Father of Six

Amanda got her driver’s license this week.

She thinks she’s hot soup.

Her mom looks happy about it.

I ran five miles again this morning. The difference between yesterday and today was that I purposely tried to keep my heart rate below 150 bpm. I wanted today to be a recovery run from yesterdays sustained effort. I manually set my target HR zone to 140-150 bpm and intended to walk every time I went above 150.

This objective worked well, as you can see by comparing the stats paragraph below with yesterday’s entry. I ran the distance 2:48 slower, and my average HR was 4 bpm slower. My pace today was 11:28 per mile compared with yesterday’s 10:54.

Stats: Distance - 5 miles, Time - 57:18. Target heart rate zone manual, (140 to 150 bpm.) “In-zone” for 45:42, my average heart rate was 145, my peak HR was 153, my minimum HR was 92 and I used 982 calories. Listened to a Groovelectric podcast.

What a difference a day makes. I did a five mile run this morning and it was excellent. It was cold this morning at 4:30, probably about 30 degrees, but most importantly there was no wind. I felt really good, and especially strong on my two hills. I listened to an older edition of Podrunner. I like the soundtrack of my runs to be free of dialogue - instrumentals - and I like the Podrunner and Grooveletric podcasts because they provide just that. Sometime I don’t care for the tracks, but the general aura is good, and good for running.

I think the things that make a run “good” are a) how you feel before, during and after, b) you’re mental attitude, and c) if, when finished, you feel like you’ve sufficiently pushed yourself to the point of being pleasantly exhausted, but feel like you still have some fuel left in the tank. That’s a good run.

Here are the stats: Distance - 5 miles, Time - 54:32, I was running in my target heart rate zone 3, (134 to 153 bpm.) I was “in-zone” for 40:58, my average heart rate was 149, my peak HR was 159, my minimum HR was 103 and I used 980 calories. All this data from a watch on my wrist and strap around my chest. Pretty cool. My brother is going to help (with this and several other things that I want corrected) me get a little stats widgets from runningahead.com that will better track all this data. Other than providing me with more data about each run, and comparing them to other runs, this information is probably boring to all of you fine readers. Feel free to skip it in the future.

I’ve been too busy to post the data from my running this week. I typically take Mondays off and do a little weight lifting. This Monday I was too sore from the stooping, squatting and kneeling so I sat in the whirlpool, and then had a 15 minute steam room session.

Tuesday I did a 3.5 mile easy jog, partly as a recovery run from Sundays LSD run.

Wednesday I did a 3 mile tempo run and was cooking on the course near my gym. This course is anything but flat and has two significant hills. I hammered the hills and was pretty satisfied with my efforts.

This morning was pathetic. I stayed up too late last night because of the bathtub frustration and even though I woke up pretty tired, I had every intention of doing my 5 miler. Yeah right. I headed out for my run right as a little cold front was moving in. I wouldn’t have minded the cold so much, but the wind that was bringing the cold was just too much. I went back inside the gym, determined to do the run on the treadmill. About 15 minutes in, I had to abandon. I was dressed from head to toe for 30 degree temperature, and the gym was probably about 75. I was hot, and sweating like a stuck pig. I couldn’t mop my brow fast enough. I wound up running 1.3 miles but it could have just as well been nothing.

Tomorrow will be better.

Since I first posted on this project five days ago, not much more than frustration has happened.

The sub-floor removal was pretty easy, but stooping, squatting and kneeling would do a number on my hamstrings.
The next step was the rough installation of the new tub. That was quite fun, and I had to remove extra dry-wall and the ac-heater register to get the thing in.

Next came the two day ordeal of hooking up the overflow fitting and the main tub drain. The working conditions were almost enough to drive me to drink. I had to be down stairs, one foot on a step ladder, the other on the basement framework, while Tami was upstairs sitting in the tub, ready to apply screwdriver to bolts. After stomping around and cussing quite a bit (me only,) Tami and I were able to accomplish the task.

I’m ready to finish the sub-floor and prep the walls for tile application. I hope to have the whole thing ready for tile application Saturday morning.

Here are some photos.
New Tub roughed in.
My contortions
Me between the main floor joists
Tami working in the tub
She seems to be satisfied with her work

Sunday is the day of the week when I do my long run. Most runners refer to this run as Long Slow Distance (LSD.) Since I’m slow anyway, I should just call this run my RLR - really long run.

I ran a course that is two laps of a 5 mile loop in my neighborhood - Broadway Estates. I started just before dawn, and it was very humid and foggy, and about 35 degrees. Nice time of day and weather for a RLR.

I listened to “For Funk’s Sake,” and “Bottom Feeder” from the Grooveletric Podcast, which wasn’t quite long enough so I managed to fumble around with my iPod (as it was strapped to my left upper arm) and somehow I hit Music, then Artists. I finished my run listening to six tracks from Sting’s “Songs from the Labyrinth,” “Hold on Loosely” by .38 Special, another track from the Sting album, 4 Non-Blonds covering Led Zeppelin’s “Misty Mountain Hop” (pretty appropriate, considering the fog this morning,) and finishing the run with Aerosmith’s “Chip Away the Stone.”

Here are the statistics: Distance - 10 miles, Time - 1:57:46, I was running in my target heart rate zone 3, which is 134 to 153 beats per minute (bpm) based on my current max heart rate of 191 bpm. I was “in-zone” for 1:49:24, or 93% of the run, my average heart rate was 148 (77% max,) my peak HR was 156, my minimum HR was 87 and I used 2098 calories based on weighing 195 pounds 3 weeks ago. I weighed myself this morning at 190.3 pounds.

Some of you may have heard, and some have no clue, but I’m running with a slight injury. I sprained my right ankle during my Wednesday morning run. I managed to step on the edge of a recessed man-hole cover and rolled my ankle. I was looking pretty ugly, so I went to see Dr. Kelly on Friday. She did the acupuncture thing and told me to take Saturday off. (Little did she know that I had already ran 3.5 miles on it the morning I saw her.) Here is a photo of how the ankle looks this morning, after my run. Right Ankle 4 Days After.

Back to the Motte & Bailey project.

I began the demolition of the upstairs bathroom today. Several weeks ago we experienced a flood precipitated by the toilet overflowing, not once, but twice within minutes. When the overflow condition occurred, the water supply continued to pump water to the toilet, also creating a waterfall directly below in the downstairs bathroom.

Needless to say, the sub-floor and floor in the upstairs bathroom was ruined. Since the shower and tub were due for replacement, I decided to redo the entire bathroom - tub, floor, and toilet, plus tile work on the floor and walls.

Here are a few before shots and I plan to take some during and after shots as well*.

*DISCLAIMER* Mrs. Worthington does not approve of the content of these photos and has threatened me with bodily harm for posting them. It’s a risk I’m willing to take.

Looking into bathroom

Shower

Tub before the demolition began

Floor in front of toilet and tub

Old tub face panel removed

Nasty mess - before tub is taken out

Toilet out & shower doors off

Tub is out - Tearing out the subfloor

I have to admit that this type project is not among my favorites. I’m not fond of plumbing work.