An Early Christmas (Justin)

One of my buddies from college moved out to Colorado post-grad and what I'm guessing happens to everyone that moves there, fell in love with the outdoors. He started up his own company (http://activegearreview.com/) where he's sent outdoor gear from all different companies.

He was in need of some help from fellow runners for some magazine deal he's working on and there's no way I was going to turn down the offer. I was sent 3 pairs of New Balances that just arrived today: the 1064's, the 760's and the MT876's.

I can't wait to give them a beating and let you know how they hold up- my reviews to follow soon...

Just a couple of pictures

Here are two photos from the weekend. Jus was awesome kicking out a 2:15 run (while I just did 1 hr). It was cold but we dressed perfectly. Rain was arriving later on so we made sure to kick the runs out early.

Jus on Charles River

Ice, BRRRR!

I'm so disciplined : )

Last night was my company's holiday party. This year it started earlier in the day and was in the office (instead of at a restaurant) which is cool with me. It was a fun time with lots of chatter, games and delicious food (mind you I only had 1 meat ball, 3 shrimp and maybe a couple of peanut butter cups - great control on my part!). The party ended at 6pm after which everyone went out on the town. Being the disciplined athlete I am (ha!) I hoped on the T at 6:15pm and headed home instead to go for a run. My motivation has been real low lately but this week has been great and I didn't want to end my streak last night. Home by 6:45pm and out the door for my run at 7pm. I was jealous cause Justin had just gotten home from his run which made me REALLY not want to run! I was out quick though so that I didn't give myself the opportunity to back out of going.

Temperatures were dropping last night so it made for a cold run. I went the usual route down the Charles River. The way out had an awful headwind that made me feel like my nose was going to fall off. I was giving so much effort just to move forward. The way home was awesome though as I had the tailwind pushing me along. The trail was pretty empty - a few runners here and there, but just a few. I stopped with a min left in the run to snap a pic in front of Faneuil Hall and it's xmas tree. Thanks to Jus, I'm rockin' my new night vision jacket from Brooks - like? I'm blinded from just looking at it.

I took a hot shower afterwords and ate prob the worst turkey chili we've ever made for dinner (but still not bad). Tonight I have off - yay! - and couldn't be looking forward to the weekend more than I am right now!

Cash Cab and Us

Well, even though yesterday called for a run and/or swim for Jus and I, we decided to hop on the trainers instead. It was nasty outside and it's too early in the season to be sacrificing comfort for workouts... that comes later in the season (like my attitude?). Usually we throw on VH1 music videos then both put on our own earphones to listen to our own music, that way we listen to what we want yet have something to watch, make sense? Yesterday though, my shuffle was sadly forgotten in the car, parked in the garage, 1 mile away from our apartment, so I had no music. Jus was oh so kind to sacrifice his music too and instead we put on the Cash Cab and decided to make a game of the game. We played along and for every question we answered incorrectly, we had to sprint 15 secs on commercial break. Thanks to smarty-pants Jus for answering all the questions (I think I got a total of 3 questions right), we only had to sprint a total of 2:15 the entire show - that's 9 incorrect answers.

After biking, we did a core and arm workout, a routine Jus put together. My arms hurt and my stomach even more.

Jus on the trainer, watching Cash Cab.

Transition from Laziness (justin)

Its been a lot harder than expected to get back into serious training mode. To start at a level of absolute apathy and move back into an everyday training schedule has caused my mind/body to riot. Trying to go straight from the couch to 6 days a week wasn't working so well so I decided to make it more of a slow transition.

During Ironman training, I followed a hardcore nutrition and training regimen and am slowly reintroducing those things back into daily life. My diets not perfect yet and I definitely haven't been doing every workout on the schedule but each week (for the last month) I've gotten a little better. With about 1 month to go before the Goofy Challenge, I'm ready to jump in head first. I picked up some new running kicks (Mizuno Wave Elixir 4s) which are more minimal than I'm used to- I can tell a big difference with these shoes and am definitely more conscious of my stride. While there is a decent amount of cushioning in the heel, I get sharp pains when I let my stride breakdown and it forces me to correct my stride. I've also been consistently using a Trigger Point foot roller that helps with my arches (Plantar Fascitis) and a foam roller for my leg muscles. I'm hoping this prevents my usual injuries and helps with recovery. With 37 days till the Goofy Challenge, I'll take any advantage I can get.

The moon is bright!

Look how bright the moon is tonight! (yea, my phone doesn't take such great pics). That's all - just a very bright moon.