From the New Office

Well, I moved everything Friday.  Unpacked and cleaned up this morning.  Then checking emails and doing a few things, I headed out for my first run from the new bldg.  Just taking it easy, after 3 days off.  Felt pretty rough at first, like I didn’t want to be out there.  Check the chart.  Funky 1^st 1.5 miles, but after that I slowly picked it up, continuously (well, just about every quarter).

I was thinking about the upcoming race a little, and thinking about how I want to go out and pace the race.  This profile looks about right from .75 miles on.  I want to start fast (I won’t be able to help myself too much.  Then I’ll try and slow down nad be fairly even for the .75 or 1.0 miles until 1.75 or 2.0.  Then start picking it up every quarter after that.  Last ½ mile really be moving and do a kick in sprint as best I can for that last 0.107 miles (what, about 188 yards).

Oh, and, by the by, from the office here, it is 1.20 miles to the mulch path.  So, it takes off 0.80 miles compared to running from my old bldg.  In a way that’s a good thing.  I can head to the path and run on something softer and less heat reflecting.  I just don’t want to get bored.  But, I should be able to get to the beach and really hit those hills for training!  Next time I’ll head out to the neighborhood, though, and see what that is like coming from the other side.

Time to start figuring out a taper program for the race.

Go go go

Push-Up Pain

On Sunday I tried doing my exercises.  Well, at least, I did the sit-ups – Week 6, Day 1.  I think I’ll be able to complete these and do the 200 fairly “easily”.  My gluteus maximus is hurting today, which is a good sign.  No running for three days, though.  Jess had her friend Lana, from CO, visiting this weekend, so I had some time with the kids.  Very fun.

Oh, and onto the push-up PAIN.  I did (tried) week 4, Day 3.  Well, I’m going to be stuck on week 4 for quite a while.  Especially if I get hurt like I have been.  I did the 29, then did all of the sit-ups since it hurt so bad.  But then I went ahead and did the 33 and 29, in nearly sheer agony.  Immediately put on ice, took some Advil and suffered through pain the rest of the day.

I’m going to get out to run (hopefully) today, from my new office!  All cleaned up and ready to get my butt to work.  I have my iPod playing music in the background.  That is kind of nice, since I’m not bugging anyone. 

OK, gonna get to it!

Go go go!

Exercises

Ouch...OK, I don't know how long this is going to take. I just know these pushups are deadly. I put too much strain on my neck struggling and now it hurts. And of course I kept going and completed all the sets for week 4, day 2. The third set of 25 was actually 15 and 10 quickly after. Then I did half of the sets for the sit-ups, week 5, day 3. Then I did the last set of 25 pushups. Then the rest of the sit-ups, ending with 100 for the last set. Then back to the supposed 36 minimum push-ups. I did 29.5, sat up for 15 seconds, did 10, then sat up again for about 10 seconds and then did 6, collapsing on my face. So, I did 25, 29, 25, 25, 29, 10, 6 = 149 spread out. That isn't so bad. But I just never feel OK with moving on if I cheat. Well, I'm going to move on a day, and see. And if I have to, I'll start the week over, again, or just go back a day or two. (Oh, and about the sit-ups, total of (30, 30, 36, 36, 30, 30, 40, 100) 332.

I decided that I do want to do squats, but I'm going to wait until after my race on the 13th. I don't want to introduce a new exercise right now. I'll keep going with this stuff, though.

Relaxing Run

So, this was just a chillin’ day.  Check out that pace…Average of 8:15.7.  Temp high 60’s.  Funny to say “High”, since it’s such a cool/decent temp to do a run like this. 

Legs still feeling a bit sore, so took it easy.  I can’t believe I was able to do this.  Just relax and have a recovery type run.  Not just a day or two off as the recovery.  An actual slow/easy day. 




I’ve not put this up on the blog before, but I’ve been tracking the trend of speed, per mile run.  The green line is a linear estimate of the pace, based on the miles run.  It’s kind of scattered, but there is a bit of a trend.  One trend that is very apparent is that most of my runs are between 2-4.5 miles.

I’ve always like shorter distances, so they tend to stand out.  I’m surprised to see the longer runs also under the curve.  This is just data from May 26^th until today.  I’d be interested in doing this for the last couple of years….but that would be a pain, and not sure what it would show.  I’ll just keep updating this for the year, and start a new one next year.  If I can stay consistent in running, it’ll be interesting to see how the chart develops.  A similar slope, but just shifted down?  Steeper?  flatter?  Will be neat to see the race outliers, which I’ll have to put in a different color.  But, I’m just babbling now.  Time to just be happy and run.

Go go go.

Back to "Work"

OK, this morning I finally got back to the push-ups and sit-ups.  Seems like this will take me closer to 3 months than 4 weeks.  But still, that is OK.  As long as it happens.

Also, I’m not impressed by the sit-ups one.  I think I’m going to try to do the full 200 next time.  And if it works, I’m going to change it up to full leg lifts, as Jess has suggested.  Those seem a lot more difficult.  Probably just works a different muscle group…which is weaker for me.

Go go go!

Hello Monday

Was just thinking of 4 miles.  Then thought I should run on the mulch/bark, and figured that was nearly two miles to get there (it was exactly two miles actually), so I would go down the path until I saw the ocean, or until I hit 3.2 miles out whichever came second.  Well, seeing the ocean came second.  Ended up doing .75 miles on the track when I got back, which I did to get a full 7 miles and to get my overall pace down under 8min/mi.  Well, it took me 7.25 miles to get it below 8min/mi, but I did do it.

I took off SLOW.  As I wanted to.  Legs/shins/body just overall sore.  Needed something smooth.  Figured I’d work on just speeding up the entire time, slowly.  Which seeing the graph above, I did superbly.

Temp was much more reasonable.  A little breeze, and, at least, while on the mulch I was able to have some trees overhead. 

The run out is mostly downhill on that path, so it was an uphill run for the return, so increasing speed while also going up hill was a good thing.  And going at such a fast clip on the track was a nice way to pretend I was kicking it in for a race.  Although I hope I go a bit faster in a race and have a bit less energy to kick it in for such a long time!  ;-)

Go go go

Saturday's HOT HOT 10k

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OK, I’m a thermally challenged wimp.  82°F, barely any wispy clouds, no wind, hardly any trees to duck under for shade…and stupidly I started off WAY too fast for this type of day.  What does that mean?  It means I had to walk.  Twice.  :-(  No negative split, but hey, I got out there and moved those feet!

At least it wasn’t too painful physically.  Just took some Advil and everything felt fine.

Garmin has a few more discussion points, but not much else for me to say now.

Go go go!

Chillin' 4-Miler

Legs still sore from the intervals on Tuesday. I'm glad I did them, because the pain feels so good! :-D

Today I started out warming up with a nice 9 holes at Harbor Golf course. Played decent, 4 pars, 4 bogies, 1 blow up hole. Just need to work on my consistency. Kind of like my running. I need to keep it more consistent, and keep building up the mileage. Have a race coming up in 4 weeks and then a couple more before the "BIG ONE" in DC next spring.

Golf had bright sunny skies, but when I ran it got more overcast. Not too warm when I ran. Felt great. So good to be out. Gotta stretch and get to sleep now!

And, no, I haven't done my sits/pushes lately. Going to be an early morning thing. I think my body has recovered from some of the pains pre/post intervals.

Go go go!

Intervals

OK, nice day out.  Overcast, cool and I did intervals on the track!  Started with slow jog there, and then some criss-cross and high-knee jogs across the short side of the track. Then it was down to business.  800, 400, 400, 800, 100, 100, 400, 100, 100.  So, 2 miles of speed work.  Fastest of 3:53 pace for LAST of the 100 yard sprints, meaning sub 15 seconds (Hey, I'm no Usain Bolt (9.58 seconds, REALLY, that man is insanely fast).

Slowest was of course the 800s 2:53 and WAY SLOW 3:16.  Hey, I was tired already (and therefore wimped out, I was trying to pace for a 1200).

I definitely need more speed work!

Then just a quarter-ish for a cool-down jog back to my office.

It's nice being so close to the track.

Go go go!

Almost 8 Miler

Pretty smooth run. Kids misplaced my watch. I gotta find it.

Felt kind of easy. Right shin a bit sore. Going to ice it, and drink my protein shake.

Did my sit-ups and push-ups this morning before the run. Week 4, day 1. As always...OUCH.

Weather was nice. Mid 60's and cloudy.

Nike+ Was closer this time. 7.66, versus 7.8. But, the pace ends up being wrong. But that's OK. I was able to check the time per location and figure that out for myself. Which is basically this 7:51 per mile pace overall. The time/miles are approximate, so I can't say for sure, but overall, like I said it was pretty good.

Later in the day my legs were KILLING me. Taking some Advil before heading to the grocery store really helped.

Go go go!

Pace Work

So, I used my watch for one of its more intended purposes.  I set up a “quick workout” (their term).  I set up a 7:50 pace 4 miler.  Then I turned the watches screen to virtual partner, which shows the distance ahead/behind the pace.  I watched the distance more than I thought I would, but that is OK.  It helped me feel what a 7:50 pace would be like.  I finished at 7:46 pace, only 16 seconds ahead of “schedule.”  Not too shabby.  I went a bit too fast on one quarter (7:27 – a bit downhill and I didn’t rein myself in).  Was nice overall.

THEN, I walked a bit to the track and did ANOTHER workout.  This one was set to 6:55 for a mile.  I finished at 6:48, so that was pretty good, too.

So, today was a recovery day…sort of.  That mile started pushing me at the half, but not too bad.  Felt good.  Recovered right away.  That 4 miler felt really easy.  So, sub-8 with no strain…that’s awesome!

Weather: typical 68° and sunny.  Minor wind.

I have to really start thinking about some goals and plan in some races.  I have 8 months ‘til my 10 miler.  Right now I’m thinking 7min/mi is my “min goal”.  6:30 would be nice, and a stretch goal is 6:00.  It would be so cool to go sub 60 minutes!

Anyway, I have a lot of work to do to get there.  I hope I can get more miles in and enjoy the “ride”.

Go go go!!!!!!!

Workout 8/12

OK, did the pushes and sits this morning.  Can't swallow, still feeling yuck, and ran pretty hard yesterday...in other words, today was tough!  I basically alternate pushes, then sits, then pushes again, etc.  I had trouble with one set of pushes.  Form wasn't perfect, but I got through all sets.  Also did some pilates things.  Kids love watching me do these things and try to crawl on me, or do some themselves.  Too cute.

 

When will I feel better?

 

Go go go!

5k at Some Pace

Sheesh, I “warmed up” running to the track, and then picked up the pace.  As you can see in the graph, I was able to speed up continually for the first 1.25 miles.  Then I throttled back a bit.  Not bad though.  Overall I did end up with a negative split.   :-) Gotta love that!

Ran on track due to running too much on the streets lately.  I was a little faster when I ran 1 mile back on 6/25.  But when I ran ONLY 2 miles on 6/15, I was able to do that in 7:04 pace.  Well, for an entire 5k at 7:04.1 pace, with a nice .25 miles at 8:00 pace, and running right into the 5k with no break….that’s pretty darned good.  I think I could push it to sub-7.  I would need to start the watch from scratch, though, so I can kind of watch it.  The watch was saying the average pace was closer to 7:10, due to that 1st quarter.

4 Times around May of ’08 I did a sub-7 5k around SEAKR, best of which was 6:49 on May 14^th, 2008.  So, that was around Racine, with hills.  So, I still have some work to do.  But I can get there in a month, I bet.  I’d love to do that 5k run next time I visit Denver, see if I can pull it off.

Anyway, weather, about 63°, slight wind, slightly cloudy.  Nice day to run!  Everything felt good.  There were some people from a running group there doing 3/4 mile and other distance reps.  1 dude always passed me, and a few others did a  bit later.  It obviously depended on when they started compared to when I passed them.  4 people passed me once, when they took off right after I went by their “starting line”.  That kind of pulled me along at the start, but wasn’t’ much help later.  Started breathing a little rough, started feeling it in my legs, but I could have pushed it harder.  If in a race I could definitely beat 6:49/mi.  Still pushing for that 10 miler in April.  I need to get some longer runs in, though. 

Go go go!

Workout

OK, I did sit-ups and push-ups just now. I did go ahead and went back to week 3, ady 2.

For the push-ups I did these all pretty slow and full. Kept a reasonable stance the whole time. Last set I did 25, without any stopping or falling, etc. Then after a little bit, I went for a FAST set and popped out 27 before I totally collapsed. :-D Fun fun!

For sit-ups, same thing. I went slower and tried to get a good crunch in at the end. I did 40 for the last set.

Then I did some pilates stuff. Roll-ups, leg lifts, bicycle kicks, seal-rolls (or whatever you want to call them), etc. Stomach is feeling it.

Feel like I did a good job. Now, tomorrow, I need to run! I'm behind a few days. I gotta get in some mileage!

Hundreds of Things

Well today was week 3, day 3. I got through the whole workout for both the sit-ups and push-ups. Finished with 30 pushes and 60-ish sits. The sits I say "ish" because I did legs pumps and twists and crunches for a bit. For the push-ups I kept getting my arms in a further stance and I don't think I was doing the FULL extensions. Deciding if I should redo this week, just to get it more solid. It wouldn't hurt. I'd like to do both of the exercises properly, slowly, smoothly and full range...

I think I'll go back one day, and do week 3, day 2 next time. Then go from there and see how it works out.

But, dang, it feels good doing these things! Body feels sore, but strong. I like that!

5K Thursday

Now that was cool. Attaching the image as a jpg made it pop in the post instead of having to put it in later. Not that I'd always add that pace chart. Fun fun.

Anyway, that title almost makes it sound like a do a 5k every Thursday. Haha...well, by golly, maybe I should!  Doubt it. Anyway. Low-mid 70's. Very light wind. Sunny. Nice & boring, but nice.

Legs feeling the "burn" of running on the roads all the time. I need trails/grass/track. I hate to say it, but I think I need to run on the track the next few times. It's not the shoes.  They still feel good and don't have nearly enough miles on them to be a worry. I just need a softer running surface.

I'm proud of myself.  I did another negative split.  Also, I really pushed to have a consistent pace, all quarters under 8min/mi and finish strong, yet smooth.  Well, I only "messed-up" that last part.  I would have liked to maintain control and kept the pace slower.  WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA????? Slower?  Yes, just for the consistency of it. Before that last quarter at 6:51 pace, the fastest/slowest was 7:11/7:45 per quarter. That is good.  Especially considering that 7:45 was on the biggest/steepest hill of the run.  Another long one was right at 2 miles, but it wasn't as steep, so I pushed to maintain and I actually hit that one at 7:34.

My pace is still getting faster for each distance…I need to have an easy day.

Maybe I'll get out for a "slow" 10k on Sunday. :-D

Push-ups...

OK, so I started that 100 Pushups plan.  Did the first day on Saturday.  I also did a "test" for the 200 sit-up program.  Oddly enough I did 200 sit-ups for the test.  Definitely not the "good-form" ones they want.  I'll start about week-three like on the push-up program.

Anyway, back to the push-ups.  Holy OUCH!  I've done 100 in a day…..but that's over three or 4 times during the day.  This was 5 sets, and that last set was to be max 20 or more…..I did 13 and FELL ON MY FACE!!!!!!  Struggled to do 7 more, as quickly as I could.  Then about half an hour later I did 30.  Best form, no, but good.  I need to do another day today.  I took two days rest, since I was/am SUPER sore.  I ended up doing the 80 in a little over 5 minutes.  Then with that last group I did 110 for the day.  I am feeling better today, so hopefully I can do it.  I'll try my best.  I may have to redo this week already, though.  I'm going to stick with it, though, and I WILL do 100 in one set as soon as I can!!!!!

Tuesday 8/4

A simple run.  Kept a pretty good pace.  3.75 miles.  7:17.9 pace.  Negative split.  About 72°F.  Little/no wind.  Mostly Sunny.  Felt pretty warm.  Started smooth easy and picked up the pace most of the way.  On average slowed the last mile, but still kept the overall pace dropping. 

Kind of wimped out.  I wanted to jump on the track to do a final quick quarter, but I just ran to the gym area, stopped, and stretched out a little.

That's about it.  Easy Peezy….go go go!

Treadmill Sat 8/1

Garmin Stuff.

OK, before heading out for the night, I put in a quick 1 miler.  Just wanted to shake off the cobwebs.  Jumped on the treadmill and started at 6mph for about .05, then 8mph, then kept going to 8.1, 8.2, etc…until at 9…then the last 160yds (0.1mi), I bumped it to 11mph.  So, with all of that I hit a time of 6:55.  This was done with the incline set to 2.0.  You have to have a slight incline on the treadmill to somewhat simulate getting outside, instead of having the tread help push you along.

Felt pretty good, for being on a TM.  Good times.  Go go go!