New Shoes, New Routes, and Snow

by Bryan on 3/7/2008 at 7:13 PM in Health and Fitness

It's been a pretty busy week here, between off-site work meetings, training, and tonsils coming out (C's, not mine). I am glad that it's finally Friday!

I've been using Mondays as a dedicated strength training day, but we spent all of Monday at an off-site management "retreat," followed by dinner at Reata. I ate and drank way too much, so by the time we got home, I just wanted to go to bed. Fortunately, Tuesday was only a half-day of meetings, followed by a group activity, which was over between 3 and 4 PM, so I headed to the gym to get in some full-body strength training, and followed that up with a 3 mile run around the neighborhood with Julie—in my new shoes.

Wednesday, it was back to the office, playing "catch up." J had his first dentist appointment in quite some time, and ended up with his first two cavities :-(. Time to double-check his brushing, and perhaps start flossing. Wednesday evening I was able to get in my tempo run, and boy was it a good one. I set off on a new route that we've been using, but instead of following it all the way around, I veered off in another neighborhood, looking for hike and bike trails that might connect up with our neighborhood. Without the Garmin 305 to keep track of things, I'd never be able to do this. While I didn't find any connector trails, I did find dead ends that looked like they will eventually be connector trails, and I was able to keep moving at a decent clip.

Yesterday we were supposed to have our second Yoga session, but due to inclement weather, we canceled. We received nearly six inches of snow yesterday afternoon and a lot of rain and sleet prior to that—very unusual for the Dallas/Fort Worth area, especially in March. At first, I thought about getting in my 3 mile recovery run outside, but it was such a mess that I braved the roads and drove to the gym, where I hit the treadmill for 3 miles, and then did another full-body strength workout. As much as I am enjoying running, I've realized that it's really important for me to keep up with my strength training, especially now that I am nearing my goal weight and the muscle definition is really standing out. Not to mention, I enjoy lifting weights, and a stronger me can only mean better runs, right?

Here are some of my stats for the week (Tues/Wed/Thurs):

Tuesday (strength and 3 mile easy run):
  • 1.23 mile warm up on treadmill in 13:00
  • 50 minutes of strength training—full body
  • 3 miles in 34:39, avg HR @ 155 bpm
Wednesday (40 minute tempo run):
  • 10 minutes easy (.87 mile, 11:30/mile pace, 133 bpm)
  • 20 minutes fast (2.14 miles, 9:21/mile pace, 168 bpm)
  • 10 minutes easy (.74 mile, 13:25/mile pace, 143 bpm)
Thursday (strength and 3 mile easy run):
  • 3 miles on treadmill in 32:10, avg HR 148 bpm
  • 50 minutes of strength training—full body

By the way, the new shoes are doing great.