My own "Turkey Trot"

Also known as Why can't my phone just work right?

I tried out a new workout today.  Since the last marathon was so bad, and apparently I'm doing another one next year (ask me about Dublin), I decided I needed a new strategy.  I read up on the Galloway method and decided to give it a try today.  I wanted a long Turkey-burner run, around 8 miles.  I haven't run that far at once since the marathon. 

Last night I downloaded the RunKeeper app, the only app I've found that let's me program intervals into it.  I played around a little bit last night and then headed out this morning.

Phone - oh this damn phone.  When any app that uses GPS runs with any other app, particularly apps that play music, everything freaks out.  Sometimes the music player pauses.  Sometimes a new music app will just open (besides the one I was using).  Sometimes it opens a new playlist.  But the most frequent problem is the phone just restarts while I'm running.  Annoying!  I think it's related to the GPS because every once in a while when I have just GPS the phone does the same thing.

The run - The run itself was actually very nice.  I do not feel like I ran eight miles this morning so that whole "your legs recover while you're moving" thing must be a little bit true. 

 My aunt and uncle live in a subdivision out in the country.  The big main roads are definitely not runner friendly.  Obviously there are no sidewalks out here but there is no shoulder on the roads either.  So I stayed in the subdivision where the speed limit is at least posted as 19mph.  (The cars don't go that slow, but they do go slow-ish and there were only a couple cars in the subdivision.)

As you can see, I wasn't too concerned about pace.  That time also includes an, um, "stop" around mile 4.  (Glad to know my stomach issues are still with me.  Also glad there are woods here!)  I ran 5 minutes and walked 2 minutes as my 'interval'.  I liked the idea and liked that the app on my phone told me when to stop and start.  (Before the phone freaked out and restarted.)  Sadly, I can't use my phone in the next marathon because I'll be in Europe, and I can't use my phone on all my long runs because the battery won't last so I might need to practice this with a watch instead.  (I'm looking for an excuse to get a Garmin...)  I liked the running and walking.  I'm hopeful it will make long runs more manageable (meaning I'm not up the whole night before dreading them).  We'll see.

 

The Turkey was awesome.  We made "fat free" gravy which means me and Aunt Mary had to sit there with a baster and suck all the oil off the top of the turkey juice from the pan.  Then the bottom "good stuff" was used for the gravy.  I had a ton of gravy over the turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  I also had sweet potato casserole.  Food I plan to have as leftovers but didn't try during the main meal include lasagna, creamed corn, apple sauce, and homemade pasta sauce.  Yum!

Shopping - I almost convinced Aunt Joanie that we should hit Macy's at Midnight but alas, I failed in my resolve.  Our plan is to leave tomorrow at 7am and hit the mall.  There's not a lot of shopping energy this year so we'll see how we do.

PS - This is my 1500th post!!!