Getting back in shape

This is my first blog, I figured I had better get myself going some how. I am not sure what a slow/fast mile is yet so I will log everything as slow for awhile. However, my wife states I need to take it a little slower. 2 miles in 16 minutes just about killed me, I guess she's right (as usual)(Darn). I just learned that I will be going up north for couple of months for physical training for my job and I don't want to look like a fool with all the younger guys running circles around me.

We'll see if I can walk after this!

I figured I had better put in a couple more before the stiffness actually sets in! I did these two miles in 17 but that time includes 20 push-ups and 30 sit-ups (The minimum to qualify for my work training and the most I dared do before running!!!) Towards the end of the run I thought my head was going to blow up so I eased off towards the end. I just read the other comments and I think you guys are right, next I am going to try and slow it down and go farther. I keep trying to think I am still a young high school soccer player that can run for hours at fast rates without feeling the effects. NOT TRUE ANYMORE! It did feel good to run again though. I get so caught up in life that I hardly notice the bulge building around the mid-line. I hope this blog keeps me motivated.

Looks like the wind is starting to kick up here in Toquerville, I guess my next run will have to be on the treadmill (boring). There aren't many things better than running through a small town with fields and trees in bloom . . .wonderful.

It was also neat to see two people that I know who are on the list of fast marathon runners, one from a previous ward and another from my current ward. . .Small world!

PPPPAAAIIINNN!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!

I did my 12 hour shift today and while riding home I started to get excited about running.  First things first, when I got home I ate dinner while the kids sat around me asking about my day, then we read a few books starting with "Bob's busy day" (Bob the Builder),  Then we progressed to "Are You My Mother," and finally we topped it off with a new version of "The Ugly Duckling."  My wife and I then put the kids to bed and she read a book while I strapped on the shoes, got the ipod on and headed out.  I took it slow, the air was cool and felt perfect for a run.  The skies were very clear and it was nice picking out constellations as I was running.  My muscles started to tighten up the last mile but overall the run felt very good and I probably could have kept running if my home hadn't come into view. Then I got back on the motorcycle to see how far I had run and realized quickly that the air was much colder when you are not running and you are only wearing a t-shirt and shorts!  3.6 miles was great, and the time was 35 minutes.

Anyone have any ideas for running further?  Should I be running slower or should I be slowly building up to a longer run? 

12 hour shift again today.  Then I had Young Mens to go to.  I felt pretty good about the 1.5 at a 7 minute pace!  At least I didn't give in to my excuses.  I have another 12 hour shift tomorrow and then 8 days off.  I am going to set the short range goal of not giving in tomorrow no matter how tired I am.

Okay, at least I got out again today, so much for good intentions.  I really have had a busy couple of weeks, and I have had a lot of fun too.  Last week I would get home from work and start helping with dinner and the kids because my wife is still in bed with pregnancy related sicknesses (we are almost out of the first trimester so we hope this improves), and we got two Miniature Jersey calves for our half acre "farm."  Plus I also had to "take care of" the extra roosters in the chicken coup, 11 roosters is way to many!!!  Please don't ask why we had eleven roosters or how I took care of them!  Needless to say we were out having fun with calves for a lot of the time I should have been running.  But to be totally honest, I think the fun time I had with my wife and kids was well worth it.  Now our lives seem to be smoothing out a little and I am hoping to get out and run more faithfully.  Three miles in 27 minutes isn't bad though!

It was a treadmill day.  I was able to convince myself to run even after young mens!  I wish I could count the distance I ran in the combined activity, but who would be able to judge, darn-it-all.

Another treadmill day.  I have 2 kids down with the flu, not fun, thank goodness for a wonderful wife.  Good news though, today at work I took my blood pressure and it was down to 107/71.  I think this running is really helping me.  Is it normal to be gaining weight while running?  I am up to 180, I know muscle weighs more than fat, but that is ten pounds in 3 weeks?  Any ideas?

I am tired, I did 2 miles in 15:15 that included walking or light running for .3 to start it out.  I am going to bed.

PR!!!(since High School at least) 2 miles in 14:45 and the total run of 4.15 in 32 minutes flat. Yes there was some post celebration puking but I did it and I feel good. It was on a treadmill but I put the incline at 1.0 for the entire run. I do have a PT at work that I have to get 1.5 miles in under 15 minutes but I don't want to be the slow one out there.

I did miss yesterday because of some continued soreness in my legs and I wanted to rest them. Today they felt great.

Note, this should be for Saturday, I just noticed I posted on friday 

See the blog entry from yesterday because it should be on todays!!!

Passed the PT.  1.5 miles 10:31, 28 inch vertical, 40 push-ups, 33 sit-ups, 170 bench.

I know, I have been really lazy!!!. . .But I have had a lot of fun.  We went camping up at Oak Grove and I cooked some of the best dutch oven tates ever. 

Yesterday at church the young mens president and I had a long talk about the boys and I think we solved all those problems, plus any that the world has to offer as well.  He is a Nurse also so we had a lot of cool things to talk about. 

Also last week I was able to get my CPR instructors certificate for the American Red Cross, and my ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) certificate.  Needless to say, I  haven't had much energy or desire to run.

Today when I went to get on the treadmill, the belt kept slipping so I tore the whole thing apart tightening any bolt I could see, the belt attached to the motor was slipping so I tightened that up, and when I put it all back together it worked perfect.  I decided to take it easy and run as far as I could.  5.1 miles in 42 minutes and then I walked a 1/4 mile.  I am tired but I feel good.

 Now it is time to play with the kids and help my wife out,  she is 15 weeks along and we just got the paper work for the Ultrasound.  My wife is starting to get over the sickness phase but we aren't out of it yet.  Last week she got a couple miles on the treadmill as well.
 

I was running for a PR in both the 1.5 and 2.0 mile, granted it was on the treadmill, but I did 1.5 in 10.15 and the 2.0 in 14.27. Not amazing, but it got the sweat flowing and the heart pumping.  My B/P is back down to 108/69 where two months ago it was up at 130/88.  I feel so much better, and I feel a strange longing to run now.   I wish my wife were feeling good enough to run, I feel a little bit ashamed watching her have to lay around sick (knowing that she enjoys running), while I am feeling better than I have in a  long time.

Strange how fast life can change.

Another treadmill day and another PR on the two mile at 14:10.  Slow by most everyones standards, but fast for me.

I pulled something in my calf muscle a week and a half ago, I thought I had given it enough rest, but after the run today it hurts worse than normal. 

I'm now living in Sandy Utah for training academy monday-friday, then I am home on the weekends.  I will be doing this for the next two months.  I haven't filled out this blog for a while and decided that I had better get it caught up.  I will fill out the rest of my runs here shortly.  Some of them will be guessing because I don't remember exact mileage.`

This was the worst day of training so far.  We went on a run by the point of the mountain near the prison but we were on the other side of the freeway at a training site called Fred House.  We ran three miles but we started out with 140 jumping jacks and 50 push-ups. Then every 300-400 yards of the first 2 miles we would stop and do 25 push-ups and 25 sit-ups, then while we were waiting for the slower people to finish we would do jumping jacks until they were ready to run again.  We call the run Chevron hill because there is a Chevron at the top of a hill that has an 8% slope that we had to run up to get there.  I literally wanted to puke when I was done with the run.

Just going to catch up on what I have been doing.  This run was done during the 95 degree heat in Sandy Utah.

I guess I bruised the bottom of my foot on that last four miler and I went out on this run to see if it is feeling any better, so far it feels good.

The foot was a little sore today.

still just trying to loosen up the foot.

Just a quick jaunt in the park in the 95 degree heat, I swear the leaders at this place are trying to kill all the cadets!!!

Ran the 1.5 miler in 11:18 in sandy with the weather at 100 degrees.  The pavement made it feel much hotter though.

I'm back in Toquerville today and I ran 2 miles with my oldest boy Tavin ridding his bike along side of me.  He told my wife that I didn't run very fast, I just jogged!
 

Our instructors told us the run was 3.2 miles and they gave us 35 minutes to complete it.  We completed the run in 35 minutes, but it ended up being 4.1 miles.  Oh well, It felt really good. 

We did a two hour workout that only included a half mile run.  It ended up being the hardest half mile I have felt in a long to though!!!

Just another quick A.M. run in Sandy Utah, we ran up near the mountain again and we had a beautiful view of the whole valley.

This was a tougher run because we had to do sit-ups, push-ups and air squats in between every half mile run.

We ran near the South Jordan river(? I think).  It was 99 degrees and running on the track next to the river made it very humid and miserable.  It was still nice to get in three miles.

We ran the 50-40-30-20-10 run again.  50 push-ups 50 sit-ups, 50 squats then a half mile run, repeated after each run and decreasing the reps by ten after each run.  We did everything in 40 minutes.  I was near the front of our class and I felt like I was going to die afterwords. 

We did our final PT test today and when I head back to Toquerville I will never have to come up here again.  My mile and a half time was 11:03 with a majority of it being up hill.  

Just tried to improve on my last time of a 1.5 miler.  I ran it in 10.48.  I am so glad to be home for good from the academy.  

I ran a mile and a half in 9:49 which is a personal best for me.  My wife who is expecting our fifth kid walked almost 2 miles at a decent pace, she is amazing.  I still managed to pull out the 2.1 mile run in 15.42 so I did slow down quit a bit after the mile and a half.  it felt really good to run again.

Yesterday we went to Oak Grove by Pine Valley Mtn. to camp.  On the way up we blew a tire out, I changed it and we limped up the mountain towing our tent trailer.  My wife is a month away from having our fifth child and she needed to go back to Toquerville late in the afternoon while I stayed at camp to work on dutch oven potatoes.  So being the wonderful husband I am I decided to take the car early to fix the tire so she wouldn't get stuck.  Needles to say I blew another tire half way down the Mtn.  I decided I had better just hoof it down to Leeds so I could call some family to pick me up.  4.3 miles later and halfway through Leeds my dad made it there to take me to get my truck.  Everything worked out great and we still enjoyed great Dutch oven potatoes and chicken with the rest of the family.  It was a great weekend.