5.28 Mile Run in 46:22

This was my longest run since May 25th (over 1 month ago). All things considered I felt pretty good, which is a relative statement. About 45 minutes before my run I ate half of an individual sized pizza at Bertucci's. Needing to get some exercise, I decided to hit the road, especially since Scott just challenged me to a 50 mile race on nikeplus.com.

I hit the road tonight at 7:40pm in 70 degree temps with considerable humidity. I started off way too fast, mostly due to a little bit of adrenaline and it being my first run in a while. I ran a 8:26 first mile, which also includes the first of three major hills (picture beacon hill type hills. The run took me from my house, all the way down to the Ashland Resevoir (about 2.6) miles away, before coming back. As mentioned, there were 3 pretty big hills, all over 1/5 mile in length, and all pretty steep. My quads took a beating, but they should recover in a day or two.

I ended up finishing the 5.28 mile run in 46:22 for an average pace of 8:46, and burning 711 calories in the process. Not a bad showing in my return to the road.

Check out the route here: http://tinyurl.com/34dmvy

Running the Boston Marathon on Monday

Not sure how the decision was reached but I have decided to make an attempt at my second career marathon on Monday, April 16th. Check out www.baa.org. As many know, the Boston Marathon is the most competitive marathon in the United States, and some say the world. Living in Ashland, MA these days, I have the good fortune of living 1 mile away from the 10K mark of the race route. My Manager who lives in Hopkinton (the starting town) somehow convinced me that it would be a good idea to give it another go.

This will be a very interesting race for several reasons and my mind is telling me it is something I have to attempt, though my body may disagree, 1) All of you know that I severely cramped at the 19 mile mark of my first attempted marathon in Philly in Nov of 2005. To proactively combat the cramps I have taken a few steps such as taking potassium & magnesium supplements, and well as making the decision to run this race with a 50oz. Camelbak. Until you run over 15 consecutive miles, there is no way of predicting how one's body will react to the stress and energy depletion that the body is forced to deal with. My hope is that these steps will help combat the onset of cramping. 2) 2005's cramping left me unsatisfied and wanting to give it another go. I am putting absolutely no pressure on myself this year in terms of time, and hopefully I can lower my time from 2005's 4:45. 3) The Boston Marathon is arguably the greatest and one of the most challenging marathons in the world. And it sits in my backyard. I'm not getting any younger, so how can I keep passing up on this opportunity. 4) Minimal run training. If you read some of the recent posts on this blog, you'll quickly realize I have lifted heavy over the past couple of months and neglected to hit the roads to put in miles due to the inclimate weather. I am fascinated with how my lack of training may affect my race performance.

As of right now it is impossible to predict my body's reaction in the later stages of Monday's race. Worst case scenario, I bow out early and take the commuter rail home. Best case scenario, I'll be strolling down Boylston Street around 2:30p on Monday afternoon.

3.5 Mile Run on the Treadmill

With the crappy weather here in New England it has been tough to get outside to get in some nice runs. I have been thinking more and more about taking my boss up on his offer to run the Boston Marathon with him on Patriot's Day, but I can't imagine what kind of long distance running shape I am really in. It seems so long ago that Scott and I did the Philly race.

Anyways, with that in mind I decided to go for a decent longer run on the treadmill today. I did the 3.5 jog in just over 30 minutes for an average pace in the high 8 range.

After the run and cool down I did plate raises of 35-35-35.

Weight = 177

Bicep & Tricep Workout

Today I concentrated on biceps and triceps. I started with standing dumbbell hammer curls at 45-40-35. I then did nosebreakers at 65-55-55. After that I did v bar tri pull downs at 100-90-80. Then I did rope pull downs at 70-60-50. I also did bicep curls with the handle bar on the cable crossover machine at 40-30-20. I also did curls on the crossover machine at 80-70-60. I finished with long bar curls of 70-60-50. SORE!

Weight = 178

New Week = New Shoulder Workout

I hit the gym today for a nice little shoulder workout. After the typical stretching I did dumbbell sitting shoulder raises at 40-35-30. I did standing dumbbell raises at 20-15-10-10-15-20. I did shrugs at 70-60-50. I did assisted shoulder raise machine at 80-70-60. Finally, I did close grip long bar raises at 75-70-65.

Weight = 178