March 3rd - March 9th

"Being young isn't about age; it's about being a free spirit." - Lesley "Twiggy" Lawson

Monday:   

--  So it begins... We got about 2 hours west of Kansas City last night before noticing that the front tire was losing a lot of air quickly.  Of course everything is closed on Sunday so parked at the gas station next to an air pump so we can put air into the tire in the morning and go to the Walmart tire shop at 7am when they opened.  Well did that and found out we had a cracked rim, WTF???  No idea how that happened and of course being a Mercedes no one had a spare rim that fit in small town Kansas so we had to put the spare on and high tail it to a Kansas City Mercedes dealership where they had 1 rim left, damn lucky.  By the time that was replaced and $250 later it was after 1pm before we were on the road again.  Drove all the way to just past Louisville KY where we spent the night.  Of course it was late by the time we pulled over, we pushed it to try and make up for the time we lost, we were trying to stay in front of a storm that was sweeping across the nation which is why we left on Sunday afternoon in the first place... good times.

Tuesday:  

---  Another 12 hours worth of driving and even longer with the stops today.  Drove the rest of the way arriving at the house in OBX around 8pm and beat the storm by half a day.  Super long day and of course we were both cranky but happy to report even after over 3 years together we did not get a short fuse at all with each other.  That is a great sign.  Now just regretting all the work emails and issues I am going to return to tomorrow after being off the past few days for the drive, hate how hard it is for me to take a full day or more off work anymore.

Wednesday:

11 AM:  7.75miles averaging 8min pace.  Easy spin from the house in OBX (OBX is what locals call the Outerbanks islands). Mostly road but did find a very small trail system that had just over a mile of trails that I jumped on and also did about a mile or so on the beach. Super windy today as a storm is blowing in and is supposed to hit us later this afternoon/evening. Legs of course are shit after taking the last 2 days off to drive across the country.  The storm hit hard this evening to the point where the house was even rocking some.  Winds got up to 75mph and raining like mad.  Glad we got here when we did, guess it dropped snow across most of the country we just drove across.

--  Paula and I both put in for the New York Marathon lottery last week, drawing was today.  No luck for either of us... Someday.

Thursday:  

  -NOTE:  Weight check in:  Nope.  No scale here, might buy one to leave here but have not decided yet.

7 AM:  10.8 miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy out and back from the house on the Blackbeard 100 course. This will most likely be the majority of my runs while I am here the next month. Not much else to run besides on the beach. Legs are still shit but better than yesterday so hopefully that will be the trend the next few days, better and better.  Of course I had to get a photo with the Shad Street sign.

--  Took Venus down to the beach finally, her first time seeing a real beach and the ocean.  Yeah, she did not care and did not want the water to touch her paws.  When the waves came in she ran away up the beach.  She is not a water dog at all.

Friday:

9 AM:  54mins at the gym... Joined a small little gym across the road from the beach house for a month.  Pricey but the best deal I could find in the area.. Hell the nice rec center was $360 per person per month... HELL NO.... This was about 150 for a month so better use it.

Warmup: Rowing and Mobility

DB Chest Press
4x10 @ 55

DB Chest Flies
3x10 @ 20

DB Shoulder Press
4x10 @ 30

DB Laterial Raises
3x10 @ 20

DB Bentover rows
4x10 @ 35

Lat Pulldowns
4x10 @ 100

Ez-bar tricep pushdowns
3x10 @ 60

DB Bicep curls
3x12 @ 20

Plank side to side
3x20

Hip Abduction Machine
4x10 @ 145

11:30 AM:  11.5miles averaging 6:55pace.  Easy from the house with 8x30sec strides w/ 3min recoveries in the middle of the run. Felt so much better than yesterday and think I am turning a corner from the travel to here.

Saturday: 

7 AM:  50 mins at the gym

Warmup: Rowing and mobility

Wide Stance Squats on Smith Machine
4x10 @ 135

DB Double RDL
4x10 @ 50

Single Leg extend
4x10 @ 40

Single Leg Calf Raises
4x10 @ 25

Hip Abductor Machine
4x10 @ 160

Planks
4x1min w/ 30sec recoveries

Flutter Kicks
4x30

AB Wheel rollouts
3x10

9 AM: 10.2miles averaging 7:30pace.  Easy run from the house. Was supposed to do 4x4mins at marathon pace but did not have it in me today to push at all so just jogged out the required time on the plan. Lifted legs before hand which I should have known better.

Sunday:  

8 AM: 20miles averaging 7:45pace. Easy long run from the house. Took Venus out for the first 3 miles of the run before dropping her off and jogging the rest of it out. Last long run before the taper. Tried to keep it around what I think the effort will be in 2 weeks at the race, HR around 120 or less most of the time.

Total Weekly Numbers

LONG WEEK!!!!  Feels like it was just a damn long week with the drive, all the issues during the drive then trying to get settled in here in OBX for the next month.  Considering I missed a bunch of training at the beginning of this week still not a bad week going into the taper, not ideal but not bad.  Hopefully we start to find somewhat of a routine this week and are a little bit more productive.  Also need to get back to reading, have not picked up a book in almost 2 weeks now.