Update

It's been about 3 weeks since my last entry. In that time I've run 46 miles and ridden 163 miles. This includes a grueling 52.5 mile ride into the hills NW of where I live:

I had about 2,000 feet of climbing to do on that day. The climbing is fairly similar to that which we will do on the third day of the trek. In fact, the first 10 miles is the exact same first 10 miles of day 3. Not bad, if I do say so myself. There is less than 2 weeks left until we begin. This week, I need to really focus on putting in some miles on the bike and raising some more money. I'm going to call around to a few businesses/institutions in the area that might be interested and then spend some time next weekend knocking on doors. We'll see how it goes. Speaking of the trek, someone submitted the route to mapmyride. The elevation seems to be a little weird/off, but other than that, you can check to see if we'll be riding close to you by clicking on the map below:

Oh, and a small pic of what our Jersey will look like this year:

Catching up

So, yeah...I've fallen a bit behind. I have been working out, though...just not as much as I was supposed to. The day after my last post - Monday, May 25 - I injured my foot playing with Milo in the backyard. I thought I was going to have to see a doctor for it and even worried about long term training issues. It feels better now...not completely, but better. I took lots of anti-inflammatories and skipped one workout/postponed another. Okay...onto what I've actually done in the last week:

On Friday, I did a speed workout on the treadmill at school. I ran for 50 mins total. If I remember correctly, I did 1.5 miles of a warm-up run at 9 1/2 min mile pace, then alternated repeatedly between 800 meters (1/2 mile) at 6 min/mile pace and 400 meters (1/4 mile) at 9 min/mile pace, and then finished with about 1.5 miles slow down.

Saturday morning found me climbing on my bike. My speed was slower than I would have liked, but my legs were tired and I spent the last 2/3 of the ride trying to increase my horrible average from the first 1/3 (which had me climbing about 850 feet in 12 miles). The ride felt great, though, and I'm itching to make the jump (from running and riding to primarily riding). As soon as I get my bike worked on! Saturday's route:

On Sunday, I was back in West Rock Ridge State Park, running the mountain bike trails. Same route as last week...a couple of minutes faster despite my tired legs:

Monday I rested and today I had a lame, 2 miler scheduled:

So...tomorrow is a rest/xt day. I think I might try to get a ride in before heading to the dentist. While I'm at the dentist, Jill will be taking my bike up to REI to get some work done on it. I'm hoping to have it back by Friday...and then I can resume bike commuting, which should really start to build the miles in saddle. 'till next time.

Ride safely!

Sick kids

So yeah...it's their fault that I haven't posted. They've been incredibly sick...so sick, in fact, that my three-year-old son took his second nap in about a year and a half. I did, however, manage to sneak out of the house for a ride Wednesday morning:

a 5 mile (3 of which were a tempo run) run on Thursday:

and today I finished the most enjoyable run that I've done in about 2 1/2 years. It was a slow 6 miler that I did on some mountain bike trails in West Rock Ridge State Park. It was fantastic. Up and down. Over fallen trees. Across planks and bridges. Over/through mud puddles. From rock to rock. It's why/how I originally fell in love with running and it was brilliant. Anyway...enough of my raving. I couldn't put together a map on map-my-run, because the trails are under too dense of tree cover, but if you check the trail map, you can follow my route south from the beginning of the red trail. I took the white trail when it broke off to the west from the red. When the white rejoins the red, I turned back and retraced my steps. Again...awsome.

Reminder: if you haven't joined my ride...please do. Let's help ALS TDI get some real work done on ALS this year!

'till next time, ride safely!

3-mile Tuesday

Today I started the fourth week of a 10k running regime. My general workout plan for the trek is to continue to focus on this running regime for the next few weeks (provided that my foot/ankle/achilles holds up), continue to add bike rides on a couple of my rest/x-training days every week, watch some initial pounds drop off, and then switch more fully to cycling in June . My reasoning might not be completely sound, but I really think that the whole body workout that running gives is more effective (especially when I take into consideration the time I need to put into both) and although I really need to get some miles in on the bike, past riding/running experience tells me that I am able to ramp up the riding miles fairly quickly if I'm in good cardio/muscular shape. So...that's how I've rationalized sticking to the running program for a bit longer (I'm also quite happy that I've been running for over 3 weeks and my foot still feels pretty good...first time that's happened in over 2 1/2 years).

Anyway...today's run:

Thanks for checking in on me. Cheers!

Moo!

Minicards, that is. I just ordered some to pass out for fundraising purposes. Image (thanks to doodleandhoob!):

On the back it says:

Become a part of my ride by donating:
http://www.active.com/donate/Trek2009/PGavin
More information on ALS TDI and the Tri-State Trek:
http://www.als.net/
http://www.tristatetrek.com/
Follow my training:

http://bikemeback.blogspot.com

Pretty snazzy, in my opinion. Now I just need to get out and hand them to people who are interested in helping.

4.5 miles at Lake Wintergreen

Today's workout was a long, slow run. I'm up to 4 miles for my long run. When I got to the turn around, I was certain that I'd made a mistake when I planned the route. The "two miles" had gone by too easily and fast...so I continued on. Finally, when I reached the confluence of a couple of trails, I decided that I'd turn back, check the time at the car, and continue on, if necessary.

The run back seemed a bit longer than the out and I was certain before getting home and checking that I had indeed run 4 miles (4.5 to be more precise). It was fantastic, though. The picture to the left doesn't do the trail justice. Next time we take a walk there, I'll get some better shots. This pic, though, will have to do for the time being.

Check the route below, if you're interested. Bike ride tomorrow perhaps. I don't have anything scheduled, though, until my run on Tuesday. Cheers!