One down...eleven more to go.

Soon January 2012 will be in the books.  Wow, the time is already flying by!

I have attached my runs for the month...and while I did not hit my goal of 100 miles, I should have no issue reaching 1000 for the year. 



Date	Duration	Distance	Pace	Calories	Terrain	City/State
1-Jan	0:40:26	4.3	9'23"	700	Road	Atlanta, GA
7-Jan	2:38:08	13.94	11'20"	2267	Trail	Atlanta, GA
9-Jan	0:24:18	2.55	9'31"	415	Road	Atlanta, GA
18-Jan	0:36:12	4.12	?	?	Road	Raleigh, NC
19-Jan	0:37:22	4.12	?	?	Road	Raleigh, NC
22-Jan	14:03	1.17	11'58	195	Road	Atlanta, GA
22-Jan	1:20:34	8.01	10'03	1333	Trail	Atlanta, GA
24-Jan	1:00:05	6.7	8'58"	1115	Road	Charleston, SC
25-Jan	1:28:51	10.01	8'52"	1665	Road	Wilmington, NC
29-Jan	1:44:36	10.29	10'10"	1712	Trail	Atlanta, GA
30-Jan	11:33	1.5	7'55	?	Track	Atlanta, GA
31-Jan	1:19:50	6.24	?	?	Treadmill	Mooresville, NC
	Total	72.95

Not sure what happened to me 1/9 - 1/19...must have been eating ice cream, please excuse.

image courtesy of morellisicecream.com

How are you doing in terms of your running goals?  Feel free to post your total miles and/or perhaps a challenge for me in February. 

See you out there!

Todd

Short and sweet!

 

Today was a day. 

Typically I will take Monday off, in terms of working out, but today I felt like mixing it up a bit.  I struggled to find the perfect workout...should I ride my bike while participating on a conference call? Nah.  What about a little run with the Bernapooch?  Not feeling it.  What about a swim?  No dice...not a YMCA member, yet.  Maybe a crossfit workout?  Sure!  So I decided to do the Griff, the HERO wod.  Griff consists of an 800m sprint followed by a 400m sprint backwards...twice. 

Yeah, running backwards in public is kinda strange.  Therefore I was hoping that if I left late enough the track would be empty...not quite.  Not only was there an event at the school, but there was also a boot camp going on.  As I walked up to the track I thought, should I just bag this workout an run around the track like a normal human?  I decided to jog a half mile and then come to a conclusion.  I decided to do the wod as planned. If you were me, would you have switched the workout to look like a regular person? 

As I toe the line I figured that the 800m sprint would be difficult but I could catch my breath on the backwards portion.  I flew (flew is relative as I am a big dude who is not super duper fast) through the first 800m in just under 3 minutes but then came the backwards portion and it was brutal.  At this point, not only did I look silly but my quads were burning.  Finished the first mile at 7:03 and the entire workout in 11:33...tough, very tough but quick and fun.


See ya out there!
Todd

Incredible, wait better yet, exceptional...

You know how things go...sometimes you have to make a bit of a financial investment in order to create some motivation.  Well about eight months ago I purchased the Nike+ SportWatch GPS from the local running store.  While I had some initial concerns about the watch and its limitations, it has proven to be a great purchase and it actually (in my opinion) looks pretty cool for a running watch. 



image courtesy of nike.com



Anyways, long story short earlier this week the clasp broke and I was pretty bummed because it happened in my hotel room and there was really no cool story behind why it broke...would rather have painted you a picture of me taking a nasty fall or sliding down some slick rocks, but nothing like that.  It simply snapped off.  So today, while running some errands, I took it back to the store I purchased it from to ask if they had seen anything like this before.  Surely I was not the only person to break my watch, right?  Unfortunately I had been but the manager at the Big Peach Running Company on Peachtree Street exchanged it without any questions.  Talk about some exceptional customer service.  Needless to say all my future running purchases will be from there...sorry REI. 

Food alert - When in the Atlanta area, do yourself a favor and hit The Porter Beer Bar.  Located in Little Five Points, this place has literally hundreds of different beer selections and a solid menu.  I would recommend an Innis and Gunn paired with the salt and vinegar popcorn.  Great start to any meal. 

A blind date...running style

Wednesday - The Blind Date

I was heading out to the Raleigh area and was looking for somewhere, aside from the treadmill at the hotel, to run.  After a couple Google searches, I stumbled upon a link to meetup.com. While I was not terribly sure of what meetup.com was all about, I took a chance and clicked the link.  I was happy to see that it was not a dating site (I am married) but rather a place for people to literally meet up and do something.  In this case, the Raleigh Trail Runners posted all the group runs on meetup.com, and the one I ran was on Tuesday night at Shelley Lake. 

So the hotel clock struck 5:15 and with 45 minutes before the beginning of the run, I got a bit nervous…kind of like the nerves before a first date.  Would I be too slow? Were the people going to be unfriendly? How serious are they? Those were the types of questions that ran through my head but once I met Scott (group leader) all that anxiety went away. There were a total of 11 runners, and two of us happened to be visitors.

Being 6p, it was dark and wisely I packed my headlamp (super good idea!).  The group of 11 splintered in to smaller packs and I found myself running with Frank, also new, at a pretty decent pace.  Not exactly sure where Frank was from but his accent gave me the impression that he was from the east coast.  Sitting in the second group was not bad for the first lap as i/we had no idea where we were headed.  After the first lap I managed to chase down the leaders and finish up with them…finished up with 4 miles.

Perhaps the best thing about this group was after the run where we all grabbed a bite to eat and a local brew.  This was awesome as we all shared stories and experiences.  In fact the group leader, Scott, is currently training for a 5 mile road race where the runners are forced to eat a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts…crazy.  I do not think I have had a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts in like 4 years.  No thanks to that challenge.

Thursday – Flying solo

Hit that same Shelley Lake Trail that I had run the day before.  Due to a busy workday I unfortunately had to run a bit later and by myself.  While I cannot say I was scared, at points the trail is a bit dark.  In fact at one point when scanning the woods to my left I saw two sets of eyes.  After briefly stopping, I realized it was just a pair of deer…what a wimp I am.  After originally setting out to run six miles, I called it early at 4.5 miles as I wanted to be sure to watch my Thursday night TV shows…30 Rock, Parks & Rec, and the Office. 

Friday – Back home

Flew back from Raleigh and ran about 3 miles with my crazy Bernapuppy.  While she is a medium sized pooch, she is as strong as an ox and has more energy than most.  What was nice was that I ran without my watch and therefore was not concerned with my time, distance, or pace.  Pretty enjoyable. 

The showdown...

A recent trip to Puerto Rico, specifically the El Yunque Rainforest National Park, gave me the perfect opportunity to determine what is a more desirable choice when hiking and playing around in a rainforest...Vibram Five Fingers or J. Crew flip-flops.

Style - This one is easy...J. Crew flip-flops.  Vibrams are definitely not something I would wear outside the gym. 

Sparkles - Again, J. Crew flip-flops.  No sparkles on my Vibrams unless you count the reflective strips. 

Function - Two big toes for the Vibrams.  The comfort proved to be much better on the little path leading down to the water fall...plus i did not have to worry about them falling off.

Grip - Push.  While you might assume the Vibrams, you would be wrong.  I totally slipped and nearly broke my arm, and worse, almost broke my Ray-Ban Clubmaster. 

As it turns out the J. Crew flip-flops certainly outperformed the Vibrams in nearly every category.  Besides, if you find yourself contemplating which to buy...get the flip-flops.  Vibrams will most likely never be cool...not even in a gym. 

Lastly, if you ever have a chance to get to a beach resort do yourself a favor and order a drink in a coconut...you will certainly not regret it! 

Until next time...

By the way, had the best dinner tonight. Creamed kale with engagement chicken...so darn good! 

What to do when you are not running...

After sixteen months, my membership at the local Crossfit ended.  I have really enjoyed my time there and learned a TON.  As you may know, Crossfit in general appears to be taking the world by storm and why not as the workouts are quick and really help to build and maintain a great level of fitness.  That said, you can easily avoid the sometimes steep fees associated with joining a gym and do the workouts on your own at a local YMCA or other gym. 

For starters, visit the Crossfit HQ page.  Everyday a new workout of the day (WOD) should be posted.  Write it down and do it.  If you have are unaware of how to do a certain exercise, go to youtube.com and look it up.  If you do not feel comfortable completing said exercise, just replace it with something else (for example replace thrusters with pull-ups). 

**Keep in mind that weight training will build muscle and cause you to bulk up, so do not be surprised if you are 10lbs heavier than when you started.**

If weights are not you thing, do not worry as there is plenty for you.  Get on a bike and ride, swim a couple laps, or do some sit-ups. 

If you have a smart phone and cannot always make it to a pool, or do not have a bike, look for the Interval Timer app and download it for free.  This app is perfect if you are looking to do a bit of Tabata intervals, which are tough but awesome!  The intervals consist of 20 seconds of maximum intensity exercise, followed by 10 seconds of rest. This cycle is repeated 8 times (for a total of 4-minutes). A few popular examples include hitting a heavy bag, sprinting, jumping rope, or performing bodyweight calisthenics (ex. squats and pushups).

Jumping on a plane to Puerto Rico soon...until next time.

Next race: 2nd Annual SweetH2O Sweetheart 1/2 Marathon, Sweetwater Creek State Park, Lithia Springs, Georgia. Saturday, February 11, 2012

Back to reality - Atlanta Fat Ass 50k

Jamming out to John Mellencamp at 6am is always a good idea…and why exactly was I awake and rocking out that early on a Sunday morning? Well, today was the start of my 2012 season and my first challenge, the Fat Ass 50k.

The race began wonderfully.  The weather was perfect, my legs felt terrific (must be those CEP compression socks), and I was beginning to settle into a decent pace.  In fact, the only problem was that I promised my wife earlier this morning that I would run at most 20 miles. 

But all that soon changed…

After about 11 miles my body started to realize that I had done very little running since my 50k in October.  Additionally, the brutal CrossFit WOD “Angie” I did on Friday did not help my situation.  Quickly my pace began to slow and I mixed in some walking.  Some walking led to more walking at which point I figured I would just complete my 10k lap and call it a day…besides, the Manchester Derby was being played and I really could not miss that.  GGMU! 

Splits and race details...

It should also be noted that there was a fantastic chili potluck and because I dropped out early I got a good little sample.  Yum! 

Hmmm...was that $60 really worth it?

I am the kind of consumer that the guys at Sterling, Cooper, Draper & Pryce dream about. 

image courtesy of tvsurveillance.com

Give me a gimmick and I will buy.  Who wants to be 5% faster while using 6% less energy…this guy. 


Not sure exactly how the fine people at CEP can quantify an increase in speed with a reduction in energy but who cares because I am buying.  So yesterday, after some thorough web research, I went out and I purchased a pair of CEP compression socks from my local running store. 

Upon putting on my new running compression socks, I had felt that I looked more like a basketball player from the Julius Erving era rather than a runner.  All I needed now was an even shorter pair of shorts and Converse All-Stars. While I definitely looked foolish to anyone who happened to see me...I was honestly excited to put them to work for a quick run. 

I had envisioned the feel of the socks to resemble that of a continual calf massage but that was not really the case.  I did however feel a bit faster than usual but perhaps it was more a placebo effect or perhaps the dog was just pulling extra hard during the run...that, my friends, will remain a mystery.   

Next race: 1.08.12 - Atlanta Fat Ass 50K, Sweetwater Creek State Park, Lithia Springs, Georgia

Hungry?  Next time in Asheville, North Carolina please do yourself a favor and visit Chorizo.  The location is nice and the food is fantastic.  Try the Pionono with pulled pork – excellent!