kicking it up a bit.

Today I started kicking it up again. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I am running twice a day. That is all for today.

kicking it up a bit.

Today I started kicking it up again. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays I am running twice a day. That is all for today.

long time

Well it certainly has been a long time since I posted anything. Spring break and Easter have happened in fact since I posted anything. The two weeks between these two breaks I actually did run but I never got around to posting anything, also it was kind of embarrassing how little I ran.

The funniest story of my spring break greyhound bus trip is this:
On the way back it was 3 in the morning and the next bus left at 6, I had a 3 hour layover in Cincinnati. I just got off the buss and since 7:30 the morning before I have gotten an hour of sleep. I stumble into the bathroom and the first thing I notice is that there are no urinals in this bathroom. In my tired state I just shrug it off and chalked it up to poor civil engineering. so I walk into the closest open stall. I do not shut the door behind me of course. So I am doing as nature dictates we do from time to time. I look down and say to my self, huh that is odd there is a trash can in this stall. Upon further inspection I notice there is a tampon paper in the trash can. The toilet next to me flushes and I see that there are women feet in the stall next to me. I quickly finish my business and leave and go to the men's room to wash my hands.

This morning when I ran I stepped it up a little bit I ran at 7 mph instead of 6. I kept that up for 15 mins and then I walked at 4 mph for 1 min to check my pulse (175 bpm) then I ran at 6 mph for the next 4 mins then 7 but I could not keep 7 mph up so I had to go back to 6. When I had 2 minutes left I ran at 7 again one minute left, 8, 30 seconds left, 9, 15 seconds left 10.9. After that I walked at 4 mph again for 5 minutes. When I was done running my heart rate was 179. Another thing I don't like about the treadmills is that you cannot get your heart rate if you are going over 4 mph which is why I stop at 15 minutes to get my heart rate.

Total this morning I ran 29 minutes and total I was on the treadmill 35 minutes and went 3.62 miles.

Until next time...

Spring break

Alright so I still don't have pictures of my ipod case yet but tomorrow starts spring break and I will have pictures then. I am getting on a greyhound bus on Sunday and going to maryland where my mom will meet me and we are going to Davis West Virginia and renting a cabin for a few days. Then back to the greyhound bus and Kentucky. Over this break I am going to be running at my regular schedule and I may get to go skiing, both down hill and cross country.

But Before that I have one more class and two more shifts at work.

I don't know how much I will be getting on to post over spring break, so my fellow Asburians, have a good break.

Outside v. treadmill, motivation, weight lifting

OK so I know that I said I would post more on Monday night but I was dead tired, Monday night and Tuesday is not posting day. I still don't have pictures of my ipod thing. But I have a few things to talk about.

Running outside vs. running on a treadmill.
I have already gone over how I feel about the treadmill. Well Tuesday morning Jon did not go running with me and I decided to run outside. Running outside is easier. The actual running is easier but the motivation is much more difficult. On the treadmill there is the motivation of if I stop I am going to fall on my face. That motivation is not there when you are running outside. Also when you run on the treadmill it keeps pace for you. When you run outside the pace is harder to maintain.

Motivation.
When I came to Asbury College my senior year of high school for a visit I visited a class called intro to coaching. This was back when I was going to go to school for PE. In this class they were talking about motivation, the difference between self motivation and team motivation. I am definitely a team motivated person, not a self motivated person. This is ironic because I do not like any team sports with the exception of volley ball, hockey, and lacrosse. I have only enjoyed participating in individual sports.

Weight lifting.
This morning I did some weight lifting instead of running because my legs were incredibly sore from racquet ball last night with Adam, Emily, and Jon. One thing that I did was the back extension. From cross country skiing and the use of ski poles I have a strong back. I put the pin in at the bottom and was lifting the whole stack which was 305 lbs. (no bragging just stating fact) After I was done I got up and left, leaving the pin where it was. Later I was saying to Jon that it is fun to put the pin all the way at the bottom and then watch peoples expressions when they see where the pin is (after you have left). It reminded me of a time in high school. It was sophomore year and at the year end sports banquet I was not good enough to be awarded any thing but they saw potential and gave me a year long membership to a gym. My legs are also strong. Since I could not drive my mom got a membership too and would take me up there we would both work out. I was doing the leg press and I was lifting the whole stack on the leg press machine (I think it was like 250 or something like that) and then I left. My mom got there next and saw it and looked at me and said "did you do this?". It was pretty funny her reaction. you should try it sometime. Even if you do not lift the whole stack when you are done put the pin in the bottom and watch peoples reaction when they see it.

Goals

last weeks goals
-Drink 2 Sigg bottles. Failed
-Keep a food journal. Nope
-Finish cleaning my room. My room is clean as far as my stuff is concerned

This weeks goals
-Drink 2 Sigg bottles a day
-Maintain cleanliness in my room
-Keep a food journal

Over the weekend I had a little project. I am working on getting ready to run outside and among these things is acquiring an arm band for my ipod. Well I decided that they are too expensive. So I made one out of duct tape. (pictures to follow tonight probably) Also over the course of last week Asbury College became Asbury University.

Well I will post more tonight.

OH Canada (Go Canada?)

Here is the thing being a Vermonter I lived 30 minutes from the Canadian border (Quebec border to be exact) and had to actually deal with them, giving me the right to rag on them. Other Americans... not so much. And here is the thing that irritates me, Americans dissing Canada because they WON Gold in hockey in the Olympics.

Here are some of the things that I have heard about the Canadians (these may not be exact quotes)
"Canada it's been ten hours since the game get over it already" (facebook status)
"First, All I have to say Canada" First of all I don't even know what that is suppose to mean (text to Jim Rome)
"Good job Canada, we don't even care about hockey" (another text message to Jim Rome)

OK. So Canada has NEVER won a gold at the games when they have hosted before this year. This year they won 14! Amazing I am so proud of them for that. Hockey is like there national sport or something like that, we should be proud of ourselves for even beating them once and tying them in the second game. "good job Canada, we don't even care about hockey" Obviously we do or we would not have said something like that.

I don't know maybe I am being unreasonable in asking that we respect Canada and be proud of them for winning. I really love Canadians with the exception of the French Canadians that I actually have to deal with. That is all I am going to stop complaining about people griping about the Canadian win.

Emily Scott

Emily Scott is a friend of mine. She wanted to have a whole post about her like Adam Leopard. Soon she will be Emily Leopard. (notice any connection?) Yes, this summer Emily Scott and Adam Leopard are going to get married. So she will be (this is an assumption I do not know for sure) coming to my hundred mile race with Adam. When we eat dinner with Emily it is always a more interesting, because she is brings a woman's touch to dinner... she wont let me eat out of the trash can, long story. She is an education major doing her student teaching so she often has hilarious stories of little 3rd graders. I think they are 3rd graders I may be wrong. Also I think that the guys tend shape up a little bit when she is around. Last Saturday she had us over to her apartment and we played Mafia (the "card" game). It was a good time until the end when people got tired (it was like 11:00) and sick. This is the party mentioned in the previous post. So there you go Emily, there is your post.

Goals

-Drink 2 Sigg bottles of water. Success?... maybe. Most days were not but on Saturday I drank 5.
-Eat healthier. I could still use work in this area.
-Invest in some healthy snacks. I bought some crackers to go with my peanut butter, and I bought some cashews. I did not buy to much because before I went shopping because I found out that my mom is coming down for spring break and will bring me some foods.
-Keep a meal journal. Nope. I did not do this at all.
-Clean my room. SUCCESS! my room is in much better order than it was. It could still use some work but most of the trash and clothes are up off the floor.

This weeks goals
-Drink 2 Sigg bottles. Which is actually 1 liter, not 20 oz. for those who are curious and don't know, such as myself, that is a little less than 34 oz.
-Keep a food journal
-Finish cleaning my room. i.e. pick up the papers and organize them.


This week I got sick at the end of the week. That is why I did not update the blog. On Friday I did not feel like it, Saturday I studied then went to a party (?) and on Sunday I was sick and spent a total of half an hour out of bed. I have not run since Friday and don't have much to say.

My total miles minus the first three weeks: 8.87

treadmills

I greatly do not like tread mills. For many reasons.
1) you cannot change pace. If you start getting tired you have to change the speed of the tread mill you cannot just slow down.
2) you don't get anywhere. You can run for thirty miles and when you are done you are left standing in the same place.
3) there is no air movement. If you are outside running you move through the air causing wind, you are not actually creating wind but I don't want to argue details. This causes you to cool off. I have a hard time sweating when I run out side but inside I become sweaty and shiny etc.
4) lets say your intestines are creating lots of methane gas and become so full they cannot contain it. If you are running on a tread mill you cannot escape the odor.

I will soon be running outside but I need to get a reflective vest so I can run early in the morning and wont get hit my a car.

It snowed here in Kentucky today. Being from Vermont I wish people would not complain and I wish that there was snow worth complaining about.

(just a note for myself) 5.76

Weekly goals

- Drink 2 Sigg bottles full of water daily.
- Eat healthier meals.
- Invest in some healthy snacks to keep in my room.(not priority 1)
- Keep some sort of meal log or plan for the week.
- Clean my room (may not be a physical fitness goal, directly)

Today I subscribed to runners world (first 2 issues are free and risk free). I found it by looking for ultramarathon training guides. http://www.runnersworld.com/

Had a good weekend. Was at men's retreat with 120 something Asbury men. Stayed over night for two nights hung out around the lake for a while and found lots of geodes. Played lots of tennis. Now time to get back to the business of school and training.

This week is going to be a good week. On Tuesday my ROTC class canceled. It is the only class I have that day so I have a completely open day.

Goals part 2

So are you wondering how I did with my goals?
1 drink 2 sigg bottles full a day. Fail. I left it in class on monday and forgot to pick it up today and failed to drink water in any other way in any amounts of good quantity.
2 eat healthier. Semi achieve. I did not eat as much bad stuff but I did not eat a salad everyday.
3 run everyday. Achieved. Jon and I ran every morning except thursday. on wednesday the woman who works at the desk told us that the woman who would be working on thursday would not let us in until 6:15 when the woman who worked every other day was letting us in at 6:05 or earlier if we were there. Jon and I decided to rest on thursdays and sundays.

Tomorrow is Saturday but we are going on a men's retreat with the college and I don't know if I will be running tomorrow.

Juice

I don't like to eat fruit. But I like the way it tastes. That is why I like juice. Right now I am drinking apple juice in the mornings and usually for lunch as well. I really like orange juice but the orange juice in the cafeteria is... no good. Simply orange is what I really like or florida's natural is also really good. http://www.floridasnatural.com/ http://www.simplyorangejuice.com/. Maybe I should ask them to sponsor me... ;)

Goals

Goals are very important in life. Without goals we will get nowhere in life because we will have nowhere to go. Short term goals are just as important as long term goals. Our short term goals help us to achieve our long term goal. So my long term is fairly obvious, participate in a 100 mile race in ten years or less. As far as short term goals go, I have to run a few fifty milers to be able to participate in the 100, But that is some what a long term goal as well. As far as short term goals I want to participate in a half marathon in a few months, I don't think that I will be able to run the whole thing but I want to run it any way if I can find a ride. Now onto REAL short term goals, every week on Monday I am going to post weekly goals.
This weeks goals
- Drink two water bottles of water everyday. (I believe that I have a 21 oz. bottle)
- Run every morning. (I missed a few days last week)
- Eat more healthily, this means trying not to eat fried foods and having a salad at least once a day.

toenail loss (not for the faint of heart)

The first week of this semester I was helping a friend rearrange the way his bed was set up and I dropped a bed support on my toe. With in an hour it looked like this.Yeah it hurt. By the end of the day it was worse.
Over night my toe swelled and the bruising was even worse. I went to the college health clinic and they said I should go tot the Urgent Treatment Center in Nicholasville and they would burn a whole through my toenail and release the blood that was pooled under the nail and that would release the pressure and make it feel better. So I did that and now my toenail has fallen off and the new one is growing back in. Running was interesting when it was still falling off but not to bad now that it has actually fallen off. Fortunately there was not a whole lot of time between when I got inspired to train for an ultra and when the toe nail fell off.

Adam Leopard

This post is dedicated entirely to Adam Leopard. Adam Leopard is a friend of mine from college. I met him last semester when he moved onto the same hall I lived on as our SLA (Spiritual Life Adviser). As the semester went on we got to know each other a little better, I used his desk as a place to piece together a puzzle and he was gracious enough to let me leave it there. Adam is one of those guys that I could just walk into his room and sit on his bed and read for a class and just not say anything and it is not awkward at all. He also has a very calming presences.

What does Mr. Adam Leopard have to do with my hundred mile race? Well two things.
1) When I first told him he did not think (at least he did not express this thought) that I was crazy.
2) He said he would come out to my race, even if it was all the way out in Colorado, and watch/be my handler.

What is a handler? 100 miles is a long way to go and most people are not able to run the whole thing without aid. All along the way there are aid stations where there is food, water and handlers can get to their runner. These handlers take care of the runner when they are not able to care for themselves. I have seen handlers carry extra shoes socks etc. for their runner so they could change if their feet got wet. Handlers also may bring special food since all the aid station may have is little candies and other things that the runner may not want. So this special guy said that he would do this for me which was very cool.

Early Mornings

I missed running last night. So today I had to get up early and run in the morning instead. I woke up at 5:45 and was at the Luce (Asbury College's physical activities center) at 6:15, I thought that was when they open but I think that I could actually go up earlier even. Friend Jon Drake came up with me and worked out. The run was actually much more successful at 6 in the morning than at 8 at night and I think that will be the standard time of action. After the run we returned to the dorm, showered and went to breakfast where we were joined by friends Josiah Sage and Zac Siele. New running development, as if running was not painful enough for me, I lost my left big toenail today. More on that story tomorrow and pictures too.

The Beginning

I am a college sophomore. In high school I ran cross country and did cross country skiing. My ski coach asked me to come volunteer one summer at the "Vermont 100". This is Vermont's long distance endurance race, 100 miles. Now that I am in college I have been inspired to run my own 100 mile race. My 10 year goal is to run an Ultra Marathon. Between now and then I will run many other races, marathons, half-marathons, 30's and 50's. For those of you who are interested, this is my journey.

I don't know how I am going to do this how often I will keep this updated but I will attempt to update daily and use this as a bit of a training journal for you all to follow if you like and I will do my best to make it interesting.

So tonight I consider day 1 of my training. I ran for 30 minutes. In the future entries will be more in-depth and interesting. Tonight we are watching "Fight Club" going to bed early and getting up early to go to Denny's for their free grand slam breakfast, some home work, and then another run. Then I will write more about my goals and myself. Good night