mindplunge

This morning I ran Day 3 of Week 6. Instead of the 25 minute run I went for the 2.25 mile run. I didn’t use a podcast either but recorded just the run to see what my current pace is.

Well, I completed the run in 23 minutes and 26 seconds! As always my first mile is the hardest one. My legs were cramping up and I felt my running form was plain terrible… Once in mile 2 things looked slightly better. I had to fight to finish the run but in the end I set a new PR for the mile: 11′12″/mi.

Week 6 is done and from now on all the sessions will be one continuos run. My plan is to run 25 minutes on day 1 and 2 of week 7. Day 3 I will go for the distance (2.5 mile) instead of 25 minutes.

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Today Aleisha and I had our anniversary lunch at Syrah in Santa Rosa. It’s a great place for lunch and dinner.

Syrah’s monthly changing menu showcases Sonoma seasonal cuisine. Chef Josh Silvers finds his inspiration from Sonoma’s incredible artisan producers and the vast array of fresh, organic produce available in California. An active Slow Food member, Josh consistently focuses on organic and sustainably farmed fruits and vegetables. He calls Sonoma County a “Chef’s playground”. Josh’s goal, he says, is to create deeply flavored soul-satisfying comfort food and take it to a higher level of sophistication.

Some pictures of our lunch:

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Despite the hot weather yesterday I ran my W6D2. I changed scenery and took my dog along to this new gravel path next to the Santa Rosa Creek. Since this is a straight road I could take her off leash and not worry about pulling her with me on my run.

The run was pretty uneventful and I was bursting with energy. My last 40 seconds I pulled out a full on sprint! Instead of running 30 minutes on W6D3 I’ll try to run 2.25 miles.

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We have a late summer heat wave and temperatures today are low 100’s. This afternoon it hit 104F (40C) and for the first time I’m not happy with it… I love the sun but it’s throwing a wrench in my training program.

Can’t decide if I should run later in the day or tomorrow morning since I have Friday off (anniversary day at my company!). To make it even better the US is celebrating Labor Day on Monday. Another day off! Yah for four-days weekends!

We’ll see when W6D2 is going to happen…

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Piece of cake! 5 minute run, 3 minute walk, 8 minute run, 3 minute walk and a final interval of 5 minutes. Even with a temperature of 84F (29C) I managed to finish my session with plenty of energy left. No more out of breath or pain in my body. I felt like I could run another 10 minute session.

Like Saturday I ended up running uphill. It never felt as easy as today. It was as I almost ran the same pace uphill as I did the even parts of the trail. I’m pretty confident that running a 5K within 30 minutes is in my reach…

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The infamous Day 3 of Week 5 is in the books! Fellow C25K runners know what this day means: jumping from an eight minute interval on day two to a 20 minute run on day three. I finished with flying colors! I still can’t believe I ran for 20 minutes straight! Especially after missing my target by 40 seconds on day 2. I guess it really motivated me to finish day 3.

When I arrived at the trail I noticed the amount of cars parked along the side of the road. My initial thought was that people in Santa Rosa are running en masse on Saturday morning but later I found out that there was an actual race later that morning. The trail was packed with runners!

At first I was a little bit intimidated by all the runners. Lean and toned bodies all over the place, running warm-up laps with a pace I only can dream of (for now). But I was on the track to run my own race! During my stretching a slightly overweight guy passed me and I noticed he had the same pace I normally would run. A perfect target! Once in my 5 minute warm-up I saw him 300 meters in front of me. Perfect!

My 20 minute run started and the first 2-3 minutes are the hardest for me. My legs already start feeling sore but within 5 minutes everything went into auto pilot. My pace was perfect, my breathing controlled and my focus on the guy in front of me was sharp.

Every now and then I would lose sight of him due to some curves in the trail but I was gaining ground on him. I was afraid of going to fast and I would pay a price at a later time in my run. But everything felt good! My heart rate was steady at 149 Bpm with no extreme fluctuations, even the uphill parts!

My podcast notified me the 15 minute mark and I was a few feet behind the guy! I was about to past him! He was huffing and puffing and I knew exactly what he was going through. A few weeks back I was doing the same thing! I showed no mercy and once past him I excellarated with 4 minutes or so to go.

I knew my last minute would all be uphill but because of the guy I felt like a million bucks. Slowly I ran up the hill with one minute to go. And there it was, a little chime in my podcast telling me the race was over. I finished my 20 minute run! I was smiling ear to ear.

I couldn’t have picked a better day for my W5D3 run. The morning fog was about to burn off with a temperature of 63F (17C) and cool breeze. The guy in front of me was a blessing as well. Also my virtual running mate Daisy ran her W5D3. She is running on different continent but we are on the same running schedule. Once again congratulations on finishing your W5D3!

Last but not least a Wordpress plugin for the Nike+ sports kit. My stats are now automatically visible in the right column. Sweet… On to week 6!

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This year I’m defending the my Fantasy Football title and yesterday we had the Live Draft. The computer picked the a random order in the draft and decided to put me on spot 8. To me the worst spot to pick… argh.

Overall I think I have a good team but I made some crucial mistakes with the Bye Weeks (weeks teams are not playing) Both my WR’s have bye week 8, so I had to pick 2 other WR’s to fill out the slots which then didn’t give me the option of drafting another DEF team. We’ll see how it all folds out…

Here is my draft:

QB – Tony Romo
WR – T.J. Houshmandzadeh
WR – Greg Jennings
RB – Jamal Lewis
RB – Earnest Graham
TE – Heath Miller
KI – Stephen Gostkowski
DEF – Seattle

BN – Philip Rivers (QB)
BN – DeSean Jackson (WR)
BN – Justin Fargas (RB)
BN – Reggie Williams (WR)
BN – Leonard Pope (TE)
BN – Denver (DEF)

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Crash and burn… well, not totally but I missed the last 40 seconds of my second interval of 8 minutes. My legs couldn’t move anymore. I was toast. There area few reasons why I collapsed and in the back of my mind I knew this could happen:

• 3 hours before my workout I drank a beer (don’t ask).
• Temperature was 88F (31C) when I started my run.
• I was focused on the infamous W5D3, thinking W5D2 would be easy enough.
• My heart rate never dropped below 140 on the walking part in between the intervals. It just happened that I needed to go uphill. Once on top my second interval of 8 minutes started. Normally my heart rate drops to 120-127. Not this time.

I consider W5D2 as a little hick-up. I had all the odds against me. I’m even more motivated now to finish W5D3 on Saturday.

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I kinda gave up on the search for podsafe music. Sure, there are a bunch of websites with podsafe music but I simply don’t like the tunes. Last thing I need is being annoyed by the music on my iPod. The podcasts I’m creating are for personal use only… sorry. I wish I could share it with you all but knowing the RIAA is on a witch hunt I’m trying not to end up with a fine or jail time…

However! I still can provide you with links to some excellent (free) music! Most of them are house/techno related (which I love) so if you’re interested keep on reading.

This week two links. One of my old friends is getting big in the house scene. I use to live above the record shop he was working at and had a fair share of beer and french fries runs during the weekends. Break 3000, the dutch part of the german based Dirt Crew kept me jumping in the early 2000’s. He’s offering some free downloads from their gigs worldwide. Check out Dirt Crew’s download section. If you feel the need to support their music head over to beatport.com and purchase some of their awesome tracks!

Second link are ‘the end club recommends’ series. 10 free songs every month with some big names (Carl Craig etc.). Volume 5 just came out but I advise to download all 5 sessions. It’s worth it!

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After 5 days of no running I was kind of hesitant to start week 5 of the C25K. My initial thought was to run an extra day of week 4 but once on the track I decided to go for it. 3 intervals of 5 minutes each. It turned out to be an ‘easy’ one. I felt like superman on the track! I had so much energy left in my body I pushed out another 3 minute interval and a final sprint of 1 minute at the end. I was totally amazed by myself.

I guess the program is doing its job and my body is transforming. I feel so much better after each workout. The amount of energy you get after an intense training session is truly mind blowing. I’m hooked. I want more. I can’t stop now…

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