Meet Alexander!

Meet Alexander!

The stories of my demise are untrue.  I am still here!  Just a little sleep deprived, over worked and spending my time with my family.

On August 1st we welcomed Alexander Ray to our family.  Mom and baby are doing great and we are rapidly adjusting to life with two kids.

I plan on updating everyone on our goings on soon.  In the meantime here are pictures from our photo shoot with the incredibly talented Anne Wilmus.  If you need family photos or newborn photos make sure to get to her website and check her out she is a fantastic photographer and person!

Building and another new baby (soon)

Been a busy few weeks here in the fitdad household.  We listed our house at the end of May, were under contract in 3 days and closed on the sale June 28th.

We officially became homeless that day and were graciously taken in by my in-laws until our new house is built in October.  We are building with Ryan Homes here in Pittsburgh so expect to be bombarded with posts along the way as we build.

I have been seriously negligent in posting regularly but life has been terribly hectic and given the opportunity to blog or be outside with Noah and the family I will always take the latter.  

We have been doing some of this:

Constantly this:

and, I have squeezed in a few of these:

Grampa has strong affection for ice cream so I think I am going to be doing much more running in the coming weeks...Who can say no to grampa and ice cream...I can't.

Then again if Christine gets around to having a baby in the next few weeks I am going to be doing more feeding, changing, and sleeping than running.

In that case if I continue with my ice cream habit I am going to be a fair bit more Fat Dad in the coming weeks.

Stay Hydrated and get outside!

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday Mom!

I keep hearing friends wishing each other a Happy Independence Day, I am not sure what day they are talking about.   All my life I have been convinced that they shot off fireworks on July 4th because it was my mothers birthday!

Happy Birthday Mom!!

The Mother of Boys.

"Handprint on cupboard and shoes in the hall.  

Toilet seat's up and there's mud on the wall.

Every sports channel to them will appeal, 

and the front room doubles as a football field.

The shelves in the kitchen are continuously bare.

There's toys on the couch and jeans on the chair.

Wrestling and mud and cars and noise;

I'm sure you can guess, I'm the MOTHER of BOYS!"

Patsy Gaut

My mom is always a sucker for a good quote or poem, or a treasured and timeless story.  She helped to instill us with compassion and caring and a joyous sense of humour.  She is a tireless worker and silent worrier.  She would sit up late at night waiting for us to get home under the guise of reading a good book kiss us goodnight and shuffle off to bed.  She is our nurse, or therapist, and our shoulder to lay our heads on when we were sad or too tired to hold it up ourselves anymore.  Much of what we boys became in life is because of her.  

Enjoy your fireworks today Mom!  

Love 

The oldest one.  

Happy Father's Day.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads who are there for their kids.  The guys who stuck around and did their duty to their children.

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around.  But when I got to twenty one, I was astonished how much he had learned in seven years!" -Mark Twain

"I don't care how poor a man is, if he has a family he is RICH." -Colonel Potter (M*A*S*H)

My dad taught me everything I need to know about hard work, living well, and being a quality human being.  He lead by example and at times growing up we most definitely butted heads.  As I matured and grew up though I began to realize how much he truly influenced my life.

I see a similar quote to this online a fair amount but it rings true here... I just can't believe it some days when I open my mouth and my father comes out!

Happy Fathers Day Dad, wish I could be at the lake fishing with you today instead of working a 12 hour shift.

Remembrance.

Enjoy your day off from work, from the trials and tribulations of day to day life.  But also be sure to take the time to remember, thank, and pray for those we have lost.  Celebrate the greatness of this country by never forgetting the sacrifice of our soldiers.

"These heroes are dead.  They died for liberty, they died for us.  The are at rest.  They sleep in the land they made free, under the flag they rendered stainless, under the solemn pines, the sad hemlocks, the tearful willows, and the embracing vines.  They sleep beneath the shadows of the clouds, careless alike of sunshine or of storm, each in the windowless place of rest.  Earth may run red with other wars - they are at peace.  In the midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the serenity of death.  I have one sentiment for soldiers living and dead: cheers for the living; tears for the dead." -Robert G Ingersoll

The Moments,

"You will never have this day with your children again.  Today is a GIFT.  Breathe and notice.  Study their little faces and feet.  Relish the charms of the present.  Enjoy TODAY...it will be gone before you know it." -Jan Hatmaker.

The moments we have with our kids are fleeting.  Sure the long nights seem like they drag on forever, the temper tantrums frustrate and annoy us but really when it all comes down to it we love our kids.  Part of me wants them to just stay young and innocent forever, part of me can't wait to see what they will become.

I take a fair amount of photos and videos of my kid, (ok who am I kidding...it's excessive).  But I make sure that when I am taking those pictures that I am not missing out on the quality time I need to spend with him.  I don't want my kid to grow up and think my face looks like the lens on my Canon.  Most of my photo shoots with Noah when he is posed in an outfit mom picked out last all of 20 minutes.  I wait until he is asleep to edit the pictures and the rest of my time is dedicated to "Daddy Noah time."

I consider myself pretty lucky because I don't have a job that requires me to travel.  I may work long days, but I get just as many days off in return.  When I spend the day with my son we spend the whole day together.  We play chase and hide and seek.  We play with trucks and trains.  We read countless books and we sometimes nap on the couch.  We eat together and we learn together.  Sometime I learn as much from him as I hope he learns from me.

Noah is slowly picking up the pace when it comes to talking.  He has a handful of words that we understand and the rest is just babble.  But the other day while playing in the tub I caught this video of him that I had to share.   If you have ever seen Mickey Mouse Clubhouse you will know what he is saying...even if you haven't I think the video is pretty adorable. 

It's the moments like these that i don't ever want to forget.  These are the moments I could watch on replay in my head forever.  They never cease to make me smile.

A Sad Day for Running...and our country.

Finishing a marathon is an accomplishment regardless of whether you are first or last.  Runners regardless of speed are a surprisingly tight bunch.  We get each other, we understand why we run, we all understand joy and suffering we feel in a race.  Many of us feel a connection to each other as soon as we know that another "runs."  Today that connection makes many of our hearts heavy and saddens us.

I am sure you have already heard about the absolutely cowardly act that was committed at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.  I don't need to go into details about how terrible this act was or how my heart breaks for anyone killed or injured by such a cowardly act.  I hope that the authorities find who did this and make him/her pay for their cowardice.  Attacking innocent people is by far the weakest thing a human can do and right now my blood is boiling with anger and pain.

My thoughts and prayers go out to any and all affected by this tragedy.  The running communities around the world feel your pain, and are praying for you.

Today, when I saw the coverage what I really looked for was the people helping.  Those public servants as well as citizens who turned towards the explosion and ran to help.  Those are the heroes today.  The people who without second thought ran to those who could no longer run.  Many of our public servants (fire, police, EMT, etc)...will have a busy and tiring night ahead of them.  If you see them, thank them and offer them support...today they need you more than ever.

Be safe if you are in the city, and report anything suspicious to the proper authorities.

Ron

The Knee story, and my achilles (ugh)

Throughout my "athletic" career...mostly high school sports followed by limited activity in college I have been mostly injury free.  Aside from a broken wrist in high school, I haven't broken any other bones that I know of and my joints have been basically injury free.

When I first started getting back to running I was in sorry shape, my best description of that shape was blobular...or maybe roundish.  (Those are shapes right?)

My fitness level was probably a 1 on a scale of 1 to 10.  So getting back into the swing of things was definitely a shock to my system.  I had the usual soreness due to lactic acid buildup and using muscles that I had not used in years.  Once our mileage for the half marathon training began to ramp up I started noticing that my right knee really hurt on impact, like a sharp stabbing pain.  It got so bad that I actually broke down and went to see Dr. Stone at UPMC Sports Medicine here in Pittsburgh.  After a battery of tests he confirmed to me that I didn't have anything terribly wrong that a little stretching and physical therapy couldn't fix.

Basically as it was described to me there were muscles in my legs that were much stronger than others.  The stronger muscles were pulling stronger than the weaker muscles and then pulling my knee out of alignment, which in turn was causing my pain.  Dr. Stone asked me how flexible I was and how often I stretched after working out.  To which my answer was..uhhh I don't stretch much.  I think if he could have he would have whapped me upside the back of my head.

I took my new exercises home as well as a new stretching regimen and within 7 days the pain in my knee was nearly gone.   I resumed my half marathon training and continued on.

Since I started this new running program I am really beginning to test the extremes to which my body can handle a stressful workout.  I have been very diligent with stretching and adding to my overall flexibility.  The problem I run into is working 12 hour days on my feet.  I don't have a great deal of time  to stretch those days so I find that I am coming home very tight and strained.

About two or three weeks ago I noticed the pain returning in my knee around the same time as I was having some hamstring and calf cramping issues (while sleeping).  I took a few days off from running at the request of my coach and used the foam roller and stretched constantly throughout the day.  Within about 5 days the pain had subsided and things began to return to normal.  I eased back into a few runs and then resumed the more intense and long workouts.

Fast forward now to this past thursday, I was walking downstairs to the gameroom to squeeze in a speed workout while Noah napped.  I stepped awkwardly near the bottom of the steps and felt what could best be described as a twinge in my calf right above the achilles.  I didn't really think much of it and begin to warmup for a pretty intense progression run.  My goal was to run 4 miles at 8:00/mi pace followed by a progression of 7:40, 7:30, 7:20, 7:10...then warm down and stretch.

The first 4 miles felt ok, with occasional pain shooting up from my calf, but nothing consistent or serious.  By the end of the 7:30 mile the pain was a lot more frequent and by the end of the 7:20 mile every step sent a jarring pain up my leg.  I decided to heed coach Ross' advice and stop when pain like that happens because, 1.  I am not a hero, and 2. Pain usually causes you to alter your form therefore ending up with additional injury.

I struggled (more like hopped) up the steps, stretched and showered.  I walked around all day Thursday and Friday with quite a hitch in my get-a-long.  I continued to stretch and massage my calf all day on Friday.  The pain was only noticeable Friday when I would walk down steps or up hills.  I made a mental note to make a Dr. appointment Monday if the pain had not resolved.  I personally felt like this pain was again associated with tight muscles as opposed to an actual tear or more grievous injury.  I woke up this morning nearly pain free, still mildly noticeable when I walk down stairs though so I will continue to monitor myself and see a Dr if this persists.  I work all day Today, Sunday, and Monday so hopefully by Tuesday I will feel well enough to give an easy run a shot.  I am three weeks out from the marathon relay and I really don't want to miss this event.

So the lesson today readers?  Stretch.  Stretch A LOT!  Become more flexible and don't be a hero, if you have pain stop doing what you are doing and fix the problem don't just run through the pain and hope it gets better.  A good rule of thumb for stretching is 1 second for every year of age.  I try to do multiple stretches after every workout of each muscle group that was used during the workout.

If the pain lingers any longer than a few days or you cannot perform normal day to day functions without suffering it's time to go see a doctor.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Running!

Ron

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my fathers birthday.  Happy Birthday Dad!!

Growing up I think we all at some point revolt, push back, and fight our parents.  We as humans are growing up and growing into who we will be some day.  In that self exploration and development there is a great amount of revolution and turmoil against the establishment.  In this case, the establishment being my parents.  I am sure there are plenty of times where we clashed and where my anger spilled over into boiling teenage angst, only to be told just wait till you get older.  Wait till you have kids...

My parents are the loving supportive type that I am sure at the time were frustrated and angry at us for pushing back so hard...but at the same time forgiving enough to understand that we were kids and we still had a great deal to learn.

Life can be a powerful teacher.

Of course without my dad I wouldn't know the value of hard work, an ethos that he preached and practiced.  I wouldn't know the value of saving money (I think he might still have his communion money stashed away somewhere).  I wouldn't know the value of laughter and the strength of a strong family bond.  Without that I wouldn't be the man I am today, I wouldn't be the parent I am today.

Now that I have a child (soon to be children) of my own I find myself saying "I am becoming my parents..."  OR..."Man, I sound just like my dad."  I look in the mirror and see him telling me just wait till you have kids.

I may not have ever said it enough as a teenager dad, but even when I was a little sh*t and mouthed off deep down I knew you were right.  Deep down in my core I hated that you were right and now I look back and realize that I am glad you were so damn correct.  I am happy that you stuck it out and pushed us to go to college, you taught us patience, and also made us humble.  I am glad I had a strong male influence in my life to guide me and mold me.  Not many people are that lucky, for that I am blessed.

I hope some day I can do that for my sons.

Love you Dad, Happy Birthday,

Ron

(P.S. Sorry for causing you to have so much gray hair... :)

Happy Easter!

Good Afternoon friends,

It's been close to 2 months since my last post.  Life in the fitdad house has been very busy.  Preparations are under way for the new nursery for baby number 2 due in August.  Work has been insanely busy and run training has been taking up a good deal of my free time.  I have been seeing great strides in my times and mile splits.  This has definitely been a worthwhile endeavor!  The mix of recovery workouts and stressful speed and tempo workouts has reminded me of my days in high school running cross country.  My fitness level has improved drastically.

I have learned a very important lesson about flexibility, stretching and proper recovery as well.  I had a bit of a knee issue a few weeks back.  More on that in a future post.

Any additional free time I do have has been spent playing chase with Noah, building duplo castles for him to smash or playing with trucks.  Noah is all boy anymore, trucks, cars, trucks, and more trucks.  If it has wheels it gets driven around the house...heck if he can pretend it has wheels it gets driven around the house.  These past few months have been so fun with our little man.  He has such an endearing and wonderful personality.

Today we are going to spending our time with family enjoying the holiday and relaxing.   If you celebrate Easter I hope you and your family have a wonderful and happy holiday.  Enjoy the time with family and friends!

Happy Easter! Thank you for reading!

Week Three review.

It's been a hectic week and my running suffered a bit.  I was only able to get 3 workouts in this week instead of my recent 4.

-Thursday I had an easy 6 on the schedule 48:30.
-Friday was a 4 mile progression run with a 1 mile warmup and 1 mile cool down, I knocked out the 4 mile progression in 30:58.  (Started at 8:00 miles, very happy with this run).
-Saturday I was going to do 5 easy, but my legs were just feeling heavy and tired, so I opted to rest them.
-Sunday I did an "easy" 8 in 65:23.  At mile seven I was feeling whooped really had to dig deep to finish this one I did, and I am happy I did.

Now I am off to watch the Pittsburgh Penguins hopefully shellac the Washington Capitals and then catch the SuperBowl this afternoon.

Happy Running, Thanks for reading.

Valentine's Photo Shoot.

Haven't done a photo shoot with Noah in a bit.  Wife needed some pictures for the scrapbook...queue the cute outfit and nearly impossible to get to sit still kid.

Here are the photos and some of the outtakes.

Transformational Treadmill Run

Saturday's training block brought me to the transformational treadmill run.  That's just a fancy name for a run I did on the treadmill while watching Transformers Dark of the Moon.  Really all it entailed was running 8 miles on the treadmill because it was too cold to be outside running.

Transformational treadmill run 8 miles 63:50.  (barely sub 8:00mi pace..I'll take it!)

Bored out of my mind on this one, but happy with the result.

Progression Treadmill Run.

Thursday was my first Progression Treadmill Run ( I like to think of them as negative splits runs ).

I had 6 miles scheduled for today, here is how they broke down.

Mile 0-1 warmup (7.0mph)
Mile 1-2 Steady (7.4mph)
Mile 2-2.5 (7.5mph) -8:00 mile pace
Mile 2.5-3 (7.6mph)
Mile 3-3.5 (7.7mph)
Mile 3.5-4 (7.8mph)
Mile 4-4.5 (7.9mph)
Mile 4.5-5 (8.0mph)
Mile 5-5.5 (8.1mph)
Mile 5.5-6 (8.2mph)--10k pace (if we are estimating numbers)
I got really bored by about mile 5, so at 5.75mile I bumped the speed up to 8.5, and at 5.9 miles I bumped it up again to 9mph and sprinted to the finish.
Total time 47:17

Not a shabby run at all, felt strong the whole time.  Lungs felt good.  Was able to squeeze the whole workout in while Noah napped.  Got out of the shower only to hear the prince himself summoning me to his room.  DA! DA! DAAAAA!!!!

We spent the rest of the day laughing, chasing, and playing trucks.  I would say that is about the perfect day.

Have a great weekend all!

Be Safe! Get out and Run!!

Week 2 training update.

This update isn't terribly exciting, I have been keeping up with my runs but at a much slower pace.  Noah and I have been stricken with this wonderful bronchitis/coughing/chest thing going around.  So my lungs are a little sluggish getting oxygen to the rest of my body.  I have been pounding fluids, zinc, and getting plenty of sleep, thank you Nyquil.  Now if only I could get them to sponsor me for a commercial like Drew Brees has.

Noah has been relatively unaffected by the virus in our house.  He is still as fun as ever, albeit a little stuffier and a little sleepier.

Since this update is boring...here is some added cuteness to make up for it.

Thanks for reading!

Training Day 4.

Training Day 4 had 6 miles scheduled.  Due to an unhappy and rather coughy kiddo (who chose not to nap long) I was only able to knock out 3.5 miles.

Disappointing...BUT, time spent with Noah is more important than running right now.

Hopefully he is feeling back to 100% soon because the 4am wakeup call this morning is killing me today.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.
Happy Running!

Training day 3.

Technically according to my program today is supposed to be an off day, a day of rest as they say.  But that doesn't play nice with my work schedule this week.  I was supposed to have 8 miles scheduled for Saturday this week but I am also scheduled to work for 12 hours.  It's hard enough for me to run 3 or 4 miles on days like that let alone 8.  By process of elimination Wednesday became long run day.

My original plan was to run outside, but overnight we received a light dusting of snow, ice, rain and sleet.  So it it a bit treacherous on the side roads and sidewalks today.  I was relegated to pounding out those miles on the treadmill.  Lucky for my I have been stockpiling shows on the DVR that the wife doesn't also enjoy so I had some viewing to catch up on.

8 relatively uneventful pain free miles.  1:03:30.  This was supposed to be an easy run (same as yesterday...it should feel "easy"), I set the treadmill at 8:00 miles and started running.  Around mile 5 or 6 I started to get really bored by mile 7 I felt like I was just slogging along.  I decided to try to pick up the pace and finish a bit faster so I bumped the treadmill down to 7:30 miles and finished strong.

I was sweating like a champ, feeling really good, and am definitely over my weekly average miles now.  One more run this week then I will be resting a few days this week and recovering.

Happy Running

Training Day 2.

Training day 2 has arrived.  This program is definitely putting me out of my comfort zone of 12 to 15 miles a week.  That is by no means a bad thing, my running needed direction and I needed some spice added to my workouts to keep them from being redundant.

On tap for today was an easy 5 miles.  A definition for easy 5 miles would be a run that you can comfortably maintain pace while carrying a brief conversation with a running partner.  Seeing as my run would take place on the treadmill while Noah napped today means that the only person I would be talking to would be myself.  (as long as I don't answer myself it means I am not crazy right?).

The run went very smoothly, I set the treadmill at an 8 minute mile to start.  After about 3/4 of a mile I felt like I could comfortable go faster without really straining so I bumped it up to a 7:45 mile.  That felt great for a while and I finished strong by bumping down again for the last mile to closer to a 7:20ish mile.

Final distance 5.01 time:  38:51.

Time to refuel

Plainville Sodium Free Turkey on whole wheat toast, with american cheese, spinach, spicy mustard and a dash or three of spicy pepper sauce.  Took the edge off my hunger but I am going to need something more...I just cooked over 700 calories on that run.  Going to go grab some blueberries and rasberries and maybe an apple.

Get out and run!

Ron

The plan for the next 6 months.

I'm back!

After a brief holiday break (too hectic in life and work to blog sorry), an extra 5 pounds around my waist, and a wonderful series of days spent with my family it's time to get back on track.

You know, if more people were like runners life would be a much nicer and healthier place.  I don't know the reason why, but in my experience runners are just happier people.  Maybe it's because they don't have as much stress in their lives because they take it out on the pavement.  Maybe it's because they eat what they want because they just cover more distance next time to make up for it.  Who knows, but for whatever reason I have to say that more and more runners are the people I enjoy being around most.  Seeing people out on the street in my runs I get more smiles and waves than I do at any other public spots.  I think runners just see life differently than the rest.

I decided to sign up for the City of Pittsburgh Marathon relay again this year.  It will probably be the last year I am able to participate in this event with this group of coworkers.  Most of my interns are graduating this year so getting out and sharing this event with them is important.  Otherwise I should probably have signed up for the half.

I have felt recently that my running lacks direction, that my training isn't helping me improve or increase distance.  So I decided to seek help. I signed up for a training program with Dave Ross of Ross Running.  Over the coming months I will update the blog occasionally with my training schedule and runs.

Today was the start of the program.  I had 7 easy miles on tap, considering my longest run in the last few months was about 5 miles.  This would be interesting, and pleasantly surprising.