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!