Wrap #6

Welcome to a slightly twisted environment of social ramblings, my continued recovery from a traumatic brain injury, daily athletic training, healthy and delicious vegan eats, rad music sensations, colorful dreams and scenes, 

Another great week of training in the books. 

Totals
Running 65.65 miles (61 last week - building)
Biking 42.54.16 miles (I need to pick it up)
NewBoozeRules  (wine, beers)

11/2/14 - 11/8/13
10 glasses of wine, 4 bottles of beer

Today

11/15
Today marks a big day in my life. I have been a happy well fed vegan for 2 years. After my traumatic brain injury I gained a lot of weight. At the time of the accident I was 139 lbs... within 2 years I was up to 174 lbs. I don't know why because I seemed to eat the same, but I had become FAT. Well, in two years I have lost a real 30 pounds and my athletic performance continues climbing closer to my pre-tbi levels! PLANT-POWER!

Run - 12.4 miles - 1:48:00 - 8:42 pace HR 122
Started pretty well, but faded towards the end. 24 oz of Gatorade may not have been enough...

By the way, I want to amend my previous comments. Positive the were, however not entirely accurate. True part, My weight did escalate to 174 pounds... Here is were it gets weird. The year I weighed, I also logged 1900 miles of running and a few thousand bicycling. When I took on vegan-ism I was pretty desperate. I continued running and last year I logged 2000 miles of running and a few thousand on the bike. My weight came down 20 pounds or so... I was encouraged. This year isn't over and I have already logged 2300 miles running an a few thousand miles on the bike. My weight has not continued its downward trend. In fact it has crept upwards (yes, I count calories every day). I haven't weighed in for a month or so because I was becoming obsessive. But since  today is my 2 year anniversary I did weigh in (albeit post-run because I was hoping for a good weigh-in) and I am definitely going in the wrong direction despite running more mileage than I ever have before. I am very discouraged. Being a fat-ass sort of sucks. I suppose I will revel in the animals that aren't killed in my behalf and the positive environmental benefits too.

11/14
AM Run - easy pace - z2 - 8.2 miles - 1:05:30 - 8:00 pace - HR 122
Felt pretty fluid today... occasionally increased tempo; but not for measured time or distance. Went by feel.
PM Bike - 20.42 miles - 20.1 mph avg - HR 126
I picked up my tri-bike from the shop today... It rode pretty nice, but the Florida weather is rough on the moving bits (I have some drive train repairs that are imminent); still, it was nice to not ride the fixie today.
11/13
Run - easy pace -  z2 - 11.1 miles - 1:35:00 - 8:33 pace - HR 136
Easy jog - a little longer - I should have stretched this run out but I didn't have the drive.
11/12
Brick workout Bike/run
1. Bike - on fixie- steady - 20.12 miles - 1:11:00 - 18:69 mph - HR 112
2. Run - street - steady z2 - 6.7 miles - 5:00 - 8:24 pace - HR 123
2nd short brick in a week... it has been a while. Maybe I am thinking about multi-sport racing or something.
11/11

Smokescreen strategies of the right-wing really suck - but sadly, work; as the recent election has proven… I cannot say that it doesn’t tighten my shorts, it does.

Leading up to the mid-terms the right focused on peripheral issues like Benghazi, Isis and Ebola. Priorities like Health care, living wages for all, women’s and minorities rights, education, the environment (instead, climate-change denying was in vogue)…

Hey Mr. self-righteous republican dude: for your information, 1 American has died from Ebola; but  do you care about the 8-10k American lives lost every year due to gun related accidents and homicides? Seriously, guns have their place: on the rifle range, during the hunting season, and in “controlled” defense (like the military and legal enforcement).  Not in public places like coffee shops, theaters or as in the recent practice of teachers armed in the classroom! America has a sick obsession with weapons and this needs to be addressed. 

But – I digress, I just wanted to say thank you to all of the fair weather democrats who didn't get to the voting polls last week.

-
Run - street/track - w/6 x 800 meter intervals on 400 meter recovery - 11.6 miles - 1:30:00 - 8:29 pace
Strong effort. The track session seemed to go well. I don't have my splits because I preset my Garmin for these intervals but I didn't know how to use the watch in this setting. Hopefully, I do now. My Garmin did record my best pace which was 4:39. I'm sure that it was only for a few steps but to see that type of leg turnover is awesome. Certainly a post-accident best. I will take it.

11/10

Run - street - steady z2 - 9.33 miles - 1:14:00 - 8:15 pace - HR 122
Dropped the car off at Honda this morning for an airbag recall and an oil change. I took the opportunity to run home the long way. It so nice to have my run done this early in the day (9 am).

11/9
Run - street - tempo - 7.35 miles - 55:05 - 7:29 pace
In the rain today; a bit shorter with better pace today. 

Wrap #5

This is Richard Paradis' home of life updates, social ramblings, life with and recovery from a traumatic brain injury, daily training, vegan eats, rad music and such

Totals
Running 61.81 miles
Biking 22.16 miles
NewBoozeRules  (wine, beers)

11/2/14 - 11/8/13
1.5 bottles of wine, 7 bottles of beer

11/2
Run - street - steady - 8.12 miles - 1:08:00 - 8:22 pace
I got out late today; it was pretty dark due to daylight savings. Steady and Easy pace.

11/3
Run - 10.1 miles - street - 1:17:50 - with 6 times 5' tempo on 3' recovery

11/4
It is election day, stand up and vote!
Run - 1:24:00 - 9.54 miles - 121 avg hr - 8:48 pace
Heavy wind... like running into an invisible wall!

11/5
Well fellow democrats, progressives and social reformers: unfortunately it is true, yesterday the people voted and we were out-FOXED. I am not discouraged; I am fueled and ready to battle. I believe in the boss and I have his back

Run - 10.14 miles - hills at the trash heap (1037' of elevation gain) - hr 115 avg. Easy pace in the heavy wind/barely missed heavy rain.

11/6
Run - 8.1 miles - 1:01:00 - 7:31 pace - hr 140 avg.
Good run, with a timed 42:30 10k tempo thrown in. Mile 5 was 7:00 mile 6 was 7:01. Not even close to all time fastest but definitely some of my best miles since the traumatic brain injury. I don't know if I will ever run a sub 3 hour marathon a gain (6:50 pace for 26.2 miles), but I'm trying and the progress is encouraging!

11/7
Run - 8.38 miles - 1:1800  - 9:18 pace - hr 114 avg.
I must have been fatigued today... I just could not get my running sticks to cooperate. I felt sore and slow and I kept trying to move faster but -  I wanted to cut this short from the first mile, but I hung tough and finished the route. Until tomorrow...

11/8
Tomorrow (today) was a much better day. I rode my fixie for a little over an hour and kept the avg speed pretty high. After my ride I took a short transition (less than 5 minutes) into a decent run. Much better than yesterday. Hip hip hooray!
Bike - 22.18 miles - 1:08:00 - 19.5 mph avg - 122 hr
good ride in town on my fixie. My tri bike is in the shop getting tuned up and some repairs due to my crash last weekend.
Brick - short <5 min transition
Run - 7.45 miles - 1:00:13 - 8:04 pace - 135 hr
I am happy with my run today. Even though I rode first, I ran much more fluidly than yesterday.
Overall a good run week with over 61 miles logged. Besides today, I didn't ride due to general soreness and road rash. Hopefully I will ride more this week. I still need to figure out my next race too.

Wrap #4

I had a decent week of training with some speed work, trails and hills and a fair amount of biking. I intend to add a long run to the mix this week but I feel like my volume is adequate as I configure my remaining race schedule through the year. My diet continues to improve - November will see the 2 year anniversary of the vegan life. One thing is for sure, I will never go back to my old style of eating. I have learned so much and mostly, I love the new foods that I now include in my diet; and no, I am never hungry. I am plant-strong!

Week totals:

Running: 58.83 miles
Biking: 105.85 miles
NBR 1 bottle of wine, 8 beers

Week 10/26 -11/1

Today

11/1/14
Run - street - steady - 11.1 miles - 1:31:00 - 8:12 pace
Scheduled day off, but I felt the need to get out on the first day of a new month. New route, felt decent the entire way.

10/31/14

Boo - trick or treat - eat more veggies

Run - Trail - Hills - 8.25 miles - 1:17:00 - 122 avg hr - 656' elevation gain. Good effort. I had to run "naked" today; I forgot my music, my music and my all important (Florida humidity) wrist sweat band.
-

OK, now hopefully more trick-or-treaters will come this year. Last year we were all prepared and less than 10 kids showed up. Decorations/pumpkins are out - candy waits.

10/30/14

Run with tempo - 9.2 miles -1:13:00 - 134 avg hr - I wanted to do 800 meter intervals on the HS track; I did two before security booted me. Tried to guesstimate on the street. Suckage! 

-

Bike - fixie - 20.2 miles - 1:03:00

10/29/14

Run - z2 even pace - 11.1 miles - 1:32:00 miles - 129 avg hr - nice run (no Gatorade, but felt good).

10/28/14

Bike - fixie - w/Mimi - 31.15 miles - 1:43:00 - 108 avg hr - good to ride with Mimi again (its been too long).

10/27/14
Run - tempo - 8.2 miles- 1:00:20 - first 10k in 44:00, 140 avg hr - encouraging progress again today! I believe in this old guy. I can be faster.

10/26/14
Since my tri-bike needs to see a bike doctor, I rode my fixie today. 54.5 miles in 3:00 - 115 avg hr - 18.1 avg speed. It was a nice change of pace. I haven't rode my fixie in a while.

Weekly-Wrap #3

This week was ended on a - a note. As I posted earlier in a long Facebook post (I will save my readers and not repost it), I need to reevaluate my fitness and recovery goals somewhat. The week was shorter athletically due to my bike crash and injuries. They are relatively minor, thankfully. 

To the point: NBRs continue. Again I think I drank a few extra beers but the new alcohol control system - it is on track. Hopefully this week will have less 'infractions' - still, the awareness has served me well and overall my drinking has been by diminished by at least 95 percent. And yes, increased water consumption has continued as a replacement to the beers.

Week totals:

Running: 44.84 miles
Biking: 2.5 miles
NBR (drinking: 3 glasses of wine (1/2 bottle), 8 beers

Week-Wrap #2

Another good week training - plant powered. lots of running speed work and a slight increase in bike volume too. Finishing the week in Atlanta, GA and the cooler temps/lower humidity is such a mental boost. Tonight will highlight the purpose of the trip: The Jayhawks at The Variety Theater. I'm excited but especially so for Mimi. She has never seen them and really loves them! 

NBRs has gone well as well. We have kept our drinking down to a minimum and I have replaced it with peasant juice (water). It seems to be working well.

Week totals:

Running: 37.46 miles
Biking: 134.5 miles
NBR (drinking: 3 glasses of wine (1/2 bottle), 5 beers

Week 10/19 - 10/25

Today

10/25/14

Run 14.2 miles - 2:02:00 - 8:35 pace - 127 avg HR

Ran relaxed for two hours today. A newer route version. Nice weather; windy

10/24/14

Run - 7.72 miles - pace: 7:35 - 139 avg HR
Decent run considering my bike crash yesterday has my legs and arms layered in a crusty road rash.
Reconsidering my athletic goals. I am still motivated, however I may be taking on too much; more than what I can handle related to my physical post-traumatic-brain-injury ability. Since my brain injury I have attempted to regain my past athletic tempo relentlessly. I have trained and raced and suffered multiple injuries (including additional car v. bike accidents). I have improved but my results have caused mostly sadness. I have high expectations. Perhaps life is evolving differently for me now. Should I succomb? Accept my limitations? Life is hard.

10/23/14

Bike: 8:30 - crash - no comment


10/22/14
1:15:00 - 9.01 miles, avg HR 127, even pace.

10/21/14

Travel - flying home today.

10/20/14

Stone Mountain, Georgia

Confederate Memorial

A sad blemish in American history. This bas-relief (worlds largest) of Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. In my opinion these Civil War moguls were traitors. Still I did run to the top of it twice today. 5 miles and nearly 1500 feet of elevation gain.

10/1914
Trail  run in Georgia, 9.0 miles, 1030' elevation gain, 1:30:00. Good run and very enjoyable. A big and welcomed change from SoFla. 70 degrees. Unfortunately my Garmin kept losing its connection so I may have run longer...