Saturday morning I was awoken by a little four year old girl looking to find a place to sleep for a another hour or two at 5:30AM. I obliged her by moving over and trying to fall back asleep (I was successful). Around 6:45AM the seven year old decided that it was time to get up because (as I would find out later that night), she likes to get up early on the weekends so that she has more time to play, unlike during the week when she has school. I wish I could subscribe to her logic, but I just can't. I wish that I could have stayed in bed a bit longer but the dog was whining and I remembered that we ran out of dog food the night before so I had to get some clothes on and run out to ACME to get some (aaarrrggggghhhh!).
Upon my return I decided that I should get my 1:20 bike ride done before it got to late. Before heading down to the basement I turned on my Garmin, filled a water bottle and said goodbye to the ladies of the house....I would see them a bit later. An interesting thing happened then, my Garmin acquired a satellite signal in my house. Yes, IN MY HOUSE. I didn't think anything of it, assuming that I would lose the signal as soon as I went underground. Well, I didn't and it created a bit of havoc for my ride. The time was showing accurately, my cadence was spot on, my heart rate A-OK, but my speed was pretty steady at 3 MPH for the entire duration. I even stopped at one point and reset my watch hoping that I would lose the signal, get the "ARE YOU INSIDE" question and move on. It didn't happen so I just plugged away. Kind of a bummer that I don't know how "far" I spun for, but I guess in the end it really doesn't matter so long as I kept my heart rate where it was supposed to be and my cadence in the correct zones. Still the mapping of my "ride" is pretty comical, I will have to post it tonight.
The rest of Saturday was nice, I took my four year old to a birthday party at GymMini Crickets Kidsport, an awesome little gymnastics studio for kids. She loved it all. I had a good time as I was able to talk to one of the dad there, he was in military intelligence for awhile bck in the early '90s (Desert Storm). Some good stories and perspectives on the military and government today. After that, we met up with my wife and other daugher at McD's....and yes, I ended up eating there and I felt like crap for doing so. Then I took the girls home while my wife went to do some more shopping. Once home I passed out on the couch for a bit, I was wipped from my morning ride I guess. The rest of the day/night was spend just lounging around and not having to do anything.
Sunday I had all the best intentions to get up and go for my morning run at 7:00AM...kind of impossible when you sleep until 7:15AM. DOH! Well, looks like it would have to wait until after church. Church was....well, church. But, on the way to the car a gentleman walked up to me and said that he thought it was so cute how my daughter and I looked throughout the service. I had been holding her for some parts and she had her head on my shoulder. It was nice for him to say that to us, made me feel good.
Once home I changed into my running clothes, then my wife and I dealt with a "breakdown" from the little one. She was just not happy with her clothing selection for the afternoon party and was testing my her Mom's patience. Once that was resolved they headed out the door to do some shopping and go to another birthday party (3rd one of the weekend), leaving me to go for my short eight mile run. The first 2.75 miles were rough, for whatever reason my head was all cloudy, I felt kind of dizzy and out of it. I stopped for a minute or two, gathered myself and then pressed on. That short break seemed to do that trick as after that I felt so much better. I actually had a good time running after that and it showed as my pace quickened and I had a bit of a hop in my step. The route was hilly, so there were some fast sections as well as slow sections, but I managed to keep a steady pace.
The first six miles my pace was a steady 8:15/mile, but the last 2.6 miles (I was going to end up short so I added a loop that got me an extra .6 miles) I ran at a faster pace because I felt so good. In fact, mile 8 I ran in 7:13 and the last .6 miles I ran at 6:50/mile pace. Awesome! Total run - 8.64 miles, 1:09:41, 8:04/mile.
A deserved shower and then down in the basement to watch Liverpool crush Sunderland 3 - 0! I spent the rest of the afternoon down there doing absolutely nothing, it was heaven. The ladies got home around 4:00PM, we ordered pizza, and spent the rest of the night doing more "nothing", which was a good thing. Seems like a lot of doing nothing this weekend, but I think we all needed it, we have been so busy with birthday parties, shopping, work, school and whatever else gets thrown our way that doing nothing was needed.
Today: Awoke at 4:50AM, was at the gym by 5:30AM and in the water by 5:40AM. 2,000M in 41:20 (2:04/100M or 1:53/100yd), consisting of a 500M warm-up, then 200M, 300M, 400M, 500M, and 100M cool down. I felt so good this morning, so much smoother and I can see where I can improve on my form and get more streamlined. I hope to make some significant improvements over the next month!
Time to get some work done. Adios!
1 comment:
You're swimming is definitely picking up, awesome! Great job with all the training!
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