Jackpot

The Colorado Avalanche just had their biggest win since the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals and the season has been over for a couple weeks.  Although they finished the season with the 2nd worst record in the league they won the NHL draft lottery and will get the #1 pick in the upcoming draft.  Word is they will draft Seth Jones who is the son of former Denver Nugget Popeye Jones.  There is a great story about Popeye Jones running in to Joe Sakic in the halls of the Pepsi Center (back when Popeye was a Nugget) and asking the hockey great what camps he should sign his young hockey loving son up for.  Things now come full circle as Seth will play for a franchise where Joe Sakic acts as Executive Adviser.

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few weeks.  I was going to update last Friday but had to get home to take care of a sick 14-month old.  Week 6 started out easy enough with run/walk intervals (long run of 8 minutes on day 1 and long run of 10 minutes on day 2) and finished with a 25 minute run.  I know 25 minutes isn't a long time to run when you're training for a half marathon but it was probably the longest I have run (non-stop) in quite a few years.  With the 5 minute warm up and cool down walks I went a total of 3.26 miles.

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating day 3 of week 6 workout): 140 minutes = 2 hours 20 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 2 hours 30 minutes

Week 7 was the same for all three workouts; 25 minutes of jogging in between the 5 minute warm up/cool down walks.  The "Couch to 5k" program says that I "got over the Week 6 hump.  It gets easier and easier from here!"  Ummm, if easier means harder than I agree.  Two of the days actually weren't too bad but day 2 was really windy (I probably should have gone to the rec center) and I was dying by the end of my 25 minute jog.  Day 3 was perfect (low 50s and no wind) and I had my best distance and pace so far!  Including the warm up/cool down walks I went 3.43 miles and averaged a 10 minute 12 second mile pace.  If you cut out the walking I was at a 9 minute mile.  I know that's not great either (my cousin just ran a 5 mile race and averaged an 8 minute mile) but I'm happy.  I need to be around 11 minute 30 second miles for the half marathon to finish in 2.5 hours so I think I'm doing well.  I am a little nervous about my knees holding up for 13 miles because after these 25 minute miles my right knee feels like it's full of liquid an hour or two after I'm done.  We'll see how it hold up once I start moving to longer (1 hour) workouts.

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating day 3 of week 7 workout): 135 minutes = 2 hours 15 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 2 hours 30 minutes

I've never really had faith in treadmill distances so I've been using my own distance prediction but after week 7 of the "Couch to 5k" program I'm up to 55.6 miles traveled in 660 minutes and 30 seconds!

I'm over the NBA season so I'm not going to say much about the Nuggets other than the fact that they got knocked out of the playoffs in round 1 by the Golden State Warriors.  Steph Curry was on fire the entire season and the Nuggets showed that they are not a jump shooting team although they love to settle for jump shots.  Major need for the offseason: pick up a shooter.

Boston Strong

I just want to start out by saying my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Boston, the injured, and families of those that lost their lives on Monday.  This one definitely strikes a chord with me since, as you've been reading, I'm training to do a half marathon later this year.  I hear that Boston has completely shut down and told everyone to stay inside their houses as the manhunt continues for the second suspect (after the first one was shot last night.)  I have no doubt he will be found as you can't watch TV or look at the internet without seeing his picture, but I wonder if they will find him alive.  I know it's a morbid topic but I always struggle with whether I want them to find these guys dead or alive.  With the Newtown shooting you almost felt cheated that the coward shot himself and the families never got to face him in court but then, on the other hand, you get the guys like the Aurora theater shooter and the Jessica Ridgeway killer that are still alive and will use up tax-payer money to sit in jail for the next 60 years.  Oh, I just read a report that the Jessica Ridgeway killer entered a not guilty plea.  I don't understand this as he gave quite a detailed confession.  Does this just set the stage for a mental illness defense like we're going to get with the Aurora shooter?

On to happier topics, I only looked at this article because the player in the article (Todd Frazier) is on my fantasy baseball team but I'm sure glad I did.  On the bottom of the article there is a link to more background information on Teddy.  What a great story.  This is exactly what I needed after another depressing week for our country.

Well, I just wrapped up week 5 of my training and this is the week that I remember being worried about when I started.  The first two days weren't bad with a long jog interval of 5 minutes on day one and 8 minutes on day two but today was a 20 minute jog with no walk break in between.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that I can't jog for 20 minutes straight but it's quite a change going from 8 minutes max to 20 minutes.  Next week starts like this week with walk/jog intervals leading up to a 25 minute jog on day 3.  It's been cold and snowy all week so all my workouts have been on a treadmill so I know things will get tougher when I have to run outside.  The weather looks bad for early next week, snow on a Tuesday? shocker!, so I'll most likely be inside for the first couple days.

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating day 3 of week 5 workout): 144 minutes = 2 hours 24 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 2 hours 30 minutes (I'm guessing this will be my time goal for awhile)

Lovely winter we're having this spring

That about summarizes the past month.  I heard on the radio today that this is the third different snow storm we've had since April 9!  I know that we need the moisture and the roads haven't been too bad but I'm ready for some decent weather.  I see that it's supposed to clear up for a couple days and then snow again on Monday.  Ugh.  I guess I should come clean and let everyone know that the weather is my fault.  You know how it always rains the day after you get your car washed?  Well, I signed up for a spring softball league.  My bad.  The league plays on Tuesday nights and we started back on March 19.  We won that first game and haven't played since.  If you want to know when it's going to snow next, Tuesday is a pretty good bet.  After four (and counting?) straight weeks of snow-outs we're scheduled to play double-headers three weeks in a row.  If our double-headers get rained out I'm not sure what they will do.  Hopefully they decide to push the playoffs back a week instead of asking us to play four games in one night.  Ugh.

The weather last Monday and Friday was actually pretty nice so I got to run outside twice.  On Monday I ran a route that forced me to run the last 5 minutes uphill which, combined with the gusty wind, made for a rough finish.  On Friday I decided to go the opposite direction so that I went uphill during my warm-up walk and the workout felt much easier.  Here is my "end of week 4 update:"

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating week 4 workout): 150 minutes = 2 hours 30 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 2 hours 45 minutes

As I mentioned earlier the weather here hasn't been ideal for outdoor training so I've done treadmill workouts so far this week.  I'll give more details on week 5 when I wrap it up on Friday afternoon but this is the week that it starts to get more difficult.

We went up to my cousin's cabin in Bailey this past weekend and my oldest daughter, L, was introduced to Star Wars.  She and her cousin watched Episodes IV and VI and they LOVED it.  In fact, L now goes by Luke Skywalker and won't answer to her real name.  Because Luke's dad is Darth Vader, I am now Darth Vader.  Or should I say, "Door Vader."  Luckily, according to L...I mean Luke, I'm nice and we only fight in the movie, not real life!  I love that she loves the movies and it's so great that the movies are OK for my 3-year old.  Sure there are some scary parts, which she doesn't seem to find scary, but there is no bad language, no "adult situations", and no blood.  Too bad PG these days doesn't mean PG like it used to.

Home Opener

Today is one of my favorite days of the year.  The home opener for the Colorado Rockies.  This year celebrates their 20th year as a MLB franchise which is hard to believe.  I remember being in ninth grade in 1993 and my junior high (yes ninth grade was still in junior high) brought a bunch of TVs into the lunch room so we could watch the Rockies play the Mets at the old Shea stadium.  The Rockies were awful that year, they finished 67-95, but it didn't matter because pro baseball was in town!  I remember going to a couple games that year as one of my friends had season tickets.  Prior to the Rockies the highest level of baseball I had seen was when the Denver Zephyrs (AAA team for the Milwaukee Brewers) played at Mile High.  It was pretty exciting to see my baseball idols in person.  20 years later I still have yet to make it to a home opener but I'll get there one of these years.  I've heard it's such a great atmosphere because everyone is full of hope and hey, this could be our year!

Today I completed week 3 of my 5k training plan.  This week wasn't much harder than last week: 5 min warm-up walk, 1.5 min jog, 1.5 min walk, 3 min jog, 3 min walk, 1.5 min jog, 1.5 min walk, 3 min jog, 3 min walk, 5 min cool-down walk.  Monday was cold (40 degrees) and windy, Wednesday was warmer (47 degrees) and windy, but today was a perfect 60 degrees with just a slight breeze.  For the week I averaged 2.31 miles in the 28 minutes which cut about 10 minutes off my projected 1/2 marathon pace.  Next week's plan doesn't look too bad but things get tougher starting week 5.  I guess I should enjoy these easy weeks while I can.

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating week 3 workout): 160 minutes = 2 hours 40 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 2 hours 45 minutes

Week 2 update

Well, it looks like I'm back to my slacking ways.  I meant to update this last week but I was in CA Monday - Thursday and then Friday I left work a bit early so I could spend some time with my two little girls.  We went to Dairy Queen, which is one of L's favorite places.  It turns out N loves it too...big surprise!  I could hardly scoop it up into N's mouth fast enough.  A bit of background: L really likes to sit on my lap on school mornings as I feed her yogurt for breakfast.  I know I should maker her feed herself but I know it won't be too long before she won't want to sit on Daddy's lap so I'm going to enjoy it while I can.  Anyway, sometimes when she's being silly she opens her mouth and says "ahhhhh ahhhhh" when she wants another bite and N has caught on to this.  I'm sure I looked like a mama bird at DQ with my one year old sitting in her chair with her mouth wide open saying "ahhhh ahhhh."

Back to my original point, I never ended up updating this blog with my week 2 progress report.  Week 2 was another easy week of alternating walking with jogging although the intervals increased in length.  My two workouts in California were done on the hotel treadmill although I'm not sure why I didn't take advantage of the weather and jog outside.  Back in CO on Friday I got in an outdoor workout so I could actually get an idea of how far I was going.  I ended up going 2.37 miles in 31 minutes which means:

Projected 1/2 marathon time (repeating week 2 workout): 171 minutes = 2 hours 51 minutes

1/2 marathon time goal: 3 hours

Moving from week 1 to week 2 of the couch-to-5k program basically cut off 6 minutes of my projected time.  Of course this assumes that I could keep up the same pace for the entire 13.1 miles which probably wouldn't happen since my legs would be burning but it at least gives me an idea of what to expect as far as time.

Just this morning I completed the second workout of week 3 but I'm going to wait and post the results after I complete the final workout on Friday.  I'm definitely not feeling like a runner yet and don't see how I could run for 3 miles straight let alone 13.1.

One week down, a lot more to go

Well, I just wrapped up the first week of my couch to half marathon training.  This week was very simple: a 5 minute warm up walk, alternate jogging for 1 minute with 90 seconds of walking for 8 reps, and then a 5 minute cool down walk.  Because the weather has been cold and windy this week I had to do all three of my sessions inside.  Two of the sessions were at the Westminster Rec Center jogging track which is right next to my work.  The Rec Center is nice enough but the track drives me crazy.  It takes 14 laps to go a mile so it almost makes you dizzy because you feel like you're constantly turning.  The 30 minutes of exercise took me 2.21 miles with, extrapolated over 13.1 miles, would put me right at 3 hours.  That's exactly what my initial target time was.  I definitely feel like I could do this workout six times in a row so now I need to think about improving my target time.  I do have to say that I don't necessarily trust the 14 laps = 1 mile so I look forward to getting in a workout outside so I can use my GPS to get an accurate distance.  Plus, no race is on a completely level track so I need to get some hills in my training.

The training for next week shouldn't be too difficult either.  I think it's alternating 90 seconds of jogging with 2 minutes of walking.  The tough part is that I'm flying to SF for the week so I'll have to try to find time to exercise at the hotel.  Theoretically I should be able to get up early (because of the time change) and do it in the morning but I never sleep well on the road so I don't like to get up early.

Not much else is going.  Last night CSU won their first tournament game since 1988 beating Missouri 84-72.  They started off hot and the game was never really in doubt which was nice for a change.  Things get tough fast tomorrow as they have to play the overall #1 seed in Louisville.  To make matters worse the game is in Lexington, KY.  Hopefully there will be a lot of Kentucky fans there cheering on the Rams (or should I say cheering against the Cardinals.)

The Nuggets pulled off a miracle last night beating the 76ers 101-100 and extending their winning streak to 14 games.  Without Ty Lawson in the lineup they had no energy at all and almost seemed OK with losing.  They were down 5 with 10 seconds left until Corey Brewer hit a three and then, with 2.1 seconds to go, three free throws.  Don't get me wrong, the 76ers are awful and had no business being in the game but it was a nice comeback to watch.  I usually find the NBA hard to watch (although Angie will tell you I'm watching it all the time) because of all the one-on-one, clear out mentality but the Nuggets are really fun to watch.  I'm not sure how far they can go in the playoffs without a go-to player but I'm enjoying the ride.

Snow and cold this weekend.  Both girls were sick with colds and pink eye and now Angie is sick.  Hopefully they will all start feeling better before I have to leave on Monday.  Next update from Manteca, CA!

Couch to half marathon?

Hello there, it's great to be back.  I was just looking over my last post from September 2011 (yikes, 2011?) and was thinking about how much has changed.  First, and most important in my life, we had a new baby girl, N, born on February 12, 2012.  Of course she's 13 months old now but she's still our little baby.  She's not walking yet and still has rubber legs when we try to get her to stand up but we don't mind.  She loves being held, especially by Mama, and we're lucky if we can set her down for 5 minutes before she tracks us down and wants to be picked up.  Sometimes, after dinner, I set her down in the living room while I try to clean up and do dishes.  If I'm lucky enough to set her down without her wanting to be picked back up, I'll be at the sink and feel someone tugging on my pant leg.  There's little N with her hands up wanting to be picked up.  I love it!


What else has changed?  Oh, the Broncos traded away Tim Tebow and picked up some guy name Peyton Manning.  I'm still not completely over the loss to Baltimore in the playoffs although the free agent moves this off-season (specifically the signing of Wes Welker) have me looking forward to football season again.


Last week I received an email from a friend (Angie's cousin's husband) with the subject "*Vegas."  My first thought was "Vegas? I'm in!" and then about 0.5 seconds later I thought "Hmmm, why the *?"  As soon as I opened the email I saw the reason for the asterisk.  I need to run the Vegas half marathon in order to receive an official invitation.  A half marathon.  13.1 miles.  The distance I drive to work each day.  Running.

My friend is contemplating a guys weekend in Vegas that will revolve around the half marathon.  The good news is that the race isn't until mid-November.  The bad news is that the race is only 8 months away.  I've never been a runner.  I've wanted to be a runner.  As I drive back after going through the Taco Bell or Wendy's drive-through I see those attractive, thin, fit, seemingly happy people jogging along the side of the road and I think to myself (while stuffing french fries in my mouth)  "I bet this cheeseburger, fries, and frosty would taste so much better if I had just finished a nice 5-6 mile run."  That thought lasts until I get back to my office and start stuffing my face and is replaced by the thought "I should have ordered some chicken nuggets."

Anyway, I like to challenge myself (mainly because I love numbers and tracking stats) so I have decided to start the couch to 5k program using the Active.com mobile app.  If successful I plan on moving to the 5k to 10k program.  If that goes well and I'm comfortable running 6.2 miles, I will see how I feel about going to the half marathon distance.  I probably could have skipped a few weeks but I decided to start at the very beginning and today completed workout 1 of week 1!  I think I will like this program because the first 6 weeks basically combine walking and jogging and that's how I can see myself completing a half marathon.  My goal right now would be to complete the half marathon in 3 hours using a combination of walking and jogging.  If I were to alternate jogging a mile and walking a mile with an average pace of 10 min/mile (jogging) and 18 min/mile (walking) then 13.1 miles would take approximately 3 hours.  I'm interested to see how these numbers change as I move further along in the program.

I'll try to update after every workout, or at least after every week, to let you know how it goes.  I'm a bit nervous about how my knees will hold up as they both crack and crunch anytime I go up/down steps.  If I can do it you can too!