Long Run, Short Weekend

On Saturday I had my long run of seven miles. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was warm already when I started, and I was doing laps, something I dread. But I finished with a 9 minute pace, which was above expectations. The last half mile was tiring, but I felt good once it was over.

Tonight will be weights, something I’ve been sorely neglecting. And I feel awful because of it. Mentally and physcially. I feel off when I don’t lift, and I feel a bit off now.

In other news, I saw WALL-E over the weekend. It’s spectacular. Pixar pretty much has my $8 whenever they even mention a new film. This one didn’t disappoint. It’s easily one of the best films so far this year with a great story, slick visuals and characters that leap from the screen. It has a 97% fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. I’m all about movie critics having their own opinions, but in this case, I believe somebody can be wrong. If you don’t like WALL-E you are wrong. It’s that simple.

Geek Warning!
Finally, I beat Guitar Hero III on Medium yesterday. In the realm of personal accomplishments this fits somewhere between my national championship victory in EA Sports College Football and defeating Halo 2.

Pounding Pavement

First off, thanks to everyone who stopped by for yesterday’s Take It And Run Thursday from the Runner’s Lounge. It was loads of fun and I found a load of new blogs that I’ll be adding to the ol’ blog roll.

Yesterday was supposed to be 3-4 miles. Instead of heading home to run I kicked my run off in downtown Cartersville. It was my first run with my new orthotics, and I was curious to see how they would do. A long story short…it was a near perfect run. I did an out and back route that was about 5.4 miles. I averaged a 9 minute mile and had almost no IT Band pain when the run ended.

I finished refreshed and far from exhausted. The run was similar to route I used to do five years ago before I stopped running. Yesterday’s run exceeded that one in distance and speed. Sweet.

Today I’ll be off from running. Instead it’ll be my first day of another type of training. I’m starting the 100 pushup challenge. I think it’ll help me get excited again about lifting weights. And I love a good challenge.

Speaking of challenges, I’ve grown to love Guitar Hero, a game I never thought I’d really enjoy. But now I’m rocking out on medium and it’s a blast.

I gotta jet. I’m doing a radio interview this morning for my job. I’ll be on at 8:30 a.m. eastern time. Head to www.bartowheadlines.com. Click the top right corner that says “WBHF 1450.” The second station down on the right is WBHF. Pick a way to listen. Enjoy.

I’m A Runner

The fine folks at the Runner’s Lounge have an enjoyable Thursday tradition: Take It And Run Thursday. This week’s theme: I’m A runner… and finish the thought in 13 words or less.

I’m a runner because I want to find my limits…and break through them.
I’m always pushing myself. I want to do more. Run more. Be more. Sometimes eat more as well.

I love to run. It frees my mind, eases my soul and burns a few calories. And in the end, I want to see what I can do. Push myself. Find my limits. And then find new ones.

Yesterday was a rough run. Four miles in 96 degree heat. And plenty of humidity. I bought orthotics for my shoes to help with my knees. The jury’s still out on that part. The heat was terrible. My cold water was warm by the end of my run thanks to leaving it in my car prior to hitting the park.

I finished at right a 9 minute mile average. I could’ve pushed a bit more, but the heat was oppressing. Today I’ll run three to four miles in anticipation of Saturday’s long run of seven miles.

The Braves pulled one out yesterday, and their youngsters keep pitching well. As long as somebody is…

Off and Running

First off, Mrs. Fitnessgeek shined last night at a local political debate. She’s a reporter and was on the panel dishing out questions. And dish she did. Her questions regularly made the candidates sweat, and it was a blast to watch.

Today I’m picking up some insoles for my shoes that (hopefully) will help with the IT band pain. We’ll see. After work it’ll be a nice four mile run. These after work jogs make the day fly by and I always look forward to them.

I was interviewed by the local paper yesterday about raising money during my training to send our local WWII veterans to D.C. If you’d like to donate or sponsor me on my run, head to http://tinyurl.com/5bzjdq to see more information.

When the story runs in the paper, I’ll post it here.

Summer Breeze…Makes Me Feel Fine

Oh to live in Georgia…I went running and it rained and then stopped and rained some more with a light breeze and plenty of humidity. I get confused easily, plenty of people can attest to that. But yesterday was particularly tough.

There I was running with the rain coming down and sweating at the same time as the heat and humidity burned away immediately any cooling effect from the summer storm. I was hot, then cooled off then hot again. I was sweating in the rain. Weird.

The run overall was nice with three miles put in. I’m doing more and more stretches for my left knee, hoping it will help the IT band loosen up. I’ve also taken to rolling up a magazine and rolling that up and down my leg to loosen things up. I think it helped a bit yesterday. Tomorrow is a longer run of five miles so we’ll see after that.

The Braves are practicing the fine art of tanking. My fantasy team is doing the same thing. Sigh.

Tuesday Addictions!

1. Arrested Development – Perhaps the finest sitcom ever. Ever ever. They’re about to film a movie. I feel an AD marathon coming on…

2. Running – Surprise surprise.

3. Reading – Just finished Shutter Island and I’m now reading The Good Guy.

Bad…Then Good Then Seven Words

Friday’s run was bad. Terrible and bad. Terrible and bad and awful. My Achilles started to act up, my knee ached and my body wasn’t into the run at all. I felt like a fraud. There was no way I had run a half marathon a month ago and now could barely make it through 3.3 miles.

On Saturday I went for a long run of six miles. And it was great. I averaged a reasonable but not spectacular 9:10(approximate) pace. No real aches or pains. I felt good when it ended, not like I was ready to lay down and die.

However, (there’s always a however) today I still have a lingering shin splint. I’m thinking of either just doing a stationary bike or skipping my run today. I haven’t decided yet. Either way, I’ll be doing weights later tonight. I’ll just see how I’m feeling after work.

in other news, George Carlin died. I could list his seven words you can’t say on television or mention how great he was and how he shaped comedy for me. But that would be the opposite of what he wanted. He always said tributes were stupid. So in his honor I’ll just say this: Shit.

Finally, my fantasy team slipped to second. My pitchers (I’m using the term very loosely) had a rough day. Three of the four sported ERAs of 5, 6 and 18. Oh well. Plenty of time to come back.

Friday!

It’s been a long week. That’s the best way to put it. Not bad. Not tough. Just long. Not much sleep and a lot of late night talks as Mrs. Fitnessgeek deals with one of her brothers maybe moving away. There’s more to it than that, but this isn’t the place.

As for me and my runs, I’ve got a big four miler today and then six tomorrow morning. My first long run of the marathon training. These short runs are nice, but I like the runs of more than five miles because they really make me feel like I accomplished something.

Speaking of accomplishments, I’m now rocking Guitar Hero III on medium difficulty. OK, not really rocking. More like strumming through with the hopes of hitting the right notes occasionally. I guess that makes me sort of like Nickelback. :0

Also of geek note, I’m rewatching Hellboy right now. Love that movie. Can’t wait for the sequel. It’s one of those underappreciated comic book movies. And it’s great.

Outsmarted by my cat…

Yesterday was a nice four mile run at about an 8:45 pace. Not too fast, not too slow. A good Goldilocks type run. I won’t be running today, but I will be working out tonight. The great news is my knees are feeling better. I started doing some stretches before and after my runs, and it really seems to help.

Saturday is my first long run of the training session, an easy six-miler. I’m planning on a sub 60 minute run despite the hilly terrain.

Elsewhere, I was sitting in a chair last night watching Mrs. Fitnessgeek play the Wii when our cat Dizzy started banging around in a plastic bag sitting nearby. He’d stop, look at me, and go back to beating on the bag and causing all sorts of commotion.

Beat. Look. Beat.

Beat. Look. Beat.

Finally, I got up and yanked the bag away. While I was bending over he took the opportunity to sprint behinnd me, jump up in the chair and go to sleep.

I’m thinking the bag was just a ploy the whole time.

Good Start

I left the house for my run without my iPod and without my phone. Not the best way to kick off a run, but what are ya gonna do?

That was the worst that happened. I did 3.39 miles (according to Mapmyrun), which was just a bit more than scheduled. I did a good pace, but without my iPod, I don’t know exactly the time. But I felt great at the end and my knees were pretty OK.

On that note, I found this interesting article on Runner’s World that pretty much stressed stretching as a way to beat the IT Band pain. Pretty psyched about that. Today will be four miles with another 3-4 tomorrow. Saturday will be six miles.

On a geek note, Stan Winston died. Don’t know who he is? He created the costumes for the Alien movies, Predator, Terminator, A.I. and Jurassic Park to name only a very few. The man got my imagination going at a young age.  He’ll be missed.

Another First!??!?! Tuesday Addictions

So I’ve already had my first day of marathon training, but today is my first day of marathon training on my actual plan. The distinction is a bit hard to see, but it’s there!

I’ll run three to four miles today and Wednesday and Thursday. My first long run will be Saturday. I’ve been reading Hal Higdon’s book and it’s been invaluable.

However, I’ve been slacking bad on my weight training, so I’ll kick that in tonight. I’d like to do it Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. That still gives me Monday and Friday as complete rest days.

The Braves won again last night, now taking 3 of the last 4. I’m still not convinced the ship has turned yet, but any win helps.

Tuesday Addictions!

1. Marathon Training – I’m really excited to start in and pumping up the mileage.

2. Baseball – Nothing better than spending a hot June night inside watching baseball.

3. Legend of Zelda – Yeah, very geeky. Downloaded it to the Wii and realized how fun (and outdated) the game is now.

4. Shutter Island – A great book I’m reading by the author of Mystic River and Gone Baby Gone. It’s in the works to be a movie directed by Martin Scorcese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

5. Not using hyperlinks – Sorry. Most bloggers love tossing them in, but sometimes I get lazy and don’t feel like it. Want to know about Shutter Island or Hal Higdon? That’s why we have Google.

6. Google Documents – Just started playing around with this. Very cool stuff. My experiment with it later this week.