post 8 mile speed work, the ABC's of Mike, note the third person reference, and iced coffee.

Let me take a moment to defer any notion that this will be a long post on my dear friend, Animal, and since it takes extra time to link, feel free to hit the link on the side bar, after reading this post, cause he has tagged me and left me with the option for a post, that runs on and on...like this sentence.

Anyway, first things first, in my not so much thinking just running blog. Speed work!!!! A few things with me and speed work. first, contrary to some folks opinions, i'm not really fast, so me trying to identify if Speed-work is oxy-moronic or redundant, to me.

Second things second, or maybe a 1b category, training to run a first versus a second marathon. Actually this could be it's own subject but for the sake of not rambling on too much, short answer - it's different. For the marathon debut, training was just build a base, do enough miles to prepare for a long slow run. This second training session has had additions to just maintaining the base, it's added activities designed to prepare for the long run by doing better defined work: e.g. prepare to run through being tired by hitting real fast miles and then still run 1.5 miles slow, but run to get replicate the exhausted feeling.

i opted to attack the run, this was my last chance to really hit some fast speeds and maybe feel like an elite or perhaps nitmosic runner. All four speed miles were under 7:20, and i put my garmin to the test, and learned a way to improve this type of training in the future. Miles 1 & 3 were 7:01 and 7:06, miles 2 & 4 not so exact as my laps were set by the mile, but i had half mile recoveries between speed burst, but you can really tell by the graphs, so not exact but 2 & 4 werre around 7:05 -7:10.

Since the plan called for 7:22 miles, i can take a moment to savor the victory, cause this was a battle of will. Since it's basically 1.5 miles around my sub-division, i just did laps through the sub. And since it was noon, and all the neighbors working, i ran with no short on, ooops i mean, no shirt on. Holy naked mile, Batman

but on the plus side....i was able to put water and powerade out on my driveway and drink a little as needed. Since this was a work-like run, not an easy one...no mp3 player.

i do confess this run was a confidence booster. The times did surprise me, since i couldn't have hit them a few months ago.

Well, here we are a third of the way way through the title of the blog..... Movin' On

The ABC's of Mike

A- Available or Single: my heart has hopelessly belonged to the same person since 1990, really hopelessly, i've tried...even if my body was not completely committed; heart and body since we re-hooked up a few years later, thanks to Animal

B- Best Friend: i guess it would be Fun Guv. it's kinda like taking "friends-with-benefits" to a higher level. and keeps things a little spicy...wink, wink...nudge, nudge....know what i mean....

C- Cake or Pie: Pie, wasn't it Homer who said "MMMMM Pie?" Pecan, oooooh i love Pecan Pie, and will repeat a la "When Harry met Sally" to everyone's annoyance out of sheer excitement over PeCaaan PIIIee. Apple is a favorite too.

D- Drink of Choice: Warsteiner Beer, cause life is too short to drink cheap beer.



E- Essential Items: Not much really, the basics. Shelter, food, clothing, family and good friends

F- Favorite Color: Gunmetal Pearl, the color of my bike

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi Bears to eat, worms to fish

H- Hometown: Traverse City, Michigan. "when the lights go down in the city, and the moon shines on the bay" ok not San Fran, but it holds the same meaning.

I- Indulgence: Blogging, and movies by George Romero

J- January or February: May

K- Kids: 3, Allison, Mack and Jimmy

L- Life is incomplete without: not sure, nobody completes life with an empty "IN" box

M- Marriage Date: May 6, 1995, i think, has it been 12 yrs already????

N- Number of Siblings: 1, i grew up with, sister, Kim; a bunch of in-laws, some step-in-laws, some pseudo-steps i've never met, through my fathers second wife; and my tribal brothers and sisters

O- Oranges or Apples: apples, who ever heard of orange pie???

P- Phobias/Fears: i don't think i have any phobias, just fears, like drowning. i love being in the water but would hate to drown, hence no icefishing for me. When i was a kid i was afraid of Spontaneous Human Combustion, so static electricity freaked me out, y'know like flannel pjs and flannel sheets, i thought i would explode. i seem to have outgrown this fear. oh yeah and reanimated corpses

Q- Favorite Quote: "They're coming to get you, Barbara"

R- Reasons to smile: Tess belly dancing, really i can't think of this and not smile. Oh gawd, now everytime i look at Tess and smile she'll be thinking, that i'm thinking of her belly dancing, i think. Maybe the blog should be renamed "Mike has a thought of Tess Belly Dancing, and He's Smiling"

S- Season: Cheyenne pepper is nice, but carribean jerk works well too

T- Tag Three: Let's see if anyone will play along, Miranda, Russ, and Kim

U- Unknown Fact About Me: not really an answer but i get bothered by these type of questions. If it's unknown to me, then shouldn't some one else type, "mike doesn't know this but he tends to ..., or if i spill my unknown to others people here, well, then it's known fact, and not really appropriate in this ABC portion....for the sake of conformity.....if i fall asleep at night on top of the bedcovers, and get cold, i tend to have Zombie movie like dreams until i scare myself enough to wake up and get under the covers. Sometimes i fall asleep like this on purpose, cause i love zombie movies.

V– Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals: i love to eat dead animal flesh, with cheyenne pepper, maybe a little carribean jerk. No worms though, just Gummi Bears

W- Worst Habits: Smoking, biting my fingernails, engaging mouth before brain, premature e.... wait too honest

X– X-rays or Ultrasounds: Ultrasounds baby, i had one once cause i lifted incorrectly and felt a strain, so off i go to have my testicles ultrasounded for damage. SOoooo i'm laying down, naked, waist down, and an fairly attractive nurse comes in and puts that ultrasound lotion, y'know on the boys. Let me recount the number of sports stats running through my head that afternoon to avoid any bad habits from occurring

Y- Your Favorite Foods: Pizza, French Fries, Pecan Pie

Z- Zodiac: Born in a year of a monkey, Leo by month

Iced Coffee

i seem to have found a new favorite morning beverage, cause i can really drink a lot of coffee this way, and it seems to energize my long saturday morning runs.

Anyway, thanks for reading