Catching Up

Enough with the non-stop emails and the incessant telephone calls begging and pleading for me to post another blog. I apologize, I've been out of town and life's been pretty hectic. OK, so no one emailed, and not a single phone call, but I have to think that SOMEONE was hoping I would catch up soon.

So basically I was in Atlanta 3 weeks ago, Orlando 2 weeks ago, and then Orlando again last week. Usually I get to get in some good running while I am away for work because I get pretty good sleep and don't have contant family commitments. However, I wasn't as disciplined as I would have liked for the last 3 weeks.

Week of August 11 - 17:
Spent this one at a Marriott in Marietta, GA. The location was not at all conducive to running. And the hotel gym lacked any sort of air circulation whatsoever, so I'm sure I lost some fitness this week. Toward the end of the week I just had no motivation because I didn't want to get mugged outside and couldn't put up with the dingy, dungeony basement gym. Hopefully, my company will not pick that as a destination hotel again.
Monday: 4.02 miles at 9:15 pace in Easley.
Tuesday: 5.04 miles at 9:24 pace.
Wednesday: 3 miles at 8:57 pace.

Week of August 18 - 24:
This week I was at the Shingle Creek Resort. Now THAT'S more like it. Good points, plenty of cart paths and sidewalks for some great running. Bad points, our stay was in the middle of a freaking HURRICANE! So no running outside again during the workweek. The gym was light years ahead of the Marriott from last week. Nice and cool with good air circulation.
Monday; 6 miles @ 9:20 pace on treadmill.
Tuesday: 3 miles @ 9:20 pace on treadmill.
Wednesday: 5.25 miles @ 9:20 pace on treadmill.
Saturday: Back home for long run. 7.02 miles @ 9:36 pace. After 2 weeks on the treadmill, it was great to get outside again.

Week of Aug 25 - 31st:
Ritz Carlton - Orlando. One thing about Chrysler, even when we're hemorraging cash, we still know how to pick the hotels. Did not run on Monday evening like I usually do because I got persuaded to eat at one of my favorite places, Amura Japanese Steakhouse. Which leads me to my Tuesday morning run. Please note, never, ever have the filet and salmon combo with extra fried rice and then try to get up early the next morning and run. Especially if you unfamiliar with the running trails. I was looking so foward to running the cart path at the Ritz, and all I could manage was 2.96 miles total before having to return to the hotel with extreme intestinal distress. One funny thing that happened was I was getting directions to the cart path and the lady actually said, "Oh yes, there are alligators in the ponds and surrounding areas, but most of the time they just run away from you." Most of the time?!?!?! What happens when they don't run away? So Tuesday afternoon we were let out early and I played beach volleyball all afternoon, so that counts as cross training in my book. I was actually pretty sore in the gluteus area on Wednesday. We went home on Wed and I enjoyed some much needed family time so no running on Thurs or Fri.

Saturday - Longest run so far in this training cycle. 8.01 miles at 8:50 pace. It was an early morning run and the weather was perfect. Felt really good about my fitness level after this run because even the hills that normally kill me were management on this run.

So there it is, finally caught up with my blogging. I must try to do better because once I miss a few blogs I feel overwhelmed and it just keeps snowballing. Also, I don't really like to write, "Well I'm down in Orlando for another week" translated - my wife is home alone with our children and anyone looking to rob the place would have an easier time this week.