Tag: Mile Marker

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Men’s Warehouse 2 for 1

Mileage 7 Miles
Time 6:40PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Cool and Rainy

 

I continue my quest for miles with a solid 7 put in tonight. I had planned on running at the lake with my sister in law but she was on a different schedule and I was not quite awake when she wanted to run this morning. I ended up coming home to pay for a few suits that my son had ordered for me as I thought I could do it on Monday, but he was not working on Labor Day. Men’s Warehouse had a great sale going on where you can buy one suit and get the second suit free so I thought is was a good chance to refresh my wardrobe and get him a little commission at the same time.

I left the lake at about 1PM and took the long way home through Kenosha, WI so I could stop at the outlet stores up there off  I-94. Big mistake. I have never seen it so busy in and around that set of stores, but being labor day, everyone was out for a sale. I had to park a good distance from the normal lot, and park on the grass. I was only there to hit the Ralph Lauren stop for one of my favorite white dress shirts, so I got in and out as quick as possible and back on the road.

Normally it is not a good deal at the outlet stores, but today was 30% off the sale prices at Polo so it made the cost of the shirt ALMOST as low as Marshall’s or TJ Maxx. The problem is, it is hard to fine the fine cotton versions of those shirts at Mashalls or TJ Maxx. They usually carry the broadcloth version of the shirt which does not look as good with a suit. I ended up paying $6.00 more for the shirt at the Polo outlet, but at least I now have one. I will keep my eye out at the local discount stores for more in the future as I like to buy a few copies when I find something I like. I have made the mistake in the past of not doing that and then end up not being able to find the item again. I have a favorite pair of tennis Nike tennis shorts and a favorite 3/4 zip Fila sweat shirt that are so tattered that I look like I don’t have a penny to my name. That is next year when both the kids are in college.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 6 Miles
Time 7:00PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Hot and Sticky

I am continuing with my steady mileage increase towards my half marathon goal and it seems to be working. I was able to crank out 6 miles tonight with not much difficulty and I actually ran it faster than my pace during my last 5.5 mile run. My previous attempts at training did not follow the 10% rule ( increase your mileage by only 10% over your last run) and thus caused a failure to achieve my goal. I still finished the races but no where near as comfortable as I wanted to. Yes I know, if you are comfortable during a race then you are not really leaving it all out on the course. That is true, but my goal for the race in January is to finish strong and still be able to walk around the Disney parks with my son over the next few days following the race, without looking like I am 80 years old.

I am talking the night off on Saturday which is my next scheduled run, to go have dinner with a few old friends from high school (they are not old yet, just the friendship) so I will do my 6.5 miler tomorrow. I could probably do 7 miles, but I don’t what to blow my progress and get discouraged at this point. My serious program starts in October. I can’t wait.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5.5 Miles
Time 7:00PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Hot and Sticky

The weather continues to be brutal here in the Chicago area but at least the village finally sprayed for mosquitos this past week. It was to the point where even stepping out on the deck in the early evening was like ringing the dinner bell for the little blood suckers. Running outside was a double whammy as it is too hot during the day to put in any meaningful mileage and there are too many flying pests to run at night. This continues to perpetuate my habit of running inside, which I KNOW is not good for me, but at least I get the (junky) mile in.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5 Miles
Time 7:00PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Warm and Sunny

I am definitely getting back in the groove again with my training for the Disney Half Marathon in January. I am slowly increasing my mileage as I should, instead of pushing it like I did last year. My schedule training plan starts in October so right now I am just concentrating on increasing my miles in general. I will concentrate on speed and mental capacity when I start the program in October.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 4.5
Time 7PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Humid +++

This will probably be my last run before the Rock and Roll Half as I am having lots of trouble breaking through to anything meaningful as far a miles. I know I need to adjust my eating habits but most of all I need to do something about my sleep patterns. Getting 4 or 5 hours of good sleep a night is not enough to achieve my running goals or any other goals that I have set so far. Starting Monday (this sounds like a new years resolution) I will be going to see my doctor, my accountant and look for a new lawyer all in that order.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 3
Time 7PM
Location Outdoors
Weather Hot and Sticky

 

Today was really tough for some reason. Found it very hard to breath which cut my 6 miler into a 3 miler with a few extra walking miles. I’m really going to have to step it up to even make a decent showing at the Chicago Rock and Roll Marathon on August 1st.

Time to pick it up.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5
Time 3PM
Location Outdoors
Weather Hot and Sticky

 

Summer is definitely upon us here in the Chicago area. Today it was in the upper 90’s with what felt like 99% humidity in the air. Not the best running weather but we need to take advantage of the time we have to get our miles in.

As soon as I stepped out side I could feel the sweat beginning to bead on my body and once I started to run it only took a few blocks before my shirt was showing a few soak through spots. One thing I inherited from my dad was his sweat glands and although it can feel great to work up a good sweat, my clothing gets soaked pretty fast during a workout. My other problem is trying to wear any type of sunglasses during a long run as the sweat ends up depositing droplets on the inside and outside of the glasses until it gets hard to see. I have to keep taking the glasses of to clean away the moisture as I run otherwise the vision starts to get blurry and a bit dangerous. I used to just use my shirt but it gets harder and harder to find a dry spot on the shirt during a run so now I carry at least one small washcloth for the purpose of cleaning the glasses.

What do you do to stay cool during a race or a workout when it is unbelievably hot? Put ice in your water bottle? Run early in the morning or late at night?

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5 Miles
Time 5:40PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Hot and Sunny

A solid 5 miles at a decent pace, but the more I use this treadmill (7000+ miles on it now) the more I realize we need a new one, or I need to get my ass out of bed and run outside in the morning. Time to make a doctors appointment about this lack of sleep thing.

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Mile Marker

Mileage 5
Time 1PM CST
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Hot and Sticky

 

I have a co worker and his family coming over for dinner tonight so I wanted to get my run fairly early so I could get all the shopping and prep work done before they get there. It was a little tough to get through as I am still feeling pretty sluggish and blob like, but I managed to get all five miles in while watching the US/Ghana World Cup match. The match was depressing but the run was promising.

I am going to be good tonight and stick with veggies, fish, protein and a little bread to see how I feel tomorrow. We will start off with some Roasted Red Pepper Hummus and Pita triangles for the appetizer, then a nice spring green salad with blue cheese crumble, dried cranberries and cranberry walnut vinaigrette. We will be making some New York strips, Cedar Plank Salmon and Sweet Potatoes on the grill for the main course.

Should be a nice evening out on the deck, despite the extended humidity we are experiencing.

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Mile Marker

 

Mileage 3.5
Time 7PM
Location Indoors – Treadmill
Weather Clear – Cool

I had high hopes of increasing my mileage tonight, but after a long day of mind crushing troubleshooting I was just not up to it. Sometimes the mind takes control and tells you you can’t do it, and today was one of those days. Usually the runs are the best way to clear the mind…not today. Mind conditioning is one of the things I need to work on in addition to the body conditioning. No matter how much you train your body, if you let your mind tell you you can’t do something, you won’t be able to do it.