Week of whatever week it is this week

Monday - 6 on IF. Achilles a little sore, nothing major. I had to finish off the turkey so I ran from home late. I did turkey stew and pulled BBQ turkey. If I'm ever cannibalized I hope that I'm used as completely as that poor bird.

Tuesday - 8 sweet workout challenge with a little help from Owen. I slept through my alarm but a text from Tom woke me up. It said:
"2 miles 4:57, 4:57. 5 minutes rest. Good luck with that shit." Nark also rose to the challenge, unfortunately he slipped, fell and landed on a dick. I blame the altitude.

I ran 4:54 and 4:53- Owen ran the miles with me (he also ran a mile during my rest interval). Hopefully this advantage is offset by the "beers the night before multiplier." The workout isn't exactly scientific training, but it was loads of fun. When I was in good mileing shape I felt like when I hit 400 to go a clock would start ticking down and when it ran out I'd completely blow up. The trick was to finish the race before the clock ran out. I got the same feeling on both of the intervals-good thing I closed in a blazing 71 and 70. Great workout. I hope I can get Nark and Tom to try another challenge on Friday.

Wednesday - 8 in 62 minuets on a crazy greenbelt run. I knew I had to work late so I skipped out for a run on the greenbelt. Unfortunately I misjudged the daylight and at 6:00, after 10 minutes of running it was so dark I had to turn around. Then I saw lights bobbing towards me from some mtn bikers out for a night ride. They said they were going "all the way" so I latched on and said a prayer to the ankle god. I didn't know that by "all the way," they meant about 3.5 hours, rather than 5 miles to the end of main trail. They were pretty nice guys and they dropped me off on a freeway that I had to take back to my car. Really hammered the freeway part since it was dark and there was no shoulder, other than that I ran pretty slow. After not knowing where I was or if I was going to have to feel my way out of the woods, it was a lot easier to go back to work.

Thurs - 6 little run around the house with new shoes. Running in the Reebok Premier Road ($40 on eastbay). They've got a little post to them, but it didn't seem to bother me. Legs are pretty tired from the last two days and I'm a little tired from an uncharacteristically tough week at work.

Fri - 9 took a little nap after work and then did a slow 9 miles on the streets near me. I felt better than I expected.

Sat - (7/4) am 7 with Owen. Tired from a late night, but felt ok. pm 4 with Adam and Dave. A little tired. If I can get through a long run I'm going to take a really easy Monday.

Sun - 12 "long run" with Dave. I got that long run feeling despite the fact that we only ran 12 miles. The knee was pretty tight but it held up OK. Tired, but understandable at the end of a big jump this week.

week - 60 miles. I haven't run this much in a long time. Feeling pretty motivated by the weekly workout challenge. Very happy with the week.

Week of Nov 25th

Monday - 4 around IF. Very sore, especially the hamstrings. Ordered a new pair of reeboks. My shoes are so old that my feet start to hurt if I run anywhere but the soft grass at IF. IT band didn't really bother me, but not really testing it out with 4 slow miles. Thinking about banditing a turkey trot.

Tuesday - 5 around IF. Met a guy named Adam who used to run for Swarthmore. He hammered by me and then I sped up to run a couple laps with him. Seemed like a nice guy. Hamstrings still pretty sore and grabbing up a little. Not a bad time to be focusing more on getting healthy rather than mileage as everyone is away for the weekend.

Wednesday - 7 on the greenbelt. Skipped out of work early and hit a great run. If I can get my IT healthy enough that I don't have to ice it, I could see myself cheerfully running 10 miles here every day. Excited about thanksgiving!

Thursday - 4 in between bastings.

Saturday - 10.5? 75 minutes on the greenbelt. I had to make a few stops since I had the spicy chili at Texas Chili Parlor yesterday. The greenbelt was almost deserted, every time I took a dump I'd pop up behind the same guy and scare the crap out of him. By the third time I stopped feeling bad. Great run.

Sunday - 11 77 minutes on the greenbelt starting from the 360 jump off point. Ran out of trails at about 33 minutes. If the water was a little lower I could have crossed. Not too tired from yesterday and the knee feels pretty good. L hip flexor a little sore from 2 "big" runs in a row and the slippery muddy ground. Great to be out.

Week - 41 good last few days and the knee is starting to feel a little better. I bought a punch hard for the Hyde Park Gym. If I can get one good lift a week I think it will really help me stay healthy.

Week Ending 11/18

Tuesday - 4 on IF in the evening. I was still a little sick from a McGriddle in the Chicago Airport. Only eating 2 hot pockets and a McGriddle (obviously) for the last two days probably didn't lend to the overall good feeling either. IT didn't bother me, but I did notice it, which isn't a good sign only running 4 miles. I've countered with a leg strengthening program that includes wall sits while in the shower and weird exercises while watching TV. Great program. I'm not even a doctor, more like a scientist.

Wednesday - 5 run around with Nark. Topped if off with an epic stride/race. Imagine going down to your local track and running 100 meters in 15 seconds. That's what we did.

Thursday - 6 run with Nark around the neighborhood. Checked out bars and restaurants for the night. Pretty psyched about the upcoming hold steady show. Nark runs faster than I usually do. This is a bad sign

Saturday - 6 or 9 or 13 warmed up then did 20 diagonals a soccer field at IF. Pretty tough, but felt good to be doing it. IT not too much trouble. I lifted with a free 7 day gym membership. I ran to the gym and back, which doesn't really count as mileage. Also the 4 mile run home from downtown. Stopped a few times but generally ran absolutely as fast as I could. Not sure how nark kept up in sandals. Not a good sign.

Sunday - 4 Ran down to get the car. Very sore from yesterday. Should not have run home.

Per Ms Cullinan Esquire

Week of TX to AK and back

Monday-9 fix the leg tempo. I ran 3 miles to the track and then did a 3 mile tempo in 16:07 (5:21, 5:24, 5:22). I normally don't like doing tempos on the track, but I wanted the flattest most consistent surface I could find. IT band felt comparably good and felt great this morning. I had what Owen calls "workout stomach" despite the fact that the tempo was neither fast not long. I see two reasons for this 1. I'm not in very good shape 2. I don't run at this effort level very often and I think my core needs to get up to speed. I think I pushed myself and my IT band just hard enough. It is encouraging that I can put in this type of an effort and not set my shit back.

Song of the ....

"Southern Rock" by a band for Providence. Small act, so I don't know much about them. Hate the name, like the song. Deer Tick- Baltimore blues No. 1.

The bug on the left is a male deer tick, the middle a female deer tick. The gigantic bug is the wood tick. See, now you learned something.