True Story!

I had some fun last night in the rain tapping out a 6.62 mile run (http://connect.garmin.com/activity/131629132) cut in half with some hill sprints.

Getting all tuned up for my Santa-Suit 5k in Burlington on December 10!

* * *

I'm on the train today and it's packed - standing room only. Faces pressed to the doors. This little man starts struggling through the crowd to get to the end of the car. "Excuse me! Please. I have to get through" ... but he gets no where cuz the train is packed.

"Please! I have to go and poo!" The guy is shaking. You can see he's fighting with every muscle to keep that stuff in. Everyone is astonished, but there's no way to get this guy through - the TRAIN IS PACKED!

So the guy beside me says, "I have a plastic bag. You can lay it on the floor, we'll turn the other way, you do your business and then when the train stops we can drop the bag into one of the garbage bins."

The guy is elated. In seconds the passengers turn their heads to the separate ends of the car, and the guy is in action. It's starting to smell pretty bad, so the guy beside me says "I need to have a smoke or I'm gonna puke right here." He lights up.

Just then the guy perching over the plastic bag says, "Excuse me sir, this is a no-smoking car!"

Toughest Run I had In Eternity

Last night I did a tempo run. (N.B. all information in Imperial measure)

Here's how it looked on the weekly plan.

Thursday

1k intervals

6ish miles

2 mi wu + 6x1K @ 5K pace* w/90 sec recoveries + 1 mi cd

*5K pace = 9:31

I always trust the coach so 6-ish miles is under an hour of running for me ... so I timed my night to eat a light meal with my wife (P.S. Canadian Thanksgiving is in October).  Let the food settle.  Go for my run and be home before everyone got back, shower and read the last couple of chapters of Born To Run.

Here's how it turned out:

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/130756898

Split	Distance	Target	Avg Pace	Avg HR	Max HR
1	2		13:22	118	154
2	0.62	9:31	9:21	142	150
3	0.1		14:23	133	147
4	0.62	9:31	9:26	143	152
5	0.11		13:41	139	151
6	0.62	9:31	9:33	142	149
7	0.1		15:00	135	151
8	0.62	9:31	9:38	143	150
9	0.11		13:28	125	151
10	0.62	9:31	9:37	139	153
11	0.11		14:07	122	153
12	0.62	9:31	9:29	134	147
13	1		15:01	120	143
Summary	7.26		11:40	129	154
Interval	Ave		9:30	141
	Max				153

So how did 6-ish miles turn into 7 1/4 miles?  Why, for example, did I suck so much?  I was marathon-shuffling back on that last split ... I was tired!  Why, on the 8th split did I suddenly want to change hobbies and stop running and take up knitting?

Too many questions.  Here's a simple one:

I'm running the 5k Santa Suit run in Burlington on December the 10th (last year's report), what should my target pace be?

Man found alive on deserted island ... upset that he was found

Hi everyone,

Let me start of with a confession:

(1) My family, the love of my life, is intact, flourishing and being fruitful!
(2) I'm still running (and racing) ... and PR-ing BTW
(3) I've had to let a lot of the online social behavior slip because of time restraints and I didn't want my family to think I had time to blog but no time to hang out with them
(4) no real time to watch the stars, but we did do a little Jupiter watching in September with the family

Now, back to the regularly scheduled programming.

I'm sad to see Chris K disappeared, but happy it was for a good reason - golf clubs (those in the know, know; and those not in the know, don't).  Happy to see that Adam R is still crazy.  I see Emz and SUAR on Facebook sometimes, as well as Gene (who recently ran his first Marathon).  I've kept off dailymile but still live on Garmin Connect.  J. P. is turning me into a running machine.  Watch out Olympic try-outs-when-I'm-50!  I've seen a lot of you on Google+ like E. B., Matty O and Tim W.

In the last 4 months I've discovered some very annoying things:
(1) the Garmin has way too many features I don't use or need, and they are always in the way of the stuff I want to get to - let me change the menu system.
(2) the Garmin has this thing with me in long races or runs ... once I get into a stretch of running ... I get the message that the split database is almost full - Hey Mr. Garmin, I just had you linked to my computer to upload data, you know how often I run, can't you give me a message that says "backup or erase your on-watch database now since it will probably give you a message tomorrow when you run"
(3) my mizunos have to be the hardest shoe I have ever run in - it's like they've been steam rolled into hard plates of steel ... I put some gel inserts into them, but they're not as springy as my last pair of Asic Gels
(4) my ipod is not made for ease of use while strapped to my arm ... I'll need to write my own program for big fat buttons, no stupid graphics or animations, and no 20% power remaining beep or dialog box

One thing that is awesome though: when I get home my wife make s a protein shake for me.  Running in the sub-zero drizzle and wind is all worth it to see her do this.  She is the most awesome Angel on this planet!

* * *

I looks like blogging is an important part of what I do.  I've spoken with several colleagues and business associates (who don't run) and they've all mentioned I need to keep blogging.  The see me quitting.  I never felt I quit.  But apparently in the upper echelons, they don't like it when one of their underlings quits.