Annapolis 10 Miler!!!

After beers, football and fence working yesterday, the 5:00 AM wake up for the ride to Annapolis didn't strike me as very enjoyable, but no matter, got up and took off just the same. Got to the stadium and felt pretty tight and rotten in general and didn't anticipate a great race. After meeting up with Dana and working our way towards the front, the race began and we got started. Went out a bit quick, with the first two miles in 7:25 and 7:29, so I forceably pulled myself back some slowing up to finish the next miles in 7:41, 7:46, 7:59, 7:54, 7:40, 7:58, 7:46 and then despite a stabbing pain in my side, a final mile in 7:34, for a final time of 1:17:25, besting my PR by over four minutes! Afterwards we hung around for a bit to listen to some music and head over for brunch with Dana!!!

Easy run to loosen before Race tomorrow!

Got out for a nice easy 2.5 mile run to loosen up for the Annapolis 10 miler tomorrow. Took Cole again in the mildly humid morning, but once again he loved it (me not so much). Anyway, kept an easy 8:06 min/mile pace and felt ok the whole way. Hopefully that translates into a great race tomorrow.

2nd Morning Ride with Betsy in three days?!

Well Karen stayed an extra day, so after taking the day off yesterday (and thoroughly pigging out at all you can eat chinese) we got up this morning for another 20 mile ride. The wind was better today, but the weather was pretty much crap. It was relatively decent temp wise, about mid 70's, but it was misty/drizzly and overcast and just plain ugly. Being a bit short on time, we decided to do the same route as last time, although this time we cut off of 225 on the Indian Head Trail and took 210 all the way back. It was a decent ride, especially considering what I wanted to get out of it, but on the return up 210 I ended with a flat. It was a nice touch after the horrid day I had yesterday! Anyway, with self sealing tubes on my bike, I pulled out the offending piece of wire and used a CO2 cartridge to pump it back up, then had once more after that for good measure... so much for the self-sealing business. Anyway, that did wonders for slowing down our pace and then dropped our pace down to 18.3 mph. UGH... oh well, still good to get out.

Biking with Betsy!

With Betsy's mom in town, Betsy and I got out for a rare joint bike ride before work this morning! With track last night, we decided to take it easy and just get in a 20 mile ride, so we took off out to 224, back 225 then 210 then threw in Marshall Hall and Berry Hill to finish it off. Felt pretty flat, not terrible, but definitely not on top of my game and it felt like there was a stiff headwind initially. However, after a slow initial 5 miles, we picked up the pace maintaining >19mph most of the rest of the trip home. Overall, considering my goal for the ride, it was a decent workout. I think we have another morning to benefit from Karen, so I believe we will be biking again tomorrow morning!

Track!!!

Finally got back out for track after well over a month not being able to make it. So Betsy and I showed up to TC Williams and started with an easy mile warmup (8:24 min/mile), then stretched out and got into the workout, which was 2x1200 (5:00 and 5:06; 6:22 and 6:35 min/mile) then 4x600 (2:20, 2:24, 2:23 and 2:32; 5:44, 5:59, 6:08 and 6:29 min/mile), then a nice 1/2 mile cool down. Felt really good, legs were moving well, finally felt like I wasn't overly tight and overall am really happy with the workout! Great workout...

Afternoon run with the boy!

Got home and even though it was a bit later than I had hoped, I got out for what was to be a nice easy recovery run. We got started and after a couple quick stops to pee and adjust, got moving and finished off the 4 mile run in 32:54, keeping pace at 8:09 min/mile. Was quite amazingly consistent, putting miles in 8:07, 8:08, 8:11 and 8:12! Felt pretty decent and was happy that I was able to give a nice recovery effort without ending up pushing harder than I wanted. Felt great overall and looking forward to the Annapolis 10 miler this weekend.

Sunday Ride with Dana!

Went out and did the Mt Carmel ride with Dana! Got going pretty well, keeping a >19 mph avg for most of the ride, but just before the hill on Bumpy Oak, Dana started having some issues with dehydration making the last 10 miles rather rough on him. There is nothing worse than bonking on a ride. Anyway, we still had a great ride and it was great to get back out with him, it had been a long time! Got back, had some grilled cheeses, some gatorade and the a beer before heading over to a friends for a cookout.

13 mile long run... UGH...

We had a huge thunderstorm this morning around 4 am, extending my streak to 5 days, oh sorry thats the streak of days where I have woken up around 4am and not gotten back to sleep. Didn't help that the thunderstorm was so loud that Shelbi freaked and tried to hide under my bedside table, then me, before finally settling on hiding under the bed itself. But she has always been afraid of thunder, so can I really blame her? Anyway, we got going a bit later than we wanted, starting to run around 7:45 or so, but because of the rain and the continued overcast we didn't pay too dearly for it. We decided to run north on the Mt. Vernon trail, getting to our typical turn around point and deciding that we would rather continue on to get as much in on the northern swing before turning around, in the end deciding to just run 7 miles north, turning around to finish the 13 miles just before we got back to the car at Belle Haven. Felt really tight and tired again, so it was quite a tough run, with me having to stop and stretch a couple times along the way. Either way though, we finished and kept the pace around 8:30 min/mile, finishing miles in 8:33, 8:11, 8:27, 8:28, 8:17, 8:25, 8:25, 8:45, 8:28, 8:38, 8:26, 8:22 and then finishing at 8:44. Now, nap time.

Riding before work

I missed out on my workout yesterday due to a really long day at work, so with us going to dinner tonight, I wanted to get my bike ride in first thing this morning. Got out and was still debating where to go ride, first thinking to bike down to Indian Head, then changing my mind and thinking I would do the short Mt. Carmel, but after dropping down the hill on 227, I noticed that the Rail Trail was paved off of 227 going towards White Plains. Wow, the wind was rough and my legs were TIRED. Couldn't ever really get going, but still had a decent 25 mile trip, putting in an avg speed of 18.4 mph. UGH, anyway, road out to White Plains before turning around and taking a couple different roads back. Got home in time to shower and then head out to work, but still don't feel very recovered... And long run tomorrow... should be fun.

Muscle Breakdown on the Trainer

Well, today was a test of patience. I was supposed to go running with Mike on the Track at Bolling just after noon, but I forgot my wallet and CAC card at home. So Mike and I were going to go do the 10k loop, but when we were supposed to meet it started to pour. I was then going to go for a run when I got home, but it started raining again. So it ended up coming down to a bike ride on the trainer after Cole ate dinner, taking a break about 1/2 way through to help put Cole to bed. Did the Muscle Breakdown workout and felt pretty good the whole way through. I was going to go mountain biking tomorrow morning, but that won't happen with all the rain. Think I will plan on a bike ride before work...