Wow, I guess this is my 300th post.. That's cool. And, that's about all I have to say about that.
Today was a sunny & warm day here.. close to 50 degrees, but a damn lot of wind. I went out for my long run today, though, since I'd prefer running in the wind and warmth as opposed to the cold coming in tomorrow. My last few long runs have been through snow squalls and all of that, so I was jumping at the chance to get out there today.
My plan was for 8-9 miles. I've got that 15K coming up at the end of the month after all, I should get close to the appropriate number of miles.. I took an out and back route that is 3.5 miles of gentle uphill, followed by some up and down for the last mile until the turnaround. The good part of that is.. downhill on the way back.
Pretty uneventful.. some lady had a very aggressive barky dog, but went on with the "oh, don't worry, he's friendly" bit. I had a few words for her. I'm not a big fan of dogs not contained/restrained that can come after you while going by.
Anyways, nothing bad happened, and I continued on. At the 4 mile marker, I tried a Gu Chocolate Outrage.. Not bad, but it kind of seemed like a melted Tootsie Roll.. A little thick for my tastes.
Turned around, and around mile 5.5, I started noticing my ass was getting tired.. I think I need to do some more glute work.
Until this point, I was feeling great.. One foot in front of the other, not a speedy pace, but that was by design. Another mile and a half, I noticed a hot spot on the bottom of my foot at the arch.. Sigh. A f'in blister. Never have I had a blister from running before.. what's up with that?
I finished out the run with not much else to report.. I feel great. Two minor irritations during the run, and no other issues. Hours later, I feel fine, just have a small blister on my foot.
Looking at the calendar, I have 3 weeks until the 15K. Next week, I'll shoot for 9-10 miles.. The week after, I'll go for 5 miles at race pace, and then I'm there. This race is just a tune-up for the half marathon in May anyways.. this isn't my goal race, just something nice and interesting to do.
Not much else going on here.. I picked up a minor sinus infection, but that's under control, and it's just a nuisance anyway.
Keep on rockin'...
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
What a week
What a week it was. It was illness central here at casa Raul. Mini Raul got the worst deal of it all.. He was sick last Saturday, and we figured he had picked up a cold after his double ear & sinus infection passed. Fast forward to Sunday night... The poor kid was puking every half an hour. He woke up at 11pm, surrounded by vomit and saying "Something happened?!". Nothing tears at your heart quite like that.
It was a long night, that whole puking every half hour. He's been prone for most of the week, too.. He's been back to the doctor, pronounced with stomach bug, more ear infections, and another sinus infection. (Perhaps the last one didn't go away). Anyways, it was a long week.
Mrs. Raul got the next bit of the short end of the stick, picking up Mini Raul's stomach bug.
I lucked out, and came out of this (thus far) with a head cold. Whatever. No big deal there.
Mini Raul finally showed some signs of life late this afternoon, so here's hoping we've turned the corner...
Last Sunday, I did another long run.. 7 miles. Tried out the plain strawberry Gu. Not terrible. I didn't run again until today, Saturday, where I did a 5 mile tempo run.. I mixed in a couple of the P90X DVDs and a couple of rest days.. It was an unplanned recovery week. lol
I did do some baking and cooking..
Delish!
So, other than that, the only noteworthy thing was this story.. I'm looking out the window the other morning, and I see this:
Not sure if you can read that, but it's a van that has "S.W.A.T." on the side. That's something you don't see every day. This is a picture I snapped after the action was over, the guys are piling back in.
Turns out, someone was busy selling some H, and the police caught wind of it.. Took down a small ring of people. I'm thinking now, there's a vacuum and a need... perhaps a second career?
Ah well, keep on rockin, with or without your opium.
It was a long night, that whole puking every half hour. He's been prone for most of the week, too.. He's been back to the doctor, pronounced with stomach bug, more ear infections, and another sinus infection. (Perhaps the last one didn't go away). Anyways, it was a long week.
Mrs. Raul got the next bit of the short end of the stick, picking up Mini Raul's stomach bug.
I lucked out, and came out of this (thus far) with a head cold. Whatever. No big deal there.
Mini Raul finally showed some signs of life late this afternoon, so here's hoping we've turned the corner...
Last Sunday, I did another long run.. 7 miles. Tried out the plain strawberry Gu. Not terrible. I didn't run again until today, Saturday, where I did a 5 mile tempo run.. I mixed in a couple of the P90X DVDs and a couple of rest days.. It was an unplanned recovery week. lol
I did do some baking and cooking..
Those are Irish soda bread, followed by slow cooked minestone. The soup was fantastic, and I plan to make it again.
When I heard Mrs. Raul was getting ill, I whipped up some bread:
This turned out better than my first batch, too!
Tonight, I took some of that bread and made some garlic bread:
So, other than that, the only noteworthy thing was this story.. I'm looking out the window the other morning, and I see this:
Not sure if you can read that, but it's a van that has "S.W.A.T." on the side. That's something you don't see every day. This is a picture I snapped after the action was over, the guys are piling back in.
Turns out, someone was busy selling some H, and the police caught wind of it.. Took down a small ring of people. I'm thinking now, there's a vacuum and a need... perhaps a second career?
Ah well, keep on rockin, with or without your opium.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Schedule
So, yesterday, I decided I should make a plan.
The plan was to answer this: What's my race schedule for the year? What the hell am I doing?
Starting backwards, my spring goal is a half marathon on 5/6. Registered, paid. Now I just need to train for it.
There's a 15K on 3/25. OK, that will be my gauge for pacing. 9 miles, should be doable. I just signed up and paid for that one. Bam.
So, after that, it was making a list of the weekends between now and 5/6, and making a stab at the long run length. My mid week runs have been pretty consistent: one hill run, of 4.5 miles, and one "whatever my body feels like" run, of 4-5 miles. I'll try slowly ramping up the long run on Sunday, with some cut back weeks, and we'll see if that gets me there.
To make it more official, I threw the races into a list on the blog, and that's that.
After the spring is done, I don't know what I'm doing yet. I have something small planned for the end of June, but nothing for the fall. I think the smart plan is to wait and see how I'm doing in May, and decide from there. There's plenty of time to recover and then ramp up for something if desired.
Part of my problem is that Mrs. Raul gets Saturdays.. That in of itself not a big deal, because I usually get a night out every week. However, almost all of the local races are run on Saturday mornings. Sigh. Maybe that's a good thing, so that I'm not running a 5K every week. This will force me to pick a certain goal, and then plan for it..
Ah well, the weekends are plotted through the beginning of May now. That's a respectable start.
Keep on rockin..
The plan was to answer this: What's my race schedule for the year? What the hell am I doing?
Starting backwards, my spring goal is a half marathon on 5/6. Registered, paid. Now I just need to train for it.
There's a 15K on 3/25. OK, that will be my gauge for pacing. 9 miles, should be doable. I just signed up and paid for that one. Bam.
So, after that, it was making a list of the weekends between now and 5/6, and making a stab at the long run length. My mid week runs have been pretty consistent: one hill run, of 4.5 miles, and one "whatever my body feels like" run, of 4-5 miles. I'll try slowly ramping up the long run on Sunday, with some cut back weeks, and we'll see if that gets me there.
To make it more official, I threw the races into a list on the blog, and that's that.
After the spring is done, I don't know what I'm doing yet. I have something small planned for the end of June, but nothing for the fall. I think the smart plan is to wait and see how I'm doing in May, and decide from there. There's plenty of time to recover and then ramp up for something if desired.
Part of my problem is that Mrs. Raul gets Saturdays.. That in of itself not a big deal, because I usually get a night out every week. However, almost all of the local races are run on Saturday mornings. Sigh. Maybe that's a good thing, so that I'm not running a 5K every week. This will force me to pick a certain goal, and then plan for it..
Ah well, the weekends are plotted through the beginning of May now. That's a respectable start.
Keep on rockin..
Monday, February 13, 2012
Long cold gu
Well, yesterday was winter here. Honest to goodness snow, cold, and general disgustingness.
Hooray for me, that it was my scheduled long run day! Sigh. I debated all morning, looking for a valid excuse to not go. Sadly, reason and common sense did not win out. There was a brief break in the snow, so I bundled up and trucked on out there.
Holy shizzballz, it was freaking cold. The wind just bit. My winter running hat transforms into a balaclava, and in 2.5 years of winter running, I've never once tried it in that format. Until yesterday. I must admit, that helped quite a bit (except my glasses fogged up, but whatevs)
I was pretty excited about the run to start, as it was the first time I was going to try a Gu. Yes, I'm a Gu virgin. I rolled to my local Dick's store last week and picked up a handful of various gels, just to try them out. (and I just used Dick's, gels, and virgin in close proximity. *snicker*)
I had planned on running 8 miles, with the Gu at 5 miles in. As I trudged along, I needed something to look forward to, so I moved that Gu up to mile 4. Not much to report at this point, except the wind sucked. Slow pace maintained, as desired. I took an out and back route, different than the 2 loop route I had originally intended. My thinking was that if I did 2 loops, I would probably call off the second loop. lol
Anyways.. Mile 4, Gu time. Let me tell you, I've certainly had worse than that strawberry-banana creation. It was thicker than I imagined, but palatable (as pure sugar often is). Flavors and other advice on this sort of thing are welcome here..
So, heading back. That break in the snow ended, and it started coming down. I was "that guy", outside, running in the snow. What a nut job.
My left knee has been holding up very well the last couple of weeks, but both of them were getting a bit creaky on me around 6.5 miles. I mixed in some walk breaks and managed to grind through. 8.01 miles done, a 10 minute-something second pace all the way through.
No issues last night from the run, and today, I have general muscle fatigue, but nothing alarming. I'll call it a success. I think the creakiness is just due to me not being used to those distances yet, plus the cold.
I found that I wasn't as lightheaded, fatigued, and just generally feeling weird when I got home, and I attribute it to that little packet of nutrition mid run. Looking forward to trying some more of them..
That's all for now.. Keep on rockin
Hooray for me, that it was my scheduled long run day! Sigh. I debated all morning, looking for a valid excuse to not go. Sadly, reason and common sense did not win out. There was a brief break in the snow, so I bundled up and trucked on out there.
Holy shizzballz, it was freaking cold. The wind just bit. My winter running hat transforms into a balaclava, and in 2.5 years of winter running, I've never once tried it in that format. Until yesterday. I must admit, that helped quite a bit (except my glasses fogged up, but whatevs)
I was pretty excited about the run to start, as it was the first time I was going to try a Gu. Yes, I'm a Gu virgin. I rolled to my local Dick's store last week and picked up a handful of various gels, just to try them out. (and I just used Dick's, gels, and virgin in close proximity. *snicker*)
I had planned on running 8 miles, with the Gu at 5 miles in. As I trudged along, I needed something to look forward to, so I moved that Gu up to mile 4. Not much to report at this point, except the wind sucked. Slow pace maintained, as desired. I took an out and back route, different than the 2 loop route I had originally intended. My thinking was that if I did 2 loops, I would probably call off the second loop. lol
Anyways.. Mile 4, Gu time. Let me tell you, I've certainly had worse than that strawberry-banana creation. It was thicker than I imagined, but palatable (as pure sugar often is). Flavors and other advice on this sort of thing are welcome here..
So, heading back. That break in the snow ended, and it started coming down. I was "that guy", outside, running in the snow. What a nut job.
My left knee has been holding up very well the last couple of weeks, but both of them were getting a bit creaky on me around 6.5 miles. I mixed in some walk breaks and managed to grind through. 8.01 miles done, a 10 minute-something second pace all the way through.
No issues last night from the run, and today, I have general muscle fatigue, but nothing alarming. I'll call it a success. I think the creakiness is just due to me not being used to those distances yet, plus the cold.
I found that I wasn't as lightheaded, fatigued, and just generally feeling weird when I got home, and I attribute it to that little packet of nutrition mid run. Looking forward to trying some more of them..
That's all for now.. Keep on rockin
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Recovery week, food
Well, it was a recovery week this week in Casa Raul. I've been training pretty hard, so I took a lighter week in running. The long run was a 5 miler, and I knocked off the hill run. 2 runs, 2 rest days, and some chest/back/arm work. No aches or pains or anything like that, so I'm ready to go for this week.
Mrs. Raul had the real recovery week.. She went and had her gallbladder out, poor gal. Apparently the pain of the laproscopic air they pump into you was worse than labor. The pain scale was thusly redefined. I did what I could do though, and make myself generally available and supportive and all of that good stuff.
I got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas and busted it out this week.. My first project was.. bread! Who doesn't like bread? The output was:
And, I must say, it was pretty tasty. I paired it with a homemade garden vegetable soup, and made a pretty decent meal:
The mixer.. holy cow. That thing is a dream.. My mind started going... white cake, yellow cake.. chocolate cake.... italian herb bread... irish soda bread.. hot cross buns.. I need to give this some thought and make a plan!
Tonight, I rocked out some pizelles (also using the mixer):
Last but not least, inspired by a post from a while back that I never tried from Sassy Molassy, I cooked up a no-noodle veggie lasagna, using eggplant as the noodles:
This week is back to the full workout schedule, and Mrs. Raul appears to be well on her way to her usual antics recovery. All is well. Keep on rockin..
Mrs. Raul had the real recovery week.. She went and had her gallbladder out, poor gal. Apparently the pain of the laproscopic air they pump into you was worse than labor. The pain scale was thusly redefined. I did what I could do though, and make myself generally available and supportive and all of that good stuff.
I got a KitchenAid mixer for Christmas and busted it out this week.. My first project was.. bread! Who doesn't like bread? The output was:
And, I must say, it was pretty tasty. I paired it with a homemade garden vegetable soup, and made a pretty decent meal:
The mixer.. holy cow. That thing is a dream.. My mind started going... white cake, yellow cake.. chocolate cake.... italian herb bread... irish soda bread.. hot cross buns.. I need to give this some thought and make a plan!
Tonight, I rocked out some pizelles (also using the mixer):
Last but not least, inspired by a post from a while back that I never tried from Sassy Molassy, I cooked up a no-noodle veggie lasagna, using eggplant as the noodles:
This week is back to the full workout schedule, and Mrs. Raul appears to be well on her way to
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
The long run
OMG. I'm excited. I think it's coming back... The long run.
As I put in my last post, I just love the long run. The clarity that my mind gets after 6, 8, and more miles. It's a trippy experience getting there, mind you, but eventually, everything goes away. It's one shoe in front of the other, and I can just go. Seemingly forever.
So, last Sunday, I was scheduled for a long run. I went for it. My previous long run of the "modern" era (read: the last 8 months) was 6 miles. A painful 6 miles. Knee acting wonky, no cardio sustainability. Bleh.
I went for 7. A 5 mile out and back, followed by a 2 mile out and back. I said, if the knee acts up, I can pull it in to 5 miles and still have something decent to write down. 5 miles went strong, so I went up the hill (what asshat puts the hills at the end of the run? Note to self, fire route planner. Err.. Well, plan better at least)..
I got those 2 miles done. They weren't the prettiest, as I was feeling generally worked pretty hard. However, the knee stayed together, the cardio was working for me, and they got knocked down.
Fast forward to a week later...
Bam! Same route done, but stronger. Tacked on a little extra too. No pain that night, and just general muscle tightness in my legs the next day.
Granted, 7 isn't an ultra marathon or anything, but I am stoked. Stoked, stoked, stoked.
I'm cutting back the miles this week for a few reasons, but it coincides with a recovery week. I am doing my damnedest this time around to train smarter. Thus far, knock on wood, it seems to be working.
I knocked out P90X legs & back tonight. Minus the pullup bar, but it was agood insane set of leg exercises. The weather is unseasonably warm (50 degree weather at the end of January?!? That's 20 degrees warmer than normal), so I really hope to get out there tomorrow to do some sort of run.
Keep on rockin'...
As I put in my last post, I just love the long run. The clarity that my mind gets after 6, 8, and more miles. It's a trippy experience getting there, mind you, but eventually, everything goes away. It's one shoe in front of the other, and I can just go. Seemingly forever.
So, last Sunday, I was scheduled for a long run. I went for it. My previous long run of the "modern" era (read: the last 8 months) was 6 miles. A painful 6 miles. Knee acting wonky, no cardio sustainability. Bleh.
I went for 7. A 5 mile out and back, followed by a 2 mile out and back. I said, if the knee acts up, I can pull it in to 5 miles and still have something decent to write down. 5 miles went strong, so I went up the hill (what asshat puts the hills at the end of the run? Note to self, fire route planner. Err.. Well, plan better at least)..
I got those 2 miles done. They weren't the prettiest, as I was feeling generally worked pretty hard. However, the knee stayed together, the cardio was working for me, and they got knocked down.
Fast forward to a week later...
Bam! Same route done, but stronger. Tacked on a little extra too. No pain that night, and just general muscle tightness in my legs the next day.
Granted, 7 isn't an ultra marathon or anything, but I am stoked. Stoked, stoked, stoked.
I'm cutting back the miles this week for a few reasons, but it coincides with a recovery week. I am doing my damnedest this time around to train smarter. Thus far, knock on wood, it seems to be working.
I knocked out P90X legs & back tonight. Minus the pullup bar, but it was a
Keep on rockin'...
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Tagged by the number 11
I've been tagged.. Thanks joyRuN! Like you said, at least it's content for the blog...
Here's the rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!
(Ack! #6!)
OK, getting started. 11 random things.
1. I love coffee. We (Mrs. Raul and myself) used to have "big mug day" on the weekends. (The mugs being 16-20 ounces). Since Mini-Raul was born, every day has become big mug day, out of necessity. I'll have a mug with breakfast, a 24 ounce "to go" mug to get to work, and a few cups at work. When I get home, probably another brew then.
2. The other morning, I had 80 ounces of coffee.
3. Mini-Raul drinks coffee. I honestly can't remember when he didn't. I think he probably started at around 6 months. 2 years later, and he's still doing it. I guess this isn't about myself. Ah, but I'm his parent, and condone the behavior, so now it's about me.
4. The last concert I saw was They Might Be Giants. I think that was 3 months ago.. time to go to another concert..
5. The next set of books I'm reading are the Bourne series.
6. In high school, I could bench press more than I weighed. I have no idea what I can bench press now.
7. I have currently given up on Facebook. I don't know if I'll reactivate my account. I do miss some social context about what's going on in my little circles, though.
8. I used to have shoulder length hair. I'm down to whatever the smallest guard is on my trimmer now. lol
9. I hit my 25% this morning.
10. I really like the P90X videos. I haven't done many of the weight ones, as I really don't have any dumbbells/bands or a pullup bar, but the cardio/core/yoga ones, I really like.
11. I'm glad I'm blogging again.
And, to the questions posed by nurse joyRuN:
Here's the rules:
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!
(Ack! #6!)
OK, getting started. 11 random things.
1. I love coffee. We (Mrs. Raul and myself) used to have "big mug day" on the weekends. (The mugs being 16-20 ounces). Since Mini-Raul was born, every day has become big mug day, out of necessity. I'll have a mug with breakfast, a 24 ounce "to go" mug to get to work, and a few cups at work. When I get home, probably another brew then.
2. The other morning, I had 80 ounces of coffee.
3. Mini-Raul drinks coffee. I honestly can't remember when he didn't. I think he probably started at around 6 months. 2 years later, and he's still doing it. I guess this isn't about myself. Ah, but I'm his parent, and condone the behavior, so now it's about me.
4. The last concert I saw was They Might Be Giants. I think that was 3 months ago.. time to go to another concert..
5. The next set of books I'm reading are the Bourne series.
6. In high school, I could bench press more than I weighed. I have no idea what I can bench press now.
7. I have currently given up on Facebook. I don't know if I'll reactivate my account. I do miss some social context about what's going on in my little circles, though.
8. I used to have shoulder length hair. I'm down to whatever the smallest guard is on my trimmer now. lol
9. I hit my 25% this morning.
10. I really like the P90X videos. I haven't done many of the weight ones, as I really don't have any dumbbells/bands or a pullup bar, but the cardio/core/yoga ones, I really like.
11. I'm glad I'm blogging again.
And, to the questions posed by nurse joyRuN:
- What are your go-to excuses? I probably need a rest day.
- What’s your favorite WOD or running workout (distance/tempo/speedwork)? I love a distance workout. I'm only just getting back into the long distances, but I love it when my mind goes in all sorts of weird places when I'm alone on my long run. What I like even more is when it stops, and my mind is just clear, and it's me and the road.
- Do you track your dietary intake? Yes. A necessary evil as part of Weight Watchers. I'm trying the TrainingPeaks thing, but not sure if I can stick with it. But calculating the WW points is within my daily tolerances.
- What’s your favorite healthy meal? Anything involving me grilling. Grilled chicken, grilled tofu, grilled veggies, etc.
- What’s your favorite cheat meal? Bar food. Loaded cheese fries and a burger, or something to that effect. Plus some beer to wash it down, and some more beer just to have.
- Any nagging injuries that worry you? My left knee. Something isn't quite right, but it's getting better.
- What book would you recommend? I just finished 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo'. I recommend the first book in the series, but you can take or leave the next two. They're good, but not as good as the first.
- Have you ever been hospitalized? If so, how were your nurses? Thankfully, no. I think nurses are often overlooked and deserve more credit and praise than they get, though.
- What look is more appealing to you? Designer well put together chic or a fit body dressed in workout clothes? The latter. I don't know chic, anyways.
- What’s your resting heart rate? 61 this morning.
- If you had no financial/physical limitations whatsoever, what would you do? Quit my job. Volunteer at the zoo to build things (railings, paths, etc). I'm not the guy to take over the animal care, but I can do some reasonable damage with a saw and a drill. I'd also like to be an usher at the baseball stadium.
So, 11 new questions:
1. Favorite obscure movie? (And why..)
2. Favorite kitchen appliance? (And why..)
3. Favorite Olympic sport?
4. What method(s) do you use to make time for yourself?
5. Favorite alcoholic beverage (if beer, be specific. :) )
6. Why do you blog?
7. What is one place you've always wanted to travel to, but haven't made it there yet?
8. What's your take on reality TV?
9. Favorite band?
10. Mac or PC?
11. Favorite season to work out in?
11 Tagees chosen at random from my reader:
1. AKA Alice
2. Lauren
3. MCM Mama
4. Lily On The Road
5. Carly
6. Sassy Molassy
7. Amanda
8. Aron
9. Mrs. Busy Girl
10. Sun Runner
11. Nancy
Phew.. That was a lot of work. Alright all, keep on rockin!
9. Favorite band?
10. Mac or PC?
11. Favorite season to work out in?
11 Tagees chosen at random from my reader:
1. AKA Alice
2. Lauren
3. MCM Mama
4. Lily On The Road
5. Carly
6. Sassy Molassy
7. Amanda
8. Aron
9. Mrs. Busy Girl
10. Sun Runner
11. Nancy
Phew.. That was a lot of work. Alright all, keep on rockin!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
