The Road to Boston (week 9 of 16)

Ok, completely disorganized this week, but greetings from Little Rock, AR.  Man am I ever racking up the air miles and hotel points these days!!!  Been slacking on the blog front after some late night work sessions, but sneaking in a few minutes to get it done.

Bad news this week when I heard my little brother had to pull out of what would have been his debut marathon at London due to injury.  Tried to convince him to run his first marathon with me when I'm over in the UK this coming summer, but it's not to be.

Oh well, take care of yourself and heal up quickly bro.  I am not accepting that as an excuse when I nail your ass at a park run this summer.

I am reading "Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham and the Science of Success" by Matthew Syed.  It is a fascinating book that delves into the psychology and similarities of the most successful people in sports, music etc.  There are some real insights into human behavior, though I think it's telling me I'm not much good at anything because I'm lazy.  To be fair, it's probably right :-)

Saturday February 25th
5:15am, can't remember what the weather was doing.  13 miles, annoying hamstring injury, the hills of Stratford, 1:56:07 (8:54 average).  On the plus side, I got home in time to watch the Wales rugby team win the Triple Crown by beating England, and the Marathon Talk technical shirts arrived from the UK (Boston race shirts for Clea and myself).

Sunday February 26th
5:30am, no idea about the weather.  Weird run - seemed to get more into it as it went along.  7 miles in 57:45 (8:17 average)
pm. 1 hour of strength circuits.  A rare chance to work out with Nancy.  Oh man, she ground me into the dirt!!!

Monday February 27th
In Little Rock.  The hotel I am staying at has free access to a gym across the road, and very nice it is too.  Found myself working out on the 29th floor in front of floor to ceiling windows with magnificent panoramic views of downtown Little Rock.  Did the elliptical, the stair climber, the bike and then beasted my legs with 5 sets of 15 reps of leg extensions, leg curls and weighted squats.  Oh boy, those leg curls did nothing for my sore hamstrings.

Tuesday February 28th
Drama at the gym tonight as some guy collapsed and had to be carted out by the EMTs.  Spent a bit extra time on the eliptical as I watched events unfold.  Did more leg extensions, but my hamstring was in full rebellion mode as soon as I tried the leg curl machine.  Gave up and went to eat Chinese instead.

Wednesday February 29th
Happy leap day.  Back in the gym tonight - more bike, elliptical, stair climber and weighted squats.  Also did weighted core rotations and lat pulldowns.  Then I had a go on the heavy bag (pretended it was some of my clients - haha), and had a great time with the battling ropes, making them dance for me.  Never used them before - they were fun.  And tiring.  Will have to get me some!!!

Thursday March 1st
Last night at the panoramic gym as I fly back to Austin tomorrow.  Did the elliptical, the bike, the old "rubber legged" workout, and threw around the battling ropes with somewhat of a spring on my step.  Spent quite a bit of time chatting with the receptionist in the hotel.  She was flirting big time, which explains the spring in the step!!  Useful things these British accents :-)