Nerves

A thunder storm is the only thing keeping me inside right now, instead of getting one more mile in so I could hit 100mi for the month. I'll be content with 99.1...
I basically ran all negative splits today for 4x4/200 intervals. My second 400 and third 200 were up one second. The last 400 and all the 200s were done on the local track. The school wasn’t using it, and I found the way in. So I did the Start-circle-Start-circle thing for the first time in 11 years or so. All my times were lower than expected. Because I felt they could have been even lower, I need to decide how fast I’d like to run my 5k this weekend. Last time I wanted under 25:30, and I’m not sure if shooting for 24:00 is unreasonable?

Our A league team has one game left on the schedule. And we can’t finish any lower than first place. We beat the second place team yesterday, and it felt good after we lost to them the first time we played. It would actually mean something if we got the next fall league free for winning this spring league, which happens some places. But not here.

More baby classes this week. At work this morning I got very anxious, almost like a panic attack, because I’m not sure our house is ready. I’ve got to finish a couple projects and would like a new kitchen, and I wanted to leave work to get these things done. About five minutes later, I realized this is my way of being nervous. Mostly your typical Provider type concerns scattering throughout my head. And it’s all irrational thinking, because I know I’ll be a good dad. I’ve been preparing for this since mine walked out, and I picked up his racquetball racquet and thought “I need to learn this game to be the man of the house.” I was six.

It’s our second anniversary, our last without kids running about, and I’m watching hockey, and my wife is doing homework, both listening to thunder. Party animals I tell ya.

I still have the racquet.

Golf Season is Here!

I finally got out on the course this week. Subbed in a league that is mostly made up of my bowling league. I don’t consider golf exercise. If a guy can drop his cigar, set down a beer, swing a club, pick up his nicotine and alcohol, and keep playing, it’s an activity, not exercise.

But I’m trying to get out again today.

So I ran early today, so long as early is a relative term. I stayed up watching Vancouver beat Anaheim in double overtime last night, so I didn’t roll out of bed till eight. I ran a nice easy 7.85, my longest run to date, around some new routes. Saw lots of people out and about this morning, made me wish I had a training partner for these longer days.

I found a summer hockey league. This means I’ll play a few more games as a guy without kids, and I’ll miss my first scheduled game in six years around the time our kid arrives. With the possibility of not skating all summer, I’ve contemplated buying a bike to add some summer cross training. But, I’ll put those thoughts on hold; I didn’t realize how expensive a bike could be. Hockey and running is enough of a balanced exercise routine for me.

Off to the bakery to see if they have any German Chocolate rolls left this late in the day.

What have I done?

My interval run today totaled 6.5 miles, and I thought I totaled around 5.75 or so. Today was less than half a mile shorter than my long run from this past weekend. I feel great. I think I’ll run trails tomorrow.

Also, this month I’m on pace to spend more time running than playing hockey.

Not bad or good.

Unless I find a summer league, there are only 3 hockey games left in my life as a guy without kids. My A League team won today. I played aright, made a couple bonehead plays that cost me, and also recovered from a couple mistakes I made.

I’m not sure I fully recovered from my run yesterday. It was a long slow day, and I ran very slow, and enjoyed every minute of it. I think I read that if your resting heart rate is 5 or 10 higher than normal, you haven’t recovered from yesterday’s activity. But since I quit smoking and began noticing my heart rate, my resting rate has been lower every time it’s been checked. So maybe that’s why I was off today or maybe my warm-up wasn’t quite right, either way I didn’t play too bad, but not too great either.

My step-dad hasn’t signed up for the race we decided to do next month. It doesn’t appear to be a big race, so there should be no problem getting it done on race morning. Now I’m enjoying talking running with him, and the needling we give one another.

I keep discovering neat things around town as I run. An Olde Tyme Fix-It-Shop, a guy I know from bowling letting his dog out, a church that reminds me of my grandparents with a great view of the river, and drinking fountains that aren’t on yet. Things like these are why I really enjoy running, and won’t take the same route twice.

Step-dad and I think we can finish the race together, if I run it twice. Or go at it backwards.

Training Week

After my first race, I just picked up the same training plan and started it again. Albeit at a spot that fits for my next race! I’ll say it again; using a training plan/guide is much easier than just trying to run a few days a week. If I need to keep racing to make “training” this much more enjoyable, I’ll keep finding room in my schedule for them. I think I’ll go for a 10k after this one though.

Our first baby class is this week. It’s a class on breastfeeding. I’m going to hopefully learn a thing or two, and be supportive. Also, I’ll remember things my wife won’t, and visa versa. This means I can’t play golf tomorrow like I hoped, but I still get to skate against a guy I grew up against (I’m 4-0 against him in the last two years).

I took a CPR/First Aid class through work on Monday. The CPR guidelines are changed so often, it’s nice to get this refresher before our kid arrives. There were two downfalls however; I ate pizza for lunch and ran intervals after work, and a new guy started in the shop that day. I was able to meet this new guy for a few minutes before I left for the training class, and he seemed like a nice guy. The next day, he arrived to work at 5:00am, showing promise. After going over a few things for 15 minutes or so, I was set to have him just observe for an hour, and he ran to his vehicle to grab his tools. And never came back. No idea what happened, but its kinda funny. Who wakes up at 4am and then quits right after getting to work?

A friend was supposed to start running today by doing my warm-up with me and the dogs. Maybe Friday.

I Want to Go Again

Racing was a blast. Running with a group of people seems easier than running alone every day. Now I really hope a couple of my buddies catch the bug like they keep saying they want to. I learned a lot today; like I can run harder longer, and should have pushed more for negative splits (7:59, 8:10, 8:56 for last 1.1). And I wish now that I'd know where the Finish line was before the race started.

Considering myself a novice, I mostly tried to do what those who looked like real runners did. I waited just in front of the couples holding hands at the start, and was able to pick out a couple of people early on that I thought I could follow. I passed the first guy just over a mile in, and finished about 10 seconds behind the other guy. At the end, a different guy that I leapfrogged a couple of times, asked about the tattoo on my right calf. He used it to recognize me as someone to pace off of. That felt nice.

The tattoo is the Serenity Prayer. I’ve been clean for 8 years, 6 months, and 4 days. Since that day in ’98, I’ve picked up all the habits I had before I got involved heavily with drugs. It started with enjoying family, golf, hockey, dogs; and more recently, loving and anticipating my own family. Crossing a bridge over the Mississippi, it occurred to me that running a race is the last hobby for me to regain. Of course it’s not really a hobby yet, it was only one race. But I think I’ll do it again. (That almost the exact same phrase I used to become a vegetarian, eight years ago.)

After the first half mile, I realized I passed many of the real runners I’d first used as benchmarks. But not the guy pushing the stroller. And I wanted advice on buying my own.

Getting Excited

I think I can run and skate on the same day. During last nights game, I got better as time went on, which makes me think I need about 5 hours in between workouts, not four. I didn’t play bad, but not up to my standards, and we lost.

No running today, but had a nice session of open hockey. I think we've had a kid who’s been drafted by the Canadians (my favorite team) playing with us the past couple of weeks. He doesn’t need to try to hard and can still make us look silly. Like when I picked his pocket on a pass, and he stole the puck right back and shelved it, made me look like a beginner. But I don’t remember him scoring on any of the breakaways he had on me either.

Last night I dreamt that I ran most of my race going the wrong direction. When I woke up, just my legs were covered in sweat. My wife laughed at me when I told her about it. I guess I am getting a bit nervous about racing tomorrow.

I hope I’m not too anxious to sleep tonight.

My dogs are sissies.

My knees have been bothering me as of late. My right knee one day, left the next, but only while running. So, even though earlier this week I planned on running today, and taking tomorrow off, I’m taking today off. The training guide I’m using has today off and intervals tomorrow, but I play hockey tomorrow and have a meeting at work that will keep me later than I’m accustomed to on a Thursday. But, I don’t think it would be wise to take three days off before my first race, so I’ll try and fit a short set in someplace in my day. I could wake up at like 2:30am and get a morning run in. That would give me an hour and a half less sleep, and hopefully let me be rested enough for hockey at 9:00.

I have to call my step-dad and decline his invitation to join him for a half-marathon on May 5th. It’s the inaugural half in Prairie du Chien, WI. I think I could run that far by then, but not recover for my last A league game the next morning. Also, I don’t think I want to try a half until I can finish in less than two hours. Maybe it’s a bad thing to set standards like that for myself?

The baby has been moving a lot lately, so I’m told. I’ve felt him/her move before, but yesterday my wife said she could see her belly being pushed out during her workday. Then at night, the baby calmed down, so I just talked to him/her. I learned, and humored my wife, that yet to be born babies can’t be scared into jumping.

At least my dogs are calm. The male is afraid of the snow, so he doesn’t want to run today either.

Training Plan

The fist shot on net tonight went in on me. After that, nothing else got by me. I have a specific routine when I play a game, and tonight, it was cut very short. Instead of the usual 4-5 minute warm-up, we got about 90 seconds. I play better with my routine; it’s like a training plan for every game.

The training plan I’ve found for running is going smoothly. I’m finding it easier to focus on running when I don’t have to try to figure what I should run on a particular day. Walking around work, I’m able to think about an upcoming workout and be mentally prepared when I get home. There’s no more hemming and hawing about what to do. Why didn’t I find one of these sooner?

The tongue started falling out of my left shoe. It just so happens that a coupon for 25% off at a local running store showed up in the mail a day or two after. Without the coupon, I wouldn’t have bought new shoes today. This also means my older shoes can become work shoes, which I desperately need.

One of my defensemen purposefully gave the other team a break-away tonight because I was embarrassing him in front of his girlfriend, during the game. I was laughing so hard when the guy shot the puck, I could barely see it coming at me. Still stopped it.

Only in MN

It was 80* a week ago, tomorrow it might snow.

Hockey yesterday went well, a very fun game. I thought I played very well despite a 6-4 loss. To me, playing well is only wanting one of the six back. The team hopes my brother makes it back soon, as he’s usually good for a lot of energy.

I printed out a training plan for a 5k, and marked it up to suit my schedule and goals. Today was my first interval day. I didn’t want to be the creepy old (to little kids I am) guy using the track at the elementary school, so I used my GPS. After a warm-up with the dogs, I started running fast for me. After two 800s, I ended up right by the school anyway, and there were no kids around, so I thought I’d try my 400s and 200s on the track. Alas, all the gates were locked, so around the block I went on my first 400. As I was slowing up, I noticed a runner beginning his run. I started to ask him if he knew if the track was available to use, but I realized he looked very familiar. I met former Gophers hockey coach and current college hockey TV guy, Doug Woog while on a run.

I was enjoying my run before the chance meeting; afterwards, I couldn’t get the grin off my face. Never would have thought I, being a hockey guy on a run, would meet a kind of famous hockey guy on a run. My intervals got faster after that too, but I might have run an extra 200 in all my excitement.

Hope I like this training schedule. Also hope I’m not starting it too late for my first race. But I know I shouldn’t put too much emphasis/pressure on myself and my time. It's my first race since high school and my time will be far from the times I posted back then.

I didn’t even ask Mr. Woog anything about hockey. I’m an idiot