The Cross

I don't know the total mileage we did.  I am putting it down as 11.5. (comes out to 9:16 pace so seems about right)  We added some distance, cause we couldn't park where we normally do.   The park was roped off for some reason.  We parked closer at a school, and that took a good 2 miles off our route I guess.  Jerry, Jim, and I ended up adding more than we were supposed to.  We went too far at the new turnaround point.  It is a hard run.  I forgot how hard it was.  I only did "The Cross" once before.  Here are some pictures from not even the hardest leg.

 

  

Like I said it is a pretty hilly course!  There is no hiding here either.  The strong ones appear.  Bob and Kristen were the strongest.  The guy I carpooled with was stronger than someone else from the group, which surprised me.  He typically is slower in speed work, but was stronger today in the hills.  We learned a lot of stuff.  Jim is stronger than me and Jerry too.  We always caught up to him at the gatorade/water breaks.  :)  Only other thing to add to this was I felt great at the end, and kicked it into a pretty high gear for the last 1/2 mile to the car.  

Really not much else to report.  I was tired the rest of the day yesterday.  My nap was cut short, and so I just chilled the rest of the afternoon/evening.  I went to bed early, got a good night's sleep, and obviously am up early this morning.  

I am going to make @ Lisa some pancakes this morning.  A little later.

Hope you have a great day!!  :) 

Now That Was Early!!

Now most people know I wake up pretty early.  Last night was crazy.  I saw the clock, and it said 2:18, so I figured I better get up.  I am up putzing around doing my blog thing I like to do.  Checking out twitter,  checking out FB, and boom.  What the hell??  It is like 1:00 a.m.  Now that is even early for me.  Clock must have said 12:18.  Ahahahaahahaa!!  Oh well,  I went with the flow. I actually felt pretty good and rested, so stayed up. 

How good of a putzer am I?  I woke up 7 hours before my scheduled time, and  around 4-1/2 hours before I wanted to get into work.  I showed up 20 minutes after the time I wanted to show up to work.  Now that my friends is good putzing. 

Anyway I had a lot of energy yesterday, so was able to get some stuff done around the house.  Clean the kitchen,  (it is a mess already.), laundry, and an hour on the trainer.  Lisa switched the family room around.  It was a pretty good evening.  I had a couple drinks for the fun of it.  I also talked to Hal on the phone.  We now can text each other.  YIKES!!!

Today is "The Cross"  10 miles of hill running.  Woo Hoo!!

Have a great day!!!

Lazy Thursday

Now obviously I didn't break any sleep records yesterday, what with only 4 hours.  I was a bit tired at work, so took a nap during lunchtime.  It helped.  Luckily I don't need a lot of sleep, but typically I need more than 4 hours.  :)  I decided to take Thursday off from workouts. 

I have some tough decisions coming up with swimming.  Lisa and I have a plan worked out to get rid of some debt.  Tomorrow most of our profit sharing goes out of our account to help on that end.  We will be aggressive paying down our main credit card debt through August.  That means we will be under tight budget constraints.  I think we can help ourselves out a bit by working just a bit more.  I try and work 41-42 hours, and Lisa tries to stay around 25.  Remember we are not the best budgeters...or should I say stick to budgeters, but we'll try and be better now. 

That tight budgeting comes at a time where my aquatic center membership is coming due.  What to do what to do.  Pay for a year, pay for 1/2 year, or not renew.  It also is coming at a time where my swimming is not that great, as my back still hurts when I swim so all my workouts are pretty short.  We'll see what happens.  Oh and I can do push ups pull ups and abs at home.  Tough decisions.  We'll see what happens.  I'll figure it out as the time comes. {I have been slacking at push ups pull ups and abs lately too.}  :(

That is about it today.  I woke up early again today.  Actually on accident.  I misread the alarm clock.  I thought it said 2:18.  I have been up since before 1:00 a.m.  :)  Crazy I know.  I went to bed early last night though as I took a sedative to help me sleep. ;)

Hope you have a great day!!

Back to back = sluggishish

I am pretty sure sluggishish is a word.  I haven't looked it up, but cannot quite possibly comprehend a world where it wouldn't be a word, so it must be a word.  Yesterday was a busy day. 


First off I woke up late, due to the Tuesday night thing we did.  I went to bed at 10:00, so I slept in til 4:00.  Last night I went to bed at 9:00 so naturally I woke up before my alarm I don't set at 1:00.  Currently it is 2:00.  Important info I know. 

Anyway, I worked, came home, FB'd a tiny bit, took the dogs for a walk, folded some laundry, cleaned the kitchen, shoveled the driveway, and took a little 10 minute nap before speed work.  Lisa has been finishing up the bathroom; tile, molding, and stuff.  She is getting really good with the air nailer.  :)

Speed work last night was same road.  We did 8-600's with 400 recovery.  4 hard ups and 4 hard downs.  My legs weren't that great.  Obviously night time is not my best running time, but I still gave it a pretty good effort.  Jim was not feeling well, so stopped short, and I pretty much ran by myself.  A lot of people in the group are faster than me, and a few slower.  My 600's + recovery were at low 8:00 pace.  I forget. 

I am wondering about my 5K coming up.  Not sure what speed I am at.  I know I am strong for a long distance, but not sure if I am fast for a short distance.  We will see.  Saturday is a "short" long-run.  We do "The Cross" .  It is a 10 mile all hill route.  up and down up and down.  I'll bring my phone to hopefully take pictures.  If it ends up being 3 degrees forget it.  Not going to freeze my hands off to take a picture.  :)

Next Wednesday we do something different too.  Some kind of wacky horrible hill on the lakeshore.  Can't wait...til its over.  :)

That is it

It is 2:13, now what am I going to do?? 

Have a great day!!  :)

Quick Update

I ended up running the 6 mile loop by myself last night.  Jerry didn't show up.  He is a plumber, so since he didn't show up it meant he had a work call.  That is good for him.  Probably the nicest plumber in the world.  We had a couple beers after our run, which was fun for a couple reasons. 


1.  cause it is.
2.  I got to meet someone new, who is also from 'burbs of Chicago.  (FUNNY)
3.  For some reason people opened up.  I learned stuff about them, and about me. 
4.  It was really a neat evening. 
5.  We are going to do it again next week.  :)

That is about it.  6 miles @ 8:13 pace.  I thought I might have been going faster, but guess I wasn't.  Legs felt pretty good last night.  Let's hope they feel the same way tonight.  They seem o.k., as I sit on the chair.  :)

Guess that is about it.  I got home late last night.  9:00, so I allowed myself to sleep in 'til 4:00 a.m.  Now I am going to have to rush, if I have any chance of making it close to 2-1/2 hours early for work today. 

Ha ha!!!

Hope you have a great day!!  :)

Livestrong

There sure aren't many posts on this blog.  Weird.  No I am just kidding.  Obviously I had a hard week last week.  Anyway I used one of the trainers at the Livestrong thing I did.  I liked it, so I bought a trainer for my bike.  Should I have?  I don't know, I know it will help me with cycling, and that is such a big boost to me for when I start cycling when the weather warms up.  After my swim (1250) I think I rode the bike downstairs for an hour.  I watched 2 Seinfeld episodes and an "Office" episode.  Well, at least 1/2 of one.  :)  I then ate some dinner and went to bed at...a pretty early time.  Maybe a little tired from all the typos this weekend.


Weird thing that happened.  I switched my checking account Friday at the Credit Union from a points based one to an interest bearing one.  I don't know why, I let them talk me into it.  They did it.  Gave Lisa and I new cards, but the funds didn't transfer from the one account to the other.  We bounced like 6 credits over the weekend.  I went and straightened it out.  They have that all figured out.  They still have the  $30 fees out of my account, but perhaps it will update those out of there this morning.

That is about it.  Tonight I run downtown, and maybe I'll ride the trainer some more.  Maybe not though too, my butt is sore.  It needs to get back into riding gear too.  My recollection is it usually only takes a week or so to get the butt unsore.  I think maybe I will just do pull ups and push ups before my run.  we'll see.  I have to go grocery shopping today too.  Need stuff for a few meals.

cya