A rest day with the Oakland A's

I took Labor Day off from training and spent it watching the Oakland A's.  They defeated the Houston Astros in a thriller. The Astros got off to an early lead, but the A's had a big inning and took over the lead for good. The Astros rallied, but it wasn't enough. Sean Doolittle recorded the final outs for the save. He was out with a shoulder injury, so it was good to see him back to form.

My seats were in the value deck. If your not familiar with the seating in the coliseum, its in the upper most level. The tickets have a $6 food voucher on them, so that's why they call it the value deck. I used my credit to buy a hotdog during the fifth. The food at sporting events is like the food at movie theaters, its ridiculously expensive. That's why I stopped of at the grocery store for snacks beforehand. I saved so much money and I was able to eat healthier snacks by doing that. 

I don't mind sitting that high up in the coliseum. I had a great view of all of the field. However, I was too high up to make out the players without the help of their numbers on their jerseys. Not a big deal to me. They upgraded the scoreboard this year, so I was able to watch the replays on it for the close plays that I had trouble seeing on the field. I do miss the view of the Oakland hills. Before they built Mt. Davis (the upper deck portion of centerfield in the photo below), you could see the hills from those seats. I miss them. Oh well.

I got there early because it was the striped backpack giveaway. I waited in the hot sun for an hour before the gates were open. There were games in the past that I barely missed getting the giveaway because I didn't get there soon enough. I was 10 people away from getting a bobble head last year. Ughhh!!!! Today, I was determined to get that backpack. I was on a mission. So, I got up early to get to the O.co Coliseum before they ran out of them. 

I was surprised by the quality of the backpack. It's a full size pack with a large front pocket and padded straps. It'll be perfect for the next time I go to a game. Nice job promo department.

A little bit on the warm side, but it was a beautiful day at the park.

Here is the reason why I didn't sleep in today.

9/6 Training Post

I ran at a slow pace today for my long run. These long, slow runs are for developing the slow twitch muscles and the blood vessels in my legs. However, I really wasn't feeling it today. Normally, I'm excited for these runs, but not today. I might change up the route next week, to see if that will help get me out of my running funk. I did complete my goal of 14 miles, but I really had to force myself. I would use tricks like focusing on my form and breaking down my run in increments to keep me going.

9/1 Training Post

I had a good workout today. I lifted weights and used the stationary bike for 30 minutes. My weight lifting session was the 29 minute total body workout at the gym. I'm thinking about adding another set to my workout. Right now, I'm only doing 2 sets. This was mostly because of time constraints, but now I can fit in the time for an additional set on the total body circuit. 

I increased the setting on the heart rate to 125 for the stationary bike for this workout. It was more challenging and I worked up quite the sweat. I have been riding the bike on my off days a lot. I need to do a better job of switching up my off day cardio workouts. That way I'll work different muscles and prevent burnout.

Training Post

It felt good to sleep in today. I eventually got out of bed and did my run. I ran the surface streets around town and it turned out to be a nice run. I had to wait at some of the intersections because of traffic, but it wasn't too bad. The route was nice and flat, so I focused on my form and did some speed work. I was able to run 13 miles today, so I was happy with my effort. Too bad I negated any health benefits from my run by having a cheeseburger, fries, and soda from the Squeeze Inn. There is a reason behind the name of my blog.

Training Post- 8/26/15

I wasn't feeling very motivated today. I was tired and had a long day at work. To top it off, there was an accident on the freeway that shutdown one lane. So, I sat in traffic for an extra 30 minutes. I was thinking about skipping today's interval workout on the treadmill, but I told myself I would go to the gym and ride the stationary bike for 10 minutes. If I still felt too tired, then I'd just go home. After the 10 minutes on the bike, I decided I would run at an easy pace for 5 minutes and see if I felt like doing the intervals. After the 5 minutes I was feeling a lot better, so I went ahead and did my normal workout routine. My mood improved dramatically after my workout, so I'm glad I talked myself into going to the gym. Somedays, finding the motivation is the hardest part of the workout.

Training Post

I did some weight lifting this morning. My shoulder still isn't a 100%, but it is getting better. I just need to be patient and keep doing the exercises the physical therapist told me to do. It is hard to believe that it has been a year since I separated my shoulder. Time is flying by and it's going to be 2016 before you know it. I wrapped up my workout today by riding on the stationary bicycle. I had it set to adjust the resistance to maintain my heart rate at 120 bpm.

Here is an article on taking control of a food addiction I found the other day.

Training Run

I woke up early, well early for me, and did a 14 mile run this morning. The weather was perfect and their wasn't too much traffic out where I was running. I wanted to to focus on increasing my leg strength today, so my run included some hill work. I felt strong this morning and attacked the hills. I'll take tomorrow off and rest my body as reward for my hard work today.

My friend ran the Santa Rosa Half Marathon this morning and was happy with his race time. He liked the course and texted me a picture of the finisher's medal. It was a nice medal, so I'll have to run that race sometime. I was thinking about running it this year, but I decided not to run it because it was too close to the SF half marathon. I wanted to give my body sometime to rest before training for another race.