Lincoln Half Marathon Training - Week 7

I'm still struggling a bit, so I think I'll pull my paces back a bit starting next week. 

Mon. Feb. 13 - Rest Day
 

Tues. Feb. 14 - Rest (Sick) - I got a pretty nasty cold starting on Monday, so I decided that the extra hour to hour and a half of sleep was more important. (See the rest of the week after the jump)

Lincoln Half Marathon Training - Week 6

This was my first week where I really did a full week of training since Disney, although I still missed a cross-training workout.


Mon. Feb. 6 - Rest Day

Tues. Feb. 7 - Rest Day - I was feeling run down, so I just slept in instead.  I know this is no way to shake off the blahs, but whatever. (see the rest of the recap after the jump)

"Get to Know Me!" Monday Part III - The Most Anticipated of 2012

Last week, I outlined my own personal "Best of 2011."  This week, I outline the things I'm looking forward to in the coming year.

Most Anticipated Event

Right now, there is no question... the Twin Cities Marathon.  I officially registered for this last week, so there is no backing down.  The farthest I've ever run is just over 15 miles, so it will be interesting as I gear up to run 11 more miles beyond that!  Look for a lot of posts about marathons starting around July.

(More "Get to Know Me" After the Jump)

Lincoln Half Marathon Training - Week 5

I still had lingering issues with my calf during the early part of the week, so I took it slow early in the week.  I did get in two running workouts toward the end of the week, and I could definitely feel the effects of not having run for over a week (plus donating blood earlier in the week).

Mon. Jan. 30 - Rest Day - initially I had planned on trying to get in an extra cross-training day Monday morning, but I had too much to do at work, so I just got into work early. (See the rest of the recap after the jump)

I'm running the Twin Cities Marathon

I just registered today.  Eeeeeeek!

Lincoln Half Marathon Training - Week 4

I had planned on having a full training week, but I am pretty sure I strained the soleus muscle in my right calf, so I ended up just scrubbing two workouts completely.  (The full summary of Week 4 is after the jump)

"Get To Know Me!" Monday, Part II - The Best of 2011 Edition

Since January 2012 is almost over, and everyone else's "Best of 2011" list has been gathering dust for a full month now, I thought I'd come late to the party and offer my on personal "Best Of" so you can get a sense of what I'm currently digging.  These categories will be kind of random, so enjoy the ride.

Favorite Movie¹

 

I am not ashamed to admit it... I LOVED The Muppets.  Sure, it was a big bowl of nostalgia porn for people like me who loved watching "The Muppet Show" when I was a kid.  Sure, it is cheesy and corny.  But, so what?!  It's delightful with some really fun songs ("Man or Muppet" is my favorite, but "Life is a Happy Song" is also great).  In other words, it is pure joy in movie form.

Runner Up: (Tie) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (probably the best "Potter" movie of the whole series) and The Help (I didn't think I'd like it... but they did a good job adapting the book).

Movies I Didn't See (But Want To): (In no particular order) (1) Moneyball (LOVED the book), (2) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, (3) Martha Marcy May Marlene, (4) The Tree of Life, (5) The Artist, (6) Meek's Cutoff, (7) Drive, (8) Take Shelter, (9) Hugo, (10) Super 8, (11) Cedar Rapids, (12) The Descendants, (13) Cerified Copy, (14) Midnight in Paris, (15) War Horse, (16) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Favorite Song

Who knew I was such a populist?  But, once again, I loved "Party Rock Anthem."  I love when they "Shake That!" and so does my son (he goes into violent spasms, dancing, when that part comes on).  (Source for the video is the "Literal MS Paint" channel on YouTube).

Favorite Book

Generally, I'm not a Fantasy fiction fan, but this book (and the subsequent books in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series) are so well written and so rich and layered that I couldn't help but love it.  Unfortunately, I'm all caught up to the most recent book in the series, and it will probably be a few years before the next one is out.  Oh well.

What other categories of stuff do you want me to name my "Best" of?  What have I missed?  What am I totally wrong about?  Leave a comment and let me know.

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¹ Disclaimer: since I have two little kids, I see very few movies, particularly in the theater. I believe that I saw only 3 or 4 movies in the theater in 2011, so if you disagree with my "favorite," understand that I probably haven't seen your favorite movie.

Uh oh... I may have a Soleus Strain

On Wednesday, during a speed interval workout on the treadmill, I had some pain in my right calf toward the end of the workout.  I tried to stretch it out well and I iced it later that morning, but otherwise I just thought maybe that leg got worked harder for some reason (no reason why that would have happened), and that after a full day off (yesterday was a swimming workout, so no weight on the calf) I would be good to go.

Well, this morning, I was supposed to run a 5 mile tempo run.  I started out with a slow warm up jog, but only about 6 minutes into that warmup, I felt a sharper pain in the same spot in my calf.  Rather than risk really screwing this up worse, I stopped running and walked home.

After a short bit of research online (dubious, I know), I think I have a minor soleus strain (it could be a gastrocnemius strain as well, but based on where the pain is, I'm guessing soleus).  Unfortunately, that kind of injury appears to require at least a full week to 10 days off from running (and if it is a more severe strain, this could require a few weeks off).  I'm hoping that it is still just a tweak, and that since I basically took today off, and tomorrow is a full off day (no exercise at all), I will be fine by Sunday (when I supposed to do a 9 mile long run).  But, if it still hurts on Sunday, I guess I'll have to resign myself to a week or two of swimming (which will be great for my general fitness, but will throw a big wrench in my Lincoln Half Marathon training plan).

More on this story as it develops.

I Can Haz Swummin?

(Source: Pictures.funny16.com)

God help me for using a LOLcat (what is this, 2003?), but this one be funny.  Anyway, today was my first swimming workout as part of my training for the Lincoln Half Marathon.  It actually went kind of awesome.  The last time I did a swimming workout was back in October, and back then I had to stop to rest after about 5 minutes, and then every 5 laps or so after that.  This time around, I was able to continuously swim for 20 minutes, take about a 3 minute rest, and then swim continuously again for another 17-18 minutes.  Sure, I was swimming very slow (I didn't even try to count how many laps I did, but it was probably around 55-60 (I think I averaged around 35-40 seconds per lap), so I swam almost a mile (25 m pool). 

If I keep doing swimming, I'm going to just *have* to get the Garmin Forerunner 910XT or a Swimsense swimming monitor.

"Get To Know Me!" Monday

Blogs need gimics... and Monday is a boring day where most people are looking for a distraction from work.  I know there are tons of you readers out there just clamoring for more details about who this Mike guy is anyway.

In order to satisfy this market need, I have created "Get to Know Me!" Monday! (with my trademark double exclamation points).  Every Monday until you all know me perfectly (or, more likely, when I get bored with this concept), I will post something about me.  It may be just be some details about my life.  It may be things that I like.  It may be a hodge-podge of stuff that I threw onto the page and then sent off to the ether of the internet.  Whatever!  It's a gimick!

For today's Get to Know Me! Monday! I'm going to randomly list off my "favorite" out of various categories... generally different kinds of media.  It's pretty self-explanator, so here we go.

Favorite Movie: "The Princess Bride" - if you don't at least like this movie, I don't think we can be friends.

Favorite Band: This used to be The Dave Matthews Band... but now I'm not really sure.  Maybe Rush?

Favorite Food: Pizza!  It's got all four food groups.  It has to be healthy, right?

Favorite Beverage (that everyone can enjoy):  It definitely used to be Dr. Pepper, then it was Coke, then it was Dr. Pepper again, but now that I'm a grown up, I think it's Iced Tea (unsweetened).  Lame, I know.

Favorite (Adult) Beverage: Another one that has evolved.  First, it was a Gin and Tonic, then it was a Whiskey and Soda, but recently I'm really learned to appreciate red wine and Margaritas.  (I just realized that I'm basically a mid-40s divorcee... creepy)

Favorite Current TV Show: I almost never get to watch TV, so I'm probably missing a bunch of great stuff.  But, my favorite right now is "Mad Men."  I also really like "How I Met Your Mother."

Favorite TV Show of All Time: "Cheers" and "The Simpsons" (tie), with "Seinfeld" a close second (third, I guess), and "I Love Lucy" a very close fourth.

Favorite Book - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  Close second is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  Close third is a tie for every other Harry Potter book.  (I really like Harry Potter).

Favorite Non-Potter Book - Probably "The Hobbit," although I have really been digging the Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin, so "A Game of Thrones" would be up there.  Other honorable mentions include several Stephen King books (particularly "The Dark Tower" series and "The Stand,"), and The "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy (particularly "Return of the King").

Favorite Non-Fiction Book - "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote (which is probably the best written book I've ever read).  I also really like "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln" by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Favorite McDonald's Shake - Shamrock.

Favorite Race Distance - right now, the 10 mile.  But I had such a good race at Disney, that the Half Marathon is #2 with a bullet.

Favorite of My Children - you don't think I'm stupid enough to answer that, do you?  Also, both of my children are a tie for my favorite.

Favorite Fictional Character - Homer Simpson.  Hands down.

Favorite Homer Quote

• "In this house we obey the LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS!" and
• "Maybe, just once, someone will call me 'Sir' without adding, 'You're making a scene.'" and 
• "The trick is to say you're prejudiced against all race." (on getting out of jury duty), and 
• Homer: "No beer and no TV make Homer something something" Marge: "Go crazy?" Homer: "Don't mind if I DO!" and 
• (praying to God) "In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk.  If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign" (short pause) "Thy will be done" (eats cookies)
• (talking about God) "The lesson is: Our God is vengeful!" (to God) "O spiteful one, show me who to smite, and they shall be smoten!!!" and 
• "And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive?" and
• "If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it --Now quiet, they're about to announce the lottery numbers!"

That's it for now... I hope you all feel better having gotten to know me better.  Until next week.