Full 7 Days

December 9th (Monday): 7 miles (49:59) with a hammerfest for the last 1/4 mile for cuss and giggles. Made it out the door at 4:45pm.

 

Yogurt and cranberry juice to start to shake. Looks gross, but a great combo.

December 10th (Tuesday): 7.75 miles (52:51) with an overall progression run and a quick ending once again. Forgot my lunch on the dining room table so I was too disappointed to have an appetite at work. Skipped lunch. Down to Albany for lifting at 7:15pm.

Omelet with some salsa and cilantro.

December 11th (Wednesday): Burrito mix for lunch. 7+ miles (51:46) on my own in the snow and cold. Awesome run in the dark along the bike path. Turkey burger for dinner. Bed early to rest up the body.

 Turkey burger with spinach, ranch and sriracha sauce.

December 12th (Thursday): Helped with HAZMAT training with ERT all day. Easy day at work. Home to chill and wait for Sean Gavs to arrive for a 6pm run from our house. 7.75 miles (57:13) in the back neighborhoods and stayed off all the main roads.

Sunset walking out of work.

December 13th (Friday): 7+ miles (on the treadmill). Mount Washington training in the works. Started at 4% incline and ended the last few minutes at 10% incline. Rocked a 6 minute mile at 6% grade. According to McDaniels, that is roughly at 4:35ish effort. I was huffing and puffing a bit, but overall a quality run on the hamster wheel.

December 14th (Saturday): 7 miles (51:59) at 6:30am in 5 degree weather. Ugghh! A run with Renee and Jeff down the street on the bike path. Bundled up right and no issues staying warm. The chin and moustache froze over in the first couple miles. Back to the house to warm up and wait until 9am to head back down to the bike path for the Fleet Feet group run. 3 miles (28+) with a whole group of people. Breakfast at Leah's Cakery with the group. Cinnamon bun. Mmmm. So good. Chatted it up with some random people and back to the house to relax the rest of the day.

Started snowing in the late evening. Some television watching and whatnot. Bed at a decent hour.

Mushrooms, onions, spinach, hot mamas and ketchup. Boom.

December 15th (Sunday): 8:30am wakeup. Changed up to head down to UAlbany for the winter series. Waited for Goup to arrive and head down together. Roads weren't terrible and we made it just in time. I jogged over to the starting line and the crowd was off the line as I was about 5 feet from it. Shuffled in and made my way to the front. There was a choice of 3 mile and 15k. I opted for the 3 mile and finished up in 17:21. Some of the roads were clear, but overall a bit sloppy. Found Goup running the 15k and trotted it out with him for the remainder of the distance. 10 miles on the day and 55 miles for the week.

Back up to Ballston Lake and witnessed a car accident right before our exit off of 87. Subaru Forrester totaled on the right side of the road and a Hyundai pushed off to the guardrail on the right. We stopped and made sure everyone was okay. The 80+ year old woman who was impacted by the side airbag was just fine. The cop asked if she wanted EMS to check her out. She responded with, "I think I'm okay. I am standing and talking." She cop then asked, "Are you sure? They are coming to check the on other woman (from the Subaru)." She then replied with, "Once you hit 80, you get pretty tough." Awesome. 

Back to the house to relax the rest of the day. Snow plows didn't get to our road until 2:30pm. I wasn't going anywhere so no big deal. Headed down to Clifton Park to pick up toilet paper, gum and a shovel to move the snow out from in front of the garage and the walkway. On the way back, stopped at Hannaford's for some grocery shopping.

Makeshit shovel.


"Shoveled" out spots for the wheels to head down to Clifton Park.


New shovel. Digging the color.
 



Rewarded my hour of shoveling with a monster omelet.

 

Pie won from the winter series. Apple.

 

A la mode.

 

24 Hours

December 2nd (Monday): Drove up to NY from CT. Straight to offsite training in Saratoga at 8:30am. Out to Chiptotle for lunch. Huge chicken burritos fully loaded. The girl had to give me a new tortilla because it was busting at the seams and ripped apart as she tried to roll it up.

Home to run a quicker 5 miles (34:38) in the daylight.

December 3rd (Tuesday): Another day of training. Five Guys for lunch. The advantage of food being expensed during training. Home to run 7 miles (NT) in the daylight again. An hour earlier makes such a huge difference.

Tupperware that I need to return to my mom and Sarah.

December 4th (Wednesday): Another full day of training. Project manager brought us out to lunch. One of my co-worker's sugguest Hattie's Chicken Shack. Decided on the fried chicken sandwich. Choice of a Junior (1 chicken thigh) or the Big Daddy (2 chicken thighs). Obviously, the Big Daddy. Topped with coleslaw and a side of sweet potato fries with raspberry jam dip. I would of taken a picture, but I was with co-workers.

7 miles (52:04) on my own. Chicken sitting heavy, but worth it.

December 5th (Thursday): Half a day of training. Ran some errands after in Saratoga. Hit up GNC and Target. Struck a deal with my protein powder. On sale for $50 bucks. Bought two 5 pound containers. The lady sold me on some vitamins. I think since I did that, she gave me the 2nd 5 pound container for half off. Boom.

5 miles (35:35) with Goup on a random warm evening at 5pm.

December 6th (Friday): Home later than normal from work. Goup and I changed up to head down to Fleet Feet Albany for the 24 Hour Run to try to help support a couple guys (Jim Sweeney and James O'Connor) try to break the American record for the most miles on a treadmill in 24 hours. 153.76 miles is the record, which is 6.4 miles/hour. Stopped at 5 Guys for dinner in Clifton Park to fuel up for the late night run. It was also a fundraiser for Fight Against Hunger. 20 bucks for 20 minutes on the treadmill. I signed up for 10:20pm-11:20pm. Awesome time and home by 1am.

Diesel.

James (left) 107 miles. Jim (right) 123 miles.

December 7th (Saturday): Slept in. Ended up heading into to work from 10am-1pm for some overtime. High priority tool needed attention. Relaxed on the couch and watched some television the rest of the day. Decided on a day off from running. Watched The Details on Netflix with Toby McGuire. Hilarious movie. Bed at a decent hour.

December 8th (Sunday): 5:30am wakeup. Huh? Down to the bike path with Goup to run with Renee at 6:30am. 7 miles (53:33) along cinder. Relaxed in the afternoon. Another 4 miles (treadmill) at 8pm to make it 44 miles for the week. Still working on the 7 days a week. Slow start back, but I'm in no rush. Picked up a couple pairs of Nike Lunarglides for the winter time.

End of November (Slattery's & MRR)

November 18th (Monday): 5.5 miles (40:37) in the evening.

November 19th (Tuesday): 5.5 miles total (33:25 + strides) with Goupil. Fleet Feet Albany for strength training. A solid 35-45 minutes of straight work.

November 20th (Wednesday): 7 miles (50:00). Last 2.55 miles in 16:01. Felt smooth to crank it up a bit at the end of the run.

November 21st (Thursday): 7+ miles (55:34). Easy night run. Legs sore from lifting.

November 22nd (Friday): Day off. Travel to Massachusetts to Sarah's house for the weekend.

November 23rd (Saturday): 5 miles (43+) with my dad in the afternoon. Parents came up for the weekend to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with Sarah and Bob. They were heading down to Louisiana to spend it with Bob's relatives.

 Such a good puppers.

Tucker will cuddle anywhere.

The nap after the run.

 
November 24th (Sunday): Slattery 5 miler. Last minute decision to "race" it as a bandit. Sarah wasn't running for time so I did a mini workout.

Nothing bed than home cooking. 

Week 2 consisted of single runs and a day off. 37 miles for the week. Headed down to Fleet Feet in Albany for some weight training. Lower body. Duplicated what I could at Sarah's. It's the extra nitty gritty stuff like strength training that will get me to that next level.

November 25th (Monday): 5.5 miles (treadmill). Broke in the new treadmill Goup acquired from NH. Sweetness.

Won the Hartford Marathon? Defend my title? Whatever.

November 26th (Tuesday): 3+ miles (25+) with Goup, Derrick, and Ken Little. Snowing out. 5 miles (NT) in the evening. First double in a while.

November 27th (Wednesday): Off. Out early from work and traveled home down to Connecticut. Ended up just chilling with the parents for the night.

November 28th (Thursday): Turkey day. Manchester Road Race with my parents. Paced my dad to 36:00 flat. The exact goal time for the race. Boom. Dad almost puked up his oatmeal right after he finished. That means he put it all out there. Proud of him.

A well deserved donut and brewski.

Hit the spot.

 
November 29th (Friday): Oops. Another day off. Slept in. Over to my Aunt Kathy's for turkey sandwiches and the movies. Frozen in 3D. I forgot how much singing is in Disney movies. Good flick though.

Snack on the way to my Aunt's for leftover turkey sandwiches.

November 30th (Saturday): Yard work in the afternoon. Made it over to Huntington with my dad for some trails and daylight at 3:30ish. 8 miles total (56:57). First 20+ minutes with my dad and finished up at our own pace for the remainder.

December 1st (Sunday): 9 miles (62:52) with Pat Dennen in Newtown. Breakfast and caught up on life for a couple hours at Bagel Delite. Stayed in Newtown for the night and left in the morning.

Week 3 had a couple days off, but it was worth it to spend more time with the family. Strength training is on Tuesdays and it was upper body. The part that I lack a bit. So I was sore until the weekend. Used the long weekend as recovery. Caught up with a local friend and paced my dad to his goal time for Manchester Road Race. Woohoo!

First Week Back

November 11th (Monday): Woke up with a sore throat. Normal day at work. Home to run 4.5 miles (31:19) with Derrick. Easy run and good to catch up with him after a few weeks off.

November 12th (Tuesday): Blah day with the sickness setting in. Day off all together from running and night lifting at Fleet Feet.

November 13th (Wednesday): Feeling roughly the same as yesterday. 5.5 miles (39:40) in the evening. Felt good to breath in some fresh air and blow a bunch of snot rockets to clear the sinuses.

November 14th (Thursday): On the upswing. A couple nights of 9-10 hours of sleep, Nyquil (store brand) and some Mucinex. 5.5 miles (37:02) in the evening.

Back to healthy eating!

November 15th (Friday): Normal day at work. Had to stay at work until 5pm due to a high priority tool being signed off. A couple punch list items that needed to be verified the next day. Overtime approved. Boom.v5.5 miles (39:21) in the afternoon.

November 16th (Saturday): Almost all better. Kicked the cold. Slept in. Phone call received around 10am to let me know the work was complete. Work 10:30am-12:30pm. Stopped in at TJ Maxx to see if there was anything new. Grabbed a sweet fleece pullover.

Home to relax and watch a bunch of moves. The Other Woman on Netflix. Cars. PS I Love You. 3 miles (21:15) in the evening with Goup. Bed at a decent hour.

November 17th (Sunday): 7 miles (50:17) with the Fleet Feet Racing team (mostly women's team) at 8am. Easy first 6 miles. Worked in the last mile with Pete (similar to Najem in the speed aspect) and Goup. Sub 5:30 last mile. Boom. Gavs made it out for the run as well from Albany. Sweeeeet!

Relaxed the rest of the day. Listened to Dr. Dre radio on Spotify and this came on. Huh?

 Good song, but no what I wanted to listen to at the time.

31 miles for my 1st week back. Felt great to get out there on the roads. Being back in a routine is amazing. I don't feel like such a bum.

Time Off (11 pounds)

October 13th - November 5th: 1 month of no running. The first week was painful, but recovery was quicker than last year. The crap eating started immediately. The day after the marathon I ate about a half a box of Oreos, a whole box of Charleston Chews, and some other random stuff. I began season 1 of Breaking Bad on Netflix at 1pm on Sunday. I did not leave the couch until 1am. 11 episodes and hooked on it hard.

 Weakness.

Every single day was dedicated to bad eating and sitting my kester on the couch to watch episodes of Breaking Bad. I felt asleep on the couch multiple nights in a row. Ice cream for dinner. I headed to Keene for Pumpkinfest weekend with thrower Phil Elmer and got rowdy Friday and Saturday night. Ended up grabbing wings Sunday night in Vermont with Ferenc and Boj.

Pumpkinfest masterpiece.

The bag of homemade caramel was put to good use. Some of was heated up and poured over my ice cream. It ended up hardening over the ice cream, but still tasted delicious. The rest of the caramel was eating by the handful as a snack. No cross training and whole bunch of vegging out was done through these 3.5 weeks off.

 Vanilla ice cream with caramel.

I did visit my sister one weekend. I hadn't seen her or Bob in a while so it was nice to spend some quality time with them. Always a good thing to see Tucker!

 Roommate while I'm at my sister's house in Massachusetts.

After my time off, I officially gained a solid 11 pounds. My mom noticed when we were FaceTiming one night. She said my face was fuller. Oh well (and don't judge me). I purchased a new pair of prescription glasses. Ordered them off glasses.com. Walked away with a steal. Frames ended up being on sale. Free lenses with the purchase of Smith Optics frames (the ones I wanted). Aaaand 25% off coupon I found randomly online. Free shipping and arrived 5 days later from the order date. 72 bucks. Boom!

Loved the time off, but working back into the swing of things. The week of November 4th-10th had a few shakeout runs before the weekly mileage and training starts. 3-4 miles Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday. Training has commenced and it feels amazing to be back outdoors breathing in the fresh air. Winter has arrived so it's time to bundle up. Plus daylights savings! Headlamp and high visibility vest!

ING Hartford Marathon 2013 Race Report

October 12th (Saturday): 5:45am wakeup. Stumbled around the hotel room while Goup continued to sleep. Downstairs to see if there was any breakfast available. Nothing really. Back upstairs to grab my car keys and head down to the parking garage. Sat in my car and ate a banana with a Clif Bar. Bumped some jams to relax and wake myself up a bit.

Back to the hotel room to relax and received a phone call from Sarah (my sister) to see where I was. She stopped in with my parents around 7am. Chilled in my bed to stay warm and used the heating pad to keep the legs/back extra loose. Started getting feelings of anxiousness in the room from all the questions/comments so my mom and dad left to head out to the course. Goup headed out for a warmup with TPaq. Sarah grabbed her stuff out of the parents car. I changed up and prepped all my stuff. Out for a easy 5-6 minute pre-warmup to push everything out for a final poop. Back up to the hotel room to put on the finishing touches (band aids over the nipples, flats - Nike Streak 4's, and Powerbar gels).

Jogged over to the line with Sarah and Goup with time to spare. No need for any extra layers because it was about 50 degrees at the start. Wished Sarah good luck and made sure she was set at the starting line. 8am start that did not seem to go off on time. Elongated prayer by some dude, a flash mob I couldn't see and other random announcements. Gun went off and out well with the front pack. The ideal pace was sub 5:20's, but that's if all the stars aligned and absolutely nothing went wrong.

The start.

Splits as followed with a couple hiccups here and there:


Mile 1 - 5:21 (solid start, keeping the body relaxed)

Mile 2 - 5:26 (I knocked into Matty P's arm and the watch split at 1:29, but added the 1:29 to 3:56, I'll forgive him)

Mile 3 - 5:24 (rolling side by side with Matty P by this point)

Mile 4 - 5:28 (keeping it under 5:30)

Mile 5 - 5:23 (1st 5 miles: 27:04 - feeling it out and remaining smooth - Powerbar Gel taken - no issues)

Mile 6/7 - 10:49 (split at 6 mile marker over the bridge and saw 4:55. Daaamn. Then the next mile was 5:54 so I used common sense)

Mile 8 - 5:23 (Matty P stopped to take a piss and caught up at some point along the bike path, I dropped the two other guys during that time and Matty P thanked me, saw the entourage along the bike path screaming my name, Matty was bumming that I didn't tell him his name to cheer - I didn't know I would be rocking the miles with him - haha)

Mile 9 - 5:32 (after this, made a push to change the gears)

Mile 10 - 5:21 (niiiice - 54:10, 2nd 5 miles: 27:06, even and feeling smooth - 2nd Powerbar gel taken with some fluids)

Mile 11 - 5:22 (keep it going)

Mile 12 - 5:20 (boom, don't get ahead of myself - starting racing Matty P and gapping him)

Mile 13- 5:21 (right on)

Half marathon - 70:49 Cruising and feeling solid (2+ minutes faster than year)

Mile 14 -5:23 (beautiful, I got this)

Mile 15  5:22 (1:20:59, 3rd 5 miles: 26:49, rocking it - Powerbar gel taken, but not too easily)

Mile 16 - 5:22 (straight away along the residential section and saw the 2 leaders running back from the turnaround point - killing it - sitting in 3rd and focused on the end goal)

Mile 17 - 5:33 (it's all good, just use the downhill - advice shouted from Matty P as I saw him on the way back - he looked effortless so I knew he would close up the gap)

Mile 18/19 - 10:17 (off splits individually but averaged to 5:08 pace, daaang - didn't fully register until reviewing these)

Mile 20 -  5:22 (1:47:33) 4th 5 miles: 26:34, 2nd 10 miles: 53:13 - no complaints here

Mile 21 - 5:30 (uh oh, don't sweat it - Powerbar gel taken and couldn't muscle down the first squirt, spit it out all over myself, tried again soon after and made it happen)

One of the leaders (the pack of two) dropped and was sitting on the curb around this time. Badaboom, here comes the podium finish and some more money! AKA Stay within my means and it could happen to anyone.

Mile 22 - 5:33 (I believe Matty P was cruising by me in this mile or around here with ease)

Mile 23 - 5:31 (okay, okay, you got this Eric - pouring water over my head the last couple miles and the remaining miles because the sun was out and it was warming up slightly)

Mile 24 to 26 - 17:01 (almost puked my Gels back up at one point, but keep it down - stop splitting the watch and focused on the finish line - 5:40 pace for the 3 miles, last 6 miles: 34:35)

Mile .2 - 71 seconds

Official time: 2:22:21

Into the top 3 finisher's corral to wait for the podium finish announcement. Sweeeeet! A bouquet of flowers and a sweet glass plaque. Lots of stretching and moving around so I wouldn't tighten up like last year. Over to the elite tent to see the rest of the gang. Greeted the family (Aunts, Uncles, Parents) with a big hug and whatnot. Great to see them at the finish line!

The next couple hours was spent stretching, walking around, eating mad food, pounding cans of Coca-Colas. Signed up for a free massage. Very relaxing. Watched intently for my sister to finish. I must of grabbed food when she crossed the line because I had no idea she finished.

Back to the hotel to take a hot shower and change up into some comfy clothes. Downstairs to greet everyone and grabbed food at the hotel restaurant. Pigged out on a portabella mushroom sandwich and rewarded myself with an Angry Orchard. 

Over to Newtown, CT with the family and Goup to relax the rest of the day. Some foam rolling. Lots of food and chilling on the couch to take a load off the legs. Just shy of a 4 minute PR on the day in 1 year. I have to be thankful for having my roommate and teammate as my coach. The training is working out well and loving every minute of it. It felt pretty awesome to have Matty P say that I made the race and we wouldn't of run that fast if I wasn't there. He also stated that if we had just sat on each other and waited until the end, I would of beat him. I don't know about that, but I'll take it any day.

Blurry, but major pain face.

 

Tres. Nothing hurts when you win.

Hmm, I did feel this later.

So Close To Hartford

October 10th (Thursday): Cereal for breakfast. Leftovers for lunch at work. Finished off the rest of the yogurt container. Brought my personal spatula spoon along with all the goods (granola, Clif Bar, and a fruit strip) to dip in my yogurt. Home to chill on the couch. Out at 6:50pm for 5 miles total (4 miles of running plus some strides in the parking lot). Smooth run and feeling good.

Big ole dinner to fuel up for Saturday. FaceTimed with my sister Kate and then with my Dad. My dad had recommended watching Breaking Away for a motivational movie. I decided to park it on the couch with my dinner and find it on Netflix. Awesome movie. I recommend it highly (and the movie is from 1979, I know, right?). It has Dennis Quad and Daniel Stern (the taller robber from Home Alone, Wet Bandits) in it. A good laugh and got me in the right mindset.

Bed at a decent hour. Some laundry done for the weekend of racing and traveling.

 Pasta, BBQ chicken, and broccoli.

October 11th (Friday): 6:15am wakeup? Huh? Yeah, I couldn't fall back asleep. Could of been the nerves. Not sure. Stayed in bed for a while before arising to attack the morning. Bowl of cereal was the first course for breakfast as I entered the kitchen. Oat bran was the second course of the morning at around 9am. Finished it off with a hefty omelet. Cleaned the house, organized my room, did the dishes, finished doing my laundry, big breakfast items, and packed up the bags for the weekend.

 Clean room. Clear mind.

 Broccoli omelet.

Left at 2:15ish from Ballston Lake. Prepared Goup and I each a chicken and avocado wrap for the road trip. Picked up a fellow NEF athlete in Albany before heading down to Hartford. Smooth ride. Arrived at 4pm. Expo from 4-5:30ish. Lots of free snacks and a great deal at running store vendor. A pair of shorts and a couple singlets. Carefully picked out the keepers and purchased them. Dropped off a couple people at the elite dinner. Back to the hotel to change up for a shakeout.

 Cool.

Easy run at 6pm. Just shy of 3 miles (20+). Might of been a more epic experience than last year. I had my bright yellow Nike Lunarfly 4's on my feet trotting down the street sidewalks of downtown Hartford with Goup. Passed a guy walking towards us and he commented along the lines of, "Ooo, those are so crisp." I am luckily down with the lingo (Crisp's definition = fresh, dope, swagger) and knew it was a good thing (not an insult). Smiled, thanked him with a head nod and continued on our way.

Back to the hotel to stretch, shower and head over to the elite meeting. Fairly short meeting. Dropped off the water bottles, picked up our swag (all white NEF pullover, uhhhh yeahhh), and down to the hotel restaurant for some mad grub. Exact same dinner as last year for Hartford. Tomato, basil, and mozzarella. Homemade guacamole with chips. Grilled Tuscany chicken sandwich. Devoured all of it. Goup helped on the appetizers. Dinner with some ARE guys (Kevin Treadway, Nick Webster, Jaime Julia) and Matty P (plus the fiancé). Back to the hotel room after some jokes were exchanged to relax the mind. Prepared the gear for the following morning before crashing for the night.

A good sign. All the way from San Fran!

Fuel Up Boys

October 7th (Monday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast. Some heavy rain during the day. Steak, mushroom, onion, and spinach wrap for lunch. Normal Monday at work. Home to relax and chill. Waited for the rain to stop. Out for 10 miles total (9+ plus strides) around 6:15pm. 66:47 total. Felt smooth on the strides. Left the bath of water outside to cool off for a ice bath. Added a bunch of ice before taking a 30 minute soak. Lots of foam rolling and sticking before submerging the legs.

Chicken wrap for dinner. Bed early.

 Snack right after work.

 Chicken marinated with hot pepper juice and rings. Spinach and chopped up red pepper.

October 8th (Tuesday): 3 miles (21:20) on my own in the morning. Protein shake. Carpooled with Goup to work. Steak, mushroom, onion with ranch wrap. Didn't have any wraps so I bought one in the cafeteria for 83 cents.

Bowl of cereal for a snack after work. Crashed for a couple hours on the couch. Woke up when Goup walked through the door back from his track workout. Upstairs to change up for an easy 5 miles (33:30) at 7:15pm. Back to do the dishes while making dinner. Chicken and veggies (avocado) over mixed up with yellow rice for dinner. Bed by 10pm.

Chicken and steak at the same damn time. 

 Looks gross. Tastes bomb.

October 9th (Wednesday): Slept in. Protein shake for breakfast since I had some time to kill before departing for work. Busy day at work. Watched a co-worker teach the New Contractor Orientation for the 1st time. Steak with mushrooms and onions mixed with Spanish yellow rice for lunch.

Back to the house to run 7 miles (48:21) with Goup around 6pm. Lots of foam rolling and sticking. Icing. All the extra precautionary things never hurt for race day. Another round of chicken with veggies for dinner.


October 10th (Thursday): Bowl of cereal for breakfast. Work 7:30am-4pm. Leftovers from last night. Finished off the 2 pound StonyField yogurt container. Dipped my fruit stripe, Clif Bar, chocolate chip graham cracker snacks, and finally some granola. All separately. Utilized my mini spatula spoon at work. Boom!

Stopped to pick up the mail. Grab a few things for dinner and more raw fuel for the weekend (yogurt, chicken breasts, vanilla almond milk). Home to relax and eventually get out for a run at 6:45pm. 5 miles total (4+ plus strides). Felt smooth and ready to roll.

Back to the house to foam roll, FaceTime with my sister Kate, and prepare a big dinner. Pasta, chicken and broccoli. FaceTimed with my dad for a bit. Watched Breaking Away on Netflix.

Pure ammunition for Saturday.

Weekend Before Hartford

October 4th (Friday): 6am wakeup. 4+ miles (29:03) at 6:25am. Protein shake for breakfast. Finished making my burrito mix from last night. Busy day at work running around closing things out before the weekend. Productive day overall. Home by 4:30ish. Chilled.

FaceTimed with my sister Erin for just over 1 hour. Grabbed a quick snack (a spoonful of honey, a handful of graham cracker snacks, and a swig of cran-raspberry juice). Out for around 7pm. 8+ miles (55:09) on my own. Back for a protein shake and a bowl of cereal. Started watching Extract on Netflix and fell asleep hard on the couch.

 It doesn't matter if I tuck my sheets in. After just one night of sleeping, ruined.

October 5th (Saturday): Slept in until about 8am. Broken up night of sleep, but well rested. Some oat bran for breakfast and heated up the legs to get them extra loose. Out for 6 miles (43:21) through the back neighborhoods. I wish I had a pair of glasses that allowed me to record parts of my run. I run by a barn all the time. It has a open fence door that animals stick their head out of sometimes. There were a couple chickens outside of the door. Sticking it's head was a goat. As I passed by, it began to "scream" at me (like in the YouTube videos). All I could do was smile and laugh to myself. I ended up looping back past the barn about 20-25 minutes later. This time the goat was inside the barn, but up on the window sill. "Screaming" again. Slightly muffled because it was behind the glass. Truly entertaining.

Similar to this.

Back to the house to foam roll and eat some food. Chilled on the couch and watched some movies on TV. Stopped off at Walmart, Target, and Marshalls/Homegoods in the late afternoon. Random things purchased. Some necessities for next weekend (Gatorade, Clif Bars,and cereal for the week). I also bought a new cellphone case because it looked pretty sweet and inexpensive.

Back to the house to relax for a bit and head down to the bike path for an evening run. 6 miles (40:30) along the soft terrain of the bike path at 6:15pm. Stopped at Hannaford's for some more shopping. Bananas, chicken, almond milk, and orange juice. Home to foam roll, make a protein shake, and ice bath. 20 minutes. Extra cold. Worth it. Finished the movie Extract and watched Daydream Nation on Netflix. Bed by 11:30pm.

 A true ice bath since I purchased a 5 pound bag of ice.

October 6th (Sunday): 7:30am wakeup. Tried to go back to sleep. Didn't work. Downstairs to watch some televsion and relax. I loaded the dishwasher and ran it. I made myself a bowl of Kashi Cinnamon Harvest. I poured the milk and realized I was washing all the spoons in the dishwasher. I rushed and found a solution.

 Measuring spoon!

I had intentions of a morning long run at some point, but it just didn't happen. More food consumed (a Clif bar, a fruit stripe, graham cracker snacks). Television movie. Made a "game" out of it while watching the movie Colombiana. Every commercial break I had to complete a part of chore (emptying the dishwasher, loading the dishwasher, washing dishes, tidying up areas, organizing paperwork/things). Worked out well. Goup home around 2pm. We headed out for a long run together. 15+ miles (1:41:47). Goup and I ran the first 11 together. Solid run. Last long run before Hartford.

Back to the house to make a protein shake and ice any slight soreness/tightness. Epic fail while making my protein shake. I was using the spatula to scrap the container clean.

What a waste of yogurt.

Over to the Dollar General to attempt to find water bottles. Picked up some steel wool for dishes, Armoral for the interior of my car, and ended up finding the perfect water bottles. Only 30 cents too. Clearance! Stopped at Hannaford's for a couple things for the week. Steak, yogurt, and sweet potatoes.

I will make them very distinct looking.

Back to the house to prepare some food for the week to ease the nervousness. The two crucial things are preparation and marination. Chopped up all the chicken and steak. Sorted it into individual Pyrex containers. Glass makes it easier to clean after it's done marinating. Pick your weapons of choice. The more, the merrier.

The major ingredients (the hot pepper rings - I used the juice and rings).

 Makes it easy to just cook up, sauté up some veggies, and throw in a wrap or over some rice.

While prepping the meat, I cooked up some chicken in ranch dressing, sriracha sauce, and chili powder. Simple, spicy and delicious. Watched some television and relaxed before bed. Body is itching for Saturday and sleeping is gonna be rough this week.

 

Chicken and spinach wrap for dinner.

Final Workout Before Hartford

October 3rd (Thursday): 4 miles (28:35) on my own at 6:20am. Out and back through the neighborhoods. 15+ out, 13+ back. Foam roll, protein shake for breakfast, and made a chicken wrap for lunch. Home to have some graham cracker snacks to fuel up for the workout. Chilled on the couch for a bit before heading upstairs to use the bathroom and change up.

Over to the track with Goup at 5:45pm. Individual warmups. 3+ mile (20:17) on the normal loop. The workout was quick, but with sufficient rest. 3xmile (half rest, 800), 4x400 (half rest, 200). Football practice was in session on the field under the lights. Worked out well. Coach moved the golf cart off the track and the area was illuminated very well. Squeezed a Powerbar Gel on the walk over to the track from the parking lot. Changed into flats. Some strides and started up.

4:43, 4:46, 4:43, 65, 65, 64, 65. Boom. Cruised right through and felt strong. Total time for the 6 miles was 32:54. Rest was kept honest, but nothing crazy. Focused on the intervals. Goup had a good workout too. Cooldown 2.5 miles (18:10) through the neighborhoods. 16 miles on the day and ready to roll in 1+ week at Hartford.

Stopped at Hannaford's for some quick dinner. Kashi frozen pizza and some yellow Spanish rice for burrito mix. Stopped at the mailbox place to drop off the rent checks. Home to heat up the pizza and cook up the rice for lunch the following day. Used my new silicon lily pad top that suction cups to pots/pans/bowls. Some yogurt with granola. Utilized my new mini spatula spoon. Bed at a decent hour.

Size comparison.

Adorable.