Gym Rat

Well I am off to the gym tonight to sign up and see how it goes. There is a February special with no initiation fee and a monthly fee of $66. It has an indoor track, pool, classes for spinning, yoga and even tennis courts. I am not sure how much I will use it but I will give myself a month or 2 and see if I can get my monies worth out of it.

My wife and I have a ten miler planned for tomorrow morning. The forecast looks like it will be a high of 31, so not too bad. One of my poker buddies, Chad is training for the Illinois Marathon and will be running with us in the morning. He is much faster than us, but he just needs to get the mileage in and wants the company. It will push me to move a little quicker as well.

My Father in law finished installing my tile back splash in the kitchen yesterday. It turned out great and the only thing left is to grout. I hope to have some photos of the finished project to share after this weekend.

I am going for a blood test before my run tomorrow to test my cholesterol and triglycerides. As I have posted before, I have a long history of bad reading of these in my blood work. I was told to give up caffeine and alcohol for the past 7 weeks and to retest to see where my numbers are. I did not give those things up completely, but had limited my consumption drastically. I have not had alcohol for the past week. This is no easy task, As I keep a 1/2 barrel on tap at my house. I played poker last night and was the only one drinking water. On a side note, I ended up winning for a change. I guess it was just luck, right? Anyway, I have my fingers crossed that the numbers have gone down and that things are getting somewhat under control. If not I curse my Italian ancestors for giving me such shitty genetics.

I hope everyone has a great weekend and wish Jamoosh good luck at Gaspirilla distance classic tomorrow.

Feeling Good with No Rest

Saturday’s nine miler went better than was expected. The weather was around 30 degrees and overcast, but the miles seemed to flow by effortlessly. My fastest pace was actually mile 8. In fact the run went so well that my wife and I went out again on Sunday, our rest day. The weather forecast was predicting snow on Sunday evening so we wanted to get another outdoor run in before the dreadful snow came. Well that snow came and it wasn’t so bad. I only saw a few inches of accumulation at my house. Still it is enough to prevent clear pavement for running for a few more days.

The good news is that my friend is still asking if I want to be her guest at the gym. I have a 3 miler for Tuesday, which I can run on my home treadmill but have a 5 on Wednesday that I will probably take her up on the gym offer. After running on the indoor track last week, I was having some pain in my ankle and inside shin. I self diagnosed my issue as Tibialis Posterior Tendonitis. After a rest on Friday evening and a Saturday run the pain seemed to have gone away. I think running so many laps on the track and having to pass so many walkers may have aggravated something. All I Know is that I am thankful the pain is gone and I am still running. I think I am going to use the treadmill at the gym and maybe a warm up and cool down on the track. Maybe it has nothing to do with the track, but I am too scared to test it out.

I was just in touch with an old college friend and he invited me to come to Champaign for a visit. He informed me that he is running the Illinois Marathon and he is going to do his first ½. I remember Max ran a little in college but not too much. I guess running to the bar was as good as it got. Anyway, I told him that I would have run the ½ with him but unfortunately, I signed up for the Wisconsin ½ Marathon for the same day. He has not been running regularly and is just thinking of starting his training this week, which gives him about 10 weeks to prepare. He said a few different people told him to run 3 miles for 6 days a week and a little longer on Saturday. He seemed really clueless on what it will take to get him ready for this. I forwarded Max the Hal Higdon ½ marathon novice program and I hope he will try and follow some training regime other than listening to clueless people. I hope he enjoys the journey and accomplishes the goal but as of right now I am a little skeptical. I guess too many people watch the Biggest Loser and assume anyone can run a marathon or ½.

Now that we have our appliances installed, we went tile shopping at Lowe’s for a back splash. We found a nice slate tile and bought all they had at our local store. We had to drive to another store to get the rest of the tile we needed. While we we re there, we decided to change the cabinet hardware, outlet covers and re-paint the kitchen. I seem to always create a good amount of work for myself, but I hope in the end it will be worth it. Luckily my Father-In-law is retired and has offered to install the tile. I think he is really excited to help out and who am I to get in the way of that happiness. He just did a back splash at his house and it turned out great. It also helps that his best (retired) buddy was a tile guy, who will probably accompany him for moral support.

Back in Business

It seems I have resolved my technical problems. I apologize if I have not been too responsive to anyone, but I assure you, I am reading your posts. It’s amazing how far behind you can get with just a short time away. Anyway, I am glad to be back and hopefully will not have any future computer issues.

Training is going well and I have been chugging along on my Hal Higdon 18 week program and incorporating a few extra miles in just to keep up with the level I was at anyway. I know this will change in a short time and I will wish I had rested up for the upcoming miles.

I have been going to the local gym lately with a friend of mine. She has a membership and they offer family hours but her husband chooses not to go, so I check in as him. They have an indoor track and it helps break up the monotony of running on the dreadmill. During the week, I have to run on the treadmill because it is dark and icy when I get home from work. I have also been able to incorporate a little lifting into my routine as well. I have been toying with the idea of joining the gym, but can’t seem to decide. They are offering a special for February with no initiation fee. The monthly fee is $65 and I don’t know if I will get my moneys worth. I am an outside runner, except for at night with icy conditions. I still have a few weeks to decide.

I have a nine miler scheduled for this Saturday, I haven’t run that distance since December and I am actually looking forward to getting out and putting some bigger numbers down. I took Monday off for President’s Day since my son was home from school and I was able to do a nice five miler in the morning, while it there was daylight outside.

Saturday, I had the new appliances delivered and I spent the rest of the day installing everything. I had a few issues with almost every piece but managed to get it done. The fridge had a leaking water line for the ice maker so I replaced that, the dishwasher required a part that didn’t come with it and I had to modify the Microwave install over the stove. Luckily with one trip to Home Depot I had everything I needed to complete the install. I have to say we are happy with the end result and it looks nice.

I have noticed a few new readers to my blog and I welcome you. I appreciate everyone’s comments and support.

Technical Difficulties

I have been experiencing technical difficulties lately and have not been able to post anything. I have been keeping up with all of you but feel badly that I haven't been able to leave comments on your posts. I am trying to figure out a solution so that I can fix my situation. Please know that I am keeping up and am with you in spirit, even if I don't comment much.

Training has been going well and according to my 18 week plan. Last weekend was 7 miles on Saturday in the snow and wind. I know I am not alone with this horrendous weather.

I signed up for the Wisconsin 1/2 marathon for May 1st, but couldn't talk my wife in joining me. Instead, I will be running with a friend. I signed up for my first race of the year for April 21st as well. I decided to run my local 5k (Run thru the Hills). My wife and son will run this as well, so it can be a family tradition like we did last year. My wife and son both got placed in their age groups and received medals last year.

I've got a busy weekend lined. Saturday morning long run with my wife, appliances delivered in afternoon, surprise B-Day party Saturday night. Sunday I am coaching my son's basketball team because the coach and asst. coach can't make it. Lucky the kids know what they are doing more than I do.

I hope to work my issues out soon and get back to normal.