Small group or big group, either way it should be fun to be right at the heart of the action. You have the shirts, you’re going to be a popular guy. 
I wonder if there’s any chance more people will sign up as it gets closer to the race date. It sounds, though, like you already have a pretty good idea of what your coworkers’ plans are, e.g. running longer races. Was there much procrastination factor last year?
<p>People need to signup, I think, at least two weeks before the race to get the shirts with the corporate logo and we’re 3.5 weeks out. There are some that will sign up as the deadline approaches. I may ask the fitness center manager to send out a reminder - she’s the only person with access to the fitness email list in the building.</p>
<p>I think that part of the reason for less participation is that there are far more races this year than last year. Even last year, the number of races started to grow and it seems that there’s at least one race every week in the area. The proliferation of races may be distracting people away from our “corporate” race.</p>
<p>Skipping meals is never my problem. It is adding meals. I wonder what anybody says about adding meals…just kidding. Have a wonderful weekend, way too hot for me to do anything outside of water or airconditioned gym. There are added pounds because of added meals on holiday. Oh, well, one of these days, I will try to skip despite of others’ opinions. It usually helps, but my normal day includes about 10+ of them, skipping should be OK.</p>
<p>3 miles, 8:05 pace. That is at or near my limit. Getting to 8:00 would seem easy as it’s only 5 seconds per mile but it feels impossible when you are at or near your limit. I tried a different strategy today compared to Wednesday. On Wednesday, I took it easy the first mile, then ramped up speed on the second mile, dropped speed and then ramped into the third mile. Today, I started out fast for the first mile and a half, dropped back, slowly increased, and then ran slow for the third mile and ramped it up late into the third mile. I was fairly tired while running the third mile - usually I can really crank it going into the end but not today. I imagine that there is some science out there on the best way to run - my gut feel is that the best way to run is not steady state but some kind of pattern but I don’t have any idea as to what that pattern is.</p>
<p>Ideas are intervals, slow to fast and repeat, fast to slow? I imagine that this stuff is in a book or web page somewhere. Today was also the first time when I thought that wearing the HRM would be a good idea. My goal is generally to keep it under 170. My guess is that it was somewhere around 190 today - at least for a while.</p>
<p>I noticed with the Hal Higdon 5K plans, the novice, unlike intermediate, doesn’t have intervals or tempo runs, so I don’t feel too bad that I’m just adding minutes at this point rather than trying to figure out an interval strategy. For now I’m just working on trying to make sure I’ll have enough oomph to last jogging the full 3.1. :-)</p>
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<p>There are people who think they know what intervals work best, but – just between you and me – I think they are either making it up as they go and/or putting way too much credence in little tiny snippets of research. </p>
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<p>I have kind of been forced off the fitness train here for few days. Despite having just gotten my car inspected in Mass at the end of January, I got a rude surprise when I took it for the NH inspection with the prospect of repair cost that doesn’t make much sense relative to the age of the car. Not a happy camper because the car is running great, but I’ve known that all good things must some day end! :)</p>
<p>Having gone from 3 cars for 2 people to 1 car for 1 person (looks like I sold the wrong one before I moved!), I don’t really have the luxury of time unless I want to make long hikes a daily habit. So, I’ve been scurrying around getting some repair estimates and lining up some options for a car to buy. </p>
<p>I’m a fan of buying late model, low mileage used cars from dealerships (pay a little more, but they are in excellent condition) and save a ton of dough by letting somebody else pay for “the new car smell”. Particularly in New England winters, it’s best to think of them as commodities rather than fashion statements… </p>
<p>So I spent part of yesterday at one dealership, many hours last night doing internet searches of dealer inventories, and several hours this afternoon at another dealer over BC’s way doing some test drives and nailing down some bottom line prices. They have two really nice options (3 years old, 30K miles, nicely equipped, one is loaded) plus two or three other decent options (less money but more miles or not as equipped). Two that I thought looked good from their inventory (but a little high on the price) turned out to be All-Wheel Drive, which makes the prices pretty reasonable. Another dealer tomorrow and then I’ll make up my mind and pull the trigger. I don’t know if I’ll do the deed tomorrow or just pay for one to nail down the deal and pick it up Monday or Tuesday. The time crunch is having a game plan in place, then I’m not in a any big hurry.My insurance agent is closed tomorrow and I’m not driving a car without switching the policy.</p>
<p>Good luck with the car purchase. I know it’s a pain. My FJ Cruiser has 104,000 miles now and I’m hanging onto it!</p>
<p>Intervals- we usually had a certain time we were trying to hit for each one- i.e. 1:45 400s or 3:00 800s (back in the day). Best if you get progressively a little faster as opposed to having the last one be a lot slower.</p>
Hah, mine only has 75,000 miles. With New England winters, years eventually gets them, no matter how low mileage. I’ve basically got it boiled down to three choices. All the same age, all with 30K miles. All with the bigger V6 engine, all within an $1800 spread. All easy-peasy, just drive my old one to the dealer and ditch it. The expensive one is super fancy (leather, sunroof, yadda, yadda, basically every option available) with AWD. Of the two cheaper ones, one is plain, but with AWD. And one is in-between with front-wheel drive). I hadn’t even considered the AWD version until this afternoon, but it does have a certain appeal living in New Hampshire. 
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<p>I think that intervals are somewhat dangerous. You are putting considerable stress on your joints and a mistake can result in a tumble. My experience has always been that the cardiovascular system is stronger than the skeletal system.</p>
<p>idad, I just bought a truck with just under 100k on it. 4x4 V8 engine… thing gets up and goes! ;)</p>
I have 245K miles on my Toyota and it’s still going strong. It’s only FWD.
I drove AWD for quite some time and it has some drawbacks:
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<li>More expensive to maintain</li>
<li>It’s a combination of FWD + RWD and you have to be careful that you don’t kick the tail out when cornering in snow unless you want to do that to do a really fast U-Turn.</li>
<li>You should replace all four tires at the same time - that can be a pain if you damage one tire.</li>
<li>I haven’t had any problems with FWD in getting stuck but things are a little easier snow-wise on the Route 3 side compared to the Route 93 side. Route 93 has a higher speed limit and the road has a lot of curves and hills that can get dangerous when things get slippery. When things get really bad, I just stay home.</li>
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It sounds like you dropped by a Subaru dealership from your description.
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<p>No. Subarus are supposed to be good cars, but they are a little bit too crunchy granola for my style. I’m big on cars that have dealerships everywhere and that no matter where you break down every gas station can fix half the stuff. I’m walking distance to a Ford dealership, so that’s what I’m looking at. Silly me, I didn’t even know they made AWD. This is more of the car-style thing, not the 4WD Jeep thing. It automatically disengages at highway speeds.</p>
<p>I’ve driven front wheel drive for about 30 years now and it’ll handle most of what winter throws at you as long as you don’t have to drive in the middle of it. On these new-fangled cars, everything is electronic traction control and driving all four wheels is just an extension of that. My condo is at the top of a steep hill as are all the grocery stores, so I’m sure that a little extra grip would come in handy from time to time.</p>
<p>1 hour of “Australian doubles” tennis.</p>
Finally! A workout within the mere mortal range!
<ducks as=“” the=“” tomatoes=“” fly=“”></ducks>
You know I think what you can do is awesome, CJane.
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Every time I do this analysis I wind up buying new. For most cars you can grind the dealer down to invoice or lower, and paying 85-90% of the price of new for a car with 30-40,000 miles (or more) just never made sense for us. I’d rather have the full length of the warranty.</p>
<p>I typically need it right away and never have the time to spend a few weeks looking for a private sale, which is where the real bargains are, I think.</p>
<p>Daughter and I had a really nice run with the Badgerland Striders today in Mikwaukee (here for a wedding) along Lake Michigan. It was a supported run (water stops and food at finish) with about 150 runners of all levels. I was told about it on RunningAhead when I asked about where to run up here. It worked perfectly for us. 74 and humid, but cloud cover the whole time. 10.5 miles done!</p>
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<p>Looks like I’m paying 60% of the invoice (after rebates) for similarly equipped new car ($18k versus $30k before “trade”). Of course, I would probably not get all the extras if I were buying it new. I don’t really have time to shop around for private seller deals or to sell my old car. The dealer giving me a couple grand “trade” on the old car makes it easy enough that I can actually get back to working out! It’s also hard to find very low mileage cars from private sellers, although you can find base models from car rental companies and fleets.</p>
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That’s pretty good… I’ve never found a deal that good on the vehicle I wanted.</p>
<p>When I bought my car (Toyota RAV4), my choices were to pay $22K for a new one, or $18K for a 3 year old one with 50,000 miles on it.</p>
<p>MOWC, excellent! I bet it was fun seeing new sites along the lake, and you’re keeping that bunny hopping! Have you been to the wedding yet?</p>
<p>~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~</p>
<p>iDad, enjoy the new wheels!</p>
<p>Wedding is late this afternoon. Rehearsal dinner last night turned out to be right where today’s run started. We are going beer shopping now!</p>