billy bars 101

After many requests i have decided to post the recipes for billy bars. currently have have three flavors; original, nutty nanner and tropical. I started making them this winter during my off time from work. It started with a recipe from a forumite friend of mine Sam. while talking food on 'the thread' i decided to give my own bars a shot. Well let me tell you that first batch was a mess and i was almost not able to eat them. Version 2 came out much better and larger, almost double the size of the first one. But then there was version 3...... i would call them perfect. :-D

Original flavor
base
3 cups oat meal
3 cups bran flakes
3/4 cup grape nuts
3/4 cup all bran buds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 dried cherrys chopped
3/4 cup dried date
3/4 cup chocolate chips

binder
1 cup Karo syrup
1/3 cup dark brown sugar

nutty nanner.....my personal favorite
base
3 cups oat meal
3 cups bran flakes
3/4 cup grape nuts
3/4 cup all bran buds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups banana chips(crushed)
1 cup honey roasted peanuts

binder
1 cup Karo syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup dark brown sugar

Tropical
base
3 cups oat meal
3 cups bran flakes
3/4 cup grape nuts
3/4 cup all bran buds
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried papaya
3/4 cup dried pineapple chopped

binder
1 cup Karo syrup
1/3 cup dark brown sugar

they are pretty simple to make. Spray a jelly roll pan with non-stick. Put all of the base ingredients into a large bowl and mix them together well. Then in a small sauce pan put the binder ingredients. Heat on low flame for about 6=7 minutes. Pour the binder over the base ingredients and mix. It will look too dry but just keep mixing. dump on to jelly roll pan. I use parchment paper to pack them down tight into the pan. Well that should do it. enjoy.

one side note the nutty nanner bars batch is a bit larger than the other two. i have two different sized pans i use the larger one for the nutty nanner. nutty nanner makes 40 bars and the original and tropical make 32 bars each.

nutrition facts

tropical
32 bars
116 cals
1.3 grams fat
22.6 grams carbs
2.6 grams protein

nutty nanner
40 bars
142 cals
5.6 grams fat
21.9 grams carbs
3.8 grams protein

Original
32 bars
144 cals
4.3 grams fat
26 grams carbs
3.2 grams protein

trail exploring part 2

OK now this trip was well worth it. This is the same area were my favorite hills are. You know the ones with the grade warning signs for bikers. So my first turn off the pavement and its this perfect dirt trial with trees on both sides. The trail is about 2-3 feet wide and perfect for running. i got a ways in and ended up in this grass field area.

i walked for a little bit in to that area but the trial pretty much disappeared. The grass was so tall that it was falling over the trial. So turned around and headed back to the last fork in the trial.

I ended going up this really steep hill and slipping a few times. At the top was large fence with barbed wire on the top. I think that is where the reservoir is for which the area is named. I then walked along the fence till there was a path back down to the pavement. OK so i may have pick a path that was even steeper than the last one. I didn't fall but i came close a few times. Then i make a turn and head down past a cell tower.... yeah I know hey that is what ya get in the city. But this was the best trail so far. It was even wider so a biker could pass if needed. At one fork in the tail i saw this very cool like tunnel of trees.

I thought that it would make a very cool pic. I really like how it turned out. I have a second one from "inside" the tunnel but the colors are way off for some reason.

So then i find this hill. i have run by this one many times before but never stopped to look up at it and dang buddy its a nice one. i really should have taking a pic from the top.

I have got to say i LOVE this reservoir woods area more and more each time i head out there. I hope to get a nice trial run out there this week Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be a nice change in my week of running. This week will be a long one i have 53 miles planed with a 20 miler on Saturday. Still trying to make up my mind if i want to do a 22 mile run the week after next or not. That is the weekend before my half marathon so i may just do 16 or 18. I'll make up my mind after the 20 miler i think.

well that is all for the weekend. ya i know its been forever since i posted twice in one weekend, let alone twice in a day. :-D

trail exploring

I figured i would check out a few trails around here to try and change up my running during the week. I have two nice areas near by. The first one i checked out was off Lexington not too far from the bottom of the hill from my 10k awhile ago. The area is nice very wooded and you cant tell your near the city but the trail were short and didn't go anywhere. But all was not lost on the exploring. I found a few cool things back in the woods.

This thing looked to be a tractor of some type. well with out its tracks. engine still mostly intact but VERY old

This old timer looks to me like a road grader of some type. no engine so it must have been pulled by a tractor.

Well thats it for that area. i'll be heading down to the second area as so as the twins game is over.

let the 'real' training commence

Monday will be the start of 'real' marathon training.

So that being said i figured i would put my thoughts into the blog. With my plan i hope t0 get in two 20 mile runs(one a race) and one 22 mile run in during the 14 weeks i have till my race. I put in the time from my 10k in the the McMillan calculator it says at 3:18 marathon. i would be more than happy with 3:30 so that will be my goal for now. I may adjust it after my half marathon on august 2nd or after my 20 mile race on September 6th. I am also shooting for a sub 20 minute 5k on one of my cut back weeks.

OK i know this was a short blog but i am still working threw things in my head. so i am sure there will be another plan update at a later date.

Run For The Roses 10k Race Report (long)

First off a little back story on the race. Last year i did the 5k race at this same event. That was my 2nd or 3rd 5k ever and on a very hilly route. So this year i figured i would do the 10k as part of my races on my way to the TC marathon in the fall.

This was the first race where i was able to pick up my race packet the day before the race. That worked out perfect because i had a short day on Friday due to weather. I got my race packet about 1pm Friday. That also meant i was going to be thinking about the race much more now that i had my bib and shirt. The plan was to go to bed about 10pm...... Around 11:30 i was still wide awake. I'm not too sure what time i ended up falling asleep. :-) Who needs sleep right? Alarm goes off at 5:30am but i just laid in bed for a while checking the weather on my cell about 4 or 5 times. We had some rain over night i was just hoping it was going to clear up by race time. When i finally popped my head up and looked out the window i saw SUNSHINE. So i get up. Have two of my home made billy bars and some water. At about 7:10 i had a strawberry cliff shot the ones with caffeine. I was out the door by 7:15.

The race was very close by so i figured i might as well just jog it down to the start line for my warm up. I ended up with only about a mile to get to the start line. Made it there by 7:30 did a little stretch and some faster running to get things worked out. My quads were a little sore from my 10 mile run i had done on Thursday so i took my time warming up. I ran in to my race buddy Karen at about 7:45. She only runs races doesn't do any training..... I talked with her for a little bit then head over to the 10k start line.



The in line skaters lined up for the start at 7:55am. The 5k and 10k started at 8:00am. I made sure i got my self pretty close to the start line so i didn't have to do too much passing. When the horn went off i took off like a shot......first 1/4 mile was at about a 5:30 pace....oops. After that i slowed my self down. Well i kinda had to the first hill hit at about 3/4 of a mile in. Then right back down and WAY back up. mile one time of 6:28. i was feeling great. trying to control my breathing a little bit cause i knew the hills where coming up. UP and down the hills i went. best thing about this race is i have run these hills many times before. Mile two was done in 7:04 much closer to my goal time. I tired to grab some water at the first stop but i was running up hill at the time. lets just say i got a bath with that one. The middle of the race a very nice. flat and straight for a good 1.5 miles. My 5k split was about 21:30.

The second half of the race seamed easier for me after that nice flat area. mile 4 was done in 6:57. mile 5 was 6:50. but i new that "the hill" was coming at mile 6 so i was trying to make up time before i got to that point. from about 5.25 to 6 miles. it was up hill. i knew once i got to the top i had a nice down hill finish. i held in pretty good on the hill. When i made that last turn for the lap around the speed skating oval i kicked it in. One last look at my watch at about 41:00 and headed in. Let me tell you i was spent. i had NOTHING left and that just how i like to finish a race. finished in 42:12. Well under my goal time of 45 minutes.

Well that is my first 10k race. I hope it was too long of a RR. Just wait till i do my RR for my marathon :D

may....a month in review

Well today is the last day of May so i figure i would go over how my month of running went. I ran 14 times for a total of 101.7 miles. The most miles in a month ever for me up from 93 miles in january. total time on the road this month of 14 hours and 18 mins. Also a new record for me but not by much. in january i was on the road a total of 13 hours and 52 mins. So my average pace for my training has really picked up. january was almost 9 min pace this month was much closer to 8:30. my long run went up from 9 to 14 this month and all felt fine.

I have a new size for my shoes. my feet are now 2E rather than 4E i don't really know where the other 2E went but i'm not complaining. Cause it means more shoe options. So as long as we are talking about shoes....i am now on my second pair for brooks GTS. added a pair of asics 2130. I used the asics' for 2 of my 3 5ks this month. so they might be my speed shoes now. also got a pair of saucony progrid guides they are good i havent run any in them yet. might take them out for a short one next week some time.

total of 3 races this month all 5ks. next month i have two 5ks an 8k and a 10k. Also i am shooting for closer to 120 miles this month and start my full marathon training at the end of the month. my long run should be up to 18 by that point. so that will really help those 20 mile training runs this summer. hope to get in at least 4 or 5 of those before my marathon and 20 mile race. my taper will likely start the week after my 20 mile race on September 6th. OK and here goes the first time i am putting my marathon goal in type....... i am shooting for a 3:30 that is a steady 8 min pace and seams pretty doable with my last long run average pace of 8:09 for 14.25 miles.

OK so today's blog might be all over the place but i have a hard time getting my thoughts lined up in my head most of the time :D

one year running and a 5k PR **RR**

Ok sooo first of this race make it one year running for me. Yesterday i did 14.25 miles and a year ago i couldn't even do 1.4 miles non-stop. We had some iffy weather last night but i was going to run this race even if it was pouring out. :D But when i got up it was cloudy and 62 with no rain in sight. Score!!! Now i start to get that idea in the back of my head for PR. After a little number crunching i said to my self "its go time". my fastest 5k was last September a time of 21:08. I figured 21:00 would be just fine after running 14+ yesterday.

Now for the race. i only had a banana and a little water before i left for the race. Picked up my bib and shirt. Threw the shirt in the van and did a 3/4 mile warm up. 7:30 pace.... yeah the pre-race adrenalin was kicking in. got back to the start line and did some stretching. So i am all ready to go. We had a little delay wait for the one and only wheel chair racer to get his wheels set. so did a bit more warming up and stretching waiting for him. 8:10 the race started. went out waaay to fast. first 1/4 mile was about a 5:45 pace. but i kicked it down a bit and got to my 6:29 pace. First two miles were right at 6:29. my legs really started to burn at about 2 miles in. about mid mile 2 was right around a 7 min pace. i couldn't see the front runners any more but i knew they weren't far away. At about 2.9 miles in a guy that was out for a training running stopped to cheer us on. I looked at my watch it said 2.9 miles and about 18:00. no its really GO TIME. I found that last little bit(always had a good finishing kick). i passed my mom, who was walking the 5k, with about 20 yards left. At this point i was pretty much at a dead sprint. I saw the clock it was just hitting 20:30. hit the line at 20:37. A full 30 secs off my PR from last fall. Let me tell you i was cooked.

So the race is pretty small maybe 100 runner and walkers. So for prizes they give out loafs of bread. With my time i ended up 4th among men and 5th over all. So i got a loaf of whole grain honey wheat. Its very good bread i get it for my lunches every week so i knew just what i was getting. :D I'll add photos when they post them on the race site. i think I'll end up with e few good ones.

ps. it took longer to write the RR than it did to run the race. :D

longest run EVER again

so this weekend did not go how it was planed. The plan was for a 13+ mile run on saturday. Then no running sunday. Plant garden sunday.

Well i had an invite from my race buddy for a 5k waiting for me on face book when i got home from work friday. After chatting with her at about 11pm friday i decided to do the race satruday and just "take it easy". As anyone who reads this knows when i plan i taking it easy on a race it NEVER happens. Race started out slow and easy......i can tell you the pace cause i don't really know my GPS lost its hook up right at the starting line and didn't get connected again till about a half mile in. So at about 3/4 of a mile in a mom with a stroller passed me.....and well lets just say i didn't want to get beat by a stroller. so off i go. by this time my watch final had a signal i was going at about an 8 min pace.... hit the turn around at about 14 mins. then really kicked it in....mile 2 was done at about a 7:30 pace....and mile 3 i think i even saw a 5:55 pace for a second or two. passed up pretty much everyone that had passed me at the start. hit the finish line at 24:03. Pretty good for being at 14 mins at the half way point. me and my race buddy hung out a little bit after the race and had some free snack. I think i ate more than i burned on that one. :D

Now today was the LONG run....longest run ever for me in fact. My last run over 13 miles was my first run over 13 miles in my half marathon in jan. So this morning i woke up at about 7am. stomach was already in knots thinking about the run and NOBODY was around on runners world. so i got about 16oz of Gatorade, 16 oz of water and one bill bar. I really should have eaten more but i just couldn't get any food in me. I packed 2 cliff shots for the run in my water belt. Filled up my water bottle. Went out watered my plants that went in the ground yesterday. Then took off on my run at about 8:15.
here are my splits and HR averages

mile split total time average HR
1 9:13 9:13 155
2 8:34 17:47 166
3 8:34 26:34 162
4 8:34 34:55 164
5 8:41 43:36 162 took first cliff shot
6 8:51 52:28 162
7 8:44 1:01:44 157
8 9:09 1:10:23 154
9 8:33 1:18:56 158 took second cliff shot
10 8:23 1:27:20 162
11 8:30 1:35:50 158
12 8:37 1:44:28 159
13 8:12 1:52:40 163
13.7 5:28 1:58:09 166

so from the looks of thing i was getting stronger as i ran. A very good sign. I was able to keep my HR lower. able too keep most of my mile with in my goal time for marathon. For my marathon on the fall i am shooting for about an 8:30 pace. This training run had an average of 8:39 so i am VERY happy about that. Only one small problem. The tendon on the front of my shin that goes to the top of my foot does not like ANY shoes right now. Every time i was going down hill it would rub on the tongue of my shoes and bother it. It doesn't hurt to move it or anything like that. But the shoes just dig into that spot. I have been dealing with that for about 2 weeks now and i don't really know why. i may need to figure out some kind of pad to put under my sock in that area when i run for awhile. I iced it while i was doing laundry this afternoon and it feels better but not too great when i touch it. also i have had to ditch the last two hole on my shoes when lacing them up. That seams to help but does not fix it.

oh yeah and on satuday i got my "in training" shirt i ordered when i signed up for my marathon. now if it would just be warm enough in the morning to wear it for my long runs i would be happy.

mothers day 5k

Today is mothers day. happy mothers day to all those mothers everywhere.

So for today it was a nice small 5k and my "home" track. A lake near by were almost everyone of my 5k races has been. Como lake is a nice little lake in St. Paul. Its a nice small lake about 1.5 miles around so 2 laps for a 5k. Didn't look like too many racers were really going to push it today. That was my plan till i got there and saw very few people. The RD says " all runners going for under 23:00 please come to the front" well no one did. So i figured what the heck i got in the front. i was just going to do a nice and easy 9:30 pace and at mile marker 1 watch said 6:49. oops. the next couple miles were a lot slower. but still finished in 22:43. that is only 1:30 short of my PR time. :D so from the looks of things i should be getting 3 PRs in June. 5k 8k and 10K. 8k and 10K will be PRs for sure because i haven't ran those distances before. oh yeah and i did the race with no GPS no HR monitor just my watch. i am sure my pace would have been more steady with it but i just thought i would give it a try

11 miles fueled by bill bars

Today was my first double digit run since my half marathon in January. 11 miles in 1:37:15. it was another great run. i have a 5k tomorrow but i think i will take it pretty easy on that one. 28-30 min area should be good enough.

Oh i also made my 'bill bars' last night here is what i put in them

-dry ingredients-
6 cups oat meal
6 cups bran flakes
1.5 cups grape nuts
1.5 cups all bran buds
1.5 cup walnuts
3/4 cup flax seed
3/4 cup dried cherries chopped
1.5 cups chopped dried dates
1 cup chocolate chips

-binder-
1.5 cups Karo syrup
3/4 dark brown sugar
heat in pan for 6-8 minutes
pour binder over dry ingredients and mix. it will look way too dry to start with.
batch fills two jelly roll pans packed tight. i use parchment paper to pack it down.

makes 64 bars that are about 175 calories each.

miles and hills

So yesterday was my longest run post achilles. A total of 8.5 miles with the last 2 miles pretty much all nasty hills. this is the start of the really bad hill area. but there is also a 1/4 mile long 5-10% grade hill leading up to that sign.

but then once you get in the woods it gets really fun. the last hill on the trail has got to be about a 25-30% grade. in other words it would go faster if it had steps on it. ;-)

well those are my hills a few of them anyways. i am going to try and get to those hills at least once a week maybe more depending on how hard work is. maybe even some trail work back in that area. I'll need to do some exploring to find the trails.

well see ya on the trails....I'll be the one passing you on the hills ;-)

on the road to recovery

Well another 4.2 miles today. no pain after. Perfect weather. very happy. what more can you ask for? Just need it figure out my runs each week right now. I'm trying to work up my distance for a long run on the weekend but right now my longest is only 6. I'll be trying for a 7.5 mile long run this week with two 5 milers and a 6 miler. next week maybe a 9 miler for saturday

life up date..... I will be having a HUGE garden this year. I hope to start work again soon. Spring always seams to last forever. I should be hearing from my boss this week.

Well that is it for today short i know but hey so am i ;-) happy running everyone

The return of concrete part 2

Well after a week of walking with no pain i started a walk/run program to slowly get my body back to running form. With three weeks of that done i finally got to run non stop last wednesday. right now i am working my way up to running for an hour. I did 47 mins on wednesday this week for about 5.5 miles.

Last night i signed up for the Twin Cities Marathon on October 5th. This will be my first marathon. I have my race list filled the summer and fall.
6/1/08 Grand old day 8k
6/28/08 Run for the Roses 10k
9/6/08 Get Ready to Rock Run 20miler
10/5/08 Twin Cities marathon

That should just about do it for my update. I hope to be updating more often with my marathon training progress.

The return of concrete part 1

Ok i have posted in FOREVER. mostly due to the fact i wasn't running and what the points of a running blog if you not running right? i hope i haven't lost ALL my reader ;-)



Time for a LONG update. Last you heard from me i had just finished my first half marathon. Then about a week later and about 30+ mile in the week after the race. Then weekend after the race i had a very interesting race on frozen white bear lake. They did a 1 mile and a 5k(2.5miles by every ones GPS). Even if it was short everyone was happy for it to end. The ice was NASTY to run on. Lots of falling and almost falling for a lot of people. I did great in the 1 mile time of 6:22 and second place. My yaktrax helped out tons. Then came the 5k. I ran that much slower and i was ok with that as i already had a medal around my neck. My race buddy karen did the 5k and did not have yaktrax. she fell 4 or 5 times during the race. ok races done.



The next morning i head out for my long run shooting for about 10 miles. well my friend the left achilles was back at about mile 3 and i was 3 miles from home. I walked for awhile but walking hurt more than running. I figured bite the bullet and jog it home. i got 6 miles in that day but pretty much couldn't walk the rest of the day. That was feb. 3rd i took some time off then tired running again....it came back....more time off.....it came back......then two full weeks off.....started back but with walking rather than running. Still with pain on some walks i still got my walks in. I was icing my achilles 3-4 times a day. Then with a little research i found something about scar tissue build up. I figured my achilles has some scare tissue around it from the inflammation. I got rolling pin from the kitchen and went over my achilles a few times. next day NO PAIN. thank god, progress. I used the rolling pin before and after each walk for a good week. I had less pain after each walk.

to be continued.....

Life post half marathon

Today make two days since my first half marathon. I know i would be much less sore right now if i would have gotten some longer runs in before the race. Both quads are killing me still walking down stairs SUCKS. But its getting better.

Today's work out was 8 miles. Man its was nice out 39 degrees and sunny. Maybe i should have taken one more day off but the weather was too nice i just had to. The run was nice a lot of people out around the lake, three of them runners. That is the most runners i have seen during the week in months. The weather for then few days is going to suck so looks like i have a couple days off due to weather but that is fine with me and my legs. I'll do weights tomorrow and bike Wednesday couple hours on the bike should be good. Then a nice 8 on Thursday. weights on Friday and my LONG run Saturday or Sunday. 15 miles?

frozen half marathon race report (even longer)

Well here goes, my first half marathon race report. So I didn't sleep well last night just couldn't calm down. Finally got to sleep around 1am I think. I woke up about 20 minute before my alarm went off. Bit of scramble in the morning my friend that was doing the 5k was late picking me up. She didn't get here till about 8:30 with the race set to start at 9:00 I was stressing a little. Oh and I cant read a map so that is helpful too. We couldn't find the place right away but I did get my packet about 8:45. Did a little run around the block to warm up. I was hoping to get more warm up in with my achilles problems I have been having. I met a fellow forumite (iron lion) in the start area. He is from the marathoners area on here. My Timex was having some issues getting a lock in the tall buildings but there was a larger open area right at the start so i got a signal. Heard the horn right at 9:00am and off i went. I should have started further up in the pack but i didnt want to get run over. Took a good minute or so to get to the starting mat. I started off nice and slow then i see ahead of me this hill i swear the thing went straight down. Close to a 45 degree angle. With the little bit of snow we had last night footing was ok but not great. I made it down the hill with out slipping once, yay me. So down on the main flat area of the course it was nice with a few rolling hills. Not much to look at as i was running but that really doesnt matter to me. I worked my way threw the pack. I think I like passing people too much. Made it to the first water stop at mile 4 had to walk to drink my water. I had a 3 shot blocks right before the water stop. They worked fine a bit hard with the colder weather. I have found a way do to hills that works well for me. I power up them and coast down. It worked well i past a lot of people on the hills. I saw iron lion at about mile 7 due to the down and back style course. The mile 9 water stop went the same as mile 4 with 3 blocks and 2 cups of water. I was really feeling it about mile 10. My longest run before today was only 11 miles so I figured that would happen. So just pushed threw it. Kicked up the pace by mile 12 for the home stretch with that hill in the back of my mind. When I made the turn to head up the hill I almost swore out loud. It sure looked steeper from this end. Thought to my self only a block or so left to run screw I hit the gas and went for it. OOOPS the finish line was further away from the hill than I thought but I made it. I hit the mat at about 1:54 on the clock my chip time should be less. I am still waiting for that.Post race I headed to the goodie area. Found my ride home from another forumite, hockeypuck and met e.sperly as well. They were much faster about 1:30 area. I'll get there someday. i only need to take off 20 minutes LOL. well that is my race report hope it wasn't a marathon to read cause it was only a half that I ran.

above is a copy of my race report from Runnerworld Forum.

Now for things i would change about the race. First training before hand this time pretty much sucked. very few "long" runs in fact my last long run was almost a month ago. That run was only 10.8 miles and painful ones at that.

Shoes. The ones i ran in only had 7 miles on them when i started the race. They are NB 1024s. My other shoes, NB873s, i just didn't trust them for my race today. The 873 are a little more broken in(30miles) than the 1024 but i have had more achilles troubles with 873s. I thought blisters would be much better than a screaming achilles. I thought i had a couple blister on the outside or my big toes but it doesn't look like i do.

Starting place. Also i would like to start more in the middle of the pack. Only thing is i just love passing people. On the other hand for the next race i will be faster so even in the middle of the pack i should still get to pass people.

Warm up. One lap around a city block really wasn't enough to warm up and know my achilles was ok for the run. So i want to be at the next long race at least an hour before the start.

Training. I know i covered this in the first part. I think i may want to do some speed training tempo runs and that type of stuff. I had a bit of burning legs near the end of the race today do to my finish line push. Oh and on the other side a slower training pace on normal days.

Running partner. It would be nice to have a runner partner to do the race with at least for part of it.

Fuel. maybe bring my camel pack with on longer races. Races longer than 10k. small side note i think i was a little dehidrated i had about 32 oz of gator and 32 of water when i got home and didnt pee till about 1:30 so more water would be good. I sweat alot


Now for the new training program. I put my time into the "smart coach" on runners world and it dropped my training pace WAY down from when i put my 5k time in. It went from 9:08 down to 9:51. i don't know if i have ever run that slow on a run but i am thinking i should stick to the 9:00-9:30 range for short runs and 9:30-10:00 for long slow runs.

Well that should just about fill up my blog for the month ;-) I think i want to head out for a run tomorrow get warmed up and stretch things out. like 4 miles. do a slow 2 to get warmed up then stop at the park for awhile and stretch and do another 2 miles home and stretch when i get home. I really feel it when i get up from sitting for a while tonight.

more miles in the snow

Well i am going to call my self healed. i did a 6.75 mile run today and no pain. That is very good cause my half marathon is a short 5 days away. woohooo this is a very good thing. my run took about one hour, well 1:01:45. Pace was ok a little fast maybe at 9:03. try for a LONG run tomorrow of around 10-12. i know i wont be running Friday at all and very short distances Wednesday and Thursday.

Also did my weight lifting today. About 45 mins of hard core lifting
lift sets reps weight
bench press 3 10-12-14 125
seated row 3 12-14-16 70
incline bench 3 10-12-14 85
calf raise 3 10-12-14 90
lat pull down 3 10-12-14 125
shoulder press 3 10-12-14 55
leg ext. 3 10-12-14 60
upright row 3 10-12-14 55
leg curls 3 12-14-16 35
over head row 3 12-14-16 35
tri push down 3 12-14-16 60
delt front/side 3 8-10-12 17.5
delt back 3 10-12-14 12.5
chest flys 3 10-12-14 17.5

not a bad work out for 45 mins. gotta love that post work out pump. going to need some extra sleep tonight.

running with no pain

much better day today. Thanks Sean and go team happy. I did my run today 3.5 miles @8:56 should have gone slower but i just couldn't. Now tomorrow i am going to try for 7 miles and maybe a long run on Wednesday or Thursday. With my half marathon on Saturday morning i think i will take Friday and Sunday off. Even with two days off this week i should end up over 30 miles, 30 SLOW miles. I think i have this achilles thing figured out. SLOW miles and lots of stretching. That's the plan for at least the next month or so.

i hate everything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well its one of those days. I just hate everything and everyone life pretty much sucks. I had plans to together with someone i met online for the first time but she left me hangin all day. Weather sucked cause it was so freaking cold i couldn't go for a run. Oh and while putting in my contacts i lost one. So i clean up the house because i thought i was going to have a visitor but NO. I so wanted to run today it would have been a nice distraction. Right now the only thing working for me is running and even that has sucked this week. Another thing my dog isn't doing well she is 14 so i know she wont be around long. She doesn't even sleep threw the night any more had to wake me up twice last time to go out. The vet sad she either had a tumor on or near her bladder so its making it smaller hence the 15-20 times outside everyday. Things better get better soon or I'm going to go nuts.

stupid achilles......right one this time

yesterday i got up had no pain so i figured i would go for a run. 7 miles of fun in the cold. well my achilles wasn't happy yet i guess I'm taking a couple days off and starting back slow on Friday. slow in pace and distance. Now this time i mean it. OK so yesterday after my run I almost couldn't walk down the stairs to my room. So i iced it a couple times last night. It feels much better with shoes on so i will be wearing shoes when i am not icing it. Also i did my 45 mins of weight lifting and that almost turned in to cardio work as well. I was doing set after set with very short breaks. Right now i have 16 lifts that i do in the work out and 3 sets each with reps of 8, 10 and 12 for the sets. In a few weeks i think i may just up the reps rather than my old "up the weights" style. I think my body responds better to the weight lifting than the running for some reason. I lost like an inch off my belly area last week and i ran less. Either way i will keep running and lifting.