Day: August 19, 2008

Training Question

Hey. for anyone out there in the RBF who still listens, I’ve got a training question.

For San Antonio, I’ve been on the following Schedule pretty regularly:

  • Monday – Easy run (Say 40-50 minutes)
  • Tuesday – Cross Train (Say 40 minutes bike or swim)
  • Wednesday – Tempo run with Fartlek (50-60 minutes with ~8 one minute accelerations)
  • Thursday – Cross Train (Say 40 minutes bike or swim)
  • Friday – Easy Run (30-40 minutes)
  • Saturday – Long Run (Standard marathon build up; two 20 milers planned)

At the end of this month, I’ve got 14 miles planned on the 30th by the schedule. BUT, there’s two events that weekend – the Nike+ Human Race on the 31st and the New Haven 20K on the first. So my plan for the weekend is as follows:

  • Friday – Easy run, 40 minutes
  • Saturday – Rest
  • Sunday – Nike 10K (replaces Monday’s planned run, I’m not planning on going 100% hard)
  • Monday – New Haven 20K (Replaces the week’s long run)
  • Tuesday – back to the schedule with the cross training and the regularity.

I end up giving up two miles, but get the 20K race. So, whadda y’all think? Does it work?

It’s good to be the dad

Hey, y’all.

I’m still here. Doin’ well, in fact. Running. A lot.

But, I’ve been working. Work is good. Really good, in fact. But, time is short (I’ve been sleeping).

I got to catch up with RandomDuck (aka Rudi, who’s got a great new theme) down in DC. Good food, great conversation, and a neat trip around Dupont (who, interestingly enough was Navy). Man, I need to get on the bike.

I will pass on one tidbit, both bike and running related: Sometimes, being a dad is an amazing thing. A couple of weeks ago, I had 8 miles on the Saturday long run. I was getting ready to go, and said “Hey, Jake (oldest boy) – do you want to try to ride your bike around the river with me?”

“Sure,” said Jake.

I thought “Crap” – my initial fear was that this was going to be disaster – 8 miles for an 8 year old boy on a BMX-ish bike is a long, long frackin’ way. But, I figured there wasn’t much to lose, so we laced ’em up, and went for the run.

Let me be honest for a bit – my goal at San Antonio is to finish, as it’s been nigh unto 3 years since I’ve done 26.2, I’m still above 170 lbs with the hard part of marathon training just kicking off (the bit where you’re ravenously hungry all the darn time and can’t really lose any weight and still focus for more than 30 seconds), and I haven’t been completely on schedule until about 3 weeks ago (and I still missed an easy run last week).

So, part of the loop around the Mystic River (not the one from the eponymous movie, but the one from the Pizza) included a stop at the coffee shop to say howdy and get a drink. About 10 or 15 minutes of break, then back to the bike/sneakers.

Jake’s great to ride with – full of questions, and starting to “get it” as far as riding in traffic goes. We’ve been watching the ospreys that nest on the river all summer, and it’s been fun talking to him about their recovery. Actually, the questions get kind of old about the 7 mile point, but they keep him engaged.

The first trip was great. Jake pooped out on the hill on River Road and had to walk, but there wasn’t any complaints until he realized we were about a half mile from the house. And then, the complaints were about being hungry.

The experiment’s been a success – the next week, he started asking if we were going about Wednesday, and last week was great – he just wanted to be sure we’d had breakfast first. The last two weekends, we’ve actually done the double – Jake and I would do the long run, then Nate (the younger) would beg to go for a bike ride. So, we headed down to go see the Art festival one weekend, and just to look at the river the next.

So, yeah, I’m digging life. It’s cool when you don’t have to work getting the kiddos to like fun stuff.