Captain's Slog

Wasn't able to head out until this afternoon in the end and as is usual when I leave the run that late it was a pretty miserable one! Ran 7.3 SLOW miles in the fairly oppressive heat so hopefully flushed some crap out of the system from yesterday's race. That made it almost 50 miles for the week which I'll take

As I was finishing I decided to definitely take tomorrow off. My legs are seemingly very tired so i'm hoping a day off will get them back into shape for the next workout on Tuesday night when I'm heading to the track to run a mile and 2 mile race

ouch!

17.11. Slowest 5k since lord knows when! BUT, I expected it and I still enjoyed racing again. I knew I was in trouble when the old heart was pounding out of my chest during the warmup! I really am out of condition at the moment.

But isn't that part of why we love running? No short cuts in this sport, very little luck involved, if you're not fit you're not going to perform! Just adds to my motivation to get back to my best though! I'll get there

Race!

Excited to 'race' tomorrow! Plus it's on the trails I run on all the time- I'm going to run to the start from my house for my warm up! Obviously I'm in no kind of shape but it's good just to get on the start line again and get the adrenaline pumping!

Today's run? 5.33 miles nice and easy. Looking like I could get over 50 miles this week

Humid!

Wow, it's humid at the moment! Every step feels heavy, a trudge through a curtain of damp. Just getting it done. 8 miles today, at a shade under 7 minutes. Shorter run tomorrow then jumping into a rare 'cross country' race on Saturday am at Mcalpine. I would have been doing a workout there anyway so I'll pay for the pleasure instead! Obviously not expecting much but still looking forward to toeing the line again

Rough day

And it all started off so optimistically with a nice and easy run this morning. I ran 3 miles on my own, met up with Pete, who I am 'coaching', paced him through his 4*800 workout, threw in some striders while Pete was doing his recovery laps and ran home for a total of 7 miles in 50 mins.

From there the day went progressively downhill! Very stressful day at work, came out of a meeting with the CFO feeling I'd gone ten rounds with Tyson, looked at my screen and a buddy on the West Coast had decided to instant message me the following- "Looks like Man U went down". Thanks Justin! Salt, wounds, etc. So despite avoiding the internet and warning as many people as possible not to mention the game as I was recording it, I found out we'd been demolished in the Final. I haven't brought myself to watching any of the game yet. Apparently it was very one-sided so fair play to Barca, worthy winners and a formidable team.

At least tomorrow can only be a better day, can't it??

Champions League Final

Huge match in Rome tomorrow night- Champions League Final between two teams who could justifiably be called the best two teams in the World. I shall be dvring it and watching it when I get home from work- pretty easy to avoid the score in the US compared to England! To be honest, Barcelona frighten the life out of me, the likes of Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Henry can tear you apart at any moment, but if we can defend well we've definitely got a chance.

By the way, why am I watching Orlando versus Cleveland at the moment? Got the alarm set for 5.15 for tomorrow's run

A day off or not a day off?

The weather has been pretty strange here in Charlotte so far this year. Rarely have the temperatures got up into the 80s yet and the rain has kept coming and coming. Somehow we are only one inch above where we should be at this point but that's bullshit- the gauge must be under some cover somewhere! Culminating in Sunday/Monday's aborted Coca Cola 600.

It's still raining today. This morning I stepped outside into a curtain of dew- pretty miserable conditions for running- even just wearing a pair of shorts at 5.30 in the morning! To add to the misery I really didn't feel like running when I woke up. The legs were really feeling yesterday's workout and I just felt really tired. Grinned and beared it for 5.3 miles at a nice 7 minute pace though and sure am all the better for doing that than taking the day off completely. Thoughts on days completely off rather than very easy days (which aren't actually easy because you feel like crap from the day before)? I've typically been one to make sure I take a day completely off once a week but could easily be persuaded otherwise!

New goals

Only takes me a few days of coming back from injury and i get all excited and start thinking about where I want to take the running. So true to form, this time I've got my eyes on a new 5k pr at Greek Fest at the end of August then a Fall marathon. For the moment I'm just enjoying being able to run every day again!

Steady

Enjoying the day off today. Emily still had school to make up for a snow day (?!!) so Lisa dropped me off with her and I ran from the school down through Boyce to Mcalpine and ran on the xc course there before heading home. The intention was to run a good hard tempo run so I put the flats on and was running pretty steady from the start. After 6.5 miles at a hard 6 minute pace I shut it down and jogged home the last mile and a half. felt pretty good all things considered and wasn't a bad first 'workout' for a while. Total 8 miles in 50:13

More like it

Better today. The advantage of running with others. Met up with Jay and Todd and ran a nice and easy 8 miles around Mcalpine before heading home to the aroma of cinnamon rolls in the oven. Much better company than my ipod and the legs and lungs appreciated the slower pace. That made 40 miles for the week, which I certainly would have taken this time last week!

Just settling down in front of the football and then friends heading over later for pizza, chat and beers- got to love three day weekends!

Slog

Today's run was a slog. I was wondering why today felt so rough compared to yesterday and I couldn't wait to get to the Y and finish. My legs felt heavy and I was really having to push hard. Then I looked at my watch. I'd run the 7 miles at not far off 6:20 pace. When the first mile is 6:40 I'm bound to be setting myself up for a hard run at my current fitness level! So learn from that and slow back down! The humidity kicked my butt too. I ran mid morning compared to the usual 6am and it makes such a difference.

End of season

So the Premiership wraps up tomorrow. Not much excitement at the top, just Spurs and Fulham fighting for that last Europa Cup place. Different at the bottom, with any two of four teams still able to be relegated. Much has been argued about whether Hull have an unfair advantage as they are playing a Utd team that will bear no resemblance to the team that Sir Alex puts out on Wednesday. While most people seem to be saying that Hull don't have an advantage and it doesn't matter anyway the other teams should have done better over the other 37 games, I must say I have to disagree! If that was the case, why bother with a 38th game?! Oh look, you've earned your place in the League already, let's wrap up the season now!

So of course Hull will have an advantage because of the United situation! Having said that, the other teams can't complain after the game. What do they expect Ferguson to do? He's won the league already, he can put out whatever team he wants, especially with Wednesday in mind!

I'm just hoping Fox Soccer Channel will do some good coverage tomorrow and I get to see action from all the games

Wow

I don't like basketball. Hell, I don't even understand basketball. However, I know a few Cavs fans so always look out for their results and just saw Le Bron's clincher tonight as time expired. As I said, I have no knowledge about basketball but this guy is clearly a true star. Always impresses me when I hear him talk, always clearly on a different level to the other players on the court when I see him play. Rank him alongside people like Woods, Schumacher, Federer, etc. (in their pomp). Dominant in their sports, winners

Today's run

6.5 miles easy at Mcalpine before work. Felt really good and set me up for the day. Got off work relatively early ready for a nice relaxing long weekend....

Now

So, what happened? Shortly after that post I was struck down with hip flexor/groin issues and back on the injury bench. Out went the 'stay healthy' and 'run some fast races in the Spring plans'!

Was starting to get slightly fit again in April running a mediocre but satisfactory 16:58 and just getting back into the groove when my trusty left calf blew out on me again. Four weeks later and I've managed to run every morning this week and am considering myself back on the comeback trail again. Let's do this!

Re-introduction

To get started again, here's a snippet from my previous blog which summarized my running in 2008 and set the goals for 2009.

"Looking back on the year past it was mixed from a running point of view. I picked up a lot of niggly injuries this year but also got some good races in. January started with me carrying a knee injury that I had picked up after a November fall. Blew both calves out too in March so my planned track races didn't materialise. I got fairly fit between April and June and won/placed in a few races then took the plunge and entered the Richmond Marathon, which set the tone for the summer/fall training.

Under the guidance of 'Leg' I got very fit over the Summer. Nabbed my sub 16 5k for the year at Greek fest in August without doing any 5k training, then went up to Cleveland and smashed my Half PR. This came at a price however, as my pf flared up and put the mockers on running at Richmond. Training was effectively curtailed for a couple of months as was the blog.

November saw me inserting orthotics and getting back into training, which brings us to the present. I'm back in a good training block and feeling pretty good although the fitness seems to be taking longer to come back as I get older!

I don't have too many specific goals for 2009. The primary and immediate aim is to stay healthy. If I can manage that for a couple of months I should be set for some fast races in the Spring. I would like to run some 5ks on the track and have a go at those PRs. The second aim for 2009 will be to get another marathon under my belt. I won't plan for a specific race this time though, I will hop into one when I am fit and training is going well.

I would also like to hit 2,500 miles this year. Last year I only managed 2,167 after 2,380 the year before. I had 98 non running days which is ridiculous!"

Out with the old, in with the new

So the old blog is gone and here's the new one. I blamed the old one for jinxing me with injuries so we'll see how this one goes.

Warning to people who have happened upon this. My blogs are boring. They generally discuss running and not much else.

However, some people who used to read my blog have been asking me to get it going again and I like talking about running so I've started this one. We'll see how long it lasts...