Disappeared for a few days from the word of social media, and just got back from our annual family trek to the New Jersey shore. This year, instead of staying right outside of Ocean City, NJ (in Somers Point), we opted to stay about a block away from the beach at a place called The Biscayne Suites. Not knowing what to expect, as this was our first time staying that close the water, many of the motels get hammered by the salt water and thus have that run-down look for a lot of money. These suites however turned out to be a hidden gem, each one is independently owned and decorated by the owner. We reserved a 1-bedroom suite that had a mini-kitchen, a nice balcony from which you could see the ocean, and a main living area that was slightly smaller than the Somers Point Residence Inn we usually stayed at, but still very nice given the location and price. I highly recommend this all-suite hotel, which includes a rooftop pool and beach passes to boot.
New 5K Training Record
After the 11 miler on Sunday, I followed that up by a nice relaxing 10 mile bike ride on Monday night. Tuesday was a walk day, followed by nothing yesterday. Earlier today, I did a short mile walk at lunch, and this evening decided to go for 3.1 miles. I felt surprisingly good early on, and didn’t really use any particular intervals, although I did focus on my breathing more than usual. My knees ached a bit at the start, but when I hit the first mile and realized I was right under 11 minutes per mile (10:58 to exact), I punched up the effort and kept going. Managed to complete the 5K distance in 32:56, a new outdoor training PR for me. My fastest mile was the last one with a 10:05 – NEGATIVE SPLITS!!!
The confidence is building at just the right time. With the Lehigh Valley Zoo 10K coming up in less than two weeks, followed by Dumbo Double Dare two weeks after that, I’m feeling pretty good about things. After Dumbo, it’s a week off then back to serious training for Wine & Dine and the WDW Goofy Challenge!
Happy Birthday to my Dad and Grandmother!
Today we celebrated my dad’s 60-something birthday (67 I believe) and my grandmother’s 91st birthday with a trip to Olive Garden. The wife and I got them both a Hess’ Strawberry Pie from the Cosmopolitan. For anyone not from the area, it’s basically a very LARGE strawberry pie with a whipped but still sweet icing. Very delicious. Knowing this was coming, I set out around 7:30 or so for another long run. I managed to complete 11 miles, running an average 11:45 pace, not too bad overall. My splits got progressively shorter until Mile 7, and then they got longer again. This pattern happened on my last long run as well, both done with intervals. I may have to mix up the intervals to see what else works. But I’m feeling pretty good about Dumbo coming up in a couple weeks.
Reward for a long run – Hess’ Strawberry Pie!
Arizona… It’s a Dry Heat… Again
Left Wednesday for another trip to Arizona. I can’t say I enjoy being cooped up in an airplane for 4+ hours, and this time was direct both ways, but I’m adapting a bit at making the time go by. Considering I’ll by flying out to Anaheim in just about a month for the Disneyland Half and Dumbo Double Dare, things are looking good. This particular trip, with one of the guys from my company, was to finish our data center build. The trip itself was a success, and everything went as planned, even finishing ahead of schedule yesterday. Today, the flight home started early and we were on track to get home at a reasonable time, until encountering PA Turnpike traffic and rain, turning what should have been a little over an hour ride home into almost three.
Yesterday, after getting done early, we decided to visit a unique attraction in Arizona, The Butterfly Wonderland. What can I say? Going in with low expectations, we were pleasantly surprised. After a short 15 minute 3D movie about the lifecycle of butterflies, we saw a bunch of chrysalids (think in between caterpillar and butterfly), and then were led into a huge 10,000 screened room with literally thousands of butterflies. I can’t begin to state how many different color patterns there were. Some of them landed on my head. It was an amazingly colorful and tranquil area. We spent close to two hours in the facility, leaving after a trip to the requisite souvenir shop. Given that it was a nice dry 111 degrees outside, the inside wasn’t too bad, although the higher humidity in the butterfly enclosure was getting to me. Here’s a really neat picture of the different types of butterflies present…
The Butterfly Wonderland, Phoenix, AZ
We also took a trip back to the Old Town Scottsdale Tortilla Factory, a gem of southeastern cuisine. I stumbled on this restaurant during a visit here back in June, and what a wonderful dining experience it was. Casual attire and a very simple restaurant setting tucked away off the main drag in Scottsdale’s Old Towne area. I highly recommend visiting this restaurant if you’re in the area.
Overall, this trip provided a chance a bit of relaxing, a reward for finishing work early. I met up with a running friend Jen, someone I will see again at Dumbo and at the WDW Goofy Challenge in January. It was nice catching up, grabbing some dinner together, and just having a good laugh.
Now back to my regularly scheduled training – 10 miles up for this weekend!
Intervals, Intervals, and more Intervals
Trying to get back into interval running earlier today… set the MapMyRun app for 2:1 run/walk and headed out. 9 miles later I found out that the intervals seemed to keep on a fairly consistent 11:30 pace. Towards the end I got tired and slipped up a bit, but overall, I kept the energy level stable. My next step is to work on race fueling, as I don’t think I’m taking in enough calories during the run. 2 Gatorade chew packs and a Clif Shot are my current 2 hour run fuel. I may try upping that slightly this coming weekend.
For today anyway, off to a Christmas in July family dinner. What can I say – we’re festive year round!
Storms – The Universal Motivator
Visited a new chiropractor earlier this afternoon… haven’t been to once since my martial arts days. The visit went well, and I felt better in my neck and upper back upon leaving. Figured I’d try a tempo run tonight. Add in some approaching thunderstorms, and I ended up running pretty much 2 even 11:00 miles. It was a bit of a race to beat the rain, and as I got back to my house, the rain started. Needless to say, it turned into a pretty good workout. With the Dumbo countdown on (38 days away), need to make sure I can keep a decent pace through both the 10K and the Half.
Time for a Little X-Training
Yesterday, I managed to pound out 10.1 miles on the trail… part of my scheduled long run for this weekend. My original plan was to do the run Saturday, but after a restless couple of nights (combination of vacation/hotel bed, dog and kids taking turns waking us), it just wouldn’t be. The 10 miler wasn’t bad by any means, and I actually increased my pace each mile from 1-6, then falling into about a 12 mile pace. I’ll take that overall if I can maintain it for my next half marathon. I still have six months to train for Goofy – what the heck did I get myself into there!
Tonight, I figured why not try something different. My legs were definitely feeling the 10 miler from yesterday. Add to that a two hour lawn mowing “marathon” Friday night, and another two hours of yard work with the wife on Saturday, and my whole body was hurting. I pulled out my hybrid mountain bike, and ended up doing a cool 9.1 miles. It was nice to cover that mileage in a shorter time, enjoy the breeze and cool evening, and not really worry about pace (although I did have MapMyRun going). Going to try integrating some bike work into my training, to hopefully switch it up but keep the cardio fitness increasing.
Dumbo is a little over a month away – look out Anaheim!
Trip to Lancaster
Just got back from our 6th Annual trip out to the Strasburg/Lancaster area. It started as separate trips back in 2009 with our daughter, but turned into an overnight affair with both kids. This time around, we stayed 2 nights at the Historic Strasburg Hotel (Clarion), and although there were periods of rain in the forecast (why not – it’s only our vacation time), we had a fun time.
Leaving our house shortly after 8am, and dropping the dog off at dog daycare (yes, we use these services) after finding out they didn’t open till 9am (doh!), we arrived at Dutch Wonderland around 11am. The best part of the day was no rain. However, it was very humid, and yet the kids walked most of the day, only stopped a few times for rides in the stroller. Note to self – much easier to push an empty stroller around a park!
My 4-year old son loved the whip, and enjoyed what are probably some of his last rides on the really small kids rides. My daughter on the other hand, rode the Sky Princess roller coaster, and enjoyed it so much we rode it six times! She’s definitely showing an interest in thrill rides. As much as I enjoyed riding it with her, it was kinda sad knowing that she’s getting so big so fast and we may only be visiting this park one more year. A new addition for 2014, their botanical gardens area got revamped into a Discovery Island, complete with animated dinosaurs and a kid’s play area. All in all the day was a lot of fun, and after a quick dinner at Panera’s, we headed to bed. Of course, that night, the kids sleep, but the parents didn’t – what would turn out to be the norm for the second night as well.
Monday, we did the annual pilgrimage to the Strasburg Railroad and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. Both great attractions! We upgraded our tickets and ate lunch on the train, riding in the air conditioned dining car, and laughing as the kids literally inhaled whoopie pies. The rest of the day we spent some time in the hotel pool, did some shopping, had our also annual dinner at Miller’s Smorgasbord (kids had ANOTHER dessert), and then headed in for another night of rain and no sleeping.
Tuesday, after checking out of the hotel, we drove into Lancaster, and visited That Pet Place, one of the largest pet stores in the country. Yes, it really is that big! They have a very large fish room, split into fresh and salt water areas, plus one of the largest collection of corral you can buy anywhere I’ve been. We spent over an hour looking around, then headed home. I definitely encourage anyone to stop by and visit the store – it was worth the stop!
Overall, we had a nice trip – would have been nice to sleep a bit more! The kids had fun and came home with a bunch of stop they wanted. My daughter in particular brought home a trove of random souvenirs. I’m still shocked at how quickly they’re growing, and wondering when we won’t want to visit the park anymore because they’re too big. But for now, it was another couple of days to relax and enjoy family time! Now, back to my regular scheduled running. (I think I walked a little over 4 miles at the park, based primarily on my wife’s FitBit step count.)
Oh What A Year
It’s been 3 days since I ran – I did sneak 1.5-2 mile family walks in there the last two days. Tonight, after the requisite family walk, and the kids heading to bed, I headed out into very humid, and high 70’s weather. We had a few passing thunderstorms earlier, which made it very muggy, and thus a very sweaty and tough run. I managed 3.1 miles, with an 11:12 pace that surprised me, as I figured with the humidity (feeling like mid-80’s) I would have slowed down.
I took the chance to check my all time stats on MapMyRun. I’ve been using the tool since I started this crazy “hobby” over a year ago. Their MVP paid service, which I’ve been signed up with as well, gives you a lot of nice coaching and tracking features. The overall stats since I started, and this includes all the little family and dog walks as well as runs and races, was a bit staggering: 523.28 miles, 119.59 hours. SAY WHAT??? 523 miles total run in the last 16 months. To think I started tracking this way back on April 21 of 2013, the day I turned 34, and I’m still going at it with the goal of a marathon in January 2015.
Some people still can’t comprehend why I bother “doing this to myself”. I’ve kept my cholesterol in check, helped keep hypertension away, and even though I don’t eat as well as I should, I feel healthier and more alive today than I ever have. Sad part is some of the biggest critics have never reached the starting line…
The Dreaded Long Run
With Dumbo Double Dare staring me smack in the face less than 2 months away, it’s time to get serious with long run training. I managed to complete 8 miles on a Saturday morning – you read that right – I got up around 7am (was hoping for 6) and headed out. I definitely need to get a decent hydration belt. The current gel pack I have just doesn’t cut it, and I hate running while holding a water bottle. Thankfully, I did order a new one and it should be here any day. Double water bottles and a nice big space for my phone and fuel.
I kind of enjoyed the morning run, even though most of my training is done at night. The birds are out, it wasn’t too hot (low-mid 70’s), but my pace ended up in the mid-12’s. Really not what I hoped, but I completed the run and built the endurance. I’ll try for a 9-miler next weekend before the family heads off for our annual trip to Strasburg and Dutch Wonderland.