Monday, May 10, 2010

I'm Back

Ok, what the hell happened the last month and a half? Well, nothing much really. I just took some time off. When I say time off, I completely took a break from running. I didn't run, didn't read any running blogs, didn't keep up with the running news. I gained a few pounds. Took a break from any exercise as well. I slept well, like a baby as a matter fact. I was a normal guy. A father, a husband, a babysitter, a TV watcher. Yep that was me.

Ok, I act as if I did that for a year. I only did it for like 5 days. But for me that's like a year in Bill years. After those 5 days I didn't really miss the running. That was kind of strange, I usually get the jitters, and want to run immediately when I take breaks. I was watching some infomercials, P90 & Insanity. I looked at the bodies in those infomercials and I was like hey, I used to be like that! I thought to myself I can't let all that work go to waste. So I was like I'm just going to run to be in good shape. I enjoyed my sleep and the extra time I had, so I decided to go run, but this time with no pressure.

That seemed to work. Immediately I started running faster than I was running before. So this only confirmed that I was burned out. I was enjoying the running with no strings attached. But one more problem, I lost my six pack, and no I'm not talking about beer. So I decided to go back to doing my calisthenics exercises. After a little while I started trimming down a bit.

On a few of those runs, I ran with Sam. Sam has a dream. His dream is to run in the Olympic Trials here in Houston in 2012. Sam has been dedicated and has been working his butt off. He dropped his half PR to 1:13 and his 5k PR to 15:52. Probably the main reason for his improvement is his increase in mileage. He has slowly bumped it up to over a 100 miles. I've been watching his progress and I have to say he has lit a fire in my ___. I'm thinking if he can drop 40 seconds off his PR in the 5k, what the hell would that do for me?

So slowly but surely I have been increasing my mileage. So far my legs have been irritable at times so I hold back a little bit and add little bit. It's a give and take. I realize the mileage increases may take longer than expected. But I'm willing to push for a little while. You know why? Because my switch has been turned back on. So I'm back into training mode albeit just a little bit different this time.

Who do I have to thank for this? Sam. Thanks Sam. You have been my crash test dummy and you didn't break. So here we go again...

But this time it is Bill 2.0

3 comments:

Sam said...

Speechless Bill. Very cool.

Although I may not think this is cool when you show up at the next race. :) I'll try to remind you how good it felt during those 5-days off.

Junie B said...

that post was awesomesauce.

and yes thats a word. a 'june' word, but a word nonetheless.

Bill Blancett said...

Thanks Sam,

Just keep doing what you do. You have become pretty proficient at putting in those miles. Something, I'm still experimenting with.

June,

Is it kind of like the words, peanut butter and jelly sammich? Never heard of that until you uttered it.

Thanks,

Bill