As I mentioned last week, I’m going to be adding some things to the weekly recaps as part of my Road to 160 journey. Week 6 wasn’t a great week and it wasn’t an awful week either. Let’s look at how it went…

Monday was a planned rest day.

Tuesday, I was up before the sun and got my entire 3 miles in before the sun came up. It was a cool, and foggy morning to be running around Pasadena. The run started off kind of slow. The legs were still a bit tight from the Long Beach International City Bank Half Marathon. It took me a good half mile to loosen up. From that point, the run went really well. I must admit that running with the fog in the background was kind of fun. I was surprised at how well this run went. By the end of mile 2, I knew that I would have a shot at another sub 35 minute 3 miles! I came across folks setting up for something unknown at the Pasadena Auditorium. They have used this building for the “Hollywood Week” on American Idol before. While I didn’t look into it, in my mind that’s what they were setting up for. Whatever it was, they had several lanes of Green Street closed off for this event.

At the end of the run, I was feeling great! I finished with another sub 35 minute 3 miles before work! Morning runs are awesome!

Wednesday was another planned rest day. Nothing too spectacular to report.

Thursday was supposed to be another run. However, I was sick. I was so sick that I had to call out from work. Let’s just say the morning made me feel like I’d been run over by a big truck.

Friday was a planned rest day.

Saturday, I ran over portions of the Avengers Half route as part of my 12.5 mile training run for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. I’m going to spend the next three days covering the race route in greater detail.  However, here are a few pictures from this training run…

Happy Halloween! I always the love the fun displays along the tram route to the theme parks!

I got to run by the Crystal Cathedral on the run…

Big surprise of the run? The Santa Ana River Trail is so much nicer in the part we will run over for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon than the Disneyland Half Marathon. There’s even a golf course to the right side for part of our time here. After running over this part of the race course, I’m not as upset with having to do so again for the actual race. I’ll admit that it’s still not ideal with the paved portion of the road being narrow. However, the greenery you will see over this part of the course makes up for that.

That said, we will still have a few rather bland looking portions on the Santa Ana River Trail as well.

When I got to where Angel Stadium is, I wanted to see exactly where we entered. This is that spot. The gates will be open during the race. It was kind of strange to approach this spot from the opposite direction.

This picture won’t be apart of the upcoming blog posts. Since I couldn’t run inside the stadium, I had some fun outside the stadium. I LOVE Angel Stadium!

As an Angels fan, this sign just reminded me of how pitiful we played in the playoffs. Fortunately, I’m also a San Francisco Giants fan and they’re in the World Series!

Of course, I had to get the picture with Angels Mickey!

Oh, and I can’t forget Mike Trout! Yes, I did have some fun with this 12.5 mile training run. It was a dress rehearsal for the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon. So, I had to simulate some fun.

I went a little off course at the finish and ended right in the middle between Disney California Adventure….

and Disneyland! What a great place to finish a training run! Don’t you think?

The cool thing about finishing at the Disneyland Resort is getting to reward yourself with some Jamba Juice in Downtown Disney. I had the Berry Fulfilling. It was fulfilling indeed! When I attempted to do this training run before the Disneyland Half Marathon this year, it failed miserably. I got to sleep too late…didn’t wake up in time to head down to the resort…decided to run around Pasadena instead. It was so hot and humid that I ended the run at 6 miles. So, given that, I was thrilled to have completed all 12.5 miles. I know that I did a half marathon the week before. Still, this was an extra special training run. It covered the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon course.

So, what did I think of the course? I think it might be my favorite Disneyland half marathon course. Now, until I actually run the race, I can’t say that. However, that said, this race could very well replace the Disneyland Half Marathon in my calendar. I like the parts of the course that are away from Disneyland much better. I got through the first 6 miles before I knew I was that far. The sights of this course are just better….and you still get to run through Angel Stadium. My fears of having to run more than a mile on the Santa Ana River Trail were greatly reduced when I saw what this part of that trail look like. In a way, I feel like runDisney ruined the trail by making the Disneyland Half run over such arid, boring looking trail. The portion of the trail we will run for the Avengers race is so much more scenic. Of course, how that plays out in the actual race is still to be seen. But, for a general running, I liked it.

Sunday, I was back at LA Fitness for another gym workout. One thing I was interested in before the workout started was how my legs would feel after 12.5 miles. This is the very first time I’ve done a gym workout the day after a run of 10 miles or more. The above picture represents how I did on the elliptical machine. Not too bad for 27 minutes. I’ve had workouts where the calorie count was more. However, I’ve also seen much less. Since I ran 12.5 miles the day before, I’ll take it. In addition to the elliptical machine, I worked on the crunch machine, leg press, and assisted chin ups and dips. On the machines, I made the decision before the workout to go a little down in intensity. The last gym workout I had left me sore for 4 days. That doesn’t exactly motivate a person to get back to the gym quickly. I want consistency. So, I dialed it back just a little. The workout I got was enough that I felt like I had worked hard. So, it felt like I did the right thing.

Another gym workout complete! I really need to do more of these.

The Journey to 160 did not go so well this week. I want to keep this completely real and honest. Right now, I don’t have much of a plan on the diet. So, a goal for myself this week is to come up with a plan. I was successful at keeping my soda consumption to 2 sodas per day. I know that’s a lot. However, the focus for last week and this week is to regain control over this problem area. Given the 2 sodas per day, I don’t expect a lot of weight loss next week either. Also, without a plan for the diet in place, I’m not sure how much to expect. The good news of this chart??? I did loose half a percent of body fat! So, the news isn’t all bad. I do promise that my weigh in on November 2 will look different. This week will present itself with some challenges. My wife and I will have our 2 year re-certification on the adoption front. So, our social worker will be out to inspect our home for the third time. Brooke and I have been busy this weekend trying to get the apartment ready for the inspection. Once we are re-certified, I can focus on the diet portion of this journey.  Hopefully, come next week, I’ll be able to announce that I do have a plan for the diet portion of this journey.

How was your week? If you’re running the Avengers Super Heroes Half Marathon, or know someone who is, check back with this blog every day this week. I’ll be going into detail over the race course. Tuesday, we’ll look at the theme parks portion of the course. Wednesday, I’ll cover the streets of Anaheim (and Garden Grove and Orange) portion up to Angel Stadium. On Thursday, I’ll finish up the series with a look at the course from Angel Stadium through the finish. Friday, I’ll finish the week with a special Virtual Disney trip that will cover all the Halloween celebrations going on at the Disney theme parks. Have a great week!