Every time I comment on EMU's blog, I always get a lot of people reading mine. So I figured I'd post something recent, however it is rarely as informative and much less frequently updated.
Last year my wife and I, plus a group of friends, ran the Blue Bell 10k. The Wifey and I had a great time pushing the baby and running together.
Since my recent moral defeat at the Bandera 50k, which I haven't talked about yet because I'm still stewing with the disappointment, I've really struggled for which race to sign-up for. I enjoy shorter races and like them because you get to run faster. I like fast. I really enjoy 1 mile races but something about the challenges you face during a distance race makes me want to run the 10k or really just rerun the Bandera 50k.
Right now, I really just want to be successful at the race. Which means winning something. Prior to my wife having a child and us adding a little one into our family, we actually had won a few races or age groups at smaller 5k's like the Blue Bell. Those were the days where I could expect to average low 6min/miles or touch into the 5 min/mile range for the whole 5k. Those were the days indeed and now I'm happy to average low 7 min/miles for the whole race. But I know I'm capable of more.
SO I've decided to run the 5k. It is a good quick race, I get to run fast. There is not a lot that can go wrong during a 5k versus a longer race so it could be a good moral booster. I'm going to set my goal for a nice conservative pace of under 21 minutes. I have 12 weeks until the race. I will be using this FIRST's training (Furman Insititute of Running Science and Training) plan. I am looking forward to it. I've used these plans for about 3 years and have really seen amazing improvements. If you want to get faster this is the plan for you. Also, I've lost 7lbs since the first of December and have about 10 more to get to a good competitive weight. It is amazing how much easier it is to run and run fast when you've lost 20lbs. Hopefully, by triathlon season the wife and I will be at a much more competitive place, she'll just say healthy place.
Showing posts with label workouts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label workouts. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Friday, November 19, 2010
I understand my uncle better
I have an uncle who in high school could run a mile in the 4:40 range. Pretty fast for that time. He is now in a wheel chair, suffering the effects of diabetes. My uncle is Hispanic. Diabetes runs in my mother's side of the family. It has taken lives.
Having also been a runner in high school I often asked myself how other runners came to be in the state they were in. I didn't quite understand why. I also still have a hard time understanding why people insist that running a mile in 14minutes is actually running. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since at least they are moving.
Recently though, I understand my uncle better now or at least his situation better. A life of seemingly inconsequential decisions brought him to a place where huge hurdles stood in front of him and being healthy. A few months ago my wife and I pledged to eat cleaner more natural foods. We started buying more organic things, I started drinking more milk because I determined through mindful tracking that my diet was deficient in Calcium. This lead to a bowl of cereal before bed. We quit drinking soda all together except for 1 or 2 on the weekends, and almost everything we cooked was fresh.
It seemed like we were doing well, but I ate more. I must have been because I gained weight. Then work prevented me from always making my lunch workouts and since I had been working at night after the baby went to bed I didn't get up for any morning workouts either. Soon I didn't get up at all for morning workouts. I also do not trade time with the baby for a workout because I enjoy time with her more. All of this lead up to me gaining 8 lbs in the month of October(actually in about 6 weeks.) The sad thing is I didn't eat any more than 10 pieces of candy around Halloween either!
Now, I know from the past that my weight naturally hovers at 170-175. Having been at 150-155 and in the best shape of my life recently, I feel fat. I see that people who were once athletes and are now obese might have suffered the same fate. Life combined in small ways to sabotage their health.
The good thing is the last time I reached my stabilized weight range (170-175) I was running in the 8-9-10 minute mile range for a 5k. This time I can run in the 7's already. So as I make changes and become more disciplined at attending my workouts I can only get faster and slimmer. Hopefully soon I'll be back to the 18-19 minute 5k! For now I have to make small daily decisions to workout and eat less. This weekend I have the Warrior Dash and in 49 days( Jan 9th) the Bandera 50k.
Having also been a runner in high school I often asked myself how other runners came to be in the state they were in. I didn't quite understand why. I also still have a hard time understanding why people insist that running a mile in 14minutes is actually running. But I'll give them the benefit of the doubt since at least they are moving.
Recently though, I understand my uncle better now or at least his situation better. A life of seemingly inconsequential decisions brought him to a place where huge hurdles stood in front of him and being healthy. A few months ago my wife and I pledged to eat cleaner more natural foods. We started buying more organic things, I started drinking more milk because I determined through mindful tracking that my diet was deficient in Calcium. This lead to a bowl of cereal before bed. We quit drinking soda all together except for 1 or 2 on the weekends, and almost everything we cooked was fresh.
It seemed like we were doing well, but I ate more. I must have been because I gained weight. Then work prevented me from always making my lunch workouts and since I had been working at night after the baby went to bed I didn't get up for any morning workouts either. Soon I didn't get up at all for morning workouts. I also do not trade time with the baby for a workout because I enjoy time with her more. All of this lead up to me gaining 8 lbs in the month of October(actually in about 6 weeks.) The sad thing is I didn't eat any more than 10 pieces of candy around Halloween either!
Now, I know from the past that my weight naturally hovers at 170-175. Having been at 150-155 and in the best shape of my life recently, I feel fat. I see that people who were once athletes and are now obese might have suffered the same fate. Life combined in small ways to sabotage their health.
The good thing is the last time I reached my stabilized weight range (170-175) I was running in the 8-9-10 minute mile range for a 5k. This time I can run in the 7's already. So as I make changes and become more disciplined at attending my workouts I can only get faster and slimmer. Hopefully soon I'll be back to the 18-19 minute 5k! For now I have to make small daily decisions to workout and eat less. This weekend I have the Warrior Dash and in 49 days( Jan 9th) the Bandera 50k.
Friday, September 3, 2010
p90x
Since the baby was born I've struggled to find the time necessary to achieve my fitness goals. After getting off work and coming home, eating dinner, playing, bathing and putting the baby to bed I would find it would be 7:30 to 8pm every night. And now given that we live even farther from our gym the drive there and back would take an hour which means no matter if I left at 8pm I would be guaranteed to be home no earlier than 10pm.
Plus since the baby is sleeping, someone has to stay home which means the wife and I would have to take turns going to the gym. I decided that I wanted to do p90X because my wife and I could both do it together at night without leaving and still get a total body workout and to bed on time!! It required some equipment we already had like weights, and a heart rate monitor. It did require a pull-up bar or some exercise bands that could be attached to something (in our case a door.) I also liked that it had a nutritional guide to go with it because I get bored with the meals we make sometimes. We do not follow the nutritional guide because it dramatically changes the percentage of proteins and carbs and I would much rather eat balanced than some sort of diet skewed toward protein or carbs. I was willing to give up any gains I would have seen by drinking protein shakes. Since we've worked our way into eating clean and as much unprocessed food as possible, I figured we would be alright.
I have almost completed 4 weeks of p90X and I must say, I am surprised at how hard it can be. The mantra of p90X is "Bring it!" I can say I have brought it and wavered a few times but then because of the disappointment worked harder and every time I am really whipped. Usually the next day I am sore. Sometimes really sore. I have added weight and added reps and really feel a lot stronger. I haven't really noticed any real weight loss BUT through reading some other peoples comments on p90x they point to the last 60 to 30 days as being the real weight loss phases.
I am also currently training for a half-marathon in October. So far the two have not interfered with each other, although there have been times when I was very sore from p90x Legs and Back doing a tempo run or already had wobbly legs doing plyometrics x. So far I am very pleased with the progress I've seen and how I feel overall through workouts. P90x is built on the idea of "muscle confusion" and so I'm interested to see how the new workouts challenge me as I progress through the program.
Plus since the baby is sleeping, someone has to stay home which means the wife and I would have to take turns going to the gym. I decided that I wanted to do p90X because my wife and I could both do it together at night without leaving and still get a total body workout and to bed on time!! It required some equipment we already had like weights, and a heart rate monitor. It did require a pull-up bar or some exercise bands that could be attached to something (in our case a door.) I also liked that it had a nutritional guide to go with it because I get bored with the meals we make sometimes. We do not follow the nutritional guide because it dramatically changes the percentage of proteins and carbs and I would much rather eat balanced than some sort of diet skewed toward protein or carbs. I was willing to give up any gains I would have seen by drinking protein shakes. Since we've worked our way into eating clean and as much unprocessed food as possible, I figured we would be alright.
I have almost completed 4 weeks of p90X and I must say, I am surprised at how hard it can be. The mantra of p90X is "Bring it!" I can say I have brought it and wavered a few times but then because of the disappointment worked harder and every time I am really whipped. Usually the next day I am sore. Sometimes really sore. I have added weight and added reps and really feel a lot stronger. I haven't really noticed any real weight loss BUT through reading some other peoples comments on p90x they point to the last 60 to 30 days as being the real weight loss phases.
I am also currently training for a half-marathon in October. So far the two have not interfered with each other, although there have been times when I was very sore from p90x Legs and Back doing a tempo run or already had wobbly legs doing plyometrics x. So far I am very pleased with the progress I've seen and how I feel overall through workouts. P90x is built on the idea of "muscle confusion" and so I'm interested to see how the new workouts challenge me as I progress through the program.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Diet, exercise and racing
What people hear me say, "diet" they usually quip back with a, "you're too skinny for a diet" or something like, "because your SOO fat!" But I think of diet as something you're on all the time. You can have a bad diet or a good diet or a balanced diet, whatever kind of diet you want. No matter the name a diet is something you have all the time. Since the baby has come into our lives we've been eating a good or at least decent diet nothing just outright horrible, BUT we've dropped the exercising from our routine once we started getting ready to sell the house.
This week was 16 weeks until our next half-marathon. My wife and I would like to get back towards our PR times and for that I've decided to do some work on my diet. This week we also started our structured run training, so I decided to lay some ground rules somewhere to help keep me accountable for my actions.
1.) No drinks other than water or tea
2.) 1 hr of exercise per day (more on this in subsequent posts)
3.) Nothing with added sugar
4.) Nothing with added salt
5.) Vegetables or Fruits with every meal.
It is a simple straight forward diet that doesn't involve doing or eating crazy things. It is just back to basic good balanced dieting. Right now my daily caloric goal is 2200kcals. This is a fair amount of food for a person who is eating healthy. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine that leads to a healthy lifestyle.
This week was 16 weeks until our next half-marathon. My wife and I would like to get back towards our PR times and for that I've decided to do some work on my diet. This week we also started our structured run training, so I decided to lay some ground rules somewhere to help keep me accountable for my actions.
1.) No drinks other than water or tea
2.) 1 hr of exercise per day (more on this in subsequent posts)
3.) Nothing with added sugar
4.) Nothing with added salt
5.) Vegetables or Fruits with every meal.
It is a simple straight forward diet that doesn't involve doing or eating crazy things. It is just back to basic good balanced dieting. Right now my daily caloric goal is 2200kcals. This is a fair amount of food for a person who is eating healthy. I'm looking forward to getting back into a routine that leads to a healthy lifestyle.
Thursday, June 24, 2010
I'm lazy!
It has been quite a while since I've had any REAL training plan that I followed. I did a 10k this spring but I just went out there an winged it.
Even though I've been doing a lot of work around the house and haven't just totally turned into a vegetable. I think I've watched less than 10 hours of TV in the past 2 months.
We have been in our new house for just under a month and with all the crazy things going on we've managed to find a kind of groove to make things work. One thing I cannot seem to get a handle on is training for something. Every night I see my dog looking at me with anticipation about our run and I cringe because I don't want to run. Sometimes I force myself to go out there and just get it over with and always I feel great afterward and wish I hadn't waited until so late because I might run longer. I can't get up earlier than 5am and really struggle to get up before 6am. It could be because I'm going to bed sometimes after midnight working on things around the house. I don't want to repeat my last house, where I said one day we'll do ______ and then we did that one thing to prepare to move. I can't remember the last time I've swam and I am afraid my bike has rusted in place.
So blog, and the two people reading it, Monday, June 28th starts an exercise routine. I will start running, riding or swimming every night. At lunch, I will no longer waste my time walking around Home Depot, Lowes, HEB or Best Buy. Instead, I will go to the gym and lift weights or run or ride the stationary. At night, after all the needs to be done is done, I will go to bed before 10pm. This will allow me to get up early enough to go swim. And since I work best when I have a goal, Austin Triathlon you are on my calendar.
Even though I've been doing a lot of work around the house and haven't just totally turned into a vegetable. I think I've watched less than 10 hours of TV in the past 2 months.
We have been in our new house for just under a month and with all the crazy things going on we've managed to find a kind of groove to make things work. One thing I cannot seem to get a handle on is training for something. Every night I see my dog looking at me with anticipation about our run and I cringe because I don't want to run. Sometimes I force myself to go out there and just get it over with and always I feel great afterward and wish I hadn't waited until so late because I might run longer. I can't get up earlier than 5am and really struggle to get up before 6am. It could be because I'm going to bed sometimes after midnight working on things around the house. I don't want to repeat my last house, where I said one day we'll do ______ and then we did that one thing to prepare to move. I can't remember the last time I've swam and I am afraid my bike has rusted in place.
So blog, and the two people reading it, Monday, June 28th starts an exercise routine. I will start running, riding or swimming every night. At lunch, I will no longer waste my time walking around Home Depot, Lowes, HEB or Best Buy. Instead, I will go to the gym and lift weights or run or ride the stationary. At night, after all the needs to be done is done, I will go to bed before 10pm. This will allow me to get up early enough to go swim. And since I work best when I have a goal, Austin Triathlon you are on my calendar.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Lubbock to 100 days!
There are less than 100 days to my wave start of the Buffalo Springs 70.3! Oh I'm nervous just thinking about it!
Strangely, I think I am going to be well prepared for it. I still have a lot of work but a lot can be done in 14 weeks and I'm going to have some fun. It will be the day before the baby's 1 year birthday!!! This was the race I was supposed to do but had to fly home because the baby came. My flight left 20 minutes after the start of my wave.
The 100 day mark is really a reminder that every day I need to be monitoring my diet, making sure I push myself hard at every workout and get good sleep! I can't wait!!
IF anyone wants to do some riding, running or swimming let me know, I could always use a workout partner or heck just do it with me!
Strangely, I think I am going to be well prepared for it. I still have a lot of work but a lot can be done in 14 weeks and I'm going to have some fun. It will be the day before the baby's 1 year birthday!!! This was the race I was supposed to do but had to fly home because the baby came. My flight left 20 minutes after the start of my wave.
The 100 day mark is really a reminder that every day I need to be monitoring my diet, making sure I push myself hard at every workout and get good sleep! I can't wait!!
IF anyone wants to do some riding, running or swimming let me know, I could always use a workout partner or heck just do it with me!
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
1 mile
This morning, I finally swam 1 mile, since getting back into the training swing of things. I had been working my way up since I had really lost a lot in the swimming department. I can tell my form is pretty bad and my core is pretty weak. It is amazing how quickly you can go from being a good swimmer to just being able to swim. It wasn't my fastest mile ever, but you know I'm building up my base. My training officially starts a week from next Monday (Feb 22nd.) So I'm pushing myself and getting ready to really endure some torture.
I am registered for the Buffalo Springs 70.3 in Lubbock on June 27th. That is one day before the baby's 1st birthday. I'm so glad the BST organizers held my registration from last year. They didn't have to, but they were kind enough to do that so I didn't have to pay the $250 entry fee. Whew! The race if you are unfamiliar it a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run (half-marathon.)
Since writing down my goals is something I have been trying to do with anything I start, here are my goals for this race.
Swim portion: 30 minutes for 1.2miles
T1 : 7 mins
Bike portion: 2hr 40mins
T2 : 7 mins
Run portion: 1hr 35mins
Total Time: 5hrs
Now 5 hrs is a very very hard goal to make. It is like the 3 hour marathon. You have to really have your stuff together to finish at or below 3 hours in the marathon. And when you tell other marathoners you're a 3 hour marathoner they know that's hard to accomplish. A 5hr HIM is the same way, you really have to train hard and be ready on race day.
I'm looking forward to really starting to train hard and pushing myself to the sometimes painful extreme. Hopefully since the baby is getting older, she and the wife can come along some of those times.
I am registered for the Buffalo Springs 70.3 in Lubbock on June 27th. That is one day before the baby's 1st birthday. I'm so glad the BST organizers held my registration from last year. They didn't have to, but they were kind enough to do that so I didn't have to pay the $250 entry fee. Whew! The race if you are unfamiliar it a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, and 13.1 mile run (half-marathon.)
Since writing down my goals is something I have been trying to do with anything I start, here are my goals for this race.
Swim portion: 30 minutes for 1.2miles
T1 : 7 mins
Bike portion: 2hr 40mins
T2 : 7 mins
Run portion: 1hr 35mins
Total Time: 5hrs
Now 5 hrs is a very very hard goal to make. It is like the 3 hour marathon. You have to really have your stuff together to finish at or below 3 hours in the marathon. And when you tell other marathoners you're a 3 hour marathoner they know that's hard to accomplish. A 5hr HIM is the same way, you really have to train hard and be ready on race day.
I'm looking forward to really starting to train hard and pushing myself to the sometimes painful extreme. Hopefully since the baby is getting older, she and the wife can come along some of those times.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Competition!
I love competition!! I can't wait to get into a triathlon, that moment as they count down to the start and the thrashing water that insues. I love at a running race where you try and figure out who is REALLY going to set the pace and not just going out there to blow up half-way into the run.
However, I'm feeling really outta shape right now. Except today! This morning I managed to dig myself out of bed at 4:30 and was in the water by 5:20 for a pretty vigorious swim workout. The thing is, I felt great! Finished strong and felt like I could do more!
Then at lunch, I made myself go to the gym even though I wanted to go bike drooling. On my plate was just a 5k run. I've been struggling to leave the 8min pace, which is pretty slow for someone who wants to run up front. Today I ran in the 7's and the last 600m at a flat 6min/mi pace. I felt great!
SOO maybe I just have been letting my body convince me I'm outta shape when really I just needed to push a bit harder. I can't wait for the season to start!!!
However, I'm feeling really outta shape right now. Except today! This morning I managed to dig myself out of bed at 4:30 and was in the water by 5:20 for a pretty vigorious swim workout. The thing is, I felt great! Finished strong and felt like I could do more!
Then at lunch, I made myself go to the gym even though I wanted to go bike drooling. On my plate was just a 5k run. I've been struggling to leave the 8min pace, which is pretty slow for someone who wants to run up front. Today I ran in the 7's and the last 600m at a flat 6min/mi pace. I felt great!
SOO maybe I just have been letting my body convince me I'm outta shape when really I just needed to push a bit harder. I can't wait for the season to start!!!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Let's be realistic here
When I was in high school the first week of x-country practice was really hard. You go from not really running to running 10-12 miles per day. So by the end of the first week, you hurt. All over, your biceps, your abs, your shoulders, your neck and those are the things that just swing, you can imagine what your legs are like. While I was in High School I discovered a secret to beat all this.
Protein shakes! Sure they don't taste great, but being someone who likes to cook I doctored them up into something delicious! I made protein shake root beer floats, with cookies-n-cream ice cream because that's my favorite, or if I didn't have root beer then a Protein shake malts.
Annnnddd... They were amazing you could literally feel the soreness go away. I would drink 5 serving per day. Sure maybe it was placebo, but it worked and they were a whopping 3000 calories but I am pretty sure we were burning that during our workouts. Anyway, it was like an ace in the hole. Guys would be hurtin' but I would feel only mildly sore and I could finish the workouts hard.
SO fast forward to today. Yesterday I ran 5 miles for the first time in over a month. It was probably the 10-15th time I've run since the baby was born. I was sore, I could feel it the moment I got off the treadmill. It was that kind of sore that you instantly know you're gonna hurt tomorrow and makes you scared of the next 36 hours. So, I resorted to my old trick, though not as big because 3000 calories today will just make me fat. Within hours the soreness started receding, and this morning I feel 90%, today I'll run 5 miles again. It is part of my plan to shock my body and to at least get it ready to survive some of this 50k, but lets be realistic I'm gonna need a lot of protein shakes to recover from this dumb idea.
Protein shakes! Sure they don't taste great, but being someone who likes to cook I doctored them up into something delicious! I made protein shake root beer floats, with cookies-n-cream ice cream because that's my favorite, or if I didn't have root beer then a Protein shake malts.
Annnnddd... They were amazing you could literally feel the soreness go away. I would drink 5 serving per day. Sure maybe it was placebo, but it worked and they were a whopping 3000 calories but I am pretty sure we were burning that during our workouts. Anyway, it was like an ace in the hole. Guys would be hurtin' but I would feel only mildly sore and I could finish the workouts hard.
SO fast forward to today. Yesterday I ran 5 miles for the first time in over a month. It was probably the 10-15th time I've run since the baby was born. I was sore, I could feel it the moment I got off the treadmill. It was that kind of sore that you instantly know you're gonna hurt tomorrow and makes you scared of the next 36 hours. So, I resorted to my old trick, though not as big because 3000 calories today will just make me fat. Within hours the soreness started receding, and this morning I feel 90%, today I'll run 5 miles again. It is part of my plan to shock my body and to at least get it ready to survive some of this 50k, but lets be realistic I'm gonna need a lot of protein shakes to recover from this dumb idea.
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Seriously, I'm gonna die
and not in the, "We're all gonna die some day... blah blah blah!" I don't like to blog about the same thing repeatedly but seriously there is not stopping the approaching doom I'm about to face.
That whole schedule of running 5 miles per day and 1000 flight of stairs per day, it was just reality in my head, and while I was typing it out in the blog world. In the real world, it was cold this week, I was tired this week. I did not get up and run, I did not do anything. Oh wait that's not true, I just remember I did do something this week. I went on two short walks with the wife and kid(s), in our fancy BOB stroller that I bought to run with, but I'm sure it didn't do anything to counter-act the 1430 calories of my favorite type of candy (fruit jelly pure sugar kind) I received from Santa
I know what your thinking, "YIKES!! 1430 calories!!" But relax I didn't eat them in one day, it took me a full 36 hours to eat them all. That's only 40 calories an hour, unfortunately it amounts to almost 1/2 lb of fat no matter how you look at it.
So now you know why I'm so sure I'll die, and you know why I had to share with you again my failure to get back on the horse of physical torture they call endurance sports.
That whole schedule of running 5 miles per day and 1000 flight of stairs per day, it was just reality in my head, and while I was typing it out in the blog world. In the real world, it was cold this week, I was tired this week. I did not get up and run, I did not do anything. Oh wait that's not true, I just remember I did do something this week. I went on two short walks with the wife and kid(s), in our fancy BOB stroller that I bought to run with, but I'm sure it didn't do anything to counter-act the 1430 calories of my favorite type of candy (fruit jelly pure sugar kind) I received from Santa
I know what your thinking, "YIKES!! 1430 calories!!" But relax I didn't eat them in one day, it took me a full 36 hours to eat them all. That's only 40 calories an hour, unfortunately it amounts to almost 1/2 lb of fat no matter how you look at it.
So now you know why I'm so sure I'll die, and you know why I had to share with you again my failure to get back on the horse of physical torture they call endurance sports.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
AHHHH!! Bandera 50k
OMG!! Really January 9th, might be the last day I'm alive. At best it might be the day I survived but lost any kind of status as an athlete.
I really haven't run in probably 4 weeks. Sad but true! And prior to that I had only run about 7 or 8 times since the baby arrived 6 months ago. If you miss a few days or even a week or two there isn't much difference that goes on in your body. Any perceived change is mostly mental. It takes more than 2 weeks to really start noticing an effect in your performance. Well for me it has been 6 months. I was supposed to compete in a 1/2 Ironman race the day the baby was born and can confidently say I was in the best shape of my life. Just under 6% body fat, able to swim more than 2 miles without stopping, bike 56miles maintaining a 21mph speed, and run a 1/2 marathon with a 7min/mile pace, all on the same day without a rest in between. NOW if I could just swim 2 miles, I'd be happy. I don't even want to bike 56 miles and when I ran the Rock-n-Roll 1/2 I was just happy it was over. But 50k is 31 miles and it is 31 miles of rough terrain, steep hills, and loose soil. I am sitting here thinking what was I thinking?!
The only good news is I've got a partner that is faster than me, which will help me push harder. I have a good idea and experience on how to handle my nutrition during the race and hopefully enough experience to know when to take it easy. We were supposed to do the 100k, but due to my partner's injury we're cutting it to the 50k so if anything I can just be glad I'm only doing half what we originally planned.
Here's what I'm thinking, I'm going to start running 5miles every day in the morning, and 1000 flights of stairs on the stair-treadmill thing at the gym. It might not do much but at least maybe I can shock my body back into shape. Pray for me!!
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Training
This blog was supposed to be about training for a 100k run, BUT I haven't really been training well. However, last night I did get on my new trainer.
I didn't really want to workout but I don't have much time before the 100k and I'm gaining weight. SO I told myself, "the baby should be waking up soon, I'll ride until then." Only problem is the baby didn't wake up for another hour and 20 minutes. She was pretty tired apparently.
I only rode for 30minutes because I'm outta shape and the dogs started licking the sweat drops off the floor, but it was a good workout. Much better than the stationary bike at the gym and I burned 421kcals in 30 minutes with an average heart rate of 133bpm and a max of 164bpm. That put me in my fat burning zone for 11 mins and I managed to burn 50% of those calories as fat. So good workout, my legs had that great I've just rode my bike hard feeling.
I didn't really want to workout but I don't have much time before the 100k and I'm gaining weight. SO I told myself, "the baby should be waking up soon, I'll ride until then." Only problem is the baby didn't wake up for another hour and 20 minutes. She was pretty tired apparently.
I only rode for 30minutes because I'm outta shape and the dogs started licking the sweat drops off the floor, but it was a good workout. Much better than the stationary bike at the gym and I burned 421kcals in 30 minutes with an average heart rate of 133bpm and a max of 164bpm. That put me in my fat burning zone for 11 mins and I managed to burn 50% of those calories as fat. So good workout, my legs had that great I've just rode my bike hard feeling.
Friday, November 20, 2009
Bike Trainer
ok so I've been looking for an indoor bike trainer for a long time...
I'm cheap and couldn't bear the thought of spending $300 for something new when I could probably find it on Craigslist for much less. While I was starting to doubt that after month of searching, I finally found a trainer I wanted on CL!!!! AND the person selling it was someone I knew! So finally last night I used it... the trainer has several resistance levels and a remote shifter so I don't have to get off my bike to change the setting.
What I learned? Indoor riding wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It actually was more fun than the stationary bikes at the gym. I need a fan that can blow in my face because I was sweating like a pig and last but most important. I've lost a lot of my fitness since the baby was born.
I'm getting a plan and hopefully we'll by a jogging stroller that we can use with the baby and we'll be able to start running some more. I would like that, my wife would like that and I know our dogs would LOVE that.
I'm cheap and couldn't bear the thought of spending $300 for something new when I could probably find it on Craigslist for much less. While I was starting to doubt that after month of searching, I finally found a trainer I wanted on CL!!!! AND the person selling it was someone I knew! So finally last night I used it... the trainer has several resistance levels and a remote shifter so I don't have to get off my bike to change the setting.
What I learned? Indoor riding wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It actually was more fun than the stationary bikes at the gym. I need a fan that can blow in my face because I was sweating like a pig and last but most important. I've lost a lot of my fitness since the baby was born.
I'm getting a plan and hopefully we'll by a jogging stroller that we can use with the baby and we'll be able to start running some more. I would like that, my wife would like that and I know our dogs would LOVE that.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
What is a PR?
Ok so I've pretty much quit thinking I'm gonna PR at San Antonio. I just haven't got the motivation right now to force myself through the workouts. I'm always tired and even when I get 8 hours of sleep I feel like I could sleep 2 more hours.
I think I'm gonna shoot for 8:30 min/miles... nothing spectacular but I can't waste the money I've spent on the race. Maybe when Mayzie gets older I'll try and get more serious about doing a half in under 1:30.
I think I'm gonna shoot for 8:30 min/miles... nothing spectacular but I can't waste the money I've spent on the race. Maybe when Mayzie gets older I'll try and get more serious about doing a half in under 1:30.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Finally
Ok so I finally got a long run in Sunday... it was hard, but it felt good. We averaged a 8:25 over 7 miles but it was really faster since we had to stop at several stop lights and we stopped to get some water. While we were running we maintained a 7:22pace so that's not bad although I didn't feel exactly fun while it was going on, we covered the first 4 miles quick.
I feel outta shape but maybe it's mental
Today my swim workout was great, felt good. I only swam 800meters because I wanted to get to work early but still it was still a pretty good workout. Averaged was 28min/mile so it was a good pace.
I feel outta shape but maybe it's mental
Today my swim workout was great, felt good. I only swam 800meters because I wanted to get to work early but still it was still a pretty good workout. Averaged was 28min/mile so it was a good pace.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Dreaded Key #1 Workout (Intervals)
OMG!! Have I complained enough about interval workouts? They are really really hard. I don't ever remember them being this hard. I'm starting to think that maybe I do need to eat more carbs. I don't know, what it is but man these are hard. Maybe I'm just trying to go to fast.
5 x 1k (400m RI) @ 5:55min/mile... geez it just about killed me and the thing is it doesn't sound all that hard. It is a 5k with 1/4 mile rest intervals. How hard can that be? Yeah right...
The first one is hard because you're legs are used to the pace, but Heart Rate was low and the interval passes fast enough, but it is still hard. The rest are just hard because your body just went into shock from the first interval. Sometimes I wish I was just a coach and could force people to do these workouts and then enjoy their success without really doing any hard work.
Anyway, it is over but I'm dreading next week's interval already.
5 x 1k (400m RI) @ 5:55min/mile... geez it just about killed me and the thing is it doesn't sound all that hard. It is a 5k with 1/4 mile rest intervals. How hard can that be? Yeah right...
The first one is hard because you're legs are used to the pace, but Heart Rate was low and the interval passes fast enough, but it is still hard. The rest are just hard because your body just went into shock from the first interval. Sometimes I wish I was just a coach and could force people to do these workouts and then enjoy their success without really doing any hard work.
Anyway, it is over but I'm dreading next week's interval already.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Ah running
So yesterday I didn't get to do my run workout like I said, I went home instead and ate lungh with D'Lane and Mayzie. It was way better than a hard interval workout and man are those key#1 workouts tough. Physcially yeah, but 30 seconds into the rest interval and my heart rate has dropped 20bpm it is the mentally tough part that is hard to shake. It is easy just to run 5 miles but to train to run fast, interval workouts have to be the hardest there are. I guess it helps train your body and mind to suffer during a race but gosh I wish it was easier to learn to suffer. I'm sure there is something spiritual in there, but my brain doesn't connect the two easily.
Having said all that, I ran at the 5:45 pace today and had the thought, I should bump up my inteval speeds. :-) I love running fast, I love running faster than everyone or at least running up front with the fast people. I want to be fast.
Missed the swim workout this morning, but it is alright swimming is turning into my strong sport. I haven't ridden my bike in months.
Having said all that, I ran at the 5:45 pace today and had the thought, I should bump up my inteval speeds. :-) I love running fast, I love running faster than everyone or at least running up front with the fast people. I want to be fast.
Missed the swim workout this morning, but it is alright swimming is turning into my strong sport. I haven't ridden my bike in months.
Friday, September 25, 2009
If I'm were to be a fish... I would be a flounder
ok I am going to sign up for a short race. Something like 5k or less if I can find one, I need to get myself to run faster. I trained for the Half-Ironman to run at a 7min/mi pace and it is stuck in my muscles.
I totally skipped out of all workouts yesterday. I sat in the hot tub in the morning and in the afternoon I wasted my money on a mocha at Barnes & Noble and read about "off-season" tri workouts. Kind of ironic huh? Skipping a workout to read about working out... that kept running through my mind as I sipped that great tasting mocha.
Anyway today I climbed back on the wagon because I keep thinking about how quickly life changes, and then doesn't stop for you to catch up. Justin, a fellow runner, who I mentioned earlier this week is still in a coma. Right now Justin has lost a week, and he didn't have a choice about it. I have a choice.
This morning I swam a 1/2 mile in 14:30, mostly working on technique. I have a terrible tendency to drop my arm during the glide before I start the pull. Which isn't usually a problem if you're swimming really fast but during longer swim races you tend to glide more. Plus it reinforces good reach before the pull. It was good workout, if I had more time I should have swim a mile.
And since I skipped my run workout yesterday morning, I went ahead an ran during lunch. The training plan for the half-marathon said 2miles easy (7:45 pace) and 3miles at my 10k pace (6:45.) I did it with a .5 incline on the treadmill, everything was pretty good, first mile was 8min as I was warming up and the 2nd mile was a 7:30, mile 3 was great 6:50 and I was feeling good my HR was in the 170's and I was feeling it. Mile 4 I had to walked for about two minutes. SO I knew I had some work to do, I pushed myself through the rest of 4 and managed to average a 8:15 pace and then mile 5 I turned it up and came in with a 6:15min/mi effort. The total time was just under 37 mins. My max HR was 185, and my average was 157. It was close to what I should have ran, but I wasn't tough enough to push through the pain at mile 4. I need to work on remembering my goals during a run. I can do it, I just need to remember I can do it. Instead I took a break and then had to work harder than I would have needed to inorder to finish with the time I wanted. That's kind of why I want a race to do, I love running fast and being up front helps me to practice pushing myself through my body's desire to quit.
I am sooo glad Andi is going to be doing this 100k with me, I would have quit. I know it. Because I'm not crazy enough to want to run 62miles, much less by myself. I still think 100k is going to be the dumbest thing I've done.
7 weeks until the Rock n Roll Half-Marathon... I'm a bit hesitant but I'm gonna be ready for PR
I totally skipped out of all workouts yesterday. I sat in the hot tub in the morning and in the afternoon I wasted my money on a mocha at Barnes & Noble and read about "off-season" tri workouts. Kind of ironic huh? Skipping a workout to read about working out... that kept running through my mind as I sipped that great tasting mocha.
Anyway today I climbed back on the wagon because I keep thinking about how quickly life changes, and then doesn't stop for you to catch up. Justin, a fellow runner, who I mentioned earlier this week is still in a coma. Right now Justin has lost a week, and he didn't have a choice about it. I have a choice.
This morning I swam a 1/2 mile in 14:30, mostly working on technique. I have a terrible tendency to drop my arm during the glide before I start the pull. Which isn't usually a problem if you're swimming really fast but during longer swim races you tend to glide more. Plus it reinforces good reach before the pull. It was good workout, if I had more time I should have swim a mile.
And since I skipped my run workout yesterday morning, I went ahead an ran during lunch. The training plan for the half-marathon said 2miles easy (7:45 pace) and 3miles at my 10k pace (6:45.) I did it with a .5 incline on the treadmill, everything was pretty good, first mile was 8min as I was warming up and the 2nd mile was a 7:30, mile 3 was great 6:50 and I was feeling good my HR was in the 170's and I was feeling it. Mile 4 I had to walked for about two minutes. SO I knew I had some work to do, I pushed myself through the rest of 4 and managed to average a 8:15 pace and then mile 5 I turned it up and came in with a 6:15min/mi effort. The total time was just under 37 mins. My max HR was 185, and my average was 157. It was close to what I should have ran, but I wasn't tough enough to push through the pain at mile 4. I need to work on remembering my goals during a run. I can do it, I just need to remember I can do it. Instead I took a break and then had to work harder than I would have needed to inorder to finish with the time I wanted. That's kind of why I want a race to do, I love running fast and being up front helps me to practice pushing myself through my body's desire to quit.
I am sooo glad Andi is going to be doing this 100k with me, I would have quit. I know it. Because I'm not crazy enough to want to run 62miles, much less by myself. I still think 100k is going to be the dumbest thing I've done.
7 weeks until the Rock n Roll Half-Marathon... I'm a bit hesitant but I'm gonna be ready for PR
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