One run

So, I went for a run today and it felt good to be out. Sure, the legs were stiff, hammies were tight and I was fairly slow, but it still felt good to be on the road. We had a little snow flurry while I was out, so the scenery added to the overall vibe.

This morning, I had a killer ski day at Sugarbush while the kids were in lessons. It was cold, but I managed to get lifts with cool people and find some really good terrain. I got a couple of tips that Stein's Run, which I usually avoid, was beautiful due to four days of blowing snowguns on it. I went for it (despite some trepidation at the top) and made four more return trips. Challenging, but with great snow to make it doable. Fun.

Looking to get out running a few more times this week.

Yay!

Frigid air mass. Fierce headwind. Yay!
I love January. Really. Yay!

I haven't had a good run it seems in about two weeks. I don't if it's becuase I'm getting older, or what but this winter is a grinder. January has been awful. Cold, wet, icy, windy, really cold, busy at the job... I mean, really, who throws a shoe?

Today I ground it out into a headwind that at times just about stopped me in my tracks. It was like running uphill, a big hill, for like the middle 1.3 miles of my run today. I'd considered heading out for five. Knocked it to 4.2 and when I got to a point where I could turn and just do my 3.3, took the opportunity and went short. It was yet another unpleasant run, and the unpleasantness stems largely from the conditions -- seriously, the headwind gassed me, I was whipped. I kept telling myself as I ran "this is not a run on which to judge fitness. You are running into a 15-20 MPH steady wind with gusts to 35 and you are laboring because of that. It's the headwind, this is actually a good, tough workout, in a condensed period of time. finish it, get back to the house and mark it as done." I'm done with winter. Done.

Bye-Bye Zen

So, I've been running Zen for about the past year or so. By Zen I mean I just go out and do it. I don't time it, record the distance, monitor HR, pay attention to the weather (too much), ignore pace etc. I just try to let the run come to me, seek a flow and go. Well, it's time to say bye-bye to my Zen running experiment. I've got a bunch of double-digit-distance races coming up and a 10K in two weeks (less actually), and I need to train and I need to pay attention to distance and pace and HR and track my progress. I'm going to get my watch up and running again, I'm going to pay more attention to the weather (my legs froze this AM without a sufficient base-layer on and it was miserable), and while I'm going to look for the flow and let the runs come to me I'm going to buckle down a bit harder, work harder at running and being fit and bending my schedule to the run. There is a relentless logic to training -- the more you do the better you get the easier it becomes to train the more you can train the better you get and on, and on, and on. I dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 6:20, and was on the road by 6:30. It was cold and dark, but it felt good to be moving and good to know that whatever today brings, it won't make me miss my run. It's time get type-A about this thing. I'll be on the road tomorrow at 6:30 AM again. See you then.

Coupla Runs

I got out for 3.5 milers tonight and Monday, variations on the same Central Park route. Aiming to get in another, similar distance on Friday afternoon, and a 10k on Sunday with Ms. FA.

Saw a pair of GIANT raccoons in the Park tonight, and a solo raccoon on Monday. Same spot, more or less, both nights. I don't like raccoons. At all.

Peace, fellas.

Signed up.

Manged to get my 3 runs in last week just under the wire again. Needed to run a quick 2 yesterday to do it. Out for a quick 3 this morning instead of the usual 6 as I was running late. Only two layers needed with the summer like weather! I did push the pace (8:15) to gauge my readiness for the Super Sunday 5k. Not sure if I'm going to set any personal records, but I don't think I've lost anything over the past couple of months either.

I also spent yesterday signing up for a couple of events. First is the St. Patrick's Day 10k on 3/20 in Holyoke. Mrs. BR has her class reunion on that weekend. Its been over 10 years since I last participated. The timing works well as I'd hope to step up to 10Ks this spring. I also signed up for the Timberman Triathlon sprint. Based on the number of waivers I had to sign, it's definitely going to kill me. Need to get into the pool. Swimming a few laps in between watching the kids this weekend isn't going to cut it.

Stick and Puck

A friend of mine who is new to our Monday night hockey crew planned to practice during stick and puck ice time today. I brought my skates and stuff to work and managed to get away for an hour to skate at lunch. We did some passing, shooting and one-on-one drills, and I managed to work up a sweat. It was fun, and got the blood pumping.

It was actually the perfect bluebird day for running today, so I was torn. I'm glad I took the social route and skated with a bud, but it was also nice to feel the pull of the running bug.

Later boys.

Unsatisfying and Cold

Got dropped off about 4.5 -4.75 miles from home this AM while Mrs. A dropped off Child Two. It was cold. I needed an extra layer on my legs, but didn't have it. My legs froze up. My lungs were not working at max capacity given the cold dry air and I ground out just about every step on this AM's trot. Like I always say "somedays you eat the miles, somedays the miles eat you." Consider me chewed up and spit out today. It was a character builder for sure. Glad it's over.

A Pair

I've gotten in a couple this week. A solid handful on Sunday and another solid handful today. The Sunday I enjoyed it and modulated my pace to keep it interesting and spent some time thinking things over. It was a good and fun run. I was scheduled for yesterday but the weather was Nasty (note the capital "N") so I bailed. I got out today though it was pretty good. Footing was crummy, lots of crud, rhime, water and poor footing. I enjoyed it though, and it was good to get out in the middle of the day.

I signed up for the Timberman Tri. That should be fun. Weekend at PR's place in August!

Hanging On

Managed to get my 3 runs in this week despite another stressful week at work. I don't usually run on the weekends as there's usually too much going on and I'd rather cross train anyway. However, ran 7.5 today to keep the new year's resolution going. Definitely sore now, but nothing injured. One more week of hell then, hopefully, back to a normal routine. Need to get in the pool more if I'm actually going to survive a tri sprint this summer.

Quickie

Got out for a quickie three miler tonight. Work has been brutal. I've run very little. Just signed up for a NYRR 15k on March 28, hopefully will bring a little focus and motivation.

Peace, fellas.

P90x Day1 Again and Timberman Registration

Hi all,
Started up P90X with the goal of completing at least three lifting days a week with three days of Cardio. The lifting felt great and I cannot begin to tell you how good this makes you body feel.

I have signed up for the Timberman Sprint Triathalon:
http://www.ironmantimberman.com/sprint.php

If you are interested, would love to have some company.

Next year will be the Half Ironman.

Hope you all are well.

Workmanlike run

I was inspired to go for a 3 miler today at lunch. I think it was seeing the sun for the first time in quite some time. The run was uneventful, just plodding along really. Pace was decent, no pain, not a ton going on mentally. Just glad to be out and pleased that I decided to up and go. It was a little like a reintroduction to myself, or a part of myself.

Cool serendipitous moment -- I showed up for our weekly dinner at a friends' place, and Mrs. VTR handed me an impromptu gift. It was a book on running (forget the title at the moment). How cool that she gave the book today, the first time I've run in a few weeks.

Catching up on other exercises -- skied on Saturday (more fun than anything else). Hockey on Monday night -- wicked workout as usual.

Later boys.

Wages of Sin

I did a strong 5 this afternoon even though the run was sluggish and crummy . I bailed yesterdy when I couldn't find the gear I needed to run in the cold and got really frustrated. Footing was tough, and afterward my calves got all tight and lousy feeling. It could be the footing, it could be some dehydration, not sure. My pace was all over the place, and I'm attributing it to the major league meal we prepped for my parents as their Christmas gift and the two Negronis and the wine. You reap what you sow, and the wages of sin are steep. It was good to get one in early this week, I'm feeling consistency building. I'm two weeks from the start of the Vermont City Marathon training , and therefore 20 weeks from race day. I'm about 4 weeks from the Super Sunday 10K; 8 weeks from NooBeffid Half, and 12 weeks from the Cherry Blossom Ten. Spring is shaping up nicely which is good because I'm sick of January.

Props for Ms. FA

I am not running today but wanted to shout out Mrs. FA. She made it into the NYC 1/2 Marathon by lottery, and started training today. I just dropped her six miles up the road, and she is running home right now. It is 13 degrees out there today, and she turned her back on a toasty home and a fresh pot of coffee to get started strong. I'm psyched for her, and am excited to train with her as she prepares for the big run on March 21.

Dissocisation

I thought a lot about disociation tonight while I ran.
It was dark and cold and snowing lightly. I got in a solid four and felt pretty good.

I thought about a woman who counts her steps/mile (British marathoner, world class, her name escapes me). I tried it and it nearly blew up my run -- it was awful, by the time I got to 70 I was bored and getting increasingly tired. I stopped counting and walked a few steps to shake off the negativity of that experience. Counting steps is not a dissociative trick for me, anyway.

What did work well for me was creating a running haiku, this one is sort of the best one:

Running in the dark
Snow falls upon the pathway
A Fire burns inside

I also posted it to the cherry blossom training site. Actually, it's all I posted over there.

Work sucks

Started off the first Monday of the new year with a positive attitude. Ran 6+ in the morning at a ridiculously slow pace due to the footing. But I didn't care. Happy to get the miles in and kick off the new year with my first run. Then one of my best managers gave his notice at 10:00. 2010 will now suck. Oh well. Runs will be hard to come by for a couple of weeks while I scramble to cover his responsibilities. Managed 3 this morning at an average pace on an ad hoc route. Running in town these days is an adventure. For the record, my weight was 186 on Monday. I'll update on Mondays until I hit the wedding weight, 177. Peace out.

Planetary Alignment

So, just because I've got a Posterous account with other folks doesn't mean I'm abandoning this -- you are my boys and this is our blog. The Posterous move was an experiment to see what it's like to do a team blog over there -- it's smooth and easy and provides an alternative forum for people to share training stories.

I've been goofing with running this past year and it's time to get serious. I did 5.2 today, and including cool down walk it was all done in ~50 minutes. I felt good. It was cold and dark and the footing uneven in places but it was nice to get out and 5.2 is the furthest I've done in a while. I need to go in the mornings and that's a goal for the new year return to AM trots.

The stars were out and Mars & Jupiter were in the sky, so it was cool to be out. I did two 40 minute yoga workouts with Mrs. A this past weekend and we might try and do another tonight. It felt good and it was tough. I'm looking to work more of that sort of stuff too this year, focus on the whole body. One 20 minute session did lower body, and the other did upper -- I enjoyed and felt better the next day though the lower body workout made my legs sore which was totally unexpected.

New Year

Got out for 3.68 miles tonight. I thought the cold was going to be uncomfortable, but it wasn't so bad. Aiming to run at least 40 miles in January. I find out whether I made the NYC 1/2 Marathon Lottery tomorrow. Will post.

All Is Quiet

"All is Quiet on New Year's Day..." except for the 170 or so crazies running in my town's New Year's Day 5K. I was not anticipating any land speed records, and don't know how I did though I think I was in the top third or so of finishers, which is respectable. I was strong throughout the run and maintained a good pace. I was familiar with the course since I've run most of it a hundred times -- with the exception of one funny little part of the course which I've never done though I've run by those streets a hundred times. The course was sort of slick with snow and ice, but nothing unmanageable.

I Saw a woman I knew from my last corporate employer and I caught her around 1.5 and ran a bit with her. She told her husband she was tired and I dropped the hammer, as much as I could, and broke away from them. I finished with a good kick and beat her by about 45 seconds.... no reason for the animus except that she's worked 10-plus years for the worst company I ever worked for, goes on the road for long stretches and has no children, so, somewhere, deep down inside, we have fundamentally different value systems. She beat me a couple of years ago during the town's 4th of July race, so now it's onto this year's 7/4 RR and the rubber match. Nothing really to report, beyond this except that I'm happy with this run and it's a good confidence builder.

Happy New Year. Here's a to a year of running and fun.