PJ

While I haven’t done any road running since the last time I blogged, I have been making an effort to go to the company gym at least 2-3 times a week for the last 2 weeks.  While I’m there I’ve been running for 15 minutes at a 10 minute/mile pace then riding the stationary bike for about 5 miles.  Come Sanibel time next year, I will be in shape and not embarassed to take my shirt off.

On the soccer front, we had our best season in recent history going 5-3-1.  We did lose our last 2 games of the season, but we were also missing most of our midfield for those 2 games.  I ended the season with 3 goals, all coming in one game (woo hoo, hat trick).  Not sure if I’ll play indoor or not, it all depends on the night the team wants to play and how good the baby decides to be.  I did tell Tiff’s cousin that I would substitute for his indoor team, but I was warned about their, um, skill level and to not get any ideas of winning.  Guess we’ll see if they call!

Well, I ran for a second time.  I think I knew how to pace myself a little better because I was not as tired at the end of the run (yeah, only .7 miles, I’m getting there.  I’ve never been a runner) and I finished at a faster per mile pace although the iPod won’t show it because I resumed the workout for about 20 seconds after I had stopped which totally messed up my overall time and my per mile time.  I plan on running this loop for the rest of the week then I’ll start adding some more distance to it.  Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to the gym to start lifting weights again also.

Ok, so I’m a sucker for gimmicks, but I bought a pair of Nike running type shoes with the Nike+ system and the iPod connection kit for it and went running yesterday after getting our iPod all configured to collect the data from the sensor.  I do have to say this, it’s a great motivator.

First thing I noticed when I got outside to start running and put my iPod headphones on was that the iPod was talking to me telling me how to trigger the start of the workout.  Great, I clicked the center button and was off running.  I had read in the manual to get an update you could click the center button again so a few minutes into the run I clicked the center button.  The music then faded out and a very pleasant voice told me I had run .29 miles in (and I’m pulling these numbers out of the air) 2 minutes and 20 seconds at a 7 minute and 40 second per mile pace (yes, I know those probably don’t jive, but I don’t feel like doing math now).  The music then came back up and I thought to myself “this is pretty cool.”  Well, I’ve never been much of a runner, I prefer burst sports like basketball, football and soccer and non-cardio endurance sports like golf, so .72 miles later I cruised back to the house and had myself a nice little breather vowing that I will get my conditioning up before the end of the summer. 

This is when I found the second nice feature of the system, it’s synchronization with www.nikeplus.com.  When I docked the iPod I was asked if I wanted to create a nikeplus.com account to store my running data.  Of course I did and uploaded my data.  I was then able to set goals and track my progress.  I set a goal of 12 runs over the next 4 weeks.  I think that is pretty doable and now that it is set I can hold myself to it.  I guess we’ll see how this goes.  I will keep this blog updated with my progress.

Battle of the Businesses concluded last week and with 36 teams, we raised $55,000.  This is an incredible increase in per team contribution.  Hopefully we can sustain that effort next year and increase the number of teams participating. 

Another soccer week went by, another week without a win, or even a goal but I do have to say we are showing signs of actually playing the game of soccer.  We are having flashes of time where we are passing well and moving the ball around but we just can’t seem to put the ball into the back of the net.  Couple that with a few defensive lapses a game and that adds up to a losing record.

The annual benefit for Special Olympics that I volunteer for and compete in is coming up and my current company has recruted me to play volleyball among other events.  I haven’t played indoor volleyball in about 2 years, but after 2 practices I seem to be getting the swing of things again, literally.  My hitting has come back up to par, my serving is as good as ever, I can set and as usual I can’t pass worth a damn.  It’s for charity and I’m having fun doing it and I really like being able to get out and run around and sweat for 2 hours.  Looking back on my thinner days, they were the days of basketball, soccer, volleyball, Tae Kwon Do or flag football every night.  Maybe this will help a little also.

On that note, I did join our company fitness center yesterday and I’m having a Cardio/Weight Loss type program designed for me (it’s National Fitness Month so the first month membership was free and also a consultation/personal training/fitness plan came free as well).  Hopefully with a plan and a gym at work I’ll be able to stick with this for a while and then when evenings free up again I’ll be able to get back to our regular gym and work on some weight training and muscle building without having to squeeze cardio in during the same time period.  I just never seem to get a good workout when I try to do cardio before a workout or I don’t do very much cardio if I try to do it after a workout.  We’ll see.

Well, I guess that’s enough for now, we’ll see what else I have to write later.