3 Mile Treadmill Workout ~ next time, hold the fries!

We had an office lunch down at the bowling alley today and were able to squeeze in a couple of games.  Believe it or not, I once bowled a 230 (which is my all time high)!  I still have the score card somewhere (my friend Guy can verify the score).  Unfortunately, my two games COMBINED didn’t reach a total of 230 today.  How sad. 

Anyways, I ate a grilled chicken sandwich with fries for lunch (the first time I had eaten fries in over 6 weeks) and the fries made me feel weird.  It felt like there was a balloon in my stomach, expanding and getting ready to pop!  I don’t eat fried food much and today made me realize how much I haven’t missed it!  Also, the bun was toasted but soaked in butter (another thing I don’t eat much of).  Good ole’ bowling alley grill! 

So we had this bowling challenge a few months ago, military vs. civilians, and we (the military) lost.  Today was our chance at redemption, and we failed…..  I’ll be the first to admit defeat.  Heck, we got our butts handed to us.  I think we quit keeping score too!  But they had a few of ringers on their team (Chuck, Tim, and Chris) who bowled lights-out!  We’ll need to find another challenge…..  Maybe running a relay?  :)

I took yesterday off to give my knee a break from Wednesday’s run (left knee soreness).  It felt much better today and I was able to knock out a good 3 mile run!  I made several speed changes to make it interesting…..  Today’s run was a 3 mile treadmill workout.  I ran the first two miles at 7.0 mph/zero incline and then bumped it up to 7.3 mph for a half mile.  I finished the last half mile at 7.8 mph and 1 degree of incline, for an overall time of just over 25 minutes.  It was a nice run and I think I was able to burn off those french fries (calories) from earlier! 

My 12 week half marathon training program starts Sunday.  I'll need to knock out my run early so I can enjoy the game.  I only finished about 45-50% of my training plan last year (before the Flying Pig) and so far I am off to a great start!  I have very big goals for this year's race; I'd like to run a sub-2 hour half marathon (about a 9:00 min/mile pace).  I will try my best to achieve this goal.  It may take a two-tiered approach in pace running to accomplish - 8:30 min/mile pace for 6-7 miles then 9:30 min/mile pace for the remainder of the race.  I don’t think I can maintain the same pace for the duration…..  Any tips would greatly be appreciated.

Well, thanks for the visit and take care!  Have a safe and enjoyable Super Bowl weekend! 

Happy running and God bless!  2 Tim 4:7