Mission Accomplished

Well I have not updated this blog for sometime now and for good reason (in my opinion). Truth is I broke my foot training to hard back in December, I was to embarrassed to report this fact,and this blog kind of reminded me of my failure so I abandonded it (for the time being anyhow).

I'm happy to report I had a short 6 week recovery period (4 which I was running on a broken foot...if I ain't dieing I ain't going to know gosh danga...you know the drill) before I had to start completly over with my running program. Instead of doing a 5k (3.1 miles) I decided to train for a 8k (4.98 miles) as there happened to be one exactly 10 weeks out from my re-start training date. The program consisted of 2-3 miles in the week and longer runs (4-7) on the weekend averaging like 12 - 15 miles a week at peak.

I managed to stay healthy during the 10 weeks (and drop about 20 lbs) and showed up to the starting line healthy and well rested. It was cold (for FL standards low 50s) but being from WI I knew this was "t-shirt" weather so I didn't much care as I knew we all would be sweating bullets after for 100 yards. I lined up about half-way point in line up..probably 200 people there at most so I felt that was a good place to start to not get in the way of the faster/younger guys and plenty far ahead of the walkers/fat-asses (so I wouldn't have to pull any barry sander moves). Seems I overestimated my worth as I didn't pass a single person the whole race (LOL)..but the good news is only probably 10 people passed me so I wasn't that far off. I must admit I found it somewhat embarrasing to be passed by the OFs (old farts) but being venice,FL is the oldest average aged city in america, I guess its only fair to expect a few old geezers with some "viagra" to spare..LOL.

My goal was to finish less then 1 hour and keep my HRZ (heart rate zone) around 85% (of max 189)..well that lasted maybe 20 yards and I ran the whole race at 92% (173)..sure glad my grandma's maiden name isn't "Cheney" (for other reasons the heart issues for that matter but thats a different blog)..my final time was 47:00 minutes. So I obliviated all expectations. I even managed to take home the 4th place ribbon for my age bracket..my only conclusion is all the other area 30 - 34 year olds were sleeping off their hang overs..LOL

I was pretty proud of the fact I went from running 50 feet to almost having a heart attack to running 5 miles and still almost having a heart attack. Been a very long time since I felt as I did something special..I guess today I did.

As for my future plans.... immediatly after the race I was thinking "I ain't ever going to do this stupid shit again..WTF was I thinking"..but then after about 2/3rds of my first beer (of 4 to follow) I had already mapped out a new plan in my head to run yet another road race. I've posted the schedule here. I will update my trianing schedule as well hopefully I do a bit better updating then last time.
Its good to be back.