20 Mile Week!

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It’s important to celebrate milestones in your training. That’s why I’m celebrating my first 20 mile week as I build my training base!

When I was a younger man, I would start my training at 20 miles per week.  Now that I’m not that young, and because I’ve taken such a long break, I’m ramping up slowly.

It’s paying off.  The running is feeling comfortable while my pace (min/mile) is slowly dropping.

The twenty miles were made up of 4,2,5,1,6 and 2 mile runs.  Sticking with the “increasing mileage by no more than 10% from week to week” rule, I’ll be adding 2 miles to this weeks mileage to bring the total to 22.  This will be the same schedule as last week except that the long run will be 8 miles rather than 6.

Looking forward to it.

Training Mileage Update for Week Ending July 21 2012

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This week’s schedule had me “compacting” the miles – 17 in 5 days (3.4 miles per day) v 17 in 6 days (2.8 miles per day). I felt it. I felt drained all day on Friday.

Of course, this came about because I had to do my “long run” on Friday rather than Saturday because of the early Toastmasters’ meeting. That was two days after my hard hill workout on Wednesday. Therefore, incomplete recovery or running on “dead” legs.

This is an important element to work in. So, this worked out:)

7 x 1/4 Mile Hill

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I really need to take a picture of the “actual” hill that I run on Wednesdays. This one, here, is one that I picked off the internet.

Nevertheless, it’s a bear. I ran 7 repetitions up this. Its a quarter mile between the parking lot of the Presbyterian church at the bottom and the crest. I jog a bit to the road at the top, turn around, and then jog back down. The total recovery is 0.33 miles.

I run the uphill segment (1/4 mile) in 2:04-2:08.  The last two are usually the fastest because I’m consciously trying to keep from slowing down.  Of course, that makes me speed up:)  The recovery segment is double the time or about 4 minutes.

That was Wednesday.

Thursday, I ran an easy recovery 1 miler.

This morning, I thought I would be bagging the 6 miler I had on the schedule. Rain, lightening and thunder hung around all night.  I was sure conditions would not allow me to get out.  Alas, the skies cleared by 5:30.  So, did my excuse.  Generally, I still felt sluggish from the Wednesday workout but the 6 miles felt ok once I got my game on.  I don’t do a 0.65 mile warmup walk like I do on other days.  So, it’s out the door and on the out-and-back course.

Day off, tomorrow, as it’s my regular early toastmasters meeting.

6 x Hill Interval Workout

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This morning, I ran hill intervals.  These are great workouts to build strength for track intervals which come later in the training cycle.

This was a natural workout to include in my training program since there’s a 1/4 mile, 3% grade hill just around the corner from where we live.

This morning’s workout included 6 intervals at 85-90% Max heart rate (although, the hr got to 92% at times).  The recovery was a jog down the hill.  To say this interval workout wiped me out is an understatement.  I WAS TIRED!  But knowing the benefits of this, I felt great when it was over.

Going to be early, tonight:)

Nothing Like A Good Fartlek

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Updating my weekly status.  Notice that I added one mile this week.  This happened to be the day (Wednesday) that I do speedwork – which are hill fartleks at the moment.

What’s a fartlek?  It’s Swedish for “speed play.”  You simply run a normal workout but with some burst of speed included. In a hill fartlek, the bursts of speed happen on short hills.

Very fun.

Hills

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“God love the runner who doesn’t quit on hills”, wrote Dr. George Sheehan.  I say, “amen,” to that!

I have a love/hate relationship with hills.  I love what they do to make me a stronger runner.  I hate actually running up them.

Hills are a part of almost every course I run during the week.  In Nashville, we are surrounded by small hills and big hills.  No matter which direction I go, there are hills.

I am forced to give myself extra time for my workouts since dealing with the hills requires that I slow down when climbing them which isn’t compensated by being able to speed up when running down them.

The advantage of running my particular routes is that many of them are part of the Country Music Marathon course.  That’s a distinct advantage. This will prepare me, not only physiologically but psychologically as well.  Knowing when and where they are make them less of a factor in the race.

Anti-Aging is More than Skin Deep

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There are hundreds, if not thousands, of anti-aging skin creams on the market these days.  The lure is that by slapping this stuff on your face, your face will look younger.     Likewise, there are thousand of supplements that promise you’ll feel better if you consistently us them.

Are the claims of the marketers true?  To some extent, yes, and to some extent, no.  They’re not providing you with the complete formula to anti-aging.  Creams and potions may help, but they, in and of themselves, will do nothing for you if you aren’t active.

If you aren’t exercising at least 30 minutes per day, 5 days per week, you are decaying.  Putting lotions on the face of a corpse does not make the corpse less of a corpse.  Muscle tone and skin elasticity are the features of youth and are symptoms of an active lifestyle.

So, before spending money on the greatest antioxidant or skin care regimen, invest in some walking shoes.

What is Your Play?

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What is it you love to do?  That is the first question you need to answer before you say you want to quit your job.  The answer to that question will tell you “why” you want to quit your job.  The complete statement is, “I want to quit my job because I want to spend more time doing XYX.”

The answer to the question is also the subject of what your business is about.  When you quit your job, you will have to have some source of income.  XYZ becomes that source.

Here’s my example:

I want to spend more time training for marathons and triathlons.

What’s my business?  Training for marathons and triathlons.

How does that work?  Well, I was able to build my Market America business, quickly at first, because I was training for marathons and triathlons.  When I was racing, some other marathoners and triathletes were interested in what supplements I used.  They asked.  I told them. Some of them became customers.  Others became business partners.

Yes it was that simple.   And it is that simple.

Happy training….

Deficits vs. Debts

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Guess what? This year, 2012, is a big election year! For those of us who are political junkies, that’s a good thing.

We’re going to be watching and listening, with baited breath, every twist and turn in the campaigns of Messrs. Obama and Romney. Fun stuff!

One of the hot button issues, this year, is what to do about the Federal Debt. On one end of the spectrum, this is THE main issue that needs to be addressed by the Federal government. On the other end of the spectrum, the Federal Debt is no big deal.

Deciding which side you’re on is actually very simple. The key is to look at your own life.
Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you spend more money than you earn, each month?
• If you do spend more money than you earn each month, where does that extra money come from?
• If you continue to spend more money than you earn each month what is going to happen?

Now, let’s look at these questions and the answers more closely.

If you spend more money than you earn each month, then you are “deficit” spending. The same goes for our government. When you hear a politician speak of the deficit, they are talking about the money they are spending in excess of what they “earn”.

Note: applying the term “earn” to government revenue is a bit of a misnomer. The government doesn’t do anything to “earn” their receipts. More appropriate would be the term “take”.

Be aware that deficits are reoccurring and accumulate. For example, if you spend $100 more than you earn every month, you are running a (reoccurring) monthly deficit of $100. Notice the time element. The accumulation of deficits is called the total debt.

So, if you run a reoccurring monthly deficit of $100, at the end of a year, you will have a total debt of $1,200. The nasty thing about this is that once you start accumulating debt, you also begin to pay interest on that debt. That additional interest gets tacked onto your deficit AND your debt. Eventually, compounding takes over and the debt gets so large that the interest on it becomes greater than the original obligation.

This is exactly what is occurring on the Federal level. The deficit continues be added to the national debt. Interest on that debt is added to deficit …and in turn the debt. And the day is approaching where there won’t be enough rich people to tax to reverse it. We WILL end up like Greece.

So, the only question you need to answer is which party is raising the alarm and insisting that actions be taken to eliminate the deficit.

If you are dealing with your own personal deficit and debt problem, a great way to rectify it is to get going on your UnFranchise® business. Believe me, a $300 check every week goes along way to closing the gap!