Training Progress

 My friend Joseph has been doing my workouts with me.  The workouts have been getting slowly harder.  We have been usually doing a long run on Monday's, 800 meter repeats on Thursday's, and hill repeats on Saturday's.

Yesterday (Monday) we didn't do a long run.  Instead we had 6 x 800 meter repeats on the schedule.  These have usually been at a 7 min per mile pace, but on this day it was a 6:30-6:40 pace on the schedule.  It was hard, and I was glad I had a partner pushing me.  If I did this workout solo, I probably would have stopped on the 4th repeat.  Doing 6 repeats felt like I was really being pushed.

This coming Thursday we have 6 x 800 scheduled again, but this time it will be at a 7 min mile pace, and I am really looking forward to the pace.  

I'm feeling more and more comfortable with my Garmin Training Program, and I think it will really help me in preparing for this years Headlands 100 miler.

I haven't signed up for the race yet, but I will be signing up very soon.

Time Management

 I was scheduled to do a training run on Thursday morning.  I had it all planned out.  Workout at the gym in the morning, take the kids to school, run as soon as I got home, take a fast shower, then go to work.  I couldn't run after work because my son and I were going to a Death Metal concert as soon as I got off from work.  Goatwhore was coming to town, and there was no way I was about to miss them.

It felt like a solid plan.  Then on Wednesday night I notice an email about a work meeting at 9:00am on Thursday morning.  Shit, how is this suppose to work?

I could have skipped my run, but instead I looked at my schedule.

1.  Get to the gym at 5:15am and get our workout started at 5:30am so we can be done at 6:10am

2.  Leave the gym by 6:15am so I can get home by 6:30am

3.  Start my run at 6:35am so I can finish by 7:25am (I was scheduled to do the same workout as last Thursday and it took me 50 mins, so I just needed to keep the effort, or run faster.)

4.  Leave the house at 7:30am to take the kids to school and be back home by 8:15am

5. Get home and take a fast shower.

6  Leave the house by 8:30am so I can get a breakfast burrito on the way to work and also get there on time.

This was the plan, and I nailed it.  I love having everything planned out on a schedule and having a visual reference to go off of.  I hate being late and not having a plan.

Luckily Brandon and Ashley are very self sufficient and if I tell them that I need them ready at a certain time, they are usually good to go.

My training run went well, and everything is still on track.  On Saturday my training plan calls for a hard effort 1 mile run after the usual warm-up, cadence drill, and acceleration drill.  I'm wondering what type of pace I can hold.  Hopefully a 6 min mile or faster. I guess I'll find out Saturday morning. 

Hill Repeats

Yesterday I had a pretty busy schedule, but I needed to do my hill repeat workout.  I figured that I would be off from work just before 7:00pm, and I would have about an hour of daylight after work to get my run in.

I haven't done any hill repeats in a long time and the workout called for 15 secs of running uphill and 15 secs of running down hill.  I haven't ran hills in so long that I had no idea what the actual distance would even look like.

There is a hill at Woodward Park that I usually did hill repeats on, and it's a pretty long hill, so I figured it would be a good choice.

The workout was very similar to the last workout I did with the 800 meter repeats on Thursday but with hill repeats substituted for the 800 meter repeats.

I started the workout with a 5 min warmup, and then did a cadence workout, followed by an acceleration drill.  After that I headed over to the hill I would do my repeats on.  I ran hard for 15 secs and made it half way up the hill.  The next step was to have a 1 min walking recovery.  I walked a little more up the hill anticipating that the distance I would cover running down hill would be greater that the covered going uphill.  I ran downhill for 15 secs and then once I hit the 15 sec mark, I turned around and ran back up the hill.  I did the run up, rest, then run down drill 4 times.  Since it was only 4 repeats I made sure to make my effort as hard as I was able to.

After I was done with the hill repeats I did a 5 min recovery jog back to my car.

The workout only took around 25 mins by the time I was done.  It's been nice not overtraining like I tend to do.

Tomorrow I have a pretty straightforward workout.  5 min warmup, a 7 mile run at a relaxed pace, then a 5 min cool down.

I'll probably just do the 1 mile loop I mapped out around my house.  I've always liked doing loops, even if they can get a little boring.

until next time...

Our New Fresno Hondo

On Sunday April 24th, 2022 I had the privilege of attending the Grand Opening of the new Fresno Buddhist Hondo that has, after a few delays, finally officially opened.  

I officially joined the Fresno Buddhist Temple just a couple weeks ago, and I'm very excited about this new (old) path.  Just a couple weeks ago I ran 70 miles from all the Temples in the Central Valley.  During my 70 mile run I visited Visalia, Reedley, Parlier, Kingsburg, Fowler, and Fresno.  I did this as a fundraiser for a local program that will put all the money we raised (so far $2,200.00) to a Buddhist Ministry program.  The reason I chose to do this was so that I could give back to my local Buddhist community.  Around July of last year I decided I wanted to explore Buddhism again, like I had several years ago... only this time I would do it correctly. 

* Link To Donate To Fundraiser *

The path that led me away from my Christian upbringing, later to Buddhism, then back to Christianity, and then eventually back to Buddhism is a long and complicated one, and will take me quite a bit of time to write... but I have started writing it.  Look for that blog post in about a month or two.  

Back on track...  Around July of last year I visited the Fresno Buddhist Temples website and saw that while they were not having in person services yet because of Covid, they were having services on YouTube and also a monthly Buddhism 101 class on Zoom.

I started watching the weekly services on YouTube and attending the monthly class on Zoom.

After attending classes for a few months I decided this was a path I wanted to continue on.  I felt compelled to give back to the local community in someone way, and a fundraiser that would involve running made the most sense.  I started researching where all the local Buddhist Temples were, and with the help of my new friend Reverend Kaz, I was on my way to running and taking a tour of the local Temples.

On April 2nd I ran from one temple to the next.  I had huge support from my family, friends, local running community, and local Buddhist Sangha. 

A few days before the run Reverend Kaz gave me a tour of the almost finished Fresno Hondo.  The building is breathtaking from the outside, and even more so on the inside.  I was really excited about doing the run and eventually being able to attend a service in person in the new Hondo.

The day after my run, an in person service was held outside the Hondo.  I was able to attend and meet several of the temple members.  Everyone was so inviting to me.  I was able to talk to members before and after the service, and I can honestly say that I felt like this is the place and community I've been searching for.

After attending my first in person service and talking to several members, I decided I would officially join the Sangha. 

When I later recieved an invitation to the ribbon cutting and in person service, I filled out the RSVP right away.

It was very exciting to be a part of the Fresno Temples next big step.  I look forward to the Dharma talks and being a new part of the Fresno Betsuin Family. 

Gassho