Sunday, April 15, 2012

11 in the books

Long run for this week = done.  Bam!  11 miles, and I have no complaints.

Weird thing was, I ran in shoes that I have never been that comfortable in with my long runs, but I did use two pairs of socks, a new one for me.  In the end, I'm thinking these may be my half marathon shoes.. I felt great.

Not much to report about the run.. A good drizzle started about halfway through, so I was pretty wet by the end of the day.

At one point when I was running in town a car pulled into the 'exit' part of a driveway and proceeded to block the sidewalk.  The guy inside rolled down his window and waited... 

Sigh.  I'm terrible with street names.  I know how to get around, I know how to get to places even if I've only been there once or twice, but I couldn't tell you street names.  I've lived in this town for 12 years now, I still don't know them.   

I get to his window... "Can you tell me where to find a liquor store", he says slowly...  Well, damn.  That I can do.  I know a couple within easy driving distance and directions.   Sweet.  Tough question avoided.


I had no clear path set out in my mind ahead of time, so I just ran around.. I wound up doing a couple of serious hills, but no complaints there either.   Total mileage was 11, total time was 1:55.  Hopefully I can do some sort of time like that in my half.


All in all, I'd say I'm as ready as I will be for my adventure in 3 weeks.  Next week, I have no game plan for my long run day.  I'll probably just see how I feel..The week after is going to be ~6 at race pace.

I wanted to squeeze in a 5K either today or one of the next two weekends, but I couldn't find one that really meshed with my training plan.  I tried to rationalize it (over and over), but they were all trail runs, hill runs, or too close to the half.  No sense blowing the plan because I'm getting ancy.

Keep on rockin!

Friday, April 13, 2012

Fartlek

I went out last night for a 4-5 mile run, with no clear goal.. It turned into a fartlek, and it was a heck of a workout.  Sure made it more interesting.

Training is going well... 3 weeks, 2 days until the half marathon.. I'm hoping to do a long run on Sunday- it's supposed to be 70 here.

That little bit of arch pain is still hanging on, but it's not terrible.. I felt it last night after the faster run.. speed definitely seems to kick it off.  I'll keep stretching it and my calf, and see how that goes.

No fire department visits or plumbing work this week.  I have a pair of shutoff valves I can't turn, but they're staying on right now.  Consequently, the other drippy sink will continue to drip. I don't like working on plumbing, at all.

Keep on rockin!

Monday, April 9, 2012

Busy week

Wow, another busy week went in the books.. No blog posts for a week?  Meh, I need to be better about this.

On the exercise front, I did two easy 4-4.5 mile runs mid week, and I capped the week off with a 9.5 mile run. I did manage to get in one other cross training workout, a P90X core synergistics session (man, that one is a good one!).

Outside of the exercise front, all kinds of stuff happened.

Mrs. Raul notice much of the cabinet under the kitchen sink was wet one night.. The culprit was this guy:
He's been replaced.  Of course, that didn't actually fix all of the issues, as it turns out the faucet itself was leaking from a couple of places.   I replaced the faucet next:


That's our spiffy new one!  The only casualty was when I dropped the wrench on my forehead while working under the sink.  Sigh..

I still hate doing plumbing work.

We also got a visit from the fire department one night, as Mrs. Raul left the toaster oven unattended at the wrong temperature.  No harm done, except to the pan for the toaster over.  It was pretty impressive, seeing flames inside that puppy.   Long story short, the smoke alarm went off, which signaled the fire department, which caused a visit.   Amazingly, mini-Raul slept through the entire thing.  I can't get that boy to sleep worth a damn, and when something interesting happens, what does he do?   Go figure.

Other excitement in the week?  Hmm.. I got to use my jumper cables and jumpstart Mrs. Raul's ride.  I also changed my lawn mower oil and started that whole mowing thing again.

Mini  Raul had a good Easter.. made out like a bandit.  That's what Easter is about, isn't it?  Oh, wait.  Hrms..  He had a good time, regardless.

I'm hoping for a quieter week this week. lol.

Keep on rockin!

Monday, April 2, 2012

Done with recovery

This weekend, I did my last run during "recovery" from my 15K race.. I did an easy 7 miler, with nothing terribly exciting to write about.   The legs feel much better, and there's just a tiny amount of muscle fatigue.  The 7 miles were strong, even though the pace was fairly relaxed.

I've been having a little bit of arch pain in one foot, and it started after the race.. It's significantly better than a week ago, so I'm not too concerned about it.  I've been reading about plantar fasciitis, and I don't think that's it.. I think it's just tight and bruised.  I really need to get to a real running store and find some new shoes, though.

So, I have 4 training weeks until a taper.  This is it, the final push..  Stay healthy.. stay healthy..

I'd like to get two longer runs of 10+ miles in before the half, possibly 3.  If I can run 10 miles now, I figure I can eek out another 5K on race day, so I'm in decent shape as is.  A little more training could yield some benefits, though.

More importantly, I'm trying to be better about doing leg exercises to strengthen some of the weaker muscles and prevent crazy imbalances.   Leg raises and squats have been on the menu a lot lately.  (Speaking of, have you seen the 200 squat challenge?  That's an idea for the coming months..)

That's about all for now.. And no, CJ, I'm not that crazy about Tebow time here in NY.  That smells like a QB controversy every. single. week.  Sigh.  As if the locker room didn't have enough problems already..

Keep on rockin'!