Monday. Day 35. With the Super Bowl last night, Jay and I decided our tempo run would take place at lunch. The extra sleep was good and I felt well rested when I woke up. Meeting at lunch time, the weather was very agreeable for running. Nearly 50 degrees. I had originally thought two shirts, but ditched the second shirt after some consideration. Good call.
Jay and I were both a bit nervous, about this run, a 1 EZ 5 tempo and 1 EZ, the tempo was 7:13. It was decide we would run the Greenway, an easy way to warm up it is exactly 1 mile to the first marker and provides markers the entire distance.
Off we went, the warm up is mostly down hill and at one point we were already running 7:17. I looked at Jay and said, “ hey we better reel this in” He agreed.
Hitting the one mile mark, I hit my watch and off we went. Jay was strong and dictated the pace for the first mile. I was thinking this seems fast. Sure enough we were running a sub 7 minute mile at the first marker. Jay say’s, “Bob we have to back it off”… it never happened. It seemed that Jay drove the pace for the first 2.5 miles and I drove the pace for the last 2.5 miles. The pace was uncomfortable, except for a few points where I felt strong, though that was mostly toward the end when I knew I was nearly done. The cool down mile was difficult as we were now climbing the hill that we ran down during the warm up. Clearly we were not running 7:17 like we did on the warm up.
Back at the gym I started running the numbers, we ran 5 miles at a 6:49 pace. Not what we were supposed to do, but it felt good and answered a question that that had been sitting at the back of my mind, how was I going to run a sub 7 mile pace on race day. Now I know the training is paying off. Need to keep up the hard work.
Weight. 181. Still bad.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
FIRE!!!!!!!!!
Sunday. Day 34. It is like a hangover. The loss and lack of a restful night sleep have taken their toll. The good breakfast at Mel’s helps ease the sting of the loss and the coke for breakfast gives me a little pep to get the day started.
Back home, Jack's football season is over. It started in July and after 7 months, we are done. Whew. I am exhausted. The next few weeks I will be focusing on the Mustang and my training.
Today, I have a goal of fitting and welding in the front floors and repairing the bad welding job on the rear floor. I had ground out the bad weld yesterday and did a much better job welding in the rear floor this time. Good for me. That corrected, I start fitting the fronts, first the left, next the right. I measure twice and cut once. I am getting better, perhaps due to me practicing patience.
I start welding in the harder of the two front floors, the driver side. It is going well I am being methodical. I did weld through one area and I am disappointed, but I know what to do, I will simply patch it.
As I am welding, I see a flame coming from under the car. FLAME! Oh no. FIRE.! I hop out of the car, I am thinking it is the undercoating. Smartly we have fire extinguishers. I yell, “FIRE”, Out of the House!” I do not want anyone in the house if there is an opportunity for this to get out of control. I also know that if I can not get it out, I will push the car out of the garage.
Grabbing the fire extinguisher, I pull the pin and look for the trigger. Where is it? I stop and think what Kim said when she put out the kitchen fire "it has to be easy". I see the trigger. I pull and in seconds the fire is nearly out. I look under the car, it is not the undercoating, rather it was a piece of cardboard soaked in leaky transmission fluid. Dumb. I pull out cardboard from under the car and take it to the driveway. I stomp the rest of the flames out. I had forgotten about the cardboard. A hot piece of welding slag smoldered and caught the cardboard on fire.
I spend the next hour and a half, cleaning up the mess from the extinguisher and wiping everything down. I remove any other items that might possible “catch” from the spattering weld. It was just that small piece of cardboard, but it was enough.
I call it a day after cleaning up the garage. I will not weld again until I have a new fire extinguisher, I will actually buy two news one. The evening is spent making spedies and enjoying a good Super Bowl.
Back home, Jack's football season is over. It started in July and after 7 months, we are done. Whew. I am exhausted. The next few weeks I will be focusing on the Mustang and my training.
Today, I have a goal of fitting and welding in the front floors and repairing the bad welding job on the rear floor. I had ground out the bad weld yesterday and did a much better job welding in the rear floor this time. Good for me. That corrected, I start fitting the fronts, first the left, next the right. I measure twice and cut once. I am getting better, perhaps due to me practicing patience.
I start welding in the harder of the two front floors, the driver side. It is going well I am being methodical. I did weld through one area and I am disappointed, but I know what to do, I will simply patch it.
As I am welding, I see a flame coming from under the car. FLAME! Oh no. FIRE.! I hop out of the car, I am thinking it is the undercoating. Smartly we have fire extinguishers. I yell, “FIRE”, Out of the House!” I do not want anyone in the house if there is an opportunity for this to get out of control. I also know that if I can not get it out, I will push the car out of the garage.
Grabbing the fire extinguisher, I pull the pin and look for the trigger. Where is it? I stop and think what Kim said when she put out the kitchen fire "it has to be easy". I see the trigger. I pull and in seconds the fire is nearly out. I look under the car, it is not the undercoating, rather it was a piece of cardboard soaked in leaky transmission fluid. Dumb. I pull out cardboard from under the car and take it to the driveway. I stomp the rest of the flames out. I had forgotten about the cardboard. A hot piece of welding slag smoldered and caught the cardboard on fire.
I spend the next hour and a half, cleaning up the mess from the extinguisher and wiping everything down. I remove any other items that might possible “catch” from the spattering weld. It was just that small piece of cardboard, but it was enough.
I call it a day after cleaning up the garage. I will not weld again until I have a new fire extinguisher, I will actually buy two news one. The evening is spent making spedies and enjoying a good Super Bowl.
HOSED
Saturday. Day 33.
I woke early and made the family breakfast, pancakes. After experimenting the last few Saturdays, I think I finally figured out the right temp and time. One word, tasty. The family is filled, good thing, we have a football game today and it is cold. Everyone will need the fuel to stay warm. The rest of the morning was spent working on the Mustang. The floors are cut out and prepped for the welding on Sunday.
Around 10:00 we start getting ready for the game. The other game is very competitive, however, we are battling the ref’s. We have 23 flags thrown at us during the game. The game comes down with us leading after Jack running in two touchdowns to us stopping them. Jared a friend of Jack intercepts the ball in the endzone. Game over…wait no a late call, the ref says it was trapped. A total BS call. As I watched, the ball was caught in the air, and the player landed on his back to make certain the ball never saw the ground. Bad call. We end up losing in triple overtime. More flags were thrown. I am bitter. The rest of the day I work on the Mustang, but my mind is racing. I am mad. At night I toss and turn and finally at 2:00 AM I am wide awake. It takes me until 4:00 AM before I finally let it go and fall asleep.
I do not mind being outplayed, I do not like losing, but I do not feel bad when we are beat, that did not happened though, this makes me angry.
I woke early and made the family breakfast, pancakes. After experimenting the last few Saturdays, I think I finally figured out the right temp and time. One word, tasty. The family is filled, good thing, we have a football game today and it is cold. Everyone will need the fuel to stay warm. The rest of the morning was spent working on the Mustang. The floors are cut out and prepped for the welding on Sunday.
Around 10:00 we start getting ready for the game. The other game is very competitive, however, we are battling the ref’s. We have 23 flags thrown at us during the game. The game comes down with us leading after Jack running in two touchdowns to us stopping them. Jared a friend of Jack intercepts the ball in the endzone. Game over…wait no a late call, the ref says it was trapped. A total BS call. As I watched, the ball was caught in the air, and the player landed on his back to make certain the ball never saw the ground. Bad call. We end up losing in triple overtime. More flags were thrown. I am bitter. The rest of the day I work on the Mustang, but my mind is racing. I am mad. At night I toss and turn and finally at 2:00 AM I am wide awake. It takes me until 4:00 AM before I finally let it go and fall asleep.
I do not mind being outplayed, I do not like losing, but I do not feel bad when we are beat, that did not happened though, this makes me angry.
Friday, February 5, 2010
I am wearing a fat suit
Friday. Day 32. Last week I thought I had a tough run. I guess I can not tell the future, if I could I would have known that today would make last week look easy. Set the stage, 37 degrees, windy and rain. The rain, was less like rain and more like cold little daggers. The moment the run started, the rain cut through the various layers and within a half mile I was soaked. The first mile was at a 6:55 pace, too fast. Dialing it back Jay and I set into our 7:33 pace. Though the pace today seemed difficult, why, no idea. Fatigue, stress, diet, weight, unknown. Perhaps the fact that I did not swim and lost an edge with my conditioning. No matter. I can not turn back time, only keep moving forward. Running forward.
Next few miles I normalized my pace. However just passing the 5 mile mark, there was a gradual mile climb, into the face of the wind. Brutal and I spent a lot of energy. By the time I hit mile 7 and typically start feeling great, I was done. My legs burnt. Lungs, ragged breathing. Mentally, done! Jay, however was hitting his stride and looking strong. There was no time for let up, rather it was time to look inward. A test, mentally, physically. At one point, my left leg just quit. Too bad, keep running.
With a mile to go I knew I would finish. Every step hurt, but I finished and stayed on pace. I have to admit, I was angry, sure nice to finish, but it was a bad run. This will likely stick with me for a while.
Work will keep me busy today. Too wet and cold for practice, we’ll go into the football tournament with essentially no practice. Later tonight is the basket fund raiser at school, that will be fun.
Weight. 181. Yes, I am wearing a fat suit. No wonder.
Next few miles I normalized my pace. However just passing the 5 mile mark, there was a gradual mile climb, into the face of the wind. Brutal and I spent a lot of energy. By the time I hit mile 7 and typically start feeling great, I was done. My legs burnt. Lungs, ragged breathing. Mentally, done! Jay, however was hitting his stride and looking strong. There was no time for let up, rather it was time to look inward. A test, mentally, physically. At one point, my left leg just quit. Too bad, keep running.
With a mile to go I knew I would finish. Every step hurt, but I finished and stayed on pace. I have to admit, I was angry, sure nice to finish, but it was a bad run. This will likely stick with me for a while.
Work will keep me busy today. Too wet and cold for practice, we’ll go into the football tournament with essentially no practice. Later tonight is the basket fund raiser at school, that will be fun.
Weight. 181. Yes, I am wearing a fat suit. No wonder.
He ran out of his shoes
Thursday. Day 31. Swim, no. Sleep, yes. Work, oh boy. Lots of work. The evening was football practice, the highlight of the evening was watching Jack literally run out of his shoes as they were stuck in the mud. Funny.
Tomorrow 10 miles.
Tomorrow 10 miles.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
One For The Road
Wednesday. Day 30.
Track Day. No Corey, he is out for the count with a fever. Jeff is recovering from his first LAX practice, so it is Jay, Anne Marie, Susan and little ol’ me. The girls are doing a bunch of 400’s while Jay and I tackle 4 x 1000 at a respectable 3:55. The first one is like nearly perfect, I hit each 200 with negative splits. It is fairly easy though my lungs and legs are still warming up. The last 200 of the first 1000 was hard, but it is suppose to be hard. The next 1000 was just a little more challenging. Jay took us out fast, 44 seconds for the first 200. It was hold on from that point on, we finished well. The 3rd 1000 was a bit of a mystery. We had figured that if we ran 0:46 for the five 200’s we would be where we needed to be. I started us off, 0:46, the next, 0:47, 0:45, 0:46, 0:46. Great right. Nope, somehow we finished 3:56, or one second over. Go figure. We were satisfied but easily could have greased the last 200 to keep us under 3:55. The last 1000 was run well ending in a 3:52. Good work at the track. A nice cool down run to the gym and done.
The day brought a good deal of work, but there was an opportunity to hit the weights for lunch. The weights are low weight high reps. I just do not need to add the bulk.
More work, followed and kept me busy until the evening came. As our buddy Jeff was ending his tenure at Textron, we decide to all hoist a beer in his honor. Though Corey was not there, he was with us in spirit. It was decided that we needed to do this more often… Imagine that, I have only been asking them to meet me for a beer for the past 2 years! Life, Family and Jobs happened and with all of us juggling our schedules it is not surprising. Perhaps as summer rolls around we can look at beers on a Wednesday after riding bikes.
Evening was spent with the family reading bedtime books and catching up on the day. Lucky me.
Weight 181 So disappointing.
Track Day. No Corey, he is out for the count with a fever. Jeff is recovering from his first LAX practice, so it is Jay, Anne Marie, Susan and little ol’ me. The girls are doing a bunch of 400’s while Jay and I tackle 4 x 1000 at a respectable 3:55. The first one is like nearly perfect, I hit each 200 with negative splits. It is fairly easy though my lungs and legs are still warming up. The last 200 of the first 1000 was hard, but it is suppose to be hard. The next 1000 was just a little more challenging. Jay took us out fast, 44 seconds for the first 200. It was hold on from that point on, we finished well. The 3rd 1000 was a bit of a mystery. We had figured that if we ran 0:46 for the five 200’s we would be where we needed to be. I started us off, 0:46, the next, 0:47, 0:45, 0:46, 0:46. Great right. Nope, somehow we finished 3:56, or one second over. Go figure. We were satisfied but easily could have greased the last 200 to keep us under 3:55. The last 1000 was run well ending in a 3:52. Good work at the track. A nice cool down run to the gym and done.
The day brought a good deal of work, but there was an opportunity to hit the weights for lunch. The weights are low weight high reps. I just do not need to add the bulk.
More work, followed and kept me busy until the evening came. As our buddy Jeff was ending his tenure at Textron, we decide to all hoist a beer in his honor. Though Corey was not there, he was with us in spirit. It was decided that we needed to do this more often… Imagine that, I have only been asking them to meet me for a beer for the past 2 years! Life, Family and Jobs happened and with all of us juggling our schedules it is not surprising. Perhaps as summer rolls around we can look at beers on a Wednesday after riding bikes.
Evening was spent with the family reading bedtime books and catching up on the day. Lucky me.
Weight 181 So disappointing.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
I'm a Groundhog
Tuesday. Day 29. Groundhogs Day. Well Phil did see his shadow, so we are in for six more weeks of winter. Nothing but a full day of work for me… too much to do and too little time to get it all in. Putting my head down now to work.
Damn Turkey Burgers
Monday. Day 28. Sleeping was decide at about 5:00 PM Sunday night. I enjoy the extra hours of sleep and feel like my body is well rested and ready for an active week of work, training and parenting. Each individually is a enough, but combined, I need to be well rested.
Meeting Jay at 11:30, he is there on the dot. Today is a six mile tempo run, 1 EZ, 4 at 7:03 and 1 EZ. One word, tough. The warm up is always an issues as your body is shocked into responding to an increase in breathing and heart rate, and just as you seem to be adjusting it is time to increase the speed. That first mile, at 7:03 goes rather quickly and through I am efforting, it is not exceedingly difficult. Mile 2 is here and it is going by a little slower. As I did during my last tempo, I started with 40/10ths, and I am working my way down. It makes the time/distance go by quickly. Midway through mile two, I am again feeling the effort, but it is not as bad as the last two miles from last Friday. I keep running. Around the start of the third mile, I see Jay decrease the speed on his TM. Looking over, I ask, did I miss something… no. Cramps, GI issues. Ouch. I ask if he wants me to slow my pace, he says to continue, so I do. After a few tenths, Jay ramps up the speed and continues the workout, how, I have no idea how, but he does it and finishes the distance. Pretty tough to do. I keep on pace and soon I am on my last mile. It feels good. I stride the last few tenths easily and feel controlled. During the cool down I hit my heart rate, 171. Too high and likely higher on during the fast pace. Oh well, just keep working on it, it will lower, or explode.
After the run I ask Jay what he had for dinner the night before. Turkey Burgers. There you go... likely mixed with too much fiber.
Work, kids, work and sleep make up the remainder of the day. I also work on a painting project for Kim. Tomorrow is swim, but I will be missing it. Too much work I need to jam this week.
Weight 179.
Meeting Jay at 11:30, he is there on the dot. Today is a six mile tempo run, 1 EZ, 4 at 7:03 and 1 EZ. One word, tough. The warm up is always an issues as your body is shocked into responding to an increase in breathing and heart rate, and just as you seem to be adjusting it is time to increase the speed. That first mile, at 7:03 goes rather quickly and through I am efforting, it is not exceedingly difficult. Mile 2 is here and it is going by a little slower. As I did during my last tempo, I started with 40/10ths, and I am working my way down. It makes the time/distance go by quickly. Midway through mile two, I am again feeling the effort, but it is not as bad as the last two miles from last Friday. I keep running. Around the start of the third mile, I see Jay decrease the speed on his TM. Looking over, I ask, did I miss something… no. Cramps, GI issues. Ouch. I ask if he wants me to slow my pace, he says to continue, so I do. After a few tenths, Jay ramps up the speed and continues the workout, how, I have no idea how, but he does it and finishes the distance. Pretty tough to do. I keep on pace and soon I am on my last mile. It feels good. I stride the last few tenths easily and feel controlled. During the cool down I hit my heart rate, 171. Too high and likely higher on during the fast pace. Oh well, just keep working on it, it will lower, or explode.
After the run I ask Jay what he had for dinner the night before. Turkey Burgers. There you go... likely mixed with too much fiber.
Work, kids, work and sleep make up the remainder of the day. I also work on a painting project for Kim. Tomorrow is swim, but I will be missing it. Too much work I need to jam this week.
Weight 179.
28 - 0 for the good guys
Sunday. Day 27. Up late last night with my date. What a hottie. Morning comes and we are off to Mel’s. A big plate of bacon and the Sunday paper greet us at our reserved table. I really enjoy our Sunday breakfast.
Mid day brings Jacks football game. He is a little off on his passes, they are high, but still goes 3-4. I let Jack call many of the plays during the game, he does a great job managing and calling the game and we will easily, 28 – 0. Next week starts the tournament. I must remember to “Coach-up”. I’ll need to get him out throwing the ball this week. Very important.
The remainder of the day is errands, working on the car, playing with the boys and all the stuff that makes up life. The weekend rolls by too quickly.
Mid day brings Jacks football game. He is a little off on his passes, they are high, but still goes 3-4. I let Jack call many of the plays during the game, he does a great job managing and calling the game and we will easily, 28 – 0. Next week starts the tournament. I must remember to “Coach-up”. I’ll need to get him out throwing the ball this week. Very important.
The remainder of the day is errands, working on the car, playing with the boys and all the stuff that makes up life. The weekend rolls by too quickly.
Rocky, Rocky, Rocky
January 30, 2010
Saturday. Day 26. Rain. It just keeps coming. Jack’s football game is cancelled, so the afternoon is free. I work on the car and make a good deal of progress.
The highlight of the day came early though. The boys were asked to clean up their rooms. While walking by Wil’s room, his door was cracked open just a bit. Peering in I saw he was done cleaning his room, though now he was on the floor doing push-ups. As I stood there watching, I saw him get up and start fiddling with his ipod. I thought, does he not know how to use it? It hit me , he was looking for a particular song. Smiling he hits play and turned up the volume. It is the theme from the movie Rocky! He grabs his weights and starts doing curls, towards the end he is grunting to finish his set. With no pause, he hits the floor and is now doing sit-ups.
I quickly rush downstairs to tell Kim. We both smile and watch. Later in the day, I tell him he is looking really strong, the smile on his face could not be any bigger.
That night both the boys are out, Jack at a “mini lock-in” and Wil sleeping at a friends. Kim and I have a date, Miltons for dinner and a movie, Hangover, at home in the basement theater.
Nice day.
Saturday. Day 26. Rain. It just keeps coming. Jack’s football game is cancelled, so the afternoon is free. I work on the car and make a good deal of progress.
The highlight of the day came early though. The boys were asked to clean up their rooms. While walking by Wil’s room, his door was cracked open just a bit. Peering in I saw he was done cleaning his room, though now he was on the floor doing push-ups. As I stood there watching, I saw him get up and start fiddling with his ipod. I thought, does he not know how to use it? It hit me , he was looking for a particular song. Smiling he hits play and turned up the volume. It is the theme from the movie Rocky! He grabs his weights and starts doing curls, towards the end he is grunting to finish his set. With no pause, he hits the floor and is now doing sit-ups.
I quickly rush downstairs to tell Kim. We both smile and watch. Later in the day, I tell him he is looking really strong, the smile on his face could not be any bigger.
That night both the boys are out, Jack at a “mini lock-in” and Wil sleeping at a friends. Kim and I have a date, Miltons for dinner and a movie, Hangover, at home in the basement theater.
Nice day.
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