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
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Friday, April 9, 2010
Friday, July 3, 2009
July 3rd, 2009
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
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
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
It's Been 14 Days Since my Last Post?!?
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
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
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Streak Ends
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
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
Monday, March 2, 2009
Starting a New Month
This month I want to log about 70 miles - and also sign up for a 5k race that takes place on Memorial Day. It's another pretty big race that has a 1/2 Mary with it - so it's fun to run in. I'll talk about it more when I get closer to it.Like I mentioned already - my vacation was great. I can't tell you home much more relaxed I am. Today was my first day back at the office and I felt pretty good. I even had enough time to take a nice walk during my lunch. Only 1.7 miles but it was good to get outside.
Tomorrow will be my first 'run' after I put the kids down so I'm looking forward to that. Maybe something small 2-4 miles only at a very easy pace.
On the social side, I spent about 1hr today talking/planning my HS 20-year reunion. I spoke with an old friend on the phone today for the first time since we left school. Since I was our school President my Senior year I was nominated to get us all together. I'll weigh in every once in a while to keep you posted on the planning progress.
Alex Chillin' in Maui
I've got a ton of new pictures that I'll be sharing - including a few from some trails that I run locally. (Got to love the new camera.)
Keep Steppin'
Bob
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