Wednesday Dec 9, 2015

Still reeling that Turner turned 18 yesterday.  Cant believe it.  This is me and him in 1999 walking to the skiff.  One of my favorite pictures

Alarm: 4:45 AM

1. WHM Breathing 6 rounds plus pushups

2. Run 7.2 miles

I ran today WITHOUT the dogs for the first time in quite a while.  It was kind of nice for a change because I had a chance to listen to the first few chapters of Jocko Willink's Extreme Ownership.  If you own a business, manage a team or simply manage your most important team...your family, this is a great book.

I ran with Mike Drew, Michael Miller and Patrick this morning and held the lead to Walnut Street Bridge and then got passed by Mike and Michael.  I was able to stay in sight of them and even catch up a little by concentrating on higher cadence and shorter steps.  It does take concentration for me to run that way, but I am noticeably faster and could probably drop minutes if I could remain concentrated for the entire run.  

I felt great today.  It was 38 degrees and I just ran in a pair of shorts and t shirt.  My time was 54:04 which is a 4 minute PR and really about a 6-7 minute improvement over my average on this run. 

Thanks Mike, Michael and Patrick for pushing hard.  We all set PRs today.

I have kept up the breathing every day and really do feel as though it has made a remarkable difference in my performance.  The cold exposure is definitely not as pleasant as the breathing, but I am doing it.  Doing something when you dont like it is a mental victory.  I definitely dont like the cold water, but I will stick it out.  Part of this program is to choose a challenge that you didnt think you could do at the beginning.  I think that a 15 minute swim in the lake on Jan 1 may be in order.  Who knows...I could chicken out.