Whichever Freaking Way You Can

Just taking a few moments tonight to check in and say I’m still out there putting in the miles. My recent long runs are listed at the bottom of this post.


My long run on the 19th was the most mentally challenging yet. Just two and a half miles into it I came off a jogging portion and found my thoughts dwelling on many other things, none of which was related to fitness in any way. I actually got a little down and even mad at myself over nearly two months of slacking. I came very close to calling that run short and going home. But I talked myself into completing my planned seven miles regardless of my attitude or pace. As I was walking mile four, my GPS showed my pace had decreased to a nineteen. I began to tell myself I had to get my head straight and I began looking at the positive side of the past four weeks.

My attitude did turn around and soon I found myself thinking about things like what if Clint Eastwood made another sequel to “Every Which Way But Loose” and this time Philo Beddoe was fighting Rocky Balboa. In other words my thought process was back to normal.

Somehow I managed to break a fifteen average. I really thought the slow walking was going to kill my time.

Coming off the June 19th run I felt that I needed to do some work on boosting my cardio. To do this I hit the YMCA four times last week for three elliptical climber workouts and one standard elliptical workout.

The verdict is still out on if I’ve seen improvement from that directly but I have to say my Walk/Run on Saturday was both a challenge and a personal success. As I approached mile four I realized that I was on track to average a flat 13:00 pace. I just missed the four mile goal and I dropped back into a brisk walking pace as I began figuring up what my time needed to be at miles five and six to reach that thirteen minute pace. I increased my pace into a comfortable jog but I missed the pace by seconds at both mile five and six. By now I was determined to give whatever I had in me and man did that wear me out. I thought back to how I had lost my focus the previous week and I compared this week against that. This gave me another boost to keep pushing forward. At the end of the run I was pleased to see I had squeaked under a thirteen to finish with a 12:54 average.

Going forward it would be great to keep an average pace in that range but in the weeks ahead I am going to be focusing my long runs at seven miles while working to eliminate the walking portions. That will be my main focus in July. I just want to work with a distance range that is comfortable and connect those dots. If all goes well I will push August out to eight to nine miles.

I’m still considering the Des Moines half in October but I am not going to commit to it until I can assess August.

5/29 Walk/Run. Six miles. Averaged pace 13:43

6/5 Walk/Run. Seven miles. Averaged pace 13:39

6/13 Walk/Run. Seven miles. Averaged pace 13:28

6/16 Biking. Eighteen miles. Average speed 5.46 MPH

6/19 Walk/Run. Seven miles. Averaged pace 14:45

6/25 Walk/Run Seven miles. Averaged pace 12:54

Raise your hand if your SURE.

After nearly two months of sitting on my butt playing video games I've finally gotten off the couch and back out the door. I have lacked motivation on a scale that you may not believe coming from me. I have wallowed around unable to get my head on straight because getting back to where I was a few short years ago seems like such an obstacle. The very idea that I could get back into the shape I was in back in 2008 seems

insurmountable. Truth be confessed I must own up to the fact that I am my own obstacle. The whole vault boy idea was a metaphor of how I was feeling and was supposed to be a creative way for me to once again have some fun mixed with exercise. But I'm leaving that behind. One reason is I don't have time to be as creative as I would like to be over there. Here at least I can have a little fun now and then but I can also just keep it real when I want to.

So as for keeping it real. For the past two weeks I have been back out on the streets and have racked up 29+ miles. During the week I've been focusing on walking under a 16 min pace. On the weekends I've done long wogs of 6 and 7 miles. Those averaged in the 13s for a pace. My comfortable running pace is in the 11s but last Sunday I managed two 1/4 sprints in the 9s. I need to be consistent and not over do it here so I'm going to work on keeping the jogging portions in the 11 range and streaching out the distances. Hopefully that approach will be the best for my cardio. My feet hate the fact that I'm carrying around an unwanted 50 lbs. I need to lose that but I am finding that I am still stress eating and that is just putting back in the calories I burn.

I am considering doing the Des Moines half in October. I like the idea of a pre Disney goal but shades of past injury from that race haunt me. I also am concerned that I could fall into a past race lag and not keep training at the level I really need to be. I know at some point I need to declare the fears for what they are and face them. I know what caused my injury in Des Moines and it was lack of arch support. I've since gotten arch supports and run a number of races without incident. So why the fear? I think it comes down to this, consistency equals confidence. Confidence does grow but you have to keep at it.

So Raise your hand

Be confident

Be secure

Be SURE.

(i just realised this post reads like it was sponsered by a deoderant ad. this was unintentional)