Lord Of the Bling 10k Wrap-up

This week James and I have been running in a virtual race.  Last year we stumbled on this great group called Nerd Herd Running and signed up for their racing series.  They are virtual races with different geeky themes.  Right up our alley!  We had a such a good time doing it, we signed up again this year.  We are on our second race of the trilogy. 

James initially had a goal of running the 10k straight.  That fell through when he didn't train so we broke it down over the week.  Today we finished our 10k.  We went to Huron Park near us and decided to do a trail run.  We also were making our video for the contest they were running along with the 10k run. 

With a name like Lord of the Bling, you can guess what geek theme the race was.  Lord of the Rings of course!  The video contest was a You Shall Not Pass video.  We used River as our monster and I was the runner trying to pass James who was Gandalf.   Here is our resulting video.

 

 We had a good time doing it too!  It took several takes and some editing, but we got it!

 Today we did the following intervals:

5 rounds of 3 minutes run/1 minute walk

4 rounds of 4 minutes run/1 minute walk

We did this all on trails.  That is something I'm not used to , but James is.  He helped me a lot by talking me through it.  It was nice to run in the shade almost the whole time though.  We didn't like the mosquitoes at all!  They could have stayed in hiding.

James loved doing this run and can't wait to get his medals in October for the series.  We have one more in the series and that's in October.  That one is a 5k or half-marathon.  James will be doing the 5k option.  I have to look at the dates, but I may be doing the half-marathon if it's at the same time as the half I'm already running.

We also took a couple of before and after pictures today.

Tomorrow my only running partner will be River.  We are planning a 4-5 mile run in the morning and on Sunday I have a long 8 mile run planned.  It feels so good to be back on track!  James will be running with me on Wednesday next week.  It will be nice to have him back with me after having several days of him not running with me.

Back In the Gym

It has been almost 5 months since I've been in the gym.  I figured it would be a gong show, but it wasn't that bad.  In my effort to go back to basics I did intervals on the treadmill.  I did make them speed intervals though.  Here is what I did:

3 minutes @ 3.7-4.1

1 minute @ 5.5

3 minutes @ 3.7-4.1

1 minute @ 6.0

3 minutes @ 3.7-4.1

1 minute @ 6.5

3 minutes @ 3.7-4.1

1 minute @ 7.0

3 minutes @ 3.7-4.1

1 minute @ 7.5

5 minute cool down

I like this interval workout.  I think it will be good to do for the next couple of weeks when I do speed intervals in the gym.  I will increase the speed on the 1 minute intervals though.  Next week I wills start at 6.0 and work up to 8.0.  It makes the time go by quickly too.

I also lifted weights for the first time since February.  I didn't lose as much as I thought I would.  I just did legs today and my weight was only 5 pounds lighter on each machine than what it was in February.

It was a quick trip to the gym, but I packed a lot in during that 40 minutes.  I feel pretty good too.

When I got home I didn't even change since I was just going to get the dogs out for their walk.  We did just under 2 miles and the last 7 minutes I got a good upper body workout as they all started to go crazy for some reason.  The first 30 minutes they were picture perfect.  Then something hit them all at once and the crazy was released.  River started barking and stopping every few feet to look for rabbits.  Anya started pulling forward trying to get birds.  Mulder kept wanting to go back to where we had just come so he was pulling behind me.  There was all kind of crazy going on.

Tomorrow morning James will run with me.  We will go 25 minutes doing the run/walk intervals I did yesterday.  1:1 for the first 10 minutes and then 2:1 for the last 15 minutes.  It will help him as well.  Next week we do the Lord of the Bling 10k virtual run.  He's excited.  I think we may break up the 10k over a couple of days though.  He's just not ready for a straight 10k.

Should be a fun morning tomorrow!  Looking forward to it!

Let the Half Marathon Training Begin!

Today was my kickoff to half marathon training.  I won't really start a structured program until next week, but James was here and we went for a run.


He was up before me this morning.  I was in the process of trying to drag myself out of bed when I heard him rustling around.  I got up and checked my email while he spent a half hour doing his "paperwork" in his "office."  I thought I would have to pry him out of bed and hook him up to River's leash to get him started, but nope, he was ready to go.


Today we took a route that went by his old school.  I think that was some of his motivation.  His mother moved so he switched schools this year.  He loves his new school, but misses his old one.  Plus the route is fairly flat for my benefit.


River was ready to go as well.  She did he getting into the leash dance and the hurry up and put on your shoes song.  It was a nice morning for a run and River took off with me in tow.  I got her settled into a pace just in time for a bus to come along.  River views buses as the enemy and it's her job to protect the city from these vicious beasts.  It's a job she take very seriously.  After she yelled and chased the bus away, we had to wait for James to catch up.


We didn't get very far from the bus stop when I pug decided to join us on our run.  Pugs are not good at looking both ways before they cross the street, so I'm waving a van off while this pug is moving it's little pug legs to catch up to River.  Once he got to us, he decided that running isn't a pug thing, but cuddles was.  The owner came and got him and we were off once more.


I think back to when I first started back with running and how I wouldn't go on main roads because I didn't view myself as a "real runner."  Man was I missing out. I love to see the looks on peoples faces as I'm running.  Now keep in mind I have a crazy eyed coon hound around my waist, a 9 year old boy doing his best impression of the Phoebe run from Friends, and my Training For the Zombie Apocalypse Bondi Band on.  I can only imagine what we all looked like.


Today we ran a half mile further than we ran on Sunday and only a minute and a half longer.  I'm very proud of my running partners.  James a very clear goal of running the 10K Lord of the Bling virtual run.  He really wants to do that so he's training for it now. 


We're home now and getting ready to shower and run errands.  I'm off to Nepean for a swim meet so probably won't get my runs in this weekend.  I'll take my running stuff just in case, but I don't see it happening.  If I don't get to run, my next run with be the Canada Day 5k on Tuesday.


Canada Day is when my training officially kicks off.  James and River will be my training partners for the shorter runs, sprint days and hill days.  James says his looking forward to the hill days because he loves running uphill.  He's a bit crazy that way.


Have a great weekend!

Day 31: Happy Birthday Harry Potter Virtual 5k

James and I registered for a virtual race a few weeks back.  It's through a group called NerdHerd.  They sponsor 3 virtual runs all with nerdy themes.  This one was for Harry Potter's birthday.  It's really a cool thing for geeks like us.

They emailed us race bibs and we send in our times and the send us finishers medals.  James if very excited about that part.  He can't wait to see what it will look like.

We took River with us to keep us moving.  She loves to run so she should get to participate as well.  Here we are before the run.  We're casting a spell and catching the snitch.

James was  bit grumpy to start out.  He complained about everything even though he's the one that wanted to run with me.  I coaxed him along and as we got into the run he got better.

He ran a pretty good time.  48 minutes was the final time.  He was excited when he finished.

It was a bit warmer then when I normally run, but I didn't want to get him up that early.  We are going to get him new running shoes today because he's outgrown his old ones.  We run our next 5k in 2 weeks.  I'll get him out in his new shoes before then so he can break them in.

Tomorrow is a cross training and weights day for me.  I know I need those days, but I am really enjoying the runs lately.  Friday is another 5 mile run and I'm really excited for that.  Have a great day!