-12-15T11:26:00.001-08:00

Things are going rather smoothly recently. Training runs are clicking along and physically I feel pretty good. Will I be able to say this by the end of the week? Tough to say but for now I'm glad everything is going well.

Couple of notes: Use a rolling pin on your lower legs after your runs. If you are like me and have horrible flexibility, I'm finding this is helping me on following runs. I've mentioned before that sometimes I get bad cramping in my arches, well my lower legs are actually the problem. Just roll your calves and shins for about 5 mins and you'll feel 100% better on your next run.

It's about time for my Annual 5k Birthday Run, this year I'd like to invite anyone in spitting distance to join me - 29th (Tuesday)of December. This is an interesting race, no support officials, no water stations, no crowd, no expo, no photo ops, shoot the course isn't even closed to traffic. I haven't set a time yet because I understand that the date is a Tuesday, but if you feel inclined to join me drop me a note. Remember this isn't another training run - this is an year end race on an official course (it's been used locally before for some big races). I'm not asking you to join me in a training run, but to BEAT me in a race. I will supply maps on-line and at the start if people do come. If not, I guess I'll will this event fr the second year in a row. Final note, for those who are saying' "I live too far away." No excuse, I have two queen size pullouts and a bedroom that will be open. I'll let you spend the night for free and if you do stay, I'll make dinner also.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Morning Running

2009-12-14T10:17:00.000-08:00

This morning's run was really nice - a little cold for Southern California (48 degrees), but still nice. As usual I walked the kids to school and then took Cade out for a 4 miler. My pace was really slow - 10:42 per mile but I wanted that because yesterday's runs were 9:40 and 9:55 each. So I'm pleased with how my legs responded this morning.

I've decided 100% to run a half marathon in May, so I'll be running a 5k later this month and then a 10k in March. Beyond that I'm planning on upping my mileage to about 5-6 per day with long runs extending out to 8-9 miles. Starting in Feb 2010 I'll be following a 16 week half marathon plan (I haven't picked on out just yet, but I'll start looking at a few here sometime this week.) Right now I think I could really do a 2:15:00 half without too much trouble so maybe after the first of the year I'll re-evaluate this time and stretch this to a sub 2:10:00 (sub 10 min miles). I think that realistic for a race distance I haven't done in over 20 years.....

Since it's about year's end I'm going to post my 2010 goals soon. In addition to the above half, I'm really going to kick up my training this year. I'll be 39 years old at the end of this month and I want to see what this body can do if I really take care of it, and push myself a little harder. So one of my goals this year is to drop my remaining weight. I want to get down to 185 lbs before my May half. That's only 5 lbs a month with I'm sure is a reasonable goal. With a few adjustment to my diet and an increase in my mileage I should be able to do that easily. I'll keep everyone posted on my progress (BTW I'm sitting at 203 right now.)

Don't worry I'll post my complete 2010 Goal List later this week.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Where has the year disappeared to?

2009-12-12T21:59:00.000-08:00

Lately I've been very bad about bloging about my experiences. Maybe because I feel that I don't have anything very interesting to write about but more likely it's just because I've been feeling lazy. That's not a good excuse and I wanted to take the time to apologize to everyone who faithly read my little blog. I promise to at least write about my mundane training runs on a more continual basis.

Ok with the apology out of the way - I have been running. Not as much as I want to (yea its the lazy thing again). Honestly life has gotten in the way recently for me. I've been spending a lot of time with my younger boy right now, cleaning the house and trying to learn / take instructional classes about stock trading. Now and then I do get a good run in so everything isn't lost in regards to my conditioning.

Just the other day I got without a kid or dog in tow and the weather was beautiful. Crystal clear with crisp air. I'm guessing the temp was around 55 but the sun was out without a cloud in the sky. Everything felt really good and my body responded to my run without any aches or pains. I live for these runs. After an hour I found myself back home and disappointed that the run was over. I could have gone another hour easily but I was out of time and needed to get the kids picked up from Grandma's.....

Other things I have going on is my laptop is on the fritz over the past few months. So far Dell has come out and replaced two touchpads and a HD. And STILL I'm having issues. Once this gets cleared up, I'll download pictures my my external HD and get them posted. I have Thanksgiving and Yosemite family pics I wanted to share. The colors in Yosemite was beautiful!

I'm slowly becoming addicted to FB. So I'm going to start linking this blog to my FB page and vice versa. Up to know I've kept them separate, but I guess the people I know can read this without me feeling too much shame..... :)

Final news is I've made up my mind and I'm going to run a half this May. My conditioning is good right now and I feel good about being able to finish without embarrassing myself.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Parent / Teacher Conference

2009-10-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, I'm going to my daughter's conference on Thursday morning by myself (she's 8, third grade). This will be my first conference I've ever been to. (My ex-wife has gone to my 15 year old son's every time) What do I do? Do you just sit there and listen to what the teacher says? Do I come with a list of questions/concerns? Can I show up wearing my running gear so I can get in a three miler afterwards before I have to pick-up my kids at Grandma's?

Other note - I'm taking the family to a late season visit to Yosemite at the end of next week. Has anyone ever run the trails there? I'd like to squeeze in a couple of runs just so I can say I ran Yosemite.

Finally I'd like to welcome my 'new' readers - please check out their blogs. Everything I read are great follows and I love following your stories.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Slowly I'm Progressing

2009-10-27T12:19:00.000-07:00

It's been about ten days since my last post (really?!?) and I've been really busy with both personal stuff, family, and my running. Currently I'm on pace for a 90 mile month so I'll have to pick it up this week if I want to hit that 100 mark again. Stroller runs ARE making me stronger, and I'm not doing enough running with my partner Bogey.

Have you ever heard of a dog bonking out on a run? Well that's exactly what happened to Bogey and I last weekend. My wife took our kids out to watch their cousin's football game and that left Bogey and I with a couple hours to burn, so I decided to go out on a 'longish' run. Now when I though of the ides I was thinking of a three miler, but within 2 mins of leaving the house I knew I could go for 7-10 by just how I felt. Immediately I changed course and set out for my longer loop that I could add to as we went. The loop itself is about 6.5 miles and the add on could increase this distance by at least 4-5 miles if I wanted to. Weather wise it was kind of hot for this time of the year (82 degrees) for the late afternoon but I wasn't worried about myself - but I should have been worried for my partner. (Small note: last attempt at this particular loop I myself crashed sometime last year.) About 2 miles into the run I noticed Bogey was lagging behind me, tongue rolling out of his mouth and panting hard. At first I thought it was because we had just past the Dog Park and he wanted to play, but very quickly I realized he was completely out of gas - so for the next 10 mins we waked so he could cool down and catch his breath. After that it was a slow jog downhill straight home, no addons, shoot we didn't even complete the loop (4.5 miles only). Still it got me thinking, I guess even dogs can have bad days.

My other runs have been good though - I'm still pushing Cade in the stroller and I'm getting quicker, below is my pace chart (weekly) in regards to my stroller runs. I'm impressed with myself because I'm not trying to increase pace here - just working on getting in longer more meaningful runs.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

A new PB in Distance.....

2009-10-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

The picture is from Beth's Grandfather's house in Ill. He past away this past summer at the age of 90. It really doesn't have anything to do with the post, but I liked seeing his backyard again.

Well another week has already past and I wasn't thrilled with my effort in getting out the door this week. Because of this, I decided to go out and run 7 miles tonight just so I can say I put in a PB for distance.

I chose a location that I'm familiar with and easy to run - flat and fast. In fact I still have my 3 mile PB on this course from earlier this year. The course itself is a single mile loop that I decided to run 7 times. I wasn't sure if I was going to get bored running this loop over and over but I do enjoy people watching and this course does get a lot of foot traffic.......

Mile 1 split was 9:45 on the nose - a little faster than I had planned. My goal here was to run an average of a sub 11 min mile so I felt this was a little fast, but I felt really good and my breathing was coming easy. Because of this I decided to keep going at this pace to see how long I could hang on.

Mile 2 split was another 9:47. Still feeling really good. Now I NEVER bring along any water on my runs, but because I knew I was going 7 today I brought long a bottle that I was taking sips about every half mile. (It lasted until mile 6 so it worked out well.) I was worried that it would be too hard to keep pace carrying a water bottle, but it wasn't causing any problems.

Mile 3 split was unsure - I do know I was at 29:23 at the mile marker though - so I was still on pace and feeling pretty good. Right about here I started to eyeball a possible sub 10 min mile average. The first 30 mins seemed to click along rather quickly and with the sun starting to go down, my 'people watching' group was dwindling - soon I wouldn't have any distractions, would it make the final 5k difficult?

Mile 4 I really stopped watching splits - I was in around 39:40 though. Slightly slower, but I was still feeling good. Sun dipped below the ridge and the sunset was beautiful.

Mile 5 was around 49:30. Faster than mile 4, but I started hurting a little though. My bad knee (left) was a little sore under my messed up kneecap (old HS injury). By now the sun is gone and it's starting to get dark. I'm pacing myself by seeing where "Running Sucks" t-shirt guy is.....

Mile 6 I'm on the home stretch now and already know I'll be finishing under 1:10:00 - I feel that good. 59:50 at the marker and I start to pick up the pace a little.

Mile 7 - t-shirt guy is finished - couldn't hold our pace and I blow past him, now it's only the 'serious' runners out on the path and I'm starting to pick off some of the slower people. 1:09:45 at the finish, and I could have run another 5 without any difficulty. Maybe I should consider running races longer than 5k? I'll wait until my race pace is under 9 min miles though.

Overall I am very pleased with the run. All the stroller runs are making me stronger and keeping my everyday pace down that helps with my recovery. When I get out without the stroller and my 30 lbs kid I feel like I'm moving along without any difficulty. Pretty soon I'll have to start mixing in some speed work since I'm planning to keep my base around 120 mile per month. (I'm around 100 now.)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Solid Week

2009-10-12T11:07:00.000-07:00

Well a new week starts today and I've just finished putting in a nice solid week last week. I've pretty much kicked my head cold but I'm still feeling a little congested.

This morning Cade and I went out for a little run after we dropped the girls off at school. Just a little small run to get the blood pumping. My pace was 9:36/mile so I'm feeling stronger running with the stroller.

A couple of things to note this week.
1. Distance goal: 30 miles
2. Attempt a PB at 10k distance.
3. Last month I finally broke 100 miles for run/walk/bike distance!

I was looking at my log this morning and realized that this PB has stood since early March. I'm pretty sure I can break 1:04 maybe even a sub 60. So this Saturday I'm going to make the attempt.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

It's Been a Long Weekend.

2009-10-05T10:39:00.001-07:00

I've had a pretty bad head cold since last Thursday. I'm not sure where it came from but I starting to feel better today. So because of the cold I didn't run either Saturday or Sunday and only did very minimal mileage on Thursday and Friday. Today I did get out this morning but the run was very difficult, I'm still having difficulty breathing through my nose, and my upper chest is a little congested still, but I'm going to try to get through the day without taking any medication.

Planning for Thanksgiving is going along well, with my PB in the mile the other day I'm leaning towards setting a PB goal for a 5k race then. I want to run a 2 miler sometime in the next week or so and see what pops up with that run then I'm going to set a time goal for the race.

My stocks last week took a pretty hard hit, but I'm working back this morning. The ISM Index report this morning was favorable so that helped us get off to a good start. FUQI is my big mover this morning up 1.46 at the time of this posting. Ten day high sits at 31 (current the stock is at 27.8) so I'm hoping for a larger jump in the next few days - I'm still being defensive overall until the Jobless Claims on Thursday come out. We really need to see this number turn - Got that Mr. President?

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Got To Love It!

2009-09-30T22:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's run was good - as most of you know I currently run pushing my 3 year old during these outings......

Cade - Daddy, when will we be home?

Me - About 10 mins *puff puff*

Cade - What?

Me - I said about 10 mins, all we have to do is run up this hill.

Cade - What hill? That one? He points to a wilderness ridge that dominates out local skyline (It's about 600 ft high straight up)

Me - No, we're following the street today. (Silence, insert crickets here.)

Cade - Daddy?

Me - Yeah? *puff puff*

Cade - This isn't a hill.......

Damm I ran up the whole damm thing.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

A PB Falls.

2009-09-29T11:04:00.001-07:00

Well last night I decided that I was going to do my mile TT that I missed this last Saturday. I don't know why, but I've been nervous about this run since I started eyeballing a possible attempt at it about three weeks ago. I'm not sure why I had so much apprehension regarding this run but I'm thinking it's because I really didn't want to know where I was conditioning-wise . I know this might sound counter productive but in the back of my mind I was terrified that I wasn't going to better my PR and the thought of missing this PR was giving me fits. I've put in so many good runs (mentally gauged) that I was afraid that I wouldn't get results.

I started out with a 1.18 mile warm up - nice and easy because I wanted to see how my knee reacted to my cycling the night prior. It was fine, but then I was worried about my breathing. I felt sluggish and slow. Every step I took a little doubt and fear seeped into my mind so I took the warm up slow. After about 14 mins I crossed the starting point and picked up my pace. Lengthening my stride I began to struggle right away. I could feel the tired feeling in my legs - just an overall sluggishness as I tried to power myself up the first hill (approx 105 ft in elevation). Still I increased my stride turnover, and I couldn't even feel my bothersome knee. Hey a good sign! At the top of the course (half way) I was cruising along pretty well, glancing at my watch, I saw 3:50. "Hmm maybe I need to measure this course again", was my first thought. "No, I've run this a thousand times, the distance is right." Anyway the second half is uphill again, this time the route is a more subtle incline but it's higher, 150 feet elevation. Now I was struggling. "Come on - it's only a half mile and half of that is downhill." The hill seemed to last forever but soon I was over it and travelling downhill towards the finish. Slowly I was picking up speed and I took a quick glance at my watch: 6:55. "Damm that went by fast - I'm really going to have to push it." Then came the pain. about 400 meters out I put down the pedal and finished with an 8:15 mile. I finished up the night with a cool down 1.18 miles in 16:28 (yeah some walking).

The mile distance is interesting - and clocking an 8:15 on this hilly course I'm pleased with my results. Still, now I want a sub 8 min mile and I know I'll attempt this again before the year's out. Funny how that works.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Change of Plans.....

2009-09-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

I kind of changed things this weekend. My knee was still tender to the touch, so I decided not to run my planned mile TT. I'll reschedule this for sometime in the next week. Instead I took the opportunity to pull out the bike and go for a ride. I always forget why I don't ride more - I enjoy it so much and yesterday was no exception to this. I started pretty late (5:00 pm) and tried to 'race' home the setting sun. 19 miles later I made it home just after the run sun dipped beyond the ridge that dominates the skyline at my house. I can't even start to describe what the sky looked like and I didn't have my phone so I couldn't even try to capture a picture.

I'm pretty pleased at where I'm at with my conditioning right now. I have plenty of room to improve but I'm making good progress. I think I'm going to have to try for a PB on Thanksgiving, I'll be in a better position to gauge my goal once I get in that mile TT though so I'm waiting until I get that run in before I set any concrete goals for that race.

Stock wise, I got caught with RIMM stock last week and took a pretty big hit before I dumped it. I did capture back some of my losses by getting in on a option put with RIMM, but the damage was already done. Today is another day and the market is doing well and I'm about 1/3 of the way back as of right now so I'm doing ok. My buy stock today is YGE. Chinese solar stock that does pretty well fundamentals are ok, but I'm looking for a move off the $12 range up to about $16. The big investors are putting money into the account, and if I can capture just a single point here that would be nice.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Beautiful Morning!

2009-09-24T10:38:00.000-07:00

This mornings run was beautiful. The sun came out to a cloudless sky and the air was crisp (well as crisp as Southern California can be.) and what started out as a 3 miler quickly turned into a 4.5 mile run when I decided to take a right turn instead of a left on the upper end of my planned course. Cade as usual was catting away and I tried to keep up the conversation but it was hard. Pace overall was 11:08 not too bad for a stroller training run and I'm pleased with my results even if I had to walk a short uphill section for about :30 sec.

Saturday is going to be my last official attempt at a mile PB this year. I don't run this distance anymore on it's own, but with my increased mileage this year I think I might be able to break 8:44. The plan is to run a warm up 1.18 miles then do the TT and finish with an easy cool down of 1.18 miles. I'll still get in over 5k for the day and that should also get me over my weekly goal of 28 miles and get me very close to my monthly mileage goal of 79 miles. Physically I feel pretty good. My legs are a little tired but my recovery between runs seem to be OK. My left knee (my bad knee) is a little sore and yesterday I found out is hurts when I kneel on the tile to clean it. I know Beth I won't use this as an excuse to get out of cleaning the tile. :)

Tonight I'm filling in for softball (it's amazing they've asked me to play every game as a backup since I told them I wasn't going to play this season) The scabs on my knees just healed up this morning from the last double header we had - hopefully I won't have to dive too much tonight.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Stoller Pacing

2009-09-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Pace for my stroller runs....

I'm improving on these runs, but I'm not sure if it's because I getting into better conditioning or if it's because I'm getting used to pushing the stroller. I'm guessing it's a little of both. Over the past few weeks - I feel like I'm getting stronger, and it's reflected in my pacing here.

Now please understand that I never start a training run with a pace in mind unless I'm planning on running a tempo run. Stroller runs have been strictly 'easy' runs on my calendar so effort wise I'm not trying to 'bust' these runs out so I feel good about my progress at this point in time. I still can't understand the runners in my races that pass me pushing someone at a 9 min pace. That to me is just a monster pace.

Maybe in a few months I'll re-run this report and publish it again. That may be interesting, hopefully I'll be pleased at the results then also.

Last night I got in a easy run with Bogey - I only went 2.2 miles, but that put me at 9 miles for the day so I was pleased with the effort here also. 10:29 was my pace so I was right where I wanted to be for this run. Even with my legs feeling really tired it was nice to run this with little effort.

This morning's run was only 1.6 miles - just enough to test out my legs after yesterday's big mileage. Tonight I'm planning an easy 5k which will put me over 70 miles for the month. My mileage goal this month is 79 miles so I'm well on pace to reach that goal and I feel pretty good about that.

Saturday is my mile TT date. 8:44 is my current PB and I really want to beat this. It's been sitting at this time for a while now (I haven't tried to break it to be honest) and I'm not feeling too confident right now in being able to beat this. Mainly because even though I've put in some good training runs over the past few weeks, I don't feel like the speed is there to break this yet. My weight hasn't gone down like I've expected and I think that's going to hold me back this weekend. (I'd rather be around 198 rather than 203). Oh well we'll see how it goes - I'll keep you posted.

Stocks are going well, I reached another cash out goal this morning (that's five this month, where I was only planning two). Right now I'm just sitting back and waiting for some purchases to move before I can cash them out. I'm guessing sometime before Friday I'll be making another cash out. Currently I have two different trading accounts, an IRA account that is non-taxable and setup for long term investments. On this account I'm also invested in companies that hand out dividends. My other account (which is much smaller by about 60%) I use for income. Here I work in $400.00 groups. Every $400.00 I make, $300 comes out as income and the other 25% get re-invested so I can grow this account to over 25k (for those who don't know 25k is the cutoff the government has created to let investors have unlimited day trades. Right now I'm only allowed 3 days trades in a 5 day period.) All this means is that I need to make sure I hold onto a stock overnight in most cases. Most of the time this is good because I can then catch the up gaps that have been occurring recently on this market's bull trend we've been having since March of this year.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

5 Miler in the Bank

2009-09-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

Got out and pushed Cade for 5 miles this morning and it felt pretty good. The run was on a pretty hilly course and I did struggle, I even had to walk about :45 seconds at one point, but I'm sure this training is going to help me a ton later on. My pace was slow (11 min miles) so it's difficult looking at my log knowing I'm putting up these very slow times, shoot I even entered a new running category (stroller runs) so I know why the pace is so slow on these runs. That helps a little.

My legs feel good today - a little tired but not too bad overall. Conditioning is slowly getting better and I'm gaining confidence in my ability.

I've been slacking on my evening runs so far over the past several days which is unfair to my running buddie Bogey. He doesn't seem to mind too much but I really need to get out with him tonight. Last night I put Cade down and completely crashed with him, Beth work me up around 9 pm and I was just beat. So I did a little work and came to bed around 11 pm.

Today is Beth's actual B-day. Happy birthday cutie! I love you. She's celebrating her 2nd 30th birthday today. From here on out it's going to be difficult remembering how old she is. :) Her Boss gave her a day at the local spa. All expenses paid on him - shoot he's even paying her salary today. So right about now I think she's getting some sort of facial and foot rub.

Lazy Weekend

2009-09-21T10:49:00.000-07:00

I didn't get a run in this weekend at all - I spent time with the family, and just never got out. Saturday Beth and I went out to dinner for her Birthday. It was nice getting out by ourselves without the kids (Mas and Papa watched them overnight.) We went to a great place in San Clemente (El Mariachi) and had just a little too much to drink. There was a nice couple next to us out on the patio who kept eyeballing out margaritas and finally asked what out bill was (they were $16 each!) A little more than what we'd normally spend, but it was good for us to get out.

Saturday morning/noon we spend at Abby's soccer game. I don't know if I've mentioned this but I've been coaching her for about 4 years now. They played really good, but fell apart in the final 5 mins of the game. After missing several chances to score early on they gave up three goals in a 5 min span and lost 3-0. Much better than the 9-0 skunking from last week. Even with the loss, I was pleased with the girls effort and they played much better this week. For practice this week we'll work on scoring more.

Sunday was spent cleaning, picking up the kids at the Grandparents and then watching my Chargers blow a game. I can't remember such poor play calling from the coaching staff in the past 10 years. I really hope they fix that problem.

Running this morning was great. After walking the girls to school, Cade and I went for a short run. I originally wanted to get in about 2 miles, but once we started I changed the course a little and it turned out to be 3 miles once we were finished. Pace was roughly :30 seconds faster per mile than we have been running so I was pleased with the effort. The only issue I had today was my feet. Both were cramping up a little, so I'm thinking I needed to stretch them out a little before my run. I'll keep an eye on this because my shoes are getting up there in miles (260 miles). I'm hoping to get closer to 500 mile though, but this is the first time I'm running with Brooks so I'm going to monitor this closely.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Boy I love working out of the house.....

2009-09-18T10:07:00.000-07:00

Well today is Friday - and I love what I'm doing. The weeks seem to fly by, and even though I'm not making a ton of money just yet, I am hitting my start up income goals already and I'm ahead of my plan. Now I'm sitting here thinking that I'm bummed out that today is Friday - that means no market tomorrow; but I DO have plenty of research and training I can do - it's just that it's not quite the same. Today was another great day for me market wise and I'm basically done for the day other than watching, and spending time learning.

As for running, I'm doing very well. Last night I did take off since I was already sitting at 20 miles for the week and during my morning run yesterday my legs felt like lead. But this morning I did put in a 4.5 miler after I walked Abby to school. Even though my legs are tired, it felt good to head out pushing Cade into the morning mist. We had a pretty heavy marine layer and drops were hanging off the spiderwebs along the walking trails. Cade wanted to do a 'long' run this morning and since he was armed with Coco Puffs, juice, and his transformer I headed out and ran a course that we haven't tried before. Overall the run wasn't bad - I took it very slowly and my legs felt ok (at least much better than yesterday.)

I am planning on getting another 2-3 miles in tonight with Bogey and maybe I can talk Beth into joining us since Alex will be over and he can watch the little ones sleep.

Racewise I'm starting to think about a Thanksgiving Turkey Trot (5k). It's about the perfect time out training wise so I think I'll sign up for this next week. My goal here is to beat last years time (31:55) and my stretch goal will be a PB time (sub 28:27). There's a pretty big gap here but I don't want to put too much pressure on me right now. As I get closer to the race date I'll decide which side I want to be closer to.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Wild Morning!

2009-09-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

I woke up early this morning with a feeling the market was going to go crazy. If fact over the past several days I've been prepping for today. Low and behold it DID blow up to the upside! I started cashing in stocks left and right and before I knew it, I had already reached my personal income quota for the month! So I walked away from my computer took Abby to school and then when for a nice 3 miler this morning without having to think about anything.

Abby on the Papa's boat

And the run was nice - the sun was trying to break through the marine cover so the temp was staying low (about 69). Cade kept looking for his shadow which wasn't coming out to play. Needless to say he wasn't happy about that and kept shifting around in the stroller. Talk about making it difficult to run! Still I'm getting used to having Cade with me and even though he doesn't stop talking, or asking questions, on days like today it doesn't bother me at all. If fact today I was happy to spend time with him chatting about clouds, Abby's school, the local tunnel (and shouting inside it to listen to our voices echoing), and looking for our shadows. Before I knew it we'd finished and I clocked 3.3 mile at a 11:19 pace which is pretty good for lugging a 30lb kid and stroller.

Damm, It just didn't look like he wanted to join me.

Hopefully I'll get another run in tonight. Last night's run I didn't take Bogey so I felt kind of bad, and I need to make it up to him. Plus last night's run turned into a tempo run - I think it was because I was by myself and just opened up a little. So tonight I want to run a 3 miler easy to give my legs a little chance to recover.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Nice Morning(s)

2009-09-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to shift my running time to the mornings, the reasoning has to do with being home now. I walk Abby to school and then take Cade out for a nice run in the stroller. I've already mentioned that I'm still getting used to running with a stroller, but in the long run it should help me.

Yesterday's run was a (very) short but it's so nice being out at that time (8:00 am). When I'm out running, all I think about is that last year I'd be stuck in some stupid meeting trying to figure out how to make someone else money just to keep my job. Now I'm enjoying time spent with my son as I try to figure out which researched stocks I need to buy/sell for the day. Less than an hour later I'm making those changes and I'm dictating HOW I'm making money. Now you have to realize that I'm also spending 2-4 hours daily just researching stocks, and another 1-2 hours listening to analysis discuss stock plays. During this time I'm also checking my inventory for interday trades trying to make sure I don't miss anything that might make me some money or I'm taking an on-line class about day trading or how to use my desktop platform. I still have a long way to go and I'm just barely scratching the surface with my knowledge on the subject, but I'm starting to make some money now so that's encouraging.

I'm planning on keeping my evening running in place 3-4 days a week though. Hey I have to keep my running partner happy (see above) Can you believe he's 9 months old now? And he doesn't have any problem keeping up with me on a 4 miler. The evening runs will be longer and quicker pace - these runs are still 'my time' so I want to keep them going.

The morning running is really helping me put some focus on my morning planning - it forces me to evaluate my decisions BEFORE I go make any changes. That way when I choose actions I'm sure I'm doing the right thing.

Today's run was difficult not because of the weather or my conditioning; it's just pushing the running stroller. I know once I get used to it, it will help me in the long run but man it's tough! On top of pushing, Cade wouldn't stop talking - asking questions........ And anyone who has kids that are about three know when they ask a question (about a million in 30 seconds) and you give an answer then NEVER hear it the first time - SO they ask you again. So here I am gasping telling Cade that "Yes, the house is in that direction, and Yes we are going away from the house." Sigh.......

Hopefully I'll get a nice run in tonight.

NOTE: WLP had a nice pullback this morning - still in an upwards trend. Good chance to get into the stock. Also take a look at DVN (I think I've mentioned this already - Natural gas play) and PALM. PALM is having its having it's earnings report tomorrow after the market closes, I think they are going to report earnings better than expectations.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Taking a Day Off

2009-09-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I took a day off - I originally had a small run planned, but I never got to it.

Beth and I took the family and joined my Father-in-law on his sail boat for the Tall Ship Festival here in Dana Point, Ca. It's a fun event. All these replica period ships get together just outside the breakwater and have a 'mock' battle at sunset. This year we invited our neighbor's that have two young children, the boy LOVES pirate ships so it was a no brainer.

The weather was nice and the kids really enjoyed themselves.

Us joining the 'fray'

Tall Ship Califorian - I spent 3 months on this ship in HS.

Califorian scaring the seagulls.

Got to love the local wildlife

Other that the sail - I did get in a nice run on Saturday night, nothing big just 2.2 miles at a 9:47 pace. That's a little fast for me, but I wasn't running with the stroller so I decided to pick up my pace a little. Legs feel pretty good, but my conditioning is horrible.

Tonight I'm planning a 3.1 miler at an easy pace - nothing fast this week except a little mile TT I'm scheduling for myself on Saturday. I want to see if I can break my 8:44 PB. That should give me a good gauge on where I am and what I need to work on next.

On the stock front - I'm trading several different potentials this week - (WLP) Wellpoint Inc. is a healthcare company that has been getting good scores since March of this year the stock has steadily climbed from 30 to 50 per share and the company is most likely the strongest in its sector. Even though the Phase 1 and 2 scores aren't anything to write home about, the cash flow in the company is strong. All current patterns are still Bullish and the stock is still climbing. I bought at 52 per share and I'm looking to sell at about 58. Currently I'm about a third of the way there. (+54). So if you are looking for a Healthcare play - I'd recommend WLP as a short term investment (less than 6 months) - if Obama get a health program into place. If not this could turn into a keeper.

Keep Steppin'

Bob

Morning Outing

2009-09-09T10:51:00.000-07:00

This morning was interesting - I took Cade for a run in the jogging stroller. I don't know how people do that every run. It's really tough and kind of unnatural - your arms are up, and you really can't swing them very well while holding the jogger. Oh well I'll get better at this.

2.73 miles on a hilly course pushing Cade in 32:11 I'll take that today. I'm still going to log another 3-5 miles later today so I'm just glad to get out and run.

The market is going crazy this morning - I'll have to keep a close eye on a few stocks. More later after my night run.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Hello Again

2009-09-08T22:08:00.000-07:00

Well it's been about three months and I'm back. Getting used to being Mr. Mom, and learning a new 'trade' has been exhausting. Abby went back to school today, so I'll have a little more time to get some runs in during the week.

Today was nice to get out again. Overall I put in about 5 miles today and I feel great. Tomorrow I'm planning about 8 miles all together. We'll see how that goes. I guess a summer of cleaning and taking the kids to the pool didn't hurt my conditioning that much. In fact I think I could have gone much faster than the 9:52 pace I logged today for my basic run.

Since I'm now spending time doing stock market trading I'm going spend a little time here charting my success and failures. If you do some investing yourself feel free to use some of my research for your own investing if you want. If you are not interested at all in this stuff feel free to skim over this since I'll still put plenty of running thoughts in this blog. If fact the blog will still be 90% about running.

Today with the market being up - I was limited on my buys, but I did buy a stock BJ (yeah a pretty funny name, but it's easy to remember.) For the West Coast crowd, BJ's is a whole seller warehouse store very similar to COSTCO. This company is put into the same group as TJMaxx, COSTCO, Big Lots, etc... After doing some research, I chose to invest in BJ's about two weeks ago, and cashed in last week making a profit of about $100.00 on an investment of about 3k. With that in mind, I took advantage of a small pullback in the stock mid morning and purchased the stock again. We'll see how it preforms.

Well I have to get caught up on some blog reading - three months of reading in fact. (It's going to be a late night.)

Keep Steppin'
Bob

July 3rd, 2009

2009-07-03T22:29:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I've posted but I do have a great reason. I'm now Mr. Mom for our household since the 12th of last month. Yeah that's right, I was finally laid off. Don't worry though Beth went to work full time the following Monday and we're doing ok.

Being home has been a huge adjustment for the whole family - the kids being out for the summer, with Mom not being home has been a almost like a shock all of us.

As for the running - I've slacked a little but not too bad, Last month I logged about 80 miles and tomorrow I'm running my first race of the year. I'll post a race report sometime over the weekend.

Got to get caught up on my blog reading - more later.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Padre Game

2009-06-05T22:39:00.000-07:00

I've got to admit San Diego has a great stadium. Unfortunately, their team is really bad....

I got the company tickets to Wednesday night's game, which I almost didn't take because I go into the office at 4 am - and I know that I wouldn't be home until about midnight but because of all the political stuff in the office right now I figured to take advantage of this offer and I've always wanted to see the 'new' stadium in San Diego.

Armed with four tickets on a school night, we left the kids with my sister (she spent the night) and had Beth's parents join us since they are HUGE Padres fans. The extra bonus was my father-in-law drove so I was able to rest a little.

The Stadium is beautiful - with a nice and intimate feel to it. It help being on the field level seven rows up off first base though! The seats were perfect, so I had to take some pictures with my crappy cell phone........

It's nice being on the field.

Supposedly there were 15k in the stadium - I'm guessing only 10k were actually there though.

Downtown building - by the stadium - Yeah I was walking....

On the running front - I'm still taking the week off. My legs are feeling better, but overall I'm still feeling worn down. Starting Monday I'm planning to pick it up again and really push myself over a four week cycle finishing with my race on the 4th.

Beth with her Mother

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Summary - Month End May 2009

2009-06-03T13:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a few days late posting this, but I've been busy with life stuff. Running is slacking, mostly because of how I'm feeling physically lately. Nothing really important just a little run down.

Last month's numbers looked pretty good - 41.6 miles for my final week and 99.6 mile for the month........Wait..........99.6? WTF?!? I did it again? How and I possibly get any closer to a 100 mile month? Oh well, anyway both are PB's for me so I can't complain and my overall mileage goal was only 77 miles so I made that also.

For June's goals I'm playing it rather safe - 79 total miles total, but I'm really trying to get ready for a 4th of July run right now. Other than that it's been quiet.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

My Wife Signed Me Up.

2009-06-02T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well Beth was tired of me being a slug and signed my up for a 5k on July 4th. I've got to get my training up now.

I'm basically taking the week off right now though. My body feels pretty tired over the past three-four weeks of training. We'll see how I feel at week end.

On the personal side - Beth and I get to go to a Padres game later this week, I got the company tickets (which are supposed to be good). Hopefully I'll get a few pictures of the ballpark - I've never been to the stadium there (I'm a Dodgers fan) so it's going to be nice to see what the park is like.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

It's Been 14 Days Since my Last Post?!?

2009-05-27T07:44:00.000-07:00

Man has this month flown past! The holiday has come and gone, and the month is almost over. And I have a ton of stuff to update everyone on.

First and foremost, my workouts are coming along great! I've had a couple of wonderful workout since my last few posts that have really shown my improvement over the past few months that I'm going to share a little further on in my post.

Work is another story - I'm starting with this topic because everything else will fall in as I explain. I work as a Buyer / Materials Manager for a private manufacturing plant in Southern California. We specialize in electronic components that are great in extreme conditions - that coupled with the ability to dispense heat in the materials we work with make us a prime contractor for the government in military and space applications. Up until recently we hadn't felt any of the current slow-down of the economy, but that's slowly changing. Late last week I was told by the owner's son that they are consolidating purchasing into our Corporate office in Chatsworth. Now for anyone who has been reading knows I just went through a office move with the understanding my job was stable. We've had meetings upon meetings indicating that everyone job was safe as long as we hit target numbers....... Long story short - we f'ed it up over the last few months and showed a loss due to yields and production mistakes - production pointed the finger at materials, I supplied the reports and low and behold - I have a meeting with the owner's son.

So now I'm kind of in limbo - they have indicated to me that I'm not going to be laid off and I'll have plenty of work to do - I'm just not convinced that what they are telling me is the truth. So I've been spending time putting my finances in order and cutting out excess spending (for the whole family) Luckily Beth and I are in pretty good shape - we own two homes (one is a rental) and my overall debt is fairly low. Both of our cars are paid for and credit cards are paid monthly. I do have some expenses coming up that I'm worried about, but worst case scenario would be that we'd sell the second house and even in this market I could have the other house paid for and zero debt.

That all being said - my $25 fee for my 5k race was scrapped. Instead I rode my bike 30 miles on the day enjoying the nice afternoon weather. The day prior my Father-in-law treated me to a free game of golf and of course my running is free :). I'm back on-track for my monthly mileage, and in fact I should have record mileage for this week and finally go over 100 miles for the month.

As for other items - I have shown improvement in my conditioning several ways over the past two weeks.

1. A local small hill I have in my warm up/cool down route - normally I come down it, but the last few times I've reversed my route direction and I'm able to run up it without difficulty.

2. Riding 31 miles on my bike. It's been a while since I've physically been able to do that. Granted I took it easy with my pace and I wish I'd had worn my HRM because it felt easy. I'm guessing my HR didn't get over 170 the whole time (2+ hrs in the saddle) In fact, my a$$ is still sore but my legs feel pretty good.

3. I run a 2.23 mile route pretty regular, normally with a mile warm up and a mile cool down before and after. On the 22nd I ran this with Beth and Bogey (yeah I said Beth) as a warm up in 28:45 (12:54 pace) and felt great so I dropped them off and did another loop - 20:50 (9:21 pace) and it felt easy, effortless. I actually felt like I was running a training run back in High School. I finished off with a mile cool down to top everything off.

4. I'm currently on an 8-day streak and my legs feel great. My time to recover is getting better, that means I can put more quality workouts closer together.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Disappointment

2009-05-15T06:43:00.000-07:00

Disappointment in myself is my general theme this past week. I haven't hit any of my weekly goals I have made for myself and that combined with last weeks' illness kind of has me down a little. Just a couple of weeks ago I was on a high and now I'm struggling. We all go through these ups and downs so mentally I'm ok.

This weekend I'm planning about 8 miles running and another 15 cycling so I should be right back on track for the month. Also I'll sign up for my race - just a little over a week before the event. I'm looking forward to that also.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

I'm not Dead - Just Sleeping :)

2009-05-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a difficult last few days. Mother's Day weekend started off bad - I really hadn't gotten rid of the flu and it hit me full force on Saturday. Sunday was nice we spent the morning at the park with Beth's family then the afternoon with mine. It's nice having both sets of parents living only 10 mins from each other. My older sister was in town from Alaska and it was the first time I had seen her since her bad car accident - she's doing well, with only a little scarring on her face and arms. God she's luck to be alive.

Running was nil this weekend, but I got in some good miles yesterday after work. Legs were tired and my conditioning was a little weak but it was good to get out and put in some miles. My overall mileage goal this month is 77 miles, and right now I'm slightly behind that number - I'll have to pick it up a little if I want to reach that. My other goal is my race on Memorial Day - I still haven't signed up for it, but I should get that done tonight on-line.

The only other thing I want to accomplish this month is getting in some more 'easy' miles - my percentage of easy miles over the past few months has gone down relative to my overall mileage. I'm not concerned about pace, but I need to get some solid miles in over the next few months. July I'm possibly planning a 10k (My first in about 10 years) so I really want to get some good miles in between now and then. I'm not going to follow any specific plan - and haven't set any time goals for this race yet - we'll see as I get closer to the actual date.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

I've Been Sick.

2009-05-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well over the past 24 hrs I've been fighting the flu bug. Everyone in the house had it before I got a small touch of it. Nothing too serious, just enough to keep me up at night and feel rundown. I took the day off from work and just slept until about noon.

Started eating again around 1 pm and even though I was still feeling queasy I made it out the door for a nice walk with Bogey at 8 pm. I did miss my softball game (I called out earlier in the day just to be safe. I had to give the guys time to find a replacement....)

Because of the bug, my actual running has been minimal, but I have walked quite a bit so far this week. Hopefully I get get another 6-10 miles in before the week ends for me (Sat) and I'll have a pretty decent week in mileage. Not the 30+ miles I wanted but low to mid 20's still isn't that bad.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Month End April 2009

2009-05-04T07:15:00.001-07:00

Well I kind of puttered out again at the end of this month. I must have an mental aversion in reaching 100 mines in a month. 97.5 was my miles logged.... A PB (but I didn't break the mythical 100 like I was hoping to.) After Friday came and went I was in a funk - mentally I didn't want to run because I knew I missed that 100 mile goal again. Isn't it funny how you 'play' mind games with yourself without really realizing it?

Still this past month was very good to me. I hit several PB (See the sidebar) and overall felt really strong physically and mentally up until the final days of the month. I've taken three days off now and feel ready to start this month. The 27th I'm planning to run my first official race of the year so I have about 3 weeks of hard training to put in - then I'll scale it back a little just so I'm sure my legs are fresh before the race. I'm not concerned about my conditioning, and I fully expect to set a PB at this race.

Goal wise, short term this month It's pretty thin. I want to hit 77 miles for the month and run a sub 30 min 5k in my race. I'm not going to 'tweak' either of these because I set them about 6 months ago and (hopefully) I'll accomplish both and I can look back over the past 6 months and feel good about my progress. Long term - I'm starting to look at late 2009 and early 2010. Pace wise I'm hoping to be in the mid to high 8 min mile pace for a 5k distance at that point. If I can do that I'll start planning my first half mary at that point. Mileage wise - I'm thinking I top out at around 130-140 miles per month. Beyond that I really don't have much more time in the day. I see some early runs on the weekends - I'll have to give up my 'sleeping in time.'

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Two More PB's

2009-04-28T06:35:00.000-07:00

This month has been fantastic! Last night I went out for a run with all intentions of just getting some miles in. (I really want to break 100 miles this month.)

During my warm up mile my legs felt pretty tired from my cycling on Saturday but I just said to myself, "We're going to take it easy today, that's why you're not wearing your HRM...." So as I started my planned 2.3 miles, I just cruised along. After about 5 mins I was feeling so good I decided on the spot to g0 another direction and stretch the run into a 5k. Mile 1 slipped by at about 9:40 plus some change and I felt better than when I had started, so I decided to pick up my pace a little over the next mile that was mostly downhill so I could turn this into a Tempo run. Mile 2 split was about 9:25! Even now my legs felt pretty good, I was still running on my toes and my calves were starting to tire a little but nothing I couldn't handle. Conditioning is there - I could have talked pretty easily at this point, in fact I was singing with my ipod under my breath. On this course, mile 3 is entirely uphill - nothing too difficult, just a good finishing mile for a 5k. Now I've run this course 4 times previously and back in Jan of this year was my PB on it - a 30:21. Sitting right around 19 mins at the start of the 3rd mile I knew I was going to blow this out of the water. Surging uphill, I felt relaxed and my breathing was coming pretty easily. This was the first time since I started running again (July '08) that I've actually felt like I was running and not sloshing through waist-high water. It was a nice feeling, after all these miles over the past couple months, I actually felt good when I started to pick up a pace. Now granted a 9:30 pace isn't blistering - but it's really nice to run a faster pace without laboring during it.

Getting back to my run - I finished mile three around 9:30 also (I didn't look at my watch) and finished the course in 29:26. Finally my sub 30 min 5k...... It took a while to get here but I did it. Now I have to focus in on a sub 28....... (It never ends.)

Adding a final cool down mile put me at 94.3 miles for the month - also a PB. April has been kind.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

It's Been a Week Already?!?

2009-04-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

I logged in this morning to catch up on some of my reading just to find out that it's been a full week since I last posted! How did that happen? Life overall has been good - busy but good. Workouts have been going great this month and it looks as if I'll break the mythical 100 mile barrier this month. (I'm sitting at 87 miles with 4 days to go.)

Even though I didn't get my running streak to 20 days I did set a PB - and just the other day I ran 2.23 miles with Alex very easily that was at a 9:35 pace. I'm guessing I could have run 3 or 4 miles at that pace since we were going so smoothly but I didn't want to stretch myself too thin since I had done a warm up mile beforehand and was doing a cool down mile afterwards - that's pretty much my limit right now.....

I'm really pushing Alex to start training. At the age of 14 he's growing like a weed and he's faster than his old man was at his age, also taller. (My senior year I clocked a 15:02 for a 5k) He would be faster than that if he trained. He ran a 25.05 for his first ever 5k race last Thanksgiving - and I'm sure he'd destroy that now and run it in a mid 21 without any additional training just because of his growth and strength at this point. I'm going to try to talk him into running the Memorial 5k with me this year.

Another note: I'm on pace to log 800 miles this year. That's my stretch goal this year and I feel really good about sticking to my program I've set for myself. Physically I feel better than I have in about 4 years, and my weight is beginning to fall off again. In fact the scale read 200.7 last Saturday. It won't be long before I'm under 200....... The weight thing isn't a goal though - it's just another indicator that what I'm doing is working. I always look at mileage, duration, heart rate, consecutive day streaks, pace, personal feeling, and then weight. Weight is a nice side effect of what I'm doing.

Speaking of personal feeling - I feel pretty good over the past few months. No major headaches or nagging colds - if you know me the headaches are constant for me, and for me not to have any it a huge deal for me. I feel like a weight has been lifted and I'm starting to come out of a fog bank. It's nice. Heartburn is almost gone now - it flares up every other day or so but that's mostly caused my a trigger food or a small panic attack over finances. But this is very treatable and I can live with it.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

Shoe Review - Brooks GTS 8

2009-04-20T12:08:00.000-07:00

Personal Stats:

9-9.5 foot size / fairly wide - size depends on the shoe manufacture.
Current weight -204 lbs
No history of any running pains other than some small cramping which I have mentioned before.
NEVER have had any blistering issues, nor nail issues.
I run in addias, NB, Asics, and Nike - so I'm not very picky.
Finally, my gait is fairly standard - I do tend to pronate though.

I normally run in New Balance or Nike, but after not being thrilled with my last pairs of shoes from both of these companies, I decided to look for something new. A few of the blogs I read mentioned Brooks as a good shoe so I set Beth on a search for a good deal on some Brooks.

After a small search - Beth found the GTS 8 on sale for $59.99 (reg price was $109.99) These shoes have already been replaced by the next generation - GTS 9 in the sales market, so this was more of a clear out then a sale - but heck, I NEVER buy new models....

The shoe comes in two colors (that I'm aware of) - Yellow and Lime Green. After trying on a couple pairs I realized that the 9.5's would fit getter than the 9's and since I do have a fairly wide foot this isn't uncommon for me. Plus I like just a little space for my foot since they tend to 'swell' when I run (just a tad). Since I chose the 9.5's; all that was left was the Lime Green color - not my first pick but they'll do.

This particular shoe is a stabilizing shoe - or a shoe that puts your foot in the correct ground strike position. If you know me at all, I'm really not 'thrilled' with all the different kinds of shoes, stability, cushion, racing, etc... so I've tried all different types of shoes - I've never been fitted nor will I ever - shoot I used to run barefoot on the sand growing up. (Talk about rubbing your feet raw, but that's a different story). But for all of the different 'types' of shoes, stability seems to be the best fit for me.

While trying the shoes on in the store - two, count them, two people asked If I'd run in Brooks before. Now realize these people were customers not sales people, both of these 'runners' told me they swear by this shoe and were buying 'stock' because they loved them so much. Now in all my years of trying on shoes I've never had this experience before - were these shoes really that good? And good enough for a lady to buy 6 pairs for herself (yeah and this is the men's version....)

Getting home I didn't waste any time getting them on and getting them out the door, and about 5 miles later I wasn't really sold on the shoe. The shoe fits good for my foot - wide in the toe box and snug around the heel. Padding is good and overall the shoe felt good. But dang it - no 8 min miles were produced by putting these on........ (really 6 pairs?!?)

Since that time I've now put 49.1 miles on them and I'm really liking the shoe. Stable but soft is the best description for them. Light enough not to weigh you down, but enough material to be pretty durable. You give up cushioning and flexibility in the shoe for the stability, but for me right now in my running this fits my needs. No blisters to report, and the shoe itself cools pretty well since I haven't experienced any 'hot' spots during my time in them. The arch support in the shoe is a medium range support - not too high but not too low - I think this has helped me with my cramping a little since I haven't had to deal with this issue too much since I started using them, but I contribute this more to the old shoes being old than the these shoes solving the problem.

Traction seems good - puddles on concrete with alge don't cause any problems (I was surprised) but don't expect to have good traction if you're running SoCal trails - got get a good trail shoe for that - but these weren't designed for trails.

Construction on the shoe seems solid also, the seams are all stitched well and there isn't any loose material inside the toe box. The tongue of the shoe is well placed and doesn't "slide" off to one side as some shoes tend to do. The interface between the fabric and sole seems to be well done and I don't anticipate and issues with the shoe not being able to hold up over time.

Wear (so far) seems to be good - I can't see any outward signs with 50 miles, but it's still early in the shoe's life and I really didn't expect to see wear at this point. Reading customer reviews on-line this tends to be the shoe drawback. Several reviews I've read indicate less than 300 miles logged and the shoe broke down. I'll let you know when I get there.

Overall I'm fairly impressed with the quality and design of the shoe. Running pain free (arches) is a plus - and it has helped me record several PB's over the last two weeks. I'd go out and buy another pair.

Keep Steppin'
Bob

The Streak Ends

2009-04-16T07:27:00.000-07:00

Well yesterday I didn't get out. After working 12 hrs plus the 1.5 hours spent driving to and from the office ate up my whole day. I rolled into the garage at just a tick or two after 7 pm. Getting up and being out of the house at 5:15 am makes a long day...

Lunchtime I could have gone out for a walk - but Eddie swung by and we went to lunch together. Pat and Oscars - if you haven't been try it. The bread sticks are to die for..... And the rest of the menu isn't that bad either.

I'm not disappointed that I didn't reach 20 days in a row - I feel pretty good in fact 18-days is nothing to shy away from. I should be able to hold my head high for a few weeks at least.

I've already logged 44 miles this month (my goal is 75) so I should be able to hit that goal fairly easily. Basically right now I don't want to 'take a week' off like I did last month. Other than that, not much is going on. The weather here in sunny Southern California is kind of cold - we had a cold front move through this week bring colder air that I expected for this time of the year.

Tomorrow I'll be posting my review on my Brooks GTS 8. I've logged 41 miles in them so far so I think I can give a solid review.

Keep Steppin'
Bob