Sunday, May 30, 2010

Head Aches, Body Aches, and Belly Aches

Yeah so what? Have an Alka-seltzer and don't bother to call.
If you can't handle your liquor quit going to your brother's 50th birthday parties! (actually, he's had no where near 50 birthday parties, this was just a party celebrating his 50th birthday!)
Happy 1/2 Century my brother!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

What's it All About?

Well let me tell you what it's all about:

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Ready, Set, Yahtzee!

Ready, Set, Yahtzee!

Kettle Moraine, it’s less than two weeks from where the clock sits right now. Am I ready? You betcha, you betcha, you bet!

And you are asking yourselves, and “how does that make you feel Andy?”

It makes me feel great. See, I’m not expecting a repeat of Umstead, I was beneficiary of perfect weather (we won’t have that), the two best pacers money can’t buy, and of no expectations. It was an unexpected homerun for me. Umstead was the nicest welcome back that ever came in a palindrome (21:12 is to racing what "Madam I’m Adam" is to pick-up lines according to the Professor!).

But, will I be successful? I believe I will. I’m going in healthy and well trained. And this morning I felt like I could run forever. The key to your last significant run before the race is, I believe, make it short and make it slow. Hold back so when you are done, you feel like, “Wow, I could have run twice that far!” Not only did I feel great, but I ran with two beautiful ladies, thank you Becky and Rhonda, for keeping me pace appropriate and keeping me entertained. So, Becky, Jon, Tracy, A2, Judy, Patrick, Andrea, Julie, Adam, Lindsay, and the rest; if you haven’t had the perfect last run yet, go run a slow one on me!

So, what am I looking for at Kettle? If it’s hot, anything under 24 will do. If it’s pleasant, I would love to go sub-22. Mostly I just want to have a good time and see my friends do well :)

Friday, May 21, 2010

What the F?

Letters. I had forgotten how useful they can be. This is something that it was not good to forget.

I used to know that without the Letter H we would be up Sit creek! I used to know that without H Popeye would have given us, "Enoug is Enoug and Enoug is too muc!" No power there.

What am I talking about? Well, I used to do this thing in training where I would award myself a letter towards spelling the name of the event I was training for after completing a key workout. For instance, when I first cracked the top ten at Arkansas in 2006, during training when I ran really well or added on mileage, I gave myself an A. Then next time an R, and after my training was Complete, I spelled Arkansas Traveller. I had a lot of key workouts over time.

Then I got injured, failed at the Slam, and now I just run. No wonder I suck these days. My training is not to the letter. When I used Key workouts I was a motivated specific, now I'm a wandering generality.

Time to get back to the letter of the law of training! Too, late for Kettle, guess I can't retire just yet, I have to try this again. . .

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Feel Sorry For Me

Feel sorry for me!

It's the last day of school!

Nothing to do all summer, whoa is me................

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Busy Busy

Getting ready for exams.

Been busier than a pair of jumper cables at the last Mathews' family reunion!


I'll get back to blogging here real soon.


Andy M

Monday, May 10, 2010

Running in a Circle with Sissors

If you've never done it, run one of Jim's (tamparaces.com) Picnic Island races. I've never done one, but now I've set up the course once, and I'm telling you, it's gotta be a hoot!

We directed people through sand, through sticky black gu-ish mud, through waist high water, under cargo nets, over hurdles, up hills, down hills, up hills and down. We also gave them the bonus .3 miles. When you're having that much fun, your 5K should be 3.4 miles long (or even a touch longer!)

But, I was sad, while I did take joy in setting up the course, I did not get to run it, I was a working man. I felt like a chef who created a great meal and was forced to watch other people eat it!

That was Friday night.

Saturday night the lovely Ali Mathews and I worked the Ultra-miles for Moffit race at the USF track. We basically just had to write people's numbers down as they circled the track. Ultra Iron-Super-Elastic Man Joe Ninke circled the most times at 299, he didn't want to go 300, because everybody knows that you turn into butter at 300! It's not easy to stay awake all night if you're just jotting down numbers, it's slightly easier if you're running in circles.

That's a lot of being around the sport and very little actual participating in the spot, but it was fun, it was worth it, and I was able to give my body some much needed rest.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Rest and Nutrition, Seriously?

Rest and nutrition matter.

Really? Seriously? No Schmitz? Duh?
No Duh!

I know yall believe it, but do you believe it? Has it hit home with ya?

This weekend I was all set to be a running God. I was the lone male running at Croom with 4 beautiful ladies. I was all set to show them how a "real man" runs. It was going beautifully for quite a while. I led them on the 4-Mile Withrow Loop, they were not familiar with this one, so I showed them the way. Next we set out for the 15 mile orange loop and I happily led the way. I felt good, I felt strong and I'm pretty sure I was being revered by those lovely ladies 4. I was on cruise control, for 12 miles .....

........
Then the weekend caught up with me. Friday, work all day, chaperone an all night field trip to Universal Studios. Home at 4 AM Saturday. Sleep by 4:30 AM. Up at 6 AM, to Alifia State Park by 7 AM. Work Adventure race from 7 AM - 7 PM on Saturday. 7 - 8 PM two beers with Jim at Applebees (I do like my two-fers!). Home at 9 PM. Asleep by 9:30. Meet my gals at 4:45. Meet more at 5:30 AM, start run at 5:40 AM on Sunday.

Oh, I finished the run, but those last 7 miles I felt like a guy that had been ingesting nothing but chips, cookies, cold pizza, soda, and a sip or two of water. Furthermore, I ran like a guy that had 7 hours of sleep over two days.

For this week I vow to eat a nutritionally sound diet and get some quality rack time. Because you can't be a running God if you are living like a pagan party plodder!