October-lution

Posted on October 2, 2011 by admin

Yes, I just made up a word.  October-lution.

Why? Because who decided that we only get to make resolutions once a year?  And if we fall off the wagon, who is to say that we can’t hitch-hike on the next wagon that comes along the road?  Or, hop on the wagon that runs into as as we’re taking a nap on an old couch on the side of the road, dreaming about peanut-butter brownies.  Every month should be an opportunity to make resolutions, goals, and brownies.  Or at least an opportunity to renew the resolutions that you forgot about on January 8th.

So really, what happened is I realized that I had not gone on a run since August 16 (45 days!).  I want to go on runs, and enjoy running, but after work I often decide that I would rather do something else.  So on September 30th I decided that was going to change, and I made an October-lution.

I am going to run 16 times in October.  More specifically, I’m going to run on every odd day.

Why odd days you may ask?  Because there are more of them, and if I decide to continue my October-lution into a Septembelution then I don’t want to have 2 days off in a row with the 31st and the 1st.  Part of choosing odd days is because every day is either odd or even.  So I either go on a run or take the day off.  Previously I have done 3 or 4 runs a week.  But I never want to go on Tuesday, and then I’m feeling lazy on Wednesday, and I have plans on Thursday.  So, by Friday I’m 2 runs behind and either have to run 3 days in a row or I can’t possibly make my goal.

And I can happily announce that I successfully completed my first run in October yesterday.  3.52 miles ‘around the block.’  Average pace of 8:17/mile.  And while I was expecting to be sore after 45 days without running, but not quite this sore…

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Bad Decision Averted

Posted on September 20, 2011 by admin

My last post I was thinking about running the Portland Marathon with minimal training.  Luckily I decided not to do this.  The decision was made quite a bit easier by some patella tendonitis flaring up in my knees – a residual injury from swimming too much breaststroke in my younger years.

After deciding not to run the Portland Marathon, there was a brief time when I was going to enter one of several short triathlons in the Vancouver area, but non of those panned out.  Probably for the better.

It is probably better because I have fallen off the exercise wagon again.  While I do walk fairly long distances at work (landscape maintenance), none of this time is running.  And when I get home from work I don’t really feel like going on a run. And I have web design work waiting for me.  And I have house chores to do. And I need to work in my yard. And I need more sleep.  And I could go on, but I wont.

So as the landscape maintenance season changes from mowing yards to raking leaves I am considering a change in lifestyle.  I think that I might be happier if I simply only go to work 3 days a week.  This would leave much more time for triathlon training, growing my own small business (Orange Tie Designs), blogging here and working on various other tasks and projects that always seem to need more attention.

I’m not sure if this would be a wise decision, but life is only so long and I would rather have less and enjoy more.  What do you think?  Also, support me by clicking on those Google ads on the side of this page if you see anything that interests you.  Thanks!

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Bad Decisions

Posted on July 2, 2011 by admin

Running the Vancouver USA Half Marathon June 19, 2011. This is before I crashed and burned...

I started training for the Vancouver USA Half Marathon this spring while I was still self employed. That meant I had quite a bit of free time to go running at 11:00, 2:00, 4:30, or just about any time that I wanted.  That was quite nice, although my income was a bit on the low side.  I started a job working landscape maintenance in March and my runs slacked off considerably.  I actually didn’t go on a single run from May 19th until the half marathon on June 19th.

That was a bad decision.

The run itself felt pretty good for the first 8 miles of so.  In fact I was under my goal pace by almost a minute and a half at mile 8.  Then I started getting tired.  By mile 11 I was in pain.  By mile 12 I had hit the wall and was going down in flames.  I finished the race 5 minutes over my goal time and several minutes slower than my Seattle Half Marathon time.  Ouch.  The next morning my calves were like bricks and stairs were terrible.  But that’s what I get for making bad decisions like not training for a 13.1 mile road race.

But as I sit here and type this I am contemplating another bad decision.  Running the Portland Marathon, in 14 weeks, after minimal training for the past 3 months.  I think I can do it, but I know that the training will be brutal.  I will have to run before or after work plus the progressively longer weekend runs (9 miles tomorrow!).  Most importantly I will need to be consistent in my runs.  No “Maybe tomorrow,” or “I’m to tired tonight.”

So should I make another bad decision?

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