"This is the 2nd best idea that we've ever had!"

TRAINING LOG:

(link to video; uncensored language, NSFW w/o Headphones)

I made a comment the other day that I never seem to do anything half-assed; it's either no-assed or full-assed.  I immediately realized that, of the three options, half-assed really sounded like the best option!  So, in the spirit of half-assedery, here's what I've been up to.








Monday, May 2nd -- LIFT! 
Class at the gym; upper body abuse with barbells & dumbbells.  Some lower body work via lunges, deadlifts, squats.  
2011-MAY-02 Diet Log

Tuesday, May 3rd -- 10x400 Intervals Run. 
First interval run in a few weeks.  This one felt really good.  Ran in my Saucony Fastwitch 4 race shoes to see how the felt (and they were awesome!).  I'll do one more outdoor run in them leading up to the race to calibrate my Nike+ sensor to the shoe and validate that they're still in good shape for a kinda long run.
2011-MAY-03 Nike+ Treadmill Graph -- you'd think they could figure out a way to better interpret the raw data; these graphs look like CRAP!
2011-MAY-03 Diet Log

Wednesday, May 4th (Star Wars Day -- May the 4th be with you!) -- Kettlebells
I went in to class with the idea of staying light and using only the 16kg KB.  I ended up doing some fun double-KB work with the 12kg KBs (squats, swings, 24kg total) and a few get-ups with the 24kg.  Mike put together a circuit from hell that included get-ups, swings, push-ups, snatches, mountain-climbers, squats, double-jumps with the jump rope, and a few other nuggets.  First time I've started get physio-pukey in a while!  So much for 'taking it easy!"
2011-MAY-04 Diet Log


Thursday, May 5th (AKA Cinqo de Wy-o, so named after our first ferret from long ago, Wylie, who was born on May 5th) -- 8 mile run @ marathon pace.
What the plan did NOT call for was putting a BF Hill (~ 400' of elevation change in a mile) in the second half of the run (profile w/ pace, below).  This was another hard run at race-pace, but ultimately a successful one.  The iTouch was dead for this run thanks to Apple's "genius" idea to permanently keep their Game Center connected via WiFi, thus draining the battery in a day.

2011-May-05 RunKeeper Map (public) and run stats
2011-May-05 Diet Log

Friday, May 6th -- WhatWhatWhat? Another run?
It was too nice to be inside.  With all the rain and cold we've had, I couldn't pass up a sunny & 50s noontime outing.  Instead of doing my Cardio class, a few of us from work went out for a slow 5 mile run (avg. pace ~ 10:00/mile). Over the last quarter mile, I added a bit of speed at each telephone pole until I was at an all out sprint for the last 50 yds or so.
2011-May-06 Nike+ Run Graph -- Pace/Distance is off.  My stride was much shorter at the slower pace, so more steps = Nike+ thinking I ran faster/further than I did.
2011-May-06 Diet Log

Saturday, May 7th -- 20 mile run... or not.
Scheduled for a 20 mile run, was gunning for around 22.  The run was also prescribed at being 15 seconds off my race pace, but I had already made the decision to run closer to a 9:00 pace to better work the muscles used for "easy effort" running.  Part way into the first of what was going to be two 11 mile loops, I realized that this was a) the first time I'd run 3 days in a row and that 22 miles would put me over the "no more than a 10% increase in weekly mileage" guideline for training.

I ended up re-routing myself after the first loop and shortening the run to about 17 miles.  This still had me running constantly for two and half hours (a good long run).  Even though this was well off my expected race pace, the goal for every workout at this point is to stay healthy.  If I ran longer on this day, I ran the risk of over-taxing my body and affecting the rest of my training leading up to the marathon.  I still have 2 more hard runs (one interval, one tempo) before my training starts tapering off to get ready for the race.

2011-MAY-07 RunKeeper Stats (stopped RunKeeper when I stopped running.  I walked home for the other third of mile that shows up on Nike+)
2011-MAY-07 Nike+ Run Graph
2011-MAY-07 Diet Log -- Came up over 800 Kcal short today and relatively light on water.

Sunday, May 8th (Happy Mother's Day)
Spent the day with my folks, Laura's folks, and family friends in 'dolph.  Ate way too much, then ate some more.  I consider it compensation for being so far under my calorie goal yesterday.  No diet logging today.