6 Mile Run

This will be short and sweet. Don't have much time today. Got work and UofL game @ 2.

Creeden and I ran 6.2 miles yesterday through Seneca Park. It was a good run for us both. I ran 55.47 and he was about 5 mins. behind me, but he did get caught behind a train. Felt a bit of fatigue at the 4 mi. mark, but it once I got through that I actually picked up speed. Have to do a warm down run later today. I have gotten to the point that I looked forward to running. They said it would become addicting.

Cards need to win bad today. Please Oh Please, my voice can't take yelling at Sosa all game again.

Side Note: I do appreciate the Canadians hospitality during these Olympics. These have been the best winter olympics that I have seen yet. With that being said I hope the "maple leafs" go down today. Go USA...ah!

Shout out of the week goes to the USA bobsled team driver. You give out of shape, bald guys hope everywhere that they one day could win the GOLD.

Iroquois 5 mile

Shelby and I ran at Iroquois Park this morning for our first 5 mile run. She has ran there many times before and since that is where the start of the mini-marathon will take place she has also ran those hills in an actual race. For me, it was my first time running there. The park is very hilly - somewhat similar to Cherokee's running path through the park, but higher and longer hills. For those that have never been there, the highest point you can see over all of Louisville. So it's up there! We ran all the way to the top and then back down - the big hill at the top won't be part of the course on race day, but it's good practice. Even with all the hills we still ran 9.30 min. miles finishing at 47.28. Good run overall. On another note, Creeden couldn't run with us today, but he ran the 5 miles yesterday. He did a course through Seneca Park and finished with a 10 min. mile pace and didn't have to walk he said. So that's very good for him. Keep it up!

I've noticed that my performance in the pool has improved. For my cross-training days I swim laps at Lakeside. And vice-a-versa, swimming has improved my endurance. That's why I recommend if you can try swimming and see if you like it. Most people won't because of the fear of cardio work out in water, but once you get through that it really is the best overall workout you can do.

I also had a free week pass to Urban Active this week and I did not like it at all. I do very little weight training, I prefer to swim for cardio, and when I run, I run outside no matter the weather. So a "social" gym is not my type of working-out environment. Those meat-heads that have no idea what real weight training is drive me nuts. All they do is bench and curls. Some of them are so top heavy I don't know how they keep from falling over. Do they think that looks good?

Time to cheer on the Cards. They are starting to come together. I hope Pitino makes Sosa cry on national television before the season is over.

Perfect "Perfect North" Weekend

I missed my first day of training since I started. I was supposed to run 4 miles on Saturday and 30 min on Sunday, but instead I ran the 4 miles on Sunday and went skiing on Saturday with Shelby at Perfect North. It was great weather, great snow, great slopes, great company. We had a great time! I was very surprised how well I picked skiing back up since I hadn't been since high school. Shelby has been many of times before so she can handle her own; however, she did chicken out on a couple of the bigger/harder slopes. Sorry had to call you out shelby but you did trick me in going down one. I was passed a point of no return and I turned around expecting her to be there but she was still at the top, even after she told me she would be right behind me - "You go and I'll follow".....guess not! Even though we did miss our running one day this weekend, I think skiing for 8 hours was more physically demanding then 30 minutes of running.

This morning's run went better then it felt. Shelby and I kept a pace of sub 9 min miles. Now it didn't feel that way because I over-dressed thinking it would be cold, but instead I sweated too much and felt 20 lbs heavier. So I definitely worked my legs more then I needed too, but oh well.

**The picture is me with a family in the background. They look normal but the mom and dad were matching from head to toe. Matching black headbands, purple Landsend jackets (you know those jackets we all had when we were younger, but these were brand new...can you still buy those?), and matching black spandex. And if I remember correctly they even looked alike, the only difference being his mustache.

Snow Day

It snowed a couple inches in louisville last night, so that made this morning's run a bit more challenging. The roads weren't yet cleared from car traffic and the running/biking lane in Cherokee park was a mush of snow and ice. However, the 4 mi. run wasn't that bad. I couldn't feel my feet by the end, but still felt good. Shelby and Creeden both ran with me and we all made it around 40 mins., with Shelby and I finishing 39.17 and Creeden a couple mins. behind us. He is a bit slower, but is doing well. At this point I feel like I could do about twice the run we did this morning. No need to push it with plenty of time til race day.

We were supposed to run in Iroquois Park this morning, but the weather kept us closer to home. I want to get out to Iroquois as much as possible since that's where the first leg of the race will take place. Some people at Jewish are training together and they invited me to run with them during the week at Iroquois. So I might do that a few times after work once they start their training. I think they are waiting for the warm weather to come. They must not have as much faith in "Punxsutawney Phil" as I do, because he was pretty adamant about there being 6 more weeks of winter. (side note - watch Groundhog Day three times this week)

Shout out of the week goes to Mike Webber. Never again will there be a bowling display like he put on last night. "Unbelievable" doesn't even describe it.....I will tell you what unbelievable does describe though - there was an article in the Courier-Journal this week about how good of a season Edgar Sosa is having. AM I WATCHING A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SEASON THEN EVERYONE ELSE? Sosa even had the audacity to make a statement in this article that he was just as good as the other elite point guards in the country. Now that is unbelievable!

Go Cards! SIVAstrong!

Hump Day

Creeden and I ran our first 30 min. session tonight at Seneca. Felt good. Didn't even really break that big of a sweat.

Won't be updating daily but had time before we go to Red Lobster. Hmmmmmm

Side Note: Playoffs in bowling league tonight....Sansbury will be eating his words.

Mini-Marathon Training

I have officially broken through my anti-blogging shield. All credit goes to my sister Elaine who is writing a blog about her P90x experience (check it out: http://elainep90xexperience.blogspot.com/)

Training started January 24th and the past week and a half have gone smoothly. So far my training schedule consisted of 4 twenty min. runs last week with a 3 mile on Saturday. Two cross-training days were also in that mix with a rest on Friday. That will be the normal routine the next few months - with the obvious increasing of the distances. I ran the 3 mile run in Cherokee Park with Shelby and my buddy Creeden. Creeden has signed up for the Mini as well and I will be staying on him to make sure he keeps up the training. This week we bump the running segments up 10 min. to 30 min. with a 4 mile run on saturday (set for Iriquois Park weather permitting).

More to come....I hope I keep this up.