Baloo is finding his Bare Necessities of life (Comments Welcome)

[Baloo in MI]

I have been on the runDisney board for a bit, I still remember when all our threads were on the WISH page and there was no dedicated runDisney page yet. I have really enjoyed being a part of the boards here, having gained so much knowledge, made friends and become a better runner for my involvement.



I never thought to start a running journal; well, until recently. I am looking for something to give me more accountability and a space to share my thoughts, learn from others and have some laughs! So all are welcome, and encouraged, to comment! Please do!!

But maybe first a little about me. I am a 53 year old father of two, married to a wonderful partner and a fur grandparent to our black lab Kai. I have spent most of my career working on college campuses in student affairs and most recently in facilities management. In the middle of my career I left to become a Californian State Park Ranger and did that until parenthood necessitated a safer and more stable career.





My family relocated to Michigan when I took a job at my alma mater Michigan State University. We have been here for 13 years now, and although I was born, grew up and spent most of my life in California, Michigan is now our home. And I really like it here - I do miss the redwoods though!



Lastly, and most important to the reason to start a journal here, I am an avid runner and a HUGE lover of all things Disney. Given these two loves it was just a mater of time before I did my first runDisney race - Goofy 2015. Since then I have run Dopey at Marathon Weekend every year except 2019 and 2021. In 2019 I was recovering from paroneal tendon surgery and, well, we all know what 2021 gave us. I did do the virtual Dopey that year. I have also run the inaugural Spring Surprise Challenge and hope to keep that going and eventually earn a perfect status.


Currently I am recovering from COVID, but then will be jumping back into my training for the Capital City Rover Run Half Marathon that I am going to make a POT effort at and then the focus is onto the New York Marathon in November and of course then Dopey in January. I think I will leave thins here for the moment. I will share my training plan a week at a time moving forward. Thanks for reading and please do comment!

 

[Cabius]

Love the pics!

I've only had my journal for a month or so, but I've definitely appreciated the accountability that comes from knowing I need to post here. I hope that you find it fruitful as well.

I hope that you recover from Covid quickly, and look forward to following along!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

at my alma mater Michigan State University

Go Spartans! I was a Chippewa just north of you

 

[Herding_Cats]

Go Spartans! I was a Chippewa just north of you

You CMU people are just bonkers. Several of my cousins went there and last summer when we were winery-hopping they all had to run over to "fire up chips that guy because he's wearing a CMU shirt."

I have been on the runDisney board for a bit, I still remember when all our threads were on the WISH page and there was no dedicated runDisney page yet. I have really enjoyed being a part of the boards here, having gained so much knowledge, made friends and become a better runner for my involvement.


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My family relocated to Michigan when I took a job at my alma mater Michigan State University. We have been here for 13 years now, and although I was born, grew up and spent most of my life in California, Michigan is now our home. And I really like it here - I do miss the redwoods though!

View attachment 694596

Ummmm .... Those Merida ears are AMAZING!

Do I spy a pic at the Pierce Stocking lookout up there? Sure looks like Sleeping Bear at least.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Congrats on starting a training journal @Baloo in MI!

 

[Baloo in MI]

Love the pics!

I've only had my journal for a month or so, but I've definitely appreciated the accountability that comes from knowing I need to post here. I hope that you find it fruitful as well.

I hope that you recover from Covid quickly, and look forward to following along!

Thanks! That is my hope also.

 

[Baloo in MI]

Go Spartans! I was a Chippewa just north of you

My family used to go up to Mount Pleasant all the time, nice campus.

 

[Baloo in MI]

You CMU people are just bonkers. Several of my cousins went there and last summer when we were winery-hopping they all had to run over to "fire up chips that guy because he's wearing a CMU shirt."


Ummmm .... Those Merida ears are AMAZING!

Do I spy a pic at the Pierce Stocking lookout up there? Sure looks like Sleeping Bear at least.

Wow! Good catch, yes that picture is from last summer on a camping trip in the Sleeping Bear Dunes area. So beautiful! One of the many reasons I have fallen in love with Michigan. Oh, and the Merida ears are from Etsy (I think).

 

[Baloo in MI]

Congrats on starting a training journal @Baloo in MI!

Thanks! My family still teases me to this day because at Marathon Weekend 17 or 18 (not sure which) I saw you by the fence after the marathon and yelled out hi just after finding them. They were all excited for me and evidently I was only excited to see you!

 

[Baloo in MI]

Well if this is going to be a running journal I should start focusing on running. Let me start with my goals and races for this year (pulled from running journal on my iPad),

Goals:

• Finish 2022 injury free
• Carefully build up monthly mileage so I am ready to get back into Ultra in 2023
• Reintroduce more tempo work and hill work
• Get back on the trails!!!!
• Try some new training plans
• Reapply to the New York Marathon Celiac Team
• If not New York then another fall marathon (Detroit?)

My races for this year:

• 1/6-1/9 - Dopey Challenge (completed)
• 3/31-4/3 - Spring Surprise Challenge (completed)
• 7/9 - Pigeon River, half marathon-trail run (completed))

• 9/17 - Capital City River Run half marathon (Registered) - POT EFFORT!!
• 11/6- New York Marathon (Registered)
• 1/5-1/8 - Dopey (Registered)

Nothing to share for this week - I am spending it on the couch isolated from the family and focused on recovery. But on Monday I will start week 6 of a 10 week training plan getting ready for my POT effort on 9/17. I am a little anxious about how much I may have lost missing the past two weeks and knowing that I will have to ease back next week. But I am going to move forward regardless and give it my best effort. My training plan for next week:

8/28: 3 miles easy
8/27: 10 miles lrp
8/26: OFF
8/25: 5 miles rp
8/24: 6 miles easy
8/23: REGISTRATION FOR SPRING SURPRISE 2023 - 5 miles tempo
8/22: Week 6: OFF

 

[Baloo in MI]

And the week is done! As I have been fighting through feeling tired from the impact of Covid I am happy to share that I am both negative for Covid now and successfully completed my schedules runs for the week; albeit slower than I had intended…

I have scheduled a POT effort race in September that I am going to have to rethink a little. Between a back issue and then Covid I lost three weeks in August. More concerning was how tired I felt during runs this week and how irritating my cough remains. I am still going to run the race, but I am going to be careful about effort. I really need to be focused on November and the New York Marathon. And I think being smart about building back up is going to be better for me than possibly hurting my self next month and having that effect New York. Anyway, I am just happy to be running again!



This past week: Planned 29 miles; Completed 31.21 miles
8/28: 3 miles planned. Completed 3.36 miles. Took Kai this morning (our dog). So it was very interrupted for sniff and potty breaks, saying hello to every other dog out there…. But we wrapped up the miles for the week!
8/27: 10 miles planned. Completed 10.51 miles. So hot this afternoon. Kept a consistent pace and am happy to finished my intended miles. Ran on the river trail which will be part of the race course for the Capital City River Run Half I will be running next month. Good run.
8/26: OFF
8/25: 5 miles planned. Completed 6.52 miles. Still have cough, but feeling a little better. I am going to continue to keep it slow for the week, about 2-3 minutes off race pace.
8/24: 6 miles planned. Completed 5 miles. Every mile hurt today, even going slow…
8/23: 5 miles planned. Completed 5.82 miles. First run in over two weeks, felt surprisingly good. Initial plan was to do some tempo work, decided to simply keep the run slow and easy. Oh, and I registered for the Sprint Surprise Challenge.
8/22: Week 6: OFF

Next Week:
9/4: 3 miles - easy/race/easy pace
9/3: 11 miles - easy pace
9/2: OFF
9/1: 4 miles - hill work
8/31: 5 miles - easy pace
8/30: 4 miles - Tempo work
8/29: Week 7: OFF

Gratuitous picture of Kai!

 

[jmasgat]

Hey neighbor! (well, okay Birmingham area). Good luck with the NY training. I just got my race insurance refund today--I ended up canceling because by the time I recovered from a broken bone in my foot (and went to Italy), I just didn't have enough time to properly recover and train.

And sleeping Kai.....

 

[Baloo in MI]

Hey neighbor! (well, okay Birmingham area). Good luck with the NY training. I just got my race insurance refund today--I ended up canceling because by the time I recovered from a broken bone in my foot (and went to Italy), I just didn't have enough time to properly recover and train.

And sleeping Kai.....

I am sorry you have to miss the marathon. Do they give you a pass for a future year?

 

[jmasgat]

I am sorry you have to miss the marathon. Do they give you a pass for a future year?

There is verbiage on the website that indicates that may be a possibility. But we'll see sometime in Jan/Feb. And I am not sure if my heart is in the marathon anymore. But you never know!

 

[lookingforsunshine]

Gratuitous picture of Kai!

CUUUUTE!

 

[Baloo in MI]

It was a pretty good week. I was able to get in all my scheduled runs, but it is clear to me that I did lose a step with all the lost time in August. My POT race is in two weeks so I think I am just going to run it without expectations and see what happens. Here are my results from this week:



This weeks total mileage was 29.68.

• 9/4: 3 miles - Completed 2.75 miles of hanging on for dear life running with Kai!
• 9/3: 11 miles - Completed 11.6 miles. Had to work this morning, so did not get to run until the afternoon - mistake! Hot and humid, it ate me alive and I was just happy to finish…
• 9/2: No run.
• 9/1: 4 miles - Completed 4.51 miles. Hill repeats and a few easy miles.
• 8/31: 5 miles - Completed 5.51 miles. Easy pace, 10:45 average.
• 8/30: 4 miles - completed 5.31 miles. Went with tempo, very relaxed first mile and then picked it up over next 4 miles. Went longer than I anticipated but happy with effort. - 11:24, 9:25, 9:17, 9:12, 9:05.
• 8/29: Week 7: No run today.

Next week:

• 9/11: 2 miles: walk or very easy pace
• 9/10: 12 miles: long and slow
• 9/9: OFF
• 9/8: 4 miles: hill work/easy pace
• 9/7: 5 miles: easy pace
• 9/6: 4 miles: tempo
• 9/5: Week 8: No run

 

[Baloo in MI]

This was a really tough week. Work was incredibly demanding and I was simply not able to run on the days I planned. As stupid as this may seem, I really struggle with my runs as soon as I fall off the planned schedule. I ended up missing Tuesday and Wednesday and had to squeeze my runs into four straight days. Not as I had planned, but happy to get the runs in. Only a week from the Capital City RIver Run.

Unfortunately this next week will be challenging as well. Busy work week (hopefully nothing like last week) and then a quick trip down to Southbend on Friday & Satyrday. Then drive home, sleep, get up and go to the race. Not exactly the best preparation for the race, but it is a chance to see my dad and brother. Really looking forward to that as they live California and Tennessee And I do not get to see them very often, especially together. My dad is a huge Norte Dame fan so we are meeting to go to the game on Saturday. Very excited about It!

Well here are my results from this week and my basic plans for next week.

Last week:

• 9/5: Week 8 of plan: No run planned
• 9/6: 4 miles - Did not run… Had a 17 hour work day, so decided no run.
• 9/7: 5 miles - Did not run… Got to follow up yesterday with 13 more hours of work, so no run. Got home and went to bed!
• 9/8: 4 miles - Completed 5.22 miles. Went easy with slow pace, but did some hill work.
• 9/9: No run planned - Completed 5.51 miles. Got caught in some pretty hot weather so I went slow.
• 9/10: 12 miles - completed 11.75 miles, misjudged the distance, but to be honest was pretty tired so just called it a day.
• 9/11: 2 miles - completed 2.37 miles. the week of easy I guess.

Next week:

• 9/12: Week 9: No run on Monday
• 9/13: 3 miles tempo work
• 9/14: 4 miles easy
• 9/15: 3 miles easy
• 9/16: No run on Friday
• 9/17: No run on Saturday, get in some walking, lots of water
• 9/18: CAPITAL CITY RIVER RUN - HALF MARATHON, POT EFFORT!!!!!

I will follow up later in the week with my race plan for Sunday, but in the meantime here is a picture of my Lab, Kai, with his new favorite toys. We just got his latest Bark Box and this month the items were Harry Potter themed - it’s his own wand and Hedwig. Hope whoever is reading has a good week And thanks for reading!

 

[Baloo in MI]

Sunday I run the Capital City River Run Half Marathon in Lansing. I guess that is a bit redundant - Capital City race in Lansing, which is the capital…Anyway, last year I circled this race as my POT effort for Dopey. But I later learned that my last Capital City Half time could still count for Dopey 2023. So I submitted that time. Still I know that time will be outdated after this year, so Capital City 2022 remained my POT effort for the future.

Then life hit, super busy summer, travel, work was crazy and then I got Covid. In short I had some good weeks and some poor weeks running. I got a bit shy about this POT effort and the idea of setting anything beyond simply giving it my best…. But this week I have decided to set I think a realistic goal. So since I have this new training journal, here is my goal:

Sub 2-hour. The last time I went under 2 hours was 2018/pre injury. I am shooting for a 9 minute mile. I will take the first mile a little easy and then pick it up. This is going to be difficult, but I believe I have it in me. It is a favorable course and I have run this race once before (finished in 2:01). Weather Sunday morning in Lansing looks good, cool and potential for rain.

So
A-Goal is 1:57
B-Goal is under 1:59:59.99
C-Short of above, leave everything on the course

 

[GollyGadget]

Best of luck to you!

 

[DopeyBadger]

Have fun!