Middle-Aged-Man

I  managed to get out of the house and go for a ride. I left the house in the afternoon in about 80 degrees. There was no wind, but it did picked up a bit and was a good breeze.

Overall, it was about 27 miles and an average speed in the 14 mph. Here is my Garmin data.

Most of you have not noticed that I had two blogs, one for fitness and one for everything else. I decided to merge the two together. Middle-aged man will now contain both fitness and how I see the world items. My blog is very light on posting so it makes sense.

I walked at work and then went to church ( I work with the Freshmen guys) and when I got home at 9:00pm, I knew I had to run.  So I stretched and got on the treadmill and did 1/4 mile walk warmup followed by a run for 2.0 miles total. It started at 6.0 mph pace for the first mile and 6.2 for the next 7/8 of mile and finished the last 1/8 mile at 7.0 mph. I felt pretty good, I am always concern my calf will crap out on me. The key to running on the treadmill is to cover up the display. I stare at it all the time, making the run seem longer.

After returning from a business trip in Orlando, Florida this last week, without a doubt I need to recommit to some level of fitness. I talked to one really nice lady, named Carol Hess, who happens to run. She has fun running marathons and has been running for a few decades. She really inspired me to get back on “track”. What inspired me was her story about over coming cancer. She is a true over comer, and I was impressed.

I want to pattern my fitness after the saying of “12 Days of Christmas Fitness”. Starting tonight December 8th. This does not line up with the actual 12 Days of Christmas, but I feel motivated and did not want to wait.

Each day, I want to commit to doing my walking (1-1/2 hours to 2 hours), followed up by at least 1/2 hour of more strenuous exercise. For example, running a minimum of two miles, swimming, cycling on the trainer (too cold to ride outside and at night). Stair climbing, such as at work, we have 16 flights of stairs in the corner of our building. When I was in better shape that would whip me good, running up those babies.

Tonight, I ran two miles on the treadmill doing it in 19:45 minutes. Because of my bad calf (today, it did not hurt), I like the consistency of the treadmill, plus it does have less impact on this old frame.

Today, my steps are over 23,700. I place my steps on my activity calendar, if you would like to it check it out.

It started in January, when Tracy Whittaker and I were walking at lunch. We thought it was possible with the amount of steps we walk each day, we could sum them up to the entire distance across America. I did some calculations and its seemed like a doable goal. That would be about 16,000 steps a day. So, on January 21st we started at Santa Monica Pier. Each day we would count our steps with our pedometer and report them in www.walkertacker.com. You can see my progress at their site, walkertracker.com/douglas. On November 30th, right before I went on a business trip, I reached the shores at Jacksonville, Florida. Below is the some data and the map of the journey.

• Total Miles 2,458.4

• Total Steps: 5,024,726

• goal: 16,000 goal of steps a day 15,801 actual steps average

Viturally Across America in One Year!

I wanted to run in this weekend’s for the Toys-for-tots 5K run at Lancaster City Park, but after tonight’s run, I hurt my right calf again. I was not running that hard and I do not know why it starting complaining at about the distance of 1.5 miles. I finished the run, and then walked three miles with my dog (it had no real pain). Later in the evening the calf was sore and tight. So, it is best to give this stupid muscle some rest. Here is my motionbase information.

I have not been posting lately, mostly out of boredom. I bore myself with my own blog! I want to share my successes but not when I am not wanting to do the workouts. I been working a lot and the last thing I want do is workout. Anyways, I did train a little to run in the 2008 Turkey Trot 1K/5K/10K Walk/Run scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 at Desert Sands Park in Palmdale. To be honest my heart is not in it.

I did run in the 5K and I did a personal best. I wanted to beat 29 minutes, but I finished in 29:04. That is four seconds faster than the last 5K, the Jingle Bell Jog. I plan to another 5K on Nov 29th, and I want to be in the 28 minute range (I have been in that time when I ran around the house) and run in the 27 minute range on the Jingle Bell Jog on 12/21.

Here is my Motionbase data. I forgot to pause my time when I finished, (because I was hurting trying to catch my breath).

Today, I started to feel like I was getting a cold at work. Felt really funny, took three aspirins and I felt really good. I like to run on Tuesday nights, so I was not sure if I should. I felt fine and got out and ran. My lungs are really tight from riding in last Saturday’s AV Fall Century, but my legs felt really good. The run felt good, but I want to stop with every step due to my breathing. My lungs were feeling so hurt by the cold air (54 degrees). I should have worn more clothing or something. I am really coughing a lot as I type this.

I ran the 5K in 28:55! This is the first time ever that I broke into the 28 minute mark. My best 5K was last December in the Jingle Bell Jog at 29:08.

The High Desert Cyclist had their 4th Annual Antelope Valley Fall Century. There are three rides the 26 miles, the Metric Century (62 miles), and the full Century (100 miles). Last year I wanted to ride in the century, but the weather was so bad that I rode the metric. I was told only four riders completed the century.
This year I rode the century!
I left Gil’s Bike Shop at 7:07am and rode by myself. This year the riders were few, I guess from the high winds we been having. I got three miles from the first stop and the wind did pick up. I pulled into the stop (110th W and Ave G), refilled my water and eat. On the road north to Ave A, down to 100th street, and out to Rosemond Blvd. With the wind behind me for one mile, before turning left on Tehachapi Willow Springs Road. It was nice to petal up to Backus Road where the second rest stop was. I eat and refilled my water. A few other riders that I knew were there (they had passed me). Dan Dunn (did the artwork for the ride), Tim (I cannot remember his last name), and Richard White, who I remember from Central Christian Church. I arrived last and left first. Riding up Tehachapi Willow Springs Road for 8.3 miles to Cameron Road. This is where the wind was very strong and very much up hill and it got cold (4,000+ elevation).  On Cameron it was half uphill, but the back side was all downhill for 2.5 miles, riding over to the 58 Freeway, which I rode for 1.7 miles in very strong winds. Getting off at Sand Canyon and riding head on in wind on Tehachapi Road for seven miles. Arriving at Central Park for lunch. More food and sitting in the sun, I was cold, I had layers but I was still cold. Left the park, did a few miles before getting back on the Tehachapi Willow Springs road, again a lot of up hills, but the wind was behind. At this point in the ride (65 mile) I was feeling tired. I got to the top and some nice downhills, so nice in fact that I reached 50 MPH, the (fastest I have ever been on a bike), and it was a bit scary. It was mostly downhill to the rest stop at Backus, I stopped to refill my water and continue to retrace my path back. I got to the 110th Avenue and G and again refilled my water, some food and off. The ride from there to 30th Street West was the best. A very strong wind behind me, it was no effort to ride at 30 MPH, (wishing the whole ride was like this). This is where my larger GPS unit battery died. It warned me at mile 20, the batteries were dying, but died at 98 miles. The smaller GPS unit during the ride, ran out of space, prompt me to remove older laps (thinking older rides, runs, etc). Well, both units did not give me ride data. What disappointment.
I finished the ride, at this point at 3:30 pm, I think it comes in total of a 105 miles. I was the 5 rider to finish the century of a guess of 12-15 riders. This ride help me accomplish one of my goals of resolutions for 2008.

I was tired, but not wiped. I changed and put my bike away and went to the have pizza and a beer. Home to shower and small nap, (did I mention that I am almost 50, nap required).

Antelope Valley Fall Century

Bib Number for AV Century

My goal to virtually walk across America is on track for reaching Jacksonville, Florida. That is a total of 2,429 miles. As of today, I am at Mobile Alabama or 2,019 miles that is over four million steps. I have 410 miles to go, in about 80 days. After I reach Jacksonville, and I have enough time, I will try to get the extra 450 miles to reroute from Santa Monica Pier to New York.

Virtual Walk Across America