Archive for July, 2007

I miss my blood…

Jul 29th, 07 / 0 Comments

Another Sunday, another long run.

I headed out the door this morning at about 7:00 am, the weather was perfect – about 70 degrees, light breeze and sunny. Nice. I didn’t really have a plan for a set distance. For one, our vacation last week set me back a bit and second, road construction has totally obliterated most of the routes I usually use. I was shooting for a nice, easy, long run. I got the long, but didn’t really get the nice nor easy.

Here is the route I took:




I took just over 2 hours, 21 minutes to complete the 14.55 miles. When I left the house I thought I was feeling a little sluggish, breathing a little harder than normal. About a mile out things started to come together a little bit and I started to feel better. The next 10 miles actually ticked by pretty well, I felt OK (not great) and I was running a pretty steady pace.

Then. it. all. fell. apart.

The last 3.5 miles were not fun. I was tired, sore, stiff, sore, tired, and – did I say I was tired? Anyhow I made it home safe and sound. In the end that’s all that is really important.

As soon as I got home I realized the problem. I gave blood on Friday at work. Duh. No wonder my run was sub-par and I felt pretty cruddy – I’m low on oil. I suppose it’ll take a little while to get my volume back and get to feeling normal again. I’ll have to remember that next time I donate.

Oh, also, please DONATE BLOOD. If you’ve heard my story, you know, someone (or a group of people) saved my life in 2006 by donating blood. I needed it then, they gave it, I’m still here. I’ll be making sure I donate every chance I get for the rest of my life – I hope you do to.

Thanks!

Aaron

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No blood, no tears, but a whole lotta sweat…

Jul 27th, 07 / 0 Comments

Today was a great day. My lunch time workout was exceptional and I feel great! On today’s schedule was a 5 mile tempo run at mid-tempo pace (8:03 per mile by my pace chart). I knocked it out of the park! I started by running 8 min pace and picked it up a little for the last mile or so, bringing my total time to 39:54 – for 5 miles! Sub 8 minute mile pace – for 5 miles!

I’ve never run this fast nor felt this good. The cross training (mainly swimming with the masters group at the YMCA downtown), coupled with the targeted runs, is really paying off big time. I think this training plan is going to really set me up for a great Marathon in October.

Now I just need to focus more on my longs runs. My vacation last week cost me some mileage, and I’m working out how to get back what I lost while I was gone. Otherwise I feel great and I think things are going great!

Later…

Aaron

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The air is thin up here… Engelsrud Vacation Part 2

Jul 25th, 07 / 1 Comment

This is the second an final post describing our recent family vacation to Denver, Colorado. If you haven read the first part, read it here.

Wednesday

Once again, bright and early, we headed up to the mountains. This time our destination was due west, right up the interstate to the Argo Gold Mine for a tour. I was abit skeptical, but it proved to be a ton of fun. We got a brief overview of the history of the mine and then were left to go on a self guided tour of the site. We went in a mine…

…and then we went through the old gold processing mill. This is where they take the rock they take out of the mountain, treat it with arsenic and other chemicals, and extract the gold. The process takes a lot of work and is very interesting…

Once we worked our way through the entire mill, we all learned how to pan for gold and actually found some! The boys had a blast playing in the water and sand.

After the mill, we moved on to lunch at Beau Joe’s Pizza in Idaho Springs (this is a Colorado classic, if you are there, you have to go – it’s a rule.) After lunch, we drove up Loveland Pass and stopped at the top to show the kids the Continental Divide. The weather was great and the pass was beautiful…

After that, it was down to Dillion and then back to the Hotel for some swimming and bed. Overall, a really nice day.

Thursday

Our last full day in Denver and we took the light rail downtown. It was a nice way to get downtown, the kids really liked the train ride and it was easy and fast. We basically walked up and down the 16th street mall, did a little shopping, and had lunch at Wynkoop in LoDo.

We finished the day by heading back to the hotel and swimming for a couple of hours. The boys met two other boys there and together they all had a great time…

Later that night we headed back to Jim and Joanne’s for dinner which once again proved to be a nice night. We walked to a different park and the boys were able to play more and just have fun. What a great way to end our week…

Friday & Saturday

Travel back to Woodbury. A long, long, long, long, long drive. Once again a stop over in Omaha and the home. Two long days of driving. All in all, the boys took it very well and cooperated. We really had a lot of fun!

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Back on the saddle…

Jul 25th, 07 / 1 Comment

I swam with the boys at the YMCA Downtown on Monday and Tuesday – 2800 and 2700 yards respectively. Today I ran – its been a long time (a week off because of our vacation) and man was it fun and it felt great to be running again!

Here is what I did today:

10 minute warm-up
2 x 1200 (2 min RI, 5:20 pace)
4 x 800 (2 min RI, 3:29 pace)
10 minute cooldown

Actuals
1200′s
1 – 4:54.03
2 – 4:56.39

800′s
1 – 3:17.81
2 – 3:38.44 (fell off pace a bit)
3 – 3:29.79 (got back on pace)
4 – 3:21.82 (under pace again)

This proved to be a pretty challenging workout. I think my time off (vacation last week) plus starting fast on the 1200′s hurt me later on in the 800′s. I was able to push through and get back on pace, so that’s a good thing. Overall, it just felt great to be running again after a long break…

Nice.

Aaron

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We nearly melted… Engelsrud Vacation Part 1

Jul 23rd, 07 / 1 Comment

Well, our family vacation to Denver was a blast! Everyone had a good time, we put 2500 miles on the old wagon family truckster, and we got to do pretty much everything we wanted to do. Here is a brief overview, day by day:

Saturday & Sunday

Both of these days were spent in transit. Saturday night we stopped at lovely (read, “dirty and stinky”) Super 8 in Omaha, NE. We spent the few free hours we had before bed walking aimlessly around a Super Wal-Mart because, evidently, Omaha does not believe in public parks.

Sunday night we rolled in to Denver around 5:30 or so and checked in to our very nice, clean, and new Holiday Inn Express in Engelwood, CO – just slightly south of Denver. We went out for dinner, got some groceries, and went back to the hotel for some swimming and hot tubbing.

Monday

Let the fun begin indeed. Monday morning we set out and headed over to the University of Denver to meet up with some friends from when we lived in Denver. Not much had changed at the University and it was really good to see everyone.

After visiting for an hour or so, we moved on to the Denver zoo. Here is a picture from the zoo:

We spent about 3 hours at the zoo, walking around in nearly 100 degree temps, so by early afternoon we were ready to move on and hopefully cool down. We left the zoo, abandoned our plan to have a picnic (too HOT) and hit the local Kentucky Fried Chicken. After lunch, we headed to Golden for a tour of the Coors Brewery. I know, this was more for Jen and I then the kids – but man, the beer was GREAT!

After Coors, there was dinner and more swimming in the hotel pool. Fun day!

Tuesday

Tuesday was a very busy day! We got up early (as we did almost every day) and headed down to Colorado Springs. Once we got there, we went first to the Cave of the Winds and took the tour. David was terrified to start with, but was able to overcome his fears and have good time in the cave afterall. He was convinced that the cave was going to fall in on top of all of us…

After Cave of the Winds, we drove up to the top of Pikes Peak. We had planned on taking the train, but little did we know that you need to actually plan ahead and make reservations for such an excursion. We improvised and drove instead (and saved ourselves about $100). We stopped and had a picnic lunch on the way up at a lake along the road. The drive up was nice except for the last two or three miles where I think everyone was suffering from altitude sickness or delirium or something – everything got a little crazy. There was yelling, the kids were screaming, and I almost had to walk my butt down the Pike’s Peak highway.

After Pike’s Peak, we headed through Garden of the Gods and then back to Denver for dinner with our friends, Jim and Joanne. Dinner, was great! We walked to a little park after dinner, the boys got to play, and we got to talk to other adults. Nice. It was late by the time we left, so no swimming in the hotel pool – just right to bed.

More to follow in Part 2…

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