Good tready workout

A couple days ago I did a pretty good work out. It feels good to do some speed work. I know I know for Ironman I shouldn't be doing too much of that, especially this time of year. However, I do want to run a good spring half marathon, and maybe try to do a good fall marathon. Soooo I do need to get some speed. The work out was as follows;

1 mile warmup, 6 x (800 hard, 800 easy); I did the half mile easy parts at 7 mph or 8:30 min per mile. The hard parts I did at 9.2 mph,9.2,9.4,9.4,9.6,9.6. I'm curious if I could do mile intervals at 10 mph with a walking rest between.

It wasn't that hard and actually felt good to run the 9.6 mph. So I am getting some speed back, slowly. Treadmill running is a little different, but in a way it is nice as you can set your speed and grade to what ever you want. I also did a bit of a hill work out this week. Hill work outs are great on a treadmill since you can make any type of hill you want.

junk food update

Hey,

Figured I'd update people as someone asked me today how it's going. the challenge is still in tact, although somtimes I feel like I cheat too much. Like I'm sticking to my rules set out, I kept telling myself that it's not a diet. All I'm doing is taking out my worst nemesises(spelling?). However, I've eaten deserts, eaten too much peanuts that make my stomach turn. I have the weakness that I'll buy certain foods and not be able to just have a hand full, I'll eat the whole bag, or close to it. I want to try to minimize my food intake late in the evening, but I'm not always successful there either. So ya, no pop/fast food/chips/chocolate but I've kinda been slacking, I need to regroup and get back on the fruit for snacks and eat bigger breakfast/lunch then back it off later in the day. I'm not really loosing any weight, I guess secretly I was hoping I'd be able to shed some of that now already. Oh well at least I've stopped gaining, I always gain in the off season and I was easily able to shed it off the moment I hit the roads in spring/summer. Thanks for the encouragement everyone.

Darryl

You know it's a small world when...

Yo,

There was this older chap that runs at the gym. He always looked kind of familiar but I had no clue where it was from. It could have been from a race here or just my imagination so I just brushed it off. I could tell he was a runner and being a runner myself I'm always curious what the story is. Is he competitive, does he do marathons, half marathons, run for fitness? lol I noticed he's competitive because when ever I'm on the machine beside him I notice he looks over at my speed/grade/etc. I can't say I never do, cause it's hard to tell how fast people are going, but w/e. Back to the story, so the one time we started talking and I found out he was from Manitoba. He started then talking about all the races back home and it turns out I'd done most of those. I mentioned I had trained a bit at the UofM, he then told me that he'd run with a running club called "road kill". Then it clicked, I've been in alberta for nearly 8 years but I knew him from back home(where I grew up and started running). This running club that he ran with was my running club then too, but we checked the dates and he had been injured for a lot of the time I ran with them. Which explained why I didn't know him that well. He talked of the coach, which I'd actually lived with for nearly 2 years. Anyways it's good to meet new people, but it's also good to meet old friends and friends of friends and to remember old times, .... fast times. lol Cheers,

PS: Congratz to Susan and Trevor Oseen on finishing the Seattle marathon!!

Today's quote is for Curtis

He'll know it well, by now I'm sure it's tatooed on his brain. It's what he's been thinking about a long long time. It's his inspiration for the last couple of months.

Great Swim

Hey,

Curtis and I did a 1500m time trial this weekend at the pool. It went superrrrrr well I'm quite happy with the result as I swam quite a bit faster then I'd ever done in a pool. 25:49, Curtis was aprox. 30:30. I guess the triathlon club is paying off although it is quite frustrating at times. We were talking about it after and both agree that the ups and downs of swimming seem to be bigger then in running and cycling. Maybe it's more mental, one day you feel really fast, other days you feel like a rock. Anyways I think I'll sign up for the next tri course as this keeps me going to the pool and gives me great work outs. This was our first real test and it was really encouraging for both of us. I rode my trainer also for the first time this weekend. I'd ridden at the gym a few times on the exercise bike but this was my first trainer ride. Only 30 minutes, that's when it usually gets tough for me. I'll try to get a bunch of those in this week, maybe I can build it up to an hour by the end of the month. Gotta keep telling myself "baby steps" it doesn't have to happen over night. Cheers,

Darryl

Challenge still going

Hey,

The challenge is still going. I actually haven't found it that hard,... yet. I think part of the reason is that I pumped myself up for it. I knew a while before that I wanted to try it again and just needed to pick the date.

Training is ok, but not great. This weekend I did barely anything, I just swam with Curtis on Sunday morning. I did do a bunch last week and I'll step it up this week again. I'm feeling good, healthy, and I may even try going to some spinning classes again. I need to start cycling a bit just so my body doesn't forget about those muscles.

Cheers

Guess who #5

Today's Guess who trivia is not a picture. Try to guess who said the quote of the day. The clue is, he's a runner. It should be quite easy for Curtis. The more often I see the quote, the more it inspires me. He was quite a outspoken runner, some didn't like him cause he was so brass.

Drink of Choice

I'm doing pretty good so far, only one really bad craving for some coke action. That was on friday after my run at noon. I think my blood sugar gets low and even though I eat the craving takes awhile to go away. Food I guess reacts slower then the fast acting coca cola. That's why we use it on the course I guess. Oh well I made it through and I'm over the 4 day hump so to speak. Let me know how you people are doing, and keep the tips coming. Cheers,

Darryl

Guess Who #4

Here's an inspirational story and I think a prime candidate for our 4th guess who picture. It's not too tough, but the time may throw you off a bit. Here's his quote that gives me new found respect for this guy. His actual time was 11 hours 13 minutes since he's a Pro. He ran/walked the marathon in 5:32.

“A lot of people in and America, they might never qualify for Hawaii,” he said. “Out of respect to them, they’d love to do Ironman Hawaii in 11 hours. A lady I stayed with at (Ironman) Arizona, I know she would love to do Hawaii once, but she might never qualify. I don’t think it’s very respectful of those people to just quit when it’s not going your way.”

PS: notice I bleeped out his country so it wouldn't be too too obvious. :P