30+ DRC 330

Last I posted, we'd had Boston. One "suspect" killed and the other captured after ALL of Boston was shut down. Amazing that. We'd also had the fertilizer plant explosion at West, Texas. There were 14 people killed, and part of a town leveled.

On something closer to home. My brat was supposed to have gone to Bakersfield for her last competition with her team. Umm . . . didn't happen. Of the three girls left, the brats best friend was nailed by a nasty flu. It got so bad for her that she was taken to the hospital. Everything turned out well, but there was no way her mom would risk taking her to competition in that condition.

They COULD have gone with just two girls, but the dance had already been drastically changed for three girls. They would have to relearn a completely new routine to compete. They ended up bowing out. I thought the chipmunk would have been devastated, but she was ok with it. It gave her a chance to go as a coach and see her Jr. Cubs go through their final tryouts. So everything turned out ok.

Last Monday I began a proper training plan for the Salinas Valley Half Marathon on August 3rd, 2013. Now the thing is, I've been running all year and my pace is usually in the 9's for my shorter distances of 1 to 2 miles. I start moving the distance up and so does my pace. When I do my four milers at the Toro Estates, I think I'm running 11:30 or something.

The beginning of the plan calls for 2 miles at 11:29. Nope. Too damn slow. I tried though.

Monday ("rest day"): 1.51 miles @ 9:29 min/mile pace
Tuesday: 2.05 miles @ 9:38 min/mile pace

Last Wednesday I had a midweek longer run of 5 miles. I was wary of it because I haven't run that kind of distance in a long time. I took the afternoon off from work (half a comp day) and headed to my chosen route. It's relatively flat until about the second mile where I start getting some little dips and rises. Not really hills. It's a big sidewalk meant for walkers and runners and it's about five miles long. Not too many intersections either because it's at the edge of town. Crossing the street wasn't too bad and I didn't have to stop at any (though I did have to sprint a couple to beat a few cars across).

Anyway, so I started the run and I tried to keep it slow but looking at the gps map, I started fast. The first mile was at 9:30. According to the plan, I was supposed to run it at 11:29. I tried, but I just couldn't. I ended the run at 10:07 min/mile. And I ran the whole thing non-stop. I usually have or two stops after the first couple of miles. That run surprised me.

Thursday ("rest day"): 1.46 miles @ 9:29 min/mile pace
Friday: 2.04 miles @ 9:55 min/mile pace

Saturday was weird. Friday night one of my cousins posted a picture of a tiny terrier up for adoption (free to a good home). Cutest little thing. I assumed that the dog was in Los Banos (about 45 minutes away from Salinas). I forwarded the picture that was posted on FB to my other cousin (the brats mom). She fell in love with it and asked me to find out if it was still available. It was and she wanted it.

Unfortunately it was in Bakersfield. 3 frickin' hours away and I had already said I'd take it. So off to Bakersfield at 7 in the morning. Cute dog though, huh?

The brat was the only one who rode with me to Bakersfield. And she slept the whole damn way. We got to the house and the god is one hairy mess. Not so cute. It was a mop. She needed a groomer. We left the old owners and their daughter was in tears. They had to give it up because the daughter wasn't taking care of her. We could tell. She's a spoiled rat right now, but by next week my cousin and the brat will have a quiet dog. I don't know how they do it. They could give Cesar Millan lessons. And the brat did a pretty good job at trimming her that night. Got rid of most of the knots!

So Saturday ("rest day"): 1.49 miles @ 9:33 min/mile pace

Sunday was a shocker for me. This was supposed to be my Long Run for the week. 8 miles at 11:29 pace is what the plan called for. I figured I'd get that with the walking I'd do. I was sure I'd be walking at some point. But I guess I prepared right the night before. I went to Round Table with some friends and had pizza and Sierra Nevada. Lots of pizza and beer. I don't like eating before a run and I knew I'd need something to keep me going. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I got up at 6:30 am Sunday morning and made myself some strong coffee using Sweet Maria's Clever Dripper:

I highly recommend one if you love making your own coffee. You steep your coffee like you would with a French Press, but you don't get all the gritty grounds. I used some Santa Cruz Roasting Company French Roast beans. Love the stuff.

Soon enough, I took the Browns to the Super Bowl and out the door I went for my run.

The fastest I got was a 9:12 and that was only within the first couple of hundred yards then I relaxed and really slowed it down. Slow and steady I took it. I forced myself to relax (oxymoron?) and breath from the belly and lower ribs. Something I've been practicing for a while, the lower ribs part. Next thing I knew I was at the turn-around and circled back. The return trip I was struggling a bit every once in a while. I'd go through surges of high energy and low. I realized that I was starting to tense up again. So I just relaxed and took comfortable breaths.

At some intersections I had to sprint across before the light turned red on me and those felt really good! But I would pay for those sprints a bit later. But I just kept going . . . relaxed.

I think at around the 5th mile, I started to feel my shoulder begin to bug me. Strange since I hardly move my arms when running. I keep my elbows in barely move my arms back and forth. I had this stupid thing running in my head that it was a sign of a heart attack. My arm wasn't going numb, just aching at the joint. I'd make windmills to try to loosen it up and that helped.

I was also beginning to feel my hip flexors. They were getting sore. But I was able to finish the run relatively comfortably.

Sunday (Long Run): 8.01 miles @ 10:34 min/mile Pace

I was already grinning like a damn fool before I finished my run. I knew I was going to finish it non-stop. I just didn't expect to see my average pace to be that low! That let out loud "YEAH!" when I saw it. Unfortunately it was still early for a Sunday in that area and no one was around to share in my excitement. So sad. But I called Steve. He's one of the people that encourage me and tell me to push harder. I'm brush him off and take it at my own pace, but I accept the encouragement! He's struggling with an injury right now and is really jealous of my fat ass right now. But he was happy for me.

My VFF Bikila LS's were great! Those toe shoes are awesome. My feet and legs felt great, even now a day later. My hip flexors are a tad sore, but nothing like yesterday. I have phantom aches in my shoulder, but it goes away quickly.

Tonight I have a short run since it's a "rest day". The title of today's post does say Day 330 of the Daily Run Challenge.

My next longish run is Thursday. 4 miles. It's a speedwork day. Included in that run is 2/1600 meter runs at 9:34 with 800 meter jogs/cooldowns. I could do 9:34 all day . . . not really. But it should be fine.

GD

p.s.

too damn long to check. run smiley :)

30+ DRC 319

It's been a pretty significant week, to say the least.

In the world view, it's what everyone has been talking about: The Boston Marathon.

Some moron with a grudge decided to pop some fireworks at a festive event. Several people killed and many, many more injured from shrapnel which consisted of nails purposefully embedded in the bomb and other shrapnel. Among the injured, children.

I'm going to guess this is a domestic born attack, like the Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995. That attack occurred on April 19th of 1995. My guess is this might be some type of anniversary thing from some wack-job. Not that I'm a conspiracy nut, it just seems like too much a coincidence. But I could very likely be wrong (very likely).

Then last night we hear about a fertilizer plant going off in West, Texas near Waco. This morning I heard that there are , so far, 15 dead and nearly 200 people injured. The explosion damaged 60 homes. And this morning I heard they haven't even accounted for people that may still be under rubble. This reminds me of those silo explosions you hear about every year. It's a terrifying job to have.

Pray for Boston.

Pray for West.

Damn straight!

Trisha Reeves of Barefoot Monologues had a great article she posted up on her blog about Boston Pride. This touched upon something that really ticked me off the day of the explosions. One of my cousins on Facebook mentioned that this was a sign that the world was "slowly, but surely, coming to an end". I went off on her. I posted a fairly long rebuttal to that along the lines of what Trisha wrote about. First responders and many, MANY good Samaritans jumping into danger trying to help others out not knowing if other bombs could have gone off!

I would like to think that I would have done the same had I been in that situation. But one never really knows until you are. I've been in situations where there have been serious accidents and I'm the one having to help out whomever is hurt because everyone else in struck dumb and in shock. Broken bones, blood everywhere . . . that kind of thing. But nothing like possibly being in personal danger of explosions or shrapnel.

Give those people the respect they deserve. There is much more good in this world than bad.

On a more personal view, this has been a trying time in my life.

Now that momma is back, I no longer am in charge of the chipmunk. My brat. My nightmare. Fortunately, I've been able to help out my cuz with both brats. The chipmunk is a cheer coach for the Steinbeck Jr Cubs and has been at tryout practice all this week. Her mom doesn't want ANYTHING to do with Steinbeck because of some personal issues she has with some of the advisors there. But she fully supports her daughter in her decision. She just will NOT help her get to and from practice. Guess who will?

So while I'm there already, I go for my run. Since I needed to start working on pavement, I thought I might as well begin there. And I've also began to increase my mileage. If you look to the right, you'll see I've almost doubled the miles for this week compared to last. I can tell you, it's been a tad difficult. My feet definitely feel the difference from the trail runs. I'm actually considering some sort of cushioned minimalist shoe! I'll give it another week and see how it goes.

My godson has soccer practice Wednesdays and Fridays and his games are on Sundays. So far, I've been taking him to practice and his games (3 so far). Mom has only been able to make it to one game because she's supermom and works her ass off to support her babies (overtime like a madwoman).

This weekend, the chipmunk will be heading off to her last competition with the rest of the Salinas Riptide (she's in Riptides Royalty song-pom team) to Bakersfield to some HUGE cheer competition/convention. So far the brat's team has won all their competitions. They are a tightly knit team. The bad thing is, they'll be going with only 3 girls of their 6 girl team and they had to make drastic changes to their choreography. The other three dropped out because the local high schools all have their cheer tryouts this weekend, too. But the brat still seems confident and excited.

I wanted to go and cheer her on, but the boy has his game on Sunday and the brat and momma will still be in Bakersfield for the last day of competition. So that is a bit of a downer. All I can do is tell her to kick ass and take names. She knows I'm there in spirit, at least. They'll keep me updated as to how things are going and I'm pretty sure they'll be blowing up Instagram and Facebook.

I can't wait to find out how they do.

GD

p.s.
didn't check. run smiley :)

30+ DRC 313

Friday the 313. Ooooooooooh.

Okay with that outta the way, check this out:

Before 2002. After April 11, 2013

The Before picture is from back in 2002. I got even bigger up until my scare in 2007. I can't recall if I've ever told the "Scare" story here before, so let me give you a quck recap.

Back in 2007 I was about 10lbs shy of 300 pounds. I KNOW that because that's what the doctor told me when I went to see them because I thought I was having the beginnings of a heart attack. What was discovered was that I had hypertension and was near diabetic. Both wonderful contributors to causing a heart attack in the near future.

As you can guess, that was a wake up call. My uncle passed because of complications with diabetes and a dictionary of other problems he added on to himself. He had to shoot insulin all the time and would still have monster amounts of sugar because he wanted too. He was a bit of a stubborn ass.

I mean that in the most loving way possible.

The point is, that was my wake up call to get my ass in gear and start changing things or I'd be saying hello to my uncle pretty soon again. I love my uncle, but I have no desire to see him quite yet. Again, said in the most loving way possible.

The doctor that gave me the rundown as to what was going on, was also a dietitian. She gave me a TON of information as to what would help me get started on the "road to recovery". I'll tell ya, changing one's ways after years of self-harm was friggin' hard. Just starting out the morning was a nightmare.

To begin with, my morning coffee was terrible. Black coffee by itself is very beneficial. The whole anti-oxidents thing and whatever. I still drink a shitload of BLACK coffee in the morning. But I didn't have black coffee. I'd load up my coffee with a shit-ton of creamer and massive amounts of sugar. It was the cafe-con-leche style my grandmother used to make us when we were kids. AND THEN, I'd have some mexican sweet bread or somthing like it. Maybe some super sweet oatmeal? Or a couple of PB&J sandwiches?

And I'd eat out A LOT! All the big chain fast food restaurants. And to end the week, lots of pizza and beer. And crappy beer at that. Bud, Coors, MGD . . . ugh, terrible.

At home wasn't any better. Too much food, not activity. But the "Scare" changed that. Diet drastically changed. I felt better after about a week. Any sugar I'd take in, would cause the symptoms to begin again.

Oh, they symptoms:

• Fast, hard heartbeat at rest (just laying in bed trying to get to sleep)
• Heavy pressure on my chest, like someone pressing down on it
• Scared shitless

I stuck with the whole reduced sugar thing for years, but I'd still get the symptoms every once in a while, just not as bad. Then in 2010, the YMCA started a free training program for the inaugural Salinas Valley Half Marathon. I'd always been a bit jealous of people who ran. I ran like a madman in highschool. It was FUN! But I no longer did it cause I was too damn fat and I got winded so quickly.

Free training?
Get in better shape,as in not round.?
Why not?

I still remember the first day of beginning the training. I had to run 1 minute and walk 2 minutes for 30 minutes. I thought it was going to be a piece of cake. FUCK. NO. I nearly collapsed after that first "workout"! The next day I had to walk half an hour. I was sooooo sooorrrre! The third day was the same and I was dreading it. It was so much worse cause I hurt like a mofo! Fourth day was walking again and still sore. Fifth and sixth day was more running.

Sunday I didn't want to move, but I took my bicycle to the Monterey Bay Recreational Trail and rode 20 miles. I went from Marina to Monterey and had fish'n'chips and an Arrogant Bastard. Walked around some for a few hours and got back on my bike and rode back to Marina.

My schedule was similar to that every week. Except I kept making the required improvements to be able to complete my first half-marathon. I finished my first half in 3 and a half hours. I was dry-heaving at the finish after cooling down. I now know it's because I didn't hydrate enough during the run. I'd only grab a cup at every water station. The year after, I completed the run in 3 hours. Last year, I finished in 2 hours 47 minutes.

For this year, my realistic goal is 2 hours and 30 minutes. My IDEAL goal is 2 hours and 15 minutes. That's a 10 and a half minute mile. I can't even do that on my 4 mile run right now. I've got a lot of work to do to be able to pull off my ideal. Which means a lot more distance to include in my runs now.

I'm gonna have to say goodbye to the Shitty-Work-Trail. I hate that trail. It's a hard run. I love it because it gave me time in the evening. But now that the daughters' mom is back, I can go for my long runs in the evening now. No more chintzy 20 minutes runs. Time to double up at least. Push for 4 right now at least every other day. And slowly increase. Gotta start using weights again. Ugh.

This whole workout thing, it's a love/hate relationship.

GD

p.s.
didn't check. run smiley :)

30+ DRC 302

Two days after what was supposed to be a milestone, my joints ache. Never really knew weather could make me feel like this.

And why is it a milestone? Idunnoknow. I guess because it has a couple of zeros in it. It's only a couple of days difference from today, which really isn't much of a difference.

So, yay me! THREE HUNDRED AND TWO straight days of running at least a mile a day!

Ok. Now that THAT is out of the way.

I've been achin' bad these last couple of days. It's not the exercises I've been doing. I've cut back on those because of the achy-ness (am I spelling "achy" right?). It seems to have come along with the muggier weather we've been having this last week. I've woken up sore before, but this is ridiculous!

I once asked my chiropractor (whom I haven't been to in over a year. Awesome!) if weather could really affect joint pain. He replied with an affirmative. He said gas bubbles can build up in the joints, and with changes in air pressure, the bubbles can cause stress in the joints.

Isn't biological science awesome? Ugh.

So . . .  the joint pain . . .


Once I get moving, I feel better. But it got bad enough Saturday morning that I didn't want to move much. I had intended to get up earlier for an 8am run. It was hard, I'm not gonna lie. But I convinced myself that it would go away once I got moving. It did, but it took half a mile of pain to get through. Not fun.

But then again, certain types of pain I'm a wuss about:

• I've sliced my hand open, no problem. A few stitches and I was good as new.
• I've dislocated my shoulder. Ow, but was lucky enough to have a paramedic on the opposing roller hockey team set it back in. That felt worse than the the popping out. Bastard friends all had a good laugh at it. Jerks. But it was something relatively quick and the soreness after wasn't horribly bad.
• I've had my wrist broken (roller hockey again) where I was doped up in time at the clinic to not really feel it. After the surgery a couple of days later, I was given this massive bottle of vicodin. Took'em for a couple of days and stopped. I'd rather deal with the pain than the stoppage . . . if you catch my meaning (and I made a couple of hundred bucks selling 'em). I think the statute of limitations is in effect by now.

Looking back on those incidences, and many others, I've dealt with them ok. I don't know why the joint pain is buggin' the crap outta of me now considering all the past stuff. Weird.

 I'm going to have to look into what may be going on. My upper body isn't as bad as my legs, but there is a bit of it buggin' me.

Is it age?

Am I finally gettin' old that I'm gonna be complaining of joint pain?!

Is that wood box not too far in my future?

Nah! At least not if I can prevent it!

GD

p.s.
no time to check. run smiley :)