Thursday, December 25, 2008

2009. What's in store?

What's in store for the new year? I don't know, of course.

I used to make New Year's resolutions, but I don't religiously do that any more. Now, it's more of a "when the time is right, I'll start it" kind of thing.

One of the things I'm going to try to work on (again) is being a member of the "clean plate club". I almost always eat everything on my plate. Doesn't matter how much is on it, it's all going down. Not a good thing to be doing. So, I'm going to try to leave stuff on the plate. Or switch to salads. Sigh. I'm not sure how I'll do there.

I'm going to train hard running this year. I have some things I'm working toward, and as things approach, I'll have to announce them. I'd do it now, but I worry about injury and such, so there's no sense in disappointing everyone. :)

Some other things are coming up this year.. More things I'm not announcing yet.

Yeah, so what the hell am I committing to here? Good question.

I'm starting a marathon training plan. It's a 20 week deal, and the first workout is tonight. (3 miles! Whoo hoo! I can do that one!)

I worry about my body taking the training stress, but I'm going to give it a chance.

I want to work on my core strength as well. This was one of those vague resolutions until I found out that Steve put together a 200 sit-ups plan. I'm doing it, already signed up. I'm stoked.

I also am going to re-try the 100 push-ups plan. Hopefully I won't break my arm in the home stretch this time. I think I'm healed up enough that I can endure it.

Other than that, I'm aiming to drink less this year. Last year was a banner year for drinking, so I should be able to come in under that, without a lot of effort.

I hope everyone has a great new year! Keep on rockin'!

Year in review

I'm a bit late to the 'year in review' party, but I figured I should get there before the end of the year at least.

Fitness-wise, I ran more than last year. I got 567 miles in thus far, with 4 more if the roads get plowed today. I started biking a little, buying my friend's bike. I also swam some too. I've whimped out this winter, but I did run outside last winter. At least I'm running in the gym. I focused more on just running and not trying to push too hard, so I have many many less long runs this year.

In the spring and summer, my running buddy and I got together a bunch and went running. That was a lot of fun. We ran our first real race, a 5K. We only ran it for fun and didn't push hard, but it was a good time.

Injury-wise, I didn't do too too bad. I spent the first few months battling some ITBS issues, which seem better now. Not 100%, but not terrible, either.
The biggest injury was my broken elbow due to some careless biking. Sigh. There was a broken toe in there and that's really about it.

Professionally, it wasn't a banner year. A large amount of job dis-satisfaction, but I suppose it was that which led me to start blogging. Sorry, boss. I think I'm close to coming to terms with it, but I've been away for a few weeks, so that will probably change about 15 minutes after I get back to it. It pays well, and is as stable as things can be in this economy and our small town.

My running buddy's husband deployed, so that was a eye-opener.

As far as other things go, various things happened. I joined the dice baseball league, and made it to the World Series in my first season.

I went to 10-12 minor league baseball games, and had an awesome time there.

I went to 3 different beer festivals, and of course had some great times. I bought and drank a whole bunch of different (new to me) bottles of gin and scotch (And vodka. And cognac.). Damn, I sure drank a lot this year.

I bought a PS3, and my wife bought me a few games which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I 'got' a new nephew this year. Not that I had anything to do with it, but it was cool.

I'm very fortunate, and I try to remember that every day. Here's to the upcoming year, and I hope everyone can be as fortunate as I was this year. I'll throw together a post of what I hope to do this new year in the coming days.

Keep on rockin'.. Have a great (and safe) new year's celebration, and a great new year!

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve, to all!

Should be a quiet day, followed by a family get together. I'm planning to hit the gym if the roads de-ice in time.

My wife was asking about the gym's schedule, and I mentioned they were closed tomorrow. She said "Oh, that's good that it's on a Thursday." I asked her why, and she said "Well, your days off are Thursday and Sunday".

I was flabbergasted. She's on board and paying attention. :)

I hope all of you and your families have a safe and happy holiday. Merry Christmas!

Monday, December 22, 2008

Bootie Results, Halfway

I read about the halfway prize after my previous post, so I went and totaled up points.

The result is 59 points.. how's everyone else doing?

Deep Tissue

Welp, I went out today and got a 'Deep Tissue' massage. Holy cow. Total awesomeness. It's been 3 months since I last had a massage, and I was really glad I went. I'd never had a deep tissue one before, either, so I thought it might help out my calves and such.

The therapist worked on my calves for quite a bit, and then remarked that I could withstand quite a bit of pressure. *chuckle*

I also went and took my bike to the bike shop to have it tuned up. With all of the snow on the ground, I'm not going to be riding it any time soon, most likely.

Evidently, it's a slow time at the bike shop. I got a call a couple of hours later talking about all of the items they had done (things repaired with electrical tape? Really? That's what I get for buying a bike from a friend. :) ), along with concern over the wear on my front rim. So, I'm getting a new front rim. Why not?

The Bootie Busting continues to go well. I have no idea how many points I have, nor do I know what others have. Ah well, I'll have to total it up at some point. We've got about 2 weeks to go, I reckon.

So yeah, I think I'll just keep staying on vacation (retire?) and working out most days. It's pretty enjoyable. Wonder what my wife will say. hah!

Keep on rockin'. Have a good holiday, too!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Greetz Peepz!

Hey everyone!

Yeah, this sabbatical thing is just awesome. I could SO get used to it. Alas, I need a job, so the vacay will run out, and I'll be back to it.

I've been doing well going to the gym 5x a week. My schedule has been (starting on a Monday), 3-4-4, off, 3-6, off. Not a bad 20 miles. I have noticed that my legs are a bit creaky, but I can get through the miles, one way or another.

Been keeping up on the whole Bootie Buster Challenge. I haven't totalled up the points, but I've only missed contributing points on a day or maybe two.

I noticed today that I have developed a blister near the ball of my foot, towards the arch. TMI? Nahh... Probably a result of my new kicks. I scored some New Balance 1011's. Literally the last store in the area that had some wide running shoes. I went all over and came up empty handed. Hopefully it's nothing serious.

So the foam roller has been getting easier. I don't know if my ITBS has been mended or is better at all, but I think so. The running of the 6 miles is mainly just hard on me overall, rather than being focused on the IT band. (Not that it's too hard, but it's not the smoothest thing.)

So, I got a Christmas card from a blog follower the other day, saying that he wished he was as active and such. My advice to him and everyone else is, the hardest part is the first step out the door. After that, it's not too bad. Sure, you don't want to go exercise and blow a whole hour out of the day or whatever, but you'll feel much better afterward.

We're getting snow tonight.. Guess I'll be shoveling or something tomorrow. :)

Alright.. I'll be around to make some sort of insignificant posts on all y'all's blogs. Keep on rockin'!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Greetings

I'm taking a break from being a man of leisure, and getting back on my blogging. Wow, my reader is just packed full of goodness.

Friday I did my 3 miles, and Saturday I knocked down 6. That put me at a little over 20 for the week. Awesome.

I signed up to be in the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge, even though I don't use the term 'bootie' too often. I decided to rip off Denise, and put my results in a blog as well. I've often seen people engage in these contests.. I figured, why not?




I went to Dick's and bought a foam roller to work on my IT band. Never used one before. Holy smokes. Wow. That puppy hurt. I think it's a good pain, but holy shit. I've been doing that a couple of days now, and I think my IT band is a bit looser, but my leg sure as hell feels sore deep down inside.

For those that may care, it's a 6" diameter, and it's 36" long. And it's one hell of an expensive piece of foam. Chuckle.

Monday, I did 3 miles at the gym. I also went out and bought new running sneakers. I'm totally stoked ready to try them out. They're my first pairs of real running sneaks. Before, I was just running in some cross trainers. I'll let you know how it goes.

Alright all.. Keep on rockin!

Friday, December 5, 2008

Repeal Day

BTW, happy Repeal Day, everyone!

Friday, Friday, Happy Friday

Greetings, all!

Today is a wonderful day!


Before I get to that, I'll say that I did do 4 miles last night. 2 on the treadmill, 2 on the track. My endurance is coming back slowly after giving blood a couple of weeks ago, but I felt really pretty decent during the run. I thought about going further, but decided against it. I'm going to stick to my plan, more or less. The plan for tonight is 3 miles, followed by 6 on Saturday.

As far as today goes....

Today is my last day of the year. Oh yea! You read that right. A mini-sabbatical. I come back to work on the 5th of January. So, that's a month away. I'm just stoked!

While away, I will do my best to follow your blogs and post some of my own entries, but... I may be bad at it. I do like to 'unplug' while on vacay, or on the weekend, so no promises.

No real plans, either. Just kind of hang out and unwind. I'm going to try to exercise Mon-Wed, Friday, and Saturday, and get into a routine of 5x a week. Assuming my legs are up for it, I'm up for it.

I'm also using the time to tone down my alcoholism habits. The time away from work seems like a good time to start. I haven't bought any beer for inside the house in a couple of weeks, and I've been finishing off open bottles of wine/margarita mix/etc in the fridge to remove temptation (and to make space, of course). I'm not going to give up beer or anything crazy like that, I'm just only going to have it while out, or at a friend's place, or whatever like that. That's my goal. It will cut me back, and it will be a healthier lifestyle anyway.

I should weigh myself and see if anything changes, too.

But yeah, not much planned. Some small small projects around the house. Maybe work on digitizing my music library some more. Going to drop my bike off for a tune up. Change the oil in the car. Nothing major. I'm supposed to do some painting, too, but I don't know if that will be occurring.

So.. I'll be checking in periodically, or at least try. If I don't talk to you, have a happy holiday(s) of your choosing, and keep on rockin!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

TIART - Running Dreams and Wishes

Today's TIaRT topic is about running dreams and wishes.

I could take this in many many directions.

Personally, I wish that I could run every day, and be pain/injury free. I wish I was ready to run a marathon. I wish I was trained to be an iron man.
Those items, well, 2 of the 3, I can control myself, more or less. If I work at it, I can hopefully get there.

I wish I had extra hours in the day to run. I wish it was always the perfect running temperature out. I wish I could run every day with my running buddy.
These, well, they're just wishes. Fun to dream.

I wish that drivers were always considerate to runners. I wish the same that bikers, other pedestrians, dog owners, and others were considerate to runners.
These, again, just wishes. I'll do my part, and hopefully others will too.

I wish I had an iPod to run in the gym with. I wish I had tons of awesome running clothes.
These, they're just material things. They aren't important.


But, I could think about others, as well. I wish that others were able to run injury free. I wish that others could achieve their goals. These, the first one is a wish. The second, if people are putting in the time, most of their goals can be achieved


I guess my big wish would be that people can run. Run injury free. Run if they weren't able to run before. After that, I'm a firm believer that you can do most anything you put your mind to.

My big personal dream is to run a marathon. It would be a huge mark indicating how far I've come. From being un-athletic in general to running a marathon would be amazing.

Sigh. And right now, I guess my little wish would be that I didn't have things to do at work, and I could read blogs and write stuff all day. *chuckle*

Who's the best plumber now?

Tuesday I banged out 4 miles at the gym. 2 on the treadmill, 2 on the track. Pretty uneventful.

Wednesday was an off day, as I was installing this:



It's a condensation pump for a furnace. Very exciting. The old one was acting up, and I ordered a new one. I was a bit worried, as the exact model I had wasn't made any more. I made an educated guess, ordered a pump, and waited.

It arrived yesterday, and I wasted no time in installing it.

Attached it, hooked it up, fired up some tests with a full tank of water and.....

nothing.

Well, it ran, but the tank didn't empty.


Arghsighgruntbitchgroan.

After some more examination, I guessed that this was the problem:



It's part of the drainage hose, and it looked a bit crumpled.

Of course, the damn thing used to work.

So, I made the trip to Home Depot (thankfully, I only live just over a mile away), and got some new hose, put it in, and..



Who's the best cop now?!

All up and running.


Noticed a little bit of leakage around the hose this morning, but nothing substantial. I'll investigate that at some point.

OK. Keep on rockin'.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Hrms.. a schedule, perhaps?

In regards to my last post...


Found this schedule over at CoolRunning..

Looks like it would work for a Pocono marathon, and might actually be do-able.

Hrms...

I'm all re-upped

Went to the gym last night, and my month long membership had expired. Turns out they had a 'buy 1 month, get the next for half price' deal, so I'm all re-upped for 2 months, until Feb. 1st.

I ran 4.5 miles last night.. 3 on the treadmill, 1.5 on the track. Did some hip adduction/abduction, as well. I feel good today, and plan to go back tonight.



So, I fired up the ol' running log and saw that I have 483.36 miles in for the year. 125 runs. That's more mileage than last year, but I started in June of last year. I guess I'm disappointed. I know, what a turd I am.

The big difference that I see is that I cut out the long run. I did very few runs over 5 miles this year. I suppose this comes from my ITBS issues that I was battling primarily through May.

I was doing really well over the summer, bumping up the quantity of runs. I see in October and November I got a little lax.

I have mixed in some cross training, so it's not all lost. I've added some swimming and biking, but that really doesn't make up all of it. I've just become complacent.

I commented on someone's blog that I should really set some goals, or I'll be 'base building' forever.

My IT band has been better, but I'm not sure it's 100%. That being said, I'd still like to run a marathon.

I think from a personal schedule, I'll have the best chance of doing the training now and running a marathon in late May. But, I don't know that I'm at the mileage now to really do a marathon. I'm not doing 25-30 miles a week. I'm just not. Most weeks, I get between 16-20.

If I could choose an ideal schedule, I think I'd shoot for the Pocono marathon in May. If all goes well, and I keep up the training, I could do the Wineglass marathon in the fall. (isn't it great, not even one down, and I'm planning a second?)

There's also a sprint triathalon locally around July 4th, which should fit into the schedule. I'd like to try it, and should be able to grind through it, regardless of the marathon.

So, yeah. I need to figure out a plan. Is the marathon in May attainable? I can run 8-10 miles with no problems, typically, but I usually have to rest a day or two afterward. After a few weeks, the short runs cause my legs to tire as well. But, I can usually run short runs (3-4 miles) often (5x a week) if I don't do a long run.

In addition, I have the treadmill variable. Is running on the treadmill through March going to produce enough training for a marathon in May? Will switching to road running be too much of a shock to my body? (Especially the Pocono, as there are a lot of downhills).

Have to figure out a plan.