Chasing the Red Baron

Happy Father's Day! To my own pops, if you get the internet up in heaven, thank you for the guidance you passed onto me.

To my little daughter..

I always blink for the flash

Thank you for coming into my life, you have given your mother and I so much meaning to our life, today would not be a celebration without you.

Yesterday I noticed I was mentioned on +OptimalRun.com for running dad's that blog, pretty neat!

To my wife, thank you for pampering me this weekend! Part of my Father's day swag was some running snacks:

Yesterday I had some strawberry custard mixed with a nutella cupcake mixed in... YUM!!  Later we went to Dominicks and saw Red Baron pizza was on sale for 3.99. Anything less than 4 dollars has to be a meal just for one... So I ate the entire pizza for dinner. 1600 calories later, I felt content. Perfect food to charge me up for the long run. Just drank a LOT of water to counteract the sodium.
Today I woke up around 7:15 (yay sleeping in!) and I noticed my leg felt pretty good.. hmm? My wife went out and got me a yummy coffee from +Metropolis Coffee . I drink coffee black and the their brew tasted amazing. A lot stronger than the cheap coffee I keep at hand at home. By the time I was ready for my run, my hands were shaking lightly.  My wife also went out on a run with our daughter in the BOB.

I stepped out today feeling good, my right calf felt randomly a lot better after doing a lot of massages to my leg seen here and icing.

My first mile was pretty quick as my street is always cooler and breezier, but once I hit Hollywood, helloooo heat and sun. Instead of feeling like Red Baron was fueling me, I felt the entire run was a battle against the heat.. slowly crashing and burning like so:

We've been heat struck!

My initial goal was to not hurt my calf, just go slow. I amended this and added, don't get heat stroke. Drank +Gatorade every couple miles, and my pace slowed down every couple miles as well. Lesson for today: No more sleeping in on Sundays. Rather than start my runs at 9:30, I need to be done by 9:30am.

I saw a lot of people coming back from another Color Run (are these like every weekend now?). I saw people burning out on their pace, they would start off really fast and go by me, and be slowing down in less than two minutes. I hope everyone eases into the weather!

Today's run wasn't bad as I didn't try to go fast, which resulted in my slowest time in a few months. I'll take that though over getting sick or hurt.

When I finished my run, I refilled my bottle with water and just doused myself with it to cool off. I also noticed I was covered with gnats. I was going to take a picture, but a sweaty hairy chested guy covered in bugs isn't that hot.

After a recovery Gatorade and trying out the purple Nuun (yum!) , I had a cold shower and forced myself to eat a yogurt and banana. The heat run killed my appetite.

I'll make sure to work on my calf again today to keep up the recovery, but I must depart to go to the beach or something fun!

What did you do today?

WHAT MONTH IS THIS?!

Long run day, one of my favorites. After breaking 90 minutes during a training week last Sunday, I decided to take it easy today, no turn on my gps, or look at my stopwatch until I finished. Plus, after eating a ton of pizza from Gino's North last night, I probably am a little more sluggish today.

Good thing, the weather was a mess this morning.  I got to sleep in today and got up around 7:40am. Weather said 62, sweet! 30 minutes later...48..HUH?! Wind out of the north... lovely. Okay still nice to run in.

I get out and see umbrellas..that wasn't on the radar.. oh right fog and a heavy drizzle + wind off the lake, I under dressed a tad. Good thing I didn't want to work on any times today, just stay under 1:37 with any effort.

I saw a bad omen around Hollywood on the Lakefront path.. an eviscerated bird on the shoulder of the path that some predator left as a sign to the other birds I'm sure...  I didn't push myself at any point, just went at what felt relaxing. 

Two different events were going on the Lakefront today - some color run near Montrose, and part of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer I think.  I was a little sad to see that most of the people that did the color run didn't walk away with the big smiles and laughter on their face. Maybe they were on a downer and didn't feel the high?

The run back was a bit more challenging as expected.  The wind from Michigan avenue to Belmont was pretty stiff.  The fact that it came off the east a bit made it not AS rough.  Just maintain form and go off in a run daze.

I get home pretty chilled, my hands were cold and stiff, and my knees were more sore than they have been in a long time. I considered taking some Advil, but after a hot shower and sitting for awhile, I feel normal again.

I don't know if the weather will rebound today, the forecast has been pretty off. Sweats and slippers it is.

Did you get out to a race or run today? Color run, the Zoo 10k thing? Race to the grocery store?