Was that the week that was? 2/19 - 2/25

Sunday, 2/19: Powerlines trail at Rancho. This trail deserves its own blog entry.
Monday 2/20: Tempo run around Birdland. Did 6.8 miles in 42:58, then kept going for another 3+ minutes because my iPod was still in the middle "One Shot at Glory" by Judas Priest. I didn't wanna stop 'til it was over. That's metal!
Tuesday, 2/21: Easy 7-mile jog on the streets. Felt like warmed-over ass.
Wednesday, 2/22: Track (see post from 2/22/12)
Thursday, 2/23: Easy 7-mile jog on the mean streets of Sunnyvale and Cupertino
Friday, 2/24: 8.5 mile fartlek through "the vale".
Saturday, 2/25: Another easy 7-mile jog through Sunnyvale/Cupertino metroplex.

All together, that was over 54 miles of running, my highest weekly total in a long, long time. Woot!

Adventures in Patheticness

Yesterday was a fun day at work for me. A gas leak in my building forced my evacuation into a beautiful, sunny, 75-degree February afternoon. Rumor has it The Weiner Dogg farted (SBD, IMO). Anywho, after hanging out for a while in the warm sun, I stepped into the gym in the other building and did one pull up. Just one. That was it. That was all I could do. Sigh. I'm now slow AND weak. This is not acceptable. If things continue like this, my kids will be able to kick my ass by the time they're five years old, and I won't be able to run away.

I'm adding another wrinkle to my training. I need to be able to do at least 10 pull ups by August, when Cupcake is due with Junior Jr.

Back to the Track

Yodel it from the top of Mount Hamilton. I've started a blog. I'm now part of an exclusive club that contains just about everybody. Fuck it. I did it anyway.

Tonight I set foot on a real track for a real workout for the first time in almost two years. As part of my push to get back into racing shape before I hit 40, I've been going to the dirt track at Nimitz Elementary for some interval training. On my way there tonight, I took a little detour over to Fremont High School to see if there was some way I could run on their brand new, all-weather, rubberized 400m track. Sure enough, there was an open gate, so without even having to hop a fence, I did my intervals there instead.

The workout: 4 by 1 mile (1600m, actually), with a 400m recovery jog. That's all. That's plenty right now. I did the 'miles' in 5:44,5:39,5:43, and 5:39. I used to be able to go much faster, but I also used to be younger, lighter, and childless. I'm okay with being slow.

The track itself is wonderful. It's soft and forgiving on old bones like mine. It's well lit. There was nobody else on it except for a couple of students out for a romantic walk (sorry to ruin the mood with my loogies, kids). It's new so there are no potholes. It's metric so it's a little shorter than the track at De Anza, which makes my times seem a little less glacial than they actually are. I'll certainly be back there next week.

That'll have to do for my first post. My 19-month-old son is coughing up a lung so I gotta wrap things up. Yay, blogging!