Tuesday Track Day

It was a fun weekend in the Pittsburgh area spending time with my family.  I always love going back to my hometown!  Annie and I were able to get in a 3.5 mile run in my sisters neighborhood on Friday morning.  It was 62 degrees and extremely hilly!  We both enjoyed the temperature but the hills were hard.  I wish we had some hills around here like that to train on because both Annie and I really liked the change in terrain.

On Saturday morning we went to my sister's gym and the girls did a spin class and I hit the treadmill for 5 miles of interval fun.  I did quarter mile pace increases: For the first .25 miles it was an easy 10 minute/mi pace.  Then I would move up to an 8:30/mile pace.  Then a 7:00/mile pace and finally a 5:00/mile pace for the final .25 miles.  I repeated this 5 times, hence the 5 miles total.  That dang treadmill was ripping at over 12mph over the last interval of each set.  People were looking at me like I was a crazy man!

Sunday and Monday were so busy with visiting and eventually flying home that we were unable to get in any workouts.  I was very cool with this because I am supposed to be taking a few weeks rest and it gave me more time to spend with the family.

Well, it was fun to be back in the Burgh but we were happy to be home in Houston and back into our normal routine.  For me that meant it was Tuesday Track Day!  I love track day.  I was built for this type of running and each time we go I can feel myself getting faster.  The 4:30am alarm comes early but it is worth it.  Today it was already over 80 degrees at 5am and extremely humid -- summer has come to Houston my friends!  That did not deter us any as I was joined by Mike, Jennifer and Steve from the Tri Club.  Thanks guys for getting up so early and joining me in this craziness.

Today's workout was an easy 4 lap (1 mile) warm up.  Followed by 4 laps at 10K pace.  We would then break for a minute to hydrate and then do another 4 laps at a little faster pace.  Followed by another minute or so hydration break and then another 4 laps at a 5K pace.  This one had us all feeling pretty darn good and then the real fun began.  Mike and I are about the same speed and run together on track days so the last set called for 4 total laps - 1 lap at a 7:15 pace, 1 at 6:00 pace, 1 at 5:30 pace, 1 at sub-5:00 pace.  So that is what Mike and I did and it hurt.  It hurt bad.  We did the last lap at a 4:40 pace which would be about  1:10 400M.  We really HTFU'd the final lap.

We then finished with an extremely easy 2 laps and called it a morning and my Garmin said we did 4.71 miles.  Good training day.  Nothing is better than having in a hard workout before 6:00AM even rolls around!

Some other updates:

- My weight gain is progressing nicely.  I am currently sitting at 158 lbs (7 lb gain) and have been a relentless eating machine.  On Friday at dinner after I finished off 8 pieces of whole wheat pizza and was still taking food off everyone else's plate my Brother-in-law called my eating, "Quite the exhibition!" .... I should be in the 160's in no time!

- I just found out the gym that hosts the Master's swim program I was planning on joining next week has been sold and is being turned into a private school.  So, we are going to have to figure out another option.  A Lifetime Fitness opened up about 20 miles away from us and they have morning and evening Master's programs.  The only problem is that traffic can be brutal at the rush hours in that direction and my fear is that I will use that as an excuse to blow off my swims.  I also don't like the "GloboGyms" but really the only other options is the YMCA and it is sort of a shithole.

- ABSOLUTELY LOVED LOST!  By far my favorite finale ever.  For the last 6 years all I ever wanted was to know what the island was and to have the question surrounding the island answered.  On Sunday night I found myself not caring at all about the island and just rooting for the characters.  The first 2:25  were absolutely perfect and the last 5 minutes were, well, confusing -- but would you really want anything else other than confusing from Lost?  It just wouldn't be right if they answer all the questions! If you have not watched LOST pick up the 6-season box set and it will make those long winter hours on the trainer so much easier.  Oh, BTW, Matthew Fox was brilliant in this last season of LOST.  He deserves an Emmy, it was that good.

-  Jack Bauer has officially walked off into the sunset - or rather stumbled, bloodied.  "24" jumped the shark two years ago but it was still entertaining TV nonetheless.  In typical "24" fashion it had lots of baddies getting wasted and the extremely thin line between immoral and moral being weaved around.  They ended the show well and looks like they left it open for a movie.

- Picked up my Zipp Front Tubie today from the LBS.  It looks fast and tonight I'm going to order a rear disk cover from Wheelbuilder.com.  Can't wait to see how the carbon feels on the weekend ride!

- Watching The Biggest Loser right now and Koli just busted out on stage with pink pants on?  Dude is skinny as hell but the pink pants make him look like Steve Urkel.  Really Koli, Really?

Thanks for Reading,

Jeff