This Week’s Workout (7/25/05 - 7/31/05)

Guess what? It's that time again. It's time for another long update. So sit back, relax and enjoy the show.

Monday, July 25th, 2005
Workout - Great

This week started off really well. I went to the gym to do a 1 hour tempo run on the treadmill. I ran a 12 minute mile pace and did really well. In fact, if I didn't have to switch treadmills at the half way mark, I would have ran the entire 5 miles in an hour. That would have been a treadmill PR for me. I had to switch to another treadmill at 2.53 miles because it started feeling kind of jerky and unstable like the power was fluctuating or something. So, I did another 25 minutes on a different treadmill. I believe I've gotten use to this pace. So, the next time I do a tempo run on the treadmill, I'm going for a 5.2 mph pace which translates to about an 11.5 minute mile. Eventually, I want to be able to do a full 30 minutes at the 10 minute mile pace. This would be equivalent to finishing a 5K in a little over 30 minutes.

Tuesday, July 26th, 2005
Workout - None

Like I've mentioned in the past, when I have a bad week for working out I had a great week for socializing. On Tuesday I met with some friends for dinner. We hadn't seen each other as a group since I went underground, so it was fun to get together and catch up with them .

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005
Workout - None

My friend Aurelia, who I hung out with on Tuesday, wanted to go running with me. But unfortunately it was raining. So we had to take a rain check! Get It?! Rain check! Ha Ha Ha. I crack me up. Anyway, instead of running I began work on my mid-term project and I continued working on it until Sunday 6 hours before I had to turn it in.

Thursday, July 28th, 2005
Workout - None

Well, the social bug bit me again. A former co-worker and friend of mine from my previous employer was having a farewell Happy Hour. After a bazillion years of service on the Deployment team he finally decided it was time to move on. Actually he decided it was time to move on about a year ago, but now he finally found something to move on to. I left work late wondering if they would still be there. So I called Tricia. She said that they were going to wait for me. How sweet. When I finally arrived they were literally sitting there waiting for me. So, I wished Rashad good luck. Said hello and good bye to a bunch of folks I hadn't seen in a while and went formal gown shopping with Tricia. I hope she found one. Good gowns are hard to come by in the post-prom-pre-homecoming season.

Later that evening I came home to take one of my mid-term exams, which I aced. That was the easy class. I was still struggling with the mid-term project for the other class. No solution yet.

Friday, July 29th, 2005
Workout - None

Today is rest day although I really don't think I need the rest. I only worked out once this week. If I could I would go to Giahani's (aka Johnny's) step class on Friday night like I did back in the good ol' days. But I'd never make it there in time from where I work now unless I left and hour early and that's not going to happen any time soon. Anyway, tomorrow I run 10 miles.

Saturday, July 30th, 2005
Workout - Fantastic

Today was another easy 10. And it was pretty easy compared to the last 10. The weather was mild. The sun never came out. And part of the course was along the C&O Canal, which I use to run before I joined DCFit. Here's the route: From the Pentagon - along the GW Parkway - around Iwo Jima - through Rosslyn - across the Key Bridge - down the C&O canal to Fletcher's Boat House - turn around and come back same way until after the Key Bridge - take the Crescent trail along the Potomac - under the Memorial bridge - and back to the finish line. All the slackers that skipped out on me and Michelle last week were out in full force this week. We stuck together until somewhere along the C&O Canal when Michelle started to speed up. Since I was running next to her, I sped up too. Then she said I was running too fast, but I said I was trying to keep up with her. Either way we totally left the group in the dust. We paused at the water station which was located at the turnaround point. I figured we would wait for the rest of the group since Michelle was refueling. But then she said "I see an opportunity." And I saw it too. So we left the water station behind without saying farewell to the rest of the Red Team and chased down our opportunity.

The opportunity was that we had a chance to beat Sheldon. Sheldon is a race walker. The race walkers usually are the last to start and the last to finish except for Sheldon. Sheldon manages to walk right past all of us week after week without breaking a sweat. Each week, somewhere around mile 5 or 6, we start getting full of ourselves thinking we're finally going to make it back to the finish line before Sheldon, but around mile 8 when we're on our last leg, here he comes out of nowhere and we can't catch up to him. Well, this week we were not going to let that happen or at least we were going to die trying. Michelle and I stuck with Sheldon until the end of the C&O Canal when 2 hills and 2 sets of steps slowed us down quite a bit. But he was never out of site. It wasn't until the last quarter mile to the finish line when I told Michelle, who is a stronger runner than she lets on, that if we were ever going to beat Sheldon it had to be now. So we waited until we got to the downward slope that lead into the parking lot then we opened up into a full on sprint to the finish line leaving Sheldon and his walking partner in our wake. Michelle was able to sprint the entire way to the finish line. I started to get nauseous and dropped back a few yards before the finish, but I still finished in front of Sheldon and that's all that mattered. Unfortunately, I didn't have my watch, but I'm sure this run was a 10 mile PR for me. I think we finished somewhere between 2:10 and 2:15.

Sunday, July 30th, 2005
Workout - Good

Ok. I wasn't planning on working out today, but I experienced a major traumatic stressful episode; I think I got a B on my midterm. This was the harder class and I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I finished the project, but the written exam was tough. I needed to clear my head after that. I had been dealing with this class since Wednesday. Working on the project and then falling down on the written test really made my head spin. So, whenever I get this way I can only think of two things to put me in a better mood. A. Go shopping or B. Workout. Since it's Sunday and all the stores closed early, I chose B. workout. But I didn't do my regular well-paced 4:1 intervals, I ran. I ran until I couldn't run anymore, because the feeling of exhaustion replaced the feeling of stress. With my I-pod blasting heavy metal mantras courtesy of Korn and Dope I ran around my neighborhood as far and as fast as I could manage. But it wasn't until later when I went shopping at Target (the only store open late on Sunday) that I started feeling normal again. I bought a miniature disco ball. All it takes is spending money on some useless flashy object to reduce my stress. If I thought I got a C on the mid-term, I would need a to buy a digital camera in order to feel better.

Wow, that was a long one. So, no schedule for next week. No list of races that I'm registered for. No weigh-in. No Journaling. No final thoughts, although I do have a few. I'll get to them next time.

Later Guys. Gotta Run.