Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Three

I am now halfway through my training (week zero through week seven) for the Four Bridges Half Marathon. So far, so good. But the next four weeks will be tougher than these last four, and a couple of tennis matches will make things even more difficult (at least schedule-wise). I wouldn't be surprised if I don't hit planned mileage in all of the next four weeks.

With that said, here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 24	Sep 25	Sep 26	Sep 27	Sep 28	Sep 29	Sep 30
4BHM Plan	6.0	3.0		4.0	2.0	7.0
Actual	6.50	3.35	4.60	3.35		6.11

Plan Mileage: 22.0
Actual Mileage: 23.91

I rearranged the schedule to allow for a day of rest before Run for Courage on Saturday. If you saw my post about that race, you'll know that the day of rest (and my half marathon training, majorly paid off.

We'll see how fatigued my legs/body are after the race on Monday when I start "Week Four" of training. Speaking of which, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6.0	3.0		4.0	3.0	8.0

Plan Mileage: 24.0

Since I have tennis on Thursday, I'll be moving a run to Wednesday. My long run last week was 7.75, so I'll probably target 9 on Saturday rather than 8. I'd like to have Friday to rest, so I'm thinking that I'll move the remaining two miles from the planned Friday run (the first going to Saturday) to the other days targeting 6.5 on Monday, 3.5 on Tuesday, and 5 on Wednesday.

My Where's George Week in Review: 09/23/12 - 09/29/12

Hover over this explanation for more detailsThe nerd that I am, I chose to post once a week a summary of my previous week's Where's George activity in comparision to my goals for the year.

In order to make the charts fit, I had to abreviate the column headers. Each header is now hoverable for an explanation.

In the past week, I received 37 hits in 12 States (yes, I'm counting the District of Columbia as a State mostly because Where's George does) [AZ, CA²⁴, DC, IL, MD, NJ, NV, NY, OR, PA, TX², WA²]. I now have hits in 44 States in 2012 with 1 added this week: DC. Additionally I now have hits in 464 counties with 4 new this week: DeKalb IL, Baltimore City MD, Ocean NJ, Mercer PA.

Of those 37 hits, 1 was the 4^th hit on the bill (my first four hit bill since February), 1 was the 3^rd hit on the bill, 3 were the 2^nd hit on the bill, and the rest (32) were the initial hit on the bill. The longest bill active from the bunch was re-entered 2 Years 193 Days 6 Hours 18 Minutes after I originally entered it.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
9	2	7	3	3	7	6

Add another 7 days to the hit streak, and it now stands at 25 days which is tied for my 10th best hit streak all time.

Taking a look at how my predictions regarding bill entries and hits are going so far, it was another good week for all items. I should surpass my predicted number of bill entries for the year next week:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	PPrediction (for Year)	P/WPrediction for Week: A Week's Share of the Total	PtDPrediction to Date: The Portion of the Prediction that should be Completed so Far	WvPWeek versus Prediction: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the P/W	DvPDate versus Prediction: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the PtD
Bills Entered	16720	21557	21677	120	4957	21720	95.6	20450	+24	+1227
Bills with Hits	2430	3365	3397	32	967	3445	19.4	3187	+13	+210
Total Hits	2799	3921	3958	37	1159	4030	23.5	3717	+13	+241

Based on the goal of 5000 bill entries, here's how I'm doing towards my bill entry goals. Starting off with my goal of increasing the percentage that $1s make up of my entries by 1% (started the year at 86.29% so the goal is 87.29%), my percentage is now 87.30% [+1.01%], so for now, this goal is completed, but that could easily be reversed.

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	GGoal: Number of Total Ones Needed by the End of the Year Based on the Prediction of 5000 Bill Entries This Year	GfWGoal for Week: This Week's Portion of the Goal Based on the Number of Bills Entered in the Week	GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers of One Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the GfW	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
$1s Entered	14427	18812	18924	112	4497	18959	108.8	18920	+3	+4
Dynamic GoalProgress towards the goal based on my actual rate of entering bills per day which would result in 6646 entries this year rather than 5000						20396	107.8	18879	+4	+45

As for the goal of having series 2009 pass series 2003A in number of entries, this has already been completed. I'm closing in on having more hits on 2009 bills than 2003A.

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year			WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Actual WΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal WΔ	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Actual YΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal YΔ
2003A	3603	3830	3835	5	232		GoalNumber of Entries Needed Per Timeframe to Stay on Pace for the Year Based on the Predicted Amount of 5000 Bills Entered	54	2246	+21	+563
2009	1339	4300	4380	80	3041		Actual	75	2809

And for my goal of decreasing San Francisco "L" FRB entries below 50.0% while increasing Boston "A", Cleveland "D", St Louis "H", Philadelphia "C", Minneapolis "I", and Kansas City "J", all moved in the desired direction this week. I'm a week (at most two) away from completing the insertion process, and then it'll be fun to see how the numbers stack up:

	SoYStart of Year	SoY%Percentage of Overall at Start of Year	SoWStart of Week	SoW%Percentage of Overall at Start of Week	EoWEnd of Week	EoW%Percentage of Overall at End of Week	GoalGoal Percentage		GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
San Francisco "L"	8532	51.03%	10333	47.93%	10373	47.85%	< 50.0%	49.94%	10826	+453
Boston "A"	461	2.76%	737	3.42%	746	3.44%	> 2.8%	2.85%	619	+127
Cleveland "D"	395	2.36%	750	3.48%	760	3.51%	> 2.4%	2.45%	532	+228
St. Louis "H"	382	2.28%	691	3.21%	700	3.23%	> 2.3%	2.35%	510	+190
Philadelphia "C"	376	2.25%	627	2.91%	632	2.92%	> 2.2%	2.25%	488	+144
Minneapolis "I"	352	2.11%	582	2.70%	589	2.72%	> 2.1%	2.15%	466	+123
Kansas City "J"	290	1.73%	533	2.47%	540	2.49%	> 1.7%	1.75%	380	+160

It was another good week for hits, and September is currently fourth on the list of my top hit months. Six hits behind third place with a day to go makes it unlikely that September will move up from fourth, but clearing 130 hits is nice after August failed to get to 110.

Run for Courage 10K: A New Personal Record

What a beautiful day for a run! It may have been a touch cold when I arrived an hour early (to ensure parking), but that faded away by a half hour before race day. I set my 5K PR (personal record) at this event last year and looked forward to doing the same for my 10K PR this year.

The festivities started by the presentation by a color guard and the signing of the national anthem. It was a nice touch. After some speeches about the cause, we did some quick stretching, and then the 10K was underway.

I didn't get the greatest start to the race due to confusion about lining up that was mostly my fault. The organizers had volunteers with minutes per mile signs in the starting area to indicate where you were suppose to line up, but those were meant for the 5K runners (starting after us). They did announce that the 10K runners were to move to the front, but I thought that was more so to get the 5K runner to move back. Regardless, it didn't cause too much trouble for me: for the first half mile I had to weave around a number of people but there wasn't much slowdown in that process.

I finished the first mile in 8:30 which is typical for me for a good 10K. Usually I start off fast and fade back. Not so today as my second mile was actually better than the first at 8:25. I faded a little bit starting with mile three, but even then, miles 3-5 were all ahead of the 9:26 pace I needed to set a new PR. I rallied back in the sixth mile and finished really strong at the end. According to my iPhone, the race was a tenth of a mile short, but even if that's true, I would have decimated my PR regardless:

	Pace		+/-
Mile	Target	Actual	Mile	Overall
1	09:28	08:30	+58	+58
2	09:28	08:25	+63	+120
3	09:28	08:51	+37	+157
4	09:28	08:53	+35	+191
5	09:28	09:06	+22	+213
6	09:28	08:39	+49	+262
+	02:01	00:41	+80	+342

I think the 41 seconds for the "+" (0.21 miles) makes the case that the race was short. To accomplish that, one would have to run at 18.4 mph. Granted, my phone could have under-tracked some of the distance throughout the race. I think mile 4 is where I passed the mile marker well before my phone alerted me of the completed mile.

Here's the badge for today's race:

I'd be curious to know how many runners today had similar surprising results in today's race. Although I think a lot of my improvement came from all of the training I've been doing for the Four Bridges Half Marathon. And it didn't hurt that this was one of the flatter runs that I've done.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Two

I survived the second "official" week of Four Bridges Half Marathon training and have recovered nicely from the Making the Grade/Run for Education 10K that I ran last weekend although my first couple runs of the week were at a slower pace that usual (part of the recovery process as I understand).

Here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 17	Sep 18	Sep 19	Sep 20	Sep 21	Sep 22	Sep 23
4BHM Plan	5.0	2.0		4.0	2.0	6.0
Actual	4.65	3.65	4.75	Tennis		7.75

Plan Mileage: 19.0
Actual Mileage: 20.80

I ran fewer miles this week than last (20.80 versus 22.60) but was still above the planned mileage. I think the decrease was necessary as part of the recovery process, and since I still beat the planned mileage, I'm in good shape for the upcoming weeks.

I ran one fewer time than planned, but with tennis on Thursday, and the 10K being on Sunday rather than Saturday, I think this will turn out ok.

Taking a look at the upcoming week, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
6.0	3.0		4.0	2.0	7.0

Plan Mileage: 22.0

I'm doing the Run for Courage 10K on Saturday, so I'm going to have to make up an extra mile somewhere during the week. Since my long run last week was over 7 miles, I'm not concerned about shortening the long run for this week. Additionally, it'd be preferable to not run on Friday to rest up for the Run for Courage, so I'll likely run Monday through Thursday this week.

My Where's George Week in Review: 09/16/12 - 09/22/12

Hover over this explanation for more detailsThe nerd that I am, I chose to post once a week a summary of my previous week's Where's George activity in comparision to my goals for the year.

In order to make the charts fit, I had to abreviate the column headers. Each header is now hoverable for an explanation.

In the past week, I received 32 hits in 8 States [AZ, CA²³, IL, MO, NV², NY, PA, TX] as well as an international hit in Sheffield, United Kingdom. I still have hits in 43 States in 2012 with none added this week. Additionally I now have hits in 460 counties with 3 new this week: Ogle IL, Oswego NY, Nueces TX.

Of those 32 hits, 1 was the 3^rd hit on the bill, 4 were the 2^nd hit on the bill, and the rest (27) were the initial hit on the bill. The longest bill active from the bunch was re-entered 3 Years 244 Days 19 Hours 56 Minutes after I originally entered it. This bill is currently my 8th longest active all-time.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
6	6	2	3	5	6	4

Another week without a hit-less day puts my current streak at 18 days.

Taking a look at how my predictions regarding bill entries and hits are going so far, it was a positive week on all counts. Looks like I will surpass my predictions for the year for each in October:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	PPrediction (for Year)	P/WPrediction for Week: A Week's Share of the Total	PtDPrediction to Date: The Portion of the Prediction that should be Completed so Far	WvPWeek versus Prediction: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the P/W	DvPDate versus Prediction: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the PtD
Bills Entered	16720	21406	21557	151	4837	21720	95.6	20354	+55	+1203
Bills with Hits	2430	3338	3365	27	935	3445	19.4	3168	+8	+197
Total Hits	2799	3889	3921	32	1122	4030	23.5	3694	+8	+227

Based on the goal of 5000 bill entries, here's how I'm doing towards my bill entry goals. Starting off with my goal of increasing the percentage that $1s make up of my entries by 1% (started the year at 86.29% so the goal is 87.29%), my percentage is now 87.27% [+0.98%]. Getting close to being in completion range.

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	GGoal: Number of Total Ones Needed by the End of the Year Based on the Prediction of 5000 Bill Entries This Year	GfWGoal for Week: This Week's Portion of the Goal Based on the Number of Bills Entered in the Week	GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers of One Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the GfW	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
$1s Entered	14427	18675	18812	137	4385	18959	136.9	18811	+0	+1
Dynamic GoalProgress towards the goal based on my actual rate of entering bills per day which would result in 6656 entries this year rather than 5000						20404	135.6	18771	+1	+41

As for the goal of having series 2009 pass series 2003A in number of entries, this is completed and 2009 is almost now at a 500 entry lead:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year			WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Actual WΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal WΔ	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Actual YΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal YΔ
2003A	3603	3828	3830	2	227		GoalNumber of Entries Needed Per Timeframe to Stay on Pace for the Year Based on the Predicted Amount of 5000 Bills Entered	68	2191	+37	+543
2009	1339	4193	4300	107	2961		Actual	105	2734

And for my goal of decreasing San Francisco "L" FRB entries below 50.0% while increasing Boston "A", Cleveland "D", St Louis "H", Philadelphia "C", Minneapolis "I", and Kansas City "J", all FRB's went in the desired direction this week. I will have all of the planned inserted bills done within two weeks, and then it will be interesting to watch how things hold up:

	SoYStart of Year	SoY%Percentage of Overall at Start of Year	SoWStart of Week	SoW%Percentage of Overall at Start of Week	EoWEnd of Week	EoW%Percentage of Overall at End of Week	GoalGoal Percentage		GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
San Francisco "L"	8532	51.03%	10274	48.00%	10333	47.93%	< 50.0%	49.94%	10771	+438
Boston "A"	461	2.76%	729	3.41%	737	3.42%	> 2.8%	2.85%	615	+122
Cleveland "D"	395	2.36%	740	3.46%	750	3.48%	> 2.4%	2.45%	529	+221
St. Louis "H"	382	2.28%	682	3.19%	691	3.21%	> 2.3%	2.35%	507	+184
Philadelphia "C"	376	2.25%	616	2.88%	627	2.91%	> 2.2%	2.25%	485	+142
Minneapolis "I"	352	2.11%	570	2.66%	582	2.70%	> 2.1%	2.15%	463	+119
Kansas City "J"	290	1.73%	525	2.45%	533	2.47%	> 1.7%	1.75%	378	+155

It was another good week for hits, and September looks like it's going to be a nice recovery from the disappointment that was August.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week One

My "second week" of training for the Four Bridges Half Marathon is in the books. This week was the first that was guided by the training program on the Four Bridges site. This week's running included a 10K race, and it will be interesting to see how that affects my training in the upcoming week.

Here's my weekly mileage compared to the Four Bridges training plan:

	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
	Sep 10	Sep 11	Sep 12	Sep 13	Sep 14	Sep 15	Sep 16
4BHM Plan	3.5	2.5		3.5	2.5	5.0
Actual	4.75	3.30		5.00	3.35		6.20

Plan Mileage: 17.0
Actual Mileage: 22.60

Looking at my mileage for the week, I have some concern that I'm overdue-ing it too early, and that my weekly mileage increased perhaps too much over the previous week. I started the week a bit strong due to concern over when I'd get my second run in for the week: I had a billiards competition in which I was competing Tuesday night that had potential to continue to the next two nights (we additionally played Wednesday). However, I got home early enough on Tuesday to run, so I was concerned over nothing.

Taking a look at the upcoming week, here's what's recommended by Four Bridges:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
5.0	2.0		4.0	2.0	6.0

Plan Mileage: 19.0

I have tennis on Thursday, so I'll likely do that run on Wednesday. I'm a bit concerned about 7 straight days of physical activity as well as how much my body is going to be ready to run on Monday. Also, I want my long run of the week to be 7 miles. I'll probably move a mile from Monday to Saturday to address those items. Worst case, I could additionally move a mile from Monday to Tuesday to allow more recovery.

Two weeks down and six more to go, and my body is holding up pretty well so far. Hopefully I'll still be able to say the same in five weeks.

Making the Grade / Run for Education 10K

I ran in an organized run for the first time in a couple months, and I certainly didn't pick an easy one to come back. A good portion of the first two miles was uphill, and the first and last miles were largely on non-paved trail. It was my first run in El Dorado Hills, and I chose to do it largely to get some hill training in for my upcoming half marathon.

Taking the hills and the fact that I didn't "rest" leading up to the race, I'm pleased with my performance. For a while, I thought I had an outside chance of breaking a hour, but it was not meant to be. Another bright spot is that I didn't set a new personal worst in the effort:

I'm not a huge fan of non-paved running, and as such, I'm not sure that I'll do this race again next year (will largely depend on if I'm in a need of an event and/or the hill practice). I do like the idea of supporting schools though, so we'll see.

My Where's George Week in Review: 09/09/12 - 09/15/12

Hover over this explanation for more detailsThe nerd that I am, I chose to post once a week a summary of my previous week's Where's George activity in comparision to my goals for the year.

In order to make the charts fit, I had to abreviate the column headers. Each header is now hoverable for an explanation.

In the past week, I received 39 hits in 9 States [CA²⁶, MD, MO, NE, NV³, NY, TX³, UT, WA] as well as an international hit in Calgary, Canada. I still have hits in 43 States in 2012 with none added this week. Additionally I now have hits in 457 counties with 4 new this week: Callaway MO, Lancaster NE, Delaware NY, Brazos TX.

Of those 39 hits, 2 were the 3^rd hit on the bill, 5 were the 2^nd hit on the bill, and the rest (32) were the initial hit on the bill. The longest bill active from the bunch was re-entered 4 Years 56 Days 0 Hours 48 Minutes after I originally entered it making it my all-time longest active bill. It was actually quite a good week for hits on long time active bills, so much so, that five of my top ten bills received their most recent hit this week:

Rank	Bill Info			Time Active	Last Update	Hits
1.	$5	2003	DL906---99C	4 Years 56 Days 48 Minutes	09/11/2012	1
2.	$1	2006	H9275---2A	4 Years 17 Days 1 Minute	09/14/2012	2
3.	$10	2006	IB639---42A	4 Years 3 Days 22 Hours 55 Minutes	06/13/2012	1
4.	$1	2006	L4800---7E	3 Years 357 Days 18 Hours 31 Minutes	09/15/2012	1
5.	$1	2003A	L3475---2C	3 Years 351 Days 1 Hour 42 Minutes	08/08/2012	1
6.	$1	2006	L8814---2F	3 Years 291 Days 17 Minutes	06/13/2012	1
7.	$1	2003A	L9346---8I	3 Years 251 Days 19 Hours 40 Minutes	05/26/2011	1
8.	$1	2006	L2755---1J	3 Years 159 Days 12 Hours 53 Minutes	09/11/2012	2
9.	$1	2006	L7886---6E	3 Years 144 Days 1 Hour 7 Minutes	03/23/2012	1
10.	$1	2006	L2569---6I	3 Years 112 Days 1 Hour 11 Minutes	09/11/2012	1

Even more surprising was that three of those hits came on the same day.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
09	10	11	12	13	14	15
4	7	9	6	5	4	4

With no hit-less days this week, my current streak is up to 11 days.

Taking a look at how my predictions regarding bill entries and hits are going so far, it was quite the good week for bills with hits and total hits:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	PPrediction (for Year)	P/WPrediction for Week: A Week's Share of the Total	PtDPrediction to Date: The Portion of the Prediction that should be Completed so Far	WvPWeek versus Prediction: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the P/W	DvPDate versus Prediction: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the PtD
Bills Entered	16720	21319	21406	87	4686	21720	95.6	20258	-9	+1148
Bills with Hits	2430	3306	3338	32	908	3445	19.4	3148	+13	+190
Total Hits	2799	3850	3889	39	1090	4030	23.5	3670	+15	+219

Based on the goal of 5000 bill entries, here's how I'm doing towards my bill entry goals. Starting off with my goal of increasing the percentage that $1s make up of my entries by 1% (started the year at 86.29% so the goal is 87.29%), my percentage is now 87.24% [+0.95%]. Every bill entered this week was a $1, and that might be true for the upcoming week also.

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	GGoal: Number of Total Ones Needed by the End of the Year Based on the Prediction of 5000 Bill Entries This Year	GfWGoal for Week: This Week's Portion of the Goal Based on the Number of Bills Entered in the Week	GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers of One Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the GfW	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
$1s Entered	14427	18588	18675	87	4248	18959	78.9	18674	+8	+1
Dynamic GoalProgress towards the goal based on my actual rate of entering bills per day which would result in 6622 entries this year rather than 5000						20375	78.1	18636	+9	+39

As for the goal of having series 2009 pass series 2003A in number of entries, this goal has been completed, and it's very unlikely that 2003A will rally back.

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year			WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Actual WΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal WΔ	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Actual YΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal YΔ
2003A	3603	3823	3828	5	225		GoalNumber of Entries Needed Per Timeframe to Stay on Pace for the Year Based on the Predicted Amount of 5000 Bills Entered	39	2123	+18	+506
2009	1339	4131	4193	62	2854		Actual	57	2629

And for my goal of decreasing San Francisco "L" FRB entries below 50.0% while increasing Boston "A", Cleveland "D", St Louis "H", Philadelphia "C", Minneapolis "I", and Kansas City "J", all are still way away of pace. Boston and Cleveland lost ground this week (just 0.01%), but it's worth noting as I approach the end of bill insertion.

	SoYStart of Year	SoY%Percentage of Overall at Start of Year	SoWStart of Week	SoW%Percentage of Overall at Start of Week	EoWEnd of Week	EoW%Percentage of Overall at End of Week	GoalGoal Percentage		GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
San Francisco "L"	8532	51.03%	10240	48.03%	10274	48.00%	< 50.0%	49.94%	10701	+427
Boston "A"	461	2.76%	729	3.42%	729	3.41%	> 2.8%	2.85%	610	+119
Cleveland "D"	395	2.36%	739	3.47%	740	3.46%	> 2.4%	2.45%	524	+216
St. Louis "H"	382	2.28%	674	3.16%	682	3.19%	> 2.3%	2.35%	503	+179
Philadelphia "C"	376	2.25%	608	2.85%	616	2.88%	> 2.2%	2.25%	482	+134
Minneapolis "I"	352	2.11%	556	2.61%	570	2.66%	> 2.1%	2.15%	460	+110
Kansas City "J"	290	1.73%	520	2.44%	525	2.45%	> 1.7%	1.75%	375	+150

After a number of so-so weeks, it was great to have a week as awesome as this one. Hopefully this continues into the upcoming week. I'll be happy if just a portion of the excitement did.

Four Bridges Half Marathon Training: Week Zero

When I signed up for the Four Bridges Half Marathon in late July, I had a training plan in mind for a slow ramp up to the 13.1 mile distance that involved completing a 9 mile run in July (which I did), a 10 mile run in August, 11 in September, and then a 12 in early October. Unfortunately, a cold derailed my efforts in back half of August, and I didn't train for two weeks. Left with just 8 weeks to train, I've decided to do a modified version of the 7 week beginning runner plan from the Four Bridges website.

Having not ran for 2 weeks and knowing that next week the plan would be to run 17 miles over 5 days, I decided to unofficially target 15 miles in 5 days this week. I hoped to run 17 so that I'd be a week ahead of schedule with my long run being near 5 miles as I'm interested in doing a 10K (6.2 miles) next weekend. I was a bit concerned with this plan as I haven't ran more than 3 days in a week this year and my max mileage in a week was probably around 15 miles.

Although running on back-to-back days was tough with quite a bit of soreness, my results far exceeded my expectations: I ran a total of 19.1 miles during the week roughly equaling the suggested amount for week 2. Here's my day-by-day breakdown:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Sep 03	Sep 04	Sep 05	Sep 06	Sep 07	Sep 08	Sep 09
2.75	3.40		3.85	3.65	5.40

Total Mileage: 19.10

All things considered, I didn't feel as sore as I expected Sunday morning. Don't get me wrong, I certainly did feel sore just not enough to not take the dogs for a walk. I felt good enough that I think I will be signing up for the Making the Grade Run next weekend. I've heard that the course is hilly and with the extra days of running, I'm a bit concerned about setting a new "personal worst". However it will be good to get a feeling for how I respond to adrenaline from "race excitement" in conjunction with sore muscles.

This upcoming week will be the first one (of many) where other sporting activities interfere with my desired running schedule. I have Site Games Billiards on Tuesday and potentially on Wednesday and Thursday if my team does well. I'm hoping to be able to still work in at a least a short run on those days if needed.

The Four Bridges plan for the week is:

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
3.5	2.5		3.5	2.5	5.0

Plan Mileage: 17.0

I will likely replace the 5.0 mile run on Saturday with the previously mentioned Making the Grade Run. I'm also hoping to do an additional half mile each mile to finish the week with just over 20 miles.

My Where's George Week in Review: 09/02/12 - 09/08/12

Hover over this explanation for more detailsThe nerd that I am, I chose to post once a week a summary of my previous week's Where's George activity in comparision to my goals for the year.

In order to make the charts fit, I had to abreviate the column headers. Each header is now hoverable for an explanation.

In the past week, I received 21 hits in 7 States [CA¹⁴, FL, NC, NE, NV², NY, PA]. I now have hits in 43 States in 2012 with 1 added this week: NE. Additionally I now have hits in 453 counties with 3 new this week: Lincoln NC, Cheyenne NE, Wyoming PA.

Of those 21 hits, 2 were the 2^nd hit on the bill and the rest (19) were the initial hit on the bill. The longest bill active from the bunch was re-entered 2 Years 278 Days 20 Hours 7 Minutes after I originally entered it.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
02	03	04	05	06	07	08
2	6	0	2	1	8	2

The hit-less day on Tuesday stopped my hit streak at 17 days. New streak is now at 4.

Taking a look at how my predictions regarding bill entries and hits are going so far, I'm still way ahead on all count, but it was another weak week for total hits and bills with hits:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	PPrediction (for Year)	P/WPrediction for Week: A Week's Share of the Total	PtDPrediction to Date: The Portion of the Prediction that should be Completed so Far	WvPWeek versus Prediction: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the P/W	DvPDate versus Prediction: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the PtD
Bills Entered	16720	21107	21319	212	4599	21720	95.6	20163	+116	+1156
Bills with Hits	2430	3287	3306	19	876	3445	19.4	3129	0	+177
Total Hits	2799	3829	3850	21	1051	4030	23.5	3647	-3	+203

Based on the goal of 5000 bill entries, here's how I'm doing towards my bill entry goals. Starting off with my goal of increasing the percentage that $1s make up of my entries by 1% (started the year at 86.29% so the goal is 87.29%), my percentage is now 87.19% [+0.90%]. I've headed a bit backwards on this goal the past couple weeks, but I expect that the next few will be really good for it:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	GGoal: Number of Total Ones Needed by the End of the Year Based on the Prediction of 5000 Bill Entries This Year	GfWGoal for Week: This Week's Portion of the Goal Based on the Number of Bills Entered in the Week	GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers of One Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the GfW	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
$1s Entered	14427	18407	18588	181	4161	18959	192.2	18596	-11	-8
Dynamic GoalProgress towards the goal based on my actual rate of entering bills per day which would result in 6680 entries this year rather than 5000						20425	190.4	18556	-9	+32

As for the goal of having series 2009 pass series 2003A in number of entries, 2009 is leaving 2003A in the dust:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year			WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Actual WΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal WΔ	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Actual YΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal YΔ
2003A	3603	3811	3823	12	220		GoalNumber of Entries Needed Per Timeframe to Stay on Pace for the Year Based on the Predicted Amount of 5000 Bills Entered	96	2083	+10	+489
2009	1339	4013	4131	118	2792		Actual	106	2572

And for my goal of decreasing San Francisco "L" FRB entries below 50.0% while increasing Boston "A", Cleveland "D", St Louis "H", Philadelphia "C", Minneapolis "I", and Kansas City "J", all maintained or expanded (or in San Francisco's case, decreased) their percentage of my overall bills:

	SoYStart of Year	SoY%Percentage of Overall at Start of Year	SoWStart of Week	SoW%Percentage of Overall at Start of Week	EoWEnd of Week	EoW%Percentage of Overall at End of Week	GoalGoal Percentage		GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
San Francisco "L"	8532	51.03%	10162	48.15%	10240	48.03%	< 50.0%	49.94%	10660	+420
Boston "A"	461	2.76%	722	3.42%	729	3.42%	> 2.8%	2.85%	607	+122
Cleveland "D"	395	2.36%	725	3.43%	739	3.47%	> 2.4%	2.45%	522	+217
St. Louis "H"	382	2.28%	661	3.13%	674	3.16%	> 2.3%	2.35%	501	+173
Philadelphia "C"	376	2.25%	594	2.81%	608	2.85%	> 2.2%	2.25%	480	+128
Minneapolis "I"	352	2.11%	546	2.59%	556	2.61%	> 2.1%	2.15%	458	+98
Kansas City "J"	290	1.73%	511	2.42%	520	2.44%	> 1.7%	1.75%	374	+146

It was a big week for bill entries (as I spent last weekend in Reno) but another poor week for hits. Hopefully the additional entries start showing up as hits in the next few weeks and help my hits get back on track.

My Where's George Week in Review: 08/26/12 - 09/01/12

Hover over this explanation for more detailsThe nerd that I am, I chose to post once a week a summary of my previous week's Where's George activity in comparision to my goals for the year.

In order to make the charts fit, I had to abreviate the column headers. Each header is now hoverable for an explanation.

In the past week, I received 24 hits in 8 States [CA¹⁵, GA, IL, MO, NV², TX, UT, WA²]. I still have hits in 42 States in 2012 with none added this week. Additionally I now have hits in 450 counties with 1 new this week: Newton GA.

Of those 24 hits, 1 was the 3^rd hit on the bill, 3 were the 2^nd hit on the bill, and the rest (20) were the initial hit on the bill. The longest bill active from the bunch was re-entered 2 Years 292 Days 21 Hours 5 Minutes after I originally entered it.

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
26	27	28	29	30	31	01
3	6	4	2	4	3	2

My current hit streak has been extended to 15 days with a hit received each day of the past week.

Taking a look at how my predictions regarding bill entries and hits are going so far, I entered a lot of bills this past week but received an "on goal" number of hits and bills with hits:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	PPrediction (for Year)	P/WPrediction for Week: A Week's Share of the Total	PtDPrediction to Date: The Portion of the Prediction that should be Completed so Far	WvPWeek versus Prediction: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the P/W	DvPDate versus Prediction: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the PtD
Bills Entered	16720	20853	21107	254	4387	21720	95.6	20067	+158	+1040
Bills with Hits	2430	3267	3287	20	857	3445	19.4	3109	+1	+178
Total Hits	2799	3805	3829	24	1030	4030	23.5	3623	+0	+206

Based on the goal of 5000 bill entries, here's how I'm doing towards my bill entry goals. Starting off with my goal of increasing the percentage that $1s make up of my entries by 1% (started the year at 86.29% so the goal is 87.29%), my percentage is now 87.21% [+0.92%]down a bit from last week:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	GGoal: Number of Total Ones Needed by the End of the Year Based on the Prediction of 5000 Bill Entries This Year	GfWGoal for Week: This Week's Portion of the Goal Based on the Number of Bills Entered in the Week	GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers of One Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Week's Numbers Stack Up Against the GfW	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
$1s Entered	14427	18188	18407	219	3980	18959	230.2	18403	-11	+4
Dynamic GoalProgress towards the goal based on my actual rate of entering bills per day which would result in 6554 entries this year rather than 5000						20315	228.2	18368	-9	+39

As for the goal of having series 2009 pass series 2003A in number of entries, this one was completed last week, and 2009's lead is expanding:

	SoYStart of Year	SoWStart of Week	EoWEnd of Week	WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year			WΔWeek Change: Number Added this Week	YΔYear Change: Number Added this Year	WvGWeek versus Goal: How the Actual WΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal WΔ	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Actual YΔ Stacks Up Against the Goal YΔ
2003A	3603	3801	3811	10	208		GoalNumber of Entries Needed Per Timeframe to Stay on Pace for the Year Based on the Predicted Amount of 5000 Bills Entered	115	1987	+42	+479
2009	1339	3846	4013	167	2674		Actual	157	2466

And for my goal of decreasing San Francisco "L" FRB entries below 50.0% while increasing Boston "A", Cleveland "D", St Louis "H", Philadelphia "C", Minneapolis "I", and Kansas City "J", each expanded it's lead this week:

	SoYStart of Year	SoY%Percentage of Overall at Start of Year	SoWStart of Week	SoW%Percentage of Overall at Start of Week	EoWEnd of Week	EoW%Percentage of Overall at End of Week	GoalGoal Percentage		GtDGoal to Date: The Numbers Needed to be Entered so Far this Year to be on Track to Met the Overall Goal	DvGDate versus Goal: How the Year's Numbers So Far Stack Up Against the GtD
San Francisco "L"	8532	51.03%	10062	48.25%	10162	48.15%	< 50.0%	49.94%	10562	+400
Boston "A"	461	2.76%	712	3.41%	722	3.42%	> 2.8%	2.85%	601	+121
Cleveland "D"	395	2.36%	713	3.42%	725	3.43%	> 2.4%	2.45%	516	+209
St. Louis "H"	382	2.28%	645	3.09%	661	3.13%	> 2.3%	2.35%	495	+166
Philadelphia "C"	376	2.25%	582	2.79%	594	2.81%	> 2.2%	2.25%	475	+119
Minneapolis "I"	352	2.11%	534	2.56%	546	2.59%	> 2.1%	2.15%	453	+93
Kansas City "J"	290	1.73%	501	2.40%	511	2.42%	> 1.7%	1.75%	370	+141

It was another less than impressive week for hits. I'm not sure what has caused the funk, but I hope it ends soon.