It's Official -- New York City Marathon 2009

Yesterday the New York City Marathon held their Lottery for entry into the 2008 New York City Marathon. According to the web site, 50% of the applicants are accepted via the Lottery. I have entered into the Lottery in 2006, 2007, and 2008 -- all 3 times I have been "rejected". Seeing that I'm not Katie Holmes, I will not be running the 2008 New York City Marathon.

But the good news is that I WILL be running the 2009 New York City Marathon. The New York City Marathon guarantees entry if you have been denied 3 years in a row -- so next year I'm in!!

Long run on the Treadmill…

Today’s workout called for a 1 hour and 40 minute run. I decided that I would do the run on the treadmill even though it was pretty nice outside with the high around 40 degrees.

For some reason, once the cold weather hits us, I’m all about the treadmill and then as soon as the spring hits – I won’t even look at the treadmill. During the winter it is just such a pain to get dressed properly and then find a place to run where the roads are not full of snow or full of pot holes. Then as soon as it gets just a little bit warm, then you can’t get me on that treadmill.

It is so nice, when you look outside and see the snow blowing and the temps in the negatives, to just jump on the treadmill or the bike on the trainer (or both) and enjoy the workout. The warm shower is only steps away.

This year we replaced our $300 treadmill (that lasted about a year – marathon training on it) with a bit more expensive model from Smoothfitness.com(http://www.smoothfitness.com/treadmills/smooth_925X.htm). The new treadmill takes up much of our bedroom space with the bike on the trainer taking up the rest of the space – might need a bigger house for all our fitness items.

So, today I completed my first long run in preparation for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Marathon in May. Went well – kept heart rate down and just enjoyed it…

Week three (3) in the books…

Well, today will be my last training day from this week (Sunday thru Saturday). Mrs. Team BRAZO and myself will be heading up to the Cottage for the weekend tomorrow morning, so I thought it would be good to have an extra day off from the schedule.


This week I added in a couple strength training workouts to get started on the strength training that I’ll need for the Cincinnati Flying Pig Pump –n Run Marathon. I’ve read a few books on strength training and I’m taking their advice about starting out very slow in order not to injury myself. I just do one (1) set of eight (8) reps for each of the strength exercises that I do. For the first week I have kept the weight amount very low – kindof like bench pressing a hammer. The funny thing though, is the fact that I have woken up in the morning the day after and actually had a bit of soreness in my chest – this may not be a good sign for things to come. Maybe they’ll let me do 20% of my weight instead of 65%.

My last couple of runs on the treadmill have been a bit hard – nothing really bad, just my body not feeling up to the run. That it fairly normal for me from time to time, so all should be good.

This weekend we’ll take the mountain bikes and hit a few trails in Peninsula State Park in Door County, but just some relaxing rides. We’ll need to wear some orange this weekend as the Wisconsin Deer Hunting season opens...

Spring Marathon – Flying Pig Marathon Pump –n- Run…

I’m not big on participating in the same event more than once. There is something about the excitement of doing the event the first time that I need to continue to look for those events that I have not completed.

Never say never, but if I continue to participate in IronMans – I don’t plan on repeating IronMan Wisconsin for many years – instead, I hope to participate in the other IronMans in new cities with new courses.

So, after competing in the Mad-City Marathon in 2006 and then this year doing the Green Bay Marathon – I needed to find a marathon to run in the spring of 2008. So, after looking around on the Internet – I found a Marathon that looks very fun and had very high reviews from past participants. That would be the 2008 Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati on May 4, 2008.

Not only did I sign up for the Marathon, but they had a category called “Marathon Pump –n Run”. Apparently when you compete in this category, you get two (2) minutes off your time for every bench press (65% of your weight) that you complete (up to 50 reps).

So, seeing that I probably can’t bench press 65% of my weight once – I thought this would be a GREAT idea. Just hearing the “muscle heads” laughing at my attempt to get the bar off of the bench should give me great joy. My “guns” are more like sticks and my chest is pretty much flat. Now, instead of finishing in the back in just the run -- I can now finish in the back of the run and the lifting!!

So now I need to figure out – will it be easier to reduce my body weight to around 90 pounds so that I can complete at least one (1) bench press or do I work on my upper body strength over the next six (6) months?

I had planned on adding some weight training to my schedule, so this will give me the motivation that I need.

Plus Mrs. Team BRAZO has reminded me over and over that I DO have a BRAND NEW weight “machine” that I haven’t used in a few years – so now things should quiet down a bit…