This has been a difficult decision for me, but after a great deal of thought I have decided that the time has come to retire this blog.  I have enjoyed writing it over the last three years, but everything eventually must come to an end.  With everything else going on in my life - between my children, work, running and life in general - it has become more and more difficult to commit to the amount of time it takes me to maintain this blog at a level I am willing to accept.  I won't allow myself to simply post randomly every once in a while.  If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it right or not do it at all.  I am going to keep this post up for a week or two, but then I will be taking the entire blog down.

But don't dispair.  If you enjoy following what is going on in my life, please come and send me a friend request on Facebook by clicking here.  I will actually be using Facebook much more going forward and hope to see you over there.

I must say that this blog has been a lot of fun.  However, the most important part of this blog over the last three years has been the wonderful people who I have been able to come to know (all of you) who I never would have had the chance to meet without this blog.  I treasure the friendships I have made through this forum and I hope to see all of you down the road.

Goodbye, Farewell, Amen...

-Chad

"There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."

-Plato, Greek philosopher (428BC-347BC)

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

Until next time...

-Chad

You may remember my race report from the April version of this race which you can find here.  I once again did the solo version of the race, but the course was significantly longer and more difficult than the last race - 5.1 miles versus the 3.8 miles in April.  The format of the race is part road run, part treasure hunt.  You are given a map with the five checkpoints on it and you have to decide the best route to take to collect marks at all five stops and return to the start/finish area.  Once again, TRI PHX did a great job of organizing and unique and fun race for everyone.  The conditions were a bit more challenging with cold temperatures and a really stiff wind that seemed to be in my face on every uphill section of the race.  It is a hilly course and one of the new checkpoints was at the top of a steep climb that had me wondering if I would be better off walking instead of the shuffling run I was reduced to.

5.1 miles
47:36 (9:15 avg)

All in all, I had a lot of fun and did pretty well considering where my fitness it at this point.  I really have no speed in my legs and I didn't want to push too far outside of my comfort zone yet.  If you live in the Phoenix area, you should really give this series a try.  They are planning on holding two or three in 2010 and they really are a lot of run.

It has been a really good week of runs and I'm happy with both my running and my weight loss.  I just keep on making forward progress and I'll reach my goals.  I have three more races scheduled for 2009 - all of them 5ks.  I've also begun to put together my goals and my calendar for 2010.  I won't be revealing those until the end of this year, but I must say that if feels so good to be back out racing and training again.

Until next time...

-Chad

Let's face it, your Friday the 13th could be a lot worse...

Category F5 tornado (upgraded from initial estimate of F4) viewed from the southeast as it approached Elie, Manitoba on Friday, June 22nd, 2007.

Photo courtesy of Justin Hobson.

Until next time...

-Chad

It cooled off a bit today, but it's supposed to really get back to normal (highs in the 70s) starting tomorrow.  Still, the conditions were pretty good out with the overcast skys for my run during lunch.

4 miles
36:15 (9:03 avg)
(9:09, 9:06, 9:04, 8:55)
Felt: Good.

I have to say I'm pretty happy with my progress so far. I felt like I was pushing a little bit today, but I was never uncomfortable, yet my splits were the best so far. I'm not even thinking about adding any kind of speed work for the time being - certainly not until my base mileage has been established for a couple of months.  I don't want to push too much too fast since I've only been back running for a few weeks, but with each successful run it gets harder and harder to hold back, especially with no pain in my legs.  But I have to stay disciplined, right?

Until next time...

-Chad

Actually, it's not just me.  It is nearly 90 here today.  90?  That's way too warm for mid-November - even in Phoenix.  Even so, it wasn't too bad at lunch time for my run (about 85).  I headed over to Deer Valley Park.  The picture is from the parking lot at the north end where I park my car.  I was a little sluggish at first and I was worried that this run was going to be like the two runs I had last week.  But as I kept going, my legs loosened up and I fell into a good groove for the rest of the run.  In fact, instead of the heat making me tire out, I seemed to gain energy the further into my run I went.

4 miles
36:40 (9:10 avg)
(9:20, 9:09, 9:08, 9:02)
Felt: Good.

No complaints about how I felt on this run.  However, I am looking forward to the cooler temperatures that are supposed to return by Thursday.  Also, I have the Adventure Run on Sunday which should also be my longest run of my comeback so far - about 5.5 to 6 miles.

Until next time...

-Chad

"It's rude to count people as you pass them. Out loud."

-Adidas ad

Until next time...

-Chad

I almost forgot.  Three years ago today I started this blog with a simple little post.  660 posts later - here I am.  I have to say that this blog and the people I have meet through it has been a great thing for me.  I'm so greatful for the wonderful relationships I've made and the chance to share part of my life with all of you.  I hope you are all enjoying reading what I have to say.  Three years down - a whole lot more to go.  That is all for now!

Until next time...

-Chad

After my runs on Tuesday and Thursday, I was starting to wonder when I would start feeling good on a run again.  I wasn't planning on a run until Saturday, but on Friday I headed to the gym after work and did a very intense 30 minutes on the Stairmaster.  By the time I finished, I was pretty wobbly and sweat was pooring off of me.  Good times!  It's part of my cardio crosstraining to help suppliment my slow running mileage buildup.  Then I did another running specific core training routine and headed out to dinner with the family.

So I was almost expecting a rough couple of runs on the weekend after the intense stair climbing workout.  Instead, I felt really good on Saturday's run.

4 miles
36:36 (9:09 avg)
(8:56, 9:14, 9:04, 9:19)
Felt: Good

I really did feel much better on this run.  The morning weather was perfect as well, with some cloud cover, but calm and about 55 degrees.

This morning I headed out for what would be my longest run since my comeback.  I sure wasn't disappointed with the weather - 60 and sunny.  But would I be disappointed with the run?

5 miles
46:31 (9:18 avg)
(9:22, 9:17, 9:19, 9:26, 9:04)
Felt: Great!

I'm not running fast right now by any means, but that run felt the best of them all so far.  I was really comfortable the whole way and felt like I could have kept going a little while longer if I had needed to.  I have to say that at this point, my training is right where I want it to be.  I'll just keep making progress in the right direction.

Until next time...

-Chad

Statue of Shirley Strickland outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground.  Shirley won more Olympic medals than any other Australian in running.

Photo courtesy of Melburnian.

Until next time...

-Chad

It might be the end of baseball season, but it’s just the beginning of my base-building. I’ve been reading more and more about Arthur Lydiard’s training approach and how important building a large base of mileage at easy paces is to succeeding in any subsequent training. So I’m doing that very thing with each of my runs right now – slowly (and I emphasize slowly) building my mileage at an easy pace.  To that end, I was back out for a run during lunch today.

3 miles
28:08 (9:22 avg)
(9:17, 9:27, 9:23)

My legs felt really heavy today. Between the cold I have, the unusual heat today (85) and the 30lbs I need to strip off, I shouldn't be too surprised. Fortunately, I'm in a purely basebuilding mode right now. But I sure can't wait until I'm leaner and faster again. Until then, I'll keep slogging out the miles and watching everything I eat. I did this to myself and I'm the only one who can undo it.

Until next time...

-Chad

I don't usually run at the end of the day. Typically I run either first thing in the morning or at lunch time. There are two reasons for this. One is that running early or at lunch fits into my life better. But number two is I almost never run particularly well when I run in the evening. However, it is sometimes unavoidible and last night was one of those unavoidible times. If I wanted to get my run in - and I did - I had to do it after work. So out I went.  At least there was a nice bright moon to run with.

3 miles
28:36 (9:32 avg)
153 avg HR

I finally found my HR monitor strap and was able to add that back into use with my Garmin 305.  It was not one of my better runs so far, but I think it had a lot more to do with running at the end of the day than with any other particular reason.

So what time of the day to you like to run?  When do you usually run?
Image courtesy of Oliver Herold.

Until next time...

-Chad

"Discover what you're made of... it's more than you think!"

-Marshall Ulrich, ultrarunning legend

Until next time...

-Chad

ING New York City Marathon Champion - Meb Keflezighi!!

Until next time...

-Chad

I feel like I'm starting to get into a rhythm with my workouts now.  I'm in a situation where I need more cardo than my legs are capable of running without getting hurt.  So I'm adding in a lot of other workouts to allow my legs the recover they need while still pushing my cardo fitness up and losing weight.

Yesterday I hit the pool.  I went further than last Friday and managed 1,000 meters as 10 x 100 repeats.  I was also less winded and kept structured interval times instead of waiting for a full recovery.  Progress.

Today I went out for a run early in the morning.  It was pretty cold - right around 50 - so I had the gloves, cap and long sleeve shirt on.  It ended up being just about right and a beautiful morning for a run.

3 miles
27:02 (9:01 avg)
8:56, 9:04, 9:01

It was the fastest 3 miler so far and I could feel myself pushing a bit towards the end.  Progress. 

I still had to hold back a bit because I knew what was coming later in the morning.  We headed to the gym.  My wife Julie had a 1-hour massage scheduled to help aleve some of the soreness she has been experiencing from her workouts.  Me?  I jump into a spin class.  I thought it was an hour-long class.  Wrong.  It was 75 minutes - and yes, the extra 15 minutes matters.  It was a great class and the instuctor was awesome!  I was right at the edge the whole second half, but I got an amazing, hard workout in that hit some areas that just don't get hit when I'm running.  I think one of the keys for me staying healthy with my running is making sure that everything is strengthened.  It's the weaker muscles that are causing me to break form and eventually get hurt as the mileage goes up.  I'm going to start going to this spin class every Saturday morning and see how much strength I can gain and how much weight I can lose.  Progress.

After a healthy lunch, I'm crashing for a little while to rest and recover.

FYI, the Javalina Jundred 100-mile race is going on right now.  You can check out the webcast by clicking here.

Until next time...

-Chad