Rollin

After sacrificing the weekly Fun Run for my son's parent/teacher conference in which we find out that along with his speech we must work on tearing paper and putting his jacket on, the wife went to pick him up and with 2 hours on my hands i headed home and jumped on the 7005 Superlite butted alloy/carbon frame (Felt F65) for a jaunt.

Riding with the heart rate monitor for the first time, I rode at my usual pace w/o looking at the monitor. Results yielded: 25.17 miles/ 1 hr 41 min/ 14.9 mph/ average heart rate: 132/ calories 1393. Pedestrian like and certainly not worthy of the Who Cares I'm Flying Award but a great day to get out and work on the tanning of those pasty whites!

Motivation

Okay, so there I was watching the Tigers clobber the Devil Rays and waiting for the Dee-troit Pistons to decide if they wanted to show up and play ball in the Eastern Conference Finals when I thought to myself, now this upcoming 50 mile prep schedule is all fine and dandy, and i can put it down on paper, but i need a visual reminder, a motivator, when i thought, "Let's go bald....get the Nair!!!"

Now, i have gone bald only 3 other summers in my life. The first was when i was 14 and watching Greg Lemond win his second Tour de France over Laurent Fignon, next when i tried my hand at triathlons and was asked by then future olmpyian Sheila Taormino if i needed help in a short course, and then 2 summers ago, of course i got the obligatory " Is he gay?" @ the family get together over the summer, when i got my Felt F65 and made a run at bike racing. All of them have failed miserably in the sense that i never gave them all truly a chance to see if i would become passionate about it, or has been the case a dabbler.

In any event, there are some actual benefits to going bald. The first is that road rash will typically heal faster. I mean have you ever been ambling along and then found yourself on the pavement going a rapid 6 m.p.h.? Secondly, there is the theory of "feeling faster". No need to explain. Last, but certainly not least, and the point i will make to all the people who intially scoff at my pasty, smooth legs is that it helps to faciliate therapeutic massage. I have become a big proponet of massage and have even found the stick to be useful.

About an hour later, and no Nair, just a razor and some shaving cream, produced the sickly looking legs below. I damm well better get out there an run!

Milestones

1. Today the wife, newly christened "Dirrty Girl"

and her sidekick "Black Mamba"

took the Fun Run into Wayne County and rambled along for 31 minutes on an approximately 1.78 mile course!!!

2. Son has become proficient in expelling excess liquid buildup in system standing up!

3. Princess Dawg just over 4 months old has graduated into the exersaucer!


4. As for me, no run today, but i did actually complete a workout out of this month's Outside Magazine called the Forever Workout developed by Chris Carmichael. This is huge for me since I am a conisseur of magazines, saving them and looking at all the different workouts, but usually always fail to complete, let alone start one.

Beep...Beep...Beep

Day 2 during recovery week begins @ 5:35 a.m. with an easy 7.4 miler according to both map my ride and favorite run, but the F1 Foot Pod (still trying to work on an accurate calibration. I do think it changes when changing shoes)gauges it @ 7.51 miles. I go with 7.4 miles and a time today of 1 hr 22 min and again an average heart rate of 123.

Whereas yesterday I was just getting used to finding a pace that would be in the Recovery Zone and the legs where kind of heavy, today the legs where actually feeling pretty good and i spent approx 5 min or 6% of my time listening to the annoying beep...beep...beep of the zone warner telling me I was over my self imposed alloted 131 beats per minute and to slow down. Recovery is hard work!

Recovery is one thing, family time is another. Today we managed a parade in downtown Royal Oak, St. Mary's Polish Fair
, and the littlest one and I walked uptown (2.56 miles roundtrip) for daddy's jet fuel for the week.

Recovery Week....

Since my first marathon 6 years ago, i have never really followed any kind of actual training program. I just kind of had an idea of what i thought i needed to run from purusing various plans and just ran raising my mileage as i went along but never building to a real peak,running intervals, fartlek or having a rest period. Fairly unstructured and probably what has led to mediocrity in my race results taking me 9 more marathons to lower my previous PR of 3:47 to this years' scintilating 3:44 @ The Martian Marathon.

However, after my disappointing attempt at a 50 miler last fall, I was actually feeling pretty good but got lost and was about 35 miles in @ the 50k checkpoint and just lost my focus, I am going to follow an actual plan this year for a crack at another 50 miler.

So far so good since the Martian Marathon on 4/1/07. Weeks of 34/35/39/25/41/41/44 miles have led to this recovery week. Finally succumbing to the technological wave and buying a heart rate monitor, i have to say that it is actually useful. The goal this week and this morning was to run in Zone 2 (60-69%) to facilitate recovery.

I actually had to work at keeping it in Zone 2 and the friendly beeper went off anytime I strayed out of it:

RUN: 6.51 miles - 1 hr 14 min - avg heart rate: 123

4:18 A.M.

A facet of being a parent that I have repeatedly talked about with other fathers is the need to be able to continue to go out and do the things that you did before children. Now most of them claim that they have no time or that they are too tired to do those things, but i firmly believe that it helps keep you grounded. If anything, it has made me really focus my time and effort to be more effective.

Now the rule the wife and i agreed upon was that i could continue to go for long runs on the weekend, although she is not really thrilled with me wanting to run more than a 50k, if i made sure i was home in enough time to spend the day with the family. Henceforth, a long run this morning that started at 4:18 A.M.

Alarm was slated for 4:30 A.M., but princess dawg was having a bit of the sniffles and promptly woke the wife and i up at 4 a.m. With the ever present comment, "You know the alarm is going to go off in 20 minutes," i thought well i am up so let's go.

Took Nemo for the 1st 5 miles before heading out for a bigger loop. Things we saw between 4:18 a.m. and 5:11 a.m. on loop #1.

#1 - A drunk guy walking with a plastic cup and talking on his cell phone about how he was going up to the corner grocery store, which doesn't open until 9 a.m. on a Sunday, for some cigarettes.

#2 - 3 cop cars go flying down the street w/o lights on

#3 - ever present smell of a skunk for a 1/2 mile w/o seeing one

#4 - some lady in a bra and panties runs back across the train underpass picking up clothes left in the street and hides behind one of the pillars as the dog and i pass by

After dropping Nemo off, I headed out for a longer loop. Passing the same spot where Nemo and I saw the lady, this time i spotted two people hiding behind the same pillar and groans coming from that vicinity. Rest of run is uneventful.

Thanks to my new toy, Polar RS200SD, i can look at all sorts of cool data and even see if my training is effective.

Today: 15.17 miles/2 hr. 31 min/ avg heart rate: 137 / calories 1874

Home in enough time before little dirt dawg comes out to say, "Good Morning"

Road trip to Ohi-yo

This weekend we loaded up the family and headed down to Cbus for a wedding between "Lightning" L.... and the former "Missile" C....... on what little dirt dawg said was a road trip to Ohi-yo.

Clearly you can not keep a 3 year old cooped up in a hotel for two days even with a pool, so he and I headed over to the Columbus Zoo to take in the monkeys, manatees, gorillas, and flamingos among others.

After a beautiful service and reception along the river, it was time for a well deserved rest and a morning jaunt down to :



Running past "The Shoe" and along the Olentagny-Sciato Trail certainly got the palate ready for a Mother's Day Brunch @ Lindey's

Overall rating for the weekend 10/10.

Long May You Run Unchafed

1. Lazily swing arm at alarm clock going off @ 4:30 a.m. Stumble downstairs and realize today is a 10 miler.

2. Put on wicking shorts and top

3. Slip on TNF Anurva Boa 50 (Remember all you really need is shoes)

4. Fill handheld bottle with Hammer Heed and GU

5. PUT ON NIP GUARDS TO PROTECT AGAINST PAINFUL NIPPLE ABRASION.

6. Run happily knowing that your chest will not look like you have been shot or have to take a shower and cringe like someone is picking the hair out of your nose bringing you to tears.

Cross Training

Cross training also known as conditioning refers to training in different ways to improve overall performance. It takes advantage of the particular effectiveness of each training method, while at the same time attempting to neglect the shortcomings of that method by combining it with other methods that address its weaknesses.

In truth, it means doing something else other than your favorite activity(RUNNING) in order to get exercise. Take for instance, my situation. I can't run every single day or else i will get injured and I don't want to miss out on family time. So, little dirt dawg and I in the face of gas prices being over $3.00/gallon, 80 degree temps, and an commitment to try being as green as possible, headed out in the THE TRAIN (1 Marin Hawk Hill Bike and 1 Trek Doodlebug) for a leisurly jaunt (approx 6.34 miles) around town in order to check in and receive orders from a friend who is leaving town.

This was followed by a quick stop for post ride fuel.

All you need is a pair of shoes......

Forget about your GPS, Heart Rate Monitors, Nike + Ipod Sport Kit, and watches that can store up to 300 laps, all you really need to go for a run is a pair of shoes. A pair of shoes that you won't have to think about as you are out on the pavement, trails, or where ever your feet take you.

Now I must admit, that I flip through the running magazines and scour the shoe reviews like the people who live vicariously through celebrities, or base their whole self worth and value according to such article titles as "Look Slim in any Shape" or "What your man is not telling you", but in the end I always revert back to my perennial favorite, Nike Air Pegasus. Just like warm apple pie.

That is of course until I have attempted to venture into ultramarathoning/trail running. I have tried a multitude of trail shoes and have yet to find "THE ONE". But with TNF Arnuva Boa 50 based on input from Dean Karnazes I just might have. Maybe I did fall for the advertising that stated no laces, but a dial that you use to adjust them, or hoping that I would feel just "Like Mike, or Lance, or Dean" in them, but straight out of the box and on a 13+ miler this morning they rocked!!! Just like warm apple pie.

On the Road

It would have been easy for the Fantastic Four to pack it in after participating in the school Walk a Thon and covering over 2 miles. However, given the perfect weather (64 degrees and sunny J) and fueled by hot dogs the couples (Couple #1 – Dirt Dawg & Twinkle Toes) (Couple #2 –J-No & Abstract) got out and averaged their respective times (26 minutes and 52 minutes).

* Bonus points to all participants

A Suite Day

For the past two years, Einstein and I have taken some our most deserving EI high school students to a Detroit Tigers game using tickets donated by the Tigers organization. In some cases, this will be the only field trip students will go on for the entire year and is sometimes the first time they have even been to a major league ballpark.

Eight students and 3 staff (myself included) were all excited to go as the weather looked perfect (65 degrees and sunny) and a pre game feast of pizza and pop awaited everyone, until a phone call came.

Asking for me, a representative of the Detroit Tigers asked me if we were still planning on coming down today. Of course, I answered. He then asked me if I would like to upgrade the seats to a suite!!! A suite, I answered? Yes, he said sometimes business owners and individuals donate their suites to organizations when not in use. YES YES YES....I said.

On the way to the park, i told the students that we had to go to guest services when we got to the park, becasue there was an issue with our tickets. I told them that I think they gave us the wrong seats and had to move us into some not so nice seats. The look on their faces when they found out that we were going up to the suites was AWESOME!!!