Right out of the gate I’ll cover what’s obvious: for the next 14 weeks the Monday post will be referred to as the Road to Bluegrass. As you all know by now, I’m registered to run the Bluegrass Half Marathon in Johnson City coming up at the end of September and training officially started two weeks ago. I, of course, didn’t bring it up until now thanks to my unplanned hiatus last week but just know it’s happening and it’s happening now.

I finished up the second week on Saturday. I’ll talk about my weekly running in these Monday posts but if you want to see how I’ve been training, I’ve added a handy dandy link to the top that says, appropriately, Road to Bluegrass. This will include an up-to-date table that includes both daily and weekly distances as well as my average pace.

If you read that shit, then you’re a running geek and I love you.

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Week two was encouraging. Since I haven’t been running as hard as I used to, my conditioning has gone to shit. I was a bit worried about this during the first week as I was suddenly having to remember how to keep a safe pace that won’t leave me winded. I spent part of week one pushing a bit too hard but week 2 helped me figure it out a bit more. My weekend long run has increased from 2 miles to 3, which marks the first 3-mile run I’ve done on my own in months (save for a the 5-miler I did on Mother’s Day).

On the week, I logged 9 miles (14.5km) with an average of 11:41/mile (6:50/km — I think). Also, worth sharing is how I’m tracking nowadays. Erin got me a TomTom Spark 3 GPS watch and I love love love it. I told her that if I ever trained for another half marathon that I’d be getting a GPS watch to do it with so she hooked me up. Is it as fancy pants as an iWatch or one of the higher-end watches with heart rate monitors, etc? No, but all I wanted was something that tracked my time, my distance, my route, my pace, my step count, my calories burned and allowed me to share all of this information on social media. It does all those things and it does them very well.

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Week 3’s boxing and running looks like this:

• Monday: Rest
• Tuesday: 2 Mile Run, 7:00pm Boxing at TITLE
• Wednesday: 2 Mile Run
• Thursday: 2 Mile Run
• Friday: 6:00am Boxing at TITLE
• Saturday: 3 Mile Run, 11:00 T-75 Boxing at TITLE
• Sunday: Cross-training (details below); 1:00pm Boxing at TITLE

Cross Training – Phase 5, Week 2: Back, Triceps, Calves, Hamstrings

• Top of the Mountain Warmup: Spin bike, 8 minutes: 1 minute each from levels 1-8 then stretch
• Pull-Ups Set 1: 4 Reps
• Circuit 1 – Weight: 30%, Reps: 10
  Dumbbell rows, tricep curls, jump rope, good mornings
• Pull-Ups Set 2:4 Reps
• Circuit 2 Repeat Circuit 1
• Pull-Ups Set 3: 4 Reps
• Circuit 3: Weight: 85%, Reps: 5
  Barbell rows, tricep pushdowns, jump rope, dead lifts
• Pull-Ups Set 4:3 Reps
• Circuit 4: Repeat circuit 3
• Pull-Ups Set 5: Max Reps
• Kettlebell Challenge Day 18 – 70 Snatches (12 each side; 10 each side x2; 3 each side)
• Bottom of the Mountain Cooldown: Spin bike, 8 minutes: 1 minute each from levels 8-1 then stretch

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This is my first full-week back in action after dealing with the grief of losing someone I love. I find comfort in staying busy and I hope that putting in this much effort into things I love reflects even a fraction of the effort Paps put into shit he loved. I miss that dude and I miss him badly. Yesterday I gave him credit for giving me a giant cloud to cover up the blazing sun while I was mowing my yard. That seems like something he’d do for me.

I also blamed him for the stick that shot out of my mower LITERALLY seconds later that cut my shin.

I sometimes wish a 13 year old me would pull up my driveway with their Paps asking if they could mow my yard over the summer…

…Nah; I’d tell him to take a hike. Mowing is mine and Paps’ time now :-)