Heat? Yeah, we got that...

This was another run with Nick (the 5th mile, if you couldn't tell.) I added the extra mile on the way over and hit it on the way back. It was stoopid hot, though (90's or at least high 80's). I had to sit in Nick's basement for about a half an hour before I could get out with him.

Thankfully, it had cooled off a bit during our run/walk mile, and by the time I got back to his house, I felt ok to run back home. This is Day 1 of the training schedule - 8-10 miles easy!

5 Miler...for reals!

It was much cooler today (61 degrees), and I didn't have any problems getting this run in. Tomorrow, I plan another easy 5 miler to give me 20 miles for the week. That's a good base to start off my training plan for next week.

In other news, my youngest son graduates today from High School, and we couldn't be more proud of him!

Soon, we will be teh empteh nestehs!

To Hellfire and Back

I finally got the achievement yesterday on my Pally.

For the Horde side, this achieve requires that you do 86 quests in Hellfire Peninsula. Now, I don't like world PvP, so that eliminated one quest right off the bat. I also wasn't high enough level for the Shattered Halls quests. And I think I had to be better than Neutral with the Mag'har to get their two quests.

In the end, though, there were exactly 86 quests that I could do. The last one depended on killing a named arakkoa and getting a quest starter drop. If you didn't know about the drop and subsequent quest, then you'd end up waiting to 68 or so to finish the area, if you could even find a group for Shattered Halls. Good luck with that!

I ended up dinging 64 before it was all finished and am about halfway through that level as I start on Zangarmarsh. Now the quest requirements for the achieve in this area is only 50 something, so I may yet see Terokkar. We'll just have to see...

In other news, I decided to kill Scarlet Archmages on my DK until one of them coughed up the Crusader enchantment. I think I spent about a half an hour killing Scarlet dudes and finally, one of them dropped it. I listed on the AH for 2,900 gold, which was just under the only other one on there. Hopefully it sells; I need me some epic flying!

Watershed run

Or maybe it was a shed water run. In any event, it was rainy. Thunderstorm rain...with hail! I ran over to my friend Nick's house (3.12 miles), then ran/walked a mile with him, then ran home.

I didn't get very wet on the way over, and we waited for a little clearing for our run/walk mile, but I sure got pounded on the way home. I also messed up my timing by trying to lap our run/walk; next time I'll just keep a mental note of it.

Monday, I'll do something similar, only I plan on implementing my coach's training schedule. For those of you who are interested, here it is:

Day 1 (this will almost always be Monday for me): 8-10 miles, easy to moderate pace

Day 2 (Wed for me): 5 miles with 10X30 seconds hard. Warm up for 2-3 miles before the 10X30 seconds.

Day 3(Friday): 5 miles moderate to fast pace (last mile sub 9:00!)

Day 4(Sat): 8-10 miles, easy to moderate pace.

That's it! I do that for 3 weeks, then change Day 2 to 10X1 minute hard and Day 4 to 9-11 miles easy to moderate and do that for 3 weeks.

Day 4 can have a race subbed in. There you have it. I plan on running with Nick a couple of times a week, so I'll be adding a bit of mileage in my run to/from his house so I get in my mileage without counting my run with Nick.

More Wowness

I mentioned the other day that I've been questing with my Pally. I just dinged 63 last night and have been having a blast!

I still have a Protection spec, and I really like the survivability of it. I can take on 4 or 5 mobs of my level or one higher with no problems. I could solo the 62 elite rock guys in Hellfire Penn with no issues, and I even soloed the 63 elite demon dude in the Pools of Aggonar. Now, I do have the Heirloom chest and shoulders, so that is a bit of an advantage.

I'm almost finished with Hellfire Penn; I think I have 10 more quests to get the achievement. I've run Ramps once as DPS (spec'd Protection), and I plan on running Blood Furnace once as well. As soon as I get the quest achievement, I'll bolt for the cool, refreshing mushrooms of Zangarmarsh.

My main goal in playing this toon was to get her Blacksmithing up to a level that I could make the next couple of Enchanting rods for my priest, but I've found that in the process, I really like playing a Pally. At least soloing with a Pally; group play is ok (and I was second on the DPS meter on that Ramps run to the tank), but I prefer to play solo.

An interesting observation is that I've spent 5 levels in Hellfire Penn (58-63) and may even ding 64 before I'm done with the area (I'm including a Blood Furnace run in the mix.) With that leveling speed, and taking some time to Mine enough ore to level my Blacksmithing, I don't think I'll make it to Terokkar before I'm eligible to head to Coldlands.

So, I'm forcasting two complete areas, 4 instance runs (Ramps, BF, Slave Pens, and Underbog), and enough mining to get up to Northrend levels = ~level 68. Speedy leveling indeed! When I didn't make it out of Zangarmarsh with my hunter Daxen, I figured it was because I had run so many instances, but that won't be the case with the Pally.

I now have:
74 Hunter, Rysteranch, Skinning/Leatherworking
70 Hunter, Daxen, Mining/Jewelcrafting
64 Priest, Daxea, Tailoring/Enchanting
63 Paladin, Daxynn, Mining/Blacksmithing
60 Death Knight, Vancomyacin, Herbalism/Inscription
44 Druid, Daxenos, Herbalism/Alchemy
38 Rogue, Daxxy, Mining/Skinning (PvPer)
13 Mage, Daxeo, Mining/Engineering

Intended 5 miler

Melts to a 3 miler in the heat. This Alaskan boy may have acclimated to Indiana winters, but I haven't gotten used to the summers. Bah. I think it's only 82 degrees F out, but I could only do 3 miles this afternoon.

I might have to switch things up for a bit while I get used to the heat, so I may run in the evenings (at least this Wed and Fri, I will anyways.) Saturdays, I'll have to make sure to get up early and run before the heat hits.

No run yesterday...

...instead, kettlebells!

The 20 lb version. I did all of the workouts I did last time, sans the figure 8 exercise, but I did 3 sets of each instead of just two AND did 20 reps instead of 15.

Anyways, I was sweating like a convict in an electric chair by the time I was done and didn't think I'd be able to run very far as my legs were trashed.

I'll get in a 5 mile run today or tomorrow, and as soon as I get my father-in-law's training schedule, get back to the serious training.

Treadmill

Did a half hour gym workout with my wife before this run; we worked on chest, tri's, and abs, so no excuses, right? I still had to convince my body parts to run, so another slow first mile, but I got up to speed quicker than I anticipated.

I did the first quarter mile at a 12 min pace, the next quarter at an 11 min pace and the next half at a 10 min pace. Then, as you see, I cranked it up to a 9:30 pace and kept up. I was debating turning it up again for the last mile, but yesterday's run was starting to show, and I decided to be successful at 9:30 rather than feel really awful at 9:00.

Workin' on speed.

That first mile is all about getting all the body parts on board with the run. Once I've convinced my right hip that I'm not letting up, and my legs that they really can keep up, and my feet that they can be my little ground pounders, then I can finally get up to speed.

All of that takes about a mile or so, depending on how many other parts start complaining.

I was very happy with this run as I felt great while running and comfortable at the various paces. I consciously sped up on the last mile, but I'm glad to see the negative splits on the other miles. Personally, I thought that mile 3 would be my fastest as I felt slower on mile 4. Shrug...

I think I might mix things up this week with two three mile runs on Tuesday and Thursday, after our workouts. They'll be treadmill runs, which will allow me to set a constant speed and keep up...or die!

Well, not die, but fall off the end of the treadmill, have my face slam into the control panel, then get slung off the back of the tread and end up wrecking someone on an elliptical behind me. I mean, who doesn't like skid marks on their face? But still, I think I'll do my best to avoid it.

Leveling through...questing???

I'm glad that I did a little synopsis of where my toons were on Thursday, because I had some issues:

1. I like to craft as many items that I can for my other professions, and Daxea is coming up on needing the next Enchanting rod.

2. My Blacksmith is my paladin, Daxynn, who was 42 on Thursday. I needed to level her in order to get my BS up to where I could make that rod.

3. I like the Protection spec for Pallies, but I don't really like tanking. I can, but it stresses me out. So, I've been putting off leveling Daxynn because I didn't want to tank.

Then I had a brilliant idea: I could quest! (add as much sarcasm and shock as you like.)

It seems that in all the LFG changes, I'd lost sight of how we used to level. I had quested so much before LFG, that I really didn't want to level that way ever again. Oh, and instances are much faster to level in and provide better loot.

But, with the huge changes and revamping that Cata brought to Oldlands, I figured I'd start with Western Plaguelands (an area I hadn't quested much in before anyways) and see how it went. In short it went very well, as Daxynn is now level 59!

Blizz has done a nice job of incorporating more varied quests into the leveling process. It was a lot of fun to see the phasing in WP, blow away Troggs with a cannon in Badlands, punch goats in Badlands, ride a dragon in Burning Steppes while burning up the bad guys, and get shot from a cannon several times in Swamp of Sorrows.

I guess, there are actually story lines in WoW...who'd have thought! It also helps that Blizzard also added the zone quest completion achievements; I got achieves for WP, EP, Badlands, Burning Steppes, and Swamp of Sorrows. Of course, as soon as I dinged 58, I bolted for Outlands.

So, questing, for at least my pally, is the new thing! Now that I'm in Outlands, it will be neat to do those quests again; I'll probably do Ramps and Blood Furnace once each just for the quests, but mostly, I'll be sticking with the solo work.

And in one more level...flying!

The Extra Mile

After that first mile, I thought that I'd suffer through three miles and call it good. But the second mile felt better than the first. And the third, better than the second! By the time I got back to the house at the three mile mark, I had decided to go (cue music) The Extra Mile.

I didn't think I ran it that much faster than the others, but I guess I did. Yay on me. I think I'll go for 5 tomorrow. I'm kind of in limbo with a training schedule as my coach hasn't made one up for me yet, so I'm taking this week easy and will start hittin' it next week.

WoWness

I have been rebuilding my empire over on Suramar, Horde side. Of course, if I wanted to get up to level cap and max out all my professions faster, I'd pick up my Alliance toons over on Kael'thas.

But I'm in no hurry.

I have two characters on Suramar that are somewhat special to me: Rysteranch, the Troll Hunter and Daxea, the Blood Elf Priest.

Rysteranch is my very first character. He started out on Spinebreaker with my son and his friend. He's been shuffled around a couple of servers and has finally come to Suramar as a final consolidation of my Horde toons. He just dinged 74 and shares Heirloom equipment with Daxen, my Blood Elf Hunter. This guy is my Skinner/Leatherworker.

Daxea, formerly Daxe, was my Pox Arcanum priest. I've continued to level her as Holy and mostly in instances thanks to the LFG function. I did grab a second spec as Shadow a while back, so that is also an option for playing, although I haven't played it very much. Daxea is 62 and is my Tailor/Enchanter.

As I love to have all the professions covered, I have several characters that I've started the last time I played on this server:

Daxynn, the Blood Elf Paladin is a Miner/Blacksmith. She's level 42 and spec'd for tanking.

Daxen, the Blood Elf Hunter is a Miner/Jewelcrafter. She's level 69, spec'd Beast Master, and just made her way to Northrend. For some reason, I prefer to play her over Rysteranch; I think it's because Jewelcrafting is beneficial to all of my toons, whereas Leatherworking is only good for some.

Daxenos, the Tauren Druid is a Herbalist/Alchemist. He's 43 and spec'd for healing. I'm enjoying healing as a Druid, but I'm sad that I won't see Lifebloom until the mid 60's.

Vancomyacin, the Undead Death Knight is also an Herbalist with Inscription as a second Primary profession. Vanco is spec'd for tanking, just dinged 60, and has completed Hellfire Ramparts successfully. Yay on her.

Daxxy, the Blood Elf Rogue is a Miner/Skinner, but is more famously known as my PvPer. She has over 6K confirmed kills in the battlegrounds as well as a whole host of PvP achievements.

Smoochie, the Blood Elf Paladin is a banker.

Daxeo, the Goblin Mage, is my newest alt and fulfills the Miner/Engineer spot in my empire. He's level 13, just completed the Goblin starting area, and is headed out to Azshara.

I have a slot that I filled in with an Orc Shammy, but I'm not sure if I'm going to play her or roll another class.

So far, there have been things I've liked and disliked about the Cata expansion:

I like the Priest Chakra thing as well as looking for special procs while healing. I find that I'm able to heal the way I enjoy most (Heals over Time or HoTs) and like having the added mini game of using a Flash Heal or Greater Heal to keep the Renew flowing due to the Chakra thing.

I don't like the Druid healing changes as I don't get Lifebloom until 64, which makes me a very sad cow. Also, the change of Tree of Life from a permanent form to temporary one makes me very, very sad. I mean, DPS kitties and lazerchickens get to stay in form for their dpsing, and bears get to be bears for tanking, so why couldn't trees continue to be trees. I really could care less about seeing my cow with his purdy armor. I'd rather see a tree...

I'm leaning toward dislike for the Hunter changes. I really didn't like them when I first started playing, but after some experimentation, I've come up with some strategies for managing my focus. I don't really like having to play the way I do, but I still enjoy the Hunter, just not as much as before.

I'm not sure, but I think that Pally tanking has gotten easier for lower levels. The addition of Avenger's Shield for low level, dedicated tank specs is a huge plus, and I find that if I cycle through the mobs, I can pretty much hold aggro fairly easily. Of course, when other players start pulling packs, either through proximity or on purpose, then tanking becomes a big challenge. But in the WoW community, we'd never have people that would do that, would we...

I like flying in Oldlands. 'Nuff said.

Anyways, I'll post more about my impressions of the expansion, but that's enough for now. Tootles!

Hot!!!

89 degrees F. That's hot. I'm glad I had the option of three or five miles; I don't know what heat stroke feels like, and I don't aim to find out.

I was supposed to take it easy and for the most part, I did. But with the heat, I should have slowed down to compensate; at least that's what I've read somewhere.

I plan on continuing to run after work, so I reckon I'd better get used to running in the oven.

1/2 Marathon Personal Record!!!

Of course, it's my very first 1/2 marathon...

I ran the race almost exactly as I wanted to. I wanted to start out slow (approx 11 min miles) and pick it up for the second half. As you can see, that's what I did.

I had to concentrate at the beginning of the race to keep my pace slow, as everyone and their grandma was passing me. But I've gone out too fast both on training runs and on races, and I know the pain that is waiting for me on the second half if I insist on running like the wind.

I GU'd before the race and planned to GU again around the 7 mile mark. Well, the best laid plans...it turned out that we could not GU on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and where was mile 7? Turn 4.

So, coming up on mile 5 I was debating...GU before or after...before? Yes? No. Headed down under the track now...GU now? Nah. I did it after, which put it right around the 8.5 mile mark.

I placed 15580 over all, which is in the top 50%, yay! For my age group, though, I was 1347/1929, which is definitely in the bottom half. And that's OK!

I feel really good about my race. I didn't get caught up in the hoopla; I did run all the way; I had enough endurance to make it to the end. That's a good first mini.

Oh, and my time differs from my official time cause I had to take a pit stop around mile 6 or so. It cost me about 2 minutes. Now I get to rest until Wednesday! Yay!

See Michael Run, Run, Michael, Run!

Ran this little gem with my father-in-law, Michael. He said it was like he was stuck in first gear...So, we picked it up a bit for the last mile; yeah, it was second gear for him...

This is it! I am now officially prepared and resting for my mini-marathon on Saturday! I don't know if I'll post anything between now and then; I might sneak some Warcrack stuff in...<.< ...>.>

World's biggest hypocrite

Part of the motivation for writing a post like this, is to hopefully burn the bridge back to the item that you're quitting. I mean, who really wants to publicly confirm that they're the world's biggest hypocrite?

Everything in that post was true at the time, and I would be foolish to start playing WoW again when you take into account what happened at that time.

Well, all of that said, and yes, I realize I've done a foolish thing, but I've started playing again. Feel free to lambaste me in the comments.

Forced negative splits

Yesterday was supposed to be 4 miles, but it was raining after I got done moving some furniture between my mother-in-law's house and mine. So, today, I did some treadmill work after my wife's and my gym workout.

As you can see from the times, I forced myself to do negative splits. I had plenty of steam at the end and could have probably gone another 20 or so miles at that 9 min pace, but I decided to back it on down and save myself for my race on Saturday.

Tomorrow is the last run before the mini; my father-in-law/coach is going to be in town, and we're planning on running an easy 4 miles together.