15-28 Dec

15 DEC -- 57:25 -- 6.41 miles -- 643 elevation gain
              -- 43:10 -- 5.71 miles -- 415 elevation gain
16 DEC -- 55:35 -- 6.08 miles -- 1074 elevation gain
              -- upper body weightlifting
17 DEC -- 32:15 -- 3.28 miles -- 698 elevation gain
              -- stationary bike 8 miles
18 DEC -- 1:25:47 -- 10.18 miles -- 832 elevation gain
19 DEC -- off -- upper body weightlifting
20 DEC -- 44:15 -- 4.50 miles -- 650 elevation gain
21 DEC -- off -- drove to New Jersey

TOTAL -- 5:18:27 -- 36.16 miles -- 4312 elevation gain



22 DEC -- off -- spent the day in NYC with Kari and Elijah
23 DEC -- 1:50:42 -- 8.86 miles -- 2130 elevation gain (ran the AT in northern NJ)
24 DEC -- 32:47 -- 4.49 miles -- 484 elevation gain
25 DEC -- 38:21 -- 5.03 miles -- 343 elevation gain (then drove to PA)
26 DEC -- off -- rest
27 DEC -- 38:56 -- 4.91 miles -- 387 elevation gain
28 DEC -- off (drove back to VA)

TOTAL -- 3:40:46 -- 23.29 miles -- 3344 elevation gain

Not bad considering we spent roughly 20 hours in a car over the past two weeks.  The Red Eye 50k is on New Year's Day and will serve as an easy and fun entry into 2015 with the VHTRC fellers.




Little Man in Times Square, sleeping through it all

08-14 Dec

08 DEC -- stationary bike 8 miles
09 DEC -- 24:00 -- 3.00 miles -- 0 elevation gain (treadmill)
              -- stationary bike 8 miles
              -- upper body weightlifting
10 DEC -- 48:00 -- 6.50 miles -- 484 elevation gain
              -- stationary bike 6 miles
11 DEC -- 47:15 -- 3.45 miles -- 341 elevation gain (combat PT w/sandbags, ammo cans, etc.)
12 DEC -- 53:33 -- 6.16 miles -- 614 elevation gain
13 DEC -- 1:13:02 -- 10.05 miles -- 431 elevation gain
14 DEC -- off -- chores and football

TOTAL -- 4:05:50 -- 29.16 miles -- 1870 elevation gain

Slow week.  Too slow.  Next week will be much bigger!

Instagram

Yesterday, I gave in and made an Instagram account thingy.  My username is "asphalt_impaired".  I also have a Facebook account that I made in 2010 but haven't used it since 2010.  Maybe, with the introduction of Little Man, I will start using social media more often.  Or, maybe not.

I'll start taking pictures during my training runs for Instagram. I see that Kilian has like 63,000 followers, so my goal is 64,000 by next Friday.  Let's make it happen.

Training Update

This morning, I quickly added the number of miles I've tackled since I started my project on February 12th.  I've done over 1,800 miles and should have no problem reaching 2,000 before February 12th of 2015.  I didn't add the number of hours but a ballpark number would be around 300 (10:00 minutes per mile).  A few months ago I posted about Malcolm Gladwell's hard and fast rule that 10,000 hours spent practicing something makes you an expert in that field.  If that's legit then I'm not sure I'll make it to "expert" ultrarunning levels until I'm Gary's age.

None of that really matters.  Plus, I plan to write an extensive recount of my entire year-long experiment once complete in February.  Maybe, since I ran every mile using my 310XT GPS watch, Garmin will be interested in the data?!  (And in paying for me to run races in 2016?!)  Really, though, I only needed an excuse to post some pictures of Little Man. 

Imagining himself crossing the finish line of his first Turkey Trot next fall

Yes, his luscious hair can be easily formed into a mohawk and keep its form for days.  This will surely scare off other kids at the race next year.

Ohhhhhhhhh...the wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round...

24-30 Nov

24 NOV -- off -- stationary bike 3 miles -- upper body weightlifting
25 NOV -- off -- stationary bike 3 miles -- upper body weightlifting
26 NOV -- upper body weightlifting
27 NOV -- off -- Happy Thanksgiving
28 NOV -- 43:26 -- 5.85 miles -- 304 elevation gain
29 NOV -- off -- rest
30 NOV -- off -- rest

TOTAL -- 43:26 -- 5.85 miles -- 304 elevation gain

Took most of the week off to spend time with family and recover from JFK.

01-07 Dec

01 DEC -- 45:14 -- 4.79 miles -- 768 elevation gain
02 DEC -- 44:47 -- 4.77 miles -- 754 elevation gain
03 DEC -- 38:48 -- 5.02 miles -- 509 elevation gain
              -- upper body weightlifting
04 DEC -- 1:23:37 -- 10.04 miles -- 856 elevation gain
              -- 650 meter swim -- 100 push ups -- 75 squats -- 75 crunches -- 75 muscle ups
05 DEC -- off
06 DEC -- 5:28:03 -- 21.61 miles -- 5664 elevation gain
07 DEC -- off -- rest

TOTAL -- 9:00:29 -- 46.23 miles -- 8551 elevation gain

Sort of a slow week, getting back to the grind after a week off following JFK.  I'd like to get back up to 60-70 miles per week around the new year, but I'm fine with weeks in the 40's and 50's as long as they are quality miles with decent elevation training.  I have no races on the schedule so I can run carefree!